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.