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 ! :)

My Valentine

was awesome and here is why:

*trying* to sleep in (because since my bladder is the size of a raisin, there is no sleeping anymore), being awaken by a rose and my favorite chocolate bar (butterfinger, yummie), going to romantic lunch at one of my favorite places (Olive Garden) and having one of my favorite desserts (the black tie chocolate mousse cake, heavenly!), then spending the rest of the day with him. He even took me to the mall for some shopping but, with my 41" waist line, there is nothing I wanna buy now ;)

Here are some pictures of the day...

Black Tie Chocolate Mousse Cake after the first bite...

And after there were no more bites left...

Friend Justin proposed to girlfriend Jiyon on a very romantic and chocolate fondue filled afternoon. Look at their matching shirts!! It was cute!

At night we had dinner at Jordan and Lindsey's house and then sat and talked about all sorts of things. Check out this funny pic I took of Jordan and Miley, their dog:

So yes, we can say my valentine's day was awesome!
Next valentine's day baby will be almost ONE YEAR OLD! She will be walking around and she will have TEETH!! Freaky thing...

How was your Valentine's Day, cuties?

Why I Like Fighting

Not street or cat fighting. I am talking about the REAL DEAL: trained skilled athletes that express their "art" in a cage or ring and afterwards, even with broken noses and bloody eyes, hug each other in the name of the sport.

Trevor introduced me to the world of "fighting" and Mixed Martial Arts when we started dating. How couldn't he, being a fighter himself? It's in his personality, it's such a huge part of who he is. Let me (brag and) share with you why I feel SO protected just by knowing my hubby:

K-1 Fighting

Karate, Tae-Kwon-Do and Kick Boxing -> Full Contact Matches

6 wins, 0 losses

2 wins by tecnical knockout, 4 by decision

Boxing

4 wins, 2 losses

1 win by decision, 3 others by knockout

both losses by decision only, which means he fought all rounds without being knocked out and the loss was based on points

Grappling

Submission Wrestling, Jiu Jitsu
2 silver medals, 1 bronze medal

Tournament wins are by submission only, meaning no points counted, you win by making oponent tap out, or say "uncle"

MMA

Mixed Martial Arts, aka Ultimate Fighting

3 wins, 0 losses

1 by tecnical knockout, 2 by submission

Capoeira

Brazilian Martial Art

There are no official competitions in Capoeira, but Trevor has been a practitioner for about 6 years and attributes his success to a lot of the skills acquired in Capoeira - flexibility, balance, agility, etc.

And because bragging is best when there is PROOF, here are some cool pictures of Trevor in action.

PS- as for me, to defend myself when he's not around, why did you think I got a concealed firearms permit?! Hah!

I Am Grateful For - Day 12

Trevor!

Love him so much!!!

Mehico?

Trevor has been in Veracruz, Mexico since last Thursday with his mission companion and best friend Jordan. They went to visit their mission area and, you know, do whatever it is you do when you visit your mission after a few years. He'll be back on Sunday and I... am barely surviving!

A lot of people asked me why I didn't go, here are the main reasons:

1. I have counted vacation hours and didn't want to spend less time with my familia in Portugal in order to spend some time in the hot and humid (yet beautiful) jungles of Veracruz.

2. I am waiting for the next trip to Mexico, hopefully a cruise to a very simple beach like, lets say, Cancun?

Wouldn't that be nice?

Graplers Quest, Las Vegas

This weekend we went to Las Vegas for a grapling tournament Trevor signed up for. The tournament was on Saturday but we got there on Friday night and came back right after the tournament.
Trevor lost his two fights by points. The interesting about this tournament is that, in grapling, you can mix wrestling, jiujitsu, judo, etc. Trevor has training in jiujitsu, which has no time limit and no point system, you go till you submit someone - getting them to tapout of the fight. Some jiujitsu fights can go on for over 20 minutes and it really only ends when someone's joint is broken or a tapout is seen.

In this tournament, there was a time limit of four minutes per fight and points were given when a fighter held his opposer in different positions for four seconds or more.

For example, in jiujitsu, being under your oponent on your back doesn't mean you are in disadvantage, it can actually be a good thing. At this tournament you lost three to five points for being put on your back.
So, for me it was frustrating to watch because even though I saw Trevor doing awesome moves, he wasn't being awarded points either because he didn't hold them for long enough or because in this tournament those moves just weren't as "point worthy."
People that had experience in wresting had a lot more advantage because that is exactly how their tournaments go.




This picture is after his second fight, Trevor is wearing the blue gui and he had actually started choking the guy towards the end of the fight. Had this been a jiujitsu match, with no time limit, the guy would have tapped out or passed out eventually. Here, he was litteraly saved by the bell because when he was starting to faint, time was up and he was the winner, by points.



This was the first ever martial arts tournament that Trevor didn't win, among over 20 that he has participated in. But he loved the experience and had a lot of fun learning new things. He is happy that he wasn't submitted and that he had the opportunity to fight against such skilled oponents.

I also had fun watching the whole thing, especially when there were little kids in this tournament, just SO CUTE!
Oh, and I couldn't pass a chance to meet and take a picture with one of my favorite fighters, Randy Couture.


There is a jiujitsu tournament in Utah at the end of this month and Trevor will most likely participate. I will keep you posted.