Last night we had a Noche de la Hispanidad at church. 

There were over 400 people there! I made Abuelo's favorite Cuban dessert: pastelitos de guayaba. 

Iris danced in a Mexican vaquero number.

Sybil was in a dance also: 

Yesterday, after getting spanked by a Mexican soccer team, Sybil said, "Mexicans are tough!"

Me: "What makes you say that?"

Sybil, "Just look at that soccer team and their parents and Olga, Tia Macu, and Abuela."

I'm quite confident that Abuela rolled over in her grave when Sybil called her a Mexican.

Iris went on a quick stake camping trip.

This picture cracked me up. There's a row of kids sitting in the water.

And there's a white ghost on the end.

Wait, that's not a ghost, that's Iris! 

She said she got a lot of "white jokes," like when the stake leaders made popcorn with flavoring on it. Someone said, "Only white people eat that kind of food!" and then handed it to her.

The girls double-dip with church activities. 

This is a picture from the "white" ward activity: painting with Bob Ross:

The benefit of Claire working at a dental office:

Her earring hole closed, so they took her in the back and pierced it using sterile technique.

Omakase

A 10 course meal; It was the most beautiful food I have eaten and cost as much as a nice couch.

I often find artistic collections on my phone by a 10-year old.

 

Iris hosted a tea party this week.

She was also named Student of the Month. Her Environmental Science teacher nominated her and wrote this: "Iris has shown so much excitement for both class and FFA. She's been a leader and volunteers regularly for assignments. She's an exemplar of what our program hopes to achieve."

A few other tidbits:

David wrote his family that he never feels as rich as when he goes grocery shopping without me. That's why we have 8 ice cream flavors in only one of our freezers! EIGHT! I'm afraid to check the bigger, outdoor freezer.

Claire was upgraded from sterile tech to surgery assistant during her 12-hour shift yesterday. Knowing she gets queazy with blood, I told her to make sure she didn't lock her knees during the procedures. She was bouncing the whole time as she pulled teeth out of bloody mouths.

Sybil promised me this week that she would never get mad at me again. I'll tattoo that quote somewhere special.

David= one year older

Not many pictures this week, but so much going on. One of David's many strengths (and one of my many weaknesses) is celebration and gathering. This is one of the many bday celebrations, which aren't done yet since he still has to buy his extravagant present.

We had people from the English ward, Spanish ward, work, and political worlds:

Last night we got back from Sybil's soccer tournament in Flagstaff. We still don't do sports on Sunday, which is seen as controversial by some, but I like to think about Clayton Christensen's quote: “It's easier to hold to your principles 100% of the time than it is to hold to them 98% of the time.” 

This was the second time we went to AZ this week. David and I made a quick flight out on Tuesday for Max's first time through the temple. We sat around my parent's table afterwards and talked about a few salacious things like it's a good thing David didn't send a picture of himself in the Borat bathing suit while Jon was meeting with the prophet, although Hunt was a proud beneficiary of that picture. 

My favorite part of the night was lying next to my dad on his bed and rubbing his arm. It was sacred.

     Claire is busy! I read one of her college essays this week. It mentioned her fainting in an ICU a year ago as she watched an IV being placed on her best friend. And now trying to reconcile her queasiness with blood and her new job in a dental office. She also works in a law firm, has 4 AP classes, rows, and tries to have a social life. 

     Iris went on our trip to flagstaff yesterday. It was 8 hours round-trip and worth it for her due to the honey comb candy from the Candy Shoppe and her solitary forrest hike.

     Sybil scooters to school extra early these days. She stops at a friend's house and I'm pretty sure they doorbell ditch a boy every morning.

    This week I started my last semester of NP school. I will continue at the Health District and one other primary care clinic.

 

NOLA

We didn't make it to NOLA this summer, but we spent Labor Day weekend for a 

SUPER secret 50th wedding anniversary

Tulane tour: Claire liked the neuroscience program, 

but as soon as she heard about 3 years in dorms and no cars, she lost interest.

Family prayers

Family yard work

getting ready for the big celebration

Abuelo was hesitant to come, saying that 97 year olds don't attend social functions.

I asked him this night if he was happy he came. 

He said it got old sitting in front of the TV for 12 hours a day. Poor guy used to love reading, it was one of the joys of his life, but his vision has diminished significantly.

Sal's Snowballs 

since that wasn't enough sugar, David took kids to get beignets after

Girl time!

population density overload!

We played kahoot, created by the kids with family trivia and random pictures

2 runs by Pontchartrain and 1 in Audubon

The teenagers hung out at the Ortiz house.

One by one, they retreated to the bathroom to see how long it would take for Napoleon to notice.

Pandora's Snoballs

Abuelo got to talk to Elijah on Labor Day.

Pop and GG offered words of wisdom before we left. 

Pop said, "Remember, the only thing you take when you leave this life is the knowledge you have acquired."

"And your crack addiction," came from the peanut gallery. 

(I couldn't help it.)

A fur-dryer

Donuts with Grownups at school with Masha and Sybil.

One of them was happy I came.

 

What to do with myself

Another week of freedom for me. I tried to set up shadowing doctors for fun, but my connections fell through. So I'm cleaning grout, installing bathroom fans, declogging tubs, and fitting in all of the dental and MD appointments that have been neglected for the past year. 

Waiting for vaccinations:

I actually threw away a diaper bag that was about 2 decades old. I got it for free from the UofM hospital and it had been converted into a junk-toiletry bag. This kid definitely doesn't need a diaper bag anymore:

 

Senior, Sophomore, 5th grade

Last Sunday, Claire suggested we try a family Be Real chat where we all post a picture of what we are doing at the exact moment she indicates. For the first post, David texted a picture of the toilet he was using. First and last.

First day for the high schoolers.

Iris is taking her first 3 AP classes this year.

Sybil's soccer practice was canceled twice this week due to extreme heat, which gave her extra time to be mad at me. She tripped on the the other side of the room and still got mad at me.  The multifaceted nature of my infallibility is perplexing. She wrote me a letter while I was studying for my final this week. The letter said: "Count the number of pieces. The number you get is how mad I am at you." The accompanying envelope had a large chunk of her hair that she had cut. I did not count the hairs.

One of her tween looks on her first day of 5th grade.

Senior year means that Claire is home most days by 10am, so she and Elijah had plenty of time to talk on his p-day. They haven’t talked for a while but were on the phone for over 100 minutes; Claire claimed it was purely talking in circles. From what I heard, there was not one contention-free sentence uttered. Some of the topics of discussion: Is Elijah is a nice person, is it weird that Claire used Grace’s prom dress, is Claire or Elijah more humble, who is more stupid. A few of the lines I heard from Claire's side: “Go outside and catch a lizard if you need more protein.” “You sound so stupid right now.” “I don’t believe that you live in a grass hut and have had malaria five times.” They talked about Claire’s boy interests and Elijah said he never brought girls to our house because we were too embarrassing. Claire said she never tried to be embarrassing. And he said: "That's the worst part."

Jon made a quick visit to Vegas. We went to Tacos al Gordo:

And he made it to part of Sybil's game:

My finals are done and I have a few weeks of freedom. I started it by tackling my closet and we finished the second season of Stranger Things with the girls.