Chévere, Bacán, Champú

Marcelo said this phrase today and it made me really happy: Chévere, Bacán, Champú. They say this all the time in Ecuador, and it's been a REALLY long time since I've heard it.

Chévere and bacán basically mean "awesome" and "cool" and are used almost interchangeably. And champú means "Shampoo". So basically you are saying "Cool, Awesome, Shampoo". I don't know why they say it. But it's just awesome. And it makes me smile.

What was that thing that you and Refijo used to say, Judd? Something about Cho Chos and Pinchos? Remind me again.

Oh, and Judd, you need to tell the story of Jasper the mouse here on my blog. I'll give you my password and you can be my "guest blogger". I think everyone would agree with me on this.

All Right, All Right. . .I GIVE UP!!!

I give up. Evita is officially her father's daughter. I keep trying to look for things that she has that resemble mom, but to date I only have 2 things: Her lips and her toes.

Lets take a look at the list of things she has from dad:
Eyes (Both color and shape)
Eyelashes
Eyebrows
Hair (both color and type)
Ears
Hands
Legs

Things that are still up for grabs:
Her nose (At this point it's looking to be mom's. But we won't know for sure for a while. Let's all pray she gets my nose.)
Chin

But every day it's like something else is from her dad. The latest is her temperament. She doesn't want to sleep, she wants to scream and jump around all day. She's all about playing and being with her dad. She's becoming a little firecracker, and she's not even 7 months yet!!! Oh man, this is going to be fun.

On a different note, she's started fighting her daytime naps. I only let her sleep 90 min TOTAL all day, and sometimes she doesn't even want to do that. When she fights it, she rolls over and starts getting up on her knees. She writhes and leans forward and bangs her head into the corner of her crib. (THANKS PADDED BUMPER FOR PROTECTING MY BABY'S HEAD!) Basically my nap torture sessions are going to single handedly lead to my kid crawling in 4 to 5 days.

When she finally does succumb to the sandman, this is how you will find her:



Good mommy skills, right? Whatever. She loves it. At least she's sleeping!!! And she wakes up with the best lines on her face and cheeks that stay red for hours after the nap! She's such a delight. A red-cheeked screaming bottle banging delight.

Want more proof? Here she is throwing her head back in that funny way she does. Her laugh is all guttural when she does it. It makes her mom and dad laugh really hard to see her do it.


















And I love it that she's getting a little hair on top. With a dollop of mousse, we can get a faux-hawk going. Love it. Love the tongue. Love her.

Here she is playing with her "chupa". She doesn't really use it for it's intended purpose anymore. But she loves to chew on it and play with it. She'll put it in her mouth and drop her hands and just keep it in her mouth. See what I mean?















And finally, One of my favorite pictures these days: I put Evi's headband on Raya. She's such a good sport. Oh, the abuse we inflict on our pets!!















Raya is the best dog ever!!

Oats and Hay

Hermana Storhow once told me about the story of the oats and the hay. She said that horses really want oats to eat. It's the best tasting to them, and they love it. However, it's expensive, so lots of time the farmers will give them hay. They don't like it at first but then they start to get used to it, and then they start to see it as the only food source possible. She said that you shouldn't sell yourself short, ALWAYS REMEMBER THE OATS.

So as part of my "count down" to Ecuador series, I will share with you some of my "oat" stories from Ecuador. Things that you did (or didn't do) because for so long all you saw was "hay" in your life. And I would ask all of you to please share your stories with me as well. They don't have to be mission stories. They can be life stories.

The first moment I have is when I made someone else realize they were eating hay. See, in Ecuador, the mail system works like this: You have a letter ready to be mailed, you take it to the Post Office. They stamp it for you, and then they put a whole bunch of rubber ink stamps on it and send it off for you. When I had been in the country about 3 weeks, we went to the Post Office and did our little routine. But then I asked to buy like 10 extra stamps.

The mail worker looked at me like I was crazy. Hermana Rose looked at me like I was crazy. And then she asked me why I did that. I said. "You know, so I can write my letters and mail them off and not have to take them to the window every time." Rose said, "I never thought of that. Ha! I never would've thought of doing that."

I was thinking to myself. "What? Why wouldn't you think of buying stamps and then affixing them to your letters and then dropping them in the mailbox? THAT'S HOW YOU MAIL A LETTER!!" See, she had forgotten the oats. She was so used to doing it that way she forgot about how you really should mail letters. Later she told me that she thought that we had to take them to the window so they could rubber stamp them. Like the paper stamps weren't valid without the rubber ink stamped on them too. She told me this AFTER I had sent about 5 letters to friends and family. THANKS!!! (I acutlaly think that the letters got there anyway)

However, I think that my favorite "oats and hay" moment came with Hermana Godfrey. OR was it Judd? I'm pretty sure it was Godfrey. But any of my past missionary companions that read my blog feel free to correct me if wrong. This is how the conversation went down:

Missionary 1: Oh, when we go home for lunch, remind me to call our afternoon appointments to make sure they will be there.
Missionary 2: YOU CAN CALL PEOPLE?!?!

I'm pretty sure I was Missionary 2. In my first, third and last areas almost no one had phones. You had to go to their house at the appointment times and hope that they remembered and were there. And if you had to walk, take a bus and then walk again for a total travel time of 4 hours round trip and they weren't there? Well, that was all part of being a missionary. In my second area, many of our people we taught had phones and we could call ahead.

However, I think that most of the time we didn't. It was just habit. We were enjoying the hay, forgetting all about the oats.

Other hay/oat items:
* Washing your clothes and dishes in cold water and not realizing you can wash them in warm water.
* Realizing that you don't have to be electrocuted during a shower.
* Flushing toilet paper
* Putting up with those nasty horse blankets that have been in those houses since primordial man first crawled out of the ocean.

I realize this post is very Ecuador specific. But please feel free to comment on any experiences in your life when you realized you were munching on hay when there was a big bowl of oats right next to you and you smacked your head realizing that you too had forgotten about the oats.

phone calls

Rediculous Christmas Songs

I like the Christmas songs on the radio. I'm not one of those people that gets annoyed with them being played on November 1st at 12:00 am. Actually, I WAS one of those people, but I am reformed. That used to make me mad, but not I look at it as a good thing. I mean anything that makes you think of Christ as early as possible isn't bad, is it? I don't think so!

But as I was traveling home from Lisa's house last night and listening to the tunes. I was thinking about certain songs and certain VERSIONS of songs that annoy me. So here they are in no particular order, my biggest Christmas song pet peeves.

1. In the song "Its the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" there's a line that disturbs me. It says, "There'll be parties for hosting , marshmallows for toasting and caroling out in the snow. There'll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glory of Christmas's long long ago." Um, did you catch that? Scary ghost stories?

How is that good? It's like "Come on kids!! Everyone grab your cup of chocolate!! We are going to go on a sleigh ride and sing jingle bells, and then Aunt Patsy is going to tell the story of the homicidal one armed maniac that escaped from the state mental institution and roved the countryside hatching people up!! Oh, this is going to be the best Christmas EVER!!!

Less Effective

2. How did "The First Noel" make it past the rigorous Church Music Screening Committee and make it into the hymnal? I quote a line: "In fields where they lay keeping their sheep, on a cold winter's night that was so deep" Uh? Hello? Christ wasn't born in Winter, yo. How did the church let that little ditty slip through the cracks? Anyway, That annoys me. What other hymns erroneously talk about Christ being born during winter time? Can you think if any?

3. People changing the classic songs. Right now there is a version of "O Holy Night" on the radio. I heard it last night and at first I thought it was from Faith Hill, but now I think it's probably Martina McBride. But I don't like it. Why? BECAUSE IT CUTS OUT THE SECOND VERSE!! Here are the words to the second verse, let's see what in them might be needed to be cut out:

Chains shall he break for the slave is our brother,
and in his name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we;
Let all within us praise his holy name.
Christ is the lord, that ever, ever praise we.

What do you think it is? Is it the "Christ is Lord" part? A little too Evangelical Christian for the Martina McBride? Maybe she forgot to bring the words into the studio and they were like "uh, Martina, Sweetie. . . .Yeah. . .we don't have them" and she was like "I'll just sing the first verse twice!! No one will notice."

You know what Martina? I NOTICED!! I noticed and I missed the second verse. Boo on you, Martina McBride, BOOO INDEED!!

Ok, that is all I have for today. Merry Mish-Mush!!

Countdown to Ecuador

I am so excited to go back to Ecuador at the end of May. I know it's 6 months away, but I am just so excited. I chatted online with Quimis yesterday, and it made me so homesick for Ecuador.

And why do I love it so much? Well here are the top 10 reasons I love Ecuador and am looking forward to going back:

1. The food. Seriously, were you expecting something else to be number 1? UGGH!!! THE FOOD!!! The fruits and juices: Maracuya, naranjilla, chirimoya, guanabana. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. And then there are my favorite restaurants: The Fruteria and this one place in San Pedro (AKA San Rafael). When I talked to Quimis yesterday he told me that it is still there. AND it's even bigger then before! They make this grilled chicken that melts off the bone and they have this potato/mani sauce that is so delicious. That is one of the only good memories I have with Muriel: we would go there all the time and the owner loved us. Sometimes they would be out of chicken for the night, but he would put 2 more pieces on the grill just for us. We took our whole zone there one P-day. I'm not kidding, it's amazing. I can't wait to go.

2. The beach. I think I've talked extensively about my hatred for the beach in Eureka. but just to sum up: It's cold and dirty and I come home with sand in my chones every time I go. I don't like being cold and the beach has always equaled unhappiness for me. I have always dreamed of going somewhere where the beach is HOT. Marcelo told me this is the case in Ecuador. So he promised me we will get to go to the beach there.

3. My family. I love my in-laws. I don't know if I love them BECAUSE they are so far away, or if I would love them so much if they were closer. But I do love them. And they love me. I'm the beautiful American who married their favorite son and took him away to the land of milk and honey. And I spawned a beautiful Loor-child that they are going to fawn over non-stop when I get there. I just really love and respect my in-laws and I think that they are great people. I'm excited to see them.

4. The people. I love the people of Ecuador. It took me a while to figure them out, but now that I have I have total unconditional love for them. Even when they tell you RIGHT TO YOUR FACE that you are fat, I don't really care anymore. Becuase I know what they are really saying. They are just good people and I am so happy that I'm eternally connected to them.

5. The places. Banos, Quito, Mitad del Mundo, Quevedo, Santo Domingo, Guayaquil, Ambato. I love all the places of Ecuador. (except maybe that trash dump right next to our house in Carapungo. AKA the toilet bowl of North Quito. Am I right, Judd?) Anyway, I love traveling all over and seeing different parts of the country. I think Ecuador is like the 2nd or 3rd smallest country in the whole continent, so it's really easy to know so many different parts of it. I am looking forward to getting to know Otavalo, Manabi and Esmereldes. I'm SO excited.

6. The language. I've really started to notice over the last 2 months that my language skills have dropped off DRAMATICALLY. I blame Marcelo because he never speaks to me in Spanish.:) But I'm so excited to go back and remember all that I've forgotten. And to learn much more then I ever knew before. I'm very excited to brush up on my Spanish skillz.

7. The mountains and volcanoes. I love how Ecuador is so green. The hills are all covered in trees and bushes and everything is just so moist and green. And the volcanoes are going off all the time. They are smoking and pumping out ash and soot and it's GREAT. I can't wait to go back and see them looking all fresh and clean after a rain. Ahh, mountains.

8. The buses. I don't know why, but I LOVE the bus system in Ecuador. You can get a bus to anywhere at almost any time. There might be a bloody chicken on the floor, or children might throw-up at sometime during your 4 hour drive to Quito. You just never know what will happen. Or you have a lady with giant bags of fried pork skins that make the whole back of the bus smell like burnt bacon. Oh man, I've had some GOOD TIMES on buses.

9. The places I've never been. As I've already stated, I'm excited to go back to Ecuador to visit some of the places that I've never been before. And I'm even more excited to take my family with me. I don't have 100% confirmations yet, but I've been told that my mom, Jaris, Julie and MaxKyle are all possibilities to go. I would REALLY love Jeff and Tina and their family to go. Maybe just Kyrie? I'm not sure, but I'm excited to see these places with my family.

10: Finally, I'm so excited to go because Marcelo is a different person in Ecuador. He lights up and is the life of the party. He dances and sings and plays and he's the person I fell in love with. He's so happy and I'm happy to see him like that. I think that no one in the U.S. has ever seen him like that, and I think it's about time that he gets his groove back.

So that's my list. What are your favorite parts of Ecuador?

Putting off What I Should be Doing

I should be at the gym right now. However I just ate some chicken Alfredo, so I really don't have any desire to go to the gym and have girls with butt-writing sweats and spiky-haired boys with low IQ's to stare at me when I walk in with my smelly super-tight pants (I haven't done laundry in a while). And I don't think I can do it when I've just ate that Alfredo.

So instead I've decided to tell you all about my boy crazy days in Elementary school and Jr High. I've been boy crazy for as long as I can remember. By the time I was in Eureka, however, I realized that i probably wasn't going to happen, so I gave it up. But elementary school? Ohh Man!!! I was the biggest boy crazy freak.

And it was always the WEIRDEST guys I would go for. I don't know why. Back in like 1st through 4th grade, it was Joseph Hilton. He was such the nerd. He was smart, and skinny. He had brown hair and a slight lisp. We were in all the advanced "smarty pants" classes together. Actually, when we were in the 2nd grade we both TESTED for the smarty pants classes together. (I remember them putting us in this little room and it was just him and me in there. V. romantic)

Not only that, we took piano lessons from the same teacher. Oh!! And I won the spelling bee for my class in the 6th grade, and he got second place. But I forgot to tell my mom that I won, and so I went to piano lessons like normal on Thursday morning and when I got to school they told me that they were having the bee without me. And that Joseph had taken my place because I wasn't there. So yeah, we were basically MFEO.

I don't know why, but he didn't notice me. I think he thought I was strange. I was just very shy, so I mostly admired him from afar. I don't remember ever being overtly obvious about the fact that I liked him, but I really did for many many years. I think he suspected it near the end. And I KNOW he knew it after a little stunt that Monica and Ashley pulled in Mrs. McNeil's class in the 4th grade.

See, they were in charge of this activity day, and they had all these little games planned for the students and for some of them they partnered us up. And they partnered the girls with the boys that they liked!! And it was SOOO obvious which girls liked which boys. I mean, Ashley Baker was partnered with her boyfriend, and Tara Tidwell was partnered with the boy who would later become her boyfriend and there Joseph Hilton and I were, partnered together. So he totally knew that he was being put with me because I liked him. Oh, the humiliation. I wanted to die! I wanted him to like me, but I didn't want him to KNOW that I liked him which could lead to possible rejection!! Curse you Monica/Ashely!!

It wasn't too soon after that that I stopped liking him. Who did I move on to? Why Joseph's good friend, Edward Dillion! Edward was everything that Joseph wasn't: He was cool, and smart mouthed and had semi-jacked up teeth. He was confident and sharp witted and cruel sometimes. He didn't give a *$&@ about anything. But he wasn't a dummy. He was ALSO in the smarty pants classes with us and he did very well. (we spent about 2-4 hours every day in those classes. So that's why all of my crushes came from them. Also all of my friends. Basically if you are a good friend of mine, you should be aware that you are intelligent. I tend to bond best with intelligent people. So if you are reading this, CONGRATS ON YOUR IQ!!)

Anyway, my crush on Edward only lasted 2 years until Jr High hit. Then there were so many boys I didn't know what to do with myself. I would change crushes like I would change underwear. (AKA every 3 days) Sometimes it was just too much and my head nearly exploded trying to read little cues and find out the hidden meanings in words and trying to decipher if what he just said means what I THINK it means, and on and on worlds without end. I think 7th grade was my favorite year ever. Boys boys BOYS.

And then several things happened to quickly break my of my boy addiction:
1) I moved to a new state and a new school to start the 8th grade.
2) I hit puberty and became awkward what with the boobs and the instant 30 pounds that somehow packed on my thighs overnight
3) I got some new friends and none of them cared about boys. We never talked about boys or thought about boys
4) I entered my "bun phase". What is that? you ask. Well, just when I moved to a new town, hit puberty, and started a new junior high school. I decided RIGHT THEN was the time to start wearing my hair in a bun EVERY SINGLE DAY. I'm not talking a low loose bun. I'm talking a slicked sides, roll of hair on top of the head, looking like I was wearing a doughnut hat type of bun. Basically, I looked like a 12 year old librarian without the tweed dress suit who was ready to yell at you for talking in the library.
5) Oh, and finally, all the boys smoked weed. I don't crush on boys that smell like hemp all the time.

I like to think that my last and final crush was on my husband. But every once in a while I will think about Edward or Joseph and once again I will be 8 crushing on the cool smart kid across the room. *sigh*

Post Thanksgiving Wrap-up

I really don't have anything to blog. I was going to blog about how my baby *ALMOST* has this night time sleeping thing down. We had like FIVE days in a row where she went down without me rocking her, and only woke up once for a night time feeding. But then the moment I start to get smug, I get slapped with some reality. She was awake (and crying) for hours last night. It wasn't a good night.

We are trying to "Ferberize" her. It seemed to be going well. I learned several things in just the first few pages of the book.

#1) My baby was sleeping too much during the day. I didn't think that was possible, but turns out it is. Less sleep during the day means more continuous sleep at night

#2) I think I was feeding her too much right before bed. So now we have solid food about 6 pm and then we get most of our dinner at 7:30 BEFORE the bath. It gives her time to get all the burps out and then she's ready to go down after her bath.

#3) I should let her put herself to sleep in the same way she needs to go to sleep at night. So if I have to rock her to sleep every night, then I'm going to have to rock her to sleep at 1 am when she wakes herself up from the REM sleep. However, If I let her put herself to sleep in her crib with a "transitional item" she will be able to put herself to sleep at 1 am when I'm not there.

#4) And finally, I need to get her in her own room. I didn't read this in the book. I'm just really realizing it's not working with her being in the room with us.

So those are the moments of clarity I've had this past week. Oh, and one more not related to sleeping schedules of my baby: If your brother leaves a pan of oil where your dog can find it and eat it, you should expect your dog to throw up many times for the next 12 hours. Maybe 7 times. Maybe it's greasy and has chunks of pineapple in it because someone gave pieces of pineapple to your dog and she gobbled them up. Oh, and olives too. There must always be olives in your dog's puke.

Ahh, good times. If you were wondering about my Thanksgiving, it was lovely. Thank you for asking. We went over to the House that MaxKyle is living in, and we had quite the feast. My mom for some reason decided that she needed to make 3 different kinds of pies, and she needed to make 2 of each. That means 6 pies. And there were only 13 of us eating. So if you do the math, that means each of us got about 1/2 of a whole pie. There was a ridiculous amount of pie left over. No worries, I took care of it over the next couple of days.

What else? What else? Evi is really cute these days. She sits up and is nearly crawling. She even almost pulled herself up on our coffee table the other day. She loves to eat rice and she loves to suck on ice cubes. She loves to bang her spoon on her high chair tray. She loves to smile and coo at her mom and dad. She hates it when mom leaves the room and she screams to get her to come back. (I actually HATE that. I think it's really annoying and is putting her on the pathway to being a spoiled little beast). She has her 6 month check up today and I think she's going to hate me after she gets her shots.

So that's it. I really don't have anything else going on. I'm very worried about buying Christmas gifts. I have no idea what to get everyone. At least Evi is taken care of: She's getting bath toys. I think she'll love them.

I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving!!