Departure Take 2

So, after being denied passage by the Chilean PDI, we got our luggage again and took the kids to Gabriel and Angela's house where Gabriel made them pancakes and they were eating and watching Madagascar 2 at midnight. Corey worked his magic on Skype with Delta and got me and my crew tickets for the next day, same flight, same time. While Corey did that, I rummaged through a bag of stuff that we hadn't packed but in a rush had just thrown in a garbage sack. Thankfully I found all the room keys for the apartment - they had been in Corey's junk drawer of misc. items. (Each bedroom had it's own key, even though we never used them cause the doors didn't close cause the door frames had been misaligned slightly by the earthquake in 2010.) So with all the keys in hand, Corey and I headed back to Las Condes to sleep in our apartment again with the owner who slept in the kids room, with plans to finish packing and to go to the Notary in the morning. We went right to bed and were asleep by 1:30 a.m.

Next morning, we got up around 8:00. I loaded up then pushed the apartment shopping cart down the street as I took the left over groceries and random toys to donate to the church nursery over to some friends. Corey and I finished looking under beds and in drawers and we left while the owner was still in bed, but I don't think she was sleeping, maybe just wanted us to leave. I felt bad cause I hadn't finished cleaning and the master bathroom was pretty disgusting with all the dirty magic erasers I had used as I worked my way back through the apartment. When we got there the bathroom was all cleaned, so I felt bad she had seen it like that and hope she didn't think we were totally terrible tenants. And if she does, oh well, it's over now. Off to the Notary!

We walked to the Notary, since there are Notary offices everywhere - it's quite the business racket down here. You have to have a law degree to be a Notary. There were lots of people there. Corey had some great comments as we waited which made me laugh, I'll write them when I find the paper I wrote them all on. We were a little annoyed that we had to jump through this hoop to go to our home country, but were also humored by it. We had a fun morning laughing at the whole situation.

Here was another situation - in Chile, you have to go cancel your internet and tv cable in person, so we had another errand to run after the Notary, it was almost 10:00, Corey's plane left at 1:10, we still had to drive to Los Cerrillos to get the boys that were flying out with him - hurry hurry! We go to Parque Arauco so he can run in and pay the bill. I stayed in the car to write down some of the cars info so we could pay the tolls we've been collecting - we had only recently figured out that the occasional beeping sound in the car when we were on the freeway was not any warning from the car to go in for a check up, but happened whenever we passed under an automatic toll booth that somehow scanned us like a UPC code. The mystery beeping is solved! And that you can pay that one online. So as I was waiting in the car, there was a tap at my window. Paula, our friend who had babysat all the kids after school yesterday and who we had said adieu to at that time, was looking at me with confusion in her face - "Either you are Tiffanie or you are her twin sister!" It's me. I told her how they didn't let me on the plane, she said her sister has trouble every time she flies cause her sister is black haired Chilean but her son is very fair skinned and light haired, they always giver her a hard time. Oh the joys of regulations. So we laughed and said goodbye again. She has a sister that lives in Utah and is coming to visit in June, so as we said bye she said "See you soon! But not here!... There!"

Corey came back to the car, we tried to leave, but our 15 minutes in the parking lot required payment, so we had to back up and go pay at their little parking pay machines, Corey came running back to the car. Okay, now can we go, Chile? Please?

We drove to Angela's house, and couldn't find it again, Gabriel came and found us and we followed him to his house -


Corey and the kids each grabbed their backpack, one small carry on suitcase to get them by during their one night in Costa Rica, and Corey's saxophone, then they were off to the airport. And most important: Do you have your notarized letter? Yes. With no luggage to check we hoped that would help them make it to the gate on time.

At the airport they scolded Corey for not being their 3 hours early. They had started boarding the plane at 11 for some reason. He called me and said he made it past the PDI okay to give me hope for my turn tonight. Good news! So he was off.


I stayed at Angela's and the kids watched movie after movie while I went through all of our too much stuff and gave a lot of it to Angela to use or pass along to others as she pleased - our DVD player, CD player, lots of clothes, an infant car seat, lots of school books, and miraculously after several hours of work, I had widdled things down to 8 checked bags, two small carry on suitcases, and 3 back packs and my bag with all my important documents: passports and don't loose the notarized letter!!!

The missionaries stopped by while we were there, one from Utah and the other from New Mexico (but to save explaining it everytime to Chileans who don't know where New Mexico is, he just says Texas) - the Elder from New Mexico had just received a package from the US and shared his peanut butter cups with the kids -


They are Joseph's favorite and they don't sell them here. (You can find Snickers, MnM's, Twix, and a few other US candies.) It gave us all hope that this land of the USA does indeed exist and yes, we can, we will make it there to the promised land!

I loaded up the luggage - can you believe it all fit!!! 6 bins, a big duffle bag, a big suitcase, two small suitcases, 3 backpacks and my bag, a stroller, a carseat, 4 kids and two adults - gonna make it!
The kids jumped on the mattresses outside while Angela and I loaded up the car with our 3D puzzle.

Took a picture with Angela's girls - they are angels and were so cute with Lily and Abi during the day (since we kept them up late they stayed home from school)


Lily doesn't want to go? She was tired. Hopefully she'll sleep well on the flight - 9 hours 45 min to Atlanta, I can do this!

We left around 6 to give ourselves plenty of time. Joe held Lily on his lap, Mel held Abi, the four of them scrunched into one seat, hope the police don't stop us!

With three carts we loaded the luggage again for take 2 of our attempt to depart. Joe pushed a cart, Mel pushed a car with Abi riding on top, Angela took a cart, and I pushed Lily. Good system we got going, gonna make it!

Checking in the baggage - Can you see Abi? She's there in the background, look above Lily's head - Abi is laying on the floor with her hands behind her head, like she's out on the grass gazing up at the clouds, pretty funny. Our baggage was checked by the same lady who helped us yesterday, luckily I had an infant pass for Lily this time thanks to our run yesterday. Ok, here we go to the PDI, notarized letter in hand. The lady told me to go to the office, I gave her a slightly panicked look, she said not to worry, something something I didn't understand, so I go over there and the officer takes my notarized letter and the kids ID cards to verifiy that in face the said man Corey Wride is indeed the biological father of said children. Corey didn't have to do this step, don't know why I did, but after a 20 minute wait we were through and gave a big hug to Angela for all her help - we love you!


We made it onto the plane! It was a nice big plane - 7 seats across. I had an empty seats besides me, so Lily and I had space and she was able to sleep there, it was very nice. US, here we come!!! We're gonna make it! Yay!!!

Thanksgiving Point Gardens

Corey took Angela and Melodie with him to BYU yesterday - he was giving a class presentation in Dr. Dyer's class, which said professor co-authored this book which mentioned a certain Corey Wride in it's chapter on the Innovator's talent of observation (here's an Economist article which also mentions Corey here, kinda fun, huh!) ~ So, after their busy day on campus, we decided we'd treat Angela to the lovely Thanksgiving Point Gardens.

It was pretty and wonderful and we about had the whole 55 acres to ourselves ~

Lily was at one with the garden, singing, picking flowers (which Corey tried to discourage.) she was swaying back and forth sweeping the stone walkways with her long princess dress which she had been playing in at home and refused to change out of.  She was even barefoot, which added another dimension of innocence to the aura of her being ~ it was sweet.  She was having a true Disney Princess experience, minus the birds who wouldn't come to her.

Lily singing to the flowers

Then she picked up a big brown dead leaf off of the ground and handed it to Corey as she said "It's a Daddy Flower!"  Big, old, crusty... yup, that about sums up us adults alright.

Angela ascending the Italian Garden stairs

Look at those baby brown eyes - Sophi you are so gorgeous!

Rolling down the big hill - or - frolicking in the Garden of Eden

Smile for the camera!  Pretend the sun's not in your eyes!

Corey and I were looking at the park through Angela's eyes, since we've been to her country and have that as a point of reference, and discussed that it's almost obscene how gorgeous it all is.  The US in general is pretty over the top amazing, kinda seems unfair, like we gotta get points docked in some other area since we're so overly blessed in pretty much every way possible.  When we were living in Santiago, they accompanied us to a park near their home (park starts on picture 8 at this post) and also took us to Cerro San Cristobal at this post, and that was a gorgeous park that trumps your average US City park but probably ties the average national park.

Anyway, as we were leaving Thanksgiving Point, Angela said to Corey "Next time you are in Santiago, I'm not going to take you anywhere, cause it's all ugly..." which was funny and we laughed, cause Santiago is pretty awesome, but Thanksgiving Point does kinda show off a bit too much - tone it down people!

Political Sidenote for the Day ~
President Obama has a new tv ad out addressing our nations most pressing issue: Big Bird.  Since the debate last week (know on MSNBC as "the worst thing that ever happened anywhere" haha) President Obama has mentioned Big Bird and Elmo 13 times but has not mentioned his plan to fix the economy or Libya once.  Obama has nothing to run on. For the love of all that is good in America, please vote Romney!

Sunday General Conference Story

One of the reason that our guests from Chile came to visit us in Utah was so they could attend General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They were able to get tickets to attend two sessions in the Conference Center - on Saturday morning and Sunday morning. So, on Saturday morning Corey took them all the way downtown and they spent the day there. But we missed clearing plans with each other last night and thus we didn't know what they needed on Sunday morning. Luckily Abi is an early riser and she came in my room at 8:00 and told me that they needed a ride to Trax. Corey had been in his office working late and then up until 2 talking with Ethan and Joseph. So he was beat. So I got up. They were ready and I just wore my pjs (which is my daily lounge wear as well) and got in the car to take them.

As we drove down the street, we noticed the garage was open on the house of one of our wonderful neighbors known around the world as Elder Christofferson. The car looked ready to go, I joked to Angela "Hey! We know where they are going! You should get a ride with them!" as we drove past. I turned the corner and was ready to turn toward the street that heads to Trax, when I found myself pausing, and turning the opposite direction. Angela pointed the way I didn't go, asking "Isn't Trax this way?" "Yeah... but..." oh boy what am I doing?!?! I turned on the next street to drive back into our neighborhood... "Um, let's go see if they are still there... Vamos a ver si tengo el coraje a preguntarles.... (We'll see if I am brave enough to ask them...)" Angela and her girls were quiet as we drove up. Their car was still there, we noticed a light in the garage from a fridge door being open, so they weren't both in the car yet.... I turned the car around and put it in park and got out. Then the car started to back out of the garage and walked over to Sister Christofferson's side of the car that was closest to me, waving and signaling that I wanted to talk to them. She put down the window. I think I ended up saying something like this: "Hey! So I was just taking my friends to Trax and wanted to know if you could give them a ride?" She looked at me a bit concerned and said "...We can't..." Maybe in my brain I was saying the right things but I obviously wan't clear cause as we exchanged words, they thought I wanted them to give my friends a ride to Trax station, Doh! "Oh hey neighbor! I noticed you were leaving your house today so thought I'd see if I could save myself a trip by having you take my friends somewhere..." When I realized what I had asked, I said "Oh no no, they are going to the Conference Center!" "Oh! They have tickets? Well yeah! Have 'em jump in!" Phew!! So I waved for them to come out of the car and come hitch a ride with my friend the apostle! I told Kathy "They are from Santiago Chile..." I don't think they knew who my "friends" were when I asked but I knew Elder Christofferson spoke Spanish cause he served a mission in Argentina. I wish I had a picture of them as they came to the car, it was super cute. Elder Christofferson opened the car doors for them and to move his briefcase. They had big nervous smiles and shook his hand as he asked them their names. They had some major "WOW!" expressions on their faces, It was a great moment. They got in the car, I went to the back as Elder Christofferson put his case in the trunk and closed it "Thank you so much Elder Christofferson, this will be a real treat for them!" And that was it, I got in my car and got out of the street so they could leave and off they went. Fun!

I came home and bounded up to our room where Corey was still in bed. I jumped on the bed and propped myself up on my side, looking at him. He opened his eyes to see my big grin and I said "Guess WHAT!" 

He smiled as I told what happened, then I apologized "I'm sorry for all the work you had to do with going to Vegas and everything just to have me steal the highlight of their trip to the US away from you in 5 minutes!" He was happy I was crazy brave enough to go back and ask. As we listened to conference, I felt like Elder Rasband's story about putting his foot in the door was a little what had happened to me. I'm glad for them that they had such an experience. I'm sure it will be something they always remember. They got back during the second session. We were up in my room listening to more speakers. (And this here photo below is what happens if you're a boy and your sister catches you sleeping through conference.)

Mel played the "lets see how many things we can put on Ethan without waking him up" game. Tape on his head, saxophone mouthpiece cover thing on his nose... stuffed animal, ball, toys.... So that is what we were doing when they got back home after their trip down town with Elder Christofferson. Angela told me that he and his wife were "Muy simpatico" and also said that they took them underneath main street where they park their cars and then they rode a little golf cart with them to the conference center. They also ran into President Nelson there. :) So fun for them. It will definitely be a highlight of the trip. But they have said that the thing they will miss the most when they go home is Daniel <3 p="">

Angela and her daughters were super cute as they were admiring him after scriptures one night. It looked like a nativity scene. They are spending this week up in Idaho and will be back next Monday. I took Corey to the airport after the morning session yesterday, he is in Brazil this week and will be back next Monday too. Here is a picture "las ninas" drew with the kids outside of our family. Corey and I were happy with how young we looked, ha.

5 Ways To Get Your Kids To Listen

1. Say it With a Single Word
2. Provide Information  
3. Give Your Child a Choice  
4. State Your Expectations  
5. Name Their Feelings

Got that short list above from a good article I read today on Parents.com/TeamMom, here.  This is something I struggle with and I was trying step 1 yesterday of using single word, I think it helped.  I can think of my own examples for each of the ones they give, I've written up these 5 steps and placed them in several places throughout the house hoping it will help me remember.  So there's some good advice and examples in the post which I pasted below, and I have the book on my shelf, I should probably read that one too.

Sigh, so much to learn and apply!  But this is a good quick sum-up of the author Vicki Glembocki's experience with the ideas she found most helpful from the book:

~ ~ ~

A few months ago I crashed headfirst into my most frustrating parenting problem to date: My daughters were ignoring me. I could tell them five times to do anything -- get dressed, turn off the TV, brush their teeth -- and they either didn't hear me or didn't listen. So I'd tell them five more times, louder and louder. It seemed the only way I could inspire Blair, 6, and Drew, 4, to action was if I yelled like one of The Real Housewives of New Jersey and then threatened to throw their blankies away.

This was not the kind of parent I wanted to be. But their inability to obey or even acknowledge my husband, Thad, and me made us feel powerless. While walking through Target one Saturday, I heard no fewer than five parents say some variation of, "If you don't start listening, we're walking out of this store right now!"

I recognized that at least part of the problem was me. After much lamenting about my lame parenting skills, I got lucky: A friend's mom mentioned what she calls "the Bible" on the subject: How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk, by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish. When I checked it out at fabermazlish.com, I saw that there's an accompanying DIY workshop for $130 (both were updated last year in honor of the book's 30th anniversary). Granted, the authors are moms, not child psychologists or toddler whisperers. But the book was a national best-seller, and parents continue to host workshops using the authors' ideas.

To see if their advice still held up, I wrangled four equally desperate mom buddies and ordered the workshop. I got two CDs and a guide with directions for leading the group. We met every Tuesday night in my living room for seven weeks, spending much of our 90-minute sessions talking about our struggles with listening-challenged kids as if we were in a 12-step program. We followed along as actors played out scenarios on the CD, did some role-playing of our own, and completed weekly homework assignments, such as reading parts of How to Talk and Liberated Parents, Liberated Children, by the same authors, and then applying our new communication skills. Not all of Faber and Mazlish's advice rang true for us. Their suggestion to post a to-do list on the fridge so we wouldn't have to keep reminding our kids of their responsibilities, for instance, didn't pan out (especially because I had to keep reminding my girls to look at the note!). But other tips truly got our kids to start paying attention -- and, better yet, got us to stop screaming at them. Carrie, the mom of a 6-year-old, summed up our collective reaction by the end: "This really works!"

1. Say it With a Single Word

The situation My daughters have only one assigned chore: to carry their plates to the sink when they're done eating. Still, not a night went by when I didn't need to tell them to do it, sometimes three times. Even that didn't guarantee they would -- and who would finally clear them? Take a guess.

The old way After they ignored my repeated commands, I'd sit Blair and Drew down and preach for ten minutes about how I wasn't their servant and this wasn't a restaurant.

The better way Kids usually know what they're supposed to do; they just need some simple reminding. "They'll tune you out when you go on and on," Faber told me. "Instead, try just one word to jog their memory."

The result After dinner one night, all I said was "plates." At first the girls looked at me as if I were speaking in an alien tongue. But a second later, they picked them up and headed for the kitchen. After roughly a month of reinforcement, I don't need to say anything; they do it automatically. "Teeth!" works equally well for getting them to brush, as does "Shoes" to replace my typical morning mantra: "Find your shoes and put them on; find your shoes and put them on". And when I hear Blair screaming, "Give me that!" I simply say, "Nice words" (okay, that's two words). I practically faint when she says, "Drew, would you please give that to me?"

2. Provide Information

The situation My friend Michele had just served lunch when, as was her habit, 2-year-old Everly jumped off her chair, climbed back on, turned around, stood up, and then stomped on the cushion.

The old way When Everly wouldn't respond to a patient "You need to sit still," Michele would get annoyed and say something like, "How hard is it to understand? You must sit down!" Everly would cry but still not sit. In the end, she'd get a time-out, which didn't change her behavior.

The better way State the facts instead of always issuing commands. "Who doesn't rebel against constant orders?" asks Faber. (I know I do.) Kids aren't robots programmed to do our bidding. They need to exercise their free will, which is why they often do exactly the opposite of what we ask them to. The trick is to turn your directive into a teaching moment. So instead of, "Put that milk away," you might simply say: "Milk spoils when it's left out." This approach says to a child, "I know that when you have all the information, you'll do the right thing,'" Faber explains.

The result The next time Everly played jungle gym at mealtime, Michele took a calming breath and then said, "Honey, chairs are meant for sitting." Everly smiled at her mother, sat down, and then started eating. "That never happened before," Michele reports. She still has to remind her daughter now and then, but in the end, Everly listens. The technique applies to other situations as well. Rather than saying, "Stop touching everything," Michele now points out, "Those delicate things can break very easily." Ditto for "Legos belong in the green bin so you can find them the next time you want to play with them" and "Unflushed toilets get stinky."

3. Give Your Child a Choice

The situation Three days after our final session, Joan took her kids to Orlando. At the Magic Kingdom, she handed them hats to shield the sun. Her 6-year-old put hers on willingly. Her almost-5-year-old, Sam, refused.

The old way "I'd try to persuade him to cooperate," Joan says. Inevitably, she'd end up shouting, "If you don't put it on, you can't go on any more rides." Then he'd bawl his eyes out, and no one would have any fun.

The better way Offer your child choices. "Threats and punishment don't work," Faber explains on one of the workshop CDs. "Rather than feeling sorry for not cooperating, a child tends to become even more stubborn. But when you make him part of the decision, he's far more likely to do what's acceptable to you."

The result Joan left it up to her son: "Sam, you can put your hat on now or after you sit out the next ride." Sam still wouldn't comply. "But after he missed out on Peter Pan's Flight, I said, 'Sam, here's your hat,' and he put it right on," Joan says.

4. State Your Expectations

The situation Amy let her kids turn on the TV before they left for school. After one show was over, she'd take Adrian, 4, to get dressed while Angela, 7, kept watching. But when it was Angela's turn to get ready, she'd whine, "Just ten more minutes. Please? Pleeeeeeeaaase!"

The old way Amy would yell: "No, you've watched enough. That's it." Angela would complain some more. Amy would yell, "I said no!" Then, after more begging, she'd add, "You've already had more TV time than Adrian. You're being ungrateful."

The better way Let your kids know your plan ahead of time. Amy should tell Angela something like this: "After you've brushed your teeth and are totally dressed and ready to go, you can watch a little more TV while I get your brother dressed. That way you'll be on time for school."

The result The first time Amy tried this tactic, Angela turned off the TV without saying a word. But the second morning, she refused and started bellyaching again. Amy quickly realized she hadn't reminded Angela of the plan in advance this time. So the following morning she stated it again clearly: "When I leave with Adrian, I expect you to turn off the TV." Success. She finds the strategy equally effective for other situations ("No starting new games until the one you've just played is put away").

5. Name Their Feelings

The situation Carrie's daughter Tatum, 6, was happily blowing bubbles with a friend. Suddenly, Tatum stormed into the room, wailing, "Mina's not giving me a turn."

The old way "I'd say something like, 'There's no reason to cry over this,'" Carrie says. What would Tatum do? The opposite -- cry more and likely ruin the rest of the playdate.

The better way Parents need to listen too. "Everyone wants to know they've been heard and understood," Faber argues. Telling a child to stop crying sends the message that her feelings don't matter. Kids often cry (or whine, yell, or stomp) because they can't communicate why they're upset or don't know how to deal with the emotion. "You need to give them the words to express it," Faber says.

The result Next time, Carrie looked Tatum in the eye and described what she thought her daughter was feeling: "You seem really frustrated!" Tatum stared at her in surprise and then announced, "I am." Carrie held her tongue to keep from giving advice ("You need to..."), defending her friend ("Mina deserves a turn too"), or getting philosophical ("That's life"). Instead, she said, "Oh." Tatum kept talking: "I wish I had two bottles of bubbles." Carrie asked, "How can we work this out so it's fair to you and Mina?" Tatum said by taking turns. Carrie suggested they use a kitchen timer, and Tatum explained the plan to Mina. Everyone wound up happy. "It's hard to stop yourself from saying too much," says Carrie. She's right. Phrases like, "You never listen to me" and "How many times do I have to tell you?" become ingrained in our brain. During the workshop, my friends and I realize that it's going to take a bit of practice to stop uttering these expressions. But that's the entire point: to change the way we talk to our kids, so they not only understand what we're trying to say but actually want to listen.

Tomato Pickin'

I'll start this post with my best shot of picking tomato tonight - this photo's got the pickin' and the yellow blossoms and red tomatoes all in one shot, perfect.  Then I was off to snap someone else...

 May I introduce you to our house guest for October ~

Yes, we've got a special visitor ~ Angela!  Well, you've met her once before over a year ago, as Angela and her husband saved our skin when we were denied passage by the Chilean Airport Police.  Re-live that fun story here part 1 and part 2.  So, Angela has never been on a plane before and had never come to the US, Corey was due for a trip down south with his Skymiles but gifted them to Angela instead to make a once in a lifetime dream come true for her and we are excited to have her here - she flies home on Halloween, so we are gonna have fun playing tour guides during this whole month! 

We started the fun today by going by my parent's house to help them harvest their overload of cherry tomatoes.  It was fun and the tomatoes were sweet - we just kept poppin' them in our mouths from right off the vine.  I need a garden.  I want tomato plants.  It was a hit with the kids too -

There's Lily and Wesley poppin' tomatoes.  

 Lily's in love with them.  Mel working hard with my sweet dad in the background. 

 Act natural Mel, try to pretend I'm not taking your picture

Sophia loved these little red beauties.  While we were still picking, Wes held Sophi on his lap and cutely proclaimed "Sophi and I are Tomato Lovers!"

Well then they should be happy for the rest of the week, cause we got a bounty of tomatoes tonight.  Kids are going to eat their veggies this week!  Point Parents!  (Thanks Mom & Dad)

Wild Weekend

Well, I need to catch my breath. It has been a crazy busy two days. Ok. so Friday, Corey had an interview, and I'm hoping he gets it something lined up that pays (he's currently doing two jobs that don't pay really - a game thing for Jeff and his holo lense thing for a Korean project). Ethan told me he needs to have his driving record apostilled, so I printed that and got it notarized yesterday, then drove down town to the capitol for a 2pm appointment to get that done. Then back for more errands. I went to Walmart to buy ice cream and soda for when we host the walkabout on Sunday. We are feeding the neighborhood root beer floats and berries with whipped cream and granola. Then I took Natalie to dance at 4. I bought her jazz shoes today. I had looked for some at kid to kid for some that would be less expensive, but no luck, so I bought them there at their store for $40 - ugh. I hate paying full price like that.

Her recital photos that were taken before the June Cinderella performance are finally ready -

Here and the other little bibbidi bobbidi boo fairies.

Natalie has been complaining a little bit about ballet, I'm not totally sure what her concern is, but we're hoping she doesn't give up on it just because it's challenging. 

She's a cute little girl. 

Corey and I went on a date to Nordstrom's cafe last night for date night. I had been doing a water fast. There are lots of good things about fasting, I enjoy fasting. One thing is that when I do end my fast and eat, the food tastes so much more delicious and enjoyable. Food tastes really good when I'm really hungry. I got a pear pecan salad. Delicious. I also usually feel very pretty and confident and good about myself after fasting, hence this selfie I took after I got ready to go out.

I'm liking my hair, but my scalp is still having issues. I've been trying different things - I ordered and have used Viori for the past 2 months, but I don't think that it has the answers my scalp needs. The next thing I'm going to try is Crisan shampoo and conditioner. 

Ok, so then TODAY - Corey and I got up really early so that we could drive to Payson for the temple sealing of Angela's daughter Valentina. 

That was my first time going in the Payson Temple. It was beautiful!! 

We called home at 7 to wake up Abi and Wes so that they could go help clean the chapel. 

Valentina was on a mission when Angela, Cata, and Gabriella came and visited us in 2017. Corey helped Valentina come to the US for school to learn English, and now she's married to a nice young man who served a mission in Chile. Good job, Corey, on making good things happen in their life. They got married civilly last year during covid and then sealed today. Us taking a selfie while they do wedding pictures. I'm sure they'll share those with us later. 

More pictures on Angela's facebook. After we got home, I left Corey and went to help with the luncheon for a funeral over at the church. I was there for a few hours. After getting back home, I can't remember what Peter was doing in Corey's car, but he was cute. 

After I got home, we got the kids dressed and presentable and went down for their sealing reception. Natalie dreaming of the day that she'll get married!

It was a cute little reception at the pavilion at an LDS chapel in Provo. I don't know why they didn't get the gym inside - no one was using it. It was a bit windy outside but they did a pretty good job securing most of the stuff and it stayed put for most of the evening, right up until the very end when a storm came in. 

They served Chilean completos - and there were plenty of alfajor cookies and other treats with manjar.

Owen didn't want to get out of the car right away, and I was helping kids out and seated and get the piano out, and then when Owen did decide to get out of the car, he locked it, and he locked my keys inside. That was when I started to feel like I reached my max of stress for the day. I wasn't hungry but I started to eat cookies as a distraction from the uncomfortable situation I was in. A nice guy came and broke into my car for me. The alarm went off, I paid him $175, and I was grateful to have a ride home again. I am willing to do my part to pay for this service to keep it alive and available to the public.

AH. So then Corey and Lily provided music for the evening.

And the little kids walked around throwing rocks. 

And then there was dancing - 

And we tried to contribute to the festivities by doing our part on the dance floor.

Corey cutting the rug cement with Peter!

My two favorite males - 

It was a party, and it was a really busy day, and I probably would have been ok "calm"-wise had Owen not locked my keys in the car. But after that I started mindlessly overeating the reception refreshments. Awareness is the important first step. Next time I hope I will recognize the stress, sit with is, and be ok with it rather than try to bury it under sugar. Now it's time for bed. It's been a bit of a nuts first week of this school year - with me being on my own for a few days, and the delays of Corey and Wes coming home from Guatemala, and the soccer tournament, and yeah. I am grateful for a day of rest tomorrow. ...well, kinda a day of rest maybe? Corey invited Angela and her family over for dinner, AND we're one of the host houses for the neighborhood walkabout. But I'll try to relax a little bit and see if I can charge my batteries before we start week 2 of the school year! So far it's been a doozy but I'm hoping I will be able to get into the swing of it all.