Just a quick entry to tell what we are up to these days.

Yesterday my sister, Elizabeth and I went to Women's General Conference at my stake center.  First we had a dinner in the cultural hall, and I enjoyed introducing her to people.  Then we went into the chapel to listen to the talks.  President Uchtdorf's talk was especially good.  He talked about forget me not flowers and how they are small, but together they make a garden spot beautiful.  He told us things we need to "forget not" that may seem small, but will make our lives beautiful.  Things like remembering how much our Heavenly Father loves us, and remembering to give up good things for things that are better.  Elizabeth and I loved the talk and I'm so glad we went together.  I wish all my sisters, sisters-in-law, my mom, and I could have been together!

General Conference of the LDS church is next week, and I am so excited about it.  We heard many people in church today bear testimony of the prophet, Thomas S. Monson.  It was a wonderful sacrament meeting, and I have been inspired with new ideas to incorporate the words of Conference in our home for the next six months.  Our home teachers also talked about our opportunity to hear living prophets next week and ways we can prepare for Conference.  I really feel like these things were answers to my prayers for my kids.  I'm hoping that we can have a family home evening lesson tomorrow that will help us prepare more for conference.  

We are also gearing up for Halloween.  With the holiday being on a Monday, we plan to all stay together this year and go trick or treating and then build a fire in the fire pit afterwards and roast marshmallows and tell "scary" stories.  When we planned all this I didn't really consider the fact that my kids are a bit too old to trick or treat.  Oh well, we're just planning to go around to people we know.  Getting out for Halloween is kind of like a big block party and we have lots of fun.  Anyway, with these plans, the kids are having fun coming up with costumes to wear.  Miriam, our rich working girl, bought herself a Marine costume at the store, Katrina is in the process of making herself a Cleopatra costume with my help, and Thomas and I are going to make him a Frodo, the hobbit, costume.  The kids say that Brian and I have to dress up too...we'll see about that.

The Story of the Caterpillar and the Butterfly

I like the story a sister told at our stake conference on Sunday about two caterpillars who met on a rock and became fast friends.  Every day the caterpillars would come to the rock to visit and enjoy each other's company.  One day, one of the caterpillars came to the rock as usual, but the other caterpillar did not.  The first caterpillar waited and waited for his friend, but he never came.  Day after day the caterpillar stopped by the rock looking for his old friend, but not finding him.  Finally the caterpillar forgot about his companion, and went on with life.

One day as the caterpillar was munching on a leaf, a lovely butterfly touched down next to him.  "Hello, old friend," said the butterfly to the caterpillar.
 "Do I know you?" asked the dazzled caterpillar.
 "Of course," replied the butterfly, "I am the old friend you used to meet on the rock.  I have become a butterfly. You can become one, too, you know."
"No, I did not know," said the caterpillar.  He thought that there was nothing he wanted more in the whole world than to be a butterfly.  "Please tell me how I can become like you!" he cried.
Well, you have to do two things replied his beautiful friend.  First, you have to want to become a butterfly.  That part is easy.  The second thing is much harder; you must stop wanting to be a caterpillar."


I love this story!  King Lamoni's father stopped wanting to be a caterpillar when he exclaimed, "I will give up all of my sins to know thee."   (Alma 22:18)

I need to give up being a caterpillar if I ever  want to become a butterfly!

Two Weeks of "Real Work"

If you didn't know, I'm very much a homebody, but for the past two weeks, I've been a working girl.  It's a new little job I have going from school to school testing the kids.  In December I'll work again for 2 weeks and then again at the end of the year.  It's been a fun thing getting to know my co workers and also chatting with the kids as they come through.  Next week, besides the 3 half days of teaching and testing I have to do, I'll be a home body again.  Yay!  I love being an at-home mom!

Greek Celebration

We went to a Greek Celebration last weekend and had a wonderful time.  Of course, the food was amazing.  We tried a little of everything, and, call me boring, but my favorite Greek food is still the Gyro.  We also enjoyed the honey-drenched pastries, of course.  The dancing was so fun to watch!  It was especially interesting to see the men balance water glasses as they danced, and drink the water as they leaned back all the way to the floor.  One guy even danced on a wine bottle.  Pretty cool.  I think that one of the girls' favorite thing was the shopping.  Katrina wanted a jingly coin scarf so bad!  She was broke, though, so she hopes to buy one next year.  She thinks it would make a wonderful scarf for a Halloween costume.  Miriam, who has a job, and therefore has money, bought a dress.

Everyone loved going into the cathedral and looking around.  We found a very nice lady who answered all of our questions which included the following:
Question:  Those look like white Jordan Almonds on that tray.  Are they?  Answer:  Yes.  They are used in the marriage sacrament to represent bitter and sweet.
Question:  I don't see a place for a choir.  Do you have singing?  Answer:  Yes.  The choir sings on the balcony behind the congregation.
Question:  Is that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John painted on the ceiling?  Yes.
Question:  Who sits in the throne?  Answer:  The bishop when he comes, which is seldom because he is bishop over 4 plus states.
Question:  What did you say the baby baptism font is shaped like?  Answer:  It is shaped like a womb to represent a new birth.  Babies and adults are baptized by immersion.  They are dipped three times.
And on and on.  We had lots of questions.
It was a fun and informative outing and we are so glad we went!

La La Lily

The video on Lily's blog is so cute!  It's the second video on the post.  Here's a link.  She looks very content and happy to just be sitting with her daddy and listening to his music.  She has come so far since her first few sad days.  I can't begin to explain how happy it makes a grandma to see her grand daughter so contented and so well taken care of.  I really miss her.

Choppin'

On Labor day, Katrina got to go horseback riding with a friend which is really cool although she's pretty sore now.  Thomas hung out with friends, and Miriam and me? We went choppin'!!!  We went to a village of old houses made into boutiques to shop till we drop.  They were having sidewalk sales at all the shops and we had a blast checkin' out the deals.  Miriam bought shoes; I bought Brian a welcome home present.  Brian was driving home from the airport at the same time we were driving home from our outing so we met up at a Brazilian place for dinner.  Then we took our leftovers home for Kat and Thom and spent the evening sitting in the family room listening to Brian tell us all about his wonderful visit with Lily and her parents.  The highlight of his trip was getting to hold Lily for 3 hours straight and visiting with Cassandra and Emerson.  We had a very nice day!

Happy Birthday, Katrina!

It's Katrina's birthday and, can you believe it?  We forgot to do our traditional birthday Madlibs.  Even Katrina forgot!  Anyway, Katrina had a good birthday, even though her daddy was out of town.  On Saturday Katrina had friends over.  They had a fun time eating, watching "That Thing You Do," and opening presents.  Today we had a family party.  My sister and her kids came over to help celebrate.  Her husband was sick and didn't come.    They all had fun playing "build-a-bear" and eating.  For dinner we had belgian waffles, eggs, and ham.  For the party, Katrina and I made mini pies for everyone which we ate with ice cream.  It was such a fun night.  I love Katrina so much and hope she had a wonderful birthday!

Grandpa Visits Lily

Grandpa Brian got to go to Lily's house this weekend, mostly to help bless Lily.  Today at church, he stood in the circle and helped hold Lily while her daddy gave her a name and a blessing.

 Brian said it was wonderful to be there.  I'm so happy for him!  Friday night he and Emerson and Cassandra and Lily went out to eat, and on Saturday he and Emerson watched the BYU football game together.  I'm so glad Brian could visit our kids and grandbaby!

Lily Loves Her Towel

Cass and Em finally got a chance to take a picture of Lily in the towel I made her.  They say she loves it.  Of course she does, it was made with lots of love!

Lily and Mommy

Lily and the toilet paper roll.

Alpine Slide

Saturday when Brian and the boys tried to go to the alpine slide, they got rained out, so we went again for family night last night.  We had a blast!

 

Getting ready.  Where's Brian??  He's the camera man!

Thomas starts.

Thomas ends.

I catch up with Preston.

Miriam is such a slow poke.

So is Katrina.

Girls Night Out

Yesterday Brian and Thomas went on the Father's and Son's outing.  While the boys were away, the girls got to play!  We drove to Miriam's work so that she could conduct a little bit of business while she was there, Katrina and I went to a dairy store and looked around.  We each bought a yogurt, and Katrina bought a giant jaw breaker lolly pop.  When Miriam was done at work, we all went to a boutique.  It was such a fun place!  We had fun saying "Look at this" and "How cute," trying on hats, and rummaging through the dollar jewelry bin.  Miriam bought herself a $5 pair of sandals, a pair of earrings and a weird little key chain thingy--why not.

I bought myself a teddy bear wall hanging for the playroom for $2. 

 We enjoyed looking at the expensive stuff, but resisted the urge to buy any of it.  Then we went to the Mall where Katrina bought herself a "The Scarlet Pimpernel" piano book.
We ate at Panda Express in the mall order two plates to share between the 3 of us, then we bought ice cream at the grocery store and came home.  

Full House

Last night Matt came home to visit from college!  It is so nice to have him home for awhile.  Jon didn't come, but we hope we'll be seeing him some weekend soon.  Matt hung out with friends last night, and is going with Brian and Thomas to the Alpine slide today.  It was nice to visit with him for a second when he came in late last night and again this morning over breakfast.  It sounds like school is going well, which is a good thing.  We are going to drive him back tonight so that he can go to his own ward tomorrow.

Also, my niece, Jessica, stayed over last night.  She will be attending the local university and living and working at a year-round family camp ground close by.  She couldn't move in till today so she stayed here last night.  It was fun to talk to her before scripture reading yesterday and again early this morning before she left.  She's so sweet, and I'm glad she has such a great opportunity!

Lily's Mommy Saves the Day

Lily went to her first pediatrician's appointment on Monday and got a clean bill of health.  Yay!  He even looked at her belly button.

But on Tuesday, Lily's mommy looked at her belly button and saw something funny.  Well, not funny--blistery, red, and painful.  Should she take Lily back to the doc?  He just saw her yesterday.  Lily's mommy made another appointment even though she wondered if she should have.  Turns out, she should have!

Lilly's tummy button was just starting to have a problem.  Lily's doctor said it's a problem hard to get rid of, but since her mommy caught it so soon, Lily will be just fine.  Hooray!!!

Lily demonstrates how she sticks out her tongue and says "Aaaah" for the doctor.

Cutest Baby in the Word Alert!

More baby picts!  I love it!

Playroom of Dreams

Since the guest room is my room to use as I'd like when we have no guests, I am going to make it a playroom!  Yes, it will have a bed in it, but it will still be a play room.  I figure, I use the closet to store buckets full of toys anyway, why not have the toys out to play with?  If you know our family situation very well, with 4 teenagers and 2 adult children, and sweet little grandbaby, Lily, being so little and living so far away, you may be wondering who will play in this play room.  I have no idea.  Any little kid who comes along, I guess.  And as Brian said when I stated my plans, "If you build it, She will come."

"She," being Lily, of course, which isn't really true, but, it sure is a nice thought.

Elbow Room

The three kids left at home are pretty happy to have more room. 

The two girls will get to upgrade to the master bedroom 

and Thomas will get to have a room to himself for the first time in his life.  Brian and I will still be in their "honeymoon suite.".  Moving things around is a slow process, but we can't wait for the finished product! 

All Quiet on the Marsupial Front

Saturday Jon and Matt left for college.  Jon is starting his second year, and Matt his first.  It is sure quiet around here and we miss them!  Don't worry, though, they left plenty of stuff behind for us to remember them!  We're busy right now sorting through it and throwing or giving away what they didn't set aside to save.   I hope they come back home to visit soon!

Lily's Biography

Did I say my blog would no longer be all Lily?  Well, that's not true yet.  Here is a post by Cassandra.

Hello, everyone, my name is Citlali, and I thought I'd tell you a little bit about myself.  I usually go by Lily (and a bunch of other silly nicknames like Sweet Pea and Gorgeous...probably because I am both sweet and gorgeous)

Here are some of my favorite things:

I love to eat. Could I be my mother's daughter if I didn't?




I like bath time. Well, most of the time. Check out my sweet curls!

And I love getting my diaper changed! Sorry if that's TMI, but I do love me a clean bum!

I like being with Mom. She feeds me. 'Nuff said.

I do enjoy a good nap on occasion. So did my parents before I came along, I hear.

I love my Dad. He can swaddle me up jussst right.

I love my swing. It has a fish mobile and ocean noises...fascinating!!!

Whew, I know that was a lot to take in. I'm a woman of many interests, so don't feel intimidated if your life is not as full as mine. Well, I should probably go pursue a nap now. Feel free to skype me anytime. And when I say anytime, I mean whenever I'm not grumpy or sleeping. Adios!