Wives Club Pool Party

Today we had a pool party with the Wives Club & their families at the pool in Thomas & Jenn's coto. We ate pizza & watermelon and enjoyed visiting with everyone.

Kylee finally got enough courage to get all the way in the pool! It didn't hurt that Daddy got in with her!

Hyrum joined in on the fun too...

Cute little pigtails...

Fun with the beach ball...

We are all sunburned, but it was worth it! :)

Easter Package!

My parents sent us a package for Easter. It was supposed to take 2 weeks to get here, but over a month later it still hadn't come. I was really disappointed, and figured that the package wasn't coming...BUT we got it on Thursday! We were SO excited! I told Linc when he came home with the package that it just "made my LIFE!"

I was so excited, that I couldn't even wait for Kylee to wake up before I opened the box! My mom sent Lincoln & I lots of treats, including YUMMY American chocolate! Honestly, I love a lot of the food here in Mexico, but American chocolate is WAY better than the chocolate here. Especially Reese's peanut butter eggs & Cadbury creme-filled eggs!

Anyway, I re-taped the box & left Kylee's treats inside. We called my parents over Skype & opened it with them. Kylee was really excited about it...

Looking at her Elmo Easter basket with disbelief...

Lots of fun stuff from Grandma & Grandpa!

Checking herself out in the mirror...

Thanks for the goodies Grandma & Grandpa!!!

Wives Club Brunch

I just had to post this pic that I stole from Vanessa's blog of some of the Wives Club at her house for a brunch last month. We have a great time getting together & it definitely helps to talk with other women who are in the same situation. Plus, Kylee loves getting out of the house & playing with her friends! Love you girls.

Babysitters

When Lincoln took me out for my birthday, it was only the second time that we've gotten "real babysitters" for Kylee. That hasn't really been on purpose, but having my parents available to babysit when we lived in AZ was a huge blessing. And since we've been here, we've just had our friends watch Kylee a few times.

Linc asked a neighbor girl to babysit, which turned into her & her two sisters all coming to watch Kylee. They were so excited about it and were so funny practicing their English with her! :) The oldest girl is 18 yrs old and the other two are 14-year-old twins. These girls are great. They've taught me a little bit of Spanish since I've been here & are always so friendly and kind to us. And they love Kylee!

Anyway, the girls took Kylee to the park in our coto while they were babysitting, & of course Kylee loved being outside with so much attention focused on just her! They even let her take Bear on the outing...

Kylee is obsessed with taking her shoes off, then putting them back on...

See?

And of course she had to try on some bigger shoes for fun...

I thought it was especially cute that these girls had pictures & videos of Kylee to show us when we got home. I'm glad that we found some good babysitters who get along so well with Kylee!

Just Plugging Along...

I sure am glad to have Daisy here, especially when I'm not feeling well. She follows me around & makes sure that I'm ok. She's awesome...

Last night was not a great one for Lincoln & I. We were up until 3am trying to figure out what to do about the worst allergic reaction I've had here. I was having problems with my leg and the symptoms just kept spreading. It hurt, burned, itched from underneath the skin (it felt like), tingled, then went numb. Over the next 30 minutes, it had spread even further, and got to the point to where I was having a hard time breathing. 

We ended up finding a bite on my foot, along with a spider under the computer desk, where I had been sitting. The spider didn't really look like a dangerous one. So honestly, we have no idea what is going on with me. Lincoln is taking his anatomy final as I'm typing this, & I'm just hoping and praying that the sacrifices that he has made for Kylee & I lately will make up for the sleep that he didn't get and the time that he didn't have to study. 

I'm incredibly blessed to have the support that I have and am anxious to find out what is going on!

The Big Two-Eight

My 28th birthday was yesterday! Thanks to all of you who sent birthday wishes my way...they made me feel very special. :) I spent the first part of my birthday at an appointment with an allergist (see post below) and cleaning my house. Nothing too exciting. I was able to grab lunch with Lincoln at one of our favorite taco shops, Los Serapes. We also went to my favorite pastry shop to pick up some dessert. Yum. 

Lincoln got some neighbor girls to babysit Kylee so that he could take me to dinner at Chez Nene, our favorite French restaurant. The food was amazing and it was nice having time to spend with each other, without any distractions. 

Their fish is so good!

(You can kind of tell that my eyes are messed up. I'm guessing my face won't look quite normal for awhile.)

The duck that Lincoln ordered was FABULOUS...

Tonight I had a Girls Night Out with my favorite girls here! My friend Verenice organized a dinner outing for all of us to celebrate my birthday. It was so nice of her! I feel so, so blessed to have such great friends here! We ate dinner at Applebee's. This was the first time that I honestly thought that I was back in the United States. Our waiter spoke English to us, everything tasted very American, & it looked like any other Applebee's in the States. Very surreal!

(Heather, me, Verenice, Vanessa, Jenn)

Just a little bit about these friends:

Heather: From Arkansas, mother of 4, husband is in his 1st semester with Linc. Our friendship: We spill our guts out to each other in the mornings while walking. We know A LOT about each other. What I love about her: Independent, funny, works hard, cares deeply about others, has a strong testimony of the gospel.

Verenice: From Oregon, mother of 2, husband is in his 2nd semester. Our friendship: We bond over the tv shows that we both watch, she introduces me to new places here, she helped get me interested in sewing, she saves me from being stuck in the house all day. What I love about her: Her smile, great with kids, beautiful voice, so friendly and kind.

Vanessa: From Arizona, mother of 3, husband is in his 1st semester with Linc. Our friendship: We talk about the things that we both miss about AZ, plus she loves sweets & reading as much as I do. What I love about her: Her laugh, her FUN nature, the way that she takes care of herself.

Jenn: From Arizona, mother of 4, husband is Linc's cousin & is a year ahead of us in school. Our friendship: We are family! How much better does it get than that?! What I love about her: How giving & thoughtful she is, her calm personality, her dedication to the gospel & to life, how excited she gets for others.

I love you girls. Thanks for making my birthday so special!!!

After dinner we decided to make a late-night crepe run. Here's the crepe-maker in action...

 Vanessa & Jaren introduced Linc & I to these crepes a few weeks ago. They are PHENOMENAL. No seriously. I can't describe to you how good these things are. I will probably dream about them tonight.

HEAVEN!!!

Allergist

It's been about 5 weeks since I had my first allergic reaction. My eyes & nose were swollen, burning & itching for two weeks. That finally went away & I was ok for a week, then I had another reaction that affected my lips... and I'm still dealing with it. Obviously I'm reacting to something that I come in contact with often. I have been on antihistamines for over a month, which make me feel very tired and "out of it". It really hasn't been great to deal with.

I went to an allergist yesterday & am going to have some tests done, then I'll go back to see him again in two weeks. He gave me some new meds that are helping with the sores & swelling on my lips, but that make me even more tired than the other meds did. I'm going to start eating a pretty plain, basic, healthy diet to see if I can figure out if any of these allergies are related to food. I hope to get some answers before we come to the U.S. to visit...wish me luck! :)

Elijah's Bday Party

My friend Verenice snapped this pic of us at her son Elijah's birthday party. Their family threw a BBQ/swim party to celebrate & we had a great time. It sure does make a huge difference having good friends here! By the way, Elijah is my first pick for Kylee's future husband. :)

Guadalajara Temple

We went to the Guadalajara temple today with our friends Heather & Josh. We are very blessed to have a temple 15 minutes away from where we live! It was a great way to spend the weekend. 

 (Sorry once again for the dark spot on the pic. I need a new camera. Or Photoshop.)

After the temple, we went to get tacos & nieve. Heather & I finally tried the BRAIN taco!!!

Getting ready...

Chowing down!

I'm not going to lie...this taco was NASTY! It looked gross, smelled gross & tasted gross. The texture was the worst part. I ate the entire taco, just to say that I did...but I'll never be eating one again!

Andares Mall

Yesterday was a pretty stressful day for me, so when we got an invitation from the Powell's to eat dinner & hang out at the mall last night, we were excited to accept! Kylee ate some chicken "stars" from Carl's Jr. The ranch dressing was her favorite part...

After we ate, we took the kids to play in the fountains at the mall. We will definitely be doing this again. Kylee & I didn't get out much this week, so she was ecstatic to be outside playing in the water with her friends!

It's cold!

Laughing so hard...

Time for a Coke break! 

(If you disagree with this, talk to Linc. :) )

Wet face & goofy hair...

Kylee did lots of things in addition to playing in the water, including:

Dancing & jumping on the grass...

Practicing her somersaults...

Giving Elijah kisses...

Sliding with Eva...

And looking at fish with Daddy...

Our friend Robbie rode with us, so I got to sit in the back seat with Kylee on the way home. She kept saying "Cheese! Cheese!" (meaning that she wanted me to take a picture), but then when I got my camera out, she would shake her head & say "No, no, no, no!"

Don't judge the bangs...whenever I am outside for very long, they get kind of crazy. :)

In other news: My lips are swelling again. I've been on antihistamines for 3 out of the past 4 weeks. I still think it is probably bug bites that I'm reacting to, but I am not sure. I hope I figure it out soon. I'm kind of sick of wanting to itch my face off & being drowsy (& cranky) every day!

(And just for fun, you can read about my reaction to drowsy/"non-drowsy" meds in the second half of THIS post.)

Spring Break Wrap-Up

Linc's 2-week Spring Break is officially over. :( It's been back to "real life" this past week. Lincoln is very busy studying, since finals start next week & last for a month. I'm back to taking care of Kylee on my own and hanging out by myself at night. Oh, the exciting life of a medical student and his family! I'm still insanely happy that Linc is doing what he loves, and that we are along for the ride though.

We definitely had our fair share of indulging. The first week of Spring Break will be forever remembered as "Brownie Batter Week". Let's just say that I bought a 4-pack of Ghirardelli brownie mix at Costco & went a little bit crazy...

The second week of Spring Break we had a Mountain Dew sighting at Walmart! Lincoln LOVES Mountain Dew & hasn't had one since we moved to Mexico, because they don't have it here. Well, Walmart got a very rare shipment of American soda, so we paid $12 for a 12-pack and Lincoln consumed it in a day and a half. You would have thought that he had won the lottery...

During Spring Break, BOTH Lincoln & I played games with the Moak's over Skype. I loved every second of it...

We did have some unexpected things happen during Spring Break that weren't so good:

Kylee got sick and had a fever for almost a week. She is feeling great now. I'm not sure what was wrong with her. 

I had an allergic reaction that affected my eyes & nose, and  lasted for over a week. It went away, then came back last week on my lips. I'm glad to be off antihistamines & have my face feel & look normal again.

And of course we lost Duke. I still feel extremely sad about him being gone. We kind of considered Duke to be my dog. He & I were really close, and Lincoln & Daisy are really close. I miss Duke on a daily basis & know that I won't find another dog exactly like him. I'm just thankful that I was able to have him for almost 3 years, because he made life better for me. I sure do love and miss him!

Lincoln's face looks good. He will have scarring from Duke's bite, but not much. That bite was definitely not a fun thing for him to experience, but watching Duke die & not being able to do anything to help him was much worse for him.

We are thankful for the kind words that have been sent our way, though. We sure do have so many people in our lives who show an incredible amount of love toward us!

So enough of the bad things...let's get back to the good things! The best part of Spring Break, by far, was being able to spend so much time as a family. We hung outside a lot, went on a walk together almost every day, watched movies and played. Kylee absolutely LOVED having Lincoln home with her. It got to where she would stand at the door & cry if he went anywhere. Funny girl. :)

I took the camera to the park one day & captured a few pics of Kylee. When we get to the park, she runs to the grass & lays right down on it...

Then says "Shoes!", which means that she wants help taking her shoes off...

She's getting a lot better at climbing up the slide by herself...

And loves the swing...

I mentioned before that we have some really fun things coming up in 4 1/2 weeks when we go to the U.S! My family informed me that they are celebrating ALL of the holidays with us when we visit them. This means that we are having an Easter egg hunt & egg toss, birthday parties for the 3 of us, Trick or Treating (inside my parents' house with the kids in costumes) and Christmas Eve dinner. While this may sound absolutely crazy to most of you, it is MY DREAM COME TRUE! I am like a little kid when it comes to holidays. I love celebrating holiday traditions with my family & have REALLY missed those traditions since we moved here. My family knows this about me, and wanted to make sure that I didn't feel like I had missed out. How thoughtful is that?! I think Lincoln is kind of dreading it, but he is going to celebrate for my sake. :)

We also found out that my parents are taking us on a week-long CRUISE this December! So we have lots & lots of great things to look forward to during the rest of the year. That's what will keep me going during the lonely days now...I will have my fill of socializing, celebrating, indulging and relaxing in just a few weeks!!!

Mothers Day

I feel SO, SO lucky to have the mom & mother-in-law that I do. They are both strong, smart, kind women who have helped me so much in my life. 

Mom: Thank you for teaching me that the Lord cares about me and that He will always answer my prayers. Thank you for being such a good example of righteous living, faith and love. Thanks for all of the kind things that you do to make me feel special & to show me that you love me. You are amazing!

Roma Lee: Thank you for being so accepting of me and for showing me so much support in my life. Thank you so much for raising your son to work hard. Thanks for encouraging me in whatever I set my mind to. I really appreciate you!

I was given a big picture of the Guadalajara temple & a treat at church today for Mothers Day.  I loved it, as well as what Kylee brought home from nursery for me...

The post I wrote last year on Mothers Day is a good explanation of how I feel about being a mom. You can click HERE to read it.

Lincoln may or may not have forgotten that Mothers Day includes celebrating the mother of his children, along with our mothers. Pretty funny, huh? :) (He does have a lot of tests and finals coming up, so I can't blame him too much!) Luckily, here in Mexico, Mothers Day is in 2 days. I told Linc that I would count Tuesday as Mothers Day instead of today. So I may post something else about my "real" Mothers Day celebration. :)

Thank you to all of you mothers who are such great examples to me!

Kylee 21 Months

Kylee turned 21 months last week! She sure has seemed grown-up lately. She calls Lincoln "Daddy", "Lincoln" and "Babe" now. The other day Linc left to run some errands and Kylee started looking for him, saying "Babe? Babe?" When he walked back in the door, she yelled "LINCOLN!!!" and ran to him. It was hilarious. :)

Her favorite foods this month (yes, they change on a monthly basis) are homemade fish sticks w/ tartar sauce, apples, a spoonful of peanut butter and hot dogs (which she calls "dogs"). Kylee now says "Gracias, de nada" ("Thank you, you're welcome") as one word, when we tell her to say "thank you" for something. Lincoln & I both teach lessons in church now, which means that we can't stay in nursery with Kylee anymore. She still hates going, but seems to only cry part of the time, as long as she is sitting on Jenn's lap. For Jenn's sake, I hope she gets more comfortable with nursery soon!

Kylee's favorite things to do right now are:
Draw on our glass table with dry erase markers
Take care of her bear & babies, feed them & put them to bed
Sit in the truck & pretend to drive
Put her "piggies" (toes) in the pool

Kylee loves singing songs with us, especially The Frog Song and E-I-E-I-O. When we sing "Old McDonald" we sing the first part, then Kylee sings the name of the animal that she wants us to sing about. She knows lots of animal sounds. Her favorites are the monkey, lion, cow & horse. She also told us the other day that Tigger says "Bouncy, bouncy!". She sure is smart & adorable & so incredibly funny!

Kylee has really missed Duke since he died. She has said Duke's name every single day since then, multiple times each day. At first she was walking around with his leash & yelling his name. Now when she gives Daisy a treat after our walk, she pulls a treat out for Duke & yells for him to come get it. When we are driving home, she yells Daisy & Duke's names because she is excited to see them. Every time Kylee mentions Duke, we ask her where he is, and she says, "Duke...Jesus" because we told her that he lives with Jesus now.

Kylee also learned how to do a somersault this month. It's a very lopsided one, but she does it! Kylee & Lincoln have a game they play where Kylee hides & Linc says "Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of a sugar plum, and here I come to get me some..." and then finds her & "gets her sugar". Now when Kylee hears the truck pull in the driveway, she yells "Daddy....sugar!!!" and runs to hide before he comes inside. Seeing them play that game together is my favorite. :) I have to say, too, that Kylee is a little too good at hiding. She doesn't make a PEEP. It has made me nervous a few times, when I don't know that she is hiding & I can't find her!

Kylee has also started to recognize streets in our neighborhood. When we turn on Naciones Unidas, which is the main street that Thomas & Jenn live off of, Kylee will say "Thomas! Maya!" EVERY time. At least I know that if I get lost, she can tell me where we are!

Here are a few fun moments that we captured of Kylee this past month:

Kylee has seen me put a shower cap on before I take a shower, so she put one on before her bath...

Watching another movie with her stuffed animal friends...

She drew this, all by herself, for my Dad's birthday...

I caught her watching tv & drinking her sippy from behind the family room curtains one day...

She loves chocolate almost as much as I do! :)

Kylee pulls out her clothes & tries them on at least once every day. She obviously doesn't care if they are on the right way...

Linc teaching her how to listen to Bear's heartbeat...

Taking care of the plants on our back patio...

This was a Christmas gift that we brought with us that we just barely got batteries for. It's a little water slide that hooks onto the bathtub. Kylee loves putting the little monkey & panda bear on the slide & watching them slide down!

(She still sticks her tongue out when she is concentrating. Just like when she was a baby.)

Once again, this shows how many things she HAS to sleep with. She still sleeps in her Pack & Play for her naps and in her "big girl bed" most nights. She doesn't mind putting her feet up while in her Pack & Play to give herself a little more room...

Kylee hasn't bitten any kids for a few weeks...hooray! She is a good listener & doesn't spend very much time in "time out" now, which makes me happy. She does know how to throw a fit when she can't have something that she wants, but I have a feeling that she will be doing that for awhile...she will be 2 soon, after all. 

We are incredibly thankful for Kylee & for the joy that she brings to us! We love you baby girl!!!

P.S. Even though Kylee is shirtless in most of these pictures, she does wear clothes sometimes! With no air conditioning here in Mexico though, she is starting to prefer the naked look. :)