Adios to my dad, Juan

Juan just died a few weeks ago. I was there touching his arm, holding his shoulder as he breathed his last three breaths. I kissed his cheeks and said a prayer. I know my loved ones, already gone, where there to receive and guide him. I have never before felt death so close, lurking around just waiting. I have never been so glad to see someone finally rest.
I love Juan very much, and I am sorry that he is not around.
But I'm more sorry for my mom, whose companion is no longer around.
Mami is lonely, and sad, but as always, life goes on.

Adios to my dad, Juan.

Things I have done since the last time...

I am learning to crochet. Here is my first flower with help from my sister-in-law from Florida.
I think it looks really cute. I have a problem though. I haven't been able to recreate it. In my defense, I haven't tried hard. I'm sure I could do another one, on my own, if I try it...which I will, as soon as I get to Utah in a couple of days.

I don't think I have done anything more, or actually I haven't finished anything but I started a quilt. I will finish it next year :)

It doesn't look great in the picture, it looks better in person. All I need to do is add a back to it and quilting. Also, I thought I could add some flowers to it. Maybe a big flower in a corner, or some small ones.

Also, I'm not sure if I posted my last flower picture so if I have, just ignore it or enjoy it again.

Baby Hats

On Pinterest (have you heard about this....because you need to get on so I can follow you!) I keep seeing these adorable newborn pictures of babies in cute hats. So I decided to learn how to make some for my own future newborn. (NOT AN ANNOUNCEMENT!!) Thankfully my sister-in-law was about to have a baby, so I was able to practice on hats for her baby. Unfortunately when I took these pictures I didn't have a baby to dress up.....I'm hoping the hats will be cuter when they are actually on a baby head.

This first hat is a "Munchkin Hat"



Than I made a hat with ear flaps and braids down the side....

The hats actually turned out well enough that I'm excited to try again. And they are surprisingly fast to make (at least compared to blankets!) I made a blanket too....but I forgot to get a picture of it. If N. Carolina is cold enough in the winter, maybe we can make some cute hats for them!

Two weekends ago, in Ohio, and West Virginia

At the hotel, on Friday night, the day before the wedding, Isabella lost her first upper front teeth

Aiden, who was already in bed, had to get up and join in the picture-taking fun

Two weeks ago we went to Ohio for the Wedding of one of Jared's USU Friend. We had a great time. It was all very nice, and I danced. I danced for 4 or 5 hours, non-stop. Yes I did, and later my calves hurt for 4 or 5 days, non-stop. And yes, it was worth it. I hadn't danced that much for...ever!
I don't have any pictures of the wedding yet, or of me dancing, but I do have some pictures of our trip which included a stop at Melody's in West Virginia.
Enjoy!

Fishing at Melody's pond

At the water fall

I love those three

With Melody, who took us to the falls (Carlie is behind the camera)

Beautiful West Virginia

By Inspiration

Today I found a blogger following my posts, which are not many, and I decided to check her blog.
I am amazed. The Lord works in wonderful and unimaginable ways. I read the Silver Strands' post about being cured from MS. How she and her family searched the Word of Wisdom, being healed by food, etc. This post was inspiring, and exactly what I needed to read right now.
For a few weeks now Jared has been toying with the idea of cutting meat and animal derived products from our diets. He suggested that we watch "Forks over Knives"...But every time I would ask to see it, he would say "not today." Last weekend, on Sunday actually, we watched "Forks over Knives" Jared just turned it on.
Following the documentary we read the word of wisdom. We talked about it for a while. I don't know why we have been so worried about our diets. We are pretty healthy, except for Jared having a relatively high cholesterol, we are active, and exercise at least twice a week. We don't have any health problems as far as we know, yet lately Jared has been worried.
After discussing the changes that we must do to our diets, I made up my mind. We will try to go vegan, as much as possible, as soon as possible. So we started on Monday, I'm quick like that.
To eat more vegetables is not a problem, the kids and I already eat a mostly vegetarian diet except for eggs, and dairy. Jared on the other hand is having some trouble, on Monday and Wednesday he went to a Korean Barbeque for lunch where he ate mostly meat. He is weak when it comes to eating meat, I know this is why he made me watch that documentary, he wants me to help him.
At home, I have been doing my best to follow through with our plan. I already bought soy milk, the chocolate and vanilla flavors, and I have cooked a vegetarian dinner everyday. (Aiden is already tired of beans, while Bella is enjoying them.) But so far, I have had a couple of things that contain milk and today I had a bite of cheese. So I was wavering. This is why reading her blog couldn't have happened at a better time. I need support, I need to be strong, the Silver Strand's blog was exactly what I needed.  I need to be strong because Jared is weak. While I am not sure how strict we should be on following a completely vegan diet, whatever we do I want to do for life. I don't want to do a fad, temporary diet, I want to improve the way we live our lives, I want to improve our health, I want my children to be strong. I already pray for them to be strong, now we need to do what we can to be just that. In Spanish there is a saying that goes something like this: God says "take care of yourself and I will take care of you".  He already helps us by giving us the Word of Wisdom, now all we need to do is study it and follow it.
I sound a little preachy, I know, but this is all for me.
Next week there will be no cheese at all. I know I can do it.

Lost and Found, A Tooth Story

This all started when I called the kids to the table. After working all afternoon on it, Isabella's bottom tooth is ready to fall/be pulled out. So I asked her if we should pull it before we sit down to eat.
"No," she said, "I don't think it's ready".
"Dang", I think, I know what's coming.
After the first bite she starts crying.
"Is it your tooth?" I ask. "Do you want me to pull it out?"
"Uh hum" she mumbles, still crying with a very bloody mouth.
"Ok", I finished chewing and move over to her side of the table. I tried and failed a couple of times. She wants me to stop, so I move back to my chair. Another bite, more crying and wailing. Again I move to her side and after a few more tries I get it out.
Happiness on her part, I'm just wondering if I'll be able to continue eating.
With her tooth in hand, I go to the bathroom sink to brush it. Our tooth-fairy is very picky, she wants the teeth to be very clean, thoroughly washed, before we put them under the pillow.
Uh oh! If you are thinking "bad idea, she could drop the tooth in the sink", you are right. I did!
Wails from the kitchen, "mom, why did you had to wash it?"
I said, "Don't worry the tooth-fairy will still give you money!"
Bella, still crying like it's the end of the world, "I wanted to see it!"

What to do next? I know, maybe I should go under the sink and check the pipes to see if for some miracle it is still lodge in there, and not on its way to the ocean. I proceed to loosen the pipes. Lucky me! Problem solved, everybody's happy, but now I'm sickish. That was disgusting. I hope I don't have to check for anything inside those pipes, ever again.

Here in Miami

Today I went for a jog. I would have liked to say run, but it was so slow I can't call it anything but a jog...which is actually all I usually do anyways. The last time I went running was last week, nope I take that back, it was a week and a half ago on a Friday. Exercising here in Florida is not as easy (to me) as it is at home. Here I don't seem to find the time or place to do anything.
On another topic, I just finished reading Anne of Green Gables, and I really liked it. I have plans of reading at least one or two more books of the series until I get tired of it.
Of course I should mention that I went to the beach, not here but up in fort Meyers, and while I would have liked to go to the beach more often while I was here it has been raining almost everyday.

The kids have been practicing their Spanish, but not enough to have any conversation but they seem to get along just fine with their abuelo and abuela.

Baby Blanket

Here is a baby blanket that I made for Andrew's sister. I made a blanket for his other sister, but I didn't take a picture of it before I gave it to her. I believe this is my best blanket so far. Unfortunately the colors don't look right in the picture. I'm not sure why, but I do promise that the actual colors in the blanket are much cuter than what they look like right here.

Jam

I have made strawberry jam, not just freezer jam, which is what I normally do, but shelf-stable jam. It tastes delicious. Following are the pictures of the process step-by-step:
1. We picked fresh strawberries at a u-pick farm (I should have taken a picture of us picking the strawberries but I obviously didn't,

2. Washed and trimmed

3. Mashed and cooked,

4. and finally bottled

YUM!!!

happenings

...my coffee table is all scratched, and messy, it is full of toys, books, games, and half empty bottles of water. I am sitting on the couch writing with the tv on while the children try to set up a game of...something. Every now and then I say guys something else fell, something falls every few seconds...Jared is taking a nap. I am definitely...bored? I really am not sure so here are some pics:

 Aiden had a haircut last month...

before haircut

after haircut

 We have been to the zoo

in an egg

with a bush baby...

at the museum of natural science we also looked at dinosaur bones... 

 

among other things

It is okay they grow fast

Today I read Liz's blog and remembered my, long-gone time spent with babies. I love those times, and even though I love remembering I don't want to go back, I am enjoy our journey together. It is funny because I love babies so much every time I see one I want to get one (the legal way, please don't hide your babies from me) but I enjoy my kids today, just as much as I did when they were small. They are so cute, say such amazing things, do so many new things everyday that I have lost my fear that they were growing too fast...I mean, they are growing too fast, but I am right there next to them enjoying the moment, so it is okay.

Birthday Cupcakes

For Karston's Birthday party I decided I was not talented enough to make a fancy cake, so I made Monkey Cupcakes instead. They were fun, and super easy to make.

Isabella's Presentation

Next Wednesday Isabella have to do a presentation on President James A. Garfield. I like first grade presentations, the teacher tells you exactly what you need, birth and death dates, a picture or painting, quotes, etc. All we have to do is look things up and make a poster. Isabella is writing the information. We could have printed the facts, which would have been less time consuming but I want Bella to have some hands-on experience. She is super exited to do this together. Following is a picture I made of President Garfield for Bella's report. I will update with more picture as we work on it.

Valentine's Day Cards

Normally I don't send valentine cards, but Isabella made a few cute cards and I was inspired. I'm not good at scrap-booking, but I kind of like making cards. Usually I make cards for mother's day, or birthdays so this is a first for Valentine's day, I think...You might get one in the mail...Following are the ones made by Bella For me,

 for Jared,

 and for Aiden.

Jared's Birthday

Today is Jared's Bday so I'm throwing our healthy eating habits out the window, but just for today and tomorrow, and maybe the weekend also. In actuality we are only over-indulging in desserts, our main meals will still be healthy. Today for dessert we may be having cannolis, which I bought from the supermarket yesterday, or "Oaty" Apple Crisp that I just baked and smells delicious (we'll be having that with vanilla ice-cream which is waiting for us in the freezer). We'll continue to celebrate Jared's birthday with junk/dessert for the rest of the week...or at least that is my plan.

 So happy!

 Jared got some help blowing the candles

For once I remember the seldom use timer in our camera

A Picture of Pears

I started this picture a few days ago. We bought pears and I really liked their shape, so I decided to make a 

"A Picture of Pears". Well, when I was half way through, I mentioned to Jared that I needed to make the colors a little litghter, they were looking a little too dark and they didn't look like pears unless I changed the color, so Jared nice and thoughtful that he is, mentioned how "they would look a little more like pears if I hadn't chosen the ugliest pears in the bunch". I must say that it is not that I chose to paint the ugly ones, we just ate the pretty ones before I could paint them.
 

I need to do something more

Today I watched my boy eat so happily, his feet where dangling, moving back and forward. A small smile on his face as he munched away. Heavenly! It made me wish I could see all the children eat so happily.
Such a happy tranquil moment was tainted with sadness. I am not depressed, I just feel a little powerless, and frivolous with all my spending. I want to do something more, but there are so many charities that missuse their money...I want to find something to do, someone to help...

Butternut Squash Soup

I already made this soup and I, and every member of the family, really liked it. The kids even ask for seconds.


1Tbsp Shallot (I used an onion instead, about 1/4 of it)
1 Clove garlic, pressed or minced
3 cups butternut squash, peeled and seeded
1/2 cup of fat-free chicken broth, low sodium. (I used a lot more broth)

Saute the shallot (onion) in a deep pan in some olive oil (approximately 1 Tbsp) over medium heat.
Once onions are clear add garlic and cook for a few seconds.
Then add broth and butternut squash. Simmer until the squash is soft (about 20 minutes)
Transfer to a blender or food processor and puree.
Return to pan and heat through before serving. Serves 2 to 4.
I used used more of all the ingredients but not quite double the recipe that's why I'm not sure how many it will serve. Also, I make my own broth like concoction which consist of boiling chicken breast for a while with a little salt and pepper until the liquid "not so clear". I don't really like too much a strong chicken taste.
Experiment and Enjoy!

Exercise again

I am starting a new exercise routine because of Jared. He needs to get in shape and lets face it, so do I.
Yesterday we started doing P90X. Which is some crazy hard boot-camp style exercise program. The first day was upper back and chest muscle failure routine which included lots of push ups and pull up with sit-ups at the end. It took 1 2/2 hours to complete the whole thing. Yeah completely crazy and even though I am sore today I really didn't work out as hard as Jared. He pushed himself really hard and can barely raise his arms today.
Then today we did Yoga. Yes Jared joined me for yoga, also part of this P90X. Now it was hard but I can handle it, I love yoga and do it regularly but Jared was sweating profusely.

I will continue to update later this week. I am not quite sure what we'll be doing tomorrow, I think lower body or maybe arms.
Now, I'm off to the post office...