Swimming

Sara and Evan have been taking swimming lesson for the past couple of weeks. They have really enjoyed them and are doing so well. I was really surprised that they got right in and did whatever the teacher asked. They both have been scared of the water and wouldn't even think about putting their head under. But, they both got over that fear and now actually enjoy it. They did awesome.

The happy and cold swimmers

Here Sara is actually swimming by herself. Pretty good for her first go round of lessons. +She picked it up pretty quickly. The teacher said she is getting really good at solo swimming. She probably needs one more time at this level and will be able to move up.

Here, Evan is learning how to do a back float. He is just getting over his fear of water so will need a little more time before he is able to actually swim. He did awesome though and I was so happy to see him enjoying himself.

Sara took the whole experience very seriously - surprise, surprise. She is eager to learn to swim on her own. She followed the teacher on everything.

This is how Kamri spent the half hour everyday. She sat here as long as I kept feeding her food.

School update

Well, Sara was a little timid the first day of school. She soon got over that!! The second day she wanted to just be dropped off and allowed to walk all the way around the building BY HERSELF!! Can you believe it? She didn't want me to come!! But I insisted she let me walk her to her door and wait until the teacher came out. I was not ready to let her do it by herself. I knew there wasn't going to be as many parents there as the first day and that her teacher wasn't going to be outside waiting to meet the kids. She was frustrated with me so I promised I would just drop her off today. Well, she woke up this morning while I was in the shower, she came into the bathroom and the first thing that came out of her mouth was "Mom, can you just drop me off today?" I guess I need to come to the realization that my little girl is growing up and isn't going to need me to hold her hand forever. How sad :( The first day Sara went to school Evan said to me "You're a nice mom when Sara isn't here". (What? I guess I'm a mean mom when Sara is here.) After I chuckled he said, "'Cause she's not here to fight" He wasn't being mean. He just said it matter-of-factly. I guess it's true. When they are together they get on eachother's nerves and fight and I'm always trying to end it. Seems like that's all I do so it seems only right that he would think that. I've been trying to do some fun things with him for the next two weeks before he starts school. Tuesday I took advantage of having only 2 kids and was able to use my double stroller to go on a walk. We went to the park and walked around a couple times (almost 3 miles) and then stopped at the playground and played around. Kamri and Evan had a blast. It was fun.

Which Jane Austen heroine are you?

Take the Quiz here!

You are Elinor Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! You are practical, circumspect, and discreet. Though you are tremendously sensible and allow your head to rule, you have a deep, emotional side that few people often see.

What do you all think? Is this right on, way out in left field, or somewhere in the middle?

Officially a first grader

First day of 1st grade. She woke up bouncing off the walls this morning. She was so excited. I think she was a little nervous, too, and trying to hide it. Her excitement seemed just a little too forced, but she's been so excited for school for the last week. Ben said this morning, "I don't think I was EVER that excited to go to school." My little girl will now be gone ALL day long. I'm a little anxious about that. I really can't believe she's old enough to be at this stage of her life. She's still my little girl.

Proud Daddy

Ben went to work late this morning so he could be there on this big day

Waiting in line to go in to school. The first graders have to line up in the back of the school. I don't know how long it will take me (and her) to be ready to just drop her off. It's not easy for me to let go

and let her grow up.

She got nervous as she was walking in and asked us to come in with her

She still looked a little nervous sitting in her class, but she was brave and went right in

Our Panamá trip

It's taken me over a week to get this post on here. It all seems rather daunting, but I am now sucking it up and getting it done. It would take waaaaay too long to mention everything that happened on our trip so these are just some of the highlights. I say some of the highlights because there are still so many "highlights" I don't have room for here. If you would like a full overview of it, go here to view some and here to view even more.

Thursday

Our flight left at 6:30 am. We were up late the night before so we were tired. When we got to our gate Ben's mission president and his wife were there. They were on both our flights with us.

Friday

We woke up and got ready to go to the Miraflores Locks on the Panama Canal. I've always wanted to see the Panama Canal so this was very exciting. It was pretty cool to see how it works.

After the canal we decided to go look at the temple. Carol Mikita was there doing an interview. I asked for picture of a local celebrity. I was so excited to see someone from home who spoke English.

Dinner was at Tinajas. They put on a show of traditional Panama dances. The costumes were amazing and we were so close to the action. Ben ordered a typical Panama dish, and yes, I tried alost everything on his plate. Some of it actually tasted okay.

Saturday

We started out with a ride to one of Ben's areas, Loma Cova. When he was there it was all mud roads Ben had to hike on. They actually had a few paved ones when we went. While there we visited a few families Ben knew. At one home we got to pick some pipa (coconut) and try it. Definitely not my favorite taste, but it was fun to pick one. They also had banana trees, lemon trees, guanabana, and some others I think. The wife gave me a book to learn Spanish.

It was pouring while we were there so we had our lights on. We came out after visiting one family and our car was totally dead. In a place where maybe 1 of 20 homes have a car, this was bad. We finally found someone who actually knew what jumper cables were and who found someone to help us.

That night we got to go the Cultural Event that was put on for Pres. Monson. All the youth of Panama (all over the country) came and danced in the program. Pres. Monson talked beforehand. The people of Panama were so excited to have the prophet there. I realized how much I take for granted getting to see Pres. Monson speak so often.

One of the dances

Pres. Monson speaking (the lighting was horrible for picture taking but I wanted to put

a picture of him anyway)

Sunday

Sunday morning we drove up to Cerro Ancon - an lookout point overlooking Panama City. It was beautiful and even though a little wet, the perfect weather to see everything.

view on top of Cerro Ancon

That morning I had made some sandwiches for lunch (and dinner) . I was planning on having a picnic by the ocean, but it was pouring so we ended up eating them in the car while we were waiting to get into the temple dedication. The dedication was amazing. They had a room for English so I could understand what was being said. Pres. Monson and Pres. Uchtdorf both spoke.

our view as we were eating our sandwiches in the car

with our handkerchiefs after the dedication

Monday

We left Monday morning at 5:00 am to drive to Boquete, another city in Panama. We spent some time with Itzel, a lady Ben baptized while in David, and took a visit to the Pacific Ocean.

Tuesday

We got to experience a zip line through the rain forest. The view was beautiful and the weather wonderful! We met some nice people.

Wednesday

This was the highlight of the whole trip. We spent a day on the islands of San Blas. We took a plane to El Porvenir and then a small boat ride to the island Ukuptupu.

I fell in love with hammocks while there

From Ukuptupu we took a boat ride to another island to swim and snorkel. There is a sunken ship off the shore we snorkeled around. The beach was BEAUTIFUL!!!! The picture at the top was taken on this island. The picture is goreous but you really need to see it in person. We could go back every weekend. (So within 2 days, I got to see both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans)

We took a trip to another island Ben served on. He got to see some people he knew and I got to see where he spent 5 months of his mission. We both came from there wondering how he ever did that.

the island that took 2-3 minutes to walk across.

Our followers on the island. They loved the Smarties we brought.

Thursday

We got to enjoy the sunrise on a boat on our way to catch our flight back to the city. The pictures really don't do the beauty justice.

After we got back, we rented bikes and rode along the causeway ( a strip of land that connects 4 islands).

Then we got to go back to the temple to do an endowment session. Again, I realized how much I take for granted. There were couples there who had been waiting for years to be able to be sealed and here I find it difficult to make it to the temple that is 20 minutes away.

Friday

Friday was our 7th anniversary. We were pretty ready to be home by this point and spent the day just relaxing. We shopped for souvenirs, took a long nap, went swimming in the hotel pool, finally got some good pizza, packed and went to bed.

Pizza Hut never tasted so good

Saturday

We flew home

Our beautiful kids (wearing theire Panama shirts) we were so anxious to get home to

Our new monthly tradition

Since Saturday was Sara's last Saturday before school started, I decided I wanted to do something fun. We decided to take a hike up to Ensign Peak. At first Evan did not want to "hike up that mountain" but we made him and he ended up loving it. The kids were real troopers and did great. For any of you who might want to do it, it took us 25 minutes to get up and 15 to get down. Not too bad. There is no shade and really hot so take lots of water. It felt so good to get out and do something active together we decided to make it a monthly (or more) activity as long as the weather is good, but we need some ideas of where to go. Got any?

Sara got a little tired on the way up so Ben carried her for a few minutes

view of the city from the top

"Yeah, we made it!!" The kids were pretty excited when we actually made it to the top

We went and got some Jamba Juice afterward and brought them home to enjoy.

Our neighbor joined us

That afternoon we decided to go swimming. We got to the pool and they said they would be closed for the next 30 minutes because of some problem with the pool. We decided to wait until it was open again before we paid. We waited outside for a little while and then Ben went in to talk to them and found out it was closed because someone had gone diarrhea in the pool. We were NOT about to go anywhere near the water now so we left. We ended up just going to Liberty Park's wading pool. It was freezing but the kids didn't seem to mind and enjoyed themselves. I really want to take the kids swimming to practice some things they've been learning in swim lessons so anyone know a cheap pool around here where we can go?

Some guy was selling snow cones at the park so we stopped and got two. Snow cones are so messy and sticky. They are not my favorite thing in the world but the kids thought they were yummy.

Overall, this was a very busy but fun weekend.