Green River

There's our new home. We've signed a year lease for this town home in Green River, Wyoming. In November 2012, Sam received a job offer from FMC that we decided to accept. It was a huge relief to know that Sam had a job lined up for after graduation. It was a blessing for our family because knowing the income we would be receiving after graduation, I was able to be a stay-at-home-mom with Eleanor instead of working part-time from home, as was originally planned. Looking back on how hard the first 4 months were with Elle - this was HUGE for me. Sam had Elle and I come out on his first recruiting trip that FMC had for him so I could get an idea of what the town is like. Even though I've always told Sam I'll go wherever we need to go, he wanted to make sure I was comfortable with where we could be calling "home". That said, Green River is much different than any where I've ever lived (all of Chandler, Provo and summers in Hawaii and Ghana that is). It's a small town, really small town. I could list the things that are still an adjustment for me (mainly shopping and food options), but I've been trying and praying to only think of the positive. Everyone here is so friendly. Our first day moving in, four neighbors dropped by to introduce themselves - one turned out to be our bishop! Everyone loves Elle, to the point that they stop to talk to her and sometimes even touch her (I'm trying to be ok with that). People aren't really in a rush for anything. The community is really close knit and has a lot of outdoor activities for the summer. Sam's job is good and a great opportunity for him.

I got a membership to the Rec center our first week here. Even though the first day I was the only student in Zumba (ha!), I kept going and have enjoyed my time there each day. I have already been invited to and attended "Play Group" held by a group of really sweet moms in our ward. Our little family has started to do some exploring in and around town. Sam and I have told each other that we want to find joy in our journey.

Our town home is up on a hill and does have great views. This is right behind us:

This is looking to the right from our place, the big building is the Rec center:

 And this is up the road a little bit looking out to the left:

So, we're here! We're very excited to start this new chapter in our lives and get acquainted and settled in our new home town and learn new skills along the way. We have checked out Cowboy Donuts, gone on walks and today we drove down to the river behind our house (Elle wasn't too sure about the wind).

Green River is only 2 1/2 hours from Salt Lake or Provo, so we can take an easy drive whenever we do need something in the city. If any of our friends or family want a little small-town getaway... you know where to find us!


PS. If anyone could put in a good word with Target and get them to build a store out here, my life would be complete ;)

Viva la Mexico - Majahuitas

After four nights at Garza we took a taxi to a small village where we caught our boat-taxi to our next destination! The boat-taxi ride was about 15-20 minutes. It was neat to see the coast of areas outside the main tourist destinations; this part of the coast had little pieces of beach that lead right into the jungle.
On the boat-taxi:

We made it to Majahuitas right in time to join everyone for breakfast! All meals are served at little tables just off the beach, at night they sit everyone together for a family-style dinner. There are only about 8 "casitas" at the resort so it is neat to be in a more intimate setting and get to know some of the other travelers. Our friends, Spencer and Lindsey, were waiting for us and excited to show us around the grounds:

Sammy and Spencer wasted no time and got in the water right away for some spear fishing. Here is their catch for the morning, unfortunately, the kitchen staff told them the fish were not good ones to eat (Sammy was really hoping to be able to catch his meal!)

Dinner was a delish three course meal. They even provided a non-seafood main dish for me while everyone had fish with theirs since we told them I don't eat seafood :)

The next day Lindsey and I took a kayak out with bread crumbs to chum the water for the boys with their spear guns, but they didn't see any fish they were allowed to shoot (you can't catch the pretty coral fish). Later in the day, Sam and I tried out paddle boarding. We both originally thought it looked pretty boring, but was worth giving a try. We ended up loving it! Working to keep your balance the whole time keeps it from getting boring :)

Here are some shots of inside our casita. We were staying inside the "Cliff House". We had a lot of steps that lead up to our house, but it definitely had the best view! The first time going up we passed a gila monster! Sam was bummed we never saw it again to get a picture. There is minimal electricity and some called it "glorified camping" (which my friend Ashley informed me there is such a term for this - "glamping" haha!)
Here are a few shots of our place:

 

 

The view was great:

Our last night there we took up the offer to have a romantic dinner set for just the two us on the beach. The setting was Bachelor worthy! (The house in the corner of the picture of me was our Cliff House)

 

We had a fabulous time! I'm glad we got to fit this fun trip in to celebrate Sam graduating and spend time together before he becomes a full-time working man! It was also really nice for me to have a break from Mommy duties. The good thing about leaving Elle behind was that it did make us excited to get home and hold our baby girl! Again, a huge thank-you to Sallee, Tracy, Jen, Brooke and Vanessa for watching, loving and spoiling Elle. We never once had to worry about her and that was so comforting.

Of course we had to bring back a little souvenir for Eleanor. The dress was perfect for our first Sunday back, Cinco de Mayo!

Viva la Mexico - Garza Blanca

Sam was true to his word and didn't walk at his graduation (I got him to agree to at least let me take some grad pictures of him, but we never got around to that...) - instead we were on our way out of the country the weekend of graduation. We were lucky that Elle's grandparents, aunts (maybe the uncles? ha) and cousins were dying to see her and spend time with her, so we had the best babysitters while we were away from our little girl and never had to worry about how well she was being cared for. I guess that's one perk to living out-of-state from family - everyone is so thrilled to see you (or more truthfully, your child) when you're in town. :)

Our trip had a little rough start since we spent an hour taxi-ing (sp?!) in our plane while it did a full lap around Sky Harbor. After spending another 2 hours back in the airport, they had everyone board the plane again and we were officially off to Puerto Villarta. We stayed at the stunning Garza Blanca Resort which was about a 20-30 minute taxi ride from the airport. While we were there it was their "low season" so the resort was pretty much empty, which we loved. The workers were all friendly and eager to help with anything. The resort and rooms were beautiful and right on the beach. The weather was perfect in the high 70s/low 80s the whole trip. 

We spent four days here and enjoyed snorkeling, kayaking, swimming, spear fishing (ok, just Sammy did this), getting a massage and a lot of time just relaxing on the beach and by the pool. A little over a mile out from the shore are three large rocks that all have holes/arches in them and are called "Los Arcos". We took a kayak out to them and it was a fun little adventure. 

Sambeano in one of the hot tubs:

 As you can see the view from the pool was perfect:

We'd spend our whole day outside, but sometimes came back to our room in the late afternoon to take a break from the sun. One day Sam plowed through his selected read for the trip, "Jurassic Park". It had him captured. This day of the trip I think he spoke about 5 words to me because he couldn't get his nose out of the pages until he had finished it haha

 Summer reading is one of my favorite things so I got my fair share in too:

I was a big fan of the hammock on our balcony:

Sam's friend from the Cheme program, Spencer, and his wife, Lindsey, had one overlapping day with us at Garza Blanca and two days at our second destination. It was so fun to be with them and have another couple alongside for part of the trip! Our first night there we all went to town for some dinner then walked the lively boardwalk together.

Sam and I ate most meals at the resort:

 But we did venture out to town again on our own. Here we are waiting for a taxi from the resort:

 The food did not disappoint! We are both serious lovers of Mexican food

 
We wandered around after dinner and bought a crepe from a stand, which was divine. That crepe + my favorite statue on the boardwalk + the pretty sunset + the love of my life = one of my favorite pictures from the trip:

View from our room:

 Samuel playing on the rocks one evening:

Our time here was perfect! I'd recommend the resort to anyone. Sam planned the trip and purposefully picked a place like this as it suits my preference and a more "rustic" destination, to suit his preference, was the second half of the trip. The best of both worlds! Thank you Sammy. Next up, Majahuitas.

8 Months

Baby Girl is 8 months old! Eleanor has been such a trooper this last month with all the traveling and transitions we have been going through. She no longer needs her acid reflux medicine on a daily basis, but I still give it to her occasionally when she seems to be exceptionally fussy - I can't really tell if that helps or not. I do think she has been teething and I am just waiting for the next tooth to pop up! I've started Elle on solids again and so far so good - she hasn't thrown anything up! I introduce the new foods slowly so I can see if she has any weird reactions. So far she loves banana, apples and a banana/apple/strawberry mix. Tomorrow I'm trying veggies again so wish us luck. We've also been giving her little bits of random food here and there. Her face when trying lemonade was classic :)

Here is some of the latest on Elle Rae:

• her sleep schedule has not been as consistent lately since she's been sleeping in so many new places, but she still goes down around 7:30 and lately wake-up time has been around 6:30 (we'll work at pushing that back to 7!)
• sits up well and can fall gently to her side when she wants to be laying down instead
• just started "crawling" the day before she turned 8 months! she has quite an interesting technique that we'll work on improving
• still loves to be loud
• frequently has her tongue sticking out
• got her first haircut 
• starts rubbing her eyes as soon as I start singing to her before nap times or bed time (this is something she has been doing for a few months)
• is very active - always has to be on the move or introduced to something new to touch and play with
• still loves to be outside and on the go
• nap schedule has been changing slightly, some days she still need 3 naps but other days she'll only take two, I hope we can figure out a set schedule again soon!
• giggles more frequently now, but it still takes a lot of work to get those giggles out!

 

I am so grateful for Elle and the joy that she is. Especially now that we've moved to a town where we didn't know a soul, I have been so happy that I have Elle as my little buddy. She makes me laugh and smile every single day. She is the topic of about 90% of mine and Sam's conversations, which I don't mind. Often when Elle is napping I find myself looking at pictures or videos of her - I just can't get enough! Elle Bell, we love you!

First haircut:

My cute girl:

Elle putting on a little performance:

7 Months

*To give myself a little credit I did take these photos and start this post on Elle's 7 month mark, I just didn't get around to finish and posting until three weeks later :)

We've got ourselves a seven month old! It is fun to see more of Elle's personality coming out these days. She is starting to get a little dramatic - she has this fake cough she always does and I think it's to get attention. She does it in stores all the time and strangers will look at her to make sure that the baby coughing is ok - I know it's just a fake. Drama girl. Eleanor had a huge hive break-out one morning - we still have no idea what caused it. I started changing her diaper one morning and was surprised to see a bunch of spots on her legs so I started unsnapping more of her pajamas and was shocked at what I saw. We took her into urgent care and they just said to give her Benadryl which really helped. The hives were there again the next morning, but never returned after that. The poor girl didn't seem to mind them though! Elle's sensitive stomach has continued to puzzle us. I stopped giving her all solids after she had two enormous projectile vomits after eating her rice cereal. We got her allergy tested and the tests results showed that she only has a milk allergy (we were prepared for it to be more than that). So, no dairy for Elle (I had cut out dairy when I was breastfeeding her so that wasn't a big surprise). However, since she didn't show an allergy to soy we decided to give the soy formula a go again and so far it's been working fine!

Here are some facts about our crazy child:

• still sleeps from 7:30 at night to 7 am with a dream feed around 10:30.
• rolls across the whole floor of a room and loves to roll under things if possible 
• can sit up all on her own for a short time
• has an obsession with finding a tag on anything she can and loves to play with non-toys more than toys - some favorites include my sunglasses case, tupperware, spoons and Sam's cell phone cover
• is VERY loud. Elle loves to yell and grunt so loud. She especially likes it if there are people around and she gets them to look at her :)
• loves to be outdoors and look around at her surroundings
• continues to love her jumper and now goes more out of control than ever in it
• is still very limber and is always grabbing her feet or holding her legs up in the air
• now can wear a pony tail! and it is so cute
• has one tooth that has poked through!

What a joy this little princess is. I love having her as my tag along everywhere I go and I still love seeing her and Sam together. Sam loves Elle so much and I can tell she is a big fan of her daddy. She has changed our lives, but has made it all the better!

Elle's hive break out:

 

Baby girl's first pony tail:

Big girl sitting up and looking cute:

Elle's big jumps: