The Airborne Toxic Event

Last night Jeff & I went to Seattle to see The Airborne Toxic Event and we were blown away by their sounds and performance! They put on a great show and they played with passion and energy. Listen to their music and you'll know what I'm talking about. I'm all about supporting bands with true musical talent, great lyrics, and amazing vocals. Oh, since I'm frugal to a fault, the tickets cost about the same as a movie ticket with popcorn. We had an awesome time minus all the calories.

I'm back...but not committed

Okay I know it's been a while. My camera died and then my computer died and within that time of a few months I lost all interest in blogging. I became a bookworm during that time and I thoroughly enjoyed that. But now I have a new camera, an updated computer and a brief interest in blogging again. So here goes.

As you can see, everyone is getting huge! Everyone had their birthdays this summer. So Leanna is 7, Joshua is 5, Brandon is 4 and Joseph is 2. We had a nice, relaxing summer. Jeff's parents came up from California to visit and spent Independance Day with us. We watched the BEST fireworks show I've ever seen off of Lake Union in Seattle. We had a great time! Leanna and Josh then went down to California with their grandparents for a week and then stayed with their Aunt Cindy and Uncle Danny, who took them to Disneyland and California Adventure for the first time. After spending some more time with Grandma and Grandpa and some more relatives, they flew back home all by themselves. They loved every minute of their vacation! They are so adventurous!

We filled our summer by going to Palmer Lake, Joemma Beach, Penrose State Park and our beach access down to Filucy Bay. I took the kids on lots of bike rides, walks, fishing trips and outings to Seattle with PoPo and Gong Gong.

These are first day of school pics at the bus stop. I love walking the kids to the bus stop every morning. I love the smell of mornings and the quietness. Leanna is in 2nd grade, Josh is in Kindergarten, and Brandon will be starting Preschool next week. It'll be just me and Jo Jo man cleaning house together. Lovin' it!

Hairdo Central

I've being feeling ultra creative lately, particularly in cooking and hairstyling. Yes, they are completely different things, but you wouldn't believe the Mexican meal I whipped up the other day. It included, homemade turkey enchiladas with a white cheese sauce, made with homemade tortillas (I've perfected them), homemade spanish rice (definitely one of my best pots) and homemade horchata (you know the rice water/cinnamon/milk drink). Let's just say, all our bellies were full and I recieved lots of dinner praises that night.

My camera needs to be replaced in a bad way, but it'll have to do for now. This is a hairdo I just made up. I call it the Naiobi inspired hairdo, from the Matrix. Since I always do Leanna's hair when it's wet it looks wild when we take out whatever style she has in. I should have taken a picture of her hair after I took these pigtail buns out. She had a tight curl afro. It was crazy cool!

So this one I did tonight. I looked online for some ideas and came across this. It was easy and fun. Sorry the picture doesn't do justice. I'm still a novice when it comes to braiding. I know the basics, but I still need to learn the difficult stuff. There are some great ideas online though. I'll be trying them out.

The white, white Christmas of '08

Is BBQing only for the summer? Not in my family! A foot or two of snow does not and will not deter my family from firing up the grill. My brother Jeff is married to a wonderful Korean gal and they always spoil our family with oh, so yummy Korean BBQ. So here's my dad, brother Jeff and Josh cooking up some good eats at my parents house.

Cousin Connor and Jo-Jo playing together.

Cousin Macy, Leanna, Spence and Dad playing in the snow.

Here's my Brandon Boy looking especially cute, considering a few days prior to Christmas he fell on my Christmas present from Jeff, which were dumbells (just what I asked for), and split the bottom of his chin open, and recieved 7 stitches! He was very brave! No, I didn't get rid of the dumbells, but the kids know now to stay away from them. A trip to the hospital brings fear to my kids like no other.

So 2008 has come to a close and this when most people reflect and list all the wonderful things that happened throughout the year for each family member. But, since I'm not most people I'm just going to say that Heavenly Father has blessed our family in countless ways. Everyone is healthy and happy. We're thankful for each other and for all of the relationships we have with our family and friends.

Fun with Jo Jo

I took a few minutes to play around with some pics of me and Jo Jo this morning and this is what I came up with. I love pictures and I really could look at my 'old-school' photo albums and all my pc albums all day. If I ever start flipping through old pics, Jeff quickly leaves the room, because he knows I will tell him every story behind every picture I have. And if he doesn't act interested enough I get annoyed and wonder why? So this is a personal hobby, if you know what I mean.

The Best Halloween thus far!

For the past 3 years Leanna has worn the same kitty-cat costume. I didn't think she'd want to wear that again this year, so I bought her a different one. But, the day came and she just dressed herself into a cat and we drew a nose and whiskers as usual. That girl is so easy to please.

Jo-Jo is so darn cute, I really can hug and kiss him all day long! Look at him in this lion costume!

I don't know what it was, but all of us, especially Jeff & I, had an amazing time trick-or-treating this year! We've made it a tradition to go to the harbor and collect candy from all the store fronts, something we've done for 3 yrs now. Even after cruising around the harbor, we hit a few streets in the neighborhood (a first for us). Jeff probably had the most fun of all. He was all smiles that day.

Gone fishin'

It was picture day at school so I had to get a shot of all the kids together. So cute!

Gong-Gong (my dad) bought Joshua a fishing pole along with a fully stocked tackle box for his birthday this past spring. My dad took Josh and Brandon fishing last weekend and they both caught one. Everyone was so excited. So everyday since then we've been fishing and yesterday I caught a small fish. It was fun. I grew up fishing with my family and I have some great memories fishing, reading, and napping in a boat or by some lake in Canada.