Our little Family

We moved!!!

2011-07-11T11:56:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since I posted anything but the news are WE MOVED!!! after almost 10 years of living in Provo we moved to Queen Creek, AZ.
Benj is working for ADOT, the Arizona Department of Transportation as an Environmental Planner. We are adjusting fine to the heat and love being able to be loud without worrying about neighbors. The babies love having a yard and Benj has been working hard making it pretty and safe for the babies to play in, he loves plants and yard work. It still feels like we are in vacation and hasn't sink in completely that we actually live here :) The ward is good, and we have found things that we absolutely love like the day care/ playcenter in the thearers :). We still miss Utah but are learning to love the new city.

Little bird :)

2011-05-17T11:43:00.000-07:00

I took this picture by the rail road in South Provo. Love the duck in the background :)

Slate Canyon

2011-05-17T00:36:00.000-07:00

Las Vegas for a day

2011-05-09T09:40:00.000-07:00

Phoenix Zoo

2011-04-11T11:36:00.000-07:00

We love going to the Zoo when we go to Phoenix but this time was very special because Connor and Mia are old enough to enjoy the animals. They asked so many questions about animals and plants and we were lucky to have our own private Biologist (Daddy) to answer them all.

ARIZONA 2011

2011-04-11T10:44:00.000-07:00

This is nothing, I gave her "one" chocolate chip once and she managed to get three walls and her face dirty.

Funny, he loved crawling around but his poor butt was always cold from the tiles.

Learning to stand up

You are not supossed to give icecream to a baby, this was vacation and a once in a lifetime exception.

Mad at me for not letting him go out with Mia and Coco.

Playing with water ballons in January :) loving Arizona.

A Hawk not too happy about me taking a picture of him

Pampers work, awesome pic for next comercial

How to survive a long long trip

2011-02-22T23:57:00.000-08:00

We got to go to Arizona for a couple of weeks, we had fun but the long trip is quite a challenge. Christopher doesn't like to stay in his seat for a long time so we had to stop many times to help him rest from the car seat. The kids like the stops and we do too. This time it was extra fun for me because I was able to take cool pictures.

All together.

2011-02-17T16:39:00.000-08:00

Right before church, I didn't wanted to wait for after church because the good looks don't last that long :)

Crazy teacup

2011-01-27T14:14:00.000-08:00

Going out to take some random pics.

2011-01-21T22:12:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2010

2011-01-04T18:17:00.000-08:00

Amando la fotografia!!

2011-01-04T16:25:00.000-08:00

Taking pictures and learning about photography. Awesome hobby and great stress relieve :)

First snow 2010

2011-01-03T23:03:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving 2010

2011-01-03T22:59:00.000-08:00

This year I made Latin style turkey, it hat a lot of spices and it came out very moist.

My favorite dish of the night, Yams.

Home made pumking pie/

It the babies eat it that means is really good.

So tired after eating so much.

Connor and Mia turned 5 and 3!!

2011-01-03T22:46:00.000-08:00

5 years ago I got the best birthday gift a person could get, I got my baby at exactly 5pm after 13 hours or labor. I was so happy that he was coming that I was smiling after my water broke so everyone thought that I was kidding and would'nt take me to the hospital. I was just very excited and when I finally convince them we all went to the hospital (Ben, me my brother and a friend). Ben was so happy he wanted to invite everyone to the labor room but I was very against that :). I am thankful that I was able to deliver my babies here in the US because of the great invention of the epidural that hasn't reach Ecuador yet.
We named him Benjamin Connor and he has been awesome. He has a lot of energy and he is very smart. He is a great teacher to us, he came to teach us to be more patience, tolerant, to enjoy life as it comes, to be positive and enjoy even tinny details, and to show us a different kind of love that you only get to experience as a parent. Our hearts are full of love for him and will always be thankful to have him. Happy birthday baby.

Mia was supposed to be another birthday gift for me but she fell in love with daddy since she was on my belly and she tried to come as a birthday gift for him but I kept her in my belly for two more days. She was born November 1st, and even though Ben was completely scared of having a girl it was love at first sight. He hasn't stopped spoiling her ever since. She is gentle, loving, caring, and the perfect complement for Connor. If she is too shy to dance or be herself Connor helps her by giving her confidence and if Connor is too energetic she helps him by playing with him and letting him be him.
She loves to paint and she started to show sings of it since very young when we found our walls covered with crayons and markers. She only paints in canvases and paper now :)

Kids photos by the RB.

2010-12-08T10:03:00.001-08:00

Elizabeth's photos by me.

2010-12-08T09:49:00.000-08:00

My friend Eli came to visit from Mexico and stayed with us a couple of days. We went to the mall one day and I took many pictures in about 15 min :) We just stopped really quick in places that looked cool for a photo shoot :) This is all behind the cementary, old places look cool in pictures.

Halloween 2010

2010-12-01T10:09:00.000-08:00

Going Private

2010-11-18T12:02:00.001-08:00

Today I was talking to one of my friends and she told me the risks of having pictures of kids online. We are going private, but we still want to keep in touch with family and friends. If interested send me an email to vero_orem@hotmail.com.
Thanks :)

Halloween Fun in Provo

2010-10-28T13:10:00.000-07:00

Here is a list of some of the activities to do this year in Provo:
October 28: BYU Halloween spooktacular 5-7pm, Wilkinson center.
October 29: Halloween Carnival at "The Center" 500 N Freedom Blv 5-10pm
Benjs B-day party at 8pm :)
October 30: Safe trick or treating Downtown Provo from 3 to 6pm
Fall family festival at Provo Town Mall from 1 to 6pm, trick or treating from 4 to 6
Then around the neighborhood trick or treating, the bubble is the best :)
And they are having a whole bunch of Halloween 5K runs, for more info go to http://www.utahvalley.com/events

BYU is fun!!

2010-10-24T18:16:00.001-07:00

I am getting ready to go back to school and finish my last semesters, so we have been going to BYU to finish my paperwork. The first time we took the babies the loved running around and checking out the buildings. They loved the idea of this huge school being their school in the future. We showed them a lot of buildings but the highlight of the day was a "BUG". They found a beetle that was in front of the Humanities building and carried it to this nice bed of flowers so the bug can have a better home. The mind of a child is amazing, they can find joy and fun in anything even a little bug in BYU.

Growing up!

2010-10-08T21:14:00.000-07:00

Christopher 5 months now. He is 21 pounds, and very very active. He loves water A LOT, and is always smiley. Such a joy to have around.

He doesn't fit in his baby bathtub anymore so we have to get the ducky out. It was a hit and he loves his new bath/ducky.

Relaxing after a day of jumping and playing around.

Couch potatoe, loves his pacifier.

He loves to chew his little finger, I think teeth may be coming soon.

Peak a boo!!!

6 years anniversary :)

2010-08-30T11:05:00.000-07:00

I love August because is anniversary celebration time :) We invited the kids to celebrate with us this year and took them to "Chuck e Cheese". We love it because we get to eat and sit down while the kids play. We enjoyed our favorite BBQ chicken pizza and some chicken wings. It was fun for the kids and for us. We liked it and from now on we will celebrate our "Family anniversary" every year so the kids love that date too. However we needed alone time so Cindy our babysitter and friend came to our rescue and we were able to go on a date :)

My brother called me that day and we were talking about marriage and I told him it was my anniversary. He said congratulations and then I asked him how long he had of being married and he said 10 years. I said "Wow, 10 years already?" He said: "Yes, but it feels like it has been 10 minutes", I thought "How romantic", then He said " But, 10 minutes under water" hahahaha. He was joking of course but he i sooo funny.

These 6 years have gone so fast and we love that we have our three little babies with us now. Looking forward to see what else we are going to get to live, learn and enjoy together as a family.

One more awesome moment together, definetly this year's highlight :)

ALL CHRIS!!!

2010-08-03T14:26:00.000-07:00

Christopher is 3 months old and he has grown A LOT!!!! Last time we checked he was 15 pounds and 8 oz, but I am sure he is at least 16 pounds by now. He is passed the 95% in weight and length. He is the biggest baby I've had and is SO cute and smiley. He tries to talk to me all the time and I have to stop whatever I am doing and talk to him or he will be mad.
His favorite things to do are EAT and then sleep (no wonder he is so fat) and he loves to see daddy come in the afternoon because he gets to take a shower with him and he also likes bath time and drink little drops of water during the bath (clean water).
I like to tickle him and he laughs a lot when I tickle his chin or chubby cheeks. He loves it when Connor or Mia sing to him and he likes to sit up to see what is going on. He is very curious and enjoys family time and traveling in his carseat (but not for 9 hours).
I haven't posted that many pictures of baby Christopher since my camera died but here are some pics that I have taken with the phone. (NOT IN ORDER OF AGE)

Playing with Connor (1 month old)

Taking a nap during belly time :) He is supposed to exercise his head and he gets sleepy :)

Bored of the carseat almost 3 months old

He likes to seat on my belly and rest his head on my legs. I take too many pictures of him, I love this face.

Reading books with daddy

After 9 hours in the car coming from AZ, poor baby he was so tired of the car seat.

He loves to sleep in my arms or right by me. Here he was 2 months old.

He loves me. Here he was about a month and a half. He is still a mommy's boy at least until he grows up like Connor and Mia and notice that I am the one that sets the rules (as a mom) and Benj is the cool dad that loves icecream, sweets, toys and games. Right now I am still Chris favorite parent since I am the one with the food :)

GYMNASTICS CLASS

2010-07-26T13:11:00.000-07:00

Connor and Mia went to a Gymnastics class during spring and here are their graduation pictures. They have a lot of energy and needed something to do so we put Connor in an art class and in a gymnastic class and Mia in a tumbling tots/gymnastics class. The art class was successful because the teacher let Connor work with ceramics and clay all the time. The class was supposed to have drawing and painting and ceramics but Connor only liked ceramics and the teacher was cool and let him enjoy making pots and cups out of clay. I liked it a lot too since it was a mommy and me art class :)
The gymnastics class was great for Connor BUT he is now a professional monkey. Before the class he was energetic but in a safe way, now he hangs from everything and is constantly flipping and turning and standing on his head :(. SO.... next time we will just put him in a swimming class.
Mia loved her tumbling class, it was a mommy and me class and I was pregnant and about to pop. Her teacher made me stretch and it was actually good for me. Mia loved the attention and being with other kids or her age. She loves tutus and wears one almost everyday since the class and I love how girly she look on it.
They both had a graduation event where they showed everything they learned and got a medal :)

No internet!

2010-06-23T10:21:00.000-07:00

After four years of living in Lilac Place we finally moved. We are still in Provo, we just moved to a bigger apartment. We like it, the only problem is that it doesn't have free cable and Internet like the other one :(

After almost a month of no Internet we finally got it connected :) SO... here are some pics of Christopher, Connor and Mia. The change so much as they grow, I am glad I take so many pictures.

Chistopher Lynn Kartchner

2010-05-25T14:25:00.000-07:00

Our third baby is here. He was born May 04, 2010 at 6:40 pm. He weighed 8 lbs. 4 oz. and was 20 inches long. We love him a lot and he is enjoying all the attention he gets. My mom and sister are here to help me so I get to spend a lot of time with him :)

Connor and Mia are great with him and love to help out. Connor is very protective and makes

sure Chris is safe and Mia even wants to change his diapers and she doesn't mind if is a #2. She just keeps saying !Mommy baby pooped yellow! :)

FESTIVAL OF COLORS!!

2010-04-11T21:27:00.001-07:00

We took my sister to the Festival of Colors in American Fork, we were worried that the babies were too small for the event but they enjoyed playing with the colors.

Mia is the little princess of our family, she is very very girly so she didn't understand why we were making her pretty outfit dirty.

Connor was playing with everyone, even people we didn't know.

Even the new baby got colors on him :) I have a HUGE belly, and the stripes didn't help :)

With my little sister, enjoying the time I get to spend with her.

BIG news!!!!

2010-02-07T21:42:00.000-08:00

I am sure almost everyone knows that our third musketeer is coming, but we haven't officially made the announcement. I am already 27 week pregnant but it has been a crazy pregnancy with my little one being too excited to be born that he wanted to come since week 10. We finally convinced him to stay longer and he has so far agreed to stay until he is well done. YES!!!! we are pregnant and we are having a BOY!!!! We have no idea what to name him yet. We are going for a nice mellow name since we believe that the name does make a difference. You see, we named Connor a strong warrior name and well you know Connor, and to Mia we gave her a nice quite and girly name and she is very girly and quiet. SO.... maybe our new boy will be less energetic if we give him a more pacific and quieter name.

Since is my third pregnancy you must think I am a pro and all, but let me tell you. There should not be a book called "what to expect when you are expecting", because every pregnancy is way different.

My belly is so huge, and I can feel the baby so clearly that I even play with him. He loves to tickle my belly button and I touch his hands and he moves them and comes back again. He didn't let me eat at all for almost three months but after that the cravings made up for anything I missed. I was so sleepy I could fall sleep at any time of the day in any spot of my house as long as I was seated. I seriously looked like an old but very old man falling asleep even in the middle of conversations.

I've had three day long headaches and believe it or not the only thing that cures them is Tylenol with coke (recommended by the doctor and the nurse). I tried to drink it with juices and other decaffeinated drinks but coke does the charm.

Even though this is baby number three, his pregnancy has been so unique that we love him so much already and can't wait to see him in person and finally know the little rebel that is kicking me and tickling me nonstop.

Weird cravings: Connor: Betos burritos (2 at the time) Mia: Brownies and ice cream (not me at all), and the new baby : the weirdest: Snow (but since we found out it has so many bad things on it, I am craving ice now) and my iron is completely fine.

New things: Benj and I are not the only ones excited about the baby but Connor and Mia too. It is fun to see them kiss my belly or even draw on it :) Connor wants to name him Avatar but its not going to happen.

My brothers and Sister

2010-02-07T21:22:00.000-08:00

Benjamin and Rebeca came to visit from Ecuador. Benja is going on a mission to Bolivia, Santa Cruz and came to say bye and to bring my little sister to the US for the very first time. She is turning 15 in March so the trip is her sweet 15 birthday gift. I am so happy they came and that I get to hang out with my sister until April :)
Steven in the right is my other brother and he already lives here in Provo. I can't believe all four of us are together in Provo and without parents, just kidding. They say I am worse than my mom, well the boys do. My sister still likes me a lot :)

Ben really loves Mia!!!!

2010-02-07T21:07:00.000-08:00

Here is proof that Ben really, really loves Mia. She loves to decorate daddy like a princess and as long as Mia is happy Ben lets her do anything :) Also check out our new wall decor with real art work from the most beautiful artist "Mia Kartchner".

Here is a tip: Even if the label promise washable crayons "DON'T BUY THEM" it is so hard to clean even with a good Magic Eraser. Instead buy washable markers, they come out with just a wet paper towel.

Playing with Snow

2010-02-01T21:07:00.000-08:00

The pictures say it all. My little monkeys love the snow, they love to walk on it, to eat it, to get their hands purple from it, the whole deal. I took them to the park and they reminded me of the scene on the movie "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs", on the ice cream day part. Connor and Mia threw themselves face first to the snow and ate as much as the could. The park is just around the corner from our apartment and it took us around 15 minutes to make it there because they stopped a million times to play with the snow.

Once in the park they where in heaven. I wasn't planning on staying long so I didn't put good gloves on them so Mia got purple hands. I told her we had to go home and that's why she gave me that mean look in the last pic.

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-12-21T09:37:00.000-08:00

We made lots and lots of food. We love the sweet potatoes from Texas Road House so I've been trying to copy the recipe and use it in the yams. Last year and the year before my thanksgiving yams turned out good but not great. This year we went to get the real thing at Texas Road House about three months ago so I took notes of what I saw in my potatoes and the good thing is that we got them to go so they put a little side of cinnamon butter that other wise I wouldn't have noticed. This thanksgiving I bough a can of yams as a back up in case my experiment fail but it didn't :). I cooked real yams and then put them in a Pyrex. I didn't mashed them completely but just a little and them in a separate pot I melted butter and then added cinnamon powder and brown sugar. After that, I poured the sweet melted goodness on top of my yams and finished my dish putting mini marshmallows on the top. After a couple minutes on the broiler the yams looked and tasted awesome.

You can tell I am not much of a cook if I get excited over a simple dish of yams but it is Ben's favorite part of the meal (because it is sweet) so seeing him happy about the good outcome made my day. Connor and Mia liked the big chicken too ( that's what they called the turkey).

Connor is four years old !!!!!!

2009-12-09T00:12:00.001-08:00

Connor is four years old and I still can't believe it. My baby is growing fast :) He loves pancakes and he asked for them for his birthday. To make it special we put happy faces on them and you can see Connor loved them.

The happy face master piece. Later we took him to chuck E cheeses since he is finally old enough to enjoy it and it was !FUN!. The place was very cool and safely organized. Benj and I got to relax and eat while the babies enjoyed the games. Parents heaven!

Updating: Mia is two :)

2009-12-08T23:39:00.000-08:00

Not so happy for the late celebration of her birthday.

At least the cake taste good

The birthdays started with daddy the 28 of October, then right after Halloween we celebrated Mia's birthday which was a Sunday so we were planning on eating cake after church, but somehow Mia and Connor were sleep by 5 pm. Very very rare thing to happen so we didn't bake the cake. However Mia woke up later around 8 pm and she looked very angry. I could swear she knew we were supposed to be singing and celebrating her birthday. I went to the kitchen and put the cake in the oven while she ate ice cream with daddy. The cake only took 20 minutes to be done but Mia went back to sleep 5 minutes before I took it out of the oven :(

We felt so bad that the next day, as soon as she woke up we gave her the cake and sang Happy Birthday. You can see in the pictures that she was mad at first for this late celebration but then she saw the chocolate and forgave us.

HALLOWEEN 2009

2009-11-05T20:36:00.001-08:00

Halloween is such a fun day for us. Benj loves it but Connor is just the happiest kid not just Halloween day but the whole month of October. We took him to Halloween stores by his request like 20 times and he loves the decorations, dressing up, candy, pumpkins. This year he definitely made it funner for all of us.

Connor had three costumes this year. He was spiderman, bumblebee and Ben 10.

In the BYU Halloween carnival as Bumblebee

Trick or treating with daddy in Downtown Provo. Benj's outfit was put together in only an hour. He has a huge imagination and as always his costume was awesome. The tinny witch and spider man by his side made him look even taller and scarier :)

Trick or treating at the Mall. We had fun but the candy was horrible. The babies where tired and they took a candy break in the middle of the Mall's floor :)

This year could be our last year of Halloween in Provo so we over did it. We started trick or treating in the afternoon in Downtown Provo, then we went to the mall, and then we joined our friend Kyoung and went trick or treating around the neighborhood.

Connor got wax lips and a wax mustage. Backwards in the pic, lol he looks so funny.

Happy to see the fruit of their hard work.

TOO MUCH CANDY!!!! And they already ate a lot before I took the picture.

Cornbelly's Halloween Fun

2009-10-11T14:14:00.001-07:00

Jumping in the big pillows with the babies. Connor is a pro like always. I couldn't jump without making Mia fall so after trying a couple of techniques we decided that the safest was holding hands.

Yes, daddy encourages Mia to climb everything and be a little dare devil.

The lens didn't open on time but I love that Connor was taking care of Mia and catching her down the slide :)

She loves to climb slides.

The cutest face ever.

Mia loves tinny pumpkins. Don't look at her hair, she hates to put it up and the wind didn't help.

Just us :)

Starting the Maze, all of us excited and full of energy. We were sure we could finish it in 38 minutes, the time they told us it would last. We didn't know that we were going to get lost and it would take about an hour and a half for us to get out of there.

Trying to save babies energy since we knew we were lost :)

Mia after 30 minutes in the maze

It was a long walk and she played and jumped around before the maze too, so she was very very tired.

It was an awesome day. Not too hot, not too cold. We love Utah, hopefully we get to stay after graduation.

Utah County Fair

2009-09-28T13:56:00.000-07:00

We went to the Utah County Fair and it turned out to be entertaining for the kids. They really like animals and they had cool activities for their age group. Tinny chairs for tinny clients. They enjoyed their snow cones after a long sunny day.

Poor horse, I was worried all the time because Mia loved his hair and she pulled it once. I guess to check if it was real ?

Feeding the sheep. They wanted to stay there forever, but I wasn't so happy with the smell.

Mia trying to feed the sheep. She was scared at first but daddy helped her feel brave.

A little race to teach kids about safety.

Celebrating our 5 Year Anniversary!!!

2009-09-01T10:41:00.000-07:00

We celebrated our "Wood Anniversary", lol, that is the traditional name of it. You know, 25th is silver, 50th is gold. It turns out we reached an anniversary with a name, yay!!. It was cool to know that.

Well we are so happy to celebrate 5 years together and to have added two members to our little family so far. We got a babysitter and celebrated by trying virgin Piña Coladas and Lobster Pizza in Red Lobster and we found our new favorite drink. We also watched GI Joe ( It did had some romantic moments, lol). These 5 years have been awesome, we've had many blessings and challenges that have helped us grow stronger as a couple and as a family. We are just looking forward to our 10th, 25th, and 50th + anniversaries with cooler names. :)

Random Pics

2009-08-16T23:42:00.000-07:00

I made eatable play dough. I found the peanut butter and corn meal recipe and it was very easy to make. The babies had fun and we didn't have to worry about them eating it.

I am glad that we had them close in age. It was hard when Mia was little but now that she can play with Connor it is very cool. They are buddies now.

Here is the face I get whenever I try to take a picture of Mia whenever she is not in the mood for it. She is still gorgeous when she is angry :)

Summer pics.

2009-08-16T23:04:00.001-07:00

On the same day we took them to the park and then we went to the Y. The babies played and climbed, ran, jumped, and they never got tired. I don't know where do they get so much energy.

We do have to thank them for being our best daily work out. They will keep us young for a long time :)

There is nothing funner than riding a bike, Connor's favorite thing to do.

The Fly!!

2009-06-04T21:12:00.000-07:00

Since is summer I am opening the balcony door a lot. It is nice but every time I open that door we have to chase bees or flies out of the apartment. Connor and Mia think it is so much fun to see mommy freak out about these tinny bugs. Benj took them bug hunting for his entomology class last summer so they are not scare of bugs at all. Believe it or not this was a fly, a incredibly HUGE fly. It is the biggest one I've seen and I should know since I come from Guayaquil - Ecuador. I swear this fly must have eaten some crazy radiated trash because it looked mutated. I was scared of it because I was chasing it away with a towel and she kept attacking me. Of course Connor and Mia were laughing and enjoying the show.

After noticing that I was honestly scared of it, my little hero when to his bedroom, pulled the sheets out of his bed, got on top of the couch and started to help me chaise the fly out of the apartment. He was too tinny to reach it, but the intention is what counts. I know now that my little Connor will always protect me :)

PS: If you were wondering about the knight outfit he is wearing, it was a coincidence. He was already wearing it before he decided to act like my little here.

Other PS: By the way, I am soooo thankful that I make Benj read my posts before I click the publish post button because we noticed on time that I TOTALLY messed up in the spelling of the word "sheets." BUT if I've done that before without noticing, please excuse my grammar horrors.

Yummy dish from Ecuador.

2009-05-24T14:18:00.000-07:00

I am from the coast so we eat A LOT of fish. I had tried making this dish before but the fish didn't taste the same. I finally found it. This is fried Red Flounder and it is a perfect match with the fish I used to eat in Ecuador. First I rub it with lemon (it takes the extra fishy taste away), then I season it with salt and garlic powder, and cover it with seasoned flour (seasoned with black pepper and paprika). Fried in a tinny bit of oil and done. It is served with a salsa made out of onions, tomatoes, and avocado pickled in lime juice, salt, and cilantro.

Playground fun

2009-05-08T23:44:00.000-07:00

Connor has so much energy and he loves playgrouds. I love this picture because it shows him in action.

That cute smile gets her whatever she wants. She follows Connor around and she is not scared of getting in trouble. She TALKS now, it is so cute. She can say, NO (off course), Popsicle, Mommy, Daddy, Dame (give me), Abre (open), What are you doing?, Sorry, Coco (Connor), Mia, cinco (five), Hi five, sorry, and a couple more.

I had to offer him a quarter to stay still for the picture. I know.... I know.....I am not supposed to bribe him according to parenting books, but I dont believe any of the doctors that write those books have met a Connor yet.

Random Pics

2009-04-26T21:46:00.000-07:00

My brother is starting a band in Ecuador and Connor just went crazy when he saw all the cool equipment. He loved being able to play the drums and here he is faking to play the guitar. He just loves music.

I was playing with a photo editor. I love this picture of Mia, she looks so beautiful.

Connor and his friend Mr. Crabs ( I guess he remembered a crab from Sponge Bob). He talked to all the crabs we were preparing and it was funny because I thought he wasn't going to eat any after he saw them going from alive to cooked. I was so wrong! He was the first one at the table, but he did say sorry after eating them :)

The babies just got complete freedom in Ecuador. My mom spoiled them badly and let them play wherever they wanted, even with the furniture.

I love this picture of Mia hugging my mom. Since my parents are in another country it is really a huge blessing to have these kind of memories. I am so happy my mom got to see Mia at this age, she is all cute and cuddly.

Benj's Toe

2009-03-15T19:14:00.000-07:00

I just had to post it :)

We are back!!!

2009-01-28T21:22:00.000-08:00

Benj is fine now and his toe healed nicely. He had a couple of problems with it like an infection and his stiches got open but now it is all fine, and eventhough those were rough times we were blessed because thanks to those two boring weeks of doing nothing, the babies are in a great schedule and go to bed everyday at 7 pm. We are so happy about that since we get time to enjoy as a couple.

I didn't want to write so much since a lot has happened since last time I posted a blog so here are a bunch of pics from the break.

Connor loves to dress up so he got superhero pj's and Mia got a Tinkerbell one. We also got a batman mask to go with the pajamas and Mia had to get a picture with it too. :)

Luckily we had grandma Terry come and help us when Benj was injured and the babies loved it. Not only because she played a lot with them but also because she bought a whole bunch of presents for Christmas. I started giving them some gifts early and they loved to run to the tree every morning and Connor would say " SANTA CAME"

We did the twelve days of Christmas with our neighbors and the last day we surprised them with a gift, they were happy and an hour later they came with these toys and surprised us back. Lucky Mia got this cute horse from our neighbor Kyoung and her kids, and Connor got a snow tube. It was fun to be able to celebrate with them.

Chilling on Christmas morning after opening gifts. On the corner you can see our poor tree. This year it started decorated and ended up without any ornament thanks to Mia.

Mia is so cute and believe it or not she is a handful. She has this cute face and loves to explore everything, the hard thing about that is that Connor is her mentor so she is way advanced when it comes to climbing, yelling, falling, tricking parents and using his cute face to get away with trouble. Her favorite word to yell when she is in trouble is !DADDY!!!!

He loves a cartoon called Robot boy and this mask kind of look like it so we had to get it for him.

The cool thing about grandma's gifts was that she is experienced on what kind of toys babies like and Connor and Mia enjoyed playing with the blocks, and reading pop out books.

I love that smile!!

Now you see why Mia loves daddy so much. Her favorite thing to do is flip the pages of a book, she was so exited to get a lot for Christmas.

It doesn't matter what Mia got, she always think that whatever Connor has or does is the coolest. She follows him everywhere and Connor loves the attention.

Just Mia

2009-01-22T08:30:00.000-08:00

She loves to take pictures. These are old but I like them a lot. She hates it when I put her hair up so she takes it off and then she gets the crazy hair look. She also likes to wear body suits instead of normal shirts. If I only put a shirt on she grabs her belly all the time like she is scare it is going to fall off. In the picture where she is sitting down she is grabing her belly :)

Crazy days!

2008-12-06T00:41:00.000-08:00

To celebrate our birthday, we went to Jump in in Lindon. It is a place that has a lot of trampolines on the floor and walls. It was very fun and Connor had a blast. The only problem is that I have two little boys and the older one (BENJ) was enjoying jumping so much that at the last minute, just before closing he decided to make his last minutes memorable and tried skipping between the trampolines at a really fast speed. This is when he had his accident and kicked one of metal bars in between the trampolines. He thought his big toe was only dislocated because it was twisted in the wrong direction. Good thing he didn't try and put it back into place. He had surgery and they put two pins in his big toe. He wore a cast for a week before surgery, but now he has a boot on it to keep him from hurting his toe. He is fine now, but he wont be able to drive for a couple of weeks. We are so grateful for our neighbor Kyoung and the angel she has been during this rough time. Also our visiting and home teachers.

I still have to pass my road test to be able to get my license but is so hard since it is the first time I have driven in my life. Hopefully I'll get it soon.

Happy Birthday Connor!!!

2008-11-30T21:15:00.000-08:00

Connor is three, which means many doors have opened for him. He can finally go swimming, tumbling and take painting classes because he is old enough now. He was going to go to a karate class but after watching Kungfu Panda we realized he is not ready yet since he started practicing on Mia. We are happy too because he is potty trained and is finally out of the terrible twos which by the way are not a myth. I am so glad he is better now and it is a lot easier to reason with him. I love his age too because whenever he wants something really out of his reach he says "Mommy, lets talk". Also he is a great older brother and really loves Mia's company, the only problem is that he is also her mentor and has taught her many tricks like fake crying or couch climbing.

We are so blessed to have Connor in our family. We can honestly say that we smile a lot more now than before having him. We love our Coco lindo.

Now I list some of his favorite things so that you can get to know him:

His favorite ......thing to do:

Going to the pool or to the playground

His favorite...... veggie:

Broccoli and cauliflower

His favorite...... drink:

Chocolate milk

His favorite..... phrase:

"Mia don't do that"

His favorite..... cartoon:

Robot boy

His favorite..... superhero:

Superman (to dress up because of the cape), Ironman (when playing with toys)

His favorite..... movie:

He actually has three: The polar express, Spy kids and The adventures of Shark boy and Lava girl.

His favorite parent:

Definitely "Daddy". Actually he is his favorite superhero and I love that.

COOL PICS

2008-11-27T01:38:00.000-08:00

My friend Genoveva took these pictures last July. I got them finally and like them a lot. She is a great photographer. I am going to take this chance to post them and tell you a little about my two little loves. So today you will get to know Connor alias (Cocolindo) and Mia alias (Mamamia), or both together alias (Bichitos, wich means little bugs)

Connor is my little buddy. He likes to talk a lot and tell stories. He loves to feel useful so whenever I ask him to help me with Mia or to pass me something he feels so important. His favorite movie of the week is Walle and calls Mia, Eve. His favorite thing to play with is his ironman toy that grandpa gave him. He hates peas and loves brocoli. Calls meat "tui" which is not an english or spanish word.

Mia is such a little angel but she is so mischievous too. She likes getting in trouble, climbing stuff, and eating books. She likes to play with empty cups and little bottles. Her favorite place in the apartment is the kitchen. She can sit for a long time if you read her a book, is her favorite thing to do.

Mia just loves to copy everything Connor does, lately she has been climbing on to Connor's bed and then to his little table. We almost have to catch her in the air so that she doesn't fall.

I love this picture because it captures his energy. Connor loves water so much his favorite things to do are going to the pool and taking long, long, long baths.
Mia likes to turn off the TV while we are watching it and after that she claps and starts dancing (happy feet style). She thinks is so funny and Connor hates it.
Mia likes daddy so much and likes to tease him. Now that Benj has a cast in his leg she love tickling his toes.

THEY KEEP ON GROWING

2008-11-03T16:57:00.001-08:00

I love the babies in this picture, and daddy looks so handsome too that I had to post it.

Batman and Mia, playing with her birthday gift. She also got a foward facing car seat FINALLY. She has been twenty pounds for a while we were just waiting for her to be a year old. :)

She is so cute and loves to do anything that Connor does, the proof is this picture. She saw Connor with the hat and she wanted to put it on too.

She hates to eat ice cream and cake but she love sto play with them. I think the frosting was good since she has a lot of it in her mouth.

Celebrating Mia's birthday with our neighbors and friends. It was a last minute thing and turned out cool.

Benj's Surprise Party

2008-11-02T23:15:00.001-08:00

Dressed as vikings, and our little bee (Mia), Connor was eitther running around or playing pool / minigolf (on top of the pool table)

Kyoung and Ming Hoe, our neighbors as Luke and Mini Mouse :)

This year Benj really didn't have a clue about his birthday party and it was so cool to be able to surprise him. Thanks to all of our friends that helped me out to make this possible, mainly my mom because it would have been impossible for me to pull this off if she hadn't been here. Benj had a blast and if anyone saw Connor that night he had a BLAST too. Here are our neighbors and my mom and Mia.

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T00:25:00.000-07:00

So this is Mia's first Halloween ever and I have to say she enjoyed this costume so much. She is so girly and loved the tutu part the most. This time last year I was getting ready to have her, I can't believe she is so big now and that she will be ONE year old tomorrow. Where did my baby go :(

BYU had a cool Halloween party for student's babies that was like a carnival with games and everything. Connor had a blast getting a bunch of candy and playing with everything. I won't be surprised if Halloween turns out to be his favorite holliday just like his dad. He was a little knight and Mia a little Bee. We didn't dressed up yet but we will at some point :). I still have to post Benj's party pictures but I will as soon as I get them. I was so busy that night that I didn't take any pictures with my camera but luckily my uncle did.

LOVE THAI FOOD!!!!!!

2008-10-26T15:24:00.000-07:00

So I've been craving this soup for ages, is called the Tom Yum soup and is THE BEST!!!. I found the recipe online in www.thaifoodtonight.com . Is a shrimp and mushroom soup that is a little bit sour and spicy, great for winter. I add a can of baby corn to the recipe because I needed something else in it. Benj's advice is not to use it as entree recipe but as a good apetizer. If you are not a seafood lover like I am then try the other recipes they are easy and so yummy.

2008-09-15T20:49:00.000-07:00

Here is Mia, she loves swings. She makes this cute face when she is trying to scare us. I dont know when but Connor taught her to do the monster face and now she uses it to wake us up in the morning or to get atention. Cute hugh.

“While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about.”

Benj knows a lot about cool places to go in the mountains and here is a lake that we love. Connor enjoyed walking around without shoes on, and trowing rocks at the water. Every place we go now is a lot funner because of Connor, he is a little explorer.

ZOO in Arizona

2008-09-10T21:16:00.000-07:00

Here we are at the Phoenix Zoo, and yes we were crazy to be there in the middle of the day. It was SOOO HOTTT!!! Even the animals were taking their naps :) We did get to see a lot of animals and Connor had a blast. We took him when he was a baby a couple of years ago but this time it was priceless to see him react to the animals. He said things like "So cool" or "Check it out" Fun day, Thank you Mike for taking us there and enduring the heat and the babies with us :)

More Ecuador

2008-07-08T11:23:00.000-07:00

Connor loves guitars and we looked for one here at a street market they have in Baños. We found this cool little wood guitar and he loved it. He didn't wanted to let go of it for a long time and he actually played it in the middle of the market. Some people gather around him to see the show. It was cool.

Ben, my Dad and Mia. We were in Benjs favorite place in Ecuador. Baños is the entrance to the big jungle and it has great weather and a bunch of cool stores with crafts and extreme outdoor sports.

Just the two of us

Babies having fun

2008-07-08T09:40:00.001-07:00

Spiderman!!! Watch out girls!

Mia loves playing and eating the grass.

My little artist making one of his master pieces.

Or cute little princess now weights 21 pounds :)

Benj in the Jungle (Ecuador)

2008-07-07T11:15:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures from the trip to Ecuador. Benj wanted to take a hike in the actual jungle and some friends took him to part of it. This place is called "Doce cascadas" meaning twelve waterfalls. You have to hike in the jungle for a while and everytime you find a waterfall you have to climb up and keep hiking to find another one, they kept getting big and better everytime. Benj and his friends only made it half way since they got lost in the jungle for two hours and by the time they made it to the waterfalls it was too late since the sun goes down aroud six in Ecuador. Not a good idea to be in the jungle in the dark!!!! They came home injured becasue they touched a tree that had huge spines. FUN!