Embarrassing Sunday

Well, I went up to bear my testimony today (we have stake conference next week). Luis wasn't at church today so I left Jake with my friend. I thought if I brought Jax up on the stand with me he would like to see everyone in the congregation and he might behave... as opposed to him crying in the pew when he saw me get up. I WAS TOTALLY WRONG! I have no idea what I was thinking!!! He was good until I went up to the pulpit. He wouldn't stay in the seat and was walking all along the front, then came to me and I tried to hold him, but he wanted down, then he started pulling at my dress... and I'm pretty sure the entire Bishopric saw up my skirt... (I'm serious about that, I couldn't look them in the eye all day!) all while trying to bear my testimony! I had very specific things I wanted to say, but none of it turned out the way I wanted because I was so distracted and embarrassed! NEVER again will Jackson join me at the pulpit!

So, here is the summary of what I wanted to say when I got up. I heard one of my favorite songs on the radio on the way to church. I listen to the Christian station now and the song is called "The Voice of Truth" by Casting Crowns. There was a line in the song that really stuck out to me. It says, "Out of all the voices calling out to me, I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth". I noticed it because Luis and I have really been thinking about that lately. There are so many influences in the world today and so many ways to get off the path. But, the Lord will never leave us! Straight is the path and narrow is the way, right!? The voice that we follow will be the voice that is the loudest in our lives. We want the voice of truth, the gospel, to be the loudest voice in our lives and in the lives of Jake and Jax. How do we keep it that way, by focusing on the word of God, by reading our Scriptures. EVERY DAY! I struggle with that, but in order to stay anchored in the gospel and heading in the right direction, we need that daily influence. If we have time to sit and watch TV we have time to read our scriptures... which voice is loudest in your life/home? The word of god or the TV (movies, in my case)???

Luis told me a while ago of a conversation he had with a friend. He said "if someone broke into my house and was trying to hurt my wife and my kids, I would give up my life trying to protect them... physically. Why aren't we as determined and serious about protecting those we love spiritually!?" Luis and I are really trying to be careful about what influences are coming into our home, for the kids, but also for us. We are being more strict about the movies we watch and what we listen too. I know that if we focus on Christ, we will be blessed with the things that we need. The Lord is looking out for each of us, we just have to remember that it is the Lord's timetable, not ours!

Lastly, I had a little faith booster today. I hate breaking the sabbath. I got into my car before church and the gas light was on (Luis was the last one to drive my car, thank you, hun!!!) I live 30 minutes away from church, and I decided I should probably get gas right away. But then I thought, "No, I have faith that I can make it to church. I really don't want to spend money on Sunday." I swear, the moment after I thought that, the gas light turned off... as I got closer to church, the needle actually went up, instead of closer to empty! It was crazy. So when I got out of church, I turned on the car and the gas light came on again. I thought the same thing... I should get gas now, I just used up 30 minutes worth of gas... but I again decided not to, I would only get gas if I broke down on the side of the road first :) Well, as I started driving the gaslight went off and I made it all the way home and to the street before the light came on again!!! You have to understand, I have an SUV and it usually takes at least 1/8 of a tank to get to town and back... I was so happy. I think the Lord blessed me so I wouldn't have to spend money today! That's what faith can do... (also the title of a great christian song I love by kutlass... look it up :)

Best cupcakes I have ever tasted!

I went to my friend's birthday party the other day and we had these delicious chocolate cupcakes! They were truly AMAZING! I asked her for the recipe and wanted to share it with you all! I will post it just as she emailed it, with all her tips.

Here it is!

I just used a regular devils food cake from the box as directed (devils food is a little richer than regular chocolate cake mix) then after they cool, just hollow out a hole about the size of a quarter and almost as deep as the cake (if you hit the bottom it's ok) with a knife. Remove that piece altogether (nice snack size bites for later) and then fill will the ganache:

12 oz. (aprox. 1&1/2 cups) bittersweet chocolate (I used a mix of bittersweet chocolate and semi sweet chips because that's what I had on hand)
1&2/3 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup butter (optional)

If using bars of baking chocolate, process in a food processor untill broken up and fine. If using chocolate chips, a rough chop will do.

In a double boiler heat the cream to boiling point (don't let completely boil). remove from heat and slowly add chocolate. Stir constantly until smooth and shiny texture. Add butter and continue to mix in until smooth. Let cool to thicken.

Spoon the cooled mixture into the cupcakes. Frost tops and let set. I put them in a fridge for a little bit before serving just to set the ganache but you don't have to.

I used a white chocolate cream cheese frosting for the top but a buttercream would be good too or a nice chocolate (chocolate over load) frosting would be good too.

White Chocolate Cream Cheese frosting:
12 oz.white chocolate
2- 8oz. pkgs. cream cheese softened to room temp.
1/2 cup butter
1/8 cup lemon juice (optional)
2 cups powdered sugar

melt white chocolate in a double boiler (or microwave in a glass bowl...works fine, just watch it close not to burn it). Let it cool completely
beat the cream cheese until smooth
Add the melted (and cooled) chocolate
mix in the butter and lemon juice until smooth.
Slowly add powdered sugar until it reaches the consistency you want (might use less than 2 cups)

* this makes a lot so you could try 1/2 the recipe.

If you guys try it, let me know how it turns out for you. I haven't made them myself yet... but I hope I can make them as good as she did!

Home Sweet Home!

I am home again. I don't work again for over a week, which will be nice. I turned down the 3 week job in San Antonio because they wouldn't let me come home for even one weekend. I just can't be away for that long. It will be really hard for Luis to get any work done if I am gone that long. I am just going to substitute teach here so he can work in the evening. I won't make as much, but at least I will be with my family.

For everyone who has been asking... I don't really have any information on the Sequim trip. I plan on being there when everyone else is going to be there... but I won't be able to buy plane tickets for a while, so you all are going to have to make plans first! I think Kaylee already has dates.

On the road

Last week started my busy travel schedule with Health Fitness. I drove to Corpus Christi on Monday night and stayed until Friday afternoon. This week I am back in Corups and tomorrow I leave for Harlingena and Then Pharr. I love doing the screenings but Ihave being away from my boys... Luis is included when I say my boys! When I got home last Friday and I saw Jacob, I just cried! I missed him so much and he had the biggest smile for me! I will be doing 4 more weeks of events, including USAA in SA which they want me to stay for 3 full weeks without going home on weekends... I told them I need to go home for at least one. I wish I didn't have to do that but USAA is the biggest/best event of the whole year and I am lucky to get it. It will be a lot of hours and it will be very good for us financially. I am still waiting for the final word about when I can go home. I should be more specific... I can go home whenever I want, but they only reimburse if they approve the miles. So I am trying to get them to reimburse for one weekend home. The company pays for ALL Meals and hotel and miles, so it is a pretty sweet deal... unless you have babies at home and a husband that you miss :(

Luis has been an amazing stay-at-home daddy! Silvia says she is staying out of the way and letting him handle things. Luis said the kids have been great for him, for the most part. FIGURES!

One of the benefits of traveling... plenty of time to study for my securities test and to exercise. Off to the gym now.

Birthday Boy!

Jacob turned 1 on Thursday. We didn't do very much, but Jake had fun. With Jackson we had a party with a lot of friends over. This time around it was just us. We made Jake a snowball cake, a Weger favorite, and covered it with mandarin oranges! Jake LOVES oranges! LOVES them! So he was excited to see his cake. The card he is smiling at so much is from Nana, Luis' grandma, and it had a huge duck on the front. He thought that was really funny. Luis was really excited because he got Luis a stick... you know that Christmas song "Dear Santa" with all the kids from different countries wishing for things... if you don't know the song watch this
beware, it's not politically correct but very funny. Anyways, we all enjoyed cake and watching the boys play with Jake's presents. Jackson kept hogging them and saying "Mine!" and we had to quickly correct him :)

Pictures

Well, I opened up the page with plans to blog about something specific and then Jax distracted me and I can't remember what it was! So, here are some pictures!






It's been very cold here and we just started using the heater last night. Before that I double jammied Jake :)




I have been finding jax doing funny things lately. I found him sitting on the couch reading National Geographic :)


I found Jackson watching a movie with his car slide next to him... weird.

Well, it's about 45 degrees here. It is a great relief from the summer weather we have been having this winter. Christmas was around 80 degrees (as usual). Jax and Jake are all bundled up, even inside the house and are comfy in their matching Elmo slippers. I will post some new pictures soon. We finally took down all the Christmas decorations and packed them away. I hate doing that, it is so sad!

Luis was asked to be the institute teacher for the spanish-speaking class. He is replacing Silvia since she is so busy with her other callings. He is very excited about that, he loves to teach. At one point he wanted to become a full-time institute teacher in CA (where they actually get paid) but never played out.

I think Jackson has pink eye. I am going to have Lew look at it when he gets home and I will probably take him to the clinic tonight.

Maybe some good luck???

Luis had the phone interview today with the Regional Manager for jewelry with JCPENNEY. He said it went very well and the call lasted 45 minutes. She said that although Luis doesn't have retail management experience, his other experience makes him a very strong candidate. That sounds encouraging. He has an interview in person with the local store manager tomorrow. We still don't know how much the job pays though, I guess that's what the store manager will tell him. Cross your fingers for tomorrow... and that it will be good pay!

Bad Luck

We have had bad luck lately...

I got my 4 edges of my toenails removed last week and I think they might not be healing correctly. I need to have Lew look at it, but I am really hoping I don't need to go back in... hopefully I just don't know what I am looking at! Plus, they got stepped on or sat on multiple times by 2 rambunctious boy! (not helpful in the healing process!)

Luis had a $50 coupon to Stauer, the Jewelers. He was going to get me 2 more necklaces that were free, and use the coupon for shipping! Well, we were about to place the order and realized the coupon wasn't where we had left it... we can't find it anywhere so we figure it got thrown away... there goes 50 free dollars!

The worst luck... Luis lost his phone... but in a very funny way. Luis has been so good about helping us save money and he wanted to sell some of the things we never use. We had an extra MP3 player, so he found a buyer on craigslist. This morning, he went to meet up with the guy to sell it and sometime during their meeting put his cell phone on top of the car. The guy paid in lots of ones and so Luis got into the car to count it and then drove off... when he got to Walmart and realized he didn't have his phone he checked the top of his car and there was a streak from where he left his phone going off to the side of the car... not cool. So he drove back to where he had been, no phone. We tried calling it and it goes straight to voicemail. Pretty sure it got run over. Poor Luis, he felt awful! There he was trying to make us some money and now we have to spend more money to get him a new phone! At least we have the insurance on the phone so he only has to pay $100, but still... not a great way to start the new year!

However, since we still haven't heard from you know who... Luis has been applying to some other jobs and looking into the air force to see what options are there. He applied yesterday to JC Penney as a jewelry dept supervisor. He has experience and they responded to him very quickly, he has a phone interview tomorrow, so that's a good sign. The only problem is that it is in Weslaco, about 30 minutes away. The job ad didn't say what the pay is, so it will have to pay well enough to compensate for gas. If it is some minimum wage job he probably won't take it because he could get one of those here in Mission and not have to drive so far. I guess we will find out tomorrow.

On a sad note, today is Becky's last day before she goes back to BYU-I. I am making her a cheesecake. We had 12 blocks of cream cheese left over from the Christmas danishes, so I figured I should make cheesecake to use some up! I tried to make it yesterday, but realized we had no eggs... which is unusual because Silvia's chickens usually have like 15 at one time! they only had 4 yesterday, not enough for Cheesecake! So we will enjoy cheesecake tonight instead. We will miss Becky!

Ok, here are some pictures.




Jackson's first day as a Sunbeam! He did so well in sharing/singing time and in class! Only cried a couple of times, and I got him under control very fast! I gave him a hot dog after church as his reward :)


Jackson's first FunDip... this picture was taken right before he dumped all the sugar out on the floor... on accident of course.


The boys love these little singing bear/doll/toy thingys!