Random Blessings

The picture is to highlight randomness. It has nothing whatsoever to do with this post except for the children are apart of the post too. This was taken the Fourth of July as we were leaving our ward picnic and found many frogs to pick up and play with. I did my best to look excited with the idea of bacteria riddled frogs in my children's fingers.


This past week has brought some unexpected blessings. First, a good friend, (we'll call her L. Westbrook or Lynn W.) let me in on a fantastic deal. End result: a free membership at the YMCA near us. And for those who had my scary concept of what YMCA's look like, set your minds at ease. It is a new facility that usually costs a whopping $80 to join. For some that is not very much, but for me it is. The childcare is pretty good and the Zumba class is heaven. (Zumba is a new term for a latin jazzercise class). Could there really be anything better then good latin music and dancing for and hour? Yes, it could also burn calories and tone some flabby jabby.

Miracle number two: Fernando has a pretty great schedule this month. He does take call every few days, but then has a whole day off. Shocking. Well, on one of these off days, we went to the gym, then headed to Costco, and finally back home just in time to pick up Mia from the bus. We decided to get our mail which is located around the corner from our house. Lazily, I pulled the car over to get the mail. Nothing was found. So, I jumped back into our 2006 Civic and expected to drive the block home. False. Yes, False! The car simply wouldn't start. Talia and Tiago were done being in the car which only added to the frustration. Fernando ran home and drove the 96 Corolla to jump our dead car. To no avail. A nice neighbor who we have waived to once or twice in passing, stopped his car to try and help. He seemed to be pretty well versed with cars and we felt that gut wrenching/wallet squeezing feeling that always accompanies the words "bad starter or faulty alternator".

It should be mentioned here, the military has a funny habit of mismanagement. Now, I don't mean to judge harshly since it is a large organization. Somehow every transfer there is a risk the the military can overpay you. Strange as it may seem, the thousands of transfers that are categorically similar sometime go a muck. Then after a few months and money spent finding the overpaid people, they take their money back. All of it, all at once. Yes, it happened to us. It just so happened that a few days before the car incident, they came and found $800 they wanted back from us. Why don't they use all those post transfer money finding people to just get things right the first time? Back to the car. . .

Fernando and I had the fantastic experience of pushing our car home. I really mean fantastic. Pushing a broken car has its own kind of charm and makes one feel like they could do anything. We rolled in into our driveway just in time to catch Mia from the bus.

I was so grateful that our car chose to die in front of our mail box and not a 30 minute drive away at the Costco parking lot just before Mia came home from school. I am glad I wasn't flying solo and cell phone-less with the kids when it happened. But, I never expected the blessing that came next.

Fernando spent over an hour checking all the fuses and found no hope. We prayed and prayed again. The kids prayed, we prayed all in hopes of figuring out what went wrong. I also prayed that we would wake up in time the next day and get ready quick enough to walk to school since there was no other option. Sure enough, we made it on time for school and I had the distinct feeling to call a Honda dealership. I explain our situation and then had to have the service man repeat the next part:

Quote "Mam, it sounds like your battery has died and it is still under warranty. We will pay a tow truck to get your car to our dealership, replace the battery at no cost to you and have it done by this afternoon."

True to his word, we have a well running car (the whole reason we bought the Honda Civic) and a new battery with a new 8 year warranty. This was also music to my ears since Texas is harsh on batteries and I was told to not be shocked if I only got two years out of my battery.

There are so many other little things, including gas for $1.86. It make Doctrine and Covenants 78:17-19 even more impressive.

"17 Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are little children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you;
18 And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours.
19 And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more."

Miscellanous Momments with Mia and School

I still can't believe that I have a daughter in school. She loves it and comes home frequently telling me how she "learns everything in school". She makes all sorts of hats like the K9 hat she made above for Fire Prevention Week. It just so happens she also made a poster about fire safety. She designed a poster called "Four" No Fires that had four drawings that showed what you could do for no fire. Her poster was put together 10 minutes before school and was a finalist in the school. To think what would have happened if she actually spent time on it.

About a month ago, I was invited to be a chaperon for a field trip to A Seussical Musical . I accepted before I thought through the logistics. Talia, a non bottle fed infant and Tiago a non babysat boy were not invited to attend. Luckily, two friends were willing to accept such a babysitting feat. Each had their own trial. Talia would nap for two of the 3 1/2 hours, but wake up hungry. Tiago screamed at the front door for at good hour plus before he warmed up to the scene. My bad. Good thing to have good friends. Everyone survived and I was glad that I went.

The play required some extensive understanding of multiple Seuss books. Luckily we had listened to recordings of such books many times on our drive from Maryland to Texas. It was good, but a little long for such little kids. After a lunch in the park and playing on the playground, Mia boarded her bus again and I came home to some happy campers and drained friends.

Mia also just received an award for being "A Pillar of Trustworthiness". I had a hard time explaining what they meant by that award. I started with an analogy to wood that holds up the house and how that is like people supporting and lifting others and then just congratulated her for a job well done.

Our Age of Anxiety

How fitting it is to have elections so near to Halloween. A time of uneasiness and dare I say anxiety. I have been listening to a fantastic book called Age of Anxiety that deals with McCarthyism. So many events of the Red Scare parallel our national crisis of today. Regarding McCarthy's or any dictator like politician's increasing influence and power, the book states it "was not the rantings of Demigods, but fear in irresolution in honorable men." It also reaffirms the scriptures warnings of unrighteous leaders and therefore their unrighteous laws are nigh impossible to destroy. We are fortunate for sure to live in a society where we are free to vote. Even with the electoral college inadequacies and funky wording on the ballots, it is a blessing to give our say.

So after a pre-halloween party at our local library, I decided to be honorable and vote. Well, as honorable as one can look dressed in a cowgirl costume complete with chaps, a Thomas the train, kitty cat princess, and flower maiden.


Three kids in tow made for an interesting experience, but I did it. I starred for as long as possible at the Presidential Candidates in limbo over the decision. There was no clear choice for me. Each candidate had serious policy issues and I felt like it came down to decide between the lesser evil. Talia felt the agony keenly. This topic will proceed further in my personal journals. The important thing is I voted.

PUMPKIN PATCH

I forgot to mention the fun we had at a near by Church's "Pumpkin Patch". In TX, there are a noticeable absence of pumpkin fields so really it's just another place the semi's drop them off after they are done unloading them at the local supermarket. No bother. At least they were strewn all over the grass and surrounded by fun fall decor. Our first trip was with Tiago and Talia and a few friends.
Tiago picked out two medium size pumpkins for him and Mia and a tiny one for Talia. Tiago was loving all the pumpkins.
He would pick up several and was curious how some had disgusting warts. (you and me both buddy) Right before we left, Tiago got a special chance to drive a cardboard tractor as shown here:

Later we brought Mia to see the patch and bought our pumpkin at the commissary another day. Funny, we kept meaning to carve our family pumpkin, but the kids go to bed by 6:30 pm. It makes for little time to do anything aside from homework, dinner, and get ready for the next day. Mia's pumpkin was carved and gutted at school in a science lesson. She wanted to let Tiago get in on the action. She kept telling him about the slime and seeds and guessed there were over one hundred in our family pumpkin. I attempted to carve Tiago's with a Lightening McQueen on it, but it was too small and just looked like a modern art piece with random holes. I just carved the family pumpkin with Mia Nov. 1 and we just opted to do a Thanksgiving one. We'll see how long it lasts.


Mia's and Tiago's little pumpkins were moldy by day 2.

Halloween 2008

Confession: I hate Halloween. My animosity grows each year in repulsion to match the increasingly morbid and grotesque costumes/decor/etc. Because of this repulsion, my decor is limited to the few things that have been given to us over the years. It wasn't until I was talking to my sister Angela on Halloween morning that she reminded me of a few things. Namely, Halloween does have a fun side. I remembered when we were little an would spend Conference Weekend playing office and creating our pumpkin man. Pumpkin Man consisted of a plastic pumpkin head, our dad's flannel shirt and some pants stuffed with newspaper, and sitting in the corner of our entry way. I quickly found some of Tiago's old overalls and flannel shirt and constructed our own Pumpkin Girl. I knew someday I would find use for those cute boots that Mia could never wear.

She also gave me some fun ideas some of which I had tried and other that I am sure will become a part of our family's tradition. Just so you can have a few more ideas: musical tombstones (chairs) with Halloween music, pin the broom/nose on the witch, going on a dracula (lion) hunt. We love doughnut on a string, hot dog mummies,pumpkin anything, frog lips with marshmallow teeth,
fancy caramel apples with a scavenger hunt around the house to find the ingredients, and pumpkin shaped pizzas. We used garlic flavored crescent rolls filled with a garlic alfredo sauce with spinach, chicken, and cheddar cheese then brushed with a parmesean butter topping mix to add to the look.
This year we even added a Jamba Juice like drink packed with hidden goodness. The orange part was made with mango, carrots, and pineapple orange juice. The red part consisted of raspberries, red cabbage, and fruit punch Gatorade.

We ended up surprising Mia at school for a Halloween lunch.


It was fun to eat our mummy dogs and froggie lips. Afterwords I read a few Halloween books to the kids.

I tried to get some last minute decorations, but never found anything I really liked. I take that back. I did find a few things I liked, but they were a bit pricey for my taste. After wasting a few hours in the stores, I came home and did a quick search on Better Homes and Gardens website. I found a ton of cute/easy decor ideas that I could have done with the kids. Too late for this year. I guess that is for next year. Such as Candy Corn Topiaries , Creepy Critters, Felt Witch Hats, Crafty Pumpkin Candles. You should see their site. I love it.
Mia had wanted to be a Princess Kitty, Tiago wanted to be a car or fire truck, and Talia had no choice. After perusing for costumes, I decided to venture to make my own. With Tulle aplenty, I found a needle and thread and went to work on making a princess skirt to go with an Old Navy cat shirt and some borrowed cat ears and tail. In my head it was a lot cuter. She only ended up wearing it for our ward Trunk-o-Treat because of her newly school made bat mask which meant no more kitty. . .hello bat girl. Even with all my creativity, I couldn't and didn't want to figure out how to successfully turn Tiago into a vehicle though there are those who can. Instead, we borrowed a Thomas the Train giddy up and called it good. Talia got a pumpkin shirt and hat and again I went with the Tulle skirt. Her skirt actually turned out pretty cute.

We watched the first part of Jurassic Park while we ate our pizza dinner then got ready for trick-o-treating. Fernando made it home in time to go. He was already in a BYU shirt (not surprising) and so we just gave him a few of our BYU paraphernalia and called him a super fan. I had been a G rated version of a Geisha for our ward Trunk-o-Treat thanks to a brides maid dress from Angela's wedding, but opted on the more sturdy option of cowgirl. We went around a few houses in our neighborhood before the kids got bored. Talia even fell asleep in my arms.




We previously agreed that the kids could pick out any 5 candies to call their own and the rest would be given out to the kids who came to our house. Now, before anyone gets too offended, let me explain. We eat lots of treats at our house. My kids have no lack of sugar. We often have the conversation about sweets and the benefit to our health. We also talk a lot about eating the good stuff (translation fatty goodness like cakes, doughnuts, etc) versus mediocre stuff like skittles. We had to tell Tiago to pick more since he said he only wanted 2 candies. Fernando got them ready for bed and I sat in my driveway passing out the rest of the candy. I was more then generous since I wanted to get inside and be with Fernando who hasn't be around for awhile. I only had one group of over aged boys. After the 3rd time they came around, I told them that they were too old and probably could find something better to do next year. I know I will have some better ideas for a more festive Halloween next year, if only for the sake of my cute kids.

The River Runs Through It

A few weeks ago, we ventured up to a river with some friends. Fernando was at the hospital all day so we needed some good Saturday fun to keep us busy. Good fun and friends made the 40 minute drive worth it. The water was freezing and deep enough in some points for some crazy tree jumping. That's right, some bravely scaled up a fallen tree to jump the 15+ ft into the water. Here are my kids watching the curious habits of crazy adults doing things they tell there kids no to.

My crew felt brave enough to dive from a nearby rock. Well, I dove and the kids slid on their bottoms into my arms.
The kids were in life jackets and I am a pretty ok swimmer, but scared and thrashing around kids made me second guess my choice in "catching" them. We left before we could try the bridge jumping much to Mia's dismay.

I thought it was funny how much she wanted to go to the bridge. I think she didn't understand that the bridge was taller and more formidable then the rock she half slid have was pulled into the water screaming all the while. Poor Talia got a fourth of a nap driving up and another short nap there. . .she was done. It was nice to be outdoors again. You Utahans don't know what you have. Live it up.


PS This was a picture I took at the gas station we filled up at before leaving on the adventure. I did a double take. Did it really say $2.39. At first I was feeling dyslexic. I can't even get myself to hold my excitement in enough to take the picture of our $1.99 gas now! Yes, that is a 1!

Financial Bailout Solution/Prevention

Would our country be in such a mess if we would follow this "sage" wisdom? For a real copy of the same type of advice, but better check it out here. (thanks Lynette)