Thnaksgiving fun

Maura and I have returned home from our trip to Vancouver for Thanksgiving. It was a little different from last year. Maura's parents moved into a mansion a few months ago! It felt like staying in a hotel. We had a lot of fun being with both families. I saw my little bro Adam for the first time since he came home off his mission. Well, I kind of saw him...he was mosly out with his soon to be wife! I guess that is how it goes. Our family continued our thanksgiving tradition by going to a blazers game. It was a pretty sad showing by the blazers! When a team as bad as the Vancouver Grizzles have a 32-2 run against you, your team has a problem. Thankfullt he blazers played almost worthy of the millions they make to make the game somewhat entertaining. It was fun watching the BYU game. I thought that we were all going to watch it togethet, but Maura and I ended up watching it by ourselves. Thats ok though, it was still an awesome game. We are kind of bumbed that we had to sel our tickets before we came home. Our baby is doing pretty well. Maura is a little more tispsy now. I havw had to catch her on multiple occasions before she falls! We are happy to be back in Orem. I have 3 more killer weeks of school until christmas break. We will be heading back to Vancouver once more! This time for 8 days! To the bros... We are planning something really cool for Mom and Dad. It is fun to od nice things for them. They did such an awesome job raising 6 sons. It is quite the accomplishment. Now it is time for us to give back to them.

Maura's cute belly and a sad football game :(

Maura's belly is growing! I wonder what is inside? It is kind of like buying one of those suprise bags at the store. At least I know a girl is inside. Maura is now at 25 weeks.

Look how cute she is!
She has gained a whole 10 lbs! Sometimes she will start bitting me in the middle of the night so I have started rubbing down her body pillow with butter. JK....That just made me laugh really hard with the thought of it. I love Maura. What would she possibly do without me? (As she is glaring at me while I write this post).

Here are two funny pictures from BYU's embarrassing loss to TCU. Guess which one is before and which one is after?

PUMPKINS!!!!

This was the highlight of our Halloween day and the last thing we did too. SO, we bought these pumpkins like 2 weeks ago. We put off carving them everyday because of school or work. Finally it came to Halloween evening after we went with our little nephews and niece Trick or treating. I went to pick up Maura's pumpkin and my finger went right through the bottom! Sick! There was a huge rotton spot on the Pumpkins bottom. Yes her pumpkin had a rotten bottom. So, natural I cut it off. Now he has a big hole. We used our sweet new carving kit with a little help from some pre-made patterns. Maura made the witch and I made the monster looking guy. Here are some sweet pix of our "strenuous"labor.

Maura's Cool Halloween Classroom

As an elementary music school teacher, Maura had the opporunity to celebrate Halloween for a whole week! Well, Utah basically celebrates Halloween for a whole week. It is second only to Christmas here. (weird)

Maura did fun activities, turtorous songs, and a human body carving contest....well, ok, maybe not....But she did have really cool activities and a really cool looking classroom thanks to her awesome amazing handsome cool um um (I can't think of anymore :) ) Husband. Well, basically I just did the awesome spiderwebs. Maura makes a great fairy-witch.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
Maura and I had a fun Halloweens week. Yes, in Utah, Halloween goes for a week and is second only to Christmas! People are pretty intense here about there Halloween. Maura, being a school teacher, got to enjoy to enjoy haloween all week because of class parties. She has eaten so much candy that we had to glue in those fake teeth into her gums! HA ha. Just a joke. Thats actually probably true for me... I hid the candy from her all week and have been having a piece...maybe two...with every meal. Yum!


Maura and I first went to the corn maze on Monday for FHE at Thankgiving Point. Here are some good picks from our adventure!

Maura and I completed the Maze in record time! Well, not really. We actually just wandered around for half an hour (it is a huge maze!) then decided it was time to leave. I don't know if we were going the right way, but we did find the exit, by following some little kids! They were quite scared of me...I'm mean look at the above picture! I can't blame em'. There was a lot to do after the maze. We watched pig and goat races, went to a 3D spook house (thus the picture with the stupid glasses) went on a hay ride, a train ride, took a little kids candy...twice, had hot apple cider that Maura loved but I thought was like drinking liquid plastic, look at cool jack-o-lanters, and last but not least, the pumpkin princess carriage (my personal favorite part). Yep, it was a fun evening, and Baby's first Halloween!

Updates...

So...Its probably about time we update this thing.

Well, since our trip to the Caribbean we have had some other noteworthy adventures.

First of all, a couple of weeks after our trip we found out that I'M PREGNANT!!!! YAY! We've been trying basically since we got married and ten months later...YAY! I'm due in February. I was getting nauseous on our trip, but I just thought it was a new environment, etc. I wasn't extremely sick or anything, but then it didn't go away after our trip and lo and behold...there's a baby growing inside of me!

At the beginning of August, we moved from our tiny apartment in Provo to what seems like a mansion in Orem. 2 bedrooms, huge living room, kitchen, etc. We still do not enjoy luxuries like washer/dryer, dishwasher or disposal, but the extra spaciousness is worth it. Plus we're going to need the extra room :)

I started my job as a full time music teacher at Amelia Earhart Elementary in the middle of August. It sure is exhausting, but so much fun and exhilarating at the same time. I love sharing my talents in ways that bless the lives of precious children. They are so cute! I teach every kid in the school...k-6 plus 3 special ed classes...about 576 (or something close to that) names, faces, and personalities to learn! I see every class 2 times per week. Wow! It sure is a lot to keep track of...and takes a lot of energy to be doing a song and dance all the time with the kids (literally). Its not like a regular classroom where the kids can sit quietly and do silent reading or quiet work time while the teacher can kind of take a breather from being "on stage"... music teaching is a high performance job, but very worth it.

Ben started his semester...he's applying to his major (Public Relations) this semester and hopes to start the major Winter Semester. He is enjoying his classes and he is still working part-time at LogoWorks (I guess now it is technically Marketsplash by HP or something like that). He now also has a gym membership...he hopes to lose all of the baby weight he's been gaining. I guess he has been having "Sympathy Symptoms" :). No...he really hasn't gained that much weight since we've been married, but enough that he's determined to start working out again.

I got a new calling just a couple weeks into our new ward (apparently the bishopric heard through the grapevine that someone "musical" was coming). You guessed it...Ward Choir Director. So basically, my whole life revolves around music making with people. Oh yeah, did I mention in my spare time I teach piano lessons? Gotta love it! I think Ben is getting a new calling this week...but I'm not sure what it is yet. Someone came over to talk to him a couple days ago about it. We'll keep you updated.

All in all, we're enjoying life, having fun, and looking forward to new adventures.

Sorry for lack of interesting pictures and such. Look forward to pregnant lady pics and other fun stuff! We will try to be better about updating this now that we're kind of settled in and in a routine.

Caribbean Trip

(So... Ben Started writing this post right when we got back from our trip 2 months ago... I'm (Maura) going to finally finish it so we can finally write about other things...)

We're back!

After a fun 10 days, it was time to come home.... :( By the time we left, even Maura was talking with an accent! I guess I will give a fun recap of our trip.....

First day.....We spent all day Saturday flying and got to Trinidad and Tobago in the later part of the evening. We then found that they weren't going to give me the car rental for the week! Lame....I had been emailing back and forth with the car rental representative to ensure that we could have the car rental. She said we could, even though I am only 23 years old. Looking back, I am glad we didn't get the car rental....People drive crazy in Trinidad! I was holding my breath half the time the taxi was taking us around.
So, our first night, we stayed in the Marriott hotel. It was a good transition for Maura. The moment we step out of the airport, we began shedding layers of clothing. I was drenched with sweat by the time we reached our taxi, 100 yards outside of the airport.
The next morning, we went to Church in a city called Chaguanas. No one knew we were coming, so it was a huge surprise when we walked in the door. The first face I saw was very familiar....He was the father of a family we baptized two years earlier. He is now in the branch presidency. Him and his wife are very active on the church. It was so good to see them. Their little boy didn't recognize me at first, but then he got a big smile on his face and yelled, "Elder Brewer!" (I don't think I was called anything else the whole trip.) It took us a while to sit down, as more and more familiar faces entered the church. It was funny to see their reactions when they saw Maura and I standing there. I think everyone was more excited to see Maura then me! It was fun to be in a tiny building with the church members...about 40 of them. The branch president whom I served with while I was in Chaguanas, is now the first Stake President of the West Indies...well it is actually a stake of the island of Trinidad....the rest of the church members are still under the watch care of the mission presidency.

The cutest part of church, that made me cry, was when a boy named Satysh Deonerinesigh

came walking by, not recognizing, when someone pointed at me and said to him, do you know who that is, he grinned, ran over to me and through his arms around my neck...and he wouldn't let go! He then gave Maura a big long hug...it made us both tear up.

(Maura's insert here: The whole time I was at this little branch I was teary eyed. The faith of these people is incredible. The children were so adorable and the spirit was so strong. The people have simple testimonies, but they are strong. Also, Bro. Ramdath (the first person we saw) asked us to teach the youth class for sunday school after sacrament meeting. That was cool. Everyone loved Ben so much and were so glad he was back. I could tell he did a lot of good in this area.)

After church we went to stay with the Lackin family. They are an older couple in the branch who have a pretty nice house for Trinidad standards. (See picture) We really enjoyed our stay with them. We spent the rest of the day at the Lakins. They fed us so much food on the trip, I felt bad for Maura! When they weren't looking, I often took a few scoops from her plate and put it on mine....Man I sure gained a lot on our trip....The lakins took us to some sightseeing sights Sunday afternoon. We saw the huge hindu monkey god and the Temple in the middle of the sea.


On Monday, I took Maura through Chaguanas. It was fun, but it sure rained a lot......here is a video and some pics for your enjoyment.... Please try not to get motion sickness from the video. We are obviously beginners at video taking while walking.





The next few days we spent visiting other cool places....Maura got eat lots of fun food and meet lots of my friends! This is Sister Verra Doon and her daughter Johanna. Johanna is really Skinny! She has a heart defect that keeps her really skinny. This is the first family I met on the island of Trinidad. Sis Doon was pivotal in the conversion if the current branch president of the Chaguanas branch. When I first arrive in Chaguanas, there was a family named the Gopauls being taught by two other missionaires. They believed the church was true and the book of Mormon was true logically, but they were waiting for the spiritual confermation. The missionaries promised them that if they went to every sesion of conference, they would receive their spiritual confermation. Well, they went to every session. After the last session, they were happy they went, but were a little discouraged that the spiritual confirmation hadn't come as promised. We were there as well with a recently baptized member named Sister Doon. We felt inspired to have the Gopauls give her a ride home. Here is the rest of the story, according to the Gopauls.....We were driving sister Doon home and it was quite in the car for most of the way. When we were a few minutes from her home, we asked her what she thought of coference. She just began to share her strong testimony and belief that she had joined the true church and that she knew that she had just listened to a prophet of God. As we dropped her off, we just sat outside of her house, and we couldn't move. We lookd at each other and said, did you feel that. (They both had.) It was the spirit! They recieved their spiritual confermation. They were baptized two weeks later.

Maura and I had the opportunity to go to a beautiful beach in Trinidad! We went with a family I taught and baptized while I was there. They are called the Ramdath family.



There story is really cool as well! I was just finishing up my first transfer in Trinidad. It was quite ruff. I had been in Guyana the previous 10 months and I was missing it there. My comp and I had just come home from church where we had to investigators there. Any missionary knows that is a hard moment because it feels like your whole previous week was a waste. I was sitting on the couch and really had no desire to go out and work in the hot sun. Elder Gibby and I had a little pep rally and decided to pray to where to go. We received and answer that we needed to go to an area called Felicity. We made a goal to teach every family that we walked past.On our way to geta taxi, I felt a strong impression to walk a different way just before reaching the taxi stop. We walked to an area just behind the church building. There, sitting in their front yard, was the Ramdath Family. We walked up and said, hello we have come to teach your family. They just stared at us and we sat down and started teaching. It was a powerful experience. Missionaries are a lot more powerful when they have been humbled, which we felt after church. When we were done, we commited them to baptizm. Suprizingly, they said yes and yes to a date as well! We then left. Now read this....As it turns out, the Ramdaths had skipped their church that day and where deciding if they should go back to that church or go to another. They were deciding to go to another, when we showed up. Pretty cool huh? The wife was the most dilligent. We taught her and she came to chuch off and on for a few months. The husband was supportive but was progressing very slowly. He didn't have anything to overcome, he just wasn't that interested yet. He became interested in a funny way. It came time for Sis Ramdaths inteview for her baptism. An Elder came and interviewed her and deemed her ready for baptism. So we get to the baptism....There was 20 people, including are the awsome supportive branch pres, who is now the first Stake Pres is Trinidad, a few senior couples who helped teach them, and lots of her friends. So we are about to start, and my comp feels he needs to fill out the baptism record. So he goes to ask Bro Ramdath for his marraige date. And he says, "Oh, we arn't actually married, we just tell people we are." My companion came over and told me....I wanted to crawl up and die. We had to call off the baptism. Man did I feel like an idiot. But when I was explaining to Bro Ramdath why his "wife" cant get baptized, he had a change of countanence. He said, "I want to be ready when she is ready to be baptized." Wow! So I guess it needed to happen. They were all baptized a month later.

I will do the rest in another post....