Snake and fire

Yesterday as we were cleaning the back porch, Brent found an unwanted friend. He found a 4 foot black snake. There is nothing we hate more than spiders and snakes. Needless to say he killed the snake.

While we were in Utah our neighbor's house was hit by lightning and caught fire. Our house was hit by lightning 4 years ago but we were blessed with just minor damages. It is sad to see such a beautiful house completely destroyed.

I love them!!!!

Because I hosted a Pampered Chef party in my home I got 5o % off a set of pots and pans. I got them today and it feels like Christmas. I have never had a nice new set like this, in fact we used to have, up until last year, an old pot that Brent had at BYU that belonged to his mom. Brent felt sorry for us and agreed that our sad looking bunch of pots and pans had to go. Thank you Brent!!!

The first day of school

Today the kids started school. Parker started 8th grade at a new school. He gets to wear a uniform. I wore uniforms growing up and I loved it. It is so much easier, no one can make fun of what you are wearing because everyone is the same. Conner started kindergarten and he loves it. One of his friends from church is in his class, they were both very happy to be in the same class. It was an exciting day but also a sad day. It was so hard for me to see Conner start kindergarten, but he did great.

Clearwater Beach

We went to Clearwater Beach on Saturday. Our last getaway of the summer. It was raining at first and the temperature was about 76 degrees. When it stopped raining it was overcast so it felt great and the water was warm. The kids had a great time.

Cocoa Beach

On Monday we decided to go to Cocoa Beach, it was Ashley's and James' last day in Orlando. We were all ready for a break. Brent could not come, he had to work. We are planning to go again this Saturday but this time we are going to Clearwater Beach we have never been there but we have heard it's a very pretty beach. Here are some pictures we took.

digging in the sand.

Ashley found a sand flea.

Wedding open house

We had a wonderful reception on Saturday. Many people came. A sister in our ward made the cupcake tree and it was so beautiful. We are very happy with how things turned out. We worked hard and were exhausted at the end of the day.

Great Article

I read this article in the Mormon Times and liked it so much I had to post it.

"Families need to embrace potential and desires, not failings"


The families in our little Spanish-language branch in Brigham City have Problems (and I type that with a capital "P").All families struggle, of course. Trials and tribulations come and go. But the gravity of the grief in the branch can be heartbreaking. Last Sunday, I hauled out my scriptures and we took a long look at the families in the Bible to see what we could learn.I remember a woman once telling me that her family put the "fun" in the word "dysfunctional." But those Bible families didn't seem to be having much fun.There was the Adam and Eve family -- where one of the children murdered his brother. Nobody in the branch had been down that road.
Then there was Abraham's family, where the father had to choose between two mothers and two sons. The branch had luckily sidestepped that one, too. The family of Jacob sold a brother into slavery and then claimed he'd been killed. Ugly stuff, that. Apart from the Bible, members of Lehi's family spent their lives at each other's throats -- literally. Even the family of Joseph Smith ended up scattered.And yet we honor and revere those families.We hold them in high esteem. They are the elite families of the scriptures.Why?Why do we do that?Those families went through more devastation than New Orleans.Over time, I've decided it comes down to how we define our families. If we identify with our failings, we will be a family of failure. And we will see other families as failures. But if we identify with our potential and the desires of our hearts, we become families of hope.We remember Lehi and Sariah fondly -- not because they had wayward sons -- but because they stayed the course. They didn't cower.In short, they stayed faithful.And today, we revere that faith, not their failings. The same for Adam and Eve, Abraham and all the others.As families, we should not define ourselves by all our troubled members, but by our hopes and aspirations.As long as the parents hold, the family won't fly apart -- no matter how far some of the sons and daughters may stray. Faithful parents are like the falconers in the Yeats poem. They remain fixed in the middle. Things only fly apart when the parents stop trying.That, I think, is why we take inspiration from biblical families and their ordeals. Not because they conquered their devils, but because they held firm under assault.And that's a lesson, I think, all families -- Spanish-speaking, English-speaking, even non-speaking -- need to learn and re-learn as we inch along.

James and Ashley's wedding and Utah vacation

We had a wonderful time in Utah. It was great to see the family. All of Brent's brothers and sisters were there. Thank you mom and dad for putting up with us, oops, for putting us up. Thanks everyone for coming to the wedding and sharing with us this wonderful occasion. Here are some pictures that we took.

Having dinner and playing at the Rogers' family home. James' parents are really nice, they invited our family over for a wonderful dinner.

Visiting BYU

My mother in law has some beautiful flowers so I had to take a picture

Some of the cousins ready for story time

Visiting the Oquirrh Mountain and Draper Temples

BYU's Paleontology Museum

Monday night, family and close friends dinner at the Rogers' neighbor's yard

Bro. and Sis. Rogers (James' parents) made this beautiful quilt for James and Ashley out of his mission ties. They are very talented.

Parker and Ryan in their hideout under the stairs at grandma Hanson's

Wedding day!! Grandpa Hanson and Conner waiting for the bride and groom

Will and Conner outside the SL temple

Michael and Parker waiting outside the temple
















Salt Lake temple















Setting up for the reception

Ashley and James

The family enjoying the company and the ice cream































Yum, ice cream. We had a ton left over, too bad we could not take any with us to Florida






























Brent and I at the reception















The happy couple















With my cousins Victor and Michael Sotomayor















With the Lewis' family. They used to live in Orlando















Father-daughter dance

Madeline dancing at the reception




















Conner and his cousin Michael















Ashley and James leaving the reception

Visiting my cousin Victor in Provo