We have a new blog!

Okay, I started a new blog. It has taken me a looooong time to get caught up so I am finally "revealing" my new blog address. It is:

thegallupfamily2.blogspot.com

For a while there, I was enjoying not blogging. Life is so busy, I honestly don't have the time. Home schooling is soooooo demanding. But I realized that I LOVE blogging, it's like scrapbooking and journaling combined and also a great way to stay in touch. So I forced myself to get caught up.

I thought long and hard about possibly making the new blog private, so that I would know who's peeking in, but I finally decided that I would rather have an open blog that is easy to access. (Sometimes I do wonder what weirdo might be looking at all our pictures!) :)

If you like reading our blog, I would love to get a hello from you. I don't necessarily need a "comment," but I do like to know who's been checking in, (and reading every detail of our lives!!) :)

I truly would appreciate a hello!

Love to all!
Suzy

I might have to change my blog address

My dear three readers, :)

Well, I haven't blogged in almost a month. It's partially due to being super-busy, but it's also because I completely used up all the space blogger will allow me. I actually paid for extra space, but for some reason my account does not reflect it and nobody will help me resolve the issue!! So I can't add any more pictures to my blog. :(

We've been super-busy around here. We took a camping trip in mid-August and we also started school last week! I miss blogging, but like the extra time I have when I don't blog. I'm not sure yet what is going to happen!!

Just thought I'd post this info.

Love, Suzy

Visiting the Rices!

We spent Sunday with the Rices. We went with them to their ward which was very nice. My girls LOVED going to primary with Tristan! Afterwards, we went to their trailer back on the farm. It was exciting to be greeted by all of their animals! They have a lot more goats and chickens than they did the last time we came to visit. The kids all had a blast playing together. They played on this motorized thing, the new swingset, and waded in the pool. It was HOT!!

We had yummy barbequed hamburgers for lunch and DELICIOUS, fresh goat's milk from Amelia. It was my first time drinking goat's milk and I was very happy to find how wonderful it is. Brieanne milks her goats every morning. Brieanne and I had a wonderful visit, just talking and talking while the kids played. Craig and Eric went to do some of Erics farm chores together-- feeding the pigs among other things. After it cooled off a bit, we took a little walk with the goats and then came back to make dinner. Brieanne made fajitas, rice and guacamole. It was so fun to be with the Rices!! I miss them being close soooooo much!

Burger Lounge with the Frasers

So we left my brother's place and went up to La Jolla to visit our good friends, the Frasers. We LOVE hanging with these people! Standing is sooooooooooooo sweet to my girls (even though I know they drive him a little crazy!)

We really wanted to go out to eat, but Craig and I really wanted to eat somewhere healthy. (We are more committed since seeing Food, Inc.) Can you believe there is a burger place in La Jolla that makes their hamburgers from 100% organic, grass-fed meat? Their buns are organic whole wheat and locally made. The produce is local and organic. The food was AWESOME!! Probably the best burger I've ever tried! The place is called Burger Lounge and I can't wait until I can eat there again! I can't recommend this place enough.

The "Purple Pearls" and the Birthday Party

My nieces Yazi and Ari play on a little league baseball team called the Purple Pearls. On Saturday we got to go see them play which was very exciting! It was fun to root for them when they were up. Unfortunately, for her turn, Yazi struck out because of a bad call. (A very low pitch called as a strike) It made me kind of mad at the umpire and I realized that I probably wouldn't be good at having my kids play little league. (Some of those parents get pretty crazy!) But when Ari had her turn at bat, she got a single!! And then she stole second and third!! I thought it was pretty cool that she got a hit for her birthday.

After the game, her team mates sang Happy Birthday to her, which was nice. And although they don't officially keep score, their team actually won. It was fun to root for our cousins and see them play!














After the game, we went back to my brother's for Ari's party. My sister-in-law made a delicious lunch of corn, potatoes, and barbecued chicken. The party started with presents because none of the girls could wait!! We then sang to Ari and had cake and ice cream. Later, the kids all went swimming. It was so nice to be with my brother and his family!

Soak City and Padres Game!

Last Friday we went to Soak City in Chula Vista with my brother and his family to celebrate his daughter, Arianna's, 7th birthday. We had a blast!! The kids LOVED it! It was so nice to spend time with my brother, my sister-in-law, Sandra, and my adorable nieces and nephew. Sandra's mom was also there and Sandra's brother's twins, Jocelyn and Jose. We played in the big wave pool, the lazy river, (you can just float round and round in it) and went down the various fun slides. I was glad I got to go down the slides with my older girls while Craig enjoyed the lazy river with Ceci. My girls were just sooooo happy to be with their beloved cousins! We're pretty sure Arianna had an AWESOME birthday. It was hot and quite exhausting, but really fun!
















































































So after the fun at Soak City, we went to Petco park for a Padres game. My dad came down to join us too. It was really fun! The ballpark has been recently redone and it is beautiful!! They designed it to be like the old school baseball parks and it lies on the waterfront of San Diego. We sat in the outfield where they have a sandbox for kids to play in. The kids loved it!! (Although I was a little disoriented to be in the outfield, I usually sit behind home plate!) It was really exciting when a home run was hit, and fireworks went off! It was also awesome when the Padres won because then they shot off more fireworks!

The coolest thing was that a whole fireworks show was scheduled for after the game. Where we were sitting is where the fireworks are shot off. So we got to go and sit on the field to watch the show. It was really exciting to be able to go out on the field!! And the show was beautiful!! What a wild, fun day! (I'm still recovering!)

Swim Parties

We've gotten to have some small "swim parties" this week with some of our friends.

First, Bella's best friend from church, Violet, came over with her two sisters to swim on Monday. It was evening and I didn't get a picture until after they got out of the pool, but they had A LOT of fun!!

On Wednesday, we had some friends from our home school group over to swim. We had a GREAT day with a delicious pot luck and lots playing in the back yard too!

Today we had some church friends over to swim which was also super-fun. We feel so blessed to be able to share our pool and be able to spend special time with our good friends! (Thanks everyone for coming!)

The VW's

Yesterday we visited our dear friends, the VanWagenens. They now live in Texas but came to visit Michael's family in Newport. We LOVE to catch up with them when either they visit us or we visit them. Michael introduced Craig and I!!

We were super-lame, though and got to their place way later than we meant to. (Traffic, not finding a Trader Joe's and a loooong line at the ferry that Craig insisted on taking.) It threw everything off, because WE were bringing dinner!! We all ate late, and after what seemed like a very short visit, it was midnight. All our kids fell asleep before I could even think to take a picture of them! I just hope the VanWagenens still like us! We sure love them!

Balboa Island

Yesterday we went to Newport Beach and Balboa Island. Lately, I've been remembering a summer when I was 9 (1978) when I went with my family and spent a week there at a beach house. Besides tons of swimming and shell-collecting, one of my favorite things we did was go to Balboa Island. We played skee-ball, rode the ferris wheel, and got Balboa bars. We got to the island by the ferry and it was so cool to take our car across! These memories inspired yesterday's family outing.
We drove onto the island and then took the ferry to Balboa. We went on a really crowded day, so the line was pretty long. When we got to the other side, we played games in the arcade and rode the ferris wheel--they sent us around LOTS of times, it was sooooo fun! (If you click on the picture, you'll see us up at the top!













We also rode the carousel.

























Later, we went to the beach where the big girls played in the ocean while Ceci napped. The waves were HUGE!!! (Like, in-the-news, huge!) They were beautiful, but a little scary!





























After swimming, we wandered around Balboa a little more before taking the ferry back to the other side.




















We then got some frozen bananas covered in chocolate!










We finished off our day by having dinner at Whole Foods-- soup and sandwiches. The Tustin Whole Foods is reeeeaaallly nice! What a fun and exhausting day!

Go see Food, Inc!

I absolutely loved this movie. If you care about your health, the health of your family, and want to change a bad system-- go see this movie to get started. It was very well-done and although hard at times, very positive and leaves you with a feeling that we all can make changes for the better. Truly, this movie could change your life!!

GO SEE IT!!






* PS-- I've got some posts to fill in--I've been a really lazy blogger this summer. We've been so busy and partying a lot-- just not blogging it. So check back for some fill-ins if you are so inclined.

A Date!

It's been a loooooong time since Craig and I have been able to go on a "date." He really deserves to do something fun because he's been working really hard this summer on a curriculum planning team with his school district. (Which is a HUGE blessing to us that he actually had a summer job!) He also just finished a super-hard first year of teaching in a very tough district. ( I think our last date was the "nightmare" Grad Night at Disneyland!) So we finally got to go out!

We went to a wonderful, healthy restaurant in Brentwood for lunch called "A Votre Sante." They serve mostly organic food. We got a salmon salad and a grass fed hamburger. We shared both and they were soooooooooooooooo good!! We've been working really hard on eating really healthily for the past couple of weeks so it was nice to go out and still eat healthily! I highly recommend this place.

After lunch, we went to the Temple which was very nice.

We were then able to go see a movie, called "Food, Inc," which was so fantastic, I had to write a separate blog about it!

Farmer's Market with Brieanne!

Today we had a wonderful surprise visit from Brieanne and her dollies. It was so fun to meet up with her at the Farmer's Market!! It was crazy, hot and the kids were all over the place, but it was just so nice to be together. We bought tons of rainier cherries and they may be the last of the season. SO YUMMY!!

It was just so great to see my dear friend and to be at one of my very favorite places!

My iPod

I just had to report that yesterday, for some very strange reason, I finally decided to open an iPod that Craig and I bought.

Two years ago.

We are old and not with the times.

We're not used to these newfangled devices!

I'm still not sure what made me do it.

But it inspired a crazy uploading frenzy and now I have about 1/4 of our CD library on our ipod. (We have A LOT of CD'S.) I've been making lots of fun playlists and occasionally buying songs from itunes.

We are having fun and are kind of excited to take it in the car on our road trips. Imagine, I don't have to put all the CD's in that giant case I have and lug it along! It all fits in this tiny box that fits in the palm of your hand-- and it holds 30MB!

Welcome, Craig and Suzy, to 2009!

Mid July Report :)

This past week has been a bit of a recovery time. I've cleaned, and cleaned, and cleaned some more. I washed every towel in the house (since every single one was dirty!) Besides cleaning and doing laundry, we've just been mellow. A big highlight of the week was when we went through some bags of clothes that a friend gave us-- it was seriously so exciting for the girls, some of the things fit Bella and some of them fit Lala and they were both so happy!! Ceci LOVED trying it all on, thus the picture.

We also had some home school friends over to swim but somehow I failed to take a picture. (I know, not like me at all!)

Today we went to the Pasadena Farmer's market which was fun, although super-hot. We got fresh corn, strawberries, lots of nuts and some dried apples among other things. It was really nice. Craig's about to drink some wheatgrass juice in this picture.

We also said goodbye to our rooster, Kathryn. Wasn't he pretty? We knew we could never keep him but on Friday he started cock-a-doodle-dooing pretty loudly and so it was time. He is going to live at Brieanne's farm until his luck runs out! In exchange, we got two new little hens from Brieanne! I need to get a picture of them.

Tonight we did some night swimming which is very fun! The water feels really good at night for some reason. Hope every one else is having a nice summer!

The Triplets' Baptism!

Yesterday my sweet triplet niece and nephews were baptized! It was a beautiful service. We sang many beautiful songs and their ninety-year-old Great-Grandma on Hector's side gave a fantastic talk on the Holy Ghost! It was so wonderful to all be together as a family and see there precious kids take the important step of baptism. I made Sophia her pearl bracelet and got tie tacks for the boys that say "I am a child of God."

Before the baptism, we took the opportunity to take a picture of all the cousins who got baptized over this past year in their white clothes. Josiah was baptized last November, then Yazi in February, then Bella and then the triplets. What a special year for our family. And these cousins are so lucky to have each other!

Yvonne made a DELICIOUS meal for us--a huge taco bar all cooked and prepared by mostly herself ( we all helped chop some veggies!) It was soooooooo good!






















This night was bittersweet because it meant our big, crazy family visit was over. Brenda and Cindy drove to Utah first thing in the morning from Yvonne's. So we all had to say our goodbyes last night. :( As I said before: How I wish we all lived close to each other!!!!

Special Time with my Sister

Today I got to spend really special time with my big sister, Brenda, who (waaaa!) lives in Japan. I am so grateful that she makes the trek all the way out here so that we can catch up every year. We had a WONDERFUL morning going to the Los Angeles Temple. After that, we had a delicious lunch at the Scarlet Tea Room in Pasadena. It was such a nice time to take a break just the two of us amidst the chaos!

This morning, before we decided to go to the Temple, I was feeling really sad knowing that she and my other sister, Cindy would be leaving tomorrow. So I am so glad we got to go!

How I wish we all lived close to each other so that we could all get together as often as we wish!

Vincent Lugo Park

Today we went to this awesome dinosaur park that we used to go to all the time as children in San Gabriel. It is such a cool park. The kids had a blast. It was really hot though, so we're glad we could hurry home to the pool!

Santa Monica with my Dad and the Klevens

We started with lunch from Hot Dog on a Stick.

Then we checked out the little aquarium that had lots of neat things to see!






I loved that the kids could touch the starfish and other sea creatures! And the jellyfish were so pretty!















Then we went down to the ocean where the kids swam and played in the sand for hours!















Got some yummy ice cream!






















Then we went to the pier for some rides. Josiah and Bella did the roller coaster together. Then Cindy and I rode the ferris wheel with our younger kids. I LOVE the view from the top!! I LOVE this ferris wheel! What a fun day!

What a beautiful memorial

I just had to mention how BEAUTIFUL Michael Jackson's memorial was. I didn't love every part of it, (not a fan of Sharpton) but on the whole, it was a beautifully done memorial, celebrating an amazing and big-hearted talent. It was great to go over all of Michael's amazing achievements in performance. And it was wonderful to see so many other artists honor him. My favorite performance was by Stevie Wonder. If you look up the words to the songs he sang, you will know he chose them very carefully. ("Never Dreamed you'd leave in Summer," and "They wont go when I go." ) His performance reached deep into my heart bringing tears into my eyes. Click here to see it. What a lovely memorial honoring such a gifted artist. "We can't help but love you forever, Michael."

4th of July!

I can't believe what an AMAZING 4th of July we had! We were still down at my brother's so we went to his ward's breakfast in Coronado. The breakfast was held on the route where they have a wonderful parade! It was awesome!! And we were so lucky to get a front row seat!


The parade was HUGE. It went for at least 2 hours. It was super-patriotic. There were tons of veterans and many different groups representing our armed forces.









I have to admit, I got really choked up when I saw the Pearl Harbor survivors-- one who had received the medal of honor. How special to see these heroes who have risked their lives for our freedom!! It was overwhelming.















It was fun to see the many Shriner's driving in their tiny cars. This funny "Grand Poo-Bah" Shriner was driving this cute mini police car. The clowns were fun too.

It was an AWESOME parade. I am so glad I got to spend my 4th of July morning with my brother, my cunada Sandra, and their precious kids and at such a nice parade.

We then went back to my brother's place where we had DELICIOUS barbecued chicken and other yummy food. The kids also all went swimming one last time before we needed to get going. We also enjoyed ice cream!! We really hated to leave. My brother and his wife are the best hosts! We wish we all lived closer together (and not 130 miles apart!)

So we left around 3pm to get back home to Alhambra. We were shocked that it took us less than two hours! There was no traffic. (The same drive has taken me 4 hours many times!)










We got home to find all three of my sisters at the house with all the kids swimming. My sisters were busy making potato salad and fruit salad. We had a nice dinner-- more barbecuing. Grandma Ginny had come up too!

























When it got dark, we went to Allmansor park to watch the fireworks. Crowded, but really fun! We ended by doing our own fireworks at home! (Lala doesn't like the noise, so she stayed inside and Ceci had fallen asleep!) All the cousins had a wonderful time!