Almost 3 months....

Wow, so much has happened in the last 3 months.  Two birthdays, lots of adventures, and a fun visit!

First off, Scott had a birthday.  His last year in his 30's, when did I end up married to an old man?  Good thing I still adore and love him so much.

We celebrated 16 years of marriage.  Scott was so nice and didn't make me go to his fancy work dinner, but instead took the day off of work and booked us a couples massage.  It was really nice and afterward he picked up a babysitter for the younger two kids and we dropped the older two kids off at mutual while he took me out to a nice dinner.  (seriously what kind of people have mutual on Friday nights?  The Chileans.  We tried having them change it to Wednesday nights, it didn't even last a month, we are sad....)

Brody had his 11th birthday.  He wanted to have a few friends over.  He had a great time.  His friends on the other hand....it wasn't like any birthday party they had ever been too.  Chileans go all out for parties.  They rent a space, have bouncy houses, and hire entertainers.  We didn't do any of that.  We are too cheap I guess.  All well, Brody had a great day and that's all that matters.

We have gone on a few adventures.  We enjoyed a day at the botanical gardens,  Mia wasn't feeling very well but we went anyways.  On Easter Sunday after missing a week of school and still running a fever I took her to the ER (which was an experience...I miss the familiarity of U.S. medical care) to find out she had pneumonia and an ear infection.  She didn't even complain about anything hurting and wasn't really coughing.  Mom of the year right here.

We  went up North to a town called La Serena for a long weekend and stayed in a cabin on the beach.  Enjoyed exploring a new town, and one night went up to an observatory to check out the stars.  Too bad it was closed.  We looked online for the days and hours of operation and it said it was open but when we arrived the gate guard said it was closed for the winter.  It would have been nice if that was on the website.  All well, we did find a nice dark spot and were able to see the milky way and a ton of stars, so it wasn't all a bust.  While we were up there, we were able to tour a Muslim mosque.  It was really cool to see some of the similarities to a Mormon temple.  We  also were able to go and see a huge Catholic cross.  You take an elevator up the center of the cross and get out in the arms of the cross where you get a 360 degree view of the entire area, it was beautiful.

After being here 9 months we were able to experience the rain.  It was crazy, and I have been in some terrible rain before.  It flooded the streets, we had mud slides, and all the roads which were pretty bad to begin with are even more terrible.  One night I thought my windows were going to break the wind  and rain were blowing so hard.

Scott has been able to go on a few trips.  He spent a week in Easter Island, 3 days up north in a town called Iqueque, and this week is headed down to Concepcion for 3 days.  I usually don't mind him being away, but while he was enjoying Easter Island, I was not enjoying being at home.  All of the kids came down with the stomach flu.  I am just grateful that I didn't get sick, that they all made it to the bathroom, and I didn't have to do any extra laundry. 

Brody has been busy.  He competed in a math competition for his school and came in 2nd for the 5th and 6th graders.  He has also been asked to be on the rugby team, and his first game was on Saturday.  He didn't want to go, but with a bribe he went and did amazing and actually had a good time.

Scott has started taking Emmi out driving in the morning before seminary.  We would like for her to get her license when we go back to the states in January so she can drive herself to seminary in the mornings. We like our sleep, and Emmi loves seminary.  Chileans can't get their license until 18.  I am hoping that it will work out.  Fingers crossed.

Kaleb is Kaleb.  Super smart, and is getting so good with Spanish.  He gave a talk in church yesterday, and people were telling me he did a great job, and that he didn't even have an accent.  He likes most of his classes at school, but his favorite is Technology.  They make all kinds of cool things.  This month he is working on a robotic hand.

Mia is doing great.  She is really quiet at school and can be found in the library during breaks or outside reading books.  She loves to read and to be read too.  What am I saying, all of my kids love that.  She is understanding most Spanish and speaks a little, but still needs to speak more.  Mia and Brody were both asked to be in the Stake Children's Choir at church.  I was able to go and listen to a practice yesterday, it was amazing. I love the sound of all the kids singing.

The Fifa World cup games are a huge deal down here.  I love watching the games with the locals, they love soccer.  It is a huge party when a Chile game is on, the kids also get out of class so that everyone can watch it.  The excitement of everyone is contagious. It is a pretty fun time to be living here.

This last week we were able to enjoy a visit from my sister-in-law Kelsey and two of her friends.  It was a crazy hectic week, but we were able to see and do lots of things in the 5 days they were here.

Ok I think that catches me up for the last few months.  Maybe next time I won't wait as long in between posts.