Field Trip to La Laguna

Good morning, everybody! Let me start off by saying thank you to everybody that made my birthday special last week! It started on Monday and continued on until the end of the week. Comments on the blog, texts, emails - even a surprise Starbucks gift card! After school on Tuesday, I brought my stuff to the house, dumped it on my bed and as I was walking back down the hall, Abner walked in my front door...surprise! And he brought presents..woo hoo! We spent the rest of the day until prayer meeting having a jam session. It was a fun day! Unfortunately, no one thought to take any pictures :(  

Later that night, I came home to find a surprise from my mom on my dresser....A Christmas tree of Yakults! If you've never tried one of these, you are truly missing out on a piece of heaven. They are really good. They sell them here at Sam's and Costco in flats of about 50 - it's been on my birthday wish list since I was around eight years old - ha! This year, on my 24th birthday, that dream finally came true! Haha! 

Now to the real meat of the post.....

Friday we had our first field trip of the year! We went to the Laguna de San Baltazar - one of me and Nicole's favorite places in Puebla. It is beautiful! We went with Elder Wakefield's school so the kids could all play and visit and have fun together. 

These girls are the cutest little things ever. They ran around all day holding hands and chattering in their high pitch voices. It was adorable. 

Eliana and Cheyenne

Discussing Grampa's pen

We sat down to eat lunch and immediately were surrounded by ducks. 

The kids played on the slide...

...and Elissa was tickled pink watching them! 

Gramma sent a cake...it was heavenly! 

Grampa and Elissa having a little chat

The kids also got to ride in the row boats. They did an awesome job paddling! (It's not as easy as you might think. It takes skill, strength, and coordination!) 

Funny story:
Grampa was watching the little girls while the older boys went to go on the boats. They were walking around the trail, on their way to the boats. He says he looked away for a second to talk to Nicole then looked back and the girls had disappeared. He looked all around him and started to panic. An old man sitting on a bench asked him if they were his granddaughters and said they'd ran off "that way". He ran off in that direction....all of this was happening and we had no idea.

All I knew is the girls got back to our picnic spot by themselves and I asked them, "Did you girls ride the boats?"
Their only response was to look at me with wide eyes.
A minute later Grampa got back, huffing and puffing, looking like he got his feathers ruffled.

Through some heavy breathing, he explained how the girls had escaped and that he'd caught up with them as they were running back to our picnic spot. He was quite upset with the girls for running off, especially with him thinking they could've possibly fallen in the lake. I'm sure the girls had never seen their pastor so annoyed. Having been my Grampa's granddaughter for a few years now,  I found his reaction to be very funny - he loves these girls and they know it, but it is a scary thing to be on the receiving end of his wrath! I sympathized with Grampa, but found myself feeling very merciful towards Cheyenne and Eliana as well.

Escorting the wandering little boogs out of the park - they were sentenced to holding Pastor's hand for the rest of the day :) 

~Bethany~

Bethany's 24th

Today is Bethany's birthday! 

Yesterday we celebrated it with family, friends, and some good food. 

Gramma outdid herself! She had the house all decorated and an amaaazing meal cooked up, including Beth's favorite - broccoli salad! Everything was delicious. 

Bethany enjoying her food

More good times around the dinner table!

 Elissa being cute! She entertained herself while the adults ate dinner.

The dee-lish birthday cake. (With horrible chicken scratch :))

This is our favorite tres leches cake- It is a vanilla cake with whipped cream and cajeta in between each layer and then covered with the same combination. Its so sweet and rich that your teeth ache from all the sugar. 

Once again Bethany sneaked her mordida while no one was paying attention. Cheater. No one ever lets me get away with that! Every year I end up with cake all over my face and frosting up my nose. I guess I'm just a push over. And I love having fun..... Unlike some other people....

Grampa trying to encourage her to do another mordida :))

Wonderful, amazing layers. Yum

Gramma got this beautiful arrangement for Bethany.

I got Bethany a purse more than a month ago after we had seen it in a store here. I was all smug within myself knowing that I had hit the jackpot. Then about 2 weeks ago, Beth got inspired to look for her dream purse online... The problem was that it was the SAME purse that was quietly hiding in my room. -.- Beth was so sad (and I was so happy) that she was never able to find the exact color and style that she was wanting. 

[There's a really funny story behind buying this purse. As I went to pay for it, my pinky finger somehow got caught on the tea bag string of my Starbucks, and I yanked it off the counter and my piping hot Starbucks tea went all over the display counter, floor, and little gift bags that were hanging there, and all over my skirt and legs. Let me tell you, the saleslady and I were both very shocked... I have never been more embarrassed in my life. I apologized profusely while backing out of the store with my loot, but belatedly realized that with ever step I took I was tracking black muddy footprints all the way out the door.]

The look of joyful surprise on her face it made worth it ALL the pain and embarrassment.

Presents from Mom and Dad

 Gramma and Grampa gave Beth this beautiful guitar!

After dinner and presents, we all settled down in the living room to play some hilarious games!

Grampa vs. Hayde

 Daughter vs. Mother

It looks like Elissa took a selfie with her cookie!

We played a hilarous game....we laughed until we cried. 

The goal is to get the cookie from your forehead to your mouth without using your hands OR letting it drop. 

The winners were Nicole, Mario, and Dad.  

We only have pictures of the guys and me doing it because the other ladies would only play with the promise of NO PICTURES! 

I am brave enough to post this picture :P

 Elissa and the birthday girl!

Thank you (from Beth) to Gramma and Grampa and everybody else for making yesterday such a special day. We love you all very much!

*Nicole*

Sunday School - End of 3rd Quarter Party

This past Sunday was the end of our third quarter of Sunday school. At the end of each 9 weeks, we have a party. We honor the person that won whatever competition we'd been having, honor the kids that have not missed one Sunday, and play a ton of games and have snacks! We knew the kids were very excited about this, but we weren't prepared for how Sunday started....

There was a group of about 10 kids that arrived two hours early!!! TWO HOURS! 

Dad let the kids in the front gate and gave them a soccer ball to play with out front while we finished getting ready. 

After a while, some of us went downstairs to start setting up and getting ready. I got on the piano to run through a couple of songs. I was in my own world and not paying attention to these kids now sitting on the front row, but I stopped playing after a couple minutes and they busted out clapping and shouting, "BRAVO! BRAVO!!" It was hilarious!!! They got more and more amped up with their shouting and clapping when several of them threw themselves on the ground in total "adoration" like this little guy...

Two of these kids are regulars, and the rest were first-time visitors, invited by the 2 regulars. Quite a rowdy bunch! 

Last week we announced there would be a prize for all the kids that learned Psalm 150. 

Our most go-getter kiddos that memorized the chapter! 

Picking their prize

First-time visitors picking their prize from the treasure box

We started out with a puppet show on the oneness.....

...then Sis. Marisol taught the verse. 

The kids picking up the paper fish by suctioning the paper to their straw

The girls won! 

This next game was absolutely hilarious! Shaving cream on the team captains' heads....

...and the goal was to see which team could stick the most cheese balls to their captain's head!

Eliu and Ailyn were our team captains. 

Counting 'em up...
 The boys won by THREE cheese balls!!! 

All the while, somebody was sneaking nachos in the kitchen! Dad came out licking his lips and looking very guilty....he didn't know he had a huge glob of cheese on the front of his shirt. SO FUNNY!! (See the smudge on the left side :)

Next game...toss the tortilla onto your captain's head.
Choyo - the boys' team captain. 

Girls' team captain - Andrea

Tortillas flying everywhere! 

Counting tortillas...

...and the girls won! 

Snack time - nachos! 

Mr. Austin enjoying his food

Last, but not least...the candy rain! Nicole and I went upstairs to throw the candy out the church side windows. 

This is what we found when we came up the stairs :P

We divided the kids up into 2 groups - little kids and big kids. 

I'm sure there were many kids to get knocked in the head with flying suckers...no one ended up seriously injured, thankfully. 

The treasure-tossers. 

~Bethany~