Guatemala

On the way to the nature preserve, we went through a town that was in the middle of having a really big farmers market type of event. There were people everywhere and the traffic was awful! We saw people wearing very traditional clothing that was very colorful and then we saw this, we thought the chickens were dead, but then noticed that they were in fact alive and being sold and carried this way. Some people had 2 or 3 chickens on their arms.

After we walked around the town and bought a few things, we had a boat ride across the lake and on the way stopped off to a place to eat that was on the edge of the cliff. It was so beautiful! Spencer and a couple of us ordered a drink of lemonade, that when it came out it was seriously bigger than Spencer's head! He couldn't drink it all! I don't remember if any of us really could drink it all!

Spencer was splashed with a wave on the lake while we were going, it was really funny! The rest of the pictures are of the place we ate at and climbing up lots of stairs to it. Also some other houses that were built on the edge of the cliff also. You can see on the mountain side the bare parts that looked shaved away are the farm land areas. We went to a little town were we took the fun little rides to where Mayan tradition of dying cotton and silk were done by hand. Two ladies showed us how they cultivate the cotton and silk (by hand) and then spin it (by hand again, not a spinning wheel) and then dye it with different nuts, flowers, spices, etc. to get the color they want. Then they embroider or crochet purses and all kinds of things. It was beautiful!

It rained on the way back across the lake. We saw volcanoes also! That night we rode all the way home late and had a fast sleep to wake up super early to get the ride to the plane for Tikal.

Guatemala

The next day we got up early and went to another place. I honestly cannot remember the name, Derek can fill it in when he has the chance. We drove up and down some very steep mountains to get to a lake and nature preserve. There was a lot going on to get there. Amazingly the people would do farming on as much of the mountain as they could. They farmed by hand as far as we could tell, come to think of it, I saw road construction by hand picks also. No big diggers and such to fix the roads. Anyway, the farms would be all over the mountain side, no matter how steep it may be or if there was a cliff at the bottom! We talked about how we would be taking life into our own hands by going out to weed or cultivate. At the nature center we saw beautiful plants and banana trees, where my dad pointed out the fact that the bananas grow upside down not right side up! It was neat to see! They also had butterflies, humming birds, woodpeckers, monkeys, and another animal where my brain freezes what the name is. We walked on several rope bridges that were far up and freaky. Spencer kept bouncing on them and making waves scaring my mom and I.

Guatemala

We went to Guatemala to visit my parents who are serving an 18 month mission there. It was great! Our girls we felt were a little too young for this adventure and thought they would have loads more fun if they hung out with their other Grandparents in Utah. Which they did! I don't think they wanted to leave anytime soon! Our fun time started at around midnight last Wednesday. We took a red eye plane to Florida (Ft. Lauderdale)and got there just in time to take a taxi to the beach and watch the sun rise. It was beautiful! We saw lots of shells, and a kayaker in the ocean! There were also lots of sea turtle nests all over the beach. We then took the taxi back and flew to Guatemala. We got there about lunch time and found Grandma and Grandpa and one of their friends who drove us all over the place! We went on a zip line and ate good food! It was nice to see my parents again! The boys were observing lots that day of all the different way of life then they are used to. The electric wires were everywhere, strung around on the poles with it looked like carelessness, and it looked like wires draped all over the roof tops like they were thrown on. Seth had his own thoughts about that. Here are some pictures of that and the fist day.

Good to be back...

It has been far too long since we have posted anything on our blog. We figured now is as good of time as any! So much has happened in the past year and a little bit. I don't even know where to begin. Let's start with some fun pictures!

I opened my back door to find this cool owl right on the tree next to our deck. I shut the door grabbed the camera and called the kids. We think it is a baby big horned owl. Our neighbor said that they had a nest in the tree in their back yard and saw 3 of the babies before that. It was amazingly cool!

Maggie graduated from preschool in this picture. She sang songs to us in English and Spanish, and loved every minute of it. Charlotte finished up also, but they didn't have a ceremony like Maggie, it was a picnic for the whole school on the last day.

Seth finished up 8th grade and is on to high school this coming year! This was at a 8th grade breakfast that he went to on the last day of school. He is with some of his friends. The tall one is his best friend who happens to live next door to us!

Spencer finished up 4th grade and is having a fun summer. He had a fun birthday and got this great balloon hat when we went out to dinner for his birthday. There was a balloon artist there and he made this special hat for Spencer!

Maggie and Charlotte love to play with the camera with a friend and dress up all the stuffed animals and take pictures with them. I think this is a cute picture of the two and their animals.

Maggie had a dance class this year ballet, tap, a little tumbling, and some jazz also. She loved it. This is her class on the final performance day. They danced to her favorite song, "somewhere over the rainbow"

We went to Breckenridge, and panned for gold! We actually found some also! It was a gold mine that we toured with Derek's parents and then we got to try our luck. We found a small nugget, and a couple small flakes of real gold!

These were all taken on our trip to Breckenridge. The boys went kayaking and the girls went with the grandparents to a tram and down the alpine slide! Seth got this shirt, it is sooo him. Amazingly he got the shirt from the store where the girls are standing in front of. This store is for them. "Two wild sisters"

We went with our primary to tour the Denver Temple the other day, I like this picture of Charlotte, if you can't tell, she avoids the camera while she smiles and says Cheese. I was lucky to get this one with her looking! It was a good day, and fun to walk around the grounds and find out some interesting facts about the temple.

Easter dinner with some new friends

I am not sure how many people really even look at my blog, and that is okay! I don't usually have much time to write on here anyway. I wanted to write this down so that I can always remember it. However, tonight one of the coolest nights I have had in a long time. For the past several months (since school began) we have had the fun opportunity to take 4 kind Chinese ladies to the store for their grocery shopping. We have taken them quite often. They are teaching in the high school, middle school, and two of the elementary schools here. Both Seth and Spencer have them for teachers. Well...two of them. So we take them shopping because they don't have cars, and there really isn't a public transportation system here at all. It is a lot of fun. They have taught Seth and Spencer more Chinese games, what kids do their age in China, etc. We invited them over to our house today for dinner. We decided to give them a traditional Easter dinner. Then we painted Easter eggs with them. We talked about where they are from, and where Charlotte is from. It was great. They loved loved to play with Maggie and Charlotte. Maggie was absolutely enjoying the attention. 3 of the 4 teachers left their 1 or 2 year old kids (2 had a girl one had a boy) and husbands to come here to teach Chinese and it has been hard for them to leave their babies. I talk to one of the teachers more often about kids, and she misses her daughter incredibly. They are so dedicated to be here and to teach the kids here. I really admire them and think they are wonderful people. I found out that Chinese culture is different than Japanese or even my culture. They are not afraid to ask any question, and are very open about everything. Maggie was having a blast dancing and talking up a storm with them. I felt so happy to have them come. I really enjoyed the night tonight. I have really enjoyed the time I have had to be with them and help them to do some shopping. I am so happy to have adopted a daughter with that same wonderful culture as these fine women have. Did I mention their English names? Crystal, Sherry, Grace, and Kathy.

Seth is in a play

I have missed a few months...and don't plan on catching up! There has been way too much go on to write a post for everything. Because of that I will just start from here. Yesterday our Stake for church put together a "play-in-a-day" for the youth in the ward to put on. They spent the whole day and putting costumes together, painting and practicing for their play. Thursday night each ward was given a theme for their play and a Disney movie to base it on. Our ward got Beauty and the Beast, and the theme of keeping the Sabbath day holy. Everyone got the same kind of thing for them but various other movies and different themes. Everyone also had to incorporate a light saber in the play also then Sat night they put it on for everyone to come and watch. It was a blast! Maggie loved the fact that they had a Dorothy and Glinda in one wards play. She met them after and thought they were real. Seth was in the play. We were a little late in dropping him off on Sat. He came for lunch then stayed until the end. We had a friend in a robotics competition we wanted to support that morning. (That was awesome too by the way). Anyway, someone in our ward video recorded it and put the video of our wards play on you tube. I wanted to share the link with you. It is great! All the deacons are the kids with white shirts and ties, so Seth is one of those kids. I hope you enjoy the video, we loved it. Seth wishes he could do it again. He had a great time helping to get it together and being in the play. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JFL7pKwyn4&feature=youtu.be

Charlotte's 2nd birthday and first with us

1 year ago on Charlotte's birthday we got a phone call in the morning from our adoption agency telling us of a little girl that we had been match with. The lady (her name is Judy) said, oh look today is her birthday! That is really special. I don't think I have seen that too many times before, getting matched on the baby's birthday. We saw her pictures and now, 1 year later we are celebrating her 2nd birthday and her first with us. Since Maggie's birthday was only 1 week before, she got the idea of opening gifts down pretty good. She liked that.

We ate spaghetti for dinner since she like those noodles a lot! She had a yellow cake that we made into a flower. She ate a ton of it. She has a major sweet tooth! Our kind neighbor gave us hand me downs from their daughter so we acquired another stroller, which we really needed to settle fights. She still isn't talking much, but she is trying harder now. She is a ton of energy and loves everything Maggie loves. She follows every move Maggie makes and tries all the same screams. Charlotte's favorite are shoes. If we can't find our shoes we know she has been wearing them around. She loves to eat food too. The sweeter the better for her.

Maggie's 3rd Birthday

Maggie for her birthday wanted to go to the "mall" and go swimming with Santa. She wanted to know if Santa had a swimming suit. We said yes, not to worry about that detail. The boys didn't have school on her birthday since it falls during the Thanksgiving week, so when she woke up they wanted her to open up her presents. I tried to persuade them to wait for dad but...they won. She opened everything. She loved it all. For dinner we had chicken nuggets (at her request) and made her a lemon cake with pink frosting with princesses all over the top. Yes, we took her swimming! She loves swimming. The next morning when she woke up she said so am I two again? She is quite the funny kid. She loves loves to dress up and loves to play with her babies. She loves books with babies or princesses in it. I can't believe that she is 3! She starts sunbeams in January! She is now the same height as most other 3 year old kids. She was always so much smaller than the others. She still only weighs 25 lbs., but she is growing!