Christmas Re-Cap

I love having Christmas Eve and Christmas fall on Sunday. I love being dressed up for holidays, it makes for cute pictures. We have so much to thank my in-laws for; wonderful food, truly amazing and thoughtful Christmas gifts, babysitting, and a very comfortable and relaxing place to be, surrounded by lovely decorations. I am afraid it became a very Miriam centered Christmas, since Miriam was the only child there. She doesn't know how lucky she is to have Grandma and Grandpa all to herself for so long. I don't think I ever spent that much time with my grandparents. It was also fun to see Regan, Vanessa, Amanda, Cameron, and Danielle that evening to liven things up a bit.

Here is Miriam with her VERY PATIENT grandparents helping her make cookies for Santa (thanks to aunt Cristin for the wonderful recipe, I don't like sugar cookies as a rule, but these were good). She fell asleep before she could leave them out, but Santa helped himself and left a note.

This was one of my favorite Christmas gifts. My MIL gave Miriam these Wizard of Oz decorations they bought while living in New Hampshire. They are meaningful to Darin, because he remembers the little store they came from, and Miriam was memorized by them. I remember them from one of our first Christmases as a couple, I like them back then before the Oz obsession occurred. Darin and I both agree our all time favorite gifts came from our parents. Darin's parents made something for us, but I can't write about it until I am sure everyone in the family has received them, so I will edit this post later. My parents gave us pictures of both sets of my grandparents as young adults. I can't wait to find perfect frames and display them in our home. Miriam's favorite gift would have to be her ballet shoes from aunt Julia, which have to be pried off her feet when we leave the house.

I also got to talk to my brother in Brazil which made Christmas special. I guess technically, missionaries are only suppose to get one phone call, but since I was his 2nd mother I should get phone privileges too.

This is Miriam in her outfit of choice since Christmas, hugging the Angelina Ballerina stuff she received from Santa. It's actually vintage hand-me-downs from my sister Sarah. Her little girl was given the complete set for Christmas when she was Miriam's age and hardly touched them. So yes, Miriam received used toys for Christmas, but you should she these toys! They are amazing. She now has the complete cottage set (living room, bedroom, kitchen) we plan on giving her baby Polly and the carriage when the new baby comes, and the stage with all it's trappings for her birthday. Everyone was very generous with Miriam, she sleeps with the pillow Danielle made, does her "Bella Dancerella" video everyday (would do it more than once but both Darin and I put our feet down), loved making her own tutu and crowns, she would wear her new dresses if I let her, and is dying to do "projects" with her new art supplies.

It was a great Christmas and we are looking forward to New Years with my family! More to come from that when I do the Post New Year's post.

Merry Christmas!

We're headed home for the holidays (home meaning wherever family is) tomorrow so I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas before we left. I still need to clean the house, do some laundry and pack but I am SO excited. All I want to do is go through Miriam's Christmas gifts again. I hope the holiday stress is wearing off those who are feeling it, and everyone has a wonderful holiday.

Darin took his annual trip to a local Asian market for Filipino food supplies. He bought a ton of stuff including dried mango, and nuts for our stockings, and nata de coco for Miriam (and to make halo halos). We decided we wanted to incorporate our missions into the Christmas season because that was such a spiritual highlight for each of us, and my dad's mission was always a huge part of my Christmases growing up. He served in Denmark, and since our ancestry is Danish, it was natural to use what he had learned to celebrate. I loved it as a child and still love it as an adult. I want to keep some of the Danish traditions, but create something new with my little family.

To incorporate Massachusetts we decorate with the traditional one candle in every window-no other outside lights (some day I will have a wreath with a red bow for each window as well), we hide the Christmas pickle (that is actually a German tradition but I learned about it in Boston), and (thanks to my Father-in-law) we are having amazing Clam Chowder for dinner. We want to make a Flilipino meal before Christmas (because most members of our families wouldn't really enjoy it), and then have Fillipino stocking stuffers for Christmas. Tonight we made Ginataang langka, which is my favorite. It didn't turn out exactly how we would like but we have enough ingredients to do some experimentation until we come up with the perfect recipe.


My Pink Christmas came today! Thank you Tx Girl!! I was so surprised and overjoyed you had my name. Those of you who read my blog regularly will appreciate how cute it is that she made me a bag out of maps!! There is a present inside I am waiting until Christmas to open, but she also sent some plain good mail. Isn't that brilliant? I had something to open today, which gave me the will power to wait till Christmas on the rest. Thank you for the bath teas and the book. It is seriously perfect...I was looking for something to read over the holiday, and I love to have smelly stuff in my bath. Because I have eczema I can't use bubble bath, fizzies, salts or lots of other fun stuff. All natural bath teas I CAN use, I don't know why I hadn't thought of it before?


This last photo is for the "Dixie Chicks". It was so fun getting together girls (Amber we missed you). I wish I had a photo scanned from our college days because I swear we all look the same. I had so much fun chatting, I hope we can keep up this holiday gabfest/snackfest tradition we have going.

7 Years of Marital Bliss

It's our 7th anniversary today! I can't believe it was seven years ago that we were in the Manti Temple getting sealed. It was a wonderful day. These pictures aren't the best, they are just snapshots. Digital photos were pretty new at the time, and we haven't scanned in our pictures. We have a really cute courtship story that spans about 6 years but I will have to post about that some other time.

Seven reasons I am so glad I am married to Darin

7. He takes care of all the bills, taxes, car, computer, and home maintenance. He takes his responsibility to provide for our family seriously. I know I shouldn't be the typical female and let my man take care of me...but I truly love him for it.

6. We both love trying new foods, learning about new cultures, like trying new things in general, have the same basic sense of humor. I feel extremely lucky that I found someone who will go to a musical with me (maybe not his first choice) and will take me to Indian or Thai or Filipino restaurant. There are some differences, but for the most part we like the same TV shows, movies, and a lot of the same music. I feel blessed to have those things in common because we have NOTHING in common education wise. I have a very vague notion of what Darin does for a living. Conversations about his schooling about kill us both. I have worried about this in the past but Darin reassured me that he doesn't really want to talk about work when he gets home. Whew.

5. Darin comes from a great family. He was raised by wonderful parents that I get to claim now too. I have gained such amazing sisters and a brother, the cutest nieces and nephews. Before getting married I felt like our families were SO much alike. Five kids each, same birth order, both middle class families, strong LDS virtues, etc. After getting married, I realized that every family is so different, the way we do things, traditions, communication, roles. I really feel like our families compliment each other. They are very different, but I feel like we are lucky to experience both.

4. He is a thoughtful gift giver and expresses his love often. Darin often says to me "How did I get so lucky?" or says to Miriam "Do you know how much I love your mom". I am the type of person who needs to hear it often so I appreciate that he says things without me prodding him. He gives me THE best gifts, I can't even compete because he doesn't usually spend a ton of money he just comes up with ideas and finds great deals on the internet. I have grand ideas of things I would like to get for him but we don't have the $, and I have the hardest time thinking of anything spectacular that would surprise him. One of these days though....I am working on it.


3. Darin makes me laugh everyday. He is not one to be the center of attention, but quietly comes up with these hilarious zingers. He puts a funny spin on things that makes life more fun. I have been told by family members that Darin was easy to mesh into our family because he just sits in the back ground never getting offended, or ruffled by anything but every so often jumping in with these hilarious anecdotes. He adds very little worry or fuss, just lots of computer help and laughs.

2. Darin loves to learn and experience new things. He is a great example to me of being curious and interested in the world. I would miss out on so much without his zest for knowledge. He pushes me to try things I am interested in and discover new things to become interested in. My world has expanded so much having Darin in it.

1. Darin loves God. Because he loves God, he has the ability to love me when I am at my absolute worst (and he has seen it). I trust him completely because he has such a strong sense of right and wrong. He is also one of the most honest people I have ever known, he doesn't even exaggerate stories. In many cases he is the one to suggest taking the higher road. Especially when it comes to grudges, taking offense, talking about others. He is not pious or anything but his example makes me feel guilty when I shirk my responsibilities.

One last reason I am so glad I married Darin: because of all the above attributes he is a great father. I think our kids are so lucky to have him as a Dad (and lucky to have a mom who makes great decisions;).

Traditions

My head has been swimming with Christmas traditions this year. Things to start now, things for when Miriam is older, things when our family is larger. Thanks to Kristi, who sent out a great email full of traditions, and then a book called Traditions that Cristin gave us I have had a lot to think about/sort through. In all that contemplation, I almost forgot to do my personal Christmas traditions! Every year I read the Gift of the Magi. I didn't mean for this to become a tradition, I just love it so much I always pick it up at Christmas time. I cry every year, I love it so much.

"The magi, as you know, were wise men--wonderfully wise men--who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. O all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi."

Don't you love those lines? It makes me tear up as I post! As a side note, my mom one year played the woman who buys Della's hair in a community theater. My mom is quite a good actress and once won the best leading actress award in our stake roadshow. Just a little Elisa's mom trivia for ya!

I also love to watch While You Were Sleeping. I think that is one of the most amusing Christmas movies ever made. It's not all about Christmas but there is a lot of Christmas in it. I can't wait to do the laundry next week so I can fold and iron while watching...it always puts me in a holiday mood. "I got Ice Capades."
My favorite Children's Christmas movie by a long stretch is Emmit Otter's Jug Band Christmas. Miriam and I have been watching this one, almost once a week since Thanksgiving. I never get tired of it. "We don't brush our teeth cuz a toothache will make us feel mean....River bottom Nightmare Band!" Doesn't that make you yurn to see this movie??

Before Miriam, I use to attend a performance of the Messiah every year but that hasn't worked out the past 2 years. I decided that we would listen to the CD every Sunday before Christmas and someday, when the kids are older we will attend performances again. I need a babysitter so much during the holidays I just can't fit in another Miriam-less activity. Especially since I have been doing the trading off babysitting with friends. I don't want to be doing too much babysitting myself so I try and keep my favors to a minimum. I would also like to attend a Nutcracker performance every year. My sister and I performed in the local community college's performance of it as children (Sarah more than I, she actually danced in it...I just carried a pillow on stage and stood in first position). The music and the dances have become synonymous with the Christmas season to me. Two years ago, my parents bought tickets to Ballet West's performance for my sisters, niece, and I and it was so wonderful! It would be fun to dress up and take Miriam when she is older, but I would be happy with a local performance as well (we would still get all dressed up because that is part of the fun!).

I am still thinking about some great service tradition to do. I like drawing names as a family and being a secret server all month long ending with a gift on Christmas, but I would also like to do something for the community. We do angel trees, and give to the food bank, I just want to make sure Miriam (and future children) really get the message of service. Any ideas??

A bit of Christmas Cheer

As much as I felt the burden of decorating this year, I have to say I LOVE having Christmas decorations up. I love having the tree lights on all day long, and seeing our JOY sign with Christmas stockings hanging off of it (right below the beloved globe...which I think is rather cute "Joy to the World"). I haven't come up with a door decoration (love Kristi's cranberry wreath), but I did decorate our brand new kitchen light. Cristin actually noticed these bells hung this way when we were shopping one day. It's just the type of thing I would look at and love but think, its too expensive...I wouldn't know how to do it...my creation would look lame. It was so fun to shop with Cristin because she was so encouraging, always pointing out what she thought would look good in my house. She also had all this confidence in her own crafting abilities, no doubts that it would be too hard (or expensive) to make herself. Thanks Cristin for allowing me to "borrow" your vision. I love how it turned out and am very proud of my own spin on it. The bells were expensive (relatively speaking...for me they were expensive), but I used $5 garland that looks woodsy with pine cones and holly berries on it. I almost bought the $20 garland but just couldn't do it, and now I am so glad (as is Darin). I decided not to wrap ribbon around it because I liked the rustic look it created.

We have enjoyed so many activities this week, but it was especially fun to have a visit from my friend and ol' mission buddy Erin. She is a lurker and I have been trying to get her to start a blog for months now. Erin has such a unique sense of style and is so hilarious I think it's a shame she isn't sharing with the world. Plus, her daughter is so stinkin' cute.

Yesterday, while I was unpacking groceries, Miriam grabbed the lunch meat and wrapped it in a dish towel. She started calling it "baby meat" while she sang songs, fed, and then put it to sleep in a laundry basket. She REALLY wanted to take "baby meat" to the swings with us but I insisted he go to bed in the refrigerator. When I told Darin about it he said "oh man, that is worse than 'baby cake mix'. I had forgotten she carried a bag of cake mix around a year or so ago. I think it is so funny.

Christmas Cheer

Our first Christmas event of the season was the Festival of the Trees. I love going and just wandering around, but it's an event Darin can live without, so Miriam and I went with friends. I am always amazed at the time and money that goes into these trees! I love reading about the trees, where the idea came from and who the tree was made in memory of. This year, however, with pregnancy hormones high, I couldn't handle it. I read one, about a young mother who died of breast cancer, leaving three young children and physically just could not take the sadness that swept through me. I always feel bad when I react that way, I feel like I don't have a right to break down, when others, who have actually experienced loss like that, are so strong. Anyway, I don't know how much the trees for, but one had a trip for a family to Disneyland, and one came with an embroidery machine...so the price has got to be up there. My favorite tree of the night was the skiing one (sorry it's sideways), it was contemporary without being stark or weird. These new fan dangled all white, pink, or neon green trees with monochromatic decorations do nothing for me (please don't be offended by my opinions if you have one of these trees...I could have terrible taste). I loved the gingerbread houses and so did the little girls. They also loved getting their nails painted, dancing with the entertainment, and eating candy. The didn't enjoy Santa and avoided him at all costs.

It's Time to let the world know.....

I told Darin with a cheesecake from Costco (a few months ago). We are either 15 weeks with a huge baby, or 17 weeks along...hopefully my next appointment will determine which. We are all so excited. Due either 10th or 17th of May.
We had wanted to tell everyone on Christmas. Miriam started telling people about "the baby in Mom's tummy" since a week after conception. All of the other Mom's at Joy school were pregnant or just had a baby so of course we were having one too. That made for some awkward moments with visiting teachers, home teachers, various friends and family members. I started using the phrase "we are not announcing anything", which seemed better than outright denying it. I slipped up when Cristin was visiting, and then, around early November Darin said I was looking pregnant. Looking at me now, there is no way we would have been able to make it to Christmas without it being so blatantly obvious. I think this is common, but with Miriam I didn't show until I was well into 6 months...I am totally showing now. I had to scramble to find my maternity clothes. I had been alternating between one pair of pants, and two track suits for a few weeks (My mom forced me to go to Motherhood over Thanksgiving and bought me a sweater to wear...she said no more track suits. Mom, you will be overjoyed to know, I found my maternity clothes last night).



Miriam says the cutest things about her new baby sister, yes she has determined it is a girl. I told her it may be a boy and she said "but mom we already talked about this, we talked about what the baby could be for Halloween!" (Glenda). She said she would sing "lullaby and goodnight" when the baby cried unless the baby was screaming and then she would say "where's the binkie?". One day when discussing names we told her we could name the baby Margaret and call her "Maggie". Miriam said: "Oh yes I love Maggie!! And if it's a boy we could call it the Ferocious Beast!" (Children's book pictured above). Although, right now she says that Jesus is the perfect name for a baby boy, and Briar Rose would be good for a girl.

Oh no...the photo shoot.

It's time for the Christmas card photo shoot....whew here we go. As you can see, Miriam is not great in front of the camera. Even on the off chance that she looks at the camera she usually breaks into character, Evil Queen, Ballet Dancer, Dog OR she give the camera her classic wide eyed stare...anything but natural. Darin is way more patient than I am so we do usually end up getting a nice picture.


Here is the picture we settled on last year. I know Darin's mom and sisters don't like him with long hair but I just love it...maybe I should have been a teenager in the 70's. He currently is sporting the overgrown buzz. A "I am too busy to deal with the details of life" look that I think lots of college students have before finals. He was up WAY too late working on homework last night, I think he came to bed around 4 am and was gone by the time Miriam woke up. Miriam said "did Daddy come home for a nap?" Yep Miriam, that is exactly what Daddy did. We love you Darin...hang in there!

Giving Thanks

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my family. Each year I feel more and more grateful for the family I have, and the family I married into. As Darin likes to say "how did I get so lucky?". I was with my family for 4 days. Perhaps they got a little tired of us but I loved it! In the words of Daniel from Ugly Betty "Thanksgiving without family is just Thursday"

Madison and Marcus spent Thanksgiving with their dad so the night before they left we had a Family Home Evening on gratitude. We took Michelle's suggestion and blindfolded them, gave them an object to be thankful for and let them guess what it was. We read a story about giving thanks on thanksgiving, and then made cupcake turkeys. They turned out so cute and were gobbled right up.
On Thanksgiving day, we had the standard fare turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberries, Kelly's amazing rolls, cheery pie for my dad, pumpkin and banana for the rest of us...all of which were amazing as usual (my mom is a great cook). We also had a few different items that made it fun. Julia created such cute table decorations all out of paper. they had little Thanksgiving reminders all over them. She even made little favors full of candy. We had 4 different cheese spreads with a variety of crackers and a huge fruit bowl for pre-dinner snacks. It was just enough to get us through the lunch hour, and so fun to sit and chat while things cooked. We baked the sweet potatoes instead of making candied yams. I came up with a walnut caramel sauce (from various recipes) that, thanks to my mom, turned out really well. That way we could add as much sugar as we wanted without the marshmallows or whatever. Julia made green bean casserole which I know is standard in many homes, but I don't remember having it at our dinner before...it was nummy. I made a poppyseed, pomegranates, almond salad that was fun. It was a new way to dress up the veggies and once you get the pomegranate seeded was so easy to put together.

Here is a picture of the kids table before dinner started. I love it that Miriam is old enough to sit by herself at the kids table. Although, without my supervision I know all she ate was a roll and mashed potatoes. I think with the next child, I will suggest dinner take place during naptime until they are old enough to sit at the kids table, it's so much more pleasant for me.

Here is my Thanksgiving project. I have been coveting vintage ruffle aprons (see Cristin's Thanksgiving blog to see them) from cute local store for months now, but they were pretty pricey. My mom told me about all this material my Grandma had left over from her mother, as well as her various quilting projects so I decided to try and make my own. I had the lofty goal of making them for all the little girls and the woman by Thanksgiving day. That didn't happen, I made Miriam's Thanksgiving night and it took me 3 hours! My mom was so patient and did much of the work herself. I don't believe I have natural sewing talent, but if desire is worth anything I think I will be able to learn eventually. I have to add here that my mom would have loved to have taught me to sew when I was little. She actually tried a few times but I resisted. I didn't want to wear cutsie dresses at that point so I didn't see any reason to learn. I still have no desire to wear cutsie dresses but I want Miriam to! Anyway, long story short, Miriam's apron was the only one I finished (or started) but I fully intend on at least making myself one. My grandma has this funky material I just can't let go to waste!

On Saturday Sarah, my parents and I did a marathon shopping trip. I was there to be entertained while Darin wrote a term paper but my family did some major shopping. My one purchase was the Hallmark mini Wizard of Oz ornaments. I had to buy the display and they were sold out at all the other stores we checked. Success!!

It was a wonderful weekend. Thank you mom and dad for putting up with all of us!!

Happy Birthday Sarah!!

It's my little sister's (one of them) birthday today!! I hope she has a great little pie eating party. I know she had to work, do homework with her daughter, make dinner, take care of a sick kiddo...and all the other things that come with life and being a mother. Hopefully the tiny party will be enough of a celebration for today. We will have to do more to celebrate later.

Sarah, if it's any consolation to a lame birthday know that I love you! I feel blessed and lucky to have you as a sister, and a friend. Your organizational skills amaze me. I have always been jealous of your natural ability to play the piano, and learn new skills. You are a great mother! Your strength and the fight you have within is inspiring, and you make me laugh like crazy.

Daring to Be Yourself

A few of you may have heard me talk about my little identity crisis. I took the thrill ride of becoming a mother, and now that the ride has slowed down a bit I find myself a little lost. I think turning 30 may have also been a factor. Darin has told me that I have changed a lot in the 7 years we have been married. He feels like I may have been too influenced my him (my fault not his) and lost a bit of who I was. I can see that, I'm just not sure I can re-become who I was, or if I want to. Truth be told, I have always been a smiley, giddy kind of a person. I am wondering how that translates into this next phase of my life.
My very helpful sister-in-law Cristin suggested I read Daring to Be Yourself by Alexandra Stoddard. I have really enjoyed it (not finished yet), not because it's awe inspiring, or "ah ha" producing, but it asks some interesting questions that have been good for me to think about. The book suggests keeping a sort of journal about things that you like. Taking note of how your senses react to things you see or feel. It also suggests you think about things you have loved in the past. It's taken me awhile to come up with some things, and I am not finished yet but I did think of a few.

Krisit posted about her love for Mary Jane shoes and I suddenly remembered that I love shiny penny loafers with a small square heal. I had a pair every year from 4th grade through 9th when Birkenstocks and Teva's took over. I wore Birks and Tevas because they were popular but before I was so influenced by fads, I remember walking home from school and loving the way my loafers looked with the bright penny. Enjoying the click clack they made on the sidewalk.

Pearls, I feel pretty in pearls. I like the way they look in my ears and I feel comfortable wearing them with almost anything. I love pearls. I am not saying I would turn down diamonds but pearls do feel more me. My parents bought me pearl earings when I was baptized, my dad bought me a pearl ring one year for Christmas, my uncle gave me a pearl for graduation. I wore pearls at my wedding. Whether I choose it, or it was just coincidence, pearls seem to be with me for major life events. I think I will wear pearls the next time I have a baby.
I love maps and globes. I have no idea why or where this one came from. I saw a globe at Costco and wanted to buy it with my birthday money. They were sold out the next time I went, but 2 months later they had one sitting in the book section (probably a return) and I grabbed it without even thinking about it. It's in our living room and I love it! When I see it I feel happy. I now need to find more things that make me that happy so I can have more of them around.

So thats three, and thats a start! It's been a fun process, learning to pay attention to how I react to what I see, smell, hear, or taste. It makes my world a little more fun, more interesting, and has translated in me feeling a bit more grateful for life which is perfect for the season. It was also good for me to shop with Cristin when she was here. Thanks Cristin! Albert Einstein said "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."

The Parents Who Saved Christmas

I am sorry to talk about Christmas for all you Thanksgiving purists...but this is a story of Gratitude and Thanksgiving as well as Christmas so bear with me.

I had mentioned to a few family members and friends that I just didn't think I had it in me to decorate for Christmas this year. I was hoping that since Miriam is so small she wouldn't notice that we were the only house without a tree and stockings, lights, a nativity, advent calendar etc.
My reasoning is pure stress and exhaustion. We still had so much painting to do so our kitchen is full of supplies, and closets full of excess furniture. Add to that, we have to cut and package Christmas soap not to mention do our Christmas shopping. With Darin not coming home till after 8 and working Saturdays I was just feeling overwhelmed (can you image how Darin must feel? homework and correcting papers and exams on top of working and school all day). I love Christmas, I really do everything about it, and I don't even worry about the commercialism. This year however, I was feeling a bit like the Grinch.

Well, some Who-ville parents of mine came in and saved the day. My mom didn't ask if I wanted or needed help with painting, she just sat me down and scheduled a time when she and my dad could come up (AGAIN) to help (I am crying AGAIN). They worked so hard and accomplished so much. They stayed so late they had to stay over and sleep on a futon for crying out loud. How is that for service?? I still have lots of little painting things to do, but I feel like it's manageable now. I feel like I can do what I need to do AND dig out the Christmas tree. I am not saying all the decorations will come out this year, but we will have a tree, a nativity, and stockings.

One more Christmas thing and then I won't speak of it again till December. I found this really cute LDS Advent Calendar that you just print out and glue together. It's very cute, check it out!
http://lds.about.com/library/bl/puzzles/christmas_advent_calendar.pdf

Elder Mark

Mark (on left) has been in Brazil now for 4 months...2 in his actual mission, 2 in the CMT. Everyone who has served a mission, especially a foreign speaking one probably just cringed because those first few months in the field can be quite difficult. They were tough for me, I remember tears streaming down my face, my pillow completely drenched, but not making a sound so my companion wouldn't know I was crying. I didn't think I could survive missionary work for 18 months. So, I think about Mark often. His situation is even more challenging than mine since he is 19 not 21. He has never lived away from home, I spent 2 years away at college. I am outgoing and love getting to know people, he is more reserved likes to sit back and listen. And lastly, I was speaking English (with occasional language confusions like "bubbler" for drinking fountain, "carriage" for shopping cart, and lots of "wicked" this and thats), while Mark is speaking Portuguese. My heart hurts just thinking about how difficult this must be for him.

There is an added challenge of having a trainer who doesn't speak a word of English. There have been communication problems to be sure. I get the feeling that Mark doesn't know what the plan is from day to day, just follows his trainer and tries to understand. Not much translating going on. His letters are funny because he will say "our investigators husband is either dying, or being moved to some sort of institution I am not quite sure". Can you imagine living like that?? With all these challenges, Mark has a good attitude about being in Brazil. He is unsure about the language and feels very behind in learning it but loves the country. He is happy to experience a new culture and embrace all it's differences. I am so glad he is not one to whine about American comforts or culture. His letters are hilarious. He is so honest and his testimony is so strong.

I wanted to post about Mark for 2 reasons. First, I wanted to remember this time in Mark's mission. My whole family praying for him constantly, and feeling so helpless as he goes through this challenge. But also being so proud of him. Secondly, I wanted to remind all my extended family members with the upcoming holidays that he is out there. I think he is the very last of the cousins to go on a mission, and sometimes those tail enders get forgotten. What missionary wouldn't love to get lots of mail at Christmastime? I won't post his address in my blog but if anyone wants to include him in your Christmas Card list please email me and I will send it to you.

We love you Marcus Farcus (thats my special name for him).

The Big Night

There are Lindsey and Miriam Trick or Treating in style. Darin was working late again tonight so I went out to my friend Mirissa's house for some trick or treating company. I do have friends in my own neighborhood, it just seems like I am the only one without family around. It was a really cold night, and Miriam had peed in her warm tights on the drive down ("Mom I peed in my tights...isn't that so silly?") we had gotten stuck in traffic on the freeway so I wasn't all that upset, just worried that she would get cold. The wagon ride was a perfect solution and the girls were completely content to ride around getting candy. Thanks for the company and dinner Ris, you are too good to me!

Pumpkin Patch Party!

Here are Miriam and Lindsey getting a ride around the pumpkin farm searching for pumpkins. I mean searching, most of the pumpkins were smashed or rotting. I think the pumpkin farm had a good year...things looked really picked over. We did manage to find 3 perfect pumpkins...whew. They had this little hay maze for kids that the girls loved! It's great because the parents can see over the hay, but the kids can't so we felt fine letting them run around by themselves. They kept hiding from each other and then racing around to find each other, squealing with delight when they did. The good thing about waiting so long to go get pumpkins is that we had the hay maze to ourselves!

Miriam and I carved the pumpkin later that evening. It was a plain pumpkin face this year, Darin is the real pumpkin artist, and he was working late again. We did have glitter glue left over from re-glittering M's ruby slippers ( for the second time) so we did get some sparkly blood on him. Miriam squeezed the glue down his eyes and said he was a "happy crying silly pumpkin guy". By the way, is "sparkly" not a word? The spell check gets it every time but only gives sparky, starkly, and sparkle as possible suggestions.


Here is Darin's creation from last year. The little one I did.