Friday, November 28, 2008

WE'RE LIVE

Finally...my photography website is up and running. Thank you to a husband who is computer savvy and more than patient with me!! :) There are still a few more things (like pics) that will be added as we go, but for now it's a good start. So take a look, add me to your blog, send me a note to say hi or do all 3. :) Again, thanks to all of you for your continued support and encouragement...it's means the world to me!!! :)

We hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving, we sure did. I will post more on ours and our weekend later. Right now the kids and I are sucking up all the time that we get to spend with Dustin this LONG weekend. :) We are loving it!!

Saturday, November 22, 2008

date night

Friday Dustin and I had a long needed date night, just the two of us. My sis in law Kristin had offered to babysit the kids if we wanted to go out and there was no way I was going to turn that offer down. So we decided to head over to Victoria Gardens and see what looked fun. I think we picked the wrong night because on top of being a Friday night it was also the night of the Christmas tree lighting. Crowded!! We are not the biggest fans of crowds, but we actually had a great time and the tree was beautiful.

We decided to eat at a restaurant that neither of us had been to before, the Yardhouse. I had heard of it, but had never thought of going there before. We were so glad that we had decided to wait over an hour for our table. The food was amazing! No joke!! And I tried my first lettuce wraps and was very pleasantly surprised. The place is very loud so it will also be ok to take the kids in the future. :)

We came home to a sleeping little girl and an Auntie trying her best to put a little boy to sleep. He sure had a great time with his cousins and the next day was looking for "the kids." :) Thanks again Kristin for watching the kiddos...we appreciate it bunches..you're the best!!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

DONATIONS AND A COOL PRIZE

Some of you my have noticed the new donate button at the top right hand corner of my blog. What is this?? Well this is a chance for you to help a sweet family in need. They were blessed with a sweet baby girl who only had a chance to bless their lives for a few short weeks here on Earth. Hospital bills and funeral costs are ridiculous these days and it would be great to be able to help them out a bit. This is really something that could happen to anyone of us. It's one of those stories that you often hear about and think "I wish I could do something." Well you can and here's how...

Simple click on the donation button and you will directed to the site where you can make a donation of ANY amount. Often if you can't make a large donation you don't even want to bother, but wrong attitude. Any amount will be appreciated, $1,$5,$10 or $100. What ever you can give. Maybe skip a night of take out for the family and donate that instead. Remember how blessed you are and how YOU can bless another family.

I will be auctioning off a photo shoot with all proceeds going to the Kaiya baby fund. So if you want a chance to win then check out my other blog. And if you can't use the session than I'm sure you know somebody who can. And spread the word so others can join in on the bidding fun! (maybe post in on YOUR blog)

So come on everyone and show that HOLIDAY spirit...you will be glad you did! Thanks in advance!!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

why I've been M.I.A.

This last week has been SO busy and gone so fast all at the same time. I have had a few photo shoots, yes a few, and along with that comes hours of editing, Chloe has had a cold, I have been trying to get my website ready for launching, and now Christian has the "yucky" flu. So those things on top of the everyday things have had us a little busy lately, but in a good way. My website should be up in a day or so and that will lift a load off my shoulders..so stay tuned for that. And then now we get ready for the busy holiday season...let the fun begin!!

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

see what's new

If you are interested to see what me and my camera have been up too then check out my photography blog. And keep checking back because there is more to come in the next few weeks. And for those of you asking, yes my website is almost complete so stay tuned. Thanks again everyone for all the support...I truly appreciate it!!

Monday, November 10, 2008

a day out with Thomas

Saturday we took Christian to the day out with Thomas event at the Perris train museum. He had a great time and I think was equally excited to see Thomas as he was to see all the other trains. He actually got to ride the train pulled by Thomas and received a certificate to mark the occasion. It was a fun time, but a little hotter than we would have thought and liked for November. All I can say is that this kid loves his trains and to see him so happy was priceless.

last post on prop 8

This is the last post that I am going to do on prop 8 and the decision that the voters made about it. I am disgusted and fed up with the backlash from it and how the LDS church is getting so much blame. The majority have spoken...let it be!

This is an article that was sent to me and expressed a lot of the feelings that our family has been having on this issue.


Catholic Bishop Decries Religious Bigotry Against Mormons

SACRAMENTO 7 November 2008 (This news release was issued by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento) The following statement was released today by Bishop William Weigand, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento and former Bishop of Salt Lake City, in response to attacks on (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) for supporting California’s Proposition 8, defending the traditional definition of marriage:

“Catholics stand in solidarity with our Mormon brothers and sisters in support of traditional marriage — the union of one man and one woman — that has been the major building block of Western Civilization for millennia.

“The ProtectMarriage coalition, which led the successful campaign to pass Proposition 8, was an historic alliance of people from every faith and ethnicity. LDS were included — but so were Catholics and Jews, Evangelicals and Orthodox, African-Americans and Latinos, Asians and Anglos.

“Bigoted attacks on Mormons for the part they played in our coalition are shameful and ignore the reality that Mormon voters were only a small part of the groundswell that supported Proposition 8.

“As the former bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, I can attest to the fact that followers of the Mormon faith are a good and generous people with a long history of commitment to family and giving to community causes.

“I personally decry the bigotry recently exhibited towards the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — coming from the opponents of Proposition 8, who ironically, have called those of us supporting traditional marriage intolerant.

“I call upon the supporters of same-sex marriage to live by their own words — and to refrain from discrimination against religion and to exercise tolerance for those who differ from them. I call upon them to accept the will of the people of California in the passage of Proposition 8.”

SOURCE: Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento

Thursday, November 6, 2008

election time

Tuesday was election day and what a day it was. How exciting to live in a time where we would be watching history be made. On the Republican side you had John McCain and his pick of Sarah Palin for Vice President, which would make her the first female VP if they won.
mcCain and palin Pictures, Images and Photos
Then on the Democratic side you had Barack Obama who if picked would be the first African American President of the United States.
Obama Biden Pictures, Images and Photos
Well, Americans spoke and spoke very clearly. Obama will be the next President of the United States. I think in a time where the economy is so uncertain that people are desperate for change and feel as if he could be that someone to give it to them. I must admit that I am a bit worried because I think that he lacks much of the needed experience for this position. All I can hope is that he has some good advisers on his side. So as you can guess our family did not vote for our new President, but we will try to be supportive of our new leader.

The other BIG vote on this day here in California was on prop 8, which was the ban on gay marriage. If a yes vote was passed then this would amend the Constitution that marriage would ONLY be legal between a man and a woman and restore traditional marriage. I think we were more interested in this outcome than any others. We were happy to see that it DID pass, but also sad to see that this even had to be up for a vote and won by a not so big margin. At least this restored my hope in California a bit. I know that everyone has the right to choose who they want to be with, but I don't want my children growing up thinking that gay marriage is the norm when its clearly not. So the people of California have spoken (again) and hopefully this time it will be final!!

Monday, November 3, 2008

the phantom

So a few weeks ago we decided to start the phantom game in our ward. I had gotten the idea from my sil Veronica and thought it was so cute! The idea is to leave a bag of goodies on a few peoples porches,without getting caught,along with instructions and a sign to hang on their door letting people know that they had already been phantomed.

Since we were out of town a lot this last month it was pretty easy to keep the secret. We started it off with the Lomenick and Jacquez families and are curious where it went from there. So I want to know, did you get phantomed? who did you pass it on to? how far did the fun spread?

We also learned that since we never got phantomed that we have NO friends!! Only kidding, well about the no friend part anyways. :)


Saturday, November 1, 2008

halloween fun

We celebrated Halloween at Dustin's parent's annual church party. This has been tradition the past few years because Christian has so much fun along with the other nieces and nephews. They have games for the kids, food, a hay maze and then the kids go from car to car and trick-or-treat. We will enjoy this while we can and not have to go house to house.


Chloe was a lady bug and Christian was Spider man this year. Christian wanted no part of his hat or mask so we didn't get any pictures with them. He fought me to get any pictures at all the entire night.


After we got home my little nephew Alex stopped by to see Christian. I was able to get Christian to sit long enough to get a pic of the two of them together. It was a great night and I can't wait to see what fun next year will bring!!