Pictures from Brazil

This is out of order, but this is us at church the first Sunday we were there. Actually, quite a few of the pictures are out of order. Oops, sorry! I have over 700 pictures, so this is just a sampling. It was such a fun trip!

beautiful hibiscus growing in their backyard

the flash was making Nicholas go crazy! He is so funny!





Nicholas waiting for the train ride to start! This company restored some of their old steam engines, so we rode one through some of the countryside from Campinas to a town called Jaguariuna. Throughout some of our ride, some of the ashes from the wood burning flew into our window. A guy sitting in front of us had a hole burned into his shirt from one of the ashes. Luckily, we were spared.


a favela close to the train station.



Somehow Isabella and Nicholas fell asleep, even though there was a loud band that came on the train after one of the stops. They are so cute, and Jaque looks so chic in her Ray-Bans from Russell.

At the train station in Jaguariuna.

There was a big soccer game that afternoon, so a ton of people were gathered outside watching the game. They were going crazy!


Ben playing with Isabella and Nicholas.

The view of their backyard and back of the house.

And the front of the house.

A huge storm came in one afternoon, and this showed up after. It was so pretty!

My attempt of taking a picture of the temple at night from my brother's backyard. I failed.



Seasoning the meat for our barbeque!

Isabella and Matthew helping Russell.

All three of them.

Not sure why they all look so sad...I thought they were sooo cute in the pjs!

With Nicholas. He is so precious!

We went on a moonlight horse ride in the neighboring town of Valinhos. It was so fun and so beautiful to be on top of the mountains looking over the lit up cities. Unfortunately, I was too scared to let go of the reins on my horse and take a picture from the top of the mountain.





After our ride! I want a horse...even though I am slightly scared of them!

Ben with the owner and his son. This kid was some type of state champion for Sao Paulo. The family is originially from South Africa, but they moved to Brazil 11 years ago. They were super nice.

All four of us after the ride.

Friday morning before we left for the beach, Ben and I went to the temple. It's called the Campinas Temple, but it's kind of on the border of Sousas and Campinas. It's actually visible from my brother's backyard. At night, it's so beautiful all lit up...definitely makes you think of the light on a hill. It's so beautiful! Although I forgot my recommend (I know, I'm smart), the temple recorded spoke english, so he was able to call my bishop and allow me to go in. I'm sooo glad I was able to participate...it was a really neat experience!

My gorgeous niece and nephew!

We stopped at this beach to eat lunch and hangout. While we were walking around, Ben saw this swing, so we played. It was so fun!

My brother and his adorable family on the boat.

The entrance to our pousada in Ubatuba. It was called the hotel of the sun and singing waters or something like that. It was cute, and the restaurant they had there was so good. We ate octopus for the first time!!! I don't think I'll eat it again, but Ben liked it.

Out of order, but another sunset view from our boat.

This is the church on the Ihla Anchieta we went to when we were in Ubatuba. The island used to be a maximum security prison until there was a huge revolt and all of the guards were killed...similar to Alcatraz in San Fran.

The entrance to a garden on the Ilha Anchieta with some of the prison ruins in the background.

Me and Ben on the beach at Ubatuba.

The sun setting behind the clouds after out boat ride around Ubatuba. It was sooo beautiful!

This was in the sand when we were walking along the beach. It's crazy how the water made that shape in the sand.

Just a picture of a very normal sight on a Brazilian beach...a brazilian bikini bottom. No matter your age or size, most women wear these very small bottons.

Acai na tigela on the beach...amazing!

My niece and nephews at the sea turtle preserve in Ubatuba.

one of the sea turtles.

Nicholas LOVED them and decided he wanted to join them!

Us playing on the playground at the preserve.



After our meal at the churrascaria. Slightly embarrasing...I don't think it would be possible for a group of people to make a bigger scene in a restaurant than we did. Oh, well, it was fun, and Ben loved the lamb.

After dinner at the churrascaria, we walked around the mall looking for more acai na tigela...we were successful, and it was soooo yummy!

Shopping in Pedreira...we got a lot of really cool stuff!

At the American School waiting to pick up Isabella and Matthew.

Our last night in Brazil, we went out for pizza in Sousas where my brother lives. Our servers got in the picture with us. It was really tasty pizza!
So, that's our trip through pictures. It's not everything we did, but definitely hits the high points. It was so fun and relaxing!