Memory Lane

I found these photos while going through my computer this morning. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw these pictures. Oh how my babies have grown. This past week has been a doozie with these two, but seeing these pics almost brought tears to my eyes. My Angel is 10 and Alliah 8? Where did the time go? At Alliah's "little party" Larry and I were talking to my parents about how fast the kids are growing and my mom told Larry, "Just wait 'til you have to walk Alliah down the aisle!" I saw in Larry's expression that even the thought of that jolted him down to his bones. And, of course, the picture below shows my kids true colors. Such clowns. Hmmm...where did they get THAT from?



More Memories...

Happy Birthday Bella!

Today we celebrated my neice Isabella's first birthday. My brother Fermin and sister-in-law Crystal threw a Hawaiian luau at my parents house and let me tell you: they pulled out all the stops! They played Hawaiian music in the background, gave everyone a hawaiian lei to wear, lit tiki torches, and made the backyard feel like a tropical paradise! They served hawaiian chicken, lumpias, white rice, macaroni salad, beef teriyaki, fruit salad, two pinatas, cake and ice cream....not to mention the cotton candy and snow cone machines. They did such an awesome job. Their three months of planning paid off! We all had a wonderful time. Happy, Happy Birthday, Bella!
Here my sister Nicole took Gracie and Bella (aka B.F.F.s) into the bounce house for the very first time. Bella crawled around a little and Gracie just sat and smiled. All the bright colors, the movement, the other kids laughing around her. How could she NOT like it?
I just had to post this pic of my boy Isaiah. Nicole got in the bounce house with him and he loved it! He was jumping and laughing...so cute. He is so handsome and I love him with all my heart.

Alliah Turns Eight...8!

Our Alliah Rose turned eight years old today. Here she is sitting in her new outfit her Tia Nicole bought for her for the birthday present. You can't tell in this picture, but our poor baby girl had a 104* fever the night before so the plans we originally made for her birthday celebration went down the drain. HER choice was to go to El Torito's, walk down Cannery Row, and end the evening with a yogurt from MYO Yogurt Shop. Instead, we barbecued hamburgers and hot dogs, heated up some chili beans and bought two circular cakes to form the shape of the number 8. Mom and Dad and Uncle Jesse and Tia Liz came over and brought her presents. Overall, she had a GREAT birthday and fell sound asleep in the new bedroom comforter set we bought for her for her birthday. I'll have to post some pics of that because it is one you just have to see to believe! We thank the Lord for our little girl who is growing to be a happy and beautiful girl. For those of you who have to priviledge to know Alliah, you know that she is one of a kind and we're so glad she's ours!

Alliah's sick in bed with 104* fever. Tomorrow is her birthday. We're praying she's better in the morning!

Smilebox + Photoshop = Fun!

I'm excitedly sharing that I've learned how to inter-twine Smilebox creations with Photoshop...and I can do it quite well I might add. That's how I created the header above. Doesn't it look great? I amaze myself sometimes. There's more to learn about digital scrapbooking, but I'm taking my time to make sure I learn all I can, the best way I can. Larry called me amazing when he saw this updated blog page. He takes a look at the blog every couple of weeks or so. Sometimes he says, "What? When did that happen?" or "How come I didn't know about that?" Cracks me up. But now it's very late (1am) and I have to get up the kids up at 6:30a.m. tomorrow and take them to school by 7:45a.m. Larry's been doing that for me lately, but he has an early meeting. Thank God Grace is already out (thank you SO much, God!) So...good night all!

Yummy Ice Cream

I have a new favorite flavor of ice cream. It's called "1020" It's orignally created at Marianne's Ice Cream shop in Santa Cruz, but we have a new ice cream shop here in our town and it's there I made this fantastic discovery. 1020 is caramel ice cream with a fudge swirl and oreos mixed in. It's almost heavenly! Whenever you come over, mention it and we'll go get a scoop!

Page Update

So I updated my page today. Found a new website with great backgrounds and blinkies for our blog. I LOVED this quilt background the moment I saw it. For those of you who have been around me lately you know that my newest hobby is going to estate sales. It all started one Friday afternoon while I was driving to the post office. I stopped at the light and saw a a nice, large lettered sign hanging from the light post that said, "ESTATE SALE TODAY!" with a big red arrow pointed down the street. For some reason, my curiousity was peaked so I dropped off my mail and headed straight for the sale. It was kind of weird walking through somebodys house that is, well, how can I put this? Uh...that is...."no longer with us." When somebody passes away, sometimes the persons property and things are left in a trust. The family can sell everything and then divies up whatever profit is made from selling the deceased persons things. Did that come out okay? I don't want to offend anyone. Anyways, I stopped in and found the most beauiful quilts that would cost over $100 in the stores for 20 bucks each. I swiped up those babies in a heartbeat. And if you know me well, you know that I have TONS of blankets and we're always wrapped up in blankets all nice and cozy at my house. The crazy part of it all is that there are like 15 - 20 people walking all in and out of the house trying to find a deal of a life time. One lady bought a beautiful girls bedroom set for like $250. Footboard, headboard, two nightstands, desk, mirrored dresser and drawers...what a steal! Oh well...I can go on and on about what great finds there are, but I've spent way too much time updating the page to now keep on typing forever. I hope all is well with you, and keep on checking in on us....we've always got something interesting to share! 80)

Flying High

This is a great pic I captured with my Blackberry as we were flying high in the air on the Swings at the fair. I am amazed at how well this picture came out! I almost droppped my phone in mid-air, but after seeing this shot, the chance was well worth it!

Just Push

My friend Debby sent this email to me and I thought you all would enjoy it as much as I did. It's a long one, but so very true...

***JUST PUSH***

A man was sleeping one night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light, and God appeared. The Lord told the man he had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might...

So, this the man did, day after day.. For many years he toiled from sunup to sundown, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all his might!

Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain. Since the man was showing discouragement, the Adversary (Satan) decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the man's weary mind: (He will do it every time!)

You have been pushing against that rock for a long time and it hasn't moved." Thus, he gave the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure. These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man.

Satan said, "Why kill yourself over this? Just put in your time, giving just the minimum effort; and that will be good enough.." That's what the weary man planned to do, but decided to make it a matter of prayer and to take his troubled thoughts to the Lord.
"Lord," he said, "I have labored long and hard in Your Service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that rock by half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?"

The Lord responded compassionately, "My friend, when I asked you to serve Me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all of your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to Me with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed.

But, is that really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back shiny and brown; your hands are callused from constant pressure, your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much, and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. True, you haven't moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom. That you have done. Now I, my friend, will move the rock."

At times, when we hear a word from God, we tend to use our own intellect to decipher what He wants, when actually what God wants is just simple obedience and faith in Him.

By all means, exercise the faith that moves mountains, but know that it is still God Who moves the mountains.

Offically Speaking

All right...it's official. Grace's first word was "da-da." I hoped it would have been ma-ma, since I AM the one that gets up at 2 and 3 in the morning to change pee-pee diapers and warm bottles, but noooooo! Larry's glowing and is so excited to hear Gracie babble on his name. In my heart I'm glad too. I'm witnessing expressions on Larry's face that I've never seen before. Tonight we were looking at our online bank statment, which ususally is NOT fun, but while we were "discussing" what had been spent Grace let out a "da-ada" and the whole atmosphere changed. She brings such joy to our hearts. She truly is a gift from God!