Trips and Travels

WE ARE BUILDING A HOUSE!!!!! when we got back from AZ the workers had the roof done and pretty much the whole house is almost done, we have to wait about 3 weeks before they can take all the wood off and start doing all the small details that are left. We are so excited that we will have our own place. It will be small, but it will be ours! We cant wait!!!!!

 

 

 

 

Anyways..... It’s been a while. A lot of things have happened and it’s hard to remember everything but I’ll do my best to remember as much as I can. A couple of weeks ago we were able to go on a family trip to Panajachel which is on Lago de Atitlan. We left for 3 days and it was really nice to be there. We didn’t get to go swimming in the lake this time but we did get to go see 3 different little towns. It was nice. On our way back we went to the Quetzaltenango Temple! The kids love to see temples, they were very excited. We had planned with Mike to take turns to go do initiatories so I went in first and our surprise was that they were about to close. They close from noon until 4pm but they still let me go in and do some initiatories, Mike didn’t get to go in this time but he had gone the week before with the youth in our ward which was nice. On our way back we had a crazy adventure with Layla. All morning she had been saying that her stomach hurt. I asked her several times if she felt like throwing up or going to the bathroom her answer always was no. She kept eating so I thought maybe she just wanted some attention. Anyways she finally fell asleep and when she woke up she said she was feeling a little better. Minutes later she said she felt sick again. She got comfortable again so she could go to sleep, one more time I asked her if she needed to throw up she said no. Just a few seconds later she started throwing up all over me, Colton and Xavion and all over the truck ewwwwww. When Mike was finally able to pull over we got her out of the car and she started crying that she had threw up her Taco Bell she had eaten before lol. I had to immediately remove her shirt to wash her off but the funny thing was that as soon as I took her shirt off and threw it on the floor a dog came and took it away. I started throwing rocks at the dog to see if I could stop him and someone else who was close by started saying dog, dog, dog.. we couldn’t stop the dog from taking the shirt. He crossed the street and climbed a little hill on the other side of the road. We were going to leave it there but Layla was crying so sadly that she wanted her shirt back so when the dog finish cleaning it up Mike went to rescue it lol. The funny thing was that as we are laughing afterwards about the dog Layla said “I don’t want this on the blog because it’s not funny” lol. 
 

Like a lot of you already know Colton got really sick. I appreciate all of you who were asking about him and were concerned about him. The first Dr we took him to said he had parasites and gave him a couple of medications. A week later he started getting worse and this time he had lots of fever and the day before our trip to AZ we took him to the hospital he didn’t sleep at all and cried all night long. We wanted to take him to emergency at 2am that day but its hard to find a hospital here that will take you in the middle of the night so we waited till the morning. This time the dr said he had parasites but they already had eggs and cysts. This time he got 5 medications. As soon as we got to AZ I took him to see his dr over there and he was a lot better but taking too much medication for his age. Now he is doing much better but still not eating very good.

The night before our trip to AZ we had gone to my sister’s house for my niece’s birthday party. She lives in a small place a little ways outside of town. We take a dirt road to get there. On our way back we had all my nieces and nephews in the back of the truck with the kids. We had a flat tire. It was so bad we couldn’t drive it anymore. By this time it was pretty late and dark. We couldn’t get the spare down from below the truck because the lock for the spare seemed to be old and full of dirt. We could not get the key to work. We called a few people to try and help us. We couldn’t figure out how to get the spare down or how to get the truck back home. Finally we found someone with a pump and we were able to get the tire aired up enough to get moving. We got all the way home and as soon as we turned the corner to get to where we park the tire exploded! We are grateful we were able to get back home safely. By this time it was very late and we had to get up early to catch the bus to Guatemala City.

We went to Guatemala City a day early before our trip to AZ because we wanted to see how the process for Colton’s citizenship was going. He is now a citizen of Guatemala! We are hoping that the process for Layla, Xavion and Mike will go fast too. We had a long trip to AZ. When we got to Ft. Lauderdale the kids were so surprised to hear people speak English. They couldn’t make the connection that we were in America now and they could talk to people in English. They kept asking people with a surprise face “You speak English???” Even when Xavion was watching TV he looked at us all surprise and said “Look guys, the TV speaks English” lol. We had to go get dinner so we went to a Cuban place and it was super yummy. At this place this guy with long white hair and long white bear walked in, as soon as Layla saw him she screamed as loud as possible pointing at him “Look its Santa Claus” it was funny but we were kind of embarrassed lol. I got some chocolates (its really hard to find good chocolate bars here, they only have snickers or MMs but they are a little expensive). I started sharing with everybody except Layla because she hadn’t been listening really good, so I told her that she needed to show me that she was going to listen and be happy (she was super grumpy then but had been for a while) immediately her face changed and she had a smile from ear to ear. She then asked for some chocolates I told her I knew when she was faking it so I needed to see that smile more time to make sure it was a real one. After about 5 minutes she stood up really mad and said “I am happy but you aren’t looking at me when I show you my smile” She made me laugh so she got some haha. 

Our trip to AZ was awesome, Kathy one of Mike’s sister got married and we are so happy we were able to be there. We were so happy to see everybody. I hadn’t realized how much I miss Arizona until I got to go back. I realized that there were a few things besides family and friends that I wish to have in Guatemala. For example, a nice clean bathroom, good water pressure in the shower, a washer and dishwasher lol. It’s weird because the first time we came to Guatemala I felt that I was coming home, but this second time it was really sad for me because I felt that I was leaving home. Being in Guatemala is awesome but having a break from so much that happens here every day was great. 

Colton listening to music for the first time.. After he smiled for a second he wasn't sure of what to do.

Colton climbing his highchair, there was nothing left for him to climb lol.

He didn't like to be back in a car seat...

How can i keep him off the dirt if its one of his favorite things to do.

Our trip to Panajachel and Quetzaltenango Templo.

Water Coconuts they are so yummy, they are huge and are full of water.

 

 My baby in the hospital :(

 

This is what happens once I'm kicked out of bed.... lol

One of our trips to a pool close by.

Trying to take a decent picture on one of our dates but it hard to do with this crazy man of mine.

Layla helping me to wash clothes. .

You remember the story when Layla threw up and the dog took her shirt?.... this is Mike rescuing the shirt lol

 Our audience while cleaning Layla and rescuing the shirt.

The kids having fun

 

Mike taking creepy pictures up on the mountain. 

Mike went with my brother to a day trip to different towns of Huehuetenango, I think they visited at least 5 and Mike loved it. 

This is in Arizona, Mike got to go on a hike with some family members and it looks beautiful! I wish i could have gone but who was going to take care of 3 wild kids???

We love you and already miss you all!