Bathtub fun

After a long day I confess I don't feel like giving my child a bath before bedtime. But today Giovanna spent most of the day playing outside and in the rain, so we couldn't skip a bath tonight.

Giovi loves baths, and tonight she was specially excited to play with her new bathtub crayons Mindy gave her. She colored the whole bathtub and went to bed as happy (and fresh) as can be.

Food and Water Storage

I know I can finally say goodbye to winter when birds start chirping in the morning. I love waking up with their lovely sound. What a great way to start the day! 

I'm determined to start my food and water storage this year. So today I went to the coca-cola plant in Salt Lake to pick up a thirty gallon plastic barrel for water storage. A friend of mine told me they give barrels for free! I'm so happy it fitted perfectly in my trunk! Actually, it would've fitted two, but we don't have that much space in our apartment.

If you are interested in getting coca-cola barrels too you should call them to have your name on a waiting list. As soon as they have barrels available they will contact you to pick them up.

Coca Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated

(801) 816-5450

2269 S 3270 W

Salt Lake City, UT 84119

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Ana Beatriz AKA Bia e Lucas Mendes Valim

I miss my country and my family. I specially miss my two sunshine- Bia e Lucas who brighten my day every time I see their beautiful smile. 

Bia is eigh years old. She likes drawing and she's really good at it. She also likes books, games on iPad, You Tube, beach, evenings in the pool and Monster High. She has the best grades and masters Math. She prays every night and never forgets to ask Heavenly Father to provide a way for our family to be together soon. I love my forever baby girl!

Lucas is four and full of life. He has so much energy! He loves running around, jumping and swimming. He also likes cars, trucks, movies, grandma's cuddles and snacks. His favorite color is blue and he likes to emphasize he's macho. He has a big heart and quite a temper too, just like his mom. He's our lil man and we love him more than chocolate. 

There are no words to express how much I love and miss these two, daughter and son of my heart!

Marriage and Family

Ale and I were invited to attend Marriage & Family Relations course on Sundays at our ward. Our teacher is also a Family Therapist.

Yesterday we learned about treating our marriage as a covenant relationship, and the importance of working on our patience and love, specially when challenges arise. We also got a list with a few attributes we should develop on our marriage. Each one of us was invited to choose one attribute to work on during the week and share our experience on next Sunday.

Have the same goal - exaltation

Trust on our companion

Don't be afraid to love

Have charity

Love as Christ has loved us

Have hope

Be patient

Control our passions

Listen more than we talk

Don't be lazy

Submit to God

Don't fight

 I know we can strengthen our marriage and find joy in our family if we follow our Heavenly Father's counsel. I'll be sharing thoughts as we learn new things in our class.

30th Birthday

Every year I select and print about 300 pictures out of thousands we take over the year, then I organize them in a photo album. It's a little tradition of mine.

Yesterday going through some pictures I found the ones my mom took at Millcreek Canyon for my 30th birthday. I can't believe I'm turning 31 this year. Time is flying.

Sofia the First

Everybody in the house is sick. Ale is actually recovering from a cold. Giovanna has a runny nose and I'm starting to feel the first symptoms of a common cold. Not a fun way to start the weekend!

Anyway... I'm so excited for Spring! Today was a beautiful day! Even though we were feeling a little sick, we still went to play outside and enjoy the nice weather! We went to the park, then we checked out some books at the library, and later on we went to the pool.

She picked Sofia the First books and CD. She's been reading and listening to Sofia all day long.

Just like Ariel

When we told Giovanna she was going to the Salon to get a haircut she wasn't sure if it was a good idea.

Yesterday she was watching Adele (her favorite singer believe it or not), and to make her feel more confident about the whole haircut thing her dad said the hairdresser was going to style her hair just like Adele's. Giovi didn’t like the idea. Apparently, she loves Adele’s voice but not her hair lol.

After some deliberation we finally agreed that princess Ariel has the most beautiful hair and Giovi should look just like her. So we headed happily to the Salon. Our little girl behaved very well and loved all the princess treatment.

Now she runs around so proud of her new look. When someone compliments her new haircut, she replies: "Just like Ariel".

Adele ft. Giovanna @Live

My daughter is only three years old but she loves Adele. Her favorite song is Set Fire to the Rain. When she was one year old she used to clap her little hands at the end of each song of the Live at the Royal Albert Hall album. It was the cutest thing!

In the evening Giovanna wanted to watch the Live at the Royal Albert Hall DVD. My little girl is so girly. As soon as Adele got on stage Giovanna started to talk about her nails, rings and her pretty dress. 

She applauded and sang along throughout the concert. She even wanted to be there seating with the crowd. I told her: "You can't!". Then she replied: "Okay, let's wait for the lady stand up so Giovanna can have a turn". This kid cracks me up!

On the DVD once the concert is over Adele gets in the car and waves bye-bye. Giovanna waves back and asks: "Where is she going?" I say: "She is going to bed and so do you!"

Seasons

I can't express my happiness every time I see this cold weather changing to a rainy, windy days. Spring is almost here! Although winter is not bad at all here in Utah, I miss the warm days. They are busy, filled with outdoors activities and ice cream.

On our way to church today I couldn't stop noticing the trees. I love observing their determination to sprout after a long, heavy winter.

Sometimes in our life we go through different seasons, just like a tree. Seasons where the leaves are not so green, there are no fruits, no flowers. When winter comes we look at the tree (our life) and we feel sad. The tree seems to be dead. Where is its beauty? Is there any hope for that tree? And God says: There is hope! Spring will come and it'll bring color, fruits and beauty again. Because life remains in the tree, no matter what season it is going through.

No matter what season WE are going through, life remains in us and there are blessings waiting to be poured upon each one of us on the right time.

The messages during the sacrament meeting this past Sunday were uplifting. Giovanna stayed just fine at Sunbeam class, and even waved a happy bye-bye. I am really proud of her. The Primary teachers brought chocolate and s'mores to the kids for Valentines. Giovi was very excited.

Alexandre Buck Bellini AKA Ale

This is my eternal companion who I refer in my blog as Ale. We got married in 2008 and since then we've been sharing love, trials, happiness, lessons and much more. Together we have a beautiful daughter we named Giovanna. We are a Brazilian/Italian/American family who lives in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Isn't he handsome?

Scrapbooking

Happy President's day!

Cleaning up Giovanna's room this morning I found an unfinished scrapbook I started three years ago for her first birthday. Since she was born in October I decided to throw a Halloween themed party. All guests wore costumes and Giovanna loved them all. We had a great time.

So today I worked on the last pages of her scrapbook. The job is now done and it looks really cute! Giovanna (like me) loves books, scrapbooks, memory books and photo albums. She's always carrying one around the house, pointing and naming each person on the pictures. When she's not on the picture, she asks: 'Where's Giovanna?'

Cute girl!

What matters most

When I was still in school I didn’t really understood how people would think about marriage right after serving a LDS mission, without a degree, money, housing, or ways to support a family. I couldn't understand either how women from XXI century would choose stay home and raise children over a career. 

After earning my bachelor's degree and improving my English skills an in internship, I was ready to enter the market. But instead, I decided to get married and move to the U.S. Ironically, I got married to a student and started a whole new life with no house, and a very limited budget to support a family.

Ale and I got married in 2008, and one year later we had a baby girl. I turns out I found my place being home, nurturing this little human being.

I've learned so much these past years. The most important thing I've learned is I should always listen to my heart and follow it despite what everybody says. 

Some decisions in life are not easy to make, but trusting in Heavenly Father's guidance I know we can always make the right decisions, and most important to be genuinely happy with them.

Everybody clean up

I looked at my house this morning and I thought: Why in the world I can't keep it organized? I'm always putting stuff away, and in the blink of an eye everything is out of place AGAIN. 

It's an everyday battle I can't win.

Today was one of those days I would get Giovanna and start cleaning up. Of course she doesn't clean up as fast as she makes messes. Every five minutes she would say she was tired.

But we did it. Everything looks nice and clean now. At least for one day.

New goals for Monday

Recently I read an article about why we should choose Mondays to start a diet instead of other days. First thing the article points out is that starting diets on weekends, for example, "when we usually unwind from a busy week, can make us feel like we're punishing, not rewarding, ourselves. And a diet should never feel like a punishment".

Choosing Monday over another day, the article continues, also allows us time on the weekend to get prepared. We can fix our Monday lunch ahead of time, and even plan out our meals for the entire week.

It didn't take me long to be convinced and motivated to improve my eating habits and start exercising TODAY! I don't really have a bad eating habits, but I've been feeling so low energy lately. And I definitely need a lot of energy to do everything I need to do during the week. I think exercising regularly will do the trick!

I'm also planning to start dancing classes just to break my routine, get out of the house a little and have some fun!

So welcome Monday and let the works begin!

Temple & Sushi

Ale and I have a goal this year to attend the temple together once a month. We started doing our family history a few months ago and since then Ale has found many records of his family from Italy.

So on this cloudy morning we took their names and together we headed to Jordan River Temple. I love being in the House of the Lord. Actually, every time I go to the temple it feels like home, a place where I really belong. Sometimes I wish I could stay there forever. I like who I am when I am there. 

It was a wonderful experience making the ordinances for Ale's ancestors. I felt they were truly happy with our help. And I cried. I cried tears of happiness for each one of them. The lovely sisters who were conducting the ordinances cried with me, rejoiced with me and shared the same sweet spirit in the initiatory room.

Later on we met some friends at Freestyle Sushi (Brad’s new restaurant) and had the best California rolls I've ever tried! Not to mention the Half-Baked sushi roll they have- an inside-out seaweed wrap with tempura shrimp, crab mix, cream cheese, avocado, spicy mayo and tempura crunch that I absolutely love! The freestyle nachos are really good too.
  

Ana Carolina Mendes Valim AKA Aninha

Remember I said I would be introducing some family members? Today I want you to meet this beautiful person inside and out, my second mom, my sister. She is smart, independent, strong, creative, and with a huge heart.

We are just three years apart but I consider her my second mom because she took care of me while our mom was working. She cooked, cleaned, protected me, and even disciplined me (like all big sisters do). But she also played with me, danced with me, and woke me up during the night to guide her to the bathroom in the dark.

I miss her so much! I miss her advises, spontaneity, and sense of humor. And I miss her cakes and desserts too! She is one of my best friends. I know I can count on her anytime and she will always be there for me.

I'm so happy for having you in my life! Thank you for giving me the kindest big brother I could possible have, and for making me aunt of two wonderful children who I adore.

Love you Sis!

  (●̮̮̃•̃)..(●̮̮̃•̃)
./█\ ♥/█\ 

EDX - Online Courses from the World's best Universities

I got my bachelor's degree a few years ago. Since then lots of things have changed- I got married, moved to the U.S, had a child, and my world has been fulfilled with the joy of being a mom and a wife.

But I've been missing my school days lately. I wish I could go back to school, but balancing family, work, and school seems too much right now, specially having Ale in school already. Because of that I started considering online classes.

After some research I found out about EDX, a website with online courses from a variety of universities- MIT, Harvard, Berkeley, University of Washington, Toronto, Hong Kong, etc. It is completely free, and most of the courses provide a certificate at the end.

I already took two classes related to my communication degree, and I just started a new one- The Challenges of Global Poverty offered by MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). I'm really excited!

Cute gifts to a cute girl

Giovanna got really excited when I told her we might be going to story time at Tracy Aviary this morning. She got even more excited when daddy decided to join us. 

Unfortunately, we got there just to found out the story time was cancelled for the whole month of February! It was daddy's first time at the aviary.

Later on, Giovanna and I went to donate some toys and clothes we don't use anymore. We also got a few things for her. It's incredible how much we can buy with a few bucks in a thrift store. We found a lot of cute stuff!

Few things about today

• Giovanna and I love going to the library and coming back home with tons of books

• kids have way too much energy

• PMS is not a good thing

• sometimes all we need is a warm bath

• there is no place like home
  
• mom is in love with Giovanna's new Stitch

Good night.

Mom: Zete da Silva Mendes

For the next few days I'll be introducing some members of my beautiful family. Today I want to introduce you to this amazing human being, the strongest woman with the biggest heart I know: my mom.

-Brazil, 1997

Her life growing up was full of difficulties and deprivation. Her adulthood wasn't easy either, but she never gave up on life. She is an example of faith, courage, love, and service, and I am so grateful for having her as my mom. She is my best friend! She knows me, understands me, loves me, and accepts me exactly the way I am.

I love her deeply.

Baptisms

Emily is a sweet girl, daughter of dear friends. Today she became an official member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

It is beautiful to see Heavenly Father's children following His plan and getting baptized in His church. Everything was wonderful- the sweet spirit, the great company, the delicious food.

Last year my niece was confirmed a new member of the church in Brazil. We couldn't make it to her baptism, and it was really sad for me not to be there, hug her, and tell her how proud of her I was.

 Distance is a hard thing to deal with, but my love and thoughts are always, always with her. Anytime. Anywhere.