President Gordon B Hinckley

Each week I get an uplifting quote sent to my inbox by LDS Nuggets which I enjoy very much. How fitting, then, that I come across this one this morning, since my thoughts are on our wonderful prophet who recently passed away.

"Cultivate an attitude of happiness. Cultivate a spirit of optimism. Walk with faith, rejoicing in the beauties of nature, in the goodness of those you love, in the testimony which you carry in your heart concerning things divine."
--Gordon B. Hinckley, "Words of the Prophet: The Spirit of Optimism", New Era, July 2001, 4

Sweet words to my ears and the epitome of what I think President Hinckley represented. He was such an ambassador of optimism. I couldn't help but smile whenever I saw him. But beyond that, he inspired me to hope for a better world. What a wonderful man.

* * *

I was on the way home from dinner at my parents house when my sister called me to tell me the news. I was shocked, sad and happy all at once. I had the distinct feeling last conference that we might not see him for the next one. Especially when he said "I am 97 years old. But I hope I will make it!" He always spoke with such conviction.

* * *

Shayden was in the car with me when I heard the news and of course there were many questions to answer. I love when he said "Mom, remember my fortune the other night at the restaurant? (it had said something about an old friend) I think it was talking about President Hinckley." and later "I feel like he was my friend, mom"

Me too Shay, me too.

Shay at age 2--oh my the CUTENESS!

How could I resist posting this?My friend Tara sent me this blast-from-the-past-cutest-picture-ever the other day!!!! I was dying, and drooling...enjoy!

Couldn't resist the sight of...

One morning I woke up to this:

And another day I was surprised to find this:

Weekend in Idaho

Where does all the snow go when it's too cold to melt?

Speaking of freezing temperatures, last weekend we ventured into even colders climates by going to Rexburg Idaho. We decided to take advantage of the long weekend and go to the open house of the new temple and of course visit my friend Leah and her family. And it just worked out perfectly that my friend Sarah was going as well so we drove together and split the gas! (jonas didn't go)

I finally took a picture of our friends cute little "cottage" in this snowy paradise.

And this is the view from our room.

It was so fun to see the kids grow closer together each time that we are with each other. I couldn't have asked for anything more than for us to have two boys that are the same age and two girls that are the same age!



The sister Li's ward got a bunch of tickets to the open house so they came up on Sunday night (we left on Saturday morning) and Leah and her family were nice enough to invite the whole gang over to their house for dinner that night. It was crazy feeding 14 people but it was very fun to all be together.


I love to hear Leah play the guitar, she has so many talents.
















She even taught me how to crochet which is one of my goals this year! Now I just have to keep at it so I don't forget.

And then the most rewarding and perfect ending to a great trip was to go inside the temple and realize how blessed I should feel to live so close to so many of these little pieces of heaven on earth. A while ago Shay was really concerned that we couldn't tell him exactly what we went and did in the temple, and this was such a good chance for me to explain to him in simple terms that he could understand. It seemed to really interest him.

Look at how beautiful the temple is! Wow!

I couldn't believe how stunning it was against that beautiful backdrop of sky.

It is so comforting to have good girl friend that you can just talk to about anything and she will understand, be honest and lift you up. And not only that but inspire you to do good, be better, and improve yourself.

oH the Weather outside

We went to North Carolina 2 weekends ago to see our good friends who just moved there a few months ago from Boston. It was fun but very short. We left on Friday night on the redeye and got there Sat morning. I was content to just hang out and relax and that is exactly what we did. The kids played, we chatted and chatted (so much so that Shay asked me and my friend Jandy why all we do is talk =).

Then that night we went out to eat and came home and gave the kids baths and put them to bed, then more catching up by us adults.

The next day we went to church together and relaxed some more. We were supposed to leave on Tuesday but because of the WEATHER we ended up having to leave one day early, on Monday morning early early! So that was not fun but it was still worth it to be with good friends. We will have to go again now since we didn't get to do any sightseeing and also because we didn't even get to see our other friends the Bennett's who live like 3 hours from where we were. Another time.

Jonas did get to see his cousin who lives right in Raleigh--whom he hadn't seen in like 15 years!

And now for the other dissapointment. I didn't take any pictures! I meant too, I wanted too, what happened to me? Correction, I did take ONE picture. Of the Raleigh Temple. It is right next to their ward building. Cool huh? very pretty.

So I have no pictures to show of their beautiful huge home or cute little son Beni or ANYTHING! except the beautiful temple.

And then on the way home since we were going to have a 5 hour layover in NYC we hopped on the train and headed into the city for a couple of hours. I wanted to take Jonas to the Sony Wonderlab which I loved when we went a while ago, but it was closed on Mondays (remember we were supposed to be there on Tuesday?) and so we ended up scrapping that plan and finding by fluke this cool APPLE store with tons of computers to sample including some really cool games on kids sized ones! The kids were in heaven and didn't want to leave until we told them our next stop was one of the biggest (and coolest) toy stores in the universe! FAO Schwarz

Oh boy, they loved it there, it was like a feast for eyes, so much to see and do! We could have been there all day instead of just one hour.

And we got to play on the famous piano from "Big"!

Anyway, then we headed back to the airport and off we went. And we diverted all the bad weather which was good.

And it good to see that someone was very excited that we were home:

So the day after we got home, I decided I had had it. I didn't care how cold it was, I was going to vacuum and clean the car, enough was enough. So after carefully spending all of my precious alone time while Jasmine was at Joy School, narrowly escaping a bad case of frostbite on my fingers, I got home, even dried off the car, wiped the inside a bit, the works. Only to find this scene as I went out to my porch a couple of minutes later...

I am a bit irritated with the weather right now.

A New Year

I have taken entire college courses basically devoted to goal setting. I know they are supposed to be realistic, specific and trackable. But I don't have time to be wastin' on such things. I have been mulling over the endless possibilities in my head and these are the winning goals, just as they run off my tongue.

Be more productive with my mind--
Read one book per quarter (I'm almost half way through my first one!)

Take care of myself--
Wash my face every night

Learn something new--
Learn 10 key (I've had this goal for like 8 years now!)

Grow closer to God--
Take an institute class

Gain a talent--
Learn to knit or crochet

Family History--
Compile Jasmine's baby book (she should probably have one since she is 3 years old!)

Slow down--
Take up meditating again

Increase family together time--
Buy a board game and play it

Improve physical fitness--
Work out consistently

I know it is double my goals for last year but I am feeling ambitious this year I guess.

This year I am also going to have a word for the year--a word that for me sums up the focus self improvement and the innermost change that I want to occur.

My word for 2008 is going to be:

H ~A ~R ~M ~O ~N ~Y.

Year 2007 Evaluations

1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before?

I Started documenting my life on an online journal, and...
I went to a Carribean island!

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I used to set up this long list of goals and was disapointed when i didn't complete them. So I stopped doing it for a while. 2007 was the first year that I set some and there was only about 5 things on my list. I completed all but one of them so I think that was better. I love goal setting in general.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My sister gave birth at the very end of 2006 (Dec 27th) so all 2007 we have had a brand new little baby to watch grow.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No, thankfully

5. What countries did you visit?
Guatemala and Aruba

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
More patience and self discipline

7. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Working out consistently for 4 months-I got kind of buff.

8. What was your biggest failure?
Not taking better care of my body, not enough sleep, not enough good food, not enough spritual nourishment.

Hmm...both of those contradict themselves (?)

9. Did you suffer illness or injury?

No, I am grateful to enjoy good health overall.

10. What was the best thing you bought?

My passport-because it allowed me to become an "international traveler"!

11. Where did most of your money go?
Bills! Bills! Bills!

12. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Getting the news from Jonas that he had won a stay at a resort in Aruba! I jumped up and down screaming for a long time.

13. Compared to this time last year, are you:

a) happier or sadder? happier

b) thinner or fatter? not really thinner or fatter but less healthy

c) richer or poorer? probably the same, but rich in blessings right?

14. What do you wish you’d done more of?
reading good books, taken advantage of my gym membership

15. What do you wish you’d done less of?

being too harsh with my wonderful children

16. What was the best book you read?see # 14

17.What dates from '07 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

May 5-the day my cousin Ruti was sealed in the temple with her husband-such a spiritual experience

May 16-The very best wedding anniversary of my life (so far!)

June 8-The day I got the hardest calling of my life (so far!)

July 7-The date of the triple baptism of my niece, nephew, and other niece. My entire family was together for it.

August 24th and 25th-the best trip ever with just my kids. A day devoted just to Central Park and a whole day spent with my older brother.

October 28-the day I went to church where my parents were baptized, met and were married.wow!

November 18-the day of the Children's Sacrament Meeting Program

18.What was your favorite film of this year?

The great debaters-so moving and thought provoking--go see it!

19. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I turned 29 this year. It was a nice birthday, nothing major

20. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?

This year I was concerned that my concept of fashion had hit an all time low, so I made a slightly greater effort in this area, and I found that accessorizing with purses was quite fun. Next year I might actually wear jewelry every now and then...gasp!

21. What kept you sane?

Ice Cream and Gilmore girls and Travel

22. Who did you miss?

My Grandmother, Abue

23. What is your greatest wish for 2008?

To have another baby...there I said it! (and no, this is NOT an announcement)

New Year Celebrations

I started to get sick the night before New Years Eve...rats!
But I was not about to let that ruin our celebrations, I was determined to go out and paint the town until at least 12:01am!
We decided to all go to the Old Spagetti Factory in historic Trolley Square and I love the atmosphere at that place. Very festive.

The food was okay this time, not spectacular. The kids, however, had a great old time and obviously Jasmine did not have any problem with the food. She took her spagetti very seriously.

After our dinner, we decided that each family would do our own thing to ring in the New Year. As for our family, we were going to go to First Night, this big celebration going on downtown, mostly because this year they were having a big New Orleans theme and we thought that would be fun. Part of the proceeds were also going to benefit Hurricane Katrina victims.

Before we separated we decided to go to Temple Square and see the lights all together since none of us had done that this Holiday Season (shame on us for living so close and not going!).

And as you can see from the picture...it was freezing!!!! My parents didn't even meet up with us. They parked their car and got out and turned right back around! The rest of us lasted all of about 20 minutes. Then we too were frozen, and our idea to go to first night was out the window. I think it was like 9 degrees!

Anyway we went home, Jonas and the kids drank hot cocoa and danced around the house. Just kidding, I don't really know what they did because Jonas woke me up ten minutes before midnight to see the ball drop in Times Square and wish each other a Happy New Year. Jonas bought those poppers things and I think I was half asleep because they handed me one of the big ones, I didn't know what to do with it and I pulled the string and aimed it directly at Shayden's leg! Of course he yelped in pain and shock and then Jasmine started crying...and that's how we rang in 2008. Memorable.

Christmas 2007

Christmas was nice this year. Small, cozy and warm.

We had a Christmas Eve celebration at my sister Li's house complete with a program put on by our talented children. It started off with the girls dancing to "all I want for Christmas is you" by Mariah Carey (which happens to be my signature Christmas song) first alone and then with the boys...it was a very funny number.

Jasmine sang also but she required that we close our eyes in order for her to perform. That way maybe we disapeared?

One of my nieces played a song on the piano, another played a song on the cello, and yet another conducted the boys little choir.

Then after a yummy dinner and other festivites, we opened presents at around 9pm (the ones from each other) and it was so fun to see how excited the kids get.

It snowed pretty bad that night, darn all those people dreaming of a white Christmas! The drive home was pretty scary (but only because I am a wimp about driving in the snow) but not too bad and then the next morning...voila! Santa had arrived!

The kids were thrilled of course!

That night we had a nice dinner at our house which we I didn't take the time to take any pictures of :( oh and something happened to Jasmine...shortly after Santa came, she turned into Belle and it was days before we got our Jasmine back!
Overall it was a nice quiet Christmas.