Workin'...

I got my hands on my sister's computer...

...and now I'm busy working.

Carnival 2012

This weekend is the carnival celebration in Bolivia.  I'm not exactly sure what it's all about.  But I do know that there are a lot of water balloon being thrown, people dressed up in weird costumes, and I get 5 days off of school.  My last day of school was Thursday, and we had our own little celebration.  It was really fun, but kind of crazy and chaotic.  I was ready to leave when my Dad came to pick me up!  Here are some pictures from the party.

We were all suppose to dress up.  I choose to be a princess...surprise, surprise!

Here is a snapshot of the madness.  Basically the party was just throwing water and squirting foam on each other.  Everyone was just running around and the music was REALLY loud.

It was kind of fun to play with the foam!

This is my friend Alardia.  She was a Ballerina.

This is my friend Carla.  I'm not sure exactly what she was, but she had a pretty dress on.

While we were taking pictures this boy insisted on getting his picture taken with me.  I'm not sure who he is, or why he has eyeliner on.

All about being 1

Being one has been pretty cool so far.  I'm still a small little thing, just 15 1/2 pounds, but I can do all the things that most one year olds can do.  As you can see in the above picture I can stand all by myself really good now.  I will also walk behind anything I can push along the ground.  (I'm actually walking all by myself now, but that's for another post!)  

I have 6 teeth, four on the top and two on the bottom.  Some days I eat really well, but other days I'm really picky.  I try to keep my parents on their toes, so they don't get bored.  My personality is really starting to show as well.  I'm going to be a pretty strong will child, and I like to let people know how I'm feeling.  If I'm playing with something and you take it away from me, I will let you know.  And if you think that putting it somewhere where I can't see it will just make me forget about it and move on, you are quite mistaken.  I have a memory like an elephant and it takes me a while to get over things.  

One of my favorite toys is my ridding giraffe.  I can really make it go!  And I can ride it backwards too.  I also really like crawling into small spaces, although I'm still trying to master getting myself out.  Usually there is someone around to help out.  

I also love balls.  Maybe because it's one of the words I can say.  The other day we went to a restaurant with a ball pit and I was in heaven.  I just kept saying "ball, ball, ball" over and over.  It was awesome!  

I also still love to play with my big sister Ella.  I just started to say her name last week!  Pretty much whatever she is doing, I am interested in doing as well.  Sometimes it seems like she doesn't always want me to do everything she is doing, but she is usually an awesome big sister.  She likes to help be walk around, and I love it when she feeds me.  

And of course I'm playing a lot of Barbies with her.  Sometimes we even let Daddy play.  He loves that!  

Yes, being one is pretty cool.  

Back to School

School started again here in Bolivia this week.  I was REALLY excited to go back and see all my friends again.  I'm starting my third and final year at the school, which means I'm in the big class.  It had been a long time since I had seen anyone, and a long time since I have spoken Spanish for a whole morning.  But I jumped right in and am loving it!  

I went shopping with my Mom and picked out my new backpack.  I LOVE it!

First day of school assembly, as you can see, I still stick out a little.

Excited to me in my new classroom!

Straight hair!

Well, now that we are back in Bolivia, there isn't a whole lot to do.  My school doesn't start until Feb. 6th, and the big park in town in closed for renovations.  (Actually it's been completely demolished.)  So, one morning I asked my Mom to make my hair straight.  It turned out so cool...I couldn't stop looking at myself in the mirror.  Do you think I looked different?

Hands!

One of the best parts of our visit to South Dakota were all the extra hands there were to hold me!  I like being held...and I liked all the special people that held me!  

Great Uncle Tim

Great Uncle Brad

Great Aunt Amy

My second cousin Logan

And of course my GG

What a small world!

Well, our furlough finally came to an end and it was time to fly home.  We got up really early and flew form Minneapolis to Miami in the morning.  Then we stayed almost all day in a hotel, resting up for our over night flight from Miami to Santa Cruz, Bolivia.  When we got to the airport in Miami, we were looking for our gate and can you believe that we ran into someone we knew!  We saw a family that we met about three years ago in Colorado, when we were doing our missionary training.  They serve in a rural area outside of Santa Cruz.  They had just been home on their furlough and we were going to be on the very same flight back to Bolivia.  Isn't that crazy!  It was wonderful having some friends to play with while we were waiting for our plane.  (And, there was another little girl that played with us too!)

Hangin' out in the airport.