London's party

We had two families join us for cake and ice cream. It was intimate but oh so so fun. The ashby sand Gomez are the other two Latin families in the ward. We talked a lot about raising kids that are both Latin and American and what that means. My girls have so much history behind them. I don't want them to feel like they have to choose - you can be both. Both are good and beautiful. More than anything I feel so grateful that I can raise them here.

On another random note. We got a free table from a stake member that was moving. It's gorgeous! I hope to paint it but it's so awesome. The chairs are super comfy and now we have room for six!

Sharing my birthday

I got the sweetest birthday present. Julio and Jeanette welcomed baby Lorenzo Marchena into the world. He was over 9 lbs and gorgeous hair. Now we get to share a birthday for the rest of forever and I could not wish anything more. 

He signals so many promises - so many changes - the true beauty of the gospel and repentance. Lorenzo and I share slot in common and I cannot wait to meet , hug and love on him. I know we will be instant best friends. Happy birthday Lorenzo. Here's to a lifetime of shared greatness. 

Superbowl Funniest Picture

Tyson made this and sent it to his work email. So funny!!!

Valentines day

Nothing big happened. We made a card for daddy and bought him a DQ blizzard. We came home and had naps. When Ty got home I headed to the dealership for an oil change. I had gone earlier but it was a two hour wait. I watched HGTV and read. I'm sure it sounds boring but it was really nice to relax. Sunday we started our dave Ramsey classes. Ty stayed while the girls slept. The class was awesome. We have 8 more to go. Oh also when I got home from the oil change Tyson gave both girls a bath ! Best valentines day present don't you think ? It's funny what romance looks like after kids. 

Family day & London's birthday

We got back the night before London's first birthday. We picked up the girls and it was a wonderful reunion. We spent the day celebrating London and hanging out as family. We hit cafe rio and shared a salad. We then hit the museum of nature and science. The big deal was turning London around. She loved it! It was great to finally see her while driving. We cake home, naps , dinner and them just bring at home. It was a wonderful day. Happy birthday London!

Cancun Part 5

Things we did in cancun

Snorkeling

Sailing

Tulum

Bought a maca

Privilege beach and restaurant 

Salsa classes

Archery

Ping ping tournament 

Checkers

Aqua class

Watched shows

Eating crepes

Played games tenzi 

Walked the beach

Laid on hammock

Went to the disco 

Tested scuba diving

Bike tour 

Marina and seeing dolphins 

Go to church

Take local transport

Went to playa del Carmen

Kayaking

Played games

Crepes every day

Warm air kissing skin

Brown sugar sand

Bartered with merchants 

Read two books

Written thoughts on cancun aka super random thoughts.

We spent Sunday evening with the scottorns watching the broncos play the Super Bowl which was pretty disappointing. They lost 48 to 8. 

We put the girls down and waiting until they were both sleep. At 10 we headed to Sugey house. We slept on a futon and it was hard to actually fall sleep. I had many thoughts going mostly about the girls. We woke up at 515, got ready and got to the airport by 6 am. Sadly we missed the check in time by 8 minutes mostly because we waited forever in the check in line. So we were put on stand by on another flight leaving at 826 am

We made it on that flight and got to Houston. We met Straton and Lauren at our next gate and flew into cancun at the same time. It was amazing to feel the warm air hit your skin. The thing that kept going through my mind was "the air feels like a million kisses in your skin". It was two hours before we got to our hotel. We were greater by fancy juice in wine glasses and our parents. The resort was gorgeous! Tall and wise and you could see the ocean from the lobby. We got our rooms, changed and quickly went to the buffet because we were starving. 

We ate and walked around the hotel. It was so awesome to walk out at night and be warm. We also found a crepe bar and got crepes. 

 The rest of the trip was amazing but way too much to put down. I'm sure if my phone had service I could write it down but we were without a phone for a whole week. We kept Tyson's only for pictures. I have to say that I loved not having my phone. Outside of the daily text I sent Melissa I was so happy to have nothing to check. No Pinterest or blog or checking. It was very freeing. Sometimes I got bored but I let myself learn to sit still or notice the earth around me. Atleast daily I would stand still, close my eyes and just feel. 

I missed the girls and cried whenever Melissa sent me pictures. The time away was healthy for me. I needed a break but honestly I was not sad to leave. I was excited to see the girls and excited to lose the weight I gained. I enjoyed the trip. I did not eat many carbs. I saved my calories for meat and sweets. I did enjoy about 10 small fruity drinks but they never really make me feel fulfilled. My favorite restaurant was the Japanese place and crepe bar. 

My big goal that I had for myself was to not complain once. I successfully did it and I was amazed at how easy going I became. I am so glad I did not bring the girls. I saw several parents there and as much as they had moments of cuteness it was easy to see that this was not "relaxing" or a true vacation. Just different work. We decided that kids have to be atleast double digits before we could take them somewhere like that. 

Our flight home was long. That's another thing I realized - traveling that far takes an entire day and adults have a hard time can you imagine kids? It once again reaffirmed that leaving the kids at home was the right thing to do. 

One of my favorite things was the trivia gaylan and Debbie did for us kids about them. We also had a mini Gerber University where Gaylan had us watch "do it" by AL Williams and gave us his words of wisdom for money and outlook. I know it seemed silly at the time but I know how rare it is to have parents do that and I know it will be one of the things we remember about them. They always want to share what worked for them. No secrets but freely flowing knowledge from people who have worked long and hard to achieve success. 

True to Gerber tradition we went to church on Sunday. This was my first experience and it was super neat. Getting there was crazy. We walked 20 minutes and got on a bus. It was amazing to be around the people and see the church in action. We sung the hymn and felt the spirits. The primary was eager to practice their English with us. We caught a ride to the beach in the back of the members truck. It was awesome. We walked and walked and were sooooo tired by the end of Sunday. Another thing we noticed was the hotel workers. All worked six days a week for 10-12 hours. And they make very little. We met one girl - evely. Young and very hard working. We had several discussion on the gospel and have her info to to go church. I hope she goes. She had slot of desire to learn. 

I thought a lot about me and why I was lucky enough to come to the US. God saw fit to bring me here and my life is Sooo different from those young workers. I feel humbled to have gone to college and married and had babies. We have been do blessed. My biggest fear is that it will end with me. I want to buck to grow and continue with me. I don't want to look back at my life and think that it was wasted. 

One thing that was very unexpected was the new found desire that came into me to teach Sydney spanish. Honestly I never felt a strong desire to teach her. I did not really think it was that important. If anything I thought they would be better off if they did not have their spanish heritage. All my life being Latin had brought me negative judgements and low expectations. I feel like I had "risen" above my Latin-ness. But I feel a little different now. So well keep plugging in more spanish at home.