Happy HALLOWEEN!!!!

We got an AWESOME Halloween package from Grandma and Grandpa Baker. They put in some decorations and treats and Grandma made Holdyn's costume. Holdyn absolutely LOVED these pumpkins.
Especially sitting on them.
Isn't she the cutest little parrot EVER?!
She had a hard time keeping her beak on.
The AUC Spouses Org. put on a great Halloween Party. Holdyn did the cake walk with dad.
Here she is with Pirate Ty Ty. Don't they make a cute team?
Here she is eating popcorn off the ground... YUMMY!
Daddy also helped her with the fishpond!
She did a great job handing out candy from our trunk during the "Trunk or Treating."
Here we are with Hillary and Aubrey (Monkey) getting candy form the "Trunk or Treating." We actually DID end up getting one of the few pumpkins on the island. Ben did some serious carving to get this pirate!

Anyway, we had a great Halloween!!! We hope you all did too!!!

Happy Birthday to a few nieces!!

Happy Birthday to McKenzie on the 21!!


Happy Birthday to Brooklyn on the 29!!

Happy Birthday on the 30 to Katelyn!!

We sure love you girls and hope you have big birthday parties with lots of cake and ice cream!!

Fun, Fun, Fun!!

So.... I'm not sure who has more fun with the blocks?! Ben or Holdyn? HEE HEE!
Holdyn LOVES riding toys. She borrowed this one from the neighbors (THANK'S IZAAK!!) She also likes to climb... obviously!
Here is a great shot of Holdyn with her doll in the backpack. When she first got it, I put it on her back and she tipped right over.... we thought it was hillarious, but she didn't think so.


Here are Holdyn and Aubrey just after being rolled up in a huge wave. They were just minding their own business when a wave decided to come and try to sweep them away. Don't worry.... moms have quick reflexes!

A quick Snorkeling Date!

Ben has been using every waking moment studying for his next exam on Monday.... but everyone needs a break! I'm sure glad he needed a break yesterday. Holdyn went down for a nap, we turned on the baby monitor and Hillary listened to our sleeping babe while we ran down to the beach and did some snorkeling! It is soo great to have these "quick dates" with Ben when he gets a minute. It is good to be reminded that we do live in a Tropical Paradise!Here is Ben diving down to see if there is anything under the rocks..... I'm definitely not brave enough to even want to see if there is anything in those dark holes!!
Here's me taking a go at diving down. It definitely takes skill that I'm still working on aquiring.
Here are some of the HUGE school of fish that wouldn't leave us alone. It was kind of fun to be in the midst of them.

Lobster Anyone?????

Heck YES we have fresh Lobster!!! Last night Ben, Justin and a David (from Church) went night snorkeling for lobsters. They all had their underwater flashlights and went to town! They sounded like they had a blast.... seeing stingray's, octapus', and squid... but the best were the lobsters that were everywhere (so they say). They left about 11pm and didn't return until 2am... leaving Hillary and I nervous that they'd turned to shark bait. But we were thrilled to see they had fresh meat when they returned :) I think this is the closest thing to hunting that they've been able to do on the island. So the guys had to take David home afterwords and left Hillary and I to deal with the live lobsters AKA put them into the boiling water...... Hillary was super brave (you can tell by the expression on her face... keep in mind this is about 2:30am) and grabbed them to put them in the boiling pot while I was the brave photographer... Hee hee!

If you are wondering... these are not from the lobster trap. The guys just snorkeled around and grabbed them with their hands. They do have some serious modifications they are going to be doing to the trap soon... I'll keep you posted!!!

Mindy and Spencer's Visit!!!

We had some GREAT visitors here on Thursday! My sister Mindy and her husband Spencer came in on a cruise ship. They were only here for the day... which wasn't nearly long enough... but we sure enjoyed the time we had with them! It was fun to show them around...and give them the condensed tour of the island. They sounded like they were having a BLAST on their cruise soo far. I can't wait to go one one someday!!
Here we are swimming at one of our favorite beaches... Flamingo. It is close to our apt so we visit here quite often. Holdyn sure loved having her Aunty Mimi here and Uncle Spencer.
Mindy didn't really want to see what she was swimming over, nor was she comfortable with the snorkel so she and I just did a little "looking" through the goggles. She did get to see a starfish and a few fishies near the shore.
Here is Spencer snorkeling. He and Ben went a ways off shore and did some good snorkeling. They even saw two squid.
We went to the sunset beach bar for their delicious hamburgers.... except... they were out of hamburger?!? So we switched to chicken and ribs. We only saw a few planes fly in but we did get to see some people get blown to bits from the jetblasts of a plane taking off.

On our quick tour we made a stop at Ft. Louis in Marigot. It is a great picture spot and a good view of the island and bay. Anyway, it was soo fun to have them here! We LOVE having visitors!!!! We can't wait to see the pictures Mindy and Spencer took... we used their camera a lot more. Anyway, we really had fun with them and they are having a BLAST on their Caribbean cruise!!! LUCKIES!

Two Amazing Years!!

Ben and I have been married for two Amazing years and I wanted to shout from the rooftops how much I love him!! I cannot wait to continue our "Happily Ever After" wherever the future takes us!

I love SUNDAY's!!

We had a great afternoon today! We were able to stay home and listen to General Conference. This is a worldwide meeting our church has twice a year, when the Prophet and 12 Apostles speak. They give instruction on what we need to do in these, the last days, to stay close to the Savior. They spoke on things such as "raising the bar" in our daily lives by doing things such as daily prayer and scripture study, service, family relationships, to making good decisions and much more! It was just what I needed... a great spiritual boost! We watched it through the internet and it was GREAT!! They always have such wonderful insights! I love to hear their testimonies of our Savior Jesus Christ. If any of you are curious, I have a link on the side of the blog that says... "about Mormons" that explains a little more.
We had a fun day just being home as a family. Holdyn loves to crawl into small spaces and play... or try to hide... I'm not sure which. She is getting great at sneaking around.

Here we are outside of our apt. As you can see the sun is shining again!

Here is Aubrey and Holdyn in the "spinning chair." I don't know who gets more dizzy... me watching them spin or them spinning... HA HA!!

Anyway, we had a GREAT DAY!!

And the Rain Rain Rain came Down Down Down!!

Here is a picture of the cruise ships in Great Bay. The rain has been nuts! These pictures don't quite show the floods. Hopefully it clears up for Mindy's cruise next week.... SEE YOU THURSDAY SIS!!




Ben rode his scooter to school in this!! Needless to say he took the car after that!