October Lunch Bunch  

Posted by Amber in , , ,

So the English-speaking sisters in my ward get together once a month for a potluck lunch and to visit. This gathering is called "Lunch Bunch." I have been to one lunch bunch so far, and that was when it was combined with Andrew's baby shower. Well, finally feeling a bit more independent and since we're moving, I coordinated with Andrés to get to lunch bunch this month, which was held at my friend Kathy Storer's house on October 12th. Let me just say, most expats get a nice cushy incentive to go overseas. We were not in that group haha.

 I felt a little bit bad because it was Andrés' brother's birthday, but he decided (or maybe plans changed? I don't know.) to help me out and both take me and pick me up. Traffic was super light or something, and I'm glad we left when we did and not the half hour before that Andrés initially was going to pick me up, because I was still 30 minutes early. Fortunately, Danielle Tidwell showed up like 5 minutes after I did since she had come from her son's doctor's appointment.

The standard nap in the car on the way to La Molina :)

We chatted. More people came, and there was more chatting. I learned more about some of my friends and got to know one of the newer missionaries. (Also, after living here and learning more what it's like to be a senior missionary, I am way more open to the idea when we get old haha) I'm glad I packed a few toys for Henlie. I knew Kathy's girls were older, so she probably wouldn't have anything around. Henlie did pretty well entertaining herself with a little ball and stuffed lion.

 Finally, we ate. Apparently Kathy's husband Rob made a shepherd's pie. It was so good! There was also a rice dish which was alright, and then a ton of desserts :) I wasn't initially going to take a dessert, but then we didn't make it to the store Saturday. We still had to go to the store Monday morning, but I opted to make Nutella brownies instead, because they are easy and then we could buy a big thing of Nutella and have enough left over to hopefully last until we move. (It's going to be close. Henlie may have to settle for peanut butter on her bananas the last couple days. We shall see.)

 Although it was rainy and cold the day before, Monday turned out to be a lovely day. We ended up eating outside (half were inside and half were outside). Henlie played in their lawn (and pulled some flowers....oops. Fortunately, Kathy didn't care :)) Holly kindly held Andrew while I ate.
This particular plant had leaves on the one end that made it look like an umbrella.
She would not let me take a picture of her umbrella.

Since it was an American holiday, embassy employees also had the day off (Kathy's Rob and Holly's Matt, for example). Since Matt was home, Holly left the kids with him and came by herself, much to Henlie's disappointment. They were leaving for vacation that Friday, and her schedule was such that we weren't going to get one last play date in. Fortunately, Everett came with his dad to pick Holly up, so we snapped the traditional group shot and then headed out with Holly to see Everett one last time and say our goodbyes. (K, just thinking about this is totally going to make me cry. I love these people!) It was so sweet. I don't think Henlie quite grasped that this was the last time she'd get to see Everett (until January! Holly, if you ever read this, I'm totally counting on you guys making it to Utah then!)
Back: Hermana Lydia Acosta, Lisa Aedo, newer Hermana I don't remember her name :), Melissa Campana, Kathy Storer, Holly Wells, Me, Andrew, and Henlie, Danielle Tidwell with son Ascher, Rachel Engle
Front: Serena Adams and Jane Farnsworth

High fives with Everett

 I just love this picture. THIS is why Rob teased back at Thanksgiving that Henlie was Holly's daughter :)
Little did we know then just how much she would love Tía Holly.

A selfie before we part ways.
I've come to consider Holly one of my best friends.
Okay, fighting back tears again. Ugh.

Anyway, around 2pm, everyone started dissipating. I was originally going to have Andrés pick us up then as well, so I was pretty proud of myself for my time guesstimate, but he was going to pick us up at 2:30pm. Since we were the last ones there, we hung out for awhile. Kathy kindly made Henlie a cheese sandwich since she didn't really eat much lunch (except carrots. She loves carrots. Oh yeah, that was the other non-dessert thing - a veggie platter.) They also have a TV in the kitchen, so she flipped on Discovery Kids (I'm going to miss that channel!) 

 Finally, Andrés arrived and we bid Kathy farewell and headed home. I kind of wish I'd made more of an effort to make it to lunch bunches all along. Oh well. Coming up with potluck items isn't very fun for me, so I guess it's okay. It was a good time to visit with some of my friends before I don't see them potentially ever again....because practically everyone was going on vacation the last part of October!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 27, 2015 at Tuesday, October 27, 2015 and is filed under , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed .

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