We love this time of the year!

The Snow

So we went 4 wheeling... it was so cool and cold.
We are so happy that finals are finally OVER, and now we can relax a bit an enjoy this season.
We went with Victor and Amanda, we had such a great time. We played Guitar Hero, baked and ate lots of candy.... and Dave (Amanda's dad ) cooked the best chili ever!

Tis the Season!

So we have had lots of festivities to start bringing the spirit of Christmas into our home. We went to 2 Christmas parties already and last night we were privileged to go to the Christmas Devotional! We were happily keeping the Sabbath day holy by taking a nap when we kept getting interupted by our annoying cell phones. People kept calling about every 15 minutes, so each time we were 1/2 alseep when another call would come... So, 4:00 rolled around and another call came in.
I sleepily answered it and my visiting teacher invited us to go to the devotional with them cuz they had extra tickets!
So, we were like "yeah! cool!"
and they were like "okay we'll bring the tickets over right now!"
"oh! okay!" ( while I'm thinking I'm all gross with bed head from sleeping etc...)
So 2 minutes later the door bell rings (no joke)
Francisco jumps out of bed and gets dressed super quick and I too am quickly throwing on clothes to be decent enough to get the door.
Anyway, so we had to get ready in just minutes to get to the devotional on time! It was nuts!

but we got there, everything was beautiful and the talks were awesome! One of our favorite parts was when the entire audience (21,000 people) sang "Joy to the World". It was so powerful and beautiful. We also loved President Uchtdorf's talk on how Christmas is about light and that we don't need a lot of material things to have a good Christmas; that the bad economy might even be a blessing to some to remember the true meaning of Christmas. Then President Eyring talked about traditions. We loved his story of the live nativity and Samuel the Lamanite. :) We also loved his testimony at the end. It was so direct, so simple and so powerful. and of course President Monson's talk was great! He talked about giving and charity and the true meaning behind Christmas, to remember Christ.

We are so happy for this time of year and the opportunity that we have to share with other our beliefs about the Son of God, the Redeemer and Savior of the world with our friends and loved ones!
Afterwards we went to Temple Square to see the lights. It was cold but it was nice!
Francisco and I are so happy that my parents are coming for the holidays and that baby Claire is being born! phew!!! That was a lot!



For those of you who would like to see the Christmas devotional, here is the link!
http://www.lds.org/move/index.html?type=Christmas&event=2008&lang=english







And here is our awesome Christmas present to ourselves!

Taggered. :)

10 Years Ago....
1.) I was in 5th grade with my 1st unpaid job as a cross-walk guard.
2.) I wore spandex shorts that did not stretch over my skinny legs.
3.) I was best friends with Meg, Amber and Lanae (still 3 of my best friends)
4.) I loved to roller blade.
5.) I thought I was mature. ha.

5 Things On Today's List Of Things To Do....
Hold on let me get my planner. (I can't remember!)
1.) Do diet counseling on Francisco (By the way, if ANYONE in UT wants to learn a diet for weight loss or dumping syndrome in the next few days, I HAVE to teach it to someone! lemme know!)
2.) Finish my cardiovascular worksheet that was supposed to be done yesterday...
3.) Go to work 3-11
4.) Buy a palmogranite and decide how many I will need to put on 100 salads for the RS Christmas dinner.
5.) Don't forget my end of the year assessment at 3:30 with my supervisor! yikes!

5 Snacks....
1.) yogurt
2.) trail mix
3.) fiber 1 bars
4.) fruit snacks
5.) cereal and milk
(Hasn't changed much, huh Ma?) haha

5 Things I Would Do If I were A Millionaire...
1.) Buy a house, probably a car too.
2.) Never go into debt for school!
3.) Go on the adventures that I want to-- travel, rock climb, ski/ snowboard, go to expensive restaurants, stores (not all the time)
4.) Never work, instead volunteer and give to others my time and talents and money.
5.) Invest and save so I can do all the other things again and again

5 Places I've lived...
1.) Albany
2.) Springfield
3.) Hood River
4.) Spanish Fork
5.) Provo

5 Jobs I have had...
1.) Oregon's Own Dollar Store
2.) Waitress at IHOP (earning $2.13/hr)
3.) Pizza Professional at Tomassito's Pizza
4.) Student Supervisor at Cosmo's Connection Convenient Store
5.) Care Technician at CFC

5 People I Am Tagging...
1.) Pa
2.) Danielle
3.) Francisco
4.) Christine
5.) Amanda

Thanksgiving!!!! Yum! Yum!

The cousins and their babies....... The family is growing so fast...It was nice to spend with all the family. First we went over Amanda's family and we had a wonderful feast. Then we drove to Bountiful to visit the other side of the family where everyone pretty much just had a baby. So the phrase "Multiply and replenish the earth" they take it seriously.
Emily now wants a baby...............................She wants a girl...... We will just have to see what happens.
Here all the babies are posing, Alanis was sleeping like a "baby"!
choose one Emma!
This picture is sooo funny.
Nathaniel is ready for winter. Brbrbrrrr!

Emma developing her mother skills
Random pic that we thought it was cute
More family that were visiting from Arizona! It was great to have them there as well.
This picture I look sooo fat! I don't even know why I'm posting it. But Emma liked it!
I know is not very common.... in fact is not common at all... but we danced a little. It was fun.

Our (Future) Happy Family

The best daddy in the world kissing his sweet little girl, Isabelle. We are so proud of her; she is just so talented! She smiles and giggles and stares at us and she's only 2 months old! How amazing! Ahhh...



And here's our sweet little boy dressed up as a monkey. I can't believe he's 1 year old already! This year has just gone by so fast! He is such a goofball! He loves to run and get into things (of course) and we just have a blast together! The other day Francisco put a post-it note on his forehead and when he'd look up, he'd see it and tilt his head back to try to see it better and try to find it with his hands but always felt his head and never his forehead! It was so funny! haha


Yes we will have a wonderful life in 3 years-ish... 2 kids and just pure bliss. What a wonderful life. no school (for me at least) no homework (meaning no essays and projects) the only thing I'll have to do love my babies. It's going to be such a cinch! Easy as pie!...


HAH!
And Francisco wants to have twins...





(I want to thank the actors in this post. Alanis, the adorable little spider. She is 3 months old now and the love of Alicia and Matt's lives (not ours). So she Francisco's 2nd cousin once removed? Maybe? I don't really know how that works... Alanis is the daughter of Francisco's cousin. and last but not least, our adorable nephew, Nathaniel, our little monkey. (We thank God when we get to give him back though!) No, he is a little goof ball and the post-it note story did actually happen. :)

Cute pictures of the Darquea's

Haha, okay, this post is for Lanette!

I got to go to the last home football game for BYU! It was super fun, the weather was perfect, BYU killed SDSU. (Is that who we played? I can't remember...) and I got to spend the afternoon with the girls. It was awesome.

We went over to Sarah and Brett's last Friday night to see their new home! It is beautiful! Downstairs, Brett is creating his home theatre with a projector and everything so we watched a movie on the big screen. :)

Livie is turning into such a little girl! She is precious and we love going to play with her! I don't remember why she was crying in this picture... hmm...

More Questions...

hey, so I just got out of my Anthro class, and i need more information for that paper...
I'm supposed to interview people and ask them what their ambitions are, what their concerns and pressures of life are and why. What are you trying to achieve superficially to become happy?

So, I guess I'm supposed to go deeper than just wanting happiness. How are you achieving that happiness? What are you doing? and what are your morals concerning this? Should you follow your own morals or should you keep up with the world's morals to fit in?

I'd really appreciate it if you'd comment more. I know it takes time and you don't have much, but if you could, that'd be fabulous! Thanks!

The Young and the Restless

Warning: This post is NOT about a soap opera!

ANOTHER beautiful anthropology interview that I must do for another wonderful 3 page paper... Yes, I'm sorry. but PLEASE help me out! We do have a little more time this time around-- I'm pretty sure it's due next Friday-- so 1 week! I also need to do 6 interviews, but I don't think the question is as deep. Well, actually, maybe it is...This question is for the youngins-- so like the 20 somethings. (the more mature audience can answer too, but I'm supposed to interview "young and restless" individuals... hence the title. Yes my teacher actually used those words.

So here it is!

WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM LIFE?

Please expand an this as much as possible; interpret it as you will. I hope to get more instruction on it today in class!

THANK YOU!!!! LOVE YOU!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

Francisco and I carved our pumpkins last Thursday! It was really fun but Francisco kept saying how old were you when you used to do this??? This is dangerous! haha, but alas, I supposed it is dangerous.
Is he eating his pumpkin??? No, He's teaching him how to "open wide!" because he needs some work on those teeth! heehee

This was the first pumpkin Francisco has ever carved! Not bad, eh? Mine is supposed to be a Grandpa in honor of our costumes--- can you tell??? I names him Francisco! haha just kidding!

I went to the Student Dietetic Association Social last night and dressed like a pregnant woman! I had to wake up at 4am for work and then stay there till 5pm! So, i had completely exhausted and decided, what a perfect costume for an exhausted woman with a stomach ache! So, i ate caramel apples and took pictures (Since I am the new SDA Historian! woohoo!) The other two girls are Gayle (the cowgirl) and Whitney (the stop light). They are 2 wonderful girls in the Junior class of dietetics with me! We have an AWESOME class! It's so fun to be forced to get to know 35 other wonderful women! :)

The Adventures of Autumn

We have just had so many exciting adventures this season! First, we got a camera! Our other camera broke because we got sand in it on our honeymoon... silly us. So, we found the same one on eBay for about half the price! We are so excited to have a decent camera again!

Next off, I burnt my fingers in Pen court! Pen court is the restaurant that the Dietetic students run as a food management lab. I was in the cooks station and bringing our more green beans and the hotel pan I was transferring them into was next to the hot pan they cooked in & the heat transferred & I grabbed the hotel pan that was now on fire! It totally stinks cuz it was my left hand and of course, I'm left handed! So, I couldn't write for a good 3 days and I couldn't type and of course, I had 2 papers to write and a tests to take that included essay questions all due within 2 days of the burn! It's looking a lot better now, but I still have no feeling-- it feels like a band-aid is on my finger when i touch it! weird!



Next Adventures! We got to go to a pumpkin patch as most of you probably already know from Sarah and Amanda's blogs, and we don't have any pictures of that, but it was fun and we picked out pumpkins and played a game at Victor and Amanda's. It was fun to get to hang out with both sides of the family!

We also went to Cornbellies on tuesday night! We went with Sarah and Brett and Livie and the Eldredges! It was freezing cold! Francsico didn't deal with that very well. He kept mumbling, "Utah fun..." haha We did have fun though. We went through the corn maze, the not so haunted haunted dinosaur, ate greasy french fries and burning hot chocolate, watched pig races where Sarah had to kiss a pig! and went on a hayride from heck! The boy driving the tractor went way to fast and our trailer was flying around, bouncing and banging; we could barely hang on! It was crazy!
Francisco had a lot of fun in the children's activity area we raced ducks by pumping water down a track and milked a cardboard cow! He also said his favorite part was when we stopped to play a little bit of Tether ball! haha It was really fun though!

Last night, we went to a Halloween Costume party! We dressed up as "Our 50th Wedding Anniversary" or just Gramma and Papa, but either way, it was way fun! Francisco has on polyester pants and a button up sweater, with a stuffed gut so he's have the grandpa pooch! I look more like I'm 5 rather than 75, but oh well; I looked cute! We were the only married couple there too-- it kinda felt like a singles ward, but that's okay. We got to dance and hangout and see a few friends that I haven't seen for awhile. :) Apparently some really molly mormon girls asked one of my friends how long we'd been dating after they saw us dancing, cuz we were so scandalous? I don't think we were doing anything real inappropriate... especially dressed up as old geysers... but they felt better when they knew we were married... haha We also left way early and at that point I really did feel like an old woman-- can't stay up past 11. How pathetic! haha

Please! Help! I need somebody! Help! (me with my homework!)

Okay, so for my lovely Anthropology class, I have to write a lovely 3 page paper about human actions. They forced us to read a selection of articles that included the extremes of both sides; people risking their lives for complete strangers (saving their lives for no reward, reason, etc) doing good for reason, to a piece on Auschwitz, the Jewish camp where they killed all the Jews for no reason at all.

Now here's where you come into play! My question for you is:

1. What motivates people to do evil things? What leads them to depravity? What makes them lose their morals/values of humanity? or did they ever have any to begin with?
2. How can people know about things like Auschwitz or Hotel Rwanda and not do anything about it?
3. what leads people to human self sacrificing? Why do people do good things w/ no motivation?
4. Can all people be capable of these things? Good or bad? Or is it learned? or innate?

I would really really appreciate your feedback, comments, answers as soon as possible! (I'm a little bit of a slacker and this is due Friday)

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Up the Provo Cayon.

So... school is pretty crazy, mid terms, etc, etc
General Conference was amazing, we really enjoyed it. The other day we went up the canyon and the colors were beautiful, and the view was amazing. The pictures arent' that good cause the camera isn't that good, but the camera was free.

Francisco



I don't know how to align the pictures LOL and I don't have the time to mess with it! Sorry... I'll get better

Guess who am I???

Emily is at work... and I'm missing her like crazy. I was going through some of my old pictures and I came along this one. I can't believe how much I have changed. This is my brother and I. Which one do you think is me?

Livie and Me

So, today Livie got to come over and play with me while her Daddy went to the BYU football game! We had so much fun! The first thing we had to do was drop Daddy off at the game and then we came back home and ate lunch. We finally got to eat the stew that I made Thursday that I was planing on making Monday!

See, in my food management lab we learned how to cut with a knife properly and practiced with veggies so I had a big bag of veggies cut and ready to cook Monday night. BUT I left them in the fridge at school. So, Tuesday, I picked them up but didn't have any meat to cook the stew that night. So, wednesday I buy some chuck roast but I get out of school at 7pm so I didn't want to cook that night. So, finally I made it Thursday evening, but didn't eat it because I went to the dietetic opening social and Francisco had to work till 9:30. So, Friday night we're determined to have stew for dinner when my friend Heather invites us to go to PF Changs with them! So, yes, we ate stew for lunch today and Francisico insisted on eating it with rice... I'd never eaten it with rice, but it was good. Livie liked it too.

So, after lunch Francisco went off to work and Livie and I were alone to do whatever we pleased! First we built a tower of blocks. Then we went outside to play with chalk. So after we got chalk all over our clothes, we played on the furniture and rocked in the rocking chair! Then we decided to walk to the park that is about a block away. Livie LOVED the slides and her hair would stand straight up after going down them from all the static! I wish our camera wasn't broken so could've taken pictures... There was also a bumble bee rocking ride that we played on and she started singing the baby bumble bee song! so cute!

I finally convinced her to go back home and we changed the diaper and went to bed. I had to pretend to fall asleep with her (and I pretty much did fall asleep) but she fell asleep quite easily. So, here I am blogging while she sleeps.

Olivia is such a sweet little angel and I love her so much! Of course she's not a little angel ALL the time, but when she's with me, she generally is--- that's the best part about being the aunt! I get to give her back when I've had enough!! :) I can't wait to have another adorable little neice in just a few short months!

Stuff about Emily (Tagged)

1. What is your favorite fictional character from a book or movie?

Edward Cullen!!! OMGoodness, he is perfect. Well, almost as perfect as my Francisco... :)

2. What are your 3 best physical assets?

As told by my hubby: mis piernas largas (long legs), my shape and curves, and my smiling eyes.

3. Name 3 attributes you would be proud to pass on to your children.

My intelligence, my sense of humor, my empathy.

4. Name 3 attributes that you hope not to pass on to your children.

my want to rebel, my people pleasing perfectionism, self consciousness.

5. If you had to give up one of the following things FOREVER, which would you choose? 1. All makeup. 2. Flat iron/curling iron. 3. Razors (laser hair removal isn't an option).

Definitely #2. i don't ever use a flat iron or a curling iron so I wouldn't even miss it! Next would be makeup, then razors. I can handle going without makeup as long as I'm hair free. I actually only wear makeup about half the time anyway...

6. What do you think is your best quality?

My attitude. I am always smiling and try to always have a good attitude about things.

7. What is your worst quality?

I think I'm always right about things and don't like to admit it if I'm wrong.

8. What would be a perfect day for you?

A perfect day would be a day without worries. I'd be with my friends and family and everyone would feel loved and welcome and happy. We'd all go play in a park and eat our favorite foods and play our favorite games. Nothing would go wrong and we'd all go home feeling great!

9. Where is your favorite place you have ever visited?

ooh, I loved Yellowstone, and Florida (but that could possibly be because it was my honeymoon...) Anywhere in the mountains, forest, or canyons is just gorgeous and I love being there.

10. Name something you are really good at?

I'm good at listening. I have a natural ability to listen and have compassion for others.

11. What are you most shallow about?

This isn't one I think about often... Francisco says I'm shallow about his needs... lol I guess I don't cook enough.

12. What is something you're a little bit conceited about.

I suppose my looks.

13. Name 3 things you are embarrassed to admit.

1. I've had 3 UTIs since I've been married. ugh. 2. I NEVER wash my car. Yes, it's gross. 3. I produce so much plaque on my teeth and even brushing like crazy doesn't get rid of it all. (My gums are also receding because of brushing so much...)

Some Honeymoon Lovin'

So, we went to Florida for our Honeymoon. We had planned to go to Cancun, Mexico (had the tickets and everything) when we found out that Francisco couldn't leave the country on a student visa now that he was married. So, we had to cancel everything and we chose to go to Florida. Everything worked out awesome though and we didn't lose too much money. Thank goodness! and Florida turned out to be way way fun! We got to go to the beach, the lake, Downtown Disney, and all the theme parks! We had such a good time. Aw, the honeymoon. I wish I were back in Florida... :)

We went jet skiing on the private lake at our Hotel in Kissimmee FL. It was wicked fun and I'd never been jet skiing before so it was just really exciting. I even drove and appearently you are supposed to be at least 21 to drive, but oh well! heehee

This one is at our private beach at our other Hotel in Belleair Florida (next to Clearwater). The water was so warm and lovely. I'd never really been able to swim in the ocean cuz the Oregon coast is freezing!

We went to Universal Studios. Here, we were waiting in live for the disaster ride. The whole time you are waiting for the ride there all these scary artifacts (like the shark) or destroyed planes, monsters, etc, so you're expecting a scary ride. but then, the ride is just creating out own disaster movie and it's really funny. Francsico was laughing SO HARD! He has the best laugh!

This is Islands of Adventure; Toon Lagoon. When we first took this picture we didn't realize that you're supposed to flip it sideways! We just thought Marmaduke was running up the wall! haha Island of Adventure was way fun!

We took this one at Busch Gardens in Tampa Florida! Busch Gardens was really fun cuz they have rides and a zoo. That day there was a freak thunder strom so they shutdown the rides early and we were next in line for one of them when they shut it down! STINK! I guess we'll have to go there again... :)