Me encanta bailar!

Well this week has been great! I have been able to do lots of dancing and play soccer... pretty much my two favorite things which always make me happy. Dancing lessons have been super fun lately and then to top it off we had the Stake Dance this Friday which didn't disappoint and was an adventure and a half.

Ashley woke up one morning with a cold-sore... her entire lip was swollen. In this picture she is sticking out her bottom lip which makes it look even bigger.

This last Thursday almost 30 people showed up to play soccer with us. I guess the word has gotten out that all the gringas and the few Canadian girls are here to play. It was way fun and there were no injuries which was really nice.

Adri and Me

If you can believe it, this is after we had been playing for several hours... so much fun and I think we look dang good. I never ever looked this good playing soccer back home, what the heck?

Kelsey and Bethany

Savannah and Dusty

Bethany getting ready for the dance

The dance was a bit crazy, when I showed up I walked into a gymnasium full of balloons. You had to walk through them to dance on the floor... it was pretty bad. I washed my face a lot and had to go outside often but I was okay in the end, just a bit red in the face and my neck was pretty bad. When we first showed up people were in two lines, you stood opposite from the person who asked you to dance and you never touched or anything. Really you didn't even have to look at one another if you didn't want to. It was a bit awkward at first. The other thing that is very different down here is that when someone asks you to dance you dance with them for every song basically until another man comes and interrupts you or asked you to dance for the next song. I danced with this one guy named Jose Luis for like 6 songs probably. I was kind of bored by the end but he was very nice. There were a few really good dancers there and it was fun to watch them and to learn some new dances and steps. It was a good night. After we got home from the dance we went for tacos at Teo's place and it was so good. Mmmmm Tacos el pastor, they are by far my favorite thing to eat down here!

The ladies... the entire gang minus Ryan

We had a purple and black theme going on... it was a fun night!

Kelsey, Bethany, Me and Savannah

Ashley, Moroni and Me

Moroni and Me

Dusty and the Infamous Nestor

A sort of line dance that they do. I just danced in the middle of the circle because I don't understand the directions they give you in the song.

Adri may hate me for posting this photo but I don't care. This was us having a blast!

Good ol' Sav

Moroni and Adri

Kathy dancing with Fabien

Adri danced up a storm. I think she danced every song that night. I'm so glad we convinced her to go.

Adri rocked the line dance... I couldn't keep up and Moroni ended up getting lost too.

Moroni, Me, Adri and Dusty after a long night of dancing... can you tell that I'm a bit more sweaty here than at the beginning?

I kind of look like a dork in this video if you can even see it. Sorry its so dark... my favorite part is the beginning when Moroni is trying to teach me how to shimmy and I can't do it. Instead I just shake my head like a total loser and then everyone laughs at me. I love dancing!

Makin' Banana Pancakes

Tuesday night this week was totally awesome and amazing! After classes (which went so well by the way) Bethany, Ashely and I treated ourselves to something special. BANANA PANCAKES!! We had spent quite some time trying to decide what we were going to eat for dinner and then when we finally chose... oh it was an exciting moment.

First we got all of the ingredients ready and then to make the experience so memorable Bethany pulled out her little iPod dock and we listened to some good old Jack Johnson. I don't think I've ever been so excited to prepare and eat food before. We took a ton of pictures, Bethany cracked some funny jokes and then after what seemed like an eternity we ate. We have one frying pan down here... it is big enough for one pancake. Making one pancake at a time takes a lot longer than you think it would. I am so grateful for electric griddles back home! Didn't think I could miss something so simple.

I love bananas and I love pancakes... obviously I'm going t love Banana Pancakes!!

Bethany pulled out some nutella her mom sent her and then we had peanut butter and syrup also, depending on the mood we were in. We each had three pancakes so if we really wanted we could have one of each. I had one nutella and two with maple syrup... so delicious. Alright you know you are running out of things to write about when you start writing about what you had on your pancakes. Although that was pretty much the highlight of my entire week.

That is how big the smile on my face was the entire night... I love Banana Pancakes!

Oh I did learn one more cool thing. Laka Ukulele (I have no idea how to spell it) Mama had a Baby... are some words in the song Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson. Well apparently that is a little chant that kids in Hawaii say when they are skipping rope. Didn't even know that... Bethany lived in Hawaii for a while and she shared some of her knowledge with me. What a good friend!

Oh Mr. Sun, Sun... Mr. Golden Sun... Don't Shine Down on Me!

My hand is way closer to the camera and so this doesn't even do it justice. It was huge, pretty much the size of my palm!

Yes, Adri and I had Subway and it was delicious!

We went to the movie Surrogates starring Bruce Willis and it was super fun. The theatre here is super nice and it was definitely the place to hang out on a Friday night. Kami, Kelsey, Adri, Bethany, Ashley and I had a fun night.

On Saturday morning a bunch of us went over to Bethany's house because she has a big pool house and a nice set up there. We just enjoyed the beautiful day and the cool water.

Bethany, Savannah and I

Adri and I

Adri, Me, Bethany and Sav

Ashley and I

Pretty cute bathing suits... Ashley and I being pretty close to the same size is awesome!

Sav jumped way earlier than the rest of us. It was a sweet set up and the water was way deep at that end of the pool.

We needed proof that Ashley actually did jump. She has a slight fear of heights... she overcame that and did it anyway!

Madison and Helena (Rachel and Teo's daughters)

We went over to their house on Saturday night to play Family Feud and watch a movie. It was way fun... and Teo was a terrible host, Madison was way better! Helena was my partner and Rachel and Ashley kind of owned us until the very end.

You can see my face is red in this picture... my whole body was hurting at this point in time.

Ashley does look a little pink in this picture.

My sunburn is terrible... I was in so much pain that night. I wish this picture could show you just how terrible it is. It's that red on the front and back of my legs on my stomach and on my back. Never again will I fall asleep under the Mexican sun without sunscreen on. Yes I know it was stupid... please no one remind me of that, because I'm still paying for it.

Oh What Fun!

Who would have thought that the best burger I've ever had would be in Mexico? I had the most delicious pineapple burger in the world the other day when Sandy took us out for dinner again. It may have possibly been the best thing I've had since I've been down here.

Vanilka, Arad, Sandy and I at the Magic Burger

Adri enjoying her burger!

It wouldn't have been the best dinner ever if I hadn't had my Manzana with it

Vanilka sat by me and she taught me a whole bunch of sentences I didn't know in Spanish. It was a fun night!

My girls from ILP are hilarious. In particular Andie... who insists on being front and center in every situation. (Mom I know you just thought "Just like someone else I know." Trust me she is way worse than I ever was) They taught me this little saying that they do... actually Andie did it to me first and then I made her show me. It was pretty darn cute! My favorite is that Maryfer gets so frustrated with the other girls when they are being silly and lay on the ground. She isn't much of a performer. I love these girls, they make me laugh so hard.

I wish a picture of me sitting on the ground laughing could tell you just how funny this situation really was. Kami is ready to die she was laughing so hard and it took me several minutes to calm down. I know I have talked about Lover's Leap before and just how funny of a game it truly is. In addition to that I know I have talked about Richard before and how being his partner is always an adventure. Well as we were walking in our circles I realized that Richard and I have never ever had to do Lover's Leap (where you have one partner jump into the other person's arms) because we have never made it past the Monkey on the Back. Well just to make things difficult for us Kami called "Lover's Leap." Haha Richard comes running over to me and stands in front of me just waiting for me to pick him up. I go to reach around him and then pick up his legs just as he throws his arms in the air and goes "Oh never mind teacher!" Then he just walks over to the wall and sits down. He didn't even let me try! It was so funny! First of all he didn't even leap or jump to help me out he just expected me to lift him and then to make it even better he gave up after like two seconds because he knew we were going to lose. Oh Richard makes me laugh so hard. Kami and I were laughing so hard it too several minutes before we got the game going again. What a great game!

The Puebla girls came down for Conference so that they could listen to it in English. Friday night before Conference we all went dancing for hours. It was so much fun. Carley was having a fun time with my camera and took a picture of Moroni and Savannah through the mirror making sure to include Ashley's dirty feet. It was a super fun night. Teo started to tease me and he told me that my waist was too small for dancing... he said he could wrap his arm around me twice and that was not good for dancing. I need to start eating more I guess or at least that is what Teo keeps telling me.

Conference was super amazing and I couldn't believe all the things I had to learn. The gospel is true and President Thomas S. Monson is the prophet of God. I love the gospel of Jesus Christ and the message of hope that is spreading throughout the world because of the efforts of missionaries. I know Jesus Christ lives and is the literal son of God!

The 2nd Best Birthday Ever!

Adri's 19th birthday was on the 29th of September and we made sure it was a good day! We of course had to go for our run because we both feel so much better when we do. We never look great in the mornings

Ashley and I made her breakfast... meaning I poured her a bowl of cereal and cut up fruit for her. But its the thought that counts. That's what she wanted!

Taylar Tanner sent Adri a package... what more could you ask for to make the birthday unforgettable? She was so funny while she was opening it and the things he sent were very sweet.

Right on the top of the box was a white board with a sweet message to her.

Their 'homecoming' picture which is Adri's favorite!

I bought everyone some ice cream to celebrate before class! Happy Birthday Adri. Unfortunately she didn't get to finish it because she was eating in class :-(

That was a sad moment!

We all went out for dinner at Teo's Tacos with Casey to talk about a few things. It was a fun night and we ate a lot of food. As per usual...

Me, Adri and Ashley

The Gang!

We bought Adri some delicious cheesecake for her birthday and sang to her one last time to end off the day well. It was a good day I think!