Can it get any better?

Some wonderful friends of ours, Mark and Martha (as mentioned in previous posts) invited us over for dinner last weekend. They are the parents of Pablo, Ella's beau from school. They are so attached to each other that the teachers often complain that they can't separate them! We don't mind :-) More Spanish for her, and more English for him!

Anyhow, we arrived to dinner, assuming it would be just us and them. Imagine our surprise when friend after friend began to show up! It turns out that they invited several families from Ella's school class, and they were all there to wish us safe travels! Several people even gave gifts to Ella...we were shocked!







We had so much fun at the party, and couldn't believe that someone would be so kind to do this for us! Thank you Mark & Martha! We will miss you (and Ella will miss Pablo SOOO much)!

A few days later...our friends from Utah (that are living here for the year) brought us dinner when we couldn't make it to a dinner appointment (Ella got a stomach bug...that was fun), later watched Ella, and even helped us clean in preparation for our checkout, tomorrow! Thank you Dave & Carrie....we wish you could be here EVERY year!

Everyone here has been so kind. We received more dinner and home invitations in 4.5 months than nearly all of our winters combined! How do you beat a place like that?!

We're leaving Mexico!

It is with great sadness that I write this post...and yet such joy, because I am reflecting on all of our great memories we have made here! Looking at our photos from just the past week and a half, I am reminded of so many reasons I love Mexico. Such as...

I love the cheap car washes you can get in the Walmart parking lot from the turbo water sprayer guys!
I love the bright purple flowers everywhere, that just came in bloom. I believe they're called Primaveras...
I LOVE the bugumbillias. Their color variety seems endless, and they are always in bloom!
I love the artistry...the traditional pottery...
The wood crafts...
The metal crafts...
The amazing corn husk dolls and flowers...
The artesania purses and bags...
The Mexican's celebration of death...that surprisingly isn't morbid...but refreshing...
The beautiful dolls they make that are as vibrants as the people...
The kind, talented people that put such love and care into their work...
The colors of Tonala, Guadlajara....

The ceramics that you can buy for pennies on the dollar...
(In this case...$7 each)The road-side food stands...
The small-time stands in front of individual's homes...
The food stands at the markets...
The native people and their colorful clothing...
The honey sellers that walk around with their wheel barrels full of honeycomb...
The FRESH and CHEAP food!! Oh, I will miss this SOOO much!
Someone DEFINITELY had it right when they posted this sign:

A dream...

Last night I had a dream that I was hand washing clothes on the top of the White House for the president. I thought that was very odd.

That is, until Jared told me he dreamed last night that he was the president. Ah-ha! It's all making sense, now....

More images of Mexico...

By popular demand...here are some more images of Mexico:

Some dancers advertising their upcoming traditional dance program:

A typical Mexican scene:

Woodwork in Tonala:

The artist, and the weaving Jared's mom bought in Chapala. It cost $100 pesos ($7.50).

The ice cream man on the Chapala Malecon

Coconut, anyone?

Amazing metalwork on a building side in Tonala (15 feet tall?)

The Tonala street market fills both sides of the street for blocks and blocks. This is "drive by" photo...looking at the backside of the market. If you were to walk into this mass of tents, you would have the opportunity to walk down 2 different isles, with vendors on every side. Then, cross the street, and do it all over again! It is a mad house!

The first time we were in Tonala, we were amazed by a some amazing embossed metalwork we have never seen before in ours lives. We walked into a little store like this, and met this fellow and his wife:

The work in progress...

Much to our astonishment...they were working on a piece that looked like this:

Was it a sign?!! We learned that his couple is very popular with all of the missionaries from Guadlajara. They come to them to get their favorite temples embossed in metal!

So...we commissioned them to do several pieces for our store. We simply gave them pictures of artwork that we liked, and they came up with their metal rendition. This was one of our favorites (2 feet by 1 1/2 feet):

Now our biggest hope is that customers in Alaska will love this work...so that we can support this couple for years to come!