Saturday, August 31, 2013

7 months

Happy 7 months Fletch!!

you like to:
sit up
scoot
bear crawl
scream  sing
pull yourself up
put  EVERYTHING in your mouth
{especially if it's plastic}
brush your teeth -- both of them
roll around in your sleep
feel daddy's beard
eat bananas, apples, carrot, peas, avocado, beans, rice, paper, pears, and grapes
smile

we love you.

Visit from the Mellings!

The Melling family, our good friends that we met in Bonaire, who happen to be from Idaho, had an overnight layover in Curacao on their way back to the States and they got to stay with us! We were so excited to see them! When I had to go back to work after Fletch was born they were the ones that watched him during the day.
we love them.

let us talk about lettuce

After visiting Rocky Peak Gardens, which my family owns, this summer before we left for Curacao, I decided that it was about time I started my own garden. Green thumbs are hereditary, right?? 

My family has had a garden ever since I can remember. My childhood summer memories are filled with planting, weeding, harvesting, and EATING fresh fruits and vegetables. 
{yum}
 I secured a very small plot on campus for my garden.
 It's perfect for just starting out. 
  
So far I've planted tomatoes, lettuce, onions, and carrots. 

Me and my little helper boy will keep you updated on its progress. 

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Back in the Caribbean {...6 weeks later...}


We are back! And Fletcher Boy was an angel baby once again on the plane. I mean planes. SO blessed. We had three connecting flights and for every one he slept the whole time except for the last 30 mins. What a stud.

Well, Brandon and I started classes on July 17 and are already looking forward to the end of the semester… It’s not that bad though. We actually really like the school, the students, and the professors. The semesters are just really long—20 weeks—which is like 2 months longer than the semesters at BYUH. yikes.

Oh yeah, by the way, I’m the new Math Professor for the Pre Med students.
Professor Krout. Haha. Slight promotion from my last job of a bartender/waitress, eh? More on this later.

We came to Curacao not knowing where we were going to stay or how we were going to get anywhere. We also had no idea how we were going to survive. I didn’t have a job yet and wasn’t really sure where to start looking. Needless to say getting on the plane was a giant leap of faith.

When we got off the plane someone from the university was waiting for us and had arranged a place for us to stay for free while we got settled.
Place to stay and way to get there: check.
The next day was registration and while Brandon was getting registered one of the owners of the university approached me and asked me if I would be willing to teach Math to the Pre Med 1 and Pre Med 2 students on campus. The professor that was supposed to teach wasn’t able to make it last minute and they needed someone quick. They had looked me up on LinkedIn (yes, all of my BYUH business professors were right) and were impressed with my resume. I was hired on the spot within 12 hours of arriving in Curacao. So I teach two classes a day (4 hours), get paid twice as much as I did in Bonaire and Fletcher boy gets to stay with us on campus while Brandon and I are in class. HOW AWESOME IS THAT?! Also my classes are the exact time that Fletch naps. Quadruple bonus. I had been fasting and praying for weeks that I could find a job that would provide us with the income that we needed, but that I could also be a fulltime mom to Fletch. SO SO blessed.
 A way to survive and prayers answered: check.

Classes have been going really well for both of us. Brandon is studying super hard. I think it is hitting him that his ONE shot to pass the test that determines his FUTURE is in almost exactly one year. It’s a little nerve-wracking, but he is taking it one class, one day, at a time.

So far, we love Curacao. It is very different from Bonaire. It literally has 10 times as many people. It also has stoplights and crazy traffic circles and really high bridges. It has huge super markets, even one that is just like Costco, and the food is WAY cheaper. It is much more ‘Caribbean’ too. We hardly hear anyone speaking Dutch and there aren’t nearly as many Dutch people, which sadly also means not as much European chocolate. We still have iguanas and goats though, but hardly any donkeys or mosquitoes. (Thank goodness)

The place where the school is located is off the beaten path and not that close to downtown Willemstad, so we still get the same Laie/Bonaire feeling, which we love.

Church is 100% in Papamientu, so we both have to work on that, but the branch seems really nice and is 3 times as big as the one in Bonaire. Lots of new people to meet and friends to make. We have a beach party with the branch this Saturaday and we are excited!

I promise I will be better at keeping you updated with the Krouts in Curacao!

Monday, August 12, 2013

playing catch up


FINALLY!! My computer hasn’t been able to connect to the Internet since we have been here, which has been no fun, but now it is fixed! YAY!

Last time I posted was almost 3 months ago!
Whoops.
Here is a sweetened condensed (yum) version of our short summer.
Fletcher turned 3 months
And 4 months
And 5 months
We went camping
We went to the zoo
We went to the Oregon coast
We went boating
I made Brandon a “downtown abbey” breakfast for his first real fathers day
Fletch got to meet Grandparents, Great Grandparents, Aunties, Uncles, Granties, Gruncles, Cousins, and more Cousins for the first time!
We made a trip to Yellowstone
Went to the Krout family reunion
We helped Auntie Jay pick out her wedding dress
Learned about grasshoppers
Met up with some awesome friends
Took Family Photos
We loved every minute of it