Scott had a birthday, shout 'Hooray'!

Another happy and fine week to you all and welcome back to our blog. It was indeed another busy week for us, busier than normal because Mr. Scott here had a birthday. A big one. The big 3-0! But before we get to that, our weekly run down but before that! This picture:

Those two blurry runners are us from our favorite Half Marathon
held in beautiful Winchester VA each November.

We're on the front page of a website! This is the front page of Frederick County's website. Don't believe us, click here.

Kiersten's Dad showed us this a few weeks back and we wanted to share it with everyone but kept forgetting or couldn't quite segway it in so here it is.

Now for the weekly recap!

Tuesday Kiersten went to the Asuncion Temple! She realized it was her first time attending a temple in another country and also another language. She wasn't sure she was ready to commit to a whole session so she participated in Initiatories which is one of her favorite things (ok, everything in the Temple is her favorite!). It was in Spanish which was very cool. It has been a while since she last did Initiatories but it oddly came back to her through the Spanish. Inside the Temple are some beautiful paintings which she was told are unique to this Temple. The Temple is such a special place! Mackenzie stayed at home asleep with the nanny the whole 3 hours she was gone. A miracle!

Wednesday the weather turned almost Fall-like which was intensely cruel since Kiersten has been thinking about Fall for the last week and knowing she won't get one this year. It's a little sad. But let us know dwell on that. The day was absolutely beautiful! Kiersten went on a run while M was with the nanny then got many things ready for Scott's birthday. Not only that but we got a new appliance. (To find out what it was, keep reading!)

Our shopping adventure to buy a tablecloth! Success!

Wednesday evening we hosted the sister missionaries for dinner. These two sisters are wonderful and Kiersten has been able to connect with them very easily. Transfers are this next week and we'll be sad to see either of them go but as RM's Scott and Kiersten both know 'tis the will of The Lord. We had a delicious dinner and delightful conversation with the sisters. One is a convert of only 2 years and gave up so much to come on a mission; family aren't members, college lacrosse team, U-19 USA Lacrosse team (went to the Lacrosse World Cup in Scotland and took second place! She's totally living Kiersten's sporting dreams but in a different sport.) just to name a few. After dinner we took their picture and emailed it to their parents to keep the Marcia Jackson tradition alive. Their mother's were very appreciative.

Thursday had more birthday prep and more repair men. We aren't home owners so we've never had to deal with repair people coming to our home and we've now done it about 4 times in the last six weeks and in another language at that! It has been super helpful having Annie (our nanny) here to help communicate with them. Speaking of Annie, Kiersten was definitely hesitant at first and even after a week still has some moments when she wonders if this is the right thing for us but now it's mostly feelings of, 'This is awesome!' She is going to get spoiled with this set up. It's really forcing her to speak and learn and think in Spanish and let Mackenzie develop a relationship of trust with another adult. So far so good!

She loves black beans. The proof is on her face.

Mackenzie is a good weight to use for working
your triceps.

Friday, the big day. The day we've all been waiting for. Scott's 30th Birthday! In the morning, Kiersten woke up early to make him a special birthday breakfast of stuffed French Toast with bacon. Bacon is a rare luxury here but we were able to find some at Casa Rica. Panceta ahuma - smoked bacon. Off Scott went to his short day of work while Kiersten and Mackenzie baked him a cake. Very yummy and chocolatey. Then Kiersten arranged his presents on the table and quickly made a birthday banner.

Someone slept in so she's eating the leftovers of our tasty breakfast.

The birthday banner! Made with lined school paper and tape.

When Scott got home we drove into downtown Asuncion for a family lunch at either Hard Rock Cafe or T.G.I. Friday's. Once we found parking after driving around for about 15 minutes we chose T.G.I. Friday's simply due to proximity to our car. It was a delicious lunch in an almost empty restaurant. Then again, it was 3 in the afternoon.

The birthday boy is home!

And it's Friday outside too!

At the parking garage which looked like every parking garage any chase
scene was ever filmed in.

On the drive home we picked up some ice cream for the cake later that evening. Scott opened his presents with Mackenzie's help and we enjoyed the cake. It was a wonderful birthday and so far Scott doesn't feel any different in this new decade of his life than he did in the last one.

Wrapped the presents with packing paper. Hey, use what you've got!

Helping Daddy unwrap his presents.

M cried during all of 'Happy Birthday'. Guess she didn't
like the fire.

Saturday we did the normal house chores of cleaning the pool, watering the grass out back and cleaning house. Then we drove downtown again to the river coast drive which is very pretty and has a great view of the Asuncion skyline.

We've been told downtown has some beautiful murals, like this one.

This is the President's pink palace.

Walking all over the place!

Wanting a family picture we said to ourselves, 'we need to ask someone...who speaks English.' Two Elders got out of their car right then and we had them take this! It was perfect timing. We took a picture for them too.

Shanty-town along the river. Can you spot the satellite dishes on some roofs?

Those are some impressive high-rises!

Once we were all done touristing, we went to a friend's house to share some of Scott's birthday cake and let the kids play. Then we went to a food festival! We love food and we love food festivals! There were a lot of vendors there and after looking around we decided on only one, Santa Gula, which we've been told by many people has the best burgers. Very interesting ingredients but we don't think it was the best burger we've ever had. The food festival was a little disappointing in that most of the vendors were selling either burgers or sandwiches so they lacked the variety we were anticipated but it was definitely a fun atmosphere.

Our tickets for the Food Festival.

The map of all the food vendors.

This is where we got two sliders. Mongolian BBQ and Cheese something.
Very unique tastes.

This hastag for the event. Come = eat, PY = Paraguay.

Yay! Food! It's late, we gotta get this kid home.
These are the thoughts running through our heads in this picture.

Thanks for coming!

Sunday was a slower more relaxing day as it should be. Church was church. Mackenzie did not go to Nursery so to keep her occupied during the second hour, she and Kiersten went next door to the Temple for her to walk around and burn some energy and get sleepy. It didn't totally work. When we got home she only slept for 45 minutes! It was a long afternoon with a cranky baby but we survived and made our regular Sunday night family phone check-in calls. Everyone is still doing well and it's such a blessing that we live in this day and age.

Kiersten finally got her picture with the first place trophy
from the RS Competition last weekend.

More temple pictures for the blog!

Oh! and since it was Fast Sunday we traditionally have breakfast for lunch/dinner. Kiersten has been wanting Eggs Benedict (her favorite breakfast item in case any one is taking notes) and decided to make it!  She also made her own homemade English muffins which were surprisingly easy but they do take some time. Totally worth it! And the poached eggs didn't quite turn out. Let's just say it was her first time making them so they were the best (and worst) poached eggs she's ever made. But the whole breakfast (English muffins, poached eggs, Hollandaise sauce, etc.) was delicious! Now that we know how to do it all we can make it again!

Eggs Benedict with some avocado for good measure. Yummy!

And finally today, Happy Labor Day. The Embassy recognizes American Holidays so Scott had the day off work. Everyone slept in, yes everyone! Then we did some exercising and cleaning and napping then a grocery run for the week. When we got back we decided it was time to try out our pool. Well, it was time for Mackenzie to try out our pool and true to fashion, she loved it as always despite the cold water. In fact she cried and cried and cried when we took her out to warm her up because she was shivering and with the breeze it was a little chilly.

Pure joy on that little face.

We have a water baby for certain!

After the pool we went off to a BBQ being held by one of the Embassy couples in our Ward with the missionaries (two senior couples and the sisters). It was so much fun to be in their company and the food was really good too. We contributed chips and an attempted homemade French Onion dip. Let's just say they have sour cream here but its nothing like anything we've ever tasted before. And we learned that one of the sisters is in fact being transfered and we are sad to see her go but we know she will do great things where ever she is sent.

Some of those present at the BBQ and some of the delicious food.

Let's round out this entry with our three recurring segments!

Misadventures in Baking.
- Our oven... was broken! Scott made a service call on Monday about our oven. Some people came out to look at it on Tuesday and confirmed our suspicions that the bottom burner was broken. They called our landlord and on Wednesday the contractor came with a whole new oven and had it installed in 10 minutes! It is beautiful and definitely works better than the old one. Now instead of taking an hour to heat up to 350F (max temp), it takes 13 minutes! And it can hit 500F! It still has the weird symbols that we need to decipher but we'll get there!

Still has these three knobs.

This new addition is black and so shiny!

- Scott's birthday cake was a box cake. Kiersten is almost embarrassed to admit it since she's always made her cakes from scratch but it was definitely easier to do a Betty Crocker box cake (we bought it locally) while juggling a toddler and a funky oven. She did have to watch the oven temp and cake like a hawk while it cooked but it turned out beautifully and she'll probably do it again. Her next baking adventure hopes to be a pie or cheesecake. Tune in for that next week!

So pretty!

Quirks of Paraguay
- Trees, part two. We talked about trees last week and this week we have something else to add: there is a law in Paraguay that states if you cut down a tree you need to plant 10 more in its place. It's a good law but we think some city planners might have been lazy when it came to building roads.

"Just build the road around this one!"

- Grass. Grass is a little sparse here. There is a park across the street from us that has three soccer "fields" but they are all dirt. When you do see grass it is really thick blades. Not that quirky, just different.

Thick grass from the Temple grounds.

- Left hand turns. You can't always make a left turn at intersections and they will let you know if you can't with their trusty horn. We are learning where you can and cannot make left turns. It's tricky because it isn't always (or usually isn't) indicated if a left turn is allowed so it's more a trial and error thing.

Three rights make a left.

Mackenzie Update.
- Blowing raspberries and spitting have become her two favorite things this week. Really working on discouraging that.
- Putting on her shoes. She really likes going on walks and knows she wears her shoes when we go so a few times this week she has gone over to the shoes and attempted to put them on herself. We'll put them on her and she'll just roam around the house in them if we don't go out.

Trying on Daddy's new Sperrys. A little big...

- Baby sign language is FINALLY catching on! She will now voluntarily tell us she wants 'more'. Her 'all done' is still just a reach for us and whine but it's effective. We know what she wants.
- Blowing kisses. She kind of gets it and of course, its adorable.

This is all she does to blow a kiss. Hand to mouth.

So that was our very busy week. Tomorrow is back to business as usual with Scott at work and Annie at home playing with Mackenzie and helping Kiersten with a few chores. We have begun to fall into our routines here which is definitely helping us feel more at home. When people ask us how we like Paraguay we honestly and genuinely say that we like it so far. It has been super fun and what is life but one giant adventure.

See you all next week for more news on our adventures from the Southern Hemisphere.