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

what does it take?

this is a repost from my last blog (on multiply.com).  i had several people tell me they really liked what i wrote about my weight loss, so i decided i would post it here as well.  i won't be doing CAPS this time... every single word is valuable here.  ;)

(click on the title to see the entire post)

back to work

LAST YEAR I WORKED as associate producer FOR a show produced by byu broadcasting, THE GENERATIONS PROJECT .  associate producer is a fancy title that pretty much means i was their gofer, the one who gets to do whatever the producer and exec producer needed done.  i'd be the one making coffee if people drank coffee at byu broadcasting.  joking aside, i actually got to spend countless hours doing research and figuring out ways to enrich the stories with good content, contacted interesting participants, arranged for the shoots on location, coordinated the logistics of the episodes, etc...  but if they drank coffee, yes, that would've been my job, too.    

I HAD originally BEEN HIRED TO WORK ON A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THE development and growth of the MORMON CHURCH in brazil, BUT THAT project GOT PUT ON HOLD so i got shifted around and became a part of the generations team.  i had the chance to go on production, which was insane and fun at the same time, but most of all i learned a lot about the structure of those programs.  i went in clueless and had a crash course that taught me tons.  i still have a world to learn, but after my experience with generations i felt a little less lost.

unfortunately the documentary project was still in limbo land when I WRAPPED UP MY CONTRACT WITH the GENERATIONS project, so i WENT BACK TO my full time job of BEING A MOM and a wife back in september of last year.  then A COUPLE OF MONTHS AGO I GOT A PHONE CALL from the line producer i had worked with, and she told me the GOOD NEWS: THE DOCUMENTARY WAS being considered TO BE SHOT, this time with a hard push to have it finished ASAP, and they wanted to ask me if i was still interested in participating.  HECK YEAH!  this documentary combines two things I LOVE deeply: the gospel and the people of brazil.  so i have a huge personal interest in BEING A PART OF SOMETHING SO CLOSE TO MY HEART. 

i spoke again with them this past week, and it seems this time things will really happen.  they've requested that i take a look at the script, where we left it off, and add any changes i see fit.  we'll flesh it out sometime in the next few weeks, and i'll be back at setting up the episodes (there will be between 3 to 4 hours of content).   

I'M EXCITED, of course, and hopeful that this time i'll have the chance to finish this project.  there are other personal projects on my horizon, so THIS IS THE PERFECT TIMING for the documentary to come together before i move on to other fun pastures i have planned for my life.

name mutiny

SO evidently THE NAME LIVIA MEANT for the new dog WAS NOT supposed to be 'POLO', BUT 'apollo' instead.  when she pronounced it to me it really sounded like polo, so that's where the mix up happened.  when scott got home from work i had mentioned to him settling on 'polo', and the kids and scott claimed no-no-no... APOLLO was what everyone preferred (to be honest, so did i).  we tried it out to see how THE DOG would react to going from a new name to an even newer name, and he seems to do just fine.  he IS CRAZY SMART!  scott worked all afternoon AND evening on training him, and he has ALREADY LEARNED to sit and stay on demand, HIS NEW NAME, AND we got him to just sit by the dining table like zoey does while we're having dinner (no begging for food or trying to eat off the floor).  i'm absolutely impressed by how quickly he is learning NEW things and TRICKS!!!  GO APOLLO! :)

apollo and zoey playing together... they are having a blast! 

dogs are like tatoos...

EVERYONE i know who has gotten a tattoo either hates it and WANTS TO get rid of it, or loves it and wants to GET ANOTHER ONE.  well, i've been permanently inked into the puppy world, and i was shocked to find out how much i loved it.  i was never a dog person, or pet person for that matter, and i'm honestly surprised to see something so settled inside me do such a 180 turn.

we started out by getting a tiny (now she's 5lbs -when wet - and she's done growing) sweet maltese puppy last july.  ZOEY is as loyal as she's smart, and we love her.  fast forward to end of may of this year...we  returned from a 2 week trip to arizona and realized my sweet little zoey became tremendously sad for leaving a play pal behind.  she was so down and i realized she missed and NEEDED the companionship, so i started looking for A permanent play PAL for her.

that's when I CAME ACROSS an ad on our local classifieds, of A DOG WHO NEEDED A NEW HOME because his owner lived in a no-pet apartment complex.  i didn't think i had a chance... the ad was 3 days old, and the asking price was so ridiculously low that i thought for sure he had been sold by then.  but i tried anyway, and it turns out his owner was still figuring out who to sell the dog to because she had an overwhelming response to her ad.  i talked to her briefly, then sent her a text letting her know about our family, our situation, and why we wanted the dog. she liked my situation the best out of all other people who had contacted her, so we set up a meeting to see how ZOEY would like her new friend.

and they LOVED each other instantly, so we brought OUR NEW LITTLE GUY home with us!  :)

i talked to his former owner about changing his name (it turns out i have a girl friend whit that name), and she was totally cool with it.  now the trick is to get him to answer to a new name.  livia came up with the name 'apollo', and i just tried calling him by that name. he answered immediately;  i'm really impressed!  SO NOW we have zoey and apollo living with us.  it was really hilarious when scott and i took him to petsmart to get him a crate, scott all of a sudden turned to me and said 'oh, my gosh, what were we thinking?!?  i can't believe that we just got another dog!'.  hahahaha... too late now, APOLLO IS HERE TO STAY! :)

meet apollo, our new dog.  he's a maltese/bichon frise cross breed, and yes, that's a smile on his face.  :)

he has an incredible personality! 

lady gaga goes to church

THIS happened a little while back, but it WAS so FUNNY, i decided it needed to be posted.


WE WERE sitting IN CHURCH one sunday, during sacrament meeting (mind you), when JONAH STARTED SINGING lady gaga's 'bad romance' (i must say right here how much of A horrible mother i felt right at that moment, based on the simple fact that my son even knew any SONG BY GAGA).  but on he went... 'RA-RA AH HA HA ROMA-ROMA-MA GAGA OH LALA...'.  i quietly whispered to him 'sweet heart, it's not appropriate to sing lady gaga in church'.  he paused, looked up at me and said 'i know, but i have to, because their songs here are so boring!!!!'.  everyone around us really cracked up! :o)
(NOTE TO SELF: MUST LISTEN TO MORE PRIMARY SONGS IN THE CAR!!!!)

opening presents

jonah doesn't even let his sister look at what she got for her birthday before he's asking her to share it with him. lol

fun in the sun

it's A little overwhelming to re-start blogging. a LOT has happened, and i really don't know where to begin. should i do an intro OF our family all over again? nah. i've decided i'll just begin by blogging about what's still fresh in my mind because it happened not that long ago: our AWESOME FUN trip to arizona!

i visit ARIZONA on a pretty regular basis, SIMPLY because we have family there. it's also a lot of fun to visit so many friends every time we go, and seeing so many great people IS THE BEST! but i usually say that visiting family doesn't constitute as a vacation (i'm dang right about that, i know). fortunately this time we were able to visit family and feel like we were on vacation. the little secret? we didn't stay with family. :)

the first thing on the agenda was to VISIT mt.graham county, and go through THE openhouse they were holding for their new TEMPLE. it was really neat to be there for it, especially since i have a little history IN gila valley. i really love that small town, and the people there. SAFFORD has a special place in my heart, so it was truly great to be there, see the new temple, and visit with friends.

then it was just back to mesa, to hang out with MY family some more. it was my BROTHER'S GRADUATION, so we had LOTS to celebrate! it was so awesome to be there and see him walk with his class... i was very proud OF him! we had our own family CELEBRATION, which included an all siblings night out - it was a riot!

the entire time we were there i couldn't believe how WARM the WEATHER was! it was such a great break from the nasty cold we'd been enduring in salt lake! it was PERFECT FOR SWIMMING, so needless to say, THE KIDS LOVED IT!!! the place we stayed had a pool; "lazy summers" was out motto, and that's exactly all we did: went swimming all day, and LAYING OUT in the sun. life couldn't be better.

we also had a lemon tree in the backyard, so the kids got busy PICKING LEMONS, while later i got busy turning that into lemon bars. i didn't worry much about cooking, especially when kids think you're the best for ORDERING PIZZA for dinner. :) i loved not having a strict schedule during those weeks, we just spent time ENJOYING BEING TOGETHER.