Are You Ready For THIS?

Since I haven't updated in ages and am going to Recife, Brazil for three weeks on Sunday, probably not updating till I get back... Here is a little of info on how we are doing (and I will try not to make this ALL about Olivia, hehe):

My Mountain Man

Trevor has been working at Sundance for a few months now and he LOVES it! Not only has he met "Bob" (Robert Redford) a few times, but has also met other local (Danny Osmond) and not so local stars (Melanie Griffiths or however you spell her name). Besides giving me the "star report" after each weekend shift, Trevor is loved among his peers and customers, but why wouldn't he?? They're always impressed at how strong he is (carrying two 100lbs suitcases up hills and stairs is not something we can all do...) plus look at the picture, isn't that the look of a mountain man? He has told me that sometimes he has guests telling him "wow this is such the perfect experience! You look like a mountain man and we are in the mountains... PERFECT!" To that I say, perfect indeed!

I love translating!

My dear friend Emma used to translate at the MTC and since she moved to Texas a few months ago, she got me the hook ups! First time they called me to translate it was during the swine flu epidemic at the MTC and Olivia was barely one month old so I told them I'd rather not go then. They understood that and have called me a couple of times after the swine flu was gone and it has been A BLAST to translate there! The first time I went I left in tears... it is so easy to feel closer to Heavenly Father in that environment and it's so easy to really miss the mission too!

Olivia loves "solid" foods!!

(why do we call them "solids"? they're all mashed and soft... can't figure that one out!)

I started her on fresh squeezed juices when she was almost 2 months old, apple and pear juice mainly. Then mashed bananas, pears and apple puree when she was 3 months and the Gerber variety of 1st foods and drinks when she was 4 months. She loves all that she has tried so far! Peach is the only fruit that she won't eat a lot of, but she will eat them. She doesn't love rice cereal and got a little constipated on that so I give her the oatmeal cereal and she LOVES that. I try my best to give her fresh fruits and juices and soups but the veggies usually come from Gerber :)

Tia Helga is back!!

Helga spent part of the Summer in Brazil!!! She got back early in September and we picked her up at the airport. She proceeded to BYU Idaho (or Idahell as I call it, hee hee) but came down during General Conference weekend and we hung out again. Tia Helga, amamos voce!! :)

Olivia's friends

I hope she will have more luck with friends than I do, but so far so good! Maya is Olivia's cousin, the daughter of Trevor's sister Kat. Brighton is also Olivia's cousin, the daughter of my American sister Annie Pinegar Shirley. Kyla is the daughter of Trevor's mission companion and best friend Jordan. And Claire is the daughter of my long time friend Newie (ok, her real name is Janessa). Aren't these babies so cute? If you have my facebook you can see some videos of these encounters.

Lost and then FOUND!

So I thought I had lost Olivia's sunglasses! I was seriously so sad over the loss of those sunglasses, I simply LOVE them and think they fit Olivia's personality perfectly! Well, after moving into my inlaws' and putting things away I found them!! Don't they just spell her name?? :)

I think this is it so far!

I'll be back if I remember anything else...

Hope you'll all have a wonderful end of week and I hope it won't rain or snow too much here while we play at the beach in Recife ! :)

So Far This Week

I've lost 3 days of work due to food poisoning. Yesterday I could barely get out of bed, poor Olivia was bored out of her mind on the bed with me...

Our car was hit and run. The front light on the right side is broken and the bumper is smashed...

My phone was lost or stollen, so if you were thinking of calling or texting your sympathy, think twice...

Yup, it's been a "great" week, wouldn't you say so?

Fake Apologies

I think everybody knows what happened this Sunday at the 2009 VMAs, I don't have tv right now and I know. Then Kanye West went to tv show(s) and radio(s) to say that he's sorry. I don't believe him. I believe he is sorry that his stupidity and jack*$$ness got caught on camera but his apology did not seem sincere to me.

See, sometimes (or most the time) we tell someone we are sorry just because we know it is the right thing to do. We have all done it, sometimes we just know in our heads that we should say 'sorry' but we don't necessarily feel it in our hearts. I remember once learning that if I have offended someone and it has been brought to my attention, the right thing to do would be to say I am sorry. Then, it's up to the other person to forgive me. I have said "sorry" so... if the person does not forgive me then it's not my fault anymore, right? The ball is on their court.

Deep down, I think that's pretty lame. Call me weirdo but I think we can all tell when an apology is sincere, and when it's fake. I can. I have received one of these ones recently and it just... sucks. It sucks because it is clear that it was just "the right thing to do." It sucks because it was short and with not much thought put into it. It sucks because it came right after the words "I love you" and since then the person has done absolutely NOTHING to demonstrate that so called love to me. It sucks because it came from someone who has blocked me out of their live but loves to know what's going on with mine. And it sucks even more because I was fool enough to believe in it and now am hurt again.

I don't even call it fake apology alone... I call it hypocrisy.
But that's just my two cents... what's yours?

Upcoming Posts

I look at that "Upcoming Posts" thing on my blog every single day... just too lazy to make the post I guess. But you know what? It's now or never. Here it goes!

Olivia's Blessing

We blessed Olivia on April 19th, two days before my mom left to Portugal. We did it combined with Maya's blessing at my sis-in-law Kat's house. It was intimate and beautiful.

My Friend the Designer!
A few weeks later my mission companion and friend Susie Lancastar made Olivia's birth announcements. She made them in a couple of hours, if I can remember correctly, and she had five different designs for us to pick. We chose one to print in Portuguese and one in English, and some of you have received yours already. For those who haven't seen them, here they are:

If you'd like to contact Susie about birth/engagements/wedding announcements and digital scrap booking pages, just click here!

Farmer's Market

I love Provo's farmers' market! And even though I don't ever purchase farm produce there (nothing personal, I walk there so it's annoying to walk back with a bunch of stuff...), I love going over with Olivia and watching my fellow capoeira friends perform. Olivia seems to love it too! Here we are at two different occasions at the Provo farmers' market.

The Provo Farmers' Market is on 500 West Center Street in Provo on Saturdays from 11am-2pm.

A Girl Can't Wear Pink Everyday

If you read my blog you know that I don't love pinks, purples, bows, etc. I guess sometimes it IS cute but I get overwhelmed and try to dress Olivia in other colors too. Yes, I do shop on the boys section at times, it has great sales and my favorite color: RED.

But this onesie, from Walmart, is just irresistible:

I guess I am updated now on the "Upcoming Posts" section. Phew!!

Is Olivia Too Old for {almost} Naked Pictures?

I hope not, cuz they are darn cute!

What do you think?

I'm On Call

From today until Monday evening I will be on call with the Center for Women and Children in Crisis and hope there will be no victims of sexual assault.

Boys, no means no!
Girls, don't get drunk at a party and don't leave your water bottle unnatended.

This is not to make my life easier, but yours!

Thank you!

to everyone else, have a nice weekend!

Inspiration

Got an email from my Relief Society today and it had this quote:

“The gospel is a thing of joy. It provides us with a reason for gladness. Of course there are times of sorrow. Of course there are hours of concern and anxiety. We all worry. But the Lord has told us to lift our hearts and rejoice. I see so many people … who seem never to see the sunshine, but who constantly walk with storms under cloudy skies. Cultivate an attitude of happiness. Cultivate a spirit of optimism. Walk with faith, rejoicing in the beauties of nature, in the goodness of those you love, in the testimony which you carry in your heart concerning things divine…I am asking that we stop seeking out the storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight”
(from Words of the Prophet: The Spirit of Optimism by President Gordon B. Hinckley).

Isn't this quote just awesome?? Just what I needed. Thank you, sisters! I keep reading it over and over and over again. I need this quote to become part of my being, right.now.

I have a testimony of this Gospel and that "men are that they have joy." I do have many reasons to rejoice and will continue to count my blessings each day! :)

I'm Checking Into Rehab

cuz baby you're my disease...

I *need* to stop laying my frustrations on this thing (and so many others)!
So help me, Lord!

~~~~ what is your unhealthy addiction?

What Else Is New?!

We've moved! We now live in my in-laws' house. We made the decision last minute, on the day that we were supposed to renew our contract with the apartment complex we were living at. We're not even unpacking everything cuz it is temporary until the house sells and we have to move again. Living among boxes is not fun but saving money is, so we are grateful that our inlaws let us stay there for a while.

I also changed my schedule at work. I now work from 7am till 1pm. I don't love waking up early but I am LOVING to get home a little after 1pm and knowing I have the rest of the day to spend with Olivia and Trevor! Feels great!

Yesterday was interesting... I took a sleeping aid prescribed by my beloved doc because I was having difficulty falling asleep (I've been sleeping about two to three hours/night for a while... no, not good) but I miscalculated the amount of time I had to sleep after taking the pill... Anyway, I woke up over one hour late for work and felt drowsy all morning until I got home and took a five hour nap. I seriously don't remember 80% of the things I did and said yesterday before my nap. I think my speech was slow too, as if I were drunk. So... fellow blog readers, make sure you have at least eight hours available to sleep after you take a sleeping pill. Lesson lived, lesson learned :)

Besides that life goes on as usual... Murphy's law has been by our side, in many different ways, what can go wrong, has gone wrong. But as I was talking to an acquaintance last week (I am re-learning to use the word "friend", it will take a while, so I have lots of acquaintaces now) she reminded me of Jesus and Job and Joseph Smith and so many others who were nice people and still had bad things happen to them. See, I know that blessings come from doing what's right and when I don't receive a blessing I am asking for, I have a tendency to think that it's gotta be because I am not doing things right. It's a punishment. I am not good enough so I don't receive the blessings I pray so much about. But I guess it's not always that way... Bad things happen to good people and good things seem to happen to bad people. It's just the way it is and it's part of this thing we call life.

I want to know, though, what do you do when things seem to just go wrong all the time?

5 Months Ago...

I woke up like this:

And after an exhausting but worthwhile battle,

I was given this:

And it was the.happiest.day.ofmylife!

And now I get to enjoy beauty like this:

And cuddle times like these:

I don't think there's a blessing bigger than this!

Do you?