Chloe Singing

Chloe sang a solo in our Sacrament Primary program. Of course all of the songs were in spanish, but they asked Chloe to sing the first verse of I am a Child of God in english and then the rest of the primary joined in and sang the next 2 verses in spanish.

I am writing this from the hospital...

We actually get a wireless signal in the hospital. Who knew?!?
Why are we here you ask???
Monday evening Tyler told me his stomach was hurting. At bed time he said it was getting worse and it really hurt. I told him it was probably just food poisoning from the Subway he ate at lunch. I told him it would pass as soon as everything was out of his system. Well, even after all his dinner came up he was still in terrible pain. He couldnt lie down, he couldnt sit down. He couldnt be still. He kinda wandered around the house all night. In the morning I asked him where it hurt & he pointed directly to his right side--exactly where his appendix is (well at least exactly where my appendectomy scar is). I laughed and told him he was going to have to have his appendix taken out--in Mexico!!! He said, no way. To make a long story very short, Doctor Enrique came by for a housecall. After doing some examination stuff, the doc said it was classic, textbook appendicitis. 2 hours later Tyler was being taken into surgery. And guess what he survived.
Before surgery, several of our friends called to see who the surgeon was--apparently there are some practicing doctors who take your money, do the surgery, but dont actually remove anything. But, we were assured we had the best 2 doctors. It is all laproscopic (I hope I spelled that right) so Tyler has 3 small incisions. And the best part of all, the surgeon left us a DVD of the whole thing. So, if it really is Tyler's insides in the video, we have a great souvenier. HeeHee!
Tyler is now recovering nicely, enjoying lots of jello and tortillas! He is taking it easy and will be released from the hospital tomorrow. Thank goodness!

So, I have to confess something. I have been so jealous of all of you people living in the United States, who got to see Twilight. I have been moping around down here in Mexico, hoping it will still be in theaters when we are in California for Christmas. I was getting ready to start reading the book again just to keep me going. Then, I found out something: It was playing right here in Saltillo, in ENGLISH!!! Hip Hip Hooray! Tyler and I went tonight. Of course it wasnt as good as the book, but I still liked it. Tyler, who hasnt read the book, thought it was a good movie, you know, not as vampirey as other vampire movies he has seen! :) Plus, it was our first night out since we got to Saltillo. So, almost 5 whole months since our last date--I would have enjoyed walking through the grocery store at this point. Anyway, now I cant wait for the next movie!

Congratulations are in order!!!

Two of my sisters just had babies. In California, Aly delivered a tiny baby girl late Sunday night and in Utah, Becca delivered a baby boy early Monday morning. I am so excited for both of my sisters and for their new little munchkins. I wish I was there to hold these new little bundles and to give my sisters loves too.

Congratulations to my sisters and welcome to the world:

Jordyn Faye Stubbs

6 pounds 4 ounces

&

Burke Warren Taylor

7 pounds 9 ounces

Ouch!

I got a call from the school yesterday. They passed the phone to Chloe and she told me that she cracked her foot and would I come and get her. Of course I zoomed down to the school to find my girl all taped up. She fell in the grass during sports class and sprained her ankle, even though she was positive that she heard her bone crack. Her little ankle was swollen to half the size of a baseball. After she was checked out I asked her if she wanted to go home and she told me she wanted to stay at school--she is such a trooper! (I think she wanted a little attention too). So, her blue and green ankle will remain taped for another day or two.

When Dad Watches the Kids...

This is a good example of what happens when you leave your kids with Dad all weekend.

I thought I would be Ok washing the car outside while letting Carter play inside.

I mean, how much trouble could he really get into?????

He found the nail polish I bought Lizzy for her birthday.

So no this is not some washable type of polish, It is the real thing.

One more thing, Dad doesn't know where the Acetone is.

Poor kid is going to have bright pink fingers for a while.

I am sure Mommy will be so proud of her boy when she gets home in 2 days.

Some of our surroundings...

This post includes just a few photos of where we live.

This is our church building. When we attended our first time in August it was actually only the second Sunday the building was used. It is brand new. It was dedicated last Sunday, the 2nd of November.

This is Las Brazas, our favorite place to eat. The sign says, Las Brazas, La Casa Del Buen Taco or the house of the good taco. And they sure are yummy! I think we ate there 3 times when my parents were here visiting. That is them in the photo. If you know spanish you can read more about this restaurant at http://www.lasbrazas.com.mx/

The locals say, if you havent been to Las Brazas, then you haven't been to Saltillo!

This is a picture of our house, taken before we moved in.

This is a little thing in our front yard. Our gas and water meters are read in the little doors. And our door bell is the little switch under our street number. If you look at the picture above, of the front of our house it would have been on the far right, but it was cut out of the picture.

This is our front door. Don't mind the Halloween decorations, these pictures were taken in October!

This is our entry way with more Halloween decor!

This is the front of our litle neighborhood. There is a security guard at the gate 24 hours a day. They had lots of Halloween decorations set up here as well.

Our neighborhood is called Villa Bonita.

These pictures were taken from the security gate looking down towards our house. In the picture below, smack in the middle, you can see the back of my white Yukon parked in front of our house.

Random Thoughts

Remember Wonkavision from this movie. I sooo wish we could do that in real life. Have I mentioned how much I miss everything from California and all my family and friends? Wouldn't it be great to just transport ourselves somewhere?!?

Check out wikipedia for a refresher on the Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I love the old movie with Gene Wilder. Although I love Mr. Depp, his version just didnt do it for me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_Wonka_%26_the_Chocolate_Factory

I forgot the Halloween Pictures...

We had so many opportunities to dress up this year. Here are some of their costumes: a princess riding a unicorn, a power ranger, a SWAT team officer, a witch, a skeleton, Darth Vader, winnie the pooh as a pumpkin, Buzz Lightyear, and a Halloween ballerina. The real special thing, for me, was that Chloe made her Halloween ballerina tutu. You know the kind with the elastic waistband and then you tie on strips of toole. Well, she had to make a costume for school and she made it all by herself. I showed her how to tie them and did a couple to get her started, but she finished the whole thing. I was so proud of her. She is definitely going to be a crafty one!

Notice the tongue sticking out.

She does this all the time, just like I do & just like my Dad does. :)

Luke was Winnie the Pooh dressed up as a pumpkin. In fact all four kids have worn this costume. Luke loved it!

The costumes they actually wore Halloween night.

Chick and Cow

This is where we buy meat. And true to the name, they only sale chicken and beef, well actually, they sale bacon too, but that is it!! You can get marinated chicken and beef, shishkabobs, chicken cordon bleu, chicken patties, hamburger patties, and of course ground beef to name a few. The only thing you cant get is a yummy roast to throw in the crock pot. And I doubt they will have corned beef in March. I dont know how I will enjoy St. Patty's without corned beef?!? I think I will live--we will just have to eat green beans and rice! :)

This place is packed everyday from 1-3. That is when Mexicans eat their largest meal, like our dinner. In Chick and Cow they have a tiny deli where you can get what else, roasted chicken and tortillas. Plus french fries. They also sale other warm goodies like spaghetti, rice, and mashed potatoes & gravy--you know, other things to go with your chicken and tortillas. :) You have to be prompt though, cause if you come after 3, they will be out ouf the warm lunch stuff. But then you can get a tasty chicken ceaser salad instead.

United Nations Day

United Nations Day is October 24th. It is a day set apart for recognizing the aims and acheivments of the United nations.

United Nations Day is quite a big day here in Mexico. At Colegio Americano it is a big celebration. The younger children dress up to represent a country and march in a parade. Then each class performs a special song. Carter and Logan each wore their sarapes to represent Mexico. I told Tyler we need to invest in an Uncle Sam costume or some US army cami's for next years parade. The boys had a lot of fun. Carter, who is usually a ham for the camera covered up his face when he realized I was taking pictures of him. On the other hand, Logan who usually doesnt like to draw attention to himself was all smiles for the camera. After the parade and song there was an open house set up with booths that represented different countries. The boys loved that part too because they had little samples of traditional snacks from each country. Chloe's class and the other 1st graders had an open house later in the day. Read more about that below!

Three quarters of Carter's class wore the traditional clothing that Mexicans wear for weddings and other formal occasions. They were awfully cute with their little guitars.

All of the children in first grade got to participate in a United Nations Day open house. There were 8 stands set up and the kids spent 15 mintues at each stand and then rotated until they went to all the stands. They had various things to do like, create a flag that represents a country, draw a picture of some currency from another country, make a dove out of crepe paper to wear on your shoulder (you can see Chloe's in a later picture--the dove is the UN symbol).

This is a picture of Chloe standing in front of her spanish classroom. On the far left of the picture I cut off the door to her english classroom. All of the backpacks get lined up outside. There are a lot of backpacks on wheels because these kids have to lug around 3-4 books each day for homework, plus their pencil boxes that must include everything from pencils and erasers to glue, scissors, crayons, markers, & colored pencils, plus a pencil sharpener. Plus, everything has to be labeled. And I mean everything--each individual crayon, marker, pencil, eraser, everything. Chloe has already lost 2 glue sticks, 2 pencil sharpeners, and her scissors.

The Volkswagon Beetle. How many of these do you see an on average day driving around your town? You may be surprised to know that these are everywhere here in Saltillo. One day, while my mom was here, we decided to count. We left home at 8:45 to take Carter to school, then went to the bank, and then drove into downtown Saltillo. After some shopping we stopped at a little taco house for lunch and then went back to the school to pick up the boys. We spent 1 1/2 to 2 hours on the road total. Can you guess how many Beetles we counted? A whopping 200!!! And by the way we didnt include the new beetles and we actually stopped counting at 200. There were actually more! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this little bit of info. And if you ever find yourself in Saltillo and want to blend in, buy a vw beetle!

I hope you enjoy this Halloween game!

Halloween Toys & MySpace Layouts at pYzam.com

Desert Museum

Over the weekend we went to the Museo del Desierto or Museum of the Desert. It is situated on the outskirts of Saltillo atop a hill, and has an amazing view. The museum is a state attraction and boasts of having some of the first sets of human foot prints. The exhibits start with a lot of geology and geography common in Coahuila then, of course, the dinosaurs and other fossils native to the area.

I cant help but be blown away by the enormous dinosaur bones. It is hard to believe these creatures actually roamed the earth. If it wasnt for the blatant proof it would be easy to believe that they are just figments of the imagination. It really makes me think and wonder about the purpose of these creatures.

Remember these guys from Ice Age?

If you look closely you can see three very unusual creatures!

Arent these turtles cute? They would climb up on the rocks or tree limbs. Occasionally one would fall off or get knocked off, but they would climb right back up!

Everyone bought a stuffed snake for a souvenier.

All the kids: Edgar and Julia (2 year old twins), Carter, Logan, Luke, and Chloe.