Photo Gallery

I feel like I haven't posted in a while, and thought you might enjoy some photos with no rhymne or reason!

The Tooth Fairy vs. Ratoncito Pérez

Kirtlyn, our oldest, lost her first tooth. Her tooth was loose for a long time, so we have been preparing her with stories of the tooth fairy. But when she went to her school and told her teachers about her tooth, they told her stories about another dental thief.

El Ratoncito Pérez.

I guess, according to Wikipedia, that the USA is really the only

place that the tooth fairy visits.

Kirtlyn put her tooth in a pillow made for her by Grandma Susan and when she woke up, sure enough there was 20 pesos in its place. We were relieved to say the least, we were worried that the tooth fairy was going to try to visit Mexico and we didn't know if it would make it past customs and how it was going to exchange money so late in the night. So good thing there is a Ratoncito Pérez in the world.

Another New Mexican Holiday

Tami and an old friend from school, Jamie, came over tonight to introduce us to a new Mexican

holiday.

The tradition is that each individual at the party cuts into a traditional loaf of bread, hoping that they might be the one to find a tiny baby Jesus figure that is hidden inside the bread. (I felt pretty silly when I found this out, after I had already cut the entire loaf!:)

Somehow I was the one to find the baby Jesus, which promises good luck all year. Plus, I am to serve a meal, like Tamales, for everyone who was at this party, on Feburary 2nd. Very Nice!

This is a holiday celebrated by everyone in Mexico, it is called "Día de los Reyes Magos," Or day of the Kings. A holiday remembering the wise men who traveled to meet their new King. You can buy the bread everywhere, Walmart had hundreds of loaves. Tami taught us that the loaf is made circular because the wise men had to walk in a circle on their journey. We had a great time learning about this holiday, and we are sure the kids will want to celebrate it no matter where we happen to live!!

December and all it Brings

Who would have thought that being on break from school would mean that things got busier. The kids and Thomas were out for Winter break and the Biggs family had plenty of things to keep them busy.

Here Kirtlyn and Thomas are modeling their handmade (by one of the other mother's, Jenn still has not obtained mom Knudsen's seamstress abilities) recital costumes. They wore them multiple times throughout the next week.

Kirtlyn and Thomas performed in their school recital. Kirtlyn learned a great swing dance. She danced with a little Mexican boy that, as she said, holds her hand too tight, and is not a nice boy, but he looks nice. And Thomas was a great elf. He learned his dance and was the tallest and whitest person on stage. They had a lot of fun dressing up in their new costumes and performing for everyone. (I can't get video to download very well, I will keep trying to put their cute dance performance on here.)

The day that Thomas took his last final (he passed all his first semester classes.) he picked up his parents from the airport. It was so good to have them, it made Mexico feel a little bit more like home. They truly went on a "tour de tacos". Thomas and Jenn had their favorite tacos waiting for them when they arrived, and then they went to a ward Christmas party that night and had even more tacos. Then throughout the week that they stayed in Mexico, there were much more tacos to be had.

Here is the family ordering tacos with Brother & Sister Herrera.

They felt right at home having served their mission in Portugal. Around every turn Mom kept saying, "Oh Tom, Doesn't that remind you of Portugal?" I guess every country that is not the U.S. may look similar. They even understood a great deal of Spanish. They would converse with the ward members in Portuguese and then they would get responses in Spanish, which they understood amazingly well.

The kids loved having them. They brought presents from the States for every day that they stayed. The kids loved waking up to a new present every day. There were even some pseudo celebrations while they were visiting. Little Thomas' and Hyrum's birthday's are in December, and of course Christmas. So even though it wasn't the correct day, there were parties for them. One day there was even set up a Christmas morning atmosphere. The kids woke up early and ran downstairs to see what Grandma and Grandpa Santa have brought them. They were sure lucky this year to have multiple holidays. Unfortunately, Mom and Dad could only stay for five days. After they sampled everything "Tapatio", they left to that great northern country, the U.S. Later that day, it was funny to notice that the house could seem emptier even though only two people had left.

Little Thomas requested hamburgers and fries for his birthday dinner, so he got a real American (Burger King) dinner.

Jenn couldn't find very many cake decorations so she mixed white frosting with Jamaica (the plant, not the island) Punch to make a red face and carefully placed chocolate covered rice candies around to make the outline.

Not long after that, Thomas' real birthday had come. He is now at the famous age of 4 years. He has grown up so much too. His personality is much more mature than even when he first came to Mexico.

Here is Thomas continuing the Biggs Family Sign now that he is 4 years old.

After Thomas' birthday, there was a party with the rest of the "Northerners" that were still south of the border. There was a lot of people, and all the traditional American trimmings for dinner. The hit of the party was Jenn's homemade cheesecake. She really makes a good one.

Kirtlyn & Thomas are eating Christmas dinner with some of the Curtis children

Richard and Danielle Curtis eating Christmas dinner at the Biggs' home.

Then came Christmas. The kids are at the uncontrollably excitable ages which makes Christmas fun. They went right to sleep so that there would be no delay in Santa's coming. Then they woke up early (3:30) to see what he brought. They did have to be convinced to wait until 7:00.

Here the kids are opening a Christmas package sent to them from their Aunt Rebecca. It arrived on Christmas Eve and the kids loved every piece of it.

Thomas and Jenn, however, were sick and throwing up Christmas morning. Jenn quickly got over it, It must have been morning sickness. But Thomas was sick all day. He could come down every once in a while to see how the kids were playing with their new toys, but it was right back upstairs.

Hyrum is still learning how to only stick up two fingers on one hand.

Hyrum's birthday came on the 30th. He is now a whopping 2 years old and shows the signs of his age. He is needy and clingy yet refuses to sit still. He is learning new words every day, they're not English nor Spanish words, but words nonetheless. On top of learning one new language, the family has had to learn Hyrum's own language.

Kirtlyn is teaching Hyrum how to play with his new birthday present.

On New Year's Eve, Kirtlyn and Thomas tried to stay up all night. They watched movies and ate snacks, but they eventually drifted away into their own dreams. Thomas and Jenn did wake them up 30 seconds before midnight so that they could count down. But the next day, they didn't remember any of it.

The Mexico Area Presidency has given the members in Mexico a good list of goals for 2010. Read the scriptures more regularly, increase your own Temple attendance, and share the gospel. So Thomas and Jenn have decided to keep those as their new year resolutions as well as have a baby. If you didn't catch it earlier and if you didn't know before, Jenn is pregnant and is due September 15th.

Happy New Year Everyone!