Word update

Here are the latest additions to Liane's words... ( I post these for my journaling benefit :-)

nappy, nite nite, chocolate, dress, shirt, top, elbow, shoulder, knee, I see you, bettle, rock, pine cone, cheek, music, singing, four, five, lid, excuse me, Boots (from Dora), medicine, monkey, snake, funny, silly, elephant, pretzle, piggie, birthday, cake, Abby (Seseme Street ), Telly (SS), vitamins, lion, window, paint, color, farm, prophet, Monson (current Prophet of our church), temple, dinner, bed, Noodie (Grandma's dog), nice, listen, I sorry, I love you, Ken, Katie, Koral, Charly (all these names are family related).

Spanish-
casa - house
baño - bathroom/bath
nariz - nose
dos - two
mucho - a lot/much
luego - (hasta luego) - see you later
gracias - thank you
noches - night
mañana - tomorrow
libro - book
pato - duck
tele- TV
bola - ball
zana - (manzana) - apple
Beto- Bert from Seseme Street

One day we were walking up the stairs in our house and counting them as we go....

Me: one
Liane: two
Me: three
Liane: four, five, six

Another day, same situation...

Me: uno, dos, tres, quatro
Liane: cinco, seis, siete, ocho

My in-laws watch Liane every Wednesday night so Salomon and I can go to the temple. One Wednesday I was preping Liane for the evening...

Me: Liane, you are going to go to Grandma and Grandpa Cano's house tonight.
Liane: "temple?"

LOL she knows!

During the colder months my Dad would come over every so often to use our treadmill to exercise. One day we were outside and my Dad had just gotten home from work (he lives next door)...

Me: oh look Liane its Grandpa!
Liane: exercise?

LOL she is too funny!!

The beginnings of my new garden space

We make a good team! For one of the first times I did the heavy lifting, moving and demo, while Salomon did the clean up/detail work (which was not easy by any means). My brother Ken built us a garden box that has 5 separate areas (of which I am SO excited about!). We put it in the same area we have always planted our garden, but we just made it bigger and more organized (i.e. the box). Concrete had to be moved and torn out, grass had to be cut and removed (which I did by jumping on the shovel to lift the grass - a video of that would have been nice) and leveling needed to happen. All of that was accomplished today and then we move to phase two of filling it with soil and then planting!! Yeah!! I love Spring! Thanks to my fantastic helpers... hubby and Liane!! You both are amazing!

Salomon's Birthday Party

Salomon's birthday is on the 30th, but we had a party for him on Saturday. We really wanted to have a BBQ at a park, but as April typically is in Utah, the weather was not good for it. We did bbq, but at our house. We ate GREAT food, played a game, ate the yummiest cheesecake ever (made by yours truly) and had Salomon open some presants. I had given him an early birthday presant a few weeks ago ( a piano - nothing fancy, but it works!), but couldnt pass up the opportunity to get him tickets to see Depeche Mode in concert when they come to UT in August. He has never been to a concert and has always wanted to go (and he LOVES DP) so I had to do it! He had a great birthday and was blessed with wonderful gifts from our families. Happy birthday to my hubby! I tried hard to make this day special for him because he deserves it and I hope I was successful.

Gardner Village Petting Zoo

We as a playgroup went to the Gardner Village Petting Zoo in West Jordan today. It is a small petting zoo, but perfect for small kids. It was fun to watch the kids with the animals - so cute! It is a cute and inexpensive activity ($2 ages 2 and up - pony rides for $3).

Change

It's funny because I used to be a huge fan of my "comfort zone". It was nice, it was safe, it was predictable and well, comfortable. As I have grown and gone through some changes, I come to realize that my comfort zone was not a fan of me, or didnt have my best interest in mind. It didnt want me to grow, to think outside the box, or to leave. It wanted to hold me back.

These past few years and more specifically this past year or so, I have been stretched in ways I had never expected (and yes, it was painful at times, but not all). I have a strong testimony that we are not ever sent a trial, difficulty, weakness, etc that we cannot handle with God's help. I also have a strong testimony that God wants us to constantly be changing, growing, and learning. That is part of why we are on this earth and do have to pass through trials.

So, I have, through my experiences, come to not be comfortable with my comfort zone. I am always on the look for something I can do to grow, to stretch myself, to learn, and to reach my potential as a daughter of God, a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, a friend and neighbor. And every so often I get this strong feeling inside me that its time for a big change. I dont always know what it is, but I know its BIG and its GOOD! The last time I got this feeling it was years ago when I knew that I needed to move out of my parents house for the first time. I was 26 and quite comfortable at home. When the thought came to move ( and more specifically move to Utah of which I had only visite a few times) I was excited and way scared! For many reasons I felt that I was not ready for such a move and more importantly I was worried that my family would not be ready for my move. We had gone through a lot up until that point in time and I felt like I was needed there and things would fall apart if I left. Well I had this idea (prompting if you will) for a couple of years before I ever made a move, and when I finally did move (my comfort zone was WAY uncomfortable at that time - God was working on me for sure) it wasnt to Utah, but to San Diego I went. Utah was too far and scarry for me, so San Diego seemed a much better/easier option. I struggled the 2 years I was there. Mostly my own doing, but God is merciful and has a plan for us and will make sure it happens one way or another.... lol. God got me to Utah where He wanted me in the first place, when He blessed me to meet Salomon who was living in Utah. Gotta love the irony!

Well I am getting that feeling again... time for change, BIG change and I can honestly say I could not be more ready or excited for it. I welcome it and have been prepared by God for it. I dont know what it is this time, but that doesnt matter. I dont have to know the details, but olny that its coming from God and its going to be good!

Ok so whats my point? Well lots of things, but mostly that God has a plan for me and only I can stand in the way of it happening. I have things I would like to do or accomplish, but He has better plans in mind. I need to be open to listening to the spirit when it whispers to me what I need to do or direction I need to take and then have the faith to follow it no matter how far out of my comfort zone it takes me. For I know that this is the only way I will fulfill God's purposes in my life and find the deepest joy and blessings from Him. I cannot be afraid of anything when it comes to following God, no matter what direction it takes me. Faith and fear cannot exisit at the same time. I refuse to live my life in fear, so I choose FAITH, and always will.

I forgot to post this yesterday...

Liane had so much fun yesterday walking up and then running down the small hill at church after the egg hunt. Such a cute look on her face... pure enjoyment!

Easter Day/Dinner

Liane's Easter dress that Grandma Cano got her

Let the festivities begin!

Fun with the families

The adorable cousins playing in Liane's room and Lilly braving it all!

We had my family and Salomon's family over for Easter dinner after church today. Everyone brought some yummy food and we ate buffet style. Good food, good company, good times had by all!

Liane's favorite movies

This was Liane's first favorite movie. She started watching it at about 6 months, but really only looked at the little blue puppet when he came on the screen. A few months ago she started requesting us to play this... over and over and over. This is where she learned the signs she does know. As she would watch it more and more, she would begin to talk along with it and make the signs... it was so cute! So this was officially the FIRST movie she started requesting and watching a crazy amount of times.
Until she met Elmo... Liane is now in love with anything Elmo. I found this movie at the library ( I had seen it years ago when I was a nanny) and thought Liane might get a kick out of it. Well I was right. She LOVES it! She requests "Elmo" at least once a day. It is so cute to watch how she is so focused on Elmo and all that is going on in the movie... today was the first time she has actually watched a movie the whole way through (ok she played a bit too, but she was in the living room and payed attention as she did other things).

I do not let Liane watch much TV. Really she only watches a little bit of "Lazy Town" in the morning when she wakes up. The rest of the day we are busy doing our lessons, playing, exploring, doing art, listening to music, dancing, taking care of the household chores, and running errands. Every now and again we have some down time and watch a show together. It is sweet to watch her develop interests and her "things". Things that she loves, looks forward to, and gets hooked on. Of all the things out there, I'm happy she is hooked on Elmo ( I adore him too!).

Liane's first time coloring Easter eggs!

We decided that we would start the tradition of coloring Easter eggs on the friday before Easter (so that the Easter Bunny could make a special early stop at our home friday night and Liane could wake up to her basket of goodies on Saturday morning instead of Sunday). We really want to keep Sunday a special day - set apart from the other days of the week- and keep it focused on the Savior and keeping that day Holy. Nothing wrong with the commercialized Easter happiness at all ( I love it in fact!), but we just dont feel right mixing that with the TRUE meaning of why we celebrate Easter in the first place, on Sunday. So the tradition began this year and I think it worked out perfectly! Liane had a BLAST coloring the eggs and kept asking for more... I think she would have colored 3 dozen if we let her! So much fun!

Egg Hunts

Again, another tradition! There are SO MANY FREE egg hunts in Utah! We decided to play it simple this year (since Liane is young) and went to the 9am egg hunt at the park across the street from us and then to the 11am egg hunt/bbq at church. It was a little chilly today, but at least the rain that was predicted held off until later today. Prayers answered! Liane had so much fun trying to find all the eggs and she did very well I might add! We have been practicing at home ( I hid foam eggs around the house for her to find - too cute!). The great thing about egg hunts with small children is that mommy gets to eat most of the candy!! :-)

Liane putting on lipstick

Oh Liane is a funny girl and always wants to be doing what I am doing or at least helping out (she is a FANTASTIC helper!) As soon as she see's me go into the bathroom to put my makeup on, she runs and grabs her stool, plops it down next to me, and starts exploring my makeup case. Here is what that turns into most of the time. :-)