Thanksgiving Post

Way late, but this year we had Thanksgiving with some great friends that we have made in Guadalajara.  Total we had around 18 adults and of course a bunch of kids running around our friends home.  We are grateful to them for being so willing to share their home with us.  They made a yummy turkey that was cooked underground.  My first time ever having a turkey like this, but basically, they dug a hole, put it inside, and let it cook underground overnight.  I was in charge of bringing a ham.  Even though I overcooked it (don't get me started on my oven) it was still good.  I mean, how much can you screw up a precooked ham right?  We bought most of the big things at Costco.  Don't know what I would do without it here.  In fact, they are kind enough to make a pumpkin pie, like you would find in the states, and it is actually cheaper to buy the whole pumpkin pie, than to try to find canned pumpkin and make your own.  Silly, I think, but that is how it goes around these parts.  We celebrated our primary president and good friend, Kim's birthday with this fancy layered cake her mom made.  We also played a game where everyone wrote what they were thankful for and then we had to guess who said the statement.  Matthew said the sweetest thing, something about being thankful for me and all that I do, and I didn't even guess it was him who made the statement.  He usually doesn't like to thank me publicly but personally, but it sure is nice to be recognized for the things you do.  And finally, had fun playing ping pong.  It really is nice when you can't be with loved ones, that we are lucky enough to be surrounded by awesome friends to share this holiday.  This year I am thankful for my family.  They bring happiness to my life.  I enjoy the times we get to spend together as a complete family.  I am thankful that we are safe and healthy.

I made everyone take family pictures Thanksgiving day as well.  Just a little sneak peak of the kids.

Guess people liked it even though it was overcooked.

All the turkey off the carcass.

Two green bean casseroles.  The duplicates made me laugh.

Mexican Soda.  That Sangria is good.

Fancy Birthday cake.

Some pies.  The irony was I left my pumpkin pie at home.  Whoops.  We went back over to our friend's house on Saturday and made up for it with leftovers and pumpkin pie milkshakes.

Mexico Part 27: Aerosmith

This year for Matthew's birthday, he really wanted to go see Aerosmith, and while I had my own plans, I couldn't complain about him wanting to see Aerosmith.  My love for the band goes back to middle school when a friend of mine taught me to love the band.  I listened to the CD Big Ones, all the time.  The concert was the day after Matthew's birthday.  Talk about great timing.  We got our sitter and left the kids about an hour before the concert.  We went out for a light dinner at Tokai, a little sushi place that is literally at the corner from where we live and then had some Yogen Fruz, yogurt (one of my new found loves since coming to Mexico).  It was so fun to hang out and for whatever reason I was feeling "young" again.  But, while we were enjoying ourselves, there was a nagging feeling for Matthew because he couldn't find any information on an opening act and he was getting nervous that the band would come on right at 8:30 and we were having yogurt.  We didn't worry too much, but we eventually got to Omnilife Stadium at about 9:00.  When we pulled out we were surprised that we didn't hear any music.  We headed towards the stadium and we handed the people our tickets and they wouldn't work.  Of course now I was a little worried because we paid quite a bit for them and I didn't want them to not let us in.  We went in through a special place and it seemed like there was a trend in tickets not working, so they let us through.  We found our seats and sat behind a crazy row of girls that were extremely occupied with trying to sneak a cigarette and smoke it every 15 minutes.  Super annoying but at least the guards were on them to get them to stop.  That was nice, for the non smokers.  At about 9:45 they came on.  It was seriously one of the greatest concerts.  Steven Tyler is an amazing singer.  He did not disappoint.  For whatever reason the sound kept cutting out at first.  Typical for Mexico, and I thought that for sure it would happen all night long but it stopped.  They did an encore where Steven Tyler came out on a grand piano singing a rendition of Dream On.  I LOVED this concert.  And sometime in the middle of it Matthew turned to me with a huge grin on his face telling me it was the best birthday present.  What a great feeling.  The concert was over at midnight, and it then took us over 45 minutes to crawl through the parking lot.  They had no organized way to get the cars out of there.  Thankfully some civilians got out of their cars and helped with the traffic.  We then made it home by oneish only to have our sitter and friend stay and hang out with me until twoish.  It was a late night.  I felt bad but the next morning Matthew and I were a mess.  Eva woke up on her own, only for me to go into her room to ask her if she wanted to go to school or stay home.  Well, this kiddo of mine said stay home, and I went back to bed.  Who does that!?!  I won't be doing that anytime soon, but overall this 30th birthday turned out A-Ok.

Mexico Part 26: Swimming with the Sharks

That's Elijah's show me your teeth so I can smile picture

Eva's little buddy from school, Isabella

We went into the aquarium this time.  On one side you could touch and feed the sting rays.  On this side you could see the shark.  I think Elijah wasn't happy that I was holding him with such a panic.  He didn't want to touch the thing.

My friend, Christaine, talked us into going into the shark tank.  It really looked cooler from video and pictures what we did.  I was scared to get in but it wasn't scary at all.

All the munchkins

Last Saturday after about a month and a half of telling Eva that we would take her to the zoo we finally went.  The Guadalajara Zoo really is a nice zoo.  They have great animals and the facilities are nice.  I wish we could go more often but with no membership plan that I know of, and all the walking that you do, I don't dare yet go to myself.  We went with some friends and saw some things that we didn't see last time.  Among them were baby animals.  They were so cute. Elijah had a nice time seeing "vacas" which for him all animals are called vacas but for sure horses are vacas.  I felt like this was the first time he really enjoyed the zoo.  He was running around all over the zoo wanting to see his vacas.  At one point I wondered why I had the stroller, but really in the end it was to keep the kid from running away from me and giving Eva time to take a walking break.

 A funny story.  Before leaving for the zoo I was asking Eva what see wanted to see there and she mentioned she wanted to see the "burros" or donkeys.  I told her that I didn't think we would see donkeys at the zoo and that was okay with her.  Well, as we are walking around the zoo we stop for some lunch and after lunch we get up to go to the nearest animals and I had to laugh when we saw donkeys!  Pretty funny.  I suppose only in a Mexican zoo will you find donkeys.

A scary story.  As we were getting ready to leave the zoo there was a cat by the exit.  We all thought it was funny because the kids thought this cat was so awesome that we decided next time we just needed to bring the children some cats and avoid the whole zoo thing.  I corralled all the children towards the exit and as we were getting ready to head into the parking lot, I turned to Matthew and asked him where Elijah was.  Moment of panic set in and I just ran back to where we were.  It really happened fast, but I know I was starting to think worst case, I mean what if he was roaming the zoo with some stranger, or someone took him.  But lucky for us he was sitting near the stairs where the cat had been crying about falling, or something.  I seriously don't think he realized he was missing.  It was HORRIBLE.  I was so thankful that I found him and he was okay.

So there you have it our zoo adventure.  After being there all day, almost 8 hours after we ate dinner and got home, we enjoyed the fact that the weather was so perfect with it being partly cloudy, we were with good company and had well behaved children.  I don't think it gets better than that.

Matthew's 30th Birthday

I think it was with some sadness that Matthew celebrated his 30th Birthday.  He has spent so much time reassuring me that we aren't "old" and today for the first time I realized that maybe he was reassuring me to reassure himself.  Oh well, I suppose that is what life does to you.  One minute you are 15 and the next minute, BAM, you are 30.  Matthew and I have spent almost half of our lives together.  We started dating when I was 16 so it is crazy to think that we have literally been together for half of our lives.  For his birthday this year I was torn with what to do.  It would have been so cool to have friends from Oregon fly down for this 30th but I knew that would never happen.  I am so thankful for our good friends back home, but also for our good friends here.  Matthew has a tight group of friends at school and I love these guys because they have been a great example of what hard work should look like and plus they have a BLAST together.  So I decided to get all his friends under one roof, Cabo Grill, a seafood taco place that is yummy, and surprise him.  That was the tricky part.  The plan was for all his friends to meet at the restaurant at 5 and we would meet up with them at 5:30 after Eva's dance class.  Well that was where the first little glitch happened.  Eva's classmate from dance class decided to have her birthday party right after dance.  I had to go into class and ask a favor of the teacher to let the kids out early so we wouldn't be late.  She agreed and thankfully Eva wasn't too upset when I made her tell her dad that she was ready to leave because she was STARVING and didn't like chocolate cake.  I know, I am mean.  Well, the little lie worked.  We were able to get out of ballet at a decent time and make it to the restaurant.  Once we got to the restaurant Matthew asked what a friend's truck was doing there.  I was SO nervous at this point, I just made him think he was crazy and said, " Are you sure that's his truck?  That's weird."  He then asked me if people were at the restuarant and my cover was blown.  I tried to tell him no but when we walked in he quickly figured out he was right.  Eva even blew it at the door when she saw one of my friends and said, "Mommy, there's Monste."  Oh man!  It is so hard to pull off a good surprise.  He said he really had no idea until he noticed the truck which is pretty good.  Everyone was good about hiding their cars.  I thought that was sweet of them.  And Matthew did say that in retrospect he did think it was weird we were busting out of the ballet party so quickly, but since I had told him we were all starving, he believed me.  Surprises are stressful, but it sure was fun.  I seriously was so worried that Eva would tell Matthew what was going on.  I had to tell her over and over that it was a surprise and we couldn't tell daddy.  She was so cute.  She managed to pull it off.

What did we get him for his birthday you ask?  Well, I had my own plans, that I never told him about so now I will be saving it for another birthday, but he really wanted to see Aerosmith.  Thus, his present is two tickets to Aerosmith.  We are REALLY excited.  We go tomorrow and I think it will be awesome!  

Happy Birthday Matthew.  The kids and I love you to pieces and are so thankful for all the time and effort you put in to being what you want to be in the long run.  You are a great dad and husband. 

Our guests...

Julie, who Matthew refers to as Yuli and Michelle

                                   

Aaron and Sarah

                                                                Kat, Christina and Rafa

                                                                        Ben and Kristi

                                                                       Dany and Monste

                                                                 Kylee, Lincoln, and Anjane

                                                                  Jaren and Vanessa

           Don't know why he was making this face, but it made me laugh

I had to get a picture of this.  On Monday, Rafa told Matthew that he was going to get him a HUGE birthday card.  Matthew didn't think anything of it, so tonight when he got this, I just had to laugh.

What we do around this place

I meant to post this a LONG time ago.  Oh well.  I wanted these pics on here for my sake.  But I suppose this post fits perfect after my "vacation post."  I swear, life isn't always crazy around this place.  In fact, the running joke with some good friends here is that you have to "book" me three weeks in advance.  I laugh, but most of the time, things are mellow around this place.  Here's a look at our life, on a more daily basis.

Birthday brunches.  These are some women from the ward.  They are such sweet women and it has been nice that they have let me tag along to their events.  I never feel out of place, even though it looks like I might huh?

Elijah and I take trips often to the "merceria."  Think of it like your local JoAnn's, well sort of.  I am not going to lie, I miss my JoAnns and my coupons.  Some things are really cheap here, like a zipper, ribbon, or thread, but for the most part, I swear things cost more.  Especially fabric.  I haven't gotten used to what poor quality they have and how much they want for it.

This is what happens when I am washing the dishes and Elijah finds and expo marker.  My son LOVES to make messes.

Lately, I have been looking for a first grade for Eva.  Private schooling is so much more stressful than American public schooling.  I wish I could just send her to her neighborhood school, but that doesn't exist here, really.  So, he we are touring a school with Eva's school.  Kind of like a field trip.  Lame!  Whatever happened to going to the zoo?

More birthday brunches.  This place was so cool.  It is a Oaxacan restaurant and the ambiance is awesome!  Oh and where is Elijah?  Well, even though it breaks my heart to send him because he is SUPER attached to me, on Friday I have four hours to myself when both kids are in school.  I am not gonna lie, I like this time.

Wives club lunches.  We haven't had one in a while, but my friend was the last host at one and she had like a million people in her home.  What a trooper!

Eva's ballet on Mondays and Wednesdays.  Often we bring Elijah's bike and he has a great time going down this ramp, laughing his little head off.  If we are lucky, his buddy Ian joins us for some of the action.

So there you have it.  Some of the things that we do in a "typical" week.  Can't say we never have nothing to do.  We just have to find it, or it finds us.

Mexico Part 25: Panamerican Games in our Backyard

This year, the Panamerican Games, which happen in between Olympic years, were in Guadalajara.  How cool is that?  I have never been in a city where such a huge event takes place.  With everything said and done, I think the city did a pretty impressive job in managing the event.  I didn't get to see all of the new facilities that were built, but what I have seen are quite nice.  I was worried that traffic would be a nightmare around the game times, but I don't think I was affected at all.  One of the things that helped was that private schools and some of the public schools were closed during the games.  The kids had two weeks off at the end of October.  Needless to say, I had to keep the kids busy.  Eva is so used to doing things that every morning she woke up she wanted to know what we were doing that day.  So, here you have it.  A documentation of some of the things that we did during the two weeks off of school.

To kick off the vacation we took a trip to Colomos.  It is a big park that is nearby to where I live.  They have a Japanese garden, a Mexican garden, a castle that holds art activities on the weekend, a playground, and a ton of animals that are too used to humans, in my opinion.  The squirrels, birds, ducks, fish, turtles, have been feed so much by humans that they are a  little too in your face.  But, it is a fun place to spend some time and where the kids can wear themselves out by playing in the play structures that are there and walking all over the park.

Matthew and I were able to go to a soccer game.  A friend of ours who works for Nike gave us a couple of tickets for a woman's preliminary soccer match.  We watched Canada and I can't even remember the other team.  Since it was early in the morning and early in the games, it was pretty dead, but still fun to be able to go see an event.

The mascots for the games were from left to right, Leo, a lion who represented the strength of the people of Guadalajara, Huichi, a deer representing the southern state of Guadalajara, and Gavo, or blue agave representing the agave that makes the tequila.  We bought Eva a Huichi.  She's pretty cute.

Later in the week we went back to Trompo Magico.  I am telling you the kids and I never get sick of this place.  Thank goodness!

One day we went to Krispy Kremes.  I swear, I never went there back home but since it is close to my house and they have an indoor playground upstairs we go quite often.  I mean, who doesn't love an overpriced donut?

Eva scored a trip to the circus with her little friend Luna.  We didn't do it on purpose but it's kind of funny how they match.

One night, coming home from a relief society activity, Eva asked us when she was going to see the "americanos."  We eventually figured out she meant "panamericanos" and the poor girl wanted to see a game.  Well, by this point, it was pretty hard to get tickets to games.  They were being really weird about selling them.  The venues were dead, but they kept telling people they didn't have tickets.  And really, the tickets to the games weren't expensive.  You could get in if you bought tickets ahead of time for about three dollars.  Worried I wasn't going to be able to get Eva to a game, my sweet friend, Dany, was going to be heading to a soccer match.  Lucky for Eva and I she had an extra ticket and she let me pawn Eva on her and she took her to a game.  I was SO grateful for her.  She loves my kids and they love her too because she treats them as if they were her own niece and nephew.  And when you are away from family, it is great to have people like her.

Towards the end of our vacation we took the kids to the Fiestas de Octubre.  For whatever reason, October is a popular month for celebrations.  And for one month they open up this huge carnival.  We didn't get to see its full potential because it was early in the day, but we still had fun getting on some rides and eating yummy food.

One last picture to show what I love about this place.  After the primary program rehearsals that we were having, my friends Kim and Dany, would go out to eat.  At one place, Cabo Grill, which is delicious by the way, they had a kids table where someones job was to play with the kids.  After Eva was done with the table, she looked like this...Too cute.  And that's a wrap folks.  Vacation is over.