Let's Go Suns!

Jay's mom and dad treated us all to a Suns game the other day, and it was a great time. They played the Celtics, and the Suns pleasantly surprised us by kicking some serious booty! They were ahead the entire game, and I have to say, that makes the whole experience so much better.

Right before the start of the game

The Happy Hatlers

It was cool to see the game in person, and even better to go home with a win and a super happy husband!

Our Baby Shower

Not too many brothers are up to the challenge of hosting their little sister's baby shower, but lucky for me, mine was! With the help of his girlfriend Daphne and our Aunt Donna, we had a super fun co-ed shower for our lil bun in the oven.
Since we haven't lived in Phoenix for a long time, Jay and I were thrilled to see so many friends in one place. Besides our family, several of my friends from high school and NAU were there, as well as our trombone teacher from college. It really means a lot to me to have had the chance to spend some time with such dear old friends. Unfortunately, I didn't get pics with them cause we were too busy eating, chatting, and playing games. But here is a pic of us with my cousin Jeremy who came down from NAU for the shower, and my brother Aaron.

We all chowed down on some yummy food, and then played a few different games. I think everyone had a good time playing!

Group shot during a game

Best Toilet Paper Baby

Dressing a babydoll

Phil squared!

After the games, we got to open our presents. We got a ton of cute baby stuff, including some Cardinals baby gear, scrapbook, bottles, blankies, boppy, and clothes. I'm sure everything we got will be put to good use!

We are so grateful to have had such a fun shower, and we can't wait for everyone to meet our lil guy! 

School Days

My mom is a third grade teacher in a one-school district way out in the desert 60 miles from home, and we had the pleasure to spend a morning with her class last week. The kids were super excited to meet us after hearing so much about us. When my brother came to visit us in October down in Manaus, he brought a bunch of colored fall leaves with notes written by her class on the back. I immediately put them on our wall  because the handwritten notes were so adorable - like "Dear Sarah, Sorry you have to be alone for Thanksgiving. Well, not alone, but just with Jay," or "How is Brazil? Is it fine? Your mom really misses you." As you can imagine, I was happy to meet the kids that I've heard so much about, too.
After a long and scenic drive, we waited in the back of the classroom to surprise the kids, and they knew who we were right away. They were very excited to see us there especially because we brought a trombone. My mom doesn't mess around, and the kids were very well-behaved, respectful, and polite the whole time despite their obvious excitement.
They had a few lessons to get through in the morning, and then they had a Q&A with us about our life in Brazil. They were curious about playing in the orchestra, the rain forest, and everything else - including our favorite color! Gotta love 8 year olds!!

As I opened the trombone case, the kids' faces all it up to see the shiny parts. It was quite amusing to me because they were just so elated to see it! I played a little bit for them and showed them how the trombone works. When my turn was over, Jay took over and taught them how to sing "When the Saints Go Marching In." While he played the melody and improvised on it, they sang the words with huge smiles on their faces. Once they had that down, they all lined up and marched around the room while singing to his playing. You can find the video on YouTube if you search for "Aguila School Saints."

When it was time to say our goodbyes to the kids, they all started asking when we could come back and even told us that they would miss us! It was great to meet and interact with them, and I'm happy to be able to picture the kids my mom talks about so much. 

Jay and I took a ride into town while my mom stayed and finished up the school day. It really is nothing but mountains, cacti, and desert out there, so we took the chance to take some typical Arizona photos. You would think we were two tourists stopping on the side of the road! 

25 weeks prego

Longhorn cattle 

As you can see, we had a lot of fun out there and are grateful to have seen my mom in action! She is the BEST!

Travelin Time

We've already been in the States for a couple weeks, but I finally have the chance to update this blog a bit. We left Manaus on a hot, balmy night wearing tank tops and arrived in New York City the next afternoon to freezing cold weather. Luckily our dear friend Arlene arrived prepared at the airport with two winter coats for us.  After only being hot and sweaty for many months, we were happy to have the cold, brisk, American air in our faces! 

At the start in Manaus, 23 wks prego

Bundled up in NYC

We rented a place from a friend in our old neighborhood and ate at our favorite restaurants around there. When we weren't staying warm inside and resting, we were busy running around seeing friends and taking care of business. We enjoyed several delicious homemade dinners at friends' places and many lunches out catching up with others. We really love our NYC friends and miss them when we're in Brazil. 

Nikki and me after brunch at West Side Diner

Our FridayFunNight crew reunited!

Joe happened to be in NYC this weekend, 

and we are always thrilled to see him!

Not only were we happy to see Joe that night, we were even happier to see him the next day when he helped us unload our storage unit! It was such a help to have him and his car there, and we finished the job after 9 long, cold hours. Don't worry, I didn't lift anything too heavy! Oh, I even got my first pregnant belly sympathy when I took my coat off at the post office. The clerk was definitely not excited to see us at her window with 21 boxes, but once she saw my belly, she really lightened up and was telling me to take it easy and not be in a rush. Whatever you say, lady!

We were scheduled to leave NYC on the same day as a snow storm was predicted, so we ended up moving our flight to the following day. After hearing the horror stories of people stuck in airplanes for hours during the last blizzard there, we didn't want to take our chances. The storm ended up being handled very well, and we got about 7 inches over night. 

Post-storm picture outside our building

After a week of cold weather there, we are loving our sunny, warm weather here in Arizona. It's been especially nice and pleasant here, in the 70's the whole time so far. We've been staying busy hanging out with family, eating, and enjoying the convenience of driving a car! It's been over 7 years since we had a car, and while we wouldn't really want one in NYC or Manaus, we are loving it here in Phoenix. I know Jay has been enjoying his morning drives to Starbucks for a coffee! Sometimes it's the little things :)

My mom lives pretty close to the new stadium where the Cardinals play football, and we happened to stop over there on one of our "just because we can" drives. We found out they give tours, and we both had a great time seeing behind the scenes there. 

Inside the stadium

The field that stays outside in the sun 

when there are no games

A natural in the press room!

The tour was so fun, and it was really nice to see how happy Jay was checking all this stuff out. I definitely got more smiles in these pictures than usual! 

We're still enjoying our time in Arizona, and I will update this week with more pics from our trip to my mom's school and our Baby Shower! 

Noise Makers

First, let me start by wishing you all a very happy and healthy new year! We had a very relaxed get together with some friends last night. It was especially cool because the hosts have an adorable 5 month old little girl, and I got to talk about baby stuff with her mamae. Also, their backyard is filled with all sorts of edible treats. They have lots of fruit- banana, papaya, acerola (like cherries), carambola (star fruit), noni, lichee, grapes, maracuja (passion fruit), and many veggies/herbs- lettuce, spinach, sweet potatoes, basil, erva mate, among others. The host, Gustavo, is extremely knowledgeable about all things natural and works at a reserve with bees. He went around his yard picking leaves off various plants and offering them to us. His mom celebrated with us and made some fried leaves that were delicious!

Not sure what the English translation is for 

this plant, but it's edible when cooked

My hubby and me, 5 months prego

Now, humor me and allow me to vent...

I understand that the New Year is a big deal anywhere. It's totally normal to party with friends, light fireworks, and listen to music. How is it that NYE in a port city in the Amazon is more obnoxious than the combined 6 new years we celebrated in the "city that never sleeps"? 

OK, so maybe it's a cultural thing, but as far as I see it, dumb is dumb. What is the point of waking up Dec. 31 at 9 am to light off fireworks? How is that fun when you can't even see them in the bright sunny sky? You continuously hear fireworks the entire day, morning to night here. It's just dumb to waste them before it's dark outside, not to mention annoying for your neighbors. 

Here is the other factor that made NYE more obnoxious in Manaus than NYC. When we got home from our friends' place, it was a lil after midnight- I get tired fast being prego :) Behind our little villa is an area that used to be an igarape, like an inlet to the Rio. The government removed the shacks that were there and put up free public housing. Normally we have no problem with our neighbors and like watching the kids play and invent games outside. 

Some kids playing in the rain behind our house

Last night, however, introduced us to a side of Manaus that we would rather forget. By one in the morning, people had more or less run out of fireworks. But of course just sitting around and talking outside is no fun. Why not drag your 3 foot tall speakers outside so the entire city can enjoy your celebration? The people behind our house BLASTED music outside until 8 in the morning, I kid you not. When I say blasted, I mean it was louder in our house than we can make our own speakers go. 

I woke up at 4 am and looked outside with complete disbelief that such rude people actually exists. There were only about 7 people still "partying," and did not seem to mind the crappy, distorted sound only feet away from them. Around 4:30 am they switched from such American classics as Summer Lovin' and I Will Survive to all Brazilian music. When Jay went to glare at them through the window at 7:00 am, there were only 4 people still outside, standing right in front of the speakers. By the time they tired of this amusement and went inside (8 am), we were lucky enough to have a carro do som park right outside for another hour. This is a car with its speakers mounted outside on top of the car to allow them to share their music with anyone within a mile radius. How thoughtful. Who doesn't like the sound of extremely loud music on cheap speakers when they wake up? 

Oh, and don't even get me started on the dogs nearby that bark 30 minutes non-stop in front of their apathetic owners... 

Feliz Natal Brazilian Style

We are officially on our "summer" break now! I just got home from playing our Natal (Xmas) Concert at the Teatro, and now we start our holiday time-off. 

From our experience in Manaus this year and last, Brazilians tend to celebrate more on Xmas Eve than Americans. Last night, Jay and I spent the evening at the house of a friend's family. The popular thing to do for Xmas is to have a big family dinner late on the night before Xmas. We arrived to their beautifully decorated house around 9:00 pm, and snacked on some salgados (assorted finger foods). 

Very pretty outside setting 

Right before we ate dinner, our friend from the orchestra Eduardo played some music on his violin. We were at his mother in law's house, so he was kinda obligated to play. Everyone loved it of course, and we heard some Xmas tunes that are popular here. Then there was a prayer said before we all dug into the tasty dinner. Despite having 30 people there, we had plenty to go around.  

Veggie salad w/chicken, beef, turkey, bacalhau, 

rice, mashed potatoes, farofa, rabanada

By the time midnight rolled around, we had all filled up on all sorts of food, drinks, and desserts. Everyone played a fun game involving trading presents, and Jay and I ended up coming home with a nice key holder from Aracaju that hangs on the wall.  

Our hosts, Eduardo and Aline, in the middle,

Debora and Mark on the right 

21 weeks prego- no way to hide it now :)

While most American kids are encouraged to go to sleep early so Santa will stop at their house, Brazilian kids stay up past midnight and open their presents before going to bed. Everyone sleeps in on Xmas day, and then enjoys a lunch with family. By the time our concert rolls around on Xmas night, everyone is rested and in the mood to be entertained! I'll put some pics from that up on my next post. 

Happy Holidays! 

Happy Belated Thanksgiving

We weren't able to celebrate Thanksgiving on the correct day because no one in Manaus seemed to realize that it was a holiday! Jay worked the whole day and the orchestra had two rehearsals that day. We decided we weren't going to let that deter us from gettin our turkey on, so we postponed the big day til last Sunday.
I invited our closest friends from the orchestra for dinner and several teachers from Jay's school showed up, too. It's always fun for us to get the chance to share our traditions with people here, and many of our friends had never celebrated Thanksgiving.
Because of the quality of ovens here, we put the turkey in nice and early on Sunday to leave plenty of cooking time for it. We spent the afternoon relaxing in between peeling the potatoes, chopping the salad, cooking the green beans, and making the dough for biscuits. Thanks to those efforts, we both think this was the most painless Thanksgiving preparation we've had.

Peeling potatoes while watching football

When people started showing up, the only things left to be done were things that had to wait til the turkey was out of the oven (only one rack)! Despite already allowing an extra 2 hours of cooking time for our 18 pound bird (2 stores and $100R/$60US later), it actually took an extra 3 hours to cook- more than 7 hours total with a recommended cooking time of only 4.5 hrs! We may just have discovered the secret to a juicy turkey though, cause it was definitely the most delicious turkey we've ever eaten.

Beautiful Betsy Bird

We had about 15 people mais ou menos by the time we got the dinner going, and although it was a few more people than we expected, there was plenty of food for everyone. Besides the turkey and gravy, we had a tomato and cucumber salad, garlic mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, 3 different stuffings, green bean casserole, and homemade biscuits. It was all sooo delicious! I have to say a big thank you to my mom for sending us fried onions and cream of mushroom soup for the green bean casserole, some Stove Top Stuffing, and heavy duty disposable plates to use. 

Musician friends of ours

Jay and some colleagues 

Once we each had our second round of food, we busted out some games and had a couple different games going simultaneously. Of course, dessert time was soon to follow and the warm caramel walnut brownies I made were a hit, especially served a la mode. One of Jay's friends brought us a chocolate cake, too, that was tasty. 

By the end of the night, I think everyone could understand why we Americans love this holiday so much. It's not just the great food and plentiful football that make it so special, but the chance to spend the day with people you care about.
I know we are both grateful this year for our wonderful friends, our supportive and healthy family, and for the little baby boy that will make our lives even more blessed in May!