the Jevne's

As Easter was approaching few family birthdays came up in March.. First a cousin on the 16th, my aunt Marina and grandma Margarita on the 22nd, my mom on the 23rd and me on the 27th.
First pictures was when I went to Colombia in December 2007, little Samuel was verily a year old. The one on the left is my mom holding Benjamin as a one-month-old.

Feliz Cumpleanos for all..
Italian still my favorite.. so we all went to a delicious Italian restaurant and is the kids favorite too, at least I know they will always eat pasta.. we got few balloons.. a monkey, a dog, and a flower crown.. for the birthday girl I guess so I wore it! When we went home, grandma surprised me with a birthday cookie/cake.. my favorite too, chocolate chip and coconut.

Got few cute cards... and awesome presents like professional knifes.. a gift card, and great electric tooth bush.. thank you.. thank you..

Funny though when signing happy birthday I started by myself and everybody kind of forgot..

That same day Hyvee grocery store had a Easter egg hunt.. so we took the little ones..

it was raining and happened so fast that got just a picture..

After that we had our ward Easter breakfast and egg hunt.. after a delicious meal.. the hunt begun.Grandma went with Benjamin to the nursery age one, and I went with Samuel to the young primary one.. They also had Easter coloring bags for the kids to color while waiting for the food.. Samuel really took it to heart.The following week grandma, I mean the Easter bunny brought some baskets full of surprises.. books, candy, coins, puzzles, games..

Samuel was just fascinated with the books.. BYU cosmo book, R2D2 with buttons book, coloring ones.. and Benjamin just had one thing in mind.. get open one of the suckers...

Later we got around to color some eggs.. however, Samuel was more excited about mixing the colors than really decorating the eggs..

Although we tried the stickers, and other "sports" things the box came with, the eggs ended up too big and the stickers didn't stick.. but he had fun.. He didn't realized that I had boiled the eggs previously so he was being sooo careful not to break them because of the mess they could make.. until one cracked and said.. "is not messy, is it a little chick?" haha, so I had to peel one and prove it... although Benjamin tried to help.. he didn't really understand what was going on.. and then thought the colored eggs were candy so he got upset because wasn't getting one.. love the face.

Be prepared for a ton of photos and a long post... but it was a long trip.
A funeral, a wedding and the kids' idol visit.
The kids were good car buddies.. it also help there was a gap between them to not being able to reach each other, plus the fact that sometimes I was sitting in that gap.

We started Friday night (march 12th) and got early Saturday morning to Riverton, WY where later that afternoon we attended my father-in-law's aunt's funeral services. After that we went to the cemetery although the kids and I stayed in the car. And then Samuel decided to got out with daddy and everybody else so I let him go. When he came back from seeing so many crying, he said to me: "Mami, why is everybody crying? Jesus is going to resurrect her and she will live again!" I just wanted to cry.. at 3 years of age my son has a true testimony and knowledge of the plan of salvation in the simplest way. It is incredible how much they absorb from Church classes, readying the book of Mormon stories and scriptures.
Then, we went to a family dinner at the Fraternal Order of Eagles. It was good to see the family.

In Riverton, we stayed with uncle Randy and auntie Valerie's house. Samuel was so excited since he remember all the toys and the pets they have at their place.

Samuel still remember Coco the main dog.. he just kept trying to play with him.. Benjamin joined in..

Benjamin though, he just kept sitting on the 2 dogs and 2 cats.. he even let one of the dogs lick him.. ewww.. he is really fearless..

We also went to aunt June's house and got to play with other far away cousins..

We spent Saturday and Sunday, leaving Monday early morning. We arrived (Provo, UT) early afternoon making only one stop at McDonald's for the kids to play for a while.
That Monday afternoon we went to BYU campus and got to see our cougar football team's first spring practice. No cameras allowed so no pictures. Looking good though! Later that night we met with the Ashby's (Grant, Jane) who where my exchange student family in 2000. Plus, we also went to dinner with the Powell's, who I lived with 2 and a half years of my single life while going to BYU. I apologize, I spaced out taking pictures..

Next day, we went back to BYU campus and had some good lunch.. and this kids started to play with the stroller.. funny story, who is pushing who?

Then, the most anticipated activity from Samuel.. cougar bowling! When we used to live in Provo, every other Saturday Jay would take Samuel to play bowling on campus. He enjoyed that father and son bonding time so much, it was a dream come true again. By then, Benjamin was tired and fell asleep.. and slept through it all.. yeah, in a full bowling alley and lots of kids playing around us.

Samuel in action..

Later we tried to visit some of our friends although we didn't have cellphones or their numbers.. so it made it difficult to get a hold of people, and ended up giving surprise visits to all of them..

One of them was to the Pena's.. very sweet couple with darling angel Eva, and one on the way.. They also had a dog, who was very excited to see us.. Samuel stayed in the corner, while Benjamin kept trying to pet it.

He just kept trying to pet the dog even if he didn't wanted to.

Wednesday morning we took off for St George, although only 4 hours we still had few difficulties.. no potties for many many miles.. and when a 3-year-old is potty trained, doesn't mean he understands the meaning of holding to pi for another 10 miles.. so you have to do the one thing you hate people do on the side of the road... use potty Nature. Funny story, it happened again on the way back to Provo, except for it wasn't just pi... and without realizing till he was done we read the sign...

I guess we are helping America get fertilized too.

That afternoon we had a dinner made by Sharon's family at her future in-laws (where everybody from her family was staying). After the delicious Ecuadorian meal we went outside to play.. I just sat and took pictures though.. They were excited to run around free and toss the ball.. even wrestle some..

Thursday we just chilled in a nearby park while Grandma went to a session at the St George temple, and my camera run out of batteries.. so no pictures of the adventures there.

Since the wedding was Friday late morning, I spent Thursday night with Sharon to help here with her hair next day... just like old times.. here went the process..

Although I tried a new thing with my hair.. it didn't turned out and just had to let go since the focus was the bride.. and yes, she looked gorgeous.. I am glad she woke up at 4am to start the process since 5 hours later we needed to be ready.. yes, by noon I was dragging.. but it payed off. Grandma was the biggest help on this trip, not just because she drove most of the time, plus her car, but she took care of the kids while the sealing ceremony and most of the reception.. And she took some awesome pictures in the middle of all this..

Here some lovely pictures of the St George Temple.

And the newly couple came out..

Family pictures.. Many people don't know, but although Sharon is from Ecuador, her mom's heritage is Chinese.. unbelievable until you see the pictures.. Besides her parents, Sharon's brother and Japanese girlfriend , aunt and two cousins also flu for the occasion.
The bottom left is with her in-laws, but I had to cut off part of the family, which was her oldest sister-in-law with husband and baby girl, who you will see with Benjamin later on..

Groomsmen and bridesmaids.. two bridesmaids couldn't make it at the last minute, that is why there were more groomsmen.. and my lovely ring boy...

We tried to get some family pictures for us.. and although in a rush they looked cute.

Since Sharon is the only LDS in her family, they had a ring ceremony prior to the reception to make her family feel included. And that is really where Samuel got to be the ring boy.

While getting ready for it they put Sharon's new nice next to Benjamin.. sooo adorable..

Did I mentioned they are a year apart? Yes, she is 6 months and he is year and a half.. both are off the chart in opposite directions.. still cute.

Then, it came time for the ring ceremony, and although I had doubt Samuel would do it alone in front of that many people, he did a great job. The bride with her dad, Plinio. The flower girl, followed by the ring boy and the best man (groom's brother) and maid of honor (almost bride's sister)..

Then, the reception started... Samuel was sooo excited with the food.. shrimp is one of his favorite foods.. plus all the fruit for the chocolate fountains.. although he preferred without chocolate.. And then when he realized that the boxes on the tables where a piece of the wedding cake... he went crazy and took as many as he could... hahah

We danced with and without kids.. play with lights and sat to watch everybody else..

Cutting the cake.. by the way, Yolanda, Sharon's mom brought with her all these little boxes with the birds on it from Ecuador.. crazy... plus made the boutenniers and bouquet.

Although I tried to get some video of the sharing of the cake.. I ended up bumping Samuel and getting little.. but the thought is what counts..

All the single ladies... ready to catch.. and the single man too..

After they danced their first dance, they did the money dance. Where in order to dance with the bride or groom, you had to pay.. So Jay and I payed and one of the groom's friends payed to dance with him.. did I mentioned it was a guy? it was funny.

My cuties sitting and playing..

Then, it came time for the new couple to leave. Bubbles where blown.. and they left on a scooter.. haha, that was different and funny.

They just drove it to his house where they changed and took her car.. which was covered with plastic and cookies and all the junk usually friends do.

It was great to be able to be at my best friend's wedding. We will definitely remember this trip, especially Samuel since they used to play sooo often when we lived in Provo, and took few minutes to do the same there.

I don't know when will be the next time I will see my dear friend.. well, sister. All I know is I am glad we made all the sacrifices to make our participation in just especial day possible. I was very especial to be with her in the brides room at the temple and know that we share more than backgrounds or stories, we share a dear friendship and sisterhood that only sisters in Zion could.

As a note, Sharon and I met in our first singles ward at BYU 8 years ago. We became friends quickly. Both of us got introduced to the gospel as exchange students (her in MO, me in UT) living with LDS families.. we gained a testimony and got baptized a while later. We are both the only members in our families, we both have an older brother, our birthdays are a week a part (I am the oldest, he), we both transferred to BYU and lived with different families. After my first child, she went on a mission where she would meet her eternal companion.. And now the rest is history. We love her and already know what a wonderful man Brian is for her. We wish them the best!

Changing character, in St George we stayed with the Putnams, a family friends of the Powells who used to be their neighbors and that is how I met them. Later they moved to St George and, we made a stop to visit them before a couple of times. They have 4 sons. One is married and has two children, other one serving a mission in Australia, another one still at home only 17 and already taking college classes, and Joshua the oldest whom with Down Syndrome will be 30 this year and still as sweet as a little boy.. he sured got Samuel's heart quickly and Samuel just kept looking for him to play with and talk and laugh with even at the reception..

Saturday morning we left back to Provo, and rested the rest of the afternoon until BYU basketball game started.. Sunday we went to our last ward there which was Provo Peak 8th ward (Spanish one) and were glad to see a lot of the families. Then we went to visit the Malones, who are a family who used to live in Texas when Jays family lived there too. In fact, Jay spent most of the time at their home than at this home. Now, they live in Provo and were glad to see them all.

Then back to the Powells for dinner (they always have a big dinner for friends and family on Sundays, even went I used to live with them they did and still do). The kids got to play and enjoy popsickles, and although Samuel always says he doesnt like girls, he got pretty close to Briana and kept playing with her (one of their granddaughters, who is 14), even if it meant Rummy Q..

This is a video of Samuel trying to get through the ladies to make his basket... and he did!