Trunk or Treat 2011

We went to the Wives Club's Annual Halloween Trunk or Treat on Friday. It was a blast! Kylee made the cutest little Snow White ever. I tried to straighten her hair with my flat iron, so that she wouldn't have to wear her usual pigtails...it [sort of] worked. :)

Kylee had so much fun playing on the big bouncy toy that they rented for the party!

Kylee & Kirtlyn...

Crazy girls! Kirtlyn, Riley & London...

Having fun together...

Linc making Snow White "fly"...

The kids getting ready for the costume contest runway show...

(Look at Kylee sitting so prim & proper in the back.)

Ready for the show...

Kylee with silly Thomas...

Kylee at the end of the runway receiving her costume award from Jenn...

 Showing off her cupcake & award...

During the Trunk or Treat portion of the party, Kylee got tons of candy. She was so good at saying "Trick or Treat" & "Thank you" at each car!

 The best part of Halloween is being able to eat as much candy as you want. You'd better believe that I let Kylee do the same!

After the party, we waited with Thomas & the Powell's for the bouncy toy to be picked up. The company ended up being over an hour late, so we found ways to entertain ourselves while we waited.

Linc played Ring Around the Rosies with the kids...

Kylee tried to see how many suckers she could eat at the same time...

Verenice, Matt, Thomas, Linc & I played a pretty intense game of basketball. The teams were "girls plus Thomas" vs "boys". :) I think we were all sore after playing, but it sure was fun!

Lincoln looked good trying on Ava's Minnie ears after the game...

This picture just makes me laugh...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

A Fun-Filled Week

Well, I've been healthy for the past week & a half & I am VERY happy about it! This is the longest I've gone these past 2 months without getting sick. I sure hope that my good health continues, because life is much more fun for both Kylee & I (& Linc) when we are able to get out of the house & spend time with our friends!

We've had a lot of fun things going on lately, including:

A BIRTHDAY PARTY:

Kylee hit a pinata by herself  for the first time. Granted, she just lightly tapped it with the stick...but usually she is too scared  to do it at all, so I was proud of her! :)

WIVES CLUB ACTIVITY:

Kylee loved playing in the water at the park...

A TRIP TO TROMPO:

Kylee matched the numbers...

 Doctored the babies...

 Checked the baby's ears...

 And her heartbeat...

(Can you tell that Kylee is the daughter of a medical student? She totally knows what to do with all of the equipment, thanks to Daddy showing her how to use the real things at home.)

She snuck a plate of food out of the kitchen area over to the computer...

(I'm afraid she has seen me eating in front of the computer one too many times!)

Kylee picked onions & carrots...

 Made huge bubbles...

 And tried to blow them...

TACO/CREPE STAND:

Not pictured:

FHE with friends

Relaxing & watching tv with Linc (which doesn't happen nearly enough!)

Girls Night Out to the VIP Movies

FHE/Halloween dinner & desserts with friends

Lincoln has 3 weeks of school left, which means lots of studying for finals! Thank goodness for good health & great friends who keep me social!

Adopting...

Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook, already know this news, but I wanted to let those of you who don't know, that...

WE ARE ADOPTING AGAIN!!!

Now, before you get too excited, let me just say that it may take quite awhile before we are matched with a child & are able to complete the adoption process. Many people have asked me if we would be adopting from Mexico while we were living here. We definitely thought the answer to that question was "no" and that we would wait until we were back in the U.S. to adopt again. However, Lincoln & I started bringing the subject up to each other about 2 1/2 months ago. It was one of those things that just popped in my head & I couldn't get it out, no matter how hard I tried.

A few days later, we went to Chapala with our friends, Brother & Sister Herrera. We didn't know them very well at the time. As we were talking with them on the drive over, they brought up the fact that they used to own an orphanage. Lincoln & I just looked at each other & knew this probably wasn't a coincidence. :) We had only started talking about adoption a few days before, & nobody had any idea that we were even considering it. Needless to say, this was huge...Brother Herrera was able to answer our questions about adopting from Mexico & ended up meeting with multiple orphanages to try to get us an appointment.

The orphanage that Brother Herrera was originally thinking of matching us with only had children ages 3 & older. Linc & I have always wanted to adopt a baby instead of an older child...but I could not get the idea out of my head that we needed to consider adopting a child instead of a baby. I wasn't excited about this feeling, because it would complicate things quite a bit for me...I would suddenly have a school-age child (they put children in school here between ages 2 & 3), this child would only speak Spanish, I would have to buy clothes & other things for this child instead of using the baby clothes that I already have from Kylee & Jackson, it would change the birth order of our family, & this child would have already learned a lot that we hadn't taught him/her & wouldn't be used to our way of doing things. There are so many more things that went through my mind, but I was still feeling such a push to put in our papers to adopt an older child. I called my dad crying & told him that I'd gotten an answer, but that I didn't feel like I was cut out for this. We had a good conversation & I was reminded once again that as long as I'm following the promptings that I receive from the Lord, the details will eventually work themselves out.

Brother Herrera was able to set up an appointment for us to meet with the director of an orphanage here in Guadalajara. Most people have to send in their paper work, then wait to see if they are approved, without ever meeting anyone in person at the orphanage. Because Brother Herrera has so many great contacts since owning an orphanage, he was able to use that to talk the director into meeting with us first thing. About a month ago, we met with the director. We had a good visit with her (although she spoke mainly Spanish so I wasn't able to understand everything that was being said), she gave us our preliminary paper work to fill out, & told us that if nobody from the orphanage had contacted us within 15 days of turning our papers in, that we should call them back.

This orphanage is huge & has about 450 kids. The only kids we saw were the ones who were coming back from school when we were leaving. We were impressed with how happy the kids seemed to be, and how clean & orderly the orphanage offices were. All of the employees there were very kind & friendly too, which made us really happy.

After we left the orphanage, the director herself immediately called Brother Herrera twice to tell him that she wanted to rush our paper work. She told us that it wasn't necessary for us to have all of our documents, reference letters, etc. but to just turn in as much as we could, as soon as possible. We turned in our paper work (almost completed) a week later. We had to show in our paper work what gender & age we wanted to adopt. We finally decided on a girl between 3 & 5 years old.

Last week, Lincoln called the orphanage and was told that the committee is giving priority to couples who are waiting to adopt, who don't have any children yet. Since we already have Kylee, we were told that it could take 1 1/2 to 2 years to match us with a child. When Linc told the director that that was fine, and that we would just wait, because we still wanted to adopt from them, the director seemed surprised and told us that she will talk with the committee about us again. That's the most recent information that we have received.  We're just waiting to find out more.

Adopting from an orphanage here in Mexico can be pretty complicated. It's not as straightforward as adoption in the United States is. Nothing here really is. It's hard to explain, but in almost everything we do here, we receive some sort of info, then different info, until we put the pieces together & figure out the whole picture. I'm not sure if that makes sense to those who haven't experienced living here. But anyway, we've already obviously experienced the same with this adoption, & we will probably continue to, until this adoption process is complete.

The reason I'm sharing all of this now is because:
1) I want to document the details of how we get this little girl.
2) We need people's prayers!
3) I want our loved ones to be able to experience this journey with us.

I will post each time we receive more news from the orphanage. I was so thankful for all of the comments on Facebook & all of the love and support that we constantly feel from everyone here in Mexico & back in the United States. How blessed we are to have such great support systems in TWO countries!

P.S. We've explained to Kylee what is happening, even though I'm not sure how much she understands. In our prayers we ask Heavenly Father to "please help us find Kylee's sister". She is very excited about having a sister, even though she has informed me that she wants her sister to sleep in the extra room, not in "Kylee's room". :)

Goth Party 2011

On Friday, we hosted a Halloween party. We chose a Gothic theme & the invites said that everyone had to dress Goth. Some of you may know that Lincoln is fascinated with Goths (I have no idea why) so this was his dream come true!

I got sick the day after my parents left to go back to the U.S. I had a nasty stomach bug/fever/chills. Then a few days before the party, before I even got over that, Lincoln & I both came down with throat infections. I was tempted to postpone our party but Lincoln talked me into sticking with our original plan. It was not fun to plan a party when we were both sick, but the end result was definitely worth it.

OUR 1ST ANNUAL GOTH PARTY:

The decorations...

(This tree & headstone were SPRAY PAINTED on our kitchen wall by Lincoln!

Shhh...Don't tell our home owners!)

The cutest Gothic couple around...

Heather & I...

I heard multiple people say that Matt (pictured below) looks like a real Goth. I agree!

The girls...

(Heather, Montse, Vanessa, Brittany, Michelle, Verenice, me)

The boys...

(Josh, Robbie, Jaren, Lucas, Matt, Jared, Lincoln)

Game #1: 

Assemble the Skeleton...

And Label its Bones...

(perfect for the med students)

Game #2:

Pin the Nose Ring on the Goth...

Heather covered in "nose rings"...

Obviously the nose rings didn't all land on Jaren's nose...

Game #3: 

The Newly-Dead Game....

I didn't get any pictures of this, but it was the best one! If you hadn't guessed, this was the Newlywed Game, but with a Halloween twist! 

Questions we asked the girls:

1) If you took your partner to a haunted house, what would he scream during it?

"I want my mummy!", "Bring it on!" or "Hey, I have that same chainsaw at home!"

2) What is your partner's most bewitching physical attribute?

3) What Halloween monster would your partner most like to be in real life?

A werewolf, a vampire, a mummy or a warlock

4) Who is the creepiest girl that your partner dated?

5) What is your partner's most freakish hidden talent?

Questions we asked the guys:

1) What is your partner's most freakish hidden talent?

2) What is your partner most afraid of: 

Bats, snakes, rats or spiders

3) On what date were you dead set on kissing your partner for the first time?

4) What is your partner's most bewitching physical attribute?

5) What dish does  your partner cook in the kitchen that is to-die-for?

Brittany & Lucas (the only couple who isn't married) won the game! 

After the party, we picked Kylee up from the babysitter. Before she went to bed, Lincoln tried to give her a kiss & she refused. That's definitely the first time that's ever happened. I wonder why?

I think we are going to end up making this Goth Party an annual thing. It was way too much fun! :)

A Trip to Chapala & Our 1st Crepe Run

My mom & dad came to visit us here in Mexico this past week! It was SUCH a great visit. Their plane flew in late Tuesday night & Lincoln went to pick them up at the airport. One of our favorite taco shops, Los Serapes, was calling Linc's name on the way home, so they all stopped & picked up some food. The potatoes were a hit with my parents. They are the most greasy, cheesy things piled with meat & they are oh-so-good!

Kylee was SO excited to wake up Grandma & Grandpa the next morning when she found out that they were sleeping in "Kylee's house"! We had been talking with her all week about them coming! 

After waking my parents up & giving lots of hugs & smiles, Kylee wanted to put on her Snow White dress & model all of her jewelry for them. Grandma even joined in the fun & modeled Kylee's Minnie sunglasses. Kylee's picking-her-nose pose happened at the last second. :)

That day was a holiday, so Lincoln didn't have school! We ate breakfast & headed to Chapala, which is about an hour from our house. Usually there are a bunch of vendor stands & people walking around Chapala, but it was pretty empty. There was a hurricane that hit 70 miles away from Guadalajara that day, so the weather was actually pretty cold & it rained a lot more than we are used to here. We were kind of bummed that my parents came during the rain, but we didn't let the weather stop us! It even gave us an excuse to dress Kylee up in her winter coat...

(I don't know why we even bothered rolling up her pants, since we let her jump in all of the rain puddles.)

We basically just walked straight to the seafood restaurant & hung out there most of the time we were in Chapala. It was fun to just spend time together & relax. We even had a few guys serenade us at our table!

This guy ended up charging us a bunch of money for his singing. I think we probably ended up paying for the experience a lot more than the music, but it was still fun...

I think I've mentioned before that a lot of restaurants here have indoor play equipment for the kids. Kylee spent some time on the swings with Grandma...

After lunch we stopped at a nieve stand for dessert, then headed home for a nice, long 3-hour nap. Then it was time to meet some friends (the Haskin's, Kottraba's & Powell's) at our favorite taco/crepe stand! It was so fun to introduce everyone to my parents & to eat the yummy food there.

Kylee held Grandma & Grandpa's hands on the way home...

And Mom & I got each other laughing so hard that our stomachs hurt. Man, I've missed that!

When we got home, we got a call from our neighbors & friends, the Arcila's, asking us to come over for some more food! We went & had such a great time with them. We ate the BEST Mexican food ever. This family is always introducing me to new Mexican dishes & they cook so well! After we ate, Kim played a few hymns on the piano while my Dad & I sang them in Spanish. That was my first time singing with my dad in Spanish, & I loved it! 

By the time we made it home, Lincoln & Kylee were asleep but the rest of us weren't quite ready to call it a night yet. It was late & we were STUFFED, but we still managed to play some Monopoly Deal & eat the salt water taffy that my parents brought me from Disneyland. I don't think I've ever eaten that much food in a single day in my life. It was worse than being on a cruise! We sure do know how to pack A LOT into one day!