Halloween!

We started the celebrations with a Trunk or Treat at our Stake Center and sadly enough we don't have pictures of Dave's and mine costumes but you'll get to see them don't worry.

Here we have our little Chili pepper, she was the "Hot Stuff"
Comenzamos las celebraciones con una fiesta de la Estaca. Lamentablemente no tomamos fotos de los disfraces mios y de David, no se preocupen que las voy a tomar luego.
Aqui esta nuestro picantico, ella se llamaba "La cosa caliente"Not sure why she's doing that but we thought she was too cute to not kiss :-) / No entiendo por que se estaba quitando la gorrita per estaba tan linda que no podiamos dejarla sin besos :-)Our sweet Elena was princess Ariel. / Elena se disfrazo de Ariel.Here is her hair all done. / Aqui esta su cabello cuando termine.My very own princess! / My Princecita!
The batteries died in our camera so we don't have any of her hair after we painted it red, hopefully we'll get some on Halloween night.
Las baterias de la camara se murieron despues de tomar unas fotos asi que no tenemos fotos de su cabello despues de haberlo pintado rojo.

Last night for FHE we carved pumpkins with the Bradshaws and the Gradners. It was way fun. Bob is an Artist and of course his was the coolest.
Anoche por Noche de Hogar hicimos nuestas calabazas con los hermanos Bradshaws y los Gardnes. Fue super divertido, Bob es un artista asi que el de el fue el mejor.Here are all the pumpkins. From left to right, Camille's-ghost, Robert's-pirate ship, Bob's-cool guy with big nose, mine-guess and Dave's- an owl, click onthe picture you can see it better.
I didn't know mine was going to turn out so lame so I decided at the very last minute to make it the coolest! After all Halloween is MY favorite holiday :-)

Aqui estan todas las calabazas, de izquierda a derecha; Camille-fantasma; Robert-Barco pirata; Bob-un viejito con una nariz grande; mio-adivinen; yelde David- un Buho.
La verdad no pense que el mio fuera a ser tan feo asi que improvise y lo hize el mejor de todos! Despues de todo Halloween es mi celebracion favorita :-)

He he he he :-) / Jejejeje

After such a fun day and about an hour past bed time we were getting the girls to bed and Elena started crying so hard because she wanted to read a book. David has turned into a softy and said to her "Okay" and they read the book and then went to bed. While Dave was laying down with Elena in her bed he asked her "What was your favorite part of the day?" Elena said "The book"
How sweet is that? Boom another lesson for me, being a softy is a good thing :-)

Despues de un dia tan divertido y una hora despues de la hora de dormir, estabamos casi listos para poner a las nenas a la cama cuando Elenita empezo a llorar porque queria leer un libro. David como ahora esta de pancita con las nenas le dijo esta bien. Ellos leyeron el libro y despues el se acosto con ella en su camita y le pregunto "Nani, cual fue tu parte favorita de esta dia?" y ella le contesto "El libro"
¿ No te parte el corazon esta niña? Otra leccion para mi, estar de pancitas con las niñas es bueno :-)

Survivor day 4 / Sobreviviente dia 4

Today I realize two things;

1.-I forgot to write in Spanish on my last post, oops, no one has complained though.
2.- Another awesome thing about yesterday. I filled up our car's tank for $2.97 per gallon!!

Anyhow let's talk about today.

I cried and cried and cried and cried this morning.
Let me explain.

My little Elena, (I said LITTLE) went on her very first field trip this morning. She got to ride the School bus all the way to a pumpkin farm. Oh, I forgot... she did it all without MOM!! :-(

I could have gone but I have two little infants that I could not push in a stroller because it is all muddy!
All she could talk about all morning was about her trip to the farm. When we got there she let go off my had and ran to see her friends.

--I saw her little eyes get so big and sparkly when that Bus came in the lot.
--I saw her get all bouncy, impatient to get in it.
--I heard her say, "Look Look! it's HERE!!"
--I saw her squeeze her little hands of excitement....

The hands she was holding weren't mine. It wasn't me who she bounce with in the bus.
The worst part... I forgot my camera, I have NO records of such a fun day, I have nothing but my memory of it, and that is full of tears and of jealousy , yes, I have to admit it.

I was jealous of that 16 year old girl that got be part of such a wonderful thing. Did she realize the innocence in a little one? Did she know that for my Elenita get in the school bus was as huge as for her to meet a famous person? Did she know that my baby could get scared? and that she doesn't like to get all muddy? Was she aware that that little kid she was holding hands with was a Special child of God? Did she know that I would give anything for Elena?

I spent the next hour and a half crying to one of my moms (thanks Mom VanVleet) I was having a hard time as it was and the fact that I forgot my camera was making it worse.
I was able to cry to my other mom (MIL) and to my Mami (the real on) during the day.

When my baby came back, I made sure I was at the bottom of the stairs of the bus. As she saw me I saw those sparkly eyes again and this time she said " Mami, MAMI!!!" and she jumped in my arms. She showed me her pumpkin (one as big as her head) and then we hugged, for a few minutes. I gave her a kiss and we got in the car. When we got home I asked her about her day and all she said was...

" Mom, I love you.... this much!" and she streched her arms as far as they would go.I hope she comes in bed with me again tonight.

Hoy me di cuenta de dos cosas.

1.- Se me olvido escribir en Español ayer :-( Por lo menos nadie se ha quejado.
2.- Ayer le puse gasolina al carro y page $2.97 por gallon!

En fin, hablemos de hoy.

Llore, llore, llore y llore todo la mañana.

Mi Elenita fue en su primera excursion. El autubus de la escuela se la llevo a un a granja donde habian animales y calabazas. Se la llevo sin mi :-(

Yo podia seguirla en mi carro pero con las dos bebes que cargaba ni lo quize intentar porque es todo pantano y el coche no serviria.

En fin, estubo toda la mañana hablando de la excursion, estaba tan emocionada mi chiquita.

--Vi como sus ojitos brillaban cuando llego el autubus.
--Escuche como emocionadisima dijo "mira MIRA!! ya llego!
--Vi como estaba brincando emocionada de montarse.
--Vi como apreto sus manitos de emocion.

Pero no eran mis manos las que ella apreto, no era yo quien estaria con ella durante la excursion. Lo peor de todo, se me olvido mi camara. No tengo fotos de mi nena y su carita emocionada de montarse en el autubus. No tengo nada mas que mis recuerdos de lo que paso y celos! si CELOS de esa muchacha que le la tenia de la mano.

¿Tu crees que ella sabia la inocencia de mi nena? ¿Sabia ella que para mi Nani el autubus de la escuela era tan emocionante como para ella el conocer a su artista favorito? ¿Sabia ella que mi nene se podia asustar? y que no le gusta ensuciarce? ¿Sabia ella que Elenita es una hija especial de Dios? ¿ Sabia ella que yo daria cualquier cosa por mi nena?

Bueno yo pase el resto de la mañana llorando con mis mamas (Gracias mami VanVleet), llame a tres de ellas y todas me hicieron sentir muchisimo mejor.

Cuando Elenita regreso, yo me asegure estar just afuera del autobus y cuando ella me vio dijo "Mami Mami!!!" Se lanzo a mis brazos y ahi nos quedamos por unos minutos. Me mostro cu calabaza, que es tan grande como su cabeza, y nos fuimos a la casa.
Cuando llegamos llegamos a la casa le pregunte, ¿Elenita como te fue hoy en la escuela? y ella me dijo..
"Mami, yo te quiero asi de grande!!" y abrio sus bracitos lo mas grnde que pudo.

Survivor day 3 / Sobreviviente dia 3

How to explain today?...

PERFECT!

We had a great start, well Elena somehow appeared in my bed again but she kept a better distance... well at least she wasn't on top of me!
-My little E slept ALL morning! good and sad because I miss her :-(
Victoria was being baby sat by Mr. as he explained to me every time I tried to do something for her.
-Elena and Mr. had so much fun screaming their lungs out!! somehow today I was ok with the extra noise.
-Siah made a few sad faces and got some Skittles from that. He has the BEST sad face and I later learned I was being played! Oh well, I hope he enjoyed his sugar because he is getting No more from me!! )that of course is because I finish the bag myself :-(

After that we headed to preschool with so much help from the Gardners THANK YOU guys!!
Coming home we stopped at McDonald's for dinner. We celebrated that Elena made it through Preschool without a diaper.
After dinner we danced and sang so hard that we all crushed on the couch and just a few minutes later our HERO called.
The poor guy could not sleep (3am there) and decided to talk to us. I miss him so much :-( I even felt butterflies on my tummy when I heard the ring on the computer ;-)
We had one of the BEST bubble baths EVER!! and were so tired they were asleep before 8pm.

My dear Dave got me some beautiful Tiger Lillies before he left and I wish I would have taken a picture then. The bouquet was all bulbs (? I really don't know if that is the right word) but Look at it now!!!there are still a bunch that have not bloom yet!

p.s. if you want to get a good laugh go and watch on ABC the "week4 the results" episode of Dancing with the stars. They made little campain adds mocking the elections but going against each other. I really can't think anymore so if it didn't make sense just go and watch it. It is through out the whole show so just skip if you don't care for the show.

Survivor day 1 &2 / Sobreviviente dia 1 y 2.

Sunday, Day 1.

- 3 blow outs and there is only one child in diapers.
-2 little people crying for "DADDY!" who is in Zurich.
-1 defenseless mother that is trying to make it to church to find herself among 30 other little ones. If I could only have found the bathroom in less than 10 minutes :-(
- 2 Great friends that help keep little baby while my encounter with the other 30 and that made dinner so we wouldn't have cereal.

Monday, Day 2.

-Back ache, due to toddler sleeping ON me.
-Baby screaming all day! for excitement and sadness.
-Little E eating 6 oz at the time and having a major blow out after each feeding.
-Toddler was perfect.
-Dinner...cereal :-(

I WANT DADDY!!! not mine but theirs ;-)


Domingo, primer dia.

-3 Pañales explotaron y solo hay un bebe en pañales en la casa.
-2 chiquiticas llorando por su papa que esta en Zurich
-Una mama que intento llegar a tiempo a la capilla para enfrentarse con otros 30 chiquiticos! Si solo hubiese encontrado el baño en menos de 10 minutos.
-Dos amigos maravillosos que cuidaron a la chiquita y tambien nos hicieron una cena rica para que no comieramos cereal.

Lunes, segundo dia.

-Me duele la espalda porque la nena se durmio ENCIMA mio.
-La chiquitica grito todo el dia, de emocion y de tristeza.
-La E se comio 6onzas de tetero y se hizo con ganas despues de comer!
-La nena grande fue perfecta!
-De cena....Cereal :-(

YO QUIERO A PAPI!!! no al mio, sino al de ellas ;-)

I'M A BIG KID NOW! Soy una niña grande!

Miss Elenita has amazed me one more time!
She is now potty trained!! she's not three yet!!! and the best part she did it all by herself!
I tried for a while before and I never really got the hang of it because I love to go out and it didn't help her very much. Well as soon as I started watching little E I have been home and Elena has only had one accident in 3 weeks. We have gone to church and out to have fun and she is just so good at it.
I am proud of my little one she is so amazing and has Daddy's determination.



La señorita Elena me ha sorprendido una vez mas!
Mi nena ya no se pone pañales!! y ni siquiera tiene 3 añitos!! y lo mejor de todo, lo hizo ella solita!
Yo intente por un tiempo hace unos meses pero la verdad como me encanta salir le ponia pañles por si acaso. Desde que empeze a cuidar a la otra bebe me he quedado en casa y bueno le dije a Elenita que intentara otra vez y ya! por mas de tres semanas ha estado tan bien solo ha tenido un accidente!
Estoy tan orgullosa de mi reinita, tiene la determinacion de su papá.

I have a family here on earth...

Introducing... The Murphys!
(Kariann, I hope you forgive me for steeling your picture)

I saw this picture today and I have been crying my eyes out! You see this is my family.

In 1999 I met Elder Murphy (first one on the left) He was a missionary in my area and was very brave to try and teach me about the Gospel. I turned him down many times. I don't know why he didn't give up on me but I glad he didn't.
One of many memories I have with him was a time that he asked me to fast and read the Book of Mormon and then pray to know if it was true. He said he and his companion would fast with me.
I still cry when I remember because I didn't fast and when I came home the next day I found two very hungry missionaries at my door. My heart was touched, I didn't believe they went without food or drinks for 24 hours, it is very hot back at home and the Elders had to walk everywhere.
I had a change of heart and finally was baptized by him in Jan of 2000. He then taught me how to teach others and I became a Stake missionary. He was a great example.

A year later I'm planning on going to BYU and think I have everything ready. Two weeks before I have to travel I find out that BYU won't let me move in for another two weeks. My mom talked to Dave and he suggested I called Elder Murphy because he lived close to Provo. I did and very nervously I asked him to help me. I was really worried his parents would think I wanted to go and marry their son. They agreed to take me in.

I was welcomed by wonderful people. His mom open her arms to me and her home. I knew I was protected by her and that made my crazy adventure much better.

Next to him is Andy, he is the baby just like me. Andy and I became buddies right away. He treated me like a sister immediatly. One of my first memories with him. I was asleep in the room downstairs and he came home from school and open the door to the basement and SCREAMED my name. I jumped so high and he laughed so hard! He also knew some Spanish and was teaching me English anytime he could.

Next is Emily, she is the Princess of the house. I was greatful to have her room because she was at BYU. I LOVED her bed :-) One of my first memories were finding her blow drying her hair and dancing to Savage Garden "So break me take hate me take me over..." AWESOME!!!
She was so cool and I definetly wanted to be like her. She also took me to school on my first day so I wouldn't get lost.

Next to her is Joe! He was the super HOT guy in High School, very quiet at home but I could tell he tried to talk to me. First memories, He was trying to teach me how to say "Date" "going out" "like you" " don't like you". I still have a little paper with the notes he wrote for me. Now that I think about it, maybe he was asking ME out :-0 yeah right! He married the Hot blond next to him, Kariann. I also really enjoyed watching basketball with him. That cutie pie in Joe's arm is his first little baby girl Brynlee.

The last one in the photo is Veena she is Than's wife and mom to those super adorable olive skin kids! Somehow Than convince her to marry him, I think he skip the part where he was going to the Backstreet Boys concert!

Then there is Mom and Dad. I don't have a picture of them right now but I'll find it soon.
Mom did her best to make me feel like one of them. Every day she taught me new words and cooked yummy food for me. One day I tried to learned the word RAW, she was thawing a chicken and I wanted to know how to say RAW. We should have looked it online, we spent an hour trying to figure it out. It was too funny!
Dad, well he was always teasing me and I loved to see him wrestle with the boys. He had gone to Peru on his mission so we had tons to talk about.

I love them so much. I'm sorry I'm talking about people most of you don't know, but today I saw that picture and I cried so hard. I am and will always be so grateful to and in debt to all of them. They did so much for me and still do. I know I was being bless by Heavenly Father I know he gave them to me to protect me and guide me through my hard times in the States. They found me housing, gave me food and the everything else I needed. I went "home" on Sundays to eat dinner with them and mom took me through the Temple. Than was a witness at our wedding and their present to me were all my temple clothes. There were all the strength I needed to endure being alone in a new world.

...They are so good to me, I want to share my life with them for all Eternity,
Families can be together for ever, through Heavenly Fathers Plan....

It is not always sunny but I sure love to remember when it is..

I have been talking to a few people that have specific opinions about blogs that I disagree with and today I will make sure we are all in the same "blog" (he he he, I'm so clever)

I am a normal human being, I love to be happy but reality brings all kind of emotions to my door. I was an alien for a couple of years and the same mix of feelings were present. (that is just for you Ry)

I have a blog and I share with my dear friends and family the interesting things that happen in our life. Do I mostly write of fun, happy things?, YEAH!! but that doesn't mean that we are a perfect family that never has disagreements, that doesn't cry, that doesn't yell (I really gotta work on that), that doesn't get mad, that doesn't clean, that watches TV and many more.

The reason why I write down mostly happy things it's because I want to remember the good times, the bad ones are always in my memory and I have a harder time remembering the good ones. Plus when my kids grow up I want them to remember the fun times we had together and I hope they forget how many times they were sent to time out.

So, now I will tell you about our rainy days in proof of our imperfection (Dave might disagree with me here, he believes he's perfect because he's 28)

-I have struggled with depression and I have felt very unsocial for a good part of my life.
-I put on a movie for Elena so I can read my email and waste time in the internet.
-I have taken Elena to McDonald's a few times when Dave is gone for conferences.
- I Do NOT read my scriptures everyday.
-I forget almost all the time to pray in the morning.
-I ate Chinese all by myself once after being diagnose with Gallstones. I also ate a Kit Kat.
-I have put the kids on quiet time in their room for an hour just so I can clean the floors.
-I have skip grocery shopping for about 2 weeks just because I was too lazy to take the kids with me.
- I look forward to nap time so I can lay down and watch "Rachel Ray"
-I have watched all Freddy Krueger movies ( they don't have the same rating back at home though)
-I slept all Sunday during Conference.

Oh dear, I can go on and on... I think the rest of our team members have their own negative side but they need to tell their own story not me.

When I look for perfection and the things I do wrong I fall into depression. As I was thinking on the reasons why I really wanted to make this a post I kept thinking on the pressure we as Mothers embrace. It is so easy to feel down when we realize we are not a good "Mormon Mom" I know that as I read your posts I can see the hard work you are putting out there for your families and how much love you have for them. I can tell that we are all going through the same thing and that we need to hold each other when needed.

I never wanted to give you the impression I am perfect. This blog is like a baby book of our family.
I mean, Do you really put in your baby book - Oct 10th, little Jamie slap me on the face for the first time and I yelled at him and spank him. I think he is terrified by my actions more than his! I hope he learned his lesson. He is for sure not getting Halloween Candy!!

Lastly, right before I started writing this post I read this article that a great mom share with everyone. I think it reflects what we go trough and why we need to hold on to what we do right instead of what we do wrong. BTW, her blog is so amazing, I just love the great example of sharing the gospel using the media, she is sure doing so.

Picture TAG!

Here is how it works. Go to your fourth picture folder and find the fourth picture and tell about it.

I'm on Dave's laptop so I'm posting some that I got emailed to.

Read on now that you stopped laughing.

In our ward we have dinner groups and while at the Tucker's one fine evening, sister Tucker told us about a story involving brother Tucker and a wig. Sister Tucker finally brought a huge plastic bin filled with wigs. No need to explain more.

I've always wanted to get a perm....

YOU'RE IT!!

Intoducing...

"...And of course, from the moment she was born, she was - well - different

Nanny:
It's coming
FATHER:
Now?
MIDWIFE:
The baby's coming
FATHER:
And how!
MIDWIFE AND FATHER :
I see a nose
I see a curl
It's a healthy, perfect,
Lovely, little -
MIDWIFE :
AAAHHH!!!!
FATHER :
(spoken) Sweet Oz!
MOTHER :
(spoken) What is it? what's wrong?
MIDWIFE :
How can it be?
FATHER :
What does it mean?
MIDWIFE :
It's atrocious
FATHER :
It's obscene!
MIDWIFE AND FATHER :
Like a froggy, ferny cabbage
The baby is unnaturally

"BLOND"!!..."(nothing unnatural inside this cute little 4 month old baby)

I know you were wondering how is it that I was looking so big and so sick, well I learned from my BIL that it's ok to hide pregnancies ;-)
Did you really believe that?????
This little angel we'll call E she is our brand new addition. She comes and plays with us all day everyday. She is certainly a cutie and is finally warming up to us. She's still terrified of Victoria but that just proves she is a normal kid.
Little E has stolen Elenita's heart. The very second day she gave her a nickname and when she talks about her she says "Mami, make sure you put MY E's bottle in the fridge"
Victoria loves her to death but is kind of too forward in her love and little E gets scared, I mean I myself don't really enjoy little fingernails digging in my skin.
You might think I'm baby hungry but even if I was it is all over! I adore the little chunk but having 3 kids is really hard, I don't know how you do it. So far we only go out when we take Nani to preschool and I take advantage and run errands with two little ones, although they are not into the same schedule yet, I spend a LOT of time feeding them.

We are falling in love with her more and more and hope things get easier, tips are more than welcome and please don't give up on me!! I will go on play dates I just find home very save right now. I'm getting better at it and I'm sure I'll feel more confident to take them all out soon.