Easter at my in-laws

Sunday we headed down to enjoy Easter with my in-laws, my mother-in-law had just flown down from California to spend Easter with the grandbabies. We were all so excited to get to see her.

My sister-in-law went around her yard hiding all the eggs and then the kids had a blast looking for them. Bentley isn't used to doing it that way since all the Easter stuff we go to they just throw them on the lawn but he had fun. Even tears were shed because he didn't get to an egg he "saw first" the things you witness with children.

Afterwards we had a delicious meal prepared by my father-in-law and sister-in-law. They made the most delicious ribs cause really who wants ham for Easter?

We even ended up doing a sleepover which are always a blast because we get to stay up late just talking and playing games which is so nice to actually get some adult time.

Tita and tito's Easter egg hunt

Being hispanic we never did anything for Easter. In Costa Rica back when I grew up, I don't know how they do things now, Easter was not about children. Actually as a child you were expected to be on your very best behavior from Friday through Sunday. It's a respected weekend. Everything closes and doesn't open back up till Monday morning. The whole weekend you eat tons of sea food and tons of yummy treats that are normally only made this time of year. So with that said when we moved to this country my parents had no idea that Easter was celebrated in such a way here in the USA. I still remember that first time I saw an Easter bunny at the corner of a street waving to kids and me being so confused as to what this bunny business was about. Even when my parents figured out how Easter was done they never did anything for us since they just thought it was silly.

Fast forward almost 20 years and now I've got a little one who is American and who expects for me to celebrate all the holidays in the country just like every other kid does and by all means I will. So I let my parents know they needed to have an Easter egg hunt for my boy and my sister's step kids. I'm glad they did. These kids had so much fun as always. They even invited a little neighborhood boy that kept on coming over to play with them throughout the day.

I am sure I will regret having done that since now my child will have a sugar high to come down from but it was totally worth seeing the excitement in his face as he went looking for easter eggs. I think my mom had so much fun watching the kids go around looking for eggs. Isn't that what grandmother's are supposed to love?

Now to get ready for out Easter egg hunt with Jon's family. My mother-in-law even flew in for it so we are very excited about seeing her.

Waterfall Canyon

It was such a beautiful day today we decided we had to get out and go on another hike to a new spot that we had heard was less challenging than our normal hiking spot which would be perfect I thought for Bentley to go on. It takes only an hour and a half round trip or at least that's what it said online so off we went.

It started out pretty good and it really was way easier than our usual Adam's Canyon hike. However at some point the trail splits and we took a wrong turn which let us astray for 20 minutes until we caught up with some people who had also taken the wrong turn and were on their way back. So we followed them and got to the right place. After the trail splits once you take the correct turn the trail starts to get a lot harder. Poor Bentley started to get hungry too so we kept on having to stop for him to eat some cereal and drink some water.

After hiking for 2 and a half hours we finally made it to the waterfall and we were all excited to be there. By that point my leg which has been hurting for almost 2 weeks every single day was getting to the point where I couldn't handle the pain but I am stubborn and pain or no pain I do what I want. After we finished eating our lunch that I had packed Bentley and my brother decided to go up where the snow was at near the waterfall. I stayed back to take pictures from where I was sitting since I didn't want to move. However the spider that was heading my way had different plans.

Have I ever mentioned that I am deathly afraid of spiders? Yeah, like I see one and I lose it completely. I am weird like that. So of course I jump up, grab our bags and start to walk towards the waterfall as fast as I can and what do you know.....

I fall! The problem was that where we were at, the rocks there were very small so I started to slide down the hill which was pretty steep. As I am falling I start to look in front of me to see where there are big rocks for me to move my feet towards them so I could come to a stop. Somehow I finally came to a stop but I was too scared to get up out of fear something could be seriously hurt. Turns out I just got some bruises and scrapes. My brother and son didn't see any of this happen by the way.

I was done with the whole being up there thing so we started our hike down which went fine for about 20 minutes and then Bentley started to complain that he was tired. I made him walk another 10 minutes until I noticed he was tripping on everything and barely had his eyes open. Poor guy, I wore him out. So from there on I had to carry my stinky man down that mountain. Let me tell you how not fun that was, combined with my leg being in major pain.

Then while hiking down we again took a wrong turn which sucked big time. All of a sudden my leg that was in pain gave out on me, while I was carrying Bentley and I swear someone was watching out for me because somehow I was able to catch myself with my bad knee and didn't completely fall to the ground and somehow Bentley didn't even wake up or anything. I freaked out by them though and send my brother up ahead to find someone to ask which trail was the right trail.

Once on the right trail we were out of there within 20-30 minutes. All in all we were hiking for a total of 5 hours on a hike that should only take an hour and a half. I guess thats what happens when you get lost twice and have a 3 year old hiking with you.

It really was a fun and relaxing hike for the most part and now that we know the way it will be must quicker to get to the top. Hopefully my leg will feel better soon.

Easter egg dyeing party!

I took Bentley to my best friends house and we decided to have an easter egg dyeing party.

It was a blast and we all had so much fun. I love that Bentley is at an age where he gets excited about all holidays. Last year was the first year we ever did anything for Easter and he had fun but this year he has really had a blast dying egg, drawing on them and putting stickers on them. 

The kids were all so excited to paint some eggs this time around. We had peace and quiet for a full 90 minutes while doing this. Then they say there watching my brother create some master pieces, he has major talent no joke. 

After we dyed the eggs I send all boys outside to play while I cleaned up and let the eggs dry. How amazing is it to actually have a fenced in back yard to send boys to go play? One of the reasons I wish we had a house, one day. Then I took the boys to the frot yard we layed some blankets on the ground and they all surrounded me while I read them some Peter Rabbit. It was blissful, heaven on earth for those few minutes. I loved being surrounded by boys, it's my callin in life, really. 

What a great day we had! 

Family bonfire

Last weekend we decided to have a BBQ and a bonfire at my parents house. It was the perfect temperature for it too.

It was actually the first time in almost 2 years that we all got together and had some family time and it felt pretty good. 

I know everyone had a fun time.

The food was yummy and then for dessert we made smores which were really good to eat but made such a mess for everyone. The kids didn't really like eating smores. Bentley only likes marshmallows uncooked so he ate a few like that and then made a sandwich with the graham crackers and chocolate of course.It was my moms first time having a smore and I think she fell in love. I cannot believe we have lived in the states for 20 years and this was her first time having a smore, I was shocked.

My father was also there. I am trying and praying that I can be at peace with knowing he will never apologize or say he was wrong but I cannot go on in my life filling hatred as I know someday I will be in charge of taking care of him. Hopefully some day he will realize that I am an okay person. At this point though it's more important to me for Bentley to built a relationship with him than any feelings I have. My father will be the only grandfather figure who my son will have memories with so I will try and make it possible. 

Bentley playing with his cousins

The best smoothies

I love fruit!

Really.

I have never met a fruit I didn't like and having grown up in a tropical country that is a lot of fruit variations.

You can come to my house any day and I will always have a basket full of fruit. We never go without. One of my main reasons for having so much fruit around is not really because I love fruit as much as it is because my son could honestly live off of fruit alone, no joke.

Since getting back on weight watchers I enjoy having a smoothie as breakfast since its filling and holds me over till lunch time which is an awesome thing.

So I have been on a mission to finding the best smoothies out there in the hope of being able to rotate them and not filling like I am having the same thing every day. So far here is what I have found to be the best breakfast smoothie that actually taste amazing. Never again will you find me at a Jamba Juice, ever!

For my breakfast smoothie I have a simple recipe that I use that uses the same amount of milk, yogurt, spinach and peanut butter but you can alternate the fruit you use, here it is:

1/2-3/4 cup of coconut milk (you can really use any kind of milk that's just my favorite)
1/2 cup of greek yogurt
1-2 tbsp of peanut butter
2 cups of fresh spinach
1 frozen banana
1/2-1 cup of any other fruit (I have tried frozen and fresh fruit and both work good)

You can make this smoothie with just the banana and no other fruit, its super yummy but I would then use only 1/2 cup of milk and only 1 tbsp of peanut butter. For the additional fruit I have tried strawberries, cherries, extra banana, papaya, mango and pineapple. I like them all except for the strawberry one because of the seeds but that was it the rest were super delicious. I just put the liquid in fruit then the fruit and peanut butter and top it with the spinach and blend away.

I have also started making a new drink the last few days with orange juice that is so good and totally takes me back to my childhood as my mother used to make it for us growing up in Costa Rica. I found a recipe for it on my favorite website Skinnytaste that is 0 points on weight watchers and made it only to fall in love with it so now I have been making it almost daily only that now I don't really measure anything other than the orange juice.

1 cup of orange juice
1 banana
2 cups of papaya

And blend. I actually added more papaya to mine and turned out really good so I don't think it matters how much fruit you add. I also keep my fruit frozen most of the time and have done it that way you just have to add more orange juice and this way it tasted just like I was having a smoothie from Jamba Juice.

Pore refining gel mistake

Less than a year ago Jon's aunt bought me some face products. It included a face wash, lotion, pore  refining gel and toner. I have been using the wash off and on haven't really seen it do anything that was any different than my other products but the lotion I have loved! I have used it daily ever since.

For some crazy reason about 3 weeks ago I decided I needed to try this murad pore refining gel because I do have large pores that kinda bug me. So I read the instructions and put it on as it said to do so. That day I didn't feel any difference at all, the next day I was in a rush so I washed my face and didn't look in the mirror and just left the house. When I make it to my mom's door and she opens the door the first thing she says is "what happened to your face?" I freaked out so I run in her house and checked my face out and sure enough it had little red bumps all over my face and by now I could feel the roughness on my skin. By the next day my face was a little swollen which freaked me out.

After that I decided no makeup and I would only wash my face and not put anything else on. The next few days my face started getting drier and drier and then its started peeling. I had to do something cause it was starting to hurt and feel like I had been sun burned I turned to my old trusted Ponds face lotion which felt like heaven on my burned face. Still though my skin felt really rough and would not stop peeling. It was bad.

I've had something like this happen a long time ago like 6 years ago and after not using any new products and letting my face rest for a week my face was back to normal but not this time. Really my face is one thing I try to keep in good condition because I do not do well with makeup especially coverup. I don't even know how to put it on properly I never had to learn my skin was always ok without it.

I went to the store to buy me something that might help my skin but every product was either priced crazy high or it had ingredients like alcohol or stuff I couldn't read which I now know my face cannot handle.

So after week 3 of my skin feeling rough and still drier than ever I decided it was time to take measures into my own hands. I started reading up what to wash my face with for sensitive dry skin and came up with a facial that might work. At this point I figured anything homemade can't do any more damage than the store bought stuff. I blended some oatmeal and mixed it with some brown sugar, honey and milk. I rubbed it on my face gently for about a minute and then left it on for 10 minutes. I even got my brother doing it with me. He is such a good trooper up for anything. I washed it off after the 10 minutes and my face still felt dry so I googled up homemade lotions or face cream and low and behold coconut oil is a miracle worker or at least that's what these people online were saying. I pulled out my coconut oil and lathered on my face. By this point even Jon is laughing at me but hey I am a girl on a mission at this point. I went to bed wake up the next morning and what do you know? My face is a little bit less rough on my chin and my forehead. I though, well maybe it's like a placebo effect.

I then immediately googled up a homemade daily face wash and came up across something that might work so I blended it up and washed my face with it. Now its only been 2 days since I started this new face regiment I can already tell a huge difference. My forehead is back to normal and so is my chin now all that's left is my nose and cheeks. I am hoping by the end of the week this face problem will all solved and in the process I have figured out a new way of washing my face and new face lotion.

Recipe for the face wash:

1 Tbsp of honey

1 Tsp of baking soda

-Mix it all up and rub it into your face in circular motion. Keep on face for at least a minute and then wash off.

Recipe for lotion:

1 cup of coconut oil

-Whip it till it looks like whipped cream and then pour into a container. Just use it as normal lotion, a little goes a long way.

Recipe for facial:

2 Tbsp of oatmeal grounded

1 Tbsp of brown sugar

2 Tsp of honey

2 Tsp of milk or more

-Mix it all in a pot on low heat till its all smooth and combined then put on your face but make sure its not too hot. Rub in and let it dry for 10 minutes then wash off and follow it with some coconut oil moisturizer

How good do these look? Plus they smell delicious.

Law school applications are in

Well it's official my husband has applied to law school and they are all in.

Now the waiting game begins while I bite off all my nails and start to chew on my hair.

We should be hearing back from some schools within the next 4 weeks others within the next 6 weeks. That is too long of a wait as your life sits in limbo but waiting patiently we will do.

He has applied to 2 schools in Texas and then like 7 in California. Some are a stretch and others are more likely where we will end up going to. By looking at the GPA and LSAT scored the schools let in we will most likely end up in San Diego.

For Jon this is an exciting thing moving back to his home town but for me I might be having a little bit of a harder time. Even though I know the weather is beautiful all year round and there is no many outdoor things Bentley and I will be able to do all year round unlike here, I am having to leave my comfort zone, my family and good friends and all of Bentley's friends so it will be an adjustment for sure.

Fingers crossed though that we can get in somewhere.

I hate you myotonic dystrophy

As I watched my brother Aaron play with my son I felt so many emotions going through me.

I can see his body deteriorating faster than I expected it would.

He suffers from a form of muscular dystrophy meaning his muscle are wasting away.

This is a horrible death sentence but seeing my brother deal with this has made me have such admiration towards him.

During the summer time you will catch him running around his neighborhood almost daily if not he is on his road bike or he mountain biking up on the mountains by his house.

He has not and will not allow this horrible disease to define him and has told me that he will run/bike till he no longer can walk. I love him for that. Last year after being told he would not live pass 50 if he is lucky and would most likely be wheelchair bound within the next few years he took out some of his savings and went and bought himself his dream car in cash because he wants to be able to ride his car as long as possible and enjoy it.

I remember growing up leaders from our church making fun of my brothers and thinking they were weird it hurt back then but now that we know what made them "weird" it hurts even more. These people do not know the damage they did to my brothers and if only they had taken the time to truly get to know them they would have been shocked at how amazing they are. Shame on them!

I am so glad that Bentley is getting to enjoy his uncles right now and they get to play with him and run around and go on hikes with them. I am sure that my child and my brothers will have a wonderful relationship as he grows and they will be his buddies. He loves them so much especially tio Aaron since he is the more active one.

Photography

I have always loved photography but just never really have taken the time to learn about it until recently. So I have been playing around with my camera and watching tutorials on youtube and what not to try and figure out how to get amazing pictures of my boy and not miss amazing moments like I have been for years. 

Last night I stayed up late and woke up early to try and learn about shutter speed and aperture and so we took a day trip to Logan temple thinking today would be a kinda nice weather day. We got up there and were able to be out of our car for a whole 10 minutes and then ran as fast as we could back to the car as we were freezing. 

Jon took the first set of pictures at the Logan temple and I took the bottom set this morning while Bentley played with his toys.

Weight coming off

After 3 months of consistently going to the gym at least 3 times a week for 20-30 minutes and being mostly on weight watchers I have been able to drop 10 pounds.

I did weight watchers over a year ago and was able to drop 10 pounds in less than 6 weeks but I was super strict about it. This time around I haven't been as strict and allow myself to have a treat every now  and then which I think has made the dropping weight a little bit harder.

The part I am the most shocked about is that I have for 3 months been going to the gym and running/jogging/walking on the treadmill. I have never before been able to keep this up for this long and can I say that I am finally starting to really like going to the gym and running or getting on the treadmill.

I always told myself before I turn 30 I must learn to enjoy running. I bike all summer long and so I am able to get my cardio vascular exercise in that way but once it gets too cold to bike I normally start gaining some weight during the winter as I just do anything but sit on my bum. The perfect thing is running since you can do that indoors so I am beyond thrilled that finally it is working out for me.

It really does take a long, long time to get to this point but if I don't go to the gym at least 4 times a week now I feel like something is wrong.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday I can go without having to take Bentley along since Jon is home at some point to help out with him but the other days I just take him with me and he either walks on the treadmill next to me or brings toys to play with.

I am glad I have a child who just rolls with the punches and does whatever for the most part.

Now I have 4 more pounds to go till I get to my goal weight and then I get to reward myself by going out and getting a new bathing suit for the summer and I am so excited about this.

Packing

We only signed our lease at this apartment till the end of April which means one way or another come May we will need to be somewhere else. Where that may be who knows but I figured I needed to start packing so that this time around I can purge and not be more organized about the stuff I am packing.

On Monday my mom came over to help me get started. We were able to get rid of 2 trash bags and packed 4 boxes and finished packing 3. So much was done in 3 hours but the was only from my bathrooms, hall closet and Bentley's room. This child has too many toys cause most boxes were from his room.

On Tuesday my cousin came over for 2 hours and helped me with my kitchen. I shocked how much junk we have. I was able to get rid of 3 bags of trash and 1 microwave. I was also able to send a small bag of food I won't use to my mom along with a bread maker and mixer. We also were able to pack one box almost full and then I have one box full of things that I need to donate. My kitchen is now pretty empty and it feels so good.

Emotionally I am not holding up though. Bentley started crying cause he doesn't want to move and leave his friends. So yes I am an emotional mess but that's life and somehow we will figure things out and be ok.

My pantry after my cousin was done with it. I couldn't even see the floor before.

Road trip

Jon got to go on a road trip with his cousin. Lucky him. I love road trips. I believe the best memories happen during road trips.

His cousin bought a car out in Philly and needed to drive it out to Washington so he asked Jon to tag along for the ride.

I wished so bad that I could have gone. I miss Philly so much and him flying out there made me miss it so much more.

They had a blast on the trip and would send me pictures every now and then. It took them 3 days to make it to Utah.

They has breakfast in Philly at some pretty amazing restaurant that had been featured on the Food Network. Then in St Louis they stopped at another restaurant featured on the Food Network. At one point in their trip they run out of gas as they were pulling into the gas station. Funny thing is that it wasn't shocking at all since this seems to happen to my husband on the regular and he normally has to push his car into the gas station.

Friends forever

Bentley has a best friend who I am sure will be his true friend for a lifetime.

His mom and I are best friends and we have been for almost 7 years and no matter where we move to we always manage to stay in touch and visit each other.

So our kids have grown up seeing each other all the time.

Now that Bentley is at an age where he can play with other kids well these two are inseparable. I love watching them while we are on car rides or while they play. They are so funny and tell each other jokes and laugh so hard. They truly love each other so fun as a mom to get to watch this.

How cute are they?