Seth is 7

7! What a good day!! And we measured everyone last weekend because it was Isaac’s birthday and Seth hit growth spurt! 👍🏻 (still staying ahead Addi—at least for now) and as of last weekend I had Cannon by about the width of a pen mark. Maybe. So 5 days later I can confidently say he’s taller than me. 😉

But let’s go back to last weekend 

I went to the RS activity and I when I came home I pulled up to this: 

Happy birthday. 

But he got the kids to help him! Now that’s a happy birthday! 

He also went and got hay for his horses  Last year, Enzo went through one bale  and then a little bit later in the year part of another one. This year with those two other horses and they compete, afraid they’re not gonna get their share, they have already been through… I think 9 of those big round bales of hay!!! Well that’s with these last four Isaac just got. … And part of it it’s our fault for not just feeding them every day. We just leave it out and …they do a good job of turning it to manure! 

The priesthood holders around here had to be on the road about 3:30 to get down to their meeting on time. Remember those cupcakes I made last week…

I asked Isaac if he was surprised about the because I just wondered if I got caught but he said he was surprised and then Colt told me “Mom. he didn’t even eat one.” Which… I’m not really surprised… I told Colt  “I did it for you kids anyways” because that’s what him and Cannon wanted for treats. Isaac didn’t earn the “celebrater -hater” nickname for nuthin. But I get it-they were busy dishing up and serving people. (And Pres Vorkink told me they were good and that people loved them -even that one guy was so excited about the lemon ones he thought he might cry 😂, so good enough!) They brought tons of stuff home… Well, because with the cupcakes, I’d made enough stuff for double the treats we figured we needed. But it worked out good. We ended up taking a thing of cupcakes to the baptism that was Sunday.  The missionaries had asked if people would bring treats so having extras worked out great. 

Our friend Kim is the one that got baptized and Isaac got to do it! 

Oh wait! I moved on to  after Church on Sunday too quickly because I’ve got to talk about church!  High council Sunday was when we were in Puerto Rico But Isaac was assigned to speak just here in Kirksville in the other ward. So he just checked with them and arranged to do it last Sunday instead, and Tanner was his speaking buddy. But since it was just gonna be the two of them, he talked to Cannon into going with them and just give them the same talk he’d given two weeks ago cause he already had it written down… I don’t know how he got Cannon to do it. I heard they all did good but Tanner… Stole the show! Every single person I saw from the 2nd Ward told me what a great job he did! We had kind of talked through his talk a little bit while we are driving over to the cemetery (oh that’s one of the things we did after they went to their meeting) 

But we chatted about his topic and I told him he didn’t have to write everything down we could just make an outline. So when we got home we did and he prayed that night that he’d do a good job, he was definitely thinking about it that night, he woke up Sunday morning and he said “Mom. I think I’m gonna talk about Sandcastles, because if you leave them they get washed away no matter what but if you stay and keep building they’re awesome its  like our testimonies” I said “ok great, where do you wanna put it on the outline?” and so we put it in. Overall I’m kicking myself for not at least logging on and doing zoom! Isaac made a deal that he would bring those two who spoke with him home and so they didn’t have to stay and go to our sacrament meeting and they didn’t have to stay after for the baptism, but even though I wanted to hear them all speak, I didn’t feel like I could make everybody go to an extra sacrament meeting AND stay after for a baptism.  And I didn’t even think of Zoom. So this report is all second hand😏 but I guess Tanner got up and told everybody he was just gonna use an outline because eye contact was important and from then on he had a captive audience. He paused one time, pulled out his outline glanced at it, then went right back to preach’n.  People told me Cannon did good too. Cannon is the one that told me Tanner stole his thunder and then he said “he stole dad‘s thunder too” 🤣 the only thing we might need to work on is as soon as I saw him I told him about the people telling me how good he’d done and he said “I’ve already got 6 compliments!” …and he continued to count them!🤣🤣🤣 I think he told me 28 or 29 by time he left the church, but he said “maybe I shouldn’t have counted”… yeah maybe not bud…I don’t think he meant for it to be a pride thing. But it also makes me realize how important words of affirmation are to him. I can intentionally do better with that for him! 

Ok that plus the baptism wraps up Sunday…other than “normal” shenanigans. 

Monday after dinner I took Seth on a little shopping adventure. Yikes. That kid will shop (for any random thing need it or not) if you let him! 

Tuesday was anti-climatic but we were pumped when our alphabet cookie snacks spelled FREI

O

Wednesday was the petting zoo for Add—I thought she would love it. I didn’t want to go but figured I’d better since I always met the boys there when  they were in preschool. It was fascinating to see her in that setting, she was so shy! I was shocked. And my little animal lover didn’t want to pet anything! We did get this one picture with Brody (our old neighbor) on a horse) but that’s as close as she would get to anything. And she wouldn’t to anything in the activities section. 

The other day Isaac told me he wanted to sell the manlift and buy an all-terrain one to finish his building. I was all for it! That one is  just a pain! It has to be perfectly level or it doesn’t work —and he’s always have to use the excavator drag it to where he wants it. Apparently I shouldn’t have been so quick to agree because I came outside and he’d just decided to do this: 

And put it in the trailer. Fiasco. I end up trying to pushed it while it’s suspended for him. But than puts a twist in the chain that got tighter and tighter and it was more than I could hold. So he got down and held it and I jumped in an ran the excavator. Can that go on the list of things I never thought I’d do? That list is getting pretty long. 

Overall it didn’t work that well and he’s back to wanting to sell it. Good! I’m not going to tell him that though, he’ll figure it out. Eventually. 

And that gets us to today! Seth-a-roo is 7!!!

We started with waffles and presents.

Then Addi and I took some Italian ices too his class  (she got to go because it’s Friday and she doesn’t have school-his teacher let him go outside and have a little extra recess while they ate their snacks. Addi was in heaven, and Seth was loving “showing her the ropes” too) 

I don’t really get the 6,7 thing but…that’s what he wanted on his cake. 

And we wrapped up the big day (except they’re still up watching a movie…Isaacs zonked and I’m definitely in a hurry to wrap this up and get to bed.) but we wrapped up the night with 3 rounds of Hide’s seek OUTSIDE!!! It  was 70° today!!  Happy Birthday Seth!! The weather was awesome. Hide’s Seek…I don’t know whether to write I barely endured it or It was SO FUN…cuz  both are true. I’m glad we do it together as a family and I’m thankful our kids enjoy it so much! It’s not my favorite…but doing it with them is.

Bout it. 

Finally. 

Oh one more funny thing really quick Addi went to speech on Thursday and they played a game. In the car after school she was trying to tell Cannon and Colton and I. By the time we figured it out, we were cracking up  and Cannon said  “Well, we know why you go” 

We were guessing everything!..:but eventually we got it! 

Holy cow it is so late and I am so tired, but I have so much to blog so we’ll see what wins  out my stories or my fatigue. 

So if you read my post two weeks ago-which I purposely didn’t send out…) but if you got on and read it you could easily conclude I did NOT want to go on that vacation, not one little bit. 

But I stand corrected! We had so much fun!!  When we got back and the helper in Addi’s class asked if we’d ever been before and I said “yes 4 years ago when I was pregnant with Addi” it kind clicked for me. That was so stressful-I mean, we had “fun” that time, but it was awful, the only joy I found in that at all was in taking pictures and telling stories but that was a stressful time a stressful pregnancy…way too deep into the pregnancy to be traveling comfortably, just remembering that made it click why I dreaded this so much. 

But this time was different. We had a blast! Myself included. 

On Saturday, we went back to the close beach, the  one that we had been headed to the day we ended up doing surf lessons. The one that said it’s “not suitable for swimming” and there was signs with swimmers crossed out. I am a rule follower so  I didn’t think we should swim in it,  but I was completely out voted. And we did and ….it really was fun. 😬It reminded me of “pounders beach” in Hawaii just because the waves and the way they broke, they just kind of pounded straight down. I was hyper vigilant on safety alert because of the sign and we survived. 👍🏻

The worst thing that happened was, I got a text and the sub I had arranged for in primary had gotten sick and so it was an all out scramble because it was the next day and he was gonna do the guitar and our pianist was gone too anyways I think they survived—But I spent a lot of time on the phone that morning!! 

Saturday the boys were trying to catch the gecko that was in the house. Isaac told them it was as much its place as ours…hmm I might not agree, I was just glad it left when they tried to catch it. 

We also made a plan for a Walmart trip that evening (which ended up being memorable) and a return trip to Cano’s Bakery—It was pretty good! 

We went back to Punta Pozuela, the beach we surfed at because we were hoping to find Isaac’s hat… We didn’t!… but we had fun! And it was close to Walmart. 

Oh yeah, I almost forgot it was Valentines, which was crazy there. It reminded me of the middle school. There was just stuff everywhere. That is a big holiday to them. But at the beach, we found horses tied up? Lawn mowers? Who knows,  but when the kids went to pet them an old guy started yelling at us in Spanish-clearly he thought we should stay away! 

I got in and played with the kids more so I didn’t take as many pictures but Isaac found somebody to snag a family picture for us—I’ll take one of those anytime I can get it!

Then we went to Walmart, which was the weirdest Walmart ever,  and Isaac had kind of warned me about that. It wasn’t a supercenter, but it still had a few groceries, when we were trying to get food, it felt like very few groceries. But we got stuff to get through the rest of our trip and Isaac got in line while I was picking up a few extra things and then we waited in line forever! My  kids were just amazed at the 4 or 5 carts of food and the random things they were buying. It turned out these two were sailors who brought coal from Columbia,  they were buying food for a crew of 30. Finally they were done except they hadn’t paid—the guy with the money couldn't be found-he had gone off and filled another cart! Cannon was dying,  it was hilarious. And it was hilarious before they pulled out the $5? and $1 dollar bills to pay for $1030 worth of groceries!! 🤣 Isaac ended up helping him count it. He was like “it’s all right. I’m an accountant.” 🤣🤣

Cann had talked Isaac into local bbq for that night but it was closed so we stopped at the grocery store and bought a frozen pizza-and Addi got the ($18) watermelon we’d been promising her (why didn’t I buy the $4 one at Aldi before we left—whoops)  anyway Isaac grilled burgers -his own local bbq- that night. Which he did several times on that trip and  so many cheeseburgers with ketchup only might have been one of the highlight for Tanner. 

Sunday we went to church. We haven’t been to a Spanish ward since our honeymoon,  but it was so much closer than the English one,  and it was awesome. They were so friendly! (Hooked us up with valentine treats!) We sang battle hymn of the republic and I need the every hour. At the tail end of the mtg Isaac figured out how to get Google translate to work for us a little bit. 👍🏻 and I scored another family pic! Winning! 

Then since we were all church clothes’d up we went for another pic on the beach for me…

Addi (almost 4) is 1 in the last family pic I have hanging up so really I just gotta pic one of these and print the dang thing! I know Seth is not even 1 in the last pics we did with my side of the family and Grandma Ison loves up to date pics so—this doesn’t have to last forever! I just love that it’s up to date! 

To save some fights Seth Addi and I walked home. 

Where-for all their iguana hunting (they really only went 2 or 3 times) but one of the dogs Tanner befriended brought home a kill. 

Ha. 

Now for the disaster…(you knew it was coming right? 😉) Colt, our monkey lover, wanted to go to Monkey Island, which is a little island that you have to kayak to, it’s like a research island, where they imported these monkeys a hundred years ago or something. I was so proud of him for speaking up and saying what he wanted because so often he’ll just be like “No, it’s fine.”  But it was a little tricky-When were we going to be able to make this happen?  Ultimately, we decided Sunday evening was a good option we thought oh it’s just a little one on one time with Colt and Isaac, so we ended up folding down the seats on that minivan and shoving the kayaks on the inside and then  tied the back shut (I tried to take pictures, but they’re not great and since Google photo isn’t working for me… anyway just use your imagination on the minivan truck, Anyway off they went and I can’t remember if it was supposed to be 25 minutes or 40 minutes in the kayak they were trying to go when the sun wasn’t quite so bright but be able to get back before dark. Well, they ended up paddling into the wind, which I guess it was pretty hard, Colt wanted to give up, but they did get there and it was cool. Colt was glad they went. He loved seeing the monkeys!  You can’t get out of the kayak you can’t  Actually walk on the island you have to stay in the water, but they were able to shield themselves from the wind on the far side of the island. I think it was pretty cool for colt. He really liked the baby monkeys. Then they headed back and they weren’t against the wind anymore so that was nice…until Isaac’s kayak SUNK!! (I know I shouldn’t insert a little I told you so in here but when we went on our little kayak date last Friday night, I told  him it looked like his was sunk down pretty low in the water so I did tell him so! But he told me it wasn’t taking on water so I just went with it, for his sake Maybe he should wish I’d speak up a little more. We knew the one that I was in had a hole in it so that was part of the Walmart trip as we bought some epoxy for it and he patched it up and it worked just fine. But anyways, he ended up having to push that kayak. I don’t really understand it why it was a push instead of a pull or whatever but it was a good thing he had a life jacket because he was dragging the kayak back. By the end, he finally gave Colton his paddle And then at the very end then Colt  to tow him a little bit…it was a bit of a fiasco. I guess there were lots of people fishing off the dock that was close. He said it was definitely the swim of shame.😬Once it was dark and then really dark, I called but he didn’t answer. I text him, sane. Finally I get a text back that said battery low on our way and I guess they sent that and then his phone died almost immediately after, so then they had to navigate their way back with no GPS which  we’re spoiled these days, thats  tough to do! But they made it! 

No pics—and can you imagine if Isaac had taken his phone 😳 I am so thankful there’s no pics. 

That disaster was only rivaled by the next morning‘s disaster because Isaac wanted to go snorkeling on this little island that you ride a ferry to. Well, way back when he bought the Plane tickets he wanted to buy these Ferry tickets, but you couldn’t that far out, Obviously, it got enough closer that you could’ve bought, but we didn’t. Isaac talked to the guy who had done the surfing lessons, about this ferry ride, and the app he couldn’t get to work,  and the tickets that sell out often and the little island and what you could do over there and bla bla bla but he said “oh yeah just take the early ferry and you’ll be fine” so that was our plan!  But the early ferry was 6:00 in the morning and you were supposed to be there an hour early and it was an hour and 10 minute drive for us so that meant we should’ve been on the road at 3:50. Knowing there was no way that was gonna happen we did get up at 4:00 and I think we pulled away at 4:25, Which shortly after we turned around for Isaac’s phone, We finally get over there and we pull up at 5:40 and Isaac says yeah we got time. It’s a 6:00 ferry. He parks in the 10 minute parking and goes to see about tickets.. Online it said they stop boarding 10 minutes before departure time so this is not looking good…But there is a 7:00 ferry So we’re all a little annoyed that we’re up that early but we think it’s gonna be fine. Well, finally, Isaac comes Back and says well, we can get tickets so we can get over there but we can’t get back. 😏 So now we’re just stuck An hour and 10 minute drive from the apartment nothing’s open. Everyone except for Isaac just wants to give up and drive back home. It was a nightmare, while he Googled  and called who knows how many places about snorkeling excursions. 

oh and Tried to go to this beach, but the entrance to it was gated and him trying to talk to the guy in Spanish using Google translate. We could’ve backed down that driveway 17 times in the time he sat there and tried to talk to that guy….in the end we did back down it. 

Ultimately, we ended up just renting some snorkeling gear from a place that opened…maybe at 9:00—it was a long wait. But we …(Hid from the rain, climbed trees and) snorkeled! 

I was glad I had packed the goggles and stuff in our carry-on bag —

Then we Napped! (Mostly on the drive) 

And that evening went back to California (pounders) beach for one last hurrah. 

Isaac zoomed into his work meeting from the beach (Didn’t have the camera on😉) But it also took the whole time so he didn’t really get to play. 😔

They finally got some local barbecue—And that was about it! 

Tuesday our plan had been the temple but we should’ve got on sooner because it was only open Thursday-Saturday so by time we checked Sat night we were sunk. So we just cleaned up didn’t checkout until noon then headed toward the airport but we needed to kill a couple hours so Isaac found a (real) Walmart and told the kids they could get one thing. He totally thought they’d pick a travel snack but he ended up buying 2 Puerto Rico shirts (I like them and we’ll use them at the lake) a stuffed animal and 2 bags of suckers…🤷🏻‍♀️

We parked in the shade and found some random fruit, a lady told us it was edible…maybe not. 

We swung by the temple for a pic (kindof a nightmare but whatever) and then to the airport and home! 

We rolled in about 2:30 Wed morning—and everyone went to school that day! 

I “taught” my t-shirt tricks at YM/YW that night. The kids are supposed to be designing their own shirt with the youth theme on it. 

And by Thursday I think we took a deep breath! We showed our faces at the JustServe event…

And today, Isaac left and I started baking. He volunteered to take treats to the stake priesthood mtg tomorrow…and I did make 130 or so cookies tonight and a big pan of brownies for him to take, but what he doesn’t know (unless he opened the freezer-I’m hoping not) is that I also make 130 cupcakes today that I’ve coordinated with Pres Vorkink and they are just going to show up  down there…because when you  volunteer to bring treats on your birthday—I think cupcakes are in order! 🧁🧁🎉

But I’m baked out! 

Seth birthdays is next week—😬

Oh yeah and Colt got student of the week!

Puerto Rico round 2

Pic overload—coming right up!! But remember it’s really the only reason I come on vacation—which leading up to this one😳 I need to seriously consider skipping out …but then I would miss out on the pics. 

But,  Oh my! —looking back at the pics I almost forgot—these guys earned their vacation. 😂

Saturday we put the header up for the door on Isaac’s building. 

And that sucker was a beast, and it was light outside when I took these pics but…it was well past dark when we got done!! 

I also have pics from Kamden’s sisters birthday party and normal outside stick playing but on a pic overload post-they’re not making the cut! 

Monday Isaac installed a float valve to our animals will have water. (Praying it’s working) 

And Tuesday we were off! 

But if that’s all I wrote you might think it was smooth sailing!

…not exactly

Here’s a few of the disasters—remember I can’t make this stuff up 😉

 -we were Leaving at 10…the plan was to get a good late lunch before we hit the airport—we left at 11 and grabbed little ceasars in Hannibal that none of the kids wanted and we bribed them with a little Twix to at least eat one piece (everyone had snacks in their backpacks but Isaac put them up with the carryons so nobody had access to their snacks until Orlando because the couldn’t even reach to get them down) 

-Isaac needed to switch his phone plan so he’d have service on PR, he waited until the day of…then his phone wouldn’t work! I admit it was an easy fix, turn it off then back on, but still!! It just added to the chaos to have his phone not work for an hour or so. 

-the StL airport was so slick!!! But we didn’t know it would be so since we were checking a bag (all to bring the pellet gun so they could hunt iguanas but hey it provided a lot more space so I was happy) but since we were checking the bag and running behind I had to be the one to go park the car, it worked out fine just stressful and Addi had fallen asleep so then I’m trying to get her-her stuff, my stuff, all the pizza I didn’t want to leave in the car for a week and try to catch the shuttle. Again fine-just stressful. 

-the best? cutest? funniest? was when we walked off the plane in Orlando and into the airport Addi said “I think we came’d to the same place.” It was hilarious. 

-But we landed in San Juan  at 12:30 am (only 10:30 Missouri time) but by time we got the rental car and McDonalds (a whole separate disaster) -they were starving by then loads of snacks or not- but the kids were so tired, fighting, mean,  unbearable. Isaac says “if you can’t be nice we can’t bring you” even Colt, nice cooperative Colt says “I don’t want to come”

By time got to our place on the other side of the island it was 3:30. Ug! 

Isaac ordering McDs 🤣🤣🤣 it’s like he thinks if he talks louder, nods and smiles more, they’ll understand English. He says “Large LARGE” the boys were giggling then cracking up. Then their system went down so he Google free and tried “gratis?” Nope. 

But the good news is we made it (Seriously the roosters were going at it before we ever went to bed) 

….and we’ve been having fun. 

Our Airbnb is right on the ocean…

But I would not rent this place again. We have the mini beach pictured above but we have to drive everywhere. The kitchen is not exactly functional (for example there were 2 spoons), the laundry is outside…so the morning it was raining-well luckily it’s stopped and probably my biggest complaint is the authentic experience we’re having with the solar powered water heater…we’ve had a few too many cold showers. But overall good times great family memories. Isaac is just dang fun on vacation! It’s really too bad I don’t like it more… 

Anyway why are the dogs Tanners favorite part?  (They are everywhere…we’re going with this one being the neighbors🤞🏻) I don’t get a smile like that for anything else!

Tanners top memory or request from last time or whatever was cutting up a coconut again so we were on a mission…with our machete. 

Success! Seth loves the coconuts too! And he wants lots of pictures to make a movie to show his class. We’ll see, but I can probably make that happen. 

They shot st an iguana…but then came home and sited in the pellet gun. 

…I’ll keep ya posted😉

Two seconds before this Isaac said “they know how to stay out of the water” we weren’t swimming this time—just checking it out, Addi’s in pants! (Her choice) and everyone was showered off. Oh well. 

Isaac’s reaction…classic! 

We went to a closer beach that night. 

With the boogie board Isaac bought-but none of the pics were great because it was dark…the kids had fun though! 

Today we were headed to play at a beach when the surf lessons guy called Isaac back. 

We flipped around and threw our stay out of the sun in the worst part of the day plans out the window.

It was spendy (by my standards anyway) but I think it was worth it…and next time we they’ll know how to do it and we can just buy a surf board for a fraction of the cost. 😊

Cann and Colt picked it right up and did awesome! 

Tan was so close and so mad he can’t do everything Cannon can do. 

We lost Isaac’s hat and he has the sunburn to prove it. Actually we’re all pretty toasted. 

Tanner did finally get up right before we left. Phew! 

The hat hunters…we might go back to that beach tomorrow. 

A treat from a local bakery on the way back. 😋

We’ve been playing hide and seek for Addi to finish off the days 

And tonight Isaac and I snuck out on a little Kayak ride date. 

I’ll wrap it up next week. 

We’ll try to survive the sunburns and bug bites—yikes the gnats and mosquitoes are about to pack us off!