last few days in mexico

B and his little Mexican posse. Now you see why he wanted to grow his hair out so bad, right? Funny boy.

There is so much I haven't blogged about and probably never will, peeps. Oh well. So I'm gonna go big and knock out our last few days in Mexico in one giant load of pics. Prepare yourselves.

We miss our Church friends in Mexico.





B took this next picture. And yet... I still look wee.



We miss the year-round perfect 70-degree weather in one of the dirtiest, polluted cities in the world.







We miss the school. And the kids miss their friends.



B and his best friend, Lucas. You should see the emails that pass between these guys. Emails between eight-year-old boys are the cutest, sincerest little words ever typed out. 





B's Spanish teacher, Miss Velia. (He did half a day in Spanish and half a day in English at this school.)



B's English teacher, Miss Chelsea.



Dinner with our Mexico ward bishopric. Bruce loved serving with these guys. The bishop's wife made these cute little tiles for us as a momento of our time together.





End-of-the-year program.





M is trying so hard not to smile like a lunatic.







Somebody graduated from Kindergarten.



We still don't know why he was so popular at this school. They acted like he was some kind of rock star.





One night at dinner, B told us one of his friends got his feelings hurt at school, because a girl told everyone who he liked. Then the conversation went like this:

Me: "Do you like anyone?"
B: [bashful grin] "Well, yeah. Her name is Isabel. She's so cute. But L likes someone, too!"
Me:  [I turn to L] "Oh, really. Who do you like, L?"
L: [with a wistful smile and dreamy haze in his eyes] "I like Sophia. She is so pretty to me."

And according to B, L harassed her all year long. This is Sophia.



M with her teacher, Miss Melissa.



Every day M came home from school, I would ask her how her day went. "I played with my girls," she would say. M and her besties, Lucia and Manuela.





L and his best friend, Bruno. "Mom," he told me. "You need to take a picture of me and Bruno at my show so I can remember him forever."



L and his teacher, Miss Elisa.



L with his buddy, Adriano, and his "best girl," Sophia.





Chubby's personality exploded along with the eruption of two teeth before leaving Mexico.



L with the principal, Miss Jackie.



This was their favorite poli at the school. Somehow L convinced Ivan to buy him lots of paletas and congeladas.



The night before leaving Mexico, we attended the 50th wedding anniversary fiesta of Bruce's mission president and his sweet wife. This party was so awesome and Mexican. It was the perfect way to say goodbye to this country we called home for three years.





This band was the best. This frontman is going to town on the xylophone.



The bouncy castle is an absolute must at every Mexican party.

















M was in her element here. Dancing the night away with Daddy.







This cake was the bizay. Even with those tiny gold-painted pearl things inside that nearly broke my tooth. I could really use a piece right now.



M had a groupie all night. How cute is she trying to copy whatever M is doing? I died.





Fifty years is an accomplishment, guys. Amazing. I kept tearing up all night over it.





The obligatory group shot with the presidente, his wife and their granddaughter, Sandra, (who organized the whole event) and her family. Just good people.





And then somehow EZ made it into a random family group shot. He looks confused, non?



I guess I'll just go with it...



The morning we flew out...



The amount of bags we were checking on was almost sick.





















And then we were off...

why is houston so awesome

Duly note the sarcasm and (unrelated) L fronting bravado over a bunch of spiders.











So okay. We're here. And dadgum, it is unbearably hot. I'm so cranky all the time and want to do absolutely nothing, which makes it awesome that we moved here in the summertime. Just awesome. Really good planning on our part. With all the mosquitoes, 110% humidity and hurricane warnings, a person wonders why people live here. I haven't blogged in so long, because I've always been taught that if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all.

But there are some good parts... I can't really think of any right this second, because my head is throbbing from heat exhaustion and dehydration, but it might come to me.

So the first few weeks have felt weird. Culture shock or somethinglikethat. I was feeling like an awkward returned missionary. Speaking Spanish when I'm out in public and getting overwhelmed by the fact that there are 12 different kinds of dish soap at the grocery store. Twelve! Is that really necessary?!? Bruce said he could barely decide between the 50 different types of balsamic vinaigrette dressing at the store the last time he went. The excess we have here in the States is unbelievable. I walked into the Krogers here and felt like a chorus of angels should be singing in crescendo when I passed through the automatic sliding doors.

But in a way, I feel like I never really left Mexico, thanks to the huge Hispanic population we have milling around these parts. We've had a bunch of workers come traipsing through, fixing up the place. We ask them for the Mexican price. "Not the Gringo price!" we warn, and they just laugh and say "Si claro!" I freakin' love it. I called some people to get one of our rugs cleaned, and when the guy learned I just came back from Mexico City, he started speaking to me in Spanish. He ended up giving me a 20% discount on the cleaning, because I spoke his native tongue. This Mexico City rotation is already paying out dividends.

The very best part of Houston, though, is that we are living by family. And like, they're not even down the street. Tutu and Yeye are right next to us. The kids run over every single day to just hang out at their house. It's amazing. They love their Tutu and Yeye so much. For some reason their house is just more fun. It's like a huge treat to them to be able to go over there (this equates to leverage, my friends). We've never lived close to family before. I totally get it now and feel like this time is so precious. With how nomadic our families are, I know it won't last forever, so I'm so grateful for this little moment.

Anyway, we're adjusting, amigos. I think it will take me a good six months to acclimate back to the  U.S. and the gosh awful humidity, but we're adjusting. Though, sadly, "Viva Houston!" just doesn't have the same ring, does it?