The Pascual Family: We're alive!

Monday, August 3, 2009

We're alive!

Hello, friends. We have arrived safely in Provo, Utah. Not yet settled in an apartment, been checking mail from the library right across the street from our temp. stay, and searching, and searching for jobs! We have done some fun stuff here and have been spoiled with the busy shops and restaurants! Miss ya & keep us in your prayers as we are trying to adjust!

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Things Erin like!

My Little PetShop stuff animals
Riding her scooter & bike
Having friends over to play
Asks for a DS
Anything High School Musical
Favorite Books - Junie B. Jones
Favorite Auther - Robert Munsch
Loves to - Sing, dance, take care of Eli, coloring, read ; play outside, water parks, beaches & lakes; arts & crafts; bake; earn money by doing chores; primary; her IPOD from Ate Emily; pet fish Angela & Sam from E-Ca; play in the snow; play computer games; teach FHE, pose for pictures
Favorite food - Lola's spaghetti, fruit pizza, pizza, hot milk, string cheese, lunchables, apples, mandarin oranges, mami noodles, bacons, spam, chinese sausage with rice, rice crackers, New Fong's fried shrimp, french bread with condense milk, sugar cookies, mac & cheese, Wendy's nuggets & choco frosty, Sonic's popcorn chicken, sinigang, salaw machew yoeun, tinola, yogurt

Funny thoughts & answers
Q: What do you know about the temple?
A: We wear booties to go in there (at the temple open house). Jesus doesn't have to wear booties to go in the temple because his feet aren't dirty ( 7 years old).
-I don't have will power ( when we go down the toy aisle at Wal-Mart)

New words
-Time comsuming
-Deliverating (deliberating) - when Rico and I are deciding on her requests

Eli's funny doings & sayings!

Says moon - 14 months
Tumbles- 14 months
Oh, no!
That? (pointing) - when he wants or asks for something
Mama - Mom (9 months)
Dada - Dad (9 months)
Ate - older sister in Tagalog
Jaycha - little cousin Jacob
Tata - E-Ca
Fold arms - for prayer
Put palms out - gesturing "please"
Growls - to scare you
Hisses - when asks what snakes say
Favorite book - Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Eric Carle; One Fish, Two Fish, Three Fisht by Dr. Seuss
No -no
Spins in 360 when askes to turn around
Rubs you on the head - to say sorry
Rolled over - 3 months 3 weeks
Grasp objects - 3 months
Pulls objects to mouth - 3.5 months
Crawled - 6 months
Claps hands when told - 7 months
Climbs up stairs - 7 months
Locates nose - 7 months
Chap-chap - 8 months
Shakes head "no" - 8 months
Waves bye-bye - 8 months
Loves - Soothie paci; bathtime; sitting on skateboard & being pushed off; hand puppets; Winnie the Pooh blanket
Tah - let's go in Cambodian
Climbs downstairs - 10 months
Walked - 11 months
Climbs stairs & goes down the slide - 11 months
Favorite food - yogurt, string cheese, rice and chinese sausage, mac & cheese, orange juice, BBQ chicken, mandarin oranges, apples, bananas, goldfish snacks, squishing ants & eating them, pickles, cheerios
Feeds self - 12 months
Buht twia - closes the door when asked to (in Cambodian)
Lurk diye - raise your hands in Cambodian
Favorite toys - ring stacker, blocks, legos, cars, animal spinner, Dakin - Erin's moose hand puppet (to scare people)

This is my wife...

Rico loves teasing Eli. So, whenever Rico says, "This is my mommy," Eli would drop whatever he is doing to say, "This is my mommy..." Tonight, Rico teased Eli again and said, "This is my wife." Eli dropped his toy and goes..."This is my wife" and wedged between us. Just one of the many adorable things he says! Love that little munchkin!

The other night, I kissed Erin on the head and said "Kohn Pov (little child in Cambodain), go sleep on your bed." Eli also kissed Erin on the head and says, "Pum-pum, go sleep on your bed." I love how he's at the stage of mimicing everything we say! Pum-pum is Erin's nickname now...

Curling up to a good book!

Today, Monica and I went to a few bridal stores to find dresses for me for her big day! Unfortunately, I didn't find anything I like.

I have been promising Erin that I'd take her to the library and she reminds me every time it is raining! Well, despite the rain today I finally took her to the library. She is participating in the summer reading again which if she commits herself to reading a set time or books a week, she will get a prize, gift certificate, treats, etc. from the library. She didn't want to, but I signed her up anyway. I wasn't going to let her spend her summer watching TV all day! So, she finished a Junie B. Jones book today and is starting on a Cam Jansen book. She loves reading, but I just needed to give a her a little nudge. So, thanks E-Ca for reminding me that a rainy day is the best day to curl up and read a good book!

Memorial Day

On this memorial day, we took the children to the splash park at Porter park and invited some of our friends to join us. We love that park. There are water slides and water shoooting out of everywhere. Eli was hesitant to get wet - I think because of this bucket of water that fills up from atop and dumps on everyone. Erin on the other hand jumped right it. We love it because it's free! Sorry, no pics this time since I forgot the camera again. We ended with a bonfire at Beaver Dick and roasted hotdogs and marshmellows and had S'mores! Yum!

President Clark's talk at Grad Fest

Last night, Rico and I with Mike and Meg went to grad fest and listened to President Clark and his wife talk. It was very spiritual! He talked about charity being the pure love of Christ. We all know what it means, but do we have the pure love of Christ? Do we really serve and love others the way Christ does? Do we offer to do things for others and not expect anything in return? Do we think of others and give to others before we think of and give to ourselves.
Thirty years from now, he something like, " You will experience a lot of heartache and sorrow and you will also experience joy and happiness." I know that we are all on earth to be tried and tested. I know that the trials we experience are inevitable and make us much stronger people. I am grateful for my trials because I discover so much about myself. I discover my strengths as well as my weaknesses and pray to Heavenly Father what I can do to overcome my weaknesses. I am grateful and blessed for the joy I experience in my life. It is a reminder to me that my Heavenly Father loves me!

Feeding the Thousands

Yesterday, for family home evening, we had a lesson on how Jesus blessed teh bread and fish to feed five thousand people. Erin was very attentive during the lesson as we were telling her the story. Rico made a really good point that the Lord helps us in the things we need, after we can do all that we can for ourselves. In the lesson, the Jesus tells the disciples to gather what they can from the people and after gathering five loaves and two fish, he blessed it, fed all five thousand; and with plenty of food left over. I know that as we journey through life, we need to always seek the Lord for guidance and direction. If we do our part of the work, He will bless us in abundance.

Christmas in California

Our little family left at 10pm. to California the week before Christmas. We made several rest stops and finally arrived 14 hours later! The children took the car ride pretty well and slept most of the time.
We spent one week with the Pascuals and the second week with the Horn family. Some of the things the children enjoyed during our trip there is seeing all of their cousins...all 28 of them! What I enjoyed most while were there was of course hanging out with family, but I also had a great time reuniting with friends I haven't seen in ten years ago. Rico of course enjoys all of the fine restaurants the bay area has to offer. A new Thai restaurant we really liked was Osha, in San Francisco.
It was very hard for us to leave because we miss family so much, but I was also looking forward to coming home to slow pace life in Rexburg and we all had to get back into our routines. Erin had to go back to school, Eli well...had to get back into his sleeping routine, I was excited about new children we might have this semester in primary, and Rico had to get ready for his last semester, waiting for books he ordered while we were in CA and getting school supplies.

Family Home Evening

This week, for family home evening, our friends Nikki and Ryan Nichols invited us to go caroling at a nursing home. Before we headed out caroling, Nikki made sure to take care of us and fed us cookies and hot chocolate! I was excited since I haven't done this since young women and it was our first time as a family! I confessed to Rico on our way there that for some reason, I had a fear for elderly living in nursing homes, but it all changed when we got there. As we were making our way through the hallways and passing by the rooms, we approached an old man who sat in this chair and he greeted us with the sweetest smile and a "hello" and it just touched my heart!

On a funnier note, another cute man on a wheel chair was counting the little children who were with us and finally, he pointed to Rico and said..."he's another kid"...we all laughed! When we drove home, I had this overwhelming fear of growing old and being alone. But, as I thought about it more during the week, I started to look at things at an eternal perspective. I know that we are here to follow Christ's example, to get tested and make choices so that we could be worthy to stand before God one day. If we keep His commandments, I know the Lord will preserve us! I am so grateful for that knowledge! Thanks Nikki & Ryan for this fun experience!