4/25/11-5/1/11

Monday, April 25, 2011

Do we really have to go back to school?? UGH!  I don't want to go back to real life!

It was rainy while we were gone, and it was exciting to come back and see that the crops are starting to grow!  I can't wait for the plants to keep the dust down!

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

We have our ward conference the second week of July.  The choir has been practicing some special musical numbers.  I've been practicing and practicing and practicing and still can't get the songs right.  I keep telling myself I have about 10 more weeks of practice.  Well, tonight, the new bishopric decided that they wanted to hear the songs to approve them.  One of the songs has NEVER been sung with the accompaniment until tonight!  I told the choir leader that if the bishopric doesn't approve the songs, I won't play!  She got a good laugh.  Well, the bishopric did approve the songs, even though they want to change the arrangement on one.  They don't seem to understand that that was our first time ever singing it, and that with a few weeks of practice it would be much better!

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

I am not mentally into doing school work.  I think that between the end of our time in Guatemala coming up soon and the end of the school year coming up, I have mentally checked out.  Hopefully that kids education won't be jeopardized because of me!  

Once I hit my limit of schoolwork, I got out our old camera and wondered around our neighborhood taking pictures.  These are some of the things that I want to be able to remember when we aren't here anymore.

A lady out working in the fields.  Notice the itty bitty green plants starting to grow!!  YEAH!!

The volcano that we see from our house.

Our chia pet!
When the house started across the street, they dumped a big pile of dirt outside our living room window.  Over the past few weeks, it has begun to grow like crazy!

We call these the "artichokes".  Every so often, they sprout these pink things that come  up from their center.

A butterfly.  They have some really cool butterflies here.

Alysa with the mountains in the back.

Alysa was going to do bunny ears but opted for a heart instead.

Alysa and Laina are best friends!  They love doing so much together.

Cole playing "tennis'" against the garage.  

Cole and the neighbors dog, Ruvo.  

Laina took this picture of one of the plants on the side of our house.

One of our forms of entertainment is to go on snail hunts.  I found this one!

Cole put his hat on Ruvo.  It's been great having Ruvo around.  Cole likes to pal around with him, but desperately wants to get his own dog.

A lady out walking her cows.

While everybody else was outside playing, Morgan was hiding in her room reading.  I can not believe how many books our family has gone through in the last couple of years.  

Thursday, April 28, 2011
It is looking more and more like the kids and I will be going back in July.  That puts us at about 12 more weeks.  Wow!  I think back to what we were doing 12 weeks ago and it's not going to be much longer.  I wonder if the time will fly faster or slower!
It was Taylor's birthday today, and also their last day here in Xela, so we had our last trip to the club to go swimming.   I couldn't believe how long the boys stayed in the pool.  They kept begging to stay longer since it was their last day together.  I hope that Cole can survive with his friends gone!

Friday, April 29, 2011
Morgan and I went to the bookstore in search of a greek mythology book.  She has to write a report and we don't have any sources other than the internet!  We lucked out and found a great book.  We traded in a bunch of our other books for it.  It is hilarious to look through the kids section at the bookstore and find about 1/2 the books used to be ours!  I am glad that they buy our old books though.
The date that we were thinking of going back to the states would be the end of our 90 day visa.  That means we wouldn't have to go on another trip to Mexico.  If the kids and I go, Chris will still have to go. I suggested that Chris fly back with us for his 3 days rather than go to Mexico.  It would be less money for the company to buy one extra ticket, rather than paying for everything for us to go to Mexico.  He talked with his boss and it looks like that might be a possibility!  Yeah!

Saturday, April 30, 2011
Chris wanted to get out of the house tonight, so we went to dinner.  The restaurant that he chose is a little nicer than we usually go to with the entire family.  I kept telling the kids that if we're going to a nice restaurant, they better use their manners.  As soon as I finished saying this, the restaurant started to play Vanilla Ice's song, Ice Ice Baby.  Yup, we're high class!  I do have to say that I love when the restaurant play music because it is usually from the 80's.  Chris and I get some good laughs!

Sunday, May 1, 2011
I have decided that our new bishopric is either trying REALLY hard to include the gringos, or they are just out to get us!  Chris's name was on the program today for the opening prayer, and Mark (Paul's brother) was asked to give a talk next week with the bishop's son translating.  The bishop also called his son up on the stand, whispered something to him, and then sent him back to the row of gringos to tell us that we were invited to share our testimony and that his son could translate for us.
After what seemed like forever, Alysa finally pulled her tooth out last night.  The tooth had been hanging on by one root for days now!  It'll definitely be easier for her to eat now!