Hallelujah!

Finals are over! This has been one of the most difficult semesters for me. The material wasn't too bad, but I think that it had something to do with going to school straight for 5 semesters without a break-winter 2011, spring, summer, fall, winter 2012. It was a bit much and I am very excited to have a break from classes. Both John and I did well this semester and finished strongly. John did some AMAZING work for his animation classes and you can (and should) check out his website.

Despite being busy, we were able to do some fun things. I had two field trips to southern Utah to see Capitol Reef, Arches, and Canyonlands National Parks. The trips were my first experiences going to a National Park and I am so excited to go back with Sammy and John this summer. Arches was definitely my favorite. We went on a ranger guided hike through the Fiery Furnace and it truly was an amazing time.

John had the opportunity to go to Disney Inspire Days in Burbank, CA with a friend. They were two of only a handful of students from BYU that got to go. you can read a post by John about their amazing adventures here.

Este semestre passado foi um dos mais dificils para mim. Os cursos nao foram muito dificil, mas eu acho que eu fiquei bem cansada porque eu fiz 5 semestres sem descancar. Estou muito feliz por o oportunidade a descancar um pouco. John e eu terminamos a semestre e foi bom. John fez alguns coisas MARIVILHOSOS para as aulas de animacao e voce pode (e deve) ver o site dele.

Ainda sendo muito ocupados, not fizemos alguns coisas divertidas. Eu viajei duas vezes com aulas para o sul de Utah. Eu vi tres Parques Nationias--Capitol Reef, Arches, and Canyonlands. Foi minha primeria vez a indo estes locaies. Estou animada a voltar com Samantha e John este verao. Arches foi minha parque favorita. Fomos para a "Fiery Furnace" (forno ardente) e eu gostei demais!

John tinha um oportunidade a ir para Disney: Dias do Inspiracao em Burback, California com um amigo. So tinha poucos estudantes do BYU que foram desse viajem. Pode ler (em ingles) mais sobre a viajem de John aqui.

I also got my dream internship with the National Forest Service for the summer! I will talk more on this in a later post.

Here are some of the things we've been up to:
aqui estao alguns coisas que estavamos fazendo:

Sammy learned to conduct the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Everytime they would come on, she'd run and get a big spoon from the kitchen.
Sammy aprendeu como dirigir o Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Sammy Conducting MoTab from Rebecca Herzog on Vimeo.

I had my 27th birthday and John baked me my favorite: better than sex cake! You can find the recipe here.

Meu aniversario passou, e John fez meu bolo preferido!

John went to Disney (John foi para Disney).

I went to the National Parks (eu fui para os Parques Nacionais)

We colored Easter eggs. (Nos pintamos ovos de Pascoa)

Sammy continues to be as cute as ever! (Sammy continua sendo linda)

John and I went on a date to Trafalga were we did the batting cages and black light mini golf. We got an AMAZING deal on the Pass of All Passes here in the area. We bought two passes (Sam gets in for free) for a total of $20 and we get season passes to the local water park, season passes to the bird aviary in SLC,  unlimited mini golf, go carts, bumper boats, laser tag, tickets to the semi pro basketball and baseball games here in town, tickets to see Real Salt Lake soccer team, plus more that I am sure I am forgetting. they normally cost $50 per pass, so we got a steal of a price!

John e eu passiamos juntos! compramos alguns "passes" que deixa nos fazer muito coisa de graca aqui em Provo, incluindo ir para um parque de agua, golf, e alguns outras coisas legais!

And we planted a garden! I got one of those topsy-turvy planters and we planted jalapeno peppers, banana peppers, sweet 100 cherry tomatoes, another type of cherry tomatoes, and lettuce. Plus we planted cilantro, parsley and basil in another small pot. 

Nos plantamos alguns verduras incluindo, tomate,pepinos, e alface.

Samantha wearing the planter

Samantha helping fill the bird feeder

Sam helping to raise the bird feeder into the tree

Filling up the planter with soil

 The final project! (o projeto final!)

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Man, I cannot believe that it is leap day. Where on earth did January and February go? This semester has been a tough one, for whatever reason, so that means that the blog updates have slowed just a bit. We have been doing well. Christmas was wonderful and Samantha's 2nd birthday has come and gone, which you will see.

Nao acredito que  'e o ultimo dia do feveriero! Janeiro e Feveriero passaram tao rapido que nao sei aonde foi o tempo. Este semestre no faculdade esta ficando dificil, entao meu "blog posts" nao acontece so de vez enquanto. Nos estamos ficando bem. O Natal foi marivilhoso e o segundo aniversario de Samantha passou, e vc vai ver os fotos em baixo. 

Us with President Castro Deus

Back in December, I had a mission reunion where all the missionaries that served in Campinas, Brazil got together with the mission leader, Presidente Castro Deus. I was so excited to see him and his wife because they live in Brazil and I have not seen them in 4 years. It was also the first time that they met John and Samantha.  Just as he did in the mission, he continued to teach us about the importance of living a good life and always standing up for what we believe in. We really had a great time.

No Decembro passado, fomos para minha reuniao da missao da missao Brasil Campinas. Eu fui tao animada a ver Presidente Castro Deus e a esposa dele porque eles moram no Brasil e eu nao vi eles desde eu terminei a missao quatro anos atras. Foi a primeira vez tambem que eles conhecerem John e Samantha. Como na missao, o President continuou a ensinar nosso missionarios sobre a importancia de guardar os mandamentos e fazer os milagres em nossas vidas. Foi uma muito boa reuniao. 

 After school let out for the semester, we decorated our tree and made Christmas cookies. Sam had a great time helping us. Her idea of decorating the tree was to grab a Christmas ball, shove her arm up to the elbow into the tree and let go. She had a nice little row of decorations going on in the bottom branches, which you can see in the photo below. She also enjoyed decorating the cookies. She especially liked eating the little ball sprinkles.

Mmmm! Sprinkles!

Depois que o semestre terminou em Decembro, nos decoramos o arvore do Natal e fizemos bolachas. Sam gostou de ajudar. Ela pegou a cada decoracao, colocou o braco dentro do avore e soltou do decoracao dentro do avore. A foto em cima mostra a linha de bolas que ela colocou. Depois, ela dormui um pouco e John e eu terminamos a decorar o arvore. O video em baixo mostra a primeira vez que Samantha vui o arvore com todas as luzes. Ela tambem gostou de decorar as bolachas (ver as fotos em cima). Ela gostou de comer a acucar tambem!  

Sam took a nap part of the way through decorating the tree. The video below shows her waking up and seeing the lit tree for the first time. She was excited, but still a bit groggy!

Our actual Christmas was wonderful. It was the first time that it was just our little family together. Many of our neighbors went home for the holidays so it was very quiet and peaceful. We played lots of games and had a great time building new family traditions. I love how the Spirit of Christmas truly does fill the home when you focus on what is most important--the family!

O Natal foi marivilhosa. foi a primeira vez que nos celebramos sozinhos--so nosso pequena familia, nos nao fomos para a Floria aonde nossos familias moram. A maioria de nossos vizinhos viajou para o natal entao foi bem tranquilo aqui. Nos nos divertimos muito e criamos muito tradicoes da familia. Eu amo como o Espirito do Natal encheia o lar quano nos focalizamos nas coisas importantes tal como a familia!

Interestingly enough, we did not get a lot of snow until after Christmas this year. When it finally did now, we bundled up and went outside to play.

Nao nevou ate depois do natal.. Quando finalmente nevou, nos colocamos as jaquetas e saimos para brincar.

Snow!

snow angels

She's got a wicked arm!

Samantha got a rocking horse for Christmas, but before we put it together, John and I had some fun with the horse head. Can you guess what movie scene we are recreating? 

Samantha recebeu um cavalo de balanco para o Natal, mas antes de construir, John e eu divertiu um pouco. Pode adivinar qual cena nos fomos recreando?

Nearly 2 years ago, the picture below was taken. Samantha was born at the beginning of February, and two of our best friends back in Florida each had a baby within a month of Sam's birthday. The picture is of the three little sweet peas together. Happy Birthday Rudy and Banyan! We really miss you!

Quase dois anos atras, eu tirei a foto em baixo. Samantha naceu no comeco de feveriero, e a cade de duas de nossas melhores amigas em Florida tinha um bebe no periodo de um mes. A foto 'e dos tres juntos. Feliz Aniversario Rudy e Banyan. Sintimos muito saudades de voces!

Samantha, Rudy and Banyon

Earlier this month we celebrated Sammy's 2nd birthday! I cannot believe how quickly the time goes. It feels like such a short time ago that I was holding her in my arms at the hospital for the very first time. She has such a wonderful little personality and I cannot even begin to imagine my life without her in it. Below is a picture of her cake. I did a cowgirl-themed one this year because she loves riding her rocking horse and walking around with her cowgirl hat on. The video is of us singing (like drunks) Happy Birthday and Sammy blowing out the candles.

No comeco do mes, nos celebramos o segundo aniversario de Samantha. Nao acredito como o tempo passa. Me lembro abracando dela pela primeira vez no hospital. Ela tem uma personalidade tao boa agora e nao posso imaginar a minha vida sem ela. Em baxio 'e uma foto do bolo que fiz. Ela gosta dos cavalhos agora, entao fiz o bolo assim. O video 'e de nos cantando "Parabens pra Voce" (nos cantamos como bebados)!

To celebrate Sam's birthday, we took her to Jump On It, an indoor trampoline park. We all loved it, especially Sammy. Below are a few videos--one is of Sam really getting the hang of jumping and the other is John attempting to jump-sit-and land back on his feet. 

Para celebrar o aniversario de Sam, nos fomos para Jump On It, uma parque  do trampolins.Todos nos gostamos muito, especialmente Sammy. Em baixo estao alguns videos--um 'e de Sammy pulando e o outro e' de John tentando a pular, sentar no trampolim e depois ficar em pe' novamente. 

All in all, we have had a fantastic past couple of months!

Totalmente, esses meses passados foram otimos!