Nayeli's 4th Birthday Interview

Nayeli's 4th Birthday Interview

1. What is your favorite color? Pink
2. What is your favorite toy? Strawberry
3. What is your favorite animal? Doggie, penquin, turtle
4. What is your favorite food? Chicken nuggets
5. What is your favorite treat? All the treats
6. What is your favorite thing to do with Dad? Do secrets (aka pretend their sneaking a treat behind mom's back)
7. What is your favorite thing to do with Mom? Play with playdough
8. What is your favorite thing to do with our family? Make balloons for Teddy's birthday
9. What is your favorite TV show? Minnie Mouse Bowtique
10. Who is your best friend? Audra and Jackson and Nora
11. What is mom's job? To do the dishes
12. What is dad's job? To go to work everyday and pay money
13. What is your favorite song? Do you want to build a snowman (from Frozen)
14. What is your favorite movie? Frozen
15. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Jump on the trampoline. We need to put a trampoline in our backyard. It needs to have a net on it so then we won't fall off of it.
16. What is your favorite outfit / thing to wear? My church dresses
17. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas and Valentine's
18. What do you want to be when you grow up? Ballerina, bike rider and artist

Anything else you want to say?
Um, I love doing ballet. Can we do some more of this?

Things To Miss

Things I will not miss about living in Wilsonville, Oregon:

- Traffic and congested roads
- Cost of living
- The rain
- Our small apartment

Things I will miss about living in Wilsonville, Oregon:

- Everything else

As you can see, this has been a wonderful wonderful place to live. We hit the jackpot when we were directed to live here and we will always remember our time here with fondness. Now onto new adventures!

The Prayers of a Three-Year Old

Nayeli is beginning to learn to pray and it is the most adorable thing ever. Most of the time she just thanks Heavenly Father for "this day", but the other day she offered a prayer like this:

"Dear Heavenly Father, we're grateful for this day. Please bless that when I get older I'll still have curly hair and I'll like tomatoes. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

Ben and I couldn't help but peek and smile at one another. Nayeli is such a joy to have in our house and she is getting to be such a fun age. I'm so happy she's ours and I look forward to many more prayers from this sweet girl.

Nayeli and Ben perfecting the selfie

Nayeli's Dream House

For our entire married life we have lived in a two bedroom, one bathroom, single story apartment. Consequentially, this has become Nayeli's norm and it's been evidenced by her amazement when we go to other people's houses.

For example, if we are visiting another home it isn't uncommon for her to come to me and say with amazement, "Mom, this house has a garage!" or "Mom, this house has stairs!". My favorite though was when we visited a friend and she told me with wide eyes and excitement, "Mom, this house has two bathrooms!"

From these statements Ben and I have been able to formulate the qualifications for Nayeli's dream home:

-2 bathrooms
-Stairs
-A garage

Picky girl, huh? The beautiful thing is that the house we are buying has all these qualifications and more such as an entry closet, two family rooms, three bedrooms, a crawl space, a backyard, and a pantry. Needless to say that we are all pretty excited about the house and we feel really really blessed. Dream house found.

Adventures at Table Rock

Amid the bustle of moving preparations and house purchasing, we have been making an effort to get out and enjoy our last days in Oregon. We have LOVED the beautiful nature we've been able to explore while here. In fact, Ben and I were recently reflecting on how little we know of downtown Portland, but how much we know of the surrounding wilderness and outdoor recreation. In fact, we both agree that going into the city stresses us out and we dislike it. Although there are fun things about Portland, we don't like the crowds, the inevitable traffic, or the difficulty parking. An evaluation of how we have spent our time while living here definitely shows that we are country mice, not urbanites.

On one of our recent outings, we took advantage of a rare sunny day to hike in the Molalla wilderness on a trail called Table Rock. Ben had done the entire eight mile trail before, but our objective this specific day was only to get outside, hike a bit, and build a campfire ("and cook s'mores"- Nayeli's request). Because so much of the land in our area is privately owned for farming, one must drive to public land to make a campfire. In this case, we had to go out an hour and twenty minutes, but it was definitely worth it.

Ben took the challenge of building a fire very seriously:

He splintered the wood before we began to hike.

Nayeli is just starting to get too big to carry, so we tried her out walking on this hike. We hadn't been on the trail more than two minutes before she was saying, "I'm tired. Carry me mama". We just had to keep distracting her with treasure hunts and such so she didn't realize that she was hiking. 

Oregon forests are just stunning 

We hiked up until snow covered the trail and made it difficult to continue. By then we were ready for lunch and a campfire, so we found a clearing and went to business.

Ben has commented how difficult it is to make a fire here since all the wood is so wet. I think he felt his manliness was in jeopardy if he didn't get the fire started. 

Teddy helping Ben blow 

 We have fire!

We ate lunch and cooked s'mores over our campfire, then cleaned up and hiked back down. It was a fun little adventure with our family, and we had a great time. 

What a Rollercoaster of Weeks!

The past few weeks have been CRAZY! Here's a summary:

Monday, Feb. 1: Ben found out that he was accepted into the full-time MBA program at the University of Utah. Not only was he accepted, but he earned a resident tuition scholarship as well as $20,000 additional scholarships. I was SO proud of him and we were SO excited! The kids and I made him a sign, bought balloons, and drank Martinelli's to celebrate. We planned to take out student loans, move into student housing in August, and do school full-time for two years.

Wednesday, Feb. 3: Ben was offered a job by his former employer, Blade HQ, to come back and be their marketing manager. The position is a huge promotion for him and after some salary negotiation (which Ben rocked and I was so proud of him for), we felt like we had two great options in front of us.

Celebrating Ben's acceptance!

We spent that weekend thinking, deliberating, and praying like crazy. By Sunday night we both felt like the right decision was to take the position at Blade HQ and do the Professional MBA (night program) at the UofU next year- once we can get residency tuition.

Monday, Feb. 8: Ben accepted the position at Blade HQ. Our thoughts then naturally turned to the question of where we would live... and we realized that we could buy a house! Woo hoo! A dream that we had had for years was one step closer to being a reality. I began to furiously look at houses, but found very little on the market that was within our price range. Many of the houses were old and needed a lot of work. It really wasn't too promising. I spoke with two realtors that told me that the good houses in that price point were going in a matter of days. Being so far away, I felt so out of control. It began to stress me out to the max, in an almost unhealthy way.

Wednesday, Feb. 10: Ben sat me down and told me that he couldn't live with me so stressed (he was totally justified in this, by the way) and so we agreed not to buy a house until we were in Utah. We decided to move into my parents basement until we could find a house. In fact, Ben quoted the scripture to me, "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10) which I really needed to hear and has since become my mantra.

Thursday, Feb. 11: A boy I attended high school with posted on Facebook that he and his wife were selling their house in American Fork, just a mile from Ben's work. It had just gone on the market that day. It was adorable, in a great location, and within our price range. I completely forgot Ben's and my agreement from the night before and called my sister Laura to ask if she could look at the house the next day.

Friday, Feb. 12: Laura went to see two houses for me in the morning. The first wasn't great but the second, my friend's, she loved. She called me as she walked in and talked me through it aka "Here's the kitchen... oooh it's got a nice sized pantry..." By the end of the conversation, we were both sold on the house. I called the realtor and told him that I'd need to talk to Ben before we put an offer in, thinking Ben would need time to think about it, but when I called to tell him about it at lunch, he was all for it. So we put an offer in a bit below asking price and waited.

Saturday, Feb. 13: My brother Mark came into town to watch a basketball tournament my niece Makayla was playing in, so we went to watch her play in a game. All I could think about was the house. Would they take the offer? Wouldn't they? By that night we had found that there was another offer and that there was a possibility of a bidding war. To make a long story short, Ben and I made a final offer that night but I went to sleep tossing and turning. I wanted the house so badly, but I didn't want to pay too much for it. It was a long night.

Sunday, Feb. 14: Valentine's Day, but that was the last thing on my mind because I was a tormented soul. I knew that the final offer that Ben and I had made on the house wasn't strong enough, but I didn't know how to increase it without getting into a bidding war. My dad happened to call and offered a solution we hadn't thought of- offer to pay full price for the house and pay closing costs. It made perfect sense and didn't increase our overall cost too much. So I texted my realtor, apologized profusely for making him work on Sunday, and asked if he could submit one last offer from us. After that I felt peace and knew it was in the Lord's hands.

Monday, Feb. 15: We found out our offer had been accepted!!!! I cried I was so excited and even Ben was thrilled. Honestly, the Lord dropped that house in our laps. We were so lucky to get it, really we were.

We also realize that the sale can still fall through, but as of now let's get excited because, we're under contract to buy a house!!! We look forward to having a yard, planting a garden, painting walls, building shelves, and all that stuff that home owners do. Yes, I know it will be a lot of work but it's work that we are excited about and looking forward to.

Now we are in the midst of moving tasks such as packing, scheduling moving trucks, collecting boxes, as well as house items like home inspections, financing, and appraisals. Among the day to day work though, we can't help but marvel that our dreams seem to be coming true in ways we couldn't have forseen. Our goal for so long was to go back to school and now we have other amazing options without having to throw school completely to the side. We will have less debt, a better place to live, and a great professional stepping stone for Ben in the meantime. The Lord is so creative and wonderful- it seems he's given us our cake and is going to let us eat it too. Our cup runneth over.

My 31st Birthday

I am writing this over a month late because it has been a crazy crazy month, but I'll write all about it in the next post. In the meantime I need to tell about my 31st birthday and how great it was.

For the past three consecutive years, Ben has been gone on my birthday due to SHOT show, a trade show he attends in Las Vegas. This year, however, he was able to leave as late as possible, meaning he was home for half of my actual birthday on Sunday and flew out in the afternoon. For that reason, we spent most of Saturday celebrating my birthday. In fact, he had his interview at the University of Utah on Friday, flew home early Saturday, spent the afternoon crashed on the couch (can you blame him?), and then we went out on a date that night. We hired a babysitter and went to a delicious Italian restaurant in Lake Oswego, then came home to have ice cream and blow out candles. Well a candle, to be specific. I'm not much of a cake person, so it was the perfect dessert.

On Sunday morning Ben made a delicious crepe breakfast (my favorite), I opened gifts, and then we got ready for church.

My handsome, dapper boys 

These kiddos are the cutest, aren't they?

Ben came to part of church with us, then left to catch his plane. After service the kids and I stayed busy by taking selfies... of course. 

That night my wonderful friend Dennine invited us over for dinner so I wouldn't have to cook on my birthday. It was fun to be together and was the perfect end to my night. Honestly, it was a fun day and we celebrated it in a great way. Really, this getting older thing isn't bad at all- I don't know what everyone is always complaining about ;)

Zumba

I have always wanted to try a zumba exercise class, and I mentioned so to Ben once. Then recently Ben asked if I would like to take a zumba class offered at the local community center. I said of course. So for my birthday Ben bought me a pass to an eight week class every Wednesday, and since the class is at 5pm, Ben also comes home from work early and cooks dinner. It has been the best birthday present I could have asked for to be able to get out one night a week, as well as not have to stress dinner.

The class itself has been really fun. The instructor is spunky and always has a smile on her face. We live in an area with a lot of seniors, so out of 20 or so in the class I am the youngest under 50. I'm basically dancing zumba with my mom and I love it. I love being in situations where I can make friends that I wouldn't make otherwise, and I have. You can't dance with others and not bond.

I have two more weeks of my class and I have loved how it makes me feel. Moving my body to music feeds my soul and makes me feel young. Props to Ben for winning the birthday lottery this year. I won't ever forget it.

Put In My Place

Currently, our family's future seems so uncertain. We might move to Utah, we might go back to school, we might change jobs, we might start a business, we might buy a house, etc. For a planner like me, the past few months have been trying. Changes have been uncertain and progress slow-moving. In all honesty, it has taken a great deal of effort to keep myself optimistic about the future.

One Sunday I was feeling especially frustrated and hopeless. In Sunday school the teacher was talking about how in the Book of Mormon Nephi asked to see the vision that his father saw (1 Nephi 11). He related it to us by saying how we can also ask the Lord to understand or know something that we desire to know. In my heart I said, "Heavenly Father, I just need to know that you will take care of my family. That's all I want to know. Help me to know that you will take care of my family". I didn't ask about school, jobs, homes, moves... I just wanted to believe that he would take care of us.

My answer came sooner than I expected in Relief Society as the teacher, during the lesson, wrote in huge letters on the board, "TRUST GOD". I studied the words and as I did the Spirit said to me, "Athena, has the Lord ever let you down before? Come on. Will you give him some credit?" It was almost comical and I nearly laughed at the scolding I felt from the Spirit. Despite the chastisement, peace filled my heart and tears came to my eyes. I pondered my life and all the ways it has not turned out as I planned - it has turned out even better. As I've followed the Lord, often by taking a step into the darkness, I've seen the light and it has been brighter and better than I could ever have imagined it.

So as we continue to step into the darkness, I'm going to give the Lord some credit and trust. He has a great track record in my book, and with a history like that I can't help but feel that the future be better than I could plan for myself. But really, who knew the Spirit could give such a tongue-lashing, huh? :)

She's a Sunbeam!

This month Nayeli started Sunbeams. She had been so excited for weeks to be in Primary. She is getting so grown-up and it is so fun to see her become a little person.

Her teacher told me last week that she asks lots of questions in class, questions that pertain to the lesson but are a little off subject. For example, the lesson was on Moses and she asked, "Why did the King kill all the babies?" and "Will slavery ever come back?" She is a little questioner and it cracks me up. I think she's going to give her teacher a run for her money.

Also, a few times since she started she's said to me, "Mom, guess what song I have in my head? Scripture power!" What a smile it puts on my face! I love Primary and the principles it teaches and am so happy she's learning the gospel truths that bring me so much joy.

Ben's Interview at Utah

A few weeks ago Ben interviewed at the University of Utah to start their MBA program in the fall. He applied to both BYU and Utah, and although he didn't get into BYU, we were excited when we heard that Utah wanted to interview him. They were willing to pay for his plane ticket and hotel to go down, so he left early Friday morning to spend the day in interviews and classes.

He was in need of a new suit so we bought one. He looked really sharp.

The interview went well and now we wait until about mid-February when they said they'd get back to us. Although we have no other schools on the back burner, we aren't twiddling our thumbs. We have a plan B and C that are in the running and no matter what, I know that the Lord will take care of our family.

Besides, look at that handsome guy in the suit. Could you say no to that?

To Seattle for the New Year

We didn't have any plans for the New Year, except maybe to go to bed at 10pm on New Year's Eve. That's pretty much our New Year's tradition every year.

After dinner, we opened crackers with paper crowns and little toys inside. Then we banged pots and pans outside our apartment. That was the extent of our New Year's Eve celebrating but it was just perfect. 

On New Year's Day we awoke and packed up the car to head to Seattle. Ben's brother Sam recently married a girl named Bonnie from Issaquah. We went to Seattle for the wedding and met her family who are all very nice. Sam and Bonnie live in Utah, but they were spending the holidays in Seattle and invited us to go up for a few days. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to see them, as well as get to know Bonnie's family better.

We arrived at Bonnie's brother's house and were immediately treated like one of their own. It was so fun to talk to Bonnie's parents and brothers and sisters. We spent most of the afternoon chatting, then Bonnie and Sam drove us out to Snoqualmie Falls. They are beautiful, gigantic falls outside Seattle and although it was really busy, we loved seeing them as well as the lodge nearby. We then returned to be with Bonnie's family and after dinner we played a rousing game of keep away. I haven't played such an intense game with adults and it was hilarious.

That night we stayed at Bonnie's parents house. It was fun to see her childhood home and we played "Cover Your Assets" with Dave and Terry. The next day was Saturday so we decided to go on a hike. We headed to Rattlesnake mountain to try and summit Rattlesnake Ridge.

Sam and Ben carrying the kids

The trail ended up being too icy, but our consolation was Bonnie's dad treating all of us to shakes at the local mom and pop burger joint, which were delicious. 

Before we headed to get shakes we let the kids throw rocks into Rattlesnake Lake. It was really cold though and they didn't last long.

Saturday night Bonnie's sisters and mom invited me to go get manicures and pedicures together. We had a great time. Later that night we sat up late talking with Sam and Bonnie and Dave and Terri since it was our last night there.

The next morning we packed up early to make it to our church at 1pm. We said goodbye to everyone, then began to drive south. As fate would have it, a big snowstorm was moving through the area and we hit it full on. Multiple cars had slid off the roadways and there were many accidents. It made us nervous but we took it slow and arrived home safely. Our church had been canceled for the day due to ice so we had our own little church services at home and enjoyed the tiny bit of snow that had fallen in our yard.

It was a great trip and a great way to start 2016. Happy New Year!

Rain Rain, Go Away

A friend recently informed me that we're offically Oregonians now. That's because we've finally experienced a real Oregon winter. Apparently the last two winters we were here were mild, but this year really delivered.  Delivered as in... it rained every day. Okay, I exaggerate. In the month of December it only rained 28 days. So there's that.

But let's get further into the data because it is rather impressive. For example, December in Portland was the wettest December and wettest month ever in Portland in 75 years. As of the 21st of the month we had had 13.52 inches of rain. For reference, that's about an inch short of what the state of Utah gets in an entire year. All over the state there was flooding, sinkholes, landslides, mudslides, and even a tornado up in Washington.

I won't lie and say it didn't affect me. Be it hormones or the weather, I had a moment in the middle of the month that I told Ben, "I'd have to go on medication if it was always like this!" But thankfully Christmas brightened my spirits and we've recently had some sunny days. They are still cold, but we bundle up and get out of the house because, we can! And we don't even get wet!

Although there have been plenty of rainy days that we've gotten out of the house too. And Oregon is still beautiful, even when it's wet.

And I apologize if I sound dramatic, but I did just survive the wettest month in Portland in 75 years, you know? Here's to more sunny days in 2016!

Growing Up

My kids are growing up. Of course they are, you say, but don't act like that realization is so obvious. Don't be that lady in the grocery store who longingly looks at your kids and says, "Enjoy this stage. They grow up so fast". This is, of course, happening while you are in the check out line, trying to pay for your groceries while one kid is crying because you won't buy her a candy bar and the other is seconds from breaking his arm as he tries to climb out of the cart. 

Because although I can appreciate the message this woman is trying convey, I have to say that most days I don't believe her. Most days, after I've picked up countless toys, cleaned up a plethora of messes, and changed innumerable diapers, I can promise you that it feels like they will never. grow. up. Really.

And then they surprise me. Like the first time Teddy slept through the night. After over a year of sleepless nights rocking him, nursing him, burping him, singing to him, I felt a light penetrate the darkness of my life. I would sleep through the night again. Of course, we go through phases, but his sleeping through the night gave me hope for the future.

Then this week I was getting lunch ready and Nayeli told me she didn't want to drink milk from a sippy anymore. She wanted it in a cup. Just like that. Is that how it happens?

Not to mention that we had to move Teddy to a toddler bed a few weeks ago. His fantastic climbing skills extended to the crib where he fell out multiple times (without serious injury). We finally bit the bullet and jimmy-rigged his crib, which is not made to convert into a toddler bed, into a toddler bed. Ta-da!

He's actually done surprisingly well with sleeping in an open bed. Yes, there are many nights that he falls asleep by the door to his room and I have to move him, but overall he has managed to control himself enough to fall asleep in the confines of the bed.

He's also become interested in Nayeli's underwear and the toilet as of late. I finally broke down and bought him car underwear after a few days of him wearing Nayeli's Minnie underwear all over the house. At his own insistence he has gone pee in the toilet twice and insists on being put on multiple times a day. He's only 20 months so I won't be pushing him to potty train until he's ready, but it is promising that he's already showing interest.

 Putting it on himself

Speaking of Teddy wearing Nayeli's things, he's definitely taken a liking to her Elsa dress.

When he puts it on we call him King Elso.

As for Nayeli, she is also spreading her wings and becoming more independent, especially when it comes to fashion. She's very into the monochromatic look, or she goes for the "everything must be Minnie" look that you see below (note the socks).

I think it's fun to see her creativity come out in her clothes and I let her dress herself however she wants unless we're going to church. Then I have to make sure she looks at least half decent.

So maybe the lady in the grocery is right, it does go fast. They will grow up and I'll look back on these days and not remember the messes, tantrums, and diapers. I'll remember the good more than the bad. I'll be that woman in the grocery store that counsels the young mother in line. With that realization in mind, my resolution this year is to enjoy each phase more and wish that they were older less. Because as they grow, there are few things I'm certain of, except for one thing: they have both stolen my heart and I am happy everyday to be their mother.

Teddy climbing me as I was working on my computer one day

Another Christmas in Oregon

This year for Christmas we decided to stay in Oregon. With our trip to Utah for Thanksgiving we felt it would be good to stay at home and enjoy a Christmas with our little family. Something to know about me is I love the holidays and I love to make them fun. I especially like to plan fun activities when I know we won't be with family. That way I don't have time to miss anyone and I get to just enjoy time with Ben and the kids.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we went up to Mt. Hood to go sledding. It had been raining for weeks straight at our house and I just wanted to see some snow! So to Mt. Hood we went with some sleds we borrowed from our friends.

We weren't disappointed. There was A LOT of snow!

Ben and Nayeli headed down the hill!

Ben decided the snow was just perfect to dig a snow cave, so we all dug in

We had so much fun! The weather was great and everything was BEAUTIFUL!

Our final snowcave- about the time the kids were tired and wet and we called it a day.

We had to have snow chains on our car since all the roads on the mountain looked like this

All the trees were beautifully frosted with snow

Once we arrived home, we got to cooking dinner. After enjoying a yummy ham dinner, we frosted gingerbread men to leave out for Santa and watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas, even though Nayeli told me she was too afraid of the Grinch to watch it (she's a very sensitive child when it comes to entertainment). 

This is how Ben rigged up our snow clothes so they would dry- genius.

Once we finished the Grinch, we acted out the Nativity story. Nayeli was Mary, Teddy was Joseph, Ben was the donkey and I was the angel.

After that the kids soon fell asleep and Ben and I readied the house for Santa to come. The elves had worked very hard to make fun stick horses for the kids and were so excited for the kids to see them!

Santa came! And we were even all in bed by 11pm.

The next morning at about 7am Nayeli came to my bedside and said, "Mama, can I lay by you?" I let her crawl into bed with me, wondering if she had forgotten that it was Christmas. Then she excitedly asked, "Do you think Santa came yet?" to which I replied, "Well, we'd better go see". 

Stick horses! They were so excited!

A pink flashlight!

Elsa and Anna bandaids! Whenever anyone asks what she got for Christmas, that is the first gift she mentions. 

Teddy got a dinosaur from Grandpa Dave!

Elsa and Anna figurines from Grandpa Dave!

Teddy got an airplane and wasted no time in making it fly.

Our friend Veniece gave Nayeli unicorn slippers

Of course Santa had to bring Legos

The Christmas morning mess is the best mess of all

Stick horse rodeo!

Showing off her gifts. Can you tell her favorite color is pink?

After we opened gifts we ate breakfast casserole and berry drink. That was Ben's family's traditional Christmas breakfast growing up and we have adopted it as our own. As for the rest of the day, we stayed in our pajamas and didn't leave the house once. It was wonderful.

Ben spent the entire day flying this mini-drone that I surprised him with for Christmas. He has always wanted one, so when I saw one at Costco in September for a great price, I jumped on it. He loved it.

In return, Ben surprised Nayeli and me with tickets to the Nutcracker ballet. She has been into ballet for months and so she was thrilled. It was performed by the Oregon Ballet Theater on the 26th downtown so we made a date night of it. It was so great!

My favorite moment was twenty minutes into the performance when Nayeli turned to me and excitedly asked, "Mom, are they doing ballet?" She was so well behaved and I loved it. It was magical.

In our seats

In summary, it was such a great Christmas. We had so much fun as our little family making traditions together. I'm especially grateful for the time I had to reflect on the gift that the Savior was to the world. Every Christmas I feel closer to him. It's because of Him that I have all that I have and love. I couldn't ask for more.