i will always remember her...

today, just a few short hours ago... one of our dear friends passed away... hermana camacho... i am not exactly sure how old she was, but both brent and i know that she is so happy to be with her husband again...

(sister camacho is the adorable senora in the green sweater... she is with a few of the jovenes from our ward ... last year we went to her house to put up this christmas tree...

funny thing about this picture... i had taken another one just before ... but she told me immediately after that i had to wait a moment and take another... because i had not given her the chance to comb her hair yet... this is the second and more beautiful picture...)

... one big thing that i keep thinking is that we should never leave anything for tomorrow...because you never know what will have happened by then... i am going visiting teaching on thursday... and it makes me a little sad to say that i no longer get to visit her... but i am so happy that i was able to visit her those other times... and that i can have so many fond memories of this dear woman...

... just a few things i want to remember about her...

she was amazing!!!!

she had the best memory ever!!! she knew everyone in our ward from grandparents, parents, children, aunts, uncles... you name them and she knew who everyone was... by name and face... i was the gringita...

she has not been able to go out much at all lately so our ward was taking turns to go visit her and bring her food... what a blessing it was in our lives to be able to serve her!!!

she was so loving and would get so very excited just to see a smiling and/or familiar face stop by...

she did not have much, but you always knew what was most important to her...

she was a fighter... and a lover...

she would always tell us how she thanks her Father in Heaven for what she has and was a very faithful member of the church...

i love in the picture above you can see the picture of Christ... she would always point to it and say she knew that he was with her...

she had one of the best personalities and was so funny... i would laugh every time i went to visit her...

one time... i was visiting her with another sisiter in our ward and as soon as we got there she quickly told us that she was not doing well... but that she would love some churros... she was like a little kid... of course who could say no... we went all the way downtown to get a little bag of churros so that she would "feel better"... what a sweet tooth she had... she made me proud...

... what a sad time it must have been for her when her doctor told her that she was not able to eat anything but fruits, vegetables and some grains... no more churros, cakes, brownies... tamales.. oh how excited she got when i brought her tamales from ley...

i will be forever grateful for her example to me, i will always remember her huge testimony of the gospel and what it had changed in her life.... her loving kindness and simplicity of just loving life and being happy for the small things... i love her!!! ... and we will miss her!!!

great christmas gift ideas....

what great gifts... i found this on the United States Fund (unicef) website... they have some different gift ideas.... and this is one that i loved!!! a memory game of childrens faces from around the world... what a great thing for children...

... they also have some really fun stationary... i love cards, i always love to have fun and different cards around for when i need them... look at these ones... they are called "mexican doors"...

check it out, they have a bunch of different stuff that is so cute... you can buy from the website or go to the stores that offer unicef stuff... ikea, pier one... ect...

unicef...

... what?

... who?

english hothouse cucumber...

"Your baby now weighs about a pound and two-thirds and measures 14 inches (an English hothouse cucumber), from head to heel." babycenter.com

i had no idea what the difference was from a ordinary regular cucumber to an english hothouse cucumber... so here they are...

...96 days left... crazy how time flys huh...

some people said...

two new places i want to try...

first... TICOZ.... has anybody eaten there? ...a review i read used the words "latin fusion" to describe the food... the people that were telling me about it said that they have awesome "guacammus"... hummus and guacamole mixed... does that not sound amazing! next time we are in phx i want to check it out!!! it is on camelback and 13th... anybody up for it?

watch this clip and then you will definitly want to go there... or am i just really hungry right now... what is ticoz...

and then there is FEZ ... a middle eastern food restuarant that is owned by the same people... i found FEZ while looking up TICOZ... but i now i want to go to both places... brent and i love middle eastern food... yum!!!

baby stuff...

brent and i finally found a stroller after many hours of searching! we just ordered the maclaren techno xrl 2007 in tan and crimson and i cant wait to get it... for anyone else looking for baby stuff i would check albeebaby.com , babycenter.com and csnbaby.com... they have the best deals i have found so far! plus there is free shipping at all three of these, but be careful on babycenter... sometimes they have a fee that is added last minute for oversized shipping... oh, and we found our crib (without this bedding) on csnbaby too...

i guess i am picky when it comes to baby/crib bedding... this is the only set that i have found that i like... target.com

that is my most favorite... and this is one that i dont mind... same thing but different color... but i love the black and white so much more!!!

i also love looking at all the fun stuff they have posted on tangled and true... here are a few fun things...

crib bedding by Supernatural Baby

this is their urban collection bedding... and here is their diaper clutch to match...

and i just love these...

Chittypulga knit donuts... so cute...

and here is a puj sling...

simmer sauce...

i tried a new "simmer sauce" today and both of us loved it! i miss not having trader joes, sprouts, whole foods... ect... here, but this is one item that i bought while in the states not too long ago... so good! i just put chicken breasts in the crock pot then poured this sauce over top and went to work... we came home to some great chicken... all i had to do was shred the chicken and buy the tortillas and avacados... maybe tomorrow we will have some for lunch with black beans and rice!

oh.... and.... she is finally gone!!!! brents favorite billboard picture! the old lady that is coming out of the chilis ... so... now if you want to remember her, it will only be on our blog, i think it was the very first post i ever did.... haha...

fun kit

deodorant? check

minty gum...? check

rubbers?.... check

All you need for a night out on the prowl. I love these Mexican ofertas. The other day we saw one at the local grocery that had a combo of mayonaise and hot chocolate mix. Mayonaise always pushes products. Keep an eye out for the mayo, rubber mix.

the most wonderful time of the year....

i love this time of year... we have been so busy enjoying it that we havnet blogged for awhile... here is what we have been up to...

making one of my favorites with my brother... chocolate malts! yummy....

halloween donuts with grandparents....

we had our 3rd wedding anniversary...

it fell on a sunday... so i made this... one of brents favorites... torta di pasta (gatta love food network and my personal favorite Giada De Laurentiis)

.... and for desert... baked apples with vanilla ice cream on top... grandma clarks specialty...

girls camp...

putting up the christmas tree... we have been waiting a whole year to put this up, we bought everything on sale last year after christmas and wanted to have a hot pink and blue decorated white tree... next year we are thinking black and white!

thanksgiving...

of course i didnt take one picture (but marla did)... but we were in mesa to celebrate with family!!!

oh... and best of all... yes... we found out we are having a boy! we are both so very excited and cant wait....

this is the first thing i bought, but gap just emailed me and said, "we regret to inform you that we no longer have this item in stock and will be refunding you the full amount" i was so bummed out.... i loved this vest and it was only 9.99... uggg....

we hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving! and happy holidays!

nuts...

happy halloween!!!

mutual:halloween:too much eating... (cake, candy, donuts, chocolate, jello, apples.. more candy)

the winner of the jello eating contest we had... all the kids had to race to see who could eat the jello fastest... with a straw... she beat everyone!!!

as long as i can remember we would always have the "donut on the string" game for ward halloween parties... you have to eat it before it falls on the ground.... i love it... such a great game to watch...

bobbing for apples... i thought i could get out of this one... but i guess i was wrong... so i said, if i am going, i am gonna get an apple... i dunked my whole head in... but i got one!!!

here are some more apple winners!!!

happy halloween!!!

hes home.....

october 23rd 2007... panama to atlanta georgia to phoenix... flight 27... arrival time 6:34pm.... here are the shoes that he went out with... the "originals" and now they have come home with them....
no longer elder alex clark... yeah, we are so excited that he is home... his flight was delayed a couple hours, so every half hour we were checking flight information... and luckily he didnt come in too much later than his original time... which was 5:53pm...

chocoflan...

so good.... another mexican recipe that i want to remember and share... last month when my visiting teachers were over, we got talking about chocoflan and i mentioned that i want to know how to make it... it is so goood! so... we got together last night and hermana sotelo taught us how to make chocoflan... ( the bottom half of the cake/flan is chocolate cake and the top layer is flan)

• chocolate cake mix, any kind, whatever you prefer... then mix it according to the directions on the box. set aside.


• next the flan mixture: 4 large eggs or 5 small eggs, 1 can of leche clavel (evaporated milk), 1 can lechera (sweetened condensed milk), 1 box of media crema or 1/2 bar of cream cheese (whichever you prefer), 1 tsp of vanilla. mix in blender until smooth.


• "grease" a bundt pan with caramel or dulce de leche, (that is what i used) and then pour in about half the cake mix, then about 4 cups of the flan mixture.


• next you will place the bundt pan in another 8x8 or 9x9 pan that has hot water it in, "bano maria"... then place all of this in the oven at 350 F or 180 C for the time that is indicated on the cake box for bundt cake... probably about 30 to 35 mins.


• when you take the cake out, immediately take the bundt pan out of the bano maria and put it in a ice cold bath to chill the flan as soon as possible. when it is cool enough, place in refrigerator to cool faster. next flip out the cake on a platter and there it is. (dont leave the cake in the pan too long or it wont come out of the pan clean) finish cooling for a few more hours in the refrigerator, until completely cooled, before serving.


• eat!!!

we love our visitors....

we had so much fun while our family was here... (top: right after church, bottom: marlas favorite soda shop) thanks so much for coming guys, it was so fun! i cant wait to do it again sometime!!! love you all!!! (thanks for the pictures shauna)

girl or boy????

well, i had my 18 week doctors appointment today... and as she was doing the ultrasound we got a perfect view... she, my doctor, said..."these are the legs... this is the "pompis" (translation: gluteus maximus) and this is the pubic area..." well, in that area we were hoping to see something that would give us a clue.... there was nothing... so brent says, "parece que es nina, verdad?" and she says, "well, i cant tell you either way, i am just not sure"...

so... brent thinks it is a girl, but..... says that he is not the doctor... i still dont know, but loved watching, once again, the baby move around and squirm... i swear one time he/she was waving at us... i love ultrasounds... i told brent i want to buy a machine so we could just take a look whenever we wanted.... and he said, "ok, tom cruise"....

so long story short... we are still not sure... but so very happy that the baby is healthy and happy kicking around...

... when in rome...

no i am not trying to quote "anchorman"....

we have adopted a few "customs" here in mexico..... when we go to the grocery store, and if we buy pineapples, we pull off the green top part before we buy it... it weighs less, and then you pay less... haha... you can always find a few green tops without their pineapple bottoms... it always makes me laugh...

last weekend...

we celebrated the first day of fall with the youth, seeing as it was saturday which equals mutual... both of us felt so blessed after the day was over...

we were able to get almost every single one of our youth from the young mens and young womens to this activity... i would like to call it "super mutual"... first we planned on going to the temple to do baptisms for the dead, and since that is a hour an a half away we decided that we would take advantage of being in a bigger city with all the kids, so we planned on staying there and doing a few other activities...

the best part about the whole thing... the young women were in charge of this activity, and oh my goodness, friday night i was almost in tears... throughout the week before hand i had asked certain people if they could help us get to the temple with the use of their cars... but as i was calling to confirm the plan for saturday morning, i had a few kinks in our plan... at first not very happy... but soon i came to realize that this is a very righteous activity and that if i just pray, do everything i can possibly do and then just have faith, that it somehow would work out.... and it did, what a faith booster... we were able to get 22 youth to the temple! i was the happiest person alive! i loved being in the temple with them, i couldnt help but smile while watching them. it was wonderful!

after the temple we all went to costco for lunch! those kids can eat!!! between them and the adults that were there... 13 pizzas were consumed!