Dinnertime!

(Alternately titled: I'm Having Entirely Too Much Fun With My New Camera!)

Dinner time has become one of my favorite times. Josh comes home and Shane and I are so excited to see him. Shane sits in his booster chair in front of us while we sit on the couch and we give him whatever we're eating. And man this kids likes his dinner! Enchiladas, shepherd's pie, hamburgers and beans, they've all been winners this week. It feels more like we are a little family (well, we are!) when we are all eating dinner together, and Shane provides the entertainment with peek-a-boo and his many faces. He does this eye roll thing when he's eating that sometimes means he's annoyed and sometimes means he's in pure food heaven. And he has become quite the ham when I pull out the camera! We sure love this kid.

Today

*Today was a beautiful day in the Caribbean.

*Shane made it his personal goal to pull out and read every book in his bin
*I went for a run and passed a man who told me, in all seriousness- "you should be running in the Olympics. Very strong you are".

*Josh ate 3 bananas at lunch with his sandwich. How he doesn't get sick of them is beyond me, but I'm hoping it stays that way!

*We did not go to the pool or beach, which was tragic, but we went into town to pick up a few things instead.

*I went outside and realized that one of our wires was now two feet above the sidewalk- hmmmm

* I passed this and stopped for a moment to revel in the beauty

*Heard the conch blow, signalling a fresh catch of fish, and summoned up the courage to actually buy some! It was tuna, so that wasn't scary, but cleaning it sure is! What was I thinking?!

Home Again

After three blissful weeks in America, we are back home in Dominica. Yes, America was great- the food was great, the weather was perfect, the couches comfortable, and the time spent with family absolutely worth the small fortune we paid to fly there. But, Dominica really is our home now, and we are happy to be back. I think especially Shane It has been fun watching his eyes reregister everything and remember (in the picture above he is looking out the door at the dog). The coolest thing is to see how you can really just tell he knows this is home. It has been a little weird seeing him places that he couldn't used to get to without me though! It took one rough night for him to get used to the four hour time change, but thankfully last night was great and we hope he's on the way to being fully adjusted. As for Josh and I, we've been busy unpacking the 190 pounds of stuff we brought from home (no joke). No more toys for awhile grandmas and grandpas! Our apartment is not the biggest, but Josh is like the Houdini of somehow finding a place for everything and making it look somewhat okay. Thank goodness cause I stink at it! Although really I think he's just trying to show me that we do have room for a new couch! School starts tomorrow and I think he's ready, and I guess I could be ready to lounge poolside again:)

Grandma Dettinger!

After traveling 24 hours to get to Southern California, we didn't think it would be much fun to drive another 10 to Utah in the same break (we are going there for next break in April instead). But, lucky for us, Josh's grandparents live only an hour or two from my family, and his mom volunteered to make the long drive down to see us Shane :) I mean really, could you resist not seeing this little bugger for almost a year? So while my siblings had left and parents were back to work, we got to spend a couple fun days in Hemet with Josh's grandparents, his mom, and brother Matthew. It was like Christmas all over again!
We were nervous about only having a couple days and hoping that would be long enough for him to warm up again, but it only took about 10 minutes and she had him laughing like old times.

And she knew the way to his heart- books!

We love you Grandma! Can't wait until April!

*And Grandma and Grandpa Elkins, sorry I didn't get any with you guys, I guess you'll just have to come up in April too, huh?!

Pushing Uncle Matthew's Buttons

Josh's 4 year old little brother Matthew, is cute beyond belief. But he is a tank, and too smart for his own good, both of which put him in a good position to push people's buttons. So we got a kick out of it when Shane was pushing Matthew around this visit (shame on us!). Especially when they took a bath together. If you know Shane, you know that within seconds of him being placed in any water there will be immediate tidal-wave sized splashing. I will let him narrate the rest for you:
"This is great!"

"What's that you're saying? Stop splashing? I can't hear you!"

"Go ahead, splash me, that feels pretty good"

"Must... keep... splashing!"
"he he he well look at that, I got him out of the tub!"

"I think I'll keep splashing!"

"Hmm, and maybe I'll take his car"

"And to top it off- I'll snuggle up to his mama!"

Merry Christmas!

We had a great Christmas this year, most of all just being at home and with my whole family. The good food was a nice perk too! On Christmas Eve my mom and dad babysat so all us kids could go to the movies, then we all went to dinner at Lucille's.
We also took Shane out to see the Christmas lights in one of my favorite neighborhoods. In the morning we went downstairs and saw that Santa had come!

We didn't have our stockings so Josh got to use my sister's old one ha ha.

Shane managed to rip a little piece off one present, but that was about it.

And Josh surprised me with a new camera so I can capture more faces like this
(P.S. it is a nice camera but we are still working on the photographer- so don't judge my picture-taking skills!)

We hung out all day and played with our new stuff, Josh in true fashion had it all organized and packed up within the hour. And that night we had a delicious ham with funeral potatoes. We've had so much fun here and may have some trouble leaving!

Happy Anniversary Us!

Three years ago (on the 27th anyway) we were doing this

We got married in the Newport Beach temple and had a quick honeymoon in Laguna Beach. Which was wonderful, except for maybe the part where I had the stomach flu a day into it (Josh had it the day before the wedding). We had planned on going to eat at a nice restaurant, and decided to still go even though my stomach was still a little weak. I had my heart set on trying creme brulee for the first time, but just couldn't do it feeling so gross. This year was the first we have been in California on our anniversary, and took advantage of that (and the free babysitters!) to go back to the restaurant we went to on our honeymoon. It felt good to look somewhat nice again

Here's the restaurant

Charming, no?

The food was great, and I got my creme brulee! And I was happy to realize that it is really just custard and Josh could eat it with me. It was so good to get out with Josh and it brought back some old memories. We both noticed how nice it was to just relax and talk, and not about school or Shane! Love you Josh, can't wait to see what other adventures await us!