Still sleeping through the night

Hola! Bienvenido a nuestra blog! No idea if that is correct Spanish or not but sometimes it's best to just go for it and people can usually understand what we are trying to say.

The weather remains hot this week which also (maybe) incurred a few power outages on our block. They didn't last long but it's still an inconvenience because you never know when the power will come back.

Our car is still in the shop but there is a silver lining this week! The new family to post that we are sponsoring arrived on Sunday and we mailed them the car part this week which they brought with them in their luggage for us. So fingers crossed this fixes all the issues it's having. Our main goal is to fix the car before our trip home NEXT FRIDAY!

Health-wise everyone is on the mend. Scott and Mackenzie both picked up colds the last week and recovered this week. How Kiersten managed to avoid getting sick is a miracle. Mackenzie's might have also been linked with teething. Her canines look ready to come in. Kiersten did however suffer from headaches everyday this week. We think the culprit is allergies and sinus congestion but we can't really be sure since we don't know what could possibly trigger her allergies in this foreign climate. But she seems to also be on the up and up. Nothing a little "medicinal" Coca Cola can't cure.

On Tuesday, Alicia called in sick so Kiersten took Mackenzie to her Bootcamp class with her. She loved playing out in the back yard with the water and met their cat. She followed him around and petted him very gently. When the cat decided he'd had enough he snuck in between the bars of the pool and stayed away from her for a little bit. It was pretty funny. Then we met up with a mom and 2 year old for lunch. It was a very fun Mommy-Daughter day until M didn't nap at all! Yuck.

Hola gato! Meow!

She eventually soaked her dress and shoes and bunny.

Waiting for our friends.

Playing "bummer-cars" with the high chairs. They didn't actually run into each other but that's what it looked like they were doing.

We spent Friday evening with Brenda and Netza at their apartment and we were treated once again to delicious Costa Rican and Mexican delicacies. Arroz con pollo (rice with chicken), picadillo de papa (spicy? potatoes) and a Mexican no-bake cake. We've decided we could live in Costa Rica cuz all the food we've had is delicious! And, you guessed it, we also played Harry Potter and defeated Box 2 of our expansion on the first try! WIN!

Dessert and a great game. Good times.

Saturday was very busy. In the morning we helped clean the church for a few hours then came home for M to nap and complete a few more chores. When she woke up we went to run errands for the new family. We checked out their home, turned on the ACs to cool it down and did a grocery run. We also grabbed dinner while we were out.

Mackenzie's broom. She enjoyed carrying it around.

Scott taught her how to push the water from mopping out the door.

What a big chair!

Sunday was another busy day. During Sacrament Meeting the Primary and Kiersten performed a special musical number of "If the Savior Stood Beside Me". The kids sounded wonderful but the only hitch was our pianist (not Kiersten, she was conducting them). We'd never practiced with the piano before. We always use the music on the LDS app on phones to sing with but that wasn't going to fly during Sacrament. So we asked the Ward pianist, Sis. Rhoades, to play for us. Thought it was clear we wanted all three verses, just play exactly what you see and K had given her directions in an email earlier in the week. But alas, she only played two verses using the special third ending and everything so there was no going back. The kids took this surprise very well and Kiersten smiled and ushered them off the stand. She was a little disappointed but in 5 minutes, no one remembered or knew the difference. We'll try again in two weeks for Mother's Day which they spent some time working on during a very rowdy Sharing Time later in the meetings.

We rushed home so Scott could get to the airport to welcome the Guzman family to Asuncion. Paraguay is their second post and they have two boys ages 4 and almost 2. He is in fact about 2 weeks younger than Mackenzie. How fun! Then around 4 we went back to the church for a short choir practice and a dinner of Sloppy Joes as a thanks for all our hard work preparing for Stake Conference. It was very nice.

Misadventures in Baking:

• Even before we moved we enjoyed creating the occasional restaurant copy-cat dish. This week's favorite comes from California Pizza Kitchen; Chicken Tequila Fettuccini. The sauce is so incredibly flavorful. We made it twice this week it's just that good! Highly recommend one and a halving the sauce because there is never enough to go around! You can find the recipe here. It's good with or without the chicken.

  

  This is straight from CPK's website. My photography is not this good!

Quirks of Paraguay:

• Fences. We were just commenting yesterday that it's weird to see a house here without a fence and gate. Almost every home has one including ours. It's just the norm here whereas back in the States its rare to see a fence. And these aren't wooden fences. They are iron bar fences so you can still see the homes and property. It's probably a security thing to deter thieves but you always hear reports of break-ins or attempts.

The Mackenzie Update:

• Teething? This is a constant question we have. We can see some buds coming through her gums but they haven't fully appeared yet.

  

  A little fro-yo treat after dinner one night.

• No more pacifier! Mackenzie has been an avid pacifier user since day one and we embraced it fully. She only gets the pacifier in her crib to go to sleep for naps and bedtime or in the car to pacify her (pun intended). But now with her chompers she's been bitting it. So this week we took it away so she wouldn't bite it off during her sleep and choke on it. We even had her throw it in the trash and she didn't even blink! She's growing up so fast!
• Aaaa-qui. Aqui is the Spanish word for 'here'. But when she says it she draws out the 'a'. She also does this with the word, 'arbol' which means 'tree'. Aaaarr-bol.
• Reporting or tattling. When Kiersten gets home from running errands or what not, Mackenzie will give her a full report of her goings on with Alicia but it sounds more like tattling because we only catch about 3 or 4 words and decipher the rest of her message with her hands motions and pointing. The other day all K caught of the message was, "Hola (Alicia), blah blah, poop-poop, blah blah, (points to her knee then turns and points into the living room), blah blah, yeah?" K: "Yeah! ...what?" Then last night it was, "Daddy, blah blah, knee, blah blah, (pouty face)." She scrapped her knees while she was playing outside with Daddy. Reporting or tattling? You be the judge.
• Tantrums are become a common occurrence and we are NOT fans of this new phase. We went to the ball pit with some friends on Thursday and even though everyone was leaving Mackenzie decided it was time for a full blown, throw herself to the ground, crying fit. So fun to parent a screaming, unruly child while other moms watch. Not. We want our sweet little girl back!

  

  Playing with "Aaaaallly" (Holly).

We are thrilled to be reporting on another wonderful week here in Asuncion. As much as we've loved living here for the past 9 months (a previous blog post miscounted our time here so apologies) we are crazy excited to visit home for a little Rest & Relaxation next week. Thanks for reading along and see you next week for one last full weekly report from Paraguay before we hit America for a while!

Christmas in April?

Remember how last week we were wishing and hoping for cooler weather? Seems like we aren't the only ones. During this weekend it seemed every movie or show we watched was a Christmas episode or had a Christmas song in it. Then while Scott was getting groceries Saturday evening he heard a rendition of "Baby, it's cold outside" at Casa Rica! Sadly the weather hasn't changed from the hot, humid grossness of last week. The mornings are slightly cool but it heats up pretty quickly.

Sigh... three more weeks until we're in London enjoying crisp, cool air.

Not much to report from this week. Since it has been so hot, K&M tried out the pool a little bit. The days are getting shorter which means our pool no longer gets a lot of direct sunlight so the water is pretty chilly. Mackenzie doesn't care at all! One day we just put our legs in and she decided to just lie down on the top step in the water. Then on Saturday morning we stripped her down to her diaper and dipped her in over and over again upon request. She was shivering within 10 minutes and we had to force her to get out. Many tears were shed.

Notice the giant, bulging diaper.

Later on Saturday morning we attended an Earth Day Potluck at the Embassy. There was a DJ, bouncy house, magician and chili cook off. It was a tad too warm for chili but all the proceeds went to a good cause and it was a ton of fun! Mackenzie ran herself ragged and when we got home and cleaned her up, she slept for 3 hours! 

Playing in the bounce house.

Being a good helper for the littler kids.

Enjoying the golf cart with a friend.

Super curly humidity hair!

That night Scott attended a leadership meeting for our Stake Conference and Kiersten stayed home with the wee one.

Watching The Princess and the Frog.

Sunday morning we had Stake Conference and participated in the choir. Finally the big moment we've been working towards for months. And the choir sounded wonderful! Music always adds to the spirit of the meetings and we are happy to contribute our talents. And best of all, no choir rehearsal that day! When we got home, we stayed home the rest of the day and were able to connect with more family members since Scott's parents are in Utah for his brother's graduation. Sorry we'll miss it.

She kept that bow in her hair all day! First time!

Kiersten has talked to a few interested persons about personal training and has already begun with one client. She isn't charging much but hoping interest stays high and that can help generate a little extra revenue. Fun fun.

Misadventures in Baking:

• While we did not participate in the chili cook off we did bring a side dish; mac and cheese. It "won" the clean dish award for sure. It's always a crowd favorite which is why we always bring it.

Quirks of Paraguay:

• Autumn weather, part 2. Apparently this has been an unusually hot autumn for them. Of course it has!
• Election Day! Elections are held on Sundays in Paraguay and yesterday was a major election. The polls seemed busy as we went to and from Stake Conference. Since practically no one works on Sundays this ensures more people are available to vote. Seems like a fantastic idea.

The Mackenzie Update:

• Words:
• nariz - nose
• "Dirty hands". She is very aware of when her hands get dirty and makes a point of telling us they need to be cleaned. Better than having us find out with dirty hand prints on the walls!
• My! which means "mine". She's becoming very possessive of items.

  

  Scott captured her like this one morning when she woke up. How did she do it?!

• New songs including Baby Shark and Popcorn Popping. She is getting really good at the hand motions.
• She's always been interested in the bidets in the bathrooms but hasn't been strong enough to turn the knobs... until this weekend. She turned on the bidet in the guest bathroom and it doesn't take much for that thing to turn into a fountain. It shot straight up to the ceiling raining down on the curtains, shower door, floor and her face. It was actually really hilarious. Maybe she learned something from this little mishap. Only time will tell.

  

  She put this on herself... and then gave us "hats" to wear too.

• She took a tumble this morning while Kiersten was out. When K returned, M had a fat lip and bruised cheek. Apparently she fell. She seems fine but looks worse for wear.

  

  Bottom lip, right side. Chin and cheek are a little bruised too.

• She really likes hamburgers. One afternoon the girls went to McDonalds for lunch and M ate 3/4 of her cheeseburger which was a happy surprise for her mother.
  

Short report this week but short and sweet is sometimes best. Not like we're counting down or anything but THREE MORE WEEKS UNTIL WE'RE BACK IN AMERICA! We're pretty excited. See you all next week.

Dreaming of cooler weather...

It's Monday! Back to our previously set schedule. We had a fun and busy weekend and now it's back to the daily grind. Let's tell you about our week!

We enjoying making dinners and cooking in general but by Thursday we usually run out of steam. This particular Thursday we needed to pick Scott up from the Embassy because we got some big boxes so since we were out, we ate out. At that time of night it's almost impossible to get anywhere so we went to Burger King because it's only about a mile from the Embassy and we knew there was food there Mackenzie would eat. She chose a cheeseburger and ate a surprising amount, almost half! Then Kiersten, wanting to try the Paraguayan BK milkshake, ordered one and it was just straight up soft serve ice cream in a cup with a lid and straw. Whatever.

Chowing down on her burger. Sadly this was the most nutrient dense thing she's had to eat all week.

That night we spent the evening not playing a game as is our usual Thursday night activity but working on our Brazilian Visas. It took several hours to sort through it all but we got it done!

Friday was a very fun day. Scott needed to finish up some work so stayed late but when he got home, we all went to the Galleria mall so Mackenzie could run around and burn off energy in the comfort of open spaces and air conditioning because sadly, Paraguayan Autumn is as hot as their Summer. They also have a children's play area with ball pits and after we bought her some new shoes, we took her up there. At first she was like, 'Ok there are balls everywhere and I love balls but I don't like being in them.' And then after about 15 minutes LOVED it! She dove in, crawled around, buried herself, the whole nine yards. We stayed for about 45 minutes then fought the traffic to get home. She immediately got a bath.

"What is happening?!"

"Oh now it's fun!"

That evening Scott and Kiersten attended a Vietnamese catered dinner at the home of someone in the Embassy community. There is a Vietnamese women who lives here and once had a restaurant. Due to low interest/sales, she closed but will now cater private events like this one. There were about 30-40 people there and it was super fun. It was both our first times eating Vietnamese food and it was really, really good. Much lighter than (American) Chinese food so we ate a bunch and didn't feel grossly full.

This is only some of the food she made us that night!

Plate full of delicious food and I couldn't tell you the names of anything!

Saturday morning we braved the crowded grocery store for supplies then spent the rest of the day at home. Later that afternoon, Brenda and Netza came over for dinner and then another thrilling round of Harry Potter with our expansion pack. After a disappointingly close first game, we buckled down and defeated the villains in our second game for the win! Now on to Box 2 of the expansion which we have played a few times and always lost.

Why is it that Sunday, the designated day of rest by The Lord, seems to be the busiest? Church was wonderful! Kiersten has become the music leader during Sharing Time and the kids are doing great with the songs. In two weeks we are going to do a special musical number in Sacrament of "If the Savior Stood Beside Me". In our 10 months living here there has only been two special musical numbers and never by the Primary. It's time.

We also had our last choir rehearsal before Stake Conference next week and it was like a switch flipped because the choir sounded wonderful! Maybe it was all the new voices that came out to sing. High hopes for next week.

When we got home we ate a delicious lasagna dinner and molten lava cakes for dessert. We finally rested on our busy Sabbath Day.

Today has been a great start to the week. Kiersten received approval last week to begin training clients and she met with her first client this morning. It went great and it was wonderful to be back helping people reach their health and fitness goals.

Misadventures in Baking:

• For the delicious lasagna we needed to make a Bolognese which needed to simmer for at least 4 hours. We made it then transferred it to the crock pot to cook during church. Well the power went out which we didn't account for so it was a little runnier than expected but it was still delicious. That also pushed our dinner time back to after choir so by then we were good and hungry. And it was the tastiest lasagna we've ever had! You can find the recipe here.
  
• We've made molten chocolate cakes before but the lava part never really flows. So we tried a new recipe and viola! Next time though we'll substitute milk chocolate in the cake instead of all the dark. It was a little rich.
  
  
  

  

  Mackenzie is Kiersten's daughter. She loves chocolate!

• Sunday night we watched a video about bagels and we haven't seen bagels here so Kiersten decided to make her own and they are delicious and so easy! Give me that cream cheese!
  

Quirks of Paraguay:

• Autumn weather. This week the highs were still in the upper 80's low 90's with high humidity. It wasn't until Friday night that things sort of cooled off. When will the heat go away?!! If we have any complaints about living here it's the weather.

The Mackenzie Update:

• She officially has a favorite toy: her stuffed bunny from the dollar store. She carries it everywhere and now requests to sleep with her. Before if we tried to give her a toy to sleep with to calm her down she'd hand it back to us but now she asks for Bunny by saying, "bop-bop". Saturday Bunny needed a 'bath' so she was a little upset she couldn't play with her for 15 minutes. It reminded us of Calvin & Hobbes. I always wanted my children to have a 'Hobbes' and now she does!

  

  This just proves to us that kids don't need expensive toys.

• She is aware of Scott's glasses and in the mornings she "reminds" him to put them on. She'll cover her eyes with her hand and then point to Daddy.
• New songs! She loves Eensy Weensy Spider so this week we added Baby Shark and Gray Squirrel.
• We've noticed her playing pretend. How can you tell? She'll have Bunny with her and she'll talk to her in a higher pitched voice and is super animated. Then they run or jump around and keep playing a set game. It's so fun to watch.
• She has been trying to make "binoculars" with her hands but can't quite make the circles big enough to look through. Little hands are adorable!
• Stringing together more words and sentences. Usually Kiersten can guess at what she's saying and Scott has a general sense but there are times we look at each other and shrug our shoulders. We're learning Spanish and Mackenzie!
• Still working on the timeouts and jumping on the couch but somehow jumping on the bed is ok. She love love loves jumping on Mommy and Daddy's bed. *Sigh*

That's it for this week. Only a few more weeks before we are home bound! We are thrilled to visit with as many friends and family as we can. And eat all the things we've been missing like Chipotle and Wendy's and Panera and Arby's and Moe's and Cheesecake Factory and Jimmy John's and so many more! But until then, see you here next week!

One of Five

Well guess what. It's Tuesday. We didn't write yesterday. Alicia was sick on Monday so it was just Mommy and Mackenzie all day and it was a busy day but that's how we like 'em.

Tuesday Kiersten received word that one of her dear Freshman roommates is getting married this summer and is having an Open House in Utah right after our return from London so we bought a ticket for her to go out to Utah solely for the Open House. It will be her first trip away from Mackenzie.... We'll see how it all goes when the time comes. Also someone came and took our Mazda away to the shop. Did you know what we have one of five Mazda CX-5s in the entire country of Paraguay? The Mazda dealer shipped 3 down to sell but decided they wouldn't do well here so didn't send for any more. The boss bought one and the other two were sold. We have one and another Embassy family has the fifth. So that means they don't carry CX-5 parts! We'll need to ship any and all repair parts from America. Oh goodie.

On Wednesday during Yoga (of all places) Kiersten was really craving some ice cream so when she got home, she and Mackenzie went on a Mommy-daughter date to Doña Angela which is a cute little ice cream cafe complete with a full menu including breakfast items like medialunas (croissants), egg sandwiches and the like and lunch like pizza, pasta and sandwiches. So we ate lunch then got some ice cream to-go to share with Scott later. We really like ice cream.

Sorry it's blurry but its still super cute. And she's smiling!

Great use of stickers! It helped calm her while we waited for the food.

She asked for them to go on her face!

Then on Thursday morning we had our first successful Play Group. Three moms with kids came and we had a full house all morning. 9 kids! It was a blast to see Mackenzie running around and interacting with so many kids of various ages. The moms liked it too and already planned the next one! We hope it continues.

Mackenzie showed this little girl how to play with the treehouse.

That lady is the mother of 5 under 5! A five year-old, triplets! and an almost two year-old.

Scott needed to work late that night so Kiersten say no to making dinner and yes to McDonalds! Since her first experience ordering to now, it was much smoother and understandable. The girls ordered Daddy a Big Mac combo meal and delivered it to the Embassy so M could see him before going to bed.

Friday Scott and Kiersten went back to Doña Angela for their weekly Friday lunch date. It was so crowded! They have daily specials and the special on Friday is all you can eat pizza. It's like Brick Oven in Utah where they come to your table and offer you slices of pizza. It doesn't taste as good a Brick Oven though. We then got ice cream and went home. 

Sooo much whipped cream!

And the thinnest milkshake ever!

That night, we'd secured a babysitter so we could have dinner with Brenda and Netza at their apartment then play Harry Potter. They again introduced us to a deliciously authentic Costa Rican and Mexican dish. We were told it's a dish that busy moms make but it seemed like a time consuming process! Shredded chicken with chipotle adobo sauce, black bean puree, onions, peppers, pico de gallo and tiny corn tortillas (homemade) with sour cream. Oh. My. Gosh! It was so delicious! We definitely ate too many because the tortillas were so small. Afterward Scott admitted they were the best tacos he's ever had "bar none". We contributed 7 layer cookies as dessert and lost our game. We're getting together again this coming Saturday to eat food and try again.

Mouth-wateringly good!

Played with our new expansion pack. Kiersten played the newest character: Luna Lovegood.

Saturday morning was rough for both of us since we went to bed very full and woke up early to participate in an Embassy hosted Around the World 5K race. There was a terrific showing from the community and Mackenzie happily rode in the stroller the whole way. We had a great time apart from realizing how out of shape we are that a 5K was trouble-some. Maybe it was the food from the night before or the humidity but we're pretty sure it was just our bodies telling us we're getting older. Yuck.

It wasn't a true 5K. It was really only 2.5 miles.

The rest of the day we took it easy. That night for dinner we were in the mood for Thai food. That's a little problematic because as far as we know there aren't any Thai people in Asuncion. BUT! There is one Thai restaurant in all of Asuncion about 20 minutes from our house right on the outskirts (almost) of the city. It was easy enough to find with the large purple elephant sign indicating the turn to the restaurant. We were the only patrons inside and we're pretty sure it was just the chef and one waiter in there too. How they have managed to stay open we don't know. We ordered an appetizer, three drinks and two entrees and were pleasantly surprised by both taste and price. They do delivery so one way or another we'll find our way back to this little place.

The purple elephant sign.

Since we were the only patrons we didn't mind letting Mackenzie
wonder and try out different seats.

Happy family outing!

Sunday was Fast Sunday for us and Kiersten, for the first time, bore her testimony in Spanish! It was very short as that was all she had the vocabulary for but it was all the needed to be said really. The Book of Mormon is the word of God, Russell M. Nelson is the Prophet of God, and Jesus Christ lives. Choir rehersal was long but very much needed. Stake Conference is two weeks away and the songs we've been working on since January are finally coming together nicely. Mackenzie decided she wasn't going to take a nap despite two attempts so she went down hard at 6:30 and slept for a solid 12 hours. Oh toddlers.

French Toast with blueberry-peach compote, nuts and a banana for our Fast Sunday dinner.

Monday, as previously stated, was busy. Mackenzie kept Kiersten busy with her demanding play schedule then napped for about 2.5 hours. Kiersten did chores and prepped dinner and then they both crashed on the couch and watched part of the live action Cinderella from 2015.

Today (Tuesday) so far has been more relaxing in a sense. Alicia is here and Mackenzie has been happy to play with her and ask her for things (agua, cheese, etc.). Kiersten went to teach her weekly Tuesday morning Bootcamp class and today there were two participants. Last week she had 4 and was hoping we could continue to increase the numbers but 2 people is better than zero. We'll see what happens next week. The rest of the day looks to be pretty good. We were invited to a play-dough play date with another family this afternoon and are looking forward to it... if Mackenzie ever takes her nap.

Misadventures in Baking:

• This was our first time making the 7 layer cookies and it was very easy, come to find out. We added nuts and some dulce de leche because when in Paraguay, right? This helped fill out the full 7 layers and it was delectable.

  

  Seven layers: graham cracker, semi-sweet chocolate, butterscotch chips, milk chocolate, dulce de leche, walnuts and sweetened condensed milk.

Quirks of Paraguay:

• Mazdas. From early in the post we said we have one of the five CX-5s in the country. They have a Mazda dealership here but they mostly deal with trucks or compact cars. We'll see how it goes and how long its in the shop. Thank goodness for our little yellow car!

The Mackenzie Update:

• More words! Can't remember which ones we've mentioned so if there are some repeats we apologize. 
• Pooba (like Pumba from The Lion King but without the 'm') - chipa which is the Paraguayan cheese bread. A man in a car with a megaphone drives around the neighborhood advertising chipa and when she hears it she chirps "Pooba! Pooba!"
• Nana - manzana (apple). This one sounds like banana so context clues are everything. She has a shirt with spots on it that look like berries or apples and when she wears it she points to them and says, "Nanas".
• Time outs have made their way into our home. We have been struggling for MONTHS to teach her not to jump on the couch. We get that it's soft and fun and bouncy and just makes sense to jump on it but it's not allowed. That's what trampolines and bounce houses are for. Not furniture. So when she jumps on the couch, we pick her up and stand with her in the corner of the room for a minute. Sometimes she fights us and cries and other times she just takes it. When it's over, we get down to her level and explain to her why she was in timeout. Pray for us that this will finally stick. Disciplining a toddler is hard!
• She loves books and not just the short, boarded baby books. She likes the Dr. Seuss library ones that have real pages and take longer than a minute to read. She can 'tell' us the whole story of 'Are you my Mother?'

  

  "Are you my Mother?" but the kitten ... just looked and looked.

• The eensy weensy spider! Kiersten taught her the hand motions and the song this week and she loves it! 

That is all for this jam-packed week. Sorry for the delay in publication. Have a good one and we'll see you next week!

Happy Easter! He is risen!

Happy Easter weekend everyone! It was a busy busy week for us but also a very fun one. This week the whole country shut down on Friday in honor of Good Friday and Thursday everyone had off work as well. It was nice to wake up to no traffic on the street outside our window for four days in a row. Wednesday was also quiet in preparation for Thursday. Light traffic every where! It was fabulous!

Tuesday Scott needed to work late so Kiersten and Mackenzie had a Mommy-Daughter dinner date at a little cafe near our house. Since our Mazda wasn't working and with the yellow car in the shop, we walked there and it was terrific. Also the food at the cafe was better than anticipated.

Earlier that day, Alicia taught Kiersten and Brenda how to make authentic, Paraguayan chipa. She mixed everything by hand and didn't really measure anything. Chipa is usually baked in a fire wood oven so she didn't know how hot the oven should be. The first batch took a while to bake but once we got the heat cranked up to 400F the rest finished quickly. It was so good! And, fun fact, chipa is gluten-free. How this isn't extremely popular in America yet is beyond me. Perhaps we'll set up shop and become insanely rich upon returning to the States....

Any shape goes when making chipa. The easiest to form are logs and circles.

On Wednesday Scott also had to work late so after getting Mackenzie down to bed Kiersten relaxed with a French film (Blind Date on Netflix) and some much deserved ice cream.

Some guys came to work on our car as well.
Mackenzie was fascinated.

Thursday began the Holiday of Semana Santa (Holy Week or literally Week Holy). People had the day off of work but many places of business were still open like grocery stores and restaurants. In the afternoon we had about 5 different Embassy families over for games and asado. People brought a side or appetizer to share and their own meat for grilling. We provided some snacks, dessert and the grill which was our first time using. Everything went off without a hitch! After eating we all, kids included, commenced in a raucous game of charades. Women beat the men! Everyone had a great time and best of all, the clean up took us less than an hour. Win!

Mackenzie helped Mommy make the cookies!

Kiersten from 1988 helping her Mommy make cookies!

Our inaugural asado with some meat!

Friends enjoying food and conversation.

Our crowded living room during charades. 

Good Friday was the real holiday and everything was closed except for Biggie which is a 24 hour mini mart which is really well stocked. We needed a few last minute items. In the morning, to get out of the house, we drove to the Costanera. Mackenzie ran the whole time one way and then being very hot and tired needed to be carried back to the car, against her will we might add. 

Before driving home we found the big cathedral down town.
It was pretty crowded so we didn't get out.

In the afternoon our neighbors came over to play our expansion to Harry Potter. We lost once and were doing well on our second game when we needed to end early to go to a Passover Seder hosted by the resident Jewish family with the Embassy. This was our first Seder and we didn't really know what to expect. Lots of Hebrew and symbolism and very educational for us on Judaism. And now, an anecdote. During the Passover Seder you ceremonially drink four glasses of wine. Since there were children present there was also juice or water to drink. The hosts gave us apple cider and said it was carbonated like Martinelli's back home. Well we soon found out that unlike Martinelli's, this was alcoholic so we both had our first unintentional taste of alcohol at the age of 30. We stuck to water after that first sip for the rest of the evening.

Playing her own game during our battle.

The beginnings of the Passover Seder (I asked permission to take pictures).

Mackenzie was in love with this little car. She screamed bloody murder when we left.

We got home well after Mackenzie's bed time and it took her a while to settle down for sleep. Kiersten went straight to the kitchen to begin prepping for our General Conference Brunch the following morning.

In the morning, the brunch cooking and baking continued with eggs, bacon, sweet potato hash and finishing with the quintessential conference cinnamon rolls and frosting. Our guests brought juice and yummy fruit salad making the meal complete. Scott dashed off to attend the first session of Conference at the church building for his calling and Kiersten along with Brenda and Netza stayed at home to watch. Mackenzie was very well behaved during the whole 2 hours.

Yum!

After the first session we got a rain storm and Scott took Mackenzie out to play and she loved it! "Agua! Agua!" she gleefully shouted while splashing in the puddles. Due to her late night and early nap that morning, after coming in from the rain and bathing, she went down for a rare second nap during the second session of conference. For dinner that night we ordered pizza for the very first time ever because we usually make our own or pick up one to bake in our own oven. We got Dominos because they have one here and to compare the taste to back home. Two thumbs up! It should be noted that Mackenzie chose our dinner that night. We asked her if she wanted a sandwich, pizza or pasta and she said yes to pizza. Good choice!

'Mas!' to the green olives.

Sunday morning Kiersten was in the kitchen once again baking up a storm. Since this is another major holiday where we found ourselves without family we were reminded that we don't have any traditions. Kiersten discovered in her Culinary Hungary cookbook that there is a delicious looking recipe for an Easter sweet bread loaf. We made it and after the first bite she was transported right back to Hungary and just like that, we have an Easter tradition.

This loaf was HUGE!

Directly after breakfast, we took Mackenzie into the living room for her egg hunt. When she saw the first egg she thought, hmm, that's interesting. Then there were more and it became fun! We didn't put anything in the eggs for a few reasons, the main ones being; one, she's not even 2. She doesn't need the candy and we'll end up eating it anyway. Two, we didn't buy anything because this was kind of last minute. Three, it's April Fools Day. Four, Easter is the day that Christ rose from the dead and the tomb was empty so the empty eggs symbolized that. Five, she wouldn't know the difference anyway. She still opened each one and was only frustrated that the two halves were connected. She found all 10 eggs and then when she wasn't looking we'd hide the same ones again. She was thrilled with this new game for about 20 minutes. "Mas! Mas!" she chirped when ever she'd find one. It was probably the best Easter morning ever.

'Hmm...'

She liked playing with them as much as finding them. Little ducky!

Mackenzie went down for her nap right as the first session started and missed the whole thing. Conference is always so amazing! We love General Conference!

A small contribution to our Easter decorations.

After the session was over, we finished making our very first solo Easter dinner complete with baked chicken (they don't sell ham here), cheesy scalloped potatoes, maple-glazed carrots, cranberry sauce and the Hungarian Easter sweet loaf. Everything was delicious! It was the best Easter meal we've ever made! We quickly FaceTimed with Kiersten's parents and Mackenzie got to see her cousin. Those girls love each other! Warms the heart. Then we finished the evening off with the last session of conference (OMG!!) and then bed time for Mackenzie. It was a wonderful Easter.

Monday has been a very busy day. We gave Alicia the day off to ensure she could spend adequate time with her family who lives 13 hours away by bus. She'll be back tomorrow. So the usual chores were left to Kiersten but it was great to have such a busy and productive day. Then unexpectedly at 5pm the power went out! The girls were sitting on the couch and somehow they ended up snuggled together. Mackenzie hasn't cuddled like this in almost a year! Kiersten took full advantage of their time together and didn't dare move. It was spectacular.

We made an impromptu dinner on the stove top by lamp and candle light and then at 7:30 the power was back on.

Misadventures in Baking:

• With our Easter feast only including the three of us, Kiersten decided to make a mini carrot cake as is the traditional Easter dessert in both families. It was a hit! And so cute and mini. We even used up the last bits of cinnamon roll frosting for the cake. Win-win.
  
  
  
  
• The cinnamon rolls were better and sweeter than we remember. There's a good reason we only make them twice a year. And we tried something different. Kiersten did all the work the night before so in the morning we pulled them out of the fridge to warm up and then bake. So easy!
  
• The Hungarian sweet loaf. The recipe called for 8 cups of flour, 1 kilo! It was so much flour but oh my was it delicious. It tastes great on its own or in savory dishes like grilled cheese or eggs and toast. This might be a more regular baked good in our home....
  

Quirks of Paraguay:

• Good Friday. This day specifically is the big holiday of the week here. As previously mentioned, everything closed down save for the Biggies (mini marts) and some gas stations. It's so nice to be in a place that celebrates religious holidays other than Christmas.
• Lomito. Not sure if we've talked about this before but a lomito seems to be one of the national foods of Paraguay. A lomito is a sandwich with a specific 'lomito' cut of steak which is very thin and tender. Then a full or complete sandwich will include lettuce, tomato or pepper, ham or bacon or both and a fried egg. Kiersten got one at the cafe for dinner on Tuesday and it was one of the best lomitos she's had in country to date.

  

  Just look at that runny egg. The best!

The Mackenzie Update:

Hold on to your hats, we've got a lot this week!

• New words:
• hands - she'll say this when her hands are dirty and need to be washed
• "are you/they?" - She's leaving out the "where" here but she'll repeat us when we say, "where are you?"
• dipoah - diaper
• vez - as in 'otra vez' which is 'again' in Spanish. It sounds like 'pez' (fish) so you gotta pay attention
• She has a few notebooks that are now deemed her coloring books and over the last few weeks has really taken to drawing and is getting much better at it. She can make loops and circle shapes rather than just scribbled lines.
• The 'Hello/Hola' primary song is starting to have different pitches when she sings it. We've got a singer!

  

  She did this all by herself.

• This next one is very adorable but not something we want her to continue. If she doesn't want something or go somewhere, she'll hold out her hand like 'stop' and say, 'moe!' which is 'no'. Sometimes she'll say it a few times, 'Moe, moe, moe!' with a look of consternation. We'll then ask her what she wants and can usually come to some sort of compromise.
• We bought her a kid's yoga book in BA which is in Spanish. Kiersten absolutely loves it and so does Mackenzie. She can copy many of the poses and say them by name. Yes!!
• She'll put her finger on her chin and 'scratch' it and go, "Hmm..." She copied Scott doing it one day and it stuck.
• New favorite food: green olives from the pizza on Saturday.
• And we think we've officially hit the "Terrible Two" stage of her life. Not a fan. The highs are really high and the lows are oh so low.

  

  She loves to watch the "beep beeps" and didn't want to come inside.

Thanks for sticking with us this week. It was a long one. Happy April everyone! See you next week!