December 7th

December is my favorite month. I think that it always has been. I remember one Christmas, opening up a present with a bridle in it and being so confused. It turns out the new horses my neighbor just got were actually my present. We were ecstatic! We walked down our long driveway and up our neighbors and met our Christmas gifts. It was so cold but it is a memory I will never forget. While I am nowhere near being able to give my boys a pony for Christmas I always want to make these days special enough that their memories will be as vivid as mine are.

Vincent's 4th birthday is on the 23rd, then Christmas, then our 3rd anniversary is on the 30th. I am lucky enough to have paid vacation for two weeks which I am so grateful for. I will get to catch on my quality moments with the boys and hopefully make some memories they can't easily forget.

I just started at Southwest Human Development, www.swhd.org It's a terrific organization and I'll be working with the early head start program that they are starting up. It's in Phoenix, so that has presented some challenges with cars and transportation for Jeremy and my mom. I am thinking we will need to expand and get a second vehicle. I need something probably used and inexpensive. I have been thinking of a kia sedona, scion xb, hyundai santa fe, or anything in between. We are looking for something with a little bit more room since the civic is pretty cramped with the two car seats in the back seat, not because we are expanding the family or anything, not for a LONG time.

So if anyone has any advice vehicle wise, please send it my way! Love you all.

New Pictures

Thanksgiving

Love This!

Contreras Family Update

Well there has just been so very much going on lately. I will try and recall the important things.

-- Jeremy got his license. Yay! It is so nice to be able to send him to the store. The interlock is a bit of a pain but completely worth it

-- I accepted a job offer at Southwest Human Development with the Early Head Start Program. I start a week from today. I am entirely nervous and will miss my dad a lot but I guess it's the next step in growing up.

--We are still doing our temple prep classes. It's a bit difficult with Jeremy teaching primary and different schedules but slowly and surely we are completing them.

--Looks like I won't have to go to trial regarding termination of rights after all. Which is maybe my best news of all.

--Can't wait to go visit my Grandma & Grandpa. Although no one is more excited than Vincent is.

Wildlife World Zoo

Yesterday we went to the Wildlife World Zoo with Jeremy's mom and her boyfriend. It really was so much fun. I have never been there before but I highly recommend it now! There is just so much to see and everything is so close up! It is expensive but if you look in the coupon pages of the verizon yellow pages there is a 2 for 1 coupon. Jeremy, Vincent, and I took the sky ride which goes over the whole zoo like a ski lift. It was a blast. We also went on the train ride and Vincent & I even went on the log ride by the acquarium. We got to feed the giraffe out of our hands and got to watch the turtles make some babies, Vincent would not stop yelling 'look mom, that turtle is on the other turtles back'. The petting zoo had deer in it too who after I fed them would start nibbling on my shirt. Definitely needs to be washed a few times, but it was so much fun. They even have an acquarium and Vincent got to pet the sting rays. I asked him how it felt and he said that it felt like his hair does. He is so silly. By the time it was over everyone was exhausted. I wished I could show everyone pictures but my camera is mia. In a way I'm glad I didn't have my camera because I wasn't constantly worried about all the great pictures I would be taking but just sitting back and experiencing it all.

Oh just a tidbit, we left church early to go to the zoo, just a sacrifice you make, in a diverse family like mine, and Vincent seriously had to be drug out of the primary room. He loves his class so much. I guess that's a good problem to have!

Halloween

Monster Mash

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Trip To Prescott

Jeremy's Birthday

Amazing

Jeremy & I had the opportunity to go to the temple. It was such an awesome experience. My mom came with us. It was Jeremy's first time in the temple and the first time I have been in about 10 years or so.

The Shortest Story

There was a man named Harry Chapin who was a beautiful story teller, the best to some. He wrote many stories and songs. He died several years ago at far too young an age. He was an amazing man who did so much for people and was a huge advocate for the cause of world hunger. This is a song he wrote called The Shortest Story



I am born today

The sun burns a promise in my eye

Momma strikes me

And I draw a breath and cry

Above me a cloud softly

Tumbles through the sky

I am glad...to be alive



It is my seventh day

I taste the hunger and I cry

My brother and sister

Cling to momma's side

She squeezes her breast

But it has nothing to provide

Someone weepsI fall asleep



It is twenty days today

Momma does not hold me anymore

I open my mouth

But I am too weak to cry

Above me a bird

Slowly crawls across the sky

Why is there nothing

Now to do but die



Even just writing this out makes me cry. It is so unbelievably unfair to me that someone who did so much for the world was taken so early. He could have done so much more good and helped so many people if he was given the years to do so. What is written on his gravestone sums it up perfectly:



Oh if a man tried

To take his time on Earth

And prove before he died

What one man's life could be worth

I wonder what would happen to this world.

OOOUUCH!

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Vincent went to the park yesterday with Casi & Ryan. He took Chance's long board with him. He loves to play with that. Normally he lays on it and slides back and forth in the family room. This time his hand slipped and his face fell onto the longboard, with a sandpaper type surface. Tough guy that he is, he got back on again. And again he fell. The first fall only gave him a little scrape, but the second really left him all busted up.

Blessing Day

America

In honor of September 11th, can you believe it's been 8 years?, I'm posting my two favorite videos.

Labor Day Weekend

First of all, I need to start by saying that I totally dislike the way pictures go in backwards on blogs. So the first picture you put in actually ends up being the last one. Well this time I tried to think backwards and did okay but there are still some mixups!

This weekend we went up to Showlow/Snowflake/Taylor for a family reunion of sorts. Jeremy was super anxious to get out of town so we decided to go up on Friday while everyone else was going up on Saturday. My wipers have been in need of replacing but the weather didn't look bad when we left so we decided not to worry about it. There was no rain....for a while. When did the rain decide to appear? In the very bottom of Salt River Canyon on course. Julian & Vincent were still sleeping when we drove through Globe so we decided we would stop at the rest stop at the bottom of the canyon to feed Julian. That would have worked if the stop had been open but no such luck. So we ended up pulling off at a scenic view point and feeding Julian and having some out of the car time.

Well, we finally arrived in Snowflake and checked in to the hotel. We spent some time with my Grandpa & Grandma who had also come a day early. There were plans already set for that night that did not involve us (gotta love family cliques) so we decided to do our own thing. We went out to see the Snowflake Temple. Vincent has been learning a lot about temples in primary so when we told him where we were going he seemed to think that he couldn't go because he wasn't ready to get married but eventually we helped him understand....I hope. Oh man, I just scrolled down and realized I didn't put any pictures of the temple that night on here. Well, just imagine how pretty it was. It was all lit up and there were very few neighboring lights and there was rain and it was just beautiful. Vincent & I sang I love to see the temple as we walked around it, it was a perfect moment.

I love him. The end.

Saturday was the beginning of the Sweet Corn Festival in Taylor. It is my favorite thing ever. I highly recommend it. We went to the parade first thing in the morning. I love parades in small towns. In this picture, Vincent is eating a popsicle someone gave him from the Bashas float. This is a picture of Jeremy & Vincent goofing around before the parade started. He is teaching him 'uncle'.
We went to go eat some corn..well I did. Jeremy & Vincent had navajo tacos. I need to add a video too. Jeremy was reading the newspaper article about the festivities of the weekend and decided to use this ridiculous accent, I think he was trying for some southern/Texan accent but it ended up sounding like Brad Pitt from that Nazi movie. It's hilarious.

Once everyone filtered into town, we ended up at the Social Hall since the parks were rained out. Vincent was playing huckle buckle bean stalk with his toy screw driver. For those of you who aren't familiar with the game someone hides an object and the others look for it and when they spot it they say 'huckle buckle bean stalk' but don't give away its location. Vincent found it in the cooler and couldn't contain his excitement.

I love this picture. This is Julian on Sunday morning.

This is one that is out of order. It is from the park on Sunday afternoon.

Our family picture at the Snowflake Temple on Sunday. From left to right... my Dad, Chani, Casi, Chance, Me, Vincent, Jeremy, Julian & my mom.

I love him. The end. Again.

Some more at the park. Vincent had so much fun playing with his cousins. He played with every single person at one time or another.

This is Julian laying in the grass. He hated how it felt, but I still like this picture.

Jeremy & Julian at the cemetary. Who knew I had so many relatives from there? I always associated it more with my dads family with Edmond Ellsworth, LeRoy Ellsworth, Frank Ellsworth, Corwin Ellsworth, etc. but then when I thought about it there was William Jordan Flake, Jefferson Hunt, Celia Mounts, and John Hunt all from my mom's family. What an incredibly family history I have!

The girls & Vincent at the memorial in Snowflake. My dad and Chance are hiding in the back. Punks.

My great uncle was buried in Showlow last year. He was an amazing person and taught me more about the gospel than anyone else. I had some family members who were so incredibly pushy and so un Christ like in their pursuits that it pushed me so much further away. I really appreciate people like Corwin who live Christ like lives and love people so purely. This is my Grandma & Jeremy at his grave in Showlow.

Chance, Julian, my dad, my grandpa, and Vincent

It's Official!

PRESCHOOL

Vincent had his first day of Preschool this week. He goes to Busy Bees Preschool, he really likes it. After he went on his first day he told me that his teacher called him an angel and he is not an angel. I think this will teach him so much!

This morning as he was getting ready for his second day of preschool he told me that at preschool they do cutting and tracing and coloring and reading and arting. Gotta love that boy!

Jeremy's Big Day

On Tuesday, Jeremy got the priesthood. This month has been full of amazing experiences but this one was at the top. There were so many family & friends who were there to support Jeremy. It was amazing! Thank you to everyone who came. And special thanks to Brinton, it meant a lot to Jeremy! You guys are birthday twins.

Jeremy & Casi's boyfriend Ryan

Jeremy, Julian & I (Vincent wouldn't join us)

The Whole Family (good picture except for Vincent twirling my hair)

He is such a sweet daddy

Vincent & Julian are so lucky!

Primary Activity

Vincent had his first primary activity. It was a water day! I got to go with him since Jeremy went to go and visit his grandfather in Tucson. He loved playing on the blow up water slide. After it was time to leave this station he kept trying to sneak back. He was keeping up with all the bigger kids!

Then, we got to build a sugar cube model of the Mesa temple. He had so much fun and showed it off to everyone when he got home.

Then we got to learn about temples and practice the family home evening lesson that he would give about temples. We got to finish it off with an awesome popsicle treat. I loved it! What a gorgeous little boy I have!

Grandpa Russell

This last weekend, Jeremy went with his mom, Aunt Roxanne, and his cousin Derek to visit his grandfather who lives in Tucson. It meant a lot to Jeremy. This is Jeremy's mother's father and his name is Robert Russell. This explains the origin of Julian's red hair!


This is a really special picture to Jeremy. He took a picture of a picture that he saw at his grandfather's house. It is of his Uncle Marty who our son Julian Martin Contreras is named for. Jeremy said this picture made it look like Marty was just across the room. He passed away several years ago.

August already?

I need to write on this more often so I can remember the little things that make my day every day. We had family home evening on Monday and talked about Joseph Smith and it is amazing to me how much Vincent knew (no thanks to me). We really need to get better with doing Family Home Evening every week. It's hard because sometimes I want it to be more adult oriented so Jeremy can learn more but Vincent needs to learn too. We were doing the closing song, one of my favorites, the 'whenever I hear the song of a bird' one and Vincent said No! I want the prophet song and started to sing 'follow the prophet, follow the prophet' . What an amazing little boy! Then, last night I was putting him to bed and said it was time for prayers and he repsonded that he would say the opening prayer and I would say the closing. He is starting to say his prayers by himself instead of having Jeremy or I whisper to him.

Jeremy is going to be ordained this week. It is so exciting, so much has happened this month. Now Jeremy & I both have callings. He teachers the 10 year olds and I am the ward chorister. It is such a challenge but I think I am adjusting to being in front of everyone. I definitely make at least one mistake a week.

I finished my last class at ASU and they will be mailing me my diploma next week. It still seems pretty unreal to me. I just don't feel like I'm done. So maybe someday I will go back. I love school. I'm looking for a job in my degree field but jobs are hard to come by right now especially in the non profit section so at least I have something for the time being.

Julian has thrush, ugh! Poor thing. But he is growing and changing so much. I can't believe alreaday 11 weeks old. I forgot how much work it is but it is so nice having a baby around again.

What's new with us

Things are going well. I finished my last class this last week and got an A- so I guess that means I'm graduated. I don't feel done. I am already thinking about going back maybe to get a teaching certificate or grad school or something. Call me weird, but I just love school. I just got a copy of my p.b. sent to me and it talks so much about education so maybe it'll all come together. I am starting to apply and places that make sense for my major. We'll see if anything comes up.

Today was my second week as ward chorister...definitely went better today. Yay! Jeremy had his interview w/ the stake president today so he will be presented at the next stake meeting so exciting. And he is going to get his patriarchal blessing in the next few weeks and then he'll bless Julian the 2nd week of September (probably). So much in one month!!!!

My dad got his surgery this last week. It is a temporary one to see if the procedure worked, and it did! So now he gets to have the implant taken out tomorrow and then in a month or so, once it heals, they will put in the permanent device. Hopefully it all goes well. I like pictures on posts so I will see what I can find!

SMILE

From my child development classes I know that babies develop their 'social smile' at about 6 weeks. Julian is totally there. If we engage him with smiles and silly voices and faces he will mimic us and make the cutest smiling faces. I keep trying to take a picture of it but whenever I get the camera out he becomes more interested in the camera than our goofy antics. These were my closest attempts!

Fun Night!

Last night I took the boys out on a walk. I decided I still need to start exercizing even though it is super hot outside! Pushing that double stroller definitely made that walk more of a workout! We went to the 'big humongous' park as Vincent calls it and had so much fun. The boys were acting really cute so I took some pictures and they are some of my favorites so far! When we got home, Jeremy was on Julian duty and Vincent & I went swimming. It was so much fun having some one on one time with him. I miss seeing them during the day but I have to work to get us where we need to be. I have some gorgeous boys, don't you think?