Monday, January 26, 2009

A memorable trip

Well, as many of you know. Jordan, Massey and I went down to Culiacan, Sinaloa Mexico for two weeks. There were several reasons why we went this year, first of all, we had been planning a trip since last year but got pregnant sick and was pretty impossible. Second reason, we really wanted to celebrate our 2nd anniversary and be able to remember it this time, since last year I was super pregnant and have no memory of that day, and the last reason...I was dying to see my family. Last time I was there I was 12 years old.
It was such a fun trip and there aren't words to describe how I felt when I saw all my cousins, uncles and aunts. They are all amazing people and treated us very nice. Massey loved having lots of attention and he made lots of friends. The weather was amazing and the food was fabulous.
We took hundreds of pictures and hours of video, so that we'll never forget this trip and when Massey grows a little older he can learn of this trip.
Here are some pictures I really wanted to post, they're not really in order...I believe I started with the last day.

As you can see, Massey is totally sad to be back...here we're at my parents' and he's just completely missing Mexico.

Every thursday night, at the plazuela or the heart of culiacan, people simply gather around this "kiosko" and listen to banda...people just dance even if they don't have a dancing partner. We went to check it out and it was awesome.
Massey's beautiful dark mexican eyes...
I asked my aunt Dalmira (my mom's sister) if she could take me to the cemetary to see my sister Rebeca's grave and I had forgotten that my uncle Pilar, my aunt Evangelina, and my grandma were also buried there. I was happy to see that a statue of Christ being resurrected rested at the head of the grave with my grandma's favorite scripture engraved on the book you see.
My cousin Ahmed and his girlfriend Brenda (possible future wife) and their son. They invited us the night before we left to dinner at "El Panama".
My cousin Helaman, invited us to the movie theater, and he never told us that were were in the VIP section...it was cool!
Jordan thought so too. Apparently all seats do that...and there's waiters at your service in case you'll like to order food while the movie is playing, you simply raise your hand and they come...they're also a menu between each seat.
WOW
We stopped to get "raspados", or Mexican snow cones, I don't know but they taste so good! Daniela is Helaman's wife and is 3 months pregnant, and Joel is my other cousin, Helaman's brother.
Earlier that day, Helaman took us to "El Altata" beach now called "Isla Cortes". Massey got to play with sea shells and play and eat real sand.
We had lunch at this beautiful place, we could've swam in the pool, but everyone thought it was cold...so we felt weird being the only ones swimming, so we decided not to.
Yes, this was our lunch. Shrimp and other amazing sea food coated in bread crumbs.
this was a few days before
We were invited to "una carne asada", which is the same thing as a "barbeque" but Mexican style. We had shrimp and carne asada and lots of quesadillas. These are my cousins, aunt and uncles on my mom's side of the family. Lots were still missing.

My cousin Ahmed and his girlfriend Brenda and their son Brandon. I think Ahmed is really considering getting married, because he asked Jordan about married life. We also told him how important it was for his son to have a dad at home and before we left he told us he would probably marry her.All my cousin who came that day, and my uncle Camis who wanted to be part of the picture, he's way in the back , you can barely see him. He's so funny!My cousin Sergio and my cousin Pily, we three used to play together when we were little. By the way, we're all 25 years old.
Yummy Camarones
Look at the size of these things!
Earlier that morning after church, there was a rooster in the middle of the street and my cousin Jesus Angel, decided to chase it...
The church building was the nicest building in the whole block. I happy to see that people really keep it clean and beautiful.
The day before (Saturday), we went to the "Isla de Oraba", it's like a big park divided by this beautiful river...can't remember what the river is called.
My aunt Dalmira and my cousin Marticinto just loving Massey
Jordan simply having fun
Martincito and I bought a "pirulin"...which is simply a sugar lollipop dipped in chili powder..I also bought a coconut...it was really good.


After we went to the Isla de Oraba, we went to eat "tamales de puerco" pork tamales at my aunt Roxana's home. Here she is with her two daughters. She is my dad's sister-in-law, my uncle pasted away a couple years ago. We got lots of video This is the night before, my cousin Martincito turned 15 and he had a fun party, half of these kids are my cousins. I hadn't met most of them.
My cousin Pily, she's a music teacher at the university, she's the one that plays the piano beautifully
My mom's brothers. My uncle Joel, but we call him toro (left) and my uncle Carlos, but we call him guero (right)
We went to the fair with my dad's brother, my uncle Juan Ramon, and Jordan wanted to fit it.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

More from Mexico


Us with Ruth's family at the Presa de Sanalona. On the left is Tano (uncle Chuy's son), uncle Camis, Dalmira, Jordan (me), Huanit, Ruth, and Xochitl (pronounced So-Chill) holding Massey.
Massey took a swim in the river Tamasula right down from where the water comes out of the dam from la presa Sanalona. He's the only one who got completly wet. Ruth's family said that the water was really cold, but it was about the same as the Truckee river in the summer.

Last Wednesday we went to the prensa de Sanalona. It's a man made lake and there was a hydro-electric dam and a river on the south-west side.
Ruth in front of the cathedral in downtown Culiacan.
This is in the park right across from the cathedral. They have free wifi internet access in the park (that's what the sign says in Spanish) and I think they should do that in the US, we can't let Mexico beat us in technology stuff.

It's kind of crazy, but they let anybody drive here.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Our Fabuloso Trip to Mexico (an on going post...)

The (Jordan,Ruth&Massey) Andersons made it to Mexico!!!
This was right after we landed in Mazatlan.  I saw other people taking pictures and thought it looked like a good idea.
Massey playing with ocean sand for the first time. He tasted ocean sand for the first time right after this.
The sunset in Mazatlan right after we landed. Ruth's aunt and uncle took us to the beach and to a couple of places in Mazatlan.
Massey and Daddy in the room we're staying in. Ruth's aunt and uncle painted their room and made it nice just because we were coming. She's got some great family.
Ruth's grandma has four hens and one rooster in the back of her house that she feeds daily. The rooster keeps the cats away from the hens (it was probably layed in a rough part of the hen house).
Here is Ruth's grandma Garcia in front of here house here in Culiacan. It is a very nice house and very clean.
Here's Massey with Ruth's aunt Dalmira. He might not look like it here, but he Loves Mexico. He just woke up I think. The reason he's wearing the sweater is cause everyone here thinks it's cold. They don't even have to scrape ice off of their windsheilds in the morning.

Here we are in front of and inside of the mission office of the Culiacan Mission. The office elders lived in the house that Ruth's parents have here in Culiacan but this week they moved into a house that is lots closer to the mission office.
This was at the fair here in Culiacan. I felt like I was on the Washing Machine at Duff Gardens (Micah and Ced know what I'm talking about). Afterward I almost lost my corn on the cob that I ate right before this. We went to the fair on Tuesday night with Ruth's uncle JuanRa and his family and ruth's aunt Dalmira and her family. It reminded me of the fair in Reno.