2010 Christmas Tree Cutting

Every year we head up to Buck's Lake to find the perfect Christmas Tree for our family. Due to the snow, and my gosh there was tons of snow, we were about 1000 feet short of Bucks, and the Christmas Trees. We went as far as we could, and ended up on the side of the road with about twenty other trucks. So we just got out and let the kids play in the snow. There was a family up there that had built a fire, and Derek brought his camp stove and made up some soup and hot coco. The kids and came getting ready to build a snowman.

Joel being pulled in the sled The ladies

Like I said there was tons of snow, and it began snowing even harder the longer we stayed up there. Now the snow suit Joel is wearing used to be Dustins. Yes, it is 36 years old. Bright orange, and it kept Joel warm and dry.

My three boys

Derek warming up the soup.

A view of the road at its worst

road not so bad

bottom of the hill.

Well since the roads were so bad, Dustin and a bunch of the group hiked up 300 yards to find a tree. They were all gone for two hours while the kids and I waited in the truck. I got kind of worried them being gone so long, but as the sun began to set I saw them heading down the hill pulling the trees behind them. All I can say is what an adventure!! Hopefully next year the roads wont be as bad.

Halloween

Our friends Paul and Sarah had an adult Halloween Party. It was so much fun, good food, fun games, and my favorite....dancing!! Dustin was a New York Yankee baseball player, and I was....can you guess?

Me and my best bud Liz as a very good Pippy Longstocking.

We carved pumpkins the night before Halloween, this one is Sophies.

This one is Joels'

And Mr. Joseph did this one.

I loved how Joel wanted so hard to help carve. ( The hand holding the knife is the one with the graft....you can hardly see it....so cool!)

Sophie went as a clown

Joseph was going to be a rubics cube, but last minute had to be a magician

Joel as a lion. He hated the hood, so this was the best shot we could get.

We had a wonderful Halloween, and hope you did too.

Liz's Birthday/Mystery Murder Party

So for Liz's Birthday we had a Surprise Mystery Murder Party. (Liz is the one in the pink skirt). What a fun night!! This is the "gang" outside after dinner.

Dustin's name was "Lenny" and I was "Linda".

Ummm, so why am I wearing that?? "Linda" was the drummer in a rock band. All the other girls were in poodle skirts....oh no, but not Linda.

Linda and Lenny.

My Twin

Meet my twin.

Ercilia.

Everyone in our family says how much we look like each other.

Can you see it.

I can.

Ercilia is my prima....cousin.

This was at Mamacita's 80th birthday bash.

More pics of that to come.

Just thought you wanted you to meet my twin.

A Ways Back

Back in May Liz and Kevin invited us to go to a Giants and A's game with them over in Oakland. We had such a good time, but it was alittle on the chilly side for me, good thing I brought my coat. The next morning we hit the Oakland temple to do some work. Both the Robertsons' and us we married there, but hadn't been back for a long time since now we have the Sacramento temple so close. It was such a beautiful day.

As you can tell, it was quite windy.

Angelee's 80's party

We had such a fun time at Angelee's birthday party. It was a surprise party and we all had to dress in 80's attire. I went WAY out of control on my hair. My friends have never seen my hair without product in it. I washed it and let it do its thing.....its 80's thing. I was embarrassed, but hey for Angelee, I did it. Dustin is such a goof ball, and I love him to death for it!! Angelee and I had no idea what the other was wearing, but somehow we were thinking along the same lines. In fact we are wearing the same shirt from Forever 21.

CRAZY!!

Happy Birthday Joel

Today my little man is 2. Can't believe how the time has passed by. Things have been crazy in our home lately. We had a birthday party planned for tonight, but canceled it, so when we can get around to doing a party, we will post then, but....I just had to put up the his first photo ever taken...two years ago today.

Love You Joely!!

My New Adventure

Meet Patty, on the left, and Maggie. It may not really look like it, but they are twins. As you can see Maggie is much bigger. A few months ago my friend Rebecca, a school teacher, called me up and told me that she would be heading back to work when school started and if I would be interested in watching her girls for her. Of course I would! What a blessing for us!!! Lets see how Joel does with this addition. Rebecca is only going back part time, so I only have them in the mornings.

I just wish I had a third row....but I still love my little Honda.

First Day of School

I can't believe summer is over!

Time to go back to school.

Get to bed early and wake up on time.

Joseph is in 4th....(that blows me away),

and Sophie is in 2nd.

Joel is going to miss them through out the day...me too!

Zoo and Funderland

I can't believe how fast this summer has flown by. The kids start school in only three days!! So this being the last weekend of summer vacation, we didnt know what to do. We haven't done anything as a family, ( However, my kids have the best tans hands down!! Thats because we went swimming at Grandma Cliz's house almost every day!) due to work being so slow, Dustin and I were not sure what to do with this last weekend of summer vacation with the kids. Well we were very blessed, and he was called to do three construction jobs. Yeah for us!! So at the last minute we went to the Sacramento Zoo and to the little park Funderland. The kids had a fun time at the Zoo. Kind of bummed that all of the BIG animals, Lion, Tiger, Monkeys were all "hiding" and we couldn't get a good look at them. So no pics of animals. I think the San Diego Zoo would be fun to go to....maybe when we have LOTS of jobs lined up. Anyway here are some pics from our little get away. I think Sophie looks SO stinkin' cute in this pic.
Joel and Mom. He was actually really scared of all of the animals. Every time we got close to even the birds, he held on to me or Dustin for dear life. So here we are with a far view of the animals.

Sophie at Funderland

Joely driving a car with Dad

Someday this will really be them driving...scary!!

Darn, how did this picture flip?!?

On His Own

Joel is finally swimming on his own! We have been having the hardest time with finding a life jacket that will keep him afloat....some make him fall face first into the water, some make him fall to his back. Joel is not scared of the water at all, and there have been three very scary incidents where Joel has jumped into the pool on his own and has gone straight to the bottom!! My friend Prenny goes over to my moms to swim all the time, and I noticed she had a life jacket I had never seen before. It has the arm floats, and then it has a float that goes around the chest, and snaps in the back. I asked if I could try it on Joel....it worked. He LOVES the water, and now we can enjoy having the peace of mind that he will be ok by the water. He gets in and just laughs and laughs.

Joseph loves to jump of the rock at the Carter's.

Play Date

Its that time of year again, and we are back at the park with our friends for the weekly play date. Last couple of weeks the weather has been hot, but it was really nice this morning. So if you are in the area, we meet at 9:00 at the park for about an hour or so. We would love to have you. My little Mr. Joely

The twins, Sophie, and Jaydn going down the slide all together

Joseph was "clean up" and cleared the slide of all the little kids.

Ella....cute as ever!!

Grandpa is 89 Today

Today is my Grandpa Sus's 89th birthday. I feel so blessed to be able to take care of him everyday. Joel and I head over in the morning and feed him his breakfast, and get him ready for his day. We take him downtown to do his errands, and the highlight of his week is when we take him to the casino on Tues, and Thurs. Growing up my Grandpa and Grandma were in Mexico alot taking people on tours, so as kids we really didn't see them too much. Now I get to spend every day with him, and hear many stories. The best yet.... when my grandpa was graduating from Oroville High School, his Senior class put the "O" on table mountain. I had no idea!! I think thats pretty cool, my grandpa help put the "O" up! Darn, I should of taken a picture of the "O" for those who don't live in Oroville.....maybe I will add it to the next post. Happy Birthday Grandpa, I love you!!

Going to jail

With it being summer vacation for the kids, they have had to come up with some was to be entertained. They only get to watch an hour of tv and that goes by pretty fast for them. In the afternoons we head over to my moms to go swimming. So with no game boy or wii, they have had to really use their imagination. Last week they made cars out of cardboard boxes, the took more card board boxes and put on a puppet show. But yesterday takes the cake. Josephs wanted to be inmates. He said we were all going to jail, and we needed to take our mug shot. Joseph told us that we needed to look mean. I tried, but what he was having us do, I just kept laughing...."Mama', no, you need to look real mean." Here's how they turned out. Tough guy Joseph

Joely

Crazy girl Sophie

New York Dustin

and me trying as hard as I can not to crack a smile!

I love how they are coming up with things to keep them busy.