Merry Christmas

It's the most wonderful time of the year. This Christmas season has been truly joyful as we have been surrounded by good friends and wonderful family members. Jeshua has gotten really excited over all the lights and was our reminder every evening to turn on ours. Every one else has had fun baking cookies and partying.

What a great way to end the year with a reminder of our Savior and His great love for us. May we remember Him through out the coming year and live our lives in a manner that reflects His light.

Thanks Grandma for the yummy Christmas Eve dinner and the wonderful traditions and memories we share with you and Grandpa.

Christmas morning-presents here we come.

10 Secrets for a Happy Marriage

Last Friday night Antonio and I were asked to come to the Relief Society enrichment meeting and give a class on how to cultivate love and friendship in marriage. I based my talk on 10 things I have come to call 10 secrets of a happy marriage. I want to share them so here goes.

1. Kiss each other often

2. Be each others best friend

3. Practice tolerance

4. Forgive

5. Avoid criticism

6. Put God first

7. Find time to spend alone with each other

8. See your spouse with eternal eyes

9. Be a place of refuge for your spouse

10. Love always

It has been wonderful reflecting on this theme for the last 6 weeks. I love my husband very much and the last 13+ years have been the best so far.

Summer vacation

Here are some pictures of a trip we took this summer to Utah.

Singing in the rain

The kids had so much fun playing in this down pour. There was a lot of thunder thus the plugging of the ears.

Matthew's Birthday

Matthew and his birthday cake, Sept. 19, 2008.

I'm In A Hurry

I heard the song on the radio the other day with the words "I'm in a hurry to get things done so I rush and rush until life's no fun." And that described perfectly my life lately. I feel like I jump out of bed and say "ready, set, go!" and I am off. When I fall into bed at night I am so exhausted I can't see straight. Last week I rebelled. I decided that I have a had enough rushing and I re-evaluated my life goals and what I was really here to accomplish. I feel much better, thus I am posting. I planned on posting weekly, but when school, swim team, and acting classes started, Oh and I was selling tamales every Saturday to help pay for some of these things, life became too much.

Now I am back. I don't have any new pictures this post, but thought I would catch you all up on our life. Matthew turned 1 on Friday. He is such a cutie. I think he is the most spoiled baby on the block with everyone around to care for him, but we love him. He is taking a few steps, but with all the arms to carry him around why walk.

Linda, Gabby and Becca are swimming for Desert Storm swim team. It is good exercise for them everyday. Next month is their first swim meet. Olympics here we come.

Becca and Andrea are in Hollywood kids. They are taking musical theater classes and preparing for Alladin Jr.

On Mondays we all attend Pillar of Light Academy. The older 3 are studying Shakespear with a focus on King Lear. In the spring they will participate in a play. The middle 3 are in a class of Love of Learners and they are taking a trip around the world and learning about different countries, the younger 3 spend the day at Grandma's. I took them one week, but they prefer to play at Grandma's . I am taking a 5 pillars tutorial. We read classics, give speeches, and write. It all goes hand in hand with the Thomas Jefferson Education Model.

Antonio is still working his 2 jobs. We enjoy him when he is home.

Swimming

I love summertime. Most of my summertime memories of childhood are of water. In Grants I spent most of my summer at the city pool, then we moved to Lake Powell. Almost nightly we drove down to the lake for a swim, and then Friday and Saturday was spent waterskiing. If we were visiting family in Circleville Deena, Dayna and I were either in the canal, or down at the river. As I got older my passion for swimming was put on hold, I was too busy working, or just couldn't find a place as great as Lake Powell to swim. But now that I have children my passion for water is being passed on to them. Three years ago the city built a pool just down the road from our house and Linda, Gabby, and Becca have been swimming on their swim team. The other kids love to go to the pool and play, it has a great play area for smaller children. Yesterday was the last swim meet for their team. They all did great, and we finally found the charger to our video camera so see for yourself what fish they are.

Linda and Gabby took 1st and 2nd in freestyle. Gabby took first in IM. Becca took 2nd in breast stroke. Our team took first in the relay. They had a great coach who really pushed them, trained them well, but encouraged them too. Linda and Gabby are now considering joining the city team. Becca wants to act. The other children are all great. They are still young enough they are happy to be home playing in the back yard, we also bought a bigger back yard pool this year and they have a lot of fun out there. We love summer, even with the Las Vegas heat.

Becca the Star

Becca just finished a week long musical acting camp. She had a blast. She learned acting, dancingm singing and auditioning skills. We were so proud of her when she was cast as Ariel for the The Little Mermaid scenes. Look for her soon on Broadway.

Summer bugs`````````````

If you are ever in Las Vegas in late July you will hear an electrical like buzzing when you go outside. They are these bugs, cicadas is what I think they are. One can make a lot of noise. Last night my girls went out about midnight and found them emerging from their shells. We have found these crunchy shells before with a slit on the back where you could tell something came out, but last night was the first time they saw it in action. They came running in the house to share their new founded knowledge with their sleeping mother. Learning new things is so fun.

Thomas had a birthday

Thomas had birthday this month. He is my big, brave, don't mess with me 6 year old. Luckily his smile melts hearts. He is my inspiration. He fights his prunebelly battles with gusto. He loves his doctors and can't wait to see them. Last Friday we had an appointment with the nephrologist. Thomas was awake when his dad went to work at 4:30 in the morning excited to go see Dr. Aigbe. His appointment went well and things look good. We pray they always will.

Life at our house

Sunday, what a wonderful day for blogging, and sleeping. This Sunday I am blogging. Our family is doing great. Swimming is our past time during these hot summer days and nights. The girls had their second swim competition on Saturday. The swam well. It is so fun to see them improving every year. They are even considering trying out for a year round city swim team. The fourth of July was a lot of fun. With the kids getting bigger we let them light the fireworks and just sat back and watched. Linda, Gabby, and Charlotte then serenaded the neighborhood with patriotic songs sung from the top of the roof. They had a little too much soda in their veins. Having kids is such fun. Today is one of those days that I wish we could just stop and live like this forever.

Linda

Linda. She is our first born. She came into the world bright eyed, tongue out, and ready to take on the world. She is now 12, bright eyed, and taking on the world. She excels in everything she does. She loves to read, write, sing, play basketball, soccer, football, swim, gymnastics, watching movies, baking, serving others, and saving the world.