Flashback Friday

2010

Don't let this little smile fool you... she's been sick! Not feeling well and super cranky this last week. I thought it was molars... Nope, Doc says it's a slight case of Phenomena. Poor girl!! There have been lots of sleepless nights for us. Hopefully she'll snap out of it with the breathing treatments the Doctor gave us. Do you know how hard it is to do any kind of breathing treatments with an almost 2 year old?? While at the doctors office yesterday they wanted me to put a mask on her with this gas like medicine coming out of it. Yeah, that was gonna happen. It lasted for all of 2 minutes. She doesn't want any kind of mask on or near her face. The nurse made me hold her down while they gave it to her. She kicked and screamed and cried her head off and I felt like the worse mom ever. I even cried, I felt so bad that I had to hold her down. I think last year and that EKG she had done, she doesn't really trust the doctor's. The breathing treatment at home they gave me is more like an asthma inhaler... again; she doesn't want a whole lot to do with it. So I've tried to make it fun and I pretend to do it! She actually did it this morning pretty well. Hopefully she'll continue to do it for a few days and her Phenomena will go away.

On top of a crazy night/morning/dr. appt/traumatizing my daughter yesterday... I had an interview that I was really excited about. Let me back up a bit. When I left SunCal after I had Alana, about 8 months later I was dying to get out of the house and work part time. That's just who I am. I can't just sit and not work. Don't get me wrong, I've been so blessed to be able to stay at home with Alana for so long, but for my own sanity I needed a part time job. So I worked some retail... SUCKED! Retail is HORRIBLE, boss was a B*%#$! And it was too much stress for being a part time job that I was supposed to enjoy just to get out of the house. So I left there in December. Thru December and January I was volunteering for a women’s center in Santa Ana which I really loved. Was hoping that would turn into a part time job... didn't work out so well. So last week I decided I would start looking again for a part time job that I could enjoy! I wanted to get back into the office environment, because that's what I knew and that's what I was good at. Plus I miss meeting deadlines and being super busy. So Tuesday last week I looked on Monster to see what was there. Looking for an office part time job is not easy to come by. There are very few out there. I found one that looked promising. It was working for a Corporate Office. So I went onto their website and emailed in my resume. 2 days later, got a call from a VP there that wanted to meet with me!

So yesterday after a crazy morning/night... I pulled myself together and went in! It was such a great interview with both HR and then the VP. An hour later they called to offer me the position!!! YEAH BUDDY!! They told me they've been interviewing for months and this was their second round of interviews! It's 20 hours a week at GREAT pay, amazing office, super modern with the newest computers and software! I'm telling you, someone is looking down on me and helping me out this year! I know I am a good person and do good things, but this year I'm feeling Karma! It's on my side!

I have to say, I'm not doing this alone... and I don't mean God, or my mom (although I Thank God everyday).... But I mean all the people in my life that are here to support me. Everything good that happens in my life is because of the people in my life. My husband, my in-laws, my best friends, my sister, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents. They are such a big support in my life! Even my friends on Facebook. I know it sounds crazy but some of the people I've reconnected with on facebook and my support there has been amazing. If just someone commenting on my status or the emails and posts I get. It really has helped me so much! Thank you to everyone in my life, and you know who you are! I love you guys and can't thank you enough for all of your support! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Fighting back

One of my good friends Jennifer has been trying to get me to join her walk in the Relay for Life. I had plans during the time, but they've since been cancelled and now I'm in full force. Honestly when she first told me about it, I'm always up for doing anything fun and different but that's just what it was to me, something fun to raise money. I get it. I love to do that kind of stuff. I love to volunteer for whatever I can, that's just me. She sent me her website a few months back and I looked at it and saw her story of how she was walking for her Grandpa. It always touches my heart when people, especially my friends, do things like for family members that have passed.

So since our plans were cancelled for the same dates of this walk, Jen asked me again to join. I looked at her website again. This time, I balled my eyes out. The second I saw my mom's name on there I couldn't help but all of a sudden feel this crazy feeling. Like all of a sudden it wasn't something Jen just wanted me to do for fun. Sure it will be fun, but damn.... it's in my mom's name too! So this weekend I signed up, made my own personal page on Jenny's pennies team! The fact that Jen walks in honor of her grandpa and my own mother. It meant more to me then she will ever know! My sister Jacquie and her best friend have also signed up. Some of our friends and husbands... We all pledge to raise $100 each. I can do $100! My friend Irene donated the first $5. THANK YOU! Only $95 more to go! I HATE to bug people for donations, but after realizing what it's for and who it's for... I have no problem at least asking. I know people are tight on money right now, but hopefully if I can get everyone I know to donate $5 it will make such a big difference.

My mom died at age 61 of a really rare cancer with little to no research. If me walking in this Relay for Life will help to raise money for cancer patients, cancer research or any part of it, I'M IN! If there were more research into my mom's cancer, it may have saved her life. But those were the cards we were dealt.


So please if mom means anything or has ever meant anything to you, donate to our team in her name. My page, my sisters page, Victor's page. I don't care. $5 is all I ask please. It's not a lot but will make a big difference! Click on this link and it will take you to our team page. You can donate to any person on behalf of mom. Thank you in advance for helping us raise money!


Thank you Jennifer for making me realize what the Relay for Life is really about. I know how much fun it will be, but I also now know what it means and how much I can do just by joining you in the fight back against cancer! Mama, this one's for you!

Miss you every day, think about you every second. Love you always!

American Saturday night

Saturday afternoon, Victor, myself and Alana spent time out back soaking up the sun! (Seems to be a recurring event in this amazing weather) We BBQ'd Victor's famous Salmon Kabobs! This is one of the first things Victor made for me when we first started dating. He lived in an apartment and had a tiny BBQ out on the patio that you could only put about 6 of them on. (Ironic) I knew I liked Salmon but he wanted to put Bell Peppers and Onions on the kabobs and that sounded gross. But being in our "new love stage" I tried them anyway! I found a new love for grilled bell peppers... only with Salmon though! Many years later he still makes them for me! The same perfect way every single time!



I think this is the first time that he's made them since Alana has been eating normal food. She took to them so fast! Apparently she loves grilled Salmon and peppers too! That's my girl!

Victor has been working so much lately. He's at a new hotel, same chain, same ownership, just taking over a new hotel. He's been working at least 12 hours a day, going in early, coming home at Alana's bed time. We've missed him so much. This weekend has been great so far spending quality time with us! He works his butt off for us and I can't help but thank him every day for it! Thank you for just being you and doing what you do, but for us! We love you hunny!

Morning in the park

This morning we went out to my sisters house to spend a few hours with her and Lexie while Ellie was in school. Alana and Lexie are only a few months apart but they love each other! I'm so glad Alana will have a cousin that she can be so close to in age!

Lexie is modeling.

They both are so dang cute!

Cheese!

30 in 30

That's right, in 30 days from now I'll be turning the big 3-0! YIKES! Who'd ever thought I'd be 30? I've always just felt younger. I've also always hung out with younger people so I don't feel 30, or feel like I act 30. My 25th birthday was a hard one for me, because when I was younger I always imagined 25 being really old and by then I'd be really mature, have a house, would be married with a kid. At 25 I wasn't any of that. But 30, I really couldn't have asked for anything better. I have a great family, a great house, an amazing daughter that makes me love her more and more every day! I have a loving, caring husband who would do anything for me. And does everything for me. I have a handful of really close friends who love me unconditionally. At 30, I'm really happy. I know it's just a number, but it's a big one! I am really sad that I can't have my mom here with me to celebrate it with me. She's always been my biggest fan and my support. She was always there to celebrate every milestone in my life. So it will be harder without her, but I am thankful for all that I do have in my life. 30 here I come!

I think I’ll take a moment, celebrate my age
The ending of an era and the turning of a page
Now it’s time to focus in on where I go from here
Lord have mercy on my next thirty years!

-Tim McGraw

YUM!

Check out my very first baking goods with our fresh fruit from the backyard!

Lemon bars! They turned out soooo yummy and they were pretty easy to make! Years ago when I first moved out my mom gave me her "Better homes and garden" cook book and it hasn't failed me yet.

S'more wine?

Yesterday was a loooong day. I think Alana is getting her 2 year molars so she has been super cranky, runny nose... all those fun things that come along with molars. I have to say that her mouth got full of teeth and I never even knew it. She never had any kind of teething problems when her first teeth came in so it's been really weird for these to be effecting her so much! But such is life and kids and teeth!

What could be the perfect ending to a long stressful day?

Crystal coming over for dinner, wine and dessert!!! I swear we drank all the wine from my housewarming. Sat and talked for hours about nothing and everything, took a nice walk and ate some YUMMY Peanut Butter Smores!!!

Love you dork! Thank you for always knowing when I need a drink and a good conversation!

House Warming

Saturday morning I woke up with only one song in my head... "The sun is out, the sky is blue, it's beautiful and so are you!" Saturday was an amazing day of sunshine and blue skies for sure! I couldn't have asked for a better day for our housewarming party! It had rained ALL week and was warm enough on Saturday to dry up our yard! The party was amazing! So mannnnyyyy people came! We have a large house and I'm pretty sure I packed it jam full of people! From Aunts and Uncles, cousins and friends to our new neighboors next door! We had a blast! I got lots of bottles of wine a few other gifts! It was so fun to just throw a party in our new place and especially to see people I haven't seen in forever!! We drank, visited, rockband(ed?) and had so much fun! Can't wait for our next already... it won't be long I'm sure!



Me and me sesters!



I LOVE this girl! Jen brought me lemons... she pays so much attention to my posts! Our new motto? When life gives you lemons.... Make Lemon Drops! OH BUDDY! YUMMY!

My dorky sisters


My sister and brother in law


My bestie!


Just havin fun with my girls!

Love you girls!


About time to catch up Stacarie!


My two little sisters


Crystal & Mel

I'm not ready yet... but she may be!

We keep this in her room and she pretends to sit on it with clothes on, I've been just trying to get her used to seeing it and sitting on it.... then tonight...


Just a few minutes ago Alana had something wet on her pants. I said "what is that?", Victor asks Alana "Is that pee?"..... She runs down the hall into her room and pulls her pants down to sit on the toilet.... Ummmm.... I'm not really ready for this yet. She's only 19 months old! So I gave into her because I was so excited she thought of that, and I took her diaper off and she sat there and tried to go potty. Nothing actually came out, but HOLY MOLY!

I seriously am not sure I'm ready for her to be ready to start trying that yet, but my gosh... she wants to try, so I guess I don't have a choice... just means she's getting so big. I know Potty Training is hard because I went through it when I was babysitting Kali, but she was a bit older and understood the whole process more. So this should be interesting! At least an interest is all I could ask for!

Picasso in the making

This week it's supposed to rain all week so I asked my friends on Face Book to give me some suggestions to keep a 1 1/2 year old entertained this week when we can't go outside.... my friends are the best they came up with SOOO many ideas for us! So we'll try them all this week! Monday we started with some finger painting! I have lots of plain frames that I've bought to scrapbook and/or decorate so I let Alana make one for daddy.

Anyone who knows Victor and I, knows that we are both pretty creative and artsy fartsy! Well Victor is pretty much just talented... I just pretend. So Alana took on her first fingerpainting project! I dressed her in one of Daddy's old shirts and we started with paint markers.


And then I really let her get her hands dirty! It was funny because the whole time she kept pointing to her dirty hands and saying "uh oh"... I had to keep reassuring her it was ok to be dirty! I LOVE that she is just like Victor and I in that sense!


Fantastic Rainy day project! Came out great! Can't wait to hang it on our picture wall!!

Orange you glad I didn't say banana?

Feed the birds...

I bought a bird feeder and some bird feed so Alana and I can sit and watch all the birds in the back yard! There are beautiful blue birds and regular little backyard birds :)

Alana filled the feeder all by herself!

As the day goes on there are more and more birds hearing about our food, and coming to visit!

I know I keep talking about how great our new backyard is, but I swear it just keeps getting better! This house was meant for us!!! Not only do we have a lemon tree and an awesome Orange tree (They are so yummy and you can't get anymore fresh then that), but I found out that I have not one, not two, but THREE Plumeria Flower trees!! I LOVE Plumeria flowers! They are my favorites! I love to wear them in my hair and behind my ear! I swear I almost had a heart attack when I found out what they were. They aren't in bloom right now, and I'm not sure when they bloom, but with 3 of them in the yard, I'm hoping for some pink and yellow ones! Want to make a beautiful lei or need them for centerpieces?? Let me know, once they are in bloom there will be soooo many of them!

Here are a few pictures of what they may look like!

Here is a shot of two of the trees!

And the other one in the corner. The Orange tree is the big one to the right.


The Plameria trees shed a lot right now, Alana loves to sweep, so she was helping me pick them up!

The sun has been out all weekend and so beautiful! Yesterday we woke up and sat out back on the patio for a while just soaking in the new place and the sun! It's supposed to rain all this week so we tried to make the most of the sun this weekend!

In my daughter's eyes

So of course because Alana is my daughter I think she is the most beautiful little girl in the world... but here are some great pictures I took of her!

She really has the most beautiful eyes and eyelashes!




This is what I'm lucky enough to wake up to every day!

Movin on up!!

Move is done, we are in! A day last week my friend Martha and I took a day and started packing up the cars and made two trips back and fourth to fill up the house! We got so much done that day! Sunday, Jacquie and her friend Amanda, Julie, Brian and Hailey and Crystal came over and between the 8 of us kicked some butt and got us all moved in! Not only moved in but everything set up, from bookcases to beds and cribs! I can't thank everyone enough for helping us move in! 1 year ago this weekend we moved and I'm not moving again until they kick us out!!! This house is just so perfect for us! It's a nice big 4 bedroom house in Orange in a really great neighborhood! We have a nice big back yard with grass and a nice patio with a covering! Orange and Lemon tree's. Great kitchen and living space and room for us to grow!!!

Last night was our first night in the house and Alana did a lot better then I thought she was going to do! I was a little freaked that being in a different house with different sounds and shadows in her new room that she wasn't going to sleep! But she did! She woke up happy as a clam in her new room this morning! I really tried to keep her room the same and have everything done and in there so she didn't notice "that" much of a change! I think we all woke up with a sigh of relief, we are so happy in our nice house now! I have to thank my hubby for making it all happen! He is amazing and keeps this family happy and strong!

Alana and I have already taken 2 walks around the neighborhood this morning! She's been out back playing on the grass with her ball! The birds are chirping this morning in this house and in this neighborhood! We have some beautiful little blue birds in the back yard that we'll have to get some bird feeders for! We are having a big housewarming party in a few weeks and I can't wait for everyone to come party at our new house!

I have so many things I want to do this year! I hate setting resolutions, I rather just have stuff I want to get done and do it! One thing I want to do this year is to make sure I don't have one empty frame in the house! I am a CRAZY frame buyer! I always find frames that I LOVE and buy them, but I have so many pictures out in frames that I end up putting them away. Well I have too many frames with no pictures in them and lots of pictures I want out... so there ya go! I also want to try and read more this year! Before Alana I read all the time! We have so many great books! Then I got pregnant and started reading pregnancy and parenthood books. Since Alana has been born I don't think I've read more then a chapter of a good book. Books and frames to start out with! Very do-able!

I hope every one's year so far has been as great!

When life gives you lemons....

Life has given me plenty of lemons... I'm making so much lemonade these days!!!!!!

2010 has started off as great as I had hoped for. Anything had to be better then 2009 right? I swear to you that I woke up New Years morning and just knew this was going to be a great year! It's funny because lately I've been on such a high. That high when your baby was born and you could go for weeks and not sleep because you were so happy about life! Yep... that high! No caffeine needed here!
Last year when we gave up our condo, our priorities were to find a nice place to live. Alana was only months old then. We moved into a "nice" big 2 bedroom apartment. Man how our priorities have changed!!! Alana kept growing and really needed a back yard and more space. So the change this year into a new place is so exciting! We got the keys to move in and will be doing so this weekend! It's amazing how many things have worked in our favor already this year. Normally I would say I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.... but not this time. I do deserve good things to happen to me, to my family. We are good, friendly, loving people who would do anything for our friends and family. No more of "it would be our luck"... We have good luck! 2010 is looking like lots of lemonade! YUM! And our new house has a lemon tree in the back along with some other fruit trees... It was a sign! Thank you to all of my friends and family who have stuck with me through my dark times! I can't do any of this without you! You know who you are!

Housewarming party at our new casa in a few weeks!!

Dancing

I try to catch Alana dancing and singing all the time, but as soon as she see's the camera she stops. So I have to try and hide it (hence the start of the video is all shaky). She loves this song that Victor plays for her about his daughter! She loves to turn in circles and just started to do this "cha-cha" kind of move back and fourth, it's pretty funny! She only does it a tiny bit in this video, so I'll try and get better video soon.

Birthdays

Victor's mom, Aunt and Cousin share the same birthday week. So we celebrated big with a surprise 85th birthday party for his aunt!


Alana wanted to wear her Mickey Ears to the party

Love my sweet family!

Alana LOVES her Grandma so much! Happy Birthday Grandma!