christmas with the offens

christmas eve at temple square...

this tree reminds me of trees i used to see in flamengo, rio, during christmas time

we let the kids open one gift on christmas eve: a pair of new pajamas.  :)

our christmas tree all lit up on christmas eve

christmas morning

cinnamon rolls... our tradition for christmas breakfast!

gabriel surprised me with a blu ray i wanted SO much! thanks, gabe!
you're the best!!! :)

haha... jonah thinks i look great in blue.  

Scott was far from thinking he'd get season 3 of
The Big Bang Theory! :)

yes, i gave him converses.  :)

livia and her ice cream machine

jonah and his bat cave :)

everybody with their stockings!

he's actually holding up a slinky.

awesome giveaway

HEY YOU, party lovers... check out this new blog i've stumbled upon!  SOMEONE OUT THERE HAS an amazing love for get-togethers, and gathers all these FUN AND CREATIVE IDEAS so we can have our own spectacularly stylish soirees.  and they're having an awesome giveaway, too!  so scoot on over there, and CHECK THIS OUT.  and if you enter and win it, you're welcome, and yes -- you'll have to let me borrow it!

    

pretty girls

I LOVE THIS PICTURE best friend sent me, and i decided it's blog worthy.  look at us.  AREN'T WE'RE JUST PRETTY SADIE LADIES?  this is what sets of BEST FRIENDS looks like as we GROW OLD TOGETHER.  marianne and martha are sisters, and this was taken during marianne's last visit to utah.  from left to right, COCO & MARIANNE, who have been best friends forever, and ME & MARTHA, who have been friends even longer than that.  and how fun it is; I LOVE THESE GIRLS.   as the saying goes... "amigos, ouro e vinho, quanto mais velho mais fino".
(FRIENDSHIPS ARE LIKE GOLD AND WINE - THE OLDER THEY GET, THE MORE REFINED).

girls retreat

EVERY YEAR a group of US GIRLS leaves children and husbands behind and DISAPPEAR TO A CABIN owned by one of our friends.  our slice of heaven is near oakley, utah, and we spend a whole 24 hours away from it all, IN THIS ENCHANTED FOREST of a place.

this was the first year i wasn't working during the retreat, so i was able to get there early enough on friday (the last two years my sister and i arrived around midnight due to our work schedules).  WE got to ENJOY a few extra HOURS OF FUN, and i've decided i'm getting there early every year from now on.  totally worth it! :)

during our hike

i went for QUIET WALKS, watched bambi grazing just a few yards away from me, played some HILARIOUS GAMES, laughed until i got wrinkles from it, hiked a fun trail, read a great book, star gazed (it just so happens that we caught the meteor shower that night), did some inner searching, ate a killer slice of CHOCOLATE CAKE, chatted with girlfriends, did YOGA, AND embarrassed myself playing JUNK IN MY TRUNK.  YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF IT?  well, if you don't know what that is LOOK IT UP ON YOU TUBE.  ;)

(playing 'junk in my trunk'.  it was hysterical!)

historical diner in oakley, ut - we had to stop by on the way back and treat ourselves to milkshakes.  

trip to iowa

every time i look out of my in-law's front room window i think to myself "i can never, ever watch 'signs' out here".  WELCOME TO IOWA, the land of endless corn fields.  and my in-laws live out there, in the middle of nowhere, absolutely surrounded by miles and miles of corn and endless sky above.  it doesn't get much more out in the middle of nowhere than that.  and i'm a city girl through and through, but I LOVE BEING ABLE TO FLEE THE HUSTLE AND BUSTLE - their place is like a sanctuary to me.

THIS YEAR the sanctuary was quite busy.  THERE WERE PLENTY OF other FAMILY members at the inn.  :)

we had 4 out of the 6 married siblings out there, and although steven wasn't coming his wife amy was going to spend time there with their 2 girls.  so my kids got to enjoy what was almost a family reunion... 13 COUSINS WERE GATHERED, AND if we could have stayed an extra couple of days until amy got there it would've been 15 cousins all together.  we were only missing 5 more to complete the entire offen 3rd generation. 

too MUCH HAPPENED, so i thought it would be less boring for me to just list the many activities we were engaged in during the week we spent with scott's family:

THE KIDS... 

didn't notice the humidity

were mystified by the beauty of fireflies

WENT CRAZY on the swing set

ran around the huge property

shot guns with grandpa

climbed trees

fed the chickens

gathered chicken eggs

killed a baby chick (only jonah, actually... but who's surprised?)

went canoeing

made pretzels

met their great-grandma offen for the first time

PLAYED in the grown up size doll house

laughed themselves silly

built cool things with lego's

played with bunnies

played with the dogs

befriended the pet goat (only jonah, actually... but who's surprised?)

made tie-dye t-shirts

made cookies

ate all their vegetables

danced in the rain

made up secret hideout places (only jonah, actually... but who's surprised?) 

played in the huge tepee grandpa set up for them

had water balloon fights

went to bed late AND got up early

found gross bugs in the yard

made cousin bracelets (which is better than plain matching bracelets)

LAUGHED themselves silly some more

watched fireworks

caught & released fireflies

cried because THEY DID'T WANT TO LEAVE... 

but do you blame them?  this was one of those weeks of magical childhood summer memories some of us just wish we'd had.  for that matter, I DIDN'T want to leave EITHER!  i was having a blast there, too!

besides hanging out with wonderful family, i was really enjoying being away from the busy life and the demands of my routine.  my in-laws live in this area surrounded by a bunch of little small towns, so even to go buy milk i had to get out on the road, and i ended up driving through the most beautiful and quaint little old towns.  i know to some people that may sound like the most boring thing on earth, but I REALLY DO SAVOR that slice of americana pie these little towns serve up.  it's so inviting to visit PLACES WHERE LIFE LOOKS SO SIMPLE and relaxed, and i couldn't help but take time to go back and walk through historic neighborhoods to better appreciate the charm of it's old brick buildings.

AND MY FAVORITE part of this trip...a little hiding place i nicknamed "THE READING NOOK".  as if life by the corn fields isn't peaceful enough, my in-laws have THIS ENORMOUS OLD TREE  in their back yard, WITH A PERFECT comfy SPOT big enough for me TO crawl up and CURL UP WITH A GOOD BOOK.  the kids can't reach it, it's too high for little ones to climb there.  so i hid there with a couple of good books and spent some much needed alone time.  IT WAS ABSOLUTELY PERFECT!  i love visiting them in the winter months for the holidays, but i have decided i can deal with the humid heat in iowa and venture there for as many summer visits as i can manage.

reunion

it's just so great every time you get a chance to have A REUNION with dear friends, and recently i've been lucky enough to experience that WITH A COUPLE OF AWESOME people i know.  i feel so lucky to have these FRIENDS in my life!  :) 

fun reunion with my CLOSEST COLLEGE GIRLFRIEDS, BROOKI AND WENDY.  man, we were like 3 peas in a pod, if there could be such a thing.  i remember when we had spring break one year, it felt like we had been apart for a month!  we missed each other so much!  then life happened and we hadn't gotten together for 12 years.  12 years!!!!  seriously, how is it that we wink then 12 years go by!?!

IT WAS PHENOMENAL to be able TO sit down with them and VISIT... THEY ARE still so AMAZING, both of them.  you know you're good friends when you can pick up right where you left off, AND things are still just as FUN.  :) 

getting together with FERNANDO AND FERNANDA CAMARGO.  i don't remember not knowing fernando.  i even have a picture someone took of me at his 1st birthday party.  so WE GO WAAAAAAAY BACK!  i hadn't seen him in 9 years.  to my sister and brother (also in the picture) this reunion was even cooler, because they hadn't seen fernando in 15 years!  IT WAS so AWESOME TO CATCH UP, him and his wife are hilarious!  we truly had a great time... WHAT A TREAT to have them visiting! 

programa de índio

portuguese idioms 101:
IN PORTUGUESE we use the expression 'PROGRAMA DE ÍNDIO', which when literally translated it means 'indian activity', or something along those lines.  not sure why that seemingly racist term was coined, but it's widely used even to this day.  i imagine it would have originated from back when the portuguese arrived in brazil and saw how the natives lived.  not much comfort in a hot and humid weather, they lived in homes made from banana leaves, they had to hunt their own food, i mean... why would anyone think that's a good idea???  it's not, and now the portuguese were stuck in the same situation.  i imagine some of them thought they should've stayed in bed instead of heading out to the docks the morning the captain decided to set sail and find a new land.  and that's the sentiment of the term 'programa de índio'.  the expression IS USED TO DESCRIBE ANY sort of activity that is A complete drag, feels like a waste of time, is INCONVENIENT rather than fun, is POORLY PLANNED, organized and/or executed.  a good example of a programa de indio ACTIVITY is spending your anniversary checking out a piece of property out in the middle of nowhere, walking in sandy terrain thoroughly covered with antelope's crap.

true story, i just did that the other day.

let me explain...
scott has a few friends who are interested in going in on a land deal.  they're thinking about buying this huge piece of property for recreational purposes.  it's near a lake, so it's at least a good investment.  they have been considering a couple of different options, and they've come to the point where they wanted to check out the lots.  so they proposed to do just that, going scouting for the advertised acreage they had heard about.  it just so happens that they decided to do that on june 12th, which happens to be mine and scott's anniversary.  it's also valentine's day in brazil, but that's just a cute detail, and is beside the point.

scott told me of the outing the boys were planning, and how long it would take... if WE JOINED them the plan was that we'd be picked up by 7:30 am and be back by 2 or 3 pm.  i'm a good sport, and i wanted to be supportive.  we would still have plenty of time to get back from this outing with FRIENDS and go out to celebrate our day, so i agreed to join the scouting trip.

the land itself was not at all what i had expected to see - in a bad way, unfortunately.  so i was disappointed that we had come out all this way TO CHECK OUT A LAND THAT, aside from the lake, RESEMBLED IRAQ in my opinion.  lots of oil rigs and sandy terrain.  evidently i was the only one who felt that way.  the other 9 people who were there with us thought the place was awesome.  scott loves the outdoors and when he saw the rocky formations in the area he was like  like a baby chick in a pile of left overs (another portuguese idiom, btw, that is used to describe people who are bugging out in excitement over something little and trivial.  if you ever saw a baby chick going through a pile of left overs you'd know exactly why this term was coined). but I HAD seen enough and had STEPPED ON ENOUGH antelope DUNG (it was literally e-v-e-r-y-where), so I WAS READY TO GO HOME. i felt like a true party pooper, which was ironic because there were obviously other creatures out there that were responsible for any poop we were dealing with.   

i won't get into all the details of the time we spent checking out the land, which was way longer than needed, but between getting lost from my husband, getting the car stuck in the sand, having the expectation we'd have lunch at a nice restaurant just to find out 45 minutes later it was a greasy food joint in a podunk town, trying to keep other people's dogs off my lap because they had actually eaten human feces while out in the wild, and almost getting killed in a head on collision against a semi truck because our driver had a blank brain moment and decided to pass a truck under zero visibility i think i can safely say THIS WAS about THE WORST programa de índio IDEA i've found myself in in a long time! AND ON MY ANNIVERSARY!

WE finally GOT HOME AT 6PM, i was super tired, and CRANKIER THAN MAXINE.  poor SCOTT was the one who felt my wrath - i was so upset and frustrated with my wasted day i didn't want to even look at him.  i felt bad, it wasn't like that day had been his fault.  once i felt like talking to him again we both expressed how frustrating that day had been, mostly because we had other plans.  so he PROMISED ME A HULLIGAN, and he's taking me out this coming weekend for a real celebration. i have the best husband in the world. :)

AS FOR THE darn PROPERTY...  i hated the experience so much that now i just don't want to buy the land.  partially out of spite, partially because i really didn't like that particular lot. but i took some pictures, and my pictures prove I really TRIED *very* hard TO SEE more BEAUTY than thorns in the place!  AND looking at these i can say I THINK I ACTUALLY SUCCEEDED.  we still want to invest in land, but i want to look around some more and do a lot more research about the location before we commit to anything.

lake view from the rim

scott super enthused  by a burned down gothic looking tree

wild flowers on the property

 cactus and flowers on the grounds

 juniper berries are throughout the 60 acres