October 2019

We had a jam packed month!! 

Gwen lost her first tooth. A few days before, she told me it was wiggly. I had no idea, and when I looked at it, it was barely hanging on! One afternoon, we had Gwen try to wiggle it with a paper towel and the tooth cams right out! She was so proud!!! She wrote a letter to the tooth fairy and asked for gold, and the fairy delivered a gold dollar! What a lucky girl!

Gwen has really been claiming to be a big girl lately! She’ll stop me and ask me to measure her height, she’ll ask me to take pictures of her when she thinks she looks like a big girl...it is so sweet and so sad! She IS a big girl and watching her grow is the epitome of bittersweet. 

Emily, Gwen, and I went to the movies one night when Jake was hanging out with friends! We saw the movie “Abominable”! It was about three kids returning a lost yeti to his family. It was so sweet! And the amount of popcorn we all consumed was out of this world!

Jake and I went back to the Dominican Republic in the middle of the month. We were so grateful for my parents being able to come down to watch the girls. We had so much fun! We hiked the local waterfalls, rode a gondala to the top of a mountain, and swam every second we could! On our dental day, we realized that we didn’t have any packed syringes, so we rigged up a 4 handed way to administer anesthetic while the lead dentist, Dr. Stark, went into town searching for synringes! 

He came back maybe an hour after we began our makeshift method, and we were all glad! 

I had the opportunity to attend a class Dani (one of the trip leaders) had planned for the young women in the refugee camp. Another dentist, Dr. Marcela Quintero, also attended and helped teach and translate to the group. The class was focused on teaching about ovulation and menstruation, and we dispensed kits with reusable feminine pads, underwear, and soap. I was able to sit back and watch the class, and it was filled with so much love. It was amazing. 

The day before we left for the dental trip, I was called in for an interview at one of our local dental schools. They were looking for a hygienist to join their faculty, and while I was in the airport the following day, I got an email that I got the job!!! More on that in the next monthly update!!

For Halloween and our ward trunk or treat, we dressed up as characters from Zootopia! Gwen was Officer Judy Hopps, Jake was Nick Wilde, Emily was Gazelle, and I was assistant mayor Bellweather! Our trunk or treat was amazing! Great food, and greater company! On Halloween we snapped a picture! I think we always look better at the trunk or treat because it’s typically on a Saturday, and Halloween often falls on a school/work night! Oh well! It’s still great!