Help Us Build Nancy's House!

I absolutely love helping people and hate asking for money—but for these kids, I’ll set my pride aside if you promise not to hold it against me.

Beth and Kendric (My sister and her husband) are heading to the Dominican Republic with our good friends for a humanitarian trip over Spring Break. Remember the trip Troy and I took last November? Well, some people in our group have visited many times and have made lasting friendships with several children and families there. It has come to our attention that one young girl, whom we have taken interest in, is in serious need. Her family has moved from the most impoverished part of the country to a slightly more comfortable village. As they began to build their house, they ran out of money. (Doesn't that sound familiar?) Nanci's sweet family is farmed out to different homes throughout the village while they are stuck in this predicament. When we were made aware of the situation, we decided to try to get to the Dominican to help them. The only problem is…we need some funds to purchase supplies so we can get that home built. While we are there, we would like to take some much needed school supplies to a small academy that is dedicated to helping children learn English. Speaking English provides a significantly brighter future for these children. Some things they are in need of are: easy readers (in Spanish or English), note pads, crayons, English flash cards, pencils, and lined paper.
I’m so excited Beth, Kendric and our friends are able to go help Nanci and just wanted to let you know what we need in case someone is thinking--I can't go to the DR right now but I SO WANT TO HELP! (This would make a great Primary, YW or Eagle project if someone is looking for one...) Even $10 or some crayons would make a difference!
This is an example of what Nanci's family used to live in--there are actually 2 doors on this house with 2 families living inside.When we came in November to help--Nanci came every day to help us. She lives in conditions equal to those we were serving and yet she jumped in without being asked and worked from sun up to sundown! She is such a sweet girl with a lot of potential! She is currently starting up a small business and hopes to be able to bring her family out of poverty. Moving out of the sugar cane field was a huge risk and their only hope for breaking the cycle.

I know this is an awful time to ask for help, considering the economic climate right now—so please don’t feel pressure. We just wanted to give you the opportunity and just get the word out there. Even if you happen to be able to squeeze in a few extra school supplies into your grocery cart or can do a donation drive for an activity...it all adds up! We’ve booked the tickets—now we just need the funds and supplies!

Thank you!!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

I woke up at 6am to cook this green feast and they still pinched me!! Don't I have green food coloring somewhere on my body???

Jon Schmidt Rocks!

He really does. I have some of his melodic tunes on my ipod and loved them so we were so excited when our neighbor invited us to a private concert in their living room (maybe I invited myself with my over zealous enthusiasm...). So everyone we talked to had this excitement when they asked if we'd ever been to one of his concerts--we soon found out why. Jon Schmit is an amazing piano player who doesn't take himself seriously at all! I had no idea he played up-side-down, with his toes, nose and elbows, and rocks out like he's in a band! He was so much FUN and so inspirational for the girls! He takes the stuffy out of it and showed them what fun they could have if they kept practicing. Man, I wish I would've seen someone like him play violin when I was a kid. We were such groupies--we bought piano books and the girls had him sign them. And to top off the night, Bree lost her tooth eating refreshments (hence the napkin in her mouth.) Definitely a journal entry night.

Mazatlan, Mexico...our home away from home.

What's not to love? When we first arrived and walked to our room I stood on the rooftop and breathed in the salty air, felt my cracked and bleeding toe soak in the humidity and begin to heal, looked out over the blue expanse of ocean with a big sigh and said...I'm home. ___________________________________________________________________

WEEK ONE (the week we planned for and told our teachers about) was filled with all the things we look forward to and love: days passing at the pool never having the thought to go anywhere else until the sun begins to set; poolside nachos covered in refried beans, who knows what kind of cheese and why it's so good, and all your favorite mexican toppings(pico de gallo, guacamole...); searching for crabs and seashells at the beach and this time watching the massive pelicans nosedive into the ocean; "Abuelita's" famous mole' chicken and rice pudding; truck taxis and pulmonias; shopping at the market; seeing the baseball factory; painting ceramics...

Every year it gets harder and harder to fit it all in and every year it feels more and more like we've come home and picked up where we left off. It is such a memorable tradition full of so much quality time with our family and dear friends in such a gorgeous place. How do you fit over 800 pictures into a blog?

Our rightly named hotel, Pueblo Bonito. Bree, looking for shells.

Myla and Bree--bucket heads!

KJ and Tegan--what a pair.

We take over the hot tub for a week--I think there were 16 kids with us.

Cute Jane with a very picturesque pinapple drink.

Shopping at the mercado

Girls and Kiana sporting the sombreros..yeah we bought 4.


What a great group!


Ash won this doll at the Mexican Fiesta. She was one of the last 2 finalists of this awesome hot potatoe sombrero game.

Troy dreams of this rice pudding...I wish I didn't have an texture thing.

The famous "Abuelita". What a cook!

They make this mole' for us every time we come! It's deliecious!

We love the beach downtown!

Madi and Kiana had the priveledge of their own pad at Kendric's hotel and absolutely loved the freedom. I'm still lamenting that I didn't think to mention to Beth that she needed a passport for Mexico now. Long story, but Kendric waited for her the whole week and the expedited passport NEVER came! So disappointing for all of us--not to mention my poor sister!

WEEK TWO (the totally spontaneous, what-the-heck part of the trip) was what Troy and I dreamed of doing even before our kids were born. It was such a cultural & educational week for our family being totally immersed in Spanish and major Spanish speaking opportunities through
working at the factory, making uniforms for our teachers and learning
the process of the factory, hanging out with the Padilla family --and might I
add, eating some really amazing food! It was such a great experience for our family and especially for the girls! Truth be told…Troy had to drag me back!

Amerika Sports, MazatlanManuel, one of the owners Bernarda, always so sweet to let the girls sit beside her and help cut thread
Abuelita with our family ambassador-Ash
Ariel, another owner (There are 3 brothers that own it and Abuelita is their mom.)
Rudy and Inez, brother #3


The girls were a part of the whole process of making uniforms for their teachers. They printed the design Troy came up with, walked it over to Manuel to cut. Took the cut pieces to Mari to sew and watched as she shuffled between 3 different machines to get certain stitches. Then helped cut the templates for the letters and numbers. The lazer machine broke that week and had to be shipped of to Guadalajara. Madi, not willing to give up quite yet, asked if there was a way to cut the letters and numbers by hand. We found numbers from a previous uniform in her school colors and (thanks to Luli and many at the factory) they pulled it off before we left for the airport. When they did their reports at school they presented their teachers with a uniforms that they helped make at the factory! Quelite--such an adorable puebla
We loved sharing it with Jared and Lissette and Ariel's family




So in summary--we love Mexico because...es diferente! (For all you Toni Col drinkers out there.)

Mazatlan...

Due to the overabundant amount of homework and trip reports...the blog of our most recent amazing adventure to Mazatlan will have to wait. But if you have a magnifying glass you can see the pictures on the girls' posters--and that will have to suffice for now. The girls did an amazing job on these reports and really put their hearts into them.

All I'll say for now is that it was the kind of experience that we dreamed up before we even got married and it was magical seeing our dreams for our family play out. We love Mexico: the people, the food, the colorful buildings, the ocean and the wonderful people that we get to share it with. So...more to come......someday.

Our Furry (expensive) Friends

Did we just spend $138 to cure a sick guinea pig that cost $30 to buy at the pet store?

Aubree is in love. She is by far the most doting and responsible pet owner I know. How could we not?

Tubing Soldier Hollow

Jane, my amazing friend who is the only reason we get together at all, planned this tubing outing and didn't even get to come due to babysitter issues. So bummed--we missed you Jane! I guess I'll have to blog this one! But thanks to her organizational skills we all had a great day in perfect tubing weather in some gorgeous mountains!

And did I mention they actually drag you to the top? It's great! We wouldn't want to excersize doing this-oh no! It's nice to be lazy Americans once a year. We have to live up to our reputation!

It was such a fun group of friends and neighbors!

Hey, I'll take the cell phone on the ride up if it means he gets to skip a day at work to come sledding with us!

We all joined our tubes together--it was awesome...except for Caden falling off in front and getting dragged, running into Kiana and KJ on the way down (we just brought them along with us) and taking out the poor worker right at the knee caps...

As Troy would say--Good Times!

13 YEARS BABY!

We got married 13 years ago tomorrow but the celebration took place yesterday and today. In fact, we just got back from our 2-day adventure. For our anniversary we decided to be tourists in our own city! (Well SLC is just to the north a tad.) We kicked off our Anniversary with a trip to the Shane Company where Daph decided she wanted to get me a new ring so we traded in my wedding band that she bought me 13 years ago. It was yellow gold, green gold, and white gold rope braided ring. It was questionable 13 years ago and we decided it was time for a new one- Shane Co lets you trade up- so it was fun! This is what we ended up with.

Then a trip to my italian roots for dinner - Ok I am only 25% italian but hey my middle name is Zelano- so put them together and I think I am closer to 50% italian! Then you add my abilty to tan easily and hairy body - ohh call me Gesseppi would you!
- OHH MAN I have to tell you about the tasty food! Biaggi's Stuffed Mushrooms (TASTY) then a beet salad to boot! Ohh I could stop there but - WAIT- there's more! We had some tasty talapia then a yummy desert - white chocolate bread pudding!

Ohh I almost forgot I had the brillant idea to park to the south of the Gateway. Well- we ended up in what I would call the "hood". Every step I kept thinking "ok your belt is a weapon- wait no take out your keys" after giving away all of our small bills and some guy telling us he had HIV for 13 years we finally made it. But hey, we provided money for hot cocoa and had a mental training exersise for me of how to find a weapon when you don't have a real one.

So on to the activity!

Daph had this great idea to walk through Temple Square to see the lights and take a horse carriage ride through downtown. But we could not even walk 2 blocks before we felt like our nose,ears, and fingers were going to fall off. So we ended up at the movie "4 Christmases." (funny)

Then I took my yummy wife back to this sweet Bed and Breakfast. Ok really the other way around! I really didn't plan the night at all it was a surprise from Daph. So we headed to The Inn on the Hill. Our room overlooked downtown SLC --take a peak :

YUMMY! Man I love this woman! That shot was taken off of our balcony.

Yes, we purchased the lense from the carnival mirror saleman- no -- NO that is not my normal face - yea I know it looks distorted but come on the picture is not that bad... Ok maybe it is! Ahh who cares--- daph looks cute!

GOOD TIMES! Perfect Location!

Very central to downtown and cozy.

In the morning we had a tasty breakfast that they prepared then she gave me another gift. A scarf and a sweet beanie--she said I would need them on our next activity.

Daph is in the middle of one of her 5- 360's that she cranks in a row-

Yes I know I look like a dork (daph made me post these 2 pictures so this entry was not the "Daphne show". )

If you look just past Daph you will see The Walker's building; that buiding has some family histroy. Daph's great-grandpa used to work in that building and daph's Mom remembers looking down at the ice skaters from his office. It was super fun- the sun broke out right as we arrived, all the wind disappeared- really a perfect hour of iceskating.

We hit Zuppa's on the way home to end a perfect anniversary! I have to say I just loved coming home as well. I love our chidren, our home, our family, friends, and neighbors. Life as crazy as it is - we love it- we love our work time and play time! I really feel so blessed/lucky to be married to Daphne; we love our life- 13 years of bliss!