Will you miss us when we are gone?

John and Tyler just left for our stake's annual father/son camp out. I have a free night all to myself.

Tonight while we were eating right before they left Tyler asked, "Amy, will you miss us when we are gone?" My thought was to say, "Not at all! I get the whole quiet house to myself, I don't have to clean up after anyone, entertain anyone, put anyone to bed..." Well, you get the point.

Instead, I paused for a minute and thought, then said, "Yes. I will miss you." (He then suggested that if I got lonely I could go get on Facebook or call someone, which was quite cute.)

After they left and I stared thinking about it, I realized that I do miss them. You see, almost two years ago, I was the one who was going to leave. I don't think an 8 year old would ever understand that I almost did miss him. I made a decision to stay here with John and the kids rather than join the Foreign Service. I almost missed out on a noisy, chaotic house. I almost missed out on cleaning up after everyone. I almost missed out on entertaining everyone. I almost missed out on putting kids to bed.

The other night when I was feeling stressed out from trying to organize a house we just moved into, working full time, taking care of a family and meeting church obligations, John said, "If you wanted stability and predictability, just think...you could be at a US embassy in Libya or Yemen right now where your life would be much more stable." Very funny, honey. Point well-taken.

So with all the challenges of being a stepmom, a wife and a crazy pregnant lady, I am glad I am not missing out on any of this. Because all of it is good.

Me and Alyssa Milano

What do me and Alyssa Milano have in common? A LOT actually.

Well first, she was ON "Who's the Boss" and I used to WATCH "Who's the Boss."

She is Italian and I am Italian. This is getting scary...

SHE married a younger man (6 years younger) and I married a younger man (5 years younger).

SHE is 38 years old and pregnant with her first child, and I...uh...am 38 years old and pregnant with my first child!

Hey Alyssa, what do you say we get together and talk about how much our lives are alike?

My Red Apron

Someone (I think it might have been my dad) gave me a red apron for Christmas a few years ago. I wear it whenever I am in the kitchen or cooking.

My cute stepdaughter made this picture for me. It is of my red apron and me IN the red apron. Imagine my surprise when I realized that when she thinks of me and visualizes me, I am wearing a red apron. I think she thinks I pretty much live in this apron 24/7. And it's true. Whenever the kids are here I feel like I'm cooking something, cleaning up from something or preparing to cook the next thing.
















I am only a part time mom, but I realize how much moms do to keep the household running and keep everyone fed. In fact, when I think about my years growing up, my mom seemed to have an apron on a lot. The one I remember best was blue with white dots and I think it had hippopotamuses on it. I am sure I can find a photo somewhere. Does anyone in the family remember this apron? And she still wears an apron when the family comes over for dinner.

Obviously aprons are very useful. They keep your clothes tidy from all those pesky food splashes, but they are also a symbol of the work that moms do. My apron says, "I'm working to keep you fed." I hope that even though I am only a small part of my step kids' lives that they will remember that I took care of them when they were with us.

My Funny Sister

My sister has started a blog called "Diary of a Fat Mom Skinny Mom." I think she is pretty hilarious. Please check it out.

She also has two give-a-ways going on right now: one to Bath and Body Works and the other for a bracelet from Twisted Silver.

http://www.fatskinnymom.com/

Honeymoon in the DR!

John and I FINALLY went on our honeymoon (8 months after our wedding) to the Dominican Republic. It worked out perfectly because the kids were in Arizona with their mom, we had time off for Thanksgiving and the elections were over.

Everyone wanted to know why we chose the Dominican Republic. We don't really know but we are so glad we did. We just wanted to go somewhere that we'd probably never get to go again (though we'd like to go back) and that was different. It was also reasonably priced and all inclusive so we could just relax.

For an extra $65 we flew first class all the way down there which was wonderful (and probably won't happen again.)

Here are a few highlights of the trip.

Beach time! We loved laying on the beach and drinking fruity (non-alcoholic) drinks. The waves were great for John's favorite--boogie boarding.



























On Sunday we hired a driver and we went to explore the town of Higuey and went to church. We also saw a Catholic Cathedral (the Basilica) made entirely out of cement (you know, to prevent hurricane damage). The driver had a hard time finding the LDS chapel and first took us to the Kindgom Hall. Oops. We loved our driver (Sixto, pictured below) and we gave him a Book of Mormon.








































On Monday we spent some time in the water and then went on a zip line through the jungle. There were about 10 zip lines, some of them spanning a half a mile. We loved it! Part of the adventure was getting up the mountain roads in a truck. We spent about an hour on a very bumpy road to get to the top of the mountain.

Here are a few shots of the zip line. First, we had to get the gear on.


















































Our favorite part of the trip was learning to surf. Who knew that the DR had such great waves? Apparently professional surfers know. The waters of the Atlantic and the Caribbean collide in one spot and it makes for great surfing waves. The guys who do this camp are the surfing legends of the DR. They learned as kids when the US Marines and CIA brought surfing to the island in the 1960s.

First, Rafael showed us how to get up on the surf board. It looked a little like doing yoga but you had to move much faster. No wonder surfers are ripped. It was hard to pull yourself up from your stomach to standing and balancing in less than 2 seconds, all while riding a wave.































John was awesome. He was the best of the bunch!














I got up a few times but it wasn't pretty!















During our break we had these cute photos taken and ate fresh coconuts on the beach.














The only downside to surfing? I was sore for a week. And my crazy husband went back the next day for more. (I went and had a facial at the spa.) He literally couldn't move for the rest of the trip or carry any bags. Luckily it was time to leave (but guess who carried the bags?)

Anyone who has the chance to go to the Dominican Republic should go. The hotel was great, the food was fantastic, the people were friendly and all the excursions exceeded our wildest dreams!