Fun With Friends

On Friday, we ate at a place called Que Pacho with our friends the Whitaker's & the Powell's. At dinner, Kylee fell on some stairs & got her first little black eye...

After dinner, we headed to the frozen yogurt shop across the street. It was like Ocean Blue (for those of you in Mesa), where you get your yogurt & toppings & weigh it. The fruit here is so yummy, so my yogurt definitely didn't disappoint...taro (an asian root) yogurt with fresh mango, blueberries & kiwi with mango sauce. YUM. Kylee enjoyed some Captain Crunch & mint chocolate balls in her cup. She also enjoyed sweet Eva's company...

Pretty girls...

After dessert, we headed over to our next-door neighbors', the Whitaker's. It was movie time for the kids, while the adults played games....

We are so excited to have fun friends here. Thanks for the great night guys!!!

P.S. This was my 1000th blog post! I don't know if it is good or bad that I have so much to say about my life. :)

A New Chapter

Moving to Mexico has been such a blessing for me. I am happier. I am more confident. I feel peace and joy and gratitude on a regular basis. I feel like the shock of being here in Mexico finally wore off a few weeks ago. It seems real now and this feels like home to me. Being away from loved ones is definitely hard, but I am so thankful for everyone's support & love. We can feel it constantly! 

I am definitely pain-free and am LOVING it! My life is so, so different now. I walk for at least an hour five days a week. I play outside with Kylee and the dogs multiple times a day. Pain medication is not a part of my life. I don't have to push through pain every minute of the day, just to do the minimum. I have normal friendships and don't have to rely on others for physical help on a regular basis. I feel like MYSELF. It is an incredible feeling, and one that I have been desperately wanting for years. Now I have it!

I truly believe in miracles. I believe that we can make comebacks. I believe that it is possible to fully recover from traumatic experiences. I believe that Heavenly Father loves us and helps us to become better. I love Him & know that He is aware of me. I know that He cares about my hopes & disappointments, my fears & my faith, my successes & failures. I am incredibly thankful to Him for giving me my health. I am so excited to see what this new chapter of my life continues to bring me & my family!

Lately...

A little update on what we've been up to lately:

We went with our neighbor, Robbie, to a REALLY yummy taco shop that we'd never tried before. I tried lengua (tongue) tacos for the first time! They weren't too bad.

A closeup...

(Kind of blurry, but you get the idea.)

Daisy's paw got infected & was totally swollen. She was a sad dog, until we took her to the vet & got her some meds...

I walked in Kylee's room the other day to see another one of Daisy's "tunnels", that she made out of Kylee's clothes. Daisy is very protective of her rawhide bones & hides them whenever she gets the chance. :)

While cleaning out a cupboard in the kitchen, I found this straw doll. Apparently people put these around their house to ward off "bad spirits". I'm not even kidding. We all thought it was pretty funny, including Kylee...

We decided that when Linc has a big test, he should take the night after off & not study at all. He gets a break & I get time with my hubby, so we both look forward to test days now! His past two tests have been on a Tuesday, which is "15 pesos" night (less than $1.50) for a new release at Blockbuster. We rent a movie, buy some treats & just relax.

Brandon & Christa (our next-door neighbors for the first 4 years of our marriage) played Ticket To Ride over Skype with me the other night! I was SO, SO excited to play games with them. I have no idea how many board games I've played with them, but it is a lot! When Linc was working the night shift & I was sick and in desperate need of some socializing, they would have me over to play games. I have so many fun memories with them! Playing a game over Skype was quite interesting. I had to print off a picture of the game board. Then, Brandon or Christa would have to show me my cards without looking themselves, & I would write down each card in my hand. Then, when I was ready to play cards, I would tell them "Ok, I will play my 5th, 10th, 11th & 15th card." They would go through my hand & get my cards, then play & move me. Ha ha. I'm looking forward to many more game nights with them!

The computer screen before we started our game...

Pine Tree Park

We really are so lucky to have so many beautiful places to walk to. This is another one of our favorites...we call it the "pine tree park". It's down the street from us & takes us a few minutes to walk to. Linc & I have been surprised at how many pine trees they have here in Mexico! Daisy & Duke like to socialize with the other dogs that come to the park, while we enjoy socializing with their owners. This place is so open & pretty!

 The entrance...

 Kylee trying to touch the trees...

 The park...

Kylee 19 Months

Kylee is 19 months old now. She has a very strong personality, that has shown itself even more this past month. She says & does absolutely HILARIOUS things each day, but also does things to try to gain more independence & do things her own way. Time-out is a part of each day here, & she is actually really good about it. She now knows how to stay in the corner, so I don't have to hold her there like I did before. She is good about saying "Sorry" and giving kisses when she has hurt someone, but is still working on not doing the same thing a few hours later. Obviously, a lot of that is her age. I have a feeling that the "terrible 2's" may be an issue for us! :)

Kylee is constantly lining her toys up. She also loves moving her toys, books or clothes from one place to another, over & over. She loves bringing us her things, one by one, saying "There you go!" with each item. This habit comes in handy when I am cleaning & ask her to help. She is a great helper! Her favorite thing to help me with right now is the laundry. She is also good about wiping up messes & throwing trash away. Kylee isn't as good of an eater as she used to be, but she has developed a love for tuna, cereal & pretzels this month. She now has her own little table & chair to use at mealtime.

People still think Kylee is a boy sometimes, because of her hair. I put it in pigtails most days, but if those fall out, she is doomed. I'm getting kind of tired of hearing "Oh, he is so cute!" I really don't think that I dress her like a boy, but oh well. :) Kylee is getting better with her Spanish, and loves repeating Spanish words while watching Dora. She can often be heard yelling "Para!" ("Stop!") while watching it. Lincoln just beams with pride when he hears his little girl speaking Spanish. :)

We had to leave Kylee's favorite Winnie the Pooh movie back in AZ, because it was a VHS. Well, we found it on DVD (in English) here at Walmart! She was SO excited about it, pumping her fists in the air and dancing around when I turned it on. When choosing a movie to watch, she always asks for either "Pooh", "Dora" or "Princess" (Snow White or Sleeping Beauty"). She can now show me anything that is pink and can count to 4. Kylee still doesn't like going to nursery on Sundays, unless I stay there with her. I'm hoping that she will feel comfortable there by herself soon.

And one more piece of news...Kylee is now sleeping in her "big girl bed"! Her "big girl bed" is just a twin mattress on the floor. I put her in it once a few weeks ago, when we first bought it, but she fell off during the night. I hadn't put her in it since, but earlier this week I decided to try it again. She was sleeping in a crib before we moved, and has been in a Pack & Play since we got here, so I wasn't sure how she would do. Well, I just told Kylee that it was time for bed, laid her on her "big girl bed" with a pillow, turned off the light & left the room. She didn't make a PEEP! She just fell asleep & has done so every time since then. (We have to leave her Pack & Play pushed against her bed so that she doesn't fall off, but it works for now!) One really good thing about Kylee is that she has always been a great sleeper. She still sleeps 12 hours every night & takes a 2 1/2-3 1/2 hour nap every day. She just sits on her bed & waits for me to come in to get her when she wakes up. It's AWESOME!

I thought that my updates would get shorter as Kylee got older, but I guess that's not the case. :) Here are a few more things that I've captured her doing this past month:

Kylee loves eating mango! (The mango here is DELICIOUS.)

She also enjoys trying to feed herself with a spoon & making a huge mess...

She still loves listening to Daddy's music...

And drawing on the window with the dry erase markers, while Linc draws pictures of bones/muscles/arteries to study...

Kylee helps Lincoln wash the truck by playing in the water...

She's still a Daddy's girl & asks every morning when she wakes up & after every nap... "Daddy?" Most of the time, my reply is "Daddy is at school." Now she asks me, "Daddy school?" This little girl LOVES, LOVES, LOVES her daddy! I don't blame her...he is an awesome one! And by the way, I now agree that these two look a lot alike. There have been multiple people here who tell Kylee that she looks just like her dad, having no idea that she is adopted. :)

Kylee walks the dogs with me every day, & loves to take charge of Daisy & Duke.They're really good about it. I've looked down a few times to see Kylee with a handful of hair that she ripped from Daisy's face...& Daisy is just sitting there letting her do it. See, I told you my dogs are great...

Kylee is OBSESSED with shoes. I don't know where she gets this from, since I wear tennis shoes almost every day. She is definitely a girly-girl, always admiring the many shoes that she has in her closet.

I mentioned before that she is really into wearing necklaces & bracelets. She puts them on every single day. And a lot of times she brings a purse along as well...

Since there aren't quite as many kids around here as Kylee is used to, she has gotten creative & bonded more with her stuffed animals. They even watch movies with her...

A few of my favorite things about Kylee:

The way she says "Thank you Mommy" every time I say "Thank you Kylee".

Feeling her reach over to grab my hand.

Her kisses.

The way she scrunches her face up in a goofy smile when she knows that she has done something funny.

Watching her dance.

Hearing her talk to her toys & stuffed animals when I'm not in the room. 

The way she loves us & makes our lives better!!!

Sidewalks & Streets

Now that I've posted some of the wonderful things about Mexico, let's look at a few things that we appreciate SO much more about the U.S. after living here:

#1- SIDEWALKS

This is the sidewalk that we walk down to go to Blockbuster, the pine tree park (I'll post pics of that later), and our new favorite bakery. I think Kylee actually enjoys riding over this in her stroller. This sidewalk probably fits in much more with the "Mexico" that most of you picture!

 I told Linc that will be a miracle if I don't trip & break a bone while I'm living here. I trip on sidewalks quite often anyway, but tripped pretty much every time I walked down one when we first moved here. I'm learning to be more careful though. I haven't tripped in awhile. (Knock on wood.)

#2-STREETS

I appreciate even more now how well-maintained the streets in Mesa are! We stumbled upon this mess in the road yesterday. At first there was a hole in the road, with a miniature tree & a small mound of concrete stuck in it, so that we would drive around it & not drive into the hole. Now it looks like this...

The hole is filled & they moved the mini tree in front of it with an even bigger pile of concrete, so that we wouldn't drive on the original (now filled) hole while it was wet. That's right! No cones, no signs...just a mound of stuff to drive around. Gotta love living in Mexico!!! :)

1st Trip Downtown

Today my friend Heather invited Kylee & I to go with her & her 4 girls to a museum downtown. It was a really fun outing! Kylee loved hanging out with the girls, and Heather & I enjoyed talking nonstop while trying to find our way around downtown Guadalajara.

Kylee sporting Dylan's sunglasses...

They had some really cool buildings downtown, including beautiful churches like this one...

These weird alien-spider-people statues were in front of the museum. Heather & I couldn't keep our hands off this guy! :)

The girlies...

I know, I know...you are SO jealous that I live by a wall with random paintings & a cow statue and that you don't...

AND you wish that you could take pictures of your kid in front of creepy paintings, like I can...

We would definitely like to go back to the city and do a little more exploring sometime. Thanks for the fun day girls!!!

My Social Life

I don't have much of a social life here. I have no car. All of the girls that I'm friends with have more than one kid, & some of them home school their kids...so they are quite a bit busier than I am. Of course I stay busy with:

Cleaning. There is a lot more to clean when you move into a bigger house.

Cooking. I am actually enjoying making dinner every night. I never thought that day would come. I used to hate cooking!

Taking care of Kylee. She is at an absolutely exciting, hilarious stage but is definitely developing more of an attitude! I don't even know how many times she went to time-out today. :)

Walking the dogs. I am SO, SO glad that we brought Daisy & Duke to Mexico with us. They make me happy.

Lincoln gets home around 5pm every weekday, except Wednesday. On Wednesdays, he doesn't get home until 8:30pm. Every other night, though, we are able to eat dinner together and go on a walk, or do something else as a family, before Linc spends the rest of the night studying. I cherish that time with all of us together! We get to spend part of each weekend with him too, which is great.

We've been in Mexico for just over 7 weeks. It feels like we have been here for 6 months. Honestly. Living here has been a huge adjustment for me. I'm used to seeing my family every few days and seeing my friends & neighbors multiple times during the week. I'm used to my ward members living right by me. It is hard being without everyone. On the other hand, I feel like I've known my friends here for much longer than 7 weeks. I've already learned so much from the people here and have been inspired by them. I'm lucky to be able to meet so many amazing people in one lifetime!

So while I'm lonely some days, I'm doing fine. I'm learning so much about myself. My weaknesses & strengths have become more obvious to me (& probably Linc) since I've been here. I'm relying on the Lord more. Life definitely moves at a slower pace here, and I enjoy it. Once I started feeling better after my hysterectomy, I tried to jump back into things very quickly...but this move has forced me to slow down again, and to take time to enjoy the little things around me. Heavenly Father definitely knows what I need so much better than I do. I am very thankful that he brought me here to Mexico! I do miss all of you badly though! :)

Neighborhood Scenery

Here are a few pictures of our neighborhood. These should give you a better idea of the area that we live in. We drive to the end of a cobblestone street & come to this roundabout, with 3 cotos in a little semicircle. Ours is the coto in the middle, directly behind the roundabout.

(Sorry about the spot on the first two pics.)

I took the above picture while standing in another grass area, where the dogs & Kylee & I like to spend time. It is a nice little area with a gazebo...

There are trees & benches surrounding the gazebo. Aren't the trees here beautiful?

A closer look at the fountain & roundabout...

Here is the guard station in front of our coto, where one of two guards is posted 24/7.

This is a view of our street when we are entering the coto. Our house is 4th from the end, on the left side. The clubhouse (with the pools & park that I posted about) are at the end of our street.

I LOVE our neighborhood. It is one of my most favorite things about living here in Mexico. I feel so safe here and our neighbors are very kind. We are so lucky!!!

P.S.-I think it is so green here right now, but I've heard that this is the ugly time of year! The rainy season hits in 4 or 5 months from now & then it is supposedly GORGEOUS. I can't wait to see how green it can get!

Buffet!

We went out to eat at a buffet with Thomas & Jenn & their kids tonight. It was a lot of fun! We let Kylee basically feed herself whatever she wanted. Kylee & I ate a ton of dessert & came home hyper & ready to burn off some energy!

Kylee was COVERED in mac & cheese and pudding...

Hanging upside down on the couch...
(with the camera string in the way)

Filthy hands...

I love that Kylee knows how to make crazy faces now! :)

I ADORE her!!!

No Hablo Espanol

I think I've always been fairly good at laughing at myself when I do something stupid...but since moving here to Mexico, I've had a lot more opportunities to do so. This whole not-knowing-the-language thing is killing me. I have good intentions of studying Spanish every day, but my priorities seem to change during the day, and I find myself going to bed at night not knowing much more Spanish than I did the day before. 

I'm sure those around me would love for me to learn the language. My friend Montse helps me all the time. The other day she came over & asked if I knew what the guy who had knocked on my door a few hours before had wanted. I told her that I thought he had wanted me to buy phone books from him. It turns out that the phone books were free & he was asking for our old phone books in exchange for the new ones. I just said "No gracias" & shut the door, as he stood there & chuckled. 

Today Lincoln was supposed to give a talk in church. Before the meeting started, a counselor in the bishopric told him that they would only need him to speak if there was extra time at the end of sacrament meeting. If not, they would have him speak another day. In the middle of the final speaker's talk, near the time when the meeting was supposed to end, Kylee started screaming so Linc took her out. After the talk was over, the bishopric member got up & said something that I didn't understand...then "Lincoln Hiatt...esta aqui?" I knew that meant "Is he here?" so I jumped up, held up my finger saying "Just a minute" to the bishopric member & ran out looking for Lincoln. When I found him outside, I said, "Lincoln! They want you to speak! RIGHT NOW!" Lincoln of course is saying "What?! Right now?" and ran inside to grab his notes so that he could give his talk. 

I walked into the chapel a couple minutes later, as they were singing the closing song. I asked Linc, "Why aren't you speaking?" He said, "Anjane'! They were sustaining me to my calling...not asking me to speak!" Ha ha ha. We got a good laugh out of that one. I'm trying hard not to feel like a total dork here. It's not working yet. :)

P.S.- Linc is the new YM/YW Sunday School teacher. They haven't had a teacher for 6 months. It makes me appreciate how smoothly the wards in the U.S. run, although I have to say that I love the feeling of our small ward pulling together to make things work!

Fun With Dad

Fridays are really good days for Kylee & I. They mark the start of the weekend, which means time off of school for Lincoln to spend with us! He still has to study, but we get to hang out with him for part of the time that he has off, and it is wonderful. Yesterday, Linc took Kylee outside to help water the plants and wash the truck. She was in heaven, spending 1-on-1 time with her dad!

"Mommy, why are you ruining our fun & trying to take my picture?!"

 All wet!

 Man, we love this girl!!!