Olivia 1st Piano Recital

Olivia has been taken piano lesson since September and she loves it. Saturday she had her first recital and she was so nervous. The teacher had her be towards the end of the recital and the poor thing couldn't take the anticipation until her turn. When it was her turn she walked up Introduced her self and said what song she was going to play. We were so excited for her and so happy to see her play. She did AWESOME and we are so proud of her!!!

Halle got in a fight with the slide at Chick Filet!!!!

Our little tomboy loves to climb, jump and rough house a little too much. We took the kids out to dinner on Saturday to Chick Filet with some friends 10 minutes after getting there a lady runs out and tells my friend that her little boy is crying, 2 minutes later Jeff is in the play land and sees Halle flying through the air and landing on her face. She said she was going down the slide but we don't think that's what happened, the slide is super slow, there is no way she could have that momentum to fall that hard and that fast. However she did end up with a fat lip and a swollen eye.

Girls Night

There is nothing better than getting together with your girls friends. I have a great group of friends, we have been friends since we were in the sixth grade. We get together every month, It was my turn to host so I decided to have a sleepover at my house, I sent the husband and the kids to my mother in laws house for the night. ( I know, how lucky am I to have such a wonderful husband that would take all four kids to his mom's so I could have quality time with my friends.) We ate dinner then we just sat around and talked, talked until we could not keep our eyes open any longer. We had the best time ever. It's so nice to be able to see your friends grow up and fulfill their dreams and be able to share all of our ups and downs together. To say the least we all had a great time, I should of taken some pictures but I forgot. One thing that I forgot is that I'm not 12 anymore and staying up all night kicked my butt all of the next day...
My sweet husband came home to a messy kitchen, which I was going to clean after a took a little nap, when I came down he had done all the dishes and cleaned up for me. I wonder what I'm going to have to do the repay all of his work???

Christmas

The kids could not wait for Christmas morning...Santa was a little more on a budget this year. We were a little nervous about that, well I wasn't but Jeff was a little stressed. The kids were so cute every time they opened a present they would say just what I wanted how did Santa know? After we opened all of our presents we went to Jeff's parents for a delicious breakfast and Christmas bingo, yes, Bingo it's crazy but it the funnest game ever on Christmas... It's a family tradition only the adults get to play and you have to be a Almond to play. We all bring gifts and Jeff's parents hide money in the present and when we win we get to draw a number and we have played all the games we take turns opening our presents. Right after that we headed to my parents for dinner and to Celebrate Alexx birthday she is a Christmas baby. This year we decided to make a Colombian feast my mom makes the best soup and I made payeya and my sister made empanadas. Oh yeah, It was good!!! and I think it's good for the kids to remember that they are part Colombian. We had dinner and opened more presents and hung out for a while and then we headed home exhausted. It was a long two days but we loved every minute.

Christmas Eve

We went to Jeff's parents on Christmas Eve. The whole family meets up and we have appetizers then dinner. I think, I love the food more than the presents...Ronnie Jeff's dad always does a little story from the scriptures, he is so cute and just like me cries with every story. This year he called all the kids and wanted them to share a Christmas story from when they were kids, Jeff shared when he was little they did the 12 days of Christmas to a family that they knew and he talked about how excited he was to run up to their door and leave the present without them seeing him. and what a great experience it was for him to give without receiving. The story I could remember was our first Christmas here in the United States, we were in our apartment opening presents, that year we didn't have much but we didn't seem to care we were so grateful to be living here. My mom had always wanted a strand of pearls but of course with 3 little kids there was never any money left for her pearls. That year my dad had bought my mom her beloved pearls, all us kids knew that he had bought them for her and we couldn't wait for her to open her package and when she opened the box and saw her pearls, she was so surprise and so happy!!! I remember I was more happy for her and seeing that she finally got her pearls. It taught me that sometimes seeing the people that we truly love happy is even better than our own happiness. I think the pearls were a little symbolic that we were here for a new start and that together we could accomplish anything.

Halle is growing up!!!

My sweet little Halle is so cute. I was getting her ready for her pre-school Christmas party and she picked out her clothes and we were doing her hair, I asked her how she wanted me to do it, she said I want pony and braids, I said okay and did her pony tails I braided one side and went to do the other side and she said, oh no Mom, I just want one braid and one pony tail. I explained that usually you need them to match and she said but I don't want them to. I thought it was cute and let her go to school with her crazy hair-do. After school we ran a few errands ran into some friends at Target and they all pointed out her one braid, when I explained that we did it that on purpose, they all seemend a little surprised that I would let her out of the house like that. It's so cute to see her little personality grow and I love the fact that even though I tried to have her change her mind, she didn't and thought her hair looked great!!

Count our Blessings

I know, I know thanksgiving was last week but with how crazy my week was this is my first chance to write.

I had to speak in Sacrament the Sunday before thanksgiving and that took all my free time. Public speaking is not my favorite thing to do but I couldn't say no. My topic was Gratitude and I decided I would touch lightly on my dad and his accident and how much he has grown in these couple of months. I couldn't tell you how much he has changed for the better. My dad is wonderful and has always been a great person but the only thing he was missing was the gospel in his life. He started taking the missionary discussions about a month and half ago and last Sunday he got baptized. It was such a wonderful day and we were so grateful to be there with him. The spirit that was in that room was so strong. It was pretty amazing!
Jeff got to confirm him that night. He gave him the best blessing.