Our tan li’l chica

Little Miss AnnMarie started school up again about 3 weeks ago.  She is in the 5-year-old class now which means she has ‘English time’ every morning for 2 hours.  She LOVES this time!  It’s her chance to really shine and help her other classmates with a language she knows by heart.  Her teacher is Miss Adriana, and she is wonderful.

On her first day of school, she drew a cute picture for Carlie (the one she’s holding) to help her not get too lonely without her big sis’ around.  Sweet sisters.

She has grown so much over the past year & a half.  Her Spanish (Castillano) really amazes me.  When she first started down here, she was in the 3-year-old class!  Remember?!  My heart starts to panic a little when I think about her leaving all of her Argentine friends. 

We’ve come a long ways I tell ya’, and just when we’re starting to feel a little comfortable with things, change is once again on the horizon.

A few favorite moments from February

We were lucky enough to have my parents come and visit us for a few weeks in February.  We had a time to remember, like when my father-in-law came last October.  It was awesome.  It’s just one of those things that doesn’t happen every lifetime. 

This was the first time in South America for my parents, so it was intense & crazy at times – like when we got stuck in a major traffic jam in Buenos Aires on the way to our hotel from the Temaiken Zoo.  We had to make it back in time for my parents to attend an 8 PM Tango Show downtown.  A 30-minute drive turned into almost 3 hours.  My mom & I were in the backseat of a truck with all 3 kids, and nobody got too crazy or mad at anyone.  We must like each other. :) 

Or like that one time when my dad really wanted to buy pastries by himself.  I stood back for a while to let him do it alone until I saw him fan some of his money out and say, “No bueno??”  like 3 times.  The cashier guy wouldn’t take any of my dad’s pesos because he couldn’t open the cash register for some weird reason.  We figured it out, but it was pretty funny.  My dad was doing a great job trying to speak Spanish by the way, but it was so endearing to see him just outright speak English to most people because he felt too uncomfortable not saying anything at all.

We saw some great sights, but most of all, we just enjoyed being with each other.  It made us miss all of our family so much, but we know we’re where we need to be right now! 

Earlier in February, we got invited to our celebrity neighbor’s daughter’s birthday party.  Say that five times fast. 

We were taking pictures of him & his giant-ness while other people were taking pictures of our American daughter(s).  Funny.

This weekend we’re going to enjoy just being together and relaxing.  I thankfully organized all of my 2012-2013 pictures which makes me so happy, AND I finally put my old camera to rest and opened my new one.

I’m almost done catching up each of the kids’ journals.  Journal writing is so so important to me.  I’m on Journal #12 for my lifetime, but I started when I was 8. 

Cheers to no more blurry pictures!  (We’ll see…)

Nine Years Ago Today

Nine years ago today I was standing on the top of Hill Cumorah in Palymyra, New York with my boyfriend.  It’s funny to think of my husband as a boyfriend now.  Looking back, I laugh a little at the fact that I flew out there, to New York – alone.  I must’ve really liked him.  ;)

We had been dating since the previous summer after our dads set us up on a semi-blind date.  Jared and I grew up in the same hometown, but he was older than I was, and we didn’t really know each other.  I didn’t really like Jared after our first date; he didn’t think we were much of a match either.  I thought he was arrogant, and he thought I was too churchy.  He gave me a one arm hug after the date, and pretty much said, “Maybe I’ll give you a call.”  I kind of laughed and said, “maybe so.”

I told my Dad the next morning that I didn’t like him much - he was crude, and I couldn’t stand the music he was playing in his car.  My Dad asked if that was all, and I hesitated before saying, “I think so.”  My dad suggested that ‘maybe I ought to reconsider throwing him out so fast.’  (Sorry Jared, this is sounding really bad).  Later, I found out that Jared told his mom I was too spiritual.  I’m still laughing about that, but I guess something she said made him call me again. 

The second date was pretty much full of romance.  Horse riding, hair glistening in the sun, heads turning just the right way at just the right moment, and laughing to tears.  I’m not sure how everything magically switched that summer night, but it did, and we were struck by love.

I spent the next year on the phone, literally (my deepest apologies to my faithful roommates).  He had to go back to Cornell, across the country, and I had to go back to Paris, across the world, to study The Arts.  j/k – I went back up the road to BYU-Idaho, but still.

Love was in the air, and the following February, I left the freezing metropolis of Rexburg with wild abandonment (somewhat of a surprise trip) to seek out my true love in Ithaca, New York.  He in turn surprised me with a marriage proposal on the top of Hill Cumorah, on Valentine’s Day, in a blizzard.  He did get down on one knee.  He did open up a jewelry box with a beautiful ring.  He did tell me all sorts of wonderful things about me.  I did laugh and say YES, three times actually.  It was the perfect Valentine’s Day and the start of something wonderful. 

The day we were engaged - February 14, 2004

Dear Jared, I love you so much!  Please hurry home to me.  I’m sad that you’re in a different country today, but I know this won’t go on forever.  Be careful, and eat at my favorite restaurant for us.  Love, Me