resurrecting the camera

I've been horrible about taking pictures lately. And I rarely take my (big) camera out of the house anymore. But this week I've actually pulled out the camera a few times and taken some shots around the house. Last Friday Kevin and I got to celebrate our 14th anniversary! The real date was actually back in July, but Kevin was out of town at the time. PTL for friends who offered to babysit! We had a great evening out together. I'm so thankful for my man and our 14 years together. Grace actually took this picture and felt like big stuff for getting to use mom's camera.

This week some friends said, "Let's have a tea party!" So we did! It was great fun and was Grace's first "real" tea party. You know, with real cups and plates instead of plastic ones. Ha! We had the tea party at our house since Trinity was napping, but my friend brought all the beautiful tableware. It made me realize that while I have actual cups and saucers in storage in America, I've never purchased such items here. Glad my friend had some! We had a great time together. Grace opted for juice instead of tea but told me later that she "held her pinky up" to be fancy. Wish I'd taken note at the time!

I love that my girls love books. And I love that Kevin is such a great daddy!

This morning I went to take some video of the girls and they ended up watching several home movies on my flip phone. They laughed and laughed at themselves.

Nana and Pappaw sent a package with some fun matchy clothes. Thank you so much Nana and Pappaw!

As for the rest of these pictures? Well, no explanation needed. Let me just say once more, we do NOT lack for personality at our house. (Or drama for that matter, but I won't go into detail to protect the privacy of said drama queens.) I love my girls and despite some drama each day, we have so much fun together. We almost always go outside each morning but today we just played with toys and read and had a great time laughing together. I am so blessed to have these babes.

over the mountains and around the cows...

Our friend invited us to her village the other day. We were excited! It's not everyday a person around here invites you to their hometown, so we readily accepted. (And hey, my friend knew we could drive her so that's a bonus considering there's not a very regular bus to her village!) Summer here means it's rainy season, which can also make it tricky navigating mountain roads (due to potential mud slides). So the night before we were set to go it had been POURING rain for hours. And at first we decided not to go. But then our friend got a call from her mama saying it wasn't raining in the village and they were expecting some company (in other words, come TODAY!) So thankfully the rain stopped by then and we were on our way. Once we got off the highway, it was a windy, bumpy road and both my girls said they were getting sick so we took a little breather. I even flew off my seat at one point the roads were so bumpy!!

This picture below of Grace makes me laugh. When I told her it would help her stomach feel better if she watched the road, she proceeded to STARE DOWN the road. I mean, she didn't take her eyes off. She wanted her stomach to feel better!

All concerns about car sickness were gone by the time we got to the village and Grace got to see another Wilbur-looking pig.

and we even got to feed some of them

Can you guess what this is? Yep, they brew their own beer.

Here's a picture of my friend's family home.

And here's the meal they served, which included white beans, chicken, tofu, greens, and the best mushrooms I've ever eaten. They grown them right on their mountain.

This cutie-pie lived right next door and was around Trinity's age.

My friend let me try on her hat worn for special holidays. (My mom bought one like this to take home with her to Lubbock, USA!)

And we found a vest that fit Kevin.

But it all looked much better on our friend and her father!

You know what I love about this picture? Folks are doing business here buying and selling peppers and mushrooms and my Trinity is right in the middle of it all singing the Sound of Music.

After lunch my friend walked us to the "new village" part of the village. The gov..t has given villagers a portion of the money needed to build new homes, and many families are building right now.

My friend's family hopes to be moved in to their new home before the lunar New Year.

Another view of the new village homes

We also walked over to pick some fruit right off the trees. You might ask me, "What fruit?" And I would have no idea what it's called. My friend didn't even know what it's called in the national language. It tasted like a small tart apple but well, wasn't.

None of the ladies from the village (except my friend) could speak the national language. Their cultural identity and language has been kept very well intact.

Trinity ate at least 4 or 5 of these apples/whatever-they-are-called-fruits.

We made some memories today.