Tour guide

 

After the temple open house, I took Veronica to BYU art museum to see the newest exhibit called Gilded Paradise.  It works so well with this year's study of the Old Testament.  I really want to take my kids to see it.  I was giddy.

Then we drove by the MTC and the new Rock Canyon temple site.  It's looking so great. Veronica was in the MTC here so she was very curious.

We swung up the canyon to Bridal Veil Falls but it was kind of chilly.

Then we invited all of my family to join us for dinner at Texas Roadhouse.  Veronica was curious about the blooming onion that she heard about.  We took home about half of our food even after sharing two plates with three people.

Veronica Espinoza

My Ecuadorian/Utahn friend came to visit.  Everything I wanted to show her was closed for the holidays. But it was fun to say hi and a blessing to be able to share my memories of her dad with her the week after his passing.

 

Glady Veloz

This wonderful woman died earlier this week.  She is just a couple years older than my mom but had a brain aneurism. She is one of the women that taught me the most on my mission.  I was about halfway through my mission, serving in Manta.  It was the first time I'd served in a bigger city and it was harder to talk to people.  She did not faun over the missionaries like some people that we met.  One of her daughters was in the ward that we served in and had referred her to us. We would teach her weekly and her 20 something daughter would sit in her room with the door open and pretend not to listen.  Gladys taught school at a Catholic school.  She was a joy to teach, but she wasn't progressing.  In a last-ditch effort to teach her (we had run out of lessons and extra lessons), we held a family night and watched a video about Priesthood Authority.  She fell asleep for part of it and I figured we'd have to say goodbye for the last time. We didn't say a word, but God knew her heart and her worries.  We finished the video and told us that she was ready to be baptized.  She shocked us for sure.  She said that she had worried about the idea of the Priesthood.  She couldn't understand how God could give power to imperfect men.  God knew that and bore testimony through the Holy Ghost.  I learned that it's not the teacher, but the Spirit that converts.  She was baptized and called to work in the Young Women's.  Her daughter, Elena, was later baptized. I came to visit a year after my mission.  She didn't even have time to sit and visit because she was so diligently taking care of those sweet YW. I had knocked on her door when she was leaving to go to a Young Women's activity.  I walked with her to the church, hugged her and left. Gladys is the perfect example of being guided by the Holy Ghost, loving her neighbor and having a testimony planted in her heart.  I'm so proud of her and hope that she is having a joyous reunion with those that have gone before.  I send my love from this side of the veil and hugs to her daughters and grandkids on this side.  

 

Ecuador reunion

 

In true Ecuadorian fashion, we had to be very flexible with our plans. They told us to be there at 1pm.  We showed up and they said that they wouldn't be ready until 3 pm.  So, we looked through photos that Mayra had taken.  I remember her constantly saying, take a picture of me here.... or let's pose like this as a group.  I'm glad that she did.  We have a lot of memories now because of her.  While looking through pictures I took pictures of several of hers.  She's struggling a little bit being in the US right now.  I think she wants to feel like everything is easy and natural like it was for her in Ecuador.  Here she has to account for cultural and language differences.

At 2pm, we chose to go back to Sharon's house for the second session of conference and come back again after the session.  We came back at 4:30 and Cristina's family was there, so that was fun.  They had forgotten the food, so they had sent half the party out to the store to get food to prepare.  In true Ecuadorian fashion, they knew they'd get there eventually. We stayed until the 3rd session was supposed to start and then headed back to Sharon's.  We had planned on listening to the 3rd session in the car and stopping to visit with McKay and Sophie's family on the way home.  We decided it would be easier to stay and drive over after the session (yeah for flexible planning?).  Just as we were going to leave, Seth cut his eye and cried and cried.  It was on the actual eye itself and there was nothing in his eye so there was not much we could do.  We washed his eye out, Sharon had eye drops and then we just cuddled.  We jumped in the car and he cried until he fell asleep.  That put a damper on visiting McKay.  The three older kids and I jumped out and had about an hour visit while Jer and Seth stayed in the car.  Poor kiddo.  It took about three days before his eye was really feeling better.  It was fun to see everyone from the beginning to the end of the day.  We're so blessed to live so close.

Mayra, me, Cristina and Evelyn

This was Mayra (Cueva), Karen (Green), me and Emma (Tanuvasa) in our apartment in Santa Elena.  That was a fun one.  We all slept together in the living room and studied in our bedrooms.  That yellow and green bed was mine.

Mayra made sure that we always had something together.  This one, she found a member that would make us "GI Jose" t-shirts.  That was funny.  Another zone she had Hawaiian t-shirts made for the whole zone.  The third time I lived with her, she found Pony Malta shirts for the whole zone.

This was a mission conference in Guayaquil with the whole mission.  I'm there on the left in the blue dress.

If I remember right, we put together a musical number for Christmas.  There were several times that we sang together or that I played the piano.  One of the times, I was asked to play the piano and they forgot they'd asked me, so they had a member come to the meeting and accompany them.... Whoops.... double booked. One of the things I love about this picture, it shows just how "big" I was compared to all the Latinos.  I am 5'4" and I was often the tallest one there unless Sister Gledhill or one of the American Elders was there.

All three of us were missionaries together.

Me, Mayra, and Ben

Ben served in the mission office for about half of his mission, which is where I knew him from.  Later, he returned to Ecuador to be a tourist and reached out to several people that he knew lived in Guayaquil to see if any would like to be his paid guide for his trip.  Mayra said yes, they spent a month travelling together and ended up getting engaged and married.  She came and stayed with Jer and I about 15 years ago while she was here on a tourist visa and trying to apply for all her paperwork to get married and live here.  It's a long road together.

But that's the story of how a 1:00 mission reunion still hadn't happened by 6:00 when we had to leave.

Busy busy

We've had quite the week.

Judy had her another chemo treatment.  She's doing really well.  Feels sick, but the tumors are gone as far as the doctor can see.

Ada kicked two goals in her last game of the season.  She played mid field the entire game.

Seth went on a field trip with school for the first time.  He loved it.  They went to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point.  He came home and told me how he played in the box with corn and ended up with it in his pants pockets and shoes.  They let them pick out a small pumpkin to take home.  Seth told me not to throw it away because it was for, "Hawaleen." That night he couldn't sleep and the next morning he had broken out in blisters all over his feet.  Sooooo, he is either having an allergic reaction to the corn which he's never tested positive for (he has external outbreaks when he's allergic to something) or he has caught hand foot and mouth disease somewhere in the last week.  I talked to their school and they haven't had anyone report it at their school.  That's the only place that he's been in the last week.... We'll see.  I gave him allergy meds and put his eczema cream on .  That made it not itch at least.  If it's hand foot and mouth, it takes about a week to heal.  If it's allergies it take about 3-4 days.  Today is day 2.

Sam, Evelyn and I all took turns with a fever and head ache.  Sam's class had a reported lice incident.  I checked all the kids, I'm making sure that they are wearing their hair up and spraying their hair with a lice repellant spray for a few weeks just to make sure we don't catch it again. I will say that lice is not nearly as scary now.  It's annoying to deal with, but it isn't scary anymore.

My friend, Silvia, left to go home to Ecuador.  She was only here for a month instead of 6 like she'd planned.  Her English improved a lot in that month though.  Her work called and asked her to come home early, she missed her family so it was easy to say yes.  She said that she wants to apply to BYU's ESL program with her husband so that they can both come study up here and bring her son too.  She'd also like to try to get into the art museum circuit up here.  She enjoyed being here.  She said that with all the Venezuelan immigrants coming to Quito, it's hectic, hard to get employment and scary to let you children leave the house.  Well, we might see her again if their visas get approved.  I admire that she has goals and is willing to jump through the hoops to get to them instead of taking shortcuts.   My Friday was spent running her around to finish up any errands (her son is vitamin deficient and his hair is starting to fall out, we went and found all the vitamins that the doctor asked her to bring home for him), and driving her up to the airport for her flight.  Ada drove up with me and we had a mini date on the way back.  In between, I was going over to mow the Robertson's lawn and Evelyn didn't want to go.  We were dropping her friend off at his house and they invited Evelyn and Seth to stay and play while I went.  Their oldest daughter asked how long it would take me.... I told her that with two people it took about 1 1/2-2 hours but I was on my own this time so it would probably be about 3 hours.  She said, "Just a minute." When she came to the door, she had shoes in her hand and said, "Okay, I'm ready."  She's one of my Laurels that really struggles spiritually.  She's so willing to serve.  I think this will help her as her testimony grows.  Sam and her took turns with the push mower doing the edges of the grass and helped with the leaf blower at the end.

My brother, Seth, came over to host another kid D&D night.  Sam surprised him with a new player.  I felt bad, but Sam had been talking up D&D to our autistic neighbor and he loved it.  Seth has the patience of a saint.  I know it's not easy to try to roll with the punches that kids can throw at you, but he did and it was beautiful.

For Mutual, we had a hygiene night.  Did you know that hygiene is part of the Personal Progress Program?  We did a scavenger hunt in groups, then we talked about each of the items and why they were important.  They were things like soap, deodorant, bras, pads, toothpaste, etc.... we also talked about alternative things they can use ie:salt sticks instead of deodorant, baking powder instead of toothpaste, etc... basically that taking care of your body is important and should be done and there are different ways and things that you can use to do it.  I was surprised at how many people didn't have an answer to why you use deodorant or toothpaste.  Or why you should wash your bras and clothes.  Hmmmmm….. the laurels were  hosting, so we put a lot of 11-15 year old girls on the spot, but it turned out well.  For the fun activity afterwards I bought dollar store eyeshadow and lipstick.  The girls got in pairs and had to close their eyes and use q tips to put make up on each other.  They even did mine.  It was so funny.

We now officially have a new roof.  We've had rain and no leaking, so I think we should be good for awhile.  Our old neighbor was our roofer, they did a great job, cleaned up after, and it only took 3 days.  Roofing is a very lucrative business I think.  About half of what is charged goes to materials, the other half is split between your 3 person crew for a 3 day venture.  (besides taking out money for business taxes and insurance)  Especially if your crew is fast and you have a lot of jobs scheduled.... That's a decently paying business.  I've done roofs a couple of times now.  We could have done it ourselves, but I'm really glad not to right now.  I'm okay with paying someone for this one.  On Friday, we should get our solar panels back on.  I'm excited for that.  That's a big chunk of the need to dos here.  The next one is trimming trees before it snows.

As a side note, Jer was able to get tickets for our family to go to the Conference center for Saturday morning's session of conference.  I'm excited.  Seth will stay with my parents and I'll sit next to Evelyn to keep her happy, but I think that it will be a neat experience all around.

The rest of this week

Jer is working to get the furnace and water heaters vented correctly so that our new roof won't leak.  And while he had the roof cut open we had a hail/rainstorm that was amazing.  Luckily Jer was able to keep most of it out.  

Tuesday, my sister, Janelle invited us to have Thai food at her house for her birthday.  It was fun to hang out.

Sam's Tuesday soccer game went well, a little sunny, so Seth and I hid under the umbrella during the game.  Sam made his first goal of the season, it was awesome.

Ada's soccer game Thursday game was awesome. Thursday was great for her in general.  She got the part in the Aladdin play that she tried out for the week before (shopkeeper - which she wanted because it was a speaking part but not a main part), and was approached by a recruiting coach.  All in a positive day for her.  While she was playing at her game, the coach from the competitive team asked me if I was number 11's mom.  He said that she was a great player.  She's always been a very solid player but I never thought "star player".  He said that he'd talked to the ref and he'd told him to watch her during the game because he'd been impressed with her in previous games.  And he said that he was impressed and wanted her to try out for his team.  We had always said we weren't going to do competition because of the money and time involved, but I told Ada that I'd let her decide.  She was going to try out and then decide if she qualified.  A day later I got a text saying that they cancelled her tryout (I'm guessing they found plan A and Ada was plan B).  It's a relief to me timewise, but I am super proud of her.  And yes, as a player she's always where she needs to be and has a nice strong kick.  She's a great goalie, even if she doesn't believe it, and is a good mid fielder as long as it isn't too hot to be running around a ton.  Either way, it was a great compliment to her to be approached.  It surprised her, but I think that's a great surprise to be had!

Mutual was a YW's glow in the dark dance.  It was fun.  Ada had on pokemon socks and the eyes glowed in the dark.  I thought it was hilarious.  I spent most of my time hiding the glow in the dark bouncy balls that kept hitting people in the face when they got thrown and calming down our autistic Laurel that has a fear of balloons popping.  I'd distract her and she'd be fine for a while until someone would go by hitting a balloon around.  Then I'd distract her again.  It's good for her to learn to cope, but the learning curve is not always fun.

On Friday we went to Holtz The Planets.  It was fun to go to the symphony again.  Silvia loved it, especially when the played the Star Wars theme.  She thought that was great.  Friday morning I helped fill in for a friend of mine with her home daycare.  She has pneumonia.  I had 6 kids under the age of 5, plus mine.  I've filled in for her before, but usually it's a bit of a mix of big kids and little.... this time all little.  They were good, they ate what I made for lunch, they all cooperated at diaper times except one.  Monday, I filled in again.  This time with 8 kids.  It went well, but my kids don't appreciate having to pick up the house after they all leave.  What they don't know is that the $200-$300 she'll pay me will be part of their Christmas.  Maybe they'd be happier about it if they did know?  My kids are very cute with the little ones when they get home from school though.  Ada went and "cooked" with one, Seth played with the preschoolers, Evelyn and Sam kicked balls around with a couple of the little boys.  It was cute.

Sunday, the kids played with legos...

Sunday, Karsen came to visit with Silvia.  She was our mission nurse and these two were companions for a long time in Guayaquil.  Karsen said that Silvia was her favorite companion.  And go figure.... now neither of them can eat gluten and have problems with anxiety.  Maybe they just understood each others struggles really well.  It was nice to visit and send Silvia off to meet Karsen's family.  She also had one of the missionaries that baptized her come yesterday.  Silvia had seen on facebook that he worked at a dentist office 10 minutes from here.  We tried to stop by and surprise him, but apparently they don't work on Fridays.  So she contacted him and he came to take her for the afternoon to meet his family and catch up.  I think that meeting people again after you finish your mission is a huge joy.

Silvia also gave me a rather kind compliment.  She said that when she's at home, she gets stressed out and gets angry especially with her son for not doing things perfectly or keeping things clean.  She said that watching me care for kids that are not mine and then treat my own kids with as much love and care as the ones that I was being paid to watch, she realized that she needed to be kinder to her son and let him be a child and make mistakes and still be loved.  She struggles from anxiety.  As she told me about her relationship with her father and the bad things that came from that, I can understand why she gets so wound up.  I also hope that she does see more clearly that her relationship with her son doesn't have to be a reaction to the relationship she had with her father.  I told her that that's why I like travelling and visiting.  I learn from each and every person something that can help me learn and be better myself.  That's one of the more valuable results from going places.

I love driving this thing.  I wouldn't mind this kind of job as a daily thing as long as I could drive a John Deere!  It's a nice mower.

These are from last week, but I went and did the lawn with Seth on Tuesday while everyone was at school and work.  It was a little cold, so Seth cuddled up in my big jacket and watched a movie on my phone.  When he was done he helped me mow.... he sat on my lap and helped me steer.  It reminded me of my dad and grandpa putting us up on the tractor growing up.  Especially my brother McKay.  Seth had the biggest blast and is now asking me to let him help me again next time.

I stole these from Judy.  Playing in the pool one last time before it gets shut up for the winter.

Utah State Fair

My kids did some summer reading programs this year.  They got free books, pizza and passes to the Utah State Fair (including a ride a drink).  So we took Family Night and our Ecuadorian guest and headed out to the fair.  I really like showing the little kids the animals.... that's the sad part about them getting older... but they had a blast and asked if we could come back again.  I told them to keep reading to get free passes.  We saw part of the Knights of Mayhem show too.  We usually like watching the jousting, this time it was full contact jousting and just made my tailbone and hips ache to watch.  We saw two jousts, and 3 of the 4 people were unseated and 1 was unable to keep going.

Ada and I think they put the angel wings upside down, but if they hadn't have done it, no-one would be able to reach them for pictures except the very tall.

Cristina and Frederico

After being married for 16 years, and two weeks before their 3rd baby was due to arrive, Cristina and Frederico chose to be sealed in the Salt Lake Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  It was beautiful.  I hope that the sealing will provide them with strength as they continue to progress as a family.  We were able to get Cristina's mom here from Ecuador for the sealing and the birth of the baby, but because of her arthritis and non English speaking they asked me if I could escort Cristina in the temple and hold Christian at the altar when they sealed the kids to the parents.  It was beautiful.