My Final Thoughts...

As we approach the final hours of 2009 and come to the end of a decade, I look back at how life has changed the past 10 years! 2009 has been an eventful year for our family...weddings..milestones..stitches..broken bones..car accidents..new family members..lost friends..found new friends..reconnected with old friends & family..found the truth..found myself..learned new things..became a better person/mother/wife/daughter/sister/auntie/friend. I'm excited to see what the New year brings for our family! I'm very grateful that through Facebook both Juan & I have been able to reconnect with family that we haven't seen or spoken to in years. Especially for Juan who has family in Guatemala that he hasn't had contact with for many years. Hopefully it won't take another decade for us to meet more of our family. We've had a lot of ups & downs with friends, we had alot of good times with them! The truth will always prevail..and unfortunately we were on the hurtful end of it. It's trials like these that make us really cherish the TRUE friendships & relationships that we have. Also in the past few months our family has found a place in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Our family has recieved so many blessings. The spirit dwells in our home and in our hearts. I thank God everyday for my family..it's been amazing watching my kids grow up. Just 10 years ago I was getting ready to give birth to my oldest baby Andrew. I am so proud of Andrew & his accomplishments! Andrew will always keep you on your toes! Michael will be turning 6 in 2 weeks..He's a tough cookie & he may be small but his heart is bigger than you could ever imagine! And lil Miss Emma..she is just a sweetheart! She can melt your heart in just one look! Juan is the backbone of this family..without him we wouldn't appreciate the blessings in our life. I love my family!

St. Matthew 7:7

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."

"As seen on tv" Christmas

My friends & I decided to have an "As seen on tv" Christmas party. Our gift exchange gift had to be something from "as seen on tv"! We had TONS of food & goodies to eat!

The Melissa's

Bff & I being Bff's

My Megs (Nene)

Meg got the Big Top cupcake pan..but Melissa G. stole it. So she ended up with a Strap Perfect!

Melissa stole the Big Top!

Marty got the Ultimate Chopper!

Amara got the Wonder hanger!

Melissa M. opened the Perfect Brownie..but Tony stole it!

and then I stole it from Tony..hahaha!

The Perfect Brownie..so excited!

Poor Tony ended up with the Strap Perfect..for a bra lol!

Melissa got a Open It..she can open ANYTHING!!

These are some of my REALLY good friends! They always make me laugh! I really keep them close to my heart. I wish that we can get together more than once a year but life has kept us all a little busy. But it's the laughter that keeps us together!

A different kind of "Wiiiiiiiiii"

Emma just loves her slide! She plays on it all day long! She makes Michael slide down it too..she gets mad when he doesn't play with her! I can't wait for the weather to get warmer so she can slide outside! Santa is VERY happy Emma loves her gift!!

Wii

So I finished hooking up the Wii around 5:30am..and we never turned it off until 10pm. The boys really enjoy playing it..and so do mom & dad! Its so much fun! Here's some pics of the boys playing Star Wars The Clone Wars with their lightsaber adapters.

BOWLING

Christmas day..much much later in the day..

Even though juan wsn't there on Christmas day his family came out to visit & spend time with the kids. Abuela, his Aunt Sheny, Uncle Rudy & Auntie Julie brought them lots of gifts! The boys got lots of Lego sets! Emma got a pink dump truck, a tea set & a purse. They were most excited for the one (or shall I say one hundred) thing they've been waiting for all year long..they each got a $100 bill from abuela! We hung out and played some bowling on the Wii..ate a yummy dinner..and had TONS of desserts!

Santa Came!!!

Santa came VERY early this year!! The kids were so excited to come down stairs and see what gifts Santa left for them! Andrew & Michael got a Wii! They also got Wii games...Mario kart & the wheel, Wii play & an extra controller & nunchuk. Grandma gave them Lego Indiana Jones & Star Wars The Clone Wars for Wii..they also got lightsabers to put the Wii remote in & play the Star Wars game.

Miss Emma got a slide! She also got a Leap Frog letter sounds from Grandma, books and clothes. She loved the goodies she got in her stocking! Her favorite was her slide!

Juan got an electric shaver he's been asking for, since his old one's battery had died. I got a new coach purse that I just LOVE! My mom gave Juan FIFA soccer for the Wii, and she gave me wireless head phones so I can hear the tv at night & Juan doesn't have to compain about it being too loud anymore! The kids gave both Grandma & Abuela picture frames (that I made) with the saying "The best thing about having you as a Mom is my kids having you as a Grandma"..well I guess you can say that it was more from Juan & I to our mothers. Christmas morning went by really fast before Juan had to leave to work. We really missed Juan not being able to spend the day with us..but he hurried home to spend the last few hours of Christmas day with us.

Christmas Eve

We enjoyed a nice quiet Christmas Eve at home. Juan had to work earlier that day so my mom & I took the kids to get haircuts. We decided to make things easy on ourselves and just popped a frozen lasagna in the oven. It was done by the time Juan got home and we sat down & enjoyed a nice quiet dinner. Later that night my brother Matthew & Danay came by to visit with all my nieces and nephews. Dominic & Elijah stayed home for the evening, it was too long of a drive. My mom gave all the grandkids gifts and then we called it a night! Bedtime came awfully early this year..Santa was coming REAL early and we had to open gifts at 4 am before Juan had to leave us to go to work.

Cosmic bowling

The boys liked bowling so much that we decided to bring them back to cosmic bowling later that same night! My brother Dominic & my nephew Elijah came with us. My niece Kaely spent half the weekend with us for her 15th birthday..yes I said 15!! Time flies! Elijah won the 1st game by 3 points..Andrew & Michael were tied for 2nd place. Kaely, Dominic & I were being beat by two 9 year olds and a 5 year old!! Michael was using a slide thingy that helps the little ones roll the ball down the lane...after a few times of that he didn't want to use it anymore, he wanted to do it like everyone else. He bowled better with out it than he did with it! He actually bowled a strike on his own!! After we left the bowling alley we rushed over to make it to Coldstone before it closed. When we got there it had been closed..long before they were scheduled to close =( So we made a trip to Ralph's to buy some ice cream and sprinkles to make sundaes. They were yummy! We finished off the night watching the Tinkerbelle movie..by then we were all exhausted!

Michael bowling on his own.

Emma in the game room.

Bowling with Boy Scouts

On Saturday Andrew's pack meeting for Boy Scouts was a bowling party. The boys AND leaders had such a good time! Andrew did really good once he got the hang of it. He bowled a 112. His friend Bailey bowled a 143, the highest score out of everybody..oh did I forget to mention that Bailey has never bowled before! Michael was too embarassed to bowl with the other kids so he sat back & watched..but did ask to come back later. Emma watched for about 2 seconds and then kept Grandma busy running around the game room!