Dayne accepted a job!

          WE ARE MOVING TO BILLINGS! From August to December we have driven back and forth from Utah to Montana 3 times for a series of interviews (2 of those times were within 2 weeks!) 10 hours each way. We came to know the drive well. We had a dry spell of zero interviews for about 2 months and then they started coming out of the woodwork all at once. Finally, the blessings started flowing.

          Dayne accepted a job at Brewer Dental Center. He will start with a management training program to learn the ins and outs of each of the clinics (they have four clinics in the Billings area). They are excited to have Dayne join their team and we are excited for the new opportunity! My parents live in Billings so we are lucky to be so close to them.

The surprise of our life

          September 3rd started like any other day. I woke up ready to change into workout clothes and start my day. When I woke up I had a feeling I should take a pregnancy test... I brushed it off... I have had that feeling MANY times throughout the last few years only to be disappointed with a BFN (big fat negative) test. Dayne told me not to waste a pregnancy test. For some reason I still insisted on testing before going out on my run (Dayne can attest to my stubbornness). We took the test and patiently waited for the 3 minutes for the test to be completed, chatting about our plans for the day. When it was time to check the result I casually stood up and looked at the test, expecting it to read negative. POSITIVE. 1-2 weeks. WHAT!? My first thought was that the test was broken. Definitely broken. There is no possibility of us being pregnant! We didn't meet with doctors, we didn't do any ovulation tests, did we even BD? We had just gotten back from Brazil for cryin' out loud!! It's safe to say I was in shock.
         I quickly called my doctor, told them what was going on and about my concern to find out if we really were pregnant. Plus, if we really were pregnant, was it ectopic again? They told me to come right in for blood work. My progesterone was 18 and my hcg was 42. They said my progesterone was great but that my hcg was a little low. They asked me to come in 2 days later to see if my hcg would double. When I went in 2 days later, my hcg was 110! They scheduled an ultrasound appointment for the following week to make sure it wasn't ectopic. After lots and lots of prayers we went to our first ultrasound appointment. THE LITTLE BEAN WAS THERE, snuggled up where it was supposed to be, no where near my fallopian tube. Cue exhale.
         Since that first appointment, I have felt nauseous, over-joyed, terrified I would lose the little peanut every day, exhausted, in awe, scared at every little pain, but mostly I have felt incredibly grateful. Grateful for every day that I do get to carry this precious little nugget. I'm grateful that we were able to get pregnant without any assistance from doctors. I was always envious of those who were able to get pregnant without even trying. Trying to get pregnant is stressful and frustration thing! We had been told by doctors that the combination of Dayne's count being so low and me having PCOS (Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome) that it would take a miracle to get pregnant on our own. They said we could try IUI's (Intrauterine insemination) and hope for the best, but that our best bet would be IVF. We had decided back in April to take a break from trying and celebrate Dayne's graduation with a trip to Brazil to revisit Dayne's mission and then when we got back from Brazil we would begin the long process of Invitro. Instead, when we got home we found out the wonderful news that we were expecting. Even now, I just want to cry from amazement! I am speechless. God listens to His children. He knows what is best and what will ultimately bring us closer to Him. He is a God that continues to perform miracles.

          He is also a God with a sense of humor. In my mind this is both the best time to find out we are expecting and the worst. Isn't it funny how it works out like that. You have everything planned out perfectly, how and when things will happen, and then it doesn't happen. Here we are with a miracle baby and we are jobless and living with family. The blessings in all of this? I don't feel panicked or stressed about finding a job. I feel weirdly comforted and at peace. I know we will land a job, I have no idea when, but I know it will happen. Until then, I feel immensely blessed to have family that is willing and able to help us. We are incredibly blessed.

Sao Paulo

         Today is our LAST day! Dayne said, "the days felt like weeks and the weeks felt like days." So true. I can't believe it.
         Today we spent our morning in the Center of Sao Paulo with Gabriel. This is where they have a ton of shops and supposedly you can buy things for dang cheap. So we were on the hunt for kites, a hammock, Havaianas, jerseys, magnets, etc. We found kites and magnets and Gabriel wanted us to have his jerseys. So the only things we didn't end up getting were havaianas and a hammock, but I would say it was still a successful day. We got some great deals! And if nothing else, it was fun to walk around the center! There were so many people, it was nuts. This picture doesn't even do it justice.

This is in front of the Benespa, the tallest building in Sao Paulo, they compare it to climbing the empire state building to enjoy the view. However, when we went inside to go up to the top, we were informed that the building is actually closed and doesn't reopen until after we leave. So we settled for a picture outside the building, oh well.

 This is the cathtedral. They typically don't let people take pictures inside, but they let Dayne and I for some reason, as long as we were reverent. It was beautiful.

This is a stone map type thing. If you were on the Rio edge, that's what city you were facing. Kind of cool. 

This was inside of the Mercadao, basically a huge indoor farmers market. Their displays were impressive! 

This is a cashew fruit. Here's a fun fact for the day, each fruit yields one cashew. So those Costco tubs of cashews... that's a ton of cashew fruits to get all of those nuts!

There was this awesome Pastel place, they were so so good. I had mozzarella and shrimp.

          We had to cut the day short because Gabriel had an interview to get to. So for the last few hours of our stay in Brazil, we went back to Nova Cidade to Paloma's and William's house (the first family we stayed with when we got to Brazil). It was great being able to end our trip where we started.
          In all, we had such a great time in Brazil. For me, it was all about exploring the places Dayne served, and meeting the people he helped. That was the most rewarding part for me, being able to see them light up with they saw Dayne. I was able to see just how much Dayne loves those people and why! It was eye opening. Plus, now whenever Dayne talks about Brazil (which tends to be a lot :) haha) I actually understand what he is talking about now... unless he says it in Portuguese of course. We aren't sure when we will be able to go back, but hopefully we will some day. And so, ate mais Brazil!

Cidade Lider

          This morning Dayne wanted to go to church in Cidade Lider since there were still so many people he wanted to visit. So we took the train, bus, and another bus (we've gotten pretty good with the public transportation) and after walking 15 minutes or so we found the church! We were a little late, but better late than never!
          Church was great! A sister in Relief Society gave me her phone so I could at least read the lesson they were discussing since I wouldn't be able to understand anything being said. And there was a sister missionary serving in the ward from St. George so we chatted a little. Mostly it was a log of smiling, nodding, and saying "no falo Portuguese" (I don't speak Portuguese). After church there was a baptism so we stayed for that too! The guy with the cane is the one who got baptized.

          After the baptism we went to a members house for lunch where Dayne would often eat lunch on the mission. Dayne had requested Tutu since that's what he misses the most. However, the mom who usually would make it for everyone passed away a few years ago so one of her daughters made it. It was a huge family gathering! There was so many family members and a TON of food! Dayne loved that they literally cook it over a fire.

          We then visited with a few members in their homes. One of the families we saw lives in a favella (ghetto). The little home was filled with like 6 teenage girls, 2 moms, and 1 dad. Everyone was trying to talk over each other. It was loud, and they kept pointing and laughing at me, talk about making a girl self-conscious! Needless to say, it was awkward. Dayne said they were just laughing at the confused look on my face. Whatev.

          When we left their house Dayne had realized we didn't ave the calling card and we didn't bring the notebook with the phone numbers. So we had no way of contacting Alene to pick us up from the Metro and we didn't know how to walk from the Metro to their place. We were stuck.
          We went to a members house, Silveiro, he was the young men's counselor when Dayne served in the ward. Since then, his wife left him and as a result his testimony wavered and he's been struggling in the church. It was good being able to visit him and hopefully spark something that will help him go back to church.

               

 This is Silveiro's bird, he knew how to say, "It's me!" and "Hi!" he was a nice bird, but whenever Dayne tried to pet him, he'd always bite him.

       
          While we were there we were able to use his wi-fi to attempt contacting Gabriel and Alene on facebook. We waited for an hour and got no response. Finally we told them we were going to get on the bus/train and we would be at the metro in about an hour (hopefully by the time we get there they would have gotten the message. Luckily, they were the first faces we saw when we stepped off the train! Another prayer answered. 
          Today was Alene's birthday! So we went back to her parents where they had been when we were trying to contact them. Her mom graciously made us some hot dogs. Hot dogs are a little different in Brazil. On the bun they put mayo mustard and ketchup, then the hot dog. On top of the dog they put mashed potatoes, peas and corn, and crushed potato chips on top. Surprisingly, they were good!
          When we were about to leave Alene's mom handed me a bag to take. Inside were some Halls and Torcida Chips (my favorite Brazilian snack). She is seriously so thoughtful!
          When we were heading out her mom ended up coming with us (I thought we were going home) we pulled up to another house. I quickly asked Dayne what we were doing and he said, "oh sorry, we are visiting Irma Regina". I was exhausted and to be honest, not exactly looking forward to another visit. We went inside and sat on her couch and chatted. She served us some Guava juice which was pretty tasty, a little grainy, but good. When we were leaving she handed me a little wood decor thing to hang keys that says, "A Mulher sabia edifica sua casa"  which means "A woman knows how to strengthen her house". I thought that was thoughtful and sweet of her to give that to me.
          My favorite part of the day? When we were driving to and from Irma Regina's house. Alene and her mom kept asking how to say English words and asking to explain the difference because words that are similar, such as the spelling of "wear" and "where" or the difference between "client" and "customer". It's amazing how many people are anxiously trying to learn English!

Sao Joao Climaco & Campinas Temple

          Ok I did not think that our bus experience could have been much worse than the ride down to Iguacu. Well, for me it definitely was worse! Dayne was hopped up on cold medicine that made him drowsy so he was out for the count- lucky duck. I was tempted to take it just for the sleeping aid!

         Apparently rather than taking the direct route, the driver took the "scenic route" and I'm convinced he purposely his every pot hole possible. It seriously was like we were going off roading in a double decker bus! I didn't sleep a wink. And instead of arriving at 9:00am like we were supposed to, we didn't get there until almost 12:00pm. 3 HOURS AFTER WE WERE SUPPOSED TO. Our ride, Alene, waited at the bus station for 1 hour before giving up. As soon as we could we found a pay phone to let them know our status.

         Today we planned on going to the Campinas temple since we couldn't go to the Sao Paulo Temple. The Sao Paulo temple is closed for maintenance from August 10th-August 24th, the exact dates of our trip. However, Dayne also went to the Campinas temple while he was in the MTC so he was happy being able to go to that one. When we were finally able to meet up with Alene she told us we would basically have to leave ASAP if we wanted to make the last session, since the temple was about 2 hours away and they have an early last session at that temple.

         The last session was at 3:15 and it was already 1:00. Dayne and I were convinced we wouldn't make the session and have to settle for pictures outside of the temple. But we kept praying that we would make it. However, the GPS said we were making great time! We were 10 minutes away and the clock read 2:47pm, not bad! But then we missed the exit. We kept praying. We took the next exit and eventually made our way back and up to the temple. We hurried into the temple- the session hadn't started! We quickly rented our clothes, got dressed and headed to the chapel, we made it! The session was obviously in Portuguese so I had to use earphones. Thank goodness everything went smoothly. We all feasted on the spirit that was felt. It was a total miracle that we made the session, there is no other way to explain it. There's been a couple times in my life where I feel that the clock literally stops just for me- usually when I'm running late for something important- I pray pray pray and I stand amazed every time when I make it. I believe in miracles!

          After the temple we stopped at this restaurant on our way home. While there I had to snag some Halls, my throat is killing me!
         My favorite part of the day? Finding out we made the session! What a relief.

Foz Do Iguacu Day #3

          Today we went SKYDIVING! That's right, I said SKYDIVING. We were signed up to go at 8:30am so we quickly ate breakfast, packed our bags and picked up our room and got on our way. However, right as I was checking us out of our room, the tour guide pulled Dayne aside and told him our skydiving was pushed back to 1:00pm. Pushing the dive back did nothing but give me time to reconsider and second guess our decision to do it. So we decided to keep our room until normal checkout time at 11:00am. So we headed upstairs to our room to rest some more while watching the morning news. That's one thing that has been kind of difficult is watching t.v. and not knowing what is going on except from what I can gather from the pictures. Let's just say we watched a few soccer games instead. We actually were going to go to a soccer game but the time didn't work out.
         The ride to take us to the skydiving location showed up and we were on our way. When we got there we filled out a bunch of paper work and than just had to sit and wait for our name to be called to be suited up. A guy came over and called out Mary, so I thought that's close enough, maybe he is struggling to say my name? He got me set up with a jumpsuit and had to go do something. Meanwhile another guy came up to the group and asked for Kimaree... uh yeah that's me, but I already have a guide. Long story short, There was indeed a Mary and a Kimaree on the trip... I had the wrong guide... oops. After getting the RIGHT guide he gave me the run down on how things were going to go and then I just had to sit and wait.

                                                         Just practicing for the jump.  Ahhh!

 

Pretty soon we were all packed in this tiny plane and ready for take off! My guide lived in New Zealand for awhile and that's where he did his training. He new English pretty well so it wasn't too hard of struggle being able to understand him. Dayne's guide was actually from Argentina and only spoke Spanish so Dayne did his best to understand her.

 

While we were up in the plane my guide was telling me basically what we were looking at below. From up there we could see the Cataratas Falls, Argentina and Paraguay, Itaipu Dam, and the friendship bridge that connects Argentina and Brazil. The view was incredible! 

We were packed in the plane like a bunch of sardines! There were 3 jumpers, 3 guides, 3 photographers, and 1 pilot all crammed in this tiny plane. We were a little squished, 

Dayne of course had to snag a kiss before the big jump! 

Dayne was the second jumper and then I was the last. When it was my turn to jump it almost felt surreal. I scooted over to the door, held on to my straps, tucked my legs back under the plane, and the next thing I know I am flying through the air! The view was unbelievable. I never realized how many rivers and lakes there were! And it turns out the Itaipu Dam is the 2nd largest dam in the world. Second to know in China, I guess.

Dayne's guide let him do some steering on the way down so that was cool!

 

 My guide was awesome! He loved hearing me giggle so he kept doing all these fun things like spinning us 360 real fast, then figure 8, then break and just float, etc. it made the fall even more fun.

 The view was pretty spectacular! We were falling basically right on the boarder of Paraguay and Brazil and then Argentina was just right there too!

         The whole skydiving experience was definitely thrilling! I was just sad the fall wasn't longer, it felt like it went by so stinkin' fast. We are really glad that we did it, especially since we have always wanted to try skydiving but wanted to do it in a cool location. I would say Brazil was a great place to decide to do it. Seriously, I get giddy just thinking about skydiving. Haha!

         In the end, we finished with plenty of time and they were nice enough to take us straight to the bus station to catch our bus. So here we are at the bus station at 4:00pm and we'll arrive in Sao Paulo tomorrow at 9:00am. Here's to hoping that we'll have a better bus ride back than on the way here! Fingers crossed.

Foz Do Iguacu Day #2

            Today we took the shuttle to where the water falls and the bird park. First we went to Parque das Aves. It was so cool being able to see these tropical birds up close!

 

                                                      This is one of Dayne's favorite birds!

           Dayne got down real close to this bird and it wasn't moving so he got a little closer. Dayne reached to pet it and right as he did the bird turned his head towards Dayne, the birds eye was plucked out! No wonder he wasn't moving away from Dayne, he couldn't see him! Poor bird. But it was kind of funny at the same time.

          This bird was circling the tree for a good 5 minutes before I started the video and continued on after we left it and moved on to the next cage area.

                                 The first thing I thought of when I saw this tree was Ferngully!

           This bird was making this sound the ENTIRE time we were in the cage. Kind of annoying but kind of funny! It just wanted to be heard I guess.

          We even got to go into this net area full multi-colored  _____. Some would stay perched, but there was a group of about 6 birds that would swoop down and fly across the net back and forth repeatedly.

                    They had rows and rows of these areas where the birds could perch and hang out.

          This is a banana tree, I thought they were pretty cool. The bananas aren't ripe yet since it's technically winter right now.

                                                                     Hummingbird

         I don't know what kind of bird this is, I thought it looked like some type of dinosaur with it's head piece thing so I had to take a picture.

                                           At the very end of the trail we even got to hold one!

                                                                             My turn!

                          After the bird park we made our way to Iguacu Falls. It was incredible!

           And after a few pictures at the first overlook our camera died. Of course. Luckily Dayne's phone was fully charged so we took a bunch of pictures of the waterfalls on it.

                When we came back to the hostel that evening we found another awesome pastel place.