Summer time and the livin's easy......

A beautiful summer day....a ferry ride....windows down....ice cream and french fries.....a leisure drive across the island.....chillin on the beach....a picnic......a great day.....life is good!

Back to the land of the Living!!!

Marisa and I have been quarantined to my room all week long. It all started with Justin last Friday afternoon...he got sick and Monday Marisa got sick and Tuesday morning I got sick while taking care of Marisa....it has been miserable!!!! The whole time I'm praying Mattias doesn't come down with this. The Dr. said we have the Noro Virus...what the effe?!?! Thank God Marce, Moriah & Mattias stayed healthy through this whole mess and Marce has been fabulous taking care of us. Poor Marce spent the whole time keeping track of our pain meds and running up and down the stairs to check on us and Joshua. Thank you honey. Sam was sick some time in there to but I have been pretty out of it! So before the days of Noro we had a picnic by the river...that was fun! We ate....played games....and enjoyed each others company. I love my family. Justin stayed home...recovering from Noro round 1:( but we missed him, we really could have used him on our team for capture the Flag!

Monday was Dash's Birthday! Our baby boy turned 3 years old or approximately 21 years in dog years! I'm so proud! So to celebrate we took him down to Seattle. He was beside himself walking around the city. Through the crowed market to the dog bakery....he took his time, sniffed around and finely decided on 2 puppy cupcakes....one for him and one for Abbey. Unfortunately Noro struck before we could light his 3 candle and sing him a song so they have been in the freezer. Maybe tonight. We missed our camping trip:( poor Becky. But that would have been so bad if we got sick while camping...so I guess it all worked out. All I know is that I haven't been able to hug or kiss Mattias all week and that is hard to do. I told him that i missed him and he said, "well Mom, when your not sick any more we have a whole lot of loving to make up for". aaahhh!!!

Summer, Summer, Summer Time!

I'm so happy to have the Cabrals with us! These are just lovely people!! I'm especially happy for Marisa to have them...she has always wanted a sister and I have only given her brothers:) We really didn't want to go to this Quinceanera, however we got dressed and looked gorgeous!! We went.....and had a lot of fun! How can you not when you have 2 great girls and a great DJ! We were just missing Gabbi....she'll be here soon and we will have lots of fun this summer!!

She is ready for High School!!!!

For the last couple of months I have been very excited for Marisa. She excelled through middle school! She made lots of friends, she had tons of great experiences and consistently got great grades. Every teacher I met told me how wonderful she is and what a great person she is. Of course I've known this about her, her whole life. But this morning I was very emotional....this is my baby girl and she is growing up. It happens so fast....I thought I was prepared....I wasn't. I love Marisa so very much and I am honored to enjoy this life journey with her. I am truly blessed.

Happy Fathers Day!

Thank you for always being there for us.
Thank you for always making me laugh.
Thank you for providing so well for us.
Thank you for keeping your family first.
Thank you for supporting me in all I do.
Thank you for being my friend.
Thank you for sitting in the waiting room waiting for me everyday.
Thank you for letting me cry it out some times.
Thank you for telling me that my fears are true and real.
Thank you for saying you'll be with me no matter what.
Thank you for endless texts, phone calls and emails....daily!
Thank you for keeping me warm and cozy every night.
Thank you for keeping me warm and cozy every morning.
Thank you for challenging me to be a better person.
Thank you for supporting me be a stay at home mom.
Thank you for supporting me going back to work.
Thank you for this wonderful family I have
Thank you for sharing this wonderful life we live.
I hope you have a great Father's Day!

Visiting Family

Growing up we were very involved in our family. It was a very usual occurrence to have aunts and cousins at my house when I got home from school. I loved that! We rarely had a small group of people. Even now, here in Washington we are still the same way. Bringing my kids down to California was wonderful. My kids blended in with all of their cousins like they have always been together. We did a lot of fun things while we were there and we did a lot of visiting my family, I was so very proud of Marisa, Mattias and Jessica. They never complained...they never said 'can we go now' or how much longer are we going to be here?'. And I was waiting for it. They sat with us and answered all the questions my aunts asked and joined in on the conversations. They are good, loving kids.

In the City of LA

I love taking my kids to all the places my parents took me as a kid. My Dad would always have something planned for the weekend. We went to LA a lot. He would pack us a lunch we would go to the Natural History Museum, walk through the rose garden, Olvera Street, Hollywood, we did it all. We were short on time this trip but we did go to the Natural History and Olvera Street. The kids had a great time....just like me when I was their age. I am grateful to my Dad for so many great childhood memories! I hope my children can look back on their childhood and be a happy as I am. The museum was as great as I remembered it to be and we had a great time there. We all loved Olvera Street of course...the best food!!!! Marisa and Jessica got some clothes and Mattias picked out an accordion. I wanted to get a leather purse like I did when I was a little girl but I didn't find what I was looking for:( O-Well... It was a great day...hanging with Nanci, Becky, Jessica, Dad, Marce and the kids in the city of LA!

California Love

We packed up the kids and the car and drove and drove and drove and slept and drove. As soon as we got there we went to Aunt Patty's for a Bar B Que. It was so wonderful to see everyone! The next morning we ALL went to brunch, like 30 of us. So much fun! After brunch we went to Knott's Berry Farm. Maris had a great time running all over the park with her cousins. It took me back about 20 years when I was doing the same thing with all of my cousins! We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family!!!

When we moved from California to Washington all the kids were kids and now they are all teenagers! It was amazing to see how they have grown! This was also the first time we were all together, our family, Steve's family and Alice and Waters(we were missing Justin:( ) So ofcourse I was happy to get a picture of the gang! I can't wait to see them again. This time with Justin. Ok more of the trip to come, gotta run now! Peace!

BLOG ALREADY!!!!

This picture was taken on Christmas Eve 2007. It's been that long since I last posted. Marce started his blog last month and has 3 times the posts that I do:( So lets see......Christmas was fun....it was at our House and everyone came over, that always makes me happy. I scrapped our tree...that was fun. I put pictures that we took in 2007 and I loved it. New Years was very special, my Brother, Tyler, Parker and my Dad came up and it was a wonderful time. Brother and his kids are amazing! When I think about their trip up here I smile.

I have been trying very hard to get my life in balance...work...kids...home...love...fun times! I finally got someone to help me at work and now I can finally breathe! And during Spring break we went down to California. That was a great vacation! We saw lots of family...Disneyland....The Beach....LA....fun, fun times. The only thing missing was Justin and Jared. They stayed home to do life guard training at the pool, so now they can get more hours at work. Everyone in California was great and I am happy we took the drive down. Now its back to reality....work...school...swim lessons....TKD....Kick boxing (I'm so freaking sore)...dogs....the list goes on and on. Busy and Happy.