And Then Came Oshin

The day after my parents left on their mission, Oshin Salas and her dad William came to stay. William was one of my dad's missionaries when he was Mission President in Peru back in the day. They have stayed in touch. William's daughter had a life-long dream to come to the U.S. and go to BYU. My dad arranged for Oshin to live with us for a couple of months to work on getting into college and especially on learning ENGLISH.

William stayed for two weeks, I'm pretty sure to ascertain that he was leaving his daughter in good hands and not with some crazy people. It was a good visit, although I felt so bad that he didn't get to see more of the sights, as this was his first trip to America. As a lady with 5 kids, one of them a newborn, it was tricky getting him around. (thanks family members who helped!)
Here he is, saying goodbye to Oshin at SLC Airport!

I enrolled Oshin in some institute classes at UVU, and tried to involve her in YW's as much as possible. I helped her to take the SAT and jump through all of the hoops required to apply to BYU and BYU Idaho. In the process I think I probably improved my Spanish much more than she did her English. It was a great experience for our family though, and she became an honorary daughter of mine. She bonded with the kids so much, especially the little girls.

Oshin went back to Peru last week and I am already missing her so much. My kids ask about her every day. I must say that I LOVED having a teenage daughter.

I wanted to include some pictures of our trip to Arizona for spring break. It was fun to show Oshin some of the countryside...we went through Vegas on the way there, and flagstaff on the way back. It was a great road trip!

We snapped a pic of the nearly completed bridge over the hoover dam.
Fiona at one of our stops.


The girls eating an American classic...the grilled cheese sandwich. It was funny feeding Oshin, I never knew if she was going to like what I made. She is a super polite person....hard to get a read on. She lived in Japan for alot of her life...so hmm, Peruvian/Japanese food???

Went to visit Grandma and the cutlers while there. We went to the Valvista Lakes clubhouse and swam...so fun. Grandma was cold though.
At the Cutler's house.



We went to a D-backs game with the boys, and Fi and Oshin.


We had a great Easter.


We went swimming one afternoon to Basha Pool.


More pics of my visit to Aunt Vickie
Just hanging around.
We went to a cool museum of cowboy art.
Grace and Poppy striking his signature pose.


It was a great trip to AZ, and while we were there, we found out that Oshin got into BYU Idaho!!! It was so exciting. She starts January 2011. We are proud of you Oshin!