Ecuador Vs. Mexico

This week we got to see the Ecuadorian national team play the Mexican national team here in Phoenix. Although we were definitely outnumbered, we enjoyed cheering Ecuador on! Santi was so thrilled to see them live, and I thought it was really cool too. The game was televised on Telemundo and Santi recorded it on the DVR. I haven't watched it yet, but he claims that he saw us in the sea of green and red waving the Ecuadorian flag. There were around 26,000 people there, and I would say about 200 of them were Ecuador fans. We sat surrounded by Mexicans, but we did see one section where most of the Ecuadorians seemed to be concentrated. Ecuador scored the first goal of the game and I thought we might be able to send the Mexicans home crying, but unfortunately Mexico came back and scored two goals in the end of the game to win. Ecuador played a great game, but Mexico brought twice as many players and constantly had fresh legs on the field. Not to mention, Mexico definitely had the home team advantage!!! The Mexicans were rowdy as usual when they won, and we went home soaked in stinky beer that they had thrown over the upper balconies in celebration. Even though we lost, we had a great time. We sat really close and during half time Santi walked down as close as he could get to the field to take a picture of some of the players. He had his Ecuadorian flag with him and he saw Pepe Pancho (who also plays for Santi's all time favorite team Liga). He yelled Pepe Pancho's name and he turned around and waved at Santi. It was really neat. ApparentlyPepe Pancho's mom was friends with Santi's grandma...small world. Santi comes from a long line of soccer players....

Into November...

Wow fall is flying right by! It seems like October was a blur. We had so many things going on at school. Fall festival, math carnival, red ribbon week, Halloween...it was crazy. This weekend I was so thankful to be able to enjoy a four day weekend (yes we get those because we have no snow days). I really needed the rest. Santi worked most of it, but he did have Sunday off and we went to get our Christmas pictures taken with Tevez. He has gotten so big over the last year! We also had Jackie's dog Comiskey here all weekend. She went home to Illinois for a funeral. Tevez really enjoyed having a playmate. They are two peas in a pod. Comiskey is a little dog, but he sure can hold his own around Tevez, and when he can't he just hides under the bed.
November is moving right along. I have one full week next week and then it will be Thanksgiving week already! I will be happy to have the time off again, but sad that we can't spend Thanksgiving with family. This is the only time of year when it is hard being so far away. It isn't as big of a deal to Santi because he didn't grow up celebrating Thanksgiving, but I really miss grandma's noodles! I think we are going to get together with several friends who also have family out of state. Most of our friends out here are implants like us, and a lot of them are from the midwest as well. Hopefully we will have an enjoyable Thanksgiving with some yummy food. Last year it was just the two of us and we attempted to make some Thanksgiving foods...it was entertaining to say the least. We are also hoping to get up some Christmas decorations so they are ready when Santi's parents come on December 17th. This will be our first Christmas in the new house, so we are looking forward to decorating AND getting a real Christmas tree!
On a final note, we are super excited to have tickets to see Ecuador play Mexico here in Phoenix tomorrow night! Santi never imagined he would be able to see them play in the U.S. We even know what hotel the players are staying at, so we are going to try to track down some autographs:) I will post pictures later this week!