homecoming beauties

The girls had a fantastic time at Skylines Homecoming a couple weeks ago. They had fun activities during the day which included roller skating, Jamba Juice and group games at a local park. Sarah's date and his fellow comrades (along with their mom's) prepared a fancy dinner for the girls in someone's backyard. Analisa's group of 12 all went to Market Street Grill for dinner. To bad the girl hates seafood. She said she had tortellini instead and it was great. Even though they were with different groups the girls met up at the dance and had a blast dancing together and critiquing all the outfits. The after dance activities included ping pong games and movies. I know, I know, the fun never ends!

When Sarah came out for pictures on the front porch, Joseph, using his index finger while making a circle in the air around her chest said, "WOW, you look a lot like Wonder Woman!" Leave it to a little brother to tell it like it is.

Sarah and her date Ryan A. When he handed her a bouquet of flowers in Skyline colors she commented on how beautiful they were. His response, "...not as beautiful as you." Ahhh, how sweet.


Aunt Lindsay came to the rescue to help with his boutonniere.


Our brunette Taylor Swift. Dreamy.

A few of the kids in Analisa's group. All great friends, just friends!

I ♥ pumpkin

Pumpkin chocolate chip bread from Great Harvest is one of my favorite treats. So Cupcake makes little mini versions topped with cream cheese frosting. Add a nice cold glass of milk and I feel like I've died and gone to heaven.

I recently came across this pumpkin pancake recipe through my friend Lisa. It is scrumptious and nutritious all in one. You can find it on Allrecipes.com to adjust portion size. This recipe made about 16 pancakes.



Combine dry ingredients:
2 C flour ( I used 1/2 whole wheat and it still tasted great)
3 Tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg (the recipe called for allspice but I added this instead)
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp salt

Combine wet ingredients:
1 1/2 C milk (plus maybe 1-2 Tbsp in you like them thinner)
1 C pumpkin puree
1 egg
2 Tbsp canola oil
2 Tbsp vinegar

Combine wet and dry together but don't over stir. Spoon about 1/4 cup on hot griddle. Batter will be thick, just use the back of a spoon to smooth out. Brown on both sides and top with chopped pecans, smart balance butter, maple syrup and say mmm, mmm good!

To learn more about the nutritional content of pumpkin click here.

Gravity

A few months ago while watching SYTYCD a piece was performed that left quite an impression on me. It was a piece about addiction. As I've thought about this song and dance I've come to realize that addiction/adversity is something we all fight on a daily basis. While most of us will hopefully never battle the big things like drugs or pornography there are plenty of other things that inevitably manage to drape their ugly chains around us. Negative thoughts, feelings of not being enough, inadequacy, self doubt, depression to name a few. Satan knows where we are weakest. As I watch this piece and see how truly haunting the nature of the vice is I can't help but think that she overcame in the end. That she found the strength to walk away.



I've embedded the original video in case you'd like to hear the entire track sang by Ms. Bareilles herself. The song moves me every time.

family circles

Since this blog will someday be printed into book form, I thought I would include some pictures from Joseph and Noah's special day. Crystal took the bulk of the pictures but had her camera stolen from her car the very next day. We were so sad. And as always, I was left wishing I'd taken more pictures.

As I looked over the pictures I did take however, I couldn't help but notice the gentle touch in each grouping. Father to son, grandmother and father to grandchild, wife to husband, husband to wife, daughter -in-law to mother in-law and cousin to cousin. All connected in this beautiful circle we call a family.


Me, Brett and baptism boy Joseph

My Dad aka.. Papi, Grandma Martha, Joseph and Noah holding their brand new scriptures.

Grandpa David and Grandma Judith Nielson

Noah's mom- my sister, Crystal, Omar and their oldest son Jacob.

Moni, Jody's mom-Barbara and Jody Wihongi

Best friends and cousins Katherine and Ariana

I also thought I'd share (for you non-Facebook friends) a touching video my dear brother-in law Jody created for the occasion. The song that he chose to go along with it was just perfect. A fitting tribute.

fifteen

This picture was taken a few weeks before Analisa's fifteenth birthday. Isn't she dreamy? The orchard was in full bloom and Michelle caught just the perfect light on that beautiful spring day. What a treasure! To see more click here . I'd love to hear what your favorite is. The last two in the set are downright adorable.

Se habla español

This handsome young man walked in the door after school and asked, "Hey mom, can we have perros calientes with papas fritas for dinner tonight?"

Me:"Huh?"

Joseph: "You know, hot dogs with french fries. I speak Spanish now you know. My teacher served a mission in Guatemala and so yeah, I know Spanish now."

Me thinking to myself: "Well, how cute! He learned a few words."

Joseph: "And by the way, that's a muy bonita falda you're wearing."

Me (astonished) : "Did you just give me a compliment in Spanish? Go Joseph!"

Come to find out he knows about 40 words and is learning more everyday. Who knew?!

***

Brett and I are constantly plagued with the question of why we don't teach our kids Spanish. Truth is I find it a little difficult at times to speak it myself. Sure I can carry on a conversation and help translate if forced to do so, but it's not something I've always felt super confident with.

Growing up, my Dad, who immigranted to the U.S. as an adult, mostly spoke Spanish to us. We only responded in English. My mom who was raised in a similar fashion, broke out the books and forced herself to study and educate herself on the proper way to speak the language as an adult. We rarely spoke it although we understood the basics. It wasn't until my Abuelita (sweet, 4'9 inch grandma Qina) and my Tias (Dad's 4 sisters) came from Mexico, or better yet when we went to visit them for entire months at a time that we absolutely had to break out our broken Spanish. Most of the time people thought we (me and my sister Moni) were so cute and funny that they would make us repeat the mish mashed thing we'd said and laugh at us until we refused to say anything in the blasted language at all. I know now that they didn't mean any harm by it, but it did make me really self conscious. Slowly but surely with time, age and practice and more in-depth conversations with Abuelita and Dad did my Spanish start taking shape. As a youth I became involved with Mexican folk dancing which also helped encourage my need to speak Spanish. At about the same age my wise Mama decided to switch from the English ward to the struggling Spanish branch. Needless to say that helped push us along immensely in more ways than just learning a language. A post for another day.

Brett and I spoke a little during our courtship but it always seemed kinda weird and forced so we just stuck to English unless we needed to say something to each other we didn't want any one else to understand. It's always been mainly for fun.

As our kids started coming along we would try to teach them basic phrases and while a few have stuck, they mainly complain about why we didn't teach them as babies and then give up on our quest to try and teach them more. Like most people, I get so caught up trying to teach basic life skills like not punching your brother or not burping during dinner that I barely have time to think in English much less turn around and teach in Spanish.

While I know that these are all lame excuses I do think that my sister Marisa who married an immigrant from Colombia, has a much easier time teaching her kids the basics than I do.

Whatever the kids learn in school we try to solidify. Most of them have pretty good rolled "r's". Just ask Analisa to tell you the name of the guy who took Federer to 5 sets in the US Open. Spoken like a native, I tell you.

I was tickled to hear my sweet 2nd grader speaking my father's native tongue. And I am excited to help reinforce any and all things he learns. Who knows maybe it will catch on to the rest of the family. But for now, when my sister Marisa's kids come over and say "Quiero leche", Joseph will know exactly what they're talking about. And that's a very cool thing.

wanna dance?

When the doorbell rings at our house the caller is typically greeted by a hyper, love deprived (not!) dog and three plus children running to see who it is. If the doorbell rings after 10pm it's either because we've been toilet papered (AGAIN!) or because a suitor has come hoping to win over a date to the latest dance.

Here are some of the latest gifts that have been found on our doorstep:








Oh, such clever guys! Of course the responses have to be well thought out too. For the first one, Analisa made a cake and spelled the word YES in trick candles which was then surrounded by tons of normal candles. The response said something like, "Your sweet poster sure took the cake, blow out the candles to see if I'm your date!"

The pillow continued to say "... of you and me at Skyline's homecoming!" She had to piece together his initials inside the pillow fluff to find out who it was. She responded by setting off 12 alarm clocks hidden all over his room with the letters Y. E. S. written on them and a note that said, "I know all this noise can seem like quite a disaster, read all the clocks to find your homecoming answer!" Thanks to our super friend Leslie for getting the clocks and to the boys mom for sending him off to the store for milk at 11pm at night thereby giving the girls a chance to sneak into his room.

The kisses were delivered last night for the Olympus High dance. Oh the fun never ends...


You think poor Brett would be use to this by now.

clean & pure

Here are Joseph and his sweet cousin Noah fresh out of the waters of baptism.


On September 5th these two handsome boys were baptized and confirmed members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints by their fathers. Family and friends came from near and far to witness and celebrate their happy day. I love these boys and am in awe of their strong valiant spirits. They inspire me to be better. Thanks to everyone who came and shared in this beautiful day.

DH published

To anyone who subscribes to the church magazine The Friend, my DH (dear husband) finally got his story published. It is on page 30 of the September issue. If you don't get the magazine you can click here: The Friend and then click on Campfire Stories and Testimonies located just above the picture of the boy holding the title of liberty to read it. It is also in the Liahona which is published in countless languages all over the world.

You can read the original story here. Trying to condense this experience to under 125 words and have it appeal to children of all ages and backgrounds was no easy task. It went through countless revisions and just before he was about to bag the whole thing I encouraged him to give it one more try and there you have it. An amazing story of a boy who wasn't afraid to share his burning testimony with a friend. We absolutely loved the scripture, the quote by Elder Ballard and of course, the art work. I still get choked up reading it.