Familia Cedeño

Our son, the boy who had 2 birthday parties

2012-01-24T11:33:00.000-08:00

Hello again!! It's almost the end of January and here I am about to post about the middle of December. Yeah, life is that good. :D

So our little man Samuel turned a year old this past December and we had a great time celebrating. Since his birthday landed on a Saturday and was right after Roberto was done with his semester of school, we decided we would have his official birthday party in Utah with our family since we were planning on being there for Christmas.

But we live in Idaho and have some great friends here as well, so I couldn't just blow them off, I had to give them a chance to party with us too. So we had a get together at our place a week before his actual birthday.

Funny thing is, he enjoyed himself a lot more at the pre-birthday party than at the actual big party we had at Utah. He totally dug into his cake at the first party and then at the second party he didn't even touch the cupcake I put in front of him. Roberto ended up just putting frosting on his face to see if he'd get into it, but nope. But all in all, everything turned out great.

Pre-birthday party pics

Official birthday party pics

We love this little guy with all our hearts.

What he's getting into these days

2011-12-02T11:03:00.000-08:00

Ever since he could pull himself up, he has been getting into anything he can. All of these photos were taken in the moment he was getting into stuff, except for the last two, we actually put him on the chair for those.

He is SO close to walking all of the time. I can't believe we are about two weeks away from his birthday!!

Citizens of Rexburg you have been warned!! He is on the move!

Feast with family

2011-12-01T20:41:00.000-08:00

This Thanksgiving was spent in Salt Lake City Utah with family. Roberto's mom lives just 10 minutes or so away from my parents new location in West Valley. So we were able to be with both sides of the family.

Can you tell who was the center of attention?

Costumes & Candies

2011-12-01T20:34:00.001-08:00

This was the whole point of that holiday. He didn't mind wearing that outfit one bit. I think he secretly wants to be a lion. It was fun.

23 and 30

2011-11-04T11:12:00.000-07:00

The numbers in the title of this post represent my and my husband's age. Now take a look at us.

Would you have thought that we had such an age gap? That we are even as old as we are?

I met Roberto when I was 10 going on 11 and he was 16 or 17, I'm not totally sure. We met through church. We were in the same district in NYC(smaller than a stake) and our families had become great friends. As an 11 year old girl, I looked up to him (literally and figuratively). He was funny, he was nice, gosh just the fact that he talked to me left me in awe. Even though we had this age difference, I found myself becoming such great friends with him and he didn't seem to mind being my friend which was just SO COOL to me.

Did I ever think that this same guy would fall in love with me? No, I didn't. As a little girl, I guess now I admit- I had a little crush on him; loving the fact that he would dance with me at the ward parties and acknowledge me in public. I loved the attention. He made me feel special, though I had no idea that he felt I was so special.

That was our beginning. Look at us now. <3

No, that's not for me.

2011-10-13T14:00:00.000-07:00

A little over a week ago I was invited to go to a glamor workshop with a friend who is a beauty consultant with Mary Kay. At 5:30 p.m. I went over to her place and waited while she got ready to go. She was actually waiting for a customer to show up so she could get some eye shadow to her right before we left for our meeting.

As I watched her roll out her Mary Kay travel bags full of cosmetics and help her customer, I thought, "Wow, that could never be me."

She helped the customer and a little while later we were on our way to this workshop. I entered the building named "The Pink Studio". I laughed a little to myself and in we went. The place was full of women, dressed up, looking very happy to be there. I took my seat and the class began.

I had been to a Mary Kay function before, just not one as elaborate as this one. We did skin care, foundation and makeup all in one sitting. To be honest with you, makeup wasn't a part of my everyday regimen. In fact, I showed up to this thing with not a bit of makeup on my face. Not that I didn't care for it, I just didn't feel like I absolutely needed to have it on my face all the time. So once it was all done and I was asked to look in the mirror, I really liked what I saw, it just overwhelmed me because I felt it was a bit too dramatic. Another consultant asked if I could do this look everyday and I said "No, this is more of a special occasion look for me." She then said something like this "Well, I like to think that I should look my best everyday, no matter what the occasion."

That's where it all started. The wheels in my head started turning and I was giving it a little more thought than I had ever did. I grew up thinking that makeup was a special time thing, because I was raised in a home where my mother did exactly that. Half the time I didn't bother putting on makeup because of all the extra work that would be waiting for me at the end of the day when I would have to take it off. Not to mention the fact that I couldn't touch my face at all or else it would ruin all the stuff that was on there. Then there was the whole confidence thing. I thought that if I depended on makeup to feel good about myself or if I felt like I couldn't leave the house without some on my face, that that meant I didn't feel that great about how I looked naturally.

I started to realize that I had been WAY too judgmental of women who in my eyes cared way too much about their appearance, you know, the ones that are labeled "high maintenance" because they actually take time to put makeup on or just look really nice ALL of the time. How horrible of me, not good.

Later on after the initial meeting was over, I was invited to listen to the Mary Kay business opportunity. The Sales Director started talking about how wonderful of an opportunity this business was for women because it offers so many things for them. The part that stood out to me the most was when she talked about personal growth and achievement. Prior to this meeting, I had given plenty of thought as to what else I would dedicate my time to while I was raising my children, because I knew it was important for me to keep growing and learning in other areas of my life. I got that feeling. That feeling like this was an opportunity for me to grow, for me to get out of my comfort zone and become a better version of myself.

But you know what really got me into this? The fact that when I looked at the Sales Director and how glamorous and confident she was, I started thinking "Well, why couldn't that be me?"

And now, a week later, I am an Independent Beauty Consultant with Mary Kay, Inc.
Here's to a new adventure!

Our last name

2011-10-03T09:46:00.000-07:00

When Roberto and I were first married, we considered something that most married couples (especially in our LDS culture) don't really have to think about. We were considering to either keep the last name that Roberto had or to change that last name to another family name.

Why, you may ask?

I'll tell you why (hence this post). Roberto's parents had him out of wedlock. (GASP) His dad was actually engaged to another woman when this whole affair happened (pretty scandalous, huh?) Roberto's mom was single. Anyway, Roberto was raised by his mother, since she didn't want any more drama with having to bring into the light what had happened between her and his father, especially since he was engaged to someone else. So, in Ecuador, Roberto was known as Roberto Ayuso (which is his mother's maiden name). (FYI: Roberto's dad did know about him and was somewhat involved in his life. Roberto has memories of seeing his dad when he was 3 or 4. Eventually, his dad's family found out about the whole thing and everything worked out somewhat.)

Fast forward years later, Roberto had moved to the U.S. and his mother had married a man named Franklin Cedeño. (Hey there it is!) OK. So, during this time, Roberto was given Cedeño as his last name and it has been his last name ever since he lived in the U.S. of A. He was even sealed to Franklin, his mom and his brothers and sisters from that marriage.

So when the time came for us to get married, we thought- we could change our last name, but to what? Ayuso? In the end, we figured it was fine just the way it was, and Roberto did not want to go through all the hassle of changing his records (that was the main reason.)

Now GET THIS. Roberto's mother is now no longer married to Franklin Cedeño. They were divorced this past April. In fact she has remarried since then and has another last name. So now, Roberto, I and all of our children will have the last name Cedeño, when in fact, we are not related (by blood) to the Cedeño family line.

Let that sink in. What do you think? Would that bother you?

The bottom line is, it is our history. No matter how messed up it may seem, we will still carry the last name Cedeño, because it represents what happened in our lives, mainly in the life of my husband, since he was not raised by his biological father.

Well there it is, hopefully our ancestors won't hate us.

Turning to the Lord

2011-09-23T11:01:00.001-07:00

I feel impressed to share my thoughts on my personal relationship with God.

It is so easy today to turn to other sources for help or advice. We might get caught up in what other people have to say about whatever it is that we are trying to get over or overcome. I was reminded today that the ultimate advice and comfort we can receive is from our Father in heaven.

When I pray, I feel so close to Him, as if He is in the room with me. It is so comforting to be able to know that I am His daughter and that He is there listening. That no matter what I am feeling or dealing with, that He can understand and that I can say whatever is on my mind and He will love me and give me what I need.

I am so grateful that I know that I am a child of God. That I have an eternal purpose and destiny. It can be so easy to get caught up in life's experiences and feel overwhelmed or scared. But if I remember to go to my Heavenly Father and let Him know what I am feeling, then His spirit comforts me and I am reminded that I can have the faith to press forward and accomplish all the things that I must face in this life.

Turn to Him always.

Get Connected Fall 2011

2011-09-13T13:57:00.000-07:00

This past week was amazing. Roberto and I, along with Samuel, volunteered in the Get Connected program at BYU-Idaho. It was an experience to remember. Here's how it all started.

So Roberto is the one who is in school(BYU-I) now, which is why we were able to participate in Get Connected. Last semester he asked me if I would be interested in doing it with him, since he was married, the only way he could participate was if I was his partner. So I think, yeah that would be so fun, why not?

The semester passes on and we are assigned during the semester to be recruitment reps. I start thinking-is this what we signed up for? to walk around and tell other married students about get connected? what about the whole orientation thing?

The semester ended and the 7 week break came. We get another e-mail talking about get connected spirit conference which would start September 6th. Then I think-oh so that's the orientation part, the fun part. And THEN I start thinking about Samuel, and the second thoughts all poor in. Is this going to be possible? What was I thinking? How is this going to work out? blah blah blah blah

So the day comes and we go, Samuel, stroller, and diaper bag packed with everything possible. The first two days are training on campus. We went to various activities and meetings throughout the day. The day started at 8:00 am and went til 6:00 since Roberto had church meetings to go to, if not we could have been there til 8( but our group leaders were like-whenever you guys need to go, you can go home). So Tuesday and Wednesday we stayed 'til dinner time.

Then Thursday was the actual thing, when students came and we did our jobs. We were assigned as I-Reps, who greet the students at the complexes and register them for Get Connected. We also ushered at events, things like that. Most of Thursday morning was spent helping the girls at Birchwood move in all their stuff. We did get to register a few girls, there weren't that many new students at this complex.

Friday we were given the most simple assignments, which I'm SURE were done on purpose since we brought our kid along to every single thing we did. We helped set up lunch that day and then we had the option of attending the new student talent show that night if we wanted to-which we missed for a friend's b-day party.

Saturday I ushered at the Women's Conference at the I-Center while Roberto watched Samuel. Then around 8 we were able to do I-Night, YES, with Samuel too. So we were put in charge of overseeing the Kirby Heybourne show. It was AWESOME to be there. Kirby even came up to me and said, I quote, "You look great."

I'm sure there are a lot of you thinking, why didn't you just get a sitter for all of this?
The biggest thing was that it was SO much time to watch our baby which is still being nursed and too much time away from me who is nursing the baby. That was probably my #1 reason for not leaving him with someone else. And really, it was just FINE. Everyone loved seeing a baby there and kept telling us how cool we were for doing it with him.

I just want to take this time to thank Samuel. Samuelito, thank you for being such a mellow baby. It all went so much better than I anticipated.

Moral of this story? It is very possible to do things such as this, even after you have children. YES there is so much more planning and work involved, but is it worth it? YES YES and YES! I have never felt the spirit of service more, it was wonderful.

And now for the evidence.

Mi Samuelito

2011-08-13T15:16:00.001-07:00

Our baby boy Samuel is growing and learning so many things. It is hard to believe that in 4 days he will be 8 months old. He can now crawl, but most of the time it turns into an army crawl once he gets tired.

The sounds that he can make are ma, da, ba, pa, or ta. He is also trying to climb up things like our legs or chairs, or whatever he can get on. He is still very cuddly with me and I love it. Now he even crawls to me and starts making the ma sound to let me know he wants me to pick him up. Sometimes he will wrap his little arms around my neck and I love it. It is amazing how much love you can feel from these little ones.

Being a mom ROCKS!

From long to short

2011-08-11T09:43:00.000-07:00

As a little girl, my mother would cut my hair short. It was a bob that went to my shoulders (I have fine hair). As I grew older, I longed for long tresses. My hair grows at a very slow rate. So I would be very cautious every time I went to get it cut. By the time I was a senior in high school, I had the long hair that I always wanted.

Since then, about 5 years now, I would get it cut every 6 months and take off about 2 inches every time. It felt awesome.

One day this past week, as I was combing my hair after a shower, I looked at myself in the mirror and thought- "I'm ready for something different." So..... I chopped it off.

In total it was 8 inches cut off. It was long enough to be donated. I was very happy about that. Someone else in the world will be wearing my hair.

The new length feels great. So much lighter and more bounce to it. I'll have fun growing it out again. :)

Summer vacation

2011-08-10T18:34:00.000-07:00

We are back from our trip to Salt Lake City, Utah. It was wonderful. My parents just bought a house last month and we were able to stay with them there. We enjoyed several BBQ's in the backyard, swam at a lake, went rollerskating, ate out, went to a show and had a great time visiting with the family. Lucky for us, both of our immediate families live in the salt lake area, so we were able to see all of the family. Here are some, well many, pictures of the grand adventure.

P.S. Samuel LOVES the water.

In the great outdoors

2011-07-11T12:12:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we did the unthinkable. We went camping with our 6 month old son. And you know what? IT WAS GREAT!!

I'll admit it, I was a little skeptical about the idea even though it was just for one night, but I am so glad that we spent the night, it was worth it. (Ok, so we own air mattresses and we brought one with us) I had such a great time with Roberto and the rest of our ward. We were lucky enough to enjoy the Bishop's mom's property. They had tons of space and we even were allowed to go use the bathroom inside of their house, so it was pretty much the nicest camping experience I've ever had.

I thought of bringing the pack and play for Samuel to sleep in, but it wouldn't have fit inside the medium size tent we brought with us. We just ended up putting him between us and he slept just fine. There were no screams of bloody murder so I was very grateful.

At this place they had a bunch of old playground toys and it was so fun to see it all. They also had this huge rope swing attached to a tree. Roberto talked me into doing it, so I had to climb up the stairs against the shed and stand on the roof of the shed and then jump off. It was SO SCARY to be up there. After 5 minutes of cheering me to jump off, I finally got the courage to just jump and I was just fine. I even did it a second time. :) Roberto did it like 7 times.

That night we had a dinner, made 'smores and played games like UNO. The following morning we had a scrumptious breakfast of pancakes, eggs, bacon & sausage. YUM.

Lessons I learned during this past weekend: Sometimes you just need to give things a chance even though they don't seem ideal (camping with a baby)or even if you are very scared to try it (jumping off the roof on a rope swing).

We had a BLAST. Oh I almost forgot, we also learned how much Samuel loves riding in a toy car while we push him.

Independence Day 2011

2011-07-11T10:13:00.001-07:00

On July 4th we woke up bright and early and walked to Porter Park. This has been our third summer together in this town and it was the first time that we witnessed the annual 4th of July parade in Rexburg. It was pretty fun. We met some of our friends there and even tossed a volleyball around before we left.

After the parade, we went home and got some food together to take over to our neighbor's place. We had a BBQ! It was so delicious! I think this day is the day I eat the most meat I ever do the entire year.

That evening we went to Nature Park to see the so called Fireworks. We waited an hour and saw nothing spectacular because (I found out later from another source) that they started 2 hours late. HA. Too bad. We still had fun with some little fireworks that our friends brought along. It was SO FUNNY because we kept trying to light the sparklers but the wind kept blowing out the matches almost every time we tried. I couldn't stop laughing every single time another match went out. We were almost out of matches but we finally got them to light.

Above all, the day was one to remember. I am SO GRATEFUL to live in this country and be a citizen. I love the U.S.A.

Captions for pics starting from the top: The lovebirds at nature park, Our lovely BBQ lunch, Samuelito posing at the parade.

Personal Identity

2011-07-05T13:45:00.000-07:00

Who are you?

This is a question that can be answered in various ways. Should my identity be defined with one single role? I don't think so. This is something that has been on my mind and that I feel is very important.

I don't want to live my life solely focused on one single role that I lose sight of other aspects of my life that will bring me fulfillment. I know that this will be very difficult, especially as life goes on and more responsibilities will be given to me.

Many of you might have heard some women say "I'm just a mom." I really dislike this statement. Nobody is JUST a mom or just one single anything period. If you think about it, we take on many different roles and have several things that we enjoy to do and that occupy our time and effort. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE being a mother, but that is not all that I am and I will not drown myself in this role and forget about everything else. As important as raising my children is to me, I want to make sure that there is a balance in my life. That I have some time dedicated to progression in other areas of my life. I need to keep in mind my talents and keep learning and growing.

Again I think balance is key. How will I find that balance? Easier said than done. But as long as I keep in mind that I was born to do many great things, I will be encouraged to look beyond being "just a mom."

Musica, a big chunk of my life

2011-06-17T12:06:00.001-07:00

The hills are alive with the sound of MUSIC!

Ok, so maybe I don't know about the hills, but my living room is pretty much always alive with music. I just can't seem to get enough. It is a RARE occasion the day that I go without listening to music. Occasionally, if the song gets me on a high, I dance like crazy while singing the song at the top of my lungs. Its just THAT wonderful. I really can't imagine my life without music, which leads me into the next somewhat negative part of my post.

I go on YouTube here and there, but I wouldn't call myself a youtuber. Anyway, I was on there a couple days back and I see an ad for a brand spanking new music video from an artist. So I click on it and watch it. And then about maybe a minute into it I think to myself-WHY?! So I stop the video and close the browser.

Yes I know that there is still good music/media out there, thank the heavens. But there is so much GARBAGE out there today and it is going to get progressively worse. I couldn't help but think of my children and the LOVELY arguments we will be having when they just absolutely have to listen to/watch what is "IN". They are going to HATE me. Oh well, I guess that's just part of the scenery when you are a Mom in the dispensation of the fullness of times. GO US!!! :)

P.S. To end on a positive note, here is a link to a wonderful song that makes me happy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu1JsTGfp0E

Five months and three weeks

2011-06-09T08:20:00.000-07:00

The title of my post, is the exact day that I noticed a little space forming in Samuel's gums. I saw it and at first thought it was something else caught in his mouth. When I looked again, I could see that this is where his first tooth would be popping out of. If you were to look into his mouth today, you could actually see a tiny bit of white starting to show.

Wow! My baby is getting TEETH?! After months of seeing him slobber and chomp on everything, we're finally seeing the culprit. Well there you go. Luckily for us, he's been sleeping just fine. :D He is a little more irritable but hello that is expected. We'll see if it gets worse.

We love our BIG BOY.

Summer Reading at the Library

2011-06-01T14:26:00.001-07:00

Lately I have been going to the Madison public library to check out books and movies. Well I went there yesterday to return some things and there was a booth that said Summer Reading on it. I see a bunch of kids in line waiting to sign up and then I notice that there is a line for adults to sign up as well. So I go up to the booth and ask the lady "What's this for?" She said "summer reading". I said "What's that?" She said "Oh you can read books and get prizes. Are you over 18?" HA. Of course she would say that. I say "Yeah". So I stand there for a couple of seconds and I think about it. I think- Why not? I've been getting into reading lately and it could be fun. So I signed up.

The lady gives me a free bookmark, a lae and a little booklet that explains the whole thing. I also get a shot at winning a CD of some kind. I think to myself-yay for free stuff. It turns out that for every 10 pages you read it equals 1 "degree" (as in latitude and longitude, the theme of the whole thing is traveling). In the booklet you keep track of how many pages you've read from each book you read and then they transfer over to "degrees". There are also activities that you can do to earn more "degrees" and the library does an event every week from that list to help you earn degrees. Every time you reach a certain amount, you go to the library and they stamp your "passport" and then you get another bookmark and some free gift. Talk about bribing your kids into reading once school is out. Not a bad idea.

So we'll see if I actually keep up with it. I'm glad I've actually been involved in community things. There are plenty of things to do out there that are FREE. You just need to look.

P.S. Do you know what library my picture is from?