Memorial Day Weekend

Mommy has been dying to go relax on the beach for a long time. We finally had the opportunity to go on Saturday. The week prior it had been chilly and rainy and I was concerned we'd be rained out. No such luck!!!

Michelle had the idea of our families going to Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz. We'd never been there so were open to the suggestion. What a great place to relax for the day! I've found a new favorite beach!!!! The beach is rather small and not well visited with the bathrooms being clean (every time we had to use the facilities they were being cleaned!!) and close to the beach.

It was fun to be on the beach, enjoy such great company (Matt, Paul's brother, included!), watch the kids play in the ocean and lagoon, and see the dolphins swimming by.

An awesome day!!!

4th Grade Play

Mrs. Blackman and Mrs. Villanueva's 4th Grade Class always does their end of the year play on the California Gold Rush. I'm sure you'll agree that Paige was the cutest-dressed girl in her class!!

5th Grade Play

I didn't realize until I went to Parker's 5th Grade Play that he had a lead role as Paul Revere. Parker does a fantastic job at acting and really enjoys it. I was so proud of him!!

Pouring Cement

We're Ready for Cement!

Parker holding the cement as it comes off the shoot!

The cement is all poured - YEA!!

Pa telling me what to do

We're almost done!!!!

Derrick and I got a wild hair to get rid of some dirt in our backyard by pouring cement!

We worked hard as a family to prep the dirt by leveling it and putting in the forms. Ok, I admit it -Derrick did most of the hard labor (thank goodness for a man that can do manual labor and isn't afraid to sweat!!!) but I was sore myself!

The day of the pour was a big event for our family! The big cement truck arrived at Noon as scheduled and backed up part of the way into our backyard (not enough for my liking though!). We were lucky enough to have a few people from church and Derrick's Grandpa there to assist. I don't know what we'd have done without Pa!!! He's one hard workin' man and can sure get the job done. Everyone, even the kids, were a big help. I enjoyed being in the middle of the mud working every single muscle of my body. I was only in the middle of the mud because I dumped a wheel barrow full of cement and fell and hurt my little knees (poor me!).

We're proud of our most recent home improvement project!

Our Family Has Expanded!

We are excited to introduce you to Foxer our newly adopted dog!

Foxer joined our family on Thursday, April 8, 2010, at 5:18 p.m.

I'd been thinking that it would be fun for Paige to have a little tiny dog to love and cuddle. On Wednesday a friend at work convinced me to look at the Shelter and we found a dog on-line. Wednesday is the only night they stay open late so my friend went to see if it was something I'd like since I was unable to do so. The mini poodle we'd looked at had been adopted 30 minutes earlier but there was another dog he suggested looking at. Thursday during lunch two of my friends and I went to the Shelter. The dog Marcos had suggested wasn't an option - she was WAY too loud and too hyper - we didn't need another Daisy! We walked around and found a sweet little dog that rolled over when Anna put her hand in the cage. This dog had the best temperament. We asked to take Foxer to the play place and got to see what a great dog he is! I was hooked. Derrick got off work early that day and picked up Daisy and the kids. I wasn't going to get a dog if Daisy didn't like the dog or if the kids were scared. It was Love at First Site! Everyone, including Daisy, loved Foxer. Even the babies that were before scared of Daisy had fun petting him and walking him on his leash.


Foxer is a huge hit in our family! The dog that I thought would be mainly Paige's dog is fought over all day long!!! Everyone enjoys loving him. We had a lot of fun with him this weekend! He's truly in a family that loves him!!!