Sanchez Family Reunion 2010

Abuelito with of his 13 siblings. One died as a baby, and the oldest brother couldn't make it. They are in order from oldest to youngest. Abuelito is 3rd oldest, and is second in order in this photo. They are: Pablo, Marcelino (Abuelito), Maria, Celia, Yolanda, Ismael, Froylan, Carmela, Rebecca; Bottom (continuing in order from right to left): Alfredo, Moises, Irma. There were nearly 200 people at this reunion with the posterity of those siblings. I'll post more pics later.

This is the church house in San Marcos where we held the reunion. It is so beautiful, inside and out. It is also very old. San Marcos is the place of the very first Mormons in Mexico. Maho's ancestors were among them.

Here's the reunion banner that was made. It includes Abuelito's parents and all 13 living siblings. It was taken many years ago--before his parents died in '97.

Tessy, Ellie and Camille kept themselves entertained by collecting rose petals around the church. Ellie wanted me to take a picture of them "making rain" with the rose petals.

Helaman and Laurel sorta look like they're dancing. Actually they're playing mercy. Laurel won!

One night for dinner at the reunion we had an "elotiza." We ate elotes: corn on the cob on a stick with Mayo, cheese and chili powder. Ohhhhhh, delish!! They boil the corn with an herb called "pericon." It gives the corn such a great flavor. Then with all the fixins--wow, what a treat! You find elote stands everywhere here in Mexico. They cost between 8 and 12 pesos each (70 cents to a dollar).

This was the last day of the reunion. All these cousins are named Mahonry!! There are 3-4 other Mahonry's in the family too, but they weren't around when we thought of this. But my Mahonry is the original. The other's are copycats, 'cause their parents liked his name so well.

Taco Night Out

One night last week (July 21st) sall the adults went out for tacos in San Marcos at a taco joint called Machais. Oooooh wowy!! The best tacos I ever ate. With big bowls full of guacamole. From left to right: Abuelito's arm, Abuelita, Kelly, Mar, Susy, Moroni, Molly, Maho. Maho and I ate all the tacos we wanted, plus two sodas, a bottle of water, and paid about 10 bucks for the both of us! I just can't get over how amazing the food is here!

"Lunada"

Brianna, Whitney and Ellie made some new friends here in Abuelitos' ward. Thier names are Dania and Leslie Lopez. They've been so cute! Each Sunday they have been bringing their Spanish/English dictionary and a notebook full of English words so that they could talk to my ninas.

A couple weeks ago they invited the ninas to a "Lunada." That's a night-time party. It was held at the girls' home. They told the girls to arrive at 6. We got there at about 6:20, and we were the only guests there. The Lopez mom told us that they say 6, so most people get there around 7! In this photo you can see Whitney, Ellie, Brianna, Dania, and Leslie holding a childrens book in English. She brought it out when the ninas got there.
This was a hoot!! They had iguanas that they tied little strings onto, like a leash. Then they tied the leashes around each little girls' wrist and put the lizards on their bellies! We sure got a kick out of that. This is the little sister Tutula, which is an Indian word for pretty. Her dad calls her "Pretty" a lot.

Brianna, Whitney and Dania on the tire swing in their yard. Their home was amongst the humblest I have ever seen in my life. It was so tiny and a quite ramshackle. the yard wasn't much either. But they had a tire swing and a hammock that the kids had fun on. We talked to the girls afterward about how little these kids have, and yet they are so happy, fun, generous, sweet and smart. We pointed out that you don't have to have lots of stuff to be happy.

Swinging on the hammock.

The whole group of kids at the party. The ninas couldn't understand hardly anything that was said to them, but they had a good time. It was certainly a new experience for them!

Toothless

I think Brianna is trying to get rich from the toothfairy. She has lost 3 teeth since we've been here. This particular day she lost 2 molars in one day!! She has paper towel in her mouth, and the two teeth in her hand. Lucky for her, the Mexican toothfairy pays in pesos. She got 70 pesos for the 3 teeth.

Chinas Poblanas

Last week (July 20) we went to a city called Puebla where we went shopping in a well-known area for finding Mexican artisan items. I bought the traditional Mexican dresses for the ninas called "chinas poblanas." We got Laurel a different Mexican dress that is more fitted and looks beautiful on her. Here is Brianna in her dress. And here's Ellie in her dress with the little guitar we also bought there. I bought each complete outfit for about 10 dollars!

Big Day for Tessy!!

Last night Tessy took a quick breather from her blanky and thumb and told me, "Mama, tonight is the last night I'm gonna sniff my blanky with my thumb. I'm just gonna sniff my blanky with my nose. I won't suck my thumb anymore after tonight." So far today she hasn't sucked her thumb! She wanted to a couple times, but she stopped herself. She told me she has only just sniffed her blanky with her nose a little bit. =) What a big girl. She decided this entirely on her own. In the picture she posed all by herself so that all can see she's not sucking her thumb!
She also cut off pieces of her blanky and gave them to Abuelito. He asked her if he could have her blanky. She said no, but agreed to give him some pieces. He pulled from his pocket a handful of blanky scraps that she had given him! Pretty cute. You can see abuelito's scraps of blanky on his shirt that she cut off for him.

Cooking class

Susy (Maho's sister) and I had the great priviledge of teaching a cooking class to some sisters in Abuelita's ward. Abuelita called up 10 sisters in her ward on Friday and asked if they'd like to come to a cooking class Saturday. All of them came!! We taught them how to make wheat bread, whole wheat tortillas (they rarely eat flour tortillas here; just corn), and chocolate chip cookies. Can you believe not one of these sisters had even tried a homemade chocolate chip cookie before, let alone eaten one!! They were thrilled to learn how to make chocolate chip cookies, and to try them for the first time!
It was delightful to spend that time with this group of women. I realized again that women are the same everywhere. There was a sisterhood shared here that was as strong as any ward I've ever been in. And they were all eager to learn. We sent each of them home with some tortillas, a loaf of bread, and some cookies.