Blue Cougs n Ham: July 2014

Saturday, July 5, 2014

Reunited!

On our way home from Sanitago to Des Moines we made a little stop in Utah to visit family and friends. We were able to spend the day with our great friends the Lambert's. It was so nice to visit with them. Everyone was so happy to see each other! The Lambert family are a big part of our Chile experience. We emailed their family before we even came in 2011 with questions regarding life in Santiago and it helped to seal our deal to come down to Chile. We spent a lot of time with the Lambert's with all our kids being so close in age. It was hard to see them go from Chile in June 2013, but the beauty of it all is that they live in Salt Lake and with our yearly trips out to Utah we get to see them.

Chilling after lunch.

Mark investigates the sprinkler system. He just can't resist.

I took three pictures…at least one is looking in this pic! Love these boys, they could barely stop from playing.

Party at Jardin

The gringa moms planned a little party for the gringo boys to say goodbye to jardin. It was a nice way for the boys to be able to end there Rainbow experience. It was such a good place for Easton. He had loving teachers over the nearly three years and wonderful friends to share his weekday mornings with. It was a great experience for Easton and I am so happy he was able to attend Rainbow School.

The teachers and class had made the cutest poster for each of the boys. Each child had drawn a picture of themselves and then said a comment about the particular boy. This is Miss Lucia presenting Easton with his.

Eating cupcakes and popcorn.

Miss Lucia

Miss Josephina

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Let's do Lunch

Thank you my friends!

OK, so this was a dinner. And it was a couple of months ago, but I love these ladies, and this is the picture I have, so go with it.

A few weeks before the end of school we had a holiday so Kristy got a whole bunch of Mormons together to do lunch! It was a fun afternoon.

Celebrating Kristy's birthday was so much fun! We acted and sang and laughed and laughed and laughed. This was at the hotel one of our last nights.

A lunch hosted by Missy and Karen. It was such a treat!

Tracey, -, Kristy, Karen, Missy, me, Grace, Teri.

-, Kiersten.

Our last Mormon gringa lunch. We did birthdays and "it's been too long" lunches. The faces have changed over the years, but the joy of friendship has not.
Left from front: Nicci, Anne, Britany, Gaby
Right from front: Me, Keri, Julie, Kristy, Karen, Tiffany

Stories to Share

I wanted a little space to share funny everyday happenings. So this is it ---

Dec. 3, '11 -- John Deere Water Chile had invited the John Deere Financial Chile employees and families to join them for their Holiday celebration. We traveled to the event which was about a 45 minute drive to a place we had never been to before. We took several detours prior to arriving and it was this day that Easton began to say "RECALCULATING". Sounds funny come from him instead of from Hailey, which is the name of the female voice on the GPS.

Nov. 14, '11 -- After arriving in Santiago and a long flight on Sunday, we were trying to get settled in our new home. We went to the grocery store to get the necessities and upon our return Easton declared the following. "I am not getting out of the car. this is not my house."

Sep. 21, '08 -- Then tonight we sat down and Mason announced that Mark needed to be president so that he could get all the candy he wanted for free. Priorities, priorities, priorities.

Aug. 12, '08 -- Yesterday I was doing laundry, seperating the clothes, and as I was checking pockets I pulled out a little stone from Drew's pants. This is one of my favorite things to pull out of my kids pants. I am always amazed and awed by my children. They find happiness in the things that I pass by everyday and fail to notice. The little things in life count and as I pull those rocks out of my kids pockets I am reminded just how much joy there is to find in this life. Thank you to my children and the inspiration they give me!

Jun. 19, '08 -- So I was upstairs and I heard Dallin and Drew go out into the garage. I went out there and they were playing in the car. I told them to get out and come inside. I then proceeded to tell them that the car was not a toy and to not go out there and play. Dallin looks at me and says, " Mom, it's a "TOY"ota Sienna, with a huge emphasis on the toy part. Really, a six year old should not be able to come up with that kind of comeback. I just laughed....

You had to have seen the Disney movie Cars to really appreciate this. So I'm running into the grocery store with the kids and as I am about to go inside Dallin and Drew stop and start pointing to something, while jumping up and down, laughing, and screaming "Fred! Mom it's Fred! Fred!" A couple of seconds later this large Ford Bronco that obviously weathered MANY Iowa winters and salt on the roads drives by. It is rusted all over, the place above the wheels no longer exists due to all the rust eating it away. The men in the Bronco had their windows down and just waved at the boys. I'm not sure they had any idea why my kids were so excited to see their car. I just laughed out loud! (Fred happens to be an extremely rusty car that is one of the main character's fans)