Some pictures of my two favorite girls...

our new house

We are in the process of building a new home in Grantsville. This is whats gotten done so far. The house near us from start to finish took 7 weeks so hopefully we will be in the house in the end of May.

Cabin in April

Hello all! It's Carrie masquerading as Nikkie again. I was getting my car serviced in Orem yesterday and it was such a nice day that I thought I would drive up to Brickerhaven and make sure things were okay at the cabin. I thought I would post some pictures for those of you not able to do so. This really is the best place in the world!

It seems dark and dreary but give it one month and Stewart Falls will be gorgeous once again!

This was just pretty. I almost dropped my iPhone in this lovely stream so I'm posting the picture to spite my phone.

What's a trip to the cabin without a stop at the playground...

...And the fishing pond!

Kim, I added this picture for your boys. This is what the beavers have done. You can show Eliot and Ben real beaver dams. Not that theirs aren't every bit as creative.

I have seriously always hated this sign. It should say "Slow! Children Playing" Otherwise it just seems mean.

Crime, Puzzles, and Good Friday

So this past week we were finally victims of a crime.  We've been pretty lucky and haven't had any problems up until now.  Last Saturday we decided to take a new family zip-lining.  When we got to the zip-lining place I locked the car doors.  Shortly after we arrived Maggie asked me if I could unlock the car so she could get her stuffed animal out.  We were in a "secure" parking lot so I used the remote on the key to unlock the door from a distance and told Maggie to go ahead and get it.  The car was unlocked for all of 2 minutes.  In that short time, and while the car was within view, someone snuck in and stole our camera.  Luckily we had recently removed the photos so we didn't lose too many.  So, the photos that I'm posting tonight are from my cell phone.  I have a Blackberry, which I am convinced is the worst brand of phone available and the camera is just as bad as the rest of Blackberry functions so some of these aren't too clear.  Anyway here's a few photos.

Traci zipping through the jungle.

We've been living in the "Valley of the Hammocks" now for 8 months and just finally got around to buying a couple of hammocks.  The kids have made up for lost time.  I think there has been someone in a hammock around the clock for the last two weeks.  As a sidenote, San Salvador is called "Valley of the Hammocks" not because of the hammocks but because of the weekly earthquakes.  They're pretty small.  In a 12 hour period a while back there were seven earthquakes.  Here's hoping they stay small.

Last night we went to Pizza Hut.  With the kid's menu came a little puzzle.  Maggie started doing it with her mom.  After a few seconds Maggie turned to Traci and said, "Mom, I really miss Grandma, she always does puzzles with me."
It broke our hearts a little.  Grandma and Maggie have a special puzzle bond that Maggie has obviously not forgotten.

So it's Good Friday.  The entire country shut down for the festivities and rituals.  Tonight we went to one of the many neighborhoods around the country where a large procession takes place every Good Friday.  Prior to the procession the residents create beautiful larger than life religious scenes on the streets.  These scenes are called "carpets" and they are made from colored salt, sand, and saw dust.  Photos don't do them justice.  The sad thing is that a couple of hours after their completion they were trampled by the procession.  But here are a few photos I took before they were completed.

I was impressed by how members of the community are able to come out and work so well together to make these artworks. 

Here's a little photo that I like to call "Traci and the kids under hanging Judas".  I found it especially enlightening that Judas was wearing jeans and tennis shoes the night he died.

Wish Dad Was Here...

Lance and I went walking in Boston last week. As we walked through the Boston Gardens, I felt like I had been there before. Then we realized that this was the park where the story "Make Way For Ducklings" happened. There are even larger-than-life statues of Mrs. Mallard and all her ducklings. Some of my fondest memories are of Dad reading this story to us as children, and also as "Grandpa" reading this story at the cabin to his grandchildren.

Great Memories!

New pictures of Maddie

We just wanted to post some pictures of Maddie for those of you who do not live close and do not see her often. We cannot believe how fast she is growing up. She just passed the 7 month mark.

Update from down south

Thought I'd post a few pictures and catch everyone up on the last couple of months down here. Nothing too interesting to report, just chugging along.  The weather is still nice but it's getting a bit hotter, I think we were 93 today which is about the hottest we've been. Apparently March and April are the hottest months of the year.  May begins the rainy season and it will be welcome when it arrives.  It hasn't rained a single drop since Halloween.  My guess is the rainy season will do it's best to make up for the last few months of cloudless skies. Work is good and the kids are doing well in school.  Maggie is all healed up from her 8 stitches on the back of her head.  Anyway here are a few pictures.  I apologize for always posting so many.

In January Abraham did a great job making his regatta boat for scouts. As you can see the kid is getting pretty passionate about Utah football. I saw today that the next movie to come from Netflix is the 2008 Sugar Bowl.  You know he's a fan when he's watching replays of games from 4 years ago.  The regatta turned out great. 

Maggie's working hard in school. Frankly, Traci and I think that her school is a bit overly demanding of a Kindergartner.  She's on the bus by 6:30 every morning and this is what happens in the evening.

Last Sunday was election day. All legislative and mayoral seats were up for re-election.  Politics is pretty hot down here.  Elections take on a party atmosphere. They do it on a Sunday so that everyone can be available to vote. I think it's a great idea rather than making people fit it into their normal busy schedule like we do in the states.  I was assigned to be an election observor so I spent the day "observing" the elections in two different cities.  I was impressed by the enthusiasm everyone brought to the experience. This is a photo of the street outside the voting location.  Vendors and the entire population of the city hit the street for the vote.  Those voting bring their kids right up to the booth, some kids even entering the booth.  Great to see kids taking a part in the democratic process at such a young age.

The scouts were there.  In a country where so many kids enter violent street gangs as early as age 9 it was so fun to talk to these scouts who were so excited and eager to serve. 

So there are three main political parties.  The far left party is the FMLN. During the civil war they were the guerillas fighting the government. At the peace accords in 1992 they ceased fighting and formed an official political party. The current president is a member of this party.  In the U.S. we tend to keep our political preference quiet on election day, we quietly enter the booth, cast our vote, and go to work.  Here people were wearing the party colors and the party propaganda was plastered everywhere.  As you can see from the photo above no one is safe from becoming party propaganda.

Maggie loves dog so much!

Simon and his Mom on a swing by the ocean

So sometime in the last few years I became kind of a sissy when it comes to camping. I used to love to hike for a few miles then pitch a tent by a lake with only my scout troop for miles around.  I still enjoy camping but now I prefer a campground with some bathrooms nearby.  So when we got to this site for Abe's scout campout last month I knew that I found the right country to camp in. 

This is how scout camping should be.

We drag our kids to the beach twice a month.  Growing up in Utah I never understood people's connection to the beach and ocean.  I'm beginning to now. But a couple of months ago Viv and Abe got caught in a riptide and the lifeguard and I had to go out and get them.  It was hard to get them back in. The ocean is a powerful thing.  Where were you Derek when we needed you?  Anyway it all ended up fine but it spooked Viv pretty good.  That experience was followed by her class doing a section on Tsunamis.  Viv is working to make her way back to the ocean, for now she's just enjoying the beach, not so much the water.

Simon, who is otherwise fearless to a fault, also is not a big fan of the water.  He likes the beach but runs screaming any time the water approaches him.  This is the look of concern that he has whenever confronted by the ocean.