t w e n t y ~ t e n

IS THE YEAR TO :

...be more willing to bend,

and to mend

...or to write & send,

notes w/ a cool-korea pen!

...be a much better friend,
and VTcher for precious Jen

...and to graduate! (for Oli & Ben)

...how 'bout getting to know stake YW Pres Gren

...hey maybe - to better understand men?

...or to find, buy, and enjoy tiny Sen-Sen,

and remember childhood all over again

...begin a 6 player Beehive Beetles RB trend

...try to have hope that winter will end

...and of course, freely lend

...ok, now your turn to rhyme - just post below, there's still 'den' or 'wren'

even 'Ken" - so come on then,

give it a go! I'm sure there are others I've forgot-ten,

let's see how quickly the comments total 10!

So then:

2010: is the year I'll remember when,

I said with a smile, "2008 is GREAT & 2009 is DEVINE!"

Thanksgiving 2009 ~ Laughter & Tears

Hopefully I can get this little video of joy to upload... cross your fingers! :)



Eli's laughter and love helped us through a bit of our sorrow...
the sorrow of losing our own QUEEN of laughter!! :(

But this afternoon and evening we, together with almost the entire Juarez/Siguenza/Lopez family, had the privilege of celebrating Giny's courageous life - in the very ways she had asked us to: Graveside Service, then good Guate food, music & memory sharing, fun stories told by her big brothers - filmed for Peter, Cristina, & Andrei - who were surrounded by love, both given and received.




PS: Elise was one of the few who couldn't come - she was in the process of giving birth for the first time! And thanks to text technology, soon after we returned to Provo tonight, we saw a first photo of her healthy, beautiful boy, just moments after he was born...
So all in all, today has been a 'circle of life' kind of celebration.

I HEART MAYA

SEAN's SWEET SURPRISE!!

We walked in from Haycock's and what did we see?
...SEAN at home, unexpectedly!

We all grabbed an armful, and what a treat!
Big bear hugs and laughs so sweet!

He had a careful plan,* and so it came to be -
...Sean's home tonight unexpectedly!

Of course, the BEST part of the entire surprise was that we no longer had to wait until the next day to enjoy having him back home!

* Plan orchestrated and executed by Sean, along with Olivia's complete cooperation and participation; including, but not limited to, tampered mail, PhotoShopped Flight Plans, and a trip to SL airport.

A special thanks to Ben for filming Olivia's tricks, the airport arrival, and our shocked/delighted reactions... Priceless!

HEAR YE, HEAR YE!

just click here if you haven't already seen my Elder Sean Marco 'Juarez-Ord' is almost home post :)

oh, nein!

I really wanted to post 9 photos just as soon as we took them... A memory moment worth documenting for sure, because at precisely 9:09 pm there were 9 of us in Rm 9, - having just enjoyed 9 little activities, 9 little treats, and 9 fun facts about #9 and / or 09/09/09 day!! Then as soon as I got home I spent a bit of time with my 9 year old before he gave me 9 goodnight kisses. And by 9:59 pm I was at the Post Office mailing a few notes I'd collected from a few parents that listed "9 Things I Like About You" - (for their daughters) and I wanted to be sure they were postmarked on 09/09/09!

Sadly, once I got home and tried to pull even 9 photos from the camera, I had 9 times more technical difficulties than usual ... (newer HC SD card, etc) - But it was finally worth the effort, as was the activity.

09/09/09

I won't list all 9 activities and facts, because i couldn't even remember them by 9 am the next morning, but here are a few:

We all grabbed "For The Strength of Youth" booklets and quickly found 9 letter words - 9 of them, to be exact! We tried to remember our 9th birthdays, and we listed 9 of our favorite things as well as 9 things we want to do before we die. Of course we also sang a song on a page ending in 09 - we even stood up every 9 beats while singing, just for fun.

Good times, good times... we all got totally into it. In fact, originally there were 4 out of our 5 Beehives there, (hey 4+5=9) 2 leaders, and 1 welcomed Mia Maid. But by 9 pm many others had stopped by for a treat and a laugh as they headed home. Magically, 2 ended up staying w/ us until our 9:09 pm goal - and then one of them said, "Hey there are 9 of us still here!" -- How cool is that?

-OK, so now- does anyone have any ideas for future lower-key Wednesday night activities? Please send them my way! The girls still need to plan Nov and Dec... or in other words, the last 9 weeks of 2009!

PS: BTW, at 10:09, right after the PO, for a split second, the KoKing and I thought we'd head to WalMart to buy this on its opening day of sales, but quickly decided, nein way! That deserves a day and a post of its own, don't you think?

As promised!

-- good things come to those who wait for me to have a moment to upload and post my photos:

drumroll please...

I opened my laptop, clicked around, and i kid you not, 10 minutes later...

Thank you google's picasa - Don't you just love user friendly, reliable free software? (some year i may even be ready for the big time... you know, photoshop on one of the MAC's around here).

PS: the silly pose with the hand on the chin is mimicking a girl in line right by us at the movies a couple of weeks ago - remind me to post one of KOKI in the same pose!