Sunday, May 11, 2014

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day, everyone! I realize I have been putting a lot of mushy, sentimental stuff on the blog lately, so bear with me on this one. I just wanted to take a second to talk about the two greatest mothers in the world: my wife, Sarah, and my mother, Kathy.

Although Sarah had almost six years of experience taking care of a helpless human being (by being married to me), becoming a mother was still a challenge for her (as I am sure it is with all moms). Taking care of a baby is tough work, even with both parents involved. Sarah has handled it with remarkable grace and patience for the last nine months. El Senor is such a happy, smiley, well-rested kid, and that is entirely thanks to Sarah's tireless work making sure he has the best of everything.

If left to my own devices, El Senor would probably be wearing the same onesie he wore home from the hospital, would never get adequate rest, and would be eating Cheetos for dinner. To my son, if you are ever reading this years in the future, please recognize that you have turned into a functional, relatively normal adult entirely through your mother's tireless efforts, which also include constant monitoring to make sure not too many of my bad habits rubbed off on you. Thank you, Sarah! We both love you so much!

To my mom, you are the greatest mother (and grandmother) I could have ever hoped for. Although my father's bad habits did rub off on me (despite your best efforts, I'm sure), you always did everything you could to make sure I was happy and taken care of. You worked so hard to make everything special, and I will always appreciate that. As evidence, I present the "tower of treats."

The picture on the left is from Easter 2014. The picture on the right... Thanksgiving 2011. The so-called "tower of treats" has been a staple in my family for almost a decade, and it represents a lot of what makes my mom so special. Everyone loves the holidays, and my sisters and I are always impressed at the decorations and treats at my house at every holiday family event (Christmas, Halloween, birthdays, etc). For us kids (and I'm sure many of you readers can relate), sometimes we expect the holidays to just magically happen when we show up at our parents' house.

But this tower of treats represents countless hours of baking and preparation leading up to each and every family event. My mom organizes this tower for almost every family get-together, no small feat when you realize that each time she has a whole different set of amazing snacks. My mom is always working, behind the scenes, to make sure that these events are special for us. I know I don't say it enough, but thank you, Mom, for everything you have done for me, and for everything you do for me and my own family now. You're the best! I love you!

Monday, May 5, 2014

Easter in Arizona

Happy Cinco de Mayo, everyone! We have the day off here in Mexico to commemorate the Battle of Puebla, which gives me a bit of time to update the blog.We went to Arizona to celebrate Easter with my family, since Mexico takes about half of the week off leading up to Easter.

El Senor was a champ on the flight, which was pretty easy considering the flight in only about 50 minutes. Much easier that our ten-hour sojourn to DC last Christmas.

It was great spending a week with my family. We got to stop and visit the new LDS temple that opened in Gilbert, AZ, which was pretty cool.

El Senor had a week of "firsts," including his first Easter Egg Hunt. He only found one egg (with the help of his mother), so, all in all, I would say it was a pretty poor showing. I'm sure he'll step his game up by next year.

He also got to sit on grass for the first time (grass is a rare commodity in Juarez). Although he seems a bit suspicious in this photo, he really did enjoy it.

He had a good time at Easter dinner with everyone, and was his usual charming self. All of his cousins (six in total) thought he was pretty cool.

Best of all, my parents are in the midst of spring cleaning, and asked me to clear out some of my old stuff, including these gems from my time as a missionary in Romania and Moldova. Don't knock the hat; that thing is cozy.


We had a great trip back to Arizona. Thanks to all my family members for making it such an awesome visit. We love you guys!