The point of service

With Joy School we decided to go to a nursing home and visit the elderly and sing them Christmas songs. Not very many of the residents came out at first but then slowly a lot more trickled in.

What a wonderful experience. I was surprised by how comfortable they kids were. Sometimes Jasmine shys away in social situations but not this time. She went right up to the elderly people (with a little prompting) and said "Hi, I'm Jasmine" "What's your name?" and they asked her questions about her clothes and her age, etc. Then the kids sang and wow, the microphone brought out the singers in them because they all wanted to be the one to sing right into the mic. They sang Rudolph and Jingle Bells and Once there was a Snowman. Then after that they gave cards that they had made to the residents and gave some of them hugs.

You could tell it really made the elderly people's day to see the kids. It made me think of my Social Work classes when they would teach us about the importance of inter-generational connections and how important it is for old and young people to relate.

Afterwards one man handed out dimes to all the kids, it was so cute!

Another man, after Jasmine gave him a hug, said "she gave me my Christmas present!".

I felt really good about the experience and think it would be fun to get a group of preschoolers to do this every year. It didn't take much for us but it meant a lot to them. And it made us both feel better afterwards. I guess that's the point of service.

Yes this is Christmas

It's that time of year again.
I started with my shopping really early this year, like September, and actually shipped my packages with enough time for them to get to their destinations before Christmas! I have been setting deadlines for myself.
Wednesday and Friday were cleaning the house.
Friday night was wrapping presents (all night long!) what a relief to have that done
Saturday was for getting all my Primary documents finished (and I didn't, but almost)
Today, Sunday is for getting my neighbor gifts out
Monday will be making food for Tuesday and then we will head to my sister's house and celebrate Christmas Eve with a big Guatemalan dinner (Paches and Ponche). Yum. This year we are doing a Nativity program and a white elephant (this time not green) gift exchange and then opening presents at 9pm-ish and then going home to wait for Santa!
We will then wake up in the morning and see what Santa brought, have breakfast/brunch as a family and then get ready for the rest of the family to come to our house for our big dinner Louisiana style. We will be having Shrimp Etoufee like we did last year. It's so yummy.

Can't wait for the festivities to begin.
In the meantime, we went sledding last night.

At 8pm at night to be exact.
Yes it was freezing.

But fun.

And funny. It has been a REALLY long time since I have laughed so hard tears came out of my eyes. It was the kind of belly roll laughter that you can't help but just fall on the ground and hold your stomach. Jonas didn't have boots and for some reason unknown to man he decided to wear his Doc Martins in the snow! The hill was steep and the funniest sight ever was watching him try to pull the sled up the hill, inch by inch, sliding all the while. Thanks, honey for a great laugh, it really is good medicine. And it took my mind off the numbness in my ears and hands!

Girl's Sleepover

I believe that any big transition in a friends life deserves a sleepover. Two of my very best friends are on the brink of big change. Wendy is moving to California very soon and Jen is getting married in the spring. For pictures of her engagement, click here. So what a good opportunity for a girls night. We ate at a pizza/salad place and then went back to Wendy's sister's house where we just talked and talked and well, talked some more.

It was so good to catch up, it felt like ages since we had spent time like this together, without kids to chase around (Well we had Wendy's baby but at 4 months she is not being chased anywhere). I'm so glad Jonas is so supportive of me doing stuff like this to bond with my friends. It was so fun, we tried to keep Jen up but since she had to leave for work so early in the morning (2:30am!) so couldn't stand it any longer and went to sleep. Wendy and I stayed up until Jen had to leave at 2:30 and then I slept for a few hours and left at 7:30am.

I kept begging them to take a picture and they finally agreed, this was as good as I we could get, since there was no one to take it for us.

I have known these girls for almost 20 years now and it is such a valuable thing to have a friendship that lasts that long, I think. I feel really blessed to know them. We are all three so different yet that is what makes it so fun to come together and touch each other's lives for good.

Thank goodness for good friends!

This is where my kids were at 8:30pm on Monday night...

and yes, it was freezing outside!

The Green Elephant Party

So about 12 years ago I started this little thing called the green elephant party (not white elephant because I am a non conformist) with all of my high school friends, and after all this time, the tradition is still going strong!!! Most of us don't see each other more than this one time a year but we still make the effort to get together and reminisce, laugh about the old days, eat good food, and just have a great time. This year was hosted by Jen, and it was a blast. We had a great turn out and the food was delicious.

Then came the gift exchange. We all bring our gifts in a brown paper bag so as to disguise the green elephant, which is actually is a green buffalo candle, that is where the tradition started. If you pick the green elephant, you become the hostess for the next year. (oh, and if that's not enough, your prize package also includes a real green elephant figurine, a hula dancer doll, and a mini green santa hat, among other things).

This year the honor went to Becky. We have a big lighting ceremony and a swearing in during which you would think Becky had won Miss America, with all the flashing camaras. A few years ago we deemed Susan our Historian, and she keeps track of the history of this great event.

There was a big snowstorm that night and my friend Y, who's name shall remain anonymous, had to drive about 40 miles north. All in all we got about 8 inches of snow that night.

A post that needs no pictures

I wasn't going to post about this but I think that the history of this year wouldn't be complete without it.

Our primary presented our big sacrament meeting program on Nov 16th. It was amazing.

The spirit was SO incredibly strong and just as everyone said, despite the crazy practices, it went flawlessly. We decided this year to interview all the children and create a part for each child based on their answers. So we asked them questions such as What is Faith? and tell me about a time that you have felt the spirit? I remember casually reading the answers one day and being completely blown away. I was bawling. The answers were amazing and their understanding of such concepts was so innocent yet profound. It was great to have so much material to pull from, in some cases it was hard to pick just one answer though.

On the day of the program we got the music people corsages to wear which I think was a nice touch since they are so crucial to this process. We had a few extra kids come at the last minute but I was prepared with extra seats and not one of the kids that I had accounted for no showed! They were all ready, with shining smiles on their faces, they truly exuded joy. My mom came to watch which was really nice.

At first when I sat down at my post (right by the pulpit) and looked at all their faces all I could think about was how nervous I was and how I didn't want anything to go wrong. But then as the program started off and everyone settled into their parts, I started to feel the spirit. Then I remember one moment toward the end thinking "it's almost over! I don't want it to end!" and suddenly I was able to appreciate every last second of that beautiful program without any reservations. I was able to let the spirit in and touch my heart. I was so proud of every one of those kids as I watched them sing.

I loved that we did so many solos this year. Even Shayden had one and even though at the last minute he got nervous and didn't want to sing into the microphone but on the side holding my hand, it was okay. The kids knew their parts so well and said them with such conviction.
I la la loved it!

But I think the real miracle happened after the program. We had given the congregation little cards to write their thoughts for the kids on. Reading these cards was so powerful, the spirit really reached these people! Everyone seemed to have enjoyed it as much as I did.

We gave the teachers and the music people the day off after the program and I was so glad that my counselors supported me on this because it was hectic but so worth it. We just sang tons of songs, made cards for the music people and teachers, played hangman and watched a movie. I read some of the cards to the kids and they enjoyed that too.

It was a beautiful Sunday, one of the best I have had!


Then last Sunday at church I was commenting to one of the parents about how great her son is and she said to me that the program had really made an impression on him too. She said that the day of the program, her 10 year old son came home and announced that things needed to change in their home. That they needed to stop that very day doing all of the things that they were doing wrong. That he for one was going to go to church every Sunday from now one and not miss Primary ever! Wow, the tears just welled up in her eyes as she told us this and mine too. This is a pretty strong, active family in our ward that as of late has had some trials to face and struggled to make it church a little bit.

I love the impact that the simplicity of the gospel can have on these beautiful souls. They teach me more than I could ever teach them. I love primary!

Weekend of Miracles

Yet another tradition that I am trying to keep alive (as long as I can fly for free at least) is to take my kids to New York City each Christmas to see the REAL santa. That's right. All the other ones (in the malls and such) are his helpers but where does the one and only real santa go to visit kids? Well after the Thanksgiving day parade, naturally, he would have to go to Macy's in New York City, the center of the universe, of course!












Last Monday I saw the perfect opportunity to not only go see Santa, but to go spend the day with my sister in law in Boston. So I packed our bags and the kids and I flew out on the "red eye" on Thursday night. Just me and the kids. We got to Boston on Friday morning early and spent the entire day there.


We didn't do much, which is exactly what I wanted
to do. We rested, ate, did a little shopping and the kids did LOTS of playing.
It is so fun to see Shayden with his cousin, Bri, they have so much fun together and Jasmine is starting to have a playmate in little Ellie which is 2 now. Cousins are awesome!








Then that night we went to Barnes and Noble to see Bob from Sesame Street perform. It was fun and Bri even got to get up and sing with him. And later that night, I finally got to see my brother. We stayed up late just talking and I gave them the official picture tour of my Guatemala trip and they not only stayed awake, but they seemed genuinely interested, much to my delight!



Then the next day we left for New York bright and early at 5:15am. We were only there for 4 hours and only a crazy person like me would haul two kids around nyc for only 4 hours. I am aware of this. But it was so fun and the kids did amazing, I was worried about Shayden complaining the whole time about walking but he was a real trooper, they both did great in fact.
We went to the main event first, and luckily the line went by quickly and it is so entertaining because they weave you through all these awesome sculptures and trainsets, talking trees and moving bears, plus pictures of old Thanksgiving day parades. Finally it was our turn and the kids got to tell the big man what they wanted this year. They give the children a gift each year and this year it was a little coloring book and crayons. The kids loved it.

Then we walked around Times Square, did some shopping, devoured some NY pizza, and went to Toys R Us before heading back to the airport.

That day Saturday was definately a day of adventure and CLOSE calls. But it was really a day of miracles. Let's begin with the fact that I forgot to set my alarm the night before and didn't wake up until my brother came downstairs 15 min before I was supposed to be at the shuttle bus! We raced to get to the stop and the bus was almost leaving. I literally ran to the door and begged the man (who was yelling at me!) to let us get on. He reluctantly agreed. Then when I got the Boston airport the line was so long and when I got to the ticket counter the nice agent decided to check my bag all the way through to Salt Lake for me so that I didn't have to go pay and store it somewhere, further limiting our time in New York. That was a huge relief. But because he didn't really know how to do it and it took him a really long time, I got to the LONG security line about 15 min before my flight was about to leave! I decided to try my luck in the VIP line since I work for the airline (I have never used this line before because it is technically for inflight crew like pilots, etc) but miraculously enough, the guy let me through, however reluctant. Keep in mind that even though had I missed this flight I would have gotten on the next, my time was SUPER scrunched for that day and every second counted. So we barely made it on that flight.

Okay so after New York City, I didn't want any more close calls so we arrived at the airport with what I thought was plenty of time. I decided to let my kids pick out a donut or ice cream, but just as we got through security, they called the final boarding call for our flight! Ahhh! Now what to do, I was facing a major mommy crossroad here, with an impending tantrum from Jasmine when she realized she wasn't going to get her ice cream. So I played one of those crisis cards that moms have to do when they have to fix a bad situation fast, at (almost) any cost. Thinking quickly, I glanced over to the nearest magazine stand and told them they could pick any candy bar they wanted. The bright colors taunted them and it worked! They forgot about the other treat and we ran onboard.

Then came the craziest part of all and I have to write about this so that I won't forget later. Our flight was scheduled to arrive in California with a 1/2 hour window between flights and therefore I knew it would be close. But Jetblue arrives early most of the time. Not this time. We got in 15 (there's that pesky #15 again) late and we were on the very last row!!!! Sometimes they deplane from the rear at Long Beach, but not this time, so we were stuck. It's not like I can say "Excuse me, can you guys all step aside while we run off the plane even though you paid for your ticket and we didn't?" At least I didn't have the guts too. Instead I just stood waiting our turn, sweating, my heart racing, praying, in fight or flight mode. Oh and imagining my fate if we weren't able to get on this flight. Sleeping, all night in that tiny little pocket sized version of an airport. If was tired by now, my two kids were pretty much at their wits end, and I feared that telling them that we would be sleeping on the floor of the airport tonight would just about send the three of us over the edge.

I kept thinking, if we make in on that flight it will be a miracle. If we make it on that flight it will be a miracle.

So the second I could, I literally raced, carrying Jasmine, leaving my stroller, I didn't care, to the gate. A man shouted at me "Miss, did you leave a stroller?" and I shouted back "It's okay!" I don't know what he must have thought but crazy lady must have been in there somewhere. We got to the gate. The plane was still there! It didn't leave us! The lady must have sensed my panic because she told me to stop and breathe. I am usually the one telling people to breathe. I couldn't believe we made it. When I finally sat down in my seat, my whole body was shaking, my lip quivering, I was so stressed out my nose even started to bleed. All I could do is give thanks the whole way home. And that is why it was a weekend of miracles.
I'm so glad I can laugh about this now.

oh p.s. Saturday night New York got hit with a huge snow storm. We barely missed it!

Holiday Kickoff!

I think I have started a new holiday tradition.

I signed up to volunteer at the Festival of Trees this year and it was the perfect way to get into the holiday spirit! We walked around as a family for the first little while and then I started my little shift as a hostess.

I basically just safeguarded a section of trees that were pretty amazing. All of the proceeds go to Primary Children's Hospital and every tree is donated and sold, most of which are dedicated to a loved one that has passed away. The stories behind them were so touching and found me thinking about how grafeful I am to enjoy good health.

Now I'm ready to trim my own tree!