Another Sunday Night

Thanks Matt for letting us fast with you. My prayers were also ascending heavenward. I definitely felt that Heavenly Father was involved in this one. It was a great opportunity for me.

This week I have been thinking about how blessed we are as members of the church. We have available at our fingertips an almost unlimited resource of spiritual material. The Ensign and other church magazines, scriptures, millions (probably) of books on just about any gospel topic we need, broadcasts (like last night) meant to strengthen and lift us, and show us where we can improve, lessons every week to strengthen us spiritually, temples close by, uplifting music, a church channel that we could watch 24/7 if we choose. There is no reason for anyone to not be spiritually fed. I was thinking today about Moses and the children of Israel. You will remember that they were bitten by poisonous serpents, and in order to be healed, all they had to do was look. A simple task. What were they thinking? Are we like them? Do we get so busy with the details of our lives that we can't find time for what really matters? We don't even need to leave our homes to find the words of the prophet--either written or audible. We can actually hear the Prophet's voice! Do we not look because of the easiness of the way? I hope not. I feel we are the most blessed of any people who have ever lived on the earth. I know Heavenly Father loves us all and wants us back with Him in heaven. I hope we will study, pray, attend the temple and do whatever the Spirit tells us we need to do to strengthen our testimonies of the truth. We need to all make it to the celestial kingdom together. I love all of you. xoxoxo mom/debby/grandma

1:42:26

That's how long it took me to do my sprint triathlon yesterday. It was fantastic and I felt great and had a fun time. No sickness, no injuries. I made it a point to be a cheerleader for everyone I passed (or was passed by) to keep up a good attitude. Lauren and I were matching - same swimsuits and everything. We called ourselves Team Awesome. I know. Cute.

xo

Abby

Pictures

Way cute pictures Dana and Jason! I personally do not know anything about football except that yeast cells look like footballs. We are going to a UVa game in a couple weeks though. I love going to football games, though I have no clue what is going on. It is just a fun event!

I want to mention... Matt's blog... there are some interesting pictures on there. You should all take a peek.

www.mattcrowshaw.blogspot.com

(yes. 2 w's keeps it somewhat private and I cant type on a flat keyboard when i am typing for him. sigh)

Go Boise State!

Just wanted to do a little picture update. My kids will be Broncos for life, whether they want to be or not!

A matter of fasting

I just want to ask that anyone who has the time, inclination and desire to join Matt and I this week in prayer- and in fasting- one day this week. He takes the LSAT Saturday very early in the morning (an hour and a half away) and we have great faith in the testimony of the strength of prayers. Also, since we have conference the first Sunday of the month, it would maybe provide additional opportunity for a person who would otherwise be fasting.

We need a score that will get us into a good school (hopefully local) and if not local, into a school with which we would fit well.

It was a glorious day for us- Matt did a great job teaching on Spiritual Gifts that earned him thanks from his class (and not only because of the chocolate), Valerie gave and amazing talk and I actually did not freak out too terribly talking about Chastity with my Laurels. It was actually an amazing discussion. I had a new girl in class to me- apparently an inactive member who stayed after class to talk to me for quite a while who could use prayers and a testimony of trusting the Lord as well.

Finally, we had church friends over for lunch- our first guests- and it was awesome then we went to a farewell gathering at Bishop Snow's- he and Sister Snow are leaving for a mission to the Philapenes in 2 weeks.

I hope all of you had a lovely sabbath as well.

The things kids say

To add to my embarassment the kids and I were at Wal-Mart a few weeks ago. The store was doing some remodeling and the asile that we happened to be in was more narrow than usual, only large enough for a shopping cart and an average sized person. As I am looking for whatever a large lady squeezed by. Mia and I have had the "we don't call people fat" conversation quite a few times. So being the smart girl she is she said "Mom, that lady is really big!" I knew what was going through her mind before she even said it and and I was trying to stop her from saying anything at all. Much to my dismay my efforts were in vain. The lady turned and gave a very evil stare at us and I tried to tell Mia that what she said was wrong and so forth. I wanted to run away. That's my girl.

Mia Made a Funny

So we went to Buffalo Wild Wings for Boneless Thursday tonight. You gotta love the Caribbean Jerk. Anyway, there were these two ladies enjoying an adult beverage sitting next to us. They were talking to the kids a little bit. Then they went outside to sit. A little while later they came back in through the door that was right by our table after a little more alcohol and looked at Mia and said "is that a good french fry" a little louder than the socially acceptable level (think drunk Minnesota accent). Of course Mia looks at them like they're crazy and gives her awkward smile. She watched them walk away for 5 or 10 seconds then says "Mommy, why do they wobble when they walk like penguins?" Luckily they were far enough away and close enough to being drunk that they didn't hear her.
Anyways, that's the hilight for the night.
Colin

The Globe

This will be my life for the next 3 weeks. Yes, I'm a horrible wife to be leaving Alex for such a long period of time, but unfortunately there's not much I can do about it. I've been promised that next year I'll travel less. We'll see about that...

This trip will take me to London, Brussels, Paris, Istanbul, Bangkok, Chennai (India) and Hong Kong. If y'all want anything let me know. As always, I'll be looking for Grandma's magnets and mom's nativities and can keep my eyes peeled for anything else you might want/need.

If anything interesting happens while traveling, I'll definitely write about it. Can't wait to hear about Abby's trip!

Lots of love to everyone (especially the little ones),
Les

a real life blogger

Hey Everyone,

I made a blog for me to put all my random thoughts. So if you need to either see some goofy pics of me or scratch your head and wonder what I was thinking at the time I wrote something follow this link.


Random Ramblings (not much on the bling)

Thoughts on Prayer

I was just sitting here tonight realizing that for the first time in a while, I have been very much under the vigil of prayer for many of those I love in precarious situations. It also occurs to me how sincere and pleading those prayers are and how I hope to become extremely proficient at prayers when times are excellent, as well as when they are not.

I also remember the most-recent time I remained in near-constant prayer about one year ago when my very good friends' baby was born 15 weeks early. At first I prayed he would make it through the day, then the night, then the week, then 3 weeks... now he is almost one year old. He still has a major road ahead of him, but he is a miracle and I am certain the many prayers that went up for him sustained that little soul.

I have a video of him on my blog and even now it reduces me to tears to realize how absolutely awful it was to see him when he was first born, but how completely I loved him and how immediate that love was.

Remember the Sunday Dinner Table?

So, what did you learn at church today? I learned that when the Spirit speaks to us, generally, we have just a few seconds to respond spiritually, and if we don't respond in that time, we tend to pass it off as just a thought, or maybe 'I didn't really feel that', or...you get the drift. I have had this experience myself. Just this past week I had a very strong impression that I needed to go to the hospital. I'm fine, it was not a big deal, but I think it could have been. I was feeling very strongly that something was wrong with me, so Dad took me to the ER. I was very dehydrated, then in the ER I didn't get any fluids for a couple of hours, and my BP started to drop. The nurses (and I do mean plural, nurses) finally got an IV in me and my BP started to climb. They kept me overnight, and found nothing. I did think of you Coln when they did this CT angiosomthing. Anyway, I don't know why I needed to do that, but I could not deny the promptings I felt, and when Ben Call was describing today how we need to react very quickly to the Spirit, I knew it was true. Love you all. I am drinking way more water every day now. xoxo mom

Firm and Strong

Some of you may remember the incident of my sister Mary Lou plowing down our wooden posted mailbox while trying to back down our driveway a few years ago. Wiped it right out. The thing is, the driveway is over 20 feet wide, enough for 3 cars, but in her defense, it was icey at the time. Well, since elaborate brick mailboxes were in vogue at the time, we got together with the Hills next door and built the present monolith, assuring that it was built to last.

So, I'm coming out of church today when my home teacher, Phil Lamprecht calls to me from his brand new Ford Edge and asks me to look at his rear bumper where I see a deep crease. Then he sheepishly admits to me that last week after being a good home teacher and bringing us some fresh corn, he was backing down our driveway (clear and dry on a summer day) when the mailbox just jumped right out there in his way. Bummer. I guess the car can be fixed, and Phil's confidence will mend with time, but so far, the monolith stands unscathed, firm and strong. All is well I guess, but the worst of the whole incident is yet another demonstration of the sad principle that no good deed goes unpunished. Be careful out there.

Dad

Change of Plans

The blog has hit a dead spot lately, so I thought I would let everyone know what's new with us. I have decided that surgery is not what I want to do with the rest of my life. Once I got into it here I realized it is not a life I want to subject myself or my family to. Although many surgeons have good family lives, it is very difficult to do. It's not really as fun as it was when I was a student. In the end I'm just not happy doing it right now, and if I'm going to make a switch now is the time to do it.
I am in the process of applying to radiology programs. Hopefully I'll be finished with it in a couple weeks. That means I get to travel all over the place for interviews again. There is a program in Spokanne that Lori is hoping for, but I just want to get some interviews and go wherever will take me. Hopefully that means we will be closer to some of you.
Anyway, that's what's new with us.
Go Browns!
Colin

A Million Ways

Abby's big news of the day: I'm going to Italy tomorrow!

Click here for the fun video of the day.

That link automatically downloads a dance me and some friends did at my ward's Labor Day campout. It was a big hit! (But I can't lie, we just copied this dance.) I was hoping to put the actual vid here, but it's too big. If I can ever shrink it down, I'll post it.

Arreviderchi!!

Thoughts on gross political statements...

Matt thought a recent post I made to my personal blog might interest some of you- http://vamisscrys.blogspot.com/ is my blog and I posted a bit today on a bumper sticker that I really did not like much at all... it got me to thinking politics and elections though... take a look if you like that sort of thing.

Crystal

My Husband is Famous!

I can't remember if I sent any of our honeymoon photos to y'all, but this is one. Alex sent it to El Norte (the State of Nuevo Leon's newspaper- www.elnorte.com), and it was published today. I took the picture, but I can't really take credit for it, because Alex told me exactly what to do. It's in Haleakala, Maui. Pretty cool, huh?! Muak!

Matt- funny

As most of you (or as I am finding out- ALL of you) probably know, Matt and I started dating seriously in October of last year- this was after we met, dated 2 weeks and "broke up" the week after he moved to Virginia last summer...

I tried my best to reconnect with Matt last year after the break up and my wiley ways of inviting the entire singles' ward with me on a hike net me exactly what I was hoping for- Matt came, but no one else did... It was a lovely hike with he and Valerie and our spirits were high all morning, afternoon and evening, and Matt and I have been together ever since.

This was a video I made of him after the hike and an invigorating lunch.

Enjoy...

Back to the Land of the Living...

So...I feel like I have so much to catch everyone up on that I don't know where to begin. It's Saturday and I'm at home in our cute new house. Alex had to work (at least one weekend a month he's on call). :( I guess I shouldn't complain since I'll be traveling regularly for work through the end of this year. My next trip is a 3-week, 8-country tour. I feel terrible about it, but at this point in time, it's too late for me to not go.

On to a more happy subject (or maybe sad depending on how you see it). Starting at the point when we all left Monterrey after our wedding (our 2nd night as a married couple)... Alex and I decided to hitch a ride with mom and dad (and Grandma and Grandpa and Jason) to San Antonio, because we'd inconveniently decided to fly out of the San Antonio airport to Hawaii. Alex's car had been in a wreck and mine was in San Antonio, so it was either the bus or start our honeymoon family-style.

Not only were we with mom and dad, but we were also in a caravan with the Becky and Ray Vanderlouw family (and Abby and Justin sardine-packed into their van). We really opted to go family-style. Another beautiful detail about the journey that I should not leave out is that after a longer than brief stop at the stake center and then the Carl's Jr. drive through, we decided to leave town at about 10pm.

Mom (thank goodness!) drove us through Mexico, with Jason giving her some helpful advice about driving in Mexico (Just gun it!) and Alex directing her out of town. Dad was in the passenger seat, Grandma and Grandpa were in the middle seat, and Jason, Alex and I were squeezed into the back seat that was probably made for 2 people, 4'10" and about 100 lbs. I, basically, spent most of the trip in fetal position. I'm not really sure how Alex and Jason managed.

What added to the "fun-ness" of the trip was that the week before the wedding I'd averaged 4-5 hours of sleep each night. So for the 6 hour trip, I was in and out of sleep. Everyone, except me, was surprisingly jovial and surprisingly AWAKE. I'd momentarily wake up when the rest of the car would explode in laughter at a joke someone would make (half being about us spending our honeymoon with the family). At midnight we finally reached the border, only to find ourselves in a 2-hour line of cars waiting to cross the border. Luckily, a semi-illegal Mexican window washer provided quite a bit of entertainment to us all with his show-style window washing. He was working on the bridge between Mexico and the U.S. At times he was on the Mexico side and at times he'd cross over to the U.S. side, which was the illegal part of his work. It was worth the entire $4 we paid him.

At about 2am we rolled into Laredo, Texas and after a quick junk food/gas station stop, Dad started driving. I was somehow wide awake at that point. Maybe it was because of the following pattern that was repeated approximately every 30 seconds:

Dad weaves either into the middle of the highway or onto the shoulder...either way the wheels make that terrifyingly loud noise and vibration they're supposed to make when you cross a line you shouldn't. This would wake mom up and she would say "David", which Alex obviously heard enough to now be able to repeat to me in mom's perfect intonation at any random moment. Dad would then respond to mom's concern saying "I'm fine" and continue on with whatever he'd been saying to Alex. (We'd changed positions in Laredo and mom was now in the midget back seat between me and Jason.) Poor Grandma and Grandpa. I don't think either of them even shut their eyes once the entire night.

We finally got to San Antonio at about 5am. Alex and I were supposed to be at the airport at about 5:15am, so it was actually perfect timing. I was SO sad to say goodbye to everyone and to have to be alone with my new husband for the rest of our honeymoon, I wasn't sure how I was going to manage. Luckily, I am the travel guru and had arranged the best seats in coach class for both of us, with plenty of leg room. No midget airplane travel for us! We both managed to doze on the plane, but I don't think we quite caught up on our sleep. The first night in Hawaii we slept 12 hours, and I think we only returned to a normal 8 hours when we got back to Monterrey. I don't know how the rest of you travelers were able to recuperate without a vacation.

Anyhow, Maui was absolute bliss. The weather was great, the island was beautiful and Alex saw a sea turtle when he was snorkeling. The only problem was that the trip was too short. After the stressful experience of a wedding, 2 weeks should be mandatory.

The trip to Pocatello was also a lot of fun. It was great to see Valerie, Colby and Eva (oh yeah, and their parents). It was also a nice experience to be there to see Grandma and Grandpa celebrate their 60th anniversary. We wish you all could have been there as well. Dad has seriously made the back yard a Garden of Eden, and people at the open house couldn't stop gushing about how amazing it was. Carl made crepes flambe and mom made special meatballs. If only I'd been able to taste either. Too many people to talk to-- I saw lots of high school, college and even California friends. Becky, all of my/our friends were disappointed you weren't there. ;(

We're now back in our cute house and it's coming together slowly. We have air conditioning, a fridge and a washer. We'll slowly start to get the other things we need. We're buying paint today. Alex seems to think a 42" flat panel TV is a necessity, and I'm thinking that a couch or a kitchen table would be nice. ;) Married life has been great so far, and I'm enjoying working from home. No complaints from Mexico.

It was very important to me that you all be here for the wedding. Thanks for making the trek, and mom and dad you deserve the "Best Parents in the Universe" prize for making it all happen. Please remember that "nuestra casa es tu casa", and we hope you all come and visit A LOT. I think we've decided to go to Cleveland for Thanksgiving, so we'll see you all there for the next Croshaw Family adventure.

Lots of love,
Leslie