Haiti...There and Back Again

On a very quick notice, Nate had the opportunity to go to Haiti again for 1 week with Haitian Roots. Unfortunately I was not able to go since it was such a short notice and pretty expensive to send him over. It was disappointing staying in cold Idaho while he got to see some of the same children we worked with last year. But I was happy he was able to go and have such a great experience. He spend most of his time interpreting like crazy for anything and everyone. He also spent a lot of time helping to unload supplies and distribute them out to the Haitian Roots children and their families. Here are a few pictures of his experience.

Still a lot of tent cities.Some re-building is going on, but unfortunately you can still see so much of the distruction from the earthquake everywhere you turn. The beautiful country amongst all the rubble.Some of the group Nate went with all piled in a tiny truck getting a ride somewhere.A typical Haitian kitchen.
Kids at the orphanage eating a typical Haitian spaghetti breakfast.

A cute little girl asleep at church.

Couldn't keep his eyes open!

Belinda and her little sister at one of the orphanages.
Nate with two of the boys we worked with last year...Stephenson and Kendi and their cousins. They are getting adopted!

I am so glad Nate is home safe and sound. Technology is pretty amazing these days and it was fun to talk with him on Skype a couple of nights he was over there. But the next time he goes he is not leaving me behind again!

Happenings

It seems like we have been really busy these last few months and then I think again and ask, "What have we been busy with?" I really don't know. Here is a little of what has been going on:

1. In March we celebrated our 3 year anniversary. Wa-hoo!

2. Nate won the March Madness bracket for the Post Register and got to invite 20 friends and family members to Lucy's Pizzeria for all you can eat pizza.

3. We celebrated Easter. Can you guess which basket is from Nate and which one is from Kayla?

4. We did a little re-model project and tore out our front entry-way carpet area and sanded and stained the wood that was underneath it. It looks much better! Nate did a really good job.

5. And last but not least...Nate is going to Hait next week with Haitian Roots again. Crazy. It was a spur of the moment decision and I wish I could go with him this time but since it was a quick decision we couldn't affort both of us to go. I'm sure he will have great pictures and stories to share.

Cruisin' to Mexico

We spoiled ourselves and went on a cruise to the Mexican Riviera with our good pals Mel and Kel. After 7 fun-filled days and 35 combined pounds later, we all made it back home to the cold weather. I wish I was there right now eating some yummy chocolate melting cake. Here are some of our highlights...

Nate spotting the food right when we got on the ship.

Playing mini-golf on top of the ship.

Our first dress-up dinner. At this point in the cruise our clothes were fitting pretty good.

Our cute friends Mel and Kel.

Touring Cabo San Lucas in a glass bottom boat.

Walking around Cabo.

Taking some time for the beach.

Parasailing! We saw a bunch of gray whales. Amazing!


A sea lion getting some lunch.

A typical picture of one of Nate's 24 ice-cream cones. And yes, he always filled them up this high.
Getting ready to rob a bank...Whoops... I mean getting ready for our ATV ride/tour.


Our ATV tour-guide tying a tourniquet on his food after stepping on a piece of glass and bleeding all over the place. Luckily he never passed out and we made it safely back.

Another dress-up dinner.

Sun-set in Puerta Vallarta.

Helping a couple of baby sea turtles escape into the sea.

Can't forget a kiss or two! Even when waiting for the elevator.

Last but not least, our awesome waiters.

Can't wait until our next cruise! Hopefully we can do it again soon. Next time I am losing a few pounds before we even go so that I can gain some weight and not feel bad about it when I get home. But it was all worth it. Thanks for all the fun Mel and Kel!

President's Day

What better way to spend President's Day than some good ol' cross country skiing at Harriman Park. Our adventures were as follows: First we needed to find some ski poles...Then we got a little excited...Found time for a kiss or two...Rounded up the family...And last but not least, made sure to pack the donuts!

It turned out to be a very fun-filled outing. Thanks family!!

Now you see them...Now you don't!

That's right. Goodbye glasses and contacts! Nate and I just had Lasik Eye Surgery 3 days ago. Yep. We had the surgery on the same day. You may think we are crazy and yes that is a valid thought. Even though there were a few rough spots, I can honestly say it was well worth it.

Here's a little summary of our adventures. (Granted this is Kayla's point of view. I'm sure Nate's is full of roses and teddy bears).

We drove down early on Friday morning to the Lasik Vision Institute down in Salt Lake. Nate already had his consultation done a few weeks ago, but I still needed mine and spent the morning doing all sorts of fun eye tests. Our surgery was scheduled in the afternoon and we had a few hours to burn before returning to the clinic. Nate was completely calm and excited about the whole procedure. I on the other hand was scared out of my mind. The doctor did give me a Valium to calm my nerves. Yeah right. That stuff does nothing.

When we arrived back at the clinic, we were given cute little booties and shower caps to wear. Then we sat in a little waiting area with 5 other people getting ready to go into the surgery room. Each surgery takes about 10 minutes. But let me tell you, it is the longest 10 minutes of your life.

I was able to go into the surgery first and Nate actually watch mine being done. I can't believe he watched it and had his done right afer. Ridiculous. I will never watch that procedure as long as I live.

When I got into the surgery room, the doctor had me lay on a table and squirted about a ton of numbing drops into my eyes. Now prepare yourselves for this next part......

Then he took a razor to my right eye and cut into my cornia. Yeah I know, I was grossed out too. It wasn't painful at all, I could only feel a tingling sensation. After the fun razor part, he flipped my cornia back (yes, I could actually see my cornia being flipped back) and had me look into a blinking light. This was the laser part. The laser actually re-shaped my eye. That was a long 30 seconds looking into a laser and trying not to move your eye. (I was afraid if I moved my eye the laser would beam into my brain or something.) While the laser is being shot in your eye everything goes completely black. You're thinking, "Oh no, am I moving my eye?" Then you acutally smell your eye being lasered. Not a good smell. The best words I heard were "5..4..3..2..1..Validated." I knew it was over. Then panic struck. I had to do the same thing with my left eye! But everything turned out alright.

I sat up from the surgery table and everything was cloudy and blurry. Nice. But perfectly normal. I went into a small darkened room and waited for Nate. He came out about 20 minutes later looking so happy. (A little different from me I know).

We then went and waited for the shuttle to take us to our hotel for the night. By this point after the surgery my eyes started to burn and hurt really bad. I couldn't even open my eyes and they kept watering. I had to hold onto Nate while he guided me. When we got to our hotel all I wanted to do was lay down and sleep. That didn't exactly happen. By this point both Nate and I were in a lot of pain and layed down for about 2 1/2 hours. It was no fun and I couldn't open my eyes. I was cursing Nate for making me go through the surgery. Plus I still couldn't really see anything.

Luckily the pain subsided in about 3 hours and we were able to sleep for 11 hours. It was the best feeling I have ever had. When we woke up in the morning we took off our protective eye wear and everything was crisp and clear. And our eyes felt fabulous. We were able to read the digital clock on the microwave across our hotel room. A glorious feeling!

And here we are today. Everything is so bright and clear. Our eyes will burn once in awhile but nothing like after the surgery. We have to make sure we medicate our eyes every 30 minutes with drops. But is always feels so good to get the drops in.

Here's a picture of all of our drops for the next 3 months. On average, we put about 90 eye drops in our eyes daily.

Our awesome protective eye wear we get to sleep in every night for a week.

Nate hot-glued his together and tied them around his head with a rubber band. Sexy.

I on the other hand get to use tape they gave us and scrape the tape residue off my face and out of my hair every morning.

All in all it was an experience. But I am so glad we had it done. Luckily Nate was a lot stronger than me and was able to take care of me. But if I can do it...anyone can do it!

Birthday

I am loved. Even though I turned a year older I had a great birthday thanks to all my family and friends. The birthday started off with a delivery of flowers to work from my wonderful hubby. When I got home, he took me out for dinner and ice-cream. The best suprise from Nate was a box full of chocolate and a year supply of coupons to watch girly movies without any grumbling. (I redeemed one that night).

Thanks everyone for making my birthday special!

Stumped

A lot has happened in the last month, yet I feel like we have nothing to blog about.

I could blog about being sick for 2 1/2 weeks with a viral/sinus infection. But who wants to hear about that.

or

I could blog about Nate eating 22 pieces of pizza in one setting for a bet.

or better yet

Nate grew a mustache. Disgusting. He did it for a good cause, but it was not a good cause for his wife to have to look at it each day.