Ariana was blessed Sunday.  It was a VERY special day.  My Mom made her beautiful dress.  It was so long and flowing.  Thanks Mom!!  She also got a bracelet. Isn’t it cute.  Many wonderful friends and family came.  A huge chunk of our family wasn’t there and we miss them deeply. 

Adam gave her a very special blessing.  He blessed her to have a joyful childhood and to be quick to observe.  He told her she would gain a strong testimony through the examples of good leaders, scripture study and prayer.  He said to set high goals and to accomplish them.  She will have a cheerful countenance.  She will be married in the temple and be a wonderful mother after the example of her own Mom.  She will have a sweet and gentle spirit, be friendly and outgoing, and helpful.  He told her to remember who she is and where she comes from! 

The priesthood is wonderful to have in a home.  Thank you Adam for upholding the priesthood and being worthy to bless our children.

Ariana I love you.  Always remember the blessing from this day and always strive to do your best.  Remember who you are and where you come from.

~Melissa

Check out more photos of Ariana’s blessing day. —>

Well, I made it through a VERY long week  More importantly all the kids made it too 🙂  Adam will be home tomorrow!  Hopefully to NEVER have to do that again.

I’ve seen lots of stuff these past two weeks.  Lots of tears (mostly Kalixta’s).  Lots of love from neighbors and ward members.  Lots of screaming (mostly Kalixta).  Lots of laughing.  Lots of computer time for me (and Zoe).  Lots of dancing to LOUD music.  Lots of yelling (sadly from me). 

And I’ve Learned something.  I need my husband.  He balances me in a way I didn’t fully realize until he was gone and I am grateful for that realization.  I am grateful to have Adam be mine forever!  I am grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord.  This night as I go to bed I am grateful for MANY, MANY things!

~Melissa

Adam and I finally got new callings at church Sunday!  Can you guess what they are?!  We are the new den leaders for the Bear den!!

Bear den are the boys that are nine years old.  So Nikolas is in our den.  We will be in charge of weekly activities for them.  Anything from swimming to cooking to painting.  I am EXCITED!!  And nervous!!  Keeping 6 to 10 nine year olds busy will be interesting.  It will be a great learning experience for me and I look forward to it.

I am also excited to work with Adam in a calling.  This is the first time we have had a calling together.  He is great with the kids!  SO I will probably be the brains (that’s a first) and he will be the fun (that’s normal).

I grew up watching my Mom work in the scouting program.  All four of my brothers are Eagel Scouts (highest achievement in scouts) thanks to my Mom.  I have a HUGE testimony of the scouting program and I am grateful to be able to serve there and learn more about it. Thanks Mom for the great example all of these years and I will be calling you lots for advice!!

Tonight Zoe and I play Book of Mormon Jungle Journey.  She beat me THREE times in a row.  But only because I got lost in the wilderness five times and was attacked by gadiantion warriors a couple more times.  ANYWAYS, I had to be the white piece tonight.  Why the white piece?  Because Adam is always white and he is not here.  He is far away in Virginia and being missed VERY much.  So it’s the little things that make me feel close to him right now.  Hurry home baby,  I MISS YOU!!

Melissa

On Thrusday I took Ariana to the doc.  I just happen to find a great doctor’s office too.  The are open, on call, until 10:00 pm and on Sat., Sun., and Holidays.  Just what I need for my tribe.  Doc. Jensen is awesome!!  Anyways Ari did great!!  SHe weighs 8 pounds and 10 ounces.  She had to do a PKU test.  They poked her foot to draw blood and she only cried for a couple seconds.  SHe waited patiently while the squeezed her blood out!!  What a trooper!!  Ariana is a blessing straight form heaven.  She is exactly what I need, calm, relaxed, and little cries!  I love you Ari!!

Melissa

Remember that? If not, let me refresh your memory. Ferris Bueller’s Day off sometime in the 80s. One of the all-time greatest films.

"Abe Froman, the Sausage King of Chicago."  HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Love it.

Well, after that movie Ben Stein, Ferris’ High School teacher, got pretty famous. He went on to be some top comedian and all that jazz and apparently got to writing a bi-weekly column. I had never heard of it until his very last article was sent to my email. It looks like he is calling it quits after having written it for quite some time.

What impresses me is why he is quitting. You just don’t see this kind of conversion in people…unless they are joining The Church. At least that’s how I see it. You’re gonna have to read it to see what I mean but I think you’ll be glad you did. Click on his pic and enjoy.

BTW, I agree with everything he says, what a mixed up world we live in.

~Adam

What to do?  Three girls asleep, one at her friends house, and two boys with their Daddies.  And here I sit wondering what to do.  I have ironing to do, dishes to put away, vacuuming to do, the list goes on and on.  So what do I do?  Blast John Stevens on the iPod, eat my chocolate pudding with whipped cream, and play on the computer.  What the life!!  Tomorrow I might regret it, but right now I am loving it!!

Melissa

I am about to admit something, and I do it with a little bit of shame. I am afraid of spiders, well, all bugs really, but spiders I fear the most.

This was especially hard when I was serving my mission in Ecuador where Banana Spiders frollick all over the place. These spiders are huge too. They get bigger than your hand when it is spread out and they are as fast as lightning. *Shudder*

My wife, on the other hand, has no such fear. As such, she has been designated the honorary spider catcher in our home. This comes in handy too because all of my children have inherited my phobia…especially Britain. It’s always easy to know when a spider is loose because it is signaled with loud, terrifying screams reverberating all through the house. Of course, this is when my wife springs into action and saves us all.

So we owe her a debt of gratitude and with that I honor her with this comic that pretty much characterizes what goes on in the Basua home on a daily basis.

She is our hero.

~Adam

One of the benefits of living in Utah is that we are so close to the General Authorities of the Church. We are also close to many of their families. I found out last week that one of the members of the Presidency of the Seventy’s children lives in our ward. How did I find this out? Well, let’s just say that when I walked into the chapel, there he was sitting next to our bishop.

I actually could have met him too because I walked up to give our bishop the news about Ariana so he could announce it to the ward. I thought the unfamiliar man next to him might have been our stake president so I was this close to introducing myself but alas… I am too shy. You should have seen the regret on my face when it was announced that Elder Dennis B. Neuenschwander was presiding over our meeting.

That’s what I get for not being friendly. I have such a hard time breaking the ice with strangers. I don’t have the Adam and Alexis Thunnell gift of being able to meet people. (I’m sorry for embarrassing you guys but it is true.. you have a gift.) I need to work on that.

At least I got to hear him speak for 5 minutes. He talked about sacrifice. I just loved sitting in his presence. Being around the Nephi’s of our day always tugs at my heartstrings. It makes me want to be better than I am.

I love Utah.

I truly am in Zion.

~Adam

Well, I have searched long and hard for a good blogging service and this one seems to be the best. At least that’s what PC Magazine says. Plus, after checking out Cherie Mask’s site I was sold on this service.

We wanted to start this blog to keep our family and friends abreast on the happenstance of the Basua Family. Now that we are in Utah and away from our Oxnard roots we needed a way to keep in touch with everyone. We think this is the best way. We want to make this an online journal of sorts with pics and information on what we are doing.

So we hope you add this to your favorites and check us out every now and then. We wouldn’t mind a comment or two either. 😉

See you on the web

Adam Basua

Editor-in-Chief
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