Pictures

Staying busy. 
Making diapers
Watching cousins.
Creating things.
Acting.
Dancing.
Playing.
Singing.
Reading.
Living.

Gifts of imperfection

One of the joys of my son going to Williamsburg is that they make us buy these wonderful books!  I like to pick them up and read them as much as I can.
Currently I am reading a book titled the Gifts of Imperfection.  I love it.

The basic concept is that our imperfections are what give us compassion for others, a chance to practice everyday courage and develop connections to other people.  I have already experienced the compassion. I am rarely upset when anyone is late, because I know how hard it is to make everything work right to be on time.  I understand when others want things their own way, because I do a lot as well.  I am still trying to be more compassionate with others when their imperfections are ones I haven't forgiven myself for.  That is a bit more tricky.  When I am ashamed of myself for not being a better mom and spending more time with Isabelle working with her, I start to get upset with others over it too.  I think that I am deflecting my shame and guilt.  If I can get to the point that of trying as hard as I can and accepting that as enough, then I think I can be kinder and more understanding of others.  This is one of the points she makes.  If we don't accept our own imperfections and give ourselves some slack, then we don't get the gifts of being imperfect.

The courage of telling others something that you really are deeply ashamed of and sharing that imperfection with them in a time that they need to hear it so that they can understand they are not alone is huge.  I don't share much of what I am deeply ashamed of. We have all done things that aren't perfect, but I hide them away and even now writing something that touches on that is difficult and painful.

We are all in this together and we are supposed to be there for each other and help one another.  The imperfections that we have allow us to learn from and help and be helped.  The key to really creating a relationship with someone else is our imperfections.  They give us opportunities to become closer, the understanding to care about others trials and the common ground to connect.

Cousins and children

This last week we have had the opportunity of having James older kids David and Melody and Josh's girls Lissie and Anna stay at our house.  We have had a lot of fun.  Of course most of the time it was the children having fun and me watching and enjoying.  Here are some of the things I loved:

Playing trains with David an Melody.  Watching them so nicely take turns and hearing Melody exclaim over and over again "I So excited!" when the train would move on the tracks.

Watching Anna get Melody dressed, brush her hair and take her around helping her and including her.

Seeing Lissie get so excited about make believe games with Evie and Anna, Noah and Melody.

Learning new dances at our family dance Friday night from each child.  Evie preferred headbanging, Anna did disco moves, Lissie did animal moves, Alayna showed us how to spin and spin like ballerinas, and Noah was his crazy self.  Melody couldn't be contained to one room and skipped happily around the house to the music and David wanted to be right in the middle as an animal, but not a dancing one.

Watching Joseph learn to be more gentle and spending a couple hours playing whatever David and Melody wanted to play in the downstairs toy room so that they would feel comfortable going down there.

Seeing Alayna take melody out into the deeper water at the river and teach her to splash Joseph who overreacted perfectly just to get a huge giggle.

Watching Noah, Anna, Lissie, and Evie make a huge Mud pie on the bank and plaster Noah's back with mud.

Most of all I loved seeing them be friends, take care of each other, and serve one another.  I remembered experiencing summer.  The freedom and the fun.  The ability to spend hours upon hours imagining, pretending and enjoying.  With no Adult who is setting the rules, no constant ringing of a bell to say play time is over, a child led world.

Of course there were the not as great times to.  Lissie trying to run inside quickly to do something for me and tripping and breaking open her scab.  Anna crying because her forearms hurt from some kind of contact dermatitis.  David screaming because he had taken the ball from Melody and then not let go easily when Joseph took it from him to give it back and "it hurt him".  Evie and Anna hiding in the car where no one could find them and Lissie crying feeling rejected.  Melody's blow out (nuf said).

Those times were there but interspersed so that they were hardly noticeable.  I hope that as they look back on this uninterrupted time with their cousins they will remember the good things, the fun things and the crazy things.  I hope that they (as I do) will cherish the free summer days spent with cousins, making popsicles, wands, fairy dust and magic.

David and Melody have gone home.  I can honestly say that I will miss them.  It also is less work without them here.  (:  But still they leave a hole that will be waiting for their next visit for them to fill.  We still have two more fun-filled days with Lissie and Anna.  I hope they can put up with us for that long.  They are already talking about missing their parents, but they are quick to reassure us that they like it here to.  :)

A huge thanks to my brothers for raising such wonderful kids (Jake too, we enjoyed our time with Tean and Mo just as much) and for being so willing to share them with us.  There is nothing quite like a cousin.

Attitude

Life is full of decisions.  Most of them are in our attitude.  Some may say that why we do something doesn't matter as long as what we are doing is the right thing.  But it matters to us and our well-being.
I am

I am a caring person. I love it when I have the opportunity to serve those around me.
Especially when I can include my children.

I am a mom. I Love to spend time with my children and live for those moments that they ask for my help.

I am intelligent.  I love to read and discover.
I am fascinated by the world around me and hope to always be.

I am determined.  I am diligent.
Even if something takes a long time I will stick to it and feel joy that I Can do it.

I am healthy.  I prefer whole wheat.  I don't eat until I'm stuffed.  I love the feeling I get when my muscles are working hard. Vegetables and fruit are delicious and candy isn't all it's cut out to be.

This picture of me may not always be completely accurate.  O.K., I'll admit it.  Lately it has been very off the mark, but it is who I am.  Deep inside, regardless of the stresses, laziness, and general tune out, this is who I am.  I am not the actions and attitudes of the past, or even what may be in the future.  I am this person right now, at this moment.  Throughout this past week I have made the conscious effort to Be this woman, not just in my actions because that isn't the real me, but in my attitudes in my heart.  And I have found something truly amazing.  When I start feeling in a way that is inconsistent with who I am, if I remind myself this is what I want, this is who I am- it helps.  It helps me to make the right decisions, and, it helps even more for me to enjoy the moments, the everyday things that I have been taking for granted without realizing it.  It helps me to wake up!  Smell the roses, they are all around me.  Look around, stop staring at the ground in front of myself trying desperately not to trip, and missing all of the beauty and goodness in life. It helps me to live!  To feel fully the pokes, the bruises, the breathe-taking vistas, the slow meandering roads, the beautiful trees and the cold prickles of the wind and WAKE UP!

Picture fun

Fun with Cousins and Aunt Mezi!

My Mom and Dad and my brother Jake and his wife Milin went to Costa Rico.  It is really a neat trip because my dad went there on his mission and has been wanting to go back for as long as I can remember.  He got a phone call a couple years ago from Victoria.  Victoria was a 27 year old (or so ) that my dad helped to teach and baptize all those millions of years ago (your welcome dad).  She went to a lot of trouble to look him up, because she wanted him to know that she is still strong in the church and that hers sons and grandsons have served faithful missions and generally been doing well.  Super awesome phone call.  I can only imagine how he must have felt!
So, he told her he wanted to come and visit, fast forward to last week and they went down.  We skype with them regularly and things seem to be going well, other then the heat (poor babies, they missed -2 degree weather and a huge snow storm up here which has proceeded to mostly melt so they won't even have the fun of driving in it when they get back).
The funnest part for us though is that we get to hang out with their kids while they are gone!
They are tons of fun.  It has been much better then last time, because I am at my own house and have my own stuff, as well as my Hubby to help.
Tean has enjoyed traveling the world with us and getting ready for the Olympics!  The first day we went to the USA and learned about the mechanics of airplanes.  Then we built paper airplanes and tried them out (this activity continued all day and into the next). We then made cardboard box airplanes to take us to the other countries.  This week we've been to Costa Rico, Japan, Kenya and Russia.  We have had so much fun watching his enthusiasm and learning together.  Noah especially has enjoyed the opportunity to make school especially fun.
Mosiah is a head strong young man, and as Alayna said it is a good thing that he is just So darn CUTE!  The girls started out the week catering to his every whim, but that got old after a couple of days. They started to give him to me so that I could tell him no, and developed strategies to distract him and redirect his energy.  I love watching his business. I was cracking up at church because Joseph A., Joseph D., Alayna, and I had talks and were a little pre-occupied Sunday morning, so we forgot to bring toys.  I pulled out whatever I could find from the diaper bag and my purse.  He spent a happy sunday school putting things into and taking them out of his shoes, hiding a little star pin under his clothes and finding it, and dropping a crayon and pen in between the space between the chairs and then getting down to get them until a well prepared mom came in during Relief Society and shared.  Unfortunately, she shared her yogurt puffs too.  Mosiah decided that he liked them better then what I had and kept asking for more, gobbling them down in no time flat and demanding more.  Halfway through the container, she put them away, but Mo was having NONE of that!  He had seen where she had put hem and when she didn't respond to his yelling and demanding he proceeded to pull down the bag and try to get into it himself.  Needless to say, I decided it was a good time to go on a walk.
We sure do love living close enough to get to know these adorable little kiddos and are greatful to be able to spend time with them.

Update

So I've decided there will bee no apologies for lapses!  That would require guilt at a time I should be glad I'm writing. :-)
Isabelle has been sick since we moved here on and off, but mostly on.  She currently has the croup which is why I'm sitting here writing this and not at church with everyone else. 
Other then that she is doing wonderfully.  We have been weaning her off of her medications and it is agonizingly slow, but we are seeing her come back to life in front of us.  There was a interaction between the diet and the drug, onfi, so she reverted last year back to a newborn state.  We have seen some evidence that the wean may be causing some sort seizures, but it is worth it to have her out of zombie mode. 
Noah is completely healed from his sledding experience and recently wrote a paper on courage in which he mentions what happened and said that he was courageous to go sledding again.:-)  He only went for one ride behind the four wheeler, and with his mom, but he went.  I am proud of him.
Evelyn is really growing into a beautiful young woman.  She turned ten a couple of weeks ago, and she is a sweet kind lovely girl.  She is helpful and especially loves taking care of little kids.  Jake and Milin went to Costa Rica for a week and a half and left Tean 5 and Mosiah 1 here with us.  Evelyn is loving playing with them, feeding them, helping them, and taking care of them.  She is going to be an amazing mother, watch out world.
Alayna is great with them as well.  She has also started to care about studying!  She spends over an hour a day on math, and is working hard in her key of liberty class to learn, understand, and do well.  She is reading and getting Shakespeare and understanding where this great country of ours came from.
Joseph is thriving in Williamsburg.  The few gaps in his education are rapidly becoming filled.  He is also enjoying time with friends at the commonwealth school and seminary.
Joseph Daniel is becoming used his new job, and is already indispensable around here.  I love dating him, I'm sure it will never get old.  He is the light of my life and I am so blessed to have him forever.
And me? I'm happy to be with family, and missing the ones we left.  I'm thrilled to have a school room (not that it's where we always do school) but it is lovely to have an away place to keep all of the paraphernalia.  I'm still working on getting everything organized and on getting everything done, but it helps to know it's a process that I'm not expected to complete.  Just like there will always be something in the house that needs to be fixed, there will always be something in my life to work on. 
So overall I think this Lopez family is doing pretty well.  We have been blessed with amazing friends, New and old, amazing family all over the country, and out, and amazing solidarity to stick together through everything.  We know this all comes from our amazing Lord.  Thank you more then I can say.
Thank you.

Life changes

So we have moved to Idaho.  I have to give a huge shout out to my parents.  They have been nothing but wonderful through this whole thing.  They have let us stay in their basement while we have been looking for a house, they have helped us find a house, helped us change our brakes in our, watched Izy when needed, gone down to salt lake with her for support, and so on and so forth.  This move has been very difficult for all of us, but I know it would be worse if we didn't have their love and support.  So thank you thank you thank you. 
This whole thing has got me thinking about the nature of family.  How amazing it is to have people that you would do anything for and that would do anything for you.  I understand so much better now that I am a parent, the love and care that parents have for their children.  I'm starting to understand that that love never goes away even when, like my recently turned 15 year old, they become more independent.
The picture is from the trunk or treat that we went to.  We dressed up our car, and handed out candy.  Everyone in my parents ward does Halloween this way because it is took far too walk between houses.

Tender mercies

It wasn't easy moving, we felt out of place and didn't know anything about the area or have any friends.  We had searched and searched for a house. We felt like we had seen every house in the entire city and nothing felt right.  We had made a list of things that we were looking for and had prayed about them.  Our kids had helped us and the girls had one major thing on their list.  Secret room or passage way.  I really wanted a view, but that was secondary to many other things.  When we found this house, it wasn't love at first sight for me.  I liked it and saw the possibilities, but I felt a spirit here that said this is your home.  And it has felt like home since the day we moved in.  No getting used to it, or feeling like strangers.  As you can see, it has a beautiful veiw to help me remember that Heavenly Father cares about all of us and hears our prayers.

It  wasnt until we moved in and found a note on the counter relized the Lord had given them a tender mercy as well.  And its in their room!

Sledding

I really hope my son is not scarred for life.
There's I was enjoying some peace and quiet.  Izy finally sleeping, the other kids all outside passing in the fluffy, powdery snow that they have up here in Idaho.  It was actually fairly warm outside and the sun was out so I expected them to be gone for a while.  All of the sudden I hear Alayna yelling my name, and I'll admit it I thought "please just give me a little bit longer".  But there was something in her tone of voice so I rushed out and she said Noah asked into a tree.  I started running and asked her where he was because my parents have a lot of land.  She went to a section they weren't supposed to be sledding down and pointed.  I slipped and slid down the hill in my tennis shoes when he came in sight my heart did a somersault.  His face was smeared all over with bright red blood, and the air echoed with his screams.  I froze inside for a split second and then "mom mode" kicked in.  You know the one, it's the one that says, I have no idea what to do and what I do know seems too hard or gross but I'm the mom and there is no one else so I guess I'll do it.  The same mode enabled me to reach into the toilet and outlook out a spoon that one of my children had knocked in just the week before.  It was horrid but someone had to.
Any way, I slid the rest of the way down the hill and talked to him.  He seemed coherent if upset and so I set about trying to get him up the hill.  My shoes were slipping so bad I want being much traffic and after a short trial I determined that there was no Way I could carry him.  Joseph Ammon said he had already tried so each of us got on a side and helped him the best we could up the hill.  When one of us slipped and fell they would let go of Noah and the other would hold him up. Finally we got him to the top and inside to clean up and see what happened.  I was relieved when I got his face washed off that his teeth were intact and the injuries while painful were relatively minor. 
The picture here is after lots of ice and ibuprofen later that night.  Now only a week later he has just a couple of scratches on his nose to show what happened.  Of course, everyone is asking him what happened, and he typically replies "I learned that trees don't move."  That's my boy! Gotta learn lessons from those difficulties in life.  Keep it up.
So I'm not worried that the smart won't go away, but I am concerned that he won't want to sled anymore.

Christmas

We found a fun ideas for an advent calendar this year.  The kids made little bags out of coordinating fabric ( I know I need to post a picture), and then we put slips of paper with something to do to get ready for the holidays in each one.  So this year we have made holiday cards, had a family dance, eaten caramel apples, made gingerbread men, sewed new nativity costumes, shopped as a family for Christmas, watched White Christmas etc.  at first I thought it would be hard to come up with enough ideas, but in the end we couldn't do all of them.  Some of them we had to do without papa which was sad, but his schedule is crazy.
Anyway, it was a lot of fun.  I wrote silly title rhyming poems for each activity and the first couple of weeks printed them on colored paper and wrapped them in ribbon.  This last weeks I just printed, folded and put in, but I couldn't do all of them at the beginning because we don't know much of our schedule until the week of and I needed to match our activities to time available.  We shall see if the kids liked it enough to continue next year, or if we will change it up a bit.

So I've always wanted a nice camera.  I should just buy something decent and be done with it, but I'm holding out for the nice one.  Which is silly, because in the meantime I am using my phone to take pictures and I know in the future I will be upset with myself.  *sigh*. My husband would buy the camera and call it and investment because then I could take our own pics of our kids, but I can't seem to justify the expense in my own mind.  Of course, I would go second hand, in fact that's probably what I would do anyway, but a decent one is still expensive even second hand.  So there is my explanation for why I am posting this!  I am entering a contest. (:  I don't expect to win, but why not try?

https://veryjane.com/giveaway.htm

Wonderful progress

I am learning to take things day by day.  Sometimes I remember when I was young and an hour seemed like forever.  I see myself vividly, I can still feel the impatience and antsy energy of youth.  I remember knowing about a vacation months before we would take it and feeling like it would never really come- that life would just keep going on and on and we would never really get there.  I sympathized with Annie when she sang "Tomorrow is always a day away".

I mostly got over that as I grew older.  Now all I want is for time to slow down.  I want a break but the break is never long enough.  I need time to think and ponder to understand to breathe, but I feel like every moment is precious and when I take time away I get behind on what I should be doing.

Now I am learning patience all over again.  I am learning to see that things have been progressing, and to appreciate the jumps that happen sometimes, making a change from the seemingly slow snails pace they usually occur at.  I am learning to trust in the Lord's timing.  To know that when He says something is coming, it is.  To strive to move forward when it seems of no use, knowing that when the time is right He will make up the difference.

I am grateful to learn, grateful to grow.  Sometimes though, as my Evie says, I wish I could just wave a magic wand and *poof* know it all.

I have to get to bed.  I've already written about Isabelle's progress at her website Izysinchstones.org

20 (or so ) questions

We decided for our family history FHE this month to talk about our own family history and keeping records of them and their likes and dislikes so that some day their children or great great great. . . (keep adding greats until mom says "that's enough") grandchildren can learn about them.  The kids loved this idea and they want to do it every year around October GC.  We'll see if we remember.
It was a lot of fun and we laughed a lot, but it may have been a situation where you had to be there.
Anyway, here are the questions and answers in no particular order.  Drum roll please........

	Evelyn
What's your favorite food to eat?	Don't have one- like spinach ravioli
If you could have any pet in the world, what would it be?	Baby penguin
What's the farthest from home you've ever been?	California
What is your favorite thing about primary?	Listen to Macio and them
What is your most ticklish spot?	I don't really have one
I love….	Ballet
When I am done with school i like to….	watch tv
My best friend is….	Julie, Miki, Libby
When I grow up, I want to be………. because…….	Scientist because I love doing science experiments
How tall am I….	4' 5"?
I like to collect….	Seashells
My favorite subject in school is…..	Science
The most exciting thing at school this year was…..	Science experiments
The funniest was….	?
Favorite toy	My mind
Favorite outfit	Lots of them
Favorite game	Foosball
Favorite animal	Penguin
Favorite book	?
Questions about Mom:
What does your Mom do while your busy….	She does her college
What is her favorite TV show……	?
What is your Mom’s favorite saying…..	?
What do you like best about Mom……	Because she likes to talk to me
Questions about Dad:
What does your Dad do at work…..	He's a manger or something
What is his favorite TV show….	Papa has lots of TV shows
What is his favorite Book…	?
What do you like best about Dad…..	That he will cuddle with me
	Alayna
What's your favorite food to eat?	A lot of foods -olive oil, pasta, parmesan, veggie, herbs
If you could have any pet in the world, what would it be?	Squirrel monkey
What's the farthest from home you've ever been?	CA
What is your favorite thing about primary?	Singing time
What is your most ticklish spot?	Stomach
I love….	Ballet and reading
When I am done with school i like to….	Play and read
My best friend is….	Finoula
When I grow up, I want to be………. because…….	Choreographer because I like it
How tall am I….	5'1"
I like to collect….	Nothing
My favorite subject in school is…..	Ballet
The most exciting thing at school this year was…..	pulling a table cloth out from under things
The funniest was….	?
Favorite toy	My book
Favorite outfit	favorite jeans with a cute T
Favorite game	Clapping game
Favorite animal	Squirrel monkey
Favorite song	Love at Home
Favorite book	Book of Mormon and Harry Potter
Questions about Mom:
What does your Mom do while your busy….	Work
What is her favorite TV show……	Psych
What is your Mom’s favorite saying…..	So. . .a needle pulling thread
What do you like best about Mom……	That shes loving and intelligent
Questions about Dad:
What does your Dad do at work…..	Costco supervisor
What is his favorite TV show….	The singing one
What is his favorite Book…	Book of Mormon
What do you like best about Dad…..	That He's fun
	Joseph
What's your favorite food to eat?	Food
If you could have any pet in the world, what would it be?	Golden retriever
What's the farthest from home you've ever been?	Miami, FL
What is your favorite thing about YM?	Week-long camp outs
What is your most ticklish spot?	No comment-
I love….	Singing
When I am done with school i like to….	Watch TV
My best friend is….	Ryan
When I grow up, I want to be………. because…….	History professor because I then can teach history the way I like to teach it
How tall am I….	6'3"
I like to collect….	Pens!
My favorite subject in school is…..	Government
The most exciting thing at school this year was…..	When I almost went and did the Russian with only one night practice
The funniest was….	How long everything takes
Favorite toy	My sword
Favorite outfit	Jeans and t shirt
Favorite game	two way 50 football
Favorite animal	sunfish
Favorite song	I am a child of God
Favorite book	Book of Mormon
Questions about Mom:
What does your Mom do while your busy….	She's busy
What is her favorite TV show……	Monk
What is your Mom’s favorite saying…..	Know what I mean?
What do you like best about Mom……	Even though shes busy she always finds time to help you- sometime
Questions about Dad:
What does your Dad do at work…..	Supervise the front end
What is his favorite TV show….	The Voice
What is his favorite Book…	Book of Mormon
What do you like best about Dad…..	He's always willing to listen and has a sense of humor
	Noah
What's your favorite food to eat?	They are all so good-Chocolate cake
If you could have any pet in the world, what would it be?	A Panda
What's the farthest from home you've ever been?	UT
What is your favorite thing about primary?	When they give us treats
What is your most ticklish spot?	I'm ticklish all around my feet are ticklish
I love….	to imagine baby panda bears
When I am done with school i like to….	Play with Izy, but sometimes I like to go down and watch TV
My best friend is….	The person who just moved to Texas, Asher
When I grow up, I want to be………. because…….	A fireman or a policeman, because I like to slide down poles and The policeman popped in my mind because policeman stop people who were like going to fast and killing people accidentally
How tall am I….	Let's see. . . 2'22"
I like to collect….	Everything!
My favorite subject in school is…..	Don't you know? Everything!
The most exciting thing at school this year was…..	Happy Scientist
The funniest was….	nothing
Favorite toy	Army man and the big spaceship things
Favorite outfit	Soft pants and t-shirt
Favorite game	Checkers because I always win
Favorite animal	Panda
Favorite song	I love to see the Temple
Favorite book	Treasure Island
Questions about Mom:
What does your Mom do while your busy….	Sometimes she cooks, or sometimes she's busy
What is her favorite TV show……	The one's were the were one person have visions that helps them solve problems
What is your Mom’s favorite saying…..	Just Kidding
What do you like best about Mom……	Because shes always available to cuddle
Questions about Dad:
What does your Dad do at work…..	Exchange other countries money for United states money
What is his favorite TV show….	The voice
What is his favorite Book…	I don’t know
What do you like best about Dad…..	That he cuddles with me
	Mama
What's your favorite food to eat?	Ice cream
If you could have any pet in the world, what would it be?	An awesome dog that did whatever i asked it to
What's the farthest from home you've ever been?	Canada
What is your favorite thing about church?	Getting to know the sisters
What is your most ticklish spot?	Tummy
I love….	My family
When I am done with school i like to….	Read
My best friend is….	Joseph Daniel
When I grow up, I want to be………. because…….	A mom I love love love my children
How tall am I….	5'8"
I like to collect….	quotes
My favorite subject in school is…..	Math
The most exciting thing at school this year was…..	Springville for Family History
The funniest was….	Funny things kids said
Favorite toy	Blendtec
Favorite outfit	Comfy jeans and cute cute comfy shirt
Favorite game	Michigan rummy
Favorite animal	Butterflies
Favorite song	On my own
Favorite book	Book of Mormon
Questions about Your sweetie:
What does he do at work…..	He deals with people
What is his favorite TV show….	The Voice
What is his favorite Book…	Book of Mormon
What do you like best about him…..	That He loves the Lord and serves Him with all his heart
	Papa
What's your favorite food to eat?	Food shared with my family
If you could have any pet in the world, what would it be?	dog
What's the farthest from home you've ever been?	Brazil
What is your favorite thing about church?	Helping others with their testimonies
What is your most ticklish spot?	My ribs
I love….	I love My Family
When I am done with school i like to….	Read the News
My best friend is….	Julie Lopez
When I grow up, I want to be………. because…….	A Airforce pilot because i like to fly
How tall am I….	5'7" and 3/4
I like to collect….	Fat cells
My favorite subject in school is…..	Physiology and theater
The most exciting thing at school this year was…..	Trip to Moab
The funniest was….	When we were in moab and the kids tent blew over in the strong winds and some of them didn't wake up
Favorite toy	Cell phone
Favorite outfit	Jeans and t shirt
Favorite game	and then. . .
Favorite animal	Bald Eagle
Favorite song	I am a child of God
Favorite book	Scriptures
Questions about Julie:
What does your She do while your busy….	home schools our kids, takes care of the house, feeds Isabelle, Textures walls, Shops for our food, helps us save money, works on websites, takes kids to ballet and doctor, cooks food, takes naps, eats. . .
What is her favorite TV show……	Psych
What is her favorite saying…..	Know what I mean
What do you like best about her……	She's a true eternal friend

Dear Friends and Family,

We have just entered a new month.  This month of October is a special one for our family.  Four years ago on the 13th we welcomed into our lives and home a new little girl and our lives will never be the same.  From the beginning there was something special about Isabelle, her spirit is strong and many commented on it.  Unfortunately, this special little girl, as most of you know, has come with a huge set of challenges.  It has been a fight to feed her, a fight to keep her well, a fight to help her learn and grow.  We have come so far since those early days in 2008, but we still have a long road ahead of us.  So far we have been able to find a way to do those things we feel are most important for her, but now we feel she needs more then we can do on our own.

After much prayer and consideration we have decided to ask for those who feel they are able, to for help with what we hope will be her best birth-month gift ever.  There are many ways and options to help.  The most valuable help you can give us is your prayers that we can find out what exactly is going on with her little body and thereby a way to help her.  If you feel moved, and are able to help in other ways we have chosen to put up a website detailing some ways this is possible.  We are deeply grateful that the Lord has chosen to bless us with this little girl, and grateful to have the support of friends and family.  Thank you for all of your kind words, your prayers, and your love.

Izy's website is www.IzysInchstones.org

We appreciate you sharing this service opportunity with any you feel might want to help.

Sincerely,

The Lopez Family

But wait there's more.! The rest of our vacation was fun as well.  First we went to Goblin State park.  Totally fun and worth going off the beaten path for.  The main attraction was that the children were allowed to go wherever they wanted to (we kept a close eye).  They could, and did, climb on whatever formation took their fancy.  They really got to be a part of the landscape.  You could look off to the horizon and imagine that you were a pioneer just discovering this land.  One of the reviews online said that we shouldn't allow this.  I think that children need to touch and experience not just look to truly appreciate.  In the end the love that they develop from being really in nature will pay off with a greater appreciation for the world around them and a determination to be a good steward of them.  I will upload the pics of this once I get ahold of my hubby's camera.  (:

These next pics are of the slot canyon that we hiked.  I only wished we had had a bit more time there.

We all went because the description said it was an easy hike.  I think the canyon itself was, but getting there proved to be a bit more then some of us planned on.  We had to get up to a ledge some 5 ft above us.

The kids loved finding little hidey-holes and insisted that they get their pictures taken each time.

Hanging with family.  Beautiful rocks and beautiful girls.

David and his boys joined us for a few days.  David had a waterproof camera and was the only one to get pictures of the rafting trip.  What could be more fun then going rafting in the same rafts that I used to go in as a girl?  They are, well seasoned, shall we say?  So one of the caps to keep the air in was missing, but no problem dad MacGuyvered it and he always has done.  He found another cap that fit.  Of course this cap didn't screw on, it just popped on, but it kept the air in so we are good, right?

We were having a lot of fun especially on the rapids (nothing to big) and then we got to the last rapid.   In our raft there was My dad and I, Alayna, Mezi and Getu.  When we would go through the rapids they would get off of the edges and into the river, I mean raft.  Only it was hard to tell because we had about half or so of the river in the raft with us despite all of our best attempts at bailing.  So I guess the kids took to sliding and diving in, possibly to make it more like a water park.  Getu slid this time, forgetting that the last time he did that he was yelled at  asked politely not to.  The timing couldn't have been worse.  He slid right over the MacGuyvered plug;  Knocked the plug into the water; The air started shooting out of the raft; We started sinking lower; Everyone Yelled and scrambled madly around flailing and screaming for the plug calmly looked through the water for the plug;  Dad screamed for yelled at asked Getu to put his finger in it; He put his finger on top of it and air rushed as quickly as ever out of the raft and into the air; I screamed, said "A Rock!  paddle";  My dad grabbed a paddle and we quickly steered the raft away from the rock; my dad stuck his finger into the hole, stopping anymore water from escaping;  The girls yelled at asked Getu to move his butt bottom as he was probably sitting on it;  Getu Yelled said that he wasn't and to keep looking;  All of us frantically splashed and searched through the elbow deep murky water to find the plug; Someone found it; Dad put it on;  we looked up and the rapid was ending.  There was take out beach.  Just in time.

Finally made it to delicate arch.

 We tried to convince Noah this was Delicate arch and we could go back.  He was tired enough to be all for that idea, although he was a bit disappointed that we had come so far.  When we said we were joking he thought it was funny and wanted his picture with it.

 Mesa arch in Canyonlands

Beautiful people in front of a beautiful view.  Wheew!  What an exhausting fun vacation!  Next time you should all come with us!

Family History

So on our vacation this year we were able to sneak in a bunch of learning and some pretty awesome family history.  Beyond the family history that we were making by going on vacation.(:  We got to visit with my grandma and the kids that don't remember her got to meet her and will probably remember her for at least 6 months.  On that note I have to admit something.  Part of the reason I consistently want to see or be with family on our family vacations is the genuine desire to be with them.  Family is the most important thing in this life and I miss my parents and brothers and sisters dreadfully after a while of not seeing them.  So, yes, I would rather see them then the Statue of Liberty or Boston, etc.(of course the best thing when possible is to spend time with family in a cool place)  I have an ulterior motive as well though.  I want my kids to know how important it is to put family first and go and see them often so that when they are grown up and married they will (hopefully) keep that attitude and if they happen to move far away for jobs they will come and bring my grand kids often so that I can see them.  And even later, when I am old, if they have to put me in a home they and my grand kids will either come and see me often or feel intensely guilty about not doing it, knowing how important family has always been to me and how I went out of my way to show it.  So, now you know, I am even now preparing my children to be guilt tripped into spending as much time as possible with me.

 We also drove through Spring City, UT on our vacation and saw some of the buildings that my great great grandpa built.  Here are some pics.

 This is the spring city church that he helped to build.  He was a stonemason.

The front with our family.

Getu, James, Alayna, Mezi, Joseph, Evelyn, and Noah in front of the church.

 He also helped to build the Manti Temple.

We went to the pageant, and it was really good.  I would advise anyone who wants to go to go when you have slept more then 4-5 hours a night for the nights before.  Towards the end I had a hard time staying awake, which was especially annoying, because when I was awake I was enjoying it so much!  But then i would wake up again to find that I had missed a bunch.

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Joseph and I got to go through a session.  This was triply cool because-
1. We love the temple and rarely get to go together
2. My grandpa helped to build it
3. Josephs parents were sealed here ( at the time they lived in New Jersey they were in this temple district!)
4. We have never been to a live session before and here the sessions are live.
5. The architecture was absolutely breathtaking!
OK, so that list got longer and guess it was Quintuply cool?  Hmmmm. In any case we were very grateful for the opportunity.  Thanks Mom and Dad!

Anniversary

For our fifteenth anniversary Joseph and I finally were able to celebrate on this last Wednesday.  We had a ton of fun.  We used three groupons and got a couples massage, ate linner at an Italian restaurant and went to a Kelly Clarkson concert.  I have never been to a concert with someone that i really like before, and it was wonderful to hear her sing in person.  She has such a great voice!

For those of you that have never had linner you really must try it sometime!  It is truly a wonderful thing.  You see, there are two reasons that I don't go to restaurants often.  To be honest the first reason is cost.  Yes, it's nice to be waited upon and to have someone else do the cooking and the clean up, but I still can't use that to justify an expense that we don't need.  The second thing is that restaurant food is fattening, and I always eat too much, because if I'm going to spend the money on a meal out, I'm not going to order something bland, or "diet friendly" after all, this is supposed to be enjoyable.  So our family has found a way to combat both of these issues and go at a less busy time with no waiting to boot.  Linner.  It's similar to brunch, but Lunch and dinner combined instead.  We go to the restaurant around 2:30 so that we can still order off the Lunch menu (in this case the cost was less then half of dinner prices).  Then we eat to our hearts content knowing that the calories we are consuming will count for lunch and dinner, and sure enough, we aren't hungry for any dinner.


Today's lesson was about Faith.  One of the main points was that you build faith by keeping the commandments.  When you follow what the Lord has told us to do you can see by the results that it was right and you can trust Him.  It's like following advice from someone.  You don't know for sure if the person knows what they are talking about until you try it.  In thinking about this I realized that through the years I have developed a strong testimony of the importance of getting married in the temple to the right person at the right time.  It sounds so simple and it's amazing what a difference it has made in my life to do this so called simple thing.  Of all the choices I have ever made in my life the number one best one was made fifteen years ago when I said yes to the love of my life, my companion, my rock and soft place to fall.  Thank you sweetie for asking me.

Forget-me-not

For anyone who didn't have a chance to watch Elder Uchtdorf's talk this last Relief Society General Conference.  You must watch it.  It has been a huge inspiration to me and I was blessed to watch and read it many times preparing for my lesson this Sunday.  Here is the video.



Wow!  What a powerful message.  I don't usually like showing the video while we are learning about certain talks, but on this one I had to show that part at the end.  I don't think there was a dry eye in the building the night this was broadcast.  It is truly powerful.

I found as I was studying and preparing I would try to remember the five things that we weren't supposed to forget and would only remember about 2-3 of them.  And so I came up with and appropriate acronym to help myself.  Cap and Shawl.  Cap is for compassion and patience for ourselves.  I like that if we are having a bad day, or figuratively having a bad hair day, we can put on our Cap of compassion and patience for ourselves and be OK.  Also Cap is another word for the bonnets that the pioneers would put on to go and serve others compassionately.  We should learn to look at ourselves with as much patience.
S- in Shawl is for sacrifice.  We should make good sacrifices, the good for the better thing of eternal worth.
Ha- for happy.  I gave the sisters chocolate and asked them to really take the time to taste it and enjoy it.  Too often we move too fast and don't savour the moments and recognize that we are happy Right now, we don't Need anything else.
W- for the why of the gospel.  If we focus on why we are following, that this is the path to happiness and eternal life instead of just the drudgery, we can have the mundane sanctified.  We must keep our eyes up.
L- is for love.  The Father and His Son have soo soo much love for us.  They have not forgotten us.  He is aware of everything and loves us even so.  This is the quote that you must listen too even if you don't hear anything else.

I made handouts only because I felt they were crucial to having the sisters remember.  Here is a link to the blog, the front is page four, the back page one, but I put with the quote on  love and "You are not forgotten" on it.http://chocolateonmycranium.blogspot.com/2011/09/forget-not.html

I laminated them, then punched a hole at the top and tied a string with a single forget-me-not bead tied to it.  The kids were a great help.