Slip & Sliding

Darren and Ryker have been good friends for a long time, they play very well together even though they have different interests. Ryker has helped Darren in many ways but especially with social skills. The best therapy for Darren has come from kids his own age. It's fun and free!!

We appreciate Ryker and his family (Lexy, if you read this we think the world of you too :D), they have been great to us...well not Ryan who has caused some bruises on Daniel when they play basketball in the mornings :P JK

This morning the kids were having fun together when I remembered that I had photos of them with the SAME slide a few years ago and I was dying to see how much they had grown. I probably need new water toys... bigger and more exciting...I can't believe how big they are now!!...time does indeed fly when you're "splashing" fun!

Random Shoe Post

I love running...There's something (or many things) about it that make me happy. I love the way it makes me feel when I'm done with a run and even while I'm running and I'm experiencing pain, I know, it  doesn't make sense at all, but ask any runner and I'm pretty sure most of them would agree.

Running has been almost therapeutic for me, it makes me take my emotional "junk" and leave it on the road. It calms me down and helps me think more clearly (unless some annoying ladies at the gym decide to talk non-stop and I can't tune them out), it makes me focus on my myself and the way I breathe. Henry David Thoreau once said: " Methinks that the moment my legs began to move, my thoughts began to flow" and it is true.

I run pretty much every day, most days at the gym and some days around my neighborhood. I've completed a few 5K's and a 10K ( mud race). My numbers are not impressive but I am VERY consistent and I'm proud of that. My next goal is a half marathon, I don't know when it will happen but I know I will complete it...my real goal is to run the Disney princess half marathon, who knows, maybe one day I'll think about a full marathon ;)

Running has helped me learn and prove to myself (little by little) that I'm much stronger than I think. There's a constant battle between your brain and your body when you run, and this has forced me to "feed" my brain with positive thoughts and say "yes, I can", "5 more minutes", "run to the next mail box"...It's taught me that sometimes you have to go through pain to get the reward. In many occasions if I fight through the pain I notice that the pain goes away eventually and I'm able to run more comfortably. It's mind over body...  I love the fact that I can do this by myself, it's something I have to do on my own, nobody can get to "the next mail box" for me. It is personal. Every pain, every gain, every mile, every blister, every PR, every drop of sweat, every struggle, there are all mine... and I LOVE it!

Running has also been something I can do with Darren. Every now and then we will go together for a couple of miles and he does a great job keeping up. I really hope he develops a love for the sport someday. It's also something that Daniel and I have been able to do together. Last year we ran the Dirty Dash as the "Dash-mores" and we had a blast!!! It was a fun 10k on a muddy trail at Soldier Hollow in Midway. Best crazy experience ever!



 

How did I get into running? Simple, no rocket science here. Daniel started to run a couple of years ago and I saw how dedicated he was. We went to a couple of his races and I just loved it! So, I really owe it to him :) Daniel has been very supportive, always making sure I have time to get out there and run. He knows how important is to me and he benefits from it because I return home in a good mood ;)
He always makes sure I have new running shoes every 6 months because they wear out quick and he knows I have a hard time spending money on nice shoes but I guess that's always cheaper than paying medical bills, right?

I haven't experimented with a lot of shoes, the first time he took me to Striders I found this Saucony Triumph that I absolutely love so no need to try different ones...maybe I should but I'm pretty happy with them. So, anyway, this random post has more to do with the fact that Daniel bought me new running shoes and I'm dying to go try them out on Monday :) I'm just so grateful for him and the way he watches over me :)

 OMG They look so clean!!! 

Happy running to me!

Baptism

Finally!!! After a long wait June 2 came and Darren was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You can go here to see the invitation I made about a month ago. Since I think this might be the only time I go through this I wanted to make sure we had a good, memorable experience. We started preparing Darren more seriously about a month ago and we included more baptism related stuff to our  family activities (like family home evening, etc). He was very excited and we were hoping we could jump over some "asperger- related hurldes" and make this a wonderful day for him.

Carmen, Daniel and Darren

My mom came to visit as well as Nedra and Dave. We had close friends join us on that day and it was just a wonderful bonding experience for us as a family.

Darren and my mom Carmen 

Darren with Nedra and Dave

Left-right: Dave, Ryan, Daniel, Max, David and Darren (front)

The week prior to his baptism, we encouraged Darren to pray every morning to receive a testimony of baptism and I think he did, he was happy, cheerful and very willing to make right choices, we tried to do a "baptism countdown" and have a little activity every day for 8 days prior to June 2... we started off pretty good but then it got hard as our routines got changed when our families arrived. Oh well, we had good intentions. I found the countdown at sugardoodle.com by Melanie Day and this is what we did:

Day One
A new birth: We told the story about the conversion of Alma the younger in the Book of Mormon.

Day Two
Have you prayed?: We talked about receiving a testimony of his decision to be baptized and we suggested he prayed every morning. We made "prayer pretzels" with Rhodes rolls that looked just like this ones from rhodesbread.com (of course I forgot to take a picture).

Day Three
You're on the right track!: We talked about road signs and how they help us when we go out on the road and we made the analogy to the "road signs" Heavenly Father has provided to guide us through our journey in life like the Holy Ghost, scriptures, parents, prophets, prayer, teachers.

Day Four
Squeaky clean: We changed it from the original one and instead of making cupcakes we had Darren wash his hands very well and then I squirted chocolate syrup on them and explained him how even when we make mistakes we can always repent and be clean again by washing the "chocolate spots" of our hands using "repentance soap"...he loved this but before he could wash them again he licked all the chocolate of his hands! Oh well, I think we made the point.

Day Five
Take upon us his name:
Daniel and Darren talked about our individual names and how we belong to the same family through our last name. He also talked about taking the name of Jesus upon ourselves and acting the way he would.


Day Six:
Bear each other's burdens:
We didn't get to this one but we were supposed to have 3 backpacks filled with books and help each other carry the "burden" so that not only one of us had to carry the entire weight. I also gave him during the baptism a teddy bear that he named "Covenant Bear" to help him remember the promises he has made to: 1. Bear the name of Jesus Christ, 2. Bear each other's burdens, 3. Bear testimony of the gospel.

Day Seven:
Baptism by immersion: We kind of did this one before the countdown started by taking Darren to the swimming pool and practicing going under the water. We talked about the word immersion means and why we have to be submerged in the water when we are baptized.

Day Eight:
Baptism Book: We were supposed to have Darren record his feelings about his baptism and we are currently working on this since he was gifted a few journals and a cute memory book that Nedra bought for him.

I also made Darren a special towel that hopefully he'll keep forever.

I found this cute quote and I decided to include them as favors using fun size Kit Kats.

I had Harmon's made some white cupcakes and I made the toppers with the number 8 on them and
used these new baptism cupcake liners  that I found at Desert Book.

Nedra and my mom helped me put together fruit skewers (which the kids loved!) and some mini sandwiches. Nedra made her special shrimp dip too.

I guess the most important thing was that Darren made a choice to be baptized, Daniel is a worthy priesthood holder who is able to perform this ordinance and confirm him a member of the church. I was able to enjoy that warm feeling and feel the love of my family and friends. I'm proud of Darren and I love him and Daniel so much :)

 

Fifty is Nifty

On June 1st, Nedra and Dave (Daniel's parents) celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. What a wonderful thing to be a part of!
Somewhere I read that happiness in marriage is not something that just happens. In the art of marriage the little things ARE the big things. Those who marry begin a work of building something larger than they know; marriage is a journey of  love, sacrifice and commitment and even in a world were marriage is being ridiculed and relationships don't seem to last we see that they can be successful too. Marriage is standing together facing the world.
Marriage has definitely it's ups and downs and unfortunately I've seen many people who did not have the support and commitment of their spouse and made that journey rather painful  :(
Daniel's parents have been a great example to all of us in many ways and I'm very grateful for the way they received me into their family 11 years ago. Together they raised a beautiful family: Teresa, David and Daniel (and Carlos too) are wonderful people in part because of the commitment they both have to their relationship and their family.
Since we had Nedra and Dave in town for Darren's baptism last week we took advantage of that time and had a very special dinner with them and David, Maren and the kids at Ruth's Chris Stake House.

Today as both of you look back

with happiness and pride

Upon the fifty cherished years

That you've spent side by side,

May every memory that you share

Of dreams you've seen come true,

Help make this special Golden day

A happy one for you!

I couldn't find a recent photo of Nedra and Dave together so I figured this one would work just fine. This photo was taken back in 2006 when Daniel graduated from the University of Utah with a Master's Degree in business.

Here are some pictures of Maren and the kids goofing around at the restaurant. What a fun evening!

Happy Anniversary!

Mission Impossible

On May 26, we took Darren to this new place we found at the Newgate Mall in Ogden to celebrate the end of the school year. Ryan and Max came along and I must say we had a pretty good time (we missed you Megan!)...The place is called "Glowgolf" (glow-in-the-dark miniature golf) and they also have the "Laser Maze Challenge" in which you have to work your way through a series of lasers as fast as you can while trying not to brake any laser beams and I think this was the one the kids enjoyed the most!
Ryan was able to set a record on his second try and Max was sooo close to set a record too ( I think he missed by 3 seconds) but Darren had the best time breaking every single laser he could and making them go off (of course I didn't get a video of that one :/) What a goofball!!

Laser Maze Challenge by Funovation

Darren

Max

Ryan

Ryan's record

#8 Swag

Daniel

Yep, they all felt like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible ;)