El Zoo

J said I have to be in charge of Saturdays with the family from now on. Where we go, what we eat, how much it will cost, etc. Wow, no pressure since I've only been here 2 weeks! Luckily I have some friends that have been here longer and gave me some ideas. So for our first Saturday family outing, we went to the zoo. I had been told that the zoo in Guadalajara is supposed to be awesome. And cheap. And it was! It only cost 52 pesos for adults and 32 for kids to get in. That's like $20 for the whole family.
Well, for most of you who know me, I don't love the zoo. Any zoo. I'm just not an animal lover for whatever reason. In fact, I think most animals are ugly and gross. Sorry for those who love animals. But this zoo was pretty cool, even for a zoo. There was lots to see, it was incredible. The weather was amazing. It was really funny because after a while, Ava tells me how she doesn't like the zoo that much. When I asked her why, she said it was boring to look at animals. Amazing how similar that girl is to me. Lucky for her, there is an amusement park attached to the zoo, (there's also an aquarium..but we'll save that for another day) so off we went! That part wasn't actually part of my plan but so it goes...
The kids loved this slide that they had..I had to record and share. Sorry for my obnoxious laughter in the background..it was just hilarious. I had tears from laughing so hard. And the music was so loud! You better believe Mexicans rock out ALL THE TIME.

Bad: We had stake conference this weekend and so me and J went to the adult session together. It was over two hours long and I didn't understand 90% of it. And we hadn't eaten dinner yet so I was starving! It was kinda painful.

Good: Lots of good...Friday morning I was feeling a little homesick, started feeling kinda down. Then decided I wasn't gonna let myself wallow in self pity so I decided to have a dance party with Lola to lift my spirits. IT was amazing. Homegirl loves to get down. :) Also...J took me to La Vaca Friday night. It's an amazing restaurant!!!! Then we got churros after..oh so very good.  

One more thing  I have to say..I love love love my girlfriends. You know who you are. Thanks girls for all the phone calls..everyday. They help me more than you can imagine.

Feliz Cumpleanos

Today this little person will be a year old. She is a very precious little person with a lot to give. I feel lucky to be able to watch her grow everyday. I know she is a little more emotional than my Ava, which will be interesting for us all. I'm not exactly the "sensitive" one in this family. :) But I will learn from her and hopefully she will be able to learn something from me. She is so happy. She's always been a happy baby. She loves to be around people. She has been a social person since she was a tiny person. She loves her 2nd mommy and this will be very difficult celebrating her first birthday without her here. :(
So today we will celebrate Lola and her first birthday. We will celebrate with a cake purchased at the panderia and maybe a pinata. It will be awesome.
Happy birthday Lola.

XO

Lately...

I have survived my first week in Guadalajara. Here's what we've done so far...

So I went to a market and bought some produce. It's the way to go because if you buy at the grocery stores, they rip you off and the produce isn't very good at all. At the market, they weigh the produce in front of you and it lasts much longer and tastes much better. So I bought some of these miniature bananas..perfect for the kids and they taste pretty good.

I came home with all this and spent 90 pesos..which ends up being around $8.00 or so. I bought mangos, bananas, pineapple, bell peppers, squash, green beans, grapes, pears, and peaches. Oh, and of course they had some chocolate covered raisins so I bought those too. Almost felt like Sprouts...almost.

After I came home from the market, I had to clean my produce..so I don't get parasites. It's actually not too bad. Just something to get used to here. My kids usually love grapes. But they won't eat these because these ones have seeds in them. And I guess you can buy them at Costco without seeds..but they cost about $8.00 so I probably won't be doing that!

Last Saturday was the picnic that the school holds before every semester. This is where students can buy and sell books. Some of the students or their wives will sell other stuff too, like jewelry, hair stuff, furniture, someone was even trying to sell their car since they were leaving. It's totally segregated too. Their are a lot of Puerto Ricans and they sord of keep to themselves. Then the Mexicans. And the Americans. They had a D.J. playing music..American stuff, like P. Diddy (or Dirty Money..whatever his new name is!) and it's seriously loud party music. J says they put ASU to shame with their parties.

This precious little baby is my friend's baby. I had to take a picture of her because of her earrings. They are TINY! I was dying over them. And it was funny talking about them to her. In Mexico, if you're a girl, you get your ears pierced when you're born..as in, you don't leave the hospital without doing it. That's always what my mom had told us too but I didn't think they still did it. Amazing. I love it.

Don't let this picture fool you. This little person is having such a hard time here. She just doesn't feel good and she wants to be held. All. The. Time. It's a little exhausting. But I can sympathize. She misses home. So do I.

J...trying so hard to smile. But it's difficult as this point because he is seriously stressed. He has no idea...:)

The food that was served at the picnic was pretty tasty. Noah seemed pretty satisfied. The best is Coca Lite. I admit, I'm addicted. Jenesey..totally better than route 44 with fresh lime. You love it. :)

This is a picture of some of the houses near us. On top of the houses are the gas tanks. I have no idea why they do this. I'm sure there is a perfectly good explanation. But seriously..there's got to be a better way.

So I went to downtown Guadalajara to get the kids' uniforms for school and they have these fruit stands everywhere here. They put all this fruit in a cup and then they add sea salt, lime, and chile. It sounds gross. But I gave it a try. And it is as gross as it sounds. But maybe over time I will learn to love it?

Every Monday they have what's called, "Tianguias" and they block the whole street off for this. It's a little bit of everything. They sell movies, jewelry, sunglasses, toys, candy, produce, hangers, clothes, everything. And it's cheap. Really cheap. I will say that the other market I went to was 10 times better. But it was fun to experience this too.

I am so sorry about this picture. I have tried to turn it around but it just won't work. This is what happens without having my sister around! But I just had to post this pic. It's a cathedral in downtown Guadalajara. So amazing.



I finally got these two in school. So stressful. But they are attending an all Spanish speaking school. It's kinda crazy, but this way, they will hopefully learn the language quickly. This does mean I will be doing a lot more with Ava at home. This will be difficult for us both. And I may be able to put her in a private school next year, but they are sooo expensive here. So for now, this is where they will go. The school is all blocked off so no one can enter or exit during school hours. All the teachers are women. And it's pretty strict. They also wear these lanyards that have their info and picture on it so they will never get misplaced. All things I find comfort in.



So that is how we have spent our first week here. I still spend too much time at my house. I'm ready to go out and see stuff. However, I'm not confident that I won't get lost. And the thought of getting lost here is absolutely terrifying. I see now that this will be challenging me in all kinds of ways.

Good: I brought stuff to make baked spaghetti so we didn't have to eat tacos for dinner tonight.

Bad: I tried to bake brownies and they were burning on top so I pulled them out. When I cut into them, they were liquid on bottom. So I might have the worst oven and I'm sad cuz I love to bake.

XO

Hola!

We made it! We are here in Guadalajara safe and sound. It has been a little crazy and I'm not going to lie.. I am feeling a little overwhelmed with everything. And a little homesick. :( But now that I have internet, I feel a little better. I was feeling so lost without internet or a phone. So here are some of the immediate changes I have experienced:

• In order to get hot water you have to get these workers to come out and they go on your roof to fill up your tank. And they come back everytime you run out, which for our family, could be once a month or so. Sooo, yesterday I took the coldest shower. Ever. Boo.
• Here you have to separate your trash between organics and inorganics. And it's not as simple as recycables. And no one seems to have the same answers but what I do know is if I don't separate properly, they won't pick up my trash. Which can result in a whole new set of issues. Bugs being the main one.
• Driving here is insanity. You HAVE to be aggressive. And quick. Otherwise you're toast. So J made me drive for the first time tonight. Lucky for him, aggressive driving is no prob for me. :)
• You cannot drink the water here. Or eat the fruits and veggies without cleaning them with a special solution. So every morning the truck comes by with water. And I had to buy this stuff to clean my fruits so I can eat them. And if I don't take some sort of pill, soon, then I could get parasites. Awesome.
• So the other major problem for me is that I sord of look Mexican. So I get approached and spoken to as if I knew the language fluently. Luckily, I know a lot. But I can't speak as well as I can understand. I end up fumbling so much over my words that I know I must look completely stupid. It would just be better if I'd stop trying and say, "no entiendo nada!"

This week will be the hardest, I'm certain of that.I miss my friends. I miss my family. I miss the United States.

Good: we made it to Mexico in one piece.
Bad: we live in Mexico. :) just kidding. Sord of.

xo

Family photos

"They say it's your birthday..."

Today we got to celebrate J-Mac's bday. What a fun day guys..thanks for the good times. Thanks Jose for having a bday so I could have another excuse not to pack.

XO

"It's Going to be an Adventure!"

This is what everyone keeps telling me when I tell them that I'm going to be living in Guadalajara for the next four years. It's mostly funny because what they are really thinking is, "Are you crazy?" I'm not crazy, my husband is. I must be just as crazy to have agreed to this. I could live in Gilbert, Arizona for the rest of my life and be perfectly happy.

Right now I should be packing all our stuff but I have been fighting it. I've only packed 3 boxes and it took me like 3 hours to do them. What is my problem?! I'll tell you. I was excited about this til a few days ago. Now I am totally freaked out. Completely. I wish I could go to sleep and wake up there. Having to pack to move to another country is terrifying. Overwhelming to say the least.

There are a lot of places I will miss. I have worked for the GAP for over 10 years. That's a long time! And I LOVE IT!!! and I will miss it terribly. It's so super part time but it's MY time. I don't have to be a wife or a mom. And I get to help people buy clothes. It's so fun.
I will also miss my gym. Lifetime is the best gym. Ever. Best classes. Best childcare. They have everything. It is one thing I refused to give up when J decided to go back to school. There's this class called The Mix and it's so seriously fun. J makes fun of me for going because it's totally a hoochie mama dance class and I'm "old" but whatever. I have fun. My sis does it with me and that makes it even better. And all the girls who come and shake it with me too..such good times.

There are obviously other things that I will miss but so it goes...

I will share a few pics of the wonderful events that have taken place in the past month. My sister and bro in law threw us a going away party and it was amazing. Of course my crazy bro in law went all out and put lights EVERYWHERE. Then he put the Mexican flag up and put on some salsa music. It was good times. I was so happy to see everyone that came to wish us luck and say goodbyes. Thank you to my sis and bro in law for putting it on for us. You guys are the BEST.

We also took the kids to polar express this year. Noah was in heaven. He's sord of obsessed with Santa. Wants to talk to him, sit on his lap. It's funny. We actually got to see some snow. So of course we had to make a little snowman.Or should I say snow-woman.Jaren gave her some, um, enhancements. :)

Christmas came and went..fast. It was great. I'm also glad it's over. We spend an entire month getting ready for it and then it was over in like 5 minutes.

Now I spend the remainder of my days packing and trying to contain my wild emotions. I look forward to spending New Year's with my favorite people in the whole world.

Good for the day: My best friend took my kids so I could come home and pack without them!
Bad: I have to pack :(

xo