El Yunque National Forest

The next day, we got up and out the door by 9am to hopefully beat the crowds to El Yunque National Forest, the only tropical rain forest in the United States. We first stopped at the lookout tower, and then headed onto an easy hike that led to a two-tiered waterfall. We were so glad we went when we did: when we got to each parking area, pool, or waterfall, there were a few people, but not too many that they spoiled the ambience or made it hard to get pictures. But on our way back down, there were crowds of people!

After another quick hike, we drove back to our apartment and then spent the afternoon at the beach and out to dinner! It was a pretty perfect day.

Vieques

The next day, we went snorkeling under the pier we'd seen the night before (we didn't see a lot, but it was worth doing), and then we went on a little golf cart drive (with all of our stuff again!) to an old lighthouse. We were the only ones there and had this little beach all to ourselves.

Then we took the ferry back to the mainland and checked into our third (and final) place for the trip- an apartment on the 17th floor with amazing ocean views.

Puerto Rico

I had the amazing opportunity to go to Puerto Rico with my mom, my Aunt Donalyn, and my sister-in-law Stephanie. Stephanie had been there twice before, and it was hers and Michael's raves about it that made my mom pick it for the location of this girl's trip. Stephanie was an amazing tour guide, my mom was so generous to pay for the trip, and my husband and kids were supportive enough to encourage me to go self-sufficient enough to not need me (too much) for a week. 

Our first day, we all arrived in San Juan, explored the beach for a bit, ate a yummy dinner, and then had an early night (they had all flown overnight to get there).  

The next day, we took the ferry to Vieques. We rented a golf cart to get around, which was hilarious, especially when we had all of our luggage! We ate a delicious dinner and then spent about an hour walking along the beach and waiting for it to get dark, because then we could do the main event: our tour of the bioluminescent bay.

Mosquito Bay in Puerto Rico is the world's brightest bioluminescent bay in the world. In this bay, when the water is disturbed (by your hand, a boat oar, a fish swimming, or rain), microscopic organisms in the water emit a bright pale blue. We were in clear-bottomed kayaks, and it looked like we were boating over thousands of diamonds. If you cupped water in your hand and let the water run down, it looked like diamonds were falling from your fingertips. It was hard to catch it in a picture, but it was an amazing experience. 

Buds

Theo is one of Jake's best buds, and Theo has a super fun mom. When he goes over there, he usually comes home with some sort of craft or little toy. The last time Jake was at Theo's, they were trying to make a dinosaur mask, but it was too hard. Theo's mom said she would work on it and send it with Theo the next time he came over. When we invited Theo, Jake asked me to remind her...I did not (no way was I going to hold her to that promise!). But, sure enough, Theo came with the mask! Lucky Jake to have such a great friend who has such an amazing mom!

Winter Camping

These two had a winter campout-better them than me I always say! They had a great time.

Proud Mom

Jake's teacher called me the other day simply to tell me how much she enjoys having Jake in her class and to compliment me on raising such wonderful young men (she also taught Logan). It was very sweet of her to take the time to do that, and I was so proud of my boys for being the kind of people who inspire such praise. (And she's right, they- and their siblings - are wonderful humans!)

BYU here they come!

We have been anxiously awaiting BYU admittance letters since Ali and Logan submitted their applications in early November. We had heard they would probably come out the evening of February 13th - a night Logan was going to be at work, and Ali and I were going to be in the temple with the youth. No emails came on the drive up, so unusually for me, I decided to keep my phone in my pocket...I kept it on silent and focused on being there doing temple work, but I wanted to be able to check in with Logan when we were done! Well, after we were finished and just waiting for a few kids to finish in confirmations, my phone started to vibrate. It was on silent, so I knew the only one it could be calling me was Logan. I quickly excused myself and went to the waiting room to answer. He'd gotten in! I was glad he was with his coworkers, who were almost as excited as he was! 

I celebrated with him for a minute and then slipped back into the baptistry, where I asked Ali if she wanted to slip out and check her email- she got up so fast! We went back into the waiting room, where it took her a minute to figure out how to log in, and...she got in too!!! We Facetimed Jason and told him they both got in, and Logan too, so they could celebrate together. 

We are so proud of these two and so grateful that they both got into such a good school. It will be so nice having them both in one place, and knowing they have each other if they need each other. We're excited for this next stage of life for them!

 

Fishing

Eli's latest hobby is fishing. He has been doing a ton of research and has bought quite a lot of gear, including a second pole, which means Ali tags along on fishing excursions now sometimes. 

Board Game

Maybe you remember Jake's writing buddy, Ella. She is the other creative mind behind Jake's Max and Reuben book series. The two of them are in the same English class this year and have shifted their love of writing into an online slideshow version. So when they got the assignment to make a boardgame, they used Reuben and Max's many (MANY) adventures as inspiration. It turned out amazing!