My New Heritage

This weekend we went to the Brazilian Festival at the Gateway Mall. We planned ahead this year and were able to arrive right when the festival started at 1:00 pm on Saturday, and stayed until the final band packed their things up. It was a long day, and Paulo and I were exausted at the end of the day, but it was totally worth it! I posted pictures of the day on my facebook account, so if I'm not your friend on facebook you should add me now. The festival started with a parade down the street that goes through the Gateway- headed by Capoeira Martial Arts performers everyone joined the parade dawning their yellow, green and blue. Bringing up the end of the parade was a group of Carnaval type dancers. Of course there were tons of drums and lots of cheering. The street was lined with people watching, and I know this sounds cheesy, but I was so proud to be Brazilian in that moment! They had everything set up at the end of the Gateway with the fountains- food, artesan booths, music, and more dancing. We spent the day walking around, eating, and visiting with friends. We saw friends that we hadn't seen since last year's festival, and others that Paulo hadn't seen since years ago. It was like being at a high school reunion! The feature band started playing around 4:30, and they went all the way until 8:45 with NO STOPS! We danced and jumped around the whole time, and by the end of the night I seriously doubted my ability to walk back to the car! The band ended their show and we stuck around talking some more, and after the great fountain show put to the music of the 2002 Olympics we headed home. It was so nice to have a day where we didn't do anything but have fun- there was no stress, no schedule, and no other commitments other than being there and having fun. I think it was something we really needed.So at this point if this post has already run too long for you, you can stop reading, but those of you who want to keep reading, please do!The day was so fun yesterday, and it reminded me of why I have fallen so in love with not only my husband and best friend, but the culture and people that have made him who he is. I wanted to put down some of the things that I love most about my new people, the Brazilians:
One of my favorite memories of my Brazilian friends is from when Paulo and I had just been dating for a few months and we went to a birthday party that was in Salt Lake City. The birthday party was actually for a lady from Mexico that worked with a lot of our friends- they had a DJ and everything- this wasn't your normal run-of-the-mill birthday party :) So the music was going for a while- people were dancing to Salsa, Merengue and other Mariachi music. One of our friends went to the DJ and gave him a CD with Samba music and asked him to play it- we were all sitting at the table when the low sound of the Samba drum beat started. They all literally jumped out of their seats, and ran out to the dance floor to dance the dance that is quintessentially Brazilian. It was at that moment when I witnessed such passion and excitement for life through dance that I said to myself "I will be part of this one day"
The brazilian people have a passion for everything unlike any other group of people that I've seen. When they are happy, they are HAPPY! When they're not, they have no problem letting you know that, too. This honesty has helped me be more open and honest about my own feelings in life.
Those of you who came to our wedding reception were witness to how much fun it can be at a party with Brazilians there. Even a normal barbecue on the weekend eventually turns into an all-out dance party. Birthdays are charged with energy, with the "happy birthday" song being sung over and over, faster and faster, until everyone is yelling and cheering. It makes the English version of "happy birthday" seem completely boring and depressing.
Obviously my favorite thing about Brazilians is my husband! I can't say enough about him, and how happy he makes me. He is truly my best friend, and every day I am filled with gratitude for having found him and married him.
Ever since I met Paulo and started meeting his friends, I have been so impressed with how friendly and loving they have always been with me. Kisses and hugs are always shared when you see anyone, another reason why they are such an open and loving people. There really isn't much of a 'personal bubble' when you're around Brazilians!I could go on and on, but this post has gone long enough. I just wanted to say how much I love being Brazilian! Anyone who wants to is always welcome to go with us when we go to Brazil- it's an amazing country to see and I can't wait to see more and more in the years to come! I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father saved the perfect companion for me. There were times when I questioned the reasons behind all of the different dating experiences that I had before I met Paulo, but now I know that if any of the times that I was convinced I had met 'the one' would have really been the time for me, I would have missed out on an amazingly happy and full life with the person who understands me better than anyone else, and makes me happier than anyone else on this earth! Paulo, eu te quero, eu te amo, eu te adoro!

What's Important

Today Paulo and I went down to Pleasant Grove for a good friend of his from the mission to bless her 2nd baby girl in Sacrament Meeting. Her family is Polynesian, and it was great being with such a close and loving family. Sacrament meeting was Fast & Testimony Meeting today, where there are no assigned speakers, and everyone in the congregation is invited to share what they believe and feel about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. One of the friends of the family there was Vic So'oto, a senior Linebacker for the Cougars. He got up and shared his testimony. He started out saying "you probably heard about how my team did last night in their football game...." and I tought to myself "Really? REALLY?? Is this guy really gonna get up and gloat about how well the Cougars played last night in Sacrament meeting?!?!?!?" But I was pleasantly surprised when he went on to say that he believes that the headlines that should have been in the newspapers this morning were about the 2 little girls who had been baptized and confirmed this week, or the 14 year old who had finished his Duty to God responsibilities and received an award. He said he believed that we don't focus on the good enough, and talked about how different this world would be if we just focused on not only the good things in life, but the good things that are most important: Family, Faith in God, Children and their development, and general human accomplishment. I'm not sure how much of that actually made sense- as I'm writing it down I am having a really hard time articulating the whole situation, which makes me think that maybe it was just meant for me to learn today.
The other thing that really impressed me was just the fact that here he was- the morning after a huge game- he probably flew back to Utah this morning, and had every excuse in the world to play hookie from church today, but here he was in church, supporting a family member on an important day. It was just really inspiring to me. I'm grateful for little things like the expierience I had today that inspire me to be a better person.

Let them eat ice cream!

Today was Brad's birthday, and everyone came over to our house to celebrate. We had yummy fajitas for dinner, and birthday cake and ice cream for dessert. A good time was had by all- the kids had fun playing the Wii and I loved having everyone over for family dinner, since it had been a a really long time since I had everyone over. I was eating an ice cream cone later in the afternoon and Sam came running up with his binky in his mouth- he took one look at the ice cream cone, took his binky out and said "WHAT IS THAT?" I told him and asked him if he wanted one. He smiled a big cheesy grin and said "SURE!"
Who couldn't have said no to this sweet face??? I mean SERIOUSLY!!

Just when you think you're sneaky...

Paulo and I went to a concert tonight downtown at the Assembly Hall. It was supposed to be at the Brigham Young Historic Park, but there were some threatening clouds tonight. Anyway-- My Sisters, a great group made up of the sisters from the 80's group The Jets, was performing. Paulo and I started hearing a great arrangement of "Love at Home" on Soft Sunday Sounds a couple of years ago-- that beautiful hawaiian harmony that is so typical of the islands. And since it seems that Paulo thinks he was an 'islander' in a former life, he became an instant fan. It took a while, but we found who sung the song and downloaded the rest of their album. It's a great album of Sunday music and we were really excited when we heard they were doing a concert this Friday! So we went downtown for the concert...

One of the first things that they announced before the concert started was NO PHOTOGRAPHY. Well, I wasn't going to have that stop me! Paulo and I had staked out great seats right in front, so I pulled my camera out, positioned it ever so sneakily on my lap, and right as the singers came out I pushed the shutter button. And............

FLASH!!!!!!! NO!!!!!! I COULDN'T HAVE FORGOTTEN TO TAKE THE FLASH OFF!!!!

I'M A FOOL!!!!

Yeah- the flash that I thought was off was not, so the picture that was supposed to all sneaky and covert ended up being obvious enough for the ENTIRE crowd to see. I just laughed at myself- thinking I would pull a fast one, but once again I was proven wrong.

Here's the picture, just for the record and memory:

Memories of Munna

My nephew, CJ, stayed at our house for a couple of nights at the beginning of this month when he was here in Utah with his family for his oldest sister's wedding. When he was here, he kept asking me to tell him stories about Munna-specifically funny stories. I would tell him one every now and then, but didn't take a minute to sit down and tell him many stories of his great-grandmother. Today, two days after her passing, I am impressed and touched by the sensitivity of that little boy who was expressing the desire to connect with the generations before him. With that in mind, I have sat down this weekend to reflect on the last 17 months of our life, and with this post I hope to give CJ (and everyone else) the collection of Munna stories that he deserved.

Munna arrived to our home and lives here in Utah on February 20, 2008, not even one month after Paulo and I had been married. It was truly an answer to prayers because Paulo's previous patients had passed away and he was without a job. We had been praying for him to be able to find a new patient so he could continue in home care, and not have to work at a nursing home. We were excited to welcome her to our home, and did so with open arms. We got her room all gussied up and decked out- tassles on the lamps and all!

One of the first times we went out shopping with Munna was to Costco. After loading our cart with the necessary bulk items, we stopped in the food court to grab a bite to eat before heading home. I gave Munna the choice between a hot dog and a piece of pizza to eat for dinner. She chose the hot dog. Now, those of you who have seen the hot dogs at Costco know that they are not your normal size hot dogs- these franks are BIG! She looked at the hot dog, and in her best "Scarlett O'Hara" voice said "My goodness- I just don't know HOW I'll eat this whole thing!" She then proceeded to INHALE the hot dog, Homer Simpson style - right down to the last bite!! GULP, GULP, GULP, AHHHH! I half expected her to let out a huge burp at the end!

We took her to Sam's club with us to print some pictures from our honeymoon. I will never forget her sitting on the bench in Sam's Club- in her FUR COAT. She always wanted to make sure she was dressed to the 9's!

Munna loved to sit and watch TV with us, no matter how late we stayed up. She'd always get up, walk to the doorway and turn around to blow us a kiss and say "Goodnight, kids!" She did this every night! One night we watched a movie with her- I can't remember what it was, but it was a pretty scary one, and when it was over she looked at us and said "That was the strangest movie I've ever seen!" She said this about all of the movies we watched! The best was when Paulo was watching "Flavor of Love" (a reality TV show on VH1 where Flavor Flav tried to find love- Bachelor style, only MUCH MORE CLASSY!!) She didn't say anything as she watched the girls going crazy and doing all sorts of inappropriate things on TV, but her face said it all. There was no doubt about how disgusted she was about what she was watching!! She may have been a lady and knew not to say anything, but she could not keep her face from betraying her!!!

We tried to teach her how to say "Flavor Flav!" But she never quite got it: She would say "Flavor Flavor" "Flavor Fresh" and any other version of the phrase, other than FLAVOR FLAV!

She never quite got Paulo's name right, but she sure tried! At first she said it okay, but then one of our friends named Steve came over for dinner one night, and after that she started calling Paulo "Stev-O". We finally got her back to calling him by his real name- mostly. He was always "Paula" to her.

Munna was always concerned about keeping her figure! One day I came home from work and found Paulo and Munna in the den- Paulo was working out on the Wii Fit, and Munna was behind him- White Reebok tennis shoes on with her Orange Crushed Velvet excercise outfit on- touching her toes!!! Every morning she would do leg lifts, and she loved to walk the length of the sidewalk in the summer time when it was warm enough for her. She loved the sunshine, and last summer I would always come home, wonder where Munna was, and I would find her in the back yard on the swing- legs swung over the side of the seat!

She did this because she was horribly jealous of Paulo's tan- she asked him one day "where did you get such a great tan?" She didn't believe him that it was his natural color!

Munna had a great sense of humor, actually- something I never realized until she came here to Utah. One night we had a bunch of friends over for dinner. We were all eating dinner (Munna was working the croud as she always did!) -- one of the guys got up to take their plate to the sink, and on the way back to the table he passed out- HARD. Fell into the table and then crashed into the china hutch. We called 911 because he didn't come back to consciousness right away, but ended the call quickly when he woke up. After he got up and went to lay down, Munna looked at us all and said "Well that was exciting- which one of us will be next?" We all laughed- glad to relieve some of the tension in the air.

One night I was getting dinner ready and I heard Munna fighting with Paulo, yelling "NO NO NO NO NO! I won't go up!" Paulo was dying her hair for her, and he had put a plastic bag on her head to keep the color from running into her face. She walked up the stairs with the most upset look on her face- MORTIFIED that Paulo was making her come to dinner with a plastic bag on her head!!

It was a challenge at times to help Munna through the last days of her life, and I wish I could say that I was 100% patient with her 100% of the time, but I tried my best! It was an experience that I never thought I would have in life, but I consider myself blessed to have had the opportunity to get to know my grandmother better, and be a part of her life for even a small period of time. We'll miss her, but I also know that she is no longer sad and missing Guy, that she can walk without discomfort again, and that she is indeed (no matter how cliche it might sound) in a better place.

Pioneer Day

Last night as I was moving the sprinkler around to manually water the lawn and feeling sad that we didn't make it up to the local junior high school for the fireworks show this year, I heard a loud boom, looked up and realized that I had a bird's eye view of the fireworks right from my own driveway! I went to the back yard and sat on my deck and watched the show. It wasn't as loud as being right under the fireworks, but it was a good show nonetheless!!

I was grateful that I had a chance to feel patriotic for a little bit!!!!

Blame it on the Rain (yeah yeah!)

Okay- I admit. I'm a slacker. I wrote in my journal an entire page, hand written, every single day of my life for 18 months as a missionary and never missed a day. That was when practically the same thing would happen every day- wake up, get ready, eat, walk a lot, meet new people, teach a little, eat, walk a lot, meet new people, teach, then eat, walk a lot, meet new people, teach, then go home, fall in bed and sleep. Next day would start the same routine again--- I somehow found something to write an entire PAGE about every day of my life then. But now, I'm married, starting a new life and adventure with Paulo, and somehow I can't find anything to write about, or better yet- discipline myself enough to sit down for even 5 minutes to recap the day every once in a while. Alas, I'm turning over a new leaf.
We just had a great week last week with my family all being here in Utah for Kay and Cameron's wedding (yes, my oldest niece has gotten married- those of you who know her can now pick yourself up off of the floor and continue reading!) and as I said goodbye to all of them I felt guilty for not keeping in touch with them more like I should. Life is full of daily reminders of what I can do better, so instead of feeling sorry for myself upon discovering yet ANOTHER one of my weaknesses, I'll just try harder to be better :)
I'm going to post a bunch of pictures from the year so far- I realize that I have done a lot of amazing things this year and shared none of it with hardly anyone, so this post is going to be a recap of some of the highlights, accompanied by pictures. Feel free to close the window now and get back to work- this might take you a while if you commit to reading on!!!

I put the picture of Rex and Gus Gus to begin with and this is one of the cutest pictures I have of them. Gus Gus, unfortunately, ate something he shouldn't have this last weekend and died. I was really really sad, and will miss the little guy. He was always the agressive big brother but Rex loved it. We'll miss seeing Gus Gus at Nana & Papa's house.





Christmas eve, after joining in the Lancaster festivities, we went over to our good friend, Elizama Vance's house. She just got married to a great guy named Roy, and they now live in Denver. Elizama is a great friend and we miss her a lot. She's a great cook, too- I ate so much that night I seriousy thought that I was going to explode. Good times with great friends- that's what we're all about!

Munna also had a fun Christmas- we put a Christmas tree up downstairs where she stays now (the stairs got too hard for her to manage). Santa was very nice to her this year!

We had a rockin' New Years at our house. Kay and Elizama were both flyin' solo without their men so we had a fantastic dinner and danced in the new year. It was seriously one of my favorite new years eves in a LONG time!!

Our 1st Anniversary came way faster than I expected- time flies when you're having fun I guess!!! We went out to dinner and then came back and ate the cake topper from our reception. Surprisingly, the cake was still really good!!! We kept it around and finished the whole thing over the next couple of weeks!

Is my husband cute or WHAT??? He painted one of the bedrooms one day and took this picture for me to see that he was thinking about me while he did it :) This is why I love him so much!

I never knew having a dog would be so fun. Rex keeps us on our toes, and is such a fun little friend to have around!!! My favorite thing about Rex is how he begs- he gets up on his hind legs and acts like he's praying with his front paws. It's pretty danged cute!!

Our primary class has been a blast this year- we just split our ward so we're not sure if we will still be their teachers which makes us sad. They're sweet kids and keep us on the ball on Sundays!! We just got called back to the Primary tonight which we are THRILLED about, since our ward was just split and we weren't sure where our responsibilities would land. Sadly, though, only 3 of the kids in this picture will still be in our classs if we keep the same age group :(

If you were at our wedding recption, you know that Brazilians know how to have a good time. Anywhere Brazilians are gathered, no matter what the occasion, they will eventually break out into dancing. It's one of the things that I love most about my new heritage!

We were lucky enough to score tickets to the Sunday Morning session of General Conference in April- it's always so great to go there and be a part of such a big huge event!!!

With Kay getting married in July, Christi made a trip out from Pennsylvania in March and we went with her to pick out a wedding dress! She tried on lots of different styles, but thankfully she ended up picking up a really classic and elegant dress!!!

Paulo went to Brazil for a week in March while I stayed home and cleaned the house like a crazy person. I missed him like CRAZY but it was fun for him to go and visit his family and have alone time.

Just before Kay got married we had her bridal shower at Gardener Village and after I took some pics of Christi and her girls- they turned out so beautiful!!!

Ok I've run out of steam. I'm going to upload pictures from Kay's wedding and our trip to Brazil onto my Facebook account, so if you're not on my friends' list, send me a request. Hopefully I will do better in the future at keeping our blog up to date!!!