Sad day.

I am sure everybody feels the way I feel right now.  I woke up to the horrible news of the shooting in Connecticut.  My first thought was of the poor little kids not knowing what was going on and then of the parents when they found out their kids would not come home with them.  I feel awful just thinking that people in this world are so evil and don't even think twice about hurting innocent kids.   I feel blessed to have my kids home with me tonight, safe in their beds.

My Birthday

I recently turned 36.  All I have to say about it is that I don't like my birthdays anymore, maybe it's because I am not getting younger but older.  

The previous day it was kind of tough for me, I was really depressed about some things and didn't feel like celebrating anything.  Dan came home with a cake for me, it was an ice cream cake and really good.  The day of my birthday we went out for dinner and a movie and that was nice.  I did feel better by the end of the day.  Dan got me a cool Redskins watch an the Lord of the Rings Lego game which I am enjoying a lot. 

Young Women here I come.

OK so I have been a flake at church lately, I do have an excuse though and it was my health so at least that makes it better :)  Up until 3 months ago it was really hard for me to make it to church or to hold any kind of calling when we never knew when I was going to skip church or be there for Scouts but now that I am doing much better I finally got a calling and am really excited about it.  I was called to serve as a Beehive adviser, to those of you who don't know it is a position in the Young Women's organization to help the very young ladies, guide them, teach them and support them.  I had not been in the YW organization for over 14 years now and honestly I really missed it.
It feels like it is going to be a good fit for me and although I can't imagine Shayna being super excited about her mom being there with her, I am looking forward to get to know all the girls and be around young people, where the drama lasts only a couple of hours or so,  unlike grown ups who bring more drama into my life.
We had our first official presidency meeting tonight and it felt good to be accepted in the group and have them listen to me and acknowledge my ideas.  Hopefully the girls will accept me as well and since I am not really as one of the principal leaders but more as a helper I don't really feel like a big weight on my shoulders, the Beehives are the biggest group in the YW right now, I think they have like 8 or 9 right now.
I know my Heavenly Father is trying to give me a little push here, he knows and strengths and weaknesses, he knows I can do this and also that it will bring me to where I need to be,  I have been struggling spiritually for a few years now and he knows my battles, he knows exactly what I need.
I am putting my trust in him and can already feel him guiding me.  As we sat at the meeting tonight we all felt good about the things that we discussed and it felt so different from when we first started the meeting, not knowing what we were supposed to do or how to start off.  I could also see that we are all very interested in the welfare of all the girls and that's the main thing, to bring those girls to where they can fulfill their potentials and become great YW.  We'll see how long I'll last :)

Tough times for Tristan

It is really hard when your kids come home from school telling stories that are not so fun, Tristan is only 8 and I can only imagine what is going to be like as gets older.  My Tristan is a small person, he has always been and I knew it was going to be a curse for him.  Actually none of my kids are really tall at all and I still have high hopes that will be taller than me (here is hoping).
The day this happened he came home saying that on the way back from school his friend was talking to some other kids and giving them directions to her house, he being the social guy that he is started to tell this boys that he lived just across the street from her and they reacted very negative towards him, the thing that made him feel really bad is that they said something like "we don't care where you live LITTLE guy" to which he replied "I am not little, I am older than you and I am in second grade".... he then ran home.
It breaks my heart to even imagine it, after he said the last part he started to cry and said "why am I so little mommy?"
As his mom I tried to turn the whole thing around and make him understand that all people come in different shapes and sizes and we all have different things that make us great, I explained to him how he might not be a big boy but he has a big heart and he is kind to other and he would never say anything like that to other kids, after giving him a big hug and saying this to him he started to calm down and agreed with me about him being kind and how he will never make anybody else feel that way because it feels awful.  Don't I know it.  All my life my height was something people made fun of all the time and where I come from tall people are not that common.  I finally got to a point in my life where I realized that being short is not a huge thing, it really doesn't make you any better than others and if you put your mind to it you can reach anything and grab it.
I am sure he will get in time and will figure out how to ignore them next time.  The good thing is that 5 minutes later he was happy as he could be playing with his brothers and that's when I knew he would be OK.

Family Pics 2012

 It's that time of year again, getting ready to send out our Christmas cards and that means we need a picture for it.  This is the one event during the year when we all must look our best and smile for the camera.  I have to say that this year was way better than the last one, we got good pictures of the kids, I wanted something better for Dan and me but Shayna needs to be a little taller and learn to hold the camera the right way, but she did great.  Once again we used the tripod to get the group picture and I forgot the little attachment to cover the viewfinder, I pretty sure that if I used it next time it will focus better.  I did my best editing the pictures to bring out the colors in the background which were not many.  We had a drought last year and a lot of the trees died out there so they had to be cut down and I didn't know how bad it looked until we got there.  Dan found a good spot for us and we made it work.  Kahlan was sick so her nose was running the whole time but I got a few pics of her even though she didn't smile that much.

 I love this pic of the boys, I thought giving it a retro look would make it look better and it did.  Notice how cute those freckles on Aaron are.

 We had no other but to take the pic right there and then I started to get this horrible glare, this is the best we could come up with... oh well.

 My princesita and me, well princesita numero uno.

 Can't believe how big she is getting.

 Tristan is such a cutie.

 A sad smile, that's the best way to describe her in the pic, but she still looks cute that baby of mine.

 My stud Victor.

 Hands down to my boy Aaron, he was the best out of everyone, I love his blue eyes.

 So this here is not a real smile, it was that second before she started to freak out, can you see it?  We even brought her Mini Mouse doll, she loves her and it didn't help.

 There is something I see in this picture that probably no one else can see and that's why this is my favorite picture of Kahlan on that day, something about that look of mischief and her little fat cheeks, the perfect color of her skin with the bright pink of her outfit, just something special about her that I wanted to remember forever.

And this last pic just because she looked so cute with her outfit, can you see her bracelate?  She is finally getting into wearing it.

Thanksgiving

The kids had the whole week off school as usual and we couldn't wait to enjoy it.  Getting up late was a treat for me and the kids by now have learned that as long as mom doesn't come out of her room they are not supposed to be out of their room and make noise.  Years of training hard have finally payed off.  I did get up with Dan to make him breakfast and then back to bed for at least another hour of sleep.  For some reason it seems like I am always tired :)
For our Thanksgiving this year we had been planing to get together with our friends the Javiers.  The kids could not wait for Thursday to get here.  My friend Elizabeth suggested that we could cook our family's favorite foods and get them all together as a buffet and have everybody pick and choose what they wanted to eat. Of course the cooks not being traditional "Americans" didn't go the traditional route and most o the meal did not have what you would expect at a Thanksgiving table.  Sadly I was running late getting my things together that day and we hate to show up late but it was only 30 minutes late...
  They cooked a whole pork leg, mashed potatoes, rolls, salad and pies for dessert.

We brought two stuffed chickens, mashed potatoes, home made rolls and our dessert stayed home because it wasn't ready by the time we had to leave.


No bones!!!


  Another family from the ward was also there that night, the

Rodriguez Family 
and they brought some goodies too, deviled eggs, tangerines, sodas, juice for the kids, ice cream and brownie cookies.  The whole thing was so good and trust me when I tell you that the pies we tried that night were amazing.
The kids of course had a blast and Dan enjoyed watching the Redskins destroy the Cowboys, he was in 7th Heaven while we were enjoying the meal :)

It was a nice get together and hopefully we can do it again in the future.

6 years of blogging.

It is hard to believe that it has been that long since I started out my own blog.  It was thanks to my sister in law Lisa Brown that I decided to go ahead and put out there my thoughts and share my experiences with the world.  I haven't shared everything on here since there is always the chance that people actually read my blog and find out about all my secrets... I really do love having a blog and being able to have some kind of legacy for my kids.  Sadly I found out that the space is limited on here and since I do have lots of pictures to share I finally go tot the end of my rope.  Last night I discovered that I could not post any more pic and was faced with the hard decision of ending the blog or choose a different blogging site, in the end they all want your money and they all have limited space.  Talking with Dan and some other friend who encountered the same problem we came up with a solution that might work.  I opened a new account and now have a different profile and will be able to upload more pics, so instead of being Hyde Brown, I am now Elizabeth Gonzalez which was my previous name anyways (Hyde Elizabeth Gonzalez Garcia is the full name).  I guess this will have to work until I am able to print out all the previous posts and then finally delete them some day.  I have read so many horror stories about blogs being erased by blogger and I really don't want to lose any of my posts.
Let's hope this works out and that I am able to keep up my blog for another 6 years :)