March 2009

I know it's been almost a year since I updates this thing! I'm almost as bad as keeping up with it as I am my journal! I get busy, you know? Anyhow, for all my non-local friends, I figured Ishould update it finally and fill you in on life in the Wild home.

Baby #2 is expected this May. Somewhere around the 15th. Which could be interesting because Andrew graduates (yay!) May 17th. He might not be walking. But at least it's for a good reason!

Vance is so big! He's taking gymnastics classes twice a week, once with my sister and once with Andrew. He's really strong. And he seems to really like class, which is great because it's good for his little brain! (Doing gymnastics is like doing brain push-ups)He's running all over the house, and talking up a storm. Though it's a language I don't really understand :). Today he was walking around holding his coat and talking, waving his arms, being very insistent on something. He was trying to get some point across to me but, alas, I don't speak Vance. He gets an English word here and there though.

Andrew was just called as Elders Quorum Secretary and he's so busy! But the Lord certainly blesses us with what we need to fulfill our callings! Beside the calling he's in his final semester Senior year, which has also been crazy busy! Not to mention the professors here at URI have no sympathy for a student who commutes an hour and is a husband and father besides. Most kids live on or near campus and they eat, sleep, and breathe school work. So it's been tough, but not impossible. He's doing very well, and Vance & I are very proud of him!

I am teaching CTR 6 in primary. I have 2 boys and they are so cute. I love 'em! It's a challenge some days, but it's fun. And I am still working full time for my parents, though not actually teaching gymnastics. I've put my mission training to use, and I host bimonthly training meetings for our team leaders. Sort of like being an AP meeting with all the zone leaders. It's been great. And on top of that I'm HR and the gift shop manager. We do a lot of multi-tasking in our business! It's a blessing to live near family. Vance sees all his grandparents weekly, they're our sitters.

Besides that, everyone's happy and healthy. We love the Gospel of Jesus Christ and all it does for our little family. I don't know how people live without it! We wish you all well, and hopefully my next post will be sooner than 10 months from now!

More Spain

Alright, I know it's been awhile. Our camera broke so we were waiting for my parents to get here so we could take some pictures! And we did. Here are some shots of the area and of my family. This first one is a shot of La Concha Bay, the beach we walk to regularly.

This is what it looks like from the bay looking at the surrounding hills. Andrew is dying to climb here!
This is the cathedral in the middle of town, Buen Pastor or "Good Shepherd" in English
These shots were taken on the bus tour we took of the city. Vance wasn't too interested in scenery though.
Here is the Old Section, there were about 100 bars and restaurants in this area. The tradition is to bar hop for tapas, or pintxos they call them here. They're little snacks they have out on the bar. You try different things and usually have a small glass of wine too. Each bar has a specialty. It's really neat, and the food is excellent!
Here my mom, Vance, & I are outside my apartment complex ready to hit the beach!
Vance and my dad walking around town.
Is he cute or what!?!
I love his little bathing suit shirt. It's like a little wet suit. He looks so cute in it!
Lucky for us, Vance can fall asleep just about anywhere.
It was great having my parents here! I had friends during the day. Usually it's just me and Vance. I was glad to have the company :) .

France

When my parents came to visit we actually had the ability to travel and see Europe a little. We decided to visit Paris since we're so close to France. It was amazing. Well worth the 5 hour drive. These photos are a bit out of order (still figuring this blog thing out) but still fun to look at. The Eiffel Tower was absolutely amazing! This first shot is a little blurry but it looked beautiful lit up at night!

Here is the cute little French boy :) People kept stopping to check out hit berrett ( I think that's how you spell it :) He is dang cute though.
This was a boat similar to the one we took down the Seine River. It was such a beautiful day and a great way to tour the city.This was some artwork on the side of one of the bridges there. When the allied troops were marching toward Paris, a German soldier was ordered to blow up Paris' bridges which in turn would have also destroyed many of today's monuments, but he refused. If he had, none of this would still be here.
Another view from our boat tour.
This was inside the Notre Dame Cathedral. My mom and my kid :)
This was the grand finale of the evening. We stopped to take a final picture of the Eiffle Tower at 11:00 p.m. No one told us but apparently at 11 there's a mini light show. All of a sudden it started to "sparkle" . You can kind of see all the little lights in this picture. They just blinked like crazy, looking like sparkles. It was so cool. It lasted for 10 minutes and then stopped.
L'Arc D'Triumph. Again, I'm not sure if I spelled it correctly. I know no French at all! But this thing was HUGE! We're quite a distance away from it in this shot.
The allied troops marched through this when they got to the city.
The Eiffle Tower was so much bigger than I imagined.
Vance eating at a French Cafe.
Another shot at the massive Eiffle Tower.
Notre Dame from the outside.
There's the cute little French boy again!
And again :)
Another shot from the boat tour. I think this is the Louvre. The louvre was a fort first then a palace and now a museum. You could spend weeks looking around in there it is absolutely overwhelmingly huge.
Another shot of the city. This was as we first drove in.
You have to have one of these shots! It was a Saturday and we got parking in front of the Eiffle Tower for free because it's free on weekends. That was also a trip highlight.
Can't remember what this one was, I just like the dome :)
This bridge is similar to one we have here in San Sebastian. Napolean occupied this city for a bit so there's a lot of French influence here.
We took the bus tour of Paris took, which was so worth it. And our son was so good. He's such a sweet boy.
I think this is another shout of the Louvre.
All in all, our trip to Paris was outstanding. It was a bit of a drive but well worth it. I loved it. And Vance is such an easy kid. We had a great time. I'm grateful my parents came out so we could experience that!

Mother's Day/Normandy

My first mother's day was spent in France. We went to Normandy to see the American Military Cemetery there. It was a 2 hour drive from Paris. Well it took us 5 hours because of beach traffic. We had an 8 hour drive home and Andrew needed to be home so he could go to work the next day. It wasn't looking too promising. But the trip was well worth it. 

This is Omaha beach, the place the allied troops landed during WWII. It was so pretty. It was sad thinking such a beautiful place had been the scene of such bloodshed.

"THE ALLIED FORCES LANDING ON THIS SHORE WHICH THEY CALL OMAHAM BEACH LIBERATE EUROPE-JUNE 6TH 1944"
This was part of the monument there on the beach. For more info about it check out this site: 

http://parisparfait.typepad.com/paris_parfait/2006/04/normandy_sculpt.html

(just copy and paste it)

And this was in the visitor's center there.

"OUR DEBT TO THE HEROIC MEN AND VALIANT WOMEN IN THE SERVICE OF OUR COUNTRY CAN NEVER BE REPAID. THEY HAVE EARNED OUR UNDYING GRATITUDE. AMERICA WILL NEVER FORGET THEIR SACRIFICES"

This was in a chapel that was on the grounds there:


This was the ceiling in the chapel. It was beautiful.
This is us in front of a monument depicting the freedom of the spirits of those who died there. It was amazing.
Our first view of the cemetery. The grounds were beautiful. And the headstones seemed to go on forever.
My dad wanted to go to Normandy, that's why we made the trip. He was a marine. It was a moving experience for all of us but I think especially for him.
This picture brings tears to my eyes every time I look at it.
The feeling there is difficult to describe. There's such a feeling of reverence and sacredness.
It was almost overwhelming. It pressed down  on you, you could feel it was a hallowed place.
Being a mom puts a new perspective on things too. Some of these men were husbands, some were brothers, some cousins and nephews. But ALL of them were sons.
I thought of their mothers on this mother's day. The grief mixed with the pride they must have felt. I was grateful for my own son and thought about how I don't know what's in his future, but I know he has a promising future. He has what he has today, we all do, because these men gave their lives to protect it.
It puts a new meaning on the price of freedom. I came away with a new respect for those who served our country to allow us to keep our freedom as well as those who serve today.

The Ride Home

OK, so we left Normandy around 4:00 or so, not great considering Andrew had to work the next day. I thought we should get a hotel because we'd be getting home around 2a.m. anyhow. No one agreed. So we drove, a long time. (Happy Mother's Day by the way :) We were finishing up, last leg of the trip, and we had an incident. We were still in France, because honestly we live about 10 minutes from the French border, and so we stopped for gas. As we did it started pouring rain. We should have taken that as a sign! 

So my dad fills the tank and we drive. And all of a sudden it feels like we got a bad batch of gas. The car's having trouble. Then my dad recalls some military training he had in the past. Diesel engines were created for emergencies because they can run on anything that burns, anything. But they ride rough. And he said it felt like the diesel engine was running on gas. Meaning he put regular gas in the tank, not diesel. Well, apparently the new computerized diesel cars don't just run on anything. It got pretty bad so we pulled off at the next gas station. My dad figured if we put more diesel in it, it would mix with the gas enough to stop the engine troubles we were having.

We pulled off and shut off the car. Put in diesel. Went to start the car. Nothing. Meanwhile we're in France. WE DON'T SPEAK FRENCH PEOPLE! And the people at the gas station didn't speak english or spanish! I finally found someone who was getting gas herself who also spoke spanish. But my spanish skills are lacking so I ran and got Andrew. He told her the problem, she told the guy behind the counter and no one had any suggestions for us! There happened to walk in a trucker, from Spain. He decided he would help us, he'd syphon the gas out. But the tube he has was too big (remember it's raining hard too).

So he tells Andrew he wants to try to have my dad start it as he and Andrew push the car, to try to kick start it. Well Andrew had flip flops on, so he ended up barefoot in the pouring rain in this gas station parking lot pushing our car around with this trucker. No luck. He left us, feeling badly that he couldn't help us.

So we decide it's time to call someone. We call the car emergency service and they tell us they can't help us because we're in France. We had to call the emergency number for France. It's about 2:30a.m. now. No one on the phone speaks english or spanish either. So we call for a tow and eventually they get the message and say they'll send one. We wait. And wait. And wait. 

Around 4 a.m. Andrew started drawing pictures to tell the man in the gas station what's happening. We called the number again and they were surprised the truck hadn't come yet. At 6a.m. the gas station guy called emergency services for us and said a truck would be on the way. (that's what they said at 2:00 too). My mom and I in the back seat were trying to get any sleep we could, which wasn't much. Vance was uncomfortable in his seat too, so he didn't sleep too well, but he was a really good boy. He barely fussed at all. We were lucky about that. And unfortunately it was really hot in the car, but from trying to start it too many times, the battery was dying and so the car windows wouldn't open.

During all this I was glad to be in good company. My dad and Andrew were cracking jokes the whole time. We were really punchy. At about 3a.m. we were laughing pretty hard. My dad was about ready to go outside and start dancing to the gas station music. That would've been a sight.

So 7a.m. comes and low and behold, here's the tow truck! He towed us to his station and we crashed. The couches were dirty and gross but it really didn't matter at this point. 

This was his station. We all zonked out.

At about 10 a.m. we had to get our things out of the car because the car rental company was sending a taxi to get us and takes us 40 minutes backwards (we back tracked a bit) to the nearest rental station to get a new car so we could drive home.

Vance was still in good spirits!

So we got the new car and started driving home at about 11a.m. or so. We got home about 4 in the afternoon. That was a tough drive for my dad too because he hadn't slept. But we made it. I think my hotel idea would've been better. 

It took us the whole week to catch up on that missed sleep. But it was a mother's day I won't ever forget. I was glad to be there with my family too. It made it a good experience. Though I wouldn't wish it on anyone else. I was so glad to be back home and to hear Spanish again! I still don't fully understand it but at least I MOSTLY understand it. My goodness!