remembering

I wasn't planning on writing about 9/11 today, but as the day has progressed my mind has changed. Maybe it was the fact that is was such a gloomy day outside today or because I had the doors open I heard more sirens and hoovering helicopters than usual. Anyhow all these things got me thinking about that sad day and the days since.

Do you remember where you were and what you were doing when you heard the news?? Do you remember those heart breaking images? Do you remember being shocked, then sad, then scared, then angry and then wanting revenge?





Well I do! I was a student at the time and I was at home getting ready for class. I got a call from my sister asking me if I saw the news yet. Well I hadn't and as I was still on the phone with her I turned it on and watched the second plane hit the towers. I will never forget that image! Like a lot of young adults I really didn't know a lot about world affairs and politics. I had a History class that morning and made sure to be there. I think that it was a wake up call for a lot of Americans that morning.



We are so quick to judge and list all the things that are wrong with this country, but what about all the good things. It's easy to point the finger and judge those in power, but we are not in their shoes. We often stress about the decisions we have to make for our family, can you imagine doing it for the entire country? I can't!

Here are just a few reasons why I love this country:
* we are free to marry who WE want
* freedom of religion and speech
* freedom to choose how many children we want
* the abundance of luxuries
* as a woman, the ability to vote, work or not work if we want to
* education
* clean water to drink
* the chance to vote for our leaders

These are just a few of the reasons I am grateful to be an American. They may sound simple, but many wish they had these simple things.

So as you remember those hero's of September 11Th also remember those less fortunate both here and in other countries. Remember the anger you felt that day 7 years ago and remember why we continue to fight for our freedom and those who are less fortunate than us.

a few more

Here are a few more pictures from our adventure at the park on Monday. Christian is surprising us more all the time with his new found ability to interact with other kids. I swear the kid turned 3 and became Mr. Social. The park was no exception...he was a ladies man that day. I think these little ladies would have followed him home if I let them.

playing

Yesterday I decided to take a lesson from my sil Veronica and take the kids to the park to feed the ducks. Christian had fun for about 30 seconds then I got to finish up for him. :)It was a pretty fun time though and we will do it agian soon I'm sure.

This also gave me the chance to get a few new pics to use in my new editing program. I am still VERY new with it, but both Dustin and I are having fun playing with it. Thought I would share a few.

before
after

my two new loves

my first new love

I am in love with this water! It could be the fact that the first time I had this was at Disneyland on a flippin HOT day and that it was way over priced that makes it taste so good to me. I have had it a few times since and still love it. It's not the most inexpensive brand so I don't have it too often, but I do enjoy when I do. :)

my second new love

My new Tracy Joy camera bag. I had been telling Dustin that I needed a camera bag really bad, but couldn't find any that I really liked. I didn't want just a plain old regular one. Well literally the next day I was reading my friend Letti's blog and she had a post about this company. I was thrilled!! They can be used as either camera bags or diaper bags and the cool thing is that the flaps are detachable so you can put a different one on and have a whole new look. Funny thing is that when I got my bag they forgot to ship the shoulder strap with it. Well they shipped it to me right away and instead of putting it on right away like I should have I set it down. Now I can't find it anywhere...no joke. So anyway I'm begging them to sell me a new one and hopefully will be using it soon. :)

donuts...no joke in this house

So I thought this was pretty funny. On Friday Dustin and I did some running around to get some things done for our upcoming camping trip. We found ourselves at one point near the Krispy Kreme store so decided to get some to take home.


Then Saturday morning after taking my dad to a rental property we stopped by the store to get a few things. Well Christian spotted what he wanted and I of course gave in. I'm such a sucker!


As we returned home I saw a box waiting for us on our porch. Looks like the donut fairy had visited while we were gone.


So as you can imagine we have had our sugar fix this weekend. :)

finishing up the weekend

Well we sure did have a long, busy and fun weekend. On Sunday we attended the blessing of Leilani, Ryan and Lizeth's baby girl. She looked so precious in her gown and daddy did a great good blessing her. It was so great to be there with ALL the family and see old friends and visit and I even got to meet a new friend that I had yet to meet in person.:) We even managed to get a complete family picture this time since the ENTIRE family was here. What a fun time and thank goodness for self timers on cameras. :)

I had to throw this picture in because it made me laugh. Christian is crying while Chloe and Savannah stare at him.
Then on Monday we celebrated 3 birthdays. Mia, Emma and Marci's birthdays. It was a fun time and Marci made her girls the cutest Barbie cake. Too bad poor Barbie suffered a melted hand during the wish making. :) OK, that was pretty funny! Happy birthday ladies!

Chloe being silly with Auntie Veronica

yea for September

September is here and I'm so excited. I think it's going to be a good month with all the things that we have going on. Here are my top reasons why I love this month (in no particular order). :)

* camping
* trip to AZ
* Chloe's birthday
* first day of Fall
* cooler weather (hopefully)
* shorter lines at Disneyland
* my favorite TV shows starting back up new & even some new shows that look pretty good


Do you have any favorites for this month??