Photo Shoot :)

I just decided to take some pictures of Ella in her cute little outfit. They are also on my facebook, so if you want to keep looking at them all day...you can see them there too ;) hehe

Tender Moment...

Well, everyone says that having a baby girl will bring out the baby girl in your husband, and let me tell you....it is a very sweet and tender thing when it does.

Yesterday in church, it was Caribbean Stake Conference that was televised from Jamaica. Elder Eyring spoke and so did Elder Bednar. It was two hours in the chapel, which, without a child is GREAT but with a baby like ours....not so much. Ella was an absolute NIGHTMARE for two straight hours. She ate all the snacks in the first half an hour and got bored with all her toys in the next fifteen minutes. We still had an hour and fifteen minutes to keep her entertained! It was TERRIBLE!

But then there was Tom....so sweet. I have two My Little Pony toys in the diaper bag for Ella. Each came with a matching hair brush. So to keep Ella entertained, he sat and helped her brush each other their manes. It was SO stinkin' cute! Here is this big macho man, delicately brushing a My Little Pony's hair with his daughter! Loved it.

*love sigh* So yeah...he's pretty much awesome. Just thought I would share this little tender moment. :)

Typical island life?!?!

Well, this past weekend has been one frustrating thing after another! Let me give you a little run down:

Friday: Water scheduled to be turned OFF from 10:00a.m.-4:30p.m. GEBE (the Water and Electricity Company) is changing the meters. Water never turned back on....

Saturday: No water. Power surge protector fried. Printer knocked off table and destroyed. Trying to go to the Welcome Breakfast.....nothing printed off, totally frazzled! Nighttime: water FINALLY turned back on. A/C Broke.

Sunday: Go to church by myself, Tom had to go do the Mock Anatomy Exam for his T.A.ing. Only made it through sacrament and part of Sunday school before wanting to kill my child. Went home early.

Sunday evening: Friend from the other tower comes by: entire ground floor flooded. Pipe broken that was installed by GEBE. Water turned off in both towers. A/C still broken.

Monday: Complain about a/c......still broken.

Tuesday: A/C guy comes....still broken. Our manager is now threatening the A/C company with a lawyer...

Who would have thought that such a simple amenity.....such as WATER...and air conditioning would be an issue! Especially when we're paying as much for rent as we are!!!!

So, to divert my frustration, I have some cute pictures and a video fo Ella :)

She found the DVD's....oops.

For some reason, she LOVES these shoes! She will bring me one of each and yell until I put them on! Then she giggles and runs around the house! It is quite funny :)

She tried to escape after bath time. I don't know where she was planning to go! No one will pick up a naked baby! They poop on the floor!

This is her enjoying a "free lifestyle". Silly girl! I have a feeling she will be one kid that will be hard to keep clothed once she is potty trained! Hahaha!

Tagged!

8 Favorite TV Shows
1. The Simpsons
2. The Office
3. Anything on Food Network EXCEPT Emerill and Rachel Ray!
4. Say Yes to the Dress
5. MTV (when they actually show music videos)
6. VH1 (same as MTV)
7. CMT - gotta love that country!
8. Family Guy

Favorite Dishes - these are in no particular order, either
1. In n Out (Does this count as a dish? - I'm kind of thinking my favorite foods?)
2. Fruit Snacks
3. Honey-baked Ham
4. Spinach/Strawberry Salad
5. Fresh fruit salad - pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, etc.
6. Spicy Noodles
7. Sweet and Sour Chicken
8. Raviolis

8 Things That Happened Yesterday
1. Dropped Tom off at school so he could do the Mock Exam
2. Was a SPEED DEMON and got completely ready for Church with Ella by myself AND made it to church on time! All in 30 minutes! Woo!
3. The water went out.
4. Sweat. The a/c is still broken.
5. Made really yummy BBQ shrimp and grilled pineapple! 6. Walked around our complex to look at the MAJOR flood in the other tower!
7. Woke up with Ella twice in the middle of the night. Her teeth are hurting her :(
8. MmmmmWatched Fools Gold - it was entertaining, but not a GREAT movie

8 Things I Look Forward To
1. Not living in the Caribbean
2. Ella talking
3. Tom being a doctor and we can finally settle down!
4. Not living in an apartment - having a garage, mailbox, yard, etc.
5. Our a/c being fixed!!!
6. The Burrito Sale this Friday, Saturday
7. Naptime.
8. Bedtime

8 Things I Love about Winter
Well, I don't really love winter....and its not really winter down here, but here are a few things.
1. Wearing sweaters/jeans
2. Rain
3. A breeze
4. The Holidays!
5. Tom's birthday
6. Going home
7. Yeah, that's about it....I'm not a big fan of winter.
8.

8 Things on my Wish list
1. A trip home.
2. A piano
3. A masters in Musicology
4. A new a/c
5. A bigger kitchen with a kitchen table
6. Not living on this island
7. Shopping spree at Target, Walmart, the Mall, pretty much any BIG store that doesn't exist here.
8. A house

Tagging: Amber, Karey, Kathryn, Angela, and Barbara!

Welcome Breakfast!

Well, its that time again! The Welcome Breakfast! I'm also happy to say, I don't have to do it next semester! Hahaha! :) Not that I haven't enjoyed being in charge of it, but still...one less thing to worry about, right? Let me give a little shout out to my husband, too, who happens to be the best husband in the world. That's right...the best! This morning, things were NOT going smoothly...our water was STILL out, which meant no shower...that ALWAYS gets me a little cranky. Then the power kept going on/off so our computer was kinda being weird. Then, when we finally get it to work, I'm trying to print off everything for the Breakfast and BOOM - the printer falls to the floor in a million pieces. *sigh* So needless to say, I didn't have a chance to print off everything I wanted to. THEN I forgot all the shirts AND the "update your info" sheet! Man! I was so prepared last time! This time...definately not. So I was a little flustered when I got to the breakfast, only to find they hadn't set up our tables, AGAIN. Note to whoever is in charge next semester: get there 20-30 minutes early to set up the tables! I have been emailing with the lady for over two weeks about the breakfast...whatever, though. They did have more food...which I asked for ;) Ha!

Anyway, Tom dropped me off, and a few minutes later he pulled back into the parking lot. I thought I forgot something, but no...he went to the Mailbox and made a bunch of copies of everything I needed!!! I KNOW!!! HE IS SO SWEET!!!! :) So yeah...that's my little shout out.

All the spouses for January 2009!

Newbies...so bright eyed and full of wonder :)

The Fifth Semesters! Wow....all finished and ready to go! Well...four more months, but ya know.

My cute little family :)

Anyway, the Welcome Breakfast was really fun! I'm excited for this upcoming semester and all the fun activities planned! I'm also SUPER glad that some of the other girls are taking on lots of fun groups: Book Club, Beach-a-Week, Cooking Club, The Walk, etc. Well, I'll put a post up again when something exciting happens.

OH! OUR WATER IS TURNED BACK ON! WOOO!!! Do you know how obnoxious it is to NOT have water for a day??? It was off for over 40 hours!

Book Club!

I am part of a Book Club here on the island. Let me tell you, Book Club is the BEST! It is so fun to sit with the girls and chit chat, and eat good food, and discuss major topics like suicide, parental teachings, and purity, etc. So I thought I would talk about the books we have read so far, in case any of you need some good reading!

This was our first book. For those of you who haven't read it, it is VERY cool! It is about a Christian missionary family who moves to Africa to do missionary work. It is a dad, his wife, and four daughters, all of whom have VERY different personalities. It is quite intense in some chapters and it is all about dealing with tragedy. This book is pretty long, but a fast read. Each chapter is from the point of view of each character. Very good book!

This book reminded me A LOT of Angela's Ashes, only in America instead of Ireland. The book is about a girl and growing up in a very poor family with kind of "hippie-against-the-man" parents. It's a very fast read and pretty sad, just reading about what each kid had to go through to survive. This was our first play we read for Book Club. One of the girls, Laura O., is a theater major so she had us read this. It is only about 25 pages long, but WOO WEE! We had quite the discussion in Book Club. It is about this girl who is going to commit suicide, and she tells her mom "Hi, I'm going to shoot myself tonight, so this is what you need to do to take care of things after I'm gone." Pretty much. This play was VERY interesting and led to lots of discussions about suicide, when or if it is ever okay...whose fault was it that the girl wanted to commit suicide...etc. Very, very deep.

This was my book for Book Club. I just thought it would be good for everyone to have a chance to read it! It is one of my favorite books, but not many people have read the original! There is so much folklore to it, that I think everyone should read it ;) There isn't really any deep, psychological, or emotional topics to discuss, but its still really good! It is written in the form of journal entries and letters, which makes it seem more authentic. Everyone should read this classic horror novel. Very good :)

Anyway, those are the books we have read so far. The next book is White Oleander. I'll let you know how it goes!

Books I have been reading on my own:

I'm in the middle of this right now, and it is REALLY good! My grandma refered me this book. It is about a little German girl during World War II. It is written from the perspective of Death, though, as if Death was a person watching all this. It is REALLY good so far!

Talk about a SAD book! This is about a woman who had a major tragedy in her childhood that haunts her for the rest of her life, pretty much. It is a little bit confusing, but really good. Also, food is major theme in the book. It kind of connects her and the members of her family. Really good read.

My mom referred me to this book. It is a really quick read and is just really funny! It is about this really rich lady (Old Money!) who discovers her best friend (a gay, rich guy) has committed suicide. She doesn't think that he would have done that, so she tries to solve the murder. There is a major twist at the end. The lady has the funniest sense of humor and it is just a really cute book.

This is one of our upcoming book club books. I've read it before, though. This was also referred to me by my grandma. WARNING: There are some "R Rated" scenes in this book. The story really reminds me of The Green Mile, how it is an old man relating his experiences growing up. It's about a young kid who ran away to the circus and gets hired as a vetrinarian (sp?). It goes through all his experiences with the circus and meeting the love of his life, who happens to be with another guy, etc. Very interesting book!

This last book reminded me of an opera. It is a tragic love story which is VERY touching. Lisa See has written a couple books that are all sort of along the same lines: tragic and unrequitted love. She goes A LOT into Japanese culture, which is REALLY interesting. She talks about foot binding, arranged marraiges, etc. I've read three books by Lisa See and they are all really good, but very sad. I definately recommend, though!

Well, that's all for now! I hope you all enjoy these books as much as I did!

Pictures...

Here are pictures of my day yesterday with Ella. I don't have pictures of the broken bowl because I was too busy making sure she wasn't stepping on glass and I don't have pictures of the cupcake episode....because I didn't think about taking a picture while my daughter was shoving her face full of chocolate cupcake and trying to run around the house with chocolaty fingers....so yeah...here are some other pictures though :)

Emptying the underwear drawers...


And the drawers in the kitchen that she can reach....

And the sandwich bags....all 300 of them....*sigh*

I think some days seem longer than others. She's just so stinkin' cute, though, that you can BARELY get mad at her! Hopefully today will go smoother... ;)


This is a picture of my seminary class I teach. Yes, I teach seminary. Go on...laugh about it....my parents did! Haha!! :) Sister Lake tried to take the picture and I'm not sure why there is so much space on my side and none on the other side. Oh well...you guys get the gist of it. I have seven students, and let me tell you...teaching seminary is hard work.

I have a feeling it is going to be a long day....

Yes...it is 8:10 in the morning. Ella has been awake for exactly 22 minutes.

She has already pulled the candy bowl off the counter (I didn't know she could reach...), breaking the bowl and spilling the candy.

She got put back in her crib while I swept it up....

When I got her out, she ran into the closet and pulled out all my chalk (for seminary) and threw it on the ground...breaking it.

She got put back in her crib while I swept it up....

As soon as I got her out, she ran into the kitchen, pulled the tray of cupcakes onto the floor and starting shoving them in her mouth. They are chocolate....and messy.

She got put in her highchair to finish her cupcake while I swept it up....

As she was eating her cupcake, I tried to feed her some fruit cocktail for breakfast (since chocolate cupcakes doesn't really cut it). When I turned my back to put the fruit cocktail back in the fridge, she threw every piece onto the floor....except the chocolate cupcake.

*sigh*

She got put into the bathtub while I swept it up....

I swear......some people's children. I hope the day doesn't keep progressing like this or Ella might burn down the house....climb out of her crib....and who knows what else!

Wish me luck....

Christmas Break: Day One

I'm doing the Christmas break in fragments, because we did A LOT in a little amount of time.

We left the island and flew straight to New York City. We originally had a 9 hour layover, so we decided to just spend the night there and see the sights the next day! It was SUPER fun! I can't believe how much we got done in one day. I didn't even take pictures of everything, so you'll just have to believe me :) Keep in mind, we did all of this with a stroller and a baby. We never took a taxi ONCE in the city. We walked or took the Subway. Let me tell you - the New York subway system is NOT stroller friendly!
Here we are just getting on the shuttle on our way to our hotel. It was fuh-reezing! Ella was nice and bundled up, though. She loves her little coat. She isn't too big of a fan of mittens, though. I think this picture is so cute. She is totally giggling! :)

The next morning, our first stop was the World Trade Center, Ground Zero. We walked around it, but it is all under construction so we couldn't see much. This is a Christmas Tree, though, by the memorial wall that had pictures of all the fireman and people who died on September 11th. It was pretty amazing to see. There was a little tourist center/museum thingie...but it was $10 a person to go in! Psh! Yeah right!

This is us in front of Ground Zero. Ella had just woken up from a nap on the Subway. She was an ANGEL all day!

After the WTC, we went on a 3 hour boat tour around Manhattan. It was REALLY fun! I totally recommend it! It was warm and toasty inside, too, so that was good. Ella started getting a little cranky at this point and did NOT want to take a nap...too much to look at. We saw the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, Wall Street, etc. The only thing we didn't get to see was Yankee Stadium. Apparently it was high tide, and our boat couldn't fit under the bridges! We saw the Brooklyn Bridge, Little Italy, the old "castoff island" (where they sent orphans, homeless people, small pox people, people with leprosey, etc.) and lots more. It was very fun.

That's Ellis Island. Tom's ancestors went there. Originally, their last name was Pinetto (straight from Italy, can you tell?) but the people at Ellis Island couldn't spell/pronounce their name, so they changed it to Penrose! Crazy, huh?? I keep telling Tom he shoudl change it back. Then we can-a talk-a like an Italiana! Hehehe :)

This was my attempt at a self portrait for the three of us....it didn't really work. Poor Ella was just a little too short :)

Statue of Liberty - view from the Boat.

We found Tom's church! Haha! :) I told Tom that he should go in and demand alms from people. He didn't think it was such a good idea :)

This is a windowscape that I saw on one of the department stores. I just thought it was AMAZING! I told Mom that she should do her store windows like this ;)

This is our only picture at Central Park. The park itself was kinda ugly 'cause it was the middle of winter and there wasnt' really any snow. We saw the ice skaters, though, and where they filmed Home Alone 2. It was pretty cool :) The lady we asked to take the picture obviously didn't know what "auto-focus" was....unfortunately.

The Steinway and Sons Music Hall! WOOHOO!!! This was my favorite stop, by far! We found it totally by accident, too! We were on our way to Carnegie Hall, when I saw the sign! If you go inside, they let you try out all the pianos. It was pretty fabulous. They also have pictures of all the famous people that have performed there: Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Brahms, etc. It was pretty fabulous :)

Well, that's all the pictures I have. We went to lots more places though:

Carnegie Hall

Radio City Music Hall

The Carnegie Deli

Rockerfeller Center

Time Square (which was awesome)

T.G.I. Fridays (this was a big deal for us! Real American food!!!)

FAO Schwartz Toy Store (no, they don't have the big keyboard anymore :( *sniff*)

I think that's it....yeah, we did that all in one day! WITH A BABY IN A STROLLER! HA! :) We are pretty extreme.

More to come: the Utah and California part of our trip!