Another Trip to Utah!

Since Tito and his family aren't coming home to Florida for Christmas, we went to Utah just for the weekend to visit with them. It was so nice, but not enough! I wish I could spend so much more time with each of my children, just one of one! But I am grateful I get to see them.
We bought superman capes for all three little boys. It is fun to see them running with them!A picture with Abuelito
A picture with Abuelita Of course we visited with our other children and their families also! We love them all!

I Am Grateful For...

One of the greatest blessings I have is my husband. I feel we make a very good couple/team. For example, he is so good at helping me when I ask for help. He might resist(or should I say "he always resists"!) my ideas at the beginning, but then he jumps right in to help.
I love my man!

Danny's Birthday

It's hard to believe that my youngest child is no longer a teenager! Danny is turning 20 years old today! He is on his mission in California right now. We miss him so much! But there is no other place we would rather he be.

Happy Birthday Danny! You have been such a great blessing and joy to us! We love you!

Thanksgiving week

We have so many blessings, and it so good to remember them and take time to be thankful for them!

We were so happy to have Manny home for a week! He flew in Saturday night - Nov. 20th. and stayed with us until today, Sunday, Nov.28th. Even though he still had school homework, we were able to relax, watch movies and just enjoyed time together. His visit was the highlight of our week.


On Thanksgiving day we had eleven guest over for dinner: Sandy and Thamar Ortiz, Walter, Carmen and Jennifer Lagiglia, Carmen and Alfred Arzuaga, Maria, Valeria and Paola Ramirez, and Mario Perez. We had good food and conversation and after dinner we moved to the living room and had a great time singing and visiting. I had my camera ready, but as usual, I FORGOT TO TAKE PICTURES!!:(


Friday after Thanksgiving we started getting the house all ready for Christmas. The anticipation of having some of our children and their families come home is great. Oscar took two days to build a swing set for the little ones, while I have been cooking, shopping, wrapping presents and setting up Christmas decorations. It is so much fun to be working while thinking "grandbabies".
The "new look" of our backyard.
A baby size Christmas tree in our family room.

I love this season of the year! I love a reminder to count my blessings and be thankful! I love to start all the preparations for the upcoming Christmas celebration!

I went to Disney with Dieguito!!

Tito, Karsen and Dieguito came to Florida. We were very happy they came. They had plan a trip to Orlando and invited us to go with them. It was great to get away and I really enjoyed a few truly off days! I love Dieguito and I really appreciated the opportunity to spoil him a little! He is so much fun to have around. And I was again very impressed by the way my children and their spouses are raising their children. I could see how Karsen and Tito always put Dieguito and his needs above their own. We had a very good time with all of them!

A quick trip to Utah

Since our three married children and their families were in Utah for the Summer, we decided to go visit them just from July 8th. to July 13th. to be able to spend time with all three grandbabies - and their parents, of course! Nick, Titi and Reggie were spending a couple months there for Nicks internship. It is so nice to have them living withing an hour of each other.


I realize I need to get better at taking pictures! I always have my camera with me, but I get so busy with them that I forget to take the pictures! Thank goodness Karsen, Titi and Raqui are always ready with their cameras and they always share with me!

While in Utah we were able to go to the Temple with almost everybody. We also celebrated Tito's birthday with a dinner (He turned 26!) and were able to visit with my nephew (I love him as if he were my son!) Billito, his wife Allison, and their adorable children, 'Balito' and new borned Clarita. We love our family and are so grateful to be able to travel to see them!

Princess Leah arrived!

I was able to go to Hawaii for the birth of Leah Raquel. She was borned while I was flying from LA to Hawaii. Perfect timing! Nick picked me up from the airport and we went straight to the hospital. I guess history repeats, because that's exactly what happened with the birth of Reggie: I went from the airport to the hospital! Little Leah was just one ounce short of six pounds! She had lots of hair! What a joy to have a little princess joined the family!
One month old now, and no longer 5 lbs. 15 ounces.




Oscar joined me in Hawaii two weeks later. We had such a great time! We "discovered" a place called "Kahuku Grill" We liked it so much, specially their 'banana bread sunday' that in ten days we ate there at least six times!!


We stayed in a nice hotel and Reggie loved visiting us there and swimming with us in the hotel pools and at the beach!


Reggie of course grew so much the days right after Leah's birth! He was not so sure how to react to the fact that now Leah is part of the family, but he really tries hard to be extra nice to her!
He cracks up when we take her from him! Funny boy.

Waiting and Waiting!

It has been two years and a month since we last saw Manny. We were so excited to see him again after his mission. Our family sure changed "some" while he was gone! Three grand babies were born, Danny, our youngest child left to go on his mission, and Titi was about to have her second baby. As a mother, I had the responsibility to bring balloons and a poster to the airport!


He didn't see us at first and he kept walking behind the glass doors! But then he saw us!


First it was Mom!


Then it was Dad!


Back to Mom!

Then back to Dad!

We honored Manny's wishes to be the only ones at the airport for his mission homecoming! We were very happy/emotional to see him! How sweet is the feeling to have him return with honor!


Manny came home Friday, August 27th. We went to the Temple on Saturday. He gave a talk and performed a musical number in Sacrament meeting Sunday morning, and flew to Utah Sunday afternoon to start classes on Monday morning! Thankfully, I was able to go and stay a few days in Utah with him!

Visit To Lion County Safari

While Titi and Reggie were here in Florida, we went to Lion Country Safari on May 28th. There were two things that Reggie absolutely loved: The water mist and his chance to drive the Yukon! He did not even notice the lions!! But that's ok. Maybe he will see them next time we go.

Youth Pioneer Trek

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We had so many great experiences during our youth Pioneer Trek! We joined with the Fort Lauderdale Stake for it. Over 200 youth participated. Our Stake, Pompano Beach, had ten families, each family had between 9 and 10 "children" plus the ma/pa. Ft. Lauderdale Stake had nine families. We - the leaders - had some planned obstacles for the youth. The first was a big tree in the middle of the path, we thought that would force the families to un load the carts, carry the cart over the tree and then load everything again. This was a task to be performed only by the young men, no help from adults. Our wonderful young men tried once, twice, three times... could not move the tree. They decided to do exactly what we had planned. Suddenly, one of the young men reminded the others about prayer. They said a prayer asking for strength to move the tree, got up and tried again...They moved the tree!!! It was such a sweet experience! We (the leaders) realized we underestimated our youth! We did not plan on them thinking about praying! I was most impressed when they decided they also needed to have a second prayer - to thank the Lord!


The boys trying to move the tree.

We had a girl walking at the back of her "family" always holding the hand of a young man. I did not think anything of it, but was so touched when I realized this was a 21 year old young woman, walking with her brother who is autistic! Then I started paying more attention to them: Every time we stopped, she would take his shoes off, check his feet to make sure he had no blisters, clean them and put his shoes back on. Since we only had broth for dinner the first night, she got up early the following morning, went to the canal/river and caught fish, cleaned them up, cook them and fed her brother! I was taught many great lessons just by observing her!

I was most impressed with our mas and pas. We had all kinds of couples, but I realized we are all in this together, it sounds cliche, but it is so true, particularly when we are talking about gospel living. Each family was so different, but no better or worse than the other. We had two families with only mas - Sister Cristina Cardenas and Sister Krissia Monsees. They were so wonderful! Originally Cristina was going with her husband, but his health did not allow him to go, so last minute she asked Krissia to go with her. But the night before the trek, as I was working the last details, I received a phone call. We had about eight more youth who wanted to go! I did not have the heart to leave them behind, so I called Cristina and Krissia and asked if they would be willing to each lead one family. They were worried, but accepted. They were so wonderful, and the young men assigned to their families rose to the ocassion in such a great way!

One of the young men from this late group was a non member. During our testimony meeting he shared with us how he didn't know if he should be baptized, but when he was in "solo time" he prayed and ask Heavenly Father to give him an answer. After his prayer he opened his scriptures and they opened where the story of Jesus' Baptism is recorded! He recognized the answer and will be baptized this weekend! Was I glad I decided to let this group joined, even when it was so late!! The Spirit must have been whispering to my ear, no doubt about it!



Here I am talking with the other Stake YW President, Sister Peck.




We all had such a spiritual experience. The feelings stayed with me for over a week. And now I even feel physically renew, and my poor husband, well, like he puts it, he got his wife back!

Trip to Orlando

I had not been to the Temple this month, so we decided to go yesterday. Reggie stayed awake all the way up, except for the last ten minutes....as soon as Titi and I got out of the car, he woke up and started to cry, but we wanted to get into a session that was about to start, so we left Reggie and Oscar in the car and we got into the Temple quickly. I was a little worried because Reggie LOVES to play with Oscar, and Oscar doesn't seem to notice when Reggie needs to quiet down and take a little break (aka nap!). Titi and I had a great session. I love being there with my dear ones! We called Oscar as soon as we came out of the Temple. He said: "We had a blast!" He took Reggie to Downtown Disney and they walked the stores and had ice cream and a great time! We then went to have some lunch and were going to go back to Disney, but Reggie went to sleep as soon as he was secured in his car seat. He was so exhausted, he did not wake up until we got home! Reggie adores his grandpa!

My Dear Abuelita Juanita

Today I took my abuelita Juanita to the Airport for her trip back to Guatemala. She was so sad to leave and I was so sad she was leaving. We both cried! She is such a good example to me. There is peace around her. She surely knows how to control her tongue at the right time! I want to be more like her! She is a hard, hard, hard worker, I also want to be more like that! Even when she has so much pain on her knees, she finds work and does it. She hates to sit down! She always tells me that the day she doesn't get out of bed will be the day she dies. I always think of a song that tells that to make some people kneel down you have to cut their legs, but she doesn't have problems kneeling down-figuratively speaking, she is very humble already- but I have a hard time trying to get her to sit down and rest, that is almost impossible. I hope to see her soon again! She will be 88 years old this coming October, no grey hairs yet! (No, she doesn't color her hair!) Here she is with me (her grand daughter), Titi (her great grand daughter) and Reggie (her great great grandson) Too bad my mom (her daughter) was not here when we took this picture, we would have had the five living generations in this picture. I'm "working hard" to be more like her!

Titi and Reggie are home!

Ever since Raqui and Gabe left, Oscar and I have been waiting for the next visitors. Well, Titi and Reggie came yesterday morning. It was so much fun to go to the airport and see Titi with this little "thing" walking by her side! Yes, Reggie is walking and he was just walking and "talking" to Titi when I found them. He came home and started walking all around and just admiring the ceiling fans and looking out the windows to see the trees. When I took him out to the backyard he wanted to walk right into the pool. Of course Oscar could not disappoint him, so he got in the pool with Reggie right away! How fun!

Mother's Day

I have a love/hate relationship with Mother's day! Love it because I get to think and thank my mom and my grandma, and many other women I love and admire. They are such great examples to me. My mom is a very strong woman. She is very talented, she sees a dress and she can make it! She also crochets and makes quilts. Those are talents that I would love to develop! She also loves to read and learn. Her days raising us, her children, were very hard. We had very limited resources, but somehow she made do with what she had and we survived! She did the best she could and is still a good example to me. I spent a lot of time with my grandma. I honestly can't remember my grandma ever being mad or impatient with me. I want to be that kind of grandma. This year I also loved mother's day because I was able to talk to all my children on the phone. Manny and Danny from the mission field! I enjoyed hearing them talk to each other. It was so good to hear from the new moms in the family: Titi, Karsen and Raquel! I just love my girls, their boys and their babies! They made me a grandma last year and that is one of the best things that ever happened to me. And you girls - Titi, Karsen and Raquel - are such good mothers! I look at you all in amazement and with a great deal of admiration.

On Mother's day I also remember many great women who have influenced me. I have been inspired, loved, cared and taught by many women! They have blessed my life and my children's lives. We women have that ability/gift: We can bless those around us, even if they are not our own children!

On the other hand, mother's day is for some reason the time I always take inventory of what I have done as a mother, and oh! so much to improve, so many things I wish I had done better or differently! We are always hardest with ourselves than with others! I'm sure this is the case with most mothers. It is good to see where we can improve, but I think I need to learn to do it some other time of the year! That will give me licence to enjoy more fully the love my family showers on me on Mother's day! Good goal for next year!

Life is like that!

The last couple of weeks have been "the worst of times" follow by "the best of times"! I think I had one of the hardest weeks of my entire life, but suffice it to say, life keeps on going and after a storm, the sun shines again. My sunshine came in the form of a wonderful visit from Raquelita and her baby - my daughter and one of my grandsons - Gabe! I was surprised to realize how much healing they brought to me. They had no idea of what was going on or what their presence did. But oh, how sweet it was to have them and enjoy the blessing of holding Gabe and see his beautiful smile. He's a very happy little boy. We were so sad when they left, but we were most happy and grateful they came. I will post pictures of their visit as soon as I get them. Surely, our greatest joys come from our family!

Spring Time

I LOVE SPRING TIME! Nature seems to wake up and I can almost hear it singing! We have a favorite tree in our back yard. I can see it from the kitchen and it makes me sad when it looses all its leaves and I'm always afraid it has died. But as soon as Spring arrives, it comes back to life, with beautiful dark green leaves! We planted roses by the front door, and I think they produce more flower this time of the year. Almost every time a new rose appears, Oscar picks it up and brings it inside to me, always singing me the Spanish song: "Te llegara una rosa cada dia..." I love it! Another thing I enjoy this time of the year is that for some unknown reason I get the cleaning bug. It feels so good to have a very clean house! I have been working on uncluttering our home for a few months now. It's taking a long time, not because it was too bad, but because I don't seem to find the time to do it! But it feels so good to give away or just get rid of "stuff". Little by little I have been getting my new office/work area organized. I am so excited about getting it all finished! One big reason I want to finish it is because I want to start doing more family history, which includes organizing all the pictures, journals and spiritual notes I have been collecting for the last 27 years! I went shopping today and bought a couple of things that make the little room look so much nicer for just a few dollars. My grandma - Abuelita Juanita - went shopping with me. She has so much pain in her knees caused by arthritis but she has always insisted in walking and staying active, bless her heart! I was finally able to convinced her to use a wheelchair when we go out, that is the only way she is not in pain. We had such a good time!

Camping!

We had a great time at camp. Weather was great! Life is similar to the weather this week: beautiful days follow stormy ones. It was good to be outdoors. I enjoyed having a few moments to sit and enjoy nature. The evenings were specially good, the skies were clear, we could see the stars and even Mars. The young women are so wonderful. It is good to remember the things I lived when I was their age, and realized how similar our lives are. I am thankful to be able to remember! We had many good experiences. Oscar has been such a big help! He help me with preparations, to load the Yukon, and with everything he could before camp. Then he actually drove to the campsite to help us put together the slide show of all the pictures I took. It's such a big blessing to have all the support and help from him!! I would love to write a lot more, but I am falling asleep after every sentence I write. What a blessing to have hot showers and a good bed!

After the Storm....

This week I will be going (as a leader, of course) to the Stake young women's camp. I don't particularly enjoy the sleeping arrangements of any overnight camp, but being able to spend the week with wonderful, energetic young women, surrounded by beautiful, glorious nature, more than makes up for the discomforts of the nights. We have been very busy trying to plan all the activities. But right now we are enjoying a wonderful "Florida thunder and rain storm". The weather forecast however couldn't be better for the rest of the week - lower 70's every single day. If I did not have the knowledge of what is ahead, I would be so depressed right now, feeling that all the preparations were in vain, and that our camp was ruined. But the knowledge that the good days are just a few hours away helps me to even enjoy the storm! This is just like what the Gospel does for my life.

I have been thinking about starting this blog for so long! Finally I decided to just do it.

This week has gone too fast. I came back Monday night from a short trip to Utah. It is so wonderful to see our children and their little families. Each family is so unique and I really enjoy visiting them and realizing how different doesn't necessary mean better or worse. They are all good and it is so much fun to see them.

I stayed at Tito and new home. They are working on painting, changing carpet and installing new flooring. I don't know how they managed to accomplish so much: Tito is going to school and working as a fireman. Karsen works two days a week as a Nurse Practitioner and they have their little boy Diego. We are so proud of them! I did not help them at all, just played with Dieguito! It was my intention to help with the actual move, but the house is not ready yet. It is such a cute house, and they are looking forward to having more space!