good food, salty sand & wild waves...

Yay, we went to LA again! We LOVE going! Jose takes us to a Panaderia Guatemalteca (Guatemalan Bakery) that has authentic Guatemalan food. So we make a trip at least once a year to LA. Here's some pics, of course.

The Boys


Yummy Pan (bread)

Mama & the baby girl

First time eating frijoles negros (black beans)



Some of the food. Platanos con crema (fried bananas & cream), Panza (tripe) con frijoles negros (black beans) & arroz (rice), fresh tortillas & some tostadas...AWESOME FOOD!


Then we headed out the the beach. Here's Adi & Domi going in

One of my favorite pics

My second fave pic. She sure does love her Papa!


Sandy Toes, Love 'Em!



We have a tradition of burying the kids in sand. Here's Ant digging his hole.

Domi in his hole


Little doing her hole


All 3 buried

Until next time, find the simple ways to enjoy your family!

Easter 2009

Easter has become a VERY special holiday for our family. For the past 4 years we have been involved in our church's Easter Outreach. Starting Saturday we help with the outreach at the park (which is a very long & hard day, but SO fulfilling!!!!) and then Sunday we have church in the park.
This year Jose and I partnered up with Noe & Monica to do the Food Crew on Saturday. We were up at 6:30 am getting ourselves ready & I packed Delayna's stuff up, because she was coming with us. We got to the park about an hour later to meet up with Noe & Monica. This was their first year leading the food crew & were as nervous as I'll get out. They were too cute, but did great!!!
Here's Noe directing some people.

Here is Jessica & Courtney doing hot dogs

We had over 2,000 people come out this year. It was nice seeing old faces & some of my friends come out. I just realized, I didn't get not one pic of my besties (Allan & Angel), who came out and helped for the first year!
We were home around 4 pm. And I got going on the house & the eggs.
We had a blast doing the eggs, as we always do. I love that my husband & son aren't "too old" to participate in such a family fun activity.
Here are some pics...
3 1/2 dozen of eggs


Kids coloring


Jose tried to get Delayna to 'help'


Mom looking on


I used my Avent breast milk storage cups to die the eggs in...ROFLMBO!


Here's some buzz worthy eggs (we always make special eggs)




Jose playing with the kids & the eggs



I also made cakes. My first attempt was a flopp. They stuck to the pan...WHATEVER!

My mom tried "peicing it together". She's such a dork!


So, I re-did them. Here's my "Dirt Cake" (recipe to follow later)


And my Easter Bunny Grass Cake


Easter morning we had to start early, because Jose & Adi had to be at the church by 8:15am. Here's pics & video
The baskets


Waiting for their baskets


Anthony passing the baskets out



Anthony, Dominic, Delayna & I all got ready for church & headed out. It was a gorgeous day! The message was remarkable! The skits, and message were really good!
Here's a link if your interested in watching The Rebounder.
Pastor opened up for those who want to accept Jesus as their personal savior. We had about 48 people accept and one of them was my Bestie, Angel. Allan shared his story with me about him accepting Christ as his personal savior the week before & here is his wife accepting Christ into her life. What an awesome moment! I've been praying for them for quite a while. Now to stand with them and walk with them!

After church we got home & the Easter Bunny hid eggs all over the house (not where *she* was supposed to, but it turned out great!).
In the bathroom


Front Room


Mantel


Some outside


Later Mona, Alvaro & Emilio came over to share an Easter Dinner. It was very nice to have company over & enjoy my good cooking with friends! Just as we sat down to eat, Gail, James, Mark, Sarah & Devin came by.
My Easter Dinner Table


My Famous Glazed Ham (I've had requests for this!)



The end of a long day! Me and my girls


Don't know which is better


The kids went through 2 HUGE bottles of bubbles!



My baby girl's first Easter



God really blessed our day & I loved it! Hope you were all blessed as much as my family was!

So Much For That

Well, we planned on going to the beach a few weekends ago (see my last post), but both Anthony & Adriana had birthday parties to go to.

So, instead we decided to take a trip to Los Angeles.

We go there every so often to go to the Guatemalan Bakery ~ Delicioso!~ We get a bit of Jose's roots & teach the kids about the country everytime we go. Has definately turned into a family tradition, and am very happy that we have found this place so that we can instill Jose's roots into these Guatemalan kids!

So here are some pics from that

A little story behind this trip;

We decided to take Jose's car to save on gas. Well, before we left, we said a prayer (as we usually do). We started driving and noticed there was a bit of a bumpy-ness to the car.

Well, as we drove faster, it stopped. So we figured maybe something was bit off or maybe a bit of air might need to be put into the front tires.

So we continued to drive, getting onto the freeway.

Well once we got up to going over 70 mph we noticed the bumping again.

Jose decided to just drive straight out to L.A. w/out stopping, since it wasn't too bad.

Well, after we ate & got back into the car and got ready to drive back home, we noticed it REALLY BAD!

So we looked for a gas station to put gas and air into the tires.

Good 'ol Los Angeles, Let me tell you!

NO ONE has an air pump that works, the hose isn't cut off or available.

We went to 4 different gas stations before we finally found one w/ a working air hose. THANK GOD I LIVE WHERE I DO!

So while Jose is putting air into a tire, we hear a CRASH!

Jose went to the back of the car to see what happened.

There was an accident on the corner of the intersection. People came out of the woodworks to see what happened. It was really sad, but unbelievable how some people react w/ being nosey or just plain don't care or help to assist those injured.

So, we took care of the air & put in gas and decided to get the flock out of town.

While driving, the tires just weren't going good.

We stopped 3 times on the way home, but just couldn't figure out what happened.

Finally home, get the kids ready and take them to thier parties.

Jose & I decided to go to James' to use the jack and look at the driveline & whatever else.

Well, while he was lifting the car, he dicided to put something behind the rear driver side tire.

Lo and Behold, he saw the issue.

Ran into the house to get me and show me...

Our back driverside tire's inside tread was completely gone and had a bubble the size of a soccer ball inside the tire!

The Lord sent Angels our way that day! We were just in a shock!

So that's my story, of how the Lord does watch over his children!