April 8

This is probably us sitting in the van by the side of the road somewhere, I'm not even sure it's Spain, but we're eating while sitting in the van, or while running around on the sides of the road. We did this all the time. Just bought supplies at a grocery store and then when it was noon, whatever road trip we were on, we just stopped and pulled out the picnic. Jenny

I'm pretty sure that the first picture was taken shortly after my attempted escape from the van as it careened down the road. I remember it seemed like everyone else was taking up all the space, so I was trying to find somewhere to sit. In my sulking, I leaned up against the door of the van and fell out. Mommy tells me that it was just after a rest stop or something so we weren't going very fast yet. Mark was listening to some headphones and he grabbed my arm so that my foot just barely dragged on the road for a few seconds. I had three little circles on my inner toe knuckles where the skin had rubbed off. I was so scared that Mommy let me sit in her lap for a while during the rest of the trip. I vaguely remember that we couldn't find a bandaid for my foot, but I may be wrong. I'm also thinking that it was on our way from Madrid to Cartegena the first time, but I don't know if that's right, either. I tried to show off the wound to some of my friends later, but it healed nicely, so I didn't have much to tell.(Mary)

I remember the handle of the sliding door for the van went down and forward, so we were just pulling out from stop and turning, and Mary was walking between the two seats and was thrown against the door, down and forward, so that opened the door and she fell out. Mark was a pretty big hero. We kept asking him to relive the moment when he knew Mary was in trouble..... From then on, Mommy and Daddy would lock that door while we were driving. I also remember that the first thing that someone said after we stopped the van, I could swear it was Mommy, was "Don't ANYBODY tell Grandpa Farrer about this!!" Jenny




This is the road that we lived on- Travesía de Larra. Jacob is posed stylishly on the road and you can see Mark? on the balcony and the other three girls are in the shadows. Jenny is probably sulking in her room. The plaza would be in back of this photo, to the right, and the elementary school was up the road to the right, and Mary's school to the left through a field. This was a really nice neighborhood with nice homes. Almost no one used their garage as a garage, so that's why the cars are parked out on the roads. Some converted them into stores, some just into other rooms. Our neighbors to the left, I went to school with their daughter Maria Dolores, had even closed in their patio to make more rooms. Daddy planted tomatoes in our little front garden and they did really well and Ma Dolores' dad always walked by and, if he didn't see anyone looking, he would inspect Daddy's plants and mutter under his breath about how on earth could he get them to grow so well? Jenny

As I looked at the picture of our street and read your commentary, I actually did remember the plaza where Elizabeth got her injury and the little tienda across the street. I also remember that Daddy and I had to cross a really busy street on the way to my school, and that there were always lots of snails oozing across the paths in the field beyond the street. (Mary)

I remember that there was a pomegranate tree in that field on the way to your school, too, and we were so amazed. We actually picked one off of the tree and ate it and told our friends about it excitedly and they were not really impressed.... it was probably like someone coming and bragging to us that they had just picked an apricot off the tree and eaten it. Right- we had a tienda across the street and a bakery at the top of the street. Which was, of course, supplemented by the bread guy who drove his van down and honked the horn and yelled through the blowhorn. There was also a little kiosko across the street on the way to Mary's school where we bought "polos", basically otter pops. My favorite flavor was "coco". And remember the story about how the Elders tried to come and visit us a month or two after we got there and they hired a taxi and got a little lost, so the taxi driver stopped a couple of streets over from ours and asked someone how to find Travesia de Larra and the person looked in the car and saw the American elders and said, "oh, you must be looking for the American family.." and he/she directed the taxi to right where we lived. Jenny

The thing I remember most about the Travesilla de Lara park is that the boys would alwasy be there playing futbol and that the benches surrounding the park would have piles and piles of "pipa" shells underneath them.
I remember that we had to cross a very busy street to get to school and Elizabeth was afraid to cross it by herself and one day we all assumed that someone else had walked home with Elizabeth and she was alone and wouldn't cross the street and a boy in my class finally noticed her and walked her home. I think another time when Grandpa Farrer was there he would go out and wait for us and cross the street with us, expecially Elizabeth.

Maggie

A cake that someone made for President Marmol. I only recognize Presidente Marmol and Pedro? in the greenish shirt at the very top left. Pedro married a sister missionary that had been there while we were there and I think everyone but me went up to their wedding a few years later. Jenny

I don't know. A building.

I can make out President Marmol on the left and maybe the Primary President, don't remember her name, in the center right? And Primary kids. Jenny

I think this is a photo of Mark's or Jacob's excursion. One of their classmates?

A family in our branch.

Another family in our branch- this is the girl, in the pink, who was never very nice to me. She and her best friend were very exclusive. They all had red hair and she used to tell us that that was much better than black or even blonde hair. Jenny

More branch beach activities with our furgoneta in the background.