Are you the nanny?

"Are you the nanny?"

This is the question that strangers ask me all-the-time when my kids are around me in a public place.

The truth is that the question doesn't bother me at all. Really. Not a bit.

In fact, the moment before popping the question is hilarious to me because I always know when it is coming....

I see the signs: We are in th middle of a conversation. The stranger suddenly get too nice. There are a few seconds of silence and finally the stranger dare to ask without looking at me and with a soft voice: "are you the nanny?"

Hilarious!

I always answer: "I am the mom, these blondies came from me!"

And then, comes the "ahhh, ohhhh", questions about the dad, stories about their hispanic friend's babies etc, etc.

I am used to this.

But, one time, I decided to no say the truth.

Would it be wrong if I don't say the truth to a stranger?

Soooo...when I read the signs and noticed that the big question was coming...I also copied some of the signs: I avoided to look at her and with soft voice, I responded:

"Actually yes, I am the nanny. I take care of them all day. Their mom is a super model. That lady is always busy traveling between New York and Paris."

The stranger got surprisingly more comfortable and said:

"I imagined that you were the nanny. These girls definitely look like the children of a super model. Look at their faces! I bet their dad is hot. I bet he pays you well!"

I needed to content myself to not laugh.

So again, without looking at her, now with a shy voice and trying to get the girls back to me...and hoping to not see this person ever again, I responded:

"Oh yeah, their dad is very hot and pays me well!"

The nannie with the children of the super model mom

wearing matchy-matchy clothes from Paris or it was New York?! Ha!

Graduation

Some weeks ago, we flew to Utah for David's graduation from BYU.  We attended the Friday morning session for the Marriot School graduates. One of my favorite parts of the ceremony was when the conducter asked the graduates to stand up if they were returned missionaries. It is hard to see all the multitude that stood up in the picture below but just trust me, it was overwhelming!

The conducter also asked to stand up those who found their sweethearts in BYU. It was another multitude standing up!! Hilarious! But multitudes also stood up for those who spoke two languages, for those who spoke more than two, three, four, five languages; for those who started their own business while at BYU; for those who had international interships, for those who got a job offer before graduation, etc, etc. It was very impressive! BYU is sure a great institution!

The sweetest part of the morning was of course when David's name was read. I cried. hahaha.

But this graduation day wouldn't have been possible without the help, support, guidance and motivation of these two guys in the picture below! We are bleesed to have them in our lives!

I am so very pround of him as you can see! :)

During David's school journey, we invited these two little girls to our family. They added more blessings from heavens and more motivation to us!

 Oh my, we are so very blessed!

small and cherished captor

I dreamed of Oxford . . .

(spires, a thousand spires, endless lectures, musty halls
a solitary self in a Bodleian expanse
A good life my dear Wormwood. An orderly life.)

then awakened to laundry

and things to be wiped

countertops, noses, bottoms)

How did this happen? And when, exactly?

Time flows, it flows, it flows

and there are choices to be made:

left or right?

paper or plastic?

blood or milk?

There's freedom in the bleeding;

bondage in the milk—do not be deceived.

Ah, but it's an empty freedom; a holy bondage,

A sweet and holy bondage.

Five times I chose the chains, those tender chains,

(though once will bind you just as well!)

and checked the crimson flow.

Suckled while dreaming of Trinity Term

but awakened, always awakened, to the laundry

and to that small and cherished captor at my breast.

Blood and Milk by Sharlee Mullins Glenn

Tonight, nursing season will be over.

I am sad.

After 13 months, I learned to love this "sweet and holy bondage".

I have treasured the intimate experience of holding my baby very close to my body. I am grateful that I chose "those tender chains".

Sometimes, it is  an easy choice. Sometimes, we are subject to circumstances that make it more difficult to succeed.

I remember that it was difficult with Rebeca. Very challenging. I lasted over five months.

Other times, it is your choice.

I know that for all the good of life there's a price we all gotta pay. This second time, I was determined to pay that price. Looking for support and getting educated myself made the difference everytime that I struggled.

This experience taught me again that I can do hard things with the Lord's help. The Lord listens to our prayers (even our prayers to increase the milk supply). I learned more about the human body and marveled at its perfection. I also found out so many myths and wives' tales about nursing  and this experience reminded me the importance of motivating and supporting each other.

It was hard, challenging, tiring, exhausting but beautiful!!

I will miss that small and cherished captor at my breast.

diversity and novelty

We only had  snow in this city once this last winter!

It snowed like an inch? or may be two? I think it was an inch!

Next morning, it was all melted.

"No biggie" people in Utah would say...

However, some people here take that "amount" of snow very seriously. (I heard that some schools were closed and some companies call their employees to come late to work because of the snow. From my window I saw people taking pictures of the snow and even children wearing snow clothes).

The whole thing was hilarious for us.

This snow story made me think of the blizzard that was expected to hit Provo last winter....

Everyone made it sound like it was going to be a great danger. I remember that gas stations and grocery stores were packed. We all were warned to stay inside of our houses and waited with big anticipation in safe places.

The blizzard in Provo turned out to be only rain.

Source

I have told that story to some North Carolinians (used to huracans and tornados).

The whole thing was hilarious for them.


P.S: I bet people in Ecuador is wondering: "snow? blizzards? what the heck?" I love diversity!

Dr. Seuss

We love Dr. Seuss in this house!!

I never heard of him when I was a child... but I am so glad that I found Dr. Seuss for my kids.

David loves his books.  In fact Dr Seuss's birthday is on David's birthday, March 2nd.

When I told David about this coincidence, he said: "I am glad hat I share my birthday with a nut!" :)

My favorite quote from Dr. Seuss is this one:

"We are all a little weird

and life’s a little weird,

and when we find someone

whose weirdness is compatible with ours,

we join up with them

and fall in mutual weirdness

and call it love"

I coudn't agree more!

Anyway,

2011 provoland memories

Provo is an unique place. We had so much fun living there! We basically had three goals during this time of our lives: finish school, create many memories as possible and avoid getting school debts! And man alive, we did have so much fun!!!

Anyway, here are some of my fav. memories from Provo of last year...

Fall!
Fall season was a major event in this family. We had some trips to the mountains to see the color of the leaves. We baked dozens of pumpkin pies (no kidding) and had fun in the pumpkin patches.

Favorite memory: the leaves and the fall weather the day that this picture was taking! So relaxing!

"The Football Castle"
Rebeca calls the BYU Football Stadium: "The Football Castle" :) She has been introduced by his daddy that this is a magic place! Almost every home game for the past season, we walked to Michael and Nanou's apartment located right in front of the Football Castle to enjoy football and good food.

Favorite Memory: Five minutes before the game against Utah State was over and people were starting to leave becase BYU was losing the game; Nanou, Rebeca and I sneaked into the stadium. I wanted Rebeca to experience the real thing for some minutes.... Rebeca was in a big awe with the noise and cheers of the crowd and figuring out that the players from the tv were real haha. We got a great spot to watch the last play and little we knew that it was going to be the play of the game. People got more enthusiastic and ran into the field game after BYU won for a miracle. I got Rebeca in my arms and we decided to go inside the field and celebrate the victory with the team and crowd. It was crazy! David and Michael were still watching tv. I was hoping they could see us! haha :) From that day on, Rebeca would ask me to take her to the field to celebrate football.

I can get hyper sometimes! haha

Oh!! this home game day had another favorite memory too:

Rebeca set up her first business that day.
She sold water bottles before the game started
She was yelling: "agua, agua, agua"

SO CUTE!

I think people bought her water bottles more for her cuteness than for the product! haha

She earned like $20. She payed for the ice creams that day! :) 

Getting Jimmered
Oh my word! Jimmer was part of my husband's heroes for so many months. He didn't miss any game! It was fun and crazy to be in the Marriott Center for a home game!

                                    

Favorite memory: going to the Provo Airport to greet the team after Jimmer destroyed Gonzaga.

At midnight.
........

With a 38 pregnant belly.

.......

 

Hey! at least, Jimmer gave us a high five! Success!

P.S: Just to give you an idea of what the crazy night looked like, go here.

My pregancy status gave as the best spot to greet the team: right by the entrance door! Wohooo for 38 pregnant bellies! If you are lucky, you can see David and Rebeca in the video leaving the place behind Jimmer...haha   They were also giving high fives! haha  I know, we are dorks!

Months later, Rebeca declared personally her love to him when she spotted Jimmer in the Smithfield house. Hilarious!

Temple Worker

David helped with some construction inside the Provo Temple during its closure to the public. They were required to wear white attire, showed their temple recommend and even wore a tag! He loved the experience! I love that I can tell my children that their dad helped "building" a temple! :)

Visiting the ladies in the nursery place.

We tried to visit our friends the first Monday of every month and had home evening with them. It was always a sweet experience.

Favorite Memory: The home evening night when we sang: "I am a child of God"

 Serious BBQs all summer

Before the summer started, we made a "BBQ Schedule" and we invite one family every Friday or Saturday. We had lot of fun and our bellies too ;) I forgot to take pictures of everyone that came but you get the idea.

Favorite Memory: The chef! He loves cooking!

8. FAMILY REUNIONS

The Stone Family is known for their huge gathering and parties. I'd have to write a post only about that to make it justice! They are very fun!

HIKING

Provo has the most amazing places to hike. David and his friends and brothers hiked the mountains in front of our neighborhood very often. One time, he called me from the very top of the mountain and asked me to go outside and find him with binoculars. He was jumping/dancing without his t-shirt! It was hilarious!!

Favorite Memory: Rebeca, Nanou and I hiked the Y with some BYU freshmen the night that they turn the lights in the Y. It was a cool experience!

Rebeca's highlight of the adventure...

She later told me: "Mom, I don't love Jimmer anymore. I love Cosmo now!"

Free Stuff

I can't even tell you all the fun we had getting free pizza,hamburgers, sandwiches, chinese food....Gotta love poor student towns and the poor students!! :)

Favorite Memory: Paying a box of 12 donuts with a tie. David called his buddies (that also happen to be poor students and "nacos" like us haha) and brought the ties for everyone to have! It was a very fun day! We ended up delivering the boxes to some families of the ward. They loved us that day!

Random Days like this one

One random Tuesday.

Texting David.

Me: Where are you?

D: At the Marriot Center.

Me: What are you doing?

D: Listening to President Monson.

SNAP!

Cool Carolina

Aren't we a cool family?

We are so cool that we even have our own street in North Carolina!

We are loving this place!'

So.Much.

It feels home.

And that is very cool!

More cool stuff about this place:

- Very green! Lots of trees. Gorgeous. (Rebeca thinks we live in the forest!)
- No snow! Well, probably twice, three times, four times a year. (I can stand that.)
- It's January and people are jogging and mamas and kids are in the park. (Be jealous Utah!!) :)
- My ward is WONDERFUL. I have never felt so welcome as the new kid! Never.
- There were a lot of  baptisms last year in my new stake. (The stake is like two wards of my former stake in Provo) Missionary work here is rocking!!
- People are soo nice and friendly. It is easy to make friends.... of the good ones!!
- People speak with a funny/cute accent. (I am glad that I am not the only one with a funny and cute accent anymore!) wink,wink
- The style of the houses are really neat. Hopefully we can get one of those soon.
- Did I mention that we live few hours away from the beach? I heard its water is warm!
- Did I mention we live like 4 hours away from DC. 8 hours from Palmyra. My fav places of the US.
- Did I mention that it would be cheaper to fly to Ecuador from here??
- Did I mention that I am like 30 minutes away of the tiniest temple that I have ever seen? It will fit in the lot of my church building in Provo.

Woot! Woot!

Stuff that are interesting and I am cool with:

-I am not sure if it is in every house but in our apartment complex, living rooms and bedrooms are not designed to have light bulbs. You need to use your own lamps instead.
-Driving or going to Walmart at 9 in the evening feels like it is 1 in the morning. ...(And it is not about safety! This place is as safe as SLC)
-There are MANY churches. MANY!


Not too cool stuff:

-Groceries are more expensive. Life feels more expensive.
-Many daycare centers everywhere. Too many!
-And last thing: they don't know who Jimmer is...... Lame!

Dave Babe

Some weeks ago, I found David's highschool yearbook ...

WOW!

Babe!

(insert in love face here)

Well, the fact that he is a babe is not new to me... cough, cough

.......that he was in the hockey team is not new to me either....

What I didn't know was that one of the reasons why he enjoyed playing hockey was....!

"...because you can knock people down and only get a two minute time out?"

(insert laughing face here)

Wild!

This is getting interesting...

In another page, I read that he is a student senator...

Intellectual!

(Insert smiley face here)

"Being a Student Senator is just like being a student, you just put senator at the end"

Down-to-Earth!

(Insert double smiley faces here)

A couple of more pages and look what I found!

Funny Boy!

Muscle Boy!

Charismatic Boy!

No wonder why he was popular between the female population!!!

The Proof: The last pages are full of messages like this one...

Ha!

(insert "I am going to punch her"face here)

;)

"Establish a house of God"

David was born of goodly parents.....

Let me rephrase that.... C. and D. are goodly and amazing parents.

They together have built their own heaven on Earth.

Their house is a very special place. It is a refuge. It is a peaceful place. You can learn or remember a gospel truth inside their walls. I am very grateful that my husband, the father of my children was raised in such home like that.

It's Zumba!

I LOVE dancing!

So.Much.Fun.

I used to go dancing very often when I was single and was living in Ecuador. Dancing made me feel very happy and alive!?

After getting married and having children, go dancing very often became "UMpossible" (insert a sad face here) till I heard about Zumba and life felt "complete" agan! ;)

Zumba is "a fun, new, energetic cardio workout with a Latin dance flair that keeps you smiling while achieving aerobic  fitness and great core strength." It is very fun. Not only helps me in my attempts/dreams to lose my baby weight haha but it also helps me to make it through the day with far less stress. Everytime that I come back home after Zumba, I feel happier and have more energy to play with my children again.

You can click here to see all the fun that we have (and if you are lucky, you can find me showing off in the firt row haha) and go here if you are interested to participate.

P.S: There's a little lady who is always begging to go with me....I guess it's Zumba!

C is for colors and changes

What a beautiful fall morning was today!

I usually ride my bike when I drop Rebeca off to preschool.

 I enjoy feeling the wind blowing on my face while the mountains that surround me are changing into lovely orange/yellow colors. I love fall! It's a time of colors and changes....and talking about changes, my baby Rebeca just turned three years old.

Yes, it is a happy thing but at the same time it makes me feel a little nostalgic.

Beautiful Manti

I have a passion for small towns. I think they are so romantic and beautiful. I especially prefer those small towns with history, gorgeous architecture and friendly people. Yeah, this is what I found in Manti. My new favorite second city in the world! :) (Kaposvar is still my first one!)