boy meets girl - TAG

I was tagged a while ago by my friend Kathy, and I'm finally getting around to doing it, so enjoy!

This tag is called "How I met___."
1. Where did you meet? Puert Rico, San Juan Mission
2. What was the first thought that went through your head when you met? Poor little "green" elder!
3. Do you remember what he was wearing? White shirt, black name tag. He was probably wearing a really nice suit. He worked at Macy's before he went on his mission and had some really great suits!
4. Where was the first time you kissed this person? On the sofa of my apartment in Las Vegas.
5. Where did you go for your first date? I honestly don't remember. We hung out a lot as friends before we "dated" and I can't remember exactly where friendship ended and dating began!
6. How long did you know this person before you were a couple? 6 years
7. How did he ask you out? Refer to question 5 (sorry, don't remember)
8. Has this person ever proposed to you? Of course!
9. Do you and this person have kids together? 4 little monkeys and counting!
10. Have you ever broken the law with this person? Not that I know of.
11. When was the first time you realized you liked this person. Sometime in February of 1999
12. Do you get along with his family? Most of them.
13. Do you trust this person? Usually (of course I do!)
14. Do you see him as your partner in the future? FOREVER
15. What is the best gift he gave you? Too many to name, maybe not: Anthony, Luca, Ella, and Aiden!
16. What is one thing he does that gets on your nerves? Bites his nails!
17. Where do you see each other 15 years from now? Hopefully in a little bit bigger house!
18. What causes the most arguments? Kids
19. How long have you been together? 9 years
20. Are you married? I sure hope so! Of Course
21. Who do you tag? Kirsten, Elisa, Natalie, Lupita and Sabra

ours eternally!

On November 15 we had the blessing and privilege of taking Aiden to the Salt Lake Temple to be sealed to us! What an amazing experience. When we were sealed to Anthony and Ella in March, Aiden wasn't allowed to be in the temple with us. When we came out for pictures, he was happy, but the minute we had to go back into the temple to change, he began to cry and call for "Papa". He didn't stop crying until we had come back out in our regular clothes. It was so special to be able to go into the temple this time as a family! Aiden was wonderful! He's such a good little guy, I wasn't worried about his behaviour at all, but I wasn't expecting to see him so happy. He glowed! From the moment he walked in to the sealing room with his brothers and sister, he didn't stop smiling. I am so thankful for our family and for this amazing year we've had! I can't wait to see what next year has in store for us!

adventures in sewing

I made a dress this weekend for Ella. I love the fabric, and the dress pattern. I'm not sure how I feel about the two together, but Ella seems to like it.

an evening at home with the Ramos'

I went into the livingroom after dinner tonight and found this. And believe it or not, it didn't end in tears or fights or anything. Just another family activity at the Ramos household.

we're off to see the wizard!

We are home from Trick-or-Treating, candy has been sorted, and costumes have been put away. We have survived another Halloween! When I was a kid, if we were lucky, we got to wear our costumes twice; once for school, and once for the actual night of Halloween. When did it turn into a week long celebration? We have been to 2 trunk-or-treats, Ricardo's work party, a Lil' Feathers party, a school parade and the actual trick-or-treating. I'm exhausted! At least they got good use out of their costumes!

Rio Tinto Stadium

After 4 years of loyal support, dare I say fanaticism, we (and ReAL Salt Lake) finally have a home! Rio Tinto Stadium opened for the last two games of the regular season on October 9 and it is amazing! The stadium is gorgeous and we have super seats. The crowd is as fun as ever and we are looking forward to next season! Not only that, but if we can pull a win or a tie this Saturday, RSL will make it into the finals! Yes, we already have tickets for that possible game!

future careers

Anthony and Luca had some time to spare at my sister's wedding reception and decided to try their hands at modeling and photography, with very interesting results. Can you tell who modeled and who took the pictures? All in all it was very entertaining. Too bad they had to do it right where the bride and groom were greeting their guests!

requested video

As requested, here's Anthony dancing at a Lil' Feathers presentation 10.7.08

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Anthony and the grass dance

Since February of 2007, Anthony (and sometimes Luca), has participated in an Inter tribal Native American drum and dance group called Li'l Feathers. Earlier this year the family of another group member gave Anthony a set of grass dance regalia (special clothing) so that he could start participating in pow wows and other performances. He was in his first pow wow earlier this year in May. They took a break over the summer (Li'l Feathers is a Title IX program through Granite School District) but started back up in September. On Tuesday of this week they were invited to perform at a national conference on drug intervention held here in Salt Lake. The group was actually paid! Anthony did a great job and was excited because someone loaned him a roach (the special headdress he's wearing). It's been fun to see him gain confidence and learn more about the dances and the culture. Even Luca is getting into it. He participated a bit last year, but quit after a month or so. He has started going back and really enjoys the drumming. We're very proud of both boys!

elf child

Luca is an elf, well part elf, as evidenced by his left ear. Notice the point? Elf for sure! We've been telling him that since he was little. He was also born with kidney problems. Actually, he's got a blocked ureter and it's caused his right kidney to become enlarged and his left to be small. A while ago we were discussing his kidney issues with him and explaining the reason he was going to the doctor for yet another ultrasound. A bit later he came to me and told me he'd figured out why he had that small kidney. It was an elf kidney! Obviously (to him) parts of his body must be small, because he is part elf. He went on to explain that he was a little smaller than most kids his age because of his part elf status. He also can't say his "r"s, at least not in English, and apparently, that also has to do with being part elf! At least we know now!

my kids are growing up!

They are growing up, and too fast! I realized today, how far they've come and how much I don't want to forget the funny/sweet/silly/cute things they do. I wish I was a journaler, but I'm not. That's why I started blogging. So I've decided to start blogging my favorite kid moments for the month, and here they are for September/October:

Anthony: He is still such a little kid in so many ways, and yet sometimes scary glimpses of future teenageism come out in him. He's developed a bit of an "attitude" with me. Anything I ask him to do is putting him out. I'm trying to be patient with him, and I know we'll get through it, but it still really irks me on some days. Yesterday driving home from school was one of those days. I don't remember what I said to him, but his response was rude and disrespectful. I bit my tongue and didn't say anything. A few minutes later he said, "I'm sorry Mom, for being disrespectful. I'm really sorry". I was so proud of him! I told him that about a million times too! I am so glad that he's mature enough to recognize it and that he's "man" enough to apologize! Makes me not as worried about him becoming a teenager as before, well, for right now anyway.

Luca: This little guy is what I lovingly refer to as my "curse" child. My mom cursed me with having a "child just like you!", and his name is Luca. He is also a sweet, caring and compassionate kid. He loves to hear stories about when he was little. The other day I was telling him about how I use to say "okie, dokie shmokie" to him all the time and he would answer "oshikie, moshikie, moshikie". I told him how I loved hearing him say that, that it always made me laugh. A few hours later I asked him to do something, and his sweet reply was "oshikie, moshikie, moshikie!". When I turned to look at him, he cocked his head to the side and gave me the sweetest smile. He is so not a curse, he's a blessing!

Ella: Our little princess is blossoming. She's talking up a storm and is developing a very silly and sweet sense of humor. She loves to help around the house and often beats her brothers to complete tasks I've asked them to do. In Spanish, when someone is called for something, a polite way of responding is "mande", or "yes, mom/dad?". Ella has picked up on this and uses it all the time. When I call her in from the other room, she comes running, stands in front of me with hands on hips and says, "mande". I love it! I love how willing she is to help and I love the little smile that always accompanies her desire to serve.

Aiden: Man this kid is a hoot! He has so much energy. He's not a big talker yet, but he's getting there. I love listening to Ella and Aiden talk as they play in their room. Aiden is big into tattling. He'll come out of his room whining, "Ella push me". Not sure how he's picked up so much English. What makes me laugh is that he tells on Ella, and when I talked to Ella about what happened, she always lets me know she pushed because Aiden pushed/hit/stole first. I wonder when he'll learn that he's going to get punished too for being the instigator. He always goes to the Naughty Spot with a confused look on his face when this occurs. Ella always looks satisfied when she joins him there!

at least he got a shoe this time

We returned to PCMC's fracture clinic today for Aiden's check-up. Last Tuesday evening we took off his splint, as we'd been told to do, and had him walk around a little. I really thought he'd be good-to-go considering all of the running and jumping he'd been doing all week long. It looked like Aiden thought the same thing. After we took it off he jumped up ready to run after Luca, but slowed down and came back to me crying, saying, "hurt me". He pointed to his foot, and then touched it right were the problem bone is. We put the splint back on and he was off and running again! His x-rays today were, once again, inconclusive. The doctor took off the splint and began to examine his foot. Aiden became so stoic! He wouldn't look at anyone and just kept staring at his foot. The doctor started to laugh because every time she pushed on his foot, he would tense up. He was trying so hard not to flinch or move. What a tough guy! The doc decided that was enough for her and they cast him. They double wrapped the bottom of the foot because they felt there would be "excessive wear" based on the look of the bottom of the splint-ya think? Then they gave him the shoe so that I won't have to worry about him walking or jumping. We have another appointment in 2 weeks. I think Aiden has figured out this is a good way to avoid the bathtub! Anybody want to sign a cast?

he's official!

Today at about 10:00 am, our little Aiden became "ours" officially. He will now be known as Aiden Michael Matias Ramos or "Mo" if you ask him. He doesn't seem to notice any difference, but it's nice to have it done. We celebrated by going to Build-A-Bear to mark the occasion, and to lunch with Grandma, the aunts, and and some little cousins.

Waiting to be called into court.

Posing with Judge Nolan, Luca being his joyful self, and me looking pregnant (which I am NOT), maybe my shirt was a little too billowy?Aiden Michael Matias Ramos

this kid's a reader!

I love books. I love to buy them and read them. I love to read to my kids and I love when they read to me. And I LOVE that I have a son who seems to love reading as much as me. Luca loves books too. He always has. We've read with him since he was a baby and it's been one of his favorite activities as he's gotten older. And now, he is reading to me! He brings books home everyday and it's the first thing he wants to do when he gets home (after eating a snack of course, he's still a boy!). He even went to his English teacher and asked for a 2nd book to go home each night, he was only getting a Spanish one before. Hooray for reading!

Here's Luca at 2 1/2 "reading" his favorite book at the time, "Barnyard Dance".

sooner or later... though I would have preferred later

It seems that Aiden's dare deviling has caught up with him! Last night while I was at my primary presidency meeting, Aiden and his siblings (and a couple of friends) went upstairs to play in the gym. About 15 minutes later I hear Aiden crying and Anthony walks into the room with his little brother in his arms. He tells me, "Aiden jumped off the stage". Hands him to me and walks out of the room. When I set him on the floor, he took a step toward me and then collapsed. Luckily, one of my counselors is an orthopedic nurse, and she checked out his foot. She recommended we get an x-ray. We went home and waited for Ricardo to get home from his meeting, and then heading to Primary Children's Hospital ER. 4 hours, 3 x-rays, 2 doctors, and 1 bouncy ball later, we were on our way home with Aiden in a splint for the next 2 weeks and instructions to make an appointment with the Fracture Clinic for follow-up x-rays and a possible cast! Yes, the little monkey has a fracture (or maybe just a bent bone) in his right foot. The attending physician, after looking over his foot, and observing his behavior turned to me and said, "I don't think this is the last time we'll be seeing you in here". I am inclined (regretfully) to agree with her. What kind of 2 year old jumps off a 4 foot high stage? Ya gotta love that kid!

Photomax = not cool

I was going to say "= Evil", but it felt a little mean as a title. I am VERY irritated with them right now. For those who don't know, Photomax is an online photo storage/gift/developer company. I have quite a few photos stored with them and I realized yesterday that some that I have at Photomax I don't have on my computer, I'm not sure why. I was trying to do something and I needed some of those photos and when I went to Photomax to retrieve them, realized that they have nothing in place to allow you to access photos from them for things like blogs and stuff. I sent an email asking for some help to get the photos I wanted and received a quick response telling me there wasn't much I could do. So today I called. I was told that because I was a "free" member, I would only be able to access and download a limited number of MY OWN PHOTOS! My photos are being held hostage. If I want to get them all off, I'm going to have to get a membership! What's up with that? I'm trying to decide if I want to make a big fuss over this, or just hope that I was smart enough to make back-up copies of the rest of my pictures! Any ideas or suggestions?

Summer 2008, "Montaged"

I've become addicted to these photo montage things. I love showing off the family and by putting them all together like this, I can add a ton more photos! So here it is, the Ramos family's summer put to music. Enjoy!

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Our NEW extended family

What a great weekend! We spent Labor Day weekend in Green River, WY with the Brysons. When we began to foster Aiden, and later when we were given the opportunity to adopt him, we never guessed we would be blessed with such a wonderful new extended family. The Brysons are Aiden's biological family; his mom, grandparents, aunts, and uncle. We knew after meeting them that we wanted them to be a part of Aiden's life, we had no idea that they would take ALL of us into theirs! The kids love having more grandparents, and we love having such special friends.

The weekend was full of fun. The boys were really looking forward to riding horses and they had a blast! Aiden didn't want to get off and still talks about Hank the horse as being "mine". Anthony, Luca and Trinity were with each other from morning till night and played wonderfully. Ella could be found holding hands with Uncle Mike or sitting with Grandpa. We got to visit a dinosaur museum and spend lots of time hanging out and visiting (my personal favorite!) We can't wait to get back and look forward to a visit from them as well.

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Aiden, or a stunt double?

A head stronger than a carpeted floor, able to leap from tall ottomans in a single bound! It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Aiden!

This boy is fearless, and for Aiden, it's all in a day's play! Good thing we have insurance!

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lovers of laundry need not apply!

I'm starting a club, the "Anti-Laundry Club". I cannot stand laundry! Let me qualify that, I love clean, nicely folded laundry that is put away in drawers or is hanging in the closet. I do not however, want to have any part in getting it there! Actually, I don't mind the sorting so much, or even putting the first load in, but for some reason I have yet to understand or explain, I don't like the drying, folding and putting away part. For that reason, it often takes me as long as a week to finish the family's laundry. And very often, even if it's all clean, it ends up staying in baskets in my bedroom getting all wrinkly and unclean looking. By the time I get around to getting it all cleaned and folded, another week's worth of laundry is waiting for me. In fact, I'm on the computer now in a vain attempt to ignore the fact that I have a pile of towels in the hallway and no clean towels in the bathroom. Ugh, the laundry is calling...

September 30, 2008

Mark your calendars! Aiden will become an official member of the Ramos family on September 30! I wasn't thrilled when we got the date, I wanted it to be sooner, but at least we have a date, right!? Hopefully this adoption will go more as planned and once we leave the courthouse, that will be it!

We are going to Aiden's biological maternal grandparent's ranch in Wyoming for labor day weekend. We are really excited. They are super great people and we always have a good time with them. The boys are excited to ride horses. Ella loves Grandpa Bryson and I love how much the grandparents have embraced all of our children. How fun to have so much new family!

(warning: Cheese Alert!) I went to a foster in-service last night entitled "Spirituality in Parenting". It was more like an open forum for discussion and it was really inspiring. We had a wonderful turnout and great participation. One of the thoughts that was brought up was trying to reconcile the joy we feel when we know a child can be adopted into our family with the sorrow you feel for the biological parents who are losing a child. Is is right to celebrate the misfortune of others? Is it right to hope that a parent won't succeed so that you will be able to keep that child? I know that we've gone through all of that, both as parents, and with our extended family. As I sat and listened to the comments of others, I was overwhelmed with gratitude for Aiden's mom. What a sacrifice she's made for her little boy. I know that she loves him, and because of that, she's willing to put aside what she wants (essentially) and do what's best for him. I'm also grateful for her parents. They've welcomed us with open arms and are a wonderful support. I'm glad that we can all do this together, that I don't have to feel like I'm taking this child from anyone. And I am so glad that Aiden will have his bio mom and grandparents in his life.

Hooray for foster care for giving parents an opportunity to change their lives, and hooray for adoption for giving children and families a way to come together and begin new lives!

Stay Tuned!

This site has temporarily been delayed, but please stay tuned!

Don't miss the amazing "Explorer Birthday". A heartwarming tale of a young boy turning 9 and the friends and family he invites to his birthday. Pictures and commentaries are sure to astound!

Also coming soon; the premiere of "Luca turns 6!". A coming of age story set in the backdrop of The Mayan restaurant. A sure family pleaser.

And of course let us not forget, "Pinto Family Reunion". Enjoy the sights and sounds of Pinto, Utah delivered through the photos and experiences of actual visitors to this little known town.

OK, I'll admit, I've been a bit lazy. But we've been busy too! My biggest problem is that Ricardo got a new camera for work, and I love it! I don't even want to pick up my old one, so I've used Ricardo's for the past month or so. Unfortunately, he takes his camera to work each day, and I keep forgetting to download all our pictures before he does. I will make a concerted effort to get them all downloaded this week and will be back blogging in force in no time. I know you're all on the edge of your seats!

Liberty Park

One of the best parts of living in downtown SLC is Liberty Park. When I was a kid this was one of the worst parks in the City. Over the past few years though, the City has put a lot of money into the park, thanks to the Olympics. Besides just cleaning up the park, they've added some awesome water features. The Canyons Fountains are one of our favorite summer play spots. It is a mini replica of the canyons surrounding SLC and the rivers that run from these canyons into the Great Salt Lake. It is a bunch of little "rivers" that run into a knee deep pool at the bottom. Unfortunately, because of the outbreak of stomach sickness associated with pools and things, the Canyons have been closed. Luckily, Liberty Park also has fountains in the playground area and this past Monday evening for Family Home Evening, we went over to play. There's nothing better than water on a hot summer evening!