Iquitos - Day One

Honestly, I don’t even know where to begin.  Our family trip to Iquitos was one of my all-time favorites.  We traveled with the Sorenson family.  Our girls are best friends and spend countless hours together on a regular basis.   They entertained themselves with animal figures on the boat, at dinner and by the side of the pool.  They held hands running through the villages and bickered over who picked the most flowers.  They doubled up on the water slides to come down together and giggled when something fun happened.

Iquitos, a city of 500,00 people which is only accessible by boat or plane, is the largest city in the Amazon rainforest.  It is a short 1.5 hours flight from Lima.   We decided to take advantage of our stay in the jungle and add one extra night in the city itself.  We fed the kids sack lunches on the plane so that we could hit the ground running.  

The Mission President on the Lima North Mission was on the flight with us and called us two small mototaxis to take our families out to Puerto Nanay, where we caught a small boat recommended by the mototaxi driver out to the Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm.   There were monkeys, a caged jaguar and a tapir too, but aside from the boat ride into the tributaries of the Amazon, it was not what we thought that it would be.  The three-wheeled motorcycle taxis were a blast.  The kids were waving and yelling through the streets.  I wish that we had a photo of our family of 5 squished into a seat made for two. :)  

Known as Suri, this local dish is fried Bettle Larvae that we found readily available at Puerto Nanay.  

No thanks.

 Local fishman 

Our captain as we approached the Butterfly Farm.

Cute Kennedy.

The moon over our boat

Entrance

Macaws.  Hola. Hola. Hola.

 Not so awesome.

Vibrant Jungle Flowers

Mama and baby monkeys at the Butterfly Farm

Sweet Peyton

We found a hammock stuffed into the roof of the boat... of course we had to try it!  

Abe loved making baby Tanner smile. 

Baby Tanner

Our ride.

On our way home, we stopped at the highly recommended Yellow Rose of Texas for dinner.  With eccentric décor and a tiny staircase to the second floor, we weren’t sure what we were getting ourselves into, but the food was great. 

Okay, all political jokes aside... SERIOUSLY?

In the last 7 days, in no particular order...

• Hosted BYU vs. Ole Miss.
• Caught a Peruvian bug that just lingered.
• Completed my first 45 background investigations.
• Sent Steve on a trip.
• Attended a PTA meeting as one of the Grade 2 reps.
• Made crocheted necklaces prepared by the sisters in Nauvoo with the YW for mutual.
• Sent 15 YW on a service activity in Manchay.
• Changed bed sheets and bathed healthy children at 3am two nights in a row.
• Hosted a YW's pizza party to prepare for an upcoming service activity.
• Learned how to make beads out of newspaper.
• Snuggled a feverish 2 year old. 
• Attended parent conferences.
• Taught 2 kids to ride bikes without training wheels
• Learned that Sophia inherited her ice cream preferences from Steve - vanilla only.
• Introduced Personal Progress to a newly active sister.
• Heard Abe play the piano in Primary for the first time.
• Learned what it means when a boy has a quizzical brow... at least in YW code.
• Finished Season 4 of FNL.
• Spent a perfectly sunny day at a farm with all of the families from Sophia's preschool. 
• Learned that bringing a friend for Abe on field trips is genius!

Happy 9.10.11!

Nauvoo

It is time for a new video camera.  It has been recovered a number of times from bad falls, but in Feb it plunged 15 ft into a small cave at the highest point of the mountain in Machu Picchu.  Good thing that mom was not there because Dad sent Abe into the black crevice to recover it.  But I digress.

Here is our trip to Nauvoo.  It was spectacular.  What a great experience to see Brent and Janet as missionaries (performing nonetheless).  We were able to spend sweet time in the temple, enjoy geode hunting on P-day, see the pageant, and get a better understanding of the life the Saints led in this sacred place.  This trip was so memorable.

I am having troubles uploading the video, so you can find it here until I fix the gliche.

We spotted this fox over and over throughout the week.

Grandma booking Carriage Tours and Wagon Rides

Playing in Jonathon Browning's backyard.

Getting a tour from Grandma

Anna Amanda Amelia Applebee

Our favortie Jed and Annie

Random Thoughts

• I love mint chocolate chip ice cream and cheese danishes even more.  Fortunately for my waist, I cannot get either here on the local economy.  However thanks to the commissary, today I ate both.  
• I miss the sun!
• Afterschool activities that live up my standards are hard to find here.  I just can't let go of my expectations. 
• I have a lot of decisions to make which is a double-sided coin.  I just can't seem to get it off my mind, even though I really am trying.
• I LOVE real estate.  In all forms.  Some people love to craft or cook or bake or use Photoshop. I love to look through the MLS and read real estate investment blogs.  This is one of the few reasons I dream of living in the same place forever.  Real estate and established friendships.  Period.
• While I do dream about Target and Costco, I will give up both forever if it means that I get to travel.
• We have such great friends here in Peru.  If I raised my children in once place, they would not have to say goodbye over and over and work at establishing new friendships every few years.  Except that if we didn't, we wouldn't have had the opportunity to get to know the great families posted with us around the world.  We have such great friends.  Truly.
• I have a pile of things to blog about, but just can't get motivated enough to do it.  Just the thought of sitting here while the photos are uploading...
• I think that this blog might have more future value if I go private so that I can be more open.  I simply just don't want to.  Why not?  I don't know.
• I love the Young Women's organization of the Church.  There is no better place to serve.  They lift me up day in and day out.  Regardless of history or language.  They are the hope of the future.  Incredible.
• I could listen to this song over and over and over:

• Speaking of which, I love this one too (thanks to the Nie Nie Dialogues new family video):

Preview of Nauvoo

One of the pioneers favorite passtimes was the Stick Pull.  This is  just too good not to share... More of Nauvoo to come soon.  We have a lot to share from our summer vacation. There is some good stuff.

More Sophia

Seriously?  Nothing like hanging out in a basket.  

Or going to sleep when you are tired.

The Girls

Sophia is full of personality and such a heart-breaker.

She love to dance and she turns everything into a song.  This is her best friend Kennedy. They are in the same class at school and she has an older sister who is just a couple of months younger than Peyton.  I love when it works out like that. :)  They were so cute in this little performance for Mother's Day.

Peyton loves music and dance too.  She is meticulous and orderly.

Showin' her stuff.

Jazz class.  She loves to get out and move.  We are looking forward to the time when she can play basketball.  So is she. 

Happy Father's Day

Okay, I really need to get caught up before we leave on R&R or I might as well throw in the towel on this blog right now.

Happy Father's Day to the 

2011 Embassy Games Chess Champion

This was really fun to make with the kids for Father's Day Dinner

and the

 2011 Embassy Games 3-on-3 Basketball Champion

It is funny how things come full-circle sometimes.  Steve held both of these titles at Ricks College in 2000.  So much has changed and yet, this is a reminder of how many things have stayed the same.

Nash Despedida

We said goodbye to the Nash Family today.  They are heading back to SLC to start a new chapter of their life.  Elder Nash has been the Area President here in Peru since 2007 and it is time for him to accept new church responsibilities.  Shelly and Spencer left just hours after this photo was taken, but Elder Nash will be with us on our flight out on Thursday.  Steve told Elder Nash that we were on his flight by special request from the First Presidency to make sure that he boarded. :)  

Shelly has been my friend and Visiting Teacher since we arrived.  The very first Sunday that we met, she looked at me and said you must be Jaclyn.  She is a good friend of the Area President in Buenos Aires who had told her of our arrival.  It was so comforting.  There is something about being 'known' in this strange lifestyle we lead where we have to start all over every couple of years. 

Shelly has taught me so much in the year we have been in Peru.  She is such a light and shining example of everything that a great woman represents.  We have enjoyed the football games together, walks, spanish class, tennis and most of all, the laughs.  We will really miss you!

This is such a great group of people.  The Nashs' have touched so many lives. We had the priveledge of making a video with memories and photos from people who are currently living here and those who have moved on.  Everyone was so eager to contribute.

What the heck was I doing?  Trying to make light of goodbyes.  I have said it a hundred times, but goodbye are the very worst part of this life.

Cherilyn and Betty Ann.  What would I do without these great women?  And how did my bangs get so stinkin' short? Just sayin'.

After years of talk...

Steve said goodbye to the world of corrective lenses.

In a few hours, he will wake up a man with 20/20 vision!

Huaraz, Peru

Steve has been at it again!  We are the stars of our own movie!

Check it out here!

It is a must see and cannot be missed!

If you could go back...

...to right before you had your first child, what would you tell yourself?  There are so many things that I wish that I had known.  I was blessed to have a insightful sister-in-law who told me that I was about to fall in love again and she was so right!

My favorite answer is "Google doesn't have children."

Easter 2011

We were in Huaraz until Saturday afternoon and then trying to find a time to hunt for eggs and baskets as a family between church meetings before and after 830 church took some planning.  In the end, we had a great time and like always, was worth the extra effort.  

Easter Grub

Sophia swiped Peyton's new hat

Peyton found her stash behind the curtains

My mom bought Sophia a great dress (with those fun purpleshoes) that coordinated with Peyton's dress, but instead Sophia insisted on these treasures from her Easter basket.  Good thing that they were both purple, too bad that they weren't meant to go together. :)  She really is developing a personality with opinions all on her own.

Our resident Chef.  

There was a day when cooking together doubled the prep time, but these days she really contributes and is a great help.  She and I can whip something together in no time.  She is always wants to learn.