See Ella on Santa's List

Ella made Santa's List http://family.go.com/santas-list/video/104533-odrida2009/ - Send your Picture to Santa and See Which List You've Made This Year
SOMETHING FUN TO DO FOR YOUR KIDS! They'll love it.

Let it snow...

It's been snowing in good ol' Omaha for the past 36 hrs continuously and is going keep coming down through tomorrow evening: winter storm/blizzard weather alerts throughout the state... The joys of living in the midwest... However this has been a great place for us with lovely and kind people. We love it as it is our first home. It's that kind of love like your first love... well the comparison may be a bit of a stretch. But honestly I think Omaha will always have a special place in our hearts. Ella loves it and it's home for her. She's a Corn Husker baby who by the way got it in her little head that we should have another baby, maybe a Texas baby...she is actually been telling her preschool teacher and a few other acquaintances that mommy is expecting a baby. Funny kid she is! We're always amazed at the cute things she comes up with!
Back to Omaha, we really liked it all except for the winter weather that I could never get accustomed to, way too cold, way too harsh.

As we're approaching Christmas, I hope I can keep the Spirity of giving, of love, and of peace with me every day until Christmas and afterwards. I'm grateful for loving family and friends, for opportunities, for challenges, for trials, for the power of prayer and the power of obedience that makes us so much better and gets us closer to God. We're had quite a weekend again with some sickness in the house and I know that only sincere prayer and obedience got us back to healthy.

Back to Omaha again... a few things I love about this place:
-amazing summer skies and especially storm skies
-hot summer days (notice the pattern? "summer"....)
-fun and laid back midwestern atmosphere
-hard working people
-Omaha steaks!
-huge state parks
-buildling our first home here
-having our first born here
-having a temple close by (a beautiful temple)
-getting our first  jobs out of college here...
-and boy, almost forgot: MEETING MY HUSBAND-TO-BE HERE! All these "firsts" along with the other things on my little list make this a very special place. Will miss you Omaha...

Christmas

I found this on a friend of a friend's blog... it's sooo sweet. Love the voices of the children telling the amazing story of the 1st Christmas in such beautifully simple words...

Thanksgiving

I'm back after a fun-filled Thanksgiving long weekend! We had a great time being healthy, basking in the sun, digging in the sand, cooking our "turkey" which this year happened to be a hen (yes, we downsized since it was just us and a couple of friends sharing in the feast), sliding on a huge metal slide downtown, and watching movies, trying not to eat too much of the leftovers (oh wait, that's another reason I decided to downsize our Thanksgiving feast this year so there isn't so much leftovers to gulp down.) Not that I don't like being economic but the holiday food is so fat and sugar loaded...

We are grateful to have been able to spend Thanksgiving day with our dear friends, A. & K., play and read to Ella galore, take afternoon naps, or just do nothing. I even managed to hit the gym after a looong absence, and stay away from the temptation of going out shopping on Friday! This last one was a hard one and I almost gave in... but had my hubby remind me of my priorities and commitment to live a simple life and not shop just because stuff is on sale. Thank you honey for keeping me straight!

I got to give my "farewell" talk in Sacrament meeting on Sunday as I happened to be home when the call came. They had one person drop off at the last moment and as I turns out I made a pretty good replacement. Only a 10 min talk, piece of cake! And the topic was on "being thankful"! How could I turn it down??!!! It was great for me as I got to gather my thoughts once again and count my blessings, express gratitude and recommit to live in thanksgiving every day. So hard sometimes, but not impossible. It was really neat to have my gratest supporters (Hrishi and Ella) "cheer" for me via big smiles and thumbs up from their seats in the back of the chapel. Really cool! I loved that part the best! It was also neat because thousands of miles away, across the ocean, my sweet mother was teaching a lesson in Relief Society that same day! Double cool.

Love my life and having the opportunity to be myself and make myself better.

Little Ella

Just came across some "baby" pictures of Ella. I miss that baby stage and can't believe how different she looked two-three years ago! Love those chubby cheeks! My baby is grown up now! Well, she's only 4 right? But still...

Our new home

What I love about our new home is that pretty much everything will be so close by. Grocery stores, eateries, dr's office, gym, church, etc. Hrishi found online a Romanian restaurant and lots of Indian restaurants in the area.

A few snapshots of the places that will soon become home to us. I'm so excited!!! Can you tell??

Our new apartment, Oaks Riverchase which we'll call home for the next 6 months.

Ella's new preschool, the Primrose School of Coppell

Dallas LDS temple, only 18 mins away!


                      

DFW Hindu temple in Irving

Texas Dreams Gymnastics.

Being Thankful

 I love this time of the year and showing and feeling gratitude is something I'm striving for everyday. A few of the many things that I'm grateful for:
-A wonderfully loving and patient husband who lifts me and cheers me up when I need it most
-Companionship and friendship we share
-A beautiful on the inside and out lovely daughter who brightens our days with her presence and zest for life
-Wonderful goodly parents and parents-in-law who are always there for us even from the far-away lands they live in
-Many learning and growth opportunities that we get in our personal and professional life
-The Church and the Restored Gospel
-The Prophet
-Temples on earth
-Beauty of the earth and skies
-Joy of being alive
This past weekend had the opportunity to ponder more on these blessings and how I can make each day count. We stayed home from church with Ella to help her get over her bad cold and so I spent a lot of time cuddling, reading, and playing pretend with her. She is so wonderfully sweet! Through the ups and downs of life, we're grateful for the unchanging love of God and His mercy and His abundance of blessings that He showers upon us. We are so excited and grateful for our upcoming adventure in TX, for being able to start our life anew in a new place, with new people, friends, surroundings, and much better/warmer weather (big plus there! :-))
We're down to 30 something days in which we have to finish up packing and gear up for our trip!!! Yeay!!! This year Thanksgiving and maybe even Christmas will be spend without much pomp as most of our stuff would be packed up in boxes but maybe that's s good thing so we can focus more on the season and not so much on the food and the presents ;-)