Amazing Race

One of our favorite events of the year got postponed just by a few months until we got home.  It wasn't even a question of cancelling it, just deciding when would be the best time to do it now that we're back!  This weekend it finally arrived.  We had the biggest crowd yet and the most teams I've ever had to put together, but of course that just means more fun!  We had some weather in the beginning (a downpour just as we were about to send the teams out the door), a few teams that got lost (what's new?), and it ended in a not-so-close finish with Kelli Anderson's team winning (again!!) for the third time.  I'm not sure what that girl does, but she sure knows what to do to win!  

What a blast we had this year.  

 

This week

This week has been a busy summer week! The highlights:

I went on a birthday night out with two of my fav friends who have August birthdays - Stephanie and Melissa.  We spent the night eating, laughing, sitting in a salt cave and talking into the night!

The boys LOVE riding their bikes and have made trips to the gas station a multiple-times-a-week event

Night games with all the neighbor friends

Beautiful sunrises from our kitchen window

Cousin time

Talking to old friends (Liev and Angel over facetime)

And we met up with our dear friend Greg who we haven't seen since he visited us in PR!  

So many greats this week I had to document...

 

Keen's Birthday

We celebrated Keen's 11th birthday today and I can't hardly believe he's that old!  He shares a birthday with some pretty important people (Uncle Caleb, Melissa) so it's a day that he doesn't mind sharing.  Keen is sweet, passionate, fun, loud, careful and a boy through and through.  He loves to play football, eat a lot, and watch movies.  We love Mr. Keen and are so happy we got to celebrate his birth today!

11 year old stats:

Height: 5'3" - 99%

Weight: 108 lbs. 4 oz. - 89%

 

A new car

Well now that we’ve been home a month and a half and have had plenty of time to do our research on vehicles, we finally walked away with a new car today! We've gone back and forth between getting another big van and another truck or getting something like a suburban that fits all of us and can tow like a truck.  We've gone from one end to the other and in between it all and still didn't know what to do.  We test drove a couple of suburbans that we really liked but were just so dang expensive.  Finally we decided to test drive a little older suburban with a few more miles than we had originally hoped but it was much more doable on the price.  We took a drive down to a small dealership in American Fork to drive the suburban and a couple weird turns of events happened that made us realize that we were not meant to drive or own that suburban...First, the guy handed us the keys to test drive it and as we tried to start it realized that the battery was dead.  Bad sign right off.  He went to get another vehicle to jump it and after we got the suburban started, I jumped out of the drivers seat to go out and make sure we were good to go for a drive still.  As I closed the door to get out, the doors locked behind me and just like that, the keys were locked inside the suburban that we had just got running!  Worse, both sets of keys they had were linked together and so there was no other set to open up the car.  Um...so crazy.  So before we knew it, he handed us the keys to another vehicle for us to drive just so we didn't make the trip down and not be able to at least drive something.  I ended up being a Ford Expedition Max, which is the same size as a suburban.  I had never really looked at them at all, but when we drove it, we loved it!  It's comfy and roomy and has a few upgrades that we weren't really looking for, but are nice extras to have.  And best of all, the price was better and fit much more easily into our budget.  So the next day we drove back down and got it!  And just like that, the search is over!  We're so happy to not be spending time looking for cars anymore.  

The kids think it's great and lovingly named it Kingpin...

Welcome to the family Kingpin!

Boat week day 1

July 25

Boat week is here! It’s a week we look forward to all year and get to make tons of memories in the few days we have on our favorite lake. This year we had a tiny hiccup thrown in as our boat (that has been on the market for sale for almost a year) sold just the week before we were scheduled to leave for the lake! Good timing right? Well we decided to go along with the sale of it and try to find a boat to rent for a few days. We ended up finding one that we rented for three days from a guy just in Orem so it turned out to be a perfect situation. Our boat week was squeezed in between lots of camps and trips and band things, so three days was all we had. We made the most out of it and had a great time at the lake and the cabin! 

It didn’t take long for everyone to jump right back into the groove. Liev took off on the wakeboard first thing and decided this year he’s going to try and jump. Rhen picked up right where she left off on the slalom ski and also found herself perched on the back of the boat “sunbathing”.  Rease ripped it on the ski as per the norm and Keen Beck and Desh all took their places in the kneeboards for battles. Right near the end of the day keen jumped on the wakeboard and went a few turns to get his sea legs under him. I’m sure he’ll be back for more tomorrow.

Of course there was lots of goofing off, loud music, cherries and licorice and selfies taken as well. It just wouldn’t be a day in the boat without all of that! 

Boat week day 3

July 27

Our last day on the lake is always a sad one! We try to take it all in and do as much as we can. It typically ends up being our longest day on the lake because we just don’t want it to end! Today was no different. We all did our typical things and then some of us did a little bit more! Liev decided he wanted to try the slalom ski and after just a couple of tries, he was up! He did so awesome for his first time and now says he wants to do that every time! Beck took a page from Liev’s book and wanted to try something new as well. We got out the set of two skis and before too long he was up on those as well! It’s really nice to have a few days in a row on the boat so everyone has a little momentum going in to each day. They’re all a little braver and more willing to try things as the week goes on. It was such a great week for us all to be together and continue to learn more doing something we love!! Let this annual tradition continue forever!

Boat week day 2

July 26

Papa joined us for day 2 on the lake and it’s always a pleasure to have him with us! He just turned 70 this year and can still out ski every one of us. He’s someone we all look up to that’s a fact! Desh decided it was time to try the skis all on his own today so off her went as I held the rope from the boat. He did it all by himself and stayed up for a good long while being towed around the lake. So proud of that boy! Liev continued perfecting his wakeboard jump and is getting pretty good at it. And just like I knew he would, Keen jumped right back onto the wakeboard for more! Beck even took his turn and got up on the wakeboard for good run. So proud of all these boys that keep trying and keep getting better!

The lake this year is AMAZING because of the awesome snow year the state had in the winter. Deer creek is as full as I’ve ever seen it and that means lots of good water at Baby’s Bottom! The other thing we get to enjoy with lots of water is the rope swing. It’s only useable when the lake is full so we took advantage of it while we could! 

Today after we got done at the lake, we took our once yearly trip to get shakes at burgers in Heber since we had to gas up the boat and truck anyway. Always yummy and fun to do something different. 

We took long naps in the afternoon and ended the night with scores over the fire. Pretty much a top notch day in my book…

Family reunion

The losee family reunion was at heber valley camp once more so we could spend the weekend with mom and dad and let them host us in their summer home! We had a great camp that was the perfect size for our family and just enough room to run around, spread out and let the kids have the time of their life with cousins. 

We started at the lake and let the kids play volleyball, get their bingo game in and playing on the canoes and kayaks and getting soaked the first night there. It’s always a hit to be on the lake especially with Papa running the show and letting all sorts of shenanigans slide :)

Cousins Spotlights, silly string in Grammie and Papas faces for guessing wrong on grandkid trivia, ranger rides and sleepovers. 

And no family reunion is quite the same without Losee Olympics! Aunt Hayley and Canyon did a great job putting it together this year and it was, of course, a hit with everyone!

Tween Bingo was about on by Grammie and Rhen this year as Rhen helped plan, purchase, wrap and organize all the gifts for the tweeners. It was A BLAST and these cute teenagers had so much fun with the adult-style bingo instead of the kid version :) Thanks Grammie for making Bingo an essential part of our reunion! 

We hit the ropes courses, the tomahawk throw (a kid fav), and the giant swing. It’s always fun to see the missionaries that out so much time and effort into making this camp a huge success for all of us! It’s amazing all the love that goes into making things work. 

But I would say the favorite part of all was watching the kids hang together with cousins, play night games, make bracelets, spikeball, run around the camp and just find all the things they could do together. I know we will always remember the down time when the kids get to just be kids together! 

Happy Losee Reunion! Loved every minute of it!

Busy stuff

Lots of random fun things happening lately:

Girls shopping with friends

Family Bingo prep

Crashing on aunt Dixie’s floor for the night

A huge rainstorm that flooded the parks 

Family dinner out

A sad funeral for dear Uncle Alan, but a great time to get together with friends and family. 

FSY

The girls just got back from a week at FSY at BYU and had such a blast! Earlier in the year, we had to work really hard getting their records transferred back to our Utah ward and waiting online for hours to get them registered for the week they wanted. But in the end it was all worth the hassle and the girls had A BLAST with their old friends, loved making new friends and being on BYU campus and on their own for a week! They were uplifted by the people around them and the clases they got to go to, and also had so much fun with the activities that were planned and the dances with the whole group of kids there. They came home with lots of stories and memories and things they’ll keep close for a long time!

Boys trip to Clearwater

Uncle Scott organized a boys weekend up at Clearwater Cabin in Idaho for all the brothers and sons in the family. Our boys have been excited about it for weeks. A weekend with cousins, shooting guns, cutting down trees, floating the river, and eating as much as possible made for a perfect boys trip. They all came home with tons of stories and memories and a vow to make it a yearly trip. 

Beck turns 9!

Me. Beck turned 9 today and I can hardly believe it’s been a year since his 8 year old birthday and baptism! Seriously the time flew by without my knowledge. 

I made this cake with La Brisa and our garden there in mind. Beck was Josh’s #1 helper when it came to caring for and checking on all the plants in the yard. Our back patio was a place they visited each morning and Beck was often trying to revive one plant or another. We named their plants their “darlings” and it was with fondness of these memories that I made a cake for Becks birthday in honor of his “darlings”. He is such a sweet, kind, sarcastic, funny 9 year old and I couldn’t love him more!

9 year old stats:

Height: 4'10" - 99%

Weight: 91 lbs. 4 oz. - 95%

Liev gets braces

In just a matter of minutes, Liev grew up. Something about getting braces makes a kid look older and seem more like a typical teenager. That’s what this happened to this handsome boy today…

4th of July

We spent the 4th of July in Delta this year with Justin, Steph and family.  It was so fun to be back for the small town celebration and be with cousins we haven’t seen for a while! We did it all; the late night volleyball tournament, crashing on the floor with the cousins, early morning breakfast, the parade, loads of candy and tons of laughing! What could be better?!

Getting home to Utah

Getting back to Utah from our home in Puerto Rico has been a whirlwind from the minute our plane touched down! We jumped right back into life as we knew it and haven’t stopped. The first thing the kids did when we got to the house was lay down on the carpet (one of the things they said they missed most about the US!) and then just layed there for a while enjoying it. Not for too long though because we had a wedding dinner to be at that night (just a couple hours after the move back) so we tidied ourselves up a bit and met up with old friends and loved ones that we haven’t seen for a year. It was so fun to see everyone and be back in a place we love! 

Second thing on the list to do for the kids was ride their bikes. Desh has been talking for months now about how much he misses his bike. The first morning back they rode around the neighborhood for hours. 

Josh’s summer work party and semi annual meetings also turned out to be that very same week as well. So before we knew it, we were back in the thick of the busy-ness and off doing a hundred things. We did have an evening at the zoo with dinner, a seal show and hanging out with the elephants which was actually pretty fun.  

So far we’ve done a lot in just a few days back on the mainland. I know life will come at us hard in the next few months and we’re just taking it in while also trying to hold on to the slow life we learned to love at La Brisa. We’ll see how this ride goes! 

Week 45 in PR and saying goodbye

What a week it has been.  So many emotions hit all of us at different times throughout the week as we knew it was our last week on the island and living at La Brisa.  I can't hardly believe the time is up.  Let's talk highlights first:

Just like any good sendoff should have, we were hit with a tropical storm warning for the island this week.  The path was super fluid and we didn't know if it was going to hit us straight on before we left or move south of us.  All we knew was we were probably in for some rain at some point and that's ok.  We can handle it.

Projects continue to be crossed of the list and little by little our master list is getting shorter!  We hung pictures and hung the map in the hallway to finish off our "favorite things" wall.  

The Flamboyans.  What can I say except they are making my every day a bit brighter just by existing!

Late night "dead man float" contest.

A last trip to Acai Express

And a ponytail on Keen with his long surfer hair

All great highlights of the week!

We had planned an overnight trip to Culebra to hammock on the beach and soak in a whole day of sun.  But the approaching storm threw off our plans and we opted out of sleeping outside in the rain.  Instead we took the day and drove north to Mar Chiquita and spent the day there.  It's a gorgeous little beach that is just stunning to look at and fun to swim in because it's like a cove surrounded by rocks except one small opening where the water comes in.  We couldn't have asked for a better day to spend doing nothing except enjoying ourselves in the sun and sand.  

The kids got to say goodbye to friends and teachers at summer camp and got cute notes and gifts from their friends.  We will never forget the kindness we have been shown and our love for these great people will always be a part of us.  Our kids have done better than I ever hoped they would at school and with friends.  It's all to do with the nature of the Puerto Rican people who are friendly, welcoming and loving by nature.  I hope some part of that has rubbed off on all of us and we get to take that back to Utah with us!





Saying goodbye is always hard and we felt it hard this week as we got to say goodbye to our branch that we have grown to love with our whole hearts.  They have been our family away from home and we have relied so much on them this year as we've been away from our own families.  We love them now just as if they were real family to us.  We'll never forget the weekly branch activities with boiled hot dogs specially made by Eudaldo, David with his big smile and hug every time we see him, Hermano Vasquez falling asleep in sacrament meeting (every week without fail), Hermana Loisa speaking spanish so fast we barely caught a word she was saying, Hermano Waldo and his endless positivity, Hermana Sonia's gifts for every holiday for every family, the Elders who have been such a big part of our life as they come and go, and everyone and everything else that is logged in our memory bank.  We will never forget.

Most of all, we got to say goodbye to our dearest and most incredible friends Laura and Carlos.  Not only friends but family as they just enveloped us and took us in from the minute we got to the island.  They are part of our every day and I'm not sure what we do without them in it!  Laura said it best though, "I know it's not goodbye.  We'll be in each others lives forever."  We sure will!  We love those two so much.  

Big D had to get some final growth pics of D Papaya and I can not believe how much it has grown in one year!  It's really remarkable.  

It felt like one last everything this week.  

One last service project (the boys helped put up a fan at the Vasquez house)

One last time at Planet Fitness

One last trip to Home Depot (literally our second home here)

One last plant to be put in the ground

One last dinner with Carlos and Laura

We wanted to take it all in before we left.  We tried hard to do it.

Of course there were projects to be done until the last minute.  We got our La Brisa sign in the mail the day before we left!  Just perfect timing to get it up as one of the very last things on our to do list.  We hung a few more light fixtures, took one last measurement on the wall (it's amazing how everyone has grown!), signed our own names on the wall, and spent our last full day in the pool! 

La Brisa has come a long way in the past two years and especially this year as we've lived here.  I had to make a collage of all of Josh's "darlings" and show how beautiful it has all turned out.  Really remarkable how far it has all come this year.  

The night before we left I showed the family a video I made of the whole year, from the day we left Utah to the last day here.  It was so fun to see the progress that has been made on the house, the yard and in ourselves.  Amidst all the memories and fun times and hard times, there was a lot of growth and learning too.  It was a fun time to reflect on what we've done and what we're going to take home with us.  What kind of people we are now because of the year we spent at La Brisa.  

At 4:30 am as we packed the car to drive to the airport, Rhen took one last look at the house and with tears running down her cheeks said, "Look what we've done."  Truly.  Look what we've done.  This year is one we will never forget. 

Week 44 in PR

The parties never stop in Puerto Rico and Rhen had another fun gathering this week for all the "graduates" from 8th grade.  They have been planning on going to a "prom" that was organized by a group of moms as a way for the kids to gather and celebrate being done with school.  It was more of a dance/party where they all got to dress up fancy but didn't have to go with a date.  Rhen had a really fun time and looked so darling in her sparkly dress!  Once last hoorah for these kids before they're off to summer!

Josh and I also got to go on a fun date with Laura and Carlos this week.  Hamilton is playing at the Center for the Arts in San Juan for the next 3 weeks and we got tickets to go!  We've never seen it and have been so excited to go.  It did not disappoint!  It was really really amazing and well done and we had such a fun night together.  

We also took to the kids to see a Guynabo Mets basketball game this week which was super fun.  DeMarcus Cousins (used to play for the Warriors) is on the team here in Puerto Rico and we wanted to see a game.  He ended up not playing in the game we went to but we had fun anyway and I always love me a good basketball game!

The younger kids started summer camp this week at the school and have loved it!  They do so many fun projects and activities and it's been fun for them to be back together with their friends. Keen took a fun field trip to the botanical garden in San Juan one day this week and said it was "hot but fun".  True words.  

Our youth group was able to attend the temple together this week.  Carlos and Laura, Joel and Jonathon and me and our kids all went to do baptisms together.  It was so beautiful to be there together as a youth group and I love the spirit that we leave with.  It was really fun to be there together.  

Beck developed some sort of allergy this week to something that he ate or was in contact with.  He has been sick with a fever the past couple of days so it may have something to do with that?  But he woke up from a nap and said he felt like he had a canker by his top lip that was making it hard to eat.  After a minute or two, I realized his upper lip was actually swollen.  Throughout the night, it got progressively bigger and bigger!  I gave him some benadryl (which promptly put him to sleep for the night) and I'm hoping it starts to go down a little bit within a few hours.  Who knows what this is from but other than the fat lip he seems to be doing ok!

Project this week? Finishing touches on painting and covering up the electrical box on the front of the house.  The boys are always so great to jump in and work with Josh (for a few minutes anyway!)

I hate to say it, but it's almost our last week here in Puerto Rico :(

We have been working so hard on the house and the yard and school getting out and everything else that the time has slipped away without us realizing it.  I'm not even going to talk about it yet, but I will say that we are trying to soak in every last minute that we have here while we have it.  The sunsets have been on point this week as a reminder of the incredible life we've had here.  Heavenly Father sure knows that we love the sunsets from our deck and has sent some amazing ones for us to enjoy.  

This week has been full of lots of projects, but also lots of things that we just want to do at the house.  A game of hide and seek, lots of pool time and quiet moments on the deck.  It just doesn't seem like we'll ever be able to leave this place.  We are in love.