Happy Birthday Sarah!

Sarah and Me

Hawaii- 2007

So if you look up forgetful in the dictionary, I am sure you would find my name next to it..or maybe I could blame it on old age or something after all I am ALMOST 40...who knows, however you slice it...I ALMOST forgot...and did forget to send off a card. Fortunately in the 11th hour..not quite that late, I remembered, but it was too late, Sarah was out partying the night away according to her blog! Seriously, all kidding aside, I hope Sarah you had a wonderful and memorable birthday. I am jealous that it wasn't you and me having a girls day out, but I am glad you shared it with a good friend. Your an awesome sister, and though miles seperate us, you are always close to my heart! I am proud of you, your family and life you have made for yourself. Thanks for being my little sis...Happy Birthday!

Dancing With The Stars!!

Yes, It's true! I am attending the taping of Dancing With The Stars this coming Tuesday. I have invited a few of my friends and we are totally excited! I guess you could say it's a girls night out! The show is a performance and elimination night, so fortunately we will still see everyone live before anyone is gone. Of course it would of been fun to go Wednesday night, Jonas Brothers are performing..nah, Ashlyn would of been jealous. Now I just have to figure out what to wear without looking too fancy..I am really not into the formal attire thing, but I can go the upscale route. Anyways, look for me with three friends, Trisha, Tammy and Suzann. Happy dancing!

Back To School! August 25th!

The Big 6th Grader

Heritage Middle School

The upper grader (4th) and the lower grader (2nd)

Solorio Elementary
So, as you can see we are full fledge back into school. With one week under out belt, I feel pretty good. Ashlyn starting middle school this year forces me to get up much earlier, and keeps us all on time. So far the schedules are going well..even mine now that I am working. Dave mentioned after the first three days, how weird it was to wake up and have the house so quiet. He definately is NOT complaining and has even snuck in a bike ride or two. But even with everything going well this week, I was still happy to have Friday come and a long weekend. Now it is back to the grind of school, soccer, homework, work, church, PTA and cheerleading. There is however something to be said about structure and schedules!

Birthday Celebrations and Friends

Happy 9th Birthday Abby!

This year, the kids are given "family" birthdays instead of the grand, out of control birthday parties that they are used too. I have LOVED it and it has proven to be just as enjoyable. For Abby's birthday this year we went to Disneyland over the weekend, saw a movie, had her nails done and had "family" over. No not our blood family, but friends we have known since I was pregnant with Abby. They have shared in many birthday celebrations and joined us for the last time for Abby's. Yes, I said the last time as they moved to Nebraska five days later. I can say that over the past 9 1/2 years we have had some ups and downs, but we have had some wonderful memories too. Now they have moved. I hope that we will always remain friends across the distances and keep in touch...its that old attage..you never miss something until its gone. We will miss them!
Picture: Leo (Jess' boyfriend), Kyle, Lyndsie, Jessica, Erin, Kristina, Amber, Abby, and Ashlyn. Dan was already in Texas training.

Palm Desert...Shadow Ridge

After returning from Vegas, we dropped off Ashlyn's friend, stopped at the house to check on the animals, and headed out for a week in Palm Desert at our home resort, Marriott Shadow Ridge. Although we have been going every summer, we look forward to the R & R we get from going there and doing very little. In fact, I think every morning our day didn't start until 10! But with all the running the past month in Cancun and Vegas, it was time to just vacation. This year our room was on the first floor next to the lake with a little peninsula. The girls had fun trying to catch polywogs, and feeding the ducks. They made several friends at the pool each day and caught up on all of their Disney shows! They even painted some pottery poolside. One highlight? We all went and saw The Dark Night. It was a fun, action filmed movie. Such a shame Heath Ledger isn't around any longer..Anyways, it was a fun week, one we always look forward to.

Mamma Mia!

So after arriving home from Cancun, we decided to book a trip to Vegas using our timeshare membership. We invited one of Ashlyn's girlfriends to go with us for the week...(girls her age get SO BORED without a friend). We left on July 12th and stayed until the 18th. We had a wonderful time. Dave and I decided to treat the girls and take them to see the musical Mamma Mia at Mandalay Bay. It was so great and so much fun! The girls loved it and of course dad had to run out and buy the ABBA CD. If you haven't had a chance to see the movie, you should! Aside from Pierce Bronson being a little corny with his singing, it was really fun too! Mamma Mia! was definately the highlight of our trip to Vegas!

Abby, Ashlyn, Mackenzie, and Amber

LA GALAXY GAME

Because we won our division's championship, we were invited to attend the Parade of Champions Game with the LA Galaxy on July 10th. We took the whole family and the team. It was great fun, watching Beckham and Donovan play GREAT soccer. We hope to go again soon.

What a BABE! We had corner seats and were fortunate to be very close to Beckham each time he had a corner kick. It was awesome!
Parade of Champions on the field. It was wild and crazy. There were so many teams and of course they were screamin with glee! It was lots of fun!
Here is only part of my team. A few were still arriving and a couple couldn't make it. It was lots of fun. The Galaxy play at the Home Depot center in Carson City. We had a blast...Dave even enjoyed watching the game.

It's BRACES Time!

Well it finally happened, she has her braces. For the past few months she has had an expander to expand her mouth and now we are finally on to the next stage. She was excited but nervous to get her braces on. Its hard to tell in the picture, but she chose torquoise blue for her bands around the brackets. It actually looks cute. I think she thinks she is pretty cool, but in a few months..she'll be ready to be done with them!

Happy 4th of July!

So this year we actually were home..meaning in California to celebrate the 4th of July. The past few years we have been fortunate to spend the holiday with family in Washington,
spending LOTS of money on illegal fireworks, eating a ton, and staying up really late..along with all those things, I usually take lots and lots of pictures! Well, this year was still great, we ate a lot of food and watched plenty of fireworks and spent the evening with friends. But...I didn't quite take the pictures I usually do...so for this entry..you just get the flag. But really, isn't it all about that anyways? Happy 4th.

Our Cancun Mexico Trip!

On June 20th we left for the airport to catch a red eye flight to Cancun. Now when I mean " red-eye", that's exactly what it was. We wanted that kind of a flight but because we had a stop in Guadalejara and a change of plane in Mexico City...we literally did not sleep! We left Ontario airport at 12:15am on the 21st and arrived in Cancun on the 21st at 1:00pm. We figured we were up for about 36 hours. Amber had the most sleep at 3 hours. But, with that said, we would totally do it all over again, it was worth it! We were glad to be there.

The Resorts

While in Cancun, we stayed at the Royal Carribean and the JW Marriott Resort and Spa. They were both great! At the RS, we would walk to the bus stop(Abby sat on a bee on the bus and got stung) and there were TONS of iguanas on the other side of this fence. It was amazing. Needless to say, Cancun is full of iguanas everywhere. I think they are the "squirrels of Cancun."

Pool Fun!

Many days we just hung out at the pool at both resorts. The girls always made friends to play with and the resorts had fun things for the kids to do like face painting and water games. The pool was a great way to pass the day relaxing.

Captain Cook Dinner Cruise

This was a fun night. It was a steak and lobster cruise with tons of entertainment. There were three boats, the red, the green, and the black pearl. Near the end of the cruise all three were next to each other in the middle of the ocean and had a pirate fight from one boat to another. There was comedy, dancing, food. It was great fun. Another very hot and humid evening, but totally fun. The girls liked it.

The Beach in Cancun

This is the beach in front of our hotel, The JW Marriott Resort and Spa. The girls begged EVERY day to go to the beach. They love playing in the waves and seeing how much sand they could get in their hair! The water was warm and a tourqouise blue color. It really was a beautiful beach.

Xel Ha

One of the first places we visited was Xel Ha. It's pretty much an outdoor aquarium. Really a neat and beautiful place to visit. We ate lunch, snorkeled, floated down a river, and the girls and Dave jumped off a 15 ft cliff. We all had a good time...

La Isla Mujeres

One of our excursions was to Isla Mujeres. It is an island that is only 7 miles long and 1 mile wide. We had a blast. We first went snorkeling which was crazy because the waves were huge and rolling..(made me sick) but we all did well and the girls saw a stingray below them. Then we went to a private beachclub where we had a lunch buffet, swam, kayaked, tanned and played volleyball. We all even held a toothless shark. It was freaky! He was heavy and his skin was really rough! Amber was really into all the coconuts. She named each one she found and played house in the sand. Then her and Abby served up lunch on the beach to a couple using shells, seaweed, sand and wood. It was funny. We then rented a golf cart which was totally fun and toured the island. One stop was a Turtle Farm. Now all the girls want turtles..Anyways, the ride on the boat home was fun. We were all dancing, and "Cassandra" one of the boats crew, was getting frisky with Dave! The crew were very friendly and a lot of fun!