Monte Albán is a huge area of ruins from 500BC - 800AD just a short ways away from Oaxaca city. The ruins are built on the top of a mountain that was leveled in order to build these buildings. The number of buildings and the space that they spanned was awe inspiring! It's difficult to put into words just how incredible this place was. I've heard that all the big ruins in Mexico have been linked to the Book of Mormon in some way or another and I read an article that suggested that Monte Albán is the City of Nephi. Where my family is reading in the scriptures right now takes place in the location of the City of Nephi and so it was pretty cool! We easily spent almost 3 hours looking at all the different buildings and overall, the girls were real troopers! This was such an incredible experience for me and in my opinion it's a must-see for anyone who visits Oaxaca. 

These pictures don't do it justice, but hey, here they are!

On February 7th, my wee little baby turned 8 years old! It's crazy how fast time goes by and I constantly wish I had stronger memories of Holly and Greta as babies. Greta has always been a very loving child and I do recall that from a very young age, I could understand what she needed and wanted even before she communicated it. As a toddler, she was very demanding as she developed emotionally. And now she is an intuitive and complex little girl who asks for hugs frequently and is a Daddy's girl through and through. She's goofy and likes to make us all laugh, but can't stand feeling embarrassed. She's an avid reader and almost constantly has a nose in a book. She can express herself very well and is very in touch with how she feels and what's fair or not fair. Greta is brave and outgoing, but also needs alone time to recharge. She loves fiercely and wants to be loved in the same way. She's a passionate child. She feels life deeply and experiences life to the fullest. I love her dearly. She's so very different from me in many ways and I often wonder how I created such a beautiful child. She's dear to my heart and I love her!

I feel very fortunate to have made some dear friends in Oaxaca. And those friends came to celebrate Greta with us. My friend, Claudia, made a beautiful and decadent chocolate cake with strawberries! We broke a couple piñatas and had a grand time!

We went to a very yummy restaurant for lunch with our friends, Valerie and Clay. It's one of their favorite places and after eating there, it's one of my favorites too! The food was really fresh and well prepared. I had carrot soup, followed by chicken breast with veggies and rice. The restaurant is one of the cutest I've been in. I really want to hang piñatas in every room of my house!

We frequently find ourselves in the Zocálo and we are often blowing bubbles. My kids all really enjoy it. The Zocálo is such a fun place to people watch. There's almost always live music and there are little stands selling all sorts of things. Here are some pictures of my Maeve looking so dang cute and so happy blowing bubbles. 

Today, we went to the market in Etla. Wednesdays are the market days there. I met a woman at church named Valerie and she's spent a lot of time here in Oaxaca. She invited us to go to this market and we jumped at the chance. We met her and her husband, Clay at the bus station and found out that the buses to Etla are no longer available because the company went out of business. So instead we caught a collectivo which is just a taxi crammed full of people. So all 7 of us were jammed into one taxi! Fortunately it wasn't a long drive really. The market was very big and very busy and packed full of so many things and people. We didn't really buy much besides juice, tamales, oranges, and some little baskets, but I did really enjoy seeing all the sights and observing what Valerie bought! We were so grateful to go on this outing with people who knew what they were doing!