Our New Ride

Sorry the picture's bad. I didn't think about taking a picture until nighttime and didn't have a tripod so I was wiggling a little bit too much. I'll try to swap it out at some point. But you get the idea. We are the new owners of a slightly used Mormon mobile. It happened so quickly, but we feel good about it. We found out our neighbor's sister was selling this van and we really liked it (well I did. Marcos didn't see it until we were at the bank getting our loan...yikes!) The lady had just listed it on KSL and started getting a bunch of calls for it so we jumped on it. It was a pretty good deal and a payment we thought we could handle. I'm a bit nervous about getting fewer miles to the gallon now, but we'll adjust to that and deal with it. It'll be nice to have a bigger car and be able to haul extra kids for carpool and YW when we have activities. Anyway, if you see this bad boy out on the street, you'll know it's me. :)

A Series of Unfortunate Events

It's been one. A day for sure, a week maybe and probably even a month. What is going on? I'm sure I could say it started earlier, but I'm going to start with Marcos' birthday. I'm hoping this post ends up as one of those things I can look back at and laugh about because right now I am NOT laughing.

So Marcos' birthday was on a Saturday and while he was at his brother's house, I realized the water heater had rusted through. At first I thought the kids had turned on the heater, then I realized it was hot and muggy downstairs and quickly discovered the leaking water. Luckily I caught it relatively soon and the water heater has a drain so water wasn't everywhere. We were able to contain it for the most part. We got a new water heater and my brother-in-law came and helped us install it. That was a true blessing. The installation would've cost us another $200 at least and a water heater isn't something you can wait on for a long time. Okay, we can figure this out. Hmm...$600. Where am I going to find an extra $600?

Marcos and I both had to renew our driver licenses this month and went together on a Friday only to discover they only work M-Th now. Oh yeah, whoops. Then I went last week again and their system was down statewide. Are you kidding me? Grr...

I gave Marcos a tennis racket for father's day and his birthday and he usually gets money from my mom & step dad, my dad & step mom, my grandparents and my other grandma. Yep, my family spoils us for our birthdays. Well, he ended up buying a few more tennis items without thought of the budget so his birthday money was already spent before he received it. So when his stupid shoes got a hole in them, I wasn't about to feel sorry for the kid...until I did. So we bought new tennis shoes. Oh, and the sole fell off of his work shoes last month and we had to get new expensive work shoes. Do you see where I'm going with this?

One of the car's needs to be registered in August and the other one in September. Crap! There's another couple hundred bucks in August and another couple in September. Oh yeah, and Marcos' tires are completely bald and can't pass the safety inspection. Swipe. That's the sound of the credit card, which we usually use for convenience and pay off monthly, but I'm wondering if that's going to be the case this time around. Tires are expensive, by the way.

So today we had a YW bbq at my house. A back-to-school bbq. I kept it simple so I could just be in charge of it and not have to assign out a bunch of stuff. The other ladies have been so busy doing everything that I felt like it was my turn to stress a little. Marcos and I weeded the yard, straightened up the house and all that good stuff yesterday so today I could run to the store and then just worry about getting the food ready. We just did hamburgers, corn on the cob, watermelon, chips and salsa and then cookies and muffins for dessert. And that started my awesome day today. I ran to WalMart, which I hate. But I had to go to a bigger store for groceries because I also needed other items (like a paint brush so I could repaint the wall that Preston drew all over with pen yesterday. I discovered the magic eraser really doesn't take ball point pen off of walls). That kid! I think Preston was getting hungry (it was 11-ish) but he cried the entire trip through WalMart, which was not exactly short. Dylan was grumpy too and became increasingly grumpy as Preston hurt his ears with all his screaming. At one point, Dylan covered his ears and yelled, "I just can't take it any more!" My thoughts exactly kid. So I had two of the worst children ever in WalMart and was about to leave the cart with groceries and children there and just walk away. I was that close to a freaking breakdown in the store. And of course they didn't have any cilantro and their corn on the cob was .48 cents each. Um, no, I'm not paying that much for corn people. So I got in line and of course was behind the lady with millions of groceries and ads that she was price matching so we were there for quite some time. Got all that figured out and headed to Sam's Club to feed the children some pizza. More meltdowns from the children. I should've stopped while I was ahead, but no. I proceeded with the insanity. They didn't have cilantro either (I figured they wouldn't) so I went to Ream's since their produce tends to be pretty fresh and reasonably priced. Grabbed the food and headed out the door without much incident. Kids strapped in the car, look behind me, pull car out slowly. Crash! What the... "Mom we just crashed. That's our first crash ever, right mom? Should I call 9-1-1," says my helpful oldest child from the backseat. "No, Dylan, I need to go talk to the man first." Double crap! I pull forward a little bit and get out to talk to him. A man around 65 gets out, smiles, I apologize, he apologizes, we both notice (with great shock) that nothing except possibly a small scratch has been exchanged and he says, "I think we're okay here." "Okay, great. I'm so sorry." I get back in my car, start shaking profusely and try to drive away as my eyes well up with tears. I kid you not as I was pulling out of the parking lot, a lady zooms through the middle of the parking lot to get the front spot and almost takes out my front bumper. What is going on here? By the way, the "crash" was a totally weird thing to. We had both looked in our rearview mirrors, seen that no one was coming and backed out at exactly the same time going in opposite directions. It was completely bizaare, which is why we were both so shocked that we had just crashed. Crazy!

I got home (after stopping at my sister-in-law's and convincing her to help me make the salsa for the party- thanks Amy:)), put Preston down for a nap and went to work on the food. Oh, and I forgot the hamburgers I was going to borrow from Amy. Man! I had to pull out a different kind I had in the freezer at the last minute (thankfully I had them on hand). The food went well, but I was running behind and Marcos misunderstood and came home way later than I expected him. The bbq started at 6 and he was going to help cook, but didn't get here until about 5:30. I was a bit stressed, but got through it. Luckily my mom came to bring me some tables and chairs and stayed to help me get it all ready. Okay, all is well. We got the party started, sent the kids and Marcos to the park and 15 minutes later they come in the door. On the way to the park, the car stopped. Marcos started it again and drove some more, but it stopped a few blocks away and wouldn't start again. He had to have some guy help him push it all the way home. Our friend and neighbor came over to look at it (he's a mechanic) and said the engine was shot. We need a new engine in our car. Are you serious? I didn't even react at first and just figured we'd deal with it later. I left with the YW because we were taking pictures of the girls in this meadow for another activity we're doing. I sat down to wait for them and I just couldn't hold back the tears any more. How are we supposed to deal with that many mishaps in one month? Where do I come up with thousands more in one month in addition to our regular bills. I'm trying not to think too much about it and have faith, but we need a plan. Do we put more money into an old car? A whole new engine? Do we get a new one and add a payment every month that we really can't afford? How in the world do people pay for stuff? I seriously don't get it. Why does it always come down to my getting another job? It's so frustrating. I feel like we work really hard and we try to serve and help others and pay our tithing and live within our means and then stuff like this happens and it just gets to me. I don't even know what to say or think or feel. So that's where we're at right now. Somebody please send me some faith...I'm about to lose it here.

Remarks From CBS Sunday Morning - Ben Stein

Here's another email that I really like and wanted to share on my blog.

Remarks from CBS Sunday Morning - Ben Stein

I Only hope we find GOD again before it is too late ...............

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.
My confession:
I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish.
And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees.
I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against.
That's what they are, Christmas trees.
It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me.
I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto.
In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year.
It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu .
If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.
I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians.
I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period.
I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country.
I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.
Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?
I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too.
But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.
In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different:
This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.
Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Hurricane Katrina)..
Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives.
And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out.
How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'
In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.
Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school.
The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.
Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide).
We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said okay.
Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong,
And why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.
Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out.
I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'
Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.
Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace,
but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.
Are you laughing yet?
Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe,
Or what they will think of you for sending it.
Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.
Pass it on if you think it has merit.

If not, then just discard it... no one will know you did.
But, if you discard this thought process,

Don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.

My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,
Ben Stein

FHE at the Park

Last Monday we met up with Marcos' family at the park to have family home evening. We got chinese takeout for the adults and pizza for the kids. The kids played at the park while we played tennis. We had planned on rotating watching kids and playing tennis, but Laura and Dave ended up watching the kids the whole time. Hopefully they still had a good time. :) Preston threw a couple of the biggest fits I've ever seen. Amy was cute trying to calm him down by showing him he could still see me until I informed her he was crying because he wanted Marcos' racket not because he missed me. Yep, he's 2 for sure - little stinker! I have no idea what I'm doing when I'm playing, but I still had a good time hitting the ball a bit with Mercedes. It's just good to get together and do fun things with the family when we can. Here are a couple pictures we took of the players in action. I was hoping to get more pictures of the kids at the park, but ended up playing enough that I didn't get back over to the playground with my camera. Oh well.

Mischief

DISCLAIMER: I feel like all I do is talk about and take pictures of my children. I never would've pictured myself this way. Who knew? I guess that's what happens when little munchkins take over your life. :) My boys have flipped my life upside down, but made it so much more meaningful than I ever could've dreamed. Yep, who knew?

Oh, my darling, sweet, loving little Preston. What am I going to do with you? When did you get so mischievous? I love this little boy more than I can ever tell you. He is the mellow fellow that people love to be around, but the one that keeps me on my toes. Nothing he does is conventional and I will forever be trying to figure him out. In general, I haven't been able to place him in a mold that "defines" his personality (which is probably a good thing). However, the one stereotype he does seem to fit is the typical mischievous 2-year-old. I took him to have another hearing test done today (thanks again Brandy) and had to laugh at me and my frustrated self trying to get through this process. Can he point to body parts? Yes. Can he repeat words? Yes. Would he do any of that for the doctor? Nope. He just shook his head and told me he was done and wanted to get down. Arg...what's a mom to do? He wants to do things his way and I suppose to whatever degree that is possible, I'll just let him for now. For those of you wondering, it looks like he probably has some minor hearing loss, but they're not sure the extent because of his lack of cooperation. One ear appears to be close to normal and the other ear...well, we just don't know. Hopefully it's minor. But at least for now he can hear well enough that we can figure out his speech (which is going well) and we'll just follow up in six months with the hearing. He'd better be more cooperative by the time he's 3 or I might just lose it. Like I said, poor Preston has had a million little things we've had to deal with, but they all have ended up being pretty manageable. And for that I am truly grateful.

Anyway, I wanted to share a few pictures that demonstrate the mischief that has become so common at our house. You know, crayon on the table, chalk on the new tile, sharpie marker everywhere. The dumping, splashing, and squishing. The tip toeing, jumping, falling and cannon balling. Preston's definitely got the mess making stuff down to a science. He's pretty good at throwing a big old fit too. :) And I cannot stress this enough. The kid is fast - and quiet. It is impossible to anticipate his next move. But it is very difficult to be mad at this one, this cute little dinky one (that's for Greg)...and he knows it. Oh he's got my number for sure.

Dumping out fruit snacks and eating them off the floor

Can't you tell how mischievous he is? Look at that smile.

I came upstairs to goldfish crackers dumped all over the tile.

Notice the sharpie marker on his leg from earlier that day.

Once he has an idea, it's all he can think about. If you leave him alone, he's content, but if you bother him, he'll scream for hours. He doesn't forget what he wanted - EVER!

If Preston wants to wear a snorkel mask on his head all day, I usually just let him. It's not worth the battle.

You never know what you'll see if you come to my house. :)

Raft River - Part 2

Last Monday, we headed up to Raft River for part 2 of fun at the sod farm. My mom was out of town so we took Tony with us and headed to Idaho. There weren't as many people this time, which was good and bad. You hardly had to wait to go down the slides, but there weren't quite as many people to chat with. They had a second slide running too, which was way fun. We refer to them as the black slide and the white slide for obvious reasons. Tony and Dylan pretty much entertained themselves all day. We're not sure, but we think they must've climbed those hills hundreds of times. Preston played on the slides, but had a good time hanging out by us, which made it a lot more relaxing this trip - not so much chasing involved. :) Nobody camped this time and most people headed home between 3 and 4. We're die-hards so we stayed until about 7:30, which turned out to be perfect. We had the slides to ourselves for almost an hour, which is when Marcos and I rode the most with the kids. All of us piled on a tube together and zoomed down the hill at mach 5. :) The poor kids were exhausted when we headed home, although they were not ready to go. Preston dozed off before 8:00 and the other two were out just before 9. It was a nice, quiet drive home for the two of us. What a great day!

Happy Birthday Marcos!

Stupid Murphy's Law never fails. Today was Marcos' birthday and Marcos had a pretty chill, fun day planned. He was going to play tennis with his brother in the morning, have a lunch birthday celebration at my mom's and then I was going to take him out tonight. Well, it rained last night so he had to postpone tennis. He went over to his brother's house anyway and while he was gone I walked downstairs to get something. It felt really hot so I went upstairs thinking one of the boys had been messing with the thermostat and turned on the heater. Nope, not that. We've had a pipe break in the basement before and leak through the wall and onto the carpet so I immediately started feeling around to see what was leaking. It was not only hot, it was humid. I could hear water running and it took me a minute to realize what was going on - the water heater had rusted through on the bottom and water was leaking out pretty fast. Crap! Now what? I called my brother-in-law to figure out what to do and got the water shut off. Then I had to turn it back on just long enough for all of us to get ready for the day. I turned it off again and we went up to my mom's for the party. Marcos played tennis this afternoon with his brother and I picked out a new water heater. Pretty exciting stuff. Luckily Justin had time tonight to help us get the new one installed. It took longer than expected, but I think we're good to go if we don't end up with any leaks. So poor Marcos spent most of his birthday running around helping my BIL install a water heater. Hopefully we can go out next week and celebrate together.

Marcos really is an incredible man and I'm lucky to have found him. He's the yin to my yang and the best teammate I could ever have asked for. Here are just a few of the reasons I love Marcos.

1. He has a kind heart. He was just born that way - it's who he is. He genuinely cares for other people.
2. He has a crazy memory for events. He can remember things he did when he was like three years old. And he can remember so many details of stories he has heard from other people. If you have ever told him a story about your life, he'll remember. He remembers jobs people had, things they did, where they lived, etc. The only thing he might forget is the name. He'll tell me every detail imaginable trying to get me to remember the name of the person he's talking about. It's insane, but an incredible skill that I wish I had. He truly listens when others speak to him (unless the TV's on ;)) and pays attention to everything. He is really good at remembering sports stuff and other completely random facts too.
3. He's a good Papi. I can honestly say Marcos is one of the best dads I've ever met. He loves spending time with our boys - teaching them, playing with them and just taking care of them. I could not ask for a better father for my children.
4. He's sporty and athletic. Marcos is great at a lot of things, but is pretty good at sports in general. He is awesome at soccer and tennis and can hold his own in church softball and turkey bowl games. :) He can hike up a mountain like there's no tomorrow and can run pushing two kids in the jogging stroller faster than I can run on my own. His endurance is incredible and he loves to be my athletic motivation.
5. He is content with life. Marcos pretty much enjoys everything he does. He's never had a job he didn't like (and trust me, they weren't all great jobs). He is just okay with wherever he's at and he's good at finding the positive in most situations.
6. He is passionate about life. This can be a good thing and a bad thing. He reacts strongly to situations at times, but puts his heart into everything he does.
7. He's a big tease. He drives me CRAZY sometimes, but it's something I love about him. He wouldn't be Marcos if he didn't poke and prod and try to get a reaction out of me. And he wouldn't be my Marcos if he didn't repeat everything over and over. He is infamous for repeating the same thing over and over (a story, a question, a joke, etc.). Again one of those things I love to be annoyed about. :)
8. He is very generous. Even at times when he has very little to spare, he is the type of person to give his last dollars away. He would do anything for anyone without ever thinking twice about it.
9. He is thoughtful. This one is an art that he is gradually perfecting. Marcos is an early riser by nature and me...well, not so much. Our kids, particularly Dylan, take after him. When he is home and doesn't have to leave for work, he'll get up with the kids and let me sleep a little later so my day gets off to a better start.
10. He is really helpful. Part of this is training so those of you who haven't been married long may want some pointers from me. ;) I try to keep up most of the things around the house because I feel so privileged to be able to stay home with the kids (hard as it is) and I want to be able to enjoy the time we have together when he gets home. But he is awesome at helping me out whenever I can't keep up with my list of things to do. Sometimes I have to ask and other times he just notices, but he is always willing to help.
11. He is forgiving. Marcos can get over most things with very little effort. If I ask for forgiveness, he gives it to me. It's actually something I've learned from him during our time as a married couple. He's good at saying sorry and good at forgiving. I wasn't very good at either...but I'm getting better.
12. He loves me. I know it sounds lame, but I love him even more than I would because I know how much he loves me. I never thought someone would care for me so much. I don't think I deserve it, but I'm sure glad I found him!

Happy birthday, kid! I love you more and more every day. Thanks for being my everything! From here to Argentina and back.....till I die and forever more!

Reflections

It's been a hard couple of weeks. Not necessarily for myself, but for everyone else it seems. The father of two of my young women passed away last week. Even though it was expected, it's been hard. As a new leader, my heart just aches for them. I know it's going to be a difficult road to healing, and trying to figure out what I can do to help them makes my head spin. On the plus side, we had a very spiritual sacrament meeting Sunday on trials. Two people gave really good talks. Then a lady in our ward sang an awesome song she was inspired to sing about trials that says something like "after the rain, after the pain...you'll find what you were really meant to be..." I wish I could quote the lyrics because they were great. And then the 1st counselor in the bishopric gave a talk written by the man who died. He was inspired to ask him to speak in sacrament meeting, but put it off not knowing what to do since he couldn't be there for health reasons. They finally talked and decided either the counselor in the bishopric or the wife would read the talk if he would write it at home. Holy cow, there wasn't a dry eye in the congregation. It talked about his life and story, but mainly about faith. We went over by 10 or 15 minutes and nobody cared one bit. The kids were even noisy and it's like you could just tune them out to listen to this inspirational talk. It sounds weird, but I can see the potential good that could come from his death - the bonding and unity that was there that day is amazing.

I gave my first lesson on Sunday to two very quiet Beehives. And I was so prepared too. Man! The Beehive advisor wasn't even there to help answer questions, although the new secretary in YW did sit in with me so I wouldn't be totally alone. Um, yeah, pretty sure I heard crickets. I went home wondering if I was cut out for this "job" or not. Let's just say I'm feeling pretty inadequate. The new YW president is truly amazing. I had talked to her a couple of times before I was called, but as I am getting to know her better, she just blows me away. She's the type of person I would like to be some day. She always seems to have the spirit with her and knows just what to do - even in tricky situations. And the 1st counselor has been in YW for awhile now so she's totally in her groove. I'm like a fish out of water right now. So yeah, overwhelming and emotional moments - and much spiritual doubt. It seems like any time there is a change or just that I'm trying harder and working to be more spiritual, I feel the adversary right there pushing against me. A few too many crazy wife moments in the Uboldi home this week. Gives me hope that we really must be doing something right if Satan thinks he needs to work so hard on us. So that's why I haven't been around. It's been crazy busy - between playing too hard, needing to catch up on my household chores, new calling responsibilities and my own deep thoughts, I haven't had time or desire to say much.

And off the subject a bit...this private blogging thing is weird. We'll see how it goes. I invited just the people that requested and ones I know read, but probably hadn't seen the post yet and I'm getting close to the limit. Why is there a limit anyway? So you either have to have less than 100 friends and family or you can't be private. Weird. I'll try not to make any new friends I guess. :)

I'm Going Private

I hate this. I've thought a lot about it and have changed my mind a million times. I have found so many friends through other blogs and links and I don't want to discourage that, but I do worry about privacy. Since I seem to share every detail about my kids and their lives (sorry to those of you who are sick of reading about them), I think it's best to go private. Some day, I might start a blog that's just about me and my thoughts and doesn't drag the fam into it. But for now, my concern is being able to say what I want and need and not worrying about saying too much and possibly compromising their safety. I hope my "readers" will still check in with me and the fam. I love it when people read my blog and I look forward to your comments. They keep me going when I need a boost. Please leave me a comment with your email and I'll send you an invite to the blog.

Mohawk Brothers

My nephew, Mason, is 7 and sporting a mohawk this summer. Marcos thought he'd copy the do and gave the kids mohawks after their baths the other night. Dylan usually won't let you touch his hair so this was miraculous. I didn't realize how much my kids really do look like each other. If there was ever any question as to whether or not these two are related, the doubt is gone now. Cute little stinks!

I know it's blurry - you should see how fast he moves :)

A Day at the Lake!

Monday we headed down to Sydney's house (Marcos' cousin's wife). There were 14 kids all together. Insane! But there were 6 adults so we were okay. The kids actually got along really well and there were plenty of kids to play with in case some didn't feel like being your friend at the moment - a common kid theme. Joel and Sydney live in a community that has a man-made lake that was AWESOME! It didn't get deep very quickly so the kids could all touch and it was much easier to watch them than I thought it would be. Preston was my little escape artist, as always, so I put the floaties on him and kept my eyes on the bright green balloons moving around ;). He made Marcos' aunt pretty nervous though. It was so much fun to play on the sand, in the water and on the cool playground they had. We stayed as long as we could until I needed to leave to get Anthony back to his dad. I was a couple minutes late, but so was he, so it was perfect. AND...all three kids fell asleep in the car on the way home. Peace and quiet for over an hour. BEAUTIFUL!

I stole this one from my SIL, Amy's blog.

I didn't get any pictures of the spider web playground but wanted to remember it.

Fun, fun and more fun

Such cute kids!

Exhausted from a day at play!

Dylan woke up before I could take his picture,

but he looked just like the other two the whole drive home.

Birthdays Weddings & Fun, Oh My

Last week was crazy! It seemed like we were constantly running to a birthday party, a wedding reception or some other fun event. Friday was my sister-in-law, Laura's, 30th birthday. We didn't celebrate it until Sunday though because Friday was her father-in-law's wedding. We went to the wedding reception that night and wished her a happy birthday, knowing we would be getting together in a couple days.

Saturday was absolutely insane. My sister, Alicia, threw a surprise 30th birthday party for her husband, Nate. I was in charge of music and the cake so I ran around trying to get a bunch of stuff ready on Saturday morning. Getting naps in before the big event was also a challenge, but very important. The party turned out great. He had no idea and was pretty surprised by the whole thing...and maybe a little disappointed. :) He was blindfolded and I think he thought it was some exciting surprise date. Maybe next time, Nate. ;) We helped clean up from that and then rushed down to a neighbor's wedding reception. We had two we were going to try to get to on time and decided to stop at the one in Layton and then the one in Bountiful. Big mistake! We were in line over an hour at the Layton reception. We could've hit Bountiful and been back for the one in the Layton for sure. But it was great to see the happy couple, a bunch of friends from our ward and former ward...and I ran into a good friend from college who happened to be the girl's cousin. What a small world! We had to leave earlier than I wish we would've, but we wanted to try to at least say congrats to the other couple. They were having a dance at the end so I figured we could maybe hit the end of it. That's exactly what we did. Food was gone, stuff set up, but the people were still there boogying the night away. We gave them a hug, found the guest book and then tried to pull our children away from the fun.

Sunday was my first day in YW and it went really well...mainly since I didn't have to teach. :) The new President gave the lesson and she did a great job. I felt the spirit the entire time. I don't know how I'm going to teach the way she does. But I know I'm supposed to be there so I'll be guided somehow. After church, we attempted but failed to take a nap and then headed down to Laura's house for her birthday celebration. We had a delicious BBQ and we all ate way too much. And...I forgot my dang camera. So those of you who know Laura will have to see the pictures on her blog when she posts them. Sorry, some days I just don't have it together.

This week will be some more of the same. We've got a BBQ this Friday at our house and then a wedding Saturday. And I do have to teach Sunday - YIKES! And then another adventure Monday. More pictures to come! Gotta love busy summer days! :) Here are the pictures from Nate's surprise birthday party.

BBQ at Mike & Mary's

Last Monday, we were invited to a BBQ at Marcos' aunt and uncle's home. Mike and Mary have always been so kind and generous to us. And they throw a great party! They cooked up some mean hamburgers and hot dogs and had all sorts of delicious BBQ food to go with it. They also had a pinata with goodies inside for the kids. The kids LOVED every minute of it. Not only did they get TONS of candy, but there were little pieces of paper in the pinata too. They were numbered and the kids got to go in order of the numbers and pick cool prizes. Dylan came home with an awesome dart gun, a helicopter and an airplane launcher. And Preston got some bubbles (perfect for his little lawn mower) and a spiderman squirt gun, which he was in love with until it dropped and his head cracked open :(. Luckily it was his toy and not Dylan's. He forgot about it a few minutes later. At the end, Marcos and Esteban were chasing each other around. I'm not sure if it was a water fight or not, but I just love the way those two brothers play. They crack me up. Esteban is the younger brother that happens to be much "bigger" than Marcos, but Marcos is the wiry older brother who is a complete tease and never gives up. Either way, it's pretty funny to watch them, although our kids sometimes think they're fighting for real. Poor Dylan, he's such a protector by nature. :) Thanks so much to Mike and Mary for hosting such a fun evening. It was fun to catch up with Mike, Mary, Alli, Jeff, Dallin and Amy. We had a great time!

Total Eclipse of the Heart

A friend of mine posted this on facebook. I laughed so hard...I had to post it here.

Goats

There's a nice couple in my mom and Barney's ward who owns goats (and chickens and all sorts of animals). There are also llamas that live a few houses down. Dylan gets so excited when Grandpa takes him to feed the llamas or go up to see the goats. The other day, Anthony and his dad came up for dinner and they all went up to see the goats. One of the goats had baby goats this spring so they even let the kids milk the goats. They did a great job and had so much fun. No one remembered a camera, but Dave (Anthony's dad) snapped a couple on his phone.