Easter Egg Hunt, Egg Toss & Christmas Eve Dinner

I tried to post as many pictures as I could while we were still on vacation, so that I wouldn't have a million pictures to post when I got home. Well, that didn't really work. I still have a LOT more pictures to post! :)

The 2nd holiday my family celebrated while we were in town was Easter. Kylee was so excited to use her Elmo Easter basket for the egg hunt!

They don't make plastic Easter eggs in Mexico, so it was fun to have them...

Nixen joined in on the fun too, of course...

We looked over after the eggs were found & saw Kylee sitting by the fence with all of her eggs opened & their contents spread on the lawn...

Next was the egg toss for all of the adults. This is a tradition that we have at our Allen Easter party each year. Since I missed it, we reenacted it with just our family. I'm sure the people driving by the park thought we were pretty strange...

Mom & Dad won the toss!!!

The next holiday that we celebrated was Christmas Eve. Mom made her YUMMY cauliflower soup in bread bowls. Sadly, this is the only picture I got of this celebration...

We're Home

After a month away from home, we are back. Being away made me realize even more that I do consider Zapopan, Mexico my home now. We had SO much fun with our families & friends while we were in the U.S. We enjoyed air conditioning, homemade treats, the open land in Snowflake, comfy couches & carpet, cousins for Kylee to play with, great talks with siblings, and so many more things. There's something about being around our parents again that makes me feel very taken care of. Overall, it was a fabulous trip.

Our trip back to Mexico took 3 days. It was uneventful, which is a good thing. I couldn't believe how excited I was when I crossed the border back into Mexico. I don't think I have ever missed a place so much in my life. Isn't that incredibly strange? I knew I really liked living here, but I was shocked by the joy I felt just being back. The food tastes even better than I remember it being. It was so great to see our friendly Mexican neighbors when we pulled into the driveway, who greeted us with smiles & kisses on the cheek. It was fun seeing how the beginning of the rainy season here has affected the parks & our neighborhood since we've been gone...everything is so green! 

I'm so thankful for the incredible opportunity that I have to be here in Mexico. It has been an adventure & will continue to be, I'm sure! I'm thankful that Heavenly Father knows what I need in my life. I'm also very grateful to have such wonderful families, who show us such an incredible amount of support and love. They mean everything to us.

I'm ready to experience more of Mexico & can't wait to see what this next semester brings us!
 

Visits with Family & Friends

We were able to see some other family members & friends while we were in Mesa. We met three of my cousins & their kids at the Fountain Hills Splash Pad. My cousins Christine, Lindsey & I all have girls the same age. It was fun to get them together. This was the best picture I got of the 3 of them...

Kylee enjoyed the Cheetos while we were there...

My friend Heather took family pictures for us, which I will post later. We ate Papa Johns pizza (something we've missed in Mexico) and hung out. They have a little boy named Cason who is also Kylee's age. They were so cute, giving each other hugs...

My friend Brooke is amazing. She lives down the street from my parents. Melissa & I played Farkle (don't you love that name?!) with her & visited. I know this is probably going to embarrass Brooke, but I admire her so much. She teaches me a lot about life and trials and love, and I hope to become more like her. Brooke, you are the best!!!

We had lunch at Matta's with my Grandad, who is my only living grandparent. It was so great to see him. I was especially excited when he told me that he is going to try to get his passport to come visit us in Mexico with my parents in October! We took a 4-generation picture at lunch...

There were other family members & friends who we weren't able to see during this trip. We hope to be able to see more of you in December when we are back in the U.S. visiting for the holidays!

Game Night w/ Moak's

While we were in Mesa, we went to the Moak's house in Queen Creek to play games. These are our friends who I play games with in Mexico over Skype. They were our next-door neighbors for almost 5 years. I spent many, many nights at their house when I was sick & lonely and Lincoln was working nights. They really did save my sanity! Anyway, it was so good to see them again.

Their kids have definitely grown in the last 6 months! I only got a picture with McKenzie, but they have 4 kids and are expecting their 5th next month.

While we played games, Kylee kept herself entertained by taking other people's shoes & putting her shirt over her head...

And hoarding the other kids' toys...

Happy to be playing games!!!

Funny pic...

We love you guys! Thanks for the fun day.

Disneyland & California Adventure

My parents took us to Disneyland a week after we arrived in the U.S. Before we moved, my dad told us that he was going to take Kylee to Disneyland when we came back to visit. I told him that she could only go if they took me with them, so it turned into my dad taking all of us kids (except Aaron who is on his mission) & our spouses & kids. Sorry Dad. :)

Anyone who reads my blog could probably guess that I have a bazillion pictures from our trip to Disneyland. Lincoln actually took most of the pictures, which was a huge surprise to me. We've been to Disneyland one other time together since we've been married, & it definitely wasn't Linc's favorite place to be. This time was totally different...I guess taking a kid makes it much more enjoyable. :) He snapped away & when I asked him what had gotten into him, he said "I want this day to be as fun for you as possible, & that means having lots of pictures of it." You're awesome Linc.

Kylee & I were ecstatic when we pulled into Disneyland. Shawn quickly grabbed Kylee to sit on his lap as we hopped on the tram & headed in...

 I got to sit by Dad, who decided that he was REALLY excited to ride the tram...

 Brad was excited about it too...

 Family pic...

The first time we saw a Disney character, my dad literally grabbed Kylee & took off running down Main Street to show her. So funny...

Walking down Main Street...

Kylee's pink Minnie sunglasses were perfect for Disneyland!

 Grandpa waited in line with Kylee & took her on her first ride. Kylee was in heaven just looking at everything around her...

Ashley & Meg worked on their tans while they waited...

Nixen decided that he wanted to go on the ride too. My dad had quite the job cut out for him, trying to get both of the kids in the rocket & keep them there. Kylee was pretty scared at first, but ended up liking it once they took off.

Then we were off to "It's A Small World"...

We decided to not even bother bringing a stroller for Kylee. She loved all of the shoulder rides...

 Poor Nixen wasn't too excited about waiting in line...

 It was finally our turn!

 This was one of Kylee's favorite rides. She still talks about the "babies dancing & singing" and how we rode a boat on the water...

 Aunt Ashley was only able to go on a few rides, since she was 6 weeks from being due. This ride was one of them...

 We got to hold Nixen on the ride...
(Sidenote: Bad hair day for me!)

 Kylee was fascinated by everything that she saw...

We headed to Toon Town next...

 Where the kids played in a car...

 And Kylee played Goofy's piano.

Linc & Kylee hung out on Goofy's chair...

We took another sister picture...

Then it was lunch time.

Brad & Linc left to put the kids down for a nap after lunch...

 The rest of us went to Michael Jackson's Captain EO...

 Even Baby Allen had some 3D glasses!

 Then we spent some time at California Adventure going on the faster rides. Here we are waiting in line for Soarin' Over California...

 Sisters!!!

Then it was back to Disneyland for Space Mountain...

Kylee watched the parade with Melissa & Megan and I was told that she LOVED it. My dad had to fly home that night for some church responsibilities that he had the next day, so Shawn & Ashley took him to the airport. They brought us back some Taco Bell & we ate and hung out on the grass...

 I love this pic of Kylee with Aunt Melissa. :)

 Kylee & I went on a bunch of rides together that night, while Lincoln went on some faster rides with the others. He met up with us & we had a lot of fun together. Kylee's favorite ride was the Winnie the Pooh ride (we figured it would be) and we went on it 3 times. By 11:30pm Kylee was out...

This was SUCH a fun day!!!