A Christmas Miracle in November

Thanksgiving is always a memorable time of year. Last Thanksgiving I remember we were all going to the airport to pick up my mom who always flies in to see my sister and I out here in Utah. Travis was nervous cause it'd be his first time meeting her and he wanted to make a good 1st impression, I was anxious too, but overall we were all excited! When on the way to pick up a friend at a pizza place, my mom surprised us! Her friend had already picked her up from the airport and when she saw us through the window she ran to the bathroom to try and hide but it was too late! We already caught her! It was one of the funniest moments and memorable Thanksgiving.

This year was also unforgettable, but for a different reason. My mom came as usual to visit her daughters  and Travis and I spent the weekend at my sisters for some family fun! My mom made us baleadas, we went to Bella's school play where she played the part of a nazi (intense), and then we went out for ice cream at Cold Stones and stayed up all night talking and catching up.

Saturday we all got ready and after breakfast we had lunch at Blue Lemon and took my mom to Scheels. We walked around the store, took pictures, and forced my mom, who was convinced she'd throw up,  onto the Ferris wheel. She had her eyes shut the entire time! She's a it of a wimp when it comes to rides.

Then we went to an old family friends wedding (Paolo Buendia) who I've known since my primary days, in fact, his dad was my bishop and interviewed me when I was baptized. Travis and I had such a blast dancing the night away and hanging out with some of my old friends from So Fla.

(Photobooth fun at the wedding!)

The next day we spent it in Provo. The family attended our ward and then I made chicken enchiladas for dinner and a chocolate raspberry tart to die for! We watched Mulan and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the new one with Jonny Depp) and just hung out in our cozy apartment.

The rest of the week went on as usual for Travis and I with work and school. Wednesday afternoon my mom, sister, Bella and Gabe came to pick me up and we had lunch at Indian Palace and hung out at the mall and killed time until Travis came out of work. We had plans to go to the temple but it had closed early for thanksgiving so  we had dinner at Zupas instead, drove back to Eagle Mountain, and spent the night at my sisters again. Thursday morning the Thanksgiving preparations began. My mom baked the turkey, Sherlyn made yams, I put together a salad, and we got all dolled up to go to Travis' parents house where we'd be having Thanksgiving dinner. Travis left early to go help his mom with the Thanksgiving preparations and we met them there fashionably late for dinner. There was Turkey, yams, green beans, salad, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy, and the fluffiest rolls ever! For dessert we enjoyed pumpkin and chocolate pecan pie with ice cream. We were stuffed! As usual, out Thanksgiving tradition includes going to the movies after. So we packed up our leftovers, helped clean up, and went on our way, when just around the corner the inevitable happened.

Trav and I made  a left turn and were in the median lane waiting for my sister to make the same cross. There was a stampede of cars coming, and Travis uttered "don't go Sherlyn" hoping she'd wait for the cars to pass. I looked back and saw that she went for it and was approaching our lane when a white pick up truck slammed into her door, glass and plastic shattering everywhere! I gasped in shock! We reversed to get closer and I jumped out of the car as soon as I could, cars whizzed past me and debris continued to fly around under my feet. I opened my sisters door to make sure she was okay since the impact was on her side. All was well, so I checked on the kids in the back seat, when I opened the door Gabe immediately asked "Am I bleeding?!"he had his left eye closed and blood was dripping down his face. I went into nurse mode and got a tissue to clean him up and apply pressure on the two cuts on his eyebrow from the frame of his glasses that had broken on impact. All the while, Travis was on the phone with 9-1-1 and getting an ambulance and police over. We put the kids in our car and I took them away from the middle of the road and to the side curb to wait for the ambulance to take a look at Gabe. My mom came over to, and as the police and everyone arrived a crowd gathered to see what had happened and if everyone was okay. Police reports were filed, Sherlyn gathered her things and a towing company took her car to a nearby yard. The front left headlight and bumper were blown out along with the tire. The trucks entire front was smashed in and likely totaled, their airbags had deployed and they also had a small child in the car. There was a brief comedic relief when one of the police vehicles slowly started moving down the road. My sister asked if anyone was in the car when all of a sudden it went up the sidewalk, knocked over the street sign, and parked itself in someone’s front yard! An officer ran over, apparently someone had forgotten to put the car in park!

Paramedics took a look at Gabe and gave him a gauze for his cut. After all was said and done, we took my mother-in-law's SUV and drove everyone to the ER where my mom got an x-ray for her chest; she felt a lot of pain from the seat belt pulling her back and Gabe got 7 stitches for his battle wounds.

(Gabe getting stitched up)

The whole time Travis and I kept thinking how grateful we were that everyone was okay and  no one was seriously injured in either party. We got home at around midnight, everyone got into their PJ's, and Travis gave my mom and Gabe a blessing that they'd recover quickly. The next day my mom was feeling TONS better, in fact, after getting Sherlyn a rental car and picking up our car from West Valley, my mom took us to City Creek for a Black Friday shopping spree and dinner! I'm still haunted by the images of the accident replaying in my head, but I am just so grateful for the true power of the priesthood that I have tangibly felt through this experience. It wasn't the best way to end the holiday weekend, but it was a testimony to us all that God's hand was present that night.

Gabe’s birthday!

Adam Gabriel Simon was born in Provo, UT on November 6, 2003. This weekend we celebrated his birthday and it was a big deal for the family because he was turning 12. It was an exciting time as he reached another spiritual milestone- the priesthood. Grandparents traveled from California, Travis & I drove from Provo, and all were there that Sunday to sustain him in his new responsibility of carrying the power of God entrusted to man. Gabe is such a silly boy and in many ways he’s still a kid. In sacrament meeting he was called up to be sustained and he stood there chewing his gum. We all laughed at his cool, nonchalant attitude on the stage. After the meeting we all went into the bishop’s office and sat around with the Young Men’s presidency and Sherlyn’s home teachers. Gabriel sat in a chair in the middle of the room, his father behind him, and all the men in the room surrounding him with their hands on his head. Adam’s (Gabe's father) prayer and blessing as he conferred the priesthood power upon his son, was incredibly powerful and heartfelt. The spirit engulfed the room, and it was amazing for me to see how through imperfect vessels, the Lord’s perfect power is manifest. Afterwards, Gabe got to go to priesthood with his dad. When we met in the car, he couldn’t stop telling me how awesome his priesthood meeting was and how they taught him how to pass the sacrament and that he’ll be #3 in the line. It was precious :) We ended the day with arroz con pollo for dinner, brownies for dessert, and snuggling on the couch playing video games and watching movies. I love and am so grateful for my family. We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.

Trick-or-Treat

Halloween is by far one of my favorite holidays of all time! I have dressed up every year, the only exception being the year I was on my mission in Chile. I’ve been a variety of characters: disney princesses- Cinderella, Jazmine, and Esmeralda, a french maid, queen Nefertiti (my dad is a nerd for egyptian stuff), p50’s oodle skirt girl, flapper, girl scout, zombie, vampire, baby (this one was great cause I just wore pajamas all night) olive oyle (Trav was popeye), and a bunny (as a baby, not the playboy kind;) )  But I have to say that of all these costumes, nothing was as cool as this year, when Trav and I were a dia de los muertos bride and groom. 

People asked us all now how long it took us to get ready, it took us 2 hours to paint our faces and get ready, the make up was a lot of hard work! What was so great about this costume is that it cost us less than $15! We got the top hat at walmart for $5, I made the head piece by glueing black lace and plastic roses, that cost me $4, to an old headband, the clothes we already owned and the paint was like $1. We do have one tiny secret about how good the details of our face paint came out- they were face tattoos we bought on Amazon! So no, we’re not master face painting artists, but we surely took credit for being so!

This was Trav and I’s 2nd Halloween together (our 1st as a married couple) and like last year, we went trick-or-treating with my sister’s kids in Eagle Mountain. My niece is a blossoming teenager who went trick-or-treating with her friends portraying social media (she was Facebook), so we went with my nephew Gabe who was 'The Scream' with a pump that would make “blood” drip down his mask. Together we were all a spooky bunch!

We went to 4 different neighborhoods picking up candy, specifically the ones with nice houses ;) Some had candy and vending machines that were giving our prizes, others had the coolest decorations, including this one house in Daybreak that actually came out on the news for decorating their house like the Haunted Mansion in Disney. There must’ve been hundreds of people there checking it out and signing the guest book to the ‘Dead in Breakfast’ and getting candy from the home-owners. 

After 2 hours of neighborhood hopping and running around with Gabe, we called it a night, and decided to drive with Sherlyn to pick up some pizza and get Bella from her friend’s house. Sherlyn was upset that Gabe had sat in the front because he’s a minor and tends to not wear his seatbelt correctly (the old flip it around the shoulder trick). I was joking around with Travis in the back, who as usual, refuses to kiss me when I’m wearing lipstick (Halloween included) and even though his face was already painted! At one point, I had removed my seatbelt and leaned over for a kiss, and put it back on. A minute after that had happened, we saw one of the most horrifying images that would make any heart sink- the flashing lights of a police officer pulling us over. I immediately thought, “Oh no! This is all my fault! He probably saw me take my seat belt off!” and was ready to be responsible for the ticket. Sherlyn was thinking that she was getting a ticket for having Gabe in the front seat. And we all just sat in silence awaiting our impending doom... In reality, he had been following us for a while and noticed Sherlyn was driving in the bike lane and too close to the car in front of her. He let us go with a warning and we ended that night with the biggest fright of our lives…close one!

All’s well that ends well, and we finished the night with pizza, a movie, and pounds of candy for dessert :)