Aloha - August 2014

Ugh....I'm such a slacker blogger...I better go on vacation more often so I remember to blog.  I just thought about it now because I'm afraid I will forget what happened on vacation so I logged and see that I'm forgetting my whole life!!!  I love reading all this old stuff... I don't know why I can't remember to keep track of things better :(

So Jim and I are in Kona Hawaii with the kids (sans Nicky...she opted to trade out her vacation for the Lallapalooza music festival in Chicago...which turned out great and she got photographed and posted on Teen Vogue's  website in an outfit she designed an sewed herself :). And our girls got to bring their friends Jackie & Jazmin.

We are having a great time!  We have been all over the island.  We visited the Captain Cook monument, the City of Refuge and went snorkeling at this amazing beach called Two Steps.... We went to Hilo, then to the volcano park and saw steam escaping from random areas, smoke coming out of the volcano and walked through a lava tube... It was super cool!  We also went to Botanical World botanical gardens and got lost in a huge hedge maze while the girls had fun riding segways.

The boys have been scooting all over the place on scooters and Jim rented a Harley one morning and cruised north to check out the farms.  Right at the beach at our hotel, the Marriott Waikoloa we went snorkeling, rode hydro bikes, kayaked and paddle boarded.... I even stood up on the paddle board...oh my what a great workout that was!  The girls did the glass bottom boat tour..I was too afraid it would make me seasick...but I did get to do some yoga on the beach :).

We've had a lot of great food and too much delicious ice cream - my favorite was coconut cream :)

I will try to post some photos later when I figure out how to get them out of my phone :)

Up to date now!

Last night Jim and I went to the church fall fiesta for a little bit.. then headed over to see Vince Gill at the McCallum.... it was a great show.. he played for 3 hours!!!

October... Making Progress

Jim and I towed the Junior float for Shadow Hills High School homecoming.. it was a lot of fun and the kids looked sooo cute... and their float won best float!

 

Jim and I saw the Zach Brown Band at the Hollywood Bowl as an early anniversary present.  Dwight Yokum showed up to do a song with them.  It was a great night!

Still Playing Catch-up!!!

In August we had a major rainstorm that did tons of damage all over the valley!

And Sarah brought home the most delicous Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream --- Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup..only to find out it was a special edition for "Walmart" only... thank goodness they never seem to have it in stock.. we have only found it one time since the first : )

Cabo Wabo!!!

In July Jim and I went to Cabo.. just the tow of us! My coworkers at Tradition Golf Club purchased the trip through an auction after the member who purchased it wasn't able to go. Ya.. super crazy I know.. I couldn't belive it... Most amazing gift ever!!! The Esperanza Resort was above and beyond... it was just like being in Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. We had the most relaxing wonderful time ever.

Worst blogger continued...

I thougth I'd better post the prior post before I ended up losing everything.. since it took me 40 miutes to add the photos and they are still all cadiwompas (where is the spell check on this thing???) Let's see.. what else happened.. oh ya the best thing was Jim's pigs are gone.. hallelujah!!!! Bacon, Bacon, Bacon!

But now he has this nighmare goat that has tried to kill me on several occassions... I cannot wait until he moves on... here he is trying to get me while I was inside the car...

Sarah and I went to Anahiem to see our cousin Hailey's cheer competition. She was awesome and we had a fun time visiting with everyone.

Sarah got her drivers license.. and drove us to San Jose for a party at Aunie Dee Dee & Amy's... it was so great to see our family. We spend a couple night at cousin Julie's and hung out with our Silvestri cousins and Marina and her kids.

Worlds Worst Blogger...

So I went up to Big Bear to visit at a ladies retreat and one of the things they talked about was journaling your life.. which I don't really do... so i decided to go back and read my blog and there were some fun things I would have never remembered on here.. so i thought I would at lease write an update for this year and maybe try to keep it up so I have some kind of record. This year starte off with Shawn's ACL & Miniscus Repair surgery... it was a bummer injury that kept him out of soccer his senior year in high school

Ugh.. no wonder I never do this.. it just took me 20 minutes to get the 2 photos in!!! Here are some other photos from this year.. Shawn & Kassidy at Prom

Shawn graduated from High School!!! We had a little get together at Morton's Steakhouse before the ceremony. It was a great night!

2011 --- getting up to speed

Started off this year celebrating the New Year with Jim's brothers and sister in Fountain Valley... fun time! Sarah made the AYSO select soccer team, Shawn is bummed to be off soccer for a bit due to a foot injury but excited to have gotten his drivers permit recently...although I find it a little scary!!! The kids were in the road show this month and it was very entertaining. Natalia was beyond hilarious with Jersey accent! Nicky got her Young Women's Medallion at church and she continues to set a great example for the whole family. Cliff is working on getting prepared to go on a mission. And Jim and I are just working away... Oh - and we got 2 new kitties...they are a complete joy. They are supposed to be outdoor kitties, but we got them young so have kept them inside for a while and they don't' seem ready or willing to go outside - this is driving Jim nuts while I am loving it!!!

Misc Photos From Our Wedding

2010 --- a blurrrrrrr.

So, we all moved in together in November 2009...Me, Shawn & Sarah and Jim, Cliff, Nicky and Natalia. We spent Christmas Eve at Jim's moms in Diamond Bar and had Christmas together back at our house. The next six months or so was a huge adjustment period - the whole blending families thing was about a million times harder than i ever expected. Nicky saved us all when she had some kind of spiritual breakthrough and single-handedly became a beacon of hope and light for everyone...it was a total miracle and she's just an amazing young girl! I got a new job as Staff Accountant/HR Administrator at Tradition Golf Club in February...this was a great blessing during this crazy economic crisis. Its a beautiful place and I work with some wonderful people. Shawn was excited to make the high school soccer team. Soccer is his biggest love for sure :) Sarah's playing AYSO soccer and she's hoping to make the high school team as well when the time comes. Summertime - Shawn went on a roadtrip from Auburn to Canada with his Grandpa David.... they had a fabulous time and Shawn got to meet some family in Canada. Sarah had a fun time with Grandma Dianne. Jim took a few trips to Tunisia for work --- he loves it and is working on learning Arabic. The next school year rolled around... Shawn made the high school soccer team again and played AYSO and club soccer --- it was exhausting - he loved it :) Sarah is in 8th grade and playing AYSO soccer again and having a fun time in Young Women's group at church.

Mitzi - our cat of 16 years died this year and so did our outdoor cat Bruce... boo hoo...big time bummers : ( I miss them both a bunch...

Sometime during the year our church had an adult night talent show...it --- I cannot remember a time where I laughed so hard. The bishopric's act was the highlight of the night... they did some kind of riverdance skit that had me rolling on the ground! I hope they do it again sometime. Jim and I celebrated our 1st anniversary and ate the huge piece of coconut cake I froze from our wedding. It was unbelievably delicious even after being in the freezer for a whole year!!! Yummmmmmmmm : ] The kids and I went to Monterey for Christmas... they loved seeing the family!!! We celebrated Christmas with Jim and the kids before we left and they went to Jim's moms for Christmas Eve. The logistics of the holidays are a bit of a challenge too, but we are getting it all figured out to work for everyone : )

Got Married ---- November 2009!

My how time flies... I have not posted in about a year and a half... so I'm just going to do a little recap here so I have something to look back on. November 2009 - Jim and I got married in the Redlands Temple and had a ring ceremony/reception at Gerald and Jessica Hamptons house. My friend Sara came out from Illinois a few days before the wedding and helped me do all the running around that needed to be done... it was a major help to have her around and I thought it was great fun doing everything necessary to get ready for the wedding... the whole weekend was wonderful. We were married at the temple on Saturday morning November 7, 2010... it was a lovely event and we had some wonderful friends and family join us. Jim and Nicky and I stopped at Taco Bell to eat on the way home to get ready for the reception. So many of our friends helped with everything it was incredible. Jim selected a Hawaiian theme for the dinner/reception. I wore hot pink shoes with my white dress and Melanie made me a sweet necklace out of shells and crystals. Nicky and our friend Laurie took pictures. Gerald and Jess did so much to get their yard ready... it looked beautiful... and they helped with the Kahlua Pork and a million other things too. Jackie Orduno made this amazing macaroni salad with some secret fish ingredient - a few of our other friends brought rice and helped set up, arrange flowers, plants and centerpieces and prepare the rest of the food - fresh fruit and rolls and Jim's girls made pigs in a blanket for appetizers... everyone loved them. And then there was the coconut cake made by Brook Homec - this is the best cake I have ever had in my entire life and I sill have vivid taste-flashbacks of this moist sweet better than any desert in the world cake and I think I need to order one for our anniversary every year!!!!! We stayed at La Quinta Resort the night of our wedding --- great room --- great night!!! Love that place :) Then went to LA area/Dana Point/Laguna Beach for a quick honeymoon. It was great... we ate, went to movies, shopped and lolly gaged around...nice relaxing alone time with no responsibilities ---- wonderful :)

Blended Summer Vacation

Well, Jim and I took all of our kids on our first mini vacation together... Jim had the foresight to get a motor home for the trip and it was a fabulous idea! It made the trip a lot easier not being all crammed in a car together. The whole trip went very well and we had a lot of fun... only unfortunate thing was Cliff had a bit of the flu and didn't get to experience all of San Francisco... poor guy.. was a total trooper and headed out with us for a while but had to go back to sleep in the motor home a couple hours into the day... so thankful we had that option for him. I wouldn't have even gotten out of bed. I've posted some generic pictures, but will have to get some more from Nicky as she took tons of great pictures of the trip.

Our first stop was Hearst Castle... One of Jim's grandparents (or great-grandparent???) was married to a Hearst, so that made it extra exciting. It's an incredible place. My favorite things were the swimming pools and the amazing landscaping.

Next we headed off to San Francisco... Pier 39 (yummy clam chowder in a bread bowl), Golden Gate Bridge, a trolley car ride to Union Square.... and of course on of the highlights of the trip was the talking/self washing public potty... it was very new and exciting to the kids :) I remember being equally excited when I first discovered a similar potty in France many many years ago!

Then we headed off to Monterey so Jim and kids could meet my family and to celebrate my aunt's 60th birthday and partied into the wee hours of the morning. It was a very fun time an everyone loved Jim and his kids. We drove through Pebble Beach and stopped at the beach at my old place of work - The Inn at Spanish Bay.

Jim decided it would be a great idea to come home down the coast via Highway 1. I thought that was a frightening idea considering the 36' motor home and the little 2 lane highway right on the edge of the cliff!!!! Although my knuckles were whiter than white, of course it ended up being a great drive (a very very long drive, but nice time). We stopped for a hike down to the water in Big Sur, then again to watch some Sea Elephants on the beach further south and then we stopped in the oh so quaint lovely little town of Los Olivos to visit Michael Jackson's memorial site at Neverland Ranch. Its the cutest town ever... i soooo wanted to move there. Then we finished the long drive at Jim's mom's house and that was the end!