Hot Tub Time

                      We knew it was going to be a tight squeeze to get both Audrey and my family into Grandma and Grandpa Pack's hot tub. We don't mind getting kicked a little bit...

As kids we had a hot tub growing up in Salt Lake City. We would get in it even when it was snowing...
We would walk on a layer of ice or snow on the deck and climb right into the steaming hot tub. Those times in the hot tub were meaningful conversations and times to remember. As siblings mostly, we would stay there for hours and just talk to each other...

Thanksgiving day when we got in the hot tub we weren't able to get too deep into our conversations with kids laughing and screaming around....but it was fun and we did get get to hear a few of Bryant's crazy doctor stories....

We all love hot tubs now Amy has one in Alaska and the rest of us want one....
I think it  is because we loved ours growing up and we all like the heat.....

Aunt Audrey comes for Thanksgiving

                        Fawn, Isabel, Audrey, Brooke, Great Grandma Escobar, Grandma Pack and Mom


                                         Aunt Audrey always makes me feel special the way that she makes it priority to come visit us in Texas every year. Audrey many times has packed up her four children in the van and drives two days alone, to see us. Uncle Bryant being an Internal Medicine doctor, it is always hard for him to get off of work. When Audrey arrives she never once complain about how hard the drive was. She has a smile on her face and big sweet hug. Seeing Aunt Audrey is one of my most favorite things to do in the world. She is one of my best friends, after all. This Thanksgiving Audrey wanted to come see us so bad, but she just had surgery on her eyes, so she can't see at night at all. It isn't suprising to me that a friend of hers offered to drive her all the way here, and that's just what her friend did. She drove Audrey here and got on a plane and went back to SanAntonio, where she is lives. It doesn't suprise me that Audrey has a friend whom would do that, because Audrey is the nicest person I have ever met, and that means she deserves a lot of niceness in return. It was really good to see Uncle Bryant finally, since it has been two-years. He flew in on a plane and drove the family home when they left.

Brooke snuck in the pic

                                                            Hyrum, Grandpa Pack and Eli

Holiness to the Lord

This Thanksgiving we had a lot to be thankful for, just like all of our Thanksgivings. The
best things about it is always seeing family. This year we had a wonderful visit with Alida,(Grandma from Guatemala) here to visit us, and Aunt Audrey's family as well. The most special thing was when I got the chance to visit the Dallas temple with my Grandmother and Mother. It was the first time that I had been to the temple with family, since I have been back.

When I enter the holy temple of the Lord, I feel a sensation like nothing else can produce. The feeling is of perfect peace even with troubles sometimes in my mind. I feel as if the Lord himself is wrapping his arms around me, and I feel as if i am finally at home again. There isn't a place in the world that I feel more comfortable in, and to be in such a holy place with people that I love, was such an uplifting evening for me.

I firmly believe that it is necessary for one to be worthy to enter the temple because it produces an environment where the spirit of the Lord can flow freely and if needs be, he could enter the temples we have built for him, more than any other places in the world.

When you enter the temple all worldly cares are left behind and life's purposes are crystal clear . worries and problems are put in perspective with Heavenly Father's plan, giving you guidance.

I am thankful for temples and I cant wait to take my children there.

Amy comes from Alaska

My little sister Amy and I have a lot of fun memories. One of the funniest memories I have about Amy is when I let her drive my Toyota Camry when she was about to enter Drivers Ed. We went up to an elementary school parking lot. I have always viewed Amy as invincible to any challenge because she has always been so smart and responsible. Amy is four years younger than I am, but even when she was little she understood any concept I tried to teach her. I taught her multiplication at age five and she grasped it. I really had no expectations of what happened , to happen. Amy pushed on the gas full speed, accidentally jumped the car up a curb and ran right into a stop sign. Of course we were both screaming at the top of our lungs. In her defense it was the first time she had ever been in the driver seat of a car and the only explanation I gave her was where the gas and breaks were.

            Amy has loved me even when I wasn't an easy person to love. When I met Kevin she immediately was interested in getting to know him and she even would hang out with just him if I was working. Amy is an amazing Mother whom teaches her children with patience and she makes the best of every situation she is in. She loves to hike in the mountains of Alaska, where she lives. She takes on new challenges like selling Pampered Chef and doing Triathlons. I am lucky to be related to someone so neat!

Rapunzel and Spider Man

 
                                              This Halloween Brooke dressed up as Rapunzel. Brooke's favorite Dinsey Princess has been Rapunzel ever since the movie came out. Halloween is a challange for our family because of Will's allergies. I did order Will his own special candy from a candy factory that is peanut, milk and egg free. He still wanted Brooke's candy though....

                                    Will felt so cool in his Spider Man suit with muscles. He esspecially loved showing it off at the church Trunk or Treat where he noticed that lots of bigger boys were dressed like Spider Man as well.

It was awesome to have Aunt Amy and Uncle Andy here so close to Halloween. Sydney was a ghost!

Family Cruise Picture

                                               Many memories were made on the Turano cruise. We are so blessed to have a healthy family that could all come together and take a trip together. We really did miss having Uncle Leonard there. He and his two adopted children Brittany and Cameron couldn't be with us. Luckily Dominic his son, was there with us.

One last day at the pool

                                Will was so tired he fell asleep on my lap right there at the pool.

Time to sail home

Dinner Celebration

So they had this parade at dinner one night where anyone who wanted could walk around the dinning room to music and swing their napkins around. Will stood up immediately to be part of this parade when he saw everyone swinging their napkins to the music. It was funny and not surprising at all because Will loves music and dancing.

  Will wont remember being so little that his cousins Lexi and Sophi could carry him....                                        

                                                      
                                        Lydia took the time to curl Brooke's hair for dinner one night.
                                                     

                            Lydia gives Brooke the attention that she wants from her cousins. Brooke asks me when she will be as big as Lydia all the time. Brooke knows Lydia makes perfect grades in school and Brooke wants to be just like her when she is older.

           Uncle Jeff ate frog legs for dinner one night. I attribute that to him being sick the entire next day!

The Dragon Tiger

   

When I was pregnant with Brooke, Kevin took me to a Tiger Rescue. We both love seeing all things animal...So we made the forty min drive to check this rescue our. We had fun talking to the owners ( husband and wife ) about why they decided to open a rescue and what kind of work it took...

           We seem to have a way with animal keepers because they always offer to let us in the cages with the animals. I think they get excited when they meet people who find their work fascinating. So as the owner got inside the cage with two beautiful full grown tigers, to show us they were harmless, suddenly one of the female tigers came to the edge of the cage and intently looked at me...then turned around and peed right on me! The funny part is that the owner lady jumped in front of the tiger to catch the pee for me! It was so nice of her! She said that the female tiger could sense I was a female and viewed me as a threat. I do not know if I believed her, but I was thankful that I only got a little spray of pee, rather than soaking in tiger pee...like she was.

After that experience my fantasies of getting in a cage with the tigers kind of died down...
But I still really want to pet one some time...In fact when we were at the Circus a few weeks before the cruise, the circus animal keeper let me get up close and personal with a White Tiger. He took me into the back where the tiger was caged and let me pet the tiger through the cage.

I don't think tigers like me because the white tiger started hissing at me and I quickly jumped away from the cage.

You might think I had enough with tigers after these two events, but it's not true....

I was beyond ecstatic when Jeff ( Kevin's brother ) quickly came over to Kevin and I in Progresso as we were headed back to the ship, after swimming at the beach. Jeff told us that there was a guy letting people hold a tiger outside. I didn't care that he was also telling us that he saw one guy getting bit by the tiger on his jugular vein in his neck...I was rushing to see the baby tiger.

Will refused to call these guys anything related to the cat family. He insisted they were dragons. He kept saying, " I wanna pet the dragon. " It was so funny, but we couldn't let him near one...he would grab the fur hard and get bit in the face or something like that.

I did trust Brooke, and although she didn't want to hold the tiger she did enjoy petting it. They said these were four month old babies and I actually did hold one. I can't find the picture....I think Kevin hid it somewhere to black mail me later, because I was slightly screaming when the tiger growled at me and he was in my arms.

                                                            

                                                                  Jeff's daughter Sophia 

                                                                  Four Months Old
                                                     

                                                     Random guy playing Mexican music

Kevin has taught me

              Kevin introduced me to my favorite quote by Helen Keller. It is his favorite quote and he has it on a paper taped up to the bathroom mirror where he can see it everyday...

                                                     " Life is a daring adventure, or nothing "

Kevin has taught me through example what it means to be a good friend. One day when I asked Kevin how in the world he has so many friends, he said, " Well you can't always have a long talk with some one, because everyone gets very busy, but one thing that I try and do is go through my phone list on my way home from work and just dial someone from my contacts everyday."  He makes it a habit, that way his friends can know that he at least made some time to give them a call. I really started doing that when he told me about it, but I did it in a different way... I look through my phone many times before I say my prayers and make sure I am not forgetting some one that needed prayers.


Kevin taught me that breakfast doesn't have to be a breakfast food. He has requested spaghetti for breakfast many times in our marriage. My favorite memory of this is when we eat ice cream out of the tub together, just two spoons, cookies and cream and a smile on my face.


Kevin has taught me to never give up on some thing that you really believe in. He makes an effort to teach this to our children as well. He tells them they are capable of doing anything they want and if you don't give up, eventually you will succeed. He has proven this with his business in many instances.

Kevin firmly believes in respecting your elders and has taught me that some times it isn't worth it to try and change the opinion of some one that you love, that will some day no longer be alive with you.

Speaking of death Kevin was the first one who told me that I should live my life like I was going to die that day, every day...It wasn't until I really did think I was going to die that I grasped this concept.

Kevin has shown me what loyalty is. There have been times when I have seen many people, including myself treat Kevin in a way that would upset some people terribly. Kevin always gives people the benefit of the doubt and he remains friends with them.


Kevin has taught me how important it is to show love to your Ggrandparents.Kevin understands that one little thing you can do for them can show a lot of love and he tries to do that regularly.

                    

                                                 Happy Birthday to a wonderful man :)))))

Check off "Before I Die " list

                      These smiles and Brooke's hysterical laughter will be memories never forgotten!

                                                           
                               Will really loved petting the doliphin, but he didn't want to kiss it
                                                    

            
                                    got a canker sore after kissing this doliphin..I am not joking
                                           

                                              This experience was on my bucket list                                               

Cozumel, Mexico

It was a journey in it's self to get to the most awaited event of our trip...Dolphin Encounter...

The morning we arrived in Cozumel Kevin rushed out the cabin with the kids and told me to meet him at breakfast so that he could get a head start on getting Will's food to the table. Well...my sense of direction is bad, I mean terrible actually....

I couldn't find the correct dinning room that Kevin had told me that he was going too, and when I did find it, it wasn't opened. So long story short, Kevin had left breakfast to find me, and by the time I found the correct dinning room they told me he had left!

I think I was jinxing myself because swimming with dolphins has been a life long fantasy of mine...So I kept worrying that something was going to mess it up.

Brooke and I were so happy when we finally got the bus and were headed to our excursion.

When I first told Brooke that we were going to swim with dolphins in Cozumel, she didn't even believe that someone could do that. When I explained that you can and the dolphins are trained she was literally almost hyperventilating out of excitement for a few min. Just like she was when we got into the water with the dolphins...

When we got off the bus to our destination, this is what we saw. Each of the cabanas is a station where a group of six or eight people get to swim with the dolphins.

      When we got onto the cruise ship for the first time in Galveston, Will heard some of his older cousins talking about seeing dolphins outside of Grandma and Grandpa Turano's balcony. He would not stop asking about seeing the dolphins every time he walked into Grandma and Grandpa's cabin. He was smiling huge when he actually got to go in the water with one...

Girly Girls

Since Brooke and I love to wear dresses and dress up it was fun to finally not be the only ones dressed up for once :)

          After dinner, every night, Brooke and Will would have fun playing on the bunk bed in the cabin...

Progresso Beach

With all of our adventures, it is hard to believe it took Brooke six years to make it to a real beach, and wade in some real ocean waves. It was a wonderful day for Kevin and I to finally share the beauty of the ocean with our kids, and actually it was the first time that Kevin and I had been to the beach together as well!

             As we got off the cruise ship in Progresso, we could hardly keep our eyes open. I pointed out to Brooke why the crayon named Ocean Blue, was named Ocean Blue....She smiled and said, " Oh yah, now I see why!" The ocean was so pretty and the sun was so bright...the kids felt cool in their sunglasses that they finally knew now, why sunglasses were invented. As we took a short bus ride to the beach geared up in our swimsuits, and ready to go we saw lots of very run down shack like houses...We had been talking to Brooke about how blessed we are to live in the USA for so long and it was time to show her why, as she could look out the window and see it. I said, " Brooke these are the houses these people live in. Do you see how the kids don't even have a yard with grass to play in. Do you see how dirty everything is here? " She didn't seem surprised...I guess I had given her so many mental pictures already, that she had already imagined this type of neighborhood.
                                                

As we go onto the beach Brooke acted like she had discovered pure gold. She was frantically running around collecting every sea shell she could see on the beach. And trust me there were millions in plain sight! She was in sea shell heaven.

Will could have played for a whole week in the sand. He really was having a blast...it was so fun to watch him! At one point Will stripped down to just his diaper and ran at full speed down the ocean shore. It was adorable to see him enjoy feeling free and careless on the beach...

And She is proud of every single sea shell she found...

Lydia is always Brooke's special cousin, whom makes her feel loved...

Yes, we were feeding the seagulls. We probably are the only people in the world who would want to feed seagulls while at the beach....

                                                  
 Will had so much fun at the beach that he fell straight to sleep in Kevin's arms as we waited for the bus to pick us up and go back to the cruise ship.