Good- Bye 2011!

It has been a year...we have had a roller coaster of a year! Remember this post? We are hoping to steer clear of any hospital visits in 2012. Then in the summer this happened.
I know, awful right? We were on our way to Idaho in July for a brief Summer rendezvous when we crashed. We didn't even make it on to the freeway yet when Marcos told me to look at a shop that had closed and I looked and the traffic stopped and I couldn't stop fast enough and I turned the steering wheel and clipped the van in front of me and went up on the side of the road and that was it. Our airbags went off and I had some bruises and a few cuts and Marcos' chest hurt but the kids and everything else was not hurt at all. Except for the van that is! The insurance company totaled it out. This is what I was most upset about! The van was paid for and I really didn't want to have a car payment. I was so mad at myself for causing this mess! Here is another look at the mess!
It really scared the kids. Isabel and Briel were crying and Zaquel was mad! The first thing he said when he got out was, "Great Mom! You ruined our vacation! Thanks a lot!" He was also glad his DS wasn't ruined as well! It shook me up too but we were so blessed to walk away from the accident virtually unscathed. I did receive a $100.00 ticket which rubbed a little salt in the wound.
However, despite this bump in our life, I felt so blessed to have my family safe and protected. This could have been a lot worse!
I was counting my blessings...
Needless to say, our Heavenly Father blessed us with a newer van and a ridiculously low payment with an even lower interest rate. Sometimes I forget that someone else is in charge of my life!

I am ready to move on with a new year and I am eternally grateful for ALL that I am blessed with each and everyday. I am so thankful for the wonderful memories we made. Fortunately, there were more good things that occurred than bad things this year. I am going to try and not take anything for granted. Life can be taken in an instant and I recognize the power of a Supreme Being in my life and I hope I can exemplify Christ in all I do and say this year and in all the years to come!
Love to you all and I wish you the very best in 2012!

Family Pictures 2011

This year we had our family pictures taken at the historic Garden Park Ward. It was a gorgeous day and we love our photographer Kim Orlandini for making us look so amazing!

Belle's feet...size 3.5@9 years old.

Our beautiful girl!

Zaquel's feet size 12@5 yrs

My handsome boy!

Briel's feet size 8@ 3 yrs

Don't let this angel face fool you! She has a temper!

I am so blessed to be a wife and mother of these three wonderful children. I have never done anything harder in my life! I love that my family accepts me as I am and I hope I can teach them to do that with everyone they meet! Love to you all!

Thankful

We had a thankful feast for preschool today. Here are my two cuties all decked out in their American Indian outfits!



These were his thankful feathers...Love the buttcheeks don't you? I didn't get a picture of Briel's. Her things she was thankful for were buses, books, candy, and Splat the cat. Very Random...

I love his artwork on his vest! They are real symbols. He has the symbols of a spider, bear, horse, water, snow, lightning, and an arrow for protection! Good Work Zaquel! :)


I am so very thankful for them!

Pumpkin Carving!

We had so much fun carving our pumpkins this year! We tried a little different technique this time. We used cookie cutters and a hammer to make our designs. It worked amazingly well and there are no injuries to report! I think we will be doing this every year from now on. It does bend up your cookie cutters a bit...but I will just keep the ones we used with our Halloween stuff and reuse them!
Isabel choosing her pumpkin. We were lucky enough to have grown over 50 pumpkins in our garden this year!
See? Super easy!
The weather was spectacular! Zaquel was warm enough without his shirt on! It has been a long while since we have had a Halloween like this one!



Hope your Halloween was as SpOoKtAcUlAr as ours was!

Halloween 2011

It was the perfect day for Halloween! It has been years since the weather was so nice on Halloween. I was even in Capri's! I had my sweatshirt on and we were good to go! Just a few layers for the kids underneath their clothes and the trick-or-treating was on! What a great night it was!

Our sweet Cinderella! Isabel was saying what a perfect Cinderella Briel made...then Zaquel added, "No she doesn't! She needs yellow hair!" So honest, isn't he?
Zaquel had so much fun as Iron Man at school! He also was The Hulk (for the preschool party), and a Ninja (for trick-or-treating). Never a dull moment around here!
Isabel was our little Flapper! These pictures were taken in the morning and it was a bit chilly then. Thus the crossed arms! She said everyone kept asking her if she was an Indian and she hated that! I told her she needed to educate them on what a flapper is! ;)

HaPpY hAlLoWeEn!