Happy Holidays from me to you!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! It has been a wonderful year for the Barbosa family and the Ferrin family. Above you can see that the highlights were Ted returning from his Croatia mission and the latest, Sam and Meagan's little girl "Gracie Mae" arrived at the first of the month. She is the most precious little thing I've ever seen and it's so neat to see them as parents. It also makes me so excited for our little one to come in March!

I'm not sure I love being pregnant during the holidays- I am seriously looking too much like Santa Clause and even funnier I totally crave cookies and milk all the time! Ha! Each time I catch a side glance of my "voluptuous" bod in the mirror or a window as I'm out and about before I let out a gasp, I just remember how wonderful it is that I am expecting a little baby! :) And it truly is wonderful.

I feel so blessed reflecting back on the year. Such a wonderful husband, daughter, family, friends, job, home, health I enjoy. I couldn't ask for a better Christmas present than all I have been given! I hope you take a minute in between all your busy things going on (I know I've had to make a conscious effort to do so!) and enjoy the wonderful holiday season and all your blessings.

Fall '09
Full of lots of busy fun! It is so fun to have a little one during these holidays and we did some fun activities including: Gardener Village with Grandma and the Noakes to see the witches, fun Halloween Trick-or-Treating as Mary Poppins and with my little ladybug, Family Home Evening at Temple Square and enjoying General Conference, Pumpkin Patch visiting, Maile's first little haircut, and much more! I am loving the way Maile is talking these days....she has lots to say about Halloween and everything is "scaaary!", I love when she starts phrases out with "Bember when" (remember when), everything to her is "sooo cute!", and she is just my little buddy. I definitely underestimated 2 years old- I didn't realize she is would be so vocal about her thoughts and feelings. I have really enjoyed it.
Something super exciting this past month was finding out we are having a baby BOY in March! He is kicking like crazy and Lee is convinced it is a good sign for a good soccer player. lol. I guess working full-time, all the activities, and being pregnant makes for a not so frequent blogger but a happy family!

Party Like It's 1999! Vegas Girls Trip!

We had the best time getting 9 of us girls together and heading to Vegas leaving the kiddies and hubbies behind. It was such great girl bonding time and I don't think there was a silent moment without chatter, except when it was midnight at H&M and we were so tired! lol. But honestly, it's so fun to be around old friends that know your roots and love you for who you are and who you have become. These girls are so inspiring and refreshing to be with- I really had such a great time. We definitely did Vegas "Mom" style- wanting to sleep in and squeeze in an afternoon nap, shopping, chick flicks, good food, staying at the restaurant for 2 hours just gabbing away, laying by the pool, and just enjoying each others' company. Some highlights included...

-Jane meeting "Flavor Flav" on the plane ride over and being "subjected to his bad grammar"

-Cheesecake Factory. Old man meatloaf anyone? The keylime cheesecake made up for it.

-Our fun gift baskets that striked up laughing and crying moments

-Seeing the movie "Fame"...switch the "F" to "L" for big fat "Lame"

-Four prego women and lots of talk about the kidlets

-A 10 pound bag of candy compliments of Marti

-Roaming the oulets for a great deal

-Listening to music from high school- how did Backstreet and Spice Girls go out of style?!! ha!

-An amazing mansion to stay in!

-Catching some church Espanol style

-Taking the time to actually get ready and put on makeup and do hair. Learned some great techniques from my roommate! I'm impressed with your style girl!

-Following our iphone for directions, even if there were a few doosies (J. pulling out in front of a bus 10 feet away! or me leading Katie to the "Henderson Executive Airport". oh goodness)

-Reminissing about the good ol' Oly days and getting laughing attacks about our teen years

-The amazing talks, covering important issues and interesting jabber

-Leaving feeling motivated and refreshed.

Love you girls! Can't wait until the next!

BrAziLiAn FeStiVaL 2009....

Que festa boa! Gateway puts on a pretty good show every Fall! It was wonderful to be around the people, music, good food (coxinhas, churros com doce de leite, guarana, feijoada, e tudo!) and try to learn how to samba! ha! We'll work on that one. Marcia (lee's cousin) is so fun to be around and makes the funniest comments. Que saudades de voce Brasil!

Maile's Toddler Pictures

We had Skye Johansen http://www.skyejohansen.com/ do Maile's pictures at 2 years old. The last time was when she was just 7 months and oh how she's changed. She looks so grown up to me in these! :) Here are some of my favorites.

I have been loving this age. I do know what people mean when they say there are many tantrums but it is also a very adorable phase. Maile loves to play all day long- playdoh, tea party, build blocks, stickers, crayons, and she seems to always be "cooking" for us. She loves to make "pizza" and "cookies" and offers them to us with an insisting "Try!" and then asks "it's yummy?". I love the way that she sings little songs "clean up, clean up, everybody do your share" and "mary had a little lamb" trying so hard to say all the words. She often comments of her doll, "She's so puuurty (pretty)". The other day I was trying on some pants at Target and she touched them and said, "it's cute mama!" She makes me smile the way she pronounces things, and is quick to throw my phrases back at me to get what she wants. Example: before naptime "I wanna watch Barney just a little bit" or "I wanna play outside really fast". ha ha! What a joy you are Maile Nicole.

Here's a cute summer cooking idea....My sister found this on a website and we made these little "dessert burgers" for a big birthday party when we were in California. Believe it or not the "buns" are made of vanilla cupcakes cut in half (sprinkle with a few sesame seeds on top). The "patties" are brownies cut into circles, the "ketchup, mustard and lettuce" are colored frosting. And last but not least, the "fries" are sugar cookies cut into strips sprinkled in sugar. How cute is this!! We had so much fun and got so much positive feedback that Lee said if he heard one more time how "cute, adorable, darling, etc." our hamburgers were he was going to die! :) ha ha. I guess it's women that appreciate a darling project like this a little more. :) You should try it!

Getting Rid of the Bottle...is our goal this week. I have let it go on for too long now, and even though Maile takes sippy cups and cups just fine- she prefers her milk in a bottle. uh-oh. Today she picked out a whole slew of cups at the store, and we threw all her bottles away "like a big girl". But it's nap time and not having a bottle to go down with is well...stressing her out to say the least. It's already been 45 minutes of crying, sobbing, and trying to gag herself. (ya that's right! what baby does that?!). Ah! So hard. But I'm sticking to my guns. Is there any better way to do this?!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Maile Nicole...
July 15, 2007
I remember the first time they placed new baby Maile in my arms and I just stared at the little stranger who I knew would change my life. But I had no idea how much she would become a part of me and how much I could love this little person.
Ever since Maile was a newborn she could stare right through you with those dark brown eyes of hers. She wanted to be held all of the time and seemed she was just bursting to be able to touch and do things. Well, all of that came quickly and now she is such an active little toddler constantly exploring her little world and experimenting with the limits. I will always remember taking naps with her and waking up to her rosy cheeks and little almond-shaped eyes staring at me, or when she would make her "ooohhh!" face and let out little high-pitched squaks. How she would scale the walls and furniture before she could walk usually with something like a lotion bottle tucked under her arm. Hearing her call my name, "Meeeesha!!" in the mornings to get out of her crib, watching her laugh histerically while Lee tossed her up in the air, giving little smooches and eskimo kisses, singing "Bunny Foo Foo" 80 times before she would go to bed, making a cheesy smile face to a stranger in the grocery store and having them giggle at her, the time when she bit the chubby little baby at gym day care and almost got "written up" at age 1, how she counted from 1 all the way to 12 by herself and got to 13 and pronounced it "chicken". ha ha. I could go on and on. The point is, she is a special little girl and I'm so glad that I'm the one she calls "mommy". What a joy. Happy "Doo Doo" (as Maile would say) to my sweet little girl.