Roatan, Honduras Dental Clinic 2014

 My mom is an incredible woman. She is a dentist, and years ago we had some family friends that encouraged my mom to go to the island of Roatan, Honduras to do some much needed dental work. They have a home there and are always serving the LDS branch members and locals. It was a great opportunity for our family to do some service, so we decided to head down with their family and spend a week doing dental work. My mom was the only dentist, and my sister and I did hygiene (I was only 12 years old- ha!). The others were running around filling oxygen dive tanks (used for the pressure for the instruments), sanitizing instruments, translating Spanish, and running the whole clinic. Needless to say, it was a busy and exhausting week, but one we wouldn't soon forget.

This year was the sixth dental clinic that my mom has done in Roatan, except this time it was not just my mom. There were 8 dentists, 2 dental students, and 3 hygienists, along with many other family members and friends. The whole group consisted of over 50 people, which was amazing! Here is most of the group:

A few years ago, the LDS church filmed my mom and the others serving in Roatan and created this I'm a Mormon video, which you should check out:

http://www.mormon.org/me/1k30

Also, just because I am a proud daughter, this month's issue of the Friend (a Mormon magazine issue for children) has an article featuring my mom, which I thought was way neat! You can also check it out here if you'd like: When I Grow Up, I Want To Be A Dentist

My mom is one in a million, and I couldn't be luckier to call her my mom and best friend. These clinics have been some of the best memories and experiences I've ever had. And what better people to share them with than my family and dear friends! I am amazed at what the clinic has become, and all the service that has been provided, because of my mom.

I have not been able to go the last two times due to school and work, but this year David and I made it a priority, seeing as he just finished his first year of dental school. He loved it, and I was so grateful to be able to share this experience with him. 

He got a TON of practice in! He did tons of injections, fillings, extractions and his first root canal as well!

A view of the whole clinic:

Victor (next to David) was my mom's first patient ever on the island, and we see him every year:

This little girl was so excited to help the dentist by shining additional light on her sister's teeth:

 

 

A member with all his dental work done so he can now put his mission papers in!

Part of the group going out to visit the schools and give dental hygiene kits to the children:

Cute kids in their uniforms:

Although we worked hard, we also played hard! We stayed on the beach and got a lot of snorkeling and relaxation in after the clinic everyday. David and I also went scuba diving for the first time!

We went with Brent and Tessa who were also with our dental clinic:

Sea Turtle!

Our whole group:

Watching Honduras play in the world cup. The people went wild when Honduras scored their first goal in the tournament in over 30 years

 

It was such a great trip and we can't wait to go back!

Start to Summer: Goodbye Flakes & Youth Conference

Some of our close friends, Ryan & Jessica, just moved all the way to Oklahoma to start dental school! We met them through my sister really, because my sister married Jessica's brother. So they are like both friends and family. They just had a cute little girl, Kensington (Kensie) and she is adorable! We were happy to go down for the baby blessing and see some other family and friends. 

Us, the Flakes, & our other great friends the Bevans

 

I love this one because Ty (ours and the Flake's nephew) really wanted to be in the picture! He's so darling.

...And it looks like we have a kid!

Cutest Ty playing with David! We loved seeing both he and Andrew

 Carly, Jess, and Me

 I absolutely love these ladies. We have had so many wonderful trips & memories together. I love that Carly is still so close, but we will miss Jess so much!

Later that week, David & I headed to Youth Conference with the youth in our ward. We went to Bluff, UT and learned about the pioneers on the Hole in the Rock expedition, which is such an inspiring story of faith. We explored the fort that has been reconstructed, hiked to some Indian petroglyphs and granaries, hiked and pulled handcarts on parts of the Pioneer trails, swam in the San Juan river, did a little service, learned some dances, had late night bonfires, and had a great time getting to know the youth and leaders better. 

Hiking with a handcart, the kids look so happy, huh?!

This says "We Thank Thee O God" on the wall. The pioneers carved it into the rock wall, despite all their huge trials on this expedition, and it is still there. They had a ton of faith and are great examples. 

Beautiful scenery. As you can tell, this is pretty much in the middle of nowhere.

My dad designed these awesome shirts. Our theme was "We Can Do Hard Things", which I loved.

Great start to summer!

Little Nixon, a Kitchen Wedding, and other recent happenings

We have another nephew! David's sister, Jen, and her husband, Phe, just had a little guy and we are in love with him! His name is Nixon Lewis, which is so handsome and he is truly just so sweet. He was born during President Monson's talk of Conference, so after spending the morning at my Grandma's watching conference, we headed to the hospital to meet the little guy.

David just loves his new nephew. He is the first grandchild on David's side of the family, so there was a lot of excitement and anticipation for his arrival.

So squishy and cute:

 

Here he is about 1 week old. 

Here he is about 2 weeks old. He is so sweet and cuddly! We are grateful to be so close. It makes me so sad our other niece and nephew are so far away in CA.

BABY FEET. I just love them!

 

This last week, we had the opportunity to go to the Mt. Timpanogos temple with David's family, before his sister, Jessie and Scott got married the following day. It was the first time to have the entire family together in the temple, and it was amazing. 

Here is the beautiful temple with the most beautiful spring flowers (my favorite!)

 

 Here is the whole Drake clan:

 The next day when Scott & Jessie got married!! They looked stunning!

Jessie was a gorgeous bride!

 

My beautiful Mother-in-law, David and I outside the temple:

Here they are leaving the reception to head up to Park City for their honeymoon. (Stolen from Kara)

Sadly I didn't get more pictures of their reception. It was a perfect spring day with 70 degree weather (Utah has the absolute best Springs). They had a gorgeous reception down in Provo at the White Willow Reception Center, which was seriously so neat. Most of David's family is still in town, so it will be a fun weekend  hanging out with them all, plus his cousin gets married tomorrow, so there will be even more wedding madness! And then there's the baby blessing for Nixon on Sunday. It's a great month for the Drakes!

Some other fun updates including seeing my old college roommates and London friends at Nicole's wedding: 

Attending the Jazz & Lakers game. David and I have been trying to use Trax (the local train public transportation) more. It was a beautiful day so we decided to wait outside for the train instead of pay for parking.

 

We were the last row in the stadium, but it was still so fun. And they had these massive screens to look at!

It was a fabulous date night with my husband.

Life's been busy, but good! Thanks for tuning in.