Sports tournament...and continuing to lose my mind...

Our church had a "Stake Primary" event, which meant that many different congretations in the area were expected to bring their children to an event for children between 3 and 12 years. We are the only ward/congregation that lives 1 hour away (the rest are located in Guadalajara) and it was like pulling teeth to get anyone to come to this event! Who was responsible for making it happen? Me.

Our first problem is that no one has cars. The few that do were either out of town or had car issues that prevented them from driving. Finally, a bishopric counselor volunteered to help, and we stuffed his vehicle and ours full for the hour drive to Guadalajara!

We managed to get 13 kids (and several parents) to the Stake Primary soccer and basketball tournament. They held the event 4 weeks in a row, and asked different wards to play on different days against other wards. The winning teams were asked to return the final week for a playoff.

Here are some of he peeps from our ward...

Two of our older boys (in the front right) getting ready play soccer.

Our family killing time while watching the long event...

Other kids busied themselves by swinging from hanging palm branches...

Ella was so excited and confident about playing soccer. She started the game, but just 2 minutes in she was kicked in the face by a soccer ball, and decided she was done for the day.

It is quite common to play soccer on basketball courts that double as soccer fields. Grass is a rare commodity in the city! This particular court was located behind one of the chapels, on church property.

I admit I was very grateful that our kids did not win either of their games. That way we weren't required to return for the play-offs for the tournament. It was hard enough to get them there the first time, and doing it just a week later would have made us lose more hair! They were not happy we weren't coming back, even just to watch the playoffs. But for real, people. I don't mean to be difficult...but can't you plan an activity that is easier?!

__________________

And guess what kinds of snacks the children devoured after their morning of sports?

Green oranges. And they were good!!

Summer lovin'...

Ella found an old pin I bought my first summer in Skagway. Oh, the memories!

We often mind Maiya in odd places for an afternoon nap (in practice she refuses to take a nap, but these things do have a way of happening on rare occasion)...


Ethan in a very typical Mexican high chair. This is pretty much all I've seen around here! It is quite uncommon that they don't have a strap, so we grabbed a bungee cable from the car to keep him tied down. You never know when you might need a bungee cord!!


When in UT, I saw all of my siblings with the exception of Ben, who now lives in Tennessee!

We went hiking to American Fork Falls, if I remember correctly. A simple and beautiful hike!

I know I've mentioned our family's love of Jenga. That love goes well beyond just playing the game...

We celebrated my birthday with store-bought key lime pie :-) Now that is a birthday cake I like!

We decided to let Ella try out a gymnastics class, after about 2 years of her pleading. It is twice the price of ballet, but she is absolutely in love with it. Therefore, we dropped ballet, and now let her go to the gym twice a week. It is exactly 1 1/2 minutes from our house. Can't beat that!

Life is good...

especially when they love each other!

Birthdays

For Ethan's birthday this summer, we went to a friend's house to celebrate the birthday of Ella's classmate and friend who shares the same birthday!

It was a pool party!

It was 4th of July, and "too cold to swim" for half of the Mexican kids there. After all, it wasn't a completely sunny clear day (Ahem. It was probably 75 degrees, still).

Faces were made...

Fun was had by all...

Graduation from Kinder

I recently posted about Ella's graduation from Kindergarten (yeah...I told you I was months and months behind)! You can find the post on my other blog!

Meanwhile, here are a few photos I didn't share there...

Here are the girls sitting on a ledge at the school. That is a gigantic moth on the wall between them!

Here is Ella's Spanish Kinder teacher:

Here are Maiya's teachers for her "Maternal" class (a.k.a. preschool)

And here are the girls with their friend, Pablo. Behind them is a gigantic, AMAZING cake that Pablo's mother made. She is an up-and-coming cake baker, and is quite the artist in soooo many ways (weaving, painting, drawing, etc). Cakes are her new thing, and she made this Alice in Wonderland cake at a special class in Guadalajara with a visiting specialist. Pretty cool cake, huh?

Father's Day

If I'm talking about Father's Day, you can see how behind I am on posting!!

The girls came home from school with adorable gifts for Jared on Father's Day!

They each made a picture that the school then had printed on mugs, along with their photo on the other side.



Ella's picture is of her and her Daddy (I love Ella's red hair photos...they always make me smile!)

And since Maiya's a little young to draw her own pictures, her teachers had her make fingerprints with paint, and then they made the fingerprints into little mini-Daddy's (see Jared working on the computer, working out, listening to music, etc). What a cute idea!

These are definitely a keepsake!

Our serious student...

Ella is a very serious student. She has to have everything PERFECT, which can make for some rough homework sessions, at times. Overall, she's better better at not throwing fits!!

In Mexico, the children write in cursive, not print. I tried to write a note to the teacher in pure cursive (you know, the "correct" way...so I didn't feel dumb), and realized I just couldn't do it very well. I generally use a sloppy mix of print/cursive/whatever.

Ella's cursive is officially better than mine (oh yeah, and 100% better than Jared's...because he doesn't write curisve)!