If you thought you were having a bad day. . . .

( Kate has started writing in her journal. With her permission, I had to share what she had written the other day. )

Feburey 23 2008

I have wryd that

I wud git sik but It was a blestng

I didint. Git sik. but, I love to

play soccr But my

sistrs are sik.

Ryenne loves Emmy

but not me.

Emmy loves Ryenne

but not me.

Im left owt.

Pr me.

The Two of Us

Thanks for tagging me, Darcie & Tara! Here is a little bit about Courtney & I. . .
1. His full name: Courtney H Wood (no, the H doesn't stand for anything- it's just an H, and we answer that question all the time!
2. How long have you been together? over 15 years
3. How long did you date? 5-6 years. Thank goodness my "mean" mom was smart enough to make me date other boys too. (In high school, that is. In college, I was a geek and no one really asked. My roomates were so much more fun,anyway!)
4. How old is he? 31, a year older than me
5. Who eats more? Courtney eats more at a time, but I eat much more often. When it comes to ice cream (especially anything chocolate!) I can give him a good run for his money.
6. Who said "I love you" first? Courtney did, but we were only 16, so I think he just wanted some kissin'. (I can't believe I was that young! We're just praying that our girls don't date until they're like. . . hmmmm, 21 would be nice.)
7. Who is taller? He is 5'10", I'm 5'3.5"
8. Who sings better? That would be me, although he doesn't have a bad voice. He just uses it minimally.
9. Who is smarter? Courtney is smarter in figuring things out, math, science, and basically being able to function in life. I've got him in english & history.
10. Who does the laundry? Me, but not very well. It's my least favorite household chore. He does help out, and never complains about my ineptitude, which is nice. He is definitely better at ironing, so I always ask him to do things that need to look good, like his church shirts. Sorry, mom- but he's willing. That mission came in handy!
11. Who pays the bills? Me. He pays the business bills, so I do ours.
12. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? He does. I sleep on the left, and unfortunately, Emmy is often found somewhere in between.
13. Who mows the lawn? That is my job, only because I won't let him take it over. It's my outside, all by myself, thinking time. He tries to talk me out of this, especially when I'm 9 months pregnant. (He thinks the neighbors must thinks he's a real cool husband, sitting in the house while I'm out pushing the mower.) But I won't budge- the lawn is mine!
14. Who cooks dinner? Me about 90% of the time, but he's great to help out when I'm feeling lazy.
15. Who drives? Courtney ussually, except lately he is getting quite good at sneaking into the passenger seat, especially when he's been driving a lot at work.
16. Who kissed who first? He definitely kissed me first. I was just sitting there innocently. We were actually in the back seat of the car while we were driving home from ice blocking with a big group of friends. We were with Jared Rupp and Valerie. And I wasn't even 16! (This reminds me about the conversation I want to have with our daughters clarifying what a friend outing vs. dating is).
17. Who's more stubborn? Me. I like to call it "strong willed". Thanks, Grandma Sally.
18. Who asked who out first? Technically, it wasn't a date, because I wasn't 16, remember? But I did invite him to go ice blocking, which led to our first kiss, which led to him being willing to hang out and wait for me to turn 16, so he could ask me out officially! (My mom always said he was waiting on our doorstep for my 16th birthday.)
19. Who proposed? He did. He got home from his mission in October, I got home from BYU-H the week before Christmas, and we got engaged Jan. 30th. Pretty slow movers, eh? At the time, I thought we were moving pretty slow! I had to basically tell him I thought we needed to move forward or move on! He just laughed when he read that and said "I was happy to keep milking the cow, but you wanted to be bought". That's romantic, isn't it? The truth is, he was just plain scared!
20. Who has more friends? I do, just because I keep in touch a little better (which isn't a whole lot, just more than him.)
21. Who is more sensitive? I'm more sensitive to some things, but he is definitely very sensitive to my feelings- probably more than I am to his, unfortunately.
22. Who has more siblings? Courtney. Technically, he has 4 step siblings, 4 Jones brothers, and 3 Wood originals. But they're all the same to him. I have 2 sisters & 3 brothers.
23. Who wears the pants? Courtney, but I can talk him into just about anything!

Since the passing of President Hinkley, I have been doing some thinking on the amazing way Heavenly Father works. I loved President Hinkley and miss him already. What an wonderful man! He and Sister Hinkley are heros of mine and continue to inspire me to "stand a little taller". However, it is so incredible to see how the Lord had everything under control! It has been especially interesting because this whole process is taking place simultaneously with the democratic/republican political campaigns. What a difference!

It has been really interesting to me to listen to media and non-members who study the church and their take on this whole process of ordaining a new prophet. It is just so hard for them to understand how this whole change could take place so smoothly and without anyone having thier own agenda or "campaigning" for the job! Last night they had a woman who was a non-member but has spent her career studying LDS church history. Courtney and I had to chuckle when she was saying something to the effect of . . "it will be interesting to see what direction President Monson will take the church". She also thought the appointment of Elder Uchdorf was a move to give an international face to the church. . . .all very understandable conclusions- if you don't understand how the Lord works through his servants. The older I get, the more I realize that the Prophet doesn't necessarily have a "direction" in mind. I don't think he makes decisions based on the "face" he wants to present. His direction is the Lord's direction. That is a very comforting thought to me.

It has been fun to watch the girls observe this too. Since the night we got the news that President Hinkley had died, Emmy continued asking in every prayer for Heavenly Father to bless President Hinkley. Courtney explained after a few days that President Hinkley is in Heaven now, and that he is happy and doing fine. He told her that it would be good for her to ask Heavenly Father to bless the apostles during this important time. The next prayer she said, she began by saying, "Please bless the . . . ." After a long pause, she said excitedly, ". . .the Nephites!"

Yesterday after they announced that President Monson had been ordained as president of the church, I told Kate that we had a new prophet. She smiled and said, "Great Mom! Who is it?" I told her it was President Monson and she quickly replied, "Yeah! Was that the one who you were cheering for?"

Needless to say, our family home evening lesson was an attempt at explaining how this process works! As I laid in bed last night and thought about it all, I smiled and thought about how miraculous it all is. I am so thankful to have a prophet, who communicates with God and who will guide me and my family. I'm thankful for the way the Lord prepares the apostles and blesses them with the talents and strengths that are neccessary at that current time. Watching this whole process has helped me better understand that the Lord knows what direction he wants his kingdom to go. He knows what is needed, and He works through righteous individuals who are focused on serving Him and able to follow that direction. I realized that because of this testimony, Kate was right. . .I'm already cheering for President Monson!

St. Vincent & The Grenadines

St. Vincent includes quite a few islands, called The Grenadines, and is where much of Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed. We actually almost stayed in the room where Johnny Depp stayed during the filming. (We chose not to because we found that the bed was hard as a rock, which may have been why Depp had a yacht come and pick him up after only 2 days at the resort.) The islands were beautiful. However, we were quite homesick by this time, and pretty much squandered away our three days here. We spent one entire day sailing through the Tobago Cays, which are a group of uninhabited islands and are absolutely amazing. (Remember the part in Pirates of the Caribbean #1, where Jack Sparrow and Elizabeth Swan are stranded on that deserted beach together? That island is one of the Tabago Cays.) Even more amazing than the islands was the amount of rum consumed by our sailing companions, all of which were probably over the age of 75. It was quite the trip. We didn't know senior citizens could be quite so rowdy. As always, they thought we were quite odd for not taking advantage of the free flowing party drinks. Boring old us just stuck to our Sprite. We did find 3 big conch shells to take home, which the girls loved. We also swam with sea turtles in the Cays, which was awesome.

We spent another day in Bequia, a small island which is considered part of St. Vincent. We took a ferry ride there, and despite grand ambitions to do some sight seeing, pretty much spent the day in these chairs people watching and pretty well doing absolutely nothing. At one point one of the locals walked by and said, "Just chillin', yah? That is good, very gooood". We agreed. This is the sunrise from our hotel. I can thank the hard mattress for inspiring me to get up bright and early to enjoy the splendors of nature.
A few pics of our sailing trips in the Tobago Cays. The water and beaches were beautiful.
A look at our party going senior citizen gang. Courtney was most thankful that they were never inspired to try any nudist sunbathing.


Finally, pizza! I have to admit, this was a main point of inspiration to visit Bequia. We had heard they had a great pizza shop, and we were dying to eat something familiar. We opted out of the lobster pizza with anchovies, and settled on the usual - ham, pineapple, & mushrooms. It was heaven. We pushed a little far by asking for root beer though, they looked at us and just laughed. Well, it was worth a try.

It turned out to be a great getaway! We had a blast, but were so glad to get back to real life. We decided that having no purpose in life except for relaxing is just that- there is no purpose! Although it was so fun to get away together and spend time in an amazing place, being completely spoiled, getting back home to the girls was so great. In the few days since we've returned we've had sick kids, cleaned up several potty accidents, and been awakened multiple times each night. Last night our septic tank backed up into our washroom, which is disgusting all by itself and makes it so we won't have water for another day. And so tonight I'm sitting here writing this in a house filled with dirty laundry, full toilets, a kitchen full of dirty dishes. We're all a bit smelly until we can shower tomorrow. But you know what? There's no place like home!

Saying Goodbye to St. Lucia

After 6 wonderful nights in St. Lucia, it was time to say goodbye and head for St. Vincent. I must admit, we were both feeling a little bit ready to go home at this point. I guess being lazy does get old after so long! Actually, I was really missing the girls by now. Courtney was teasing me that I don't get away from them much. He's right! I was about in tears by Sunday. Luckily we had our family video of pictures, which we watched that night and helped ease my homesickness for them.
One last St. Lucian sunset. . .

Seafood Friday

One of the highlights of the trip was definitely Seafood Friday at a little fishing village, Anse Le Raye. On Friday night, we took a water taxi about 25 minutes down the coast. It was the best people watching I've had in a long, long time! The whole street is lined with little booths where families sell all different kinds of seafood. If we were big seafood people, we would have been in heaven. There were huge piles of the biggest lobsters I've ever seen. Also, tons of seafood I've never seen! My stomach was just turning! It was pretty authentic.

Isn't there somewhere I can just get some french fries?
The high point of the night was definitely Kareoke. All of the town people were out, and the rum was flowing. It was pretty serious business! They even had shirts that said "Kareoke Team" on the backs. We had to get a few video clips on our camera. The funniest thing was that they LOVE old country western music. We found out that this is because in the 50's when they didn't have radio in St. Lucia, they could pick up AM radio from the southern states late at night, which played country western, so they grew up on this music. It was so funny, because you look around at all these dread locks and rasta hats, and they are singing Willie Nelson with a Carribean accent. Of course, Bob Marley songs were gospel. Even the oldest people were singing and dancing. We haven't laughed that hard in quite some time! We thought about joining in but decided we were missing 3 key ingredients: rum, dread locks, and a poor knowledge of both Willie Nelson and Bob Marley lyrics. (Whoever thought you'd use both of those names in the same sentence?)

We're so Blessed

It was fascinating to me to drive through the different towns. This is Souffriere, a town about 15 minutes drive from where we stayed. I guess it's the sociologist in me, but I could've sat on bench all day and just watched the people. It definitely felt like we were in another country. We were both overwhelmed with how little they live upon, and how much we have in comparison. Most of the houses were just tiny little shacks. One of the girls at the resort that I got to know told me that she walks 30 minutes every day to get to the main road where the taxi picks her up to bring her to work.