Today is officially our due date. Two weeks ago while paying the bills I saw a chiwawa running around the post office parking lot. I almost ran him over. He was darting under cars. I jumped out of my car and chased him around behind the post office while he ran under one post office vehicle to another. I coaxed him with a yogurt lid. I looked ridiculous. 9.5 months pregnant crouching on the ground trying to catch him. In all the excitement, I left my car door open. After a while, I saw him run to my car, so I ran over and looked under it. Nothing. Then I looked in the car. There he was sitting in the back seat. I knew he secretly wanted my help. I hurried and shut the door. He rode on top of the baby all the way to the humane society.

That was on Monday. On Thursday, the Ides of March, I went to work. My back hurt. I went home for a break. I decided to take Tuk for a walk to see if it would be better. We hiked up behind our house. Then my water broke. I called Todd, he was out in the field. He made it to the hospital an hour later. I sent him out again to get berries and gum for our 24-labor time. He almost missed the whole thing. Two hours later, we had this little guy...

I suppose we are all continuously evolving. This is one way Todd evolves.

This is moments after we got engaged.

This is five years later. I wonder how much we have evolved.

We went to some hotsprings for our 5 year anniversary. There was a group of barely post-tween girls there. They were on a cheer squad and cheered a lot. I was happy to get in the showers away from them. Suddenly I was surrounded by two of them in the shower stalls on both sides of me. They were doing fake Brittish accents to fool us.

Fairly Dim One: "I am so happy we are on this trip to America!"

A Little Bit Smarter One: "Yeah!"

Fairly Dim One: "Yes, because we are not from America, we are from Brittish!"

A Little Bit Smarter One: "We are not from Brittish! We SPEAK Brittish!"

Fairly Dim One: "Yes, and I am so happy we are from Brittish. Americans are so stupid!"

Ah, yes. A comforting conclusion.

I wonder what they will evolve to....

I wanted to wish everyone a happy Fall Equinox. (And, Happy Birthday Creed!) Fall is such a nostalgic time of year for me-- so in order to enjoy the current memories we are making, I want to record what we are doing during this global transition to Fall...well, in the Northern Hemisphere...

Todd is in Moab tending the chickens and Tuk and making salsa! And I am at school. Today I had Imaginal Psychology and Cultural Mores and Values. It was a foggy day and I took a walk after class through the neighborhoods of Carpinteria under the eerie fall moon. I feel like that was fitting.

This was two falls ago.

Last Fall we moved to Moab.

Speaking of memories, today I remembered my earliest memory. I was at the rec center with my mom's family. I was playing on the ball court. There was a loft above it. My uncles were throwing balls down. A basketball hit me in the face. I was crying and my dad picked me up. I remember they were apologizing and my dad said it was fine. I have spent years working through that complex. Just kidding. It was fine.

We have come to a major landmark in our lives. We can no longer just leave the house whenever we want. So lately we have been getting house-sitters or trailer tenders to watch the chickens and sometimes Tuk when we go out of town. It is a really nice arrangement. They are kids that work with Todd seasonally and camp the whole time they are here. So they are happy to stay in a "house" and take a shower and we feel better about leaving. So this last weekend 3 kids stayed over while we went on West Water. We had this card on the fridge. My mom sent it to Todd for his birthday. It was a picture we took of him last fall when we extracted the hive. Just kidding. It is actually a random man.

When we got back one of the trailer tenders said, "Dude, I love that picture of you on the fridge with those bees!"

It is a neat picture. And todd does love bees. And by looking at this up-close beard picture you might see the "bee-"rded resemblance. I love it. We didn't correct him.

Not mine.

Nope, no. Not mine.

That mother clucker, did she say it was mine?

"Beats" me.

I did this project for class on the trickster:

n.

1.One that swindles or plays tricks.

2.often Trickster A mischievous or roguish figure in myth or folklore, often an animal, who typically makes up for physical weakness with cunning and subversive humor.

I think Timothy Sexton can say it much better than I can:

"Jung's archetypes are often confused with being symbolic figures, but that is not quite an accurate description. Archetypes are rather closer to being a social tendency that has its foundation in the biological construct of humanity; this tendency then goes on to influence the formation of symbolic representations. The archetypes function at the psychological level of the unconscious but not in the Freudian sense. Jung had a theory known as the "collective unconscious" that is shared by the entire human race, regardless of race, ethnicity or even geographical boundaries.

Jung's archetype of the Trickster is not simply a clown. The Trickster archetype is a rebel who refuses to conform to societal expectations. But he is not a rebel without a cause; the Trickster's resistance to conformity is based on challenging authority, not on simplistic adornments; he will not be seen sporting tattoos or piercings or corporate T-shirts flashing slogans. In fact, the Trickster may very well appear to be inconsequential on the outside... In fact, it takes a fair amount of intellectual engagement to penetrate to his wisdom which is tied up in a succession of riddles, puns, and puzzles.(King Lear).http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1074986/carl_jungs_trickster_archetype_and_pg2.html?cat=37

When I was little, I had a bird. She hung from a cage in the middle of my room. One night I thought I would leave my window open. It was winter. I was a really weird little girl and I remember thinking.."I will be remembered as The Girl Who Sleeps in the Winter With Her Window Open." I think I had just watched 'Dancing With Wolves' and was thinking of Wind in his Hair. In the morning I found my bird with her feathers puffed up in the corner of her cage. My sister Mandi put her on the heater to bring her back to life. It didn't work. Now I am remembered as the idiot sister who left the window open in the winter and killed our pet bird--of about 2 weeks.

This Christmas Aubri gave me a bird as a surprise for Christmas! Misti named him Pierre. He was a good little guy. He got sick about 10 days ago. We had been diligently nursing him to health. Keeping him under warm lights, feeding him with a dropper. I finally decided to take him to the vet. They gave him a shot of fluids. He looked real bad. They rushed him back to get him on "oxygen," then sadly walked out and said "he's gone."

So I invited over his best friends. We lit candles and wrapped him up and put him in a box.

Then we paraded out to the garden and dug a little grave while his favorite song was playing.

Brian said, "fly with the angels now, Pierre." And we put some flowers on his grave.We will miss him. He was sweet.

its hard to be anonymous in a place like moab. one thing i miss about salt lake is how easy it is too hide. being seen by default isn't totally bad, i'm just not used to having several connections with one person. usually it goes.."oh that's john that works there, or at my work, or in my class" but here it is... "oh that's john that works there AND at my work, AND is my neighbor AND is at every event in moab..." i am alarmed when i call someone and realize that i already know them..from several different things. it's like 7 steps to kevin bacon or whatever that game is called. so despite the fact that we never even go out on the town or hang out with anyone besides family, we are still somehow getting wrapped up in all the people and events in town. such as:

Puttin' on the Ritz. This is annual fundraiser my work puts on. Last year we were in town when Brian and Alina went to it... and this year we put it on. I would have never imagined that. Bri and Alina helped us do a bunch of things for it...

and as a trade of volunteer time, the week before that we helped Alina with the decoratoins for the WabiSabi fasion bizarre. they were both fun and i'm glad we could help out, but i think i am going to have to give up my addiction to being anonymous. hence the title of my new AA group, anonymers anonymous. i know, it's a bad joke. but thanks for humoring me.

First, this one is new! Mandi had her first baby girl. Brynley Eve.

Todd has started making homemade artisan bread, otherwise known as partisan bread. It is awesome. And very pretty.

This is the Harry Reid loaf. Seemingly light and palatable, yet laden with flax.

This is Tuk. (this is for you ty!) Our good friend Gilbert gave him to us for Christmas! We got a little bird from my sister too! But we haven't brought him down yet. One pet at a time.

And we are home! It is good to be back after our long trip.

Sad to say it, but we will miss the closet. or at least the people outside of it. we've grown quite fond of all of them.

we are moving into a trailer. yes, that is fake brick with wood paneling underneath. and a cushioned counter and cushioned base boards. and soon chickens in the back yard. and there will soon be carpet on the porch. and there is a SPARE bedroom! we can't wait to have you come visit! i will make you breakfast if you make the best trailer trash joke.

just kidding. i know that no one really cares if i post or not. it's mostly for my own musings. but i have been thinking lately of the weird places i have lived since i moved out of my parents house. not the locations necessarily, but the actual living quarters. i lived in an unfinished cabin with annie for a while. it was about 6 weeks before we had water, a toilet, electricity. and it was on a gold dredge as part of the tour. another time i lived in a garage with sara. we fit some bunk beds in there. but i have been particularly been thinking about the places i have lived with todd in the last few years since we have been married. we've lived in both fun and annoying places. for instance: we've had 2 midget showers. but i will let the video illustrate.

i accidently put it on twice. but i can't get one off. o well.

i love that song. it reminds me of when me and todd first started dating. and i was wearing that double breasted corduroy jacket. and he was wearing that insulated levi jacket of his grandpa's.

Well the buzz is, we did it. We got honey from V's Bees. (My mom's bee hive).

We both got stung. But honey, it was worth it.

Now we know more about bees. My dad stayed up with us all night extracting the honey.

This is me moments before I got chased by an angry bee. I naturally started running laps around the yard trying to out run it. Mikey was standing by laughing, until he breathed in the bee and it stung his tongue. He ran towards me screaming. I fell over laughing but got up to pull the stinger out.

Todd is turning out to bee quite the keeper.

Devil Doll widget by 6L & Daxii

Whatcha know about me?? What, what cha know about me??

Somebody has stolen my bike. Or maybe they borrowed it. Because if they knew how much this bike means to me, I am sure they will be returning it shortly.

I have heard of people getting their bikes stolen.

I found this bike in a garage in Logan. The owner of the house said I could have it. A couple weeks later we found a clone of it at a used bike store that was todd's size. Yes, by some magic todd and i had twinner schwinns. We pimped our rides. And now someone has stolen my bike. I am speechless, "spoke"-less.

Going around town with out that bike is like going around with my shirt off. Or leg off. It is awkward and sad. I went everywhere on that little guy, commuting, shopping, errand running, recreating. It makes me want to do this:

I would have rather they stole my car. I hope the proceeds are feeding a family of seven living in a dingy cellar. I can see no other reason why someone would take it. Maybe if we all work together and shop at a lot of pawn shops, we can find it. Like Elizabeth Smart. (I am not comparing the losses.)

The other day we were at Carlo's Kitchen in Rose park when two missionaries came in. I was feeling bad for them because, well pretty much just because they are missionaries and have to wear the same clothes everyday, have to be with weird companions sometimes, always have to get up early... so I gave them a five dollar bill to buy a cookie. Assuming that is how they would spend it because that's what I would do. It was consequently the last of my cash. The next day was crazy and I stopped at the "supermercado" to get something to eat. I was having a really bad day, and thought this would be the ticket. I had to walk thru one of those rotating metal things that they have at Lagoon for line management to get in the store. After a long and painful process of me trying in spanish to order tacos, then switching to a burrito I miraculously got my food and was so happy. I reached to pay, but remembered my check card had expired. Then I looked for some cash, but the missionaries had it. So I wrote out a check. The girl looked at me weird for a while. Then she got her manager. There was quite a few bystanders watching us carefully. They examined the check and me for a while and then said 'sorry' and reached over and took my burrito out of my hands. I turned to leave shamefully and then I remembered the missionaries...I was sure she would say, "oh just take the burrito!"... because she would be inspired. Then in real life she said, "Miss!" and I joyfully turned around to go back and get my burrito. But instead she just handed me my invalid check.And then I got stuck in the rotating metal thing. I could feel the pitiful looks and sighs people were giving me. Then I sat in my car and had a short cry... and who should I see ride by on their bikes a small moment later? The missionaries. So I guess that's how it turns out sometimes, but in a way we still came full circle.

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

It takes a second to figure out why I posted this, but keep watching...

Hello Humans

I believe I have become a bad blogger. This weekend is our fund raiser for utah federation for youth. There is a high chance it will be really ghetto.. but you are all invited.

$25 for dinner

$35 to be in the pool tournament. And you still get dinner.

Don't worry, you don't have to come or anything. I just couldn't feel like a good employee if I didn't get the word out. But it is for a good cause...

We went to the tree hugger's ball. It was great. There was a raffle. I had twelve quarters and bought 3 tickets. There was a particular prize i wanted so much. For some reason, the last two raffles I have been to, someone has given me their tickets when they had to leave early. I was standing on the stairs when a couple came by

and handed me a stack of tickets and wished me good luck. I could feel the good karma radiating from the tickets, and I knew they would produce me my particular prize. Just before the raffle, the thought came to me that I should share the tickets with the people with me. It seemed the right thing to do. To pass along the generosity and good energy. But the very power that seized Smeagle's heart came over me. My hands began to sweat and clutched the tickets with a choking greed. But I wouldn't be had. I wouldn't be the weak link that broke this chain of the goodness of mankind. So I split up the tickets among us, and kept my good faith that if it was meant to be, I would still go home with my prize. The raffle proceeded. I sat anxiously coming to terms with the idea of watching my prize walk away with another person who I had given the golden ticket to. I stared down at the fateful numbers as one by one they read them off. They read my numbers! I ran down, tripping to see what I won. Then sheepishly walked back trying to go unnoticed when the announcer told me i was mistaken. Then again. They read my numbers. I got up to claim my reward, but sat back. I I was too embarrassed to be wrong again. But then I saw it. The particular prize. He held it up. Read the numbers again. I leapt from my seat. Ran down the stairs. Then I walked away, rocking my particular prize with amazement in my arms. So I would like to take this time to thank the two ladies that gave me their raffle tickets without hesitation. I hope the universe circles the good karma back around to you and that I always find the courage to pass it along!

As for the pictures, my brothers have both found new talents! Trev as a photographer, and Mike a model! I am so darn proud! These were my favorites.

but it's pretty late. and mostly i just keep getting so sick of the pictures on our blog that i want to update. there is only so much "watch dog" you can take.

i think everyone should know just a couple things, then i will blog what i really have to say later.

first of all we met a girl who saved a butterfly by giving it mouth to mouth. just visualize that. use it as your meditation mantra. "in, out. in out." and picture it flying away with all your troubles...

i took the kids from school skiing. it was a dream. i can't wait to get pictures.

the tree hugger ball is coming up for todd's work. it is on the 27th if anyone wants to go. if you come, i'll talk todd into keeping the chops.

Todd told me his co-worker is starting a watch dog for the police to keep an eye on their inappropriate use of violence. Would you call this a paradox, ironic, or a simple oxymoron?

(a watching dog)

(a "watch" dog)

There is a "watch dog" at the library. Or maybe a library police? If you have chocolate milk on the side of your desk, he will stand up from his desk which is right next to yours and yell at you. He will worn you that it will only take a small momentary dash to knock it on the floor and cause "everyone in the library ALOT of TROUBLE!" Believe me, he's "been there before!" And he will continue to warn you as he sits down. And for a while after that. But don't worry, it won't be that awkward. Because he carefully talks as loud as he can so other people will look.

We like to "watch" the "dogs" at the dog park. Some people are normal, most are not. The dogs are usually normal. I see uncomfortable, forced chats among dog owners. Todd saw an old couple put their dog into a stroller after it played.

Now let us not forget to:

("Watch") (DAWG!)

Could we ask for a better "watch dog"? Thank you bounty hunter!

well heck. we haven't blogged in so darn long. it's hard when you see people and you wonder what on earth they could possibly care about you blogging when they see you all the time. or see you enough. but i will just give you a few quick updates:

-todd started a new job. it is an americore position at a non profit called tree utah. it is cool. he is helping to plant trees, coordinate volunteers, and work at the U in an environmental class.

-Christmas was fun.

-We went to Hawaii. It was great. i don't have pictures yet, but when i do, i'll post some. So here is one from when we went last time. Todd mostly surfed. I tried but I got cold and wasn't very good. Todd wore his Obama shirt the whole time in order to provoke my uncles, cousins, brother, dad, and grandpa. it was a great success. and i skydived. so did some of my family like aubri, jared, and trev. it was neat.

-Everyone is having a birthday! Happy birthday Aubs, Ty, Jared, Alina, Star, Faith and baby EV!!

-I went with sar to a meditation this week, and i loved it! everyone should come. my favorite part was when we had sharing time and someone would say their name..like "i am will." and everyone would say..."will" "will"

-Today I was in an assembly at East High modeling African clothes with the African kids I work with. If you are wondering if that is normal, it is not.

Well, it happened. and we didn't die. which is what i thought might happen. it was my first and todd's third.

this is around mile 22. notice i am staggering in the background. we had some helpful encouragement at this point. thanks guys! todd's family and jez and sara kept us going. unfortunately my family couldn't make it. my mom was making crafts with my sister in tooele for super saturday. i was hoping they would have a hand painted "good job" at the finish line, but maybe next year.

jez titled this picture "pumping up the jam." that was all i could muster.

now this is fun. this picture and the one below it is a little contrast between todd's last marathon and this one. creepishly you can hardly tell todd is the same person. he has just changed so darn much.

and the theatrical finish. not todd's best marathon time, but i think the greatest accomplishment is that he somehow stayed with me the entire race. overall it was a great time. i was expecting it to be a little more dramatic, like more runner's trotting and what not. we had a few classic annoying people yelling out motivational one liners like "who owns this marathon?? the people in bed? no we do!" it reminded me of when i worked at wendy's and our manager would yell out while flipping hamburgers.. "Quality is my speed limit!" so. actually we were surprisingly happy the whole time. i kept thinking that at some point i would just wish it was over. that came around about mile 24, but for the most part there was no where else i could think of that i would rather be. i just wanted to experience every step of it. so for all of you who are considering one, if i can do it, so can you. and to all of you who were my inspiration, thanks! it was awesome!

Just todd looking out his office window. Another hard day of work. ( i bet that is a fun work joke that circulates around these kinds of jobs and just never gets old...)

a strange thing occurred on saturday. my little sister aubri was signed up to do a triathlon but found out she had a cross country meet the same day. so she called and asked if i would take her place. the night before i decided what the heck and decided to do it. i didn't want anyone to know who i was at the meet in case i was really bad. i drove sara's car, wore todd's helmet, and raced under the alias of aubri mcswain. if any of you ever decide to tri one, practice swimming.

well, it has been a long while. maybe for the better. but i was thinking yesterday as i rode my bike what a different planet it was from a bikes view versus a cars. i really started riding a bike a lot my last year in college when i totaled my car (the spirit) on the way home from logan. that day stands out so vivid in my head... mare driving by in shock while i stood by the concrete wall on the high way, reaching out to touch the spirit one last time before it got towed but just missing it as they pulled it away, taking all the costumes out of the back at the dump yard(the elf ears, the mexican dress). and suddenly my college experience and my relationship with logan changed. todd lent me team fuji, a bike creed had given him. i rode that bike everywhere. i learned things about logan i had never noticed before. every hill and road had more meaning. the road in front of old main hill, the steep one down to the island, the distance between 2nd and 3rd dam, it all meant more. i planned around riding my bike, choosing stores and banks that were closer. i learned to carry snow cones and italian sodas while talking on the phone. it was great. one thing i learned was how much more personal the world is from a bikes view. i remember riding team fuj to school one cold day and seeing a cigarette still burning orange and smoking on the road. it was so personal and nostalgic. and now that we have pulled out the bikes again, salt lake city is becoming personal too. when i go down a street i notice the houses, the trees, the smell of the flowers and lavender bushes. i can spy on people in their houses and smell what they are having for dinner. i've found little nooks i would have just passed by in the car. but the best and most personal part is the people we pass. i can hear weird conversations in cars. i have awkward moments waiting at lights with other bikers. i hear them yell out when they think they might get hit by a car. i get flipped off. and when i do i can see the anger coming right out of their eyes. and the high light is that we saw a personal trainer and an awkward girl running with weights. i would have never gotten to see their faces that good from a car. so it is all quite fun.

on a different note, i would like to do a thing called "no more pun". i love puns as much as the next human, but there are a few out there that need to stop. these are puns that have lost the fun. the first one is: "wok and roll". fun when it first came out, but now... no more pun. too many asian cuisines have drained the goodness out of this once punny pun.

and i almost stepped on a rattlesnake.

oh, and as for the title, infinity miles per hour. maybe wild bri could model his t shirt on the ravens nest or something. just an idea.

yup. that pretty much sums up our progression. but here is a photographic gallery to summerize our point.

and finally. the final out come. all professional ready for work. can't be *misbe'shavin'!

Another fun thing is that i got to go to the unitas last week with todd! a strange man took this picture for us and emailed it to us after we gave him our email via a little hand held recorder.

basically i helped todd "erase the trace" all week. we hiked a lot of trails, cleared fire rings, and talked to boy scouts about Leave No Trace. This is the contraversal t shirt alina designed and gave to me that i wore as my ... dang it i can't remember the word. not costume, but as the thing i wore to work in. anyway, if you can think of the word let me know. i think it starts with a 'p'. but the main thing is, look close and see if you can figure out why it is contraversal. we will take a vote.

harder for others...

http://pixyland.org/peterpan/petersFashionPage.html

only a nielson could find this. thank you.

it's hard to know what is blog worthy these days, but i think we will all agree that todd's beard has made the cuts. ever since i went short, he has gone long beyond what i have ever dreamed. it is to the point of double takes from men in stores. the picture hardly gives it justice, considering we haven't bought a camera yet and we are still using photo booth for all of our pictures.

other than the beard, we are just existing. todd started his job and has been gone a lot which is a mix up from our peace corps routine of pretty much being together 24 hours a day. he left again this morning and is doing his first wilderness expedition in the grandydaddy basin. up until now he has just been training in duchesne and roosevelt mostly. so on his days off we tried to think of some exciting thing to do, but considering gas prices, we just spent most of our time going on runs and riding our bikes. last night we went on a little ride with creed that ended up being a 20 mile adventure. it was a little longer than we expected, but it was fun. i am back on the fuji right now, which some of you might be happy about because the twin schwin is in the shop. but it feels good to be reunited, and gilbert i haven't forgotten about the pump i owe you on campus that you won at the raffle.

other than that we have been spending a lot of time with family and friends which is fun, and we love you all!

i have to admit that i have been a little homesick for silk grass lately. but luckily this morning i was blessed with a little taste of my old home. i was awaken early this morning from a pleasant dream where i was being reunited with a long lost friend. outside my window i could hear this. (oh, now i am talking about what really happened, not my dream.) "GET OUT OF MY YARD!" "Brodie STOP. STOP IT! GET OVER HERE!" "What do you have?? A BALL!? my kids don't get balls! MY KIDS AREN'T ALLOWED TO HAVE THOSE!!" first of all. what the crap? and after i wrote it, i realized it sounds a little weird. but to be honest, i have to say that it gave me such a sense of peace to hear screaming outside my window in the early hours. so to that mom with weird restrictions, thank you. and to all the loud kids and crying babies in silk grass in a weird, but not creepy way, i miss you.

but i'm not crying. my eyes are just a little bit sweaty today.

*miss silk grass is supposed to be a pun. get it ? like the pageant, and i miss it. and i am sorry that i am explaining my joke.

we would just like to say we are thinking of all our friends in belize, belizeans, pc, canadiens, and we are praying for the safety and health of everyone, please stay safe, keep in touch, and if you have any info on Silk Grass, pass it on please, as you can imagine we have no direct contact with silk grass right now. for those who dont know, southern belize, just got hit with a massive rainstorm/tropical storm that flooded all of the stann creek district, wiped out bridges, flooded homes, and whole communities. i dont know all the details, i just know it is pretty bad and they could use all the good feelings, vibes, prayers and thoughts heading their way.

pictures

http://www.nemo.org.bz/nemonews/news_releases/article_335.php

sometimes things feel right. then we think that means they will be easy. our last week has been somewhat like a root canal. and almost literally when i was getting 3 cavities filled in belize city. saying goodbye to belize, silk grass, and our friends was one of the hardest things we have ever done. we want you all to know that we love you with all of our hearts. our last night in silk grass was quite fitting. we cried with our neighbors, prayed in a circle holding hands with our branch members, hugged our chess kids goodbye, and sold/bartered every item in our house in less than 15 minutes to loud, dominating, kriol women. next thing we knew, our bed was being taken apart, our stove was getting loaded in a truck, and soon we were all alone in a blue empty house with our sad dog. so we cried for a while, cleaned the house, and slept together in one hammock and woke up about 4:30 the next morning and got ready to go. we had to leave ed. it was one of the saddest things ever. but for those of you who don't hate dogs, he has a new good home. some of our friends came and said goodbye to us at the airport and after a lot and a lot of tears we got on the plane. that's when we came to a strange realization. i guess some people just aren't born to be comfortable with regular. and somehow two people in this world like that found each other and sat on a plane laughing and crying about how it is to be unequipped for human existence. and it feels a little weird to feel so lost at home. but we are so happy to see our family and friends here-- we love you all so much too. so here's to peace corps. thanks to everyone who made it such an amazing, unforgettable, and hard to leave experience. and thanks to everyone here for welcoming us all back with so much love. oh heck, we just love you all.

and yet another photo booth picture. our timing on not having a camera is always convenient. if todd looks less then pleased it is because i just forced him to take this picture, but it is for a good cause, it is to say... HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! to our amazing moms! we love you so much! even though we have been so far away, they have found ways to help us out and to show us their love. Thank you both for everything you do. Thank you for the letters, packages, henious phone calls, books, reading supplies, and mom the kids looked SO cute in their Silk Grass chess tshirts! we know we are not the easy kids to deal with... but thanks for putting up with us. WE LOVE YOU!

after hours and hours of working and heniousness, todd got his website up! it isn't perfected yet, but it is very exciting! good job todd!

www.mayflowerbelize.org

(by the way, as i am posting this he is working on it and is really mad. never make a web page if you dont have too.)

I finally got some pictures of mountain pine ridge to upload...

Last weekend our beloved Canadians (the Burgesses) took us to Five Sister Resort in Mountain Pine Ridge National Park. And what better way to thank them than to blog it. Five Sisters was amazing. The first time we saw it was in Jen and Creed's pictures when we found out we were coming to Belize, but we never thought we would have the chance to stay there! The beds were so comfortable we couldn't fall asleep. It was wonderful. and other than a few disputes on how to properly pronounce words like meal and process, we got along with the Canadians exceptionally well. Just kidding, we love them! We can't thank you guys enough for all that you have done for us since we have been here! WE LOVE YOU! Thanks again, it meant a great dill.

Today my brother is coming home from his mission. i am so excited, which is weird because i won't even be there to welcome him. which is kind of ironic because we were on our honeymoon in mexico when he left, and now here in belize. but i am SOO proud of him and i know he did an awesome job! WE LOVE YOU TREV! and can't wait to see you!!!

ash and todd

every night todd and i used to go running down a dirt road just outside of silk grass, but lately he has been playing soccer every night with the boys in the village. i am too scared to run down the dirt road by myself, so i have started running laps around the futball field. last week i had an amazing classic skating snow ball experience while running laps. it started with cliver and boris saying that they liked to run, and started running with me. as we rounded the corner after the first lap, a line of 4 boys were waiting to join us. i started to feel awkward as i ran around the field with several small boys. as i neared to todd i was thinking of stopping to talk so that i could get out of it, but all the men on the sidelines of the soccer game (including todd) started yelling "faster faster!" so we kept going. as we ran around the third time, small children began running out of their houses yelling "miss ashli!" and soon i had about 15 kids running along side me. as we passed our house, they all yelled to ed. then dog gang started coming out. now i had about 15 kids and a dog gang running laps with me. when i passed todd he just gave me a weird look, and so we all just kept going. then a few bikers joined. now things were really getting weird. there were some close collisions and a couple close dog disputes, but over all the dogs and kids were so happy, that i just kept going. finally i was done running, and all the kids and dogs flooded in behind me into my yard. i didn't know how to rid them, so i just had everyone do a few stretches and sent them all home to drink lots of water. the only thing that could have made it better is if "kissed by a rose" was playing in the background.

Chess in Belize is getting 'royally' out of hand. we are trying to keep each other in 'check', but we are both so far 'pawn.' this last week we have been living and breathing chess. it has 'captured' our every moments. we started a chess club in january, and we had our first official tournament this week and went to a training for it last week. we couldn't even sleep. all 'knight' we dreamt of chess, and every time i woke up, visions of chess strategies would pop into my head. i had about 4 different games going through out the night. the tournament was a hit. our kids are between the ages of 9 and 11 and have names including: ivan, ivor, boris, cliver, henry, and cesar. every night about 14 kids come to our house and shout at our gate asking if they can practice chess. announcing the winners was heartbreaking and figuring them out was a nightmare. there is a reason why the nerds took over chess in the states. we can only take four kids to nationals in belmopan on may 3rd. they are all so cute, and we wish we could have taken them all. but congratulations to the winners: Henry, Jason, and the brothers Ivan and Ivor!