Christmas 2016

Guess who came to celebrate Christmas with us this year? Vovo Zete!!!

It is always so exciting when my mom comes! It is hard not to have her around more often. We miss her presence, her hugs and the way she takes care of us. When she is here my mug of hot cocoa is always ready when I wake up and so are the kids meals when they wake up from their naps.
My mom is so special! She is beautiful, loving and caring.

Christmas usually makes me miss my family even more. So when my mom said she was coming I started jumping up and down! This year she sewed these cute Christmas pajamas for all of us!

Every year we have a special dinner on Christmas eve. We take family pictures, we build gingerbread house and stay up late watching Christmas movies. When it's bedtime the girls leave cookies and milk for Santa and his reindeers.

 Then on Christmas day we ran to the tree to see if Santa stopped by and left some presents, which usually happens because every year we try our best to be good.

This year the girls got this beautiful house the whole family helped to make. It goes over the table, so the girls can bring their toys and kitchen stuff and play house. It has windows on the sides and a typical Brazilian varal to hang clothes. It is the most darling thing ever!

Christmas Presentation 2016

Today we watched Giovanna's Christmas Presentation. As I mentioned before she is currently enrolled on Spanish Immersion, so they sang a song in English and Spanish.

It was soooooo cute!

Mom is in town

My sweet mother has finally arrived! We surprised her at the airport with balloons and cards Giovanna wrote for her. It is always such a happy moment every time my mom comes!

She arrived around lunch time and I already knew where she wanted to eat. Last time she came I prepared a special salad for her, but later she confessed she wanted Taco Bell. So this time before heading home we stopped at Taco Bell to get a XXL stuffed burrito.

Then we opened the suitcases to find lots and lots of presents for each one of us. Bianca got my mom's socks and wore them for the rest of the day. Silly girl!

Last day of a long journey

Since 2009 we have worked so hard to make this moment happen. We worked so hard to keep you in school, to keep you focused, to keep you on going, and on you went.

First obstacle we encountered was money to pay for tuition and bills- you got a job.

Second obstacle was having someone close to us make you lose your job, then be (almost) kicked out of school- you kept studying.

Third obstacle was having to deal with an evil/jealous someone firing you for no reason after being an exceptional employee for over four years- you got help.

Fourth obstacle was when your helper decided not to help you anymore but instead make your life even harder- you overcame.

Then you made calls,

Scheduled appointments,

Filled out forms,

Studied,

Studied,

Studied,

And you did it.

We are proud of you, big daddy!

And we love you forever.

Lu, Giovi and Bianca

Moana

Our family was so excited to watch the new Disney movie Moana- by family I mean me. I've enjoyed Disney movies since I had my first child. Plus, I love their motion, their colors and their songs! :)

I confess that as soon as Moana was available online every time our family wanted to watch a movie I would shout out: Let's watch Moana! And so we did... 152 times!

My favorite scenes are the one Moana talks to her grandma in the middle of the ocean, and the end scene when Moana fights Te Fiti.

Thanksgiving 2016

On this Thanksgiving day we are grateful for homemade chocolate chip pumpkin cookies for breakfast.

We are also thankful for our family, our health, our home, and this country. We are specially thankful for Heavenly Father and His power of deliverance.

Today we are driving to Lehi to spend our traditional Thanksgiving feast with the Matute Family. We are also so grateful for them!

I made delicious homemade chocolate chip pumpkin cookies for them. I know they love it!

The food was delicious and we had a wonderful time as always. We just might have overeaten a little.

Ale and I after Thanksgiving feast:

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tracy Aviary

Today I packed some snacks, I took the girls and drove to Salt Lake to see the birds at Tracy Aviary. It was a long drive from Alpine, but I needed to get out of the house and just have a fun day with my girls. It wasn't so cold in Salt Lake, and the sunny day helped to warm our bodies. 

First we watched a bird show. Bianca and Giovanna loved when the birds started to fly right above their heads. Then we explored the rest of the aviary.

Happy Birthday Giovi!

Today our Giovanna turns six!

We love her so much!  She is loving, patient, understanding, caring, she has a big heart, and she is the sweetest girl!

We always throw a birthday party for her sometime in October, but we always do a little extra something on her actual birth day. Sometimes I like to do a Halloween something for her because she was born close to Halloween.

This year we prepared a Halloween dinner. We invited some close friends to join us and sing happy birthday to her (again).