How'd that get there?

I just found a blob of strawberry yogurt on the wall about 5 inches from the ceiling in the piano room!?!? I tried to take a picture of it, but the lighting just wasn't working. A little later I found Elmer's glue on the piano bench. No one would fess up to either of these delights. School just let out for the break, so I have a feeling my next two weeks will be filled with such findings. Oh the joys!!

I Think I've Evolved

As a mother, that is. It's interesting to look at my days as a mom today, versus several years ago. For example, yesterday I did MANY things, including prepare food for Rick to have at the Church during tithing settlement, get 5 children and myself ready for Church in time for Dallin's early morning Presidency meeting and choir practice, go to Church, come home and get lunch for the aforementioned 5 children and myself, make a treat to take to my Visiting Teachees, go to a Visiting Teaching appointment, return home, help Eliza and Audri wrap some presents, find "I LOVE YOU" in red permanent marker (looks like it bled through a paper) on the wood dining room table, use toothpaste to remove marker from table, stuff 100 Christmas cards and letters (family assembly line made this faster, and much more fun), dip and sprinkle 80+ pretzel rods with the kids and Rick, get the kids to bed, clean up the kitchen after the chocolate dipping extravaganza. Now, a few years ago (I think about 4), I learned that toothpaste removes permanent marker from wood. I learned that when Eliza decorated this same (newly purchased) table with black permanent marker while I had fallen into a pregnancy induced sleep on the couch. I remember that day very well. The marker on the table consumed my day as I researched online, and stressed about the table. Yesterday, it was a BLIP in my busy day. Obviously the fact that I already knew to use toothpaste to get it off helps, but I think there's more to it than that. I'm hoping all of you can understand, and no one will be offended. Those of you with 3 children, do you remember life with one child? Do you remember what a big deal changing a diaper was, or giving that child a bath? Those of you with just one child, do you remember life when you were first married? What a big deal doing the laundry or going grocery shopping was? How about those of you in college, do you remember how life seemed so busy in High School, when mom was cleaning up after you, and you weren't the one who had to replace the toilet paper roll? You get the idea. It's amazing to me how we evolve. I don't remember ever having a day when I suddenly said, "Hey, today I can handle 5 kids and my husband being Bishop!!" No, all those things happened gradually. I learned a little here, a little there, until red permanent marker on the dining room table may not be my favorite part of the day, but it no longer is an all-comsuming thing either.

Blessed, Seriously

Ok, so I read this very hilarious blog, Seriously So Blessed, and today if I put a link on my blog I get entered in a free giveaway, so I'm doing it. Really for two reasons. 1. to win and 2. to confess that I read this blog. It is so funny, especially if you've ever lived in Utah!!! Enjoy!

Day 5- Mariachi!!

So, Monday came, the day we were to leave. Our plane was to leave at 2:00, so we had one last morning in Mexico City. There was one thing that I hadn't seen yet- a mariachi band. We had thought that we would see one sometime at Zocalo, but they just weren't there when we were. Sunday night our taxi driver told us that there was a plaza where some were playing and that they would be there in the morning. So, we decided we would go. We got a taxi to take us over, only to find out that they weren't actually playing until the evening, bu they were there and would play for money. We had some pesos left, and thought, why not? How often are you in Mexico City? So, feeling like the true tourists that we were, we payed for our own private mariachi concert!! It was great. Here's some photos. I was disappointed that they weren't wearing their sombreros, but our taxi driver told us they put those on in the evening. He also told us that in the evening at that plaza, there are like 15 mariachi bands, all in a circle, playing.

Here are a couple of photos of sites we saw everyday. The first, one of the street vendors selling souvenirs. We passed this woman everyday. She set up just down from our hotel. We talked to her the very first day, and would wave to her. We had fun talking to her little daughter named Audrianna. We brought home some of those little dolls for our girls.

A street food vendor. Yummy food. The key was to look for the places that had lots of people standing around them. That's how you knew they were good. We stopped at this kind of place a few times. We actually got breakfast at this one on Monday morning.

We flew home that afternoon. When we got to the truck in Chicago, it was covered with a dusting of snow- welcome home to Illinois : ).

Again, thanks to Nanny and Grandpa for taking care of the kids and making this possible. It was a trip always to remember!!!

Day 4- Temple Rededication and Castillo de Chapultepec

Sunday morning we woke up, ate breakfast at the hotel and made our way South again to the Church building where we attended the rededication. We were able to attend a broadcast of the session. It was wonderful. As the rededication ended, we lingered around the building just a little. We didn't really want to leave, not really having a place to go to spend the Sabbath, but in the end there was nothing to do but leave. So, we decided to go to the castillo de Chapultepec, a very cool castle, built in 1785 which also houses the National Museum of History. It was beautiful, and very interesting. Rick and I took the time to read and really learn about the history of Mexico from the time of the conquistadors to the present. Because we took our time in the museum portion, we actually ran out of time and missed seeing the main part of the castle because it closed!!! Oops. We were sad about that, but what we did see was very neat.


We decided to make one last trip up to the temple, not knowing for sure when the Visitor's Center closed. We made our way on the metro and microbus (crowded little buses that not many tourists take) back up to the temple. The Visitor's Center had already closed, but we enjoyed seeing the temple lit up for the night. It was peaceful and nice to see it one last time.

Day 3- Teotihuacan, Coyoacan, Cultural Celebration

So much has happened since we got home from Mexico, and life has been so busy, that it almost seems like a dream now. In the evenings, when the kids are in bed, and Rick and I are catching our breath for the day, one of us will turn to the other and say something like, "just a little while ago, we were in Mexico together." I don't want the memories to fade. This blog will help. The date shows the post is from Monday, but that's really just the day I uploaded the photos. Now it's Friday and I'm finally able to sit down and type about DAY 3!!!

Day 3 was amazing!! We woke up early, and walked to the metro, which we took to the North bus station. There we got on a bus to Teotihuacan. The bus ride was about an hour, but it was a very interesting drive to me. The part of the city that we went through was largely Rick's mission, and then, north of the city, we were able to see a little of "rural" Mexico. It was fun to see the farmers out in the fields, and to see things like fields of nopales (cactus that is eaten in many forms). When we got to the pyramids, we got some tamales from some vendors outside the site. Yummy. The above photo is pretty cool. It was as we entered the site, on the ground. It is created entirely from seeds, except for the dried chilies used as whiskers.

I could go on and on about Teotihuacan. It is just amazing. I think I'll just provide a few links, rather than try and say too much myself. The second link has some cool ariel photos, from Google earth that show the magnitude of the site. The main avenue that runs through the city is the Avenue of the Dead. We were able to start at one end, and just walk along it, seeing all the ruins along the way. Here's Rick standing in front of the pyramid of the sun.


Here's a picture from part way up the Pyramid of the Sun. This shot helps you to appreciate the vastness of this site. There is much more than just the pyramids of the sun and moon, and the temple of Quetzalcoatl. There was an entire city, and much has been uncovered- dwelling places, as well as other small pyramids. It was amazing to walk through.

And, yes, we made it to the top. It was not an easy climb, especially with the high altitude that we were at, but it was worth it. It was amazing (I know I keep using that word) to look out over all the ruins, and imagine the city at its peak. By the way, the time period of this city was 100 BC-600 AD. Seem like a familiar time period to anyone? Definitely Book of Mormon time period. It was interesting to consider as we looked at everything.

This is from the top of the Pyramid of the Moon. This pyramid is at the end (or beginning, whichever way you want to look at it) of the Avenue of the Dead. You can see the pyramid of the sun off to the left. There were a lot of vendors selling handmade items at Teotihuacan. They just mill about, selling their wares to all the tourists. We found out from talking to a lady selling some things that they are only allowed to sell handmade items from the Teotihuacan area.

We rode the bus back to Mexico City, stopped by our hotel to drop off a few gifts, and hopped on the metro to go South of the city, where we needed to be for the cultural celebration. Because we had a little time before we needed to be at the stadium, we went through Coyoacan, the colonial section of Mexico City. It was very beautiful, and interesting to see yet a different part of the city. I told Rick it made me think of the Zorro movies. Here are a couple of pictures we took.

Next stop, Estadio Azteca, home of the Mexican National Football (soccer to us Yankees) Team. It seats 114,000 people, and was the site for the cultural celebration put on by the Mexican Latter-day Saints to celebrate the rededication of the Mexico City Temple. President Monson and President Eyring were there, and it was an experience I will never forget. 8500 youth performed dances from all over Mexico, as well as portrayed the history of their country. At the beginning, we all waved our white hankies to Pres. Monson, and he waved his back. The people did not seem to want to stop waving. We didn't get any good photos of the dancers, but this first one is a shot of what the field looked like when we first came in. These are a few of the performers, sitting waiting to perform. It got quite cold that night, and some of these costumes didn't have a lot of fabric (they were Aztecs), and we saw them jumping around, trying to keep warm as they waited for their chance to perform.

The last two things that happened were so neat. First, about 1500 youth came onto the field in lines. First, the Young Women, dressed in Sunday best, as they sang "As Sisters in Zion" (only it was in Spanish). Then the Young Men, in white shirts and ties came on singing "Army of Helaman". Then they sang the two together. It was powerful. Here's a picture of it, from way up where we were sitting (which I seem to have deleted, and at this point I've spent so much time on this post I'm not going to get it back on here- sorry). Next the missionaries from the 6 missions in and around Mexico City poured onto the field singing "Called to Serve". This was expecially neat since Rick had been a missionary there in Mexico City, 16 years before. The growth of the Church in that country is amazing to me and to Rick. What a blessing it was for the people of that country to have the prophet there for the rededication, and to have the Church so strong and thriving. It's obvious to me that it truly blesses their lives. I hope to always remember.