Thanksgiving Already??

We were lucky enough to have three Thanksgiving dinners this week, but none of them were on Thursday. In fact, on Thursday we ate tacos. steak tacos. 

Our first Thanksgiving was on Monday night with the Elders and the Senior Missionaries. It was delicious.

Our second Thanksgiving was with our Branch and that was on Friday night. Also very delicious.

Our third Thanksgiving was on Saturday with some friends from Brandon's class. Again, very, super delicious. 

Funny thing is we brought mashed potatoes to all three of them and Brandon made them every time. 

Love that guy.

To me the best part of Thanksgiving is the people. We sure missed our families, but we love spending Thanksgiving with our "family" here. 

In other news...

I got my sedula and my health insurance!! I am so excited! I am an official resident of Bonaire. 

Weird. Crazy. Awesome. 

Work was super crazy this week. We had cruise ships come in on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Holy crap we were running around like crazy!

Also--29 weeks. I still get cat calls on my walk home from work and random people that I don't even know try to rub my belly. The joys of pregnancy.

Embrace The Dutch (and spanish)

Awesome things that happened this week:

We got mail.

I have the coolest friend ever. Love her to death and miss her sweet family! Thanks LeeYen!! 

The cool thing is she is having a baby girl a couple of weeks before Fletcher gets here. I have already planned the marriage. 

It was Pilar's Birthday.

One of my favorite people in the Branch had her birthday last Monday. She invited everyone over to her house and we had a quick FHE lesson on Faith and then Brandon had his first experience with Frikendel. Frikendel is like a Dutch hotdog that is deep fried, that has even more mysterious ingredients than an american hot dog. yikes. people order it at work all of the time and I had tasted it before. Brandon wasn't too impressed. Then we had cake, which was my favorite part. I love our branch here and how we are like one big family.

Paul Allen

So Paul Allen, the cofounder of Microsoft is in town. Brandon got a personal tour of his amazing yacht. He got past the guard and asked some of the staff members if they would show them around and they did. How cool is that?  He is selling it, if anyone is interested. $160 Million. NBD.

I had a Doctors--Midwife's-- Appointment

I finally got an appointment with my midwife! I really like her a lot. She is very kind and very calm. Everything is looking great and Fletch just keeps growing and growing. He is getting stronger too and loves showing it through kicks and punches. He has the hiccups a lot too. My midwife, Dr. Lont, told me that I have to stop running. She wants to make sure that I maintain the structural integrity of my pelvic muscles. That sounds good to me. She said I should still exercise, just not run. Time to get creative.

We gave Discurso's in Church.

Well Brandon and I gave talks in church, in Spanish! I was kind of nervous, but everything went great. We invited a bunch of people from Brandon's class and they all showed up! So cool. I talked about how we should live our lives in order to qualify for the most blessings and Brandon talked about the Restoration and then tied that back receiving blessing from keeping the commandments, so our went together pretty well. If you want an english or spanish version of our talks, comment or email me and I'll send it to you.

We got Dutch Bakeried.

Sometimes when you are pregnant and living in the Caribbean, you just need to go to the Dutch bakery and get a delicious treat. The funny thing is, Brandon chose the cookie and I chose the cream puff, but after we each took a bite of our own, we switched. 

Pigs and things

This week flew by, but dragged at the same time.

I am getting bigger and more uncomfortable. Fletcher is moving around all. of. the. time. But mostly at night. He is a night owl just like his daddy. Fletch has found a way to kick my bladder, punch my stomach, and head butt my ribs all at the same time. I'm pretty sure he is at a diagonal spread eagle. Just less than 13 weeks left....

We saw the scariest, hairiest wild pig. He seemed pretty nice though.

We feed the Elders every Monday and last time Brandon said that I didn't make enough food, so this week we are going to FEED the missionaries. The beginnings of chili and rice...

We got these giant cans at a new secret hidden store that we found-- a Bonairian Costco/Cash and Carry. Bulk is back baby. 

My classes for my MBA are going good so far. I write A LOT of research papers. Between my two classes, it averages to one 5-7 page research paper every week, but I am more than half way done!

Even though writing is my least favorite thing, I'm still kicking butt and taking names.

Brandon is still doing great in school. He is learning a lot and tutoring a lot. We got a desk from our landlord this weekend. Brandon is so excited. Studying at home has been miserable for him lately, but after we got this desk, he told me that he can't wait to study. Is this really my husband?!

Also here is a great example of how Brandon loves to push my buttons. I like things even and in order. Even amount of cookies, squares cut in straight lines, etc. Here is how Brandon left the brownies when I was in the other room.

He thinks he is so funny.

Bonaire Birthday

Yep. It was my birthday on November 1st. 23. Crazy.

I love my birthday, especially this birthday, because for the first time in four years I'm not in the middle of the cross country season, so I was unlimited in my sugar intake. 

Also I'm pregnant, so eating two pieces of cake, or the whole thing, is totally acceptable. 

On the morning of my birthday Brandon gave me some presents. He is so sweet. 

He found some candy corn for me and I totally ate it for breakfast. delicious. 

Brandon also snuck away from school and surprised me at work with flowers and candy. So sad I forgot to take a picture, but he has given me flowers on my birthday every year since we got married. He is the best.

After work he took me to a restaurant called Eddy's. Free meal on your birthday!! awesome.

He got the most giant hamburger I have ever seen. I have also never seen someone eat something so big so fast!

The day after my birthday our favorite senior missionary couple had us over for another birthday dinner and birthday cake. I even got to blow out candles. They are too good to us. Love them so much.

So many candles.

A sweet sister in our Branch remembered my birthday and have me this necklace and earrings. She is seriously so sweet.

Also Brandon found an iguana in our hallway. gross. It better not sneak into my toilet...

Aaaand I found out that they don't even offer epidurals at the hospital here. I wasn't planning on getting one, but not having the option at all makes me a little nervous.