Six months since my last post, and so many things have happened.
July is winter here, so we went up to find some snow in the Andes Mountains, and had a great time playing in the snow and building snowmen. It was funny to watch other people here try and build them. I think they are used to sandmen and try and build them the same way, piling snow instead of rolling huge snowballs. Good thing we taught them the awesome way.
My cousin Courtney came down for a visit. We had a blast together, like always. We went and explored all over, and even took a Chilean cooking class. We both learned how to cook some good Chilean food. While she was here, we were both able to go up and fly with Scott in P-3. It was a fun flight.
Emmi had a birthday in August, she is now 17. I can't believe how fast time has gone. My baby girl is almost grown. It won't be much longer until she is on her own and not here with me.
September 18 is a big Chilean holiday, it's like our independence day. Time off of work, parades, BBQ's, and lots of empanadas! Our church group had a big BBQ with lots of fun activities, and so much food!
Our good friend Chiko (Ronnie Reyes) came down for a visit. Scott had to be gone for work, and didn't get to spend much time with him. I didn't mind his company at all, until my back went out and he was making me laugh. It hurt so bad, I finally told him to leave the room because I could barely breathe. I was in so much pain, and had tears rolling down my face, and him making me laugh was not helping to ease my pain. Thankfully after one full day of strong pain medication and lots of muscle relaxers, I was able to move a little easier, and I was able to show him around the city a little. Crazy thing, I could barely walk, but the walking is what helped my back the most. I sure miss that guy, he had us all laughing almost the entire time he was here. We were all really sad to see him go.
October Kaleb was selected to participate in a debate tournament, his team came in 3rd place out of several schools. Kaleb is an excellent debater, sometimes I curse the debate teacher for teaching him such great debate skills. Good thing Mom trumps debate! Hahaha
Halloween was fun this year. I did my usual Halloween dinner. It was a hit with the kids, like always. I really love trying to figure out new, creative and gross Halloween foods. Brody and Mia actually went trick or treating with a couple of their friends this year, while Emmi and Kaleb just stayed home.
In October, Kaleb also went on another school trip. This time to visit different places in the north of Chile. He was gone for 11 days, and we all missed him. It was so quite with him gone. He had a good time, but was so exhausted when he got home. I picked him up about 10 am on a Thursday. He came home, showered, then went to bed. I woke him up long enough to eat some dinner, then he was out again until the next morning. Thankfully he didn't have to go to school that day, and we were able to spend the day together.
Another good friend, Brendan Flaherty came down with his work in October. October was a really busy month for Scott and Brendan. There was a huge military exercise going on, so we didn't get to see Brendan or Scott much, but the time we did spend together was fun. While Brendan was here we were able to get tickets to a soccer game between the U.S. and Chile. It was a great game, but in the end the Chileans won. It's probably a good thing they won, or I would have been scared to leave the game being an American.
During the military exercise, the George Washington Carrier was here, and our family was able to go on and take a small tour. It was amazing how huge it is. I had been on a carrier before, but I was only 9 or 10 and didn't remember really how big they are. We were able to ride the plane elevator, it was really interesting.
November brought lots of end of the school year testing for the kids. Emmi was really stressed out, but in the end, all the kids did great this school year, and all of their teachers are so impressed with how well they are adjusting to the Spanish language and the culture. They are doing better then a lot of their peers. This makes me a happy momma!
Thanksgiving was fun. We celebrated with about 40 of our closest American friends. There was a lot of food, swimming, bouncy house fun, and sunshine. We would have loved to spend Thanksgiving with our extended family, but the friends we have here are like family.
We took all the kids out of school a week early in December, and took a two and a half week family vacation. We flew over to Buenos Aires, Argentina first. We were able to spend 5 hours with our Chilean missionary son, Elder Jose Sepuveda. It was so great to see him and his companion. We explored a little bit of the city, ate some interesting food, and we were so hot! It was humid, hot and miserable! After that we boarded a cruise ship for a two week cruise. We were able to visit
Montevideo, Uruguay. I think this was our favorite stop, and we would love to spend more then 6 hours exploring. Hopefully one day we will be able to go back and visit.
We cruised to many area's in Argentina and went to the most southern city in South America. We cruised around Cape Horn, through the Magellan straits, and the Beagle Channel. Seriously, so beautiful! Then we cruised up the side of Chile and ended up in Valparaiso, 15 minutes from our apartment. The kids
were able to enjoy some snow on the cruise. We sailed through a snow storm, and the outside decks had a small accumulation of snow. I guess a lot of the staff
had never seen snow and they were just as excited as my kids. It was
too cold for me. We decided as a family, the the cruising lifestyle is not for us. 5 out of the 6 of us at one time or another were seasick. We ate lots of saltine crackers, and all kinds of other food. The food was really great. The good thing about the cruise for me was that I didn't have to think about cooking or cleaning for 2 weeks. It was amazing!!
We returned home on the 19th of December, and we were hoping that we would be able to fly to Utah and spend Christmas there, but it just didn't work out. We all were upset that we wouldn't be able to enjoy a white Christmas. We had some passport issues, long story short, we ended up having to make a quick trip back into Argentina to get the correct stamps in our passports. Nothing like an eight hour drive after two weeks on a cruise. It made for a long day.
The kids set up our fake Christmas tree just in time for Christmas. We had some friends over for Christmas dinner and enjoyed our new games. Pie face, and bean boozled were big hits. It was a great Christmas considering we only had 5 days to prepare.
I started to watch my friends baby girl, Ayla on and off since November. At first it was so great. I was able to spoil this little 2 month old baby for 4 hours a day, 3 days a week. The kids and I were loving it. Now it is 5 days a week 7-8 hours a day. The newness has worn off, and I have one high maintenance baby to take care of. Good thing she is cute! I do sometimes miss all the me time I had, but it is only until August, then they will move back to the U.S., and my me time will be back!
A couple weeks ago we went paint-balling with some of our friends here. It was the first time for a lot of us, and I was really nervous about getting shot. One of my friends Cheeto, had it out for me. He is a Marine stationed here, and lets just say I wasn't looking forward to being shot. All in all we had a great time and we would all go again in a heartbeat. Even with the huge bruises we ended up with, it was worth it.
This last week Emmi and Kaleb were gone for the week to a church camp, EFY (especially for youth). This was Emmi's 3rd time going and Kaleb's 2nd time. Emmi said this was her least favorite year because she didn't really care for the group she was in. Kaleb, however had a great time. We were all happy to have them back home.
Yesterday
was the first time I have been in the pool with my family since we
moved here. It was a major event I had to post. We all had a fun time,
even if the water was still a little to cold for my liking. Miracles
happen.
I think this pretty much catches me up for the major stuff that has happened the last 6 months. We are enjoying the summer weather here, and all the summer fruit that comes with it. Hopefully it won't be another six months before I update this again. It's a lot of work!
