A Crisco Disaster.

Welp this week was quite entertaining......
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Justen( f.y.i...my supa sweet huband) holding his favorite friend Kayden; it is very true that she likes him more than she likes me. Maybe it is because he offers the best snuggles?

It really did snow like 6 or so inches, and we had a blast! Although my car got a little stuck in the driveway, we enjoyed sledding, baby tubing, and rough housing in the snow. Did I mention it was beautiful??

UGH! Warning: DO NOT buy the Crisco butter flavored and expect it to work the same as Crisco. It will make your cookies flat, ugly, nasty and seem like Paula Deen tore up your kitchen. I was so disappointed with the outcome, so I am never buying that kind again.

About 3 days after the crazy snow storm, we have 60 degree weather, blue skies, sunshine.... Check out that landscape. Cool huh? There are a few perks to living in the middle of noooowhere.

That face. She is so cute, and lovable, and I cannot come up with an excuse to not stop by and see her every time I have a free 15 minutes. We play, we throw stuff, we scream a little, and her Mommy makes fun of me. Its a pretty good time all in all. haha..

Woah..... I think there is something going on in the Walmart. Too many bears, not enough shelf, too many chocolates, not enough bear....I think the Valentine Hurricane has hit us.

-Sara Jacqueline

TGIF: It's PARTY Day!!!

Today we have a ton of parties to go to and to put on for our kids, as it is our last day of school. Already we had to say goodbye to our wonderful spanish teacher, Mari Carmen yesterday, and it was VERY sad. It will be so much worse today I am sure, I will definitely miss all my students!!!

And I will miss my ILP friends even more...

-Sara Jacqueline

TGIF: My Second to Last Friday in Mexico

This week has been quite random....as you can see.

In the wholesale candy store (best place to get goodies), Bonnie and I came across this GIANT bag of cheeto balls. I couldn't believe it, it was like four feet tall. What do you do with that thing? Sit on the couch for a Saturday afternoon? Wow...I would sure like to. Maybe it belongs in the Managers Apartment at 4-H Camp???

Today when we were practicing for our end of the year musical, I realized my little group of girls and I were all coordinating in pink, and so was Courtney. Aren't they adorable?


See the little one in front who is looking at the ground? Fernanda just started two weeks ago at school, but she has caught on to some stuff. Her trick today was knocking on the underside of the table, so that I would go and open the door so she could leave....what a smart four year old.!

Lately dinner has consisted of corn flakes and coke. Yum. I never knew I would like flakes of corn so much.

Tonight we went out to dinner at a new restaurant, and then followed it up with some awesome ice cream down the street. They even had sugar free flavors (a big deal for Mexico). We listened to some cute music, sat on comfy couches and decided that we must come back this week to try one of their twenty kinds of hot cakes and crepes. Yum!!!

It just wouldn't be a good week unless me and Bonnie got a picture looking like total FOOLS with ice cream. We always manage to look ridiculous and fat all in the same picture. Can you find the other picture where me and Bonnie look the exact same with our ice cream on the blog??? Gotta love it!

Happy Friday Everyone!!! Only 9 More days of Mexico for Me!








-Sara Jacqueline

If Bicycle=Bicicleta then Tricycle=Tricicleta ....?

After Puerto Escondido, we started heading back in the direction of home and stopped in Puerto Angel for an afternoon and a night. We decided it was WAY too tiny for us, spent a little time on the beach and then had rooftop dinner at our hotel.

It was a cute little town, but there was absolutely nothing to do there, so we decided we didn't want to spend that last days of our vacation just being bored. We are spoiled and we know it.

The next morning we got on an early bus to Huatulco, which is the next major city over, where a lot of cruise ships port for a day. It's more of a touristy town, and we found plenty to do here. Plus, the water was super blue!!!

Bonnie and I decided we wanted to take a tractor ride on the beach!

Well actually it is more like a tricycle, or in Spanish I guess that would be a tricicleta?

Either way, it was a lot of fun, and totally hilarious!!!

Little Bonnie was so tuckered out from pedaling that she fell fast asleep. GOTCHA BON BON!!!!!

After a long long day at the beach, we walked over to dinner in town at this cute little place. I had Sopa Azteca, which is usually VERY different and not like this at all, so do not be fooled. It was pretty good...but certainly not as good as other things that I have had, so I was a bit disappointed.

But for the first time in Mexico, we got to eat salsa and chips brought to us by our waiter. This does not happen in Mexico like you think it should, because that is American...do not be fooled.

I am so so glad we decided to come to Huatulco for a few days before heading home, it really is a nice little city, and there is tons to do and tons of people which we love. It is so touristy in fact that the people here look at us shocked when we speak in Spanish to them..kind of fun. We are headed out for an all day 7 beach snorkel trip!

-Sara Jacqueline

TGIF: Off to the Beach!!!

Just a few highlights from these past two days:

Me and Bonnie being crazy....of course. One of our students brought us some foreign looking berries, sort of like raspberries but droopier and longer. Weird..

On Thursday, it rained ALL afternoon, for about five hours and hailed as well off and on twice!! Crazy weather, but we loved it!!

The hail was nickel sized if you look very closely...

We had to say goodbye to our good pal Betsy from Maryland. Unfortunately, she has to return home a little earlier to go back to school, but we had a lot of great times together. She was actually not part of our teaching group, but taught adults upstairs in the same school. Still we will miss her funny stories!

We are off now for an entire week for Semana Santa, or also known as Spring Break. We are headed to the beaches of Puerto Escondido, Puerto Angel and Huatulco!!! I can't wait!!!! Adios!

-Sara Jacqueline

Photo Day, Because I am Just Not Feeling Creative..

Just a few snap shots of my basic reading class with their costumes. For some reason they are obsessed with wearing costumes and playing with the dolls and stuffed animals....

Also, yesterday we went to Oaxaca for another temple trip with our ward, and HAD to visit the KFC. Anytime I mention where I am from, the first thing people say is: "Ohh like KFC?". Their menu is a bit different, and they didn't have green beans, which is what I really wanted, but Ashley had some chicken and Bonnie gobbled up a few mashed potatoes.

When I told the cashier I was actually from Kentucky, he laughed, and was completely confused, and then continued to laugh the entire time we were there. I wonder if they actually know it is a real place...

-Sara Jacqueline

TGIF: I Never Saw A Single Cow in Cuernavaca.

Today was the beginning of our second four day vacation. We had no school today, so we woke up super early to catch a bus to Puebla, and then to Cuernavaca to spend the day. Cuernavaca is actually a pretty big city, and it would be fun to spend more time here, if we had it. Today we spent most of our day walking around the city and enjoying the centro.

First we bought these awesome fruit cups for our lunch. These were not typical fruit cups either. I filled mine with apple, banana, mango and guayanaba (Super delicious fruit) and then topped it with lechera, coconut and granola. The whole cup was only 12 pesos, which is exactly 1 dollar. Seriously, when I come home I am going to put lechera on absolutely everything.

We spent the afternoon at this huge park which was actually pretty neat. We saw a parrot show, and walked around and then sat by a pond for a while and did some paddle boating. We also tried to get a ride on this cute little train, but the driver told us it wasn't in operation today...Well we just gave him a few sad faces, and he let us on for a short free ride!!!! If only life was all that easy. We definitely enjoyed ourselves, and afterwards headed back to the centro. Here is me, Bonnie and Jen:

For the rest of the time in Cuernavaca, we hung out in the centro and enjoyed all the crazy night life. One thing I love about Mexico, is that in every city, there is a Zocalo or a main square, and there is always action going on there. It's like the best place for everyone to come hang out. We saw a ton of street dancers, and then listened to some sweet tunes from these cool guys!

We actually had McDonalds Flurries for dinner..hahah..how embarrassing, but they were delicious and worth it. Don't worry, afterwards we ate some street tacos too, so we evened it all out and those were just as yummy.

For only 58 pesos a person, less than five bucks, we slept in a super sketchy hotel..haha....I will tell you about that another day..in person...so you can see my facial expressions to go with it all. Can't wait until we get to Taxco for the rest of our adventure!!

-Sara Jacqueline

Thank Goodness For Friday!

Where do I even begin?? Today was such a fun filled day of randomness, and I loved every bit of it. First of all, we had culture class this morning with our favorite teacher, Irma. We took a short drive out to a side town of Tehuacán, called Coapan to just toot around and cause trouble or something. We got to see their little cento, which was very beautiful, and also ate some yummy pumpkin seeds covered in chile..SO doing that at home.

As we wandered around some more, Irma thought it would be a perfect time to learn how to make tortillas from the real ladies who know how. Check them out. These three women make over 2,000 tortillas a day over this SUPER hot grill in the hot Mexican air. They are awesome at their skills, and can make tortillas faster than you can eat them.

They graciously let us take over their store for a little bit and just make tortillas with them. What a GREAT experience! These tortillas were made out of Maseca, which you probably have seen in stores and such near you.

It is basically like a corn meal, and it is mixed with water to form this dough, and typically a huge mountain of dough sits around in all places where tortillas are made. Sometimes, entire tables are devoted to a mount everest of maseca in restaurants, or places where they sell tortillas. I can't say maseca tortillas are my favorite, because I actually prefer homemade flour tortillas, but they are still quite delicious used for tacos, or just hot off the grill.

Steps to Making a Tortilla

1. First grab a handful of maseca dough
2. Roll the dough in a nice little ball
3. Place ball in the center of the tortilla press on the wax paper
4. Put press down, and squish real hard
5. Open the tortilla press and peel off the top sheet of wax paper from the flat tortilla
6. Flip the tortilla in your hand, and peel off the opposite sheet of wax paper
7. Pass the tortilla back and forth in your hands until you are barely holding it
8. Glide the rounded tortilla dough onto the grill, without making any bumps or burning yourself. Lay flat to cook
9. Flip the tortilla with your hands when needed
10. Wait until the tortilla puffs up with air and deflates, then take it off to eat (or stack)

My first attempt at tortilla making went really well until I tried to lay it down on the grill, then it crumpled up and was basically useless. However, the second time I learned the tossing technique and my tortilla glided on the grill quite nicely!

Yes these are the actual tortillas that I made myself!!!

Also, check out this basket....it is specifically for holding tortillas. They stick them in there for safe keeping, and to deliver to other people. Often I see these little old ladies carrying these huge tortilla baskets on their backs somewhere.

Now I have to learn how to make flour tortillas!!

-Sara Jacqueline