Wednesday, January 28, 2009

:(


Brieanne and Eric moved today. :( The girls and I went to see them off before they left. They are moving to Lake Elsinore to live on a farm. They plan to raise goats, chickens and more. I am so happy for them because they are living their dreams. I am also glad that it's not too far away. But I will miss my friend more than I can say. :(

Monday, January 26, 2009

A visit from the O'Brien's

Today we got a big wonderful surprise! My mom's sister (my tia) Lula, my uncle Larry and my cousin David paid us a visit. They all live in Layton, Utah but were here visiting my other cousin Lisa in Beaumont. I hadn't seen them for about two years so it was really nice to see them. We got to talk and catch up while my kids acted goofy for them. Every once in a while I got a little choked up because my tia Lula looks so much like my mom. She was even dressed so like my mom! (Oh, mom!)














Later, we went to El Mercado in East L.A. I can't believe I'd never been there before! It was a really neat cultural experience. It was seriously like shopping in Mexico with all the grains, chilies, spices, corn husks, meats, cheeses and moles. (Not the animal, but the sauce!) And don't forget the baked sweet breads and the pinatas--they had everything! We went upstairs where there is a restaurant where an excellent Mariachi band plays. We had a nice dinner and enjoyed the beautiful music. I LOVE Mariachi music! I love the way they harmonize when they sing. I love the combination of guitars, violins and horns. This group was very sharp. I wanted to request "Sabor a mi" or "El Marichi loco" but they require $10 a song! So we just enjoyed what they played.

We all had a really good time. David was so much fun with my girls making little horses out of straws and toothpicks! I'm so glad my family made the effort to drive all the way out to see us!! Love you guys!

Sunday, January 25, 2009

High School Reunion (almost!)

Last night I got to see many of my favorite high school friends! Most of us are turning 40 this year and it was Candace's turn. Her husband, Kevin, gave her a SURPRISE party, which I thought was pretty dang sweet. (What a great husband!) We all got to enjoy each other's company and reminisce about high school days. I love these people!

Serena Duardo, Me, Craig, and George Duardo


Serena, George and I all had an English class together our senior year and we all sat together and talked every day. I asked George to our fall "Backwards Dance" that year and then right after, these two hooked up!! I sent George straight into the arms of Serena I guess! :) They have been happily married for years and have two beautiful children.






Serena, Me, Kristy Cooper Agliolo
Kristy and I sang in choir together along with Ruth (in a later picture.) Those were such good times! Kristy and I also worked together at "Falcon Cable" for a year or more after high school. I remember once going to the Renaissance fair together in 1987. Last semester, our girls were in a ballet class together!









Frank Benitez and I
I met Frank in our Freshman year health class. We were 14 year old babies! We sat in the back and would always talk music. Echo and the Bunnymen, Tears for Fears, U2, Ultravox. I had a little secret crush on him, but we were always just good friends. I was very happy to find that he recently married a gorgeous and sweet girl Tiffany (who I met last night but failed to take a picture of because we were talking so much!) They have a darling little boy and another little boy on the way! :) They are a beautiful family.







Me, Ruthie, Georgie, Serena, Gail, Candi (the birthday girl!) and her awesome husband Kevin!


The party was soooo much fun and it was great seeing everybody!! Happy Birthday, Candace!! By the way, I got to know Candace through Kristy because they're sisters! Everybody joked about how they would see these pictures on the blog, well, here they are!

The park with our cousins


Last weekend, (the weekend of the Martin Luther King holiday,) Yvonne, Hector and the kids came to stay Sunday through Tuesday. It was so fun and relaxing that I forgot to get out the camera much! The girls had THE BEST time with their cousins. Sophia and Bella are the best of friends. It's like they're in heaven when they're together. I was so happy to bring Yvonne to our home school park just before they had to go back home so I could introduce her to my friends. By the way, Sophia looks very unhappy because she doesn't want to leave, but it was time to go! :(

Friday, January 23, 2009

Exquisite Joy




I can hardly find the words to describe how happy I am that my dear-friend-soul-mate Brieanne AND her husband Eric got baptized last Sunday night. I've been putting off blogging about it because I know words can't possibly do justice to what I feel. Really!!

I met Brieanne last April at the South Pasadena farmers market because of a t-shirt! About 6 months prior to us meeting, I had learned about how much pesticide is used on cotton and had decided to strive to buy only organic or recycled clothing so I would not support the use of pesticide. (Unfortunately, there is not a lot of organic clothing for children out there!) So there I was at the farmers market and I recognized a particular organic t-shirt that Brieanne's 2 1/2 year old daughter Tristan was wearing! I literally thought to myself "I need to be friends with that little girl's mother!"

Brieanne wasn't actually around at the moment (she was shopping) so I started talking to Eric. He was super-friendly and we started talking about the different companies we shop from that carry organic clothing and fabric. Soon after, Brieanne came by and he introduced us. I knew instantly I had met a kindred spirit! We exchanged numbers and decided to talk and get together.

Because she looked like such a hippy-chick, I determined for our first phone conversation that I should tell her right away that I'm a conservative mormon and that I'm NOT a vegetarian. ( I was worried she wouldn't like these things, so I wanted to get it out right away!) :) Well, it turned out that SHE is a conservative Christian and that she had actually been studying with the mormon missionaries during the prior summer! ('07) Then it turned out she's absolutely not a vegetarian and that we both subscribe to the Nourishing Traditions way of eating. Nourishing Traditions is a pretty specific way of eating so this was really exciting to have so much in common!

After this, we started hanging out pretty regularly. Over the months, I have come to learn that Brieanne is truly one of the most amazing people I've ever met!! She has chickens for fresh eggs, has a big wonderful garden for fresh veggies and fruit, she sews and makes almost all her children's clothes and she cooks SUPER-DUPER healthily and is a fabulous cook! (She's what I aspire to be!) She's also totally nice, generous, down to earth, and funny.

I honestly never expected her to join the church as fast as she has. I always knew she would, but I just didn't think it would be this soon! But she already believed almost everything a mormon believes! It was only a matter of time. What's so beautiful and amazing is how Eric came to gain his testimony through many answered prayers. Heavenly Father is soooooooooo awesome!

I can't thank my Heavenly Father enough for allowing me to have Brieanne for a friend and to have been blessed to be a part of these wonderful events. It is such a wonderful feeling.

The baptism was absolutely beautiful. We opened with "Baptism" from the Children's songbook. I got to sing a song (Here, By The Water So Clear) and Craig got to give the talk on the Holy Ghost which he did wonderfully. There was a very big turnout and the Spirit was SUPER STRONG. My dad was there and so was my sister Yvonne and all her kids. I wish I would have taken more pictures!! It was Elder Talbert's (the one who baptized Brienanne) first baptism of his mission! We closed with "I know that my Redeemer lives." It was wonderful! Afterwards, we had a big dinner at our house.

I can't say enough how wonderful this experience was! I love you Brieanne!

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Hangin' with the Weeks




Today we met up with our really good friends, the Weeks. They were visiting LA from Logan, Utah. Jenny was my roommate while we were at BYU. She was and is super-fun and HILARIOUS!! Her and Jarrod have 3 little boys, very cute, and very active. We met up at the LA Temple and walked around and took pictures. Then, we went to the Farmers Market on Fairfax to get some lunch and some produce. Then, we drove up Laurel Canyon Blvd. to Mulholland Dr. and enjoyed the view of the city and the Hollywood sign. It was a perfect day to do it because it was an untypically clear day. The view was great! We ended up on Hollywood Blvd. where we checked out Grauman's Chinese Theater with all the hand and foot prints. Ceci liked putting her hands and feet in them! I just loved hanging out with Jenny. I love her so much! We were so glad they could visit us.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Highlights from the week

This was a fun and busy week. On Monday, on our morning walk we discovered some neighbors that are also home schooling! (also three girls! but older--6, 10 &14) They had been making mushroms out of some wood pieces they had bought so they gave us some to make one each. We glued them togehter and painted them. I thought they came out pretty cute.








Monday night was Jennelle's birthday dinner at President Thai where we had a wonderful time eating and celebrating. Happy Birthday Jennelle!!













Tuesday was a really fun park day but I didn't get any pictures. We saw lots of old friends and our new friends/neighbors came too!

On Wednesday, Bella and Lala started their new Armory art classes. While they are in their classes, I do our weekly grocery shopping at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods which is so nice because they are very close to the Armory. This week Ed Begley Jr. happened to be at Whole Foods signing his book so Ceci got to meet him! She actually wasn't too thrilled. :( The girls, however, were totally THRILLED to start their new art classes! Bella is taking another drama class with her same wonderful teacher and Lala is taking "Let's have a parade" where they will be making costumes and other parade paraphernalia and then have a parade on the last day of class!


















On Thursday we (of course!) went to the Farmer's Market. We went with Brieanne and had a wonderful time. It was a little bittersweet because Brieanne is getting ready to move to Lake Elsinore and this will be one of the last times we get to go to the Farmer's Market together.

















Thursday night some of us girls in my ward took our friend Karla out to dinner for a baby shower. Karla had a beautiful baby girl in October, Mia, but she came very early (before we could do anything!) so we waited until now to celebrate. Karla is the gorgeous one in the hat. Our fellow ward member made this wonderful cake! We all had a really nice time.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Happy Birthday Grandma!





Last night we took Grandma out to dinner for her 82nd birthday! We love you Grandma!

Friday, January 9, 2009

Highlights from this past week . . .

The Huntington with Brieanne






It was a beautiful day at a beautiful place. The kids had a blast together.































New Flannel Boards








We got these awesome new flannel boards from Paper, Scissors, Stone. They are 18x24. You can take wool and make pictures on them. As you can see, the girls really enjoyed them!!









Three Kings Day


January 6th is when many people celebrate the three kings visiting baby Jesus. One Latin tradition is to make (or buy) a sweet bread called "pan de rosca" that has a little baby Jesus hidden somewhere inside. One lucky person gets to find the baby in their slice of bread. To honor this tradition, we made some cornbread to go with our chili for dinner tonight. After the girls and I made the batter, Craig and I stuck a little baby inside without the girls seeing. Lala was the lucky winner!!