Fotos en el ferry....de vuelta a Nanaimo.

QuInTo AnIvErSaRiO de bOdAs

This last weekend we celebrated 5 amazing years of marriage :D
And I think amazing is the correct word to describe it.
Five years might seem like a very short period of time, but I can't believe how much it has taught me. About me... about the plan... about my Saviour. It is the most spiritual experience I've ever had.... like the mission, but five years of it, and with the same companion :D
At times like my favorite companion, other times... well, other times like other type of companion :D
All in all... my favorite time in my life. I know my husband is not perfect nor would I say I am , but we are more perfect together :D
I love him. I chose him to be my companion for all eternity and I haven't changed my mind. I still want him by my side for ever and ever... and as long as he wants me by his, I will be.
I am very different from who I was 5 years ago, and in part I owe it to him. Plus, I have the 3 most beautiful kids in the world and I couldn't have had them without him.
Five years ago we went on our honeymoon... it was great. ( let's not forget that's when Carmen was conceived :D)... this time Evan wanted to have a second honeymoon.
My mom stayed with Carmen and Evan and we took Isabel with us to Vancouver. That's where we spent 5 days in our original honeymoon.
We then stayed in the Marriott, this time we stayed in the Westin. A five star hotel in downtown Vancouver. Our room was in the 21st floor, with a beautiful sight over the city, except it was so foggy it seemed like we were in the middle of a cloud.
The first night we headed down to Chinatown. We had the best Chinese we've ever had according to Evan. Then we went back to our hotel and watched the movie "Wanted"... not bad, but a lot of swearing.(I wouldn't recommend it unless you have clearplay that gets rid of the swearing and the sex scene).
The morning after we made an appearance in Grandma B's b-day...she is 92...wow! It gave me the chance to give some people the baby announcement. Then we made an obligatory stop and Krispy Kream for some delicious doughnuts :D. We couldn't miss a good hockey game...the habs won, woho!! And the we went to Joe Forte's for dinner. Isabel was unbelievably good for us the whole time, plus being so cute, people kept stopping to make comments about how beautiful she was... It's funny people thought she was our first and were quite surprised when they found out she was our third :D
We had oysters for the first time...and they were sooo good. It was such a good dinner...and it was fun to walk around, see some action happening ( not like in Nanaimo)and plus the nice little stop we made at the chocolate factory place for some caramel dipped apples.
So... it was so nice to be alone, remember the things we did when we first got married, make plans for the future... I can't wait to see ourselves in 5 years and see how far we'll come.
The only bummer of the trip... I got my period :S Nothing surprising, since the same happened after having Evan... I bled for 5 weeks and after 5 more weeks I had my period... Oh, well... the joys of being a woman!
Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Hat and haircut

My sister in law Andrea made this hat for Evan for Christmas... he LOVES wearing it :D
The one she made for little Isabel is too small... she has a big head I guess :S

And this is how he looks now after a moment of delusion of my husband.... My mom had tried to cut his hair, but she only managed to cut one side so I know it looked a bit funny, bu he is so cute he could pull it off.... But Evan couldn't handle it any longer and grabbed the hair clips and started at it.
He looks like a little missionary!!!

The innocence of a child

I had one of those special moments with Carmen.
Isabel was coughing so hard ( she has been sick for the last 3 weeks) it was making her puke and Carmen and Evan were all over us, even getting to step on the puke... and to tell you the truth I was getting nervious, so I grabbed them by the hand and pushed them out of the bedroom ( not quite gently) and closed the door ( not gently either).
They started crying and Evan brought Carmen back in the room. He said she wanted to say sorry. I was still cleaning up the mess so I said "Not now, please". He said: But you hurt her feelings and she wants to say sorry" .... Grrrrrrrrrr couldn't he see it was not a good moment???
"OK, Carmen...what do you want to say?" " I am sorry mommy" So we hugged and they left. But moments later, when everything was in peace she came to me and asked: "Mom, what's feelings??"
What you feel in your heart.
"And they hurt?"
Sometimes, when somebody is mean or rude, they can be hurt and it makes you cry.
"Aaaaahh... that's not nice"
No, it is not.
How innocent children are!
I wish I could be more like them. So humble an loving, right after being reprimanded they come for a hug and say "I love you".
It is one more of the lessons my children teach me on a daily basis. It is one more of the reasons why I LOVE motherhood!

Adios papa!

El dia que no creia llego... mis padres se van. De uno en uno, menos mal.... mi madre nos ha hecho el favor de quedarse un par de semanas para que asi no tenga problemas de buscar quien se quede con mis hijos las dos noches que nos vamos a Vancouver a celebrar nuestro quinto aniversario :D q maja, eh??
Pero mi padre se fue el martes, ya ha llegado hoy a Madrid.
Le fuimos a dejar a Victoria a su hotel la noche anterior.

Ha sido un placer tenerlo aqui con nosotros. Mas que para el, y eso ya es decir!
Voy a echar en falta la manta perpetua de Isabel! Era cogerla en brazos y la dejaba tan calentita y a gusto que se dormia enseguida :D
Le vamos a echar de menos...todos.
Tuvimos todo el finde para despedirnos. El sabado nos fuimos a comer







y el domingo se despidio en la reunion de testimonios ( tuve la bendicion de que participara en la bendicion para apartarme como maestra de la Escuela Dominical de jovenes!!! MI nuevo llamamiento!) y despues de la chapel invitamos a un par de familias latinas ( la de Walewska y la de Veronica) mas Ann, la suegra de mi cunyada q es majisima! y cenamos todos en casa juntos.
Y el lunes... pues el adios final :(



En fin... que ha sido lo mejor... especialmente esas charlas super doctrinales, siempre dandole un toque escritural a cualquier tema de conversacion... MI PADRE! El de toda la vida! y he podido volver a disfrutarle en pleno por seis semanas!

New Year's Eve

Our tradition for the Holidays is to have a Prime Rib dinner...
Sooooo yummie!

La tradicion en mi casa es cenar prime rib, aparentemente en espanyol se llama bife alto.. ni idea.
Esta buenisimo, lo llames como lo llames.

We had dinner and played some card games and ate the 12 grapes watching the campanadas from Madrid ( the 1999 one with Martes y Trece, a couple of comedians that are so hilarious, if you asked me).
Asi que cenamos, jugamos a las cartas y nos comimos las uvas viendo las campanadas del anyo 99 con Martes y trece y nos morimos de la risa.
Nos tiramos las fotos de rigor, nos dimos los besos y los abrazos y a dormir!! Eran las dos y tuvimos q obligar a Carmen a irse a la cama... esa ninya puede mas que yo!

Evan dice que comente el hecho de que pusimos esas cortinas para que coordinaran con la corbata de mi padre :D

6 weeks of pure beauty

She is 6 weeks old... what beautiful 6 weeks with her.
There is no cuter baby!
She is growing so much, changing by the minute it seems. And she is so good at being just CUTE!
We all love her so much. Carmen treats her like her little baby.

At 6 weeks we have the last appointment with the midwife. This is Margaret. She is so sweet. She was not at her birth, Sandy was, but they both see me and she was the one there today.
Isabel is 9 lbs 13 oz!!! She is a big girl... Everything was perfect.
The bad news was that I weighted myself for the first time after her birth... and I've lost 7 pounds... Oh well... I guess I am a big girl too :D
No, seriously, I hoped to have lost some more not just the 7 pounds she was! But no... I keep them all... plus, Christmas is the worst time to have a baby, for many reasons, but I feel like I am eating all day, and I'm recovering so I can't exercise so I've been piling on pounds... Starting February I'll be going to the gym, so the plan is that I am not going to be fat for so much longer...
Wish me luck!

************ Oh, Blanca Navidad *********

Las fiestas las hemos pasadas con nieve hasta las rodillas. De hecho, todas las ciudades en todo Canada tuvieron unas blancas Navidades.
En Nochebuena mi madre se junto con Walewska, la chiquita de Guatemala y se pasaron todo el dia preparando la cena. Tamales, pierna de cerdo, lombarda y el sorbete de limon.
Cuando empezamos a tirarle fotos a la comida Evan empezo a hacer comentarios de mis amigas espanyolas blogueras y la obsesion con fotos de comida...jajaja.
Pues aqui van :D











Despues de la cena y de un par de juegos, nos pasamos por la casa de mi cunyada Sarah donde, como tienen tradicion, se juntan a la luz de una vela y comparten su testimonio sobre Jesucristo.
Anted se eso se van cantadndo villancicos por las casas de algunos amigos/miembros pero a eso no nos apuntamos... con tnato ninyo, tanta nieve, etc no es plan. Pero a los testimonios si. Ademas, los Clarke son una familia muy unida y muy fuerte en el evangelio asi q siempre es una velada muy especial... y este anyo no fue menos.
A mi me gusta mucho este tiempo. Es un tiempo de reflexionar, y aunque no tengo ni tiempo para sentarme yo y mis pensamientos a solas ( normalmente no hay silencio suficiente como par escucharlos) han habido algunos que si han pasado por mi mente y han podido quedarse un rato :D
Miro hacia atras y todo lo que ha pasado este anyo y me doy cuenta de que Dios ha hecho mas por estar cerca de mi que lo que he hecho yo por acercarme a EL.... creo que esto me pasa todos los anyos, pero especialmente este anyo El me lo ha manifestado en muchisimas ocasiones. En verdad es un Padre que nos ama.
Es una epoca de dar y recibir... y El siempre nos da mas de lo que recibe. Otra cosa en la que tengo q mejorar, en encontrar mas gozo en dar q en recibir.
Y hablando de dar y recibir... LA MANYANA DE NAVIDAD!
Se nos dieron las 9 y mis hijos todavia roncando, asi que como nosotors eramos los que no podiamos mas, los tuvimos que despertar :D
Carmen estaba super emocionada... cuando vio el stocking empezo a gritar: "Santa's been here, Santa's been here!"
Y fue a despertar a Evan para que el tambien lo viera, pero el pobre estaba mas interesado en dormir que en este Santa famoso :D
Luego abriendo regalos a Carmen casi le da algo... no podia ni respirar! y cada vez que abria uno iba corriendo a la habitacion a ensenyarselo a mi madre. Dos cosas que habia pedido y Santa de majo que se lo trajo fueron su Barbie movie y su Barbie computer... y la verdad q si hubiera sido eso todo ella tan contenta, peroclaro, el Santa estaba esplendido y trajo mucho mas :D
Mi baby Evan tb se quedo tan contento con sus regalos, una vez las leganyas le dejaron ver :D
Y mi regalo favorito se lo llevo Isabel... un conjunto para su cuna q es precioso!!!!! Yo estoy enamorada y el cuadro que le ha hecho mi madre... preciosisimo!
MI querido me ha regalado unos pendientes super chulos, unos zapatos deportivos, un chaqueton super chulo y un par de sombras super chulas tambien :D
El se ha llevado unos zapatos de everyday como diria Patri, una cazadora una camisa blanca super chula y un chaleco de cuadro escoces de ese que le gusta a el.
Solo hice grabaciones del momentazo, pero ya tirare fotos pa' que veais todas las cosas CHULAS que nos han traido por ser tan buenos :D