A Dominican Christmas

Well, we finally got the pictures up for the Dominican trip, there's quite a few of them.

We left to go to the airport WAY early, like 4 am. Ok, maybe not a big deal, but when you see how many bags we took, it was quite the challenge getting everything going. Everyone had at least 3 bags, some had 4, filled with stuff for the missionaries or donations for people in the DR and Haiti. Needless to say, it took a LONG time to get through the ticket desk.

Some of our bags while we were getting everything set. These two in front were by far the two heaviest carry-ons that I've had. They were full of candy for 35 missionaries, at least 40 lbs each.
The rest of the bags
We arrived in the DR on Saturday night and then the next day we went for a walk around a park. We found a pretty cool tree to swing from.
Jodie swinging from the tree too.
Later that afternoon, the missionaries watched a devotional that had been recorded in the Provo MTC. We caught Presidente taking a quick little nap; with how much Grandma and Grandpa do for the missionaries, it didn't surprise me at all.
Sunday night we got together and began to prepare all the missionaries' Christmas stockings. We filled it up with little toys and trinkets, candy, Dominican flag pin, and other treats. We got quite the assembly line going too.
On Monday, we went to the historic area of Santo Domingo, or the colonial zone. This church was built in the early 1500's shortly after Christopher Columbus landed. It was very beautiful; to me it rivals any other cathedral I've seen in Europe in beauty and eloquence.
It had beautiful stained glass windows and very impressive arch structure for the roof.
After leaving the cathedral, we went to visit an old colonial fort. It was built by a contemporary of Christopher Columbus and later Columbus' lived in the fort for his private residence.
It had a great view of the area. It over looked the main river running through the DR and its outlet into the ocean.
They also had different weapons of war from different ages, including a few tanks and armored vehicles. It was neat to get inside and see just how cramped they are inside.
I don't think anyone would want to mess with a girl like this.
They also had some artillery guns that you could move around. On my side you controlled the lateral movements of the gun, on Jason's side you controlled the vertical movements. With both of us at the gears, you could move that sucker pretty quick.
After leaving the fort, we went to go see Christopher Columbus' house. It was cool to see the old governor's mansion.
When we got home that afternoon, we started making dinner for all the missionaries. We have a tradition of having breakfast for dinner on Christmas Eve- so we did the same thing for the missionaries. It was pretty intense and required everyone's help to cook.
Jodie and I pause for a picture.
Here's the line of missionaries starting to eat dinner.
After dinner, we had a Nativity. The Jamaicans were the wise men, Jenna was Mary, and we had some North Americans fill in the other positions. Over all, it was very nice.
Again, following tradition, we got to do a musical talent if we had one. Many of the missionaries sang, including these Jamaicans. They sang a few Christmas songs in a very tropical, caribbean way; it was amazing.
We were then Santa's helpers in getting the stockings to all the missionaries; we got to hand them all out.

Here they are just opening some of the gifts.

We also set up some games that we could play with the missionaries. With toys they they received, they would compete within his branch and then have a final showdown with the 3 other districts to become champion of the MTC
The old paddle board.

Flying the little straw helicopters.

The husband of a lady who works for my Dad, just retired. In order to keep busy, he started taking up sewing and made little botties for all the missionaries.
The next day, we went to go spend some time at a resort nearby. It was so much fun. But here's Mom, Jenna, Angie and Jason running into the water..
Jason was able to throw Jenna into the water, pretty impressive actually.
Jodie and I spent some time building a dream house instead of a sand castle; It was pretty cool
The first scuba trip that we all went together on. Jodie and I missed the first day that everyone else went on because Jodie was getting certified and I was taking the course with her as a refresher course. But once we went out into the ocean, it was so much fun. We saw all different types of fish, coral, and other sea life.
Jodie and I
The beach in front of the resort. It was so nice to go walking down the beach and just relax, especially since Utah was getting tons and tons of snow.
Sitting on the steps of the Faro de Colon. Its a memorial light house built in honor of Columbus. It has a museum that has a room for every country in the Americas a few others. It was pretty cool to see the early history of the area.

This was taken outside of Christopher Columus' tomb. 4 places around the world claim that they have his body. The DR claims that they have his skull and femur. Either way, very cool building.
Down the hallway of the museum. Off to each side is the rooms devoted to each American country.

After seeing the Faro de Colon, we went to a place called tres ojos, or the three eyes. It was really cool because it was like three eyes were just poking out. It was a series of caves that you could go through. It was very, very cool to see.
In this pool there were a bunch of turtles and fishes; it was really cool.
Grandma and Grandpa with Angie and Jason.



Here's a really good shot of the caves.


Most of the family taking a pictures.
We were right across from temple when we were staying at the MTC, so it was very cool.
Here's down the hallway at the MTC. It was so much fun to be around the missionaries again.


Later, we went up to the north end of the island so we could take a tram up the mountain. It was really cool because it was really high, right next to the ocean, and had a Christ statue like Brazil on top.

Just a picture from on top.
The statue
Jodie and I- Jenna had both told us that she wanted us to pose diferrently because in all of my pictures
Grandpa and Grandpa and Jenna on top of the mountains

Mom Dad and Jenna on top


Mom, Dad,and Jenna along the path around the mountain
Jenna at another fort The donkey is a fun little touch.

Well, those were the big main pictures that we got from everyone's camera. Hope that you enjoyed them and everything is going well for everyone.