Nana's Funeral

Nana's Funeral was very nice! I learned a few things about her. For example, in all four years of High School she never missed one day of school. She graduated Valedictorian, first in her class. She moved here to this Valley in 1941 when she married my Papa. She was baptized in the 1930's with her mother. She attended the Newhall ward when it was still a branch and they met in a workshop on San Fernando Road. My nana was an amazing woman and she lived a great life! My dad said it perfectly, "I'm not crying because I'm sad, I'm very happy for her!" I told one of my cousins that it is not sad but a joyous day but we loved her and when we are remembering great times with her there are emotions that arise and she is gone and she will be missed.

Sophi's idea for these goody bags that I put together because she was working on a photo dvd of Nana. What a nice touch these baggies were. Our nana loved gummy bears, she had such a sweet tooth, and she loved to kiss and hug everyone!

Jake with my cousin, Jared



My sweet and sensitive little girl was very emotional! She cried in the viewing room and during the entire service and here she is crying at the grave site. She was so sweet with Nana when she was alive. Sierra would always give her hugs and kisses and Nana adored her. I am grateful that my children could know my Nana and have a relationship with her before she passed. Sierra is missing her too!

Sierra and I got some of Nana's flowers

Nana's children

My dad's family

We were goofing around and as you can see, having tons of fun!!!

Me with a few of my cousins

Alicia, Me, Kara and Devona

Some of Nana's grandchildren (she has 26)

Some of Nana's great-grandchildren (she has 57)

My brother Norris is such a fun Uncle! Like I said we were goofing around! :)

Nana was smiling on this day, she loved having her family together and not only were we all together but we were thoroughly enjoying each other's company. Love you Nana!

Open House

Tonight was Sierra's Open House. She is in 2nd grade and is in a 1st/2nd split. She has had a hard year this year and I am so grateful that it is almost over. Currently she is doing fantastic and looks forward to going to school. Months ago though she would cry morning and night with the anticipation of going to school. She would tell me over and over that she missed me and didn't like to be away from me and wanted to be homeschooled. I was nervous that something was happening at school. I kept open communication with her teacher, we would email back and forth. Family members would go have lunch with her everyday which helped. She likes her teacher however she is not the most nurturing and lovey dovey, also being in a split class demands alot of the child to work independently. It took her a long time to adjust to 2nd grade but she has grown so much and tells me I can't wait to go to school tomorrow.

Sierra with her friend, Rachel

"Look at this bird I made..."

This is her seat, she sits in the very front.

In 2nd grade it is optional to enter in the Science Fair but Sierra wanted to do a science project. So we did. What Happens To A Banana When You Put on Yeast? She tested two slices of banana, she put yeast on one and observed and took pictures for 3 days. (She took the pictures.) She thought that the banana with yeast on it would puff up. The banana with the yeast on it turned brown faster than the the banana by itself. We found out that the yeast is in the fungi group and feeds off of other organisms which is why the banana was decomposing faster. Great Job, Sierra!

A Phase...

You like his first cold sore! I was using a neosporin for lips and it was taking a long time to heal. Jake and I don't get cold sores but my mom and my brother do. My mom gave me Abreva to try and gone the next morning...that stuff is awesome.

My little Ashton is going through a phase and I know it is a phase because Sierra went through it at his age. He wants to wear long sleeved shirts and long pants everyday, even when it is 100 degrees outside he doesn't care. He is even specific about what jammies he puts on, they too have to be long sleeved and pants. I have given up however he does compromise with me. When he comes to me with a long sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans I say "Okay, you can wear that shirt if you put shorts with it or you can wear those pants if you wear a short sleeved shirt." With Sierra I had to hide all of her pants and long sleeved shirts so that all she had to choose from was summer clothes. OY VEY!!! Now I know why I have a few grey hairs (I do my best to hide them though.) :)

Memorial Day!

Mom, Brett and Briana ran in the LA Marathon yesterday! What a great accomplishment, they all did so great and I am so proud. Other friend's, members of our Ward, ran it too, Congrats to all-you are awesome! Miriam and Ben K. did the Bike Tour. Great job, FUN TIMES! I however did Melissa's Bootcamp Challenge and that was quite the workout. I loved it, she had lot's of different exercises going on. She kept my attention and the hour went really fast. I was shaking afterwards. I was starting to feel pain yesterday but today every single muscle in my body hurts. A good hurt, I know I worked hard and it was a great workout, but it hurts to walk, drive, sit and stand, get on the toilet :) My abs even hurt and that is hard to do, to get my abs sore. Thanks Melissa, when I can I want to do it again and for anyone interested try it, I promise you will get a great workout!

B week

I have been slacking on the letter's of the week and I am probably not going to work on letter's any more considering there is only 3 more weeks left of school. I have kind of jump started into summer already with lightening my hair and taking the kids swimming, I can't wait to go to the pool everyday and take the kid's to the beach tons!!! :)

Here is our B week. Ashton and I talked about things that start with the letter Bb. Butterfly, bees, bath, bed, Brett, Briana, bagel, balloon, there are tons of things that start with the letter B. We played Baseball, Basketball, we blew bubbles.

We played with sticky Balls while we were Babysitting.

Even Baby Blake starts with Bb. :)

Joshua Tree!

We left yesterday morning for Joshua Tree with one of our favorite families, the Garcia's. Melissa's sisters, Emily and Leah, came too and they were so cute and so fun. We had so much fun!!! We hiked around through trails and on top of boulders. We also climbed in caves and through tunnels. We all came home with battle wounds. We saw tons of Joshua trees. It was HOT! It was the desert, could have been worse. :) We still had a great time despite the heat. We brought a squirt bottle with a fan, that was fun for the kids (especially Ashton) to squirt everybody. We went to the lake, Barker Dam and saw what was left of the lake, it was a tiny pond. Ashton and Asher were throwing rocks into it. We sat on some grass that used to be under the lake and it was so cool, spongy. The kids got along perfectly. It was a great adventure, thanks Garcia's for a fun camping trip. We love you guys and appreciate your friendship! Until next time :)...

A Desert Iguana that we saw when we pulled up to register.

These rocks were right behind our campsite.

Enjoying the air conditioning when we were driving from our campsite to the State Park.



Ashton said, "mom take a picture of this lizard."

I did not dress my daughter by the way. She had long shorts on and right before we were leaving the house she changed. Nice hiking clothes, I know!

Nice battle wound!

Cute girls! (hiding in the shade :)


This is the awesome spongy grass, Roman loved it! Roman want some Gatorade?


Rocks+Water = FUN!

Native American drawings

One last mermaid pose on the rock!