Life Lately April 2026

 Here are some photos from the month of April. 

 

We began the month celebrating Easter.  Here we are on Easter Sunday at an early morning service up at the cross above our town.  If you'd like to see more photos from our Easter celebration, click  Easter 2026.

 

 

David led a few sessions at a leadership development training for a church in Guatemala City.  The event took place at Lake Amatitlan, which is on the other side of Guatemala City. 

 

 

We celebrated Ben's 14th birthday.  You can read about his fun day HERE. 

 

 

The boys attended a one day Youth Day Camp with their youth group.  They had worship, Bible study, water games, competition games, food, and fellowship.  It was a fun day for everyone! 

 

The boys were gone all day which gave us time to get some things done around the house.  In addition, David spent time answering emails and also trying to complete an online leadership development course he is taking.  That afternoon we drove up the mountain for coffee and dessert.  Here is mine.  

 

 

Before leaving we walked around the beautiful property and I videoed a few of the fountains they have there.  I love hearing the water as it falls!  

 

 

I have been making homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast most every Friday morning since getting this super easy recipe at our recent homeschool conference. They are so soft and delicious!

 

 

On this particular morning I made a coffee flavored glaze to pour over them.  It was really good!  

 

Sadly, I took down all of our cheerful Easter decorations and stored them away.  I now just have generic spring things around the house.  I love bringing flowers in from the yard.  Seeing the pops of color makes me happy. 

 

I took this volcano view photo on a recent Friday afternoon drive to the grocery store.  I write out a menu plan for the upcoming week and go buy groceries every Friday afternoon.  Having my meals planned, prepped, and organized makes my school weeks go much smoother.  Anyway, views of the volcanoes around us never get old! 

 

Every year around Easter our grocery store (La Torre) has purple bags.  I love purple so getting these always makes me smile.  Like many people, we use them for garbage bags.  I love seeing the purple in our bathrooms.  Normally, they are orange.  It's great for fall but not so much the rest of the year.

 

The bougainvillea above our gate is in full bloom!  It is so pretty to look out the windows and see.  

 

 

As the petals fall, they fill our yard with color. 

 

 

Here's a photo of Ben I took at Luna de Miel on a recent Sunday lunch outing after church.  We had great views of the volcanoes in the background from our seats.  He especially loves eating there because they have delicious crepes.  He always gets the Chapin which is refried black beans, mozzarella cheese, and cream.

  

 

Lastly, we ended the month spending a few days in Rocky Mountain National Park to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. It was an incredible trip!  I'll try to start posting about that soon. 

 

 

Two more weeks of school and then summer break!!!

Easter 2026

 Easter week was also our Spring Break week.  It was nice to have some time off from school.  

 

David and I got up before the sun on Good Friday morning.  We walked into town to see the beautiful sawdust carpets.  It is our Good Friday tradition.  Below are just a few of the photos I took.

 

 

 

 

Here's a YouTube video I made showing all the carpets. 

 

We stopped for breakfast at Cafe Condesa.  That is another Good Friday tradition we have. 

 

David's breakfast 

 

Always a good choice for breakfast.

 

 

We had another early morning on Easter Sunday.  We got up for a service at the cross above Antigua.  I had the boys Easter gifts out waiting for them. Their bags were full of snacks and chocolate.  

 

I got this beautiful coffee cup from San Martin.  

I love collecting these!  

 

 

The backside of my cup. 

 

 

We drove up the mountain to the cross for worship.  It was cool and cloudy when we arrived. 

 

Our family on Easter Sunday morning. 

 

 

After the service we drove back into town and enjoyed breakfast at Hector's Bistro.  

 

 

It was still early when we returned home so the guys headed to the gym.  I went out for a walk.  Here's a view of the cross from my walk. 

 

I returned home and cooked lunch.  Thankfully I had done most of my prep cooking on Saturday.  Here's my table for Easter.  This runner and place mats were a gift from a sweet volunteer team member a few years ago.  I love putting it out each year.

 

 

For lunch we had pulled pork I had pre-bought from Pappy's BBQ in town.  To go with it I made a carrot souffle, corn casserole, deviled eggs, green beans, lima beans, rolls, and a chocolate chess pie.  It was delicious!   

Snapshots of our Beautiful Town

I love walking!  It is one thing I was looking forward to getting back to doing when we returned to Guatemala.  We live in the "Land of Eternal Spring" so our weather for outdoor walking and activities is perfect.  Several days a week I walk with a friend.  On the other days I walk by myself in town.  It's fun having a walking buddy, but I also enjoy walking alone listening to praise music.  

Our town is beautiful!  The views never get old to me.  Many times I stop along the way to take photos.  Here are some random photos of our town that I took on recent walks.

 

My walking buddy, Betsy, ordered us these matching hats.  She knows I love purple. 

 

I especially love the gates and doors in our town.  Many are colorful and unique. This blue gate with the pop of color from the flowers always makes me smile. Another great thing about where we live is that flowers bloom here all year round.

 

Many people have flowers in their windows. 

 

We have beautiful ruins all over town. 

 

street view 

 

I love this purple!  I have some of it at my house.  I think it looks like grapes when it's blooming.

 

As I was crossing a street, I looked up and noticed that you could see the cross from where I was. The cross is a famous overlook in our town.  The views from up above are fabulous. 

 

 

On the path that I walk with Betsy, we pass by a coffee farm.  Lately, the beans have been bright red and ready for picking.   It's harvest season for the coffee growers.  

 

 

 

 

The purple Jacarandas are in bloom all over town. They are my absolute favorite!

 

Bougainvillea

 

Our town is colorful as you can see from these buildings. 

 

Inside view of one of the ruins. 

 

a local fruit market 

 

 

The entrance to a hotel.  How unique to use chairs for decorations. 

 

This made me chuckle. 

 

Another hotel entrance.  

Most everything here is open air.  I love that about where we live! 

 

That yellow building was once our language school. We spent six months there back in 2007 studying Spanish. Every day at break we’d sit in that park and eat our snack. We rarely talked because our brains were too tired . It’s now a hostel, but I will always smile and reminisce when I pass by it. 

Hope you enjoyed this glimpse of our town.