Hooray for the grandparents

My parents came to town for Thanksgiving. It's so great to have them here.

Feeling Crafty

This year for thanksgiving stella and I will be in charge of crafts for the kids. So today we made our examples and had our test run if you will. We have a toilet paper roll turkey, marshmallow snowman, and an Indian Headdress.  Its going to be fun!!

No new posts

Hey blogging family, my phone has been full, meaning that I have had no memory available to take pictures this past week. Jorge helped me tonight to get all my photos and videos off my phone and into my computer and now Im back up and running. Yeah!! #besthusbandever

Jorge's Trip

Jorge went with a group of students to Seattle to meet w/ alumni and staff from Amazon, Microsoft, and TMobile. He made some great contacts and hopefully an interview will come out of it which will lead to an internship this summer. One of the people he met with at Microsoft walked w/ him to their gift shop and bought this cute tee for Stella. 

Peter & the Wolf

BYU hosted a free family concert on Saturday and it was wonderful. First the fact that it was free was SO awesome, second it was so interactive for children. In the story all the characters are represented by an instrument and the musicians wore a hat that corresponded with their character. The photo below is Stella trying on the wolf hat.

After the concert the audience was invited to come on stage and meet the musicians and touch or play their instruments, how cool for a child.

 

Stella really did well, considering this was her first concert. She was able to stay in her seat for the first half and then she stood up and wanted to jump around a little during the second part. Thankfully there wasn't anyone in the seat in front of us ;)

As we walked out of the show it was snowing lightly and chilly. There are still a few trees hanging on to their leaves but mostly things are pretty bare in our neighborhood, the signs of winter approaching.

Gifts of the Heart exchange (GOTHE)

Me and my neighbors standing outside this morning in the snow for an hour so we could get free 2nd hand clothes. #poorcollegestudents

Our First Snowfall

The view out my bedroom window during the storm. It seemed so beautiful to me that the clouds were lower than the peek of the mountain

Stella loved to sit by the window and watch the snow fall. 

Yes, Please

I grew up drinking Egg Nog around the holidays and it was always a treat. Then one day my body couldn't really digest milk and every holiday since then I have passed on this delicious holiday beverage until now. I ran across this Almond milk version at Walmart and I couldn't be more pleased. It's really delicious and takes a lot like the real deal minus the thickness. As i drank tonight every sweet Christmas memory came flooding in (ok, not really) but I did get excited that I can officially raise a glass this holiday season.

Post Interview Celebration

Celebrating w/ ice cream after an interview Jorge had w/ Cummins. Please keep us in your prayers. Hopefully we'll know soon!!

Baby it's cold outside...

Child Labor

Look who's taken over the laundry duties? 

(Disclaimer: this happens very rarely, she is usually running around getting into other peoples clothes)

This picture below she actually stopped what she was doing and said "mom take a picture" she's so funny. 

Popcorn

I was super blessed to grow up near my maternal grandparents. We spent a lot of time w/ them and they were a big influence in my life. On Sunday nights we would get together at my grandparents house along w/ my aunts family and catch up, eat and play games. My grandmother would always make popcorn and rootbeer floats and it was such a treat. I have sweet, warm feelings when I think about those times. We carry on this tradition in our house. Although it's just Jorge, Stella and me it still nurtures my soul to get out the popcorn pan (no microwave popcorn, it's got to be homemade) and fire it up and I hope its something that my children will carry on too.

Stella serenaded us while we ate.

The Ballet

We took Stella to see the ballet Giselle today and she actually loved it. We got shushed and she didn't make it through the entire performance but I'm calling it a success that she liked it and wanted to watch it. I think she could have made it through if the audience was a little more kid friendly, who knew ballets were so serious? Anyways it was incredible to watch these girls on point and all they could do w/ their bodies. Ballet is such a disciplined style of dance. These ballerinas had perfect postures and hand and arm positions. Their arms were always tight and in a position never just dangling.

Campus Life

Living so close to BYU is awesome, we get to take advantage of all the museums on campus. This week we visited the Monte Bean Life Sciences Museum. As I told Stella it's kind of like a zoo but all the animals aren't living anymore. There are some really cool animals to see, a fun children's section too and it's all free. 

This picture is for my dad these birds are all different types of pheasants. My dad grew up hunting pheasants. Who knew there were so many different types?

This was a challenging little activity for kids. The pretend ants were in their village and you had to take a magnet on a stick and put it up against the glass directly on top of an ant and then you could move the ant around the nest.

This is Stella climbing out of the trunk of a tree into an eagles nest which led to a slide. 

Happy Late Halloween Post

I realized today that i never posted any Halloween pictures so these are from the ward trunk or treat party w/ all the kids from our neighborhood

Her first car/ first experience trick or treating. 

We went really simple this year in the costume department but costume shmoshtume we had fun!! (Except apparently Stella in this picture;)

Creepy...stella has eyes in the back of her head.

Tumbling/Dance Class

Balance Beam

Practicing Hopping

At the end of dance class

Payday

This happened tonight at my house... Stella was playing w/ her toys after dinner and the next thing I know she had her head bowed and her arms folded and was praying w/ froggy. I tried to listen and couldn't really tell what she was saying until she said Amen. It was definetly a payback moment. As a parent you plant a lot of seeds and I think it takes awhile for most teachings to bear fruit but when they do its exciting stuff. 

We Are Family...

Tonight we started our month of gratitude. We started by writing something we're grateful for on a fall leaf and hanging them on our "tree" some branches that Jorge and Stella collected on their walk yesterday. I'm excited for the Thanksgiving season. Counting our blessings this month prepares us to Adore Him next month. #attitudeofgratitude

Family Night games

Sabbath Day

I ❤️ Sundays!! I'm so grateful that at the beginning of this world God felt it was necessary to command us to take a day of rest. He knew how crazy busy his children would be and how much we would benefit from setting aside one day of the week to worship Him and rest from our daily cares. I love how slow Sundays feel, the unhurried time around the dinner table and  an afternoon nap. Honoring the sabbath day is a treat for me in this hurried world we live in.

Jazmins baby shower

The baby shower was a success!! Jazmin, my neighbor from Mexico City, is  having a baby in 2 weeks. She is having her 3rd boy but since she just moved here we thought there was tons of stuff she could use for the new baby and it was a great excuse to throw a party. We used a room in the church bldg in our neighborhood.  

In Mexico they play a game at baby showers where the mom opens each gift and guesses who gave it to her. If she guesses right she puts a mark on the face of the person who gave the gift. If she guesses wrong that person puts the mark on her face. It was a fun game and we were all laughing w/ each gift.

The party planning group w/ Jazmin.