And I'm done

Oh my goodness! This has been the fastest moving holiday season I have ever had. I'm loving the snow, Jaime and I spent the better part of yesterday looking for a sled, no luck though, I'm pretty sure there isn't a sled for sale in the treasure valley, if anyone knows where we can buy one, let me know! Lots of fun from Christmas here are some of my fav pics.

The Weekend update

We had a great weekend, not too many things to do, just enough things to keep us from getting cabin fever. Friday we had movie night, Jaime and I have decided to "educate" our girls in the cinimatic wonders from the 80's and 90's. Don't ask me why, but they can't get enough of movies like "The Neverending story", "The Princess Bride", "Karate Kid", anything with Fred Savage or by Jim Henson. I really get a kick out of how much they love watching these old movies, bad special effects and all. This week it's all about Charlie Brown and Ducktales woo, oo. Now I want to know, what is your favorite movies from when you were a kid? With Thanksgiving and Christmas break comming up, we are going to have a lot of movie time on our hands!

Saturday Jaime and I attempted to clean out the garage, we didn't get very far but it was a noble attempt. We also participated in the Rake up Nampa thing, it was great, he had like 8 of his employee's and their spouses. We got to the house and their was 1 tree, yeah it was super hard work!! Mrs. Palmer was very appreciative though, she gave us cookies!

Sunday was nice, I slept in till 8:30, which is quite a feat in this family of early risers, made a big breakfast and basically vegged for the rest of the day, Jaime went and played B-ball with the guys from church.

History in the making

Regardless of how you feel about Barack, every American should be proud of the wonderful democracy that we live in. I thought that McCain's concession speech was so gracious,(though I can't say the same for some of his supporters) and I cannot remember a moving speech than Barack's. It was so full of hope, and compassion. Not once did he rub victory in the face of his opponent. The hopes and dreams of so many Americans weigh on his shoulders. I do know for sure that he can't do it alone. I am excited for the future maybe we can really become the "United states of America"

Smurfette Halloween

Yeah, I'm back!! We finally have a new computer, we had to go without for a few days and it was pure torture! I loved reading all of your comments for my horrible, terrible, no good very bad day. Here are some pictures of me and my smurflings, along with some other strange people that visited on Friday. Take a look at those eyelashes, let me tell you my eyelids have never been tired before!

Horrible Morning!!!

So I think today will go down as one of the worst mornings of my life. It started out fine, the girls woke up without any trouble, ate breakfast and got dressed with little hassle. I took Ashlynn to the bus which is about 1 1/2-2 miles away. We got there a little early so I turned off the car and we sat and listened to music, she got on the bus and I went to start the car and...... Nothing!! I was a little concerned but not too bad, I figured I could just call Jaime or Jess or someone and they could come and give me a jump, but wait, I had left my phone at home! So I was stuck at the bus stop a couple of miles away from home in the cold morning, and did I mention that I had a 10 month old baby with me (Sabrina)? Yeah, and she weighs more than Gabbo. Sometime right after we left for the bus she decided to have a blowout, so not only was she heavy, but stinky as well! I weighed my options and decided to walk home. I figured it wouldn't take that long so off we went. As we were crossing the road Gabrielle tripped and fell..ON HER FACE! She was bleeding from her nose, chin, lip and gums and crying it was awful. I wiped her off as best I could with my sleeve, I couldn't even carry her because I had the baby. Thankfully when we got about halfway Jaime was on his way to work and he seen us, so we didn't have to walk in the cold for very long. He jumped the car and it started fine. When we got home I changed Sabrina's diaper, she had a serious rash, poor thing, and went down to throw it out. When I came back up the stairs she had my coffee ( I forgot that babies reach for anything they shouldn't have when they think you aren't looking) and she proceeded to dump it in my shoe. The rest of our day has been good, but man I hope I don't ever have another experience like this one again, and let me tell you, I will never go anywhere without my phone again, not even to the mailbox!!!!!

I'm it!!

So, Alisha tagged me, I'm not sure if I can come up with 6 things that nobody knows about me, but I do have quite a few random odd things about myself that I could share.



1. I am totally afraid that I will get the hiccups and that they will never go away, like I will have them for the rest of my life. I also get nervous for my girls when they have them.



2. My stomach is actually a bottomless pit, I eat more than anybody I know. I've learned to control it a little bit, I figure as I get older it will probably become more important to not "pig out".



3. I love to kiss my girls all over their faces while they sleep, Jaime too.



4. Sometimes when I get really mad, I want to bite whoever or whatever it is that is upsetting me. ( now you all know where Gabs gets it!)



5. I have a short achillies tendon, so flat shoes or tennis shoes hurt my feet. One of the reasons I wore heels even when I was 9 months Preg, plus they took away some of the waddle.



6. I'm very self-conscious about how I look, I feel like I always look frumpy or messy. Even if I look in the mirror and see that it's not true, I just can't get it out of my head that I'm not a 6th grader with bad coke-bottle glasses, stringy greasy hair and huge clothes.



I did it!!! now I think I'll tag, Sue, Trisha, Mom, Dody and Lenae. Tag you're it!!!

My new FAV!!

I came across this song on the radio a few weeks ago and I thought it was pretty good, so I searched for the video and it was hilarious!! http://new.music.yahoo.com/videos/--184533736

Miss me?

Well, I Think I'm back for good. We are moved in and I feel a little more normal now. I always wondered where Ashlynn got all of her change issues, well I found that she must have gotten some of them from me. Its been kind of hard for me to adjust to the move, Ive spent a lot of time just feeling overwhelmed, figuring out where to put everything and what will work and what needs to go.
The second reason I haven't been blogging much, is that our computer is having a small glitch. The g and h keys don't work and a few other things like the apostrophe, we have to copy/paste every time. Annoying because every other word has one in it!! I better get going, but stay tuned great blogs coming soon!!

We're Moving!!!

It finally happened, we found renters for our house, (my Grandparents) and signed the closing documents for our new house. I am soooooo excited I can hardly wait. We won't be able to move this weekend because Jaime has to work and then this is his weekend "on" for the Media Team. But next weekend we should be able to completely move, it's an older house so it needs some serious cleaning but it is beautiful! The previous owners did a small remodel for us and well as giving a $2000 carpet allowance so with a little paint and cleaning it will look brand new.

On another note, we went camping this last weekend, it was a great trip. If you have never been to Goose lake it is definitely worth the trip, it's about 45 min. outside McCall. We all thought that it was one of the best campsites we had ever been to. The lake is beautiful and the campgrounds were very well kept. I wasn't sure how the girls would do, this being their first "real" tent camping trip; they did great! Gabrielle loved fishing ( the guys caught 10 trout on their first day!!) and Ashlynn loved target practice. We had heard that Goose Lake was a good place to find huckleberries so we went searching. We didn't find any, so we asked the camp host and he gave us directions to some, it seems we took a left when we should of taken a right. Next time I'm sure we will find them! It was quite an experience cooking over an open flame, all of the food turned out delish; a dutch oven is really a miracle invention! I think my favorite part was spending time with everyone around the campfire, eating s'mores and telling stories, I haven't laughed that hard in awhile!!(thanks Jared :o)) I feel so blessed to have a family that wants to do things with each other. I can't wait for our next trip.

Wii!!!!

Okay so I haven't posted in a while , not because I don't have the time, I seem to have plenty of that lately, mostly because I want to post that we moved into our new home, and that is not happening, we still have till the end of the month, but it's not looking very promising at this point.

I think we are totally getting into the whole 80's movement! We have been watching a lot of older movies our latest was a movie called The Wizard, it has Fred Savage in it, I used to love watching The Wonder Years, and I had a huge crush on him when I was little, then I found out that he was old and it practically crushed me, well Ashlynn seems to think he's pretty hot stuff so I thought I should let her know that he was wayyyy older than her, she was a little sad but she still thought it was a pretty good movie, my only worry is that Ashlynn and Gabrielle might start begging for scrunchies and leg warmers if we keep it up! We have done so many neat things this last month, picnics, swimming, boating, gardening, slumber parties, jump-rope competitions, movie nights...ect... It's been a really fun summer, I really enjoy that my girls are getting older and we can do things together. We bought a Wii a few weeks ago and we all really get into playing it together, it is definitely a family activity, most recently we found out that we can get all of the old Sega and NES games, I loved playing Super Mario bros. so Jaime bought it and we have all been playing it. I'm actually better at it than him, so we made a bet that if he saved the princess we would buy Super Mario bros. 2 and if I won we would buy 3. Well, I had gotten to the castle but couldn't get past the hammer bros. and so on his turn by some stroke if luck he got past and saved the princess, I couldn't believe it!! I'm better but he still won, so now we have #2, not one of my favorites, but Ash likes it because she can be the princess. Our friends Mike and Erin also have a Wii, they let us borrow their Wii fit, both girls are loving it! Jaime and I think it's pretty fun too, not sure if we would want to buy one yet though.

Selena

So, I'm not quite sure how we got on the subject, but a couple nights ago we were eating dinner and we started talking about the importance of doing things for God and how when God is our focus the results can last for eternity, but when we are not they just last a little while and then they are gone. We were trying to explain this to Ashlynn in a way she could understand and Jaime started telling her about his cousin Letty Guval. She was becoming popular on the Tejano circuit around the same time as Selena; but God had a different plan for her life, she turned her life over to Jesus and now instead of trying to be a famous singer, her goal is to reach people for Christ though her beautiful voice. I think we started talking about Selena because her song was played on the radio right then. Mostly we were talking about how sad it was that her life was cut short, and wondering if she had known Jesus, that kind of thing. Well after dinner I asked Jaime to see if Selena was playing on netflix , it was so we watched it. I forgot that it was a pretty good movie, Ashlynn was totally absorbed, she loved it. The end is so sad, Jaime and Ashlynn snuggled and cried together, it was soooo sweet! It was pretty late when the movie got over so we all went to bed. Ashlynn woke up in the morning super crabby and upset, Because Selena died!!!!!!! Jaime too, when he came home from work yesterday he told me he had cried in their morning huddle, because Ashlynn cried and because Selena died!! I told them that was the last time I let them watch a sad movie right before bed!

We're on the move!

Well after months of trying we are finally committed to buying a house!!!! Provided that we can rent ours out first. I was really disappointed when the other house fell through, I just knew that there would never ever be another house and that I would be doomed to wait until it came back on the market if ever. Jaime on the otherhand, kept looking and showing me if he found something I might like. When he found this one I was skeptical, it was an older house '96 but when we looked at the pics I was impressed, 4 bed 2 1/2 bath lots of upgrades. I wasn't getting my hopes up because the price was so low, I figured it was either a short sale or there was something really wrong with it. We decided to go see it. I could totally see the potential, it needed a few things to make it what I really wanted. The best part was that the sellers were totally willing to accomidate, they are even helping us to get our current house rented out!!

We just need to rent our house out & then every thing will be final. I'm nervous and excited at the same time I'm not sure where to start, finding boxes, the packing, the posting, cleaning!?!?!?!If anyone knows where to find boxes or renters let me know!

Sum, Sum Summertime!

Well I think my summer has finally caught up with me! We have been enjoying the warm weather in every way possible. I have been working in my garden, it's doing well, I've had a few technical difficulties due to the fact that we live in a wind tunnel!!! Other than that it has been a great tool for teaching my girls and myself a little about discipline and diligence! and the rewards have been great, we harvested our first radishes and they were beauties.

On Tuesday Traci, Ashlynn, Gabrielle and I went to Adrian Or. to pick strawberries. It was lots of fun, it's kinda hard work, but sooo totally worth it, after that we made strawberry jam, which was delish.

Later that day the girls really wanted to set up a "lemonaide & popcicle" stand. They had lots of fun and made about $12. I think they are addicted to making money now, every day I hear them scheming about how to make their stand better or other ways to make money...so cute!

Cerro De La Silla

This is Ashlynn's first dance of the summer and her friend Vanessa's first dance ever! They all did such a great job, even though it was super cold. The style of this Ballet folklorico dance comes from the Norte region of Mexico. Thanks to Veronica for posting it on youtube! I've really got to figure out how to do that!

Best friends

Gabrielle has about 3 friends that come over regularly to play, but she definitly has a "best friend" it is so cute to see the way they play together and how well they get along, considering her domineering personality! This is Ethan "E-sen" according to Gabbo, I don't know how long they will be friends, but it is sweet to see them playing together for hours on end. I'm sure many of you have heard me complaining about the quantity of children in our corner of the neighborhood, (15 at least) all very near my girls age. Anyway, there are very good things about having so many children so close, like there is always enough people for an awesome game of tag, football, jumprope contest, hopscotch, boardgames, dress-up, sandcastle building, obstacle course, ect.... the not so great part is that they are always wanting to do all of these things, and many of the times all in the same afternoon! It's also difficult to teach 3-4 year olds about boundaries espcially when they are very comfortable with you; for instance, just because I've opened the door to let a breeze through, does not mean that anyone can walk in or bang down the door until I unlock it! Anyway, I think that they are learning some really important lessons about relationships; problem solving, sharing, empathy, ect... "It's all about relationships!!!"

"Ashlynn and the Bee"

Yesterday I had the privilege of watching Ashlynn in her first spelling bee. It was so neat! (I'm claiming parental bragging rights!) She was one of the top 8 out of about 75 first and second graders. She did really well and came in third! I am just so proud of her for working so hard and trying her best in all of her schoolwork. School is almost out (1 day left) and then we will begin our summer fun. It's been a long time since I haven't babysat during the summer, I'm not sure what we'll do, having everyday free; but I'm sure we'll find ways to fill them up. Today Ashlynn's class is having a "read-in"/summer b-day party and tomorrow is the last day of school and field day. Throughout the summer the school will be moving into their new building. It will be so awesome having so much more space. I really have to commend the teachers for doing such an amazing job with our kids in such a small space.

Stranger danger

Well I thought I should post something, it's been awhile. I had a very scary experience while grocery shopping at my local Winco, I usually go shopping first thing in the morning after Ashlynn gets picked up by the bus, that way the store isn't crowded yet and it won't take as long. I was doing my usual route around the store, (I'm sure you all have one) and a man approached Gabrielle in the aisle and said that we were a pretty mommy and baby. I thought it was a bit odd, because I'm more accustomed to compliments from old ladies rather than strange men, still I hardly even thought anything about it. I finished my shopping, it took longer than usual because my mom works at Winco and Tori had recently had her baby so everyone wanted to know how things were going. I walked out to my car and started unloading the groceries into the trunk, that is when I noticed that same guy walking towards my car!!!! I totally started to panic!! Thoughts running through my head like, "where did I put that bag with the heavy cans!?! and where is the damn cart guy when you need him?!?( he was nearby thankfully) Well scary guy came up to us and started to apologize for possibly offending me with his comment inside, I thought that was a little weird but I said, "oh, ok, thanks." Then he asked me if my husband and I liked to go dancing, I thought maybe he ran cowgirls or something and wanted to promote his club or something; so I said sure, sometimes. This is where it gets scary, He then asks if I ever look at adult websites! Now I was getting mad, He proceeds to tell me that he and his wife run an adult website and that I had a great body and would be perfect for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have never been so mad and scared in my life! I am still wondering how he could tell what kind of body I have considering I was wearing a tee shirt jacket and jeans! I told him no, that I was most definetly not interested. then he told me the website and then left. I watched him leave and when I thought he was far enough away I dove in the car and locked myself in. Up until then I had been able to keep my composure, but after I got in I was shaking and really scared to go home, I wasn't smart enough to watch if he got into a vehicle so I wouldn't know if he followed me; so I did what every self sufficient independent woman does, I ran to the bank where my husband works! He told me I should go home(making sure I drove into another subdivision first) and shut the garage, then call the police and report what happened. Well, I did go home, just long enough to put away the groceries and leave again. I was scared that he could possibly track me using my licence plate number and I'm pretty much alone in my neighborhood during the day. It was mostly nice outside, so I took Gabbo to the park and called the police from there, they told be that as long as he didn't offer me money or touch me then there was nothing they could do, not even file a report. They did provide a little comfort by saying that if he approached me again it would be considered stalking! unless he killed me first!!! I called Winco security as well and they also said that he didn't really do anything wrong, and that I should take it as a complement!! they printed off a picture of him for future reference anyway.

Later that afternoon Ashlynn's class was preforming so I went to her school for that, because of a time miscommunication I missed it, but I had came to her school and seen the kids do it a few days before so she wasn't too upset. We stayed and played at the school for a little while and then as we were leaving..... I backed into another car!!!! Let me tell you, that had to be the worst day of my life! Jaime called me and said not to cook dinner because his mom was coming to take the girls for the evening and we were going out. I was sure glad for the day to be over. I still don't feel completely safe home alone, but I'm getting over it. A note to all you women out there, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE be aware of your surroundings! Like all of the e-mails say look around and never let your guard down.

Happy Mom's Day!

We had a wonderful surprise on Mothers Day, my baby sister Tori became a mother on Mothers Day! She went in around 4 a.m. and had the baby @ 10:05 p.m. It was a long hard labor but if you ask me it was totally worth it, Yecenia Kay is the cutiest little thing! 7lbs 2 oz I don't know how tall. I had a big BBQ planned for Sunday, thankfully she delivered at the Mercy hospital close by my house, so I spent my day running back and forth between my house and the hospital. All in all it was a good day, very crazy, but that's how I like it!

A perfect day on the line

I love it when things work out just right. These last few weeks have been manic, I cherish my "downtime", but when Jaime is home, it all goes out the window. The end of April and beginning of May is the busiest time in our family. I like getting out and doing stuff, but it's insane to pile it all into 3 weeks! But back to things working out; I needed to do laundry today, and I usually try to hang it on the line whenever I can, living in N-town that can be a challenge considering that sometimes the outside smells worst than ten year old sneakers! Thankfully the air outside actually smells sweet with spring, and there is a perfect breeze; not too wild, but strong enough to practically dry the clothes before I've hung the second row. My family doesn't mind that I hang the wash, as long as I don't try hanging out their "personals" we're all good! I'm so happy because the day isn't even half over, and I'm done with the laundry that usually takes a full day and then some. Ahh, it really is the small things in life!

It's been awhile

Jaime is on vacation this week, it was our 7th anniversary on Monday I can't believe how fast the time has went by. I thought that I would commemorate this one with my 7 favorite things about him. I think it will be hard to stop at seven but I can do it!!

1. He puts others ahead of himself. Jaime is the kind of guy who will go out of his way to help anyone.

2. He doesn't complain. I can be awful to live with, and I most definitely complain...a lot. He will do what it takes every time, and try to see the bright side, even when it is barely there.

3. He's hot!! This one may sound silly, but to me it is important. He takes pride in the way he dresses and looks, and it shows.

4. He's a hard worker. Jaime carries the full burden of our family's financial welfare on his shoulders. He sees how important it is to me that I be able to stay at home and take care of our girls. He also was super supportive when I wanted to get a job, not necessarily for the income, but for the outlet it would provide me.

5. He knows what to do. Jaime often claims that he doesn't have common sense, but I don't believe that for a second. He is so intuitive when it comes to knowing when to help, and when to stand back. He also knows when asking if I need help will piss me off or make me smile in relief.

6. He makes me laugh. I don't know anything more important in life than laughter. Lots of guys are great jokers who make people laugh, Jaime is different because he doesn't make jokes at the expense of others, he's not perfect but he would never hurt anyone on purpose.

7. He is my own personal jukebox! I make fun of him a lot about this one, but it is amazing; he can find a lyric or song for absolutely every thing.

I've got about 12 more things that I could put down (not all of them appropriate) but I will stop there. I hope that the next seven years are as amazing as these have been. Everyday I thank God that you are the man that won my heart. When I look back at this post years from now, it will probably make me want to hurl from the sappiness of it, but it is true, every word. I love you with all of my heart.

My Garden

Well I have officially started my garden. With the rising price of groceries I couldn't say no when on of Jaime's cousins offered me high quality seeds. I have never really had a green thumb, so we will see how it turns out. I started my tomatoes before we left for San Antonio, they were doing great until last Thursday when half of them died and the rest got moldy dirt and wilty leaves.

This week I have been rototilling, it's basically like taking a bucking bull for a walk!! my arms hurt, but I really don't mind hard work, (I did pull up all the carpet by myself.) I'm really excited about canning, I usually freeze everything, but I've been making jams jellies and fruit butters for a long time. I'm looking for help, so if anyone out there is willing, let me know! I plan on trying to go fruit picking this spring and summer Godwilling there is fruit that survives this cold snap. I'm thinking it could be a great girls day out thing. Any takers?

Almost like a real job!

Well today was the first time I went to a school and known what I was going to be doing, it's great! I got a call last week from the Principal at one of the schools I've been subbing at, asking me if I would be willing to fill in for a teacher for the next two weeks, possibly for the rest of the school year. I was really excited to find out that they would request me for such a long period of time. The best part is, that it's part-time so I only work from 7:30 until 11:00 and then I'm done for the day. It's great, because I still have plenty of time to do all of the things that I want. I really like knowing what I'm expected to do, it's not exciting but it is definitely more comfortable.

Celebrity Morph by MyHeritage

MyHeritage: Celebrity Morph - Free family tree charts - Free family tree

Home at last!!

WOW!! That is the word that sums up our trip to San Antonio. The bank sure knows how to party. We made sure to take in all of the tourist attractions, and then some.
We almost didn't get there on time though; we arrived at the airport around 7:00 a.m. and our plane was supposed to leave at 8:20, then we were supposed to have a 1 hr layover in phoenix, well plans changed after we got on the plane and they informed us that they were having mechanical errors and we were going to be about an hour delayed, Jaime and I were both thinking, crap, hopefully we will get there in time to catch our connecting flight. They fixed the problem and we arrived in Phoenix at about 9:00 their time. Maybe we could make it, wrong, a fuel truck was blocking us from getting to the gate and it took about 10 minutes to get it out of the way, and of course our connecting flight was at the opposite end of the airport. We missed our flight by less than 5 min. So we go to the customer service desk and she tells us that the next flight to San Antonio isn't until 9:45 P.M.!! Jaime says," that is not going to work!" He called the bank and they booked us on a flight with Southwest for 10:40 a.m., unfortunately they don't transfer luggage and the whole place is crazy packed because of spring break. We barely made it, but thanks to the awesome travel agent with bank, we were able to get there only an hour later than we originally planned.
San Antonio was beautiful, the weather was great, mid 80's the whole time, it was really muggy but it felt like being in a warm steamy shower, I loved it, especially since my skin has never looked so good!! I am so proud of Jaime for working hard enough to make this trip possible. We met a really great couple, we clicked with them right away, and ended up hanging out with them almost the whole time, it was great to have someone else to experience everything with, and the added benefit of someone to take pics w/o having to worry about a stranger stealing our camera. We had a great time visiting Jazz and piano bars and a couple of pubs. We also did a lot of dancing, I'm not much of a dancer but it was super fun anyway. We even danced on the bar at Coyote Ugly!!! The Alamo was interesting, I think they have done quite a bit of restorations on it, I'm also not exactly sure what the whole story behind it is, other than it was a total ambush where a lot of great men died. Jesse convinced us to go into this Ripley's believe it or not house of horror; OH MY GOSH!! It was so scary. People where bringing their kids in with them, I don't know what they were thinking, I was so scared I couldn't even scream. We also took a ride on the riverboat, our guide was awesome. We went in the evening and it was beautiful.
Same thing happened on our trip home. Our flight was scheduled for 6:45p.m. W/ a 2hr layover in Phoenix getting home around midnight. Well about 20 min before we were supposed to leave they informed us that they were having technical difficulties and we wouldn't get to leave until after 8:30 so we were going to miss our connecting flight again; and there were no flights leaving to Boise from anywhere. Thankfully they put us up in a decent hotel and were able to book a flight for early the next morning. This time everything went smoothly, and we were able to get home by 3 in the afternoon, but boy was I ready to be home!!!