A Weekend Away

Claire and I went to AZ for Max's baptism and Olivia's baby blessing.

They thought about swimming, but didn't' quite make it.

We saw a play, "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever," I book a remember from my childhood and one we read while traveling in Mexico with my mom.

This little baby is not good birth control.

Other highlights of the trip include lots of shopping--I'm starved of cheep, desirable goods down here and usually arrive to the US as a crazy consumer (this trip was all about the maternity clothes, goldfish, Orville Redenbacher's kernels, and a few Christmas goodies). I also had a night out with one of my best buddies, Ashley.

In Max's prayer the last night we were together, he said, "Please bless that Claire an stay longer and that Elijah will come and we will compete the whole time and I will win every time."
I choked on my "Amen" to that one.

Pure Christmas Love

I found this gem from last year.
Even though Christ was born in a stable, surrounded by animals, I kinda doubt it was this chaotic. We breed a different kind of animal in the Garcia household. Although I can only imagine that the angels did some happy dancing when He was born.

"The first gift of Christmas wasn’t

gold, frankincense, or myrrh,

though they were given to the newborn King.

It was a simple gift of pure love,

given by a Father in Heaven

to all of us,

His children."

-Mormon.org

 

May we all freely give the gift of pure love this Christmas season.

Templo de Veracruz

This past weekend we went to the temple with our ward. We left Friday after the kids' school's Posada (Christmas party with piñata and nativity) and David's work party. Traffic was so horrible on the way out that we almost forfeited. We got in around 2am, slept little, and I hit the beach with the kids while David took his turn in the temple with the youth.

Going to the temple was so refreshing. For me, sitting in more than 2 hours of traffic (plus an additional 4 hours of near-death-by-David's-driving) added to the experience. It's been a long while since I have had to make much of a sacrifice to go to the temple and I feel like it's a different flavor when getting there is painful. The peace and soothing words of revelation were sweet.

We stopped in the city center to eat before we headed out again.

 

In other news, Claire has decided to quit dancing after her end-of-semester presentation.

She was never too excited about the dance class, but every time we went to one of E's soccer games, she said she wanted to play. Today was her first day of soccer and she came home very excited, mainly because 2 boys fell in love with her (she's the only girl on the team), but also bc according to her, she scored a goal on a 9-year-old after doing a flip and other amazing tricks. She claimed everyone said she was the best player in the world. After Elijah said "yeah right," she revised and she was the best on the team.

One more tidbit: When Iris is excited, she yells "Órale!" Love it.

Embarazada is Embarassing

In Spanish, the word for “pregnant” is “embarazada.” Many missionaries learning the language tell people they are pregnant, when they really mean to say they are embarrassed. In reality, the 2 words are extremely related. So many things about pregnancy are embarrassing, as any pregnant woman can tell you. One of the reasons I waited a little longer to tell people here in Mexico about the pregnancy (I told family way before) is because of one of these side-effects. You see, when a woman gets pregnant here, she is growing not only a baby in her belly, but also a hand-magnet. Hands attack the bulge from all angles when you least expect them.
Case in point: below is a pic of when the announcement was made at a church activity.

I am overjoyed to announce that I have found the antidote to this embarrassing situation. At first, I tried karate chopping, but am afraid I offended a few. Now, I create an awkward situation instead. When they rub my belly, I rub there’s. For the most part, it has stopped the probing hands. I’ve mainly administered this antidote to the Young Women. I’ll let you know how it works with adult women and men, if it ever gets to that. 
Just one more gripe about being embarazada. In many parking lots there are "special" parking spaces for pregnant women. I have always been adamant that I am just as able as any other human being and do not need special treatment. When I saw these parking spaces were closer to the entrances than the handicapped spaces, it not only sealed the deal, but severely offended me.

He that is not busy being born is busy dying

Bob Marley said, "He that is not busy being born is busy dying."
 I find this is so true in my life, especially lately. I feel so pumped up in the morning while praying and reading scriptures and then again when praying at night: so determined to be an amazing Caroline. Then the kids wake up or get home from school and I have to deal with whining and time crunches and my own silly procrastination techniques and I get to the night and feel like a bad person and am determined to be better the next day, until the same realities of the next day hit me.
And there I am, busy dying.
I think the keyword in Dylan's quote is "busy." How do I maintain the forward momentum even through the doldrums? I'm finding can I check myself every once in a while, especially when I am more spiritually in-tune. Elijah was convinced today that he couldn't put the sheets on his bed and came into me several times whining. I snapped, yes I did. Finally he put the mattress cover on by himself and we were able to recover from both of our moods during a tickle torture. But I'm not always able to catch myself and other times it takes too long.
The best solution is constant rebirth through prayer...
when I remember.

Iris commits her first misdemeanor (as far as I know)

Today, Iris is not only in possession of an alcoholic beverage, but she is carrying it onto a school campus. In most United States of America, this is a crime punishable by fines, revocation of a driver's license, probation, community service, and even jail time in Washington State where it is a "gross misdemeanor."
My little jail bird:

The alcohol was required by the school to give to their staff for Christmas. The sense of urgency created by the school combined with my need to appease the administrators overpowered my sense of rational or religious thought so that I didn't even realize the beverage was alcoholic until after buying it...or at least that's the line the cops will get, or would get if we were in Washington State.