Labor Day Visit

Like I mentioned in my last post, my parents and brother came from 10 hours away to come visit us...and by "us" I mean Dominic. They came bearing gifts like the three wise men...

It's cool though, after all, he is the only grandchild for now. They drove up on an early Saturday morning, and arrived by dinner that night. Unfortunately, I didn't have dinner ready, so we were forced to catch up over pizza and soda....yeah, sad...I know.

They were here for about a week, and even though it sounds like a long time...it really wasn't. Spencer had school all week (except for Monday Labor Day) and he had to study, so most days he would head to the library after school. So, it was just the two of us and my family. We managed to go to the mall, and nearby stores, the post office (cause that's an important part of any trip). We also bought some meat and grilled it out back...yeah, it's not a family reunion if meat is not involved....that's the Villarreal way. And you got to get it at the Mexican store...not walmart. They don't know anything about meat.

Having a blast!

Visiting the V Campus

Walking downtown...Dom confuses everything for the jungle gym.

My dad is super awesome. I don't tell him enough...but very time he visits us I have a list that I need help with. This time he tried to help me get better local channels (I don't know what wrong with our antenna), and put up some things that I hadn't had a chance to in the apartment. I also had a special assignment for him- fix one of Dom's toys.
He has a toy that resembles the front of a car and you get to have fun driving it. It vibrates and makes all kinds of noises, but recently the sounds stopped. I asked my dad to see if he could look at it. And immediately, opens the thing. he discovered with his handy dandy equipment that speaker was no longer functional and asked me if I had an extra one lying around. I thought he was joking....he wasn't. We started looking around and found my old iHome and told him it was okay to take apart, I hate how it sounds anyways. So he took those speakers apart and was able to put that speaker into the original toy (WHO DOES THAT????). Next thing you know, the toy functioned like it was suppose to right away. This all happened within one hour...it was nuts.  My dad has always been good at this kind of stuff, and it's still amazing to me...to get to watch him do it first hand. I was taking notes, but we all know I would never be able to do such things.

 

Time flew by and next thing I knew, it was Friday night. They headed out early Saturday and arrived home late that same day. How sad...good times fly by fast. But it was really good to see them.

Then, I had totally forgot, but I had to speak in sacrament meeting that next sunday (as in the day after they left). Dom was not cooperating with nap time, so I decided to be a big girl and wake up early and do my talk then. By Sunday, I was so nervous and ready to go. This was my first time speaking in sacrament meeting in Spanish.  Spencer says I spoke too fast...but whatever. It was still 15 minutes long. Don't you hate it when the youth are suppose to speak for 5 minutes and it only takes them like 30 seconds because they wrote a paragraph???? SERIOUSLY...
So, since I didn't want to do that...I went ahead and wrote 4 pages .Spencer got to speak a week later.

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned before, but when we moved here we decided to attend the Spanish Ward in TN. Why? because it seems that anywhere else there are branches....and it was always a turn off...people never seem to go and too much responsibility is placed on the members that DO go every week...the5 of them haha...but seriously...true story. And they were too far for us to drive, it was just easier to go to our assigned ward. But this time, it was the same building AND two hours earlier...it's like it was meant to be. These people are so welcoming...in all aspects. They are so intrigued as to why we're here, and so excited that Spencer is a nurse. Probably to make house calls....haha. Next thing you know, it was the start of something new. Now we have about 4 families that have moved to this ward and speak very little Spanish...so that's really cool.

Anyways, it's really cool to be in a totally different environment. It was weird giving talks in a language that I do not consider my primary one. And Dom loves it! So many more boys in this ward, than before. And...they are all crazy...so he blends right in. SO, now we have been assigned to teach Sunday School to the 12-13 year olds and I have also been assigned to be 2nd counselor in the YW program (so I get to teach the beehives twice on Sundays....lucky me).  As luck would have it, the beehives are the largest group in the youth...a total of 9. I know...we've only been here a month, and already they are whipping us into shape. But honestly, we don't mind, we've been kinda slacking for the past couple of years, so it's nice to be needed, especially in the youth. I love the youth...I love how "youthful" they keep me...haha. let's be honest...relief society...sometimes...isn't as much fun as YW. I think the Lord is trying to tell me something... cause this is our 3rd time teaching sunday school for the youth and the 2nd time I've been in YW. It's probably something towards the line of "you're too immature for the grownup class" or "you need to redo your personal progress" haha.