What A Week!

So Grandpa Tidwell flew back with us to Peru and has spent the last week with us, which has been so fun for the boys. We played a lot, and ate even more then we played. We went today to a place called Gamara, which is a giant clothing market(super cheap) that goes on for days. We found these super cute spider-man pajamas, Brock is into spider-man these days, so of course Z wanted them as well. Aren't they cute! So any of you who want to go shopping come for a visit.
Brock and Grandpa at a Parilla Restaurant. Look at all that meat! Yummy!
So Chris is in love with an instrument that is native to Peru called the Cajon. It is such a cool instrument to listen to, so here is all my boys playing the Cajon. Chris wants one for his Bday, but I don't know if I can handle the boys banging on it all day, until one of them can take lessons!
There is this gorgeous park that has these Paloma's for the kids to feed. Brock thinks it is so funny cause the birds just follow him around begging for food. Today we went first thing in the morning so the birds were hungry and he had about 30 of them following him all over. Now Zander likes to run thru the birds to make them fly. Needless to say they had a great time.
So if any of you have been around Z lately, you know how much he loves his chupon, pacifier, one just is not good enough!

Vacation!

I just love this pic of Brock, isn't he adorable. He looks so grown up, he is not my baby anymore!
We ventured to Utah for 4 days for a family reunion that was a blat. The boys had so much fun with their cousins and their uncle Tyler. We even went camping, with both boys and no husband can you believe it. I have never seen my boys dirtier then they were camping, but they had a blast playing in the dirt. It was so fun to see all the family that we rarely get to see.
The boys and I enjoying some pool time at the reunion. Z is going to be my lil dare devil. There was a slide that went into the pool that he loved. I think he made his uncle Tyler go down it with him a billion times.
Grandpa, Grandma Higbee, Brock, Zander and I on our last day in Utah.
A Day at the Zoo! One of our last days in SD we all went to the Zoo, including Grandma and Grandpa Tidwell. We had so much fun, and the boys figured out real fast that they could get a free ride from Grandpa! Brock got to see the hippos, his favorite, and it was a great day to spend with family.

Back In Cali!

Fun in the sun! My kids were so excited to take off their sweaters and put on the swim suits, being in the sun and the warm weather has been so nice. It has been so crazy since we got here, so we are all exhausted, but having fun. Unfortunately, Chris has to go back early and is leaving tomorrow, but we still have some more time to soak up the sun. Here is Brock and Z in the pool at Grandpas house with Uncle Joe, Aunt Meggie, and cousin Tnk. They had such a good time.
So the main reason for this trip was because Chris's brother got married last Friday the 11. So the next few pics are of the boys at the San Diego temple having fun rolling in the grass. It is such an amazing temple and the boys just loved being there. Brock loves temples and could not go to the one where mommy and poppy got married.
Chris and I at the SD Temple, waiting for his brother and new wife.
All the munchkins playing in the grass. Z thinks he is as big as all of them and amazingly enough keeps up with them.

So Sad!

Today was my last class with Mauricio, my tutor, since we leave for California tomorrow. He has been so awesome, and most of all patient with me and my kids as they run through the house during our lessons. I could not have asked for a better teacher. I have only had 24 hours of study time with him so far, but I am so excited to come back in a couple weeks and get started again. Hopefully my brain will remember all that we have learned so far. So Mauricio if you are reading this Thank You and we will see you in a few weeks!!!!

Uh Oh!

I normally keep things pretty short and to the point, but I just had to share this experince. Today I got pulled over for only the second time in my life, and my first time in Latin America, and let me tell you it is not an experience I want to have again. So here is the situation: I pick Brock up from soccer practice and I am on my way home and thought I was obeying all traffic rules that I know of when I drove through the intersection with a green light. I guess maybe it was the wrong shade of green, because next to me is a police man on his motorcycle pointing at me to pull over. So I calmly pull to the side of the road, with both kids in the car by the way, and roll down my window. He proceeds to speak to me in Spanish and I pretend to not understand anything he is saying. Chris told me to never speak Spanish in this type of situation, so being the good wife I did just as we had rehearsed. Half an hour later I am still sitting on the side of the road, and at this point the police officer is so mad at me he literally is about to crawl through the window and punch me. {I am not kidding} I just kept saying, "I am sorry I don't understand." I understood everything he was saying Shhhh! First, He wanted me to follow him to the police station, then he wanted to follow me to the bank, and then he asked me how much money I had in my wallet. I showed him the $20 I had in my purse and he got even more mad, I told him the only other thing I had was a dollar bill. He finally gave in and handed me the car registration, which is in a plastic slip, and told me to put the money inside the slip and give it to him. So I did as he asked and we were on our way after a short 35 minute drama. Oh yeah dd I mention Chris is not even in the country, he is in Paraguay. I can honestly say life is never boring.

Singing Time!

This is the only song I hear around the house these days, a big thanks to his teacher! Every month they learn a new song, nursery rhyme, and valor. Sometimes they are in English and sometimes they are in Spanish. I think it is so cute to hear him sing, but I have to say I am ready for a new song.

Nap Time!

i just thought this was a cute picture of Chris and Brock taking a little afternoon snooze. That is one thing they both do very well!

A`big step!

.....for me anyways. A couple of weeks ago I got the dreaded envelope from our bishop, you know the one that asks you to speak in sacrament meeting. Yes that is right I was being asked to give a talk in our all Spanish speaking ward, in SPANISH! Yesterday was the day, and I have to say it went pretty well. For those of you who don't know I am only on my 6 session of tutoring, so I was feeling a little overwhelmed. In Puerto Rico we went to an English speaking ward, so this was a big first for me. I had many people come and tell me how much they enjoyed my talk, and how impressed they were, but lets just say i hope I do not have to do it again soon.

More pics!

So I have two little ladies men on my hands, in this case they went for sisters, isnt that nice.
Here is Brock with his girlfriend Valeria, yes that is her sis in the pic with Z. Brock even has had play dates with Valeria (is that considered a date?) She and her sis are darling so they both have my okay!
Here is the ladies man at work again. This is Pari, his bud. She is more of a guys guy if you know what I mean. She fits right in with all the boys. Here they are taking a break from the trampoline for me to take a picture, let me tell you not an easy task.
Just a picture of some of the decorations and there you can see Z and Zaida heading for the ball pit.
Z with all the ladies in the ball pit that they had set up just for the little guys.

Another Fiesta!

Sorry to bore you with these bday stories, but I still am having so much fun enjoying these festivities. The boys are loving all the food and fun, not to mention the social life. Brock's friend Jorge had his bday party today, and we had a blast. So here are some photos from our fun afternoon.
More slides, more fun, look at Brock go. He loves doing crazy tricks down the slide. Here he is being superman.
Mommy got talked into going down the slide with Z. Poor lil guy feels left out all the time. He wants to be three so bad.
Zander looks so cute in Brock's hat, he wants to be just like Brock in every way.
Zander, Zaida and Brock posing for a picture on the slide, aren't they cute. Zaida is such a great help. We love her.

Look into my Eyes!

No purpose, I just thought this was a super cute pi of Z and I love his eyes, they are so blue. They are his lady magnets, and let me tell you they work really well.

Bday Bash!

Birthday Extravaganza! O.K, so I have decided that Peruvians throw the craziest b-day parties for their kiddos. Brock went to his friend Liam's birthday party this afternoon and had the time of his life! It was a spider man theme, and they had a gigantic bounce slide, trampoline, pinatas, face painting, a full spider man show, with costumes, and oh yeah all the treats and snacks a kid could ever want. The party was catered, so they had waiters walking around with food, drinks and sweets where ever you turned your head. As a gift they gave everyons spider man capes in the color of their preference. Brock and Zander had a blast, I even had to take Brock home crying because he did not want to go home. It will be amazing if they sleep tonight!!! Oh yeah did I mention that he has another party to go to on Friday!
Brock and Zander having a blast on the biggest slide I have ever seen! I think Brock spent an hour straight going up and down that thing, until he saw the treat table, which was child height to make sure they can reach everything, and believe me Brock and Zander had their share.
Zander having his first try on a trampoline, and loving it. He kept going back and forth from the slide to the tramp, he couldn't decide which he liked more.
Mom and Brock taking in a quiet moment, and of course Brock found the suckers immediately!
Spider man, Spider man who's the man it's Spider man! The boys loved the show they put on. They pulled Brock up and spider man did a flip over him, and he thought that was so cool.

A Sunday Afternoon

My three favorite boys in the whole world walking home from church today. I thought it was such a cute picture of all three of them holding hands. We live just three blocks from church so we get to walk there and back. For the most part it is a pleasant experience, except for when someone decides to have a meltdown and scream the whole way there. So embarrassing!! Brock has been having daddy separation issues lately. Chris has been working insane hours and we barely see him, so Brock will do anything and everything to get his attention these days. So much fun for me since I am the one home with him all week. I hope this passes quickly and we can have poppy home again soon.
As soon as we walk in the door, the first thing these two guys do is sit in the hall and take off their shoes. They are still having a hard time adjusting to wearing socks and shoes. yea boys sorry we are not in the Caribbean anymore!
I would do anything for some sunshine these days. This is what it has looked like the past few weeks, gloomy, cold and no sun. I can handle the cold, but I need some rays man. I am looking forward to getting some sun in Cali in a few weeks.

Field Trip!

I want to first apologize for the lack of pictures lately, but a certain someone has been taking the camera to work. Today was a big day for Brock, he had his very first school field trip and mommy did not even get to go. His class went to Vivanda, which is a grocery store here in Peru, to get a behind the scenes tour (I never did anything cool like that when I was three.) Anyhow, they had a great time. They got to watch them make fresh hot bread, go look at all the different types of meat, Brock told me all about the chicken feet he saw. His absolute favorite was seeing them cut and clean the fish. Every time we go to the store he has to look at the fish. Here you see the whole thing sitting on ice for you to tell them which piece you want. So needless to say he had a great day, and to top it all off they gave them a bag of goodies to take home, the sucker being his favorite. What is about three year old's and suckers?

Shhh its a secret!

So it was fathers day today and Brock was so excited. Buying presents for poppy is quite a venture with a 3 yr old. Oh you may be thinking that I am talking about the shopping part, but I am talking about the secret part. Everything we got he told poppy first thing, but how do you teach a 3 yr old to keep a secret? That is not to mention that when I asked him what he wanted to get poppy he said "a sucker." So we went to the store and bought a sucker special just for poppy, and of course Brock had to have one as well, duh mom. He and poppy ate their green and purple whistle suckers in bliss, there were no surprises, and no secrets, but we still had a great day. Well, I guess you would have to ask Chris to verify, but I think he had a good fathers day. Lots of silliness and smiles from the boys, who can beat that!

Check it Out!

Here is some video for you, this was my favorite dance, the couple had such amazing chemistry it just was captivating. So enjoy a little snip it.

What A Night!

Last night we went to dinner with some good friends of ours to this awesome restaurant called Junius. It is a dinner show so I thought I would share some pics of our night. We had such a good time. They had a buffet with all types of Peruvian cuisine, and you ate as you watched the many dances from all over the country. The costumes were fantastic, and of course you know me I loved the dancing. Oh yeah, Chris and I got pulled up on stage to dance with the dancers. It is always good to make a fool of yourself every once in a while right? So sorry for all the pics just thought I would start enticing visitors!!!!!!
More Dancing!
Ride em cowboy!
Our friends Pierina and Jeronimo. The guy behind them is from the dance of the diablo. Ohhhh scary huh!
So does that mean we are more devilish since we have two behind us instead of one. Hmmmm!

Daddys Day!

Brock diggin in on poppy's grub in class.

Happy Fathers Day! Yesterday at Brock's school they invited all the dads to class and had a little celebration for fathers day. They sang them songs, and we were asked to send all the ingredients for their daddy's favorite sandwich that they were going to make for them in class. So if any of you know Chris there were quite a few ingredients. They had a great time, and now Brock asks everday if poppy is going to school with him again.

How Nice!

Brock is such a nice brother he even shares his beloved sucker with his bebe, as he calls him. Luckily Brock loves to share, sometimes even a little too much. He loves taking food to the watchmen downstairs, his favorite is Luis. He always has to take some food down to Luis. I do have to say we get exceptional service from Luis because of it. He carries the groceries, unloads the car and puts it all in the elevator, and even helps me back into our parking spot(backing in is the only option). So I guess having a giving son is a plus.

Hey there Papa!

This is the papa that Brock made for Dia Nacional de la Papa. In Peru there are something like 6 thousand different types of potatoes, so they have a day especially to celebrate the "Papa." Needless to say we eat a lot of potatoes and french fries.
Here is the proud creator himself. Isnt it beautiful.

On Shaky Ground!

So we started today off great with an earthquake. We did not feel this one as much as we did in march on the 15 floor and this was was 50 miles away instead of 25. Some of you know how bad we wanted to experience a huricane and we waited patiently for 3 years and never had one, and we have been in Peru for 4 months now and have three. Go figure! Anyhow we are all good and the kids did not even notice thank heavens.

Earthquake Details
Magnitude
5.2
Date-Time
Saturday, June 07, 2008 at 13:06:28 UTC
Saturday, June 07, 2008 at 08:06:28 AM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location
12.412°S, 77.687°W
Depth
35 km (21.7 miles) set by location program
Region
NEAR THE COAST OF CENTRAL PERU
Distances
75 km (50 miles) WSW of LIMA, Peru

Welcome Home from the Boys!

The boys wanted to do their own welcoming as well. Brock says when are you coming here. When I told him you were coming home he thought you were coming here and got so excited. He was telling his friends at school that you were coming, it was really cute.
So Elder Tidwell here are your two cutest nephews, sorry Em, blowing you kisses. Hopefully they reach you all the way in SD. Don't you just love Brock's expression.
They are both yelling uncle Joe in this picture. They can't wait to see you. Brock wants to play football, well soccer in the states, with you. He also wants you to go down the dragon with him(just ask Josh about that one). We all love you and hope you made it home safe.

WELCOME HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today Chris's brother Joe, Elder Tidwell, comes home from Mexico where he just finished serving a two year mission for our church. We are so sad that we could not be there when he gets off the plane so here we are pretending with our big welcome home sign. So Elder Tidwell we love you and are so proud of you. We want you to know we were thinking of you on your big day even though we could not be there. We cant wait to see you in July. Big hugs and kisses from us here in Lima. P.S sorry for the crummy pic but Zaida, our helper has no clue how to use a camera.

Crazy Kids!

Anchors away, we found this really cute sail boat bed, not a good pic of it, but Brock thinks it is the coolest thing in the whole world. They have this place here where you can buy furniture for super cheap or have it custom made, so we had fun shopping!
So this is Zander's favorite thing to do now, take off all the cushions on the couch. He pretends to throw a car behind the cushions, so of course he has to go looking fo it!
Quail eggs anyone? These are the boys favorite things to eat for breakfast. Bite size just for them.
Zander popping quail eggs like candy. I have to watch him or he will eat a dozen no problem.
This is Alfonso and the boys in our living room. Alfonso was here for two weeks from Puerto Rico helping Chris to not drown from all the projects that they have going right now. Brock loved to talk his ear of in spanish, and Zander loved giving him high fives. We hardly saw either of them for 2 weeks, they worked really long hours, you know 2am, so I am sure he is glad to go home. The boys really need some daddy time badly.