Ants...

I cannot believe that third semester is here. We are more than half way done living in Dominica. In 7 months we will be moving back to America! I've already mentioned this before but the time really has flown by. I've had a lot of fun times and plenty of bad times. Overall this experience so far has been well worth it. This will be an adventure that Stephen and I will never forget even if sometimes we want to.

For the next 2 semesters we are living in a new apartment complex. We cut our rent in half and are really enjoying our new home. My first adventure in our new place was my second night back when I unplugged one of our fans and the plug blew up and the power went out. I had blown the power out in the whole apartment. Luckily we got it fixed the next morning and only went one night without ac. It was a really long night though.
If I have a major complaint in our new home it is the ANTS! I was able to get the ants under control while living at Kootney but so far the ants here are horrible. I can't even finish cooking something on the counter before they are trying to get all over the food. These aren't your typical ants back home. They are sometimes referred to as sugar ants. Tiny little things. I really hope they soon find out I won't be leaving crumbs for them and they will leave for good.
Besides the ants things have been pretty good since being back to the Island. We have a lot of new families in the branch this semester and they are all really nice. I have already had some fun times with them playing games at the family lounge and just hanging out with them. We moved church buildings last night. About 50 members came to help and the Relief Society made dinner for everyone. Our new church building is really nice and very roomy. I have a new calling as well. I am now the secretary in the Relief Society and I already know it is the perfect calling for me. I'm going to enjoy working with the RS Presidency so much and can't wait to do more activities with the branch.
Stephen is doing great with his studies. Nothing much has changed, he studies day and night, Monday through Saturday. He works so hard and has already had his first exam which was his hardest test so far. This semester so far has been pretty intense and he has been really busy. But he is enjoying what he is learning which helps.

Perfect example of what the ants will do when there is a hint of food/sugar anywhere. Photo Credit: One of the amazing spouses here on the Island. She had something on her finger while drinking her morning coffee.

Our hometown

Our trip to Utah was amazing! We spent the majority of our time with Stephen's family because I was able to stay an extra two weeks with mine after Stephen went back to the Island. His entire family was able to come visit which meant a lot of crazy fun and game nights. Sweet baby Kaylee was kind enough to bring a stomach bug all the way from Vegas with her to Utah. It hit quite a few family members. Stephen got knocked dead for one full day which was not fun at all. It was the first time I have ever seen him really sick. I felt so bad for him. The bug hit me a few days later and I stayed pretty sick for a few days. Then a few days after that I got a cold that lasted until I went back to the Island. There must be something about coming back to Utah. It just gets me sick and more sick.
After the stomach bug sickness had mostly passed all the guys spent an afternoon golfing and the girls got pedicures and went shopping! Stephen even got a couple haircuts while we were on break. His first haircut was just a trim but it didn't look the best afterwards so a couple days later he went in and had about 6 inches chopped off. He had been growing it for 9 months. I have to admit I had a love/hate relationship with the long hair and ended up being a little sad to see it go. Luckily Stephen is super attractive with short and long hair.
Like all of our trips home we end up fitting a lot in our schedule. We did so much I had to put our activities into separate posts. We caught up on movies that were in the theaters, had wonderful American food, went shopping, and did as much as we could with friends and family while trying to relax plenty. After sending Stephen off at the airport I headed to Orem to stay with one of my best friends Shae. I spent the night at her house and the next day we celebrated her birthday. We went to Chili's for lunch and then got a slice of chocolate cake to share from The Chocolate in Provo. I was able to play with her darling little baby girl Molly. It was so much fun being able to visit with her for the day. Then I headed back to Logan for the next week and a half. I was able to visit so many good friends: Trisha, Alison, Brikelle, and Brandon and Whitney. My parents and I had a fun time too. They were so funny and cute when they dropped me off at the airport. They watched me off and kept waving good bye until I went all the way through security and then up the escalator out of sight. I love my family so very much and was so grateful to be able to spend some extra time with them before heading back to the Island.

My first pedicure. I was pretty ticklish.

So were Stephen's sisters!

Peirce family pictures. Clay wasn't the happiest.

and didn't last long...

 Baby Kaylee

Peirce Sisters!

Spending some time with old amazing friends
after Stephen had headed back!

After 3 hours at the dentist and two fillings later!
Me attempting a smile. 

It's kind of a tradition now to have popcorn every night.

Happy Mother's Day to an amazing momma!

Missing my man but so grateful for Skype!

Davis Park

I was so sad to see Stephen go back to the Island without me. I have missed him so much! On his last day in America we just took it easy in the morning and relaxed. It was a beautiful day by the afternoon so we headed to the golf course so he could get one more round in before heading back. I'm not much of a golfer but I love driving the cart around and of course taking pictures of all the ducks. We had a perfect day together. After golf we went to Nielsons frozen custard and got a couple concretes. Definitely a new favorite place for me. We spent some time with Stephen's family in the backyard, then headed for Salt Lake. We ate dinner at the spaghetti factory and then headed to the airport. Stephen's flight was delayed an hour so we spent a little bit of time together before he headed through security. I had no idea how hard it was going to be letting him go without me. When he finally left I couldn't watch him go because I was going to start bawling right there in the airport. So I just headed for the car. He is so amazing. I'm glad to call him my husband and so excited to see him again in just a couple days!

Remember these...Little helicopters.

Enjoying a fire the night before Stephen heads back to Dominica

Missing my man.

My favorite place to be with Stephen

Stephen and I were lucky enough to get to the temple 4 times together this break. One thing we miss more than anything living in Dominica is not being able to go to the temple. One goal we have is to always live close to a temple. I hope after leaving Dominica we can keep that goal. It truly does make us better people and keeps our marriage so strong.

Pack the Park Pink

One of our favorite things we did during the break was go to a bee's game. We went to our first bee's game together while we were dating, then went to another the next summer after we were married. It has become one of our favorite traditions to do in the summertime. When we do go to a game we try to go on firework nights. This game was also themed pack the park pink in support of breast cancer research. Marilee, Colby, and the kids came with us. It was such a fun night! If I do say so myself Stephen looked pretty good in his pink shirt too.

He's such a great Uncle.