Monday, November 15, 2010

Samoa

I have about 500 pictures from our month in Samoa, but as I was uploading I got really bored so I am just posting the cute Dalley ones for now and maybe at some point I will post some of the scenery type.

Our month in Samoa was quite an experience. I am very glad that I went but there were many times when all I wanted to do was come home. First of all, less than a week before I left I found out that I was pregnant. I was happy about this because we had wanted it but I was pretty bummed about the timing. I had morning sickness every day that we were in Samoa which made for some not fun times. On our field days we would hike in the 85 degree weather through the rainforest and I thought I was going to die. Not only was it hot but the humidity was always around 100%. I did get used to it after awhile. Well either I got used to it or I quit noticing how wet I was all of the time. The days that we would go surveying were amazing. The island we were on(Tutuilla) is very mountainous, so the areas that were flat is where the people lived. That left the steep areas for farming. The average slope was around 50%. It would take us about 3 hours to lay out contours on 1/2 an acre. At home that would take about 15 minutes. The landscape was so steep that we would have to move the level often.

Here are a few pictures from our adventure. They are in no particular order The first week we were there Stina, my sister-in-law/Dalley's babysitter, found a play group at the library. It gave her and the boys something to do a couple days a week.
Everywhere we went it was like we were with movie stars. They were not used to seeing white people, especially not little blond blue eyed boys. People would always want to get their picture taken with the boys.

A view of the harbor where we stayed


Stina became friends with a bishop of one of the wards and his wife. They were really good to us while we were there and treated us like family. This is Dalley with Bishop Matagi

Picking coconuts at Bishop Matagi's house

Our two cute boys

This is Bishop's wife Rita. She was a really sweet lady

Stina took the boys to a Halloween party at the library. They were dressed up as Samoan boys in their little lava lavas
They spent a lot of time watching a Dora DVD. It was a lifesaver.

This is the beach at our hotel. The boys loved playing in the sand
My handsome boy, everyone there said he looked like a little surfer dude with his blond hair and blue eyes.
A performer at a show we went to
Another dancer
The whole group

The boys getting their picture taken with Miss American Samoa
This is Eppi, she worked at the museum and became a good friend. The boys loved her

Dalley and Rita after stake conference

One of the weavers
Dalley sitting with the ladies that weave outside the museum

Cute boys in lava lavas

This picture was taken outside our hotel. We had a pretty spectacular view of the ocean.

4 comments:

Sadie said...

First Congratulations on the pregnancy!!! So exciting. Bummer about being so sick over there though. I just love the little lava lavas! Too adorable! Eddie went to Australia/New Zealand on his mission and he wears lava lavas around the house all the time. ;) Can't wait to see more pictures.

Cam & Nat said...

Awesome about the pics. Looks like you had a fun time!! Your nephew looks like Shawn!! (That is shawn's kid right?) Congrats on the pregnancy too!!! That is awesome!!

Lara said...

CONGRATULATIONS! How exciting to be expecting another one. Your adventures look like a lot of fun but so sorry you were sick. I am glad you could take Dalley with you.

Adam and Shari Crawford said...

Sweet pics! I LOVE the view from your hotel. Definitely relaxing :) Congrats on the pregnancy! I'm sorry you were so sick though..... Yuck