Mexico

Well, we have been living in Mexico for just over 2 weeks now. It has been an adjustment, but we are loving it. Of course with every new place there comes the good and the bad along with it. I don't like hearing dogs barking all night long. It keeps me up and is really annoying. I have been told by everyone here though that eventually you don't even hear the barking anymore. I am anxiously awaiting that day. I miss having a mall with an enclosed play area, and the library to take my kids. They are however loving playing outdoors in HUGE backyards all day long. We already need a new bottle of sunscreen. I miss my favorite restaurants like Sonic, Chik-fil-a, Olive Garden, etc. I know I have only been here for 2 weeks, but I am already excited for my first trip to the states in a couple weeks to eat out. I am loving the food here though too! Rosa's Tacos, Mechy's quesadillas and green burritos, my mother-in-law's cooking, paletas (popcicles) from the paleta man, Sonoran style hotdogs from the stand on the side of the road. Yummmm!!! I love the ward here and how most of the ward has the last name of Jones. We go on daily moto (4-wheeler) rides. Indy and Porter are also loving being able to play with their cousins every single day, so they are never bored. The way of life is so laid back here. All businesses have a "Siesta" time from 2-4 pm. Devin gets to come home for lunch every day and is home by about 4 in the afternoon. Indy is growing and becoming more adventurous everyday. She may be getting taller, but she is losing weight! She eats a lot so I think it is all the running around she is doing. She is at 27 lbs. Porter has learned quite a few new words since being here. Here is a list of his current words: Mama, Dadda, bite, bit (bird), peas (please), tay (thank you), ouch, kit kat (kitty cat), hi, bye, sof (soft), dant (dance), he quacks and flaps his arms at anything that has feathers, and when he is poopy he grabs at his diaper and says "poo!". He is too funny. I hope to get some pictures up here soon, but it might take a while since I am using my in-law's computer for now.

Sleeping Beauty

Indiana has been OBSESSED with the Disney princesses lately.  Everyday she is wanting to watch Cinderella, Snow White, Aladdin, & Mulan (I know she’s not a Princess, but Indy thinks she is!).  It’s funny though because we just went to Disneyland in January and at that time she loved princesses, but wasn’t really into the Disney princess movies at the time and didn’t know their names.  Now she knows them all!  One Princess she talks about a lot is Sleeping Beauty, however she has never seen the movie.  But she knows who she is!  I heard that a local Broadway Dinner Theater was showing Disney’s Sleeping Beauty and I just had to take Indiana.  We had great seats and the food was pretty good!  Indiana’s face was priceless the entire show.  She just stared at the stage with a huge smile on her face.  It was a fun mother-daughter outing.  She now has a Sleeping Beauty barbie doll and I have ordered the movie off Ebay for her. 

 

                    

        

     

A Little Accident

On our way to Mexico to visit Devin’s family this weekend, we had an accident. We were about 15 minutes away from Douglas, AZ on Davis Rd when our front left tire blew out. Devin tried his hardest to keep control of the truck, but we still ran off the road, through a barb wire fence, and then through some mesquite trees. He was yelling, I was screaming, Porter was crying, and Indy was really confused. As we were flying off the road and plowing through everything, I kept thinking in my mind “This is NOT happening!” Luckily none of us were injured, but I can’t say the same for the truck. It was in almost perfect condition when we bought it just a few weeks ago. Now the hood is really scratched up, the front bumper is dented a bit, and there are a few scratches on the driver’s side and a couple really deep big ones on the passenger’s side. As you can tell from the pictures, the barb wire got wrapped up in the bumper and around the axel’s and wheels. After we crashed a rancher stopped to make sure we were all okay. We asked if he had some wire cutters and he replied no, but he did have clippers used to clip horse’s hooves. He gave them to us and left. They didn’t work as well as wire cutters would have, but they did the job. We had called 911 to get help from the local DPS, but it took the sheriff an hour to get to us. Then when he arrived he took some pictures, wrote down our info, investigated the crash site, and THEN called for a tow truck. We had to wait another hour for the tow truck to get there. We wouldn’t have needed a tow truck, but the spare tire is under our truck and needs a special tool to get it down and unfortunately the previous owner of the truck left the wrong ones behind. The tow truck driver had to break the lock and cut the wire that was holding the spare tire on. He then helped Devin to change the blown out tire. So…we were stuck out in the desert for 2 hours and 45 minutes total. The kids were real troopers. They played in the dirt, in the bed of the truck, and watched movies on the portable dvd players we have. We ended up having to get a hotel in Douglas while Devin took the truck to get new tires. We needed to buy a new spare and then also one of the other tires had a pretty deep scratch in it from the barb wire, so we had to replace that one. I know it doesn’t sound that bad, but it was really scary. I kept thinking there was going to be a ditch that we would end up wrecking into, or end up flipping. I am so grateful that we weren’t injured. We definitely thanked Heavenly Father that evening for keeping us safe. We did make it to Mexico the next day safe and sound. I have NEVER been in a car accident before, and I don’t know if this really counts as one, but I have to say I never want to experience anything like that again.

27

Last week Devin turned 27!!!  We had a little tiny party for him with family and a couple of close friends.  Nothing big.  We ate hotdogs, chips, and had tres leches cake.  I just can’t believe how old we are getting.  I will be 27 in a couple months.  Time sure flies when you having fun!  I forgot to take a picture of the birthday boy. How terrible is that?!

  

AZ Science Center

Last week I took the kids to the AZ Science Center and Katie came along with us.  I thought it wouldn’t be too packed since we went on a weekday, but I was wrong.  There were a few different schools there for field trips.  I have been to the science center before, but it has been about 15 years.  It was fun but would have been a lot better if there weren’t so many kids running around and hogging all of the “hands-on” activities.  The best part about the science center was the planetarium.  It was amazing and the kids really enjoyed it. 

     

Below Katie & Indy made houses and then created an earthquake.  Indy thought it was pretty neat.

Almost There

Lately I have had the song “Almost There” from The Princess and the Frog stuck in my head.  I guess it’s because we are “almost there!”  Just about 14 more weeks and we will be moving down to Mexico.  Devin is going to farm with his dad.  We have been talking about this day since we were dating!  Devin said all he ever wanted to be when he grew up was a farmer, just like his dad.  I love the LDS Colonies in Mexico.  When I was in high school I went down there quite a bit to visit friends.  I even attended Devin’s senior prom!  Although, I wasn’t his date.  We are just so excited to live down there next to family and be at that next stage in our lives.   Devin graduates from ASU in May, so that is when we are moving.  Ever since we were engaged we have had a lot of “almost there’s”.  Waiting for our wedding day to arrive, then waiting for a semester of school to end, waiting for summer to end so a new semester would start, waiting to get pregnant, waiting for that baby to arrive, waiting during another pregnancy, etc.  I know we have a lot more “almost there’s” to look forward to in the future.  And I can’t wait!

Finally!

Indiana is finally potty-trained! She still has to wear a diaper at night though, but probably will for a few more months. I am just so happy to not have to constantly be changing her diaper anymore. On Friday morning when she woke up she asked me to change her diaper. I told her that they were all gone, and we didn’t have anymore. She then told me to go get some! Ha ha! She is a funny and smart girl. I told her I wasn’t going to the store to get more, that she just had to wear panties. It was a bit of a struggle to get her to put her panties on but now she loves them. On Friday she only had 2 accidents, Saturday she had 1 and yesterday she had 1. The times when she has her accidents is when she is really distracted playing. But she is doing great! We are really excited to have her potty-trained just a week before she turns 2 1/2!

Cleanup your own mess.

Indiana had a first today.  She was coloring in her coloring book and then I heard a noise that did not sound good.  She was coloring with her purple crayon on the wall!  Luckily I kept my cool and explained to her that what she did was wrong.  I have been trying to not resort to yelling at her.  I gave her a Magic Eraser (best things ever invented) and she wiped away her markings.  Of course, she didn’t get it all off so I had to help, but I was just happy that she was willing to help clean up her own mess.

 

A Fast Learner

Indiana for the last couple months has been trying to write her letters. She can do O’s and P’s. I was at Target the other day and they had some pre-school workbooks in their $1 section, so I picked some up. She had me help her for a couple letters and then the rest she did herself! She is just tracing them right now. I will need to go and get more of these workbooks for her, she is loving them! I got her one for letters and one for numbers. She doesn’t press really hard with her pencil so you have to look really close to see her writing. She has also been drawing a lot. Her favorite things to draw are monsters. She does the typical circle for the head and body, then loooooong legs and arms with tiny fingers. I was just impressed because she is only 2 1/2 years old, well in 10 days she will be. Oh, and she is still in diapers. We had her practically potty-trained before the holidays and then she wouldn’t go potty at my in-laws, my mom’s house, or at Disneyland. We have started again today and she has had 2 accidents so far. Potty-training is definitely teaching me patience.

One

Yup…One year has gone by since we welcomed Porter into our lives.  He turned 1 on Sunday and we celebrated with just a few family members.  We had brownies and ice-cream and it was so good!  We have also switched Porter from formula to milk and he is loving it.  Although it’s not his first time having it.  He loves to sneak Indiana’s sippy cup from her and steal a sip or two before she realizes what he is doing.  He is just happy to finally have that magic drink she loves so much in his cup.  Porter still isn’t walking, and he does not want to.  We know he can because he barely holds onto our hands when walking around and he has really good balance, he just honestly doesn’t want to do it alone yet.  And I am completely fine with it.  He still loves giving and blowing kisses, and giving raspberries. He can say “Momma”, “Dadda”, “baba”, “yeah”, “bah-bah” (bye-bye with a little hand wave), and “baby.”  I think he knows the last word because I always call him my baby.  I say this a lot, but kids grow up too fast, especially when they are your own.

   

I made Porter’s little birthday hat just a few minutes before everyone showed up.  Indiana wanted one too and I she colored it herself, with a little help from me.  She was so proud of it!