Day 1. She thinks we are the coolest!

My brother and sister-in-law headed to Vegas for the weekend. So Evs and I were given a 3 day "free trial" with an almost 2 year old. We decided to spend the day at the Orange County Great Park with our friends    (Kimber, Brandon, and Hudson Waldron). We rode the carousel a couple times, played at the park with the slides and rocks and rode in a helium balloon grounded by a cable. Rubi liked all of it, but her favorite was to chase and play with ALL the kids, even the ones that were having their own birthday party she kept trying to invade.

                                     

Lunch at Cafe Rio. Yum!

Drinking an "unknown" substance that she really likes!

Fun at the dog park collecting pine cones and chasing dogs!

BLOW OUT of the day!

        

Time for bed! Phew it was a long, but fun day and a tired girl ready for bed in her Elmo pj's. She did well and only woke up once at 3am but fell back asleep quickly after I fueled her with a sippy cup. Shes such a happy girl when she wants to be =)

Temple Day. Date Nite.

Things in life always tend to go better when you allow the Lord to be in the drivers seat. I feel like life sometimes is this car with everything inside being invisible ignition, gas and brake pedal, turn signals, lights, radio..etc. When we get in the drivers seat we guess where everything is and just hope its right, eventually making a mess or never even getting going. I have learned something in my short life of 25 years (quarter of a century..yup thats right) however I am never perfect at it, that when we put God first in our lives we are much better off. Plain and simple. One thing that I have gotten out of the habit of is attending the temple of the Lord. When Evan and I lived in Hawaii, it was closed for 18 months (basically the entire time we had left there for Ev to finish). Coming back to the mainland we are so spoiled and have so many temples here its amazing. Evs and I went a few times since we have been back, but not as much as we should have gone seeing as how we are so close and blessed to be so close. We are working harder to grow closer to the Lord and each other each day. Attending the temple is something we were happy we could do tonight as it really helped bring peace to my mind and heart about things happening in our life that we cannot control, but need to allow the Lord to be the "driver" and things will happen as they should. I knew I needed to get to the temple about a month ago, I kept having this feeling to get there.But then everything with work and life and blah blah seemed to come first. One of my kiddos was sick today and Evan was all done with work and classes so I said,"lets go!" We dropped everything and made our way to the Redlands temple. We stopped at the NEW Cafe Rio in Redlands and checked out the food and got some yummies in our tummies before we headed to the Temple for a great uplifting night together. It was wonderful. We came home went to mutual and then went out to $1.50 night at Baskin Robbins. Love being together with my best friend.

Flowers.

I love love love when my husband brings me home flowers!

Luke 1:37

"For nothing is impossible with God." I appreciated this from my reading of the New Testament today. It was uplifting because sometimes things don't work out how we would like them to and sometimes we need to have patience for things to happen in our life. Having this faith that all things are possible is motivating and hopeful.

Family History

Just recently my sister Jess called me and said," Hey we're going to be down in California in March, we really need to get our family genealogy together so we can take their names to the temple and do their work." I said," Okay, I will work on in." It's such a neat experience to find your ancestors and to see that they are real people with a name and birthday and occupation and they have kids..lots of them. I have found it so rewarding to find them and realize that they are my family and they are more than a name on a 1900 census. When I was 4 1/2 months old my biological dad passed away. Soon after my Papa (his dad) passed away and then years later my Grandma (who I was not close to) also died. All of my great grandparents, and great great grandparents are gone too. There are only two living relatives I have on that side my Dad's brother, Jonathon Joseph Greco, who didn't remember further back than what my Mom had recorded and my Dad's half sister, Kathryn Andrews, who didn't remember anyone either. Its crazy that all of these people are gone! My sister Jessica and I are skyping, with no video, and searching through census' I am working on one side of the family (Newby) and Jessica is working on the Greco side. I have been searching for the parents of the below relatives my great great grandparents for the past hour and a half and I am determined to find them. And when I do its gonna be great!

                                                     Fred Coleman and Evalee S. Coleman

New Years Day

We took the Christmas tree down. Rearranged all the furniture back to normal and got all the cleaning done that was neglected from Christmas time. Its nice to be home and back to a routine.

                                     
We had a gift card from one of my kiddos families so we took advantage of it and went to see a movie! We stopped by Del Taco and bough $.49 cent burritos so we didn't completely feel sick from eating Popcorn (a must at the movies) and our stowaway candy that "somehow" got in our bags for the movie. It was a funny movie, but of course full of inappropriate innuendos..what else did I expect though right? I did see the first 2 Focker movies. We had a good time though. Then we went and took the dogs to the dog park.Then drove through Starbucks (using a gift card) and got us a carmel apple spice and a hot chocolate (for Evs of course). I love going on simple fun dates with my hubby.

New Years Eve 2010

 We spent the evening Chaperoning a Youth (14-18) Church Dance. We were the coolest chaperones out there! So cool that one of the youth mistook me for a youth aged girl and asked me to dance (tender and cool right?) We really had a good time. We mostly sat and watched the kids dance, but every now and then we get up and bust a move. My hubby slow danced with me tons of times ( loved every bit of that too). We counted down the New Year together and yelled HAPPY NEW YEAR with great vigor and a big smooch (appropriate of course)! We went home and had some sparkling cider and called it a night.We welcome 2011 and are hoping for great things ahead!

Completed.

Reading the scriptures are a basic part of life that should become a habit. Two years ago, my sweet newly married husband and I set a goal to finish the Book of Mormon together. On December 31st, 2010 we finally finished it!The Book of Mormon is only 531 pages long, but yes, unfortunately it took us 2 years to finish it. We had weeks where we were consistent with our reading every day. And then life would happen and we wouldn't prioritize properly and with work and school we would just zonk out. Our first two years of marriage were amazing and it was because we remembered to read the scriptures, pray together, and we centered our life on Jesus Christ. When we would become unbalanced we were still happy, but it seemed as though, the smallest things would stir up a disagreement. I have a strong testimony of the importance of balancing our lives and always making time to read and pray. I know that our lives have been blessed and guided because we have sought the Lord's hand in our joys and in our struggles. We know what we know is true.

Darcy's Testimony:
I know that the Book of Mormon is Another Testament of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was translated for our benefit, so that we would study and learn from it. I know that the beginnings of the Prophet Lehi and his family were true and real. That he was truly guided by the Lord when he took his family into the wilderness and left Jerusalem. He was always so obedient to the Lord's commandments. Like we should be. I love reading about the people of old and their struggles. The struggles with obedience and faith; I love reading how they overcame those challenges. Because I often wonder how I can overcome my trials and gain strength in my weakness. I know that the Book of Mormon is a true record written by Ancient prophets living in North, South, Central Americas. They traveled far, they endured much, and they taught us important principles that the Lord would have us know. The Book of Mormon teaches us about the nature of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ and the Spirit. I know that this little blue book is true. That it was translated by a true Prophet of God, Joseph Smith, called and given power to be His mouthpiece on this earth. It has strengthened me and my family. Its true. Its real. Its life changing. It brings peace.


Evan's Testimony:
The Book of Mormon is true. It can help any and all people. Whatever challenges others may have in their life, if you but read the words and listen to what the Spirit says to you, the Lord will guide you in your path of life. In times of darkness the Book of Mormon can light your path. It can even be a gateway in building wonderful family relations and a better relationship with your Father in Heaven. 


We have once again set the goal to complete the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. And this time we're gonna do it!