Mothers' Day

Poe is usually not my favorite, but I found this snippet in one of his poems: 

“…I feel that, in the Heavens above,
The angels, whispering to one another,
Can find, among their burning terms of love,
None so devotional as that of ‘Mother’…”

... and it beautifully describes my feelings today. My heart is full today for every good woman who I know who radiates motherly love and who exemplifies those righteous principles found in The Family: A Proclamation to the World - who proudly and lovingly bear that "solemn responsibility to love and care for ... their children;" who willingly use those "divinely appointed" means that create mortal life, at the right time and in the right way, for their childrens' sakes, to give them "birth within the bonds of matrimony" and "happiness within family life"; who sacrifice to nurture their children at all the different stages of their lives while supporting their husbands in their roles of presiding, providing, and protecting.

Motherhood is hard. And I mean that about each of its stages – not just the wiping noses and tears and floors, but starting with the trying and waiting and losing part of motherhood. Today I want to give both my thanks and congratulations specifically to Robin Larsen Dalton, Maria Soledad Escobar Nelson, Brittany Dalton Bohman and Heather Dalton Zollinger (yes, you are both mothers), Sarah Gardiner, and Serena McMurdie: Happy Mothers' Day. Love you all!

Christmas in Chile, Part 2

I realize this is very, very late coming. We need to fill in more of the wonderful experience we had (now a few months ago) in Chile with some of Kent's family for Christmas. And it's a long post. Feel free to just browse through pics if that's all you want to do.

Our trip to Chile was amazing! Ellie flew just like an expert - slept or played happily prettymuch the whole way there and back. Those bassinet things that international flights have that plug into the wall in front of you? AMAZING! And can I just say I very much prefer going through security with a baby? It's like they realize you're already stressed and that you don't want to go through every single liquid in your bag. So instead they just swab your hands for explosive residue and wave you through the metal detector.

Ellie and I got to meet (and we all stayed with) Kent's Abuelito and his wife, Tia Cristina. We also got to meet his Aunt Luz Maria and Aunt Paola with her husband Claudio and her two adorable daughters.

Later that first week we also got to meet Tio Claudio - Kent's step-grandfather - and Tio Claudito and his wife and kids - such sweet people; we were treated like kings everywhere we went and met family! We also got to meet Tia Margot, who was Kent's and his sisters' nanny for a while when they were growing up in Japan and his mom was going through some health problems. She - and everyone for that matter - absolutely LOVED Ellie to pieces! The two girls, Tia Paola's daughters, doted over her sometimes like she was a little doll. It was pretty cute to watch.

We got to see and experience some pretty amazing things, including some very very old sites with wonderful history behind them. More details on those sites in another post (no I'm not done raving yet after this one). First though, more pictures and more explanations of time with family. In my last post, I quickly inserted some pictures of Noche Buena - Christmas Eve - with Abuelito and his family. Here are some more:

Last time I also put in a couple of pictures of us at Tia Carmen's little apartment. Like I mentioned in our last post, her remaining time with us here in this world was to be brief at that point. Such a patient lady, to be so sweet and hospitable to us when she was anything but comfortable physically as the last stages of her cancer took over her little frame. Here are some more pictures of us at her place:

Then later we got to celebrate Christmas (again!) with the other side of the family, the Reyes families, who were so good to us. Kent's uncle, Cri-Cri, who has Down Syndrome, was so sweet with Ellie. He just adored her. I feel bad - in my last post I only posted one picture of us there, and only Kent and Ellie were in that picture. I had meant to get more up the next day - so much for that. So here they are now, and there are a lot:

So there you have it. Next post - final one on Chile - will be more about the sites. And it will be shorter. Promise. :-)

Easter and a 1-Year-Old

Ellie had her first birthday and then her first Easter this last week (last year Easter was very early, if you remember - she came a couple of weeks later). She didn't really dive into her cake, just licked the frosting a little and wondered why everyone was looking at her. She also burned her little finger on the candle while I was busy showing her the cake - I guess I should have been busier blowing it out for her. :-( But the blister is almost gone and, true to her smiley nature, hasn't bothered her since about two minutes after it happened. The Easter dinner we had with family was so nice - sorry I was stressed out at the beginning guys, but it was so worth it! We missed those of you we couldn't spend the day with in person. So here are a few pics to help catch up anyone who's interested:

Serena was also there, I promise - she manned the camera for us. :-) And everyone brought yummy food and we played some games afterwards. I am so grateful to be able to celebrate the Resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ surrounded by family. I am grateful that through Christ we can all be resurrected, stretched, improved, forgiven, comforted, and sealed to our families throughout eternity if we stay the course. I have a quote up on our chalkboard in our living room right now that captures the wondrous reality of the Atonement and Resurrection of our loving Lord: "And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives! For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father..." (D&C 76:22-23). I wish I'd had it up earlier. I love my Savior and all that He has done for me, and all that I have seen Him do for others around me who I love and look up to. He blesses each of our lives as soon as we let Him - He wants so much to bless each and every one of us! He loves and cherishes each of us and I love my ever-growing testimony of Him and my weak understanding of just what it is He has done for us and does for us every day.

I am so grateful to be able to be a mother, and to be able to celebrate this first year of some pretty intense growing up with my daughter. It's been an exciting, unreal, difficult, mysterious, fun, beautiful, awe-inspiring twelve months.

I know this blessing doesn't come easily to everyone, not even to everyone who deserves it and has worked hard for it and is ready for it. It was such a stretching experience for us to have to try so hard to get our little Ellie here, and it has been such a growing experience of a completely different nature to have her joyous little spirit in our home. We are better off for it and we love every minute of it! We would ask for any of you who do actually read this to keep our family in your prayers, as we have dear family members who are currently going through the difficulty of trying to bring little ones into their well-prepared home. Heartache can and will turn to joy!

I love you all. Happy (belated) Easter - I hope each and every one of you enjoyed the celebration of the rising of our Lord and Savior.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! (With a recipe!)

Happy St. Paddy's Day! Ellie says hi. Ignore the red runny nose - I'm more and more sure as the day goes on that it's just due to all four of the top front teeth coming in at once.

We're both sporting our green today.

Anyways, just wanted to boast a little about a successful experiment we enjoyed in the kitchen today. It's Mint Chocolate Chip Muddy Buddies - or Puppy Chow if you know it by that name. (I have to give credit where credit is due - there is a whole separate section dedicated to some great puppy chow recipes on a blog called "Your Cup of Cake," and I used a combination of 3 of them for ideas. First, I got the inspiration for something green from this one, then for the dark chocolate half of this recipe I adapted parts of this one and this one.)

I'm not a photographer, but contrary to appearances it turned out very yummy!

Mint Chocolate Chip Muddy Buddies (by Kami Nelson)

Mint White Chocolate Chow Mix:

5 cups rice Chex cereal

1 cup green mint baking chips

½ cup white chocolate chips

¾ - 1 cup powdered sugar

Place cereal in a large bowl and set aside

Melt mint chips and white chocolate chips together, stir until smooth

Pour over cereal and stir until coated

Add powdered sugar and stir

Dump onto a cookie sheet and let cool

Chocolate Chow Mix:

4 cups rice Chex

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 Tbls. butter

¾ - 1 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder (optional)

Place cereal in a large bowl and set aside

Melt chocolate chips & butter together, stir until smooth

Pour over cereal and stir until coated

Mix powdered sugar and cocoa

Add powdered sugar mix to the cereal mix and stir

Dump onto a cookie sheet and let cool

Plus: 1 to 1 ½ cups chocolate chips (opt.)

Mix the mint-white chocolate cereal mix, the dark chocolate cereal mix, and the chocolate chips. Enjoy! Tell us if any of you find any leprechauns or pots of gold. With the clouds and wind outside I'm kind of hoping for at least a rainbow soon. :-)

Christmas in Chile, Part 1

(or February Catch-up, #3)

Here are a few pictures from Christmas to start with. The majority of the info and pictures will come later. :-)

Here is Ellie with Kent's Great-Aunt, Tia Carmen. She died of cancer a few weeks after we got back home. I am so grateful we got to meet this sweet lady, and that we have pictures of Ellie with her!

 

Ellie in the Meantime

(February Catch-up #2 - Stuff Besides Thanksgiving & Christmas)

It amazes me how quickly - and how eagerly - Ellie learns new things about this new world around her. And it amazes me how excited she is when she learns something. And it amazes me how eager she is to love everything and everyone around her.

As of early December, she had learned to scoot backwards, push up to sitting, turn in circles, and pull up to standing on her own, and then finally crawl forward, roughly in that order. She's a little busy bee who loves cruising around the room by holding onto furniture or by crawling (I swear she crawls as fast as I can walk now!). She loves clapping her hands whenever someone says "yay!" or claps their hands, and she loves putting her blanket or dress or fireman's hat over her head and then waiting for someone to say "peekabo!" when she pulls it down again. She also loves shaking her head at me when she's frustrated (I can't imagine where she got a stubborn streak from...).

This is a lazy post - the rest of it is made up of some pictures of Ellie from over the last couple of months. 

October:

November: 

December:

January:

February: 

The End. Next post(s) will be about Christmas.