Got some Paxton videos up on our blog.  http://www.thesugis.blogspot.com/

Dominican Republic

This first picture is a member family from Jacob's first area. Then it's casey's dad, me, jacob and casey. My eyes are that big because it really is that hot in there!!! At night, we had fans on us in our hostel where we were basically camping. It would normally be ideal, but at 4.5 months pregnant, it wasn't the best.

 The last day was the best as we went to the beach and went boogie boarding. The hardest part was kicking and paddling out past the waves. Casey kept saying that I needed to paddle so I could get going faster to catch the waves, but I think that he forgot about the bowling ball on my belly, which was really hard to balance on the board. I was pretty tired, but rode two good waves all the way in to shore. Here we are after two runs past the break.

After the long day at the beach, Casey sacked out in the hammock. Isn't he so cute??! It was a good time meeting all of Jacob's people and eating rice and beans. We also ate tons of great mangoes, bananas and my favorite fruit that's also found in Tonga, but not in the USA. When I saw it, I nearly jumped out of the car while it was driving down the road. I made otai out of it and was the happiest girl in the world. I'm also confident that the baby liked it too!

Cuz in castle rock the party don't stop!

Just some pics from our wonderful 36 hours together :) It took me hours to sift through all the pics and I finally narrowed it down to 71...but that seemed like a few too many to post. REALLY wish I had taken some video of the dancing action. Photos just don't do it justice. 

Throwin the weed javalin style

Using whatever we could find to combat these weeds!

Warming up to Uncle Taki.

Relaxin.

Popeye look. love it. 

Handsome guys!

Everyone gets Paxton time!

Ruby wants some lovin too!

Chic-A-fil!

Happy hour!

Taki gets pumped!

The classic caress the face move.

mom's gettin crazy.

Rump bumpin.

Just chillin with our nose strips. no big deal.

Mom near tears. "No one said this was going to hurt!"

Smores and a bonfire. Perfect night.

Sibs.

What a good lookin group!

Here we are together!!!!

For the first time in years the Sugiyama family of 8 was together in one space for one fast paced, fun packed weekend.  The miracle weekend started with dad and I planning to attend little Paxton's blessing and then Lori and Casey decided to jump in- super nice!!   When I realized that Tosh was attending a wedding in SLC the day before Lori's departure, I challenged him to cut one more day of class and join us.  He was in.  Next, I minimized the  fact that Annette was moving the day we would return by saying "you don't have to pack, and you don't have to clean"... so as dad said... I guilted her in (yeah... I am not too proud).  When Tad decided to return from South America prematurely, he didn't even have a choice... but was simply picked up at the SLC airport and swept off to Denver.  Then ... the toughest nut to crack... Tim...got encouragement from Kat, decided to make a bold move, cover his work, and hopped into a full car to drive 19 hours and complete the family.  To everyone I say "thanks for making my day"... or should I say weekend!   I will post a series of photos and segments separately but wanted to get this one on right away.  LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!! THANKS for all the miles driven, hospitality shown, and sacrifices made to make me the happiest mom in the world. 

Ecuador Round 1 and Peru Round 2!!!

Basically I am not really good at this whole Blogging thing and so I am just going to tell you what is up and then post a lot of pictures.  Basically I spent time in Ecuador working in their hospitals and working with kids and checking their anemia levels for a study we are performing.  It was an awesome trip.  Slightly interesting since I was the only single guy on the trip with 19 other girls. We started in Guayaquil and was there for 2 weeks, we then went to Otavalo and did some work there too, and then finished our trip in Quito.  That was when my adventure began.  I went to Montanita on the coast of Ecuador and surfed which was awesome and the water was soooooo warm.  It was amazing!  I then decided to head down to Peru and go see some of the old friends that I knew there.  I spent some time there and now I am in Huacachina Peru.  This is like the perfect Oasis.  Literally I am surrounded by Sand dunes and in the middle of the small tiny city (Town) there is a Lagoon or tropical Oasis.  Anyway that is where I am at now.  I will be traveling back to Guayaquil where I will be flying back home. For more pictures on the Ecuador trip visit this site: https://picasaweb.google.com/117360015087259637129?authkey=Gv1sRgCPmzvZ7C57OcrgE

Chillin at the park.

I'm just realizing that very soon Ruby will have to share this blog with yet another cutie baby! So...I feel like I better get some pics of her in before this becomes a 24/7 grandkid slideshow! Here she is in her birthday outfit from Grammy at the park behind the library. We go there about everyday now since we don't have a yard and when we try to play in front of our apartment Ruby enjoys walking into the street, finding cigarette butts, and trying to eat them while I make a mad dash for her screaming in horror like a crazy person. 

Bringing me a rock she found. Very focused. 

Gotta love that tutu!

Always wants to grab the camera.

 Loving her new stroller. A sweet garage sale find!

Testing out the stroller's weight limit as well as her balancing skills. Both were impressive.

Just bein' cute. She's good at that. 

Jump, Barf, and Hike

 So our trip began with SKY DIVING!!! We were scheduled to jump around 11, but ended up jumping around 1:30. By then, the baby hadn't eaten for too long and I was already nauseous. Well, I hopped in the plane with Casey and my ill-fated tandem partner Paul who had done over 15,000 jumps. The scenery was gorgeous, but the flight was a little bumpy, which also didn't help. The free fall was AMAZING!!! But then the shoot opened and we started doing tricks. I barfed once and managed to swallow it, but the second time it came up, it was all over Paul and my arms. I felt really bad, but it was still fun. Casey had a great time, so it was a success. Also, I think baby liked it.

 Lori and I wanted to get wet while we were in Moab so we looked up cool watering holes to swim in and we found Faux Falls. The directions the website were really good until the last little bit which got a little confusing. The small hike to the waterfall turned into a slightly longer hike because of a wrong turn, but we still got there. Very refreshing and although Lori didn't go all the way in the waterfall she did get pretty close.

 Now begins pics of the hike, where we learned that we cannot follow piles of rocks and make it to a destination. Casey is busting out the tree yoga pose in front of some of the cool needles rock formations.

Here is a picture of the little piles of rocks to follow, you think that it would be easy, but we got off the trail a few times and ended up on a completely different trail, but thought we were headed the right way because we still saw rocks. (perhaps canyonlands needs to color code the rocks for those who aren't savvy hikers such as ourselves.)

At first Lori supposed that if she gave me the camera I wouldn't take enough pictures, but here she is showing her frustration in just how many I wanted to take of her. Although we didn't actually end up at our intended destination there were many cool trails, ladders, holes and breathtaking views.

 We are cute hikers and we love each other. awwwwwe.

 Well, if nothing else, we ate well on this trip. Foiled dinners one night and then these amazing burgers the next night. Yeah, toasted Pope rolls, melted cheese, beef patty, lettuce, tomato, and ketchup. Delicious!!! We also rounded out every night with Smores, which the baby also really liked!

We ended our amazing weekend with some shorter hikes. We finally saw an arch, went to a place called whale rock where I was sure I was going to fall off and die, so I had a death grip on Casey's shirt. And this this crater/dome thing that was actually really cool. And it's one last picture of the hottest new couple in the Sugiyama/Mau families on an unforgettable weekend in Moab.