Happy Halloween!

We had a really good Halloween this year. The beginning of the day was nice and relaxed since I had most everything I needed all ready done. I even got to read from my book and got annoyed every time I had to put it down. Baily practiced saying "trick or peat" all day even though she didn't really know why. After Robert got home I finished up making Baily and I's brooms and made the pot of chili I was supposed to bring for the ward party. I had to get dressed up first since I'm on the activities committee and had to be there early. Baily was pretty freaked out by me. She just kept staring at me like "what happened to you mommy?" It was sad but funny at the same time. And no... I wasn't hiding a huge pumpkin under my shirt... that's just my huge tummy. I tried to get her dressed up before I had to leave but as you can see she was not thrilled about it. She probably didn't want to look like a freak like her mommy did. I left with Andre and helped set up the games. Every year our ward had a traditional Halloween block party. They have a whole street and culdesac blocked off for it- everyone on that street is in our ward. They have games, cotton candy, great food and everyone dresses up. It's so much fun. I had to help run the games so I was busy with that when Robert and Baily and his family showed up. Once Baily saw everyone else dressed up she was a little more willing to wear hers. She even wore her hat for a little bit. She looked so cute as my little witch. And I think Robert looked pretty good as well. I must say I did pretty good on our costumes this year. At least I'm gonna say that in my mind since I put so much work into making them! Robert took Baily around to play some of the games and after all that was done it was time for trick or treating. Eeryone lines up on the road and the kids just walk along and fill up on candy. Everyone kept saying how cute Baily was and would give her a little extra since she was so cute. She would only whisper it, but when she said "trick or peat" it was priceless. I love her so much! Her little cauldron was filled to the brim before we even got 3/4 of the way done. Joy. Isn't my little witch so precious?! After we got home we ate some candy and Robert left to go play ball at the church. Baily's watching a video right now and will probably be out within the next few minutes if she isn't already. It was a perfect Halloween for us and I hope you all had a great one as well!

Homemaking Queen... Just Call Me Martha

So yesterday I could have been crowned as the Homemaking Queen. I could have even been mistaken for Martha Stewart. My day started at about 7 and went non-stop until about 1 in the morning. After the morning daily stuff I loaded up Mya in the stroller, Baily by my side and we walked to do some shopping for the stuff I would need for the day. We stopped at Dollar Tree first and then went to Safeway for whatever I couldn't find at Dollar Tree. This is no easy fate when you're trying to push a cart and a stroller and control a 2 year old with very grabby hands. I only have 2 1/2 weeks left with Mya. She's a sweet little girl but things will be so much easier for me when it's just me and Baily for a little while. Anyway I got everything I needed but I was pretty frustrated that I had to pay $15 for a stupid Bundt cake pan! Why couldn't it be a Wal-Mart next to me instead of stupid Safeway?! After we got home and had lunch and I got the girls down for their naps I began the baking frenzy. I fulfilled many roles yesterday such as cake designer/decorator, baker, seamstress, dishwasher and the other normal ones like wife and mom. First was the role of cake designer/decorator. Robert had a competition at work today for best Halloween dessert. A little background for you... he told me about this a little over a week ago but then told me not to worry about it because it was cancelled. Then like 2 days ago he all the sudden needs a cake. I told him to make it on his own and I should have made him do it but being the wonderful wife that I am I agreed to make his Halloween dessert. I decided if I was gonna do it I might as well go all out. I got my inspiration from the October issue of Parents magazine for a gruesome looking graveyard cake. It turned out awesome! For once I think it looks even better than the one in the magazine. I later found out from Robert that there's a $50 first place prize for the competition and I think it'll be in the bag with this cake. Isn't it awesome? Doesn't it make you hungry?! It was a lot funner than I thought to make this. Ok so that's it for my cake decorator role. During creating and baking and waiting for cooling of this cake I also filled the role of baker. I ended up baking about 8 dozen pumpkin cookies and frosting them and putting them in cute little Halloween Frankenstein bags for Visiting Teaching sisters and the families that Robert Home Teaches. The cookies turned out really good and looked cute in their little treat bags but they were a lot of tedious work! After the cake was done and in between baking, cooling, frosting and stuffing the cookies I also took on the role of seamstress. It was crunch time for Robert's costume since he needed it to wear today at work. I have finally finished all the Halloween costumes except for making Baily and I's broomsticks which should be pretty easy. Whew! While I was working on the costumes on and off though I was also a dishwasher and kitchen cleaner and mom to a very needy, fussy baby. Robert's mom and sister helped watch her a little bit (Robert was busy fixing his sister's car) but it was really hard trying to tend to her and get all this stuff done. Plus I had one more visiting teaching appointment and I dropped off the cookies to the other 2 sisters we visit and we had our home teachers over. Wow... I'm getting tired all over again just writing about it. I had to put Baily to sleep and by the time I finally got her to sleep and finished sewing and cleaning it was about 12:30AM. By the time I finally laid down my eyes were burning, my fingers felt crippled and my whole body felt like it had been beaten with a bag of bricks. My VT partner told me I looked like I needed some rest because I had dark rings under my eyes and looked so tired. I wish I could have got some good sleep but I was in too much pain and was having contractions all night. But all this was in the name of love for my family and I really felt like I earned my keep yesterday for a long time. Homemaking is the hardest work I've done and even though it takes a toll on me I love it and wouldn't trade my job for anything else in the world! (Too bad it doesn't pay the bills...)

Awesome Quote!

"The Atonement of Jesus Christ and the healing it offers do much more than provide the opportunity for repentance from sins. The Atonement also gives us the strength to endure 'pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind,' because our Savior also took upon Him 'the pains and the sicknesses of his people' (Alma 7:11). Brothers and sisters, if your faith and prayers and the power of the priesthood do not heal you from an affliction, the power of the Atonement will surely give you the strength to bear the burden." Topics: Atonement, endurance, healing,repentance (Dallin H. Oaks, "He Heals the Heavy Laden," Ensign, Nov. 2006, 9)

I love this quote so much! I just got it today in my email from LDS Gems.

Time Really Does Heal

It's amazing how time really does heal wounds and can change your whole perspective. Sunday night, as I said, was really hard for me and I fell asleep with all sorts of negative emotions and thoughts about revenge and stupid stuff like that. When I woke up yesterday I just prayed my heart out to have a better day and to have strength and control over my emotions and actions. What a difference one day's worth of time can make. Yesterday started out a little bumpy but ended wonderfully. I spent most of the day getting the tornado of our house cleaned up and doing laundry. I really think there's a weekend tornado that hits our house every week or something because Monday's are crazy with cleaning for me. Baily was in a good mood for most of the day which always helps. Mya was not happy at all and mostly wanted to just sleep all day. I wasn't feeling very well. I think the iron pills I'm taking are helping me with the anemia issues a little but now my stomach is always upset and I'm feeling nauseous a lot. I don't know which is worse. I got a letter from my mom yesterday that had my sobbing from beginning to end. It brought something to my attention that broke my heart but then she talked about the miracles she experienced during General Conference and I was very spiritually touched by it. If any of you need good miracle or General Conference stories let me know. My dear husband treated me like a princess when he got home from work yesterday. He truly is so wonderful and amazing and I love him so much. After the way I acted on Sunday night you would think he would be frustrated and mad at me and I would be the one having to gravel at his feet. He teaches me what true love and compassion are all the time by the way he's so understanding and forgiving of me. He knew I was having a hard day on Sunday and earlier yesterday and he was so sweet and loving to me and that made all the difference in the world to me. He took away my guilt and made me feel loved and appreciated. I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful husband. Ok, ok... enough of the mushy stuff. After a nice home-cooked meal (it had been way too long since I cooked) we had a short but nice FHE. We read the article "The Football Game that Changed My Life" from the Octobert Ensign and made a family challenge to be more aware of missionary opportunities and invite people to sporting events or recreational activities we enjoy and then talked about specific people we had in mind. Then we went outside with Robert's family and just enjoyed visiting and laughing. It was nice and relaxing. We had delicioso brownies for our treat. Like I said... the cooking and baking I do from now until I'm recovered from the baby might seem a little boring and easy but oh well. I'm 8 1/2 months pregnant and I can take the easy way if I want to! After we got ready for bed and read scriptures and had family prayer there was such a strong Spirit of love and peace in our home... like night and day from the night before. I don't even remember what it was about but Robert and I were laughing so hard last night. I don't remember the last time I laughed so hard and it felt so good... like literal medicine for my soul. I'm so grateful for prayer and the healing of time and laughter and the best husband I could ever have!

Up and Down, Up and Down

Yesterday was definitely an emtional roller coaster for me. It started off great. It was just me and my hubby and baby girl... nice and quiet, uninterrupted and peaceful. It was nice to finally have Robert go to Church with us since he hasn't been for over a month because of work and being out of town and stuff. Baily was in a good mood so we were all in a good mood. Church was awesome. We got there early so we were able to take the Sacrament which is always refreshing and it was the Primary Program which I always love. Of course I was crying through most of it. The sweet children have such a strong spirit and are just so sweet. When they sang "Love is Spoken Here" it was all I could do to keep from sobbing. That was always my favorite hymn growing up and I remember always wishing I had that kind of home. I had a wonderful childhood that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world and the best parents ever. But I really missed the spiritual aspect of it and I remember thinking every time I heard this song that I was gonna have a family of my own some day like the one in the song. So when I heard this I realized that my family is far from perfect but it's pretty close to the description in the song and I just felt so overwhelmed with love and gratitude. Relief Society was great as well. The lesson was from Pres. Kimball's teachings and it was on marriage. Veronica gave a great lesson and there were some great discussions. I felt so much love and gratitude once again for my marriage and family. During Sunday School I got really tired for some reason and was really having trouble focusing on the lesson. So I read my normal reading in the Book of Mormon. I'm in the part about Moroni and the 2,000 stripling warriors and I love it. They were so faithful. So even though I didn't learn much from the lesson I still got a good spiritual boost. After we got home I had to go visiting teaching and I was looking forward to coming home and having a nice, easy dinner and some good quality family time... just us. Visiting teaching went well... I really do love my sisters. They're such great examples to me and I just love them so much. After I got home I got started on making spaghetti, at Robert's request. I have a feeling I'm going to be making this for dinner a lot more often these next couple weeks since it's so easy and good. As I was making it Robert got a call that his sister's van broke down so he had to go help them. They were way out in Fountain Hills. He ended up being gone for over an hour and a half so me and Baily ate by ourselves. I wasn't mad that he had to go help his sister. I totally understand how car problems happen and you need help... it's happened to us many times and I know his family would help us in a heartbeat. It was just the icing on the cake for me to tip me off into major frustration. Again... I understand they needed help and I'm so glad I have such a wonderful, helping husband who's so willing to be there for his family. It's just hard for me when I can't even get 24 hours of my own personal family time. Our living situation is so hard for me. We can't have conversations or personal time without being interrupted somehow. I know it will be better for everyone once we have our own place. It's just a matter of finding the strength to get through these next couple of months until we can actually get into a place of our own. I know I was even more emotional than I would have been because my hormones were going crazy. And I feel awful because I know my husband thinks I was mad at him for simply helping his family out which I wasn't at all. It's just so hard for me sometimes and when it catches up to me I don't know how to handle it. I've got to get better at controlling my emotions and having some strict self-discipline... not just for me but for my poor family. I can't deal with the crap I'm putting them through and then the guilt I feel afterward. As I was praying this morning for help I had this strong impression that Heavenly Father must love me and have a lot of trust in me to be around so many people that need help and service. I need to live up to that trust from Him and I'm not doing it all right now. Things have got to change. I must change. I must be better. Sorry for the venting and the deep post but like I always say... I must be honest.

Goin' Non-Stop Saturday

My day started early Saturday and went non-stop all day. I got up early to go to my little brother's soccer game which I thought started at 8:30. I found out when I got there that it was changed to 12:30 which stunk since I didn't have to get up so early and since I drove all the way out there. And I felt bad for Zach because when I called and found out about the soccer game from him he asked if he could come hang out with me for a little while and I said yes. When he called his dad to ask if he could come with me he got in trouble for waking him up and it just sounded like poor Zach was having a rough morning. I tried to cheer him up and promised I would be at his game later on. After I got home I took care of Baily and worked on Robert's costume... cutting the material out and sewing and all that jazz. After Robert got up and ready we left with Baily and Bryan to go get some of the finishing costume touches. Usually Saturday is my only day to have my family to myself since Bryan and Tyler go home on Friday night and I don't have Mya. But we had a family reunion so the week was weird. Anyway we took Bryan along so Robert's mom could work on the food she had to bring to the reunion. We went to this thrift store that a lot of friends told me about and we found some cool stuff. Bryan got his costume which we tried to talk him out of... it was some weird super hero costume, but he was insistent about this one. It was only a buck so we got it for him. I also found a wizard hat for Robert that I'm so proud of and witch shoes for Baily. Our grand total? Under $4! Wahoo! After we left there we went and got lunch at Subway (had some good coupons for there) and headed to Zach's soccer game. It was so freakin' hot! Hello!?! It's almost November for cryin' out loud. I was mad at the heat but it was good to see my little siblings. Zach seemed to have shaken whatever was bothering him before off and even though they lost again he seemed in good spirits. And Mackenzie had fun playing with Baily and Bryan. After we left the game we went for a quick trip to Wally World and I finally got everything I need for the costumes. We rushed home, I got Baily dressed and got everything packed up while Robert dropped off his mom at the park and got gas and then he came and got us and we went to the Dominguez family park for the Dominguez family reunion. It was still hot but not as miserable as before. The reunion was a lot of fun. We had good food, played fun games as it finally started cooling off, visited, Baily had fun at the park with her Tio Armando of course and Robert and his cousins had fun playing a game of softball. After a while though and with Baily having no nap for the day I was ready to go home and be with just me and my family. I love my nephew but I was totally Bryaned out. He can be pretty mentally exhausting. So me, Robert and Baily went home and we decided to just eat a frozen pizza and watch a movie and chill. We got about a quarter of the way through the movie when all of Robert's family showed back up at the house so we had to wait a while before they all left. Bryan wanted to stay at the house but I made sure he went home. He had been here since last Sunday... I think he needs at least one night at his own house once in a while. After they left we got Baily to sleep and finished watching the movie and we were out. It was an exhausting day! Here's the pics from the reunion.

Family Fun Friday

Wow... I really do need to update everyday because it's hard remembering as far back as Friday. That's sad. I guess I'll just write about the highlights I can remember. I finally finished sewing Baily's Halloween costume and although it's far from perfect it turned out pretty cute. You'll just have to wait until Wednesday though to see for yourselves! And I'm pretty sure that's one of the only productive things I got done on Friday. But at least it's something.

We didn't have hardly any money to go all out for a date night on Friday... even though it's nice, it gets expensive going out and paying for a baby-sitter on top of that. So we had sort of a group family date instead. We left with Baily, Bryan and Andre as soon as Mya was picked up to eat at Barro's... surprise, surprise. Hey- it's cheap, we had a coupon and Baily and Bryan love the simple little kid's play area there. What can I say... we're a Barro's family. After that we took them to Freestone Park because Baily was begging to go on the choo choo train all week. We were bummed to find out when we got there that the train was closed for maintenance and we only had like 20 minutes before the kiddy park area closed since they switched to their new winter hours. The kids wanted to still do something at least so they went on the carousel. Baily did not want to go at first but obliged only sitting on the bench instead of the horse and on my lap. It was decorated all Halloween style which was cute. Baily liked it ok but was just too bummed about not going on the choo choo train. After we left the park we went to Dairy Queen. I got the turtle waffle bowl sunday and it was sooo good. However I had to wait until after we got home and I got Baily cleaned up to enjoy it. She was still feeling a little sick and threw up a little in the car on the way home from Dairy Queen. Not fun. After we got home I'm guessing we didn't do much but I don't really remember. Oh and here's some cute pics of Andre playing with Baily and Bryan in the sandbox earlier that day. He can be such a big kid sometimes. Baily loves her cousin Andre so much!