The week of the A-poop-alypse!

While hurricanes raged and storm waters surged to the North of us, we too had a little storm come upon us. Ours wasn't a storm from Mother Nature though. Instead, ours was from a human baby. We call it The A-poop-alypse of 2017. Read on to learn more about this adventure and others from our past week.

The day after Labor Day we went back to our normal routines. Scott went to work and when Annie came to watch Mackenzie, Kiersten went to the Temple. This time she went through a whole endowment session with a headset! Oh yeah. She was the dork in the room listening in another language but it was cool because she could hear it in both English and Spanish when she wanted which was a great learning experience. It is very special to be in this little Temple. We are so blessed to have one so close to us! But sadly it's closing in about 7 weeks so we are going to try to make the most of it while we can.

After a very spiritual experience in the Temple, Kiersten went to the Embassy for Scott to deliver a few packages to her. She then received this text from Annie: "Donde puedo bañar a bebe? Se hizo muchisimo." Translation: "Where can I bathe/wash the baby? She is very dirty." Kiersten and Scott quickly read this, tried to translate it and responded. Less than 5 minutes later Kiersten was home and Annie had a very poopy Mackenzie sitting on the bathroom counter downstairs trying to clean her up. Poor girls. Kiersten quickly scooped M up and took her to our shower and turned it on. Our shower has a faucet and an overhead like a normal shower and there are three knobs; hot, faucet or overhead control, cold. She turned it all on to the faucet and adjusted the temperature. After donning some shorts, she jumped in with M and tried to clean off the poo. Annie came in to help and the water was too hot so she tried to adjust it and well, turned the overhead shower on us. Kiersten laughed, Mackenzie cried and Annie profusely apologized. We got her all clean in the end and that was that.

She really likes this blanket. It is pretty soft.

"Oh Daddy."

Wednesday was more normal. Work and home for respective parties. Annie put Mackenzie down for her nap for the first time and even though M cried, once the door was closed, she went to sleep within a matter of minutes. Since Annie leaves at 2pm, Kiersten tried to do some meal prepping while she was here so during her nap, Kiersten chopped a lot of vegetables.

After Annie left, the girls went on a walk around the block. It took them 40 minutes with Mackenzie walking the whole time. At the beginning of the walk, we came across a little Jack Russel terrier that was very calm and friendly. He was sitting by two ladies at the park. Mackenzie was very excited when she saw him and when we got close he let her touch his nose. On we walked and then the dog followed us. He began walking in front of us as if leading us. When we turned to stay on the block he came back in front of us. Kiersten looked back at the ladies at the park but they were unconcerned about this dog taking off causing her to believe they were not the owners. Eventually we came across other dogs who were inside their fences but once they got a whiff of our little friend, they barked madly at him so we crossed to the other side of the street. He acted like our protector so Kiersten nicknamed him 'Protego'. It seemed fitting.

This is Protego guiding us down the street.

That night during Mackenzie's bath, she rediscovered her love of kicking and splashing. She got Scott very wet.

(Sorry this video doesn't seem to work...)

The days do seem to run together by the middle of the week. When Kiersten got back from her run (where she saw Protego) on Thursday, Annie was putting Mackenzie down for her nap. She did it all alone! M slept for about 2 hours and both Annie and Kiersten went up to her room to get her up. When they opened the door, M took one look at both of them and burst into tears. She had another poop-sloption. How is it possible that it can come up and out of the front?! Anyway, we got her up and into the master bathroom again and of course Kiersten was right at the beginning of her bread making process and the mixer was on down in the kitchen. She didn't want to over mix it so she was trying to explain to Annie in very broken Spanish to go down and turn it on. Something like, "En la concina... (In the kitchen) esta una machina... (there is a machine) para el pan... (for the bread) puedes... (can you) ...." And she made an 'X' symbol with her arms indicating she wanted her to turn it off. No luck so Kiersten said, "Ok, ok, no hay problema (no problem)." Everything got sorted. Mackenzie got cleaned up and the bread worked out fine.

The bread was for dinner which was this Mac & Chicken Cheesestake sandwich.

Friday we were safe from a poop explosion from Mackenzie. For a few weeks now, Kiersten has been wanting to bake a pie. However after making Scott's birthday cake and seeing how long it takes for two people to eat something that large, we decided to share the baked good wealth by inviting some friends over for pie and games. It was our first Game Night since moving to Paraguay and it was a success! Kiersten spent the better part of the afternoon prepping and making an apple pie with some help from Scott. Mackenzie was very intrigued by the mound of apples in a dish she could not have. (When she did eventually get some pie she didn't like it.)

What do you do with your extra pie dough? Roll it out and bake it with some
cinnamon sugar on top! Kiersten's mom used to do this and it is so good.

We had four people come over; our sponsor couple, one of our neighbors (her husband was in Brazil for a triathlon) and a temporary guy from Scott's office who is single and didn't have anything else going on. We ate pie, conversed, talked about the differences between Carolina and Tennessee BBQ (which apparently is a very big deal) and played a few rounds of Codenames where the girls beat the boys. It was a very fun night and everyone enjoyed the pie. Kiersten still wants to bake more pies so hopefully we can do this again soon. Very soon.

Saturday was a pretty low-key day for us except for breakfast! Kiersten made pumpkin pancakes (recipe found here) and they were SO good! Best pumpkin pancakes she's ever made. In the afternoon we trekked out to a store to purchase a few needed kitchen items like better rubber spatulas and potato peeler. Mackenzie was very cranky after this little jaunt so we went home early supposedly for her to nap which didn't happen but Kiersten did. At some point during the day, Mackenzie had another very large poopy diaper but this one was, thankfully, contained to the diaper.

Pumpkin pancakes. The one on top even sort of looks like a pumpkin!

That night after the baby went to bed, Scott and Kiersten were hungry and since it was a big game for BYU what better college food is there than McDonald's? Kiersten drove to McDonald's and after calling Scott and telling him what was on their menu which is different than back home and significantly smaller, ordered a Big Mac combo, a McCheese combo and a McFlurry with Oreos. Delicious, sweet tasting America. Then much later, they watched the BYU v. Utah football game. It started at 10:15 EST and ended around 2am. We've said it before and we'll say it again, "It's tough to be an East Coast fan [for BYU]." The Cougars claimed defeat in the final minutes of the game which ironically S&K missed because ESPN decided to cut out right about then but we were able to connect and learn our fate minutes later. Oh well. There's always next season I guess.

First hot cocoa of the season. We keep our AC really cold and it makes us feel
like we don't live in such a hot place.

After getting much less sleep than we should have, we woke early for church the next morning. Mackenzie tried out nursery again but was returned to us by a nursery worker who told us she didn't want to be there (Mackenzie not the sister). Kiersten took her into the chapel where Mackenzie learned how to go up and down the stairs of the stand by herself and then Scott had her during third hour. Later in the afternoon we all attended choir practice and Mackenzie had a great time walking among all the adoring adults. After rehearsal we went over to one of the senior missionary couple's apartments for dinner and games. Both senior missionary couples were in attendance so there were 7 of us total. During conversation we learned that one of the couples, The Shultz's, lived in Kiersten's home Stake (Woodbridge) from 2004-2007 in one of the Lake Ridge Wards. They have a daughter who is a few years younger than Kiersten but she couldn't remember her but is familiar with some of her friends. Such a small world.

Trying desperately to get the glass from underneath the glass
tabletop. She was so flummoxed!

Even though Mackenzie went to bed late the night before she still woke up at 6:30 on Monday morning. That kid.... It had rained the night before and brought the temperature way down. Sunday was very hot with a high of 102F! Let's remember we are just getting into Spring here! Monday was much cooler with a high of 74F and cool, constant breezes. It is a beautiful day.

Honestly, who doesn't love to play in boxes?

Right as Kiersten was getting back from her run, Annie was changing another huge poopy diaper! So glad it wasn't another blow-out! Mackenzie then napped for 3.5 hours! Guess she was tired. Silly baby. Later in the afternoon, K&M went to the Embassy to pick up some more packages and Scott from work. For dinner we had an enchilada casserole made with homemade enchilada sauce which was very good and very easy. We are learning how to make all sorts of things from scratch! We might not buy name brand products again!

The play mats for her new play space finally arrived!

Such a good dish! Homemade enchilada sauce with fresh diced tomatoes and
avocado for garnish. Delicious!

Misadventures in Baking:

- Thursday's dinner needs to be mentioned here. Remember the bread Kiersten was making during Mackenzie's poopy diaper? She was making sub rolls for chicken cheesestakes for dinner that night. Not just any cheesestakes. Special ones with mac and cheese for the cheese. Everything in this dish was homemade: the rolls, the peppers, onions and chicken and the mac and cheese (not the noodles). This was our first attempt at making mac and cheese here. If we haven't said it before we'll say it now, we cannot find cheddar cheese here. They have imitation cheddar, kind of like Kraft singles. Anyway, Kiersten used some of that cheese and the only shredded cheese we've found here which has gouda, provolone, and two other cheeses. The noodles were boiled in milk, not water, to make the sauce more creamy and indeed it was delicious. Now back to the bread. They puffed up and looked great but once again our oven turned them into ugly logs. They tasted just fine but didn't look like what you would typically think of as sub rolls. They actually looked like flat submarines so I guess that's close enough. In the end, the sandwiches were delicious!

Look at how sad and flat that roll is. Tasted good though.

One pot mac and cheese. Almost all gone.

- The Apple Pie as mentioned above was a hit with our guests but Kiersten was disappointed in the turn out because, once again, it didn't fully cook. Man! Our oven is a pain in the neck even though it's brand new! The crust cooked on the top and down the edges but right in the middle on the bottom, it was still soft. Luckily there were no eggs in the crust so no one will get sick from eating this pie. More things to learn about our oven.

The dough is in the dish! Kiersten struggles not to tear the dough
during this step.

Beautifully chopped apples by Scott.

The filling is in and then...

The beautiful lattice top. So pretty! Into the oven.

A little singed on top. Luckily K was watching the oven and caught this early.
But her crust kept its form which is (I think) the first time ever!

- Since Kiersten wants to bake pies she has been looking for graham crackers. We found them in one store but she wondered, could I make my own? And indeed you can! (Recipe found here.) Kiersten made some Sunday night while watching The Dick Van Dyke Show and felling very retro and quaint indeed. The oven burned the ones on the edges but they look and taste like graham crackers. Very cool. This is the first of many things she will no doubt be making from scratch.

The graham cracker dough. Into the fridge for 2 hours.

Rolled out with cinnamon sugar on top.

They look more like Graham Crackers now.

Out of the oven with a burnt edge but still yummy.

Quirks of Paraguay:

- Chipa, part two. We talked about chipa a few weeks back when Kiersten made some. In Paraguay if you don't feel like making your own chipa or buying it at the store or even leave your house, you're in luck! There is a chipa truck in almost every neighorhood that drives around at least once a day selling chipa. They have a loud speaker with a recording that usually just says, "CHIPA." It's very Latin American.

Not exactly a truck but we got a picture! Notice the loud speaker on top.

- It's almost SPRING here! That's just crazy. Kiersten asked Annie if we could buy pumpkins here though since in our mind it should be Autumn and she said we can year round. Cool!

Can you see the purple spots in the trees? Flowers are blooming here.

The Mackenzie Update:
We've got more than normal this week for a few reasons. 1) She's at a stage where she does a lot of new things and 2) we aren't sure what we've updated everyone on.

- After she wakes up from her nap and especially after Annie leaves, she has become very cranky. Not sure if its teething (that's always a nice scapegoat) or if she's bored or what's going on. She won't take a second nap although she probably needs it. She wants up but once she's up she wants down. *sigh* Kids....

- Her new favorite game is playing in the drapes. She'll get behind them then with it still covering her head she'll walk out towards the middle of the room and laughs when the curtains fall back behind her. It's very cute.

"I can't see you!"

- NOW she has 6 teeth. We were a little premature with that a few weeks ago but it did officially pop through this week. Phew!
- Ever since we started to brush her teeth, she knows to open her mouth nice and big but now she does it at other times too. And of course we copy her and vica versa. It's funny.

Open wide!

- She has always been a good mimicker but it's getting more pronounced. When we read books she'll copy some of the actions of the characters. She'll raise her arms to the sky or put her hand on her cheek. What a smart girl we have!

She also let's Daddy do silly things to her.

- She has developed a strange fascination with belly buttons. It started with finding Mommy's one day then Daddy's and now her own. I think all baby's go through this stage. The question is, why?

Big Buddy belly cutie!

That about sums it up for our week. We sincerely hope our next week doesn't contain any more diaper blow-outs!

Thanks for stoping by!

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.