Mexico Part 49: Spring Break Sayulita

About four hours away from Gaudalajara, heading towards Puerto Vallarta, there is a beach called Sayulita.  For my Oregonian friends, the town is smaller than Seaside, and slighter bigger than Cannon Beach, but it has a very hippy feel to it.  In fact, right above where we stayed, we smelled weed every once in a while.  We went with some good friends that we have made here and had such a good time.  The house had some corky things about it, like an open kitchen/living room area where you almost felt like you were camping, but for the price and the fact that we had a pool, we wouldn't have done it any other way.  We spent our days there eating, playing in the pool, playing at the beach, eating some more, pool time again, followed by bath time and then bed.  We literally were in the water all day for the entire week.  Kids were in heaven and I loved it.  The water was warm, the waves were friendly, and the sand glittered in gold ...I don't know if it gets any better.  Matthew was able to get the kids on a boogie board and learn how to do it.  They would go far into the ocean and jump waves, and Eva's swimming really took off here.  She's a good little swimmer, pretty much self taught with some pointers every now and then from her dad.

Everything was going perfect and then slowly, we all starting dropping like flies, getting sick.  By Friday Matthew and I were both sick.  I laid in bed all day long and just slept while Matthew was awesome enough to push through and take care of the kids.  It was crazy.  Eva was the only one who was spared out of both of our families.  That was pretty amazing if you ask me.  Even though our trip didn't end exactly the way I wanted it to, we made some great memories.  We are all hoping that we will be able to go back in the near future.  We left deciding that we needed to own a beach house at Sayulita one day.  And hopefully one day we will.

Mexico Part 48: March Madness Continued

Scarlet Fever.  The picture doesn't even do it justice but you can see some of the rash on her cheek.

Should would love to see more of this around my home, but she often gets "tired" after reading a page.  This night she last awhile. 

Why is it that boys have to wrestle?  This is a nightly routine around our home.

Costumes stress me out.  But, this one managed to come together.  A friend hooked me up by going to downtown GDL and getting the beard.  The hat was actually made from a Halloween basket, and I made her shirt.  I was pretty proud of my sleeves   For whatever reason, sleeves intimate me!

The three little leprechauns

I really didn't mean for March to only be about me.  I'm not that egocentric ;)  So, where to begin?  We started March with Scarlet fever!  Around Valentine's day Eva's friend's dad told me that his daughter was out sick with the illness.  I didn't think anything of it, but then two weeks later when I say a crazy rash over Eva's body, we eventually put two and two together.  It was of course, after pouring over the internet looking at crazy rashes, panicking to Matthew telling him I thought it was chicken pox, small pox, measles  shingles...let's just say, the internet can sometimes drive someone crazy.  We eventually recovered with no one else getting the fever.

We had some fun celebrations at Eva's school.  She had a St. Patrick's day song at school where they had to get dressed up and an earth day parade.  Eva and Elijah both had a talent show at church where they danced to a chicken song.  Elijah was convinced he wasn't going to dance just wear his costume, but when it was time to perform, he was front and center, waving his arms and yelling, "pio.pio." like the best of them.  They were adorable!  Oh, and of course, Matthew!  He had a Young Men's presentation where they put on their own rendition of the three little kids where the wolf was a pair of boys being missionaries, handing out Books of Mormon.  It was pretty creative.  And the boys were convinced that Matthew had to be the mother and wear a dress and wig.  He was a good sport.

Our two week Spring break happened around this time too but I will leave that for the next post.

Mexico Part 47: March Madness--My Birthday

On March 16, I turned 31.  Normally, I think one would think that 31 would be anti-climatic because it was just after the big 3-0 right?  Well, that was not the case for me.  I had such a AWESOME birthday.  I am so thankful for such a special family that loves me so much and goes above and beyond to make me feel loved.  It started a couple days before my birthday when we were doing some Costco shopping for a BBQ we were going to have on the actual day.  We were getting all the food, and Eva and Matthew both turned to each other and thought, we should get mom some flowers.  Eva is turning into such a thoughtful girl.  We have been working for a couple of weeks on patience with her.  She has been so cute, intentionally thinking about being more patient.  She even earned the family a yogurt outing the other day.  But I digress.  The Friday night before my day, the girls from the UAG wives club with some of my besties, went out to dinner at this awesome fusion Asian restaurant called CON-tenedor.  And after being stuffed, we headed to DQ for some blizzards and girl talk time in my friend's McKensie's "party bus."  On Saturday I headed off to my neighbors baby shower and Matthew kept the kids.  They worked on cupcakes and how to surprise me when I got home.  I laughed, because I pulled up, totally caught them off guard that they sent me outside to try my entrance again.  I was then greeted by screaming children saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  The best things about birthdays is seeing the joy in your children's faces.

We headed to a BBQ at a park in our neighborhood and ate some yummy food.  I actually summoned Oregon weather for my birthday because it started to rain a little on us.  We headed to the under covered area, only to be kicked out of it, because we apparently didn't have permission to use it.  But, while we were annoyed, we moved the party again.  I think we might have moved the party three or four times, but that is why my friends are so AWESOME.  Never complained, just moved it.  We had some candles, but my cute friends used a 29 + 2 approach which I loved, and we had to smile at the fact that most of the frosting from the cake that the kids "decorated" ended up on the lid.  We had way too much dessert, and a lot of happy children.

As I get older, I feel like life rolls on and I am just trying to hold on and take it all in.  I don't feel or look like I am older, but I see it in my kids faces.  Time does move on.  I am so grateful for the opportunities I have had in my life to do so many good things.  The Lord is always mindful of me and frankly spoils me more than I deserve it.  This last year, I have realized that serving and being served is such a beautiful thing.  And while I don't enjoy finding long grey hairs, I wouldn't trade the experiences that bring those grey hairs on for anything.  Here's to another great year!

Mexico Part 46: Ordinary February

We were out for dinner when before I knew it Elijah was soaked from the fountain. 

Trompo Magico.  

February seemed crazy, fast this year.  Who am I kidding though?  All the months seem crazy fast.  In fact, I think I often start my posts talking about time flying by.  Maybe it really does.  Anyway, my friend today said something that resonated with me .  While the weeks might have flown by, the days were definitely long.  Matthew started a surgery rotation and while some days he came home relatively early, other days he came home way later and had to go in on some Saturdays as well.  If I were to compare this to a couple years ago I would have laughed at myself for thinking Matthew was gone a lot.  But since the last semester we've been having him home more, I realize I have to reprogram myself to having him gone longer and pretty soon altogether.  And I can totally do that, but the adjustment has been hard.  Some days have gone by smoothly, and others I feel like I have turned into the Wicked Witch of the West.  Those days aren't fun.  We are in the middle of some huge decisions for our family.  We think the time has come to leave Guadalajara which is really sad for me.  I LOVE it here!  I came kicking and screaming (ok, not really) and now I think I am going to leave here doing the same.  We are trying to see if we can get accepted to do rotations in the states.  Specifically in Scottsdale, Arizona, because of an arrangement the school here has but it is WAY easier said than done.  It is hard to be accepted into places as a foreign grad.  At this point we are putting ourselves in the Lord's hands and seeing where He wants us to go.  But, if that doesn't work out, we might be crazy enough to live in Puerto Rico for a year.  UAG has an arrangement with PR as well, and frankly it is the easiest thing to coordinate.  Time will tell what happens, but it looks like my days in Guadalajara a finally winding down.  Major :(

My kids, who also rarely get sick, have been sick a lot too.  They have this never ending cough and a fever that comes and goes from week to week.  And Eva keeps breaking out into hives.  It is the strangest thing.  We can't pin point it to food, and it mostly happens in the afternoons right after school.  I finally went to the store to buy hypo-allergenic detergent and softener to wash her clothes in, hoping it might help.  I haven't really thought it has been pouring on us lately, but some days it sure feels like it, even though it is always a sunny 80 degrees here.

School for Eva continues.  She gets random projects from time to time that we have to help her with.  This last one, she did on her on.  I helped her glue things where she wanted but the entire project was all her.  That was nice.  It reminded us of The Jetson's robot.  Remember that show?

Valentine's day was great.  I thought Matthew wouldn't be home until after 7pm, but to my surprise he came home early with flowers in hand.  He's a good man.  We went out that night with our neighbors and our American friends from our neighborhood to Thrifty ice cream   It was new to me.  It's just like Baskin Robins.  We had the kids with us, but it wasn't bad.  Something about it made it an awesome day.  Plus in the morning for playgroup I had the kids over for heart shaped pizzas, a robot craft, and sugar cookies.  Can't go wrong with all those good things.

And finally, our little River.  She gave us quite the scare this month.  She woke up one morning very sad and went straight to our tiny backyard and just sat there, all depressed.  I instantly new something was wrong and panicked telling Matthew I thought she had lost her vision in her only eye.  We quickly took her to the vet and the fun began shortly thereafter.  We were both calling and driving all around the city trying to find her the right medication to save her eye.  We finally were able to get a hold of a human eye doctor that was nice enough to tell me what we needed to get for her to save her eye.  So far, so good.  She is on 4 different medications a day, multiple times throughout the day.  It's crazy keeping it all organized but we manage.  The sad news is that we can really only save her eye for so long.  At this point we are just prolonging the inevitable.  She supposedly has 18 months or less of her good eye left.  So, for now, she milks the system.  Eating human food, since it's the only way she will willingly take her pills, sleeping on our couch and bed for hours during the day.  She is quite annoying but, if this will keep her happy, we do indulge.  But, I draw the line at getting into my garbage.  She still gets in big trouble for that.

Guess there was more to February than I thought.

Mexico Part 45: January Happenenings

Eva in her classroom.

Just imagine a picture being taken of me. The curse of always being the one behind the camera. Never in any pictures. 

Elijah makes this face a lot while he plays. We call him a gently giant. Or a WWF wrestler because he does such a dramatic wind up but never really hurts anyone.  

My beautiful Eva

Henry's 3rd Birthday

Well, we got back to Mexico on the 11th of January.  No free plane tickets this time.  Major bummer.  It is always crazy to get back into the routine of things.  It takes forever to unpack and clean all the messes that were made.  We came back to River being alive, which was a sigh of relief, since it is getting too expensive to take her with us on vacations.  But it is good to be home.

 The first week back Eva had an Open House at her school.  They showed us how her math curriculum works, which as a teacher, I totally love.  She sits in the front row of her Spanish class.  She must be there to keep another poor kid out of trouble, or she probably could use the extra help ;)

A week later we went to Colomos, a park, for some horse back riding.  Matthew and I both got on a horse with the kids and took a little trail.  It was fun although I did have a very strong willed horse that didn't want to listen very well and got way too much dirt all over me.  Next time, we are putting the kids on ponies and having everybody ride their own horse.  I am sure that would make for a more pleasurable experience.

And lastly, a friend of ours, Henry, turned three and we were able to spend his birthday with him.  It's funny how with everyone who lives in our neighborhood now, you don't need to really invite extra people.  We can have a party with just the families who live nearby.  That makes things simple and nice in my book.

Christmas Break in Oregon

Christmas Eve and ready to open presents.  That's how we do it at my parents. And the kids were excited!

Eva had been DYING to open presents.  It's really hard when they are all out staring at you.

They spend a lot of time on this recliner with my dad.  Elijah always is wondering where Pap is when he isn't around. He doesn't really know what a job is.  I think he even asked my mom if he was at school.

My brothers are so awesome!  They love my kids and played lots of games with them. And of course tease my Eva to no end.  They treat her like a sister.

I don't know how many years its been since I was around for Erik's birthday. But this time I was. On the 26th of December he turned 23.  I remember his birth like it were yesterday.

Zoo Lights

This took a lot of courage for her.  

Portland Aquarium

Ricky and Keri invited us to come.  It took me over an hour to find the darn place, but it was fun. 

Out of this World Pizza.  Lily is always the sweetest to Elijah. She plays with him and loves on him.

These girls will be best friends forever.  Just like their mamas.  

These cute kids are only ten months apart and are cousins. Something about it cracks me up.  

Our Christmas morning on the 30th

Cousins.  I think these girls will be good friend one day.  They already are.

Sledding

Kids left and the adults had fun.

Eva lost her first tooth in Sisters.  I technically yanked it out for her. She had been so patient. 

Puzzles.  I just watch.  

Cannon Beach

Christmas Day Dinner with the Wilkinson's

Christmas Eve.  Eva was cute and went to my mom and told her she really wanted a boy barbie because she didn't have one.  And of course they got her one.  My kids are spoiled.

Christmas break was quite different for us this year.  For the first time we, Matthew and the kids and I spent it apart.  It really was an accident the way it happened.  Matthew bumped some classes to be able to take his USMLE test and by doing that he had to make them up in December.  Well, imagine our surprise when they told him he would have to be doing a shift at the hospital Christmas Eve and would then be finishing up on the 28th.  We were very disappointed.  We tried to make the best of it, but it wasn't the same not having your whole family together.  The truth is, if we wouldn't have been so naive, we wouldn't have come to the States.  I would have much rather been together as a family.  But, we did it.  And hope to not have to do it again anytime soon, but we aren't counting on it.

So, from the 17th to the 28th I spent time with my family.  My brother Alex was there from the East Coast, which is always such a treat when he is around, and then Erik, of course was home and Ricky and Keri weren't to far away in Washington.  We managed to see them quite a bit too.  On the 29th, Matthew flew in, happy day for me.  I REALLY missed him this time, I normally can hold it together, but holidays are different I suppose.  Then we headed to Sisters.  We were there for the New Year and spent some time with his siblings, and the kids' cousins.  Then headed to Cannon Beach for a few days with Nana and Grandpa, only to head back to Hillsboro for a couple days before we came back to Mexico.  This trip flew by!  But we managed to do some of our favorites.  Oregon in the winter isn't the best, but we always love the people we leave behind and they make being there worth every penny!