May Things

Jubal's class.  I liked his teacher but I think the language barrier was hard on them both. She was from the coast and I had a rough time understanding her.  The school ended up asking us to test Jubal for ADHD, which we did, but the psychologist in Colombia didn't think he had ADHD and was more just bored when he couldn't understand as well, and then Jubal did not behave the best.  Lovely.  

The police brought some K-9 dogs and did some demonstrations.  

The boys loved it.

This is actually Efraim by the dog.  

Sebastian and his obsession with ants continued.

I bought clothes and was trying to decide which to keep.  Exito always had such cute clothes.  

I took this one back, but I kind of wish I hadn't.

They had a talent show at the church for Mother's Day where all the YM had numbers.   Efraim was furious that he didn't get to perform in the show.  He kept asking me before it started what did he get to do,  and when I said nothing, he did not accept that as good enough.  So then he just got up before they started and started dancing to the music in front of everyone.  That kid loves to entertain.  And yeah, everyone loved it.  😂😂 Lando did yo-yo tricks and Sebas played the guitar with a group of boys. 

Here's a later demonstration of Efraim's dancing.

Leo was flying in North Dakota and made the announcement at 1 AM for the passengers to look out the window.  Beautiful!!!  He said everyone was excited to look.

I like Leo's office view.

And Nicolas won an award for academics at La Salle.  

Random Silliness

Awww!  I love my girls!

I think Exito tops Target because they sell motorcycles right in the main part of the store.

?? came to visit us with her dog because my boys had been begging to meet her dog. It was a very cute dog.

Efraim insists on adorning me with flowers he picks.

Elena was volun-told to be in this. They posted it to La Salle's instagram account.

Elena at lunch.

Family History and Other Things

The last month or so, I had the opportunity to volunteer 3x's a week at the Family History Center at the Bogotá Temple. I love it!! I get to practice Spanish and help people with their genealogy (ok 90% of the time it's recovering their FamilySearch account). And yesterday I went to the Biblioteca Barco and helped people look up their family history. It was awesome! Thankfully most people are very patient with my very sad Spanish.

The grounds outside the library are really pretty.

Magda and me!  We worked together at the FH center a lot.

I loved going to the temple so much!! Even though I didn't really go in the temple often (it's closed from 12-2 and I worked in the FHC in the AM before that, and after it was too late to go before I needed to be home with my kids), it was always to peaceful just being on the grounds.

It varied between being jam-packed on our three little computers, and having no one there almost the whole time. 

I spent a lot of my time going through the Guaduas Notarial Records.  I didn't find it while in Colombia, but eventually my page by page search paid off and I found the will of one of Leo's ancestors.

Rainbow!!

Dinner.  Looks not so appetizing at this moment.

I love that at this point, Efraim could only write in Spanish.

I feel like we were hitting our groove in Colombia about now and were far more comfortable in our routines and the kids were starting to learn the language better.  I don't remember when Leo and I decided, but felt it would be best to stay till December instead of August because the kids just hadn't picked up the language much yet. 

Anyway, one of our "grooves" was going to the park most evenings where Nicolas played soccer with whatever kids were there and Jubal climbed on things and Efraim climbed trees. 

Nicolas was COMMITTED to practicing soccer and getting better. 

What a sweetie.

AP Test in the States

One of the classes I knew Elena would have a hard time making up for graduation was US History, so I signed her and Isabel up to take AP US History through BYU High School.  I thought it would keep them busy during summer vacation (December and January).  Unfortunately, we weren't on top of it very much during vacation but they both finished in time to take the AP test in May.   (Isabel by the skin of her teeth.) I had called Mountain Crest High School where some of their cousins were attending, and the high school staff was so helpful and immediately agreed to let them come take the test there.  So Elena and Isabel flew out with Leo to the US, and then hopped on a plane to SLC.  

Grandma and Grandpa picked them up from the airport and they got this lovely view of the Wasatch mountains. 

And then Grandma and Grandpa fed them and laughed really hard when they said they missed non-shelf stable milk, so if you notice there's a huge glass of milk to go with their burgers and fries. 

Then they stopped at Kitchen Kneads because Grandma needed something.  I love that store.  They stayed with Kayli and Brett and took the test and then hopped on another flight to Wichita to visit friends.  

Isabel stayed with Caroline. 

And Elena surprised her best friend Kate (with the help of Kate's parents) at Kate's graduation party.  

I think these photos were Isabela and Elena showing friends back in Colombia what a US high school looks like.

Kate and Isabel at Walmart--it's kind of expected in Colombia for people to bring back gifts for everyone when they travel, so Elena and Isabel brought back a bunch of candy for friends at school. 

More of Caroline and Isabel.

Caroline was in Leo's and my Sunday School class in Wichita.  We had such a blast with that class and Caroline was hilarious.

And just for fun, Wyatt and Ana! 😍😍

Then the girls flew home after meeting up with Leo in Dallas again.