Updates...........

Well it's been a crazy few months and will continue to be for another few. Merrill was just recently promoted and now they are sending us from Mexico back to Bakersfield, CA. We've been there a year and a half and feel like we just unpacked. We were sad to move and said adios to some good friends and Blake as well was sad to leave but kids recover a lot faster than adults. Blake was very cute though when we left he said, "Mama I'm sad that we are leaving because I don't want to forget espanol. I want to be able to see and talk to my friends again." Oh little precious one. But change is good and there are many good reasons why we are moving back. I'm so grateful for the experiences we had in Mexico and the friends we have made there. We are now in Utah staying with both families so we'll be continuing our crazy schedules here and there but we are glad to have such great families. That's what we've been up to the last few months...transitioning.

Blake is stretching out and loving sports sports and sports..gotta love it. Danny is all princess still and her hair is getting curlier by the day. Giada is now 6 months yea and such our little gem. She is such an angel so patient, happy and just content...I've got a lot to learn from her!! Bueno, I'll send some picts in the next few months once we make our move to Cali. In the meantime just the written updates. Adios a todos.

Little did we know

Little did we know my wish for another "party" would come true and so quickly. Youth Conference already? Our Stake Youth Conference was after Mer's birthday the following week for 3 full days. We tend to have between 8-10 stay at our house which is possible, but due to the lack of families able to house the kids this year we had a few more...18. we had a group of ten guys (which was great 'cause they can sleep anywhere and maintenance is a 5 minute deal) and 2 families of four. I didn't think we'd be able to do it but the guys were great and the families as well. We fed them 3 breakfasts and two lunches at home and enjoyed getting to know them all. Here are a few picts. Blake had his Mexican twin next to him the whole conference so he was happy and Daniela likewise had her Mexican twin and older sister swarm around her all week. Fun but we were glad to be done with that, especially Merrill. He pretty much ran the entire conference on little sleep and little help and did a great job.

Merrill's birthday a success

Well, Merrill's birthday was a success. We did end up having about 20 people, including kids, at our house for the big shin dig. The nice thing is the family that originally came up with the idea to have a big party and invite the whole block did most of the work. We had carne asada (grilled steak) with fresh pico de gallo salsa, spicy guacamole,grilled onions, fresh corn and flour tortillas and grilled fresh asparagus spears. Probably one of Mer's favorite meals, so we were all happy and loving the food and company. We had warm brownies and vanilla ice cream for dessert (another hard one to beat). Yes I did make a batch of Merrill-friendly brownies just for him.

The kids had fun as well. Blake, as expected, was in front all night playing basketball. In fact, one of the families that came has a son on the Mexican professional basketball team which is comparable to junior college level. We have been to a few games so Blake recognized him. Blake was a little shy so he came to me and told me to have Andre (the bb player) come watch him play in front. Andre was a good sport and cheered Blake on. He also signed a jersey for Blake and Blake's basketball as well. Blake now wants to invite Andre to his birthday in August he says. Cute!
Daniela was in heaven with her little girl friends playing dress up and trying on her different princess shoes. She was up as late as the rest of us and didn't slow down at all (she's our little Mexicana).
We had fun and I told Mer I was ready to have another party like that again soon...to be continued.

Birthday boy

It's the big day coming up for Merrill. His birthday is this Saturday the 4th. It usually falls around the same time as General Conference and sometimes Easter so there's always a lot going on. Well we WERE planning on a nice simple birthday this year but not gonna happen. Merrill explains it best here-

"We are having a classic Mexican birthday party. Someone suggests that since it is your birthday a carne asada should be held, then they suggest that it should be at your house. Then they tell you how many people will be coming and how much meat you will need. Before you know it you are in charge of financing and hosting your own birthday party that you never really intended on having. Feliz Cumpleanos y Bienvenido a Mexico!"

That pretty much sums it up. We will be having 4-5 families over for a carne asada and kids all over the place. It should be actually pretty fun and we're looking forward to seeing friends. Blake is excited because there will be a lot of kids he can play one on one basketball with. That's all he can think about these days...puro basketbol! Daniela will be excited to see some of her Mexicana amigas to play barbie and make believe with.

Enjoying the Moment

How fast these days go by!! With my 3 kids and all their needs and schedules the day turns into what feels like a few hours in the morning and a few hours at night. The days fly by. I can only imagine what my mom said with 8 of us..."Oh how the years go by" that and "what did I get myself into" and "Kellie you are my favorite child of all"...had to throw that in hee hee. Isn't it funny, as a kid, our sense of time was very different than it is as parents. In elementary, one day off of school felt like spring break . Yet today, a day off for Blake feels like just hours consisting of getting dressed, breakfast, lunch, dinner and getting undressed (oh and wiping bums all day –but cute little bums).As a kid, the upcoming holiday whether it was Christmas, Easter or Halloween never could come fast enough and yet now I say, "It's already Easter?" Well like all of you who can relate, I wanted to share with you this short paragraph from Elder M. Russell Ballard that Mer emailed me. It really hits home.

“What can. . .young mother[s] [do]. . .to reduce the pressure [of raising young children] and enjoy [their families] more?. . . Recognize that the joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times. But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction. Author Anna Quindlen reminds us not to rush past the fleeting moments. She said: ‘The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. . .I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one.And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night.I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing; dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.’

Oh so true!

Giada my sweety

As you can see the first picture was pretty good but then we went downhill from there. I should do better at timing when it comes to taking pictures. . .right after eating instead of right before. I love those sad lips though!!

My Danny

Giada and papa

Papa, kids and spiderman

Danny

The kids

The kids have loved their new little sister. In fact as you can see below, Daniela has considered Giada her new baby doll. Daniela insisted that we take a picture of Giada on her princess bed too. Blake and Daniela also had to try out Giada's bath tub!

She's here!

Baby Giada Marie Dibble was born on January 10th at 8:55 p.m. She weighs 7 lbs. and is 20 inches long and she has long dark hair!! Oh how blessed we are to have her in our family. Blake has just loved her from the beginning and loves to lay by her and mimick her crying. Daniela too talks about baby sister all day long and she looks forward to taking a bath with her. Daniela doesn't like mom so much right now and has become more independant in the sense of playing by herself in her room alone (which has never happened before). So she's learning to adjust in her own way. Here are a few picts and more will be on the way.

Giving birth to a baby in Mexico

All in all I have to say the experience wasn't as bad as I had imagined it might be. My doctor is my favorite OBGYN I've ever had. He is so sincere and kind and someone we have a lot of respect for. In fact, he was my doctor when we were here before and helped us get pregnant with little Blake. Anyway, my doctor stayed with me from the time we entered into the hospital room until she was born (which only ended up being 2 hours). Our pediatrician was also there and took Giada as soon as she was born and before I could open my eyes and come to, I felt this warm, wet thing right under my chin. I wasn't sure what to say but I smiled and said in spanish " se puede limpiarla?" meaning "can you clean her first?" Merrill was such a good support too. We had to get permission to allow him to come in for the delivery due to the reglas that usually don't allow anyone but the doctors and nurses to be in the room. I thought of any time I would need to communicate clearly but mostly likely wouldn't be able to in Spanish would be in the moment of giving birth so I'm glad Mer was there-although I did throw out a "apurate" to one of the nurses (meaning hurry) who seemed to me to be taking her time finding gloves for the doctor. Anyway, we are ALWAYS glad when that part is over and love this little one so much.

Cow Tail Soup

We have so many wonderful friends and neighbors who have helped us since we came home. I feel great and almost back to normal (except for the stretched out body) but it's always nice to have some warm home cooked meals and to have friends call and stop by. I have to say one of my favorite things about being here in Mexico with a newborn is Lolita who cleans the house at least 3 times a week ..that in itself, esp right now, is a wonderful gift. Our next door neighbor has been making soups for us for the last few days and invited Merrill to eat lunch at their house yesterday while I fed Giada and took a nap. He told me they had cow tail soup (chunks of cow tail in a broth of beans and cilantro) which is prepared by putting the cow tail on top of the roof and letting it sit for a couple of days, and swatting off the flies every few hours of course!! All I could say was.."better you than me." He said it didn't taste too bad but after 2 heaping bowls-well lets just say he had to drink a couple Mexican coca-colas that night to keep the cow tail from returning. But really the people here are so kind and sincere and we are so blessed to have them in our lives. Well, time for another feeding. We hope you are all doing well and we will try to put more pics up soon.

Some picts

Here are a few picts of the kiddos after church and little Daniela all decked out. I'm still amazed at how different boys and girls are. Daniela has to try on different clothes several times a day and when she sees mom wearing jewelry it's off to her room to find her own to put on. Blake on the other hand loves anything to do with destruction or throwing things ( I thought that would change after the age of two) and has his favorite pairs of shorts and a shirt that he'd wear every day if I let him. I love it!

November?

It's already mid November hijole! How fast time flies, which has been a great thing since I have about 2 months left before our little baby girl is born. My due date is January 9th so seeing as how the holidays are already here, these last 2 should also fly by. We plan to, have to and get to depending on who you ask..just kid'n, stay here in Mexico for Christmas and are really excited to celebrate it with our little family and the fun traditions too. PLus there will be plenty of posadas (fiestas) here to enjoy.

A few quick updates: ( I feel like I'm always doing updates since I tend to blog every other month.)

Halloween was fun. Blake was sad we couldn't trick or treat like everyone else so we had a big Halloween party for 15 of his friends at our house. We decorated inside and out with gravestones, monster heads, haunted houses etc and had food, crafts and games for the kids. Their moms came too so it was a full house but a lot of fun. I don't have a lot of picts because I mainly used the video camera but here are a few. Then on the !st and 2nd of November we celebrated the DAY OF THE DEAD. All the cemetaries were full of people visiting their relatives and friends who've died. Some brought flowers, candles, made food they used to like and put it by the grave. All night and for those 2 days the cemetaries were packed with people. You could compare it to Memorial Day except if felt more like a party with food booths, flower venders right outside the cemetaries and people with their chairs and umbrellas getting ready for a long day of talking and uniting with other family members by the gravesites. October was a very fun but busy month and like all of you November and December will be that much more hectic but fun.

Halloween photos

Our trip to the mountains of Chihuahua

We just recently got back from a very needed and fun trip to a little town called Quiteco which is in the state of Chihuahua. Our friends parent's own some cabins and invited us (we went with them when we lived here in 2002) to come (now a yearly tradition). There is a famous train ride that starts in our town and goes all the way to the top of the state of Chihuahua and is very well known and popular. In fact, we saw a lot of Europeans there as well as a group of Americans. We took the train to Quiteco ( about 6 hour ride) and they simply dropped us off the side of the train and kept going..kinda funny. We walked another mile on the train track to get to the cabins. Anyway we took lots of pictures with the kids, our friends, and all that we did there. These first picts were the beginning of the trip. As you'll note by the end of the trip, Blake and Daniela are still smiling, so we think it was a successful one....what little boy or girl wouldn't love throwing endless rocks in rivers and being able to spit anywhere they'd like.

We made it to the falls..por fin!

The second day we got there we decided to take the boys, Blake and Ricky (age 5 and 4) to find the hidden waterfalls. We had done this hike before without kids and it took a good 2 hours. With that in mind, we thought we might not make it, but surprisingly enough the boys were champs and 3 hours later we were sticking our feet in the cold cold water and looking at the beautiful waterfalls. It also helped that we brought some candy incentives along the way and let Blake throw and throw rocks in the rivers. The first pict is of our friend Ricky helping Blake cross the first of many small rivers that we had to cross. Yea, we took off our shoes a few times to cross and at one point we were ankle deep in mud due to the excessive rain they've had. It was like going back to the good ole' days of playing in the mud and not worrying how dirty you got (I felt that way after we were done and washed our feet off of course). We left Daniela and our friends 1 year old with her maid that came to help watch the kids..nice I know!