I figured I would give an update on what has been happening around here the last couple of months.  There is always something going on to keep us busy.

Yesterday was a sad day for us.  My "Chilean" son  Jose, was set apart as a missionary, and left early this morning to serve in the Buenos Aires south mission.  He isn't even related by blood, yet he seems so much a part of my family.  I was trying so hard not to cry, but I did....a lot.  I hate crying in front of people.  I can't image what it is going to be like when my blood related kids leave.  Not looking forward to it at all.  It is a good thing he left, because him and Emmi were starting to get more friendly than Scott or I liked.  If he wasn't going on a mission, I am sure they would have started dating.  I am grateful for missions and all girl schools!!  




 
Last week  Scott and I were able to go with Jose to the Santiago temple.  It was such a great experience to be there with him.  I love going to the temple, and I hope to be able to go with all my children.

My kids are growing like weeds!  I can't believe how tall Kaleb is.  I swear he has grown 2 inches in the last 2 months.  He keeps out growing all of his pants.  Do you know how difficult it is to find pants to fit this boy? 



This week Mia was Pinocchio in a play at school.  She did a great job.  She was really nervous, but she remembered all of her lines, dance moves and even was "directing"  the others on stage when they would forget something. It was hilarious! This was the second play she was in this month.  The other one was in Spanish and parents weren't invited.  Scott and I were pretty sad that we didn't get to see her in that one.  All well.



Brody was so excited a couple weeks ago that he made his first even goal in soccer here in Chile.  He actually made 2 in the same game.  These Chileans sure know how to play and Brody was really intimidated at first because he wasn't as good.  He is making up for it now.  Back in October, he was able to go on a 3 day class camping trip (in cabins)  Brody had an OK time.  There are some kids in his class that really annoy and try to bully him.  He finally got tired of them picking on him and started pushing back.  I will never understand boys, but apparently by shoving and sticking up for himself, they don't bother you anymore.  Brody is a tough kid, and could take down any of the boys in his class.  I guess he just needed to show them that he wouldn't take their crap anymore.  Boys.....

Kaleb was invited to go to Santiago for a World Scholars Cup. He was one of 9 boys in his school that were invited to go.  Because of his birthday, he was paired with the older boys.  His team came in 5th out of all the participating groups that attended.  I think the top 10 groups were invited to the next round which will take place sometime next year in Malaysia.   He also came home with some individual medals.  Kaleb wasn't really excited about going because he knew that he would have to participate in some debates, writing an essay, and taking a long test, but he had a really good time.  He said it was so nice to be able to have a conversation with the older boys, and actually be listened to instead of teased because of his Spanish.  How the classes work here, is you are with the same group of kids, in almost all of the same classes, your entire time at school.  So the group of kids in his class have been with Kaleb since last year when he first started and didn't know any Spanish.  Well now he is pretty fluent, but some of the boys still like to give him a hard time about it.  Seriously, why do boys have to be so rude to each other.  I will never understand I guess. 

Emmi was able to go with her class on a 8 day trip down to southern chile and into Bariloche,  Argentina.  She was so excited to go and leave us, and had a great time!  She went kayaking, paint balling, hiking, horseback riding, shopping, swimming in hot springs, and zip lining.  No wonder why she was so excited to go.  Emmi and her friend Josefa have started a cupcake business.  Every Saturday they get together to make cupcakes to sell at school on Mondays.  They each bring home $10-$15 a week after expenses.   They are trying to save money so after graduation they can go to Disney World with all of their friends.  She has a pretty great group of friends here.  I couldn't ask for better friends for her.





Scott has been busy flying all over Chile.  I am bummed out that we won't be able to have Thanksgiving dinner as a family because he will be leaving Thursday night and won't be home until late Friday night.   The good thing about his job here is that he can usually take time off when he really needs to, so I am not complaining at all.

Halloween was an experience here.  Scott and I are both in the youth program and wanted to have the youth put on a Halloween carnival for the ward. Well we don't have a lot of active youth in our ward and it turned into the Daniels Halloween carnival.  It turned out well, but I over did it and was out of commission for a week after.  My back went out and I was in bed for 4 days and it took a good 7-10 before I felt like I could function again.  I was grateful that Scott was able to be home and take care of the kids, and all of their activities.  Sometimes I really hate my back!!

 

The boys school had their yearly carnival.  Parents are volun-told to be there and help out.  They have a lot of fun activities and it is a good time.  The kids did some sumo wresting, jousting, bull riding, paddle boating, and eating lots of food! The sumo wresting was hilarious!

Well that is all I have time for today.  It's getting to the end of the school year here, so there are lots of  class parties, awards ceremonies, field trips, and plays.  Only two more weeks of school.  I am so excited to sleep in!!!

So much to do, so little time...

What a crazy few months.  So much has happened,  3 birthdays, more fun trips, lots of school, adventures and games with friends.

Birthdays...Kaleb turned 14 in June.  I still can't believe how tall he is getting, he is almost as tall as me and has passed Emmi up (which she is none to happy about)  He had a great birthday and was able to have 5 of his closest friends over.  They played some basketball, some electronics and ate some delicious cake.  He wanted a butterfinger cake, oh my goodness it was so amazing, and there wasn't any leftover.  (which was better for my waistline)
 
 
The fourth of July Scott invited some of his work buddies over for a BBQ.  We had American style hamburgers and they were a hit.  The Chileans don't know what a good hamburger is, one day I will take a picture of one, it is pretty pathetic, I wouldn't even call it a burger.  They guys all gathered around the TV after stuffing themselves and watched a "football" game.  The world cup was still going on and they had to watch the game.  We didn't even have any TV channels until the world cup and then only had a few with the antenna that Scott bought.  As a family, we did miss the fireworks and all the parades that we are used to having in the states, but still ended up having a decent day. 

The next week we decided that we would drive over into Argentina.  When we left, Kaleb was sick with a fever and wasn't feeling the best and we didn't do enough research.  Normally the drive to the boarder would be about 3-4 hours, it took us 7.  We stopped in a little town in Chile to have lunch, and as Scott was pulling into park our front tire met some re-bar and popped the tire.  Good thing a tire shop was only 3 blocks away because our spare was flat also.  Things don't happen very fast here in Chile and we ended up waiting for over 2 hours to get a new tire, and it was an expensive tire!  (Who am I kidding everything is expensive here when it comes to autos, an oil change cost almost $400!)  Anyways we finally made it into Argentina and found a nice hotel to stay in for the night in the Andes mountains.  The Andes are amazing!  I have never seen anything like them and I kept telling Scott to pull over for pictures, and the pictures just don't do them justice.
 
We woke up the next morning and it was COLD outside.  I told my kids to put on their pants and jackets, but some of them decided they didn't need to and wore shorts and flip-flops and froze when we went out to the car and it was -7.  They found their blankets real quick and put real shoes on.  When we decided to go to Argentina we didn't really have a plan except that 5 of them wanted to spend time in the snow.  We decided to head south in search for snow.  We ended up in a place called Malargue.  It was a great little town that we spent 3 nights in.  It was close to a ski resort and had many other fun activities that were near by. 
 
 

 
 
 
 
The first day we went spelunking.  I only got claustrophobic once, and was really grateful for the helmets they made us wear, because without it, I probably would have ended up in the hospital.   I almost knocked myself out 3 times...other than that, it was good.  Everyone else did great and didn't hit their head or get claustrophobic. 
 
 
 
The second day we went to the ski resort.  We were disappointed with the lack of snow, and the kids just wanted to sled, but there wasn't really an area to sled so we rented everyone snowboard gear.  This was the first time for the kids to try snowboarding.  Scott and I had high hopes and different ideas on how to teach them.  Lets just say, it wasn't the best day.  Scott and Kaleb were the only two that actually used their lift tickets and they only used it once, Brody ended up taking a cool ride on a snowmobile and getting a nice cast, and the rest of us, well it wasn't the best day on the snow. 

 
 
 
 
 
While in Argentina, we didn't realize that trying to get money would be such a problem.  We don't have credit cards, only our debit card and it has a master card logo.  It was difficult to find a place that would take our card,  if we could find one that would actually take our card, or wasn't already out of cash.  The limit for cash that an ATM would allow was approximately $110 U.S. per card per day. Our hotel, most gas stations, and dining facilities would only take a Visa card or cash.  Needless to say by the third day we were almost out of Argentinian pesos and we were hungry. 

On Friday, the day we left Malargue  it was my birthday and Scott was sick with a fever.  We decided at that point to just go home.  We were making pretty decent time, until we got to the boarder.  We waited to get through customs for over 3 hours.  It was a huge pain and not organized at all, but all the people were super nice.  We were just tired, hungry and sick.  It is a birthday I don't ever want to repeat.  We didn't have the greatest experience in Argentina, but we learned a lot and next time we will be sure to have enough Argentinian pesos, we won't try to teach all 4 kids how to snowboard at once, and we will bring more snacks.

Sunday, Scott still wasn't feeling great and decided to stay home from church.  I took the kids and came home to him making me a homemade salted caramel apple pie.  He felt bad the my birthday was so terrible and wanted to make it up to me.  Oh my goodness, it was the best salted caramel apple pie I have ever eaten.  I seriously have the best husband ever!!

The next Tuesday Scott and I got up at 3:45 am to head over to the Santiago airport.   My cousin was getting married and really wanted me to come.  I had to go since I was the 2nd person she told, that and I really wanted to go.  Scott was nice enough to let me go for 12 days.  Oh my goodness, best vacation ever!  (however it would have been great if my entire family could have made it) I was able to surprise his side of the family by showing up at their family reunion.  I think I almost gave his dad a heart attack, it was awesome.  (I would have felt bad if he actually had one, he is a pretty amazing guy)  I was able to make it to Makayle's missionary fairwell, which was just what I needed.  I have missed being able to understand church meetings, and hers was pretty wonderful.  (I miss people speaking English!)

I was able to see most of my family living there, I able to see my cousin get married, see a great friend that came down from Washington, and spent the last night seeing Wicked with my wonderful mother-in law.  We had great seats, 2nd row center!  It was the perfect ending to a great trip.  I didn't want to go home and face reality.  I did finally make it home after many layovers, and reality hit me like a ton of bricks.  One thing I noticed was how much I was missed and appreciated, and I was SO excited to see my kids that I woke them up at 2:30 am when I finally got home just to give them hugs and kisses.  I was pretty excited to see Scott as well, but I think he was more excited that I finally made it home.  He is such a great dad, and while I was away, (the kids were still on their winter break from school) he took them on all kinds of fun adventures.  They went biking, shopping, and exploring in Valparaiso, Vina del mar, and Renaca.


 
 
 
 
 
The next big thing that happened was that my baby girl turned 16!  Emmi's birthday was on a school day, so when she got home, she had a couple friends over for cake.  Her real party was on that Saturday.  She had 6 of her closet friends over.  One friend made a birthday video for her with videos from a lot of friends and family.  Thank you to those who were able to get them to me.  She cried when she watched it and was feeling so happy that so many people love and miss her.  It was the icing on the cake.  Speaking of cake, I made her a chocolate mint cake which was devoured, and the left over frosting ended up all over in a frosting war.  (when I was gone taking our missionary friends home)  Good thing all the girls helped in cleaning up the mess.  After that we took all the family and girls to the movies where we watch Guardians of the Galaxy.   Scott and I kept getting strange looks with all the kids we had, but it was so much fun!  I love my kids friends, they have some really great ones here. 

 
 
 
 
 
Brody and Mia were asked to participate in a Chilean celebration dance that the Stake Primary put on.  They had 2 weeks of practice and then the big day came.  They looked so cute all decked out in their Chilean attire. 

Scott has joined the naval flight club here, and a few weeks ago they had a bombing competition that he wanted to see.  What happens is people take the planes up and they get 3 chances to try and "bomb" the target.  (The bombs were bags of flour.)  It was pretty fun to watch, and see how many people were way off  target.

Scott's biggest news was that he was able to fly a helicopter.  The U.S. Marines were down here doing some stuff and the H-46 helicopter was out on his base.  He was able to sweet talk some of the guys to let him go out on a ride.  Well his sweet talking worked so well, that he was able to get 1 hour of flying time and 5 landings.  It was the highlight of his week.  He was so excited when he got home to tell me about it.  Too bad his sweet talking didn't get me up there with him, all well. 

The USS America ship was here, and we were invited to go and take a tour of it.  The perks of being in the military down here.  It was pretty cool, but I was a little disappointed that we didn't get to see more of it.  Our tour guide was stationed in Whidbey Island, around the same time we were, and she swears she has meet me before, we probably did, I just don't remember.  Talk about a small world.  On a side note, I was able to sit in on a meeting with the US ambassador for Chile.  Talk about an uncomfortable meeting for me.  My power went out at my house when I was in the shower, so my hair was wet, I was in jeans and tennis shoes, and I was the only wife there with a bunch of high ranking guys in uniform, and security for the ambassador.  Scott told me when we arrived that I was the only wife that was going to be there.  How convenient, if I would have know, I would have stayed home!  I am not a good officer's wife.  I don't dress like one, and I certainly don't act like one.  I don't fit in with these people.  It is good experience for me to be put in uncomfortable places, I just haven't figured out what it is good for yet.
 
 
 
One Saturday we took a walk down into our little town to explore the "Sma-all"  It is what the locals call the small mall.  We went into a book store, and the kids were like kids in a candy store.  They love books! 

Another weekend the kids and Scott both had a 3 day weekend and it happened to be beautiful outside.  Mia and Scott decided that they wanted to have a picnic lunch outside.  It was great.  We ended up playing duck duck goose, tag, and some human jousting.  Good times had by all. Kaleb was the only one that ended up hurt.  The boys were practicing tackling for rugby, and Kaleb landed wrong on his hand, overextending his middle finger.  It was a little swollen and bruised, and the teachers at the school were making me feel like a bad parent for not taking him to the hospital.  I ending up taking him, because Scott was gone on another work trip (he has taken trips up North and way down south, lucky guy) and guess what...it wasn't broken.  Good times going to the hospital. Good thing Kaleb is pretty fluent in Spanish now and was able to translate the things I couldn't understand.

 We were able to experience the largest earthquake we have had here yet.  A 6.2 that certainly got things moving. Kaleb was able to catch the T.V. just in time, and only a couple things broke.  Not to terrible if you ask me.

Last Friday my entire family were on separate electronics so I announced that on Saturday morning we were going to have a family fun run. Surprisingly enough, they were all excited about it.  Saturday morning came and it was cold, grey, and misting outside.  Some of us were not to excited about the fun run anymore, but we all went anyways.  It ended up being a truly fun run.  Once we were out the sun came out, it warmed up, and we all ran the entire 1 1/2 miles without stopping.  We then had to walk up the stairs that take us from the beach to our apartment.  That wasn't much fun, 170 steep stairs!  At least we were all out together get our much needed exercise.

After the run and making it up the stairs, don't judge, I was hot!
 

 If you are still reading, I'm impressed.  Talk about a long post!  I know there were more things that we have done, but I don't remember them.  So sad, all well.  Enjoy a sunset picture, I know we get to enjoy them every night, and pictures don't do them justice.   Hopefully it will not take so long for me to update our blog next time. Who knows though.