Dinner with the Elders and company

We had the visit of Elder Holland and Elder Clayton and his wife Kathy. This was their area review from March 10th -14th. While they were here they had missionary devotionals, Stake meetings, an Area office devotional, Multi-stake firesides with the youth, devotionals for all auxiliaries, a meeting with single women, dinner at Elder Cornishes home, lunch at Adrian Tropical and visit of Historic Santo Domingo.

The Claytons both speak Spanish and it was a true delight to get more acquainted with them. Elder Holland's wife was ill and couldn't join him. Daniel worked tirelessly to make sure everything was prepared for them and made sure their stay was pleasant. I loved it when Elder Holland offered the blessing on the food and when he bore his testimony at each meeting saying "yo se que El vive"

Independence day at Punta Cana

When you think of February, you probably think of Velentine's Day but for all Dominicans February also means Independence Day. I love that their flag has the same colors as the Americans flag and it also includes the bible as part of their flag. I believe the Dominican flag is the only flag with a bible.  It is celebrated on the 27th of February so for change we actually went out to Punta Cana on a mini vacation.


The Antivilos have gotten to be good friends with Pedro Tomás, the General Manager of Dreams Palm Beach after an incident they had were Mary's credit card was compromised and he offered them to come back at no cost and to have a special rate anytime they come. Kent Rappleye also has used the Hotel to host his Conventions who gets also a good deal and has been a guest countless of times with people who come to visit him. Ironically, even Daniel has done two seminars with the employees and their wives but since he is not directly involved in the process they don't know him. We go there and it's like they don't care about us since we don't ever mention the fact that  Daniel, being  the big boss is actually the one who signs those checks they receive from the Church but at Dreams he is just another regular guest and that is the way Daniel likes it. He told me he doesn't like to get any perks or take advantage from working for the Church that he wouldn't get on his own. This is probably the last time we would go there since they don't offer us the same deal they do the Rappleyes and Antivilos. We asked a woman there when we checked in and she told us to email Pedro Tomás to get the Antivilos discount because the computer only show their regular rate and not the special rate of around $100 a day which is a killer deal considering that if you go on line is four times that much. However, even if we get the discount for us it means $100 x the people we bring along and the problem is that the place is so crowded. All you end up doing is eat and eat and eat because you feel you have to get your money's worth so it's not the best place to be on a diet. However we do enjoy the nice walks on the beach and whenever we managed to go kayaking. This time we managed to get a massage. Daniel was great but mine was not as relaxing. The poor girl didn't know how to give a massage. I don't know who taught her but all she did was pull my arms and legs and practically spanked me to the point that it even hurt. I hated it. That at half off was still $200 dollars. Not to mention that I convinced Daniel to see Juan Gabriel who was in concert at the Hard Rock Hotel only to get bad sits and again that was another $200 dollars down the drain but the good thing is that we were together having fun supposedly and the $800 is nothing compare to what those rooms at Dreams go for. I was looking on line today and people book them at $500 and $600 but what I don't know if that price is per person or per couple because it seems so  high for what you actually get. Casa de Campo is so much nicer.

Viva Mexico

I woke up one day thinking of why don't I surprise my mom on her 75 birthday? I did that for mother's days three years ago so why not do the same again? So I booked my flight and got there a week before her birthday. She had no clue, she was indeed very surprise! We had so much fun going to the museums, the mall and Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende but the only problem is that I wished Daniel had come with me. He ended up having to go to one of the islands and couldn't make it. I also fell in love with Mateo, he is so cute and so smart too! There is nothing more tender than a baby smiling at you. He stole my heart!

January is our birthday month!

Yes, it was another birthday celebration for Daniel and me and Martha Diaz with mariachis who came to sing. We even danced and had food for an army as usual. The expats came and over all it turned out to be a wonderful party with wonderful friends. I am now 55 and Daniel is 60. Amazing how young it feels to be this old.

Baby Owen is born a month early

On December 29th Rachael went in for a C section. It looked like she needed to have this baby right away or she and the baby would not make it. I remember in the old days women dying from child birth and she would have been one of those women. So thankful for modern medicine. Cute baby Owen is here now enjoying the love of wonderful parents and extended family!

Christmas 2014 in Uruguay

Good times, a lot of yummy food and wonderful company! It does not get better than that, except I was a little upset Analia never came after she begged us to buy her the most expensive tickets ever!! but that is life. Live and learn! However I must say, it was great for Daniel to see his mom and brothers.  Roberto and Sandra are so sweet, and so are Ceci and Miguel Angel and Daniel's mom is so cute!! Vale came to be with us as always. so it made up for a fun trip after all!

Activity Day

My December last activity day was about the true meaning of Christmas and what a better way than to think of His gift to us. I had the children do this activity, decorated cookies and made some bookmarks to give away. It was so fun!

Dreams

This is a seminar and convention work not a vacation but it is so nice to go to the one and only all inclusive Dreams Palm Beach in Punta Cana. It is a $300 to 500 per person a night to stay here but the Church has managed to get a discounted rate of $90 and that is why some of the meetings are held there. This same meeting if it was held in Santo Domingo and had to pay for the food alone would be that much so its smart to do the all-inclusive. We were there twice in November of 2014 one for the Seminary and Institute Convention with the coordinators and their wives and the other with all the directors and their respective wives from Daniel's office. Nice!

October 2014 trip to Salt Lake

October has become my favorite month because we always get to go to General Conference and get to see family. Two of our children live there, Andres and Mandy four grandchildren live there and  my cousins and their kids. Christi usually comes over unless she is pregnant or something. On Saturday after the afternoon Conference My cousins,had a little reunion to Corbelly's while all the men went to Priesthood and that was a blast. In the picture above you got Nixon, Jude, Skyler, Beckett and  Manu. All boys!! It's also the time we go to all our doctors: Starting with Peterson our family doctor;  Dr. Bye our Dentist; Dr. Hansen our Dermatologist, Dr. Crandall, our optometrist and I even see mine Dr. Chichester,That is probably the only thing I don't like about this trip but so necessary. We really go,go go all the time while we are there for those few days.

New York and more!!

The highlight of our vacation was to go to New York to visit Bianca and Joseph. We went not knowing that they would soon be moving away. The Sacred Grove and the Joseph Smith's parents home was probably the one historic site that truly touched our hears. We also so happened to be there during the Pylmira Pagent. It was a trip I will always treasure. I stayed a week longer with Bianca and Joseph and then went to Miami for another week. A vacation I will always remember forever because it was also the last time Mari and my mom would live in that home in Miami so I went to help out with the move as much as I could. We even got to see our cousins, Eric and Albert. Priceless!!

Elder Holland followed by home leave

Nothing can ever compare to a visit from an Apostle and is even better and I shouldn't say this but when is elder Holland visiting you. He is the best! He told Daniel, that in the 30 years he has known him, he has never seen him so happy and he thanked me. That was probably the highlight of his visit. We only waited for him to leave when we headed back to Utah as well for our home leave.

As  we were in Utah, we got a call from Ani who was about to give birth a few weeks earlier than expected. I was also scheduled to have surgery on both hands for my carpel tunnel but somehow we managed to buy a plane ticket to come over as quickly as we could to meet the new grandson. Christopher Krone. He was born on June 29th 2014. e went back for the blessing which was a miracle that Daniel even got to be in the circle as we came one second before Spencer was about to pronounce the blessing. We left that morning with just enough time to get there it was an hour and a half drive from Papillos to Beatrice and that was exactly how much time we had but Pablo had to stop to get gas and those extra ten minutes made us late. The meeting had started and only because we were hoping and wishing and praying Daniel wouldn't miss the chance to be in the prayer circle we managed to come right when they were all gathered to give him the blessing. We are so blessed Chris is a beautiful healthy baby and this picture is proof of it. Somehow we managed to do a few fun things like going to the zoo for Danielitos birthday and to see Somehow we managed to do a few fun things like going to the zoo for Danielitos birthday and to seethe play Wicked!