ABC Tag

A. Attached or Single: Attached. Eternally, now. Yipee!
B. Best Friend: David. Not to mention all of the great ladies in my life!
C. Cake or Pie: I'd have to say cake. Although, I do love me some good pie. I had a roommate who hated cake and always celebrated her birthdays with pies. Stacey, where are you?
D. Day of Choice: I enjoy Thursdays. No work, good shows. Sundays can be good. If my callings don't make it crazy!
E. Essential Item: Carmex. I'm seriously addicted.
F.Flavor of Ice Cream: Vanilla with fresh strawberries. Yum.
G. Gummy Bears or Worms: Yuck. Neither.
H. Hometown: Farley, Iowa. Even though my parents didn't move there until I was in college. I guess Rickardsville, IA is more accurate, since that is where I spent the greatest portion of my childhood.
I. Indulgences: Too many. Thus the weight issue!
J. January or July: I like both. Usually not sick of winter by January yet and love summer.
K. Kids: Just one.
L. Last movie I saw in a theater: 27 Dresses
M. Musician: I like to sing. I'd give anything to play the piano well.
N. Number of siblings: 1 brother, 1 sister
O. Orange or Apples: Both only if they are in perfect condition. David thinks I am a fruit snob because I won't eat fruit with blemishes or fruit that is past it's prime. David, however, eats it even if it's just short of decay! I do eat lots of apple peels. I give Mali apple wedges and she will only eat the flesh, handing me the peel.
P. Phobias or Fears: Large, gross bugs.
Q. Quote: "Don't give up, just give more"
R. Reasons to smile: We have been sealed in the temple. Your probably all sick of hearing it, but it's been a long road and I still can't believe we've finally done it!
S. Season: Fall. I've always loved fall. Especially in Iowa. Pretty good in Utah, too.
T. Tag 4: Any of you ladies who so desire.
U. Unknown fact about me: I lost 20 pounds on Weight Watchers.
V. Vegetarian or oppressor of Animals: I do enjoy meat, yet I'd rather not see myself as an "oppressor of animals"! I could go for quite some time without the carne.
W. Worst Habit- Overeating. Without a doubt.
X. X-rays or Ultrasounds: ?? I've had both. Can't say as I have a preference.
Y. Your favorite Food: Zuppa Toscana at the OG has been a favorite as of late. Salsa is an all time favorite.

Z. There wasn't anything listed for the letter Z. I'm feeling in no way creative enough to come up with something. Any thoughts?

AZ Visitors!

Yipee! David's family came to visit from Arizona this weekend. It was a total surprise for David, only I was "in the know". I kept it a secret for two whole days! He was so surprised and happy to see them. Five of them came: His mom- Cirenia, sister- Elizabeth, sister- Terry, Terry's daughter- Natali, and his brother- Hernan. They arrived Thursday night and left super early Monday morning. As is with all visitors, the time flew by way too fast. We did as much as we could in that short time. Hopefully, they will come back to visit soon. Hernan has to go to summer school during June but after that we are hoping they will come back to visit after that and join us for the Fourth of July. After all of my promises for warm weather, the time they were here was actually pretty cool and rainy. Oh, well. When you come in July, warmth guaranteed! Thursday night we went to Alpine's Employee Softball Game. They lost. It was down pouring so we watched from the cars. On Friday, both David and I had to work, so Malia got some quality time with her abuelita, tias, tio, and prima. She warmed right up to them. Plus they got her a new baby. They sure do know the fastest way to her heart! After we both got off of work, we drove up thru Logan Canyon to Bear Lake. David's mom wanted to see snow. We had to drive pretty much all the way to the lake to find any snow. Lots of fun!

Cirenia tasting the snow.

My Malia and David. I love this picture. Malia is practicing her "serious Mexican photo stare" and mi amor is actually smiling!

The (almost) whole family- Malia, David, Terry, Cirenia, Elizabeth, Natali, and Hernan

Fun in the snow collage- Hernan was in charge of the video camera, Nany (Hernan) making a snow angel, Natali helping Nany recover from the snow angel, Eli getting pelted by snowballs while taking pics, David throwing snow balls, Terry and Cirenia mid throw, David making Mali's snowballs, Mali throwing a snowball (the pic actually shows the snowball mid air), and finally, Terry's snowman- very nice!

Checking out the view at Bear Lake. Eli's helping Mali with her shoe laces. Eli- "Where's the water?" Ha. Ha.

After snowball fights and checking out the beautiful scenery, we headed to Alpine's Employee Party at the ice skating rink. Here's Malia in her cute little skates. She loved skating!

David, Malia and I. David had never been ice skating before and my experience skating has been very limited. Nonetheless, we had a great time and did our best.

Here is Caleb and Malia after skating. I love that Bart and David work for the same company. It means I get to hang out with fun people from David's work AND get to see my family!

We got everyone out on the ice except for Terry and Cirenia. Scaredy Cats! Something about falling and getting hurt?

On Saturday morning David's mom and sisters made breakfast- Yum! I had to be to work that afternoon at 3 so we tried to do as much as we could by then. The ladies wanted to see flowers and we figured what better place than the temple grounds?

The family walking down the hill at the back of the Logan Temple. David did a lot of explaining to his family about temples and their purpose. Being as it was all in Spanish, I didn't get to contribute much, but I am grateful that David was so willing to share his beliefs.

Malia being held by her tio Hernan. Agua! The family got to see first hand Malia's obsession with water. Agua! Agua!

Malia and I in front of the temple with the pretty flowers.

David, Malia and I in front of the temple with a devout couple on their way to the temple in the background!

Hernan, Malia, David, Cirenia, Elizabeth, Terry and Natali.

After the temple we went to Willow Park Zoo. Lots of birds to look at. I especially love the one with the little ducklings. The parents are on the other side of the fence squawking at the little ones who escaped thru the fence. Depicts parenthood quite well, don't you think?

Malia catching a ride on papa's shoulder.

Since I had to work Saturday night, I missed out on the rest of the night's activities, thus no pictures. They went to eat at one of our favorite restaurants, La Familia, and went to see "The Chronicles of Narnia". Luckies.

Since Sunday was my only day off, we headed down to SLC. On the way we drove thru Odgen Canyon to check out this waterfall. David had passed on the way to one of his job sites and knew his family would like to see it. Beautiful, huh?

I took this picture from across the road. Traffic was a bit scary.

Me and my Mali.

If only we could get Mali to look at the camera!

After the waterfall, we headed to the Salt Lake. Here is Mali in the sand. She's wearing the cute little outfit her tia got her.

The (almost) whole family in front of the lake. Minus me, of course. Someone's got to take the photo!

Malia and her cool papa at the lake.

After that the ladies wanted to see some more flowers. Once again, what better place than the temple grounds? This time we headed to Temple Square in SLC.

This time the WHOLE family in front of the Christus. That's not true. We were missing David's sister Jocy and her little boys. We sure did miss them the whole time! Hopefully they can come next time. Pancho, Gabriel and Frank, too!

On top of the Conference Center. The gentleman in the shirt and tie was our guide (in Spanish). He actually didn't say much and we got kind of bored. The whole purpose was to see flowers on top of the center, but there weren't actually very many. Just a field of some wildflowers. Still pretty, though.

Natali on top of the Conference Center. Smile!

Natatli doing what she loves best.. texting!

This is how Malia made her way around Temple Square. We had forgotten the stroller but had our hiking backpack in the trunk. It worked out quite well. This way she could still see everything but couldn't run away.

Here is a little clip of David and Malia ice skating. David only fell once the entire time, and I happened to catch it! She had so much fun.

I am so grateful that they came to visit. We had a blast! I hope they come to visit more often. I seriously need to learn Spanish. I'm trying, but I still am clueless some of the time. Okay, most of the time. Regardless, I am grateful to have such great in laws. Thanks everyone for visiting!

Now there's a good woman!

So when we moved to Iowa, David commented on how many women mowed the lawn. I did not. I don't remember ever mowing a lawn. Maybe I did, but it seems to me that Chris or Bart always did it. I don't think riding my grandpa's riding lawn mower around the farm counts. Well, the first three years of our marriage we lived in apartments, so we never had to worry about lawn work. Now that we have a yard to maintain, David has always mowed the lawn. In both our families, it was the man's responsibility. Yet, every time we pass a woman mowing a lawn, David feels it necessary to point it out. When Christina was mowing the other day, David had the audacity to say, "Now there's a good woman!". NOTE: He's just joking. He LOVES to mow the lawn and knows how to push my buttons. I don't know if you know this about me, but I tend to be a bit competitive and felt like I needed to prove my abilities. So yesterday, I mowed our lawn! Granted, I had to call David to figure out how to start the dumb thing. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it! What a great work out. David declared it a good job and commented on my nice lines. I also worked in the flower beds. The neighbor's daughter came over and asked if we had bought the house. I told her we were just renting. She replied, "You're doing all this work and you don't even own it!". As if we should let the yard look nasty simply because we don't pay a mortgage. I think that's the problem with rented houses, "renter's mentality" as it is commonly referred to. I think that's why this house was such a mess when we started renting. Previous renter's felt no feeling of responsibility because they were "just renting". I think that's messed up! Whether or not you own a place, you have a responsibility to maintain it. It's your HOME, even if it isn't your HOUSE! So there you have it. I refuse to have renter's mentality. The picture is of our apple tree and it's new blossoms. Beautiful, huh?

Oh, How the Time Flies!

So, almost two years ago I was VERY pregnant with my Malia. We took a family trip from Iowa to Utah to visit the Caley family in Utah. We were celebrating the blessing of Caleb. During that time we made a trip to the Hogle Zoo in SLC. Fast forward almost two years, similar story. Family visiting from Iowa, celebrating the blessing of Max, and a trip to the Hogle Zoo!

July 2006

May 2008

Only this time, Malia's on the outside!

DAY SEVEN: No fair, not even a full day!

So last Friday, the fam headed back to Iowa. I tried my darnedest to get some, any, all of them to stay longer, or forever! They took off by 10 am, so not much happened this day. Malia and Nathan continued to play together till the last minute. Here they are sliding down the stairs together. It was fun to see how much they still like playing with each other. When I chat with Britt on the phone, Nathan always ask for "Oleo", his version of Malia.

Try not to be jealous of our wood paneling... I swear, it's coming back! Hopefully not. I am so appreciative of my family for coming out. I know it took lots of planning and money. Stinking gas prices! I love each of them so much and loved all of the time that we got to spend together. Next task... getting David's family to visit! Once again.... It's warm, I promise!

DAY SIX: Taking the "animals" to see the animals...

Sporting the John Deere hat and the monkey backpack/restraint. Neither stuck with her for very long.
Nora and Caleb in the stroller.
The Mata Family on the train. "ooh... agua"
Sure, she had a good time. When we didn't have her restrained.....
"wrinkle my nose" on Tio David's shoulders

Once again time went way too fast! Thursday was our last full day together with the Iowans. We started off the day by heading down to SLC to the Hogle Zoo. The weather started off a bit cold, but eventually warmed. I love zoos. So does Malia. Although, the girl was quite amusing by pointing out ALL of the water, or "agua" as she says. Animals everywhere, and she is intrigued by the water. Here are some of the animals we got to see... photos compliments of Britt, David, and myself.

After the zoo we headed down to the big Cabela's store. Some of us stayed in the van with sleeping kids and ran over to the nearest (not actually very near) distribution center. After that we went over to our great aunts house. They were very nice and made dinner for us. It was good to get to see them more. I really appreciated them all coming up to the sealing and was sad that we didn't get to spend very much time with them that day. It was nice to hang out at their house and spend more time with them. Once again, a long day, but tons of fun.

Ahh... the power of toddlers. It was amazing how fast they dissembled the room!

Aunt Velma whipping up something delicious!Aunt Virginia chatting with Mom and Chris.Aunt Jeannette taking pictures.

Bart with the babes.

MMM... yummy food. Such cute mommies!

Almost done.....

DAY FIVE: The best day EVER!

Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 is now the best day of my life. On this day I sealed for time and all eternity to my forever love, David and my beautiful daughter, Malia. It was a super emotional day and I am so grateful that my family was here to share it with us. For those of you that are of the LDS faith, I am sure you understand the great significance of this occasion. For others, it may be a bit confusing to see what all the hype is about. Feel free to check out these links for some clarification: http://www.mormon.org/mormonorg/eng/basic-beliefs/membership-in-the-church/forever-families and http://www.mormon.org/mormonorg/eng/basic-beliefs/membership-in-the-church/temples-and-family-history. Regardless of one's religion, I am sure we can all agree that families are a great thing and how special it is to have time together. Imagine the blessing of ETERNITY together!! The day started pretty mellow. Mom and Chris came out in the morning. Mom hemmed David's pants and Chris put together the wagon. Thanks! David slept being as he worked the night before. Wait... who am I kidding? The morning wasn't exactly "mellow".... David came home around 8am jobless. He had been working for Pepperidge for not even 2 weeks and they laid him off... indefinitely! You always here that stressful things happen as you are getting ready to go to the temple... I guess losing your job the morning of qualifies! David had never officially left Alpine and is returning to work for them full time. Alpine has truly been a blessing in our lives. Britt made a scrumdiddlyumptious breakfast- Stuffed French Toast! Christina and the girls joined us for the breakfast. Once again, I wish Britt would move here so we could all hang out together. In a lot of ways Christina is like my Britt. We'd have so much fun together! Too bad Christina is leaving me, too! Stinking Army! Just kidding, I fully support the Armed Forces... Just wish the Barringtons didn't have to move. Hurry Britt, don't let there be a "friend gap"! Around 3 Dianne showed up and she and Britt took the kids down to the Caley's for us. It was nice to have that time together, just the two of us, right before going to the temple. We got to the temple at 4pm. A super huge thanks to Lori's family for watching Britt's kids! For families having children sealed to them there is a children's center while the parent's are in the endowment session. These family and friends were in attendance for the endowment: Mom, Brittney, Dianne, Bart (Lori joined for the sealing), my great aunts (Velma, Virginia, and Jeannette), the Baldwins (our Bishop and his wife, also my Visiting Teacher), Boedy Hunsaker (from Alpine), and two of David's friends from Pepperidge. He makes friends fast! He thinks the whole reason this "pepperidge ordeal" happened was so he could meet these great people! These are the people that were able to join us for the sealing: all of those in the endowment session, Ward Members: Barringtons, Becky Demuzio, Emily Morrison, Dianne Mikkelson, Kings (Kelli and Brian), Morlan Seamons (our temple preparation teacher), Alpine people: Aaron Elwood, Michelle and Chris Harris (owner of Alpine), fellow Stake Primary Presidency (Osbournes, Clemens, Debbie Grinnell). I hope I'm not forgetting anyone. Brother Hall (Stake Presidency) suggested we write our experiences down afterwards.... I should have done it sooner, it's getting foggy already! I must admit my favorite part was when they brought my Mali in.... she looked so beautiful!! She was so good! Not a word the whole time! Just her big, beautiful eyes soaking it all in. I didn't cry until I saw her. I was just so overwhelmed. Don't get me wrong. I am so grateful to be sealed to David forever. He is an amazing man and I love him with all my heart... It's just that when I realized that Malia will be ours, FOREVER, I was so... HAPPY! I am so grateful that we will be an eternal family. Afterwards, we gathered for pictures outside the temple. The weather was rainy and cold, so only a few pictures were taken. Unfortunately, none of them by my camera! Malia went down to the Caleys and my immediate family went out to eat at Olive Garden (love my employee discount! Too bad I can only have up to 8). It was nice having some time with just the adults. Thanks for dinner Mom and Chris! David had to go to work that night (last night at Pepperidge). Dianne, Britt and I stayed up chatting way too late. It was fun having some girly time, too. It was a very long and somewhat overwhelming day, yet still amazing.



The one picture in my possession from that day. This is Malia right before we went to the temple. Isn't she so cute?? This isn't actually the dress she wore in the temple. If you look close, this dress has little yellow daisies on it (dresses have to be all white for the temple). Britt tried to bleach out the yellow centers, but no luck. Fortunately, the temple had a dress for her and it was just as pretty.