Baby's First Trip.

This past weekend, we went on our first ever out of state excursion with baby in tow!

...but before we get into the details of that...

Missionary updates:

"Hello from Texas!

This last week has been incredibly busy. We have been meeting a lot
with Diana to prepare for her baptism this Saturday (April 30). We
are so excited and it has been a long time coming! We have also been
doing a lot more more finding in our areas. The members are truly
beginning to trust us and are reaching out to us for referrals.
Yesterday we had an 'extremely intoxicated' shirtless man talk to us for about 10 minutes on how he has a masters degree in religion. It was quite an enjoyable experience! But really, the area is doing very well and I love the people. Transfers are next week, so we will see if I stay here in Leander and Parkside.

The message I wanted to share today is from a video called Life's Drama:

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2016-04-1000-lifes-drama?category=mormon-messages-2016&lang=eng&cid=HP_TU_19-4-2016_dPFD_fMRMN_xLIDyL2-3_

How often do we try to blame our problems on everything but ourselves. Hopefully we all catch ourselves doing this and correct it. We must take accountability for more than just our successes. We all make mistakes, but if we let ourselves learn from the mistakes we make, we can and will become a better person.

Love you all,

Elder Arciniaga

PS Send me a letter!
1101 brushy creek rd #902,
Cedar Park, Texas, 78613 "

Aww. I really miss this guy!

Weekly Recap:

Adam & I met my mom at work and we had lunch!

We went to Utah for my SIL, Jen's, graduation from the BYU Master's program. Yay, Jen!

My in-law's rented a minivan for our trip. It was great! 

Adam did pretty well, all things considered. He did get fussy towards the end of the drive. He was over that car seat! (At one point, we were on a two lane highway that was shut down for an hour and a half due to a car accident in front of us)

Gotta love the cuddle naps. 

We met up with my sister, Lexi, & her hubs, Sam. We went to dinner and played games at their house. It was so good to see them! 

We played Steampunk Munchkin. 

 Auntie Jen got to meet Adam for the first time! They had a good time playing together!

 This is what he wore to Auntie Jen's graduation. Hehe.

We played their Wii U. That candy game was my fave! 

It got pretty intense. Lots of screaming and cheering.  

Nana got to meet Adam too! It was so fun! 

We went to Auntie Jen's graduation, and this little stinker lasted like 15 minutes into the ceremony and then became super fussy. So we set up camp in the hallway. He was very entertained looking outside. Luckily, I was able to watch Jen walk across the stage on the tv they had in the hallway. :)

We had lunch at J Dawg's. I now understand why people rave about it! 

 On the last day of our visit we stayed with Heber & Ashley and their kids. It was a blast! We got to meet their little guy, Bridgham, who was born 2 weeks before Adam! 

Cuteness overload!

We played card games and ate millions of gummy bears and caramels.  

He did so well on the drive home! :D

We had a great time in Utah! Gotta love family!

Weekly Obsessions:

• Jamberry!

Jamberry nail wraps! I love these things so much that I'm now a Jamberry Consultant! Love!!!

Check out Jamberry HERE! 

Or to try a FREE sample, contact me! :D

• These graduation caps:

(This is my fave) 

• These quotes:

Thankful Thursday: our little family, modern technology, ice cream, baby cuddles, having my hands free occasionally, perspective.

I hope you're all having a great week!

XOXO,

1 Month Old.

Today, Adam is one month old! How crazy is that? I feel like it was just yesterday that he entered this world and forever changed our lives...

 Fun fact: that's Ryan's teddy bear that he's had since he was a baby! 

Adam Wesley v. 1.0:

• He's very curious and alert! He loves to look at everything. 
• He can roll onto his side and is currently trying to figure out how to roll onto his belly. He gets pretty frustrated once he's on his side...haha.
• He loves to sleep.
• He enjoys eating too, despite always putting up a fight. (He always puts his hands up to block his mouth, then once he's contently eating he likes to pull the bottle out of his mouth.)
• He likes his pacifier too...and is a master at popping it out of his mouth and flinging it across the room.
• He loves snuggling and being held.
• He is perfect. (Fact)

The Many Faces of Adam:

Aww. I love this sweet angel baby so much! Being a mommy is the best!

XOXO,

Stay at home mommy.

Being a stay at home mom is pretty great, not gonna lie. (It also helps that I only have one baby to look after) Adam and I spend our days eating, cuddling, cleaning and dancing. Being a mom is so much different than I thought it would be, but hey, no complaints here! ^_^ 

 

I love watching this babe sleep. (Especially when he smiles in his sleep! I always wonder if he is dreaming of being back in Heaven...)

Recap:

• I was having a hard day last week and Ryan surprised me with a cookie dough shake! He was (and still is) so sweet! (Side note: During my pregnancy, I was having serious cookie dough withdrawals and complained about it nonstop. In fact, the only reason I haven't bough a tube of cookie dough yet is because I know I'll eat it all in one sitting and make myself sick. So for now I jut make a point to walk by the cookie dough section every time I go grocery shopping and have that debate over and over. Ha.)
• I gave myself a mani/pedi with my Sapphire Seas Jamberry nail wraps (Little Mermaid inspired, from the Disney collection).
• Oh! I forgot to mention that we closed on our house! It's officially ours! 

Weekly Obsessions:

• staring at Adam while he sleeps
• my Jamberry nail wraps! Reasons I love them:

1. They don't chip.
2. They last a really long time.
3. They provide the perfect mani/pedi with minimal effort.
4. The designs are so gorgeous (...and I'm not patient enough to attempt doing the designs on my own)
5. They don't need to dry! (This is my absolute favorite thing!)

• watching Brooklyn 99 on Hulu (Gina is my fave. I wish I knew her in real life)
• watching my fave childhood movies on Netflix (ie Thumbelina, The Mummy...)
• Lularoe clothing- it's so refreshing to be able to shop an entire clothing line that is 1) modest, 2) so cute, 3) super comfortable and mom-friendly, and 4) long enough!
• Dance parties with Adam all day long!

This guy.

He constantly makes me laugh. I love him.

These memes:

Missionary Updates:

"Hello everyone,

This week has been incredible! We have spent quite a bit of time this week serving others. On Wednesday we got the wonderful opportunity to go help a member of the ward configure a light show. Remember those shows that people would do during Christmas time when they set up the lights on their house to the music? Well that's what this guy does as a side job. He is starting this early in the year to have this ready by Christmas. He has over $30,000 in lights sitting in his garage. He is actually doing this light show for a charity event. It is really quite the setup, and we got to help with the manual labor of moving and sorting these cords. Then on Thursday, we met for the second time as a zone to rehearse the national anthem! We are going to be singing and the Round Rock Express Baseball game next Monday! It is quite the amazing opportunity that we are going to have. There will only be about 15 of us singing to a whole baseball stadium! So we have one more rehearsal before the big show on next Monday! And Friday, we spent about four hours working at a ranch for disabled children. We did everything from building shacks to mowing grass. All together with the 10 of us that were there, we got a lot done in those four hours and the management was so incredibly appreciative! We have also been spending some time to stop by members of the ward and see what we can do to help hasten the work. We have several appointments next week for houses that we stopped by so hopefully something will come of that! Not too much to report outside of that!

The message I wanted to share today was just a short sentence from Stephen W. Owens from this last general conference. "In God’s eyes, the greatest leaders have always been the greatest followers."  We all are leaders, and we all must learn from our mistakes and out downfalls. If we do not, then we are denying the simple truth that we are imperfect as human beings. Change is the most important part of repenting, if we do not change, then we did not truly repent. 

I love you all,

Elder Arciniaga"

I miss Elder Arciniaga! It feels like he's been gone for so long! I'm really looking forward to him coming home in 20ish months! :)

Thankful Thursday: late night cuddles, sweet surprises, sleepy smiles, little milestones, our health, the gospel of Jesus Christ.

XOXO,

Life with Baby.

Since we brought home SweetAngelBaby from the hospital, things sure have been different! (but in a good way!) He is such a joy to have around, and I love being his mommy!

Current status:

Recap:

 Angel had a check up! He's doing great!

 Apparently Netflix plays April Fools Day jokes...in the form of John Stamos...Love it!

I fixed a thing. #YayForMe

My Jamberry manicure lasted 10 days! OMG I'm so in love with these things... 

I won MORE Jamberry nail wraps! ...and the obsession continues...

This is me! (I used to love watching the Powerpuff Girls with my seester, Lexi, when we were younger)

Weekly Obsessions:

• "Cake By The Ocean" by DNCE...SO OBSESSED!

The "Hatch Baby" app.

This thing is amazing for tracking all of Baby's stats, feedings, diaper changes, naps, etc! Without it, I would be so lost!

These Memes.

Oh! Before I forget...

Missionary Updates:

"Howdy from Texas!

This week was absolutely amazing! We spend several days getting to
meet with all the auxiliary and quorum presidents and finding out more about what we can do to help the ward in any way that we can. Leander is also an incredibly culturally diverse area. For example, one of the service projects that we do each week is help a little Chinese lady learn English. Fong is not interested in learning about the gospel at this time but loves having us help her with English. Service is absolutely one of my favorite ways to reach out and help others and people always love the help. Helping others is one of the best ways to show others the light of Christ within all of us. We also all had the amazing opportunity to hear from our inspired leaders in General Conference. There were so many amazing inspired words given to us and I personally got so much out of it. We went to Diana's (our investigator preparing for baptism) house to watch General Conference with the other two missionaries (Elders Hunt and Camire). We had such an incredible and enlightening experience!

It seems like a large focus of this General Conference was on families. Families are the most basic unit of God's organization. God himself is the Father of our spirits and has given us families to help us learn and grow together. There was a talk given by President Uchtdorf of the First Presidency of the Church in the Priesthood
session. He talked about how everything seems to be disposable these
days, from phones, to laptops, to computers, and sadly even to
relationships. Having problems at home or having disagreements is not
a justification for you to begin looking for someone else. Families
are ordained of God. And every family needs saving. He says, "Whatever problem your family is facing, whatever you must do to solve them, the beginning and the end of the solution is charity, the pure love of Christ. Without this love, even seemingly perfect families struggle. With it, even families with great challenges succeed.." How often in our lives do we let pride overtake ourselves and others? It is up to us to control our pride and exercise charity to see joy with others. We can combat pride by applying the question offered in this simple, yet effective hymn. "Have I done any good in the world today? Have I helped anyone in need? Doing good is a pleasure, a joy beyond measure, if not I have failed indeed."

I love you all, thank you so much for all the love and support!

Elder Arciniaga"

I wish Elder Arciniaga could meet my little guy already! But we've got many more moons before that will happen. ;)

Thankful Thursday: Adam Wesley, my sweet Ryan, the blessings of the temple, baby cuddles, the constant reminder of the love my Father in Heaven has for me. 

Side note: Adam smiled at me for the first time today! My heart melted 1,000 times over. All the heart eyes!

XOXO,