Happy Birthday Jacob

Happy Birthday to you....Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday Dear Jacob. Happy Birthday to you! Hope that your homemade icecream cake that you make turns out good! Have a great day!

Grand Case

Sorry, no embarassing stories or crazy things have happend in the last few days. We'll work on it for next time. Today we headed out to another new beach called Grande Case. Here is Holdyn kicking it under her umbrella. She keeps an eye on our bags and gear while I go swimming/snorkeling. . .she is such a good little helper. Here is Holdyn with little Aubrey. Aubrey's older sister AnnaBelle is in the back. So I'm not the best photographer. Anyway, we had a fun morning. Here is a picture of little Holdyn after she was attacked and feasted upon by the mosquito's and sand fleas. YIKES!! We bombed the apartment today, and cloroxed her mattress and crib. So hopefully we've gotten rid of the problem...poor gal. But she doesn't seem to complain much. Here is one more picture of Holdyn and her little gal pal, Aubrey. We went to the Joseph's home for dinner last Sunday. It was fun to get to know some of the other members in our branch.

Doing my part to stop alcoholism....

Okay, so this is really one of my most embarrassing moments!! If you are not sitting down you might want to. So in the states you go to the grocery store and they occasionally have sample tables. You know the ones with toothpicks stuck into the bitsized piece of chicken or the little plastic cups filled with chex mix.....well, in the caribbean they only have these sample tables with the latest and most expensive alcoholic invention. Free samples to all no matter what age....Captain Jack Sparrow says it best..."Welcome to the Caribbean!"

I was at the grocery store yesterday pushing the cart along when Holdyn decides to start fussing. She was in her carseat attached to the front of the cart, facing me. So I start making funny faces and talking to her when suddenly out of nowhere I hear and feel a .... "Bump...roll.....crash.... crash ....shatter....crash....and splash!" You guessed it! While I was having an intense baby talk session with Holdyn, the cart I was pushing somehow bumped into the sample table with the fine alcoholic beverages! The rolling was the sound of the display bottles of liquor rolling to their destruction on the tile floor! That'll make them think twice before they decide to do free samples of that stuff again!

Just doing my part! "If you can't beat 'em.....Break 'em" Hope you all get a good laugh out of this....I do now, but I wanted to cry yesterday!
I offered to pay for it and clean it up but I think they just wanted me out of there.

Nettle Bay & Friar's Bay

We made it to a couple of new beaches with the SO today!! Yippee! It is soo fun exploring the island! We first went to Nettle Baie....We didn't stay long because the rocks and spiny urchants came right up to shore....not very friendly to kids who like to play in the shallow water. But there was a cool boat that had been washed ashore...So we took some pictures and headed to the next beach in line..Friar's. It was perfect!The water was smooth and shallow. Ashley and I decided to take a snorkeling adventure. There was a guy who was coming in from snorkeling and he had 4 fish and an octapus that he had caught......which made it a little scary for us to head out...once again knowing that there are things like octapus's that are in the water we are swimming in.....but I'm trying to be brave! So we headed out. Well, we got out a way and saw some beautiful tropical colored fish. We decided to find some shells that we could dive down and get and take back to the shore. Ashley found hers and I was looking for mine.....I found it and dove down...no problem except, we didn't have anyplace to put the shells to swim back. Ashley had a tankini on and I had my onepiece and was like....no problem I'll just put them down my swimsuit......PROBLEM!! We were swimming back toward the shore and I felt a pinch on my belly.....you guessed it my shell had the seacreature still living inside!!!!!!!! I about drowned trying to get it out of my suit! I finally wrestled it out and chucked it down. Ashley and I watched as it fell to the bottom of the ocean floor. It sat still for a moment......then out came the creature...a black slithery looking thing!! YIKES!! It is a pretty funny story but I still have a red, quartersized mark on my belly where it tried to eat me! But hey, it was worth the good story!

Day With Dad

Hi to friends and family of my mom and dad. Dad finally made it out with us! He is soo busy with his head buried in his books for Med School, that he misses out on a lot of the fun. He took the afternoon off and went to the beach with me and mom. He even went snorkeling and saw.....bunches of tropical fish, a big jelly fish, a huge starfish and a stingray!!! YIKES!! Nobody told me there was all that scary stuff in the water!! I hope I don't get eaten by a shark....the way they dangle my delicious looking legs in the water you'd think they wanted me to be bait! I hope some of you can come and visit so you can see my tan and I can show you some of my favorite beaches. I can't wait to see you Grandma and Grandpa Baker!!

Happy Day after Valentines

We hope you had a great Valentines Day! We sure did. We went to a Thai Restraunt that was YUMMY!! Holdyn did great playing with the chopsticks and keeping the workers entertained with cheesy grins. This is her in her new island apparal that we picked up in Phillipsburg. Isn't she a perfect little island girl!

Sunday

I finally got pictures of our church building. I just remembered as we were getting ready to pull out of the parking lot...but hey, at least I remembered. So here it is. Ben and I are just having a lazy day....he has been studying hard all week for his big exams tomorrow....we are praying he does well. Here is Holdyn in her cammo onesie (she would definitely be a cute boy!).....thanks for letting me wear it cousin Emma! Holdyn is still fascinated with her tongue. She likes to stick it out and bite down until it turns purple. How do you break a kid of that? It's a little wierd! Anyway, hope you all enjoy your Sunday too!

Baie Rouge

Hello!!! Holdyn and I just got back from our new beach adventure with the SO (Spouses Organization). If you'd like to see more info about the places we go click on "St. Maarten Island" under the "website Favorites" to the left of the page. You can go to the beaches tab across the top of that page and find the map of the beaches....just click on the beach you want. But, I must also warn you there might be some risky pictures. Well today we went to Baie Rouge.....it's supposedly GREAT for snorkeling.... there are some caves you can explore. So we'll take you there next month dad! We had a blast and Holdyn made some more friends. This is Payton giving Holdyn a sandy smooch on the forehead. He is sure a cutie!
This is our new keyboard that Ben got for me yesterday in Phillipsburg......Happy Valentines to me! Now I can practice the music for church. Since we didn't have a hymnbook at home I downloaded some of the songs from the internet and I've been practicing with my laptop in front of me......looks a little technical, but it's not cause I figured it out. You also might be wondering what I'm wearing.....well, it is the most comfortable island version of a moo moo thing you could get...it's cool and comfortable for those lazy island evenings.

Mullet Beach

Holdyn just got her new swimming suit so we had to go and try it out. She was more fascinated with putting the strings on her shoulders in her mouth than anything...but she sure looked cute!!

The Waves were really big too. I only got rolled up in them a couple of times...leaving my swimsuit and hair full of sand!!! I'm supposed to get better about swimming in them so I don't look like such a tourist.....I do fine when I get out a little way....just swimming into the peaking waves...but I always seem to have a problem when I try to get out. I guess I just need more practice. These are some of our friends we met up with. This is Hillary and Holdyn's other friend Aubrey....they are just 2 weeks apart!

Anyway, we sure had a fun time....and once again Holdyn was beat!

A day at the Zoo

Well, We just got back from the zoo. It was pretty fun.

It's definitely a little different than zoo's I've been to before. Why, you might ask? Well, the cages aren't as Sturdy as you think they should be. You can walk right up next to most of the animals. There is just a weak chain link fence between you and them. There are a lot of birds that are just hanging out too...as well as wandering turtles and iguana's that dangled in the trees above you heads. This is Holdyn and her friend Jack. He is just a month older than her. They both had fun.

As for other cages, like these in the water. They just have like a 3 foot concrete wall that you can lean over to peek in....I was just waiting for this alligator thing to come and eat me! We also had some monkey's that were throwing rocks at us!

So...we did what anyone would do and threw them back....Just kidding...but I almost got pegged by rocks they threw a few times...it was a little wierd! We had to run by them and avoid the rocks! This is Ashley with one of her sons by some safer monkeys. They are from Minnesota.

Well, we did have a fun day and at the end...Holdyn was pretty sleepy. She did get comfortable enough in the stroller to take a snooze.

A Little about Us

Well, my name is Jill and I was born in Draper, UT. My family has 6 kids and a wonderful mom and dad. We moved to Washington, UT, when I was just an adorable 3 year old. I went to school there and graduated from Pine View High School and later Dixie State College. I then served an LDS mission in Sacramento, California where I was able to work with the deaf people and use my ASL. There are now 16 1/2 grandkiddo's on my side.

We have a lot of fun when we all get together. Ben was born in San Diego, CA and is also from a great family. He has 7 brothers and sisters. I think there are 22 grand kids on that side. He is from Fredonia, AZ where he graduated from Fredonia High School and attended Dixie as well, then on to Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ. Ben served a mission in Brisbane, Austraulia where he made a lot of great friends and memories. Sorry, I don't have a picture of the Cluff family...HINT HINT!!

Well, Ben and I are also blessed to have a 3rd family, The Palmer's! I was married to the amazing and hillarious Charlton Robert Palmer on Sept. 25, 2004. We were able to spend just over 4 great months as companions when Charlton went home to our Heavenly Father to continue his mission. He had Cystic Fibrosis, and it eventually got the best of him. He was an optimist to the end!! One of our favorite things to do now as a family is to go to his grave in the Washington Cemetary and make sure it is decorated for the season. Ben and I were Married in Fredonia, AZ. We moved to Flagstaff, AZ, where Ben continued his education at NAU, and graduated in 2006. While we were here we found out that we were pregnant.

We made a lot of good friends and great memories in Flagstaff. I worked as a substitute ASL interpreter for the Arizona Schools for the Deaf and blind while Ben attended his classes. When Ben finished up at NAU we moved back to St. George. Where we had our new precious baby girl...Holdyn Lynette. She is named after a little girl I know from my mission...Holdyn Bray, and the middle name is after her Grandma Baker. She is such a wonderful baby. If they are all like her we might have a few more.

Well, Holdyn is fortunate enough to have 3 sets of Grandparents the Baker's (Washington, UT), Palmer's (Syracuse, UT),and the Cluff's (Fredonia, AZ). She also has Great Grandma Oakeson, who lives in South Jordan, UT, and Great Grandma And Great Grandpa Carr, who are now living in Tuscon, AZ.

Well, just a few days after Christmas, Ben, Holdyn and I packed up and moved to the island of St. Maarten, N.A. in the Caribbean. Ben is a med student here at AUC (American University of the Caribbean) and I am a beach bum....I really feel like I am here on vacation. I've made quite a few friends with girls in the Spouses Organization (all of our husbands are in Med School...so we hardly see them). We get together and go to the beaches, go on daily morning walks, and do all sorts of activities to keep us and our kids entertained. We are doing absolutely great and would love to have as many visitors as we can. Island life is FANTASTIC!!

Sunday 2/4/07

I am still working on figuring this blogger out...I think I am getting the hang of it. We had a great Sunday. We woke up to this beautiful full rainbow outside out window. This picture is from our balcony... beautiful eh? We also had a great drive in our Hyundai Getz....You've all been waiting to see pictures of the car and here it finally is! It is definitely an island car. It feels a lot bigger on the inside than it looks. But hey it runs great and since we are renting it month to month all the maintenance is taken care of by the rental company.

On our drive we drove to Philipsburg and went to Point Blanche....a place where you can see the cruise ships come in to dock......Did I mension that they are GIGANTIC!!! I've seen pictures but you can't do them justice until you see them in person. WOW!! I tell you what...WOW!! Well, this will be our new blog page for those of you who are keeping track of us. I will try to keep it updated better!