Oreos With Lena

So we have the wonderful blessing of having Randy's mom work for Nabisco and basically provide us with MORE Oreos than we could ever use. I'm usually pretty good at leaving them on the shelf or in our food storage, but once in a while... I've just got to break 'em out and share them with Lena. She has come to love dipping her cookies in milk with me. :)

Napping and Sewing

I came down on Sunday from getting ready for church to find Randy asleep on the chair with Lena. She happened to be wearing the skirt that I just made her. It didn't turn out exactly how I planned but was still pretty cute on her. :)

Of course I woke them up with the sound of the camera... I took the flash off, but I guess that wasn't good enough. Oh well!

Rolling

When Lena gets tired she likes for someone to lay a blanket out on the floor so that she can roll herself up in it. :)

Bead Head

Here are some pictures of a good example of what Lena's hair typically looks like in the morning. :) Sometimes it is crazier than others, but either way we are excited about how much hair she is getting. :) She's starting to look more like a little girl and less like a baby.

Just Some Fun Stuff

Lena is doing this thing lately where she thinks it's funny to make me chase her in order to get her clothes on... :) It's cute to see her get so giddy and excited. :)

This picture cracks me up with her expression. :)

Jimmy loved pushing around Lena's baby stroller :) Lena loves to look at the camera... thus the whole reaching-for-the-camera pose :)

Jimmy kept wanting to climb into this stroller and I would tell him "Jimmy, we can't climb in it, we can only push it" Then he would walk around saying "push, push, push" then he would attempt to climb in it again and as though he were reminding himself he would repeat the words "push, push, push" and go back to pushing it. :)

Eva! Viva Italia!

On January 24, 2012 I was able to hear my beautiful sister's voice!!! That's right, she left on her plane to Italy and was able to call during her layover at the airport. :) It was SO good to hear fer voice and now I'm left missing it even more. :( She is doing so good though. I'm so proud of her. She told me about some of her experiences in the MTC and how she has been learning so much about repentance and how it is something that can help EVERYONE. She mentioned that in the scriptures, after you repent you will be able to improve and become a better person and receive help in doing so. I never thought about it that way... repenting so that we can have the help we need to improve, and also to stop doing those things that will impede our progress.

We also talked a lot about faith and how important and wonderful and powerful it is. I'm starting to learn about how much faith is an action and how it requires us to act and not just sit there and say "I know things will be okay"... it's about ACTING like you know things will be okay and about doing those things the Lord prompts us to do without doubt, KNOWING that he will take care of us if we do the things he asks. Oh I love the gospel, I could go on and on about how much my sister taught me in that one short conversation. :) I have to admit that I have been a slacker with reading my scriptures... I get so frustrated that I can't do EVERYTHING all at once so I just give up... I'm now learning about the whole "line upon line, precept upon precept" concept and trying to start slow and work up to what I eventually want to do. I have been reading my scriptures for 3 days so far and can already feel the blessings... I have learned so much and find myself thinking for about Heavenly Father and how grateful I am for his love and for providing us with the opportunity to learn infinitely and have His mysteries opened up to us.

I will start posting Eva's weekly e-mails so that I can always have them... here are all of her messages thus far: (I apologize for how long it is... I've been a slacker in posting them up to this point.)

November 23rd, 2011

Oh sweet sweet Mamma and family!!!
I loved all of your emails! You should start using dear elder .com, it is super easy and free. You just write an email and the MTC prints it out the same day, if you send it before noon, and I get it with my mail:) You are so funny mom! Thanks for making my sound like a Micky d's commercial. I am glad you like to sit in my lovely room and think of me. I am just so great aren't I?!jk!
This week has been bittersweet. I have been truly humbled. I came in thinking that I would be so good at everything, Italian and teaching included. Well, my teaching skills need improvement I really have to study the gospel vocabulary and Italian grammer. It has been hard getting organized. Last night Elder D. Todd Christofferson came and spoke to the missionarys. His talk was AMAZING. One thing that stuck out to me is that when you are busy and doing something, be sure to recognize the fruits that are yielding from your work. This week I have felt busy all the time, but as I analyze my fruits I realize I do need to change what I am doing while I am busy so I can see the fruits of my labors. I need to increase my knowledge of PMG and of Italian. I also learned that if you pray for the spirit to help you change so you do see more results that he will help you:)
I have never prayed some much in my life as I have this week! Mostly because here at the MTC we pray for everything, before we use the gym to exercise, breakfast, lunch and dinner, before starting class, or a fireside, before we start to practice teaching, before we do companionship study, before we do personal study, before we leave our room for the day, before we go to bed. I love it! The spirit is so strong here because of it, it is so exciting to see everyone so happy and working so hard!
I love my district so so much! We have only known each other for a week, but it feels like we are family. It was hard yesterday though because one of our elders was sent home. Even though I only knew him for a few days I was so close to him. We would always make each other laugh and helped each other with the language! Our branch president told us it was a blessing he came here for the short time he did because it gave him the courage to go to a priesthood leader and start the repentence process. And the elder said that he is going to go on his mission again, only when he does he will by truly ready. Even though I felt like a member of our family was gone and there was a hole in my heart, I am so proud of that elder and I am so grateful for the savior and the healing that he has given to us through his atonement.
Oh my goodness I have to tell you about my first morning last Thursday! It was awful, I accidently set my alarm for five in the morning instead of six, darn those face clocks. My alarm is so loud it woke up all of the five other girls in my room! I felt soooooo bad! Thank goodness everyone is so forgiving here!:)
My companion and I are getting a long pretty well. We are not as thick as thieves, but we are functional together! I think as time grows on and as I pray for more love for her we will be great chums! I am glad she is my comp though because she is miss workout! She gets up at five thirty and does like 100 push ups and sit ups and lunges. So I have been getting up too and doing it too...well not 100;) Plus when we go to lunch she eats so healthy, so I copy her:). I have been depriving myself of BYU chocolate milk, but I know it will be worth it!:)jk
I only have like three minutes left on the computer:( I want to write so much more! I will write you a letter too! I got you and dad birthday presents!
I love you with all of my gradually becoming healthy heart! I miss you lots! I am so happy you are my mamma!
Tell dad I love him so much and I pray for him everytime I pray, which as you see is a lot!
Love you! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!
Love,

Sorella Comollo

PS there is an Anziano from England and he is teaching me cool english words, here is one. You are the don!

November 30, 2011

Ciao Caro Famiglia!!!!

Mamma can you email Lauren Kane and ask for her address and Catherine Cromar's and let her know when I get it I will write her back:) Thanks!



So this week was hectic and lovely! I feel like my Italian is getting a tad better, only the vocabulary, my grammer still is not so great. I feel like I study it lots and then when I am in the moment of speaking to someone it all goes out the window and I probably sound like how indians sound to us, "how you? me happy." etc (I do not think that that is super PC to talk about indians, o'well:)) Anyhow, my companion and I have been struggling this week. She is getting really frustrated with her language skills and how she can never remember what she learns and then when I speak to her in Italian she gets annoyed that she cannot understand, then I get frustrated that I cannot practice my Italian and it goes on. But no longer is it like that! The Lord loves us:) I have been praying super hard to love her more and be her friend and have lots of patience and my prayers are being answered! Now I cannot help but get super excited when she starts to speak even a little, high fives and hugs all around when she said in Italian for the first time, without looking at her notes, "Devo andare al bagno addesso!" Plus she got a blessing last night and it was a beautiful blessing of comfort that even comforted me:) Week three is going to be good I can feel it!

Thanksgiving went well, the food was disgust.... I mean great! And I was so grateful for it! Elder Russell M. Ballard came and gave a talk. It was cool because he mentioned the word for thanksgiving in greek is euchoirso, or something like that, which stems from the same root as eucharist, which is like the sacrament wich means sacred mind so during the sacrament you should be grateful. It reminded me of Dad and how he knows all the roots of words:)

So, remember how I told you I was the coordinating sister, guess what my job is??? It is to support the lovely sorelle in my branch, which there are only 6 and they are the ones supporting me and I am incharge of making sure there is a sponge in the bathtub in the handicap tub! What a responsibility if I do say so myself;)

Thank you sooooo soooo much for the yummy bread! You are so sweet to think of me:) I gave some of it to an Anziano from England, I think I told you about him, he has never had pumpkin bread before, those crazy brits!:)

So I must tell you the revelation I had while memorizing the first vision in Italian, which I receit beautifully. I always thought of the first thing God said to Joseph Smith was this is my beloved son hear him, but actually he calls him by name first! The first thing that God says to Joseph Smith is his name!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is so incredible to me! God knows us, he knows our esigenze (needs), our hearts and our names! This made me think of how we start our lessons, in Preach my gospel (which I think everyone should start studying because it is amazing!), we start with making sure investigators and people in general know that they are children of God, that he loves them so much and that he knows their names and circumstances, then we start teaching about Christ and all of the happiness that comes from following him. Just like in the first vision, God calls him by name and then introduces Christ. I love the Gospel and all of the pensieri it gives to me!

I will tell you, going on a mission is a lot harder than I thought. Sometimes I get discouraged because I am not good at organizing myself to study or I do not know how to respond to our "investigators" in Italian. I have realized that I am super hardheaded(Dad was right all these years;)) and I want to do it my way, but it does not work that way, because without the help of the spirit their is no way I could last. I am so grateful I have been humbled to realize I do not have to do it all, I can lean on the Lord, while still working hard, to guide me.

Hopefully this all makes sense!:)

I love you all so so much! I pray for you always and think of you sempre! You are the best! Thanks for all of you support!

Love,

Sorella Comollo!

December 14, 2011

Carissimi!!!!
I love you all so much! I thought I would tell you that first! This week has been lovely:) after much diligence and prayer:) We had a tad tiff, my companion and I, but thank goodness for companionship inventory because we worked everything out and now instead of being just companions we are becoming friends, yippee! I truly believe that sharing spiritual experiances with each other is key to growing closer together, like what you learn from the scriptures or how prayer has helped you or what little miracles you witnessed throughout the day. I know that I will use this advice in my future companionships as well as in my eternal one;)
We have had the most amazing speakers here this week! The daughter of Pres. Monson came, Sister Dibb. I just thought Rosie would like to know that Pres. Monson loves mincemeat pie, I would like Randy to know that Pres. Monson loves red heads and if there is ever a crowd he will always shake the hands of the red heads first;) and I want dad to know that Pres. Monson loves Haagin Daas Ice cream! You see we have more in common with this amazing man than we think!;)
We also had Sister Dalton come last night! It was the best discourse ever! I could not take notes fast enough! She talked about the Chirstmas story and gave new insight on it. For example, in Luke, before Mary was visited by the Angel she had just a regular life, with plans like you and I have, but when the angel says, "thou art highly favoured of the lord, fear not for thou hast found favour with God" Mary says she will do the Lord's will, give up the life she had planned. Would we believe the angel, that we are hightly favoured sons and daughters of the Lord, would we fear even after he said not to, to change our lives? The angel also says to Mary (Luke 1:37) "For with God nothing shall be impossible". These seven words are so profound. Are we willing to give up the life we have planned for the life that is waiting for us? I know that it is hard, but I have seen already in my life that following the promptings of the spirit can sometimes be hard and get in the way of our "plans", but in the end our lives WILL be better, they WILL be the best as we follow what God has planned for us. I have a great example of this in a lesson we taught to an "investigator" this week. We had taught him 5 lessons already and each time it seemed he was cosi cosi with everything. Now I am not a very bold person when it comes to giving advice to others. I usually beat around the bush, working hard not to offend them or make them feel uncomfortable, so when Jad, our investigator, was saying sure I will pray in the lessons nonchallantly(spelling?) I thought that was ok because I did not want to annoy or pressure him. Well finally in the 6th lesson I listened to the prompting of the spirit, I had the strong desire to ask him certain questions, questions that were bold and way out of my comfort zone. I decided to act on the spirit I felt. By the end of the lesson Jad was smiling(which is a first, he never smiles!), excited to pray and be a part of the Gospel. The things I had planned for the lesson did not work out, instead the Lord had something else in mind, it was more difficult to do, by far, but in the end way better. It was amazing! I love being a missionary.
This reminds me of what my biology teacher, Temme said, he said to never be comfortable, or else you will never grow and learn, be comfortable with the idea of being uncomfortable:) I think God would agree with this:)
Ahh I am out of time! I will end with my testimony!!! This gospel is truly the gospel of christ, it truly is the way that we can draw closer to God and have the most incredible and fullfilling time on this earth regardless of our trials!
I love you all so so so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I want you to know that reading the scriptures and prayer is the best way to get the spirit and I encourage you to drink deeply from them daily! Especially the Book of Mormon, it truly is a book from God's prophets, exactly what we need in our day.
I love this gospel so much and I love that we are an eternal family!
Love you tons!
Love,
Sorella Comollo
P.S. I know what I want for christmas:) I would love if all of you, the whole family(Comollos, Getts, Williams and Babies) go and see the lights on temple square together and share in the spirit of Christmas, truly remembering why we celebrate it. Remembering the humble birth of our greatest example and blessing! Love you!

December 21, 2011

Ciao Tutti!!!! Buon Natale!!!! (note, I know my spelling is no good, Italian is messing with my english brain, sorry:))
Well this has been a lovely week! I finally feel at home here, mostly because I put up a bunch of pictures of you all around my room and hung up christmas decorations (thanks Rosie for the lights, they are perfect:)!) Also, I am so excited for the gifts that you have so kindly sent to me:) You all are the best!
So I have decided to tell you a little something about my daily activities, fun huh! Well we get up and head to the classroom, or dungeon of learning, and study the scriptures(I love doing this, I never realized how wonderful the book of mormon is! It seems like every chapter has great insight on developing faith or another christ like attribute). Then we go to the cafeteria, or processed food cafe, and eat, then we go back to the DOL then back to the PFC then back to the DOL then back to the PFC then we head over to the gym, or hamster wheel, (I think I have run around that building a million times by now:)) then back to the DOL then back to the HW, but now it is set up for a devotional! then back to the residency, or house of sleep:) I really do love the MTC, no worries! I am learning so much. The only sad thing is that we do not get to see the sky since the little vias between the buildings are covered, so if you thought I was white before you should see me now(Olga remember how you thought I was wearing white tights once, but I wasn't, that is how my legs look now:))
So on Sunday something happened that got me thinking about Pres. Hinckley's quote, "Forget yourself and go to work." On Sunday morning I was actually doing my hair, instead of leaving it crazy curly. Well I was so enthralled with how I looked and trying to get my hair looking nice that by the time I left the residency to go to our daily activities I did not even notice that I forgot to put my tag on (the one that says Sorella Comollo chiesa di Gesu' Cristo dei santi degli ultimi giorni). This simple act of forgetting to put on my tag, Christ's name, over my heart in the morning got me thinking about if I am doing that spiritually. Am I following my baptisimal covenant and taking our savior's name upon me, remembering to put him over and in my heart everyday, or am I too worried about how I look or what I am going to say or whatever and not allowing him to lead my path? From that time I have been really working on forgetting myself and going to work. It really has made a difference, my morning prayers are more sincere, I feel like I am retaining my italian and gospel knowledge and I getting less discouraged. Putting Christ in my heart first and foremost is making all the difference.
In the devotional on Sunday there was a talk given about feelings, it was incredible! It seems like in this world we live in today disregards feelings, it has to be physically or scientifically proven in order to have merit, well this is not so with the things of God. I have a great example to illistrate this through the christmas story; When Lehi tells his family about the dream he saw Nephi desires to know the interpretation of the dream, specifically what is the significance of the tree. So the Angel says ok Nephi I will show you! So he shows him the chirstmas story, he shows him Jerusalam and the Mother Mary and the sweetest face of the most gentle of Babies, the Baby Jesus. The Angel then asks him, do you know what the tree means now. Nephi says yes. If I had not heard this story before I would be thinking, what? Angel you did not even tell him what it means you just showed him a nice scene. Well think about it this way, if you were to see that angelic baby face of Jesus what would you feel?
would you not feel, THE LOVE OF GOD! The love of God is exactly what the tree in Lehi's dream symbolizes. Is that not just beauiful, Human emotions or feelings are magnified and grow deeper as we follow the spirit!
I just thought I would share those things I learned with you:)
I love you all so much! Thanks for all of your support, your letters, and your prayers! I know that this gospel is true, I know it because I can feel a change, a happiness with in me when I follow the commandments and learn more about our savior!
I wish you the Merriest Christmas, for there is nothing better than the celebration of our Savior!
Love you tons!
Love,
Sorella Comollo!

December 28, 2011

Ciao Mamma!
You should write your emails either on your email or in word document or something where they can be saved and then copy and paste them to the Dear Elder website or you can just send me emails and I can print them out and read them all of my P-day. I really want to hear more from you, so if that website keeps deleting your emails just stop using it and use a different method. Have you been getting my letters? Has dad been reading them along with my emails? He has not written me anything for a while... how are things going at home? Thank you so much for your Christmas present you are so sweet and I really liked what you wrote in the card, you are so sweet! I love you:)

So start of week seven today, it is crazy to think I have been here for six weeks, sometimes it seems longer. There is a saying about time in the MTC, days feel like weeks and weeks feel like days, how true that is!
I have to tell you something so funny that happened yesterday, our district was practicing a door approach teaching a family, when it was the Elder's turn to do it (we only have two in our district) one Elder said this in Italian, "Siamo missionari dalla Chiesa di Gesu' Cristo dei santi degli UOMANI Giorni." (instead of saying ULTIMI) or in English, "We are missionaries from the church of Jesus Christ of MEN-day saints" I burst out laughing and could not contain myself! Our teacher couldn't stop laughing either so he said start over, shut the door, start over, we had to take a minute to compose ourselves! It is so humbling to learn a new language, no worries the Anziano who said it laughed too:)
Today instead of going to the Temple we get to clean it! It is closed for the Holidays and I am so excited to be a part of the maintainance of that incredible edifice!
So we heard a talk on Sunday night that was delightful:) The orator was so funny! He told us a story about when he was Stake President he had to go and get a drink before a meeting. So he went to the drinking fountain, one of those with two right next to each other(one for the little people:)) and started drinking, well this little boy comes up and takes a drink too. We all know about how the water pressure in those darn fountains is so tempramental, so this Stake president decided to use this knowledge to play a joke on this sweet boy. He let go of his button and the water in the little boys drinking fountain squirted in his face! Well, the stake president looked around, to check if anyone was around and then pushed his button again to get a drink, the little boy came back for another and then the stake president let go of his button, allowing the water to splash in the little tyke's face. (no worries I am sure the little boy was having fun.)
He likened this though to how Satan is pushing our buttons and he knows how to push them. And if we do not be careful he can push them so much to discourage us from continuing, he can make us want to quit. We cannot allow this to happen! Of course we are going to have trials, physical, emotional and spiritual, these trials will truly help us to become stronger if we go through them with faith. Christ's life was not a life of ease, why would our lives be? We need to have these difficulties to learn and grow. Just as a muscle needs resistence to become strengthened the same principle applys to us. And during these trials Satan is going to try and push our buttons, but remember with God nothing is impossible, so lean on him and you shall, I promise you, you will come off conquorer!

Oh I love you all so much! I hope you have a SUPER HAPPY NEW YEAR! I just want to let you know that I know that this Gospel is true! I know it because truly I have felt the peace that comes from following the commandments and going forward with faith. I have felt the Holy Ghost's witness of truth as I ponder the Savior's life. I know that we have prophet on the earth today, this man who truly talks with our Lord. I know if we listen to him we can overcome any trials with tranquility and we will not quit when Satan pushes our buttons.
Love you tons!!!!
LOVE,
SORELLA COMOLLO

January 18, 2012

Ciao Tutti!

I hope all is going well for everyone at home. I hope you had a white Martin Luther King Jr. Day (pun intended:)) I have not seen an inch of snow in Provo yet, which I guess I must get used to since in southern Italy it doesn't snow. This is my last email from the MTC, Crazy!!! I leave from here next Tuesday at 5am. I will give you my itinerary:
SLC to Dallas - 8:10am-11:55
Dallas to London - 4:45pm-7:30am
London to ROMA!!! - 10:35am-2:05pm

I will most likely be calling you when I am in Dallas since I have about a five hour layover, so plan on me calling about 2pm or so:) I am still not sure on all the rules of calling, but I think I can talk for about 45 minutes. We shall see:) So be ready to answer the phone! (I am not sure, but I think I can call more than one person as long as I am aware of the time, so perhaps I shall call in the morning in SLC before everyone goes to work and than in the afternoon again!)
Also, I am sending a bunch of stuff home on Monday, so be expecting a package from me next week!

I was wondering if you could do me a huge-mongo favor? Can you send me my blue pocket size italian dictionary today so I can get it before I leave. It should be on the book shelf in my room (which Sam, I am sure is so lovely taking care of:)) or if it is not there it should be on the shelf in the closet on the left side where all my textbooks are. Rosie knows what it looks like because she has the same one. If you cannot find it or do not think that I will receive it by Monday do not worry about it, I can just buy one later, but if you can that would be great!
Also, Mamma do you think that you could send me a dearelder or letter this week letting me know how much money I have on my Debit card? I cannot look here and I just want to make sure just in case I need to use it at the airport and whatnot. Thank you so much!

This week has been a good week. I finally realized how to really prepare for lessons and the principle is that I am using to accomplish it is forgetting myself and focusing all my time and energy on the investigator. I am not sure if I have explained this yet, but now at the MTC we start teaching "investigators"(usually our teachers), in our mission language from week one. We also get to teach in the TRC, which is where members or even less actives come from the "outside world" and volunteer to talk with us for a bit on the gospel. I have really loved my MTC experience. I actually do not feel nervous to go to preach the gospel in a new language, because I know why I am doing it now, to invite people to come unto Christ and there is nothing better in this world than this and I am excited for everyone to hear this incredible message!
We are teaching a lot about the commandments lately. I am learning so much about why we need them and what they can do for us. I was thinking about commandments during the sacrament and how we covenant to take upon the name of Chirst and always remember him. Well, how do we do that exactly? My answer thus far is keeping his commandments, which in essence is following his example. When we follow the commandments we are putting God's will in front of our own and we are changing our entire lifestyle to be in harmony with his. If the commandments help us change our lifestyle that means that everytime we follow a commandment we are remembering Christ and putting his will or his name upon us and acting as he would. I have been striving to think about this in everyday things, like why would I eat healthier(since this seems to be a commandment I struggle with, just look at my chubbalub;)jk), by following the commandment of the Word of Wisdom, I am doing it because The lord has asked us to and then that reminds me of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ so I am literally keeping my baptismal covenant when I think of these things and as I DO them! I encourage all of you this week to implement this mind set of remembering the why we keep commandments(notwithstanding all the blessings we receive, like eating healthy has a lot of other blessings attached to it:)). For example, why am I abstaining from the morning coffee, or why am steering clear of media that has degrading content or why am I going to church, etc. In the end all of it comes down to remembering Christ and really applying him to our lives.

I hope that made sense:)

I did not know anything before!!! The gospel is amazing! It is true! I know it with all of my mind, heart and soul! I have never been so close to my Savior and my Father in Heaven and I have never been so happy too (even through all of my trials, which are not so bad in the scheme of things). I am so blessed to have this priviledge to serve my God and I know that as we have faith, repent daily (so as to come in stretta harmony with God) and have charity and serve one another his spirit will be with us in more abundance and there is no better thing in the whole world than having this taste of the glory of God in our lives!

I love you all so much! I am so grateful for all of your prayers and support! Have a great week!
TALK TO YOU SOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LOVE
SORELLA COMOLLO

January 25, 2012

Hello! Hello! Ciao!!!! (I do not know if I got Olga's email right, so let me know if it is wrong so I can change it:))

I am just emailing you from the mission home in Rome, Italy! Did I say I was in ROME, ITALY!?!!!!! Well, I am shaking with fatigue, because it has sure been a LONG day, but I am also shaking with excitment because I got my golden transfer(my first one that is)!!!! Guess where?

SICILIA!!!! MISTRETTA, SICILIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so so so happy! It was crazy, because when the mission president told the four of us, the sisters that came from the MTC that all of us were going to go to Sicily and he started naming some of the cities there, when he started talking about Mistretta, this hilly village, I had this sense that that is where I need to be, I had this yearning to go there. Well, I got my mini call and low and behold I was going exactly where I felt I should, rather, where the Lord felt I should:) I love having the spirit! I am taking an one hour flight at 1pm tomorrow, so I shall be there so soon:) Usually you have to take a 12 hour bus ride, but there is a strike tomorrow, so I get to take the plane! YAY!

Today was great, the flight only took 7 and half hours from Dallas to London, which is less than I was expecting. My ears were hurting sooooo bad, they would not pop for the whole time, in dallas and in London:(

I prayed so hard and guess what, they popped right as I arrived in Rome:) I love prayer:)

Well, you should write back to this email ASAP since I get to check it tomorrow before I leave:) I am allowed to write on email to my family, including sisters/brother etc:)

Also, you can totally send mail to me directly in SICILIA! My address is:

Via Pozzo Gelso, 1

98073 Mistretta Italy

So write me lots!

I love you all! It was the best talking to you today, I have the best family ever! I pray for you daily! And I just want to let you know that I know this church is true! With all of my heart! Remember that Jesus is our Savior and that through following him we can truly find joy!

Have a great day!

LOVE

SORELLA COMOLLO

I think I am missing a couple... but I will keep better track from now on. :)

Play Date and Girl Stuff :)

Our neighbor Stacie had a couple of us over for a day to pamper Sarah before baby Yerke arrives! We got to participate in some of the pampering as well. :) It was so much fun to get all of the kids together and be able to talk to my awesome neighbors at the same time. Lena was tired so wasn't the best playmate.. mostly just did her own thing...but I think she was still glad to get out of the house and do something new.

Here are some pictures of the fun. :)

Ring-around-the-Rosie :) Lena caught on to the whole "falling down" thing on about the third try. :) THEN she took it to the extreme and laid on her tummy and started rolling around. :) It was cute.

Yay for getting all four of the kiddos in the picture. :) Now we just need to get one with the babies too! Oh and I am in love with Sunnies "smile" as of late. :)

Lena, Christopher, Sunnie and Jackson

Chris was totally into the whole holding-hands thing with the girls. :) It was adorable... after Ring-Around-The-Rosie broke up he kept holding Lena's hand for an additional couple of minutes. :)

Sunnie and Chris :)

Sporting our awesome face masks :) Sarah looks extra excited to have a picture taken of her with a mask :)

More mask pictures... Sarah still looks thrilled. ;) Oh and I pretty much love the flappage on Stacie's mask :)

Sarah getting her feet well taken care of by Stacie... she was sure to hit ALL of the pressure points that are supposed to induce labor. :)

First Pig Tails

Lena's hair is officially long enough for pig tails and I must say that they make her look so grown up. I couldn't believe how much like a big girl she looked with these. It's crazy to think that she is growing up so fast. Just two short months ago, 18-month-old pants were WAY long on her and now they aren't too far away from being "floods".

Chris Helping Lena

So our neighbors invited us over the other night for ice cream and cookies (what an awesome combination! Why didn't I think of that before?) and a game. It was so fun to be able to get out of the house, especially since Lena has been stir crazy with it being cold outside. I really want to start inviting people over more... especially in the winter when it seems like we run out of things to do with little ones so fast. I think I always just get self-conscious about my house... it isn't decorated perfectly how I want it yet, to tell you the truth, I don't know how I want it...but anyway that shouldn't be any reason to not invite people over. :)

So that evening Chris and Lena were running up and down the hallway chasing each other and after a while it smelled like someone (Chris or Lena) may have pooped so Craig asked Chris if he pooped and he said "No, Lena's poop" ha ha, and it was, so after chasing her down to get her diaper changed (Sarah was so nice to let me have one of Chris' diapers since of course we forgot to bring some) she popped up and ran away as soon as the diaper was on... onesie still hanging open and skirt still off... Anyway... the picture will say it all, but Chris found Lena's skirt and had her sit down so that he could put in on her... it was so funny to watch him try to get it on her squirming legs, not to mention it being upside down. :) It pretty much made us all laugh. AND, you won't believe it but I just happened to have my camera in my pocket!!! YAY!!! Talk about perfect timing that usually doesn't happen. :)

Asleep with Big Teddy

So we've been through phases and phases of different ways to put Lena to sleep... the first thing we found that really worked was bouncing with her on an exercise ball (when she was newborn), then that turned into jogging around with her (mostly when we were somewhere the exercise ball wasn't available), then walking around with her, and last but not least, rocking with her...although, at one point you could just lay her down and she would fall asleep... don't know why it couldn't be THAT phase that lasted... anyway, moral of the story is, I fell for the trick of letting her make me rock her, walk her or bounce her to sleep. So the other day I got her ready to start walking around the house to get her down for her nap and she kept trying to squirm out... "what do you want?" I asked her, "Bayo, bayo" (meaning "bear, bear")... so I laid her down by her bear and magic happen... she fell asleep BY HERSELF... I was amazed so had to get a picture. :)

With Big Teddy

So I've decided that I'm not creative at all when it comes to naming Lena's things... except for Ellie her little teddy bear I just name everything what it is... like "Baby" for her baby or "Kitty" for her kitty and "Big Teddy" for her big teddy bear... my family likes to give me a hard time about this. :P Anyway, I just thought these pictures were cute of her by her Big Teddy... might be fun to do more pictures by him in the future to see how she is growing in comparison.

There's that cute little tongue!

I caught her leaning against the wall in the corner drinking from her sippy... thought it was cute. :)

Where's Lena?

So Lena likes to play this game where she just DISAPPEARS from thin air. None of us know where she is... we call and call for her saying "Where's Lena?" and suddenly she REAPPEARS from thin air!!!... more specifically from the area closer to the curtains in our dining room. :) "THERE'S LENA" we yell in surprise. :) Fun times.

If you were to...

...scrunch up your face and squint your eyes and show all of your teeth in a BIG CHEESY smile to Lena... she would do it back:

Snow... again :)

Lena insisted again on going outside... she must still think we are in Arizona or something and that it really isn't as cold as it is. :P Well anyway, we thought again to ourselves "I guess that's what warm clothes are for right?" and bundled her up in the snow suit we bought her before she was born. Randy put her right to work, as you can tell. :)

Lena has this obsession with pushing things so I'm sure she just BEGGED Randy to let her help shovel the snow. :) She is always wanting to push the shopping cart at the store too!

She wasn't SUPER thrilled about the snow but was excited to be able to walk around outside.

"On" "Off" "On" "Off"

As of a month or so ago Lena can reach the light switch by the stairs AND say "On" and "Off" while switching it on and off. This has become one of her favorite pass times. She will be playing in the living room, walk up to me so that her face is in my face and wave into my face saying "Bye" and then she will run over to the light switch. :)

And I just wanted to post this happy face. :)

Best Eleven of 2011

I saw a friend do this and thought it was a good idea. I can't believe it (as usual) but another year has passed us. I think that the year 2011 went by faster than any other year so far!

Here is a list of the top eleven happenings in 2011 (in no particular order):

1. Lena turned one.
2. We had our fence put in
3. Randy started taking classes again
4. Olga got an "A" in her anatomy class
5. We were able to take a trip to Arizona to see Grandma and Grandpa Grape
6. Randy was called to be Scout Master
7. Olga ran her first half marathon
8. Olga got hit by a car (in the hand)
9. Randy found out there is nothing wrong with his knees :) yay!
10. Lena started talking
11. We lost the Charger and got the Toyota to replace it.

Putting Two Words Together

Just this last week Lena has started putting two words together! I'm so amazed at how smart she is to make these logical connections! :) I think I always just assumed this wouldn't happen so soon. Here are some of the new word combinations she's been saying:

-Jimmy sag (Jimmy's sad)
-Mommy sleeping... shhhhhh
-Nonna sleeping... shhhhh
-Fire gone
-Cactus ouchy (made sure to teach her this at the very beginning so she wouldn't get near the cacti)
-Daddy gone

Arizona :)

Ever since I was born my family made the two day car ride to my grandparents house in Arizona. Until last year (Christmas of 2010) I had NEVER seen snow on Christmas and was perfectly fine with it. :) Last year we weren't able to travel to Arizona because we were afraid to travel with a fairly new baby. This year we were able to figure things out so that we could make the trip down to good old Tucson, Arizona. It was so good to be able to see my grandparents and to show Lena all of the fun things I enjoyed in Arizona when I was a kid. :) The weather was amazing and we took lots of opportunities to go outside with sandals, shorts and T-shirts... a nice break from the cold in Utah. Lena loved being outside again (since she hasn't had much opportunity in Utah lately) and had so much fun following Jimmy around. :)

Here are just a couple... well no.. a LOT of the fun pictures taken in the sunny state. :)

Lena and Jimmy drinking their bottles together on the first night we were there. It was fun to be in the same house with my family for a week. :)

Alex with his awesome "Nerd Herd" shirt... totally want one of those! :)

Randy helped get my grandparents set up with a much needed new computer. He was excited to be able to help with something. :)

Rosie and Alex bathing the babies with their AWESOME matching "Chuck" T-shirts. :)

I remember doing the same thing in this chair when I was a kid. :) It was so much fun to show them around my grandparents' house. :)

Cute Rosie with Jimmy Pie sticking his cute little tongue out, he he. :)

Lena isn't even looking at the camera in this picture, but I had to post it because if you look closely... Jimmy did an AWESOME job of photo bombing our picture. :)

Us lovin' the warm. :)

Alex with Jimmy :)

I thought this picture with Lena and Randy looking at each other was so cute. :) I can't resist posting such a cute daddy-daughter moment.

Lena being cute...

This was the car we got for our rental. Pretty ugly on the outside but fairly roomy on the inside (for a "compact" car). Sorry to those of you who like the look of the outside... I will hold nothing against you.

We had to get the classic picture by the palm trees in front of my grandparents' house... we have been doing this since I was a kid.

I love this picture of Rosie, Jimmy and Alex by the "wash". The "wash" was one of our very favorite places to play as kids. :) We would run down one side and up the other down the whole thing. It was fun to do it with Lena this year and see how much she liked it as well. :)

Lena and Jimmy found a whole with dirt in it... of course they had to explore. :)

Rosie and Alex running up the "wash" with Jimmy.

I wanted really badly to get a picture of Lena that also had a palm tree in it. This one makes it look like it's growing our of her head, but hey, I'm no photographer.

This is the VERY FIRST picture taken of Jimmy while saying "cheese" I must say that it turned out pretty perfect... pose and all... even for someone who's not a professional photographer. :)

This swing set is another thing we played on as kids... I made sure to remind Alex how old it was as he swung on it and how it looks like it's going to fall apart while he swings on it... he thanked me for calming his nerves. ;)

And yes, I let Lena join him in this dangerous adventure... maybe not the best choice. ;)

Lena and Jimmy playing with some old toys on my grandparents' patio, again, it was SO much fun to put Lena in shorts again... oh how I love warm weather.

Lena in her Sunday best. :)

Another irresistible daddy-daughter moment. :)

I just really like this picture. It's so much fun dressing Lena up for church.

She actually looked at the camera AND smiled (well kind of) for me. :)

Oh now this "Budah" has a very funny story to go along with it. The moment my mom saw this thing she was completely disgusted... she thought it was the grossest and creepiest looking thing for some reason... it just rubbed her the wrong way... well, the fact that it was bald and partially nude, Jimmy and Lena thought it was a baby and fell in love with it... they would hug it and kiss it and rock it... we got them to go around the house chanting "Budah" (their new favorite word) and it drove my mom CRAZY!!! She finally threw it in the garbage. Someone, we're still not sure who, found it in the garbage and brought it back out... Alex told Jimmy to show it to "Nonna" (my mom) and she squeeled! "I thought I threw that creepy thing away!"... oh man, it was so fun to tease her with that... part of us wants to order a big box of them and have them shipped to her house... oh we are so mean. ;)

Lena modeling my Grandma's shoes. :)

It is a tradition every Christmas to work on a puzzle at my grandparents' house. Okay, so this particular puzzle took us TWO YEARS to complete!!! It is the hardest freaking puzzle we've ever seen, with weirdo shaped pieces. My mom spent a lot of her time on this puzzle and was determined to get it finished before we left this year... well... SUCCESS. :) Here is my mom next to the finished masterpiece. We were all VERY surprised that after two years of sitting out, all of the pieces were still present.

Rosie put the very last piece in. :) The ONLY piece she put in. Although, she did contribute a LOT to this puzzle because she played with the kiddos so I could help work on it. So really I think she did more of the work, in return for her greatness we let her put the last piece in. :)

And there she goes. :) (Notice how thrilled my Grandpa is ;) )

We had spaghetti one night and it was a hit with the kids!!! Not only did Lena eat TONS... but Jimmy did too!!! Now that is a rare occurrence .... most of the time Jimmy spits any "real" food out before he can taste it... it was a big deal that he ate so much. :)

I was really so impressed that Lena already understands how to "slurp" spaghetti... it was so fun to watch her look so experienced with the dish... True Italian she is. :)

Lena had a lot of fun combing Randy's hair. :) I liked how she leaned on the bed as she did it. That totally matches her name! ha.. ha... ha ;)

She takes after me in her love for chocolate. :)

Alex dancing with the kiddos. :)

Jimmy running up onto the sidewalk... these slanted sidewalks make the BEST ground for remote control cars! One of our favorite presents as kids. :)

Lena playing in the neighbors yard.

Picking up rocks is one of her major hobbies.

Running!

Happy Lena and Happy Daddy, who could ask for more?

A sweet picture of my grandma holding Lena... it was really so good to be able to spend some time with them. :) They loved watching the kids.

My cute Grandpa. :)

Getting ready to leave :(

Lena helping Nonna deflate her bed. :)