Happy Birthday Mark

Today is Mark's birthday! He turns 25! No longer has to pay extra to drive rental vehicles. Oh we are so happy about that one. I love this Man so much and I'm so grateful that he was born into this world at the exact time that he was. Have a great day filled with laughter and smiles hunny!

2 Year Anniversary

Wow it's only been 2 years, seems like we've been together forever. You know as a little girl I've always dreamed about my wedding day. I thought about the colors, theme, bridesmaids, place etc. When I thought about the Groom I couldn't see his face but I knew exactly how I felt. What I wanted him to be like. As I got older qualities, attributes, values, & goals started to come more clearly as to what my future husband had instilled in him. So clearly that he was so near and I didn't even know it at the time. I love the scripture in D&C 88:40 "For intelligence cleaveth unto intelligence; wisdom recieveth wisdom; truth embraceth truth; virtue loveth virtue; light cleaveth unto light....." I'm not saying that I'm the intelligent one but I did admire his and our hearts were in the right place. And we did cling together like a magnet. We fit! He is my perfect piece! Things I lack in he's great at. We try to use our gifts and talents to strengthen our companionship. So we can be a better force for good to each other and others. I know that God loves me because he sent me Mark. My hope is that we can strive to do what is right even if we just don't feel like it or it just to hard. I know that as we do we can find peace & joy in this life and the life to come. Happy Anniversary to us and to all!

The Special Christmas Tree

So one of the families that Mark home teaches donated this tree to us. I seriously almost peed my pants watching this. Thank goodness for the benefits of Kegel exercises otherwise I would have had to change my clothes.

Yeah For Accomplishing Goals

Mark and I finally finished the Old testament for the year of 2008. We read about 3 1/2 pages everyday to meet our goal of reading it in a year. Now we can honestly say we read the whole bible. There are many Christians that read the bible through and through it will be very nice to have that common interest, and that is the love of the Bible. We are super excited for our next goal for 2009 and that is reading The Book Of Mormon in Spanish as a family. I'll be honest I have always been shy speaking Spanish by Mark. One of the things that I loved when we were dating is that he could speak Spanish. I knew I really wanted my children to learn Spanish what better way then to have them be taught by someone who speaks it, right? I've taken a few years of Spanish and no where near fluent but have a desire to be. Anyhow my shyness was really rooted by pride, the fact that he's not Hispanic and speaks well and that I am and don't. It seriously has taken me 2 years to warm up and have a degree of humility to be taught and corrected by my husband. The Lord has helped me out magnificently! And not to mention Mark is so gentle and encouraging to my learning in progress. Anyhow we are excited with are scripture goal for this year.

Stockings That Mean So Much To Me

In 2005 I went to Ashland, Oregon for Christmas because I couldn't afford to fly to Hawaii. Tickets were over 2000 dollars and I wasn't about to use a credit card for money I didn't have. It was a lack of planning on my part of not purchasing the ticket earlier. Anyhow the George family kindly took me in and made me feel at home. If anyone knows the Georges (Summer's family) they are amazing. In fact it was being in their home that I felt the spirit whisper to me "You want this." "You want the joy that they have and it's generated from the gospel." So you can see how this family is very influential to me and my conversion. Anyhow Monica, Summer's sister made me a stocking with my name on it. She mention that when I got married someday she would make the exact same stocking for my husband and children. I didn't think she was serious, because the stocking she made required different types of fabric and it took a while. I thought she might lose the fabric, but you know what she has kept to her word. She made a stocking for Mark and later for Eve when she was born. And these are not just any old stockings you can get at the store it has Monica's creativity and uniqueness all over it and I absolutely LOVE it!

This special Christmas Eve dinner seriously took all day! Since we didn't fly to see family this year I wanted to make our time together feel special so I made everything from scratch which took the whole day. I made Cilantro Lime rice, Pinto beans (they were dried so I had to clean, soak and cook them), fresh Salsa, Fresh Guacamole, Banana Chocolate Pie, and last but not least Tamales. These weren't store bought Tamales either. I made them from scratch. By dinner time I was worn out! My feet were so swollen, but the dinner was great! Mark made me feel appreciated with his wonderful response to the Mexican Cuisine, considering I'm Puerto Rican and this is not a typical way we Ricans celebrate Christmas Eve. But you know what I was very pleased to serve my family in this way, and I got like a 2 hour foot massage for it.

Eve was darling. I was totally shocked that she didn't just tear through the paper like she does everything else. She actually needed help. Thank you so much Familia for ALL your gifts! Eve, Mark and I REALLY appreciated it. Much Mahalo's!

Playing In The Snow

One day out of this snowy week I dressed up Eve in her snow suit and took her outside to play in the snow. Unfortunately I took her at a time when she was to tired. So the experience that I envisioned to happen turned out quite differently then I expected. Maybe the second attempt will turn out better. It was funny watching her lay on the snow on her back. She looked so helpless and adorable.

No Doubt About It

Yeah, Congratulations to me for finishing a book! Last night I finally finished No Doubt About It by Sheri Dew. Awesome book! Must read! Her insights and testimony about the gospel are DEEP. That woman is special, valiant & strong. I love her sacred point of view of the various roles of womanhood. I felt empowered after reading each chapter. I can't believe it took me so long to read it. When I first picked it up I jammed through 100 pages in 2 days. Then set it on my book shelf for like a year. Just recently I picked it up again and wondered why in the world did I put this book down. That's a major problem for me. I'm great at starting books but have a hard time finishing them. I still have about 10 more books on my shelf that I started and hadn't finished. I love to read books that I'm inspired to read. I have to feel that they will benefit my life some how. So in short, I don't like reading fiction books. I'm excited to pick up the next book on my shelf because I know I will learn something new and my life will improve in some way. Now I just got to decide which one.

Nevada Trip

We drove down to Ely, Nevada this past weekend to witness Cooper William's blessing. It's amazing how this little angel brought family together. It was so nice to be with family. When we left Nevada we were sad. The visit was way to short.









This is one of Mark's older brothers William & his new addition.






This is Kimberly, William's wife and son.

This is one of Mark's older brothers, Jono & his beautiful family.

This is most of the grandchildren on the west side of the country. Just missing Max & future Denninghoff baby in the womb. It is so fun to see the children laugh, smile and play with each other. It seriously just warmed my heart observing them interact.

This past Sunday was fast and testimony meeting. We visited the Ely, Nevada ward with our family. It was wonderful! You know the feeling when your whole body is overwhelmed with joy, you just want to share your testimony? I'm positive you felt that before. Well I had that great feeling but I didn't go up for 3 reasons. 1. I was chicken 2. It wasn't our ward 3. My father in law, my husband, & my sister in law shared their solid and heartfelt testimonies. If I would have gone up that would have been 4 Denninghoff's sharing their testimony. I guess the REAL reason was number 1. So I'll just share it now for whoever wants to know.

I love the Lord with my life! and I know that he loves me with his! I so desperately want to see, hug, and kiss him someday. He makes me clean. He makes me beautiful. He gives me HOPE. He gives me strength. He gives me Love. HE GIVES ME LOVE! I know how much he loves me I feel his kindness, gentleness, tenderness through my husband and daughter. I love my family! I LOVE MY FAMILY! Life is good because they are in it. With Christ, they are my JOY! and I want to be with them FOREVER. And I know that God my Heavenly Father, YOUR Heavenly Father has made it possible. I just need to do my part.