Celebration Week

1.  S made cheerleading at her school!!!

2.  We celebrated Grandpa Richard's Birthday!

3.  We celebrated Z, Mami, Jonas birthdays!

4.  CR got his Arrow of Light!

5. K came home for the summer!!!  We have missed her and we are glad she is back even if just for the summer.

 

How we fit it all in?  I don't know!  But we do!  We love our family!

Spring Break 2010

We weren't planning on going anywhere far this spring break since we will be taking a vacation in August. It's really hard for me to miss classes.  But we decided to just do one fun activity for day and the kids got to pick what to do. 

MONDAY:  We went to Boondocks.  We got to play Laser Tag and other fun games.

G played in the kids zone and had a blast discovering new areas.

Taking advantage of the simulator game.

TUESDAY:  We went to see Alice in Wonderland.

G was being silly and had wanted to wear her jacket backwards.  She walked all the way to the car that way!  Where do these kids come from???

WEDNESDAY:  I had class but the rest of the family went to see Balanchine's America performed by Ballet West.  They got tickets from the dance studio.

THURSDAY:  Play with friends day.

FRIDAY:  Free day!  Anything goes.  We watched "The Sanldlot".  A great way to end a fun week.

SATURDAY:  Cleaned the church and Elder's Quorum Social at night.  Since the Bishop and his wife weren't there KC and I had to participate in the dating game.  We tied for second.  Not bad!  We would have won except we got jipped on a couple of questions.  We are happy and we love each other so that's all that matters!!

April 2010 General Conference

General Conference is always such an uplifting weekend!  There is so much for us to learn.  Every conference no matter what questions I need answered I always receive the answers that I need!  These are just a few highlights that meant a lot to me.

Keith B. McMullin 
"Duty does not require perfection but it does diligence" 

Wilford W. Anderson
"...hope and happiness and joy are not products of circumstance but of faith in the Lord." 

M. Russell Ballard
YW:  "Do not to look to contemporary culture for your role models and mentors. Please look to your faithful mothers for a pattern to follow. Model yourselves after them, not after celebrities whose standards are not the Lord’s standards and whose values may not reflect an eternal perspective. Look to your mother. Learn from her strengths, her courage, and her faithfulness. Listen to her.  No other person on earth loves you in the same way or is willing to sacrifice as much to encourage you and help you find happiness—in this life and forever."

I put this quote here not because I want to remind myself of who I need to be!  And all I want is to help my children find everlasting happiness!

David A. Bednar
Spiritual warning system that can help parents to be watchful and discerning concerning their children:
(1) reading and talking about the Book of Mormon with your children,
(2) bearing testimony of gospel truths spontaneously with your children, and
(3) inviting children as gospel learners to act and not merely be acted upon.
Parents who do these things faithfully will be blessed to recognize early signals of spiritual growth in or challenges with their children and be better prepared to receive inspiration to strengthen and help those children.

Jeffrey R. Holland
Lust is the most deadly sin.  It is always hiding.  It is the opposite of love.
The journey of 1000 miles begins with 1 step.

Pres. Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Do not judge!  Love everyone!  Love requires action!
On this Easter Sunday, and every day, as we contemplate with reverence and awe how our Savior embraces us, comforts us, and heals us, let us commit to become His hands, that others through us may feel His loving embrace.

Robert D. Hales
Do our children know what we know?

It is our imperative duty to help youth understand and believe the gospel in a deeply personal way. We can teach them to walk in the light, but that light cannot be borrowed. They must earn it for themselves.
In these perilous times it is not enough for our youth to merely know. They must do.  To truly choose the Lord’s way, they must know His way. And to truly know His way, we must teach and lead them to act, to participate, to do.

The greatest missionary work we will ever do will be in our homes. Our children and grandchildren are our most important investigators.

The greatest family history work that we will do will be within our own homes. It is the spiritual preparation of our children in the rising generation that will, through their obedience, ensure the eternal preservation and perpetuation of our families for the coming generations.

The greatest rescue, the greatest activation will be in our homes. There is no failure except in giving up.

The greatest faith we have will be within our homes as we remain strong in the trials and tribulations of parenthood.

Pres. Thomas S. Monson (final words)
"Trust in the Lord and lean not upon thine own understanding and He shall direct thy path" Proverbs 3:5–6.

"My counsel for all of us is to look to the lighthouse of the Lord. There is no fog so dense, no night so dark, no gale so strong, no mariner so lost but what its beacon light can rescue. It beckons through the storms of life. The lighthouse of the Lord sends forth signals readily recognized and never failing."

“The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; . . . I will call upon the Lord . . . so [I shall] be saved from mine enemies.”  Psalm 18:2–3.

The Lord hears our prayers!!

"May the message of this conference find their place into our daily lives!"

Easter Sunday

We started out the day with a delicious crepe breakfast made by our two lovely cooks C & S.  We enjoyed watching conference at home on Easter Sunday. This wonderful family time is priceless.
  

 

We got together with the extended family for Easter at our house.  We had a traditional Guatemalan dinner with Carne Asada.  The Easter Bunny doesn't come to our house on Sunday but the older cousins (our kids) have started a tradition of doing an Easter Egg Hunt for the younger cousins and siblings.  So they take all the eggs from Saturday and put candy and money in them and spread them all over the lawn.  All of the kids love this!! And they look forward to it every year.


Here they kids are ready for the hunt.

K helping cousin Tay find eggs.  He could care less for the eggs all he wanted was to look at the neighbor's goats.

CR trying to get as many eggs as possible.

G and Jas running to get their eggs.

Easter Saturday

A while ago for some reason or another the Easter Bunny comes to our house on Saturday.  I guess that allows us to focus on the reason for Easter.  The resurrection of Jesus Christ our Savior.  I really like it this way much better.

We went to a couple of hunts and the kids got tons of candy!  Is that really a good thing?

Then we came home and enjoyed conference all day. I just love conference so much.  There is so much good said.  Hopefully I will get a chance to write my favorite thoughts from conference soon.

Watchmen On The Tower

And the voice of warning shall be unto all people, by the mouths of my disciples

I coundn't resist.

K came up in the afternoon and then the girls went and saw "The Last Song".  Such a good movie!  KC went to priesthood and CR played the new DS game that the Easter Bunny brought.

Then we all went out to Dairy Queen afterwards. 

How can you beat family time, inspirational learning, and ice cream?

I love my family.