Wild & Wonderful World of Whitesides

Monday and Tuesday of this week were Carnival on the island. To us this means that almost everything was closed for three days. (Because MOST things are closed on Sundays as well here. They sure don't hesitate closing things down. It's crazy how I've gotten used to stores being open ALL. THE. TIME.) Most of the activities surrounding Carnival include alcohol and scantly dressed individuals. (Sometimes completely naked.) So we wanted to keep the kids away from the festivities. There was a parade on Tuesday that some of the branch members went to check out and they told us with our kids we probably made the right decision to stay away. The last time Josh and I were around Carnival was when we went to Ecuador years ago. We were actually IN the parade then and participated/observed in the festivities more at that time. (We went to a concert one night where the band sang about sex. It was all in Spanish and apparently he was asking the crowd "who likes sex?" and "who wants more sex.?" I was just cheering and screaming... not realizing what was being said. Josh was just laughing the whole time! Oops!) So anyway we knew we should keep the kids away from that experience.  So on Monday we went to the SGU Club pool for the first time. Let me tell you, I will definitely be going there twice a week! It was AMAZING!! All the kids LOVED it and the water felt SO nice!

Here are a few pictures:




See what I mean?! It's RIGHT on the beach so you look out and see the beach and it feels like your at the beach, but WITHOUT the cleanup of the beach! It is honestly paradise!


Hazyl and Ruby loved the kiddy pool! Hazyl's not in any of the pictures because she was too busy playing with her new best friend. Her name is Sam and she's the wife of one of the other students. She is so cute with Hazyl and Hazyl has taken a liking to her.




These stairs go right out onto the beach. Amazing...right?!

Tuesday we chilled around the house and when the kids got bored we did a lip sync concert... in the "cold room" AKA Mom and Dad's room. We call it the "cold room" because it's the one room where we have the A/C on so we can all cool down if we need to. Hazyl started us out with some Frozen..

Then Cannon performed The Lego Movie's "Everything is Awesome"... a child classic for anyone with kids now-a-days. (Here to watch.)


Cannon chose a song for me to do, so enjoy but we didn't record it... ;) Or I would never hear the end of the mocking.

Josh performed as well, but he wants to keep his dignity so his is not posted either.

It entertained the kids for a good hour, then they had just as much fun watching the performances after we were all done "singing" and dancing our hearts out.

That Sunday shine is a certain sign

That you feel as fine as you look!"

(Hello Dolly)

   In my Sunday best today, thinking of Ness who gave me this dress! 

Seeing as today is Sunday I thought I would talk about church here. There is one branch for the whole island. But it's so far to travel for a lot of the members, so there are smaller "districts" (I think that's what they are called) who meet every Sunday at different locations throughout the island. Then on fast Sunday, or the first Sunday of the month, everyone comes to the branch building to meet. Our "district" meets in the branch building every week so we don't have to go to a different location on fast Sundays so that's nice. Our first Sunday here, last Sunday, was fast Sunday so we got to see it with everyone there. It sure is packed! By the end of sacrament meeting it was standing room only. Of course "packed" is relative. Our building isn't actually a church building, it's a house that the church purchased and uses for church. The location is beautiful! It's right on a hill on the beach. You look out and see Grand Anse beach and it's so gorgeous! This is a view from the parking lot:

I'll have to take a picture from the hallway. You literally look out over the beach and there is a breeze that blows in and it feels SO nice. The kids like to go out and look over and see what boats are coming in/out of the area.

This week was much smaller since it wasn't fast Sunday. There are so many opportunities for help in the branch. I am amazed at the dedication of the locals. Most don't have cars and the time and effort it must take them to just get to church is awesome! (Plus those with kids!) They are all so friendly and have solid testimonies. They aren't always as vocal about it, but when they do comment or share something it's SO insightful and very sincere. Not that all comments AREN'T sincere, but a lot of times I feel like our responses are more habit and just the "typical" answers than sincere. I'm guilty of it as well. I've grown up in the church and know all the "right" answers. So even though there wasn't anybody to lead the music in sacrament meeting, anybody to bless the sacrament, or pass the sacrament- initially- people volunteered immediately and where there was a need there was a volunteer. All the kids love my kids as well. They are some of the few "white" kids in the branch and the primary kids just gravitate toward them. The kids are hard for me to understand sometimes, but after a couple of times repeating I usually get what they are trying to say. (I know we are speaking the same language but sometimes it really doesn't seem like it!)

Our branch president is an amazing guy! He is single, only 27 years old, and every time I see him he just looks tired. I don't know how long he's been the branch president but that is SO much responsibility for someone so young. He is apparently the only native Grenadian that has served a full-time mission for the church. He is as solid as they come. The other members of the branch presidency are native as well and they are very new to the structure of the church, but they are solid as well.

Cannon really enjoyed primary today. He said, "I said both prayers and answered ALL the questions." Haha. He's used to a much larger primary (there's only maybe 15 kids in the whole primary) so he likes getting his "turn" more frequently. I love that he loves it and is making new friends!

Hazyl and Ruby make up half the nursery. Josh and I took turns staying in nursery with them. Once they get familiar with it we will leave them, but they had a good time today. There are only two plastic bins of toys for the nursery, each filled with parts of random toys but the kids don't seem to mind too much. I would say they are in desperate need of some new toys but maybe I'm just spoiled and used to the U.S.

On a side note, we have had a couple of crabs in our yard and we were trying to figure out where they came from. Just down the road (seriously a 1 minute drive) is the beach by the road and our neighbor told us that she sees crabs just off the road there all the time. On the way to church I was looking for them and I saw them! So after church I stayed home with the girls and Josh took Cannon down to see if they could find some. About 20 minutes later they came home with this:

Yup! They caught two crabs today! They weren't very big but Josh still cooked them and got the meat out of them. Maybe we'll add them to the scrambled eggs in the morning. Cannon sure thought it was cool how they caught them. As Josh put them in the boiling pot Ruby kept saying "Die! Die" with a concerned look on her face. I'm not sure she liked killing them to eat. Well I'd better head! Until next time!

        Well I thought I would talk a little more about the island. It is SO beautiful! Our first couple of days were spend running errands and getting items for the house so we didn't visit a beach right off the bat. But one thing you get used to is feeling constantly sticky from sweat! I think a lot of people think of the Caribbean as a luxurious place to live, like when you go to visit. But LIVING in a place is much different than VISITING a place.  (I'm still scared to get our power bill. The students say the average monthly power bill can be anywhere from 250 EC - 1,000 EC depending on how much you use it. So this is anywhere from $90-$370/month in US dollars, if my conversions are correct.) I think as long as you come to the island understanding that it's NOT going to be like the US, and there are some things that are hard and will just be hard it probably helps. If I spend the whole time comparing things to the US I think I would easily get depressed. It's just NOT going to be like it...ever. But there are already things about here that are AWESOME that wouldn't happen in the US. (I'll elaborate later...)
       Driving: Let's talk about driving on the island. The island used to be owned (is that the right word?) but the British, so it's driving on the LEFT side of the road and most cars have the steering wheel on the RIGHT side of the car. Although I have seen some cars with the steering wheel on the left still. Luckily when Josh came to the island in May he was able to test drive a car and we ended up buying it. The cars on the island are expensive for what you get, but I think we lucked out! It was a little harder for us to find a car, because with three kids we had to find a vehicle that was big enough for all of us. The most common car on the island is called an Escudo. This is a picture of one being sold right now..

          (This particular one has 488,000 km  on it and is being sold for just under $4,000 USD)

Two door Escudos are everywhere, but there are also four door Escudos as well. But there weren't any that would fit three car seats/boosters so we had to look for other vehicles. We ended up getting a 2006 Hyandai Terrican with 72,000 miles on it. (Some cars have miles and others kilometers.) This is our car...


I think we totally lucked out with our car. It usually takes a few tries before it starts, but as long as it starts I'm ok with it! The A/C is broken so we all get pretty sweaty but once you get going the breeze helps. (We did get stuck in traffic yesterday and that was a killer.) We are hoping we can get the A/C fixed, but I'm not sure it's a possibility. We have to take it to an A/C guy to see if they even have the part on the island.

Josh drove around for the first couple of days. (I was honestly too scared to drive yet!) Josh learned SO fast! The driving rules/laws are more like GUIDELINES here. So pretty much anything goes. The roads aren't very wide and so sometimes when there's a car coming the other direction toward you it kind of feels like you're going to go off the road. Then people will just stop in the middle of the road, sometimes just chatting with people, and if there's room you go around them or you just have to wait. So it's very much defensive driving, ALL THE TIME. I'm surprised there aren't more accidents actually. But everybody is much more aware, because you have to be. People also honk for any little thing. In the states you only use your horn if you're really mad, but here it's just a friendly little "beep, beep" for anything. (It can be used when a car is passing you, to let you know they are going to pass you. Or if somebody is in your way a little bit, basically for any time of driving communication.) It is exactly like driving was in Ecuador when we went years ago with Gloria! (Seriously Gloria, Grenada is a little Ecuador! It's awesome!) An awesome thing is that everybody is watching out for everyone. Anytime we are in a parking lot, or just anywhere, trying to turn around the locals will help you back up and guide you. Complete strangers are just always helping you. Here is a picture of Josh getting ready to drive our car:


All of us in our car! Poor Cannon is in the very back and his seat flips down, so he gets in the car from the back hatch door. He's a great sport and does great, unless we are stuck in traffic and he gets NO breeze. The poor kids comes out with his head SO sweaty! I've started giving him a cold rag to put on his neck while we drive to help cool him down. (It's an idea I had our second day on the island. It is SO hot and we didn't have fans in the kitchen/family room area so I just got a dish towel soaking wet and put in on my neck. Josh loved my idea and we even started putting them in the freezer to get them really cold! Oh, it's a little bit of Heaven to feel the cold!)

After a couple of days I decided to try driving, Josh told me I was driving. I was SUPER nervous but with some tips from my FB friends it really wasn't bad at all! The anticipation of it was worse than actually doing it. I'm surprised at how fast I've gotten used to it and how fast you can acclimate. We were on our way to the beach and I got us there in one piece!

       I've had a few people request that I start a blog detailing our adventures here in Grenada. We arrived on the island about 9:00pm last Wednesday, July 29th. I will NEVER forget that first night on our little island. The whole time on the airplanes (it took THREE flights over TWO days to get here), I just kept telling myself to get to Grenada. I was taking everything a minute at a time on each airplane with three kids. Over all the kids did AMAZINGLY well. We had a few meltdowns and hard moments but overall everyone did GREAT! Any way... back to that first night. I was NOT looking forward to customs with three kids and our 19 suitcases...yes you heard me correctly 19! (Plus three carseats!) I had heard that it was pretty common for luggage to get left behind in the states for a couple of days. Some students have gone as much as 5 days before receiving their luggage. So I was pleasantly surprised when ALL of our luggage was there! Then I was dreading them opening our luggage and getting charged a tax on the items inside. Then AGAIN to our surprise, they didn't even open ONE piece of luggage...which meant NO taxes!!! It truly was a tender mercy. We were all so tired and the kids were beyond done with airports. (Oh side note...cool thing about the airport here. You know in movies when people get off the airplane and actually STEP off the airplane? I was so bummed as a kid the first time that I flew when I didn't actually get on/off the airplane that way. Well that's EXACTLY how you get off the airplane here! It's a truck with stairs on it, just like on Arrested Development --for those who haven't seen it click here-- and it was super fun for the kids to STEP off the airplane.) 
        Once we got all of our luggage we walked out to meet some branch members who were going to help take us, as well as our luggage, to our new home. You know how the Lord sends Earthly angels to us when we are in need? The branch members that first night were my angels! They immediately took charge and carted us to our new home. We had learned that we shared a house (separate apartments) with a couple in the branch, Laina and Tim. What a blessing from Heavenly Father to have such WONDERFUL neighbors! We aren't exactly a quiet bunch, with our little kids, and they have been nothing but AMAZING!
     As we drove to our new house, everything looked SO confusing! There were no street signs, not very many street lights and I felt so lost! How am I ever going to know where I am going?! Once we got to our house, the Landlord showed Josh around and gave him the keys. It was nice...and SOO hot! It's a hot like I've never experienced! You think 86 degrees doesn't sound so bad...at almost 90% humidity and it feels like 103 degrees! Then you think, ok I'll just turn on the A/C in the bedroom, right? Nope. Before you turn anything on you have to actually TURN ON the outlet! Yup each outlet has a switch... that takes some getting used to. The branch members had also brought us dinner. So we ate dinner, pulled a mattress from one of the bedrooms into our bedroom, put some sheets on the beds, got the kids into PJs and went to sleep. 
      That night I woke up in the middle of the night thinking "what have I done?!" "WHY did I agree to this?!" "Am I crazy?!" "What was I THINKING?!" "I've made a huge mistake!" To say I was overwhelmed is an understatement. I'm not sure I can accurately express what it feels like to be in such a foreign place, but not only that, to have put YOUR KIDS in a foreign place. I felt like I can handle the little differences, but my children who THRIVE on routine and what is "normal" to them... I have turned their poor little world upside down! The first two-three days were really hard on the kids. Mostly because they were jet-lagged, EVERYTHING was so new, and we didn't have a full pantry of options for food. Once their internal clocks adjusted things got MUCH better. We were able to go to the beach and do some kid-friendly activities and their spirits brightened significantly.  (Fun things and FaceTime with family sure has boosted their morals when they needed it!) 
     I have SO much more to tell, but will have to finish later. I'll end with some pictures of our flights. We flew from SLC to Dallas, Texas on Tuesday. Spent the night in Dallas, then flew from Dallas to Miami, Florida; then from Miami to Grenada. 

I can't believe it's been THREE years since I've updated about our little family. SO much has happened. Our little family has grown by two more kids! My little Hazyl and Ruby, I adore! Which probably explains why I haven't been able to update. I have been on Mommy mode and with three little ones, the oldest only five and the two younger only eighteen months apart... I've been on survival mode to say the least. So here is the readers digest version on what has happened in our lives:

1) Be bought a condo in South Ogden in the Yorkshire Meadows complex. Josh and his Dad did all the remodeling themselves to make it suitable for our little family of four, at the time. We moved in when Hazyl was about three months old. It's a two bedroom, one and a half place. Small but perfect for our little family and even though we are FOREVER indebted to Jay and Peggy for their generosity for letting us live with them for 14 months, it's so nice to have a place we could call our own. 

2) Something not-so-fun, which I would really rather forget, is the experience with a neighbor in said condo. Needless to say after MANY instances with the Police and dealing with an intoxicated, belligerent, threatening neighbor we were successful in getting him evicted and since then our neighbors have been AMAZING! I mention this INCREDIBLY hard trial mostly so I can remember what I have learned from it. After living in a place that I didn't even feel safe in, I thought it couldn't get any worse. We were trying to sell our condo because of the situation and didn't know what exactly to do. Then after some unforeseen events, I understand why I was so conflicted between my mind and my heart. The Lord truly knew what was going to happen and even though I had to go through a VERY hard time dealing with such awful behavior, I now understand why. We have truly been blessed the way things have turned out, even though I didn't know they would turn out the way they have.

3) When Hazyl was 9 months old I found out I was pregnant with Ruby. We were pretty surprised, and I didn't know how I was going to have another baby when I already had a baby to take care of! Ruby is now 15 months old and I can't imagine life without her! She is so fun and, once again, I have learned that I can do HARD things. Things I NEVER thought were possible. (Yes, I adore motherhood. But it is the hardest thing I have ever done! Even though I wouldn't trade it for the world!)

Once we found out I was pregnant with Ruby we decided that when I had her I wouldn't return to work and I would stay home full time with the kids. Josh has had to work two jobs to make it work, but I have never been happier! I LOVE LOVE LOVE being home with my kids!

4) Josh started working for Foursight Capitol, Tim's company. It was completely out of the blue and he has to commute to SLC everyday. But it's been a blessing and Josh was even able to get Nick hired on, which was a huge blessing for Nick and Rebekah! (Oh Nick married Rebekah!)

5) Josh and I went on a Caribbean cruise this last February with Chey and Tim. It was SO much fun!  

6) Last but definitely NOT least.... JOSH GOT ACCEPTED to medical school!! Every year he has applied. The first year we found out that Jona had cancer two days before he took the MCAT. He didn't score very well and even though the University of Utah interviewed him, he was not accepted anywhere. I wasn't worried at all at that point. I thought "no big deal, he can just apply again for the next year." Josh then mentioned looking into foreign medical schools in the Caribbean. I was NOT ok with this, Cannon was getting ready to start Preschool and he is very timid and uneasy about situations when he is not with Mom or Dad. I didn't want him going to school in a foreign country where they still punish by hitting. So Josh decided to study more for the MCAT and take it again to improve his score. The day he went to take it he stopped by the Bountiful temple first and, while pondering and praying that he would do well on the test, had a distinct impression. He said he heard a voice, clear as day say "Do you have the faith to do bad?" He said he was initially upset that he would get that lack of motivation RIGHT before taking the test. We were both so confused and didn't understand why the Lord would need Josh to do badly on the test. Well, once we got Josh's results 30 days later, he did indeed NOT do as well as he wanted....AT ALL. Josh was so discouraged. It was SO hard for me to watch his disappointment and wonder if he would be able to accomplish his dream. I wanted to help him, but there was nothing I could do. Josh decided to still try applying just to the University of Utah. He didn't get a high enough score to want to spend money applying elsewhere. Then once again, even though he was interviewed, he was not accepted. At this point we thought ok he can take the MCAT one last time, then if he still doesn't get in we need to start thinking of a back up plan. We decided to have him go through another MCAT prep-course to help him improve his score. I can still remember the day he took the test. I thought, "This is it. He is going to KILL it this time! This course has improved people's test scores SIGNIFICANTLY. If Josh's score is improved as much as it should, we will have our pick of schools. His prep-course instructor said he knows Josh knows the material better than anyone else in the class and has confidence that he will do great!" I remember Josh calling after he took the test and I expected him to have WAY more confidence this time around. A feeling of "yep, I KILLED that test." But when I talked to him he was still unsure and hesitant about how well he performed. He was nervous to get his results in a few weeks because this was the last attempt at his dream. His last application cycle to try and get into medical school. I remember texting him a few days later while he was at work. As I was texting him I felt the impression that Josh NEEDED to know that I would support him if he wanted to go to school in the Caribbean. I NEEDED to tell him that I could do it and move with him. I found myself typing that I would move to the Caribbean with him if we needed to. That if he didn't get into any state-side medical schools that I would be willing to go ANYWHERE with him so he could accomplish his goal. I remember thinking "why am I telling him this?! I'm NOT ok moving my kids so far away from family and friends! I want to live in the US, I love the US!" But as I typed it a voice in my head said "You can do it." Then I felt well...if I HAD to...I guess I could. Then 30 days later when we got his score it was not what I thought. He did better than before, but only slightly. Not as good as I had anticipated and it would STILL be a challenge to get in. He sent out applications everywhere and the waiting game started again... THIRD time's the charm, right?! As summer hit I ended up speaking with Esther, a friend of Jona and Gloria's, whose husband was in a medical school that started in the Caribbean. After talking to her, I felt even more open to the idea about maybe living that far away with my kids. As time went by and we were just hearing declines from the stateside schools I kept my hopes up, but Josh brought up Caribbean schools again and this time I was willing to hear him out. He inquired to a couple different schools for more information and we were able to talk to past students at St. George University in Grenada who had only positive things to say about their experience. By the time October came around Josh decided to apply to SGU as well as Ross University, located in Dominica. In January he had an interview with SGU and abou two weeks later we received his acceptance letter! WE ARE MOVING TO THE CARIBBEAN!! This is where Josh will attend medical school...