10 YEARS

I just had to quickly give a quick "shout out" to all those who started on one of life's greatest adventure with me 10 years ago today. May 20, 1998 I entered the MTC, called to serve in the Taiwan, Taipei mission. Before that day, I was scared to death of all that the future held. It was the unknown. But, once my family walked out of those doors and I was all alone...things all fell into place. I hadn't been in the MTC more than 5 minutes when I heard a sister behind me telling someone she was going to the Taiwan, Taipei mission. I waited for her and introduced myself. She was Susie Jackson; tall, smart and gorgeous (just ask all the Elders that asked to take their picture with her). We talked and got to know eachother on the way to getting our tags and room assignments and any missing immunizations. It was upstairs, after talking for at least 30 minutes that we were informed we were to be companions! Wow, were we excited! That was just the beginning. We had two other GREAT roomies, Sister Mecham who was going to a different Taiwan mission, so she was in our District and Sister Hutchings who would be going to Hong Kong. She was the only sister in her district. By the time we went to class to meet the rest of our district and our teachers, we were having a blast. Those poor Elders looked like they were going to pass out from fear and anxiety and then enter the annoying sisters, laughing and gigging like we had been best friends for years! That was one of the best days of my life. The MTC was one of the best experiences of my life. I loved every single second of it, and the people I met there are still my good friends today. I have lost contact with some, but never will I forget the people that were there with me as I truly gained my testimony and became a Missionary! Here's to you, Sister Jackson, Sister Mecham, Elder Scott, Elder McGrath, Elder Leavitt, Elder Diderickson, Elder Eastman, Elder Skousen, Elder Thrift, Elder Wilde! I hope you are all doing well and know how thankful I am for you and for the experience that started that day and changed my life!

The best district ever! Ya, we look a little crazy and i had to take pictures of my pictures, cause my scanner isn't working! I know, ghetto!
The 4 roomies, always finding a way to make things fun!
Me and Sister Jackson...told ya, she's gorgeous huh?!
The district in front of the Provo Temple!
The last night of the MTC with our great teachers! We loved them. (take a look at Guan Zhanglao's hair, (elder McGrath))

I ain't scurr'd

Thats right folks, that is me in the pictures getting my face, nails, and toe nails painted. I won't be ashamed to admit that is was very relaxing. I hadn't cut my toe nails in awhile and one of the girls got the privilege to cut, file, and paint my toe nails. She will be blessed for her kind hearted service. I can definitely see why girls love going to a Spa to get "treated", though my treatment wasn't 5 star I was more than willing to lay down and be pampered. So what if I had make up on and got my nails painted? If it meant 8-12 year old girls having fun and me taking a short nap, then BRING. IT. ON. Like I said, I ain't scurr'd. I would've even paid them had they given me a foot massage, I got no shame. I would've used my bartering skills to have my feet massaged for a quarter of the going rate. I'd have low-balled them saying something around 1 or 2 dollars for the foot massage, and then used them being high on all the sugar and sweets to my advantage and sweet talked them into believing it was a good deal for them. You may all question my sales-men skills, but let me ask you; how do you think Carmen ended up marrying me?? Huh? Huh? Yeah, I got skills. I got skills with a Z even! Like, skillz. Thats how gangstah I am.
So this weekend we all had the opportunity to watch/attend/listen to General Conference. I hope we all took some time from our schedules to watch or listen. It was as uplifting as it was sanctifiying. The men and women who spoke were specifically chosen to help lead and guide us in this dispensation. It was true when the speakers pointed out how strong the presence of the Spirit was. I know I felt it. Isn't it amazing how simple the Gospel works? Really, if you boil it down, it's all about having a broken heart and contrite spirit. Once we feel an impression or prompting from the Holy Ghost all we need to is be obedient to it and simply follow it. How can you go wrong with that? And if we do fall short, there's a way where we can change, be forgiven and start all over again. It seems those two simple principles are the two basic gears that run this whole process. We live in an exciting time. All around us there are many, many blessings being placed upon our brothers and sisters. I am so grateful for my wife, I've learned tremendously through her example. She keeps me grounded, yet acknowledges my goofiness and has the patience to let me be myself. She is my friend. She has taken care of me and helped me know that God does have a plan for us, that He lives, that his Son lives, and that I can be forgiven of my sins. My relationship with her has helped me cherish my testimony of the Restoration, of Joseph Smith, and continued revelation, and that I know this is the only true and living Church. I know all this because I love her. My love for her was born out of my love for the Gospel. They are one and the same, without either I could not survive. Thank you honey for everything you do. And yes, I'll be more than happy to walk the dog. I love you.

Party Time!

I never knew 8-12 year old girls could be so fun. we had my neice, Monika's, birthday part at my house last night. First we had all the friends and family over for Ice Cream Cake and then just the girls stayed for a sleepover. We had a blast! Monika blowing out her birthday candles (by the way, Happy Birthday Mom (Grandma))
Savannah, Me, Monika, Sara and Taylor, after gettin back from Wal-Mart buying junkfood and picking up chick flicks.
So, I gave the girls little "spa" baskets, with makeup and nail polish included. Looks like Ben got to be their model. What a good sport, I think he may have even enjoyed it!
Taylor was the first one to fall asleep...they warned her!
Sorry, this is a mistake picture, but I can't figure out how to get it off.

So, last night was a ton of fun. I have many more pictures, maybe I will put them on Facebook!

I love my neice and am so glad she came to my house to have her party! Thanks Monika, Happy Birthday!

Happy Anniversary Sweetheart!

Today is the anniversary of the best day of my life! I can say that honestly too. I married my best friend 2 years ago, on March 11, 2006. I didn't even realize then how very right the decision I had made was. I waited 28 years for Ben and he was worth it! I don't tell him enough, but I am so lucky to have him. He is the best thing that ever happened to me. There is a song that expresses perfectly how I feel about Ben. "He is everything I need that I never knew I wanted, He is everything I want that I never knew I needed". The Lord knew what i needed and what I wanted better than I did and he gave me it in Ben. Thank you sweetheart, for loving me and taking care of me. Happy Anniversary!

Cheesy, I know, but it was so fun!

That's Ben for ya!

I loved my cake!
I know, i am obsessed with China, but everything was so perfect!

Aiden and Regan, the life of the partyThe Crisanto Men

Throwing snowballs, no rice for us

The Internet

So, I just have to quickly say that although I don't know what I would do without it, sometimes the internet is a curse. Let me explain. I am lucky enough to be starting a new medication tomorrow. Ben and I both feel good about it and feel like it's the next step in realizing our goals for the future. I will be getting my first of three monthly shots tomorrow morning. I have realized one very important thing, once you have decided on something and know you are going to do it, DO NOT research it, DO NOT look it up on the internet, DO NOT! I may sound extreme, but the past few days I have been looking up this medication online and it is scaring the crap (excuse my language) out of me. I have to continue to remind myself that no one shares their good stories, people only want to share the bad. All I have been reading online is how awful the side effects are, how I am going to feel like I am 60 years old instead of 30, how CRAZY I will be, how fat I will get, how bad my skin will get, how much hair I am going to lose, how much sleep I will not get, how much my bones will hurt, and so on and so forth. It's all bad, no good and it is scaring me to death! But, I got an answer. I prayed and I know this is what I am supposed to do. This is the right thing for us and I have to move forward with faith. So, I may hate the internet at this moment, but I am so blessed to know that we receive personal revelation from the Lord. He knows what is best for us, and He will let us know what that is, if we ask. There is a plan for each of us and how glad I am to know that!
Oh...and everyone that is reading this...please remind me I said all of these things when I am in the thick of it!

Girls Weekend

This may disgust you, but that's our stash of treats for the weekend...swedish fish, doves, twizzlers, M&M's and so much more~
Jennica and Linds in the kitchen...making more treats
mmm, yummy and pretty fruit pizza
yep, we bought matching coats and don't we look good.
ok...so I am poor, the girls got pedicures and i am the one in the holy socks, hee hee!

My 3 best friends getting pedicures. Yes, being pampered is definitely an important part of girls weekend
Hmmm, that's quite the look Kimmie.
Oh, now she looks all sweet, when she knows the camera's on her. BTW, Britney Spears brought us 4 together, I will be forever grateful!
Sweet Lindsey, can you believe she's a mother of 3 and a dentist's wife, how did we get so old?
Nica, looking beautiful and chipper, as always

So, just a quick update on the above pictures. Me and my best friends from college (and after) Jennica , Lindsey, and Kimmie get together and do girls weekend every year, or more. This is our third in the past 12 months. It is a blast to get a way and spend time just doing girl things. We talk....and talk and talk and talk. We shop, we eat, we watch tonz of movies, we get makeovers, we just do fun girl stuff. It honestly is something I look forward to for months. I love these girls. As you can see from the pictures, we had a great time.

Two words: No Cancer

For those of you who don't know, Carmen went in to have a Laper-something-octomy (where the doc drains her cysts) but because of tests that came back positive for cancer our doctor also looked around to see if there was cancer and found no signs indicitive of cancer. The doc took a biopsy of the cysts and the tests will come back next Wednesday but needless to say we were pretty excited and relieved (he's positive that they'll come back negative). Well, I would something spiritual or deep, maybe even philisophical but I don't know what else I could say, except thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. I know that they helped. The doctor did say he found something unusual though, while he was draining the cysts he found what seemed to be a foreign object, that "object" turned out to be an alien. Yes, that's right folks, my wife was harboring illegal aliens, just joking. Seriously though, the alien object was taken to a local research laboratory to be tested, it turns out the alien was a growth, the growth was harmless however it affected Carmen's ability to differentiate her affection towards her husband versus her dog. The object named, carmenlovesherdogmorethanben (it's latin for "carmen loves her dog more than Ben"), somehow had turned symbiotic while increasing in size, it amazingly turned Carmen's affection towards our dog into an infatuation, basically the symbiote injected enzymes into her blood stream altering normal levels of affection. The doctors' and I concluded that it is this reason is why Carmen treats our dog like a child, a human child, that can speak and communicate like humans do when in reality it really can't and that the only thing our dog is capable of is licking itself and eating tampons. The doctors have prescribed medications that will help re-balance Carmen's sanity and diagnosis is that she will be well and whole once again when I fatten and roast our dog on a spigget to eat.
*Please note: there will be a lua-ow at the Crisanto's home in about a month's time.