Ready for Christmas

It´s been hard, but I waited until after Thanksgiving (in the US) to put up the Christmas decor. I love having the lights and tree etc. up, it makes it feel more like home.

This is our little Nativity set...it will do until I get moms!!

The tree mom bought me the second time they came over here.

Out the window you can see lights on the balcony...we were the first to put lights up!

NEW MOON

Not to be mean or anything, but to show you all that sometimes there is an advantage of living over here in Spain...take a look at the DATE on this poster (I know the day and month are backwards for you USAers) yup that´s right, it comes out here 2 days BEFORE it comes out in the USA!!

So, I´ll be thinking about all you sister-in-laws and cousins and friends while I´m in the theater in Barcelona watching it on Wednesday - in english!! And I´ll try not to post anything that would ruin it for you all!!!

Birthday

After I got my talk out of the way on Saturday evening David and I went out to a great Italian restaurant (yummy). Then Sunday, my actual birthday was just nice. We got up to go to Stake Conference...it was actually a very nice conference...I got to see all my YW in the stake and the YM too and because of the gran invention of facebook most of them even said "Happy birthday" to me. They are the best youth EVER!

Anyway, after conference we came home and I whipped out my Las Golandrinas tortillas from the freezer and made some yummy bean and cheese burritos. And to make them even better I added some Del Taco sauce to them (I happen to have 2 bags full of the sauce that I brought back from Cali. this last trip!!) They weren´t quite as good as the real thing, but pretty close! For dessert we had brownies and ice cream.....more yummy!!

After eating we headed over to take care of Carlos and when we got home (I know it was sunday, but oh well...) we snuggled up and watched a super cute movie.

After the movie mom and dad called and we had a nice talk.

All in all, it was a very nice day.

OH! but FYI, I´ve decided that until I have children I will continue turning 30 each year...I think that´s fair!

Thanksgiving Part III - All that work and it´s over so fast!

Half of the gang...waiting for the rest.

All 14 of us...I´m counting the turkey!!

It was fun when all the bowls and plates started getting passed around....it may have all been in Spanish, but the chaos was the same as it is at home!

David, of course, has a horrible time being the center of attention so playing the piano for everyone was really difficult for him...... WHATEVER! He LOVES it!!!!!

All in all it was a very nice day. Julia and David were GREAT helpers I wouldn´t have been able to do it without them!

Thanksgiving Part II - "Be prepared"

Saturday (Halloween) David and I got up early and I dropped him off at the gym and I did the last of the shopping. When he got home from the gym he was astonished that I was in the kitchen cutting up the vegetables (for the veggies and dip), he didn´t understand why I was doing that Saturday instead of the same day as the dinner. He ate lunch and then was kid enough to come help me. After we cut, washed and bagged up all the veggies I looked at him and said, "That took 2 hours...do you still think we should have waited until tomorrow to do it?" He of course replied, "No." and didn´t complain the rest of the day as we kept preparing things.

He really was a good helper. Of course he would help and then take a break and then help and then break (while I kept working the whole day)...but at least he helped and was happy about it!

My mother-in-law is always in charge of the turkey...she buys it (I wouldn´t know where to go to buy a turkey) and cleans it up and worries about it while it´s cooking!! Between going to bed late, her SNORING (seriously, her snoring abilities are up there with Aunt Lu´s!) , thinking about what I still needed to do the next day, getting up to put the turkey in the oven and the fact that I had to go to church, I didn´t get much sleep!

5:30am, the bird came de-feathered, but it ain´t no butter ball, so we still had to do some last minute plucking!

We don´t usually put anything inside the turkey, but this year Julia decided she would try it out.

What´s funny is that one of the MANY times she woke up to check on the turkey she decided that it wasn´t cooking fast enough and the stuff she had stuffed it with was the problem so she took it all out! When she told me what she had done I asked her how long the bird had been in the oven when she took the stuff out...it had only been in for 2 hours...of course it doesn´t look "cooked" after 2 hours! SO FUNNY!!!

The turkey turned out just fine...thank goodness after all the "stress" it caused Julia!!

Saturday I also made an apple pie and a pumpking pie. Both turned out pretty good, and the pumpkin pie most everyone had a piece of, but the apple pie was too cinnamon-y for them (they don´t use cinnamon much in Spain...I don´t know why? it´s soo yummy!!!). But that was fine with me....I get the pie all to myself!!

Since it was Halloween I bought a pumpkin and carved it to have as a decoration. Everyone was so impressed that I had carved it myself. It´s interesting with different cultures...something so ordinary, for us, like carving a pumpkin for Halloween, is so "amazing" to them.

Thanksgiving Part I - Froo Froo

The turkey pillow...so cute!

So, for those of you that know my mother at all you know that "froo froo" isn´t really her thing... so that makes this post even better!

As most of you know it has now become my job to have Thanksgiving each year here in Spain...this is my BIG family event of the year, so of course I want to make it GREAT (I have a tendency to go overboard sometimes!). So, while I was home this summer mom and I were trying to think of ways to make my BIG even more special and I told her I´d like a nice "fallish" tableclothe - so the big mistake of the year...we went to KOHLS (moms favorite store...and starting to be one of mine too!) Not only did we find a tableclothe, but of course we bought 2 because I would have to set up two tables. And if I have a tableclothe I need napkins to match...right?! And then of course you have to have a centerpiece. OH and who could forget the cute hand towell to hang in the bathroom and the cute kitchen towells. And last but not least you HAVE to have a turkey pillow on the couch!!!

It was SOOOO much fun to be able to pick all this stuff out with mom...she was actually kind of "froo froo" for a minute...and enjoying it!! We were excited about finding a tableclothe, but what mom REALLY got excited about were the cute towells! They are cute!

Below is the centerpiece and candles I brought from California. Mom thought I was a bit crazy...couldn´t I find a centerpiece in Spain? Yes, but it wouldn´t have been as much fun as picking it out with her...and Spain doesn´t have candles that smell like this! They smell like sugar and spice, sooo yummy!!!!

I needed something to put on the second table (and we only bought one centerpiece in CA - thank goodness because my luggage already weighed too much!!)...I already had these candles so I just bought some decor stuff and put them on a plate I have....it worked.

My mother-in-law was shocked when she came over and saw the table set and all the little decorations (and the fact that the table was set and ready the night before also caught her off guard!!) The whole day she was making sure that everyone saw all the little details. She´s so cute, she makes such a fuss over everything. But really she was very pleased with her daughter-in-law! I think it´s so funny how excited she was about everything...it´s not like it´s out of this world to decorate a little.

David was so cute about it too...he said I´ve raised the bar for the family, now everyone is going to have to/want to decorate and make things pretty when they put on a family dinner!

Thanks mom for taking the time to shop with me and be a bit froo froo (I know you don´t like to do either of those things!!). It was lots of fun and made Thanksgiving way more special for me and everyone else. LOVE YOU MOM!

Drill fun!

I know this is kind of a silly post, but I wanted to make sure that my father knew I was putting the drill bits he got me while I was home to good use! You see here in Spain most of the walls (everything really) are made of brick so when it comes to hanging stuff it´s NOT easy. But now thanks to the fabulous drill bits it´s almost too easy! These pictures only show one thing I´ve drilled into my brick walls, but I´ve also put up curtains a painting and a ceiling lamp with the new bits!

Thanks dad!!

2009 Family Trip Part I

After our 14 hour trip to California my parents picked David and me up at LAX for another hour long drive San Juan. We stopped at A´s burgers for some yummy food and when we finally got home David went for a bike ride while I re-packed. David and I got showered and changed, packed up the car and the four of us were off for a nice 12 hour drive to Utah!! Oh what we do for family...and what a good husband I have, he only complained a little bit!! Of course the AdvilPM I gave him for the car ride worked wonderfully - he and mom cuddled up in the back and slept most of the way!

It was wonderful to see the Norton family and as you can see the boys took building their hamburgers VERY seriously!!

We LOOOVVVEEEEE these kids. David really got attached to Lauren this trip, it was so cute to watch her cuddle up with him or him playing with her on the playground at the reunion. I miss the hugs and kisses so much.

On the trip back to California we stopped just long enough to visit with Aunt Beth and Danielle. You can´t even tell that Danielle is about to BURST (8 mnths. prego), she´s always so beautiful. I miss her tons. OH! she did have her 5th the first week of September, so that makes the count 3 boys, 2 girls...I wonder what the next one will be?!?!?!

Happenings...

We had Davids mother, Aunt, Uncle and Grandfather over for dinner. It was the first time his Aunt, Uncle and Grandfather had been to our apartment since we moved in. It was a really nice evening...Davids Grandfather even got him to play the piano for us.

AUGUST 2, 2009: We celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary!

David made me a beautiful meal and we spent the day together. He´s a great husband...and actually a really good cook!!

The weekend before David and I headed to the States we went down to Valencia with Julia to visit Davids little sister Miriam. We had a nice time seeing the sites, going to the beach and seeing what Miriam is up to.

Bye to David, Nelly and fam

David and Nelly came to Spain just a few months after David and I were married. They are from my "favorite food" country....MEXICO!! When they got here they had two super cute little boys and they left with the same cute boys and a darling little girl.

It was great to get to know them and they are already missed.

We had them over for dinner and a movie before they left for Mexico. We (the adults) watched one movie and sent the kids into the bedroom to watch a different one. Of course, the kids fell asleep....isn´t it amazing how kids can fall asleep anywhere and in any position?! I wish I could do that!

More Girls Camp...

The picture of the group is a picture of most of my LIT´s (and a few extras).

The picture of the stairs is the OH so much FUN climb we had to make to get to the campsite and every time we had to go potty!! It was probably what the girls liked least about camp...and rightfully so!

As much work as it is (and let´s not forget that I don´t even like camping) I have to admit that I love the time with the girls and looking at the pictures brings back good memories. I only hope that the girls got something out of it too!

Girls Camp...finally!

It´s been three months since Girls Camp, but oh well.

The evening before camp my LIT´s (Laurel leaders) come to my house and we finish preparing last minute details and have some fun together. We made a banner, flags, decorated hats and made pizza for dinner and cookies for dessert.

There were 13 of us that night (not all of them could make it...the rest met us at camp) which made for some interesting sleeping arrangements. It didn´t matter much though, most of the girls only slept about 2 hours between talking and watching movies!! I warned them they won´t have any time to rest the next day, but they didn´t care.....until the next day! But I kept my promise....they were busy the whole day! It´s always so much fun to be with my LIT´s...I love them so much!!

By the way, as much fun as it was working together making the pizzas, I think next year I´ll go back to buying them!! It may be a bit more expensive...but there´s not so much MESS to clean up!!

Nerviosa y Animada!!

Well, I have quite a few things to post, but I´ve been a busy girl the past few weeks and it will still have to wait until next week because this week is girls camp!!

I am always a bit nervous before camp but this year I´m super nervous and excited. Let´s just say that girls camp is "my baby". I am in charge of everything...from finding the campsite to coming up with the program to buying all the materials. This year I have had a lot more help thanks to my stake YW presidency and my new "assistant", but the sucess or lack thereof is on my shoulders. To add to the fun this year I have DOUBLE the girls than I had last year, which is obviously a great thing, but that means double everything...especially chaos.

Now that I´m older and a little wiser I do have to admit that I don´t care so much if everything runs like clock-work...it´s more important that the girls have a good time, meet new friends and in some way their testimonies are strengthened.

So, thanks to mom and dad for all your support and ideas! I´ll tell you all about it next week!

ndh: Noche de Hogar

Well, last week David invited the missionaries over for this Monday and on Sunday (while I was waiting for David to get out of his super long meeting after church) I was talking to the missionaries and some young adults and ended up inviting all the young adults in our ward over for family home evening with the missionaries! One of the young adults has been hounding me about making cookies for him (cookies are a real novelty here...very American!). So I told them I´d make dinner too.

So on Monday I found myself in the kitchen and up to my elbows in flour all afternoon making cookies and pizza. A few months ago I found a great (super easy) recipe for the crust so pizza is kind of fun to make now. I do have to admit it´s a bit messy, but well worth the work and clean up.

Anyway, we ate pizza and cookies, one of the Elders goes home next week so he gave the "lesson" and then we played a game (my team won and David´s lost...he didn´t like that!!)

With just the two of us our family home evenings are kind of boring so this was a nice change. I think I might make it semi-permenant...every two weeks or so?!?!?! I´ll see if David is up for it?!

If anyone has some fun family home evening game ideas I´d LOVE to hear about them. But nothing too "primary" they are, after all, young adults!

Making me juice!

So, David and I are kind of boring and sometimes it´s hard to find things to post (especially since we don´t have any cute kids to take pics of, like most of you do!!) so... this past Saturday he got up and was making me some freshly squeezed orange juice and I thought it was a good time to show you all what a good boy he is. The juice was soooo yummy and Sunday morning he made me some more before Church. Thanks honey!

ps. We don´t always have so much trash, I had just done a big cleaning job around the house!!

CONFESSION!!!

I have a confession to make...

...Yesterday I went to see the Hannah Montana movie all by myself. David OF COURSE didn´t want to go, so I decided to go alone. I have to admit that I loved it and it almost made me cry!!?!?!?

Officially "Grown-Up"

Yesterday was a great day..although it made me really feel OLD.

About a week ago David, who was at the time the Elders Quorm president in our ward and a primary teacher, was called in to talk with the Stake President. I was hoping they would release him from the Elders Quorm because he had been there for almost four years and it was time for a change (I thought). He was in with the Stake Pres. for a good 30 or 40 mnutes. When he finished he came to find me, gave me a hug and told me what had gone on with the Stake President. I didn´t know quite how to react and I was preocupied getting my class ready for YW (we were at a ward conference and it was my turn to teach the class). After church we talked about it and we were excited, but confused at the same time about the new calling he had received.
Knowing that he would need a new suit for the calling (not because he doesn´t have any, but because they don´t fit!!) this week I went out and bought him a new one. I had to go back to the store 4 times before I finaly got it right and since he works so much and couldn´t go with me!! But finally Sunday came, he put on his new suit and tie (Barça colors of course) and we were off to Stake Conference where they sustained him as a new member of the High Counsel. They invited him up to the stand to sit with the rest of the High Counsel and before hand I was joking with him, telling him not to fall or everyone would laugh! As he sat up there I looked at him and then at the faces of the other men around him and thought, "When did I get old enough to have a husband on the High Counsel?" It was funny to look at him with his white, round, rinkle-free face and dark hair and then look at the rest of the men and notice that he was 1 of 3 that didn´t have grey or white hair or NO hair at all!!
After the meetings we went to a room where the Stake President set him apart. The words were beautiful and they reminded both David and I of things we need to be better at and the enormous amount of love Heavenly Father has for us.
I am greatful each day to know of the resoration of the Gospel and the beautiful plan of salvation that my Heavenly Father so carefully prepared for me. I love my Saviour and the immeasureable love and concern He has for me. I love my parents for being such strong examples of how we should live our lives and their many sacrifices in my behalf. And I´m so thankful to have a husband worthy of the Priesthood and willing to accept the callings the Lord calls him to. How I got to be so blessed, I don´t know...but I sure am happy about it!

So, here I am at 30 years old thinking, "Dang I´m old! How did that happen?", but happy.

Youth of the Church are Amazing!!

Youth conference was a blast. We went up to a ski resort and did some sledding and there was a ropes course. But the most fun were the games and dances. I have a problem when I´m with the youth...I think I´m one of them! We had so much fun. One of the activities was a type of treasure hunt where we had to find different clues and had different obstacles to do. The picture above is durring this activity. I was in charge of Group #9 which consisted of 16, 17 and 18 year olds...most of them I know really well because I´ve been with the youth about as long as they´ve been in young mens and young womens. We were definately the team with the most spirit and the LOUDEST...from one activity to another we would cheer or chant loudly "NUEVE. NUEVE. NUEVE...."

It´s probably a horrible thing to say, but it´s the truth...the moments that I´m with the youth are the moments that I´m the least homesick. They are so full of energy and love and as much fun as we all have together there are also those moments that you can really see the growth in their testimonies and the love they have for their Saviour. They are simply amazing and great examples to me. I love them so much!

Wish me luck!!

Hi all, this is just a note to let you know that I´m headed off to Youth Conference tomorrow. It should be a cold, rainy and posibly snowy weekend. I love the youth here so I´m almost as excited as they are to go. Love you all! Hugs.

Viewer Discretion is Advised!

I know this is a silly entry, but it´s been an important part of our lives the past few weeks...

Now it´s not the cleanest show but about three weeks ago David got HOOKED (and I mean, needing some AA meetings, hooked!) on Prison Break. One of the guys David works with told him all about it and that it was so good and he had to see it so he downloaded the first season for David to watch. So three Friday´s ago David came home from work and told me we were going to watch this show his friend gave him. What David didn´t tell me is that he was going to get SO HOOKED that we were going to watch ALL 24 episodes in 2 days!!!!! Then he bugged the guy so much that the next week he downloaded the second season....yup another 2 days of Prison Break (do you see a pattern here??) Well this weekend his friend only gave us the first 9 episodes of the 3rd season and David was so impatient that he found a place on the internet that had the rest of the 3rd season and the fourth and downloaded them himself (we´ve never been big into downloading). And he was so excited that he didn´t care that they were only in english with no subtitles. So, this weekend not only did we watch A LOT of Prison Break I had to put it on pause every now and then to explain things to David. Anyway, by the end of this week we should be done with the fourth season and just maybe I´ll get him to take me OUT again?!?! Here´s hoping!!