He is now 18 months old!

He is just like his FATHER!!

So Erix is a busy guy these days. Weather has warmed up, so that means he is working alot which means up early and home late. I am busy with school finishing up in the next few weeks, so Amulek has been spending a little more extra time at Na-Ma's and Pop's house. Yesterday being sunday, our branch doesn't meet till 2:20-5:30. And since Erix was recently called, he wanted to go make a few visits to some of the families who were not at church just to get to know them. So I left him at church and I went to my parents house to have dinner with them and to hang out with my younger brother who has been visiting us for the past few days on his break between semesters. Well, Erix didnt end up getting home till after 10:00, Amulek was still awake and those boys have a ritual when Erix comes in the door to my parents house....right as you walk in, the back of my dad's reclincer is to the door. Here is how it goes..
In walks Erix.... Amulek and Erix's eyes meet... they smile... Erix drops down REAL FAST and hides behind the recliner (while pops.. my dad is sitting in it)... Amulek squeals cause daddy is hiding... Erix peaks out from one side.. Amulek steps back with a curious grin on his face... Erix hides again... Amulek looks arond for Erix... Erix peaks out a lil from the other side... Amulek giggles... Erix hides again... and Amulek laughs.... then... Erix comes jumping up from his hiding place and Amulek goes running... Erix chases and begins to tickle Amulek. They both LOVE LOVE LOVE this game, and so does everyone else in the room. (Its great entertainment!!)
So I didnt get that on film, but I DID catch Amulek and Erix playing another game together while Erix ate his dinner. ENJOY!! We sure did!

Just an update:

This seems to be the easiest way for me to tell everyone without anyone feeling left out of family news. So...as of yesterday Erix is now the Branch President of the spanish branch here in our stake. I am not sure if I am suppose to react a certain way, but I am excited- calm- but excited. We have attended the branch a few times and have spoken there, and we know a few of the members who are so kind. We are anxious for all the work to do to help the branch progress. I have been in a branch my whole life, so it wont be culture shock for me. And I was aksed to bare my testimont yesterday, and standing at the pulpit I felt flashbacks from my mission in Texas. It was there in Texas that I learned of the spansih language and culture, there where I learned to love these wonderful humble people, and where my testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ became even more rooted to the power of missionary work. Ever since I served in south Texas the Lord has blessed me with the ability to open my mouth and declare His gospel. I LOVE and often look for opportunities to talk about religion with anyone. I rely on the spirit often to know what exactly I should say, and how to say it. I thank my Father in Heaven daily for blessing me with a "big mouth" and being bold, and for following the prompting to serve a full-time mission. The restored gospel of Jesus Christ is the source of all the joy and blessings I have in life. All I have is a blessing from God, and I know that being in the spanish branch is where the Lord needs my family to right now.

more pictures

Amulek with his great-grandmother "Pumpkin Pie"
Amulek with GREAT uncle Larry and Aunt Lorna
sweet cute cousin Julia and I were playing around with the camera. :)
This is a picture at the Market in Charleston near the Battery..... ppl have weave the baskets there, they are beautiful, but EXPENSIVE!
Amulek at his first market trip with mami!!

S.C. pictures

So I was going to make a slide show instead of posting a bunch of pictures, but its updating the system right now, so enjoy!

Spring Break 2009

I have been asked a few times the past few days to post some pictures of our recent short trip to Charleston South Carolina. This was a first time for both Erix and Amulek. It was exciting for me to share and show them both things that I grew up doing, and places I went to annually as a child when I would visit my grand-mother. I will admit that it was a trip greatly needed. I am in my final year in school which means the hardest, for me anyway. I needed this break so bad, and it was exactly what I wanted. I had a great time with family relaxing and riding around a beautiful area of the country. Erix even saw the old hospital where I was born, the chapel where I was blessed as a baby, another where my mother was baptized 34 years ago. It was really a great visit. I havent lived in SC since I was a few weeks old, BUT it holds alot of memories and roots of spiritual blessings for me and my family. Amulek was GREAT traveling, and of course he was the center of attention. There was not a single bad moment, it was perfect!!

I just wanted to post of a few of my favorite pictures we have recently taken of Amulek. I love him so much and I try to capture moments everyday of silly things that he does, or things he LOVES to do. He L O V E S bubble baths, and his new kick is walking around in mommy or daddy's shoes makes me think "he will soon have walked a mile literally in my shoes". He also got hold of a green crayon and it looks like he enjoyed the flavor! Amulek also loves dogs, and his aunt Sarah got him the cute winter hat :) which he also likes to wear around the house. And I can not forget the day we went to church and he wet through his pants and we had to stay late, so he walked around in his dress shirt and diaper for a while, it was so funny! And him, he is just an amazing kid! I love him so much , and I am very grateful I have him and each day full of these simple precious memorable moments.

Our Dare Devilish Boy

Ya know.. you would think that after Amulek climbs on something and falls pretty hard, stands up screaming and crying reaching out for mama that he would stop. Right.?... NO! NOT Amulek! Amulek is CONSTANTLY trying to climb on things or ME, trying to strech his abilities of new hieghts and balancing. Amulek received a gift (before he was even born) of this drumlike toy that is not flat on the bottom, its curved, and he has figured out that he can turn it over and it can be a chair to sit on, a "ladder" that allows him to reach things too high for him, OR a new way to scare mommy trying to balance on it not holding on to anything. He surprised me at first and it was a little tricky for him, but dog-on-it, the second time he tries he has it down. Below is a video of his amazing balancing act! Enjoy!

Balancing Act

got rhythm ?

Bath time! All the boys
Waldina and Scott

Erix with Ian and Allistair

Amulek's favorite meal on the train

Lake at Donner Pass
Crossing the Colorado River

Catch up... prepare yourself for a novel with many pictures and film

So it has been a very long time (2 months to be exact) since I have blogged. I am not a slacker, just extremely busy. Christmas and break in between semesters went by REALLY fast which was a good and bad thing. I did not have one single boring moment. So, if you REALLY want to know about the past 6 weeks, sit back, relax, and prepare yourself for a long read :)

Christmas- which really falls on December 25th as we all know, but we celebrated ours a little early this year, almost an entire week early. I honestly LOVED this Christmas because it was so low key. We all decided to only get gifts for the kids which made shopping easy and stress free. We had a dinner together as a family and kept things simple. The kids (mainly Garner and Amulek) had a fun time playing with each other and new toys. Amulek loves balls, I dunno if its because he is destined to be a professional soccer player ( would be nice, haha we'll see) or what but, he has amazing foot/eye coordination. Aunt Sarah, Uncle Josh and cousins Garner and Maggie got Amulek a cool ball toy, its a caterpillar standing with its mouth open and you put a ball in the mouth and it slides down the caterpillar and it comes out its feet while playing music. That has been THE toy of all toys, mainly the balls- of which he received 16 this year, they are all over the house, which I don't mind, he loves em'. ALSO... Those How Does a Dinosaur.... books... HE LOVES to read! Everyday he brings me about 15 books throughout the day. He loves books, so he also got many books from other family members as well which we REALLY appreciate, reading to him everyday is very important to us. Coiner family Christmas went fast but it was nice, love being with family!

Train ride-

Erix, Amulek and I then left on Christmas Eve (Erix' birthday) to take a train from Virginia to California. :) Yes, really. It was quite enjoyable actually. I can only complain about one thing- not exactly comfortable to sleep sitting up or in contoured positions for 3 days. but it was a good experience. Amulek is a very social being, he loves smiling, waving and interacting with people of all ages. He made allot of friends on the train ride, and we met allot of nice people. Our first day was from Staunton to Chicago where a n older gentleman gave Amulek three pieces of fruit within 15 hours or so, another young lady who was a Montessori school teacher loved Amulek, played with him and shared her Pringles which he greatly appreciated I'm sure. And our favorite Shiela- she was the dining car hostess/waitress. She rode the train from Chicago to Sacramento and she was so much fun. Amulek looked forward to breakfast and dinner to see her. We would walk into the dining car he automatically started throwing Shiela kisses, which he received ice cream in return- two nights in a row! It was great together time for us as a family. Normally Erix and I are crazy busy working and studying full time we only get weekends together, so being on the train for 3 days together was great- no interruptions.

CALIFORNIA-
When we got off the train in Sacramento we unloaded our luggage and walked up into the station and were greeted by Erix sister Waldina and her fiance Scott (who is now her husband). We had 3 days with them until Erix' other sister Maria and her husband Colin and their boys Ian, Allistair, and Colincito returned from a visit to Montana. We had some great times while we visited. The main reason we went was for Waldina's wedding, and we kept quite busy trying to get the reception together and get dresses and sashes done for 8 damas (aka bridesmaids) which was CRAZY! We ordered dresses online which I tried to have priority shipped which didn't work, so I had to REorder the dresses and have the second order priority shipped which they shipped to VIRGINIA!!! So we said o well, and decided we would all just buy something black and look similar. As we were shopping for dresses Erix called and said the dresses arrived- (less that 24 hours before the wedding). But we had them! *pfew* Before the wedding day arrived, we spent practically every dinner together and then staying up late talking or playing the infamous game of MONOPOLY. Its tradition that we play a few times whenever we are together. And its not always a nice game, some of the family members like to play "dirty"..hmmm and if you are reading this you know who you are...Colin) :) ALSO- this year was my first time making a turkey dinner. And I was soooo excited to get to, AND try my hand at something new. It was allot of work.... turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, carrots layonnaise. It all turned out quite delicious! I LOVE cooking. I also made a great recipe my sister gave me when I got married 'Italian Wedding Soup' with spinach and meatballs- it was a hit, but I topped it off with my dad's famous peach cobbler- haha which EVERYONE asked for seconds, and a few asked for THIRDS! We had alot of good times around the dinner table in California.

Wedding-
Well, I don't know what it is with weddings but very rarely do things go as planned. To begin with everyone was running late :) we got to the temple 30 mins late, and when we got there we weren't even sure if we had someone to keep the kids. :] So I was stressed- which is normal for me these days. Luckily one of Waldina's mission companions brought her sister along who was so kind to watch Amulek and Maria's boys too while we were inside. The sealing was beautiful and they looked so happy. Pictures were crazy hectic, they had a photographer but everyone else (probably 15 other ppl) had brought personal cameras and were trying to get some shots as well.... kids were tired and hungry and we still had to go do some finishing touches for the reception. The reception started late, but went well. Food, some dancing, great slide show of Waldina and Scott's lives growing up then together, family and a few friends came to celebrate with them and wish them the best. I hope they enjoyed it. It was beautiful and intimate. We showered them with bubbles as they left for a honeymoon on the bay in San Fransisco.

The END-
We stayed till 9 cleaning up, went home, packed our things and left at 5 a.m.
CRAZY! Everything came at us at once. Amulek did well on the first flight, mainly slept cause it was so early- but the second flight he threw up on me twice (memorable) but everyone around us was great and helped me out when trying to clean him and myself up.

Now-
We are back home and back into the swing of things. I'm in school full time taking 6 classes (18 credits) and I can't wait to finish in July! Erix is working this week which is a blessing because work this time of year is slow, so anything right now is a HUGE blessing. Amulek is still 20 pounds, but is 29 almost 30 inches long he is short and thin- still carries a lil tiny belly but the doctor says he is fine and healthy. He started to count last week he says "nnn, two...theeee" "dog" "mami" and he will sign for us to tell us he wants something and when he wants more. Its exciting he is finally communicating with us.

So that is our 6 week delayed update on how are holidays went and what we are up to these days. We really look forward to this year-hoping it goes by quickly as I finish up my degree and hopefully begin a career mid-fall. We have alot of things happening now and I hope I can keep everyone updated. Enjoy the photos and video.