Bruce!

Oh Yeah,
Bruce finished his last final on Sat.......

Even though we don't know his grades yet, we really don't care because........

He's finally done with his BACHELOR'S degree!!

This is the part where you jump up and say YAY!

We accept congrats in the form of food or cash, or prayers!

So who is coming to his graduation party? Remember, upon pain of death; if you couldn't make it?

By the way, it's been over 7 years and this past year was full time.

We have definitely been blessed because I don't think I could have handled the 4 kids on my own, without alot of help from God.

Anyway, we'll see who starts school next.

Hopefully I can work in a couple classes and Bruce wants to take singing lessons and Spanish classes.
Learning is so worth the work!


Stuff I'm good at (as requested);

1- Sleeping.
(Holla Cat/ladies!)
2-Ignoring whiners,
(my kids and others. Yes, you know how insanely irritating it can be)
3-Cleaning up in the nick of time.
(If I'm sweating when you come over, it's because I was cleaning frantically)
4-Not going shopping or spending money.
(Living paycheck to paycheck takes on a whole different dimension, rice and beans anyone? My theory is, if we aren't going to die without it then we can wait to get it.)
5-Spending too much money on groceries.
(First of the month, every time! Snacks and new recipe ingredients)
6-Eating pancakes/waffles with peanut butter.
(I don't know why!)
7-Eating my veggies and fruits
(thanks to my jungle training in C.R.)
8-Getting sleepy at inappropriate times
(like when I'm driving or before I need to babysit-I think it's stress related)
9-Hugs
(I'm probably too touchy-feely but I love hugs!)
10-Saying wierd stuff to strangers or people who barely tolerate me.
(I try to be nice and show people who I am, but I get nervous and..... then there goes any chance! )

I have many talents but it would take me forever to list all of them, so you only get 10!

I know, I know, I'm multi-talented but you must remember, this was with years of practice!

I have to say, this was funnier when I first wrote it, now, not so much. Does that mean I'm a bad writer?
By the way, check out last posts' comments, they are beautiful and I appreciate everyone sharing with me!

Umm....

My friend wrote about this and I have been thinking about it for a long time, so here goes;
I wonder about all the pressure we have, to do everything well and more.
I wonder about how we are supposed to look great, workout, dress well and somehow, care for our families while holding down a job, keeping an immaculate home, feeding our families well, being artsy and beautifully creative and in church, keeping our families centered around the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I am not complaining about the last one, it's the only one that keeps me peaceful and happy.

Seriously, who made up these social rules? Can I go and add one more task to their life?
Anyway, I just wish more women and men would boycott this perfection ideal, because the only one that really matters is living Christ's gospel.

But I wonder about all the other things because ultimately we are not robots, we are not perfect and we are controlled, to a small degree, by time.
So I submit to all; to focus on one thing at a time.

We would all be so much happier if we did those 2 things that our prophet has asked, which by the way, is only for our benefit.
Which is; reading the scriptures at least once a day and praying.
I used to ask the Lord, how would doing that would help me?

Somehow I was blessed to be smacked upside the head and shown that those 2 simple things would improve my life, in ways that I could see and feel immediately and so far reaching that I couldn't comprehend yet.

I know that when my family was in the throes of separation and fear, the only thing that got us through it, was prayer and scripture study.

I always wonder about what other kind of distractions and temptations we would have to deal with, if it wasn't this perfection model, but frankly, I'm alot happier being a sloppy me that tries to deal with whatever, (because I don't want to live up to everyone else's ideal of my life), than trying to be someone who I really don't like but somehow gets everything done.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I know that if we put God first and do His Will, His Way (thanks for that Mubeen) that everything else will fall into place, and if it doesn't, then maybe it wasn't something God wanted for us, or we have to try harder and do something different.

Bruce always tells me that we can't depend on God for every answer to every question but that we need to make a decision than ask if it's right.
More and more, I find myself seeing that if we are doing God's will, that the Holy Ghost can tell us what and when to do it.

Believe me when I say, that it is so much better when we are guided, than stumbling through it all.

I just want to end with; I stink at alot of things and might do so till forever but I'm so grateful for the chance to be here and learn.

By the way, here are some things I stink at, but really like;
Scrapbooking ; ask anyone who's seen my stuff, I just can't cut or glue on/in a straight line.
Sewing; same as above plus a fear of sewing machines and patterns trying to swallow me up. Somehow the more I work on something the worse it gets.
Singing/Music; I'm tone deaf and can't read music, but I'm a good listener!
Finishing a project; self explanatory.
I know there are alot of other things but basically it all involves getting something out of my brain and turning it into something concrete or physical. Like a drawing of a dream or a color combo or jewelry- I like making it and always envision nice stuff but my hands won't obey.
My hands and brain aren't exactly sychronized.
It kinda funny, cause I can dance and massage but that's all that I can think of.

Does anyone ever get sick of trying to be perfect? Please tell me that I'm not the only person who is sick of it.

The good, bad and scary!




Well, to sum up a blessed week, here goes;
This week has mostly been trying to fit all these different things into our schedule.
On Monday night we got to assemble a gingerbread house, (upon eating said confection, I had a migraine for 2-3 days) but the kids loved it. We are planning to go see Interlochen in N? Arl. Anybody up for it?


Tuesday night we got to see my mom after almost 2 months of no contact. She had to go take care of my injured grandma in C.R. for 1.5 months.

Preschool was kinda a bust (4 alot of reasons) on Tuesday 11th but I think we will be changing the location and adding a day in Jan. so we are always hopeful!


This Picture was our busiest and funniest day yet (2 weeks ago)! 8 KIDS!


Wed. night we had a terrifying scare.


The boys had spent the night with my mom so I could get all of my appts. out of the way. Eva had a dentist appt. and I had 3 dr. appt. (chiropractor, blood work and accupuncturist) Lilli was also with me, so Eva was my psuedo babysitter for Lilli- Even tho' Lilli was better behaved than Eva.
Look closely, you can see the 2 little rings from the accupuncturist, if I push on them, (the inner one hurts) they help me fall asleep-insomnia!



So we finally went home around 6pm and since I was tired and sore from all the stuff we had done that day, I sat down to watch the news while Eva made some crafts at the table.

Next thing I know, Eva's screaming bloody murder and covering her eyes!

I run over and ask what's wrong and she's screaming that she poked her eye with the scissors she was using.

I'm trying not to freak out so I pry her left eye open to see the damage.

Her eye is red, swollen beyond belief but no blood, her eyelids are turned inside out and when I opened her eye to look at the pupil;


All I see is a black jelly rolling around on the bottom of her eye with the whites completely surrounding it.


I panicked because it looked like she had shaved off her cornea and I told her to shut her eye (and I tried to find my cell phone to call Bruce, but in a panic, nothing goes the way you want it to)


I even called 911 because I didn't know what to do. They were useless. I prayed like a maniac while we were racing to the ER. I really thought she might be blinded in her left eye.


I took her to MCA and they took her back and opened her left eye again to check the damage.


Nothing was wrong except for a few scratches on the top of her cornea, which was intact and in place.


When I saw her eye, I felt relieved and a little foolish.

Maybe I didn't see her actual cornea rolling around, but I know she could have pierced her cornea or even deeper.

But I can't help but think that no matter what I think I saw, she was blessed and possibly protected against blindness.

Anyway, we had to pay $100 for the visit and she is suppoused to use antibiotic drops for her eye, so It could have been much worse.

Today, while blessed with a babysitter, I was at the dentist for 2.5 hours and found out I need 7 fillings. Great. At least we have a new dentist (because my old dentist is a jerk and his staff was pretty friggin' mean).

But all in all, I know that we are blessed and protected every day, probably closer to every minute, so be thankful for the Lord's protection because we all need it!


I KNOW IT'S WIERD, but I think there can be beauty in chaos/mistakes. I barely touched this pot to catch it and it went flying and spinning and threw the beans about 15 feet a in cool pattern that I could not capture. Sorry that it's sideways!


Last 2 tags!

Grateful for;
Jesus Christ, I know he loves me despite.... being me.
The priesthood and worthy men who honor it.
Each new day, since we never know....
My family, all of them and the things I learn from people.


4 jobs;
Worked as a gopher for a lawyer (first job)
Cleaning lady
Support staff for special needs students
Preschool teacher for Headstart

4 movies;
Lord of the Rings trilogy
Any Jimmy Fallon movies
Any Matt Damon movies
Any Queen Latifah movies (except one, can't remember the name, in it she's a lesbian bank robber thug, gross.)

4-6 places I've lived;
Pennsylvania
Utah
Costa Rica
Mexico
Arizona
Texas

4 tv shows;
Malcolm in the middle (duh!)
Avatar
ER
Mythbusters, dirty jobs, all the home deco shows, cooking shows; wow, I might need cable! Just kidding, we don't need to watch more tv.

Four favorite foods;
Anything my Abuelita makes
Bruce's soups, cookies, sandwiches, mostly everything- means I'm not cooking, right?
Thai Food, Vietnamese, most hispanic food.
I love sweets-pastries, cakes, Bread...... oh dang it, I haven't had lunch.
I'm not really terribly picky, so I'll try anything once- except some seafood and some animals.
I do not like fatty, greasy food, makes me nauseated.

4 websites;
Everybody's blogs
Lds.org
Google
whatever link family sends me

4 places I'd rather be;
At home with Bruce and the kids, doing something fun together.
Costa Rica, taking in the sights and weather.
I want to visit both the East and West coast, top to bottom.
Europe, preferably Portugal, Spain.

No tagging for me unless you want to share your info.

I'm back!

Happy birthday to all the december babies in our family. We love you and hope you have a great birthday/celebration!


We had a a visitor to preschool. We hope he liked it and will come again.




Since we took out the glass sliding doors, we had them propped up against the back of the house, (tried to get rid of them thru craigslist-no shows) and on sunday, the wind blew it over and it shattered into a million tiny pieces. We have been vacumming the backyard for three days.


I think we will have to build a deck over the glass we can't see since it in the grass.






I know I'm a nerd, but I was totally entralled with the way the glass looked. I took a bunch of pictures, here is one of my favorites.




Ethan likes to paint on himself.

All kenz.



My sister also took this shot. I love it.


My sister took this shot of a sarcastic baby.


I took this shot.


The kids were making new ornaments that never made it onto the tree. Notice the baby painting her shirt.

My favorite little nativity (pose is so eloquent)


Anyone recognize this outfit?




I just wanted to post something real quick. I was one of the ones Elisa referred to that complained about what was being put up on the blog, and I want to publicly apologize. I complained that she had posted on the blog that we weren’t in the best shape financially. My wife’s faith sometimes amazes me. She has always told me that if we are doing what we are supposed to be doing, God will provide. We did have a potentially catastrophic plumbing problem not including the fact that we needed to replace the fixture which I accidentally broke. We called a friend of ours that night who happened to be a plumber. She fixed the leak (after smashing some tile to get to it.) and even gave us a toilet. Our total cost was $18.35. It was really good that we fixed the leak when we did. We pulled about 20 gallons of water out of the wall. Thankfully, it doesn’t look like there is any rotten wood or mold. God has truly blessed us and proven that he is watching out for our family. We love you all and hope you have a Merry Christmas.

Nativity Display



Hello All, This is Bruce. We went to the nativity display last night adn had a great time. Here is a photo of the family. It's not great since I had to scan it in, but we should be getting a digital copy via e-mail soon. Merry Christmas everyone!

More to come!

I am sorry, but I am not feeling bloggy!

Here is why; I have heard 4 times from 4 different people that I divulge too much info.

So I was debating; do I tone it down or tell them all to bite me?

Being my passive-aggressive self, I just avoided the situation and haven't written for month.

There.

Thhbbtt!

I have alot of stuff I want to write about that I will either stick in my journal or do a personal blog.
This is my sister Michelle's picture, it is in Tokyo. No, it's not my sister, just some girl. I love the outfit too!

Mineral Wells!


This is the drive into the town of Mineral Wells. It is about 1 1/2 hours from Arlington. The town is in a valley and before you get to it, going west on the freeway, overlooking the town is a state park. It has mountains! and a lake! and is pretty! I have to say, I was not impressed with the town. It was dirty, run down and had alot of what looked like crazy people. But with some effort, it looked like it could be a nice place to live. Alot of former glory.


Anyways, we went to Mineral Wells because we saw a special on the local news about how there was this spring with minerals in it that is bottled and sold to the public. It has lithium in one of the bottled waters. For people with different chemical ailments. Plus calcium!


If anyone remembers, Bruce hurt his ribs a couple of weeks ago and is still recovering. Bruce has a calcium deficiency and I believe it is why he gets injured so easily and takes so long to heal. So we went to buy this water to see if it could help me, with the lithium (I have never taken it before) and to see if it could help Bruce heal.


This is a picture of us next to the original arch ad at the only operating well left in a town that was born because of the mineral water. It's called the Famous Water Company.
There were alot of people there that weekend and they were super busy. So busy that they had to ration the amount of water you could buy. I bought an organic minty lemon soap and a cinn. apple lotion that they make with the water. Smells so good!



These are the huge storage cylinders that they keep the water in, that they pump out of the ground. The wells are tapped anywhere from 100 ft to 300 feet under the ground.They actually had a garden and play area for the kids, so they could play while we bought the water.

We went to eat at taco casa (yuk) before we went hiking at the State Park. It was five dollars per adult, kids under 12 are free. Nice, huh?

Did you know you can buy a state park pass for $60 for your whole family that you can use at any and all State Parks? We are thinking about buying a pass next year.
Here was one of our first views. It was at the back of the park.
This is actually a lake, it looks like a river to me!
This on our way down to the lake. This is on a rock staircase.
Rocks are all over the place and make for good climbing and there are some cool little crevasses, only little kids seem to fit in them, tho'


I thought about climbing this but changed my mind when I realized it was almost upside down and sideways, to try to climb. Lilli made the perfect addition to the shot.
This is a big rock in the lake that we managed to get on. I really like this picture.



This is under the rock-climbing cliffs. On top of the cliffs, they have clip-in ties for climbers.



Bruce managed to squeeze into the crevice. Don't ask me why.


By the way, Bruce is healing much better than before and has been drinking less than a cup of the mineral water a day.
It's a little hard to see, so click on it!

Tagged!

1- I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE showers and baths. I could shower for hours on end. I usually fall asleep in the bathtub! No, I haven't almost drowned, yet! I love feeling clean! I love smelling good!

2- I hate giving a suggestion, then being ignored and then someone brings up MY original suggestion at a later time, in my presence. Bruce does it to me all the time. I have given up trying to beat it out of him, he doesn't learn.

3- When I was 16, I shaved my head and was a real punk rocker. I wore bad clothes, bleached my hair, quit school and went to rock concerts all the time. Surprisingly enough, I learned alot about myself, and somehow my older sister thought I was much cooler than before.

4- I love learning, I love education. I will learn how to diagnose and treat different ailments with natural, nonintrusive methods and herbs. I want to eventually be a MD. I don't know when it will happen but it will....!

5- People who are mean, dismissive and disrespectful to their families drive me crazy, including myself. There is a NO excuse!

6- I want all the children in the world to be loved, respected, cared for and taught. I have to learn to be one of those kind people, because for some reason, it is really hard for me to be sugary sweet nice to other people's kids. I don't think I'm the only one.....!

Please leave your blog name/link on comments!


I deleted all of them on accident, unawares, Sorry! If you aren't registered, or have an account, send us an email, please!

I want to keep in contact with everyone and I didn't save all the links!


Happy halloween! New template!

I hope everyone had a nice, safe Halloween!

We couldn't find the mask and cape to Dylan's outfit but oh well, he probably would have taken it off anyway. Lilli didn't really trick or treat, she just snuck up on Ethan and starting digging into his bucket. He was too busy eating too much candy to push her away. Maybe I'm a nerd, but I love homemade costumes.

This guy is actually an iron worker in real life so he wore his work outfit and clipped the kids on to drag them around and Dylan didn't like it, but Ethan did.


Eva, Ave and Sa!

Sorry, I didn't know how to tie the pretty kimono Nicolle gave me, plus I didn't have the right belt for it.

I just love this pumpkin (guy). Looks good enough to kiss/eat!


We had some of our friends come out to the trunk or treat.
Lilli wore a dress from Costa Rica. She doesn't quite pull off the hispanic look but it's ok cause some of my mom's family is from Holland.

Dyaln was suppoused to be a robot too but chickened out at the last minute and went with an easy costume, Batman.

Eva's authentic Spanish (flamenco) dress that my sister got for her.


Here is Ethan tirade of today, referring to me: "I work so hard to be nice to you and all of the sudden, you start getting cranky and start pouting and it is awful and mean of you." Sounds like me, doesn't he? Daddy, Ethan and Dylan at church.

Eva wore this to school.

Daddy's Halloween trick for Dylan. He lied to Dad and got a habanero-covered lollipop. You can't tell, but his eyes, mouth and chest are red. He ended up puking all over the floor. Dylan is not easily convinced of the benefits of obedience. So we are trying new methods of persuasion. I'm not sure if they are working either....
Newest pre-k friend! K. family!

Trick or treat? Daddy is very ticklish.

Bruce working on Ethan's costume.