Foods I Like/Dislike ...Family History Journal

Question 23:
I like most foods. Really. Almost any food is good. I particularly like fruits such as strawberries, watermelon, raspberries.

In fact, I'll name some of my favorites by topic:

1. Fruits: strawberries, raspberries, watermelon, and almost any other

2. Vegetables: sweet peas, asparagus, sweet potatoes

3. Dessert: brownies, ice cream, almost any dessert...I definitely have a sweet tooth

4. Main Dishes: almost any Mexican (burritos, tacos, enchiladas) or almost any pasta or pizza or hamburgers or ribs or indian Food or Korean food or so many others

5. Drinks: lemonade, water, fruit juices but not apple juice

6. Breakfast: waffles with fresh fruit, breakfast casserole with potatoes, cheese and bacon, smoothies

7. Soups: Potato cheese soup, wild rice soup,Zuppa toscana...nearly any kind of creamy soup, as well as most chilis and meat and vegetable soups

8. I also love salads with fruit and nuts in them. And many types of sandwiches.

Pretty much most foods.

There are a few foods I don't like:
1. Bananas are not a favorite...their texture and flavor aren't my favorite. I add them to smoothies a lot but it is pretty rare for me to eat a banana alone. Also, I hate papayas and kumquats. Oh, and I detest fried plantains.

2. I don't care for refried beans. If they are mixed into a tostada or burrito or pupusa, then I can tolerate them. But please don't scoop a serving of refried beans on my plate.

3. I love many kinds of cheese, butI don't care for Mexican cheeses (or Central American cheeses) like cotija or especially the cheeses Alfredo's family serves. They are too strong and salty for me.

4. I have no desire to eat weird things like snails, bugs, etc. I have tried chicken hearts (AWFUL!!!) and alligator (tasted like chicken) and duck and liver (I've had it twice...once I thought it was quite good...and the second time, it was terrible). But mostly I don't even want to try weird foods.

5. I don't care for coconut milk. I like coconut in desserts, but I don't care for meats flavored with coconut milk (like many Thai foods.)

Aside from that, I will eat and enjoy most things. (And I do eat refried beans, bananas, fried plantains and Central American cheeses when they are served to me....but I eat them quickly and first, saving the things I like for after I've eaten those I don't like.)

Lazy (Busy?) Mom's Guide to Birthday Parties

Michelle turned 11 last week.  (11?  How is that possible?   How is it that she isn't still this cute little baby?)

 

For her birthday, she ALSO chose to go to In N Out.  I tried to dissuade her.  I've really been wanting to try Waffle Love and it wasn't that far away the evening of her birthday.  But it was her birthday, so she got to choose.  In N Out it was!   (But now that summer is almost here, Waffle Love and I will be having a lunch or dinner date soon!)  She got a cute new dress for her birthday because recently she has been sprouting up and most of her dresses no longer fit her.

 

 

Her birthday party is where the Lazy (busy?) mom comes in.  She wanted to have a sleepover, but she wanted to invite friends from the neighborhood and from school and I wasn't sure I was up to a sleepover.  So we did a late over instead.  It was sheduled from 5-10 PM at our house. 

 

I picked Michelle and her friends up from school at about 4.  It would have been a bit earlier, but I got part way to her school and realized I had left my cell phone at MY school.  So I had to go back and get it.  So I was already running late.  I picked them all up and still had to stop and get pizzas.  I hadn't made the cupcakes yet either.  There was more traffic than I was expecting as well.  So I ended up telling Michelle to call her neighborhood friends and tell them to come at 5:10 instead of 5. (Embarrassing, but what can you do?  Ummm...maybe leave work a little earlier?  Maybe plan ahead a bit better?)   So we got the pizzas and made it to our house at almost exactly 5:10.  The girls all went in the backyard to play.  (Thank goodness for good weather and a big backyard!)  My plan was to serve pizza and soda, then have each person decorate their own cupcake (which I hurriedly baked while they were eating pizza), and then they could open gifts and then watch a movie and eat popcorn.  Very little effort on my part.   Lazy (Busy!) Mom! 

 

So after they'd played a bit, we served pizza in our nice big backyard.  Pizza and sodas.  Then I brought out the cupcakes and all the toppings.  (I tell you, letting the kids decorate their own cupcake is the way to do it!   It entertains them.  You don't have to stress about either making or buying darling cupcakes.  Each cupcake is unique.  It is cost effective.  Lazy mom's guide, I tell ya!)

 

  

Then Michelle opened gifts.  Her friends know her well.  She got lots of duck tape (which she loves...she makes wallets, hairbows, etc. out of it).   She got bands to make bracelets.  Peyton gave her a Razor scooter because her scooter was stolen recently.  Kate gave her a darling Young Women bracelet.  She got an Icee maker and a piggy bank and other darling gifts.

 

So then, the plan was to go inside and watch a movie.  Well, they did go inside, and I popped popcorn and they sat down and turned on a movie.  And two of them played the piano and all of them talked, and they maybe watched the movie for 10 minutes...long enough to eat the popcorn.  Then they decided to go outside again instead.  They played in the backyard and the front yard and they laughed and shouted and had a grand time.  Things didn't go quite as I had planned (the VERY limited planning I did...LAZY mom) but they had a great time.

 

 

Michelle at 11:

 

Michelle is in 5th grade in school.

Michelle's Best Friends at School:  Mia, Alondra, Daniella

Michelle's Best Friends in the Neighborhood:  Peyton, Olivia, Kate, Tia, Kodi

Favorite Food: Lasagna
Favorite Song: Unconditional
Favorite Color:

purple, black and blue together

Favorite Thing about School:

My great teachers
Favorite Subject in School: Writing

Michelle Doesn't Like:

Too much testing! (I wholeheartedly agree with her on this!)



Nine and Doing Fine!

Ella turned nine at the end of April.

On her birthday, she got fake nails and make up. She chose to go to In N Out for her birthday dinner. Then we got cupcakes from The Sweet Tooth Fairy.


The Saturday after her birthday, we had a party for a few of her school and neighborhood friends. She decided on all of the games/activities she wanted to do. First, they did a relay where they filled a cup (with a hole in the bottom) with water. They passed it over their head, then the next person passed it under their legs, over, under and then dumped it in a bucket. The team to fill their bucket first won. That was fun. Then they played a water version of Duck, Duck, Goose. I think they called it Drip, Drip, Squeeze. You had a wet sponge and dripped water on each person's head as you went around, but on the person who was it, you would squeeze your sponge on their head.

.

After these two games, we did cupcakes and ice cream. I made cupcakes and then bought lots of different things to decorate them with. So each child got to decorate his/her own cupcake. 


Then Ella opened presents.
Ella absolutely wanted a pinata...and that has been tradition each year since they were pretty little.  So we did a pinata.  It was a sturdy thing and everyone got at least one chance to hit it...a couple of kids took a second turn to finish it off...we blind folded Ella and then decided not to blind fold anyone else...just to let them at it.


The kids all enjoyed trying on the pinata as a hat after it broke.

Then we moved to the front yard and played Kick the Can.  Finally, we played Super Hero Tag until it was time for friends to go home. 

Ella at 9:

Grade in School:  Third
Best Friends at School:  Aelora, Zoe, Mia
Best Friends in the Neighborhood:  Amaya, Max, Austin, Jolie
Favorite Food:  pizza
Favorite Color: blue
Favorite Song: Hello, Goodbye by the Beatles
Favorite Thing about School: I have good friends.
Favorite Subject in School: Science
Ella Doesn't Like:  Math

As His Daughter

Our Stake Relief Society Presidency, who I love, held a Women's Conference on May 10. It was such a beautiful day and meeting! I invited lots of women from the ward who are less active, but I wish I had invited everyone I knew. It was one of the most wonderful meetings I have attended. The conference started with a choir singing "As Sisters in Zion". Then our Stake Relief Society President spoke about how much our Father loves each of us. Then Sister Elaine Dalton spoke. Then our Stake President, President Hall, spoke. Then they had a video presentation of photos of the women in our stake along with Jenny Phillips' song "As His Daughter". Then they had a brunch and sisters were able to meet Sister Dalton.

Here are some of the things I learned from Sister Dalton.

She spoke about meeting with President Monson and being called as General Young Women's President. As she was set apart, she was blessed with gifts for this calling including the gift of being able to see women and young women as Heavenly Father sees them. She said she feared that once she was released, she would lose this gift, but she has found that she still has it. I know a little bit about how remarkable this gift is as I have experienced it to some degree as I have served as Relief Society President. There have been several times that I have sat in Sacrament Meeting with tears streaming down my face as I have been overwhelmed with a feeling of love for the sisters in my ward and have received glimpses of how loved and precious they are to our Father. I know they truly are His daughters and He is aware of them.

She said that if we really know who we are and see ourselves and others as Heavenly Father sees us, changes things. She said that we women of the church are astoundingly beautiful.

She said it is time to be AMAZING. We cannot let the trials of life bring us down. We have been reserved to be on Earth now when the opposition is great, but the opportunities are great as well.

She said that in the pre-existence we weren't just faithful, we were exceedingly faithful. Our exceeding faith was not in ourselves, but in Jesus Christ and His plan. We were in Heavenly Father and Christ's presence and were tutored before we came to Earth. Something she said that I had never considered before was that because we came to Earth at this time, we had the opportunity to be tutored at their knees longer than any former generation.

She also shared something else I have never heard before in quite this way...Our bodies were custom designed to help each of us fulfill our mission here on Earth. The world would tell us that we must look a certain way or be a certain size, but our bodies were given to us as gifts by our Father who knows us and loves us and knew what body we would need to fulfill our mission...we must take care of them so we can fulfill our mission.

She also spoke about virtue. Our virtue is our power. Our virtue allows us to be endowed with power. We must be pure and virtuous because it entitles us to the companionship of the Holy Ghost. We must learn to hear the voice of the Spirit. When she called for a return to virtue, it reminds us that each person CAN change, each of us can be healed.

We fought a war in Heaven, and we fought with weapons. She asked if any of us remember the weapons we used. Our weapons were our words, our testimony of Jesus Christ. We are still fighting a war, and our weapons today are the same...our testimony and our exceeding faith.

She also spoke about callings. (This part really got to me because I know it is true. So true!). Heavenly Father gives us callings that are way beyond our ability so we can learn to rely on Him. He says that when we learn the lesson, we will be released but He doesn't want us to quit doing what He has taught us to do. He is releasing us from a time of tutoring, but we must continue to live the lessons we have learned and continue to serve.

She shared this quote from President Kimball:

… "My dear sisters, may I suggest to you something that has not been said before or at least in quite this way. Much of the major growth that is coming to the Church in the last days will come because many of the good women of the world (in whom there is often such an inner sense of spirituality) will be drawn to the Church in large numbers. This will happen to the degree that the women of the Church reflect righteousness and articulateness in their lives and to the degree that the women of the Church are seen as distinct and different—in happy ways—from the women of the world. … Thus it will be that female exemplars of the Church will be a significant force in both the numerical and the spiritual growth of the Church in the last days."

She shared a quote from President Hinckley that said something like this: We call upon the women to stand for righteousness, to teach their daughters. I see this as the one bright shining hope for the future in a world bent on destruction.

I cannot adequately express in words how powerfully the spirit touched me as I listened to Sister Dalton's words. But, I felt of my Father's love. I felt my true worth and my great responsibility. I am so thankful for the gospel.

Summers...Family History Journal

Bonus Question #5: How did you spend your summers?

As a child, my sisters and I spent our summers at my grandparents' homes. My parents worked, so my paternal grandma cared for us after school and during much of the summer. Her home was a second home for us. My grandparents had a pool in their backyard, so we spent many hours swimming. My grandma read to us. We played in the front and backyard. My grandma drew paper dolls and we spent hours drawing and creating clothing for the paper dolls. We watched tv. (I remember my sisters went through a phase of loving Star Wars and watched it nearly every day...I soon tired of Star Wars and dreaded seeing it on the tv.)

We also took trips to Utah nearly every summer to see my maternal grandparents. They lived in Holladay, and many summers we would stay with them for about a month. (Just us kids... my parents would usually drive us up but wouldn't stay for more than a couple of days. They had to return to work.) We would ride bikes to the Holladay Library to check out books. We would play with kids in the neighborhood. One summer I became good friends with a boy named Mark Skinner who was in my grandma's ward. I played with him nearly every day, and we watched The Last Unicorn over and over among other activities. One of my aunts and one of my uncles were still single when I was a young girl, and Brent and Elaine (my mom's brother and sister) would take us fun places... Lagoon, Raging Waters, and the 49th Street Galleria. I remember the summer when Brent was engaged to my Aunt Diane and spending time with them at Diane's family's home. I can also remember when Elaine married Phil. (I wasn't at the wedding, but I can remember visiting them and having sleepovers at their home after they were married.)

Very fun summers filled with many happy memories.

Today I still love summers. I love being off work and spending time with my children. Life feels a little more relaxing and peaceful and even lazy in the summer. We go swimming and we take vacations and we play games together and we go to museums. Michelle practices fiddling and has a fiddle concert each August. I love summertime and hope that my children will look back with fond memories on their summers just as I can remember wonderful summers in my childhood.

Funeral

Alfredo's grndma's funeral was nice. It was held at Valley View mortuary in their chapel. Alfredo said the family prayer. My sister Suzy was kind enough to play prelude music. Alfredo's cousin Patty conducted the Service. Alfredo's aunt Miriam spoke about abuela and the resurrection. Michelle played "I am a Child of God" on the violin, accompanied by Suzy. A pastor spoke about Jesus Christ. It was a beautiful Service.

Afterward, we had a short graveside Service and then we had a luncheon in my backyard. My prayers were answered. That morning, I was mowing the lawn in preparation for the luncheon. As I was mowing, it began to hail. It rained, hailed and there were even small snowflakes drifting down. I prayed that the weather would clear, because my house is not big enough to have 50 or so people inside for the luncheon. It stopped long enough for me to mow the lawn, but the weather was pretty yucky all morning. But by the time the luncheon (more of a dinner) began, the sun had come out and the sky was clear. It was still cold, but at least there was no precipitation. Such a blessing!

Here are a few photos of friends and family at the luncheon:

Easter

We had a lovely Easter weekend. We had several fun activities and several opportunities to talk about and learn about Christ and His Atonement and Resurrection. On Saturday, we did an Easter egg hunt with a few friends in our front yard.
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I love the spring!! I love the beautiful flowers. I love the warmer temperatures. I love the rain showers. I love knowing that school's end is nearing. It is my favorite season...with summer being a close second.




The Easter bunny brought the girls Easter baskets. They got some candy,a few art supplies, a new pair of shoes, and a dress.





I always try to take pictures of my girls in their Easter dresses. But Gabby was absolutely not going to cooperate. So I got some great photos of Michelle (I just love her dress!) and Ella (Alfredo's favorite dress.).

Also, I saw a cute idea to turn rolls into Easter bunnies...so my bread machine and I made rolls and then Alfredo shaped them into bunnies. We went to my aunt's house for dinner with my aunt and grandpa. So we brought bunny rolls.






Alfredo's family holds an Easter egg hunt on Easter Sunday, so we went over there and enjoyed that. You can see Gabby's dress in a couple of the pictures. A lovely day, over all, but certainly not perfect. There were two tantrums on Easter Sunday morning. One of our children and Alfredo came about 10 minutes late to church because said child was having a meltdown. Another child was upset that her sisters' dresses were prettier. I pretty much told that child that the Easter Bunny could and would take her dress back if she was going to complain about it. Ironically, as I type this two weeks later, she loves her dress. It was certainly not how I envisioned Easter morning going...but as the morning progressed, and I was feeling cranky that my children were being so ungrateful and unpleasant, and I lost patience with them, it actually made the Atonement feel all the more meaningful and real. My kids are good parents but they aren't perfect. I am a good mom, but definitely not a perfect one. We NEED the Atonement. We need our Savior's love and mercy and the gift of repentance and forgiveness. That was made abundantly clear to me that day (and a million other days in my life as a mother.)