Happy Birthday Adam!

      I love you!!

Ammon!

When I woke Ammon up this morning he asked, "Am I six now?"  I told him he was and he pulled his foot up, looked at it and said, "My foot doesn’t look bigger like a six year old." 

Well Buddy you are!! Happy Birthday!!! We love you!

Where’s Ariana?

Peek-A-Boo

Where’s Ariana?

Peek-A-Boo!!

Where’s Ariana?

There she is!

This is one game I never get tired of!

Did you notice ALL her hair is up into two pig-tails? This is a record for me, she has the most hair of all my kids! And I LOVE it!!

Yes, it’s true we had out first snow on Saturday! So Nikolas and Ammon had to make snowmen!

We have had soooooo much zucchini from our garden. It has been GREAT! We’ve had zucchini bread, zucchini cookies, zucchini muffins, zucchini soup, fried zucchini, zucchini, strata, and I even have tons frozen for making all these goodies during the winter months. My kids love it all. It has been so fun to see them ASK for zucchini cookies. Ammon got home from school and asked for a treat. I told him I had cookies. He said, "They had better be zucchini cookies, cause that’s the only kind I like!" Oh how I love that kid!

We get a knock on our door late one night and this is what we find…

This is Delila. She is quite pretty. Her toes nails are painted red and she has a few tattoos on her back. The note that accompanied her said add something to her and then pass her on. She also came with these two comics.

Adam and I had seen these comics last week and we laughed. We love Pickles. Then to see them with Delila we laughed even harder.

My brother Joey is 18 months younger than me. Growing up he was always around and we didn’t get along too good, one of us was way too stubborn!! Anyways, now that we are all grown up I realize what an important part of my life he was. He was always there for me. He has always been a GREAT example to me and continues to for my whole family. He is a special person and I am thankful I could be his sister!  I love you Joey!!

Happy Birthday!!   

Hello everyone,

Yeah it’s been a long time since I posted something here but an important event has brought me back.

I was in California last weekend attending the funeral of my great grandma- Sophia Baldonado. Here is a picture of her:

She was almost 98 years old and boy did she left a legacy. She was left a single mother with 8 kids and had to work as a citrus packer in Camarillo to support them. In the winter she would camp in the valley and pick other produce while sending the money home to the kids as her oldest boy watched over them. Times were tough and they were very poor.

She had 8 children, 35 grandchildren, 82 great grandchildren, and 61 great-great grandhchildren. Can you believe that? 178 grandchildren? Amazing!

I remember a lesson she taught me once. I just got home from my mission in Ecuador and went out to lunch with her and my mom. I remember she made some statement of fact about life or something and I laughed inside thinking that she was off a bit.

I asked her, "Grandma, who told you that?"

and she replied, "My age!"

I stood there dumbstruck with nothing to say. I got a piece of humble pie and was reminded of the wisdom that can come with age. Who was I to argue with someone who had been there? I will never forget that.

Grandma, I love you so much. You were a big part of my life. You took care of me and taught me things that I still cherish. Your dedication to the Master was an example that I still admire, and I am grateful for pioneers like you in my family.

Adios, for now.

Love,

Adam 

It has been a crazy week and it is only Tuesday. I have an official toddler! One who can go out the front door, down the steps, and into the driveway! I don’t know if I am ready for that. She also figured out how to climb onto a chair.

Adam left Sunday morning. Everybody knows how fun that it! A little more crying, a little more fighting, and a lot more running around with all the kids, and nobody to step in when I need a Mommy time out!

But there is hope!! Last night at Family Home Evening Nikolas had the scripture! He looked and looked and couldn’t find what he wanted. Finally he gave up and said that he favorite scripture is when Helaman’s little army finished the battle and not one of the boys was hurt. We found that chapter and he found the verse he wanted "Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death…yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them." He then said that his mother taught him good things and he knew it and would try harder to listen to her. WOW! I just cried and gave him a hug. What a guy!

Then today Ammon brought home a sharing bag. He picks three things that are special to him and he gets to share them with the whole class. When I asked him what he wanted to take he asked if we had a small picture of Jesus. "Sure." I said. "Why do you want to take that?" "Because he loves me and he helps people who are blind and can’t walk or talk. He can help me too." Alright enough said.

I love that my children are learning and remembering what Adam and I are teaching them. I love that they teach me all the time!

Who knew that the second, third, fourth… days of kindergarten would be the hardest?! Ammon was so excited for school to start all summer. First day of school was great! He loved his teacher, made lots of new friends, and was excited to go back.

Then came the trip to CA. Tuesday he had to go to school and he was NOT happy. He cried and pouted and did not want to go. I scolded and begged and bribed, but it didn’t work. I finally tricked him into going to the school to tell his teacher he was dropping out! Being the wonderful person that she is, she talked him into staying, but not without loads of tears. Of course after school he was ready for another day!

Wednesday morning came and so did the tears and the stories: kids at school laughed at him, the teacher was mean, anything to get out of going. But he went and had a fun day.

Thursday started better, no begging to stay home. We got all the way to the classroom before he decided he didn’t want to stay. Big crocodile tears coming from those big brown eyes are more than I can take. Thank Goodness for awesome teachers!!! He stayed after a promise to pick him up "as soon as school is over!" He day was of course "GREAT!" We will see what tomorrow brings!

That right! Ariana took her first steps to her Uncle Jordan a couple Saturdays ago. Now she is taking off. She will stand up in the middle of the room and just take off. She also likes to bend down pick something up and then keep on walking! She is great fun to watch. Ammon and Kalixta especially love to watch, encourage and then report on how many steps she took. She still falls quite a bit. I even caught Britain trying to trip her today. But she will be walking before I know it, and then WATCH OUT!!!