Another One Bites the Dust

Okay, no one died.  BUT Alexis got married...leaving me as the last of the three amigas who's single.  I'm not complaining.  At least not at the moment.  Thankfully, my friends don't forget who I am once they get married.  We're planning a reunion at this very moment!

At the luncheon.

Jared and Whitney.

I just couldn't stop taking pictures of them...they're adorable.

The Peterson clan.

Roomies

Helping with the reception.

I just realized after posting these that I didn't put up any of Marc.  So here's one of the handsome groom and my best friend who is now his beautiful bride.

And None Will EVER Compare

I am seriously, majorly, completely, missing my Peru kids right now.  I just want to look at pictures and videos all night.  Actually, I just picture this big reunion in my head with me surprising them at El Bichito and 30 kids all screaming and yelling my name and vying for my attention.  It's a nice dream.  Let me just remind you how incredibly adorable my ninos are.

Ester.  We didn't see much of her, but the few times she came I just couldn't get enough of her!

Luzelena and her brother/ cousin/ nephew/ some-sort-of-relative

Erlita:  She would play Chutes and Ladders everyday if we'd let her.

Juan Carlos:  The freaking BEST dancer you've ever seen.  This kid can shake his hips like it's no one's business.

I can't even remember her name, but it took me DAYS to get her to say anything to me. I LOVE this picture.

Benjamin...o Jose?!

Aurora: Occasionally dressed like the older peasant women.  She was never far from any of us.  A quite girl, but such a strong spirit and will.

Alessandro: He wants to be a singer when he grows up.  And he sure has the voice and moves to win over any lady.  Oh, and just looks at those dimples!

Milagros (her name means "miracle" in English):  The most beautiful girl ever.  She doesn't take a bad picture.  Contagious smile.  Terrible at the card game BLINK though...

One of the happiest girls, although her eyes always made her look tired and sad.

Sonja and Fredi.  She was the best big sister to him...most of the time :)

Eli, Damaris and Ester.

I think we got a picture of the only time Fredi ever smiled!

WHERE HAS THIS PICTURE BEEN HIDING?!  Elmer's such a punk and to have a good picture of him makes me happy :)

Rodrigo:  The class clown so this picture is quite fitting.

Marco:  He's in his mid-twenties but suffers from polio and uses crutches to walk.  He loves art projects and drawing.

Antoni!  This boy was always dirty and his pants were never fully pulled up but I never saw him without a smile.  He's a little ball of energy and would yell at us from his house in the mornings.

Christian and Luzelea.  One of my favorite pictures of the entire trip.  He looks like a little man and she took care of him like an older sister...although I think she was his aunt...

Junior and Alberi.  Alberi was the spoiled, fat child that we resented...but tried really really reaaaalllllyyyyy hard to love.  He grew on us, but we had our moments of wanting to yell at him in angry Spanish.

Keiko: The youngest of three kids.  She had a sunburned face that was always cracking and her clothes were some of the dirtiest.  I loved when she's curl up with me and read a book outside in the sun.

Anna Maria:  Best friend of Luzelena.  Look how beautiful she is.  She wrote us all some of the sweetest notes and was a girly girl. 

If you can honestly say that you've met a cuter group of kids...you're lying.  No one can say that.  Ever.  These are the sweetest, most thoughtful, humble, absolutely amazing kids in the entire world.  Sure, we grumbled over a few of them and we sometimes got tired of their endless yelling of our names and needing our attention in five places at once.  But they gave me the best hugs I've ever had.  They are what made Peru worth all the time and money and struggles.

Another wedding?!

Sheesh, what's up with all my friends getting married?!  There's been sooooo many this summer!

Alexis gets married next week (post to come on the awesome present I'm making her) and we had her "bridal shower" last weekend.  It's a pretty chill group so we just went to Red Robin for dinner and then to her friend, Lindsi's house for games and a bonfire afterwards.  Some of her high school friends hadn't met Marc so he joined us for dinner and then we forced him to stay home with the future in-laws while we took Alexis for ourselves for a few hours.

Hillary, Alexis, Myself

My roommate, Jamie, from over a year ago got married a few weeks ago as well. 

Jamie and Brian Judd

And I could go on.  I think there'll be a total of 6 friends tying the knot this summer.  Crazy stuff, marriage is.

ThePianoGuys

Thursday I ditched work 20 minutes early and headed to the other side of campus for an amazing concert by ThePianoGuys! aka Jon Schmidt (piano) and Steven Sharp Nelson (cello).  They were AMAZING.  One of the best concerts I've been to in the three years I've been here.

In case you haven't heard/ seen what these guys do, here are a few favorites from youtube... (okay, I started just putting up every one they have because I've decided I just love them all!  So watch these and then go watch the rest!!)

What Makes You Beautiful 

 The Cello Song

 Rolling in the Deep

 Peponi (An Africa spin on the Coldplay tune Paradise)

 Charlie Brown Medley

Love Story Meets Viva la Vida

A Feast for Fatties

Sunday dinners are the best.  Seriously.  After an entire week of eating sandwiches and cheese and crackers for meals, it's nice to have real food.  The meal tonight was provided by the roommates who left for the summer and subsequently left food in the refrigerator or freezer.  We basically just fried everything we could get our hands on.  I've never tried deep-frying different foods, so it was quite the experience.  We did chicken, carrots, cheese sticks, and Reese's and cookie dough wrapped in biscuits.  It was a fatty feast.  The boys did crockpot some chicken as well that was perfect with rice.  The combination of everything made for an excellent Sunday dinner!

Mmmmmmmmm!

The Reeses-biscuit combo.

Last of the Ice Cream Days

On Wednesday we went to Snoasis.  It's one of Brittany's favorites and I'd never been there...plus I had buy one get one free!  I got orange creamsicle and Brittany got half tigers blood, half lime.  Fun fact: I only like orange flavored things when it's mixed with cream and Brittany only likes plain orange flavor, like a popsicle.  I can't stand plain orange flavored things!  Anyways, even though this was shaved ice and not ice cream, it counts because we had cream added to ours.  Ice with cream= ice cream.  It works.

We missed ice cream on Thursday :(

Friday we went to Nielsen's Frozen Custard with Cindy and Wendy for a last roommate hurrah.

And as Friday night was graduation, this tops off our ice cream challenge!  We did it!  And we only missed two days in two weeks...that's pretty impressive.