Our New Home

We are also really enjoying our backyard. It isn’t nearly as big as the one we have been used to but it is so fun. It is rather wild and overgrown, very natural looking with a lot of wildlife. We have watched several kinds of birds eat from the feeders throughout the yard, squirrels that are not afraid of Roxy at all, lizards, toads, what else… oh we love the fireflies or lightening bugs at night. They are so neat. The first night home the kids were out catching them.

We have learned another lesson about using bug spray, you need it a lot more out here! The kids legs are just covered in bites from just one or two times of not using it when we first got here. Couple of other things that are different, the humidity of course. The first two days we were here were bad, so sticky. Then there was almost a full week of really nice cool weather, even turned off the AC and just opened the windows, it was wonderful. Then the stickiness has set in again. Today it rained really hard. I have never seen rain like this except for that summer I worked in Wyoming (remember that scary storm Laura?). Katie was really scared, she kept asking if it was a hurricane and telling me she felt like it was going to flood. She finally cried out “I don’t want to live here!” poor kid, but it is over now and the sun is trying to come back out.

That is another thing I have noticed the sky hasn’t been bright blue, it will have parts of it having some blue show through but it just seems like the sky’s are kinda overcast or something. The grass is different too. It is a different texture, not soft like we are used to and the ground feels spongy as you walk on it. I love all the neat flowers and trees, some really cool exhotic looking plants. My table has had fresh flowers on it since we arrived. I love it. Also thanks to Jason’s mom I have tomatoes and cucumbers growing happily and a gorgeous plant called a mandevilla with huge hot pink blooms.

We have actually had a great experience with the church, in fact I just laughed the first Sunday. We were 2 minutes late, and here at this strictly military town the saying is “if you’re not 15 min early you’re late!!! Well anyway we sat down on the back row and a lady turned around and whispered “Well sister Swan, we’ve ahll waited so long to fahnally meet you, we’re so glad y’all ‘re here…(pause with a twinkle in her eye)…now ahl we have to do is wait for the Savior!!!” We just busted up laughing, as reverently as possible of course!

Jason finally received a calling, he has been asking for one for 5 months now. I teased him that they needed to wait until I got here to see if he really did have a wife and children back in Utah!!! He will be an assistant in the High Priests’ group and will also teach the temple preparation class.

My mom gave me, I think it was 3 months, to receive a calling in a presidency. Well mom try 8 days… good grief they must be desperate here… I know Kristen, Jessica and Summer are going to get a good laugh out of this one. I am just wishing I could have had more time watching and learning from Kristin, I am going to need a lot of help in this calling as primary president. Yeah, the Bishop just laughed as Jason and I both scraped our jaws off his desk!

What else, Oh yeah we loved the beach. We have gone several times now. The first area was at Atlantic Beach. The beach was beautiful, white sand. The girls declared the water “warmer than the swimming pool at the hotel.” Susie and Becca took right to it and were riding the waves in no time. Katie and Xander were a little more reserved, and did go out with Daddy, but stayed near the shore otherwise. They had fun searching for shells and feeding the birds with G’ma Sam. Well Xander was actually trying to protect his chips from the birds. He would say “go away bird, my chip!”

The second area we went to had a really short shoreline but was suppose to be good for snorkeling. Again Susie and Becca figured out snorkeling with no problem but Katie got frustrated and gave up and played in the sand with Xander. There were lots and lots of boats coming into the harbor there. It was nice.

Anyway, I am sure it took you awhile to get through this, thanks for being patent with me, my next one won’t be so big I promise!!!

All of our love to all of you, we miss y’all sumthin’ terrible. (Just practicing my suthern)

Love,

Jamie and Family