My A,B,C Summer....

Aruba, Brazil and Curacao....

I started vacation the end of June and had to be back to work the first part of July, but was really craving to go somewhere. On a whim, I was thinking I had always wanted to go to Brazil. As it turns out, our "adopted" sister Cema (our exchange student from Brazil who lived with our family for a year when I was 8 and forever became a part of our family :) lives in Natal (northeast coast of Brazil) with her husband Antonio and kids, Tais and Igor. Anyway, we hatched a plan that I would fly out to Natal and spend a week with them. I can't even begin to tell you what amazing hosts they were. It was so fun to have so much quality time with Cema and it was like no time at all had passed and it was so fun to get to know Antonio and the kids. We went everywhere, to a family reunion at their family farm, to several of the beautiful beaches, downtown Natal, etc...

Some of the trip highlights were:
-World Cup craziness...everyone (grandmas to babies had their jerseys and Brazilian flags out) I've never seen anything like it.
-Getting to see Brazil from a native's view
-The language...seriously I'm in love with Portuguese, it is such a beautiful language. I know I must've slaughtered it, but it was sure fun trying
-Spending time with Cema and her fam

After getting home from Brazil, it was back to work for the month. Summer school was in session for all of the special ed. kids and therefore lots of little kiddies who need therapy. We had a team of 4 OT's, plus 1 PT working together and it was great. We all pitched in with the planning, treatment, etc... and it really made it such a nice summer to be working w/such great friends. The highlight was on one of our last days we had 4 Occupational Therapists, 1 from Panama, 1 from Spain, 1 from Argentina and 1 from Chile come and shadow us to observe our therapy techniques here in the U.S. It was so fun to be able to share ideas and have them with us for the day.

Thanks to my cute sister Mindy, who is forever generous w/her travel perks, my friend and I decided to go to Aruba. The best surprise of all was after having been there for a day, having Mindy, Mike and my Dad fly in the next day, so we were able to spend the week together. They had all been to Aruba several times, but this was me and Misty's first trip. All I have to say is, "Hello, most beautiful turqoise, warm ocean, loved it!" We were able to go to church on Sunday and met the most amazingly nice people and so cool to hear all 4 of the island languages being spoken: English, Spanish, Dutch and Papamiento. We had so much fun just exploring around town, checking out the hotel's private island, etc... Then, we decided while we were there to fly over to Curacao. Curacao was really pretty too, very reminiscent of Amsterdam, but obviously w/brighter buildings and clear water. Our trip home was a little more event filled, enjoying a cozy night at a JFK motel after missing our standby flights, but having said that, who cares after spending a week in paradise and being able to be together to enjoy it! :)

World Cup=30 days of international eye candy :)

It's World Cup time!!! I'm so excited to see the display of athleticism, skill, teamwork, etc... and let's be honest, to see this:

Happy Belated Mother's Day.....

I know Mother’s Day is long past, but just wanted to share a tiny part of what I love about my mom!

She is the most upbeat person I’ve ever met and it is 100% sincere
My mom has a game for everything. Turkey bowling, check, open the chocolate with the gloves on, check, sack relay races, check, never a dull moment and I love it!

My mom’s telephone voice (family, you know what I’m talking about) the happy one and the down to business one

She would do absolutely anything/everything for her family

She loves to read and learn new things

My mom is so incredibly humble, her automatic thought is always to those around her

She always makes me feel loved and is my #1 fan

She makes me excited to be a mom in the way she talks about how much she loves it

I love my mom so much and feel so lucky that she’s mine!! Happy Mother’s Day mom!!

here comes the bride....

looks like weddings are in the air and me and amber are hoping the tradition carries right on this year :)

mind and mike are engaged!! congrats you guys! i'm so happy for you guys and it couldn't have happened to 2 more deserving people!!

amazing race lds style

last weekend we had one of the most fun singles activities i've been to, and that's saying a lot :) we all met up at the ballfield behind the temple in westwood and divided up into teams of 8 or 9. then after receiving our 1st clue, went on a little footrace around westwood to find different "stations" where we would have to complete challenges before receiving our next clue. some of these including: wearing pantyhose on top of the head weighed down w/tennis balls, trying to knock over water bottles, using a tennis racket to bounce a tiny marble into a center target, bouncing a cookie from the forehead into the mouth without dropping it on the floor, etc... after sweat pouring down and lots and lots of weird looks from passers by, i'm proud to say our team won!! not much of a prize, but still worth it :)

Jen and Ron's Wedding Weekend!

Here's a sampling of some of the fun we had at the wedding this weekend:

Fuerza Chile!!

So, Chile has been on my mind lately. I wish I could say if only for it being one of the higlighted stops on The Amazing Race (shout out to Puerto Varas, which was in my mission) :), but primarily for the terrible 8.8 earthquake that took place there Sat. morning. As many of you know, I served a mission for my Church in southern Chile and had the opportunity to live there for a year and a half. It will always be a special place to me, not just for the amazing scenery, but the amazing people who make it the country it is. Thank goodness, since Chile is an earthquake zone, they were prepared, yet I don't think anyone can be fully prepared for the severity of an earthquake like that. Even though, I haven't quite caught the Facebook/Twitter craze, it has made me grateful as a means to contact a lot of my friends and get updates. As far as I can tell, most of my friends are o.k., just shaken up. However, the daughter of one of the families I lived with who was working in Santiago hasn't been heard from and one of my good mission friend's brother in law is also missing, so please keep them in your prayers.