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!

2 years ago..

We walked hand in hand into the San Diego Temple to be sealed for time and eternity.

What a beautiful day that was!

27 December 2008

Thank you My Sweetheart for a wonderful 2 years..I Love You the Most!

Evan's commentary:

I always find it a compliment when people think I just got married last month... Thanks sweetheart for a WONDERFUL 2 years! Keep em coming!! Love You!

The day of our wedding we hadn't eaten much that morning so when all the pictures and everything were done we went in our wedding attire through the drive through of McDonalds. We got Chicken Nuggets. Today we got Chicken Nuggets too. It was a fun memory to relive.

MY CARD TO EVS:

EV's CARD TO ME:

What did we do to CELEBRATE??

We are going to take a train ride somewhere in California because that's what I wanted to do, but things have been so busy with family in town and work that we are taking a raincheck for now. We did however go to CHEESECAKE FACTORY with Ev's parents (they were staying with us before they went back to HI). I had never been there before so it was a big treat for me.

It was a great day of celebration with my BEST FRIEND! The one thing I remember from our sealing were the words, " YOU WILL BE HAPPY!" And we sure are!

Christmas Day with the Stubbs Family

The kids in this house couldn't start Christmas before 8 AM. Luckily they all slept until about that time, I was a little worried that they would be itching to get down the stairs to see if Santa came.Well it looks like Santa found us in San Marcos, CA this year. He brought me lots of my favorite candy in my stocking..He seems to know just what I like. Mrs. Claus came for Evan too. He was a good boy this year.

Santa even brought Sage and Jade toys..thanks Momma Lolly! They love them.

Christmas Pajamas

 Stuck outside to play and get dirty while all the fun in going on inside with the kids.

All the kiddos before they went downstairs and hit the jackpot!

Trace

Mia

Kai

Kade

Brad

Jake

Evs with his Mom's hat from the SF Giants (Kung Fu) Panda memorabilia

We had a wonderful lazy Christmas. Yummy Crepes for breakfast and just being with family topped it off. I loved that most. 

{Merry Christmas 2010}

Oh and Christmas Eve, we had the Nativity played by the kids and Rob. The kids were {ninja} Wise Men, Trace was Baby Jesus, and the dogs were the sheep.

Christmas Day with the Greco/Repucci Family

We spent the second half of our Christmas Day at my Parents house. All of the siblings were there except for Jess and her family, they stayed in Oregon. Its nice that we were all able to get together, even though it felt weird not doing Christmas in the morning at my parents house. We still made the best of it so everyone could be there and had a good time as always laughing and chatting it up. Love being with my family and glad we all got together and had a good time. We ate Dad's famous Christmas lasagna and then vegged and hung out. 

Corey brought his dogs down from Oregon (3), we brought our dogs (2), Tony brought his dogs (2), and my Mom's dog (1). Thats a lot of dogs in one place! But my dog's had a good time.

Christmas Eve 2010

We headed to San Marcos, CA Thursday night after I was done with work. We spent the night at Evs sisters house along with all of his siblings (except one) and parents. It was a full house, but I like it that way. We had fun with the kids and enjoying seeing each other as we are all in different areas on the map. Evs parents flew from Hawaii and were in the mainland for a couple weeks it was so nice to have them here. For Christmas Eve, we had my sister Jenny, take a "Stubbs" family photo as it has been a long time since they have had one with everyone in it. We laughed and smiled and cheesed it! We acted like goof balls to get the kiddies to smile and it was good fun. It turned out to be a beautiful Friday, when we were expecting overcast or rain. It was hard to find a nice spot with shade! After taking pictures we went to BJ's for a family lunch. Then just hung out the rest of the day. (Evs and I snuck out and went to see my Grandpa that lives in Carlsbad and give him some company) Nice Christmas Eve together as a family.