Where to begin!?

So,
we have been busy!
Ryan picked up Easton and I from the airport on Saturday from our two week trip to Texas and Wisconsin. I had been up since four that morning and crashed at a ripe 8:30 and didn't wake up for another twelve hours. The return trip was fine, but just a little tricky with a little kid. Thankfully, the four hour flight was accompanied by a young neighbor who was so tolerant of Easton throwing his chewed up cookie on him and incessant attempts to touch his sweater, earphones and just about anything else. Easton has also started kicking the seat in front of him where ever we are and no matter how quick I am to pull his feet away he successfully gets a jab or two in. Poor airplane folk.

Besides that I somehow managed to haul three suitcases, a jumbo car seat, and a squirmy child through customs and immigration. That is always the anticipated part! It all worked with ease though and somehow I managed to keep up my energy.

As I saw Ryan pull up to the curb to pick us up, it was like a glowing angel exited the car to come rescue me. ahh, I love Fronk! The ride home was nice to share, especially considering that waiting at home for us were four guests from Utah. One of several families stayed with us for the Youth Tremestral program this weekend. They were so kind and very easy to have around. When I woke up that following morning, the one after the 12 hour slumber, I found a rose on the kitchen counter with all the dishes done. That about sums up this family. So awesome. They left this morning and now I remember just how quiet this house can be. It's nice to be home and I am anxious to finish weaning Easton and get this kid sleeping through the night, but I do miss all the fun we have had.

I have about a half dozen more posts coming from the past three weeks. Oh yes, they have been busy and eventful. So stay tuned for more updates!

Oh and one last thing... have I mentioned that Ryan and I will now be staying in Mexico until January? This last trip made me sad to wait another 9 months to go home, but on the flip side, I am ecstatic to enjoy some more amazing weather and tacos. It is a balmy 70 degrees with the birds singing. AND I no longer need to lather on the lotion from dry skin, nope the weather is just right! such a highlight, no? :)

So many mixed emotions from the news, though. I was looking forward to going home and was getting everything rolling in that direction, but at the same time the news brought a bit of relief and happiness to spend a little more time here. I think I am sixes about where we are right now, but more than anything I am a bit jostled from all this whiplash of "we're staying" "we're going" "we're staying" "we're going". I just want to get the show on the road no matter where we are. So as my resolution to settle a little more here, I am signing up for a gym pass next week and planting flowers in the front yard. nine months shnine months:)

di Blasio

So For V day this year, Ryan surprised me and took me to a concert of some dude named Di Blasio. He is a pianist and since Ryan and I are big fans of piano music it sounded like a good idea. When we entered the auditorium, where he was playing, we were surprised to see how packed it was. Who was this guy anyway ?

We sat down and after the guy played his first song we both just looked at each other and smiled. This was going to be good. and it was! He was an incredible pianist and I got chills from several of his songs. The most impressive moment of the night was a song where his hands were moving so fast that it showed up on the side monitors as a blur. Seriously looked like he was karate chopping the instrument. It was incredible. I took a video of the ceiling just to record the music. Enjoy the karate chop part! (also, this is the very end of the karate chopping, but he seriously hacked that instrument for prob a good solid 60 seconds, at least)

This pianist was a very sarcastic Argentine, so he totally knew how to run the show. I feel like some of his music is a little dated with the backup insturments, but his piano music was classic and truly beautiful. I love watching artists perform, it gets me all gitty. You could really FEEL the music when this man touched the keys.

It was a romantic night and since it was V Day, he played the majority romance music. It was very sweet. Here is a little jig of romance too.

Enjoy!

ps, nice job this V Day Fronk!

Happy 4th Sweetheart!

like my new boots? thanks for the anniversary gift Fronk!

Ryan and I just came up on our fourth anniversary.

We enjoyed a mellow weekend, considering that our anniversary landed on a Sunday this year. On Saturday night we went out for dinner. I had originally wanted to go to a place called Maria y su Bici, but considering that it is mostly outdoors and the rain has barely stopped this weekend, we decided to skip that one. We didn't really have a back up so we went to check out a little French restaurant. We decided it would be better to visit that place for lunch. Finally we opted for an Argentine Parrilla, that always smells so good when we pass it. Well, go figure, we valet the car get inside and it's a family restaurant with a play area and kids running around. Not exactly what I had in mind, but oh well. Again, it was an extremely mellow weekend, and instead of stessing the small stuff, I was content to just go and do whatever happened.

The next morning we had our traditional anniversary breakfast, but again instead of going all out, we opted for simple waffles loaded with berries and whipped cream. Berries are hard to come by here (except strawberries), so this was a treat.

That afternoon we had church and since Ryan is in the bishopric, he goes to church early and stays late. It makes for a long day. I asked him if he wouldn't mind handing off some of the responsibilities just this once so that we could go home at a normal time and enjoy a nice picnic in the park. We LOVE the park, oh, have I already mentioned that a million times in other posts?! sorry. Well, as I said, it rained the WHOLE weekend, so that one got Xd out. Instead, Ryan finished his responsibilities at church and came home to a nice meal filled with his favorite cheeses. Cheese seems to be another tradition for our anniversary, since it tends to make the man happy (and also, he just so happens to fall in love with the expensive french stuff, so he sees it lightly throughout the year).

Anyways, that just about sums up the majority of our celebrating. It was much more low key than what we have done in the past, but for some reason, it was just right this year. Just simply doing what sounded best and if things got messed up, oh well. I must say, that with an attitude like this, I would definitely say our marriage is maturing. Just content with a mellow weekend with each other and our little Easton.

Shawn, Britney and Mexico!

We had a fantastic week with Shawn and Britney. They left yesterday and the house seems so empty since then. I really loved the time we had with them and wish it wasn't over yet!

We spent a couple days in Queretaro and a couple outside of the city. The first two days we went to Centro, the parks, drank Horchata and indulged in tacos!

This first picture was at a park in Centro. It was so funny cause after walking around a bit, Britney and I spotted a television camera. Instinctively we tried to make a big circle around them, to avoid them. The two dudes and the camera guy, instead, walked towards us. They asked if they could interview us for galavision on televisa. Sure, why not? It was awesome. We had Violet with us and not two seconds after the camera started rolling and the guy started to ask us why we like Queretaro, Violet started to lick her crotch. A few minutes later she was sniffing the man's crotch. Hahaha. Ryan just kept laughing and I was trying to discreetly mumble to him to pull her away. Yup, that would be the Franks for you. We had also previously mentioned to the guys that Brit and Shawn don't speak Spanish. He told them just to say "si" after any question he aimed at them. They unsuredly kept saying "si" throughout the questions, it was pretty funny! oh what a good memory!

Now what visit to Mexico could be complete without a visit to the taco stands!? They were, as usual, amazing. I also remembered to take my camera with us this time to have pictures of one of our favorite places in Queretaro, the stand with the "green guys". On a side note, Ryan and I made a calendar of all the places we will visit one last time before we move. Of course tacos is on the list a few times. When we went a couple weeks ago, I forgot my camera, but I will try to remember to take pictures of the other spots we have on the calendar and get them blogged.

Mmmm, the big hunk of meat in the picture on the right, is the meat for tacos al Pastor, my absolute favorite! I could eat them every night!

MMMMmmm, Salsa!!

We also took two day trips. One was to the geyser, which is where we had taken Brandon and Sarah when they visited. It's where this geyser fills maybe thirty pools of varying sizes. They have little cabanas and you just sit around hanging out and soaking in hot water. Easton LOVES it and was in the water almost the whole time. There is also a very daring zip line that I described in the post with Brandon and Sarah, back in November.

The second day trip was to Leon, where there are large malls of shoes. It is soo fun and every time I go I think of a few of my sisters and mothers, cause I know they would just love it! Britney is one of those and it was so fun to show her. The girl for sure did some damage. The trunk full of shoes is majority hers:)

Thank you Britney and Shawn, for visiting us!!! We had so much fun and are missing you two so much!! You are excellent guests and I felt like I went on vacation to you instead of vice versa! Thank you for all your patience with me and Easton! (He was pretty clingy and whiney while they were here. I wish those teeth would just come in already! )

A few of his Favorite things...

Okay, so this post is about Easton again. Surprise, surprise. But really, let's face it, this boy takes way cuter pictures than me or Ryan. Here are just a few recents of Easton-bul. He has been a gem lately and we even just found tooth #3 poking through! He's started sleeping through the nights, plays more independently, and is such a cuddler. I love these golden times!!

Here are some of Easton's favorites lately...

Well, he loves his Grandpa and Momma. He also loves the colorful mats we put in our living room. Classy, huh? I swore I wouldn't be that kind, but it has been SO much nicer with them as Easton has been learning to crawl and walk. The tile just isn't his friend and the rug just wasn't large enough.

Holy cow does this kid LOVE water. He could sit in the hose and play all day if I let him. Sometimes he gasps for air as the water can be quite cold. But that doesn't deter him, instead it throws him in a fit of giggles.

He pretty much loves anything that squishes through his fingers, but especially loves guava (passion fruit). It's not only squishy, but he loves the flavor.

Easton has more fun playing with his Dad than any other toy available. He gets so excited when Ryan gets home. You would think I was torturing him all day the way he speed crawls to his feet when he walks in the door. They are each other's toys.

Mustaches for Big Boys

This week has been another week of firsts for Easton. First off, we started giving him dairy. I know not a big deal at all, but look how darn cute Easton sports the yogurt mustache?! This kid is so awesome! Totally makes my day everyday.

Secondly, drum roll please.... he slept through the night twice this week. I don't think I have ever quite been so excited reading on the alarm clock "six o'clock", having last looked at the clock at 10pm the night before. WOW! and then having him do it twice in one week, I hardly know what to do with all this uninterrupted sleep. This little bug has been fighting this phase for a LONG while! So this is a great milestone for both Mom and him.

Also...

Easton isn't the only one trying out the mustache these days. For fun Ryan grew out his facial hair for the Holidays. The day before work he shaved it all off except for this little gem. I really don't care for mustaches. Just not my thing, but Ryan was having fun with it. Enjoy the nasty 'stache!

Christmas in a Big Nut Shell

So, instead of posting a bunch of mini blogs, I am just combining all of our Christmas events together.

To start off, we celebrated Easton's first St. Nick morning. I grew up getting my stocking the morning of Dec. 6th, after St. Nick had visited the previous night. I loved this tradition and am so excited to start passing it down to Easton. It is the kickoff to the Christmas shenanigans.

Easton got a few small toys and enjoyed one of his first pieces of candy

Next we celebrated our own family Christmas, before heading up to the US to visit our families.

Ryan put Easton in a bow under the Christmas tree.

So grateful to have this little gift in my life!

Then, we were off to Utah to spend a few days with our Utah family, before heading out to Colorado to spend some time with my side of the family.

Easton got some bonding time with his cousins before we left. He LOVED sharing a bath with another kid and Harlie was happy to help wash him. So cute! It made me excited for Easton to have a sibling... someday.

We also celebrated Britney's birthday. And yes, that is cake wrapped in tin foil. Let's just say that night everybody was running around!

The next part of the trip started off with me getting us packed for Colorado. I was efficiently laying everything on the bed and getting things organized when Ryan came running down explaining that he goofed on flight times and that we needed to leave at that moment! ops. So needless to say that as I was frantically throwing things in the bag, I missed a few things like our camera. Booooo. I don't have any pictures from the Colorado trip. In just a few words, the trip was a lot of fun and a bit of unfun. It was wonderful to see family, going boarding (the first time, the second time I think I broke my coccyx:)), opening gifts, and just shooting the breeze with my sisters, grandma, and parents. My highlights of the trip were def seeing my sweet nephew, Calvin, and watching my sisters bond with Easton. Haydee was a dream and happily took care of Easton countless times! Ahh, makes me want to move closer to fam, oh wait that dream is almost realized! woohoo. I am so excited to live near fam again! Back to the holiday caption though... The unfun part of the trip was the fact that Easton kept me up at all hours of the night... this is when he started getting an ear infection.

So back to Utah we went, five days later. The trip went so fast, but we got to spend an evening with each of Ryan's siblings and we all packed into the parent-in-law's house for Christmas weekend. Among the activities that weekend was the famous Christmas Eve pajama presents.

Unwrapping Christmas PJs

Miles took his first few steps and magically I happened to be taking pictures of him!

The kids also dressed up for the nativity activity. Not much of the story was spoken, but it was fun to dress up all the nieces and nephews. Easton was asleep at this point so he's not in any of these pics. I am a bit of a Nazi when it comes to Easton's sleep schedule.

Aren't they cute?! Gotta love Jack kissing the baby Jesus. That's the only way we could keep this active one in the picture.

And just a few more pics of family around the room that night

This last collage was priceless and I had to post it! My nephew, Kaden is just a year and a few months younger than his older twin siblings. He has had to get with it quick and has learned to crawl, walk, and just about everything else at a very young age to keep up with his older siblings. He is still a bit smaller than them and is continually being mauled. Most of the time he can hold his own, but as you can see he still ends up at the bottom of the pile sometimes!

The trip was wonderful. Ryan and I were a bit down coming back to Mexico without any family nearby. It also felt like we were going on a vacation to our own home, as we had gotten so used to the American culture. We sat around the following weekend feeling quite bored after all the running around. I will say that we were trying to enjoy the boredom, since in two months our lives with be anything but boring with the move.

I loved Christmas this year and already look forward to next year. At the same time, it felt great coming back to warm weather. It was funny to be washing the car in our bathing suits five days later!