THE STATES REVISITED

It has been almost a month since we got back from our lastest visit to the States (as Charlie calls it) and I am finally able to post about the trip. I can proudly say that all the suitcases are unpacked and in their proper place. I have to admit it did take almost two weeks but I got it done. It was hard for the kids at first to adjust to the change of time which made going back to work for Mom and Dad even harder but good thing Grandma Yolanda and Aunt Cristina were willing to take shifts to be with the kids. Overall we had a fantastic time as usual visiting the FAM and Charlie is already talking about going back again. Originally our trip was supposed to be only a 3 week trip but it turned out to be almost a 4 week trip due to the fact that the day before we were supposed to leave, Charlie was admitted to the hospital because of unexplained high fevers. In the end it was only a combination of a bad case of Strep throat and Mono but he certainly was a sick little boy for awhile.

We love the States so much we don´t even mind traveling 28 hours to get there. Both Charlie and Clark were troopers during the whole trip. Even though we almost missed the first plane because we left the house too late, Clark had a major blow out on the second of 4 plane rides and I had poopy pants literally for the rest of the trip and we had to run to catch the plane in London and were the second to last people on, all in all I would say the trip went fairly smoothly.

We love so many things about our trip to THE STATES that I thought it would be best to explain it through pictures.

THINGS WE LOVE:

:
Parks in the backyard, cousins included

Being able to go to the temple open house

family reunions

hot dog roasts with the family

cousin bonding time

going to favorite Aunt Ashlee´s salon for a first hair cut

spikey hair

on the job training

business opportunities (AKA Bubble Show)

Going to the park with lot of green grass and not have to worry about dog poop

American ice cream

being able to sprawl out on the carpet to take a nap or just to relax

being able to play sports right out your back door

County fairs even the "small potato" ones

seeing pigs alive not just hanging in the store

fun carnival rides

visiting old friends

community softball games

attending the first grandchild´s baptism of the family

meeting new family members

excellent hospital bed manners

Welcome home comittees.

A SPLISHIN´ AND A SPLASHIN´

We signed Charlie up for swimming lessons for the month of July. At first Charlie was a little hesitant but in the end he looked forward to going every day. There were even some days we didn´t want to take him, but he would have nothing to do with that. WE HAD TO GO. There were only two other kids in his class and one of them was his best friend from school. These pictures are from his last day of class. On a side note: ever since swimming lessons, bath time is much more enjoyable now that Charlie doesn´t mind getting his head wet.

YOU KNOW YOU ARE IN SPAIN WHEN..............

You have heard of "you know you are hick when.......", well you know you are in Spain when you go out one morning and you find this outside your door. I think the neighbors forgot to take out their have eaten garbage. Jamon Serrano anyone?

MORE "THRILLING" SUMMER MOMENTS

It is a tradition in our ward that during the months of July and August, the ward gets together every Friday night to eat together at the church. Every family brings their own dinner and we also try to have some kind of activity. In July of this year, the activities committe decided to organize a talent show in which the participants were to chose a decade and represent it in a dance. Even before the "great white gloved one" passed away, Leo and I had decided to represent the 80´s by dancing Thriller by Michael Jackson. We looked for a video on You Tube explaining the steps to the dance and then we spent hours practicing for several nights after the kids had gone to bed. Of course we weren´t as good as my sister Ashlee and her cohorts dancing the Thriller but everyone at the activity was impressed. They didn´t recognize Leo at first and were totally amazed that the once reserved young man they met 10 years ago was now cuttin´ it loose to Michael Jackson. I was pretty impressed myself. Of course I am used to doing crazy things in front of people but now I am glad I have company.

Two dead zombies workin´ it on the dance floor!

Charlie had seen us practise many times, but even he had a hard time recognizing Leo. He asked the person next to him if that person (pointing to Leo) was his dad.


The kiss of death.

What a pair!

School Days

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

SUMMER FUN

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Playing Catch Up

So it has been a while since I have posted so I thought I better do a quick recap. Life in general is good. Leo is doing great working at a bank as a manager despite the current financial crisis. He also keeping very busy as Bishop and of course as a dad and husband. I am still working in the morning at a lawyer´s office at a nearby Golf Resort. I also keep busy with my calling as the first counselor in the Relief Society.

Charlie finished his first year of school at the end of June and I can truly say that I am amazed at how much he has learned. He can write out his name all by himself and he can recongnize almost every letter and many numbers. He understands both Spanish and English perfectly but he is struggling a bit to speak in complete sentences in English. He has a large English vocabulary but conjugating verbs is hard. We have recently started to have some English classes in the afternoon so I hope that will help. Charlie is now signed up for swimming lessons which he enjoys a lot.

Clark is now seven months old. Unfortunately I cannot post a picture to mark his seventh month because about 3 weeks ago we lost the cord to charge the digital camara. So the picture of my two cowboys above will have to do even though the picture was taken on the 20th of June. I truly think there must be a troll that comes in to my house and hids things from me so that I go crazy. Clark is such a good baby although ever since he got sick a couple months ago, he doesn´t sleep as well at night. We are still waiting for the fist tooth to appear. He has started to eat vegetables and chicken this month. At first he wasn´t toO sure about the new flavors but now he eats the food right up. In fact, now he refuses to eat just plain baby cereal. Clark is oficially Spanish and American. On the 24th of June we applied for his Spanish passport and on the 30th of June we took the train at 5:30 in the morning to Madrid to apply for his US passport. We got to Madrid at 10:30am and our appointment at the Embassy was at 11:30am. After 2 hours and presenting many documents and filling out even more, we left the embassy. We didn´t get the passport right away but we have it now. To take advantage of the trip to Madrid, we walked to the Plaza de Colon to have lunch and then we rested from the heat in Parque Retiro. Then we had to rush to the Atocha train station to catch the 7:00pm train home. We didn´t get home until after midnight; exhausted but happy to have another American join the family.

Although it is summer, Leo and I are still not on vacation, but we will be soon. In fact, after debating whether to go to the States or not this year we have finally decided to go. We will be in Utah and hopefully Oregon in August. We are so excited. Charlie doesn´t stop talking about going to the States. When we told him that we were going he went to his bedroom to pack his suitcase right away.

As you can imagine things are hot here. Thank goodness that after living in this house for almost two years we finally got our ceiling fan installed in our bedroom this past month. It is very rare to find a home with central air here so we only have air conditiong in the living room. Now that it is summer most people go to the beach on the weekend. You would think that since we live only a few minutes from the Mediterranean Sea we would go to the beach more often, but in our family, it is actually a rare event. We are almost half way through July and we have only gone to the beach 3 times since Summer began. The person to blame is me. When people ask me why I don´t go to the beach more often I tell them two reasons: 1) too much sun and 2) too much sand.

My family and I are so fair skin that we don´t tan, we only burn, so I prefer to stay out of the sun as much as possible. In fact I wear a 50 spf sunscreen on a daily basis. (I am always telling my husband, "I might have very pale skin now but when I am older, I will look so youg and with out a single wrinkle"). OK, back to the beach story.

Although I am not a big fan of the beach, Charlie loves it, so recently we went to the most famous tourist beach around, La Manga del Mar Menor to visit some friends who were staying in a beach apartment. We had a fun filled day. (Check out the Smilebox photo album to see more pictures.) La Manga is the long skinny strip of land below. Just picture a strip of land with tall apartment building on each side. The water is very warm in fact right now the water in the salt water lake which is formed by the strip of land is so warm you have to get out of the water to cool down.
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