Weekly Update: Kelsey, Letter I, baptism

Our family on Sunday

This is our Philipsbrug St Maarten Branch that we attend each Sunday. Our Branch has 200 member but we are lucky is 40 member show up each week (majority are medical families). There is one branch for the whole island. The church isn't very strong here.

This week we were on the letter 'I'. It was a crazy busy week so we didn't get much time to work on the letter I, so we will go over it more next week too when we do the letter J.

TUESDAY: Kelsey arrived!!! This week was a fun busy week. We had another visitor come visit us :) It was one of my childhood friends. I have known Kelsey as long as I could remember. So it was fun to be able to caught up on life and what we are both up to these days.

WEDNESDAY: We just took it easy and hung out at the pool at Kelsey's resort. Kelsey Stayed at Royal Palm Resort in Simpson Bay (5 mins from our place). 

It was amazing. The kids and I had so much fun.... The kids both didn't want to leave.

Lincoln has master summersaults under water. I never taught him, he just figured it out himself.

 That evening we went to the Carousel. Lincoln loves the spinning tea cup on the carousel.

THURSDAY: On Thursday we went to Fort Louis, the Marigot Market and Mullet Bay

Here we are at the Coconut Man Hut enjoying our Pina Coladas.

FRIDAY: We got the opportunity to sail to Anguilla to swim and for lunch. Pristine white sandy beaches and turquoise blue waters. It was amazing and a fun adventure. Other then I got motion sickness on the way there. Not fun when I'm trying to take care of two kids.

This is the boat we sailed on. We left at 8am in the morning and didn't get back till 5pm. It was a long hot day in the sun. Luckly the kids or I didn't get a sun burn.

Anguilla is a small flat island to the north of St Maarten. We sailed from Simpson Bay, St Maarten  to Sandy Grounds, Anguilla. It's roughly 1 hour to cross with a ferry from Marigot on the ferry crossing, but we went from the south side of St Maarten to the north side of Anguilla so I'm guessing 2 hours or so boat ride.

Before we boarded, the kids wanted a picture in front of the boat

Our first stop to swim at.

Lacey's first nap off the day. Only lasted 20 mins while Lincoln got to swim.

Snack time on the boat.

This was another boat that did a similar trip like ours.

This is where we stopped for lunch. The beach is called Sandy Grounds. On our way back both kids fell asleep on my lap. I was a bit worried to take Lacey and Lincoln on a boat all day, but the kids did amazing. They listened so well. We were all exhausted from our fun day in the sun. Definitely made some good memories.

Sorry I didn't get more pictures of the day, wish I did. My hands were pretty full watching my kids on the boat all day and making sure Lacey didn't jump off the edge.

SATURDAY: Kelsey went on 3 dives; to a reef, a ship reck and a shark dive. She said it was fantastic. While she was having fun in the ocean we went to a baptism. Annalisa has been coming to church with her grandma for the fast few months. Her grandma got baptized in October and now Annalisa at the age of 11 years old made the discussion to get baptized. She's one of the primary children that I have the opportunity to teach each sunday and I'm very proud of her and the decision she has made.

It was neat to see a baptism in the ocean. This was also Lincoln's first baptism he has seen.

The group that came to support Annalisa on her special day.

The Primary leader: Left- Megan Maxwell (music leader). Center- me ( first counselor/teacher). Right center - Annalisa. Right- Camille Tidmarsh ( Primary President)

Sister missionaries with Annalisa

That afternoon after the baptism and Kelsey's dives we meet up at her resort and went for a swim again.

Thanks to Lincoln for taking this picture for us.

That evening some of the sisters from our branch got together for the Women's Broadcast that is put on by the church. Love having such great sister to hang out with.

(from the left to right- Sister missionaries, Sister Thompson, me, Camille Tidmarsh, Jessica Adams, Claire Sala). Sister Thompson is from Utah and is serving a mission here with her husband, who is the branch president.

SUNDAY: We hit the Boardwalk in the morning before Kelsey's flight.

Josh came with us in the morning to boardwalk ( it was nice to actually see him for a bit, 2 more weeks then block exams and the shelf exams will be done so we can see him some more), so we were able to get a picture of Kelsey and I.

 Another pirate picture, this time with mom.

 We found a fish store. They had some pretty neat things, the kids loved this big fish.

Lincoln finally found a small license plate for his bike at he boardwalk market. He was a HAPPY boy.

Some of the stores are so cute. I love the bright colors.

Thanks to Lincoln's camera taking skills, I was able to get a picture with Kelsey right before we said our goodbyes.

Lacey enjoying an ice cream on a hot evening in the Caribbean.
Lacey loves saying turtle these days, its so cute when she says it.