Being Pampered

Cameo College of Beauty was having an anniversary celebration and Z, my mom and I decided to go. We got makeovers, a pedicure, eye brow wax and some treats! We had so much fun. It is nice to spend time with my sis and mom. We don't get to do that very often but we decided that we want to make it a tradition and do it every year around Mother's Day. One good part was that it was all free! Next year we will try and take the girls also. KC was so nice to get off work a little early so he could watch G so that I could go. I have the best husband ever! I really liked the way they did my makeup.

Here's a picture I took when I got home.

C's Orchestra Concert

C plays the violin and for having only played this year and last she is pretty good. She was first chair in her class. We went and saw their final performance for the year on May 8. We got to seen in the front row of the uncomfortable bleachers at the Junior High.

Special Visitors

From May 3-7 we had all of our wonderfur visitors that I mentioned before. On Friday morning we went to the Humanitarian Center and it was so interesting to see all of the things that the church does around the world to help others. Afterwards we went to see the Joseph Smith Movie in the Legacy Theatre. D and my dad went and parked the cars and the rest of us ran in to see the movie that started at noon. I love that movie it is inspiring to see all of what Joseph Smith went through. It strenghens my testimony every time.

Saturday, we cooked in the morning. Yoli made the cakes. Casey and I got the chicken, fettuccini and sauce ready. We then went to the temple for the sealing. It was raining really hard most of the day so that made it a little hard to take pictures. We left the kids out at the visitors center while we went into the temple. It was a beautiful ceremony. I am so happy for them!! They seem to be perfect for each other. We then went over to the church to have the Luncheon. Z had already decorated in the morning so we just had to finalize all of the food. We had a great time! After cleaning up we came to our house and gave everyone the tour.

Sunday, we went to church as usual but afterwards went to Z house for dinner. KC could not come since he had to do the finances and had a meeting at 6:00. We missed him. I like to go as a family whenever possible.

Monday, I met everyone at Temple Square and we toured the Beehive House and then had lunch at the restaurant. It was a nice, relaxing, sunny day. After that I came home and then we all went down again to have dinner with everyone. We met at Fashion Place Mall and it took forever to find everyone. But that was expected. It was nice to see everyone again. We then at at Teriyaki Chicken and said our goodbyes. It was sad, we all wished that we lived closer so that we could see each other more often.

17 Years Anniversary

On May 4 KC and I celebrated our 17th year anniversary. It somehow seems like we have been together that long but then it seems like just a few weeks ago that we were getting married. We have a wonderful marriage!!! We have our ups and downs but we seem to be able to work through everything together. He takes such good care of me. I love him more and more each day. I so glad that we will together for eternity.

We celebrated by going out to eat with... (wait! This weekend R (my cousin) and E will be sealed in the SLC Temple so they are in town along with Y and V (my aunts), and D (my brother)) So we went out to eat to Cafe Rio with all of them and also my parents and Z. I forgot that G went also because we didn't think that we could be gone away from her for 6 hours since she will only take a bottle from KC. So we drove down to SLC, had dinner and then all of us headed down to BYU for my 20 year Stover Hall Reunion. That was the dorm that I stayed in my freshmen year. We were only there for a little bit while everyone else shopped at the BYU Bookstore and took care of G. Z walked around with her and sang to her like a crazy person and finally got her to go to sleep. It's so nice to have a sister around that is willing to do that so we could go up to the reunion alone for a little while. We left at about 9:00 and then drove home with G crying much of the way home.

So that is how you celebrate your anniversay when you have been married for 17 years and have a 4 month old baby! Just spending time together is great for me!

G is 4 months old

She is now smiling all of the time (except when we try to take pictures, she is smiling all cute but then she sees the camera flash light and gets serious.) She is sleeping a little better. And we all love her more and more each day!

Easter

We got together for dinner and Z and J house. We were really late cause KC had to do the finances. We had a fun time. Z made an awesome dinner. The girls were very proudly wearing skirts that they made. It was somewhat frustrating to them to gather but they made it and they looked beautiful.

S in Snow White

S had the part of Lord Chamberlain/Narrator in Snow White. She had a solo at the beginning that was amazing! She's an awesome actress.

Spring Break

The past few years we have taken a "day vacation" during spring break. We have taken a whole day and gone somewhere fun where we could see things that tourists would see. But since we have G this year we thought that might be too much so we did one fun activity each day. I kept forgetting my camera so K was our photographer for the week.

On Monday we went to Hollywood Connections. Its kind of like a little indoor amusement park. They have a roller coaster, bumper cars, miniature golf, a carousel, a roller skating rink, etc. So we spent the night there and had a great time. We had ice cream when we came home.

On Tuesday we went bowling. C did really well on her first game and slaughtered us all. All of the kids used the bumper pads and that helped a lot with the gutter balls. We of course had to have ice cream when we came home.

On Wednesday, C and S had a sleepover with their friends Crystal and Jill. We went on a picnic to the "castle park" again. I walked around with G in the stroller after KC and K had to leave. KC had bishopric visits and K was going to babysit. Some of us had ice cream that night. K was getting bored of it! Can you believe it?

On Thursday, K went to do baptisms at the temple with her friend Sarah. CR played with his friend Nathan. And C and S of course played with their friends in the morning. That night we went to Chuck E. Cheese's for dinner and games. We earned lots of tickets for silly prizes. It had been a long time since we had been there. I think we had ice cream cones this night.

On Friday, K and C went with KC to the Salt Lake Temple to do baptisms early in the morning. We were going to go swimming this day but we were kind of exhausted and decided to just stay home and watch a movie and postpone the swimming for another time. We had Popsicles.

Saturday was Easter Egg Hunt day. We went to the one sponsored by the city and the kids got lots of eggs and prizes. K helped G get some eggs. I don't think G really cared but since K is too old to participate, this was second best. K worked at Lagoon in the afternoon and we went to the mall and out to dinner at night. No more ice cream, we did it for a week and that was good.

Sunday of course was Easter Fast Sunday and we went to church. G is better now I can stay in my classes a little longer. I usually have to feed her during Sacrament and then again during Relief Society. The sacrament feeding is not so bad cause I can still hear the talks. Except many times I've had to leave before the sacrament and then I miss out. The other 4 kids are really good sitting by themselves checking up on Daddy making sure that he is awake.

177th Annual General Conference

General Conference brings much sunshine into my life and is one of my favorite times of the year. I love to be inspired by the talks. On Saturday we watched conference at home with Lele and Eric. Now that the kids are a little older they can sit through conference doing quiet things and listen at the same time. In between sessions we went to the "Castle Park" and the kids got to play for a little while and get some energy out. Then we came back home and watched the second session.

At night during the Priesthood Session we went to Salt Lake and met up with Z and Mami. I took all my five kids and ventured into the crowded Deseret Book for the festivities. We got to see Jenny Phillips perform and one of the back of singers was Marianne M. from our previous ward. It was so fun to see them perform. They both have beautiful voices. We left a little early so that we would not get stuck in traffic but then G was so mad cause she had not eaten for a while that we stopped in Bountiful so I could feed her. I thought she would be happy the rest of the way but I was wrong. She still screamed. The rest of the kids just thought that was terrible. When we got home we started our week long Spring Break Ice Cream Fest.

Sunday we watched Conference at our house with "everyone" and had Mami's Enchiladas with ice cream for dessert (of course).

A couple of favorites from conference:
* Pres. Hinckley always tells us to "Be a little better". That's something we can always do!
* Elder R. G. Scott spoke on the power of prayer. He told us we do not need an appointment and he said to just talk. He told us to be thankful that sometimes God lets us struggle for a long time before an answer comes, because then our character will grow and our faith will increase.
* Elder J. R. Holland told us that words are sacred. This was one of my favorite!! He said that words are like deeds, they should be filled with faith, hope and charity. We need to speak carefully to our spouses and children. Words can hurt more than actions sometimes. I really liked this: "no misfortune is so bad that whining about it won't make it worse."
* Elder J. E. Jensen (70's) spoke on the importance of hymns inviting the Spirit of the Lord into our lives.
* Pres. J. E. Faust spoke on Forgiveness. He spoke of the Amish tragedy of the man that shot and killed five Amish school girls and then killed himself. He explained how the community forgave him. We have much to learn from that. We sometimes tend to have a hard time forgiving people for small acts they commit against us. But to be Christlike we must forgive everyone all of the time.

Conference was actually on March 30 and April 1 but I am trying to catch up. I wish I could change the date on the blogs so that it would look like I wrote when I am supposed to.

New Phase

This is a new phase in my life. My sunshine today comes from my precious baby G. After waiting for many years we were finally able to have another baby. We feel extremely blessed to have her in our family. Our youngest is 7 and so I have gone back to being a SAHM after working outside of the home for a while. At first it was a hard adjustment. Especially because G did not want to be layed down and I felt like I could get nothing done. Now she is on a pretty good schedule. I am so happy I made the decision to stay home with her.

We named her G after her great grandmother on my side who passed away the same year that G was born. My grandmother is such a wonderful example to me of a Christlike person. Although she did not have much she was always so charitable to others. I was priviledged to grow up only a few blocks away from her house in Guatemala and I saw her regularly. From my point of view she sacrificed everything to make us happy. If I can be a little bit like her I will feel like I have succeeded in life.

We blessed G on March 25. All four of her grandparents were with us. Her middle name comes from KC's mom's middle name. I wanted to give G a special name that will remind her and us of 2 very special people. We had a special day with family and friends. I spilled buttermilk syrup on our stove and then it was not working. How was I going to cook my Lasagna? Well we got the oven working at least. It was already a stressful day for KC cause the bishop was gone and he had to give G her blessing and by messing up the oven I added to that stress. Things like that always happen!