One Great Day

It has been one great day. I began the day thinking... I will blog tonight about how many emails I'd received, how many phone calls, how many visits, etc.. But, there were too many to count. I spent the day answering the door and the phone, as well as reading new comments and emails and listening to voicemails. It was great! :) I feel so loved. My gifts from my family and from my friends were so perfect for me. It means so much how well people know me and it makes me feel so special that they know me so well. I got to go out to lunch and out to dinner. I even got to play Rockband with one of my friends in the middle of the day. I tell you...I didn't do one productive thing the entire day....just relished in how loved I feel. Even the check-in thing at the gym sang "Happy Birthday" instead of just beeping.

To all of you that made this day so perfect: Thank-you. Thank-you. Thank-you. Thank-you. Thank-you. Thank-you. Thank-you for thinking of me and loving me.

I spent my afternoon prayer time on my knees in tears...of joy and gratitude...Heavenly Father must love me, for he sent me all these angels! :)

Why am I one of the Lucky Ones?

So, tomorrow I turn 32. This past year has been rough, really rough. Actually rougher than I ever could imagine in my wildest dreams about roughness. Yet, I sit here tonight so grateful for the multitude of blessings I enjoy. How can I complain when I am one of the Lucky Ones?

A few of my precious blessings:

• A wonderful, intact, loving, and healthy family (DH, me, and our three kiddos).
• Friends. I can't say enough about my friends. I have been blessed to have so many friends. I truly believe that I have been blessed with some of the greatest women that have ever lived as my friends. They are my angels. I seriously can't say enough. Thank-you.
• My Savior. This year of struggles has been such a blessing in that I have never felt the Savior's presence as close as I have this year. I know He loves me. I know He guides me. I know He weeps when I weep. I am so grateful for all He has done for me.
• The Gospel of Jesus Christ. What great peace the Gospel brings. It puts this earth-life into perspective. And, what a blessing to have a living Prophet to lead the way.
• The Clinic. We have owned our own clinic for 3 1/2 years now. How lucky we are. We were so blessed with the Lord's help with everything from location to timing to enough patients to more than sustain us. While we have been there many times, I am so grateful that, at this time, I don't have to worry about whether there will be enough money this month to pay the bills and eat.

How lucky I am! And, here's to a better year at 32 than at 31! :)

Weekend Away

This weekend was an early birthday present from DH: A weekend away without kids!

A HUGE, GIGANTIC THANKS TO MY SISTER for taking them! Six kids for a weekend is a lot and they were so thoughtful, even bringing C down for his basketball game, even though they live 1/2 hour away!

Since we didn't have a lot of time, we ended up staying in a nice, 4-star hotel in a nearby city. We actually didn't do a ton. We did, however,

• workout together without worrying about kids.
• went to the local Museum of Art and actually took our time without rushing with the kids.
• ate out and actually got to talk to each other (doesn't usually happen with three kids demanding our time).
• relaxed without worrying or feeling guilty (Hey! We were away!) about clinic-stuff, house-stuff, kid-stuff, yard-stuff, church-stuff, etc. That was so nice.
• talked and talked.

It was one of the best weekends ever! I am certain that if my sister is up to it, we will be doing this again! :)

~Thanks, DH, love ya!~

42-12

That was the score at C's last game. We have a budding NBA star on our hands! Well, perhaps not, but he sure thinks he is. And, he is tearing up the floor on his basketball team. He scored 20 points of his team's 42. If we were keeping assist records, he probably had 8-12 assists. In fact, he would sometimes overlook an open shot just to share the ball with his teammates. It has been so fun to watch him this year and he really is an awesome point guard. He just loves this game and it shows. :) I just wish we lived in an area that they had two basketball seasons like they do baseball and soccer. Bummer.

It's cold outside and it's loud inside!

First, I haven't disappeared, I promise. Just out of the loop lately. Thank-goodness I have the November Ensign full of words of the prophets to keep me grounded.

Anyhow, it is freezing...literally...outside. They say an ice storm is on the way, but it doesn't seem so certain to me. I think we might have a late start tomorrow, but not a day off. We'll see, though. I am definitely not a meteorologist.

We have all been busy with our family Santa gift...Rockband. It is so fun to play together as a family. Anything that brings us closer together is good. C rocks at drums. DH loves the guitar. K is an excellent singer. It is fun, even though it can get super loud. Here is LD "playing" the drums. He loves to "play." :)

Locked out

Ya gotta love two-year-olds. Today, right after my shower (I was fully dressed, but my hair still wet), I decided to run an extra bag of trash down to the curb before the trash truck came around. It was freezing so I ran and it was literally a 10-second job.

When I got back to the door, it was locked and LD was on the other side saying, "I locked the door, Mami." Duh! Here I was locked out in the freezing cold with wet hair. No keys. All the doors to my house locked. DH has Tuesday mornings off, but he'd gone for a hike and since he has a new cell phone and I just have it programmed in my phone I couldn't even remember his phone number. I decided I might just have to sit outside and freeze until DH returned. I couldn't very well leave my little two-year-old home alone. After about 15 minutes of "Mami, open the door!", (To which I'd reply, "I can't. YOU LOCKED IT!") LD finally figured out how to unlock the deadbolt and let me in! WHEW!

Change...a little boy is growing up.

This post is all about our precious LD. I have no doubt that he was sent to our family for very specific reasons at the time he was. What a little ball of joy (most of the time....he can be very two-ish when he wants to be!). This week has marked big changes for him.

.

First, on Saturday, DH and I finally put up the bunk beds and took down the crib. I know, I know...he was a bit old for a crib! He is by far our the oldest of any of our kids to leave the crib. But...he loved it and I loved it. It was a win-win. Nonetheless, it was time for him to move up. He cried saying goodbye to his crib on Saturday, but since then, I don't think he has looked back. He is even taking naps on it well, which is what I most worried about.

,

Second, he has been potty training. He is doing so well. So far....no accidents! I know they will come, but this sure is a great start! What another big change for the little guy. Since we are just in the early stages of training, I still put on a diaper when we go out. It was funny since tonight we were in the library and he started screaming "I'm going bish (Spanish) right now!" I guess he has figured out what it feels like to need to go.

Last day of Christmas Break

It is the last day of Christmas Break, not counting the weekend. I have to say...I am ready for the kids to go back to school. I am ready for the routine of life again. I am ready to not have constant bickering. I have loved having them home, but it is definitely time.
.

Thank goodness that today we have a lot of friends over. It is so fun, although the girls do feel outnumbered (3 girls and 8 boys). Luckily, the girls are the three oldest and enjoy helping the littler ones, as well.
.

The weather is so beautiful that we even got to go outside for a picnic lunch (and it felt HOT!). The great thing about this picnic is that it was so win-win. When the girls asked if they could have a picnic and I said "Yes," you would've thought I was the greatest mom on the planet. What they didn't know is that....by having a picnic, we had crumbs outside and plenty of seating for all 11! What a great way to spend our last day.

Christmas in pictures

The last few days have been very hectic, yet very, very special. Highlights include: Christmas Eve at Red Lobster, Christmas morning from Santa, going to see Annie on Christmas day (Thanks for the tickets, Santa), picking up LD from my sister's, going to the cabin, our friends joining us at the cabin for a night. It was an amazing few days! It was so good for our family. We love being together...and, two years in a row at the cabin....just might become a tradition! :)

Traditions

Today is Christmas Eve! :) As a family, we have many traditions that we have created together. I guess this is what makes a family. It is definitely what makes these holidays so special. I am so grateful that we have another Christmas Eve together as a family. What a great family I am blessed with! I am so excited for this evening...here are some of our traditions:

1. We go out to dinner (this year: Red Lobster!)
2. We go look at Christmas lights together.
3. We come home and read the Christmas story from Luke 2 while looking at the Nativity set with a candle.
4. We sing Christmas Hymns.
5. We sit in a circle and talk of why we love each member of our family.
6. We have family prayer.
7. We call Grandpa and he reads "Twas the Night Before Christmas."
8. We put up our stockings and put out cookies and milk for Santa.
9. The kids open one present each...as a preview! :)
10. (Then...we all go to bed...excited for more Christmas traditions to come tomorrow!)

This year we have added taking giftcards to the homeless and less fortunate...but I don't know when that will happen in the evening.

I love traditions. I love family. I love Christmas Eve. Most of all, though, I love my Savior, Jesus Christ.

Where to begin?

Again....it has been a long time since a post. -sigh- Maybe at some point I will get my life back together enough to be a faithful blogger. Since I haven't been, however, I have no idea where to begin. C's big belt test? The last day of school before Christmas break? K and DH's daddy-daughter date? An awesome Christmas present from a dear friend? I could go on and on. We are always busy, I just haven't been great at documenting it all!

.

But, since this is the season of giving, I think I will begin with the most important gift of all...our Savior, Jesus Christ. Last night we had a wonderful Family Home Evening. We began with imagining that we were having a huge birthday party and all of our friends came carrying gifts, but at opening presents time, they all turned and gave them to each other and we didn't get any. We compared this a little to Christmas and how we celebrate Christ's birth, but sometimes we get too caught up in the gifts to each other, not to the Savior. We read Matthew 25: 35-40 and talked of how the gifts of service that we do to each other are gifts to the Savior. Then, we read 2 Nephi 2:6-8 (in the Book of Mormon) and talked of how we NEED the Savior to return back to Heavenly Father. There is no other way, but what He asks of us is a broken heart and a contrite spirit. These are other gifts we can give the Savior. Then, DH turned on some instrumental Christmas music and we wrote "Birthday Cards" to the Savior, including an individual "gift" that we were going to give Him this Christmas. We sealed the cards, tied them with ribbon and stuck them prominently on our tree. I hope that they remind us, as a family, what we need to remember this season: the greatest gift of all: Our Savior, Jesus Christ.

You know he's two when....

LD and I had quite a Friday last Friday. It all began right after I dropped the big kids off at school. I was doing dishes and he came running out to me...with no clothes! He had taken off his pajamas, socks, and diaper. He told me that he wanted to wear underwear. Well, now that he is two, it is time...but, I already decided I didn't want to deal with a newly potty-trained kid at the cabin, so, after Christmas is the plan.

Anyhow, you don't deny a kid that WANTS to wear underwear and go potty, do you? We were about to head out to work out and run errands, so I thought 5 minutes in underwear...I'll have him try to go potty, then get him dressed with a diaper and head out.

You can guess what happened! Less than five minutes later, he had peed and pooped. Lovely.

Next, on our errands trip, we were shopping. He first decided he wanted something that I had him put away. He laid down on the floor and took off his shoes and socks. So, I put them back on and put him up on the counter while I paid. So, he took off his shoes and chucked them across the room. Then, as we were leaving, he again laid down, took off his coat and his socks....all while I am trying to get out the door with my bags of purchases. It was not fun. -sigh- He really is two!

Ten Reasons Why Thanksgiving was Awesome!

Thanksgiving was so awesome this year. I LOVE my in-laws and they were in town with us! :) Here are ten reasons that this year ranks as probably the best ever!

1. LD had the cutest smile for Papi O....complete with a black bean beard and black bean hairgel!
2. It was just the seven of us for Thanksgiving: I was on my feet literally from 8 am to 5 pm cooking, but there was no stress of a time limit....just cooking. --sigh-- so low stress. :) Thanks to Mami R. for all her help!
3. C did an amazing karate demonstration for the family. His instructor was right...put on the pads and he turns into an animal.
4. We enjoyed the perfect weather the first few days with a gorgeous hike in the great outdoors.
5. We froze (my poor Southern body--you'd never know I grew up in Colorado--I freeze at 50 degrees) together with a front row seat at the parade of lights.
6. K was the beauty of the week with her gorgeous hair and awesome photo poses.
7. DH was off Wed-Sun! :) Hurray for family time.
8. Mami R. and Papi O. are so loving and sweet and great advise givers, as good parents should be! How blessed I feel to have them as my "parents!"
9. Papi O. cleaned and did projects around the house that I hadn't been able to get to! Thank-you, Papi!
10. I biffed it in the water gardens after church yesterday! It was hilarious...but I have a bruise 4" x 3" on my knee! Yuck. At least we will all remember it together. (Maybe not an "awesome" moment, but a memorable one, at least!)

• Bonus: The food was outstanding! We had such a great time eating together (but I gained like 5 pounds!)
• Bonus #2: LD missed his siblings so much that he asked for them all day long today. When we finally drove up to the school to pick them up, he shouted "Yay! Yay! Yay! K and C! Yay! Yay! Yay!"
• Bonus #3: After Thanksgiving sales were soooooooooo awesome and we got such great deals. Hurray! (Also low stress...we didn't have anything on our "list" that we couldn't live without so we were just enjoying the excitement....and we left at 6:15, not earlier!)

We definitely had a great time together. I am so blessed to have in-laws that I love so much. I cried and cried and cried as they left this morning. Back to one of my favorite quotes ..."The pain now is part of the happiness then." So true.

(Hopefully pictures are coming! They didn't work for me today.)

Thank goodness for company!

I know...you are all shocked. I finally posted. It has been a very busy (and a little bit tough) few weeks and, in the midst of it all, I really haven't felt like blogging. But, I would like to blog again....so I start by sharing how glad I am that DH's parents are here.

I really love them (a lot-I have such great in-laws)...but, that is not all....my house is spotless! Nothing like company coming to do the little projects that I've been putting off. The house is clean, clutter-free, and wearing new wall art! :)

Needless to say that in the non-blogging weeks, I wasn't as on top of my house as usual either, so having it clean is an amazing accomplishment! It feels so good.

Blessings of Bilingual Children

Today, I asked LD what he wanted for lunch after church and he cheerfully responded, "How about....ice cream!" After a politely told him "No" multiple times, he came back with, "How about...helado (Spanish for ice cream)!" How cute! He does this frequently...asks for what he wants in one language and if he doesn't get it, asks in the other!