I LOVE THANKSGIVING!!

Thanksgiving is definitely one of my very favorite holidays! It is about all of the right things...family, love, gratitude, tradition, and fun. Oh, and there is always the great food too! It is probably the purest holiday left without commercialism. One great thing was getting to have Michelle down from BYU-I for the entire week. This year we went with the Watt family for the day and Marvin and Ruth were such wonderful hosts. I was especially touched by Marvin taking a moment to welcome us all and remind us of how incredibly blessed we are, particularly when compared to people in other countries of the world. And then he offered the most humble and amazing prayer. He thanked Father in Heaven for being able to turn on a tap and get clean running water, for being able to turn on a stove to cook dinner, and so many other things we truly take for granted. The irony is that his family has struggled more financially than anyone else there, and yet he was probably the most grateful. Thanks for teaching me so many lessons Marvin, and especially about the true meaning of "Thanks Giving".

Thanksgiving Eve Tradition Renewed

When our kids were little we had a Castillo family tradition of going to Grandma's house and making little gingerbread houses out of graham crackers. Each child would decorate their own and then the Dads would judge them and award each one with a medal made of canning lids. Of course everybody got one! The tradition evolved when June's hubby made permanent wooden houses. Since the cousins have mostly grown up or moved away it has been several years, but Michelle decided she wanted to resurrect this wonderful memory, so Rafael worked very hard to make new wooden gingerbread pieces and we met Ana and her kids for a fun night of creativity. Aren't they so much fun?!! I think the tradition is here to stay with our own grandkids now, and they can have their own memories to cherish!

What Are You Going To Be On Halloween Night?

I was so disappointed because for the first time ever I actually bought part of my costume and then I didn't get to wear it! Bummer! My department at work decided to all be Harry Potter characters, and I decided to be Hagrid. I bought the perfect wig and beard, and then I got sick and didn't even go to work. So sad. But...we did still have our favorite little treak-or-treaters over! Easton wore the cowboy hat and boots Jen and Shelly gave him last Christmas and was a darling cowboy, and Averie was the cutest little bunny. We had a fun Halloween because of their family and were so glad they came to visit Grandpa and Grandma!

Smiles from Averie

Averie has started smiling, cooing, and especially blowing bubbles, but it doesn't usually last long enough for me to get my camera and actually get a picture. Here are a few of my favorites though. Isn't she so stinkin' adorable?!?!?!?!

The Castillo Castle

So...I just had to post a picture of the cute little castle that I made for a customer service contest at work. I spent WAY too much time on it, but it was fun. And they tell me I won the prize...whatever that is! I decided on a castle since "Castillo" means castle in Spanish, but I just thot of the slogan that morning where it says, "Where you are treated like royalty!" Pretty fun, huh!

Mother's Weekend with Michelle

This past weekend I was able to go up to Rexburg and spend the weekend with Michelle for BYU-Idaho's Mothers Weekend. We had such a blast and made some wonderful memories. We were busy all weekend. Friday we went to an alumni dinner and I saw my Lambda Delta Sigma advisor from when I was at Ricks who I haven't seen in almost thirty years!

Since I was the only Mom that came from her apartment I got to "adopt" all of her roommates too. They were wonderful and took great care of me. We all went to pizza together one night. This picture is of Debbie - the awesome cook, Opal - the sweet "skater chick", Teresa -the darling Relief Society president germaphobe, Elise - the fabulous opera singer, Michelle - my beautiful daughter, and Crystal - Shell's wonderful best friend since high school. They are a really fun bunch!
Saturday we went to a couple of workshops and attended a nice luncheon. That night we laughed our guts out at "Comic Frenzy", an improv group made up of students. It was hysterical and I loved that it was clean! Afterwards we saw a concert by Natalie McMaster, a Canadian fiddler/step dancer that is INCREDIBLE!!! It was a Blast! Every Sunday night their apartment hosts a "Sweet Swap" where whoever wants to come brings a treat to share and they all mingle and eat and mostly flirt. These are just a small few of the ones that came the night I was there. Michelle is blessed with great friends and some pretty cute boys up there! Thanks for letting me come up and spend time with you Michelle. You are absolutely amazing and I am so proud to be your Mother. I LOVE YOU!!!

Conference Weekend

Easton and I ran to the store between sessions and it was pouring rain. I accidentally started to put his jacket on backwards, but decided to go ahead and zip it up that way to see what he would do. He thought it was so funny that he wanted to leave it like that.
He thought it was so much fun to walk into the stores with his hood over his face and we would say, "Who turned out the lights?" Where does he learn these things? Oh yea.....ME!!
A couple of Michelle's roommates from BYU-Idaho came and stayed with us and it was fun getting to know them. Hi Debbie and Opal! The others are two more of her roomies, Elise and Chrystal, and a friend Stephanie. What fun girls!

I love General Conference Weekend! We have some great traditions for conference and this year proved to be one of the best. Friday night Landon's family and Jen came over to watch the BYU football game and spent the night to watch conference together in the morning. I made my famous "Conference Cake" (I just changed the name to that recently since it is really a "coffee cake") and a yummy breakfast casserole in the morning and we all watched together. How about that temple coming to Rome, Italy?!?! Awesome! Saturday night the girls all get together with Haley's Mom and sisters and we have dinner and do a craft. This year we went to Whitney's house and had a lasagne dinner and made these darling witch's boots. That night Jen stayed again and we had Michelle and Debbie and Opal at our house. It was great! I loved all of the messages - especially the ones about having hope in these difficult times. It is so true that the Lord is in charge and if we just follow the prophet and keep our covenants everything will be just fine. I am so grateful to know that there is a living prophet on the earth today and for the peace and joy I have because of the Gospel in my life.

Happy Birthday to Me!!

So...I just realized that I never blogged about my birthday. Maybe it was a sub- conscious thing because I turned 49! WOW!! I can't believe it, and neither can my mother! She says I make her feel really old when I am getting up there myself. Thanks a lot Mom! :-) I had such a nice relaxing day. I let myself sleep in until 9:15, but the phone started ringing at about 9. I decided to finally answer it and it was Easton singing "Happy Birthday" to me. What a sweet way to start the day! When I got the messages there were three more singing to me...Brenda, Shane and family, and Sheralyn. Thanks guys! That afternoon my Mom and Dad and another dear friend, Mindy, called and sang to me too. Do I feel loved or what!! In the evening we went to dinner at McGraths with our parents and Jen, Landon, and Haley and then to see the play "Aida" at the Hale Center Theater. Since we didn't have the traditional cake and ice cream, Raf was so cute and bought us all "Barbie - Island Princess" cupcakes that even had rings in them. COOL!! It was a great birthday! Thanks everyone!

Bestest Friends

My best girlfriend in the entire world is Wendy. She was my roommate at Ricks College and we are still like sisters. We actually haven't talked for a couple of months just because life has been crazy, but both of our sons are serving their missions in Kentucky so we sent their letters to each other every week. And when we do talk or get together it is still the same best friend relationship. Our birthdays are just a couple of days apart so every year we go to lunch together around our birthdays and we always have so much fun and end up laughing most of the time. This year we also had another of our former roomies with us. Deb is our Canadian and we love her to death and are so happy that she has just moved to Provo where her hubby is teaching at BYU. Deb is hysterical and has been since the day she moved into our apartment, so we laughed all the more today. I am so blessed to have such great women in my life and to have such amazing friends! Love you Wendy and Deb!!

Fun at the Circus!

One of the best parts of being a grandparent is spoiling the grandkids, and since we only have two so far we are able to spoil them even more. Last week we took them (and their Mommy and Daddy) to see the circus. We first went to our favorite burger place in SLC, Crown Burger, and then we walked over to the Solutions Center. We even got there early so we could go down on the floor and see the clowns and elephants up close. We had AWESOME tickets thanks to Ana and Ed. The talent was absolutely amazing and Easton especially enjoyed the elephants, but we did learn he isn't very fond of clowns. :-( Probably because his Daddy makes such a silly one!

Our Little Cougar Fan

Landon and Easton got to go to the BYU football game against Wyoming with Rafael and Jen, and boy, did they have fun! Easton was sooo excited when he found out he called me and said, "Grandma! I get to go to the Cougar Game!" He ran around the house for the next few days yelling, "GO COUGARS!"! At the game he enjoyed a hotdog with Jen (without the bun...silly boy!) and was especially mesmerized by "Cosmo". Success...another BYU fan is born!

Blessings From Heaven

This past week was a "Watt Family Week" between Ella's Blessing, Shantel's Baptism, and Averie's Blessing. I am so grateful to live close to family so we can not only be to all of these important events, but also have our family there for us. Averie's Blessing was such a sweet event. There is just nothing greater than watching your son use his priesthood to bless his child. It was a great day, and thankfully the weather cooperated so we could eat in Landon and Haley's backyard with the 40 plus people that were there. Thanks for the photography pointers from Shane and the "Bumbo" seat of theirs we were able to get these beautiful pictures of Averie in her blessing dress. Isn't she gorgeous!

Changes Abound...

So...a couple of weeks ago we got new counselors in our bishopric. I have been Ward Music Chairman for about 3 1/2 years now and it isn't my favorite calling. I gently hinted to one of the new counselors that I was ready for a change whenever they felt inspired, so when he called to see if he could meet with Raf and I on Sunday I knew a change was coming. I am being called to be a Primary teacher for the 5 year olds and I am really excited. Usually Primary isn't where I love to serve (boy, do I sound picky about my callings!!) but I think it will be great. I haven't been in Primary for over ten years and it is a really cute age. I think it just might end up being one of the best callings ever!

I Have a New Position at Work!!

I keep forgetting to let everyone know that I have been given a new position with the same Credit Union I have worked for the past 3 1/2 years. I am going to be working in Collections and will be in charge of the accounts that go to small claims court. It will be a fun change, but I will really miss the members that I have gotten to be friends with! Hopefully they will come downstairs and say "Hello" once in awhile. I will be working from 12:30 to 5:30 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday so the hours are about six less a week, but I also will be getting commission on the accounts I collect. And best of all, since it is just a 20 hour a week position I will only have to work on Saturdays once in a great while. YAHOO!!! I won't start until the first of October because they have to hire and train my replacement, but I am excited. Wish me luck!

Adorable Averie!

My siblings didn't think I could ever take as many pictures of Averie as I have taken of Easton, but I am doing my best to keep up! She is already growing up so quickly and has changed so much. Her eyes are going to be dark it looks like. She is just a cute as a button!

Grampa 'Stillo

I am so blessed to have the greatest husband in the world, but what I have learned since Easton was born, and now with Averie is that he is the best Grandpa in the world too! There is nothing he loves more than to have the kids here and to play with them. He has more fun than they do I think! Easton is his little buddy and Averie already has Grandpa wrapped around her little finger. What a lucky girl I am to have Rafael, and for the kids to have their very own "Grampa 'Stillo"!

Averie's First Girl's Day Out

Michelle just had a birthday on the 15th and for part of it she wanted to have all the girls in the family go get pedicures together. (How is it that she can talk her Dad into paying for such things?!) It was nice to be with all of my girls...Jen, Michelle, Haley, and even Averie!

Our "Mini Vacation"

Since we did so much traveling last year, this year our money is going to some home improvements that are coming up. However, we still desperately needed a vacation while Michelle is home from BYU-I for a few weeks. We took advantage of a great offer we got to spent three nights up in Park City at the Marriott Summit Watch and it was wonderful! We ate great food, watched the Olympics every night, shopped at the Outlets, and spent an awesome day at Jordanelle Reservoir riding wave runners. Easton came up with us for a couple of nights (can you tell we can't get enough of that cute boy!) and he wore us out! Where does he get all his energy from? He would run around the condo singing at the top of his lungs a line from "Newsies"..."Everybody seize the day!" We had a blast together and just wished we could have had another week to play up there.

Best Friends!

Just one week after my daughter-in-law Haley had Averie, my sister-in-law Liz had her first girl they named "Ella". She already has four boys so we were all very excited she finally got a girl and I decided to give her a baby shower. I didn't want Haley to feel bad that I was giving Liz a shower and not her and she was a good sport about it all. Liz got a lot of fun GIRL clothes and the family even decided to go in together and get a double stroller for Haley. She'll need it with two little ones now! I am sure that Averie and Ella were good friends in Heaven and will be good friends here too!

Cedar Hills Family Festival

The week of Pioneer Day in Cedar Hills is a big deal! That's when we have the Family Festival with all kinds of fun stuff! This year we had Easton all day, since Mommy and Daddy were busy with Averie, and boy, did we have a great time! We went to the luau dinner and the parade, watched a BMX bike stunt show and fireworks, and Easton rode the blow up slides and the pony ride. One of the favorite traditions of the festival is the water cannon. That is when the ladder firetruck sprays water all across the grass and everyone runs under it and gets wet. Michelle and Easton and I decided to take advantage of cooling off. What a blast!

Me...a big brother??

Easton isn't quite sure what he thinks about this big brother thing yet. He has been a little more rambunctious to make sure he still gets all of the attention he is used to. I asked him what her name was and he said, "Sister Thomas Castillo". Before she was born he always said she was going to be named "Baby Sister" so I guess he just decided to combine that with his name...hilarious!!

"Averie" Arrives!

Happy News!! Our beautiful new granddaughter arrived healthy and strong on July 16th at 1:45ish in the morning. She was 7 lbs 4 oz and 18 1/2 inches long and has lots of dark hair. Her name is "Averie Karren Castillo". Landon called us at about 11:30 pm on the 15th and said Haley was in labor and they were at the hospital. We were just about to get into bed so we quickly changed back into our clothes and rushed down to be there. We got to the hospital by midnight and were back home and in bed by 3 am!! And that was after the baby was born and pictures were taken! Haley has sweetly allowed me to be in the delivery room when her babies were born, so I am a crazy photographer through the entire thing. We are so grateful that mom and baby are healthy and doing great and we sure love this precious new little one! We just can't get enough of her! Did I mention that she is beautiful?!?!?

Our Missionary Man

For those of you who aren't aware, our youngest son, Kyle, is serving a mission for our church in the Louisville Kentucky Mission. He has been out for nine months and has loved serving the Lord as a missionary. This past week he got a new mission president so we are anxious to hear from him about that. Elder Castillo is currently serving in Evansville, Indiana and loves his companion, Elder Goodey. He would love it if they could serve together for a lot longer, but transfers are coming up soon so things could change. It is wonderful hearing how his testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ has grown and how he has seen the Gospel bless people's lives. We love him and miss him, but know that he is right where the Lord wants him to be.

PS We heard from Kyle yesterday and he gets to stay in Evansville with Elder Goodey and will "kill him off" (send him home from his mission) after this transfer. I bet that means that Kyle will stay in Evansville for at least one more transfer after that so he can teach another missionary the way around the area. It is just what he wanted to do and is excited about the whole thing. Yeah!!