2/21/10-2/27/10

Sunday, 2/21/10

My goal is to stay on top of the blog....read my scriptures daily....keep up with all 4 kids homeschooling....exercise......learn Spanish......keep a clean house......etc. O.K. So maybe I'll just try to keep up with the blog this week!

Monday, 2/22/10

After we finished all of our homeschooling for the day, I had a little bit of extra time to make the top for a new baby quilt. It was so nice to have some flannel from back home so that I could make a decent looking quilt. Most of the fabric here isn't the best!! Now I just need to decide on a backing and finish it! We have so many baby showers here that I have to constantly be working on blankets!

Tuesday, 2/23/10

We had two big earthquakes today. The first was about 5:00 in the morning and woke everybody up except for Laina. That kids can sleep through anything! The next one was about 9:00 a.m. Both were on the border of Guatemala and Mexico.

During the piano class today, I would try to explain the stuff but the whole time I was thinking, "Hey, I didn't know I knew that word!!" And then I would think, "Hum, I wonder if what I am saying is what I think I'm saying." I actually feel like I am making some improvements and am able to understand a little bit more. I still panic every time somebody talks to me though, especially when I am in a different environment and with people that I don't know.

I went to the market today in search of some velcro, elastic, and fleece. I looked up all of the words and wrote them down and I even packed my dictionary and my tape measurer. When I got to the fabric store, I realized that I left everything in the car. (I never carry my purse or anything at the market!) They didn't have the right colors of fleece and they didn't carry elastic and I couldn't remember the word for velcro so we left. On the way back to the car, we stopped at a couple of little stores that I thought might have velcro. I tried my best to describe velcro with my limited vocabulary!! One store figured out what I was trying to say but they didn't carry it. They did have elastic though! It is actually quite cheap here!

Wednesday, 2/24/10 - 1 year anniversary!!

Should I be offended that the kids wake up in the morning and rather than say good morning to me they ask where dad is? When I say he's downstairs they run after him to have breakfast rather than give me a hug!

We decided to do something different this afternoon and we went to two parks after everyone finished their schooling. Laina got trapped at the top of a slide by a group of 5 Mayan ladies. I had to go save her by putting myself in an uncomfortable conversation with nobody to help me! It was very awkward and hilarious. The ladies and girls were all very nice. I was able to small talk with them for a little bit but I was so grateful when Alysa came and drug me away to help her with the monkeybars.

To celebrate our one year mark of being in Guatemala, we made pizza and watched a movie while we waited for Chris to get home from work. Yup, any excuse to have a party!

Thursday, 2/25/10

I am really going out of my comfort zone this week. I talked with the security guard (The one that we call smiley guy because he ALWAYS has a smile! He's great!) to let him know that I would have some friends coming over in the afternoon. I was pretty slow in my understanding but he was patient and helped me out. On the way back to the house, Morgan said that I actually did good. WOW!! That is a HUGE compliment coming from her!

I had a Relief Society district meeting at my house. I have realized that I do so much better with a one on one conversation than trying to follow a conversation. They asked me to comment also...how the heck am I supposed to comment when I don't even know what has been said??? I did however give the opening prayer in Spanish for the first time! I was so stressed out! I am so grateful for this group of women. They have been supportive and encouraging for me.

Friday, 2/26/10

I was thinking today about how frustrating it can be to know that I am not an idiot and that I really can do stuff but I just can't do it here. Is this what old age is going to be like?... knowing that I once could do something but it just doesn't work anymore. If that is the case, I am not going to grow old gracefully!

Saturday 2/27/10

The missionaries had a big family fair in the La Esperanza park today. We weren't really sure what it was or what we were supposed to do so we just showed up. There were a lot of people from the ward as well as a ton of missionaries from all over the area. We didn't really help out or do anything but at least we showed up to show our support!

Chris dropped Morgan and me off at a new location for the fabric store that I usually go to. I have a new favorite! The store was 3 stories. They had a ton of fleece in different colors and for cheaper than the other location! They also had flannel but I didn't go see it.

I have a happy husband! The Thomas' called today to let him know that they found a store that sells Dr. Pepper here.

Here's his comment from Facebook:

Life in Guatemala just got a little more bearable. Finally found a place that sells Dr. Pepper! Might be able to make it another year or so now. :) Evidently, the owner of the store was asked by the missionaries to import Dr. Pepper a while ago. The only people that ever buy it are either missionaries or other gringos. It is known at the store as "Mormon Juice". I didn't even need to ask where it was when I walked in the door. A lady just pointed me to the back of the store. At least I am not the only one!

One of the sister missionaries in our ward is going home on Monday. Her parents came down to pick her up and we got to meet them at a baptism tonight. There were 4 kids that got baptized. It was pretty neat when the missionary's dad gave a talk in Spanish and then performed two of the baptisms. I can just imagine going to pick up one of my kids from their mission and being able to be there to see a baptism. I was so excited when the parents brought down a bunch of stuff for us. It was so nice of them. I now have new piano books to use for my classes, more fabric for the baby blankets, temple clothes for the members here, and a delicious tub of red licorice!! (We can't find licorice anywhere!)

2/14/10-2/20/10

Sunday, February 14, 2010 - Valentine's Day

The kids were so excited to take Valentines Day cards for their primary teachers today. While they were excited about taking their cards, I was enjoying the wonderful breakfast that Chris made!! What a great way to start the morning!

After church, I was talking to my friend Sully in Spanish. She is always so patient with me and really helps me out a lot. The funny thing was when she was talking to me, another sister kept translating it into English for me...not realizing that I was actually understanding!!

My Valentines Day afternoon was spent at a stake music meeting for piano players. I walked in and didn't recognize anybody. I didn't even know if I was in the right place! After a while the stake music lady showed up so I at least knew I was where I was supposed to be. I was quite surprised by how many people were there. I was pretty unsure of myself but tried to help set up. When they were starting the meeting, the stake music lady asked me my name and then asked if I would play the piano for the opening song. Talk about intimidating!! I wasn't even sure if that was what she was asking, then I didn't know what page number, then I found out it was a song that I'd never played in front of people before, and then I had to use her keyboard that I couldn't figure out how to turn on, and then I had to stand up because the table was too tall....oh boy, oh boy! With a little help from above, I was able to get through the moment and survive with limited embarrassment. Apparently the class was to try to help teach the piano players a little more. The guy that taught the class (from what I think I understood) has a lot of music experience. He taught a few basic things and then had everybody go to their keyboards to practice. I ended up letting a couple of other people use my keyboard and I just kind of wandered around and tried to help out as much as I could. I had several people approach me and ask me about the piano class. The class is already full of people from the ward so we're trying to figure something out to help the people on a stake level. The guy teaching the class (he went to BYU and can speak English) said that I was a professional! I sure have the people here fooled!

After the class, I ran into the ballet teacher from the school. She congratulated me on not being at the school anymore. I told her that Morgan, Alysa, and Laina want to take ballet lessons. Chris is supposed to call and get something set up with her!

The rest of the week:

Life got a little crazy this week so I'm just going to have to do a brief overview of the events.

This is a (sideways) video of a dust storm in our backyard. The dry season definitely produces a lot of dust! The house is always full of dust again! I think I prefer the mud during the rainy season!

At preschool this week, the kids had a Mardi Gras party. They kids all got dressed up. Alysa wanted to wear one of my old ice skating skirts over her clothes! Quite the outfit! A tradition they have here is to fill empty egg shells with confetti and then crack them on each others heads. The girls sure had fun smacking the shells on our heads. They also had fun with Gabby Thomas being at the school with them. There are more white kids than Guatemalans!

Teacher Lily, and the kids.

There is a place about an hour and a half from here that has a water park and an amusement park next to each other. Everybody raves about it and we thought we should check it out. We started at the water park which is called Xocomil. Alysa was not feeling good and was very upset and cranky. All the kids were disgusted when we made them take Dramamine before the day!! (Well worth it!!) We also had to use a ton of sunblock!

There were a couple different playground type areas with water slides for the smaller kids. It was a good warm up for the day.


It didn't take much encouragement for Morgan and Cole to go on the bigger rides. We couldn't slow them down!

There were some of the coolest plants there. It was closer down towards the coast so it was VERY hot and humid! This flower was actually a small one. There were some that were about 2 feet long!

A waterslide.

We were able to get the whole family on this ride! Laina and Alysa both had looks of pure terror until we got out and then they loved it.

There were cool decorations throughout the park.

We spent all morning and past noon at the water slides. Nobody complained once about being hungry! The second that we changed out of our swim suits everybody was starving though!

Our next stop was Xetulul. It was the amusement park side and was supposed to have better restaurants. We were so hungry that we just got some food at the first place we saw! We were still hungry and spent the rest of the afternoon looking for another restaurant that we all wanted to go to....in between going on rides!

Chris, Cole, and I went on a big rollercoaster. We should have had Morgan take pictures! That was such a bad decision because we were all queasy the rest of the time there! The heat didn't help matters either!

All the kids really enjoyed this roller coaster. They are in the back two cars.

There were a couple rides that were just perfect for Alysa and Laina.

The pyramids.


We enjoyed a relaxing train ride around the outside of the park. We got to see coffee plants also.

Once they got the hang of the cars, Morgan and Cole were maniacs.


It was crazy to think that Laina was our only child that was still small enough to go on this ride!


Even with the extreme exhaustion by the end of the day, everybody had a great time and we'll definitely need to go back again.




Our new friends, The Thomas Family, have a little boy that just turned 8 and got baptized. They invited us to his party at their house. They had a bunch of games and lots of neighborhood friends.

The first game was bobbing for apples. None of our kids would participate (I couldn't blame them!) so I was SHOCKED, to say the least, when Chris walked up at the end and dunked his whole head in until he came up with an apple. He said he had to take one for the team.



donut game
I actually enjoyed the next game quite a bit. Cole and I both ate donuts off a string with no hands. How can you turn down a donut??







Who doesn't love a powdered sugar face?



There were some other games. I was so proud of Cole and his willingness to try new things even though he wasn't very comfortable.
Following the games, there were a couple of pinatas. How can you have a party in Guatemala without a pinata? I guess I need to start thinking about getting a pinata for Alysa's birthday in a week or two!

We also were fortunate enough to get to attend Brigham's baptism. I was amazed at how many people were there packed into a tiny little room in a tiny little building! I was asked to play the piano for the baptism but I had to be smashed in the very back because there was only one electrical outlet in the entire room for me to plug the keyboard into!! (The chapel is so small that they don't even have a piano!) There also were no chairs tall enough for the tables that they had so my creative husband went and got a cushion off of one of the van seats and brought it in for me. He's great!

The baptism was wonderful and it was great to be with friends and to meet new people.

The piano class is going well....I think. There are a few people who are always laughing. I am not sure if they are laughing at me, because they don't understand a word I am saying, or if they are just happy! Choir is going very good also. We had over 40 people this week. I was very sad to hear that our choir president got in a motorcycle accident on his way home from choir though. From what I have heard/understood, he is doing o.k. but can't walk and can't work for a while.

Last week I attended a baby shower where I thought I was playing a game, but in actuality, I was volunteering to help the lady after she had her baby. I opted to go ahead and do my best rather than playing the "I didn't understand" card. I made some soup, bread, and goodies and with Chris' help we took a dinner into the family with the new baby, as well as the family of the choir president. Each chance that I get to serve and see the reaction of these wonderful people, it makes me want to do more and more. It has definitely been an amazing opportunity for our family to be in Guatemala and to learn from these amazing people!

2/7/10-2/13/10

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Morgan impresses me every day. Today she gave a talk in primary. She did it in English but I was so pleased that she was able to get up and do it. I had to play the piano in Relief Society so I left right after her talk. She told me later that she also got up and bore her testimony in Spanish! I think I could put a few thoughts together to do it myself but I don't think I'd be brave enough to stand in front of people! It's hard enough to do in English for me!

Well, today was the Super bowl which means that we got to finally meet the Thomas family. I was so surprised to see how much everybody had in common. The kids all hit it off right away. They played from 4:30-8:30! There was a ton of food...football...great converstion....etc. It was great to get to know the Thomas family. There aren't a lot of people who truly understand what we are going though here. We will definitely need to get together more!

Monday, February 8, 2010

After all of the fun yesterday, everybody was a little tired today. We ended up doing school all day long. I'm shocked that the kids don't get bored or sick of doing school work. I'm ready to quit before they are! Morgan and Cole are really enjoying the technology and computers section.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

O.K. I have a little gripe.....Why doesn't anybody ever comment on the blog? It sure would be nice to see what everyones reaction is to what we are doing!!

I spent 4 hours at the church today. It began with a baby shower. I sat in the back with Emiliana and Paola's mom. They were both very patient while trying to help me understand the games. I get to cheat a little because most of the games are ones that I have played in the states. One game was bingo. There was a huge list of baby items and we had to put them on our own bingo card. Emiliana tried to explain what everything was for me. I actually already knew several of the words!! The hard part came when I thought they were playing the "guess when the baby will be born" game. I put my name up for Tuesday. (I later found out that it was a volunteer list to go in and help the new mom after the baby was born...not when she was going to have the baby! Oops) Then after that, they passed around a cup with names to draw. Apparently there was a Valentines card exchanged that I didn't know about. Everybody was exchanging cards and I had nothing to give! I had to tell the person whose name I drew that I would bring it on Sunday!

After the shower, I had my first day of the ward piano class. EEK!! There were 8 people who came and I was trying my best to do the class in Spanish. I didn't really have any other choice since there were no English speakers to help me out! It was fun and I learned some new words. This class will probably be more of a help for my Spanish than anything else.

The piano class was followed by choir. I was definitely ready to go home by the time I got done! As tough as it may be, I really enjoy the group of people at choir. They are so supportive, grateful, and patient!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Since the kids aren't getting much social interaction with doing homeschooling, I decided to do a swap with my friend, Lily. She is teaching a preschool in her house so I dropped Alysa and Laina off today. In exchange, I brought her three boys back to our house so the older kids could play together and I gave each one of them a piano lessons. The lessons went really well and the boys seems to be progressing. When I went to pick up the girls, they didn't want to leave. They had so much fun at the preschool. Lily told me to bring them back more. She said that the other kid doesn't listen but when he saw Laina and Alysa doing what they were supposed to, he followed along! Next week we'll try the swap twice and see how everybody does.

Teaching piano is so new to me but I think it might turn into something that I might continue to do whenever we decide to move back to the states. Being able to play the piano is so appreciated here whereas it is often taken for granted in the states.

Tonight we headed back to the Orellanas again for a birthday party for Fernando. (Lily's husband) Something hit me when we were sitting with several other couples and I couldn't follow the conversation. I have had such a strong desire to understand Spanish and it just isn't happening as quickly as I had hoped. Anyway, I ended up having to leave the room several times because I was so frustrated and disappointed in myself. I just couldn't control the tears! Other than that, the party was great. We had a little cookout with hot dogs and marshmallows. The other families that were there are great also. I just wish that I was able to express my thoughts so that they could understand who I really am. Sometimes I just don't feel like I come across as the person that I am.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

We did our schooling today, make sugar cookies for Valentines day, and had an overall boring day.

Friday, February 12, 2010

We had such a great afternoon. We had a homeschooling activity and invited the Thomas family and the Orellanas over. We had cookies, banana bread, pizza, and 12 kids playing everywhere. It was reassuring for me to sit down and talk with Lily and Melody. I completely lost track of time! We are going to have to continue these activities!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Chris had to substitute for an institute class this morning at 6:30! There is an English class for returned missionaries to keep up with their English. The guy that works for the church is the teacher but he is out of town so lucky Chris got to fill in! If you can't tell, I am not one bit envious!!

While Chris was at one church teaching, I was taking Morgan and her friend, Xela, to another building for the primary Faith In God activity. Cole wouldn't go. Apparently there is a boy that laughs at him and teases so Cole won't go anymore. Morgan and Xela jumped right in though and seemed to really enjoy themselves. I spent the entire time practicing the piano. (It is so different playing a piano than a keyboard! It's much more enjoyable!)

After teaching, Chris and Cole did a little shopping for the girls for Valentines Day. They came home with a vase of roses for each girl and a big bouquet for me. Each girl got the same number or roses of the same colors so that they couldn't argue!! I have never seen blue roses before. I'm sure they were just dyed but they look pretty cool. I love the bird flowers. I hadn't noticed but we have these in our backyard!! One just opened this past week!

What a thoughtful husband I have!

Alysa's

Morgan's

Laina's

Mine

I love the bird flowers. (No, mom, I don't know the real name of them!! Flowers are not my area of specialty!) - Chris just told me that they are birds of paradise.

1/31/10-2/6/10

Sunday, 1/31/10

When we got back to Guatemala from our trip to the States, the kids and I went through all of their clothes and put together a bag of old, worn out, or too small clothes. I gave them to my friend in the Relief Society presidency to distribute as needed. I was so happy today when on our way to church, we picked up one of our friends and two of his daughters. The girls were wearing some of the old clothes. This is a family that I really admire and I know they struggle financially. I was very pleased to see that somebody could benefit from the clothes! The wife is having some pregnancy complications and has been in and out of the hospital, so we offered to take them some dinner. When we dropped it off, the other daughter was wearing some of the old clothes as well. They were way too small but she still seemed happy. I can only imagine what it would be like for these three little girls to have their own dresses that fit them that they could wear to church. I think I might have to break down and try to make them some!

Monday, 2/1/10

The strangest thing happened to us today. I came the closest that I ever have to getting in a car wreck since we've been here! The kids and I were driving down a major road to go to the market this morning. Coming towards us was a little old rusted Toyota. It looked like a tarp or something in the back of it was blowing pretty hard in the wind. I thought for sure it was going to loose it. The next thing I know, there is a COW, yes, a COW, flying out of the back of the truck. Luckily for us it flew out the far side rather than coming into our lane!! Of course I was so shocked by what I had just seen that I didn't notice that the car in front of me had stopped! I am thankful to know now that our brakes are in excellent working condition!! The poor cow was still tied to the truck, but apparently the driver noticed that the cow fell out of the back and stopped. The cow was able to get up on all four and walk so I don't think it was hurt too badly.

That is one of those things that you don't see every day in the States!!

Tuesday 2/2/10

Today was another good day with homeschooling. The kids really seem to be doing well and enjoying themselves. They are all playing well together also. Each afternoon after they eat their lunch, they go outside to play. It's pretty nice!

On my way to choir tonight, the wife of the other American couple called. We decided to get together for dinner this Sunday so that the families can meet each other. I'm pretty excited!!

At choir I felt like a complete idiot! There was a guy there doing some breathing exercises with the choir. I don't know what he was saying so I was just trying to follow along. Then he came over and told me to do something. Uhhh, what? He then points the piano and makes some weird motions. He keeps saying stuff and I try to do what I think he wants me to do but it's all wrong. I even had Lily try to translate but she wasn't able to tell me the right thing. Anyway, I was a little embarrassed!! Everybody else seemed to think the guy was weirdo also so I didn't feel too bad!

Wednesday 2/3/10 - Thursday 2/4/10

More of the same stuff.....homeschooling and more homeschooling. I have been very pleased with how well the kids have been doing. I have also been really impressed that I haven't snapped too bad!!

Friday 2/5/10

O.K. So I invited the Thomas family over for dinner on Sunday not realizing that it is Super Bowl Sunday. OOPS! I finally had to break the ice and call Melody back and see if they wanted to reschedule or if they wanted to watch the Super Bowl with us. It turns out that her husband was telling her that they couldn't do it Sunday because of the Super Bowl, so everybody was relieved to get it out in the open!!

Saturday 2/6/10

We did a family day trip to Lake Atitlan. This is the lake that many people believe were the Waters or Mormon. The kids hadn't been there and have really been wanting to go. We had a blast and it was well worth the while!

Cole wrote this in his school journal:

My Trip to Lake Atitlan

I had a great time at Lake Atitlan! We went on a boat ride to 3 different cities. One of the cities was called San Antonio. Our boat was blue with a thing-a-ma-bob sticking up out of the back. I had the best day of my life!!!

On the drive down into the Lake, Chris pulled over at this cool water fall. I thought he was being spontaneous....he just had to pee though!

Morgan, Cole, and Laina enjoyed climbing up the rocks!

Alysa was suffering from car sickness and wouldn't get up to see the water fall!

We finally persuaded Alysa to get some fresh air. She felt much better after she got out of the car for a little while.

Cole was being a great big brother and helping his little sisters across the rocks.

Laina....need I say more?

After being bombarded by people trying to sell stuff, we found a person that would take us on a private boat tour around Lake Atitlan. The kids were so excited to go on a boat ride!

The lake. It was a little cloudy so we didn't have the best view of the volcanoes.

There were some amazing houses along the lake. You can barely see this one because it is built right into the rock! Our guide, Francisco, told us that a lot of the land goes for about $2 million dollars around the lake!

At our first stop, there were these little boats lining the bank of the lake.

One even came with a dog!

These guys go out in these little boats to do their fishing. I would be so scared of tipping over!

I thought I was taking a pictures of our boat but I picked the wrong one. Our boat is actually the one in the at the far right that you can only see the back of. It's basically the same idea though.

Chris shocked me when he ordered this fish for his lunch. He is being quite adventurous today!

The restaurant that we had our lunch at.

Alysa's favorite spot on the boat.

Some of the houses along the lake.

Our next stop, San Antonio.

This is how concrete is poured here! Bucket full by bucket full going along the line of men! It reminds me of the olden days when they would try to put out a fire.

We stopped at the coolest little shop. It was a family that does weaving. I sat and watched this guy forever trying to figure out how the machine works. It seems like it would take forever to make anything!

Then there was this lady sitting on the ground doing her weaving. It was so cool to watch how they do their weaving. There was also another lady doing some hand work.

I broke down and bought a table runner and a wall hanging.

I let Morgan pick out which of the wall hangings she liked the best. It is all hand stitched. Until you try to make something like that, you can't fully appreciate the amount of work that goes into it!

Morgan and Cole had so much fun sticking their hands out of the boat to feel the water.

They really liked when the guide took us to the hot water area.

After spending the morning getting car sick, followed by a day of boat rides, why wouldn't we want to cram all six of us in the back of this little tuk tuk car and drive around the town?? It's amazing that nobody threw up today! We all had some serious headaches by the time we got home. One of the last things that Cole said when he was going to bed was, "Mom, every time I close my eyes I feel like I am moving." Yup, I can relate!! It was well worth it though. What a great day!