Transportation

Colin rented this scooter, and this is how we got around our last 2 weeks in Pana.  The boys especially loved riding it to seminary every morning!

Activity Days

Emily and I had bought some scraps of fabric we are using to make a Guatemalan quilt.  We helped the girls from the Branch make these cute bags to hold their scriptures.  The girls in front plan to add some embroidery work to theirs, and Emily sewed some colorful patches to the front of hers.  Now I just need to make one for myself!

Black Sand Beach and Water Park

We rented Elmar's van and took it to Xuela (Shay-luh) Quetzaltenango to go to the temple.  Thouroughly enjoyed that trip!  One of the most memorable things was when Colin was turning a corner after getting dinner at Pizza Hut, and mis-judged where he was in the road, and we ended up stuck in the middle of the island!  There we were, traffic coming at us at both sides, totally stuck and unable to move.  Out of nowhere, 3 Guatemalan men jump out of their van, race over, instruct Colin what to do (using lots of gestures because they quickly realized he had limited Spanish), and they literally picked up our van and Colin was able to gas it off the island.  One man directed traffic so everyone stopped while we got out of the middle of the road!  They cheerfully waved goodbye, and Colin called after them, "Gracias, amigos!"  After Quetzaltenango, we drove an hour more south.  What a beautiful drive!  It went from chilly air in the mountains, to warm thick air as we approached the beach.  We spent several hours at this black sand beach where the waves were huge.  Then we headed to the largest water park in Central America!  We forgot to bring our camera to the water park, but we did get some pictures of the hotel.  

Dinner then dessert at the hotel restaurant.

Inside our hotel.  Each hotel had a different theme.  Ours was "African."

Happy Father's Day!

The girls and I have had a few make-up parties lately which involves lipstick and eye shadow.  They love putting it on each other, Em, and I!

 After we came home from church, the boys and Colin made eggs, potatoes, and hash browns for lunch.  Then we played a pass-the-potato game.  Whoever had the potato would be asked a question from the scriptures.  After that, we made mounds of pop corn.  The kids watched "Spirit", and Colin and I watched "Courageous" which we've wanted to watch together for about 5 months now!  What an awesome movie- I highly recommend it to everyone.  Perfect movie on Father's Day.  There's a few intense scenes which is why we watched it without the kids.  After that, we read scriptures, ate dinner (toaste and eggs), put the younger kids to bed, then Calvin and Devon gave Colin his Happy Father's Day back massage!  It was the perfect gift- especially after doing all that rowing in the kayak the day before!

Casa del Mundo- kayaking!

I woke up feeling like a boat ride to breakfast, and a hiking adventure.  We headed over to Casa del Mundo (on the boat above) and had some tasty breakfast burritos, fruit, omelet, and smoothies.  Then instead of going on a hike, we decided to go kayaking!  It was a gorgeous day when we headed out, but the last half got windy and the water got pretty choppy with lots of waves!  We ended up conquering the waves, rowing like crazy, and laughing a TON!  What an awesome day:) 

Pretty volcanoes in the background.

Colin's kayak was the heaviest, with 4 people, a large backpack, and lots of water that had splashed in.  As he was getting off,  he tipped the boat and fell in!  Luckily he had given me his cell phones before going in!  Calvin jumped in as well (on purpose), and did some swimming.  A boat came that was heading back to Pana, so we quickly loaded our drenched selves into the boat, and headed home.  Funny thing was, as Colin was racing to get to the boat, he stepped wrong and fell, landing on his toe which he thought he broke (it's recovering fast, so it wasn't a break).  Then as he got onto the boat, he slipped and fell on the bottom of the boat!  I just sat there cracking up, and so did the kids (Colin joined in because he's such a good sport.  I may have been crying by that point!).

This shows how choppy the water was by the time we finished our adventure.  The waves were splashing in our boats pretty good, even though it might not look like it:)

The hills are alive, with the sound of music!

Doesn't this kind of remind you of the opening scene in The Sound of Music?!  Except Maria wasn't wearing a rain coat:)  And she was in Europe, not Guatemala.  This is a beautiful piece of land up past Solola.  I was so happy being out in nature hiking around, I was truly giddy! 

Beautiful views of Lake Atitlan below.

Puppy, poporopo, and chocolate zucchini bread

The Jensens got this adorable English Cocker Spaniel, Bella!  Such a sweet calm little thing, and she runs sideways, which is pretty entertaining to watch! 

Popcorn is called "poporopo" in Spanish (I think I spelled that right).  Good thing the kids ate it outside,...agree?

Emily and Kyah made some delicious chocolate zucchini bread!  Devon, Parker, and Kimball  had been working on a candle-making project also, so there were some kitchen-wars for a little while!

doTERRA differences- Guat vs. USA

We were running late to Mystical Yoga Farm!  We had driven to Guatemala City the day before (6 hours and 11 kids, 1 hired driver, and 4 exhausted parents!), because there were some shipping issues, and we wanted to get product to our yogie friends ASAP.  So we set off the next morning, determined to take a short cut.  Turns out the short cut had been overtaken by the river which feeds into the lake.  So we took off shoes and socks, and crossed over.  Then we hopped on a boat and headed to our destination! 

On our way back to Pana with our awesome yoga friends.  The woman directly behind me took several months biking from Canada to Mexico recently!  How cool is that?!  I love how so many people have such interesting stories.  Inspiring to be around people who have taken these leaps of faith to follow dreams and do something unique. 

doTERRA in Guatemala City

Giovanni invited us to teach a Medicine Make-over doTERRA class for some people on his team in Guate.  He was our translator:)  Fun times, and great group!  

Sun. Naps

Sunday Naps in hammocks in Guatemala- could it get any better than this?!

Traditional Guatemalan dress

This woman helped Emily choose a traditional shirt- I think they are called "cortes" (we bought one previously, but turned out to be too short), and she did her hair the traditional Guatemalan way.  

Crazy Fiesta!

Colin took the older kids to a party downtown Pana.  Everyone wore masks/costumes and danced around to music.  They had a blast, even though they had no idea what was being celebrated or why people were dressed as chickens and other strange things!

Eating at the taco stand (aka "grease cart") after the party

Mayan Families Dog Rescue

Emily has been wanting to go to Mayan Families and play with the dogs.  So, we went! Kyah and Parker joined us.  There were tons of dogs who have been rescued (really, dogs are everywhere on the streets, and some of them get picked up and brought to a care center at Mayan Families).  Emily had fun playing with and holding the dogs! 

I have a name

Last time I went to the orphanage at Eagle's Nest to work with the deaf children, this 10 year old boy didn't know what his name was.  I don't even know if he knows what a name is.  He is completely deaf and communicates by using gestures.  Calvin came with me the second time to help teach the kids signs, and I asked the orphanage director if they had been able to find out this boy's name yet.  They had finally been able to be in communication with his Dad, and found out that his name is Rolando.  I was so excited that I made name cards for everyone.  We had a fun time playing games with signs, looking at stories, and learning numbers.  

Scary-good!

Tiffany was busy doing a drawing.  After she was done, she game and showed me.  My jaw about hit the floor!  Check out Bug's Bunny!  She had a sketch that Calvin had done, which she copied.  Not traced, but drew free-hand.  What a talented 5 year old!!!

Dinner with friends

This is the family whom we helped plant their garden.  We had a nice meal together at our place.  After dinner, Kyah and Emily had fun braiding Ingred's hair!  You can see some of the colorful hair ties in her hair.

Fun walk

Ty, Tiff, Tameeka and I went on a walk near our house by the lake.  I thought this was a cute shot of them, with such gorgeous background!

Cliff Bars

It's pretty hard to find Cliff Bars around here, and if you do, they're pricey because they are imported.  So, after some google research, we made our own!  Basically here's what we did (I didn't measure anything): poured honey, Panela (hard unprocessed sugar blocks), and peanut butter into a pan and melted it, while stirring.  Chopped a bunch of nuts like almonds, macadamias, cashews, and peanuts, then threw them in a large bowl with oats, coconut shavings, pumpkin seeds, chopped up prunes, raisons, a little bit of milk or water...then stirred in the peanut butter mixture.  After that, I oiled a baking dish and poured it all in there, packing it down with saran wrap over my hand.  Refridgerated it, then cut into bars.  They are amazingly the same consistency as real Cliff Bars, and we all agreed, better tasting as well!