Puerto Rico

I'm still recovering from the 14+ hour day in the airport yesterday, but want to write this while the memories are fresh.

On Thursday, July 2 we headed to Puerto Rico with my family. Everyone came (including Simon) and it was a blast. It exceeded my expectations. After delays on both flights, we arrived in Puerto Rico after 2:00am. We stayed in condos on the beach and it felt like we had our own private beach. I have never seen a beach so open and people free. The water was SO warm and none of us could stay out of the ocean. We spent most of the first day (Friday) hanging around the beach/swimming pool and catching up on sleep. In the evening, we went to a local Mexican restaurant that was delicious. One thing we learned quickly is that the service in Puerto Rico is slow. (at the airport, at sit-down restaurants, at fast-food restaurants, etc.) Unfortunately, I got one of the worst sunburns I have ever had on the first day. I didn't notice it until after I woke up from a 3 hour nap. The rest of the trip, I had to wear a water-proof shirt over all of my swimsuits which was a bummer, but oh well. I got teased for wearing my swim shirt under my cover-up which looked super weird. Luckily I didn't let anyone take a pic.

This was the view from our patio. Waking up to this everyday was paradise.

Rainbow

On Saturday we decided to go snorkeling. We had to wake up and leave pretty early to catch a ferry to the small island of Culebra. The ferry ride ended up taking longer than estimated and the ride was very bumpy. After about 75 minutes, we finally made it. Many of us got sick, but luckily only 1 threw up. It was a pretty miserable ride. At one point on the ride, a security guard on the ferry tapped my mom and asked, "Ma'am, are you okay?" She was in alien mode to prevent sickness. We all ahd a good laugh about it. After getting off the boat, I wasn't expecting much and was kind of upset we decided to come after such a choppy ride. We soon learned it was well worth it. We spent some time at Flamenco beach which was breathtaking. I have never seen a prettier beach. Some claim it's the best in the world and I would have to agree (although I haven't traveled a ton). The water was crystal clear. The sand was white and the waves were perfect. The pictures don't do it justice.

I had never really been snorkeling, so that was fun to experience for the first time. We saw so many sea turtles. I was surprised by how close they swam to us. It was so cool to see all the living things under the water. (I didn't have an under-water camera, so no pictures.) The ferry ride back was much better. Most of us slept the whole time and the water was much smoother thank heavens.

Sunday morning, we drove 45 minutes to church. We walked in and were surprised by how few people were there. I thought it was for-sure a branch, but apparently it was a ward. Dad counted how many people were there, and he counted 35 (which seemed high). It was fast Sunday, and there were plenty of long silences and opportunities to share testimonies. I had the chance to share my testimony which I don't do often. I shared a quote I heard at BYU women's conference in April: "God may not always be on-time, but he is never late." (Pres. Worthlin)

We went to the English ward

After church, we headed to Old San Juan to do some exploring. We went to some old ruins at Castillo San Cristibal. We had some great views from the ruins because they were so high up.

It was windy up there

We walked around Old San Juan for a bit. The city kind of reminded me of San Francisco. Some of my family has been to Belgium and they saw some similarities. It was extremely hot and humid, so we didn't last long before heading home.

We spent the afternoon relaxing at he beach and pool. We had boogie boards and spent lots of time fighting the waves. They sure can be brutal. I have 4 big bruises from my board, but riding in the waves was so much fun. Throughout the trip, we spent lots of time watching Wimbledon (we all filled out brackets), the U.S. Women's soccer team, and playing nerts.

Monday was our last day in Puerto Rico. Some of us went zip lining through a rain-forest in the morning. Our instructions were to wear closed-toed shoes and a pony-tail which makes for really cute pictures. It was beautiful and not even that scary. My heart was racing when I had to walk up four flights of stairs that were pretty high-up, but I was fine. Lots of little kids were doing it. A couple of times, the zip-lines were next to each other, so Andrew and I got to race.

The trip went by way too quickly, but we made so many fun memories that we will cherish forever. I'm grateful to have a family that enjoys being together and that we could go on this trip together. Until next time Puerto Rico.

You're never too old for hand-stand contests

Where We Belong

Looking for apartments was a discouraging process. I just wanted to find the perfect place and be done with the search. I'm glad I didn't rush the process because otherwise we wouldn't have ended up where we are now.

Let me back up... when I first toured our basement apartment it felt right. I think my mom was surprised when I asked how much the deposit was at the end of the tour and wrote a check. The place felt like home from the beginning. A lot of that has to do with our landlords. While on the tour, in all seriousness, our landlord asked if we wanted him to go walk around upstairs, so we could see how loud it would be for us in the basement. I thought he was joking. Since then, I have come to realize that our landlords are some of the most genuine people that I have ever met.

One morning, I walked outside to head to work. I passed my broken bike like normal, but did a double take. My bike was no longer broken... It was fixed. My landlord bought and installed a new tire. When I confronted him about this he brushed it off and said it was no big deal. I tried to pay him for the new tire, but he wouldn't let me. He also told me that he noticed that the brakes needed some adjusting, and not to worry because he would get to fixing them soon.

One Saturday night, dinner-time was approaching and we needed to go grocery shopping. We didn't really have any ingredients for dinner and we were getting hungry. Just before we left, we heard a knock at the door. It was our landlord inviting us to come over for dinner. When I asked if we could bring anything, I was turned down.

One night I was making dessert (this happens often) and realized that we didn't have any cocoa. We had just gone to the store and I didn't want to go back so soon. When asked if we could borrow some cocoa, our landlords just gave us their entire container and told us to keep it.

After hearing that I was a teacher, my landlord gave my resume to the director at the charter school she works at. She followed up with the principal several times in hopes of getting me an interview.

By now, you get the point. I could go on for another several pages with all the nice things our landlords have done for us. The other day I was writing them a thank-you card, and I didn't even know where to begin. It was hard to fit everything in one card. I closed the card with something like, "thank you for treating us like we are your own kids." That's how they have made us feel.

On top of our landlords, here are some of our favorite things about our place:

     -A washer and dryer in our apartment! (This is something we did NOT have in our last place and it makes a huge difference.)

     -A dishwasher. I love going into the kitchen and not seeing dishes piled up all over the place or drying. 

     -A garbage disposal. Do you know how stinky your hands get after putting them down the sink cleaning out all the gunk?

     -An island with stools. We got rid of our table when we moved and now have so much living space.

     -A place to park both of our cars off the street. 

We are loving where we live and I know it wasn't just a coincidence that things are working out so well. We are living here for a reason. 

Warehouse Work

School is out for the summer and I no longer have work as a substitute. Luckily the company I subbed for, gave me some summer work options. Without hesitation, I denied the opportunity to work in a call center. I have no desire to pursue that again. My 3 days working in one was enough. That being said, to those people who can handle being cussed out and asked to be put on the "do not call list" every 2 seconds, go you!

I accepted a temporary job in a warehouse in the packaging and shipping department. My formal title is a "picker." (glamorous, I know) I spend my days, rolling a cart around and gathering various items that make up an order. At first, this job was  REALLY hard on my body. I definitely wasn't used to being on my feet for 8 plus hours a day lifting heavy boxes. At one point, I asked a co-worker how heavy one of the boxes I picked up was. 45 pounds was the response. One perk is that I am gaining muscle! The flab on my arms is steadily decreasing.

It's weird, but I kind of like what I do for now. I like to see so many orders get completed and to see how fast I'm working. One thing that makes me nervous every time is being audited. I don't want to have any mistakes! One day, I had 2 mistakes on just 1 order. When you make a mistake, it goes up on the board. We are divided into teams and I felt so bad that I let my team down. I have been extra careful since. (I've also learned that some auditors are nicer than others if you know what I mean :) The winning team of the week gets donuts. I convinced the team lead to bring my team pizza instead of donuts when we won. Everyone thanked me.

I learned my lesson the first day of work. Do not try to look stylish. The cute boots I wore were so uncomfortable and I was stuck with them for over 8 hours. Now, I wear a sports bra, many days sweat pants, and a t-shirt. My clothes get soooo dirty. Also, if you ever want to see me after work, make sure I've showered. With no air conditioning, I smell pretty gross. Something else I've had to get used to is having multiple cuts on my hands/arms at all times. At work, I'm constantly opening boxes with a knife. Let's just say my knife is dull...

Everyone has a story and it has been fun to get to know each of my co-workers. By looking at them, I never could have imagined what they have gone through. 

Now it's time for me to put my feet up and relax after a long day because tomorrow will be here before I know it. 

Still Alive

It's been a while... this post should have happened long ago, but I have been overwhelmed by the amount of blogging I need to catch up on. Basically, we are living in Utah now. Surprise! We moved here the day after graduation. (April 11) 

Moving day... Our old place (the basement)

Andrew got a job as a chemical instrument technician in American Fork. He still has lots of training, but seems to be enjoying his job. His ten minute commute is ideal and I'm jealous that he gets to wear jeans to work everyday.

Andrew walked on graduation with me and just has one class/lab to finish up his bachelor's degree in Chemistry. He is taking Organic Chemistry 2 at the Salt Lake Community College 3 nights a week. These make for very long days for him-- he's a trooper. I am looking forward to not packing him a lunch and a dinner on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. 

Grandma and Grandpa Langlois

Parentals

Graduates

Graduates Again

Jess 

(Andrew's Mom came too-- I need to get a picture from her.)

In other news, I am now a certified elementary teacher in the state of Idaho which complicates things. I recently found out that in order to become certified in the state of Utah, I have to retake the Praxis. This news was quite upsetting. Idaho has different requirements for what score you need in order to pass. Utah requires a higher score. I use the time Andrew is in class 3 nights a week to study. I'm taking the test on July 25th. It includes 4 subject areas: math, science, english, and history. I'm not a good test taker and never have been. The subjects are very broad and the questions are very specific, so studying has been challenging. I'm currently reading, "U.S History for Dummies." Jealous??

I have been subbing in the Alpine School District and figured this would be a good way to get a teaching job for next year. It has been very competitive to get a job with over 300 applicants for each opening. I have had 2 interviews. I'm not too worried about the situation... Apparently a lot of openings come up later on in the summer. If things don't workout, I can always continue to sub. 

Utah life is treating us well. Cafe Rio appreciates that we are back in town I'm sure. We scouted out the nearest one within minutes of moving in and have made our appearance on numerous occasions. We are loving our basement apartment with a huge kitchen. It's been so fun to be in town for birthday celebrations, concerts, etc. We can't wait for my brother Jeff, and his family to move here this summer. My brother Joel will also be headed to UT for a new job, so let the party in Utah County begin! 

I'll try to blog again within the next 6 months, but no promises... :) 

Anniversary Inn

This year the 28th of December fell on a Sunday. We decided to actually do something this year for our anniversary and decided to celebrate on Monday instead. We booked "The Senator's Room" at the Anniversary Inn downtown. It was such a quaint little Inn and we loved it. Having a DVD player in each room was so nice. We were allowed to check out 3 DVD's to watch for free. We ended up watching "The Series of Unfortunate Events." We are currently reading the series together and Andrew hadn't seen it before. The hot cookies were the best I've had and I couldn't have been happier after we got a $60 discount. Sparkling cider as well as cheesecake were complimentary (neither of which I care for), but Andrew liked it.

We left my parents house at 3:30 on the 29th. I was kind of sad to leave because it was my brother Jeff and his wife Lindsey's last night at my parent's house. We immediately drove to City Creek for some shopping. We had a lot of success in the first store we entered, so we ended up not staying very long because we didn't want to break the bank. In City Creek, there is a Cheesecake Factory. We decided to go there for dinner. We were surprised that we had to wait for a table at 4:50. Dinner was delicious and we were excited that 5:00 had come and gone, so we could finally check in.

We were greeted with mood music. For the record, this picture makes the room look huge. It wasn't. The bathroom is hidden behind the bookshelf. It included a huge jetted tub as well as a really nice mural of Washington D.C on the wall.

Andrew gave me a 2 pound bag of Reese's because we have been married for 2 years. (Smart man) Each peanut butter cup was a pound each and tasted like heaven. Apparently each cup has 6-8 servings. 10 bucks worth of chocolate. Yum. In the morning, breakfast was delivered to our door at the time of our request which was super cool. The food was average, but it didn't really matter because I was still stuffed from the night before.

We have nearly a whole year to decide what we will do next anniversary. I can't wait!