1 Mexico

Livin the La Vida Loca! We had a blast in Mexico this year! It was so nice to breath in that nice Mexican air again. It had been two years since I last went there. And this was Colten's first time going. He of course loved it. He was in heaven with all the good food. I had to keep holding him back from eating more, because I knew he would get sick. Which he did..the last day..he ate too much, and had to skip out on our sweet dance and go to bed.

The border wasn't the happiest place on earth. We passed it safe and sound thankfully.

First day we just chilled at my Aunt Diana's new house. She built a house right next to grandmas and dads house. It was nice to have an air conditioning house this time, especially with all the people we had to squish in. My family is ALL about games. They could play games with anything. Anything we even talk about turns into a game. I personally don't like playing games...but I always seem to get ropped into playing all there games. This time the two games of the week were "Mafia" and "Last Word".

It got a little intense at times. Brittney and I had to sit out a couple rounds from our "fury"

We also got to go up to the golf course. My Uncle Armando loves to golf, so you better to take than Colten? I swore I wouldn't let anything golf get in the way on our week off, but my uncle already signed him up for a tournment, so we had to go check it out and practice.

It was a really pretty course for being in Mexico. Very peaceful setting. There was nothing around us but open fields and mountains. 

Second day...we had church. We went to the spanish ward. They were low on men so Colten did the Sacrament prayer. Good thing he knows spanish. I couldn't understand a lick of what they were saying,but we could feel the spirit. And thats all that counts.

Wally is Dianaitas little dog. He is the so small and soft!

If you want to torture someone, just get a bobby pin and pin them down.

We were getting all the blackheads out of his ear. 

Third Day we went swimming for the start of the Family Reunion.

We had a ball with all the family again. This was the first time Colten got to meet the rest of my familia.

I thought he would get overwhelmed with the whole other 105 side of my fam..but he did great and fit right in.

The water was so gross.

It looks really refreshing, then you jump in and its warm and nice.

Then you look...and you see all the tiny little junk thats actually in the pool.

It looks like it was toilet paper crumbs. or something else really gross.

Lets just say we jumped in and quickly got out.

They would come sing to you and you would give them a couple pesos' to play some more.

I think it's an amazing instrument to learn to play

I seriously love this little girl. She belongs to my cousin Ginna. 

She is such a doll.

The flies are the worst part of Mexico. Seriously...this was a good picture compared to how many there really were.

You would have to shake  your legs as you ate so all 40 of them could fly away.

But they are sticky flies...which means they never go away. 

They land on your head, then go to your arm, then to your eye, then to your leg, then to your hair.

AGH!

This hat suits him well eh?

She finally let me hold her.. Only because she was about to fall asleep.

I took whatever she would give me

After we ate.. everyone jumped back into the pool and played  game..(of course).

They would throw a ball around and whoever hit it out or missed it would get splashed alot by everyone.

Colten was a little too tall for most things

Mexico is such a beautiful Country. 

Our seats for the week were in the back of the truck. We would all pile in..even on the freeways.

Too bad we can't have that here in the States. 

The fourth day we had temple day. We were in charge of taking care of this people that couldn't go.

So we of course eat some more, and played some more games at the park.

We had a water ballon fight, that went on/off all day long.

Colten and I didn't take our Temple clothes so we couldn't go.

And the Temple is about an house away, so we just went up and looked around.

The Temple is right by my dad old school.

La Acadamia Juerez

It's in a city called, Colonial Juerez

It's a private school, mostly for Mormons. There is alot of history in this city.

They call it "Little Heaven on Earth"

New clock up and runnin

lookin for dads name

Day five.

We went to our good friends, the Jones, house to play in their nice pool.

This pool was perfect. Very warm and so much fun to swim in. We always love talking and catchin up with them too.

The clouds were unreal. I tried to take a good picture, but you can't see how pretty the really were.

The rest of the trip we had alot of fun activities..but we mostly just sat 

around with each other, played games, and ATE food!

Mix. The neighborhood dog. Colten wanted to take him home so bad.

Too bad Hawaii ruins our plan for that.

We had Talent Night.

We have some pretty good dancers in the family

Paletas. are the REASON I go to Mexico. 

I eat and eat and eat these suckers all day long!

I try to convince myself that they're healthy for me because they have real fruit in them.

I'm pretty sure the sugar intake is more than the fruit though.

OH WELL!!

The movie was all in Spanish. I tried to keep up, but I soon fell asleep.

But my favorite part of this trip, was our adopted "little brother" Joelito.

He came over the first day we arrived. My dad and brothers were doing yard work around our property all day long. While my brothers took a break from the long day, Joelito came by and asked my dad if he needed any help. My Dad just looked around and told him he could pick up all the rocks and put them to the side of the house. Joelito, being 10 years old, started to bargain prices with my dad on his payment for his work. My Dad just laughed and said he would give him some pasos at the end of his job and pay him as soon as he was done.

well...Joelito never went home after that job. He attached right onto my dad right side and did whatever was asked of him. He kept coming back the following days, asking if we needed any help. On the day we went swimming, but dad invited him to come with us.

 He was thrilled! I've never seen a little boy so excited to go swimming. He ran home, grabbed his swimsuit and was back in 2 seconds. 

The rest of the week was history. He came to everything with us, as if he was part of the family. He definitely acted like a little brother to us, with all of his teasing and playing around.

I have never seen a kid so selfless

so giving

so hardworking

so grateful

and with such a great heart.

We soon learned his mother had a few jobs and worked all day from early morning to 11 at night.

His sisters did as well. But he never forgot about them during the day. After every meal he had with us, he would take leftovers to them when he headed home. 

We took him to Neri Baptism and he seemed so curious about the church. They handed out candy for all the kids, and sure enough he came over to us adults and shared his candy before he even opened his bag. 

What kid does that?!

...a special one.

Mexico is one of my favorite places to go. 

Yes..it's humbling.

yes, it's a long drive.

yes it's hot!!

& the flies drive me crazy..

but I always ALWAYS come home learning something new and my heart more full of gratitude.