Boyd K. Packer Message

The following link is a message given by Boyd K. Packer on October 12. He talks about what is happening in the economy and what it means to us. It is very inspiring and I encourage you all to read it. Then, feel free to leave a comment to discuss.


Click Here

I agree that tough times are coming and that now is the time to prepare ourselves and our families.

If you want a SMILE on your face, click on this link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13947426@N07/2418995621/

It's really cute!

(I haven't figured out how to have the video directly seen on my blog yet)

Spotlighting...Someone Special

A Shout of Cheer goes out to my sister-in-law, Sara Johnson!!! She completed her 1st Sprint Triathalon. Through all the sweat, hard work, and committments to all the hard training, we just want to say...We're so proud of you!

The North Pole...A Fun Place!

Another fun thing we did with Grandpa and Grandma Strong was take a day trip to the North Pole. Our cousin Erin and her kids Damien and Lydia were also able to join us. We even had the chance to meet Santa! There were so many fun rides, cute Christmas shops, yummy treats, and shows to watch. We also had the chance to feed the goates and watch the Llamas. I think one of the highlights was going down the Candy Cane slide. We did that at least a dozen times. We flew down that slide super fast, on burlap bags.

Even though they had a food court we decided to pack up some sandwhiches and had a picnic right inside the park. It worked out great! They had a nice picnic area. Then we were on our way to continue our fun.

They even had a Haunted House. All of us girls were chickens to enter the Haunted House, due to the anticipation and the guy that worked there was spooking all of us girls. Finally, Erin and I decided to build our courage and enter in the dark hallways of the Haunted House. We jumped and screamed like little girls (well I did, Erin was very brave). What we didn't know was the guy that worked there entered the Haunted House the back way to try to surprise us and really scare us. Not on purpose Erin and I managed to take a wrong turn and exited the house sooner than we were suppose to. So we met up with my mom and grandma and they tell us what he was planning to do. Too bad for him his plan didn't work. :)

The park had a lot of cute Christmas shops we found out that we are allowed to do some Christmas shopping without having to pay full price for the park. So we'll have to consider doing that between now and Christmas. Any excuse to go shopping... :)

It was easy for us to spend ALL day long at the North Pole. We practically rode every ride at least twice. This was Cassidy's first time to experience all different kinds of rides alone and with all of us. Her face always had a smile. It was just as much fun for Derek and I to be a part of her exploring another world of fun. We can't wait to take her to Disneyland.

Grandpa, Grandma, & Abuelita (Little Grandma) in Colorado

We were blessed to have family stay with us for a couple of weeks. We were able to do many fun things and share many laughs.

We enjoyed spending time at the park. We enjoyed being up close and personal with the ducks. Wherever we went they followed literally, we walked around the whole pond and the ducks waddled behind us. Then we enjoyed the playground. Cassidy had fun pushing Grandma and Abuelita in the swings, Grandpa got dizzy pushing Cassidy on the merry-go-round. Us girls managed to all get on the same slide to take a 4 generation family picture. Abuelita did amazing on the slide since she just turned 92 years old. It was a beautiful day with lots of sunshine.

My mom and abuelita helped me one night to make "Alfajores" a Peruvian dessert, kind of like a cookie with a sweet milk cream in the middle, for a Primary Activity at church. The children were going to learn about new cultures from all over the world. My friend Patricia Allen and I covered South America together. She's from Venezuela and my roots are from Peru. It was fun to share information regarding two countries we love with the children. Cassidy had the chance to dress up with her Abuelita too. It was a fun night to also see the other displays and taste other samples of food from other countries. That night the children also got to learn about Fiji, Africa, Iraq, Australia, France, Germany... just to name a few.

Just hanging out. Grandma taught Cassidy how to play Uno cards, Grandpa and Cassidy built towers with her blocks, played games on the Wii (Derek and my dad were tennis champs.) Celebrated Derek, my Dad, and Abuelita's birthday, just days apart. Abuelita had the men beat by age, turning 92 years old. We had fun dressing her up for the big birthday bash. Hope I can be as good in health as she is when I'm her age. She's pretty amazing! (Notice the little fingers diving in the cake while mom was busy taking a picture.)

So I was successful and convinced my mom to let me straighten her hair. It was a fun mother daughter bonding experience. I love my moms curls but thought it would be fun to see what she looks like with straight hair. She's such a great sport. Thanks mom for trusting me and for playing along.



Just had to include this picutre of my little grandma with her suitcase that's so cutely decorated by my sister Jess.

Welcoming Baby Trenton!

We have a NEW NEPHEW! And he's just SO CUTE!!! He's already soooo loved by his brothers Matt, Branden, & Carter, more handsome nephews of ours. TRENTON DREW was born on October 3rd, at 5:40 am and weighed 7lbs 3 oz and 19 inches long. Congratulations Doug and Jill!!!! We love you and can't wait to meet the little guy! So glad you're all doing well. And so happy to have some happy news in our family since Dad's heart attack.