Christmas 2009

WOW! It's been forever since we've updated this blog! This year has been a very crazy one! ups and downs, kids, school, work, you name it!

I guess I will update this since Alina reminded me that we had a blog.

Christmas, was a very joyous one for us. We went to

Utah and visited Nana and Papa. Kris came up from Monrovia to join us. We celebrated Christmas with Nana, Papa, Mariah, Jason, Jeff & Jen & kids - Andrew, Garrett, Logan, Kenzie, Sadie, Brynlee and Cade, Aunt Sheri, Uncle Bo & their kids Malory & Chelsea, Aunt Sandy & Uncle Eric, Miranda, and Elisha & Paul & their son Andrew.

Garrin and Brenna was unable to join us this year so we had them open their gifts on Sunday prior to going home to their mom.

We left Cameron Park Wednesday night or Thursday at 12am and arrived Thursday at 11am (Utah time, which is an hour ahead, so travel time was 10 hrs). No traffic! It was extremely cold going through Nevada though (-15 degrees!). We stopped in Winnemucca and got Dee some cool boots and stopped in Wendover aka Bendover to refuel. The trip was pretty smooth and neither of us were really tired.

Christmas Eve, we had appetizers for dinner which is a Card Family tradition. Krissy bought a Wii and Mariah brought over her Rockband game. It was lots of fun! We all got together and played it. Papa and Devin even sang "eye of the tiger". It was hideous..hah! We pretty much just hung out at the house that evening and relaxed.

Christmas Day, we woke up and gathered around in the living room to open presents. The girls (dee and trin) had a great time opening gifts. Devin surprised me with a beautiful ring which brought tears to my eyes and eventually brought tears to his eyes. Devin is a softie what can I say? hehehe..After gifts, we all got up and started cooking and getting ready for guests. I made my crockpot ham the night before so not much serious cooking needed to be done that day. Just the little appetizers!

The family arrived around 1pm. We ate around 2pm I think, which is unusualy for me because when I'm with the Lorente's, we eat dinner very very late. The kids had a blast hanging out and playing with their new cousins. I tried to play with Cade but he just stares at me and every now and then laughs.. but still wont let me carry him! boo!

After dinner, Dee and Trin went with Aunt Sheri, Mallo-wee and Chelsea to their house while Uncle Bo, Devin, Andrew, Jay and I went to go see Sherlock Holmes at the Megaplex theatre. That place was crazy packed! We had to catch the showing at 845pm versus the original time of 630pm we had planned on. The neat thing about this theatre is that you get assigned seats. As you walk in this theater there are a whole bunch of places to eat and you can actually eat a meal on a laptray during the movie! strange! but neat!

Day after Christmas, we got up and went to Cabella's with Papa and Jay. Cabella's is this hunting store that is full of dead stuffed animals and an aquarium. There was A LOT of people there, mainly hunter looking type people. hahah.. Afterwards, we hooked up with Uncle Bo and Aunt Sheri and went shooting. It was my first time shooting and I had a lot of fun. The girls got an opportunity to shoot also and did very well! Now I want my OWN gun!

Later that evening, Uncle Bo, Aunt Sheri, Mallo-wee, Chelsea, Mariah, Devin, Dee, Trin and I went to Temple Square. The temple is BEAUTIFUL! I can't wait until we get sealed there. It was very very very cold... several times it felt like my face was iced and cracking off.

Sunday, we drove back home to California and arrived 10 hours later. We made good timing. I think Kris left about an hour before we did and got stuck in Las Vegas traffic and I think we both arrived home at the same time.

We had a great time with family and just being with them helped strengthened our testimony of the gospel and our love for Christ and our church. Families are definately forever and I'm very blessed to have such a wonderful family. We are looking forward to seeing them again in February for our sealing and for Jason and Megan's wedding.

Catching up

Wow, I haven't posted since January! A lot has happened I guess in the past couple months.

February 2009-
Nana, Papa, Devin and I went to Jay's Bootcamp graduation (Army National Guard) at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. It was a nice visit, but cold..like 19 degrees felt like 5 degrees because of wind chill... We got to hang out with Jay for the whole day. We checked out the Museum on base and did a little shopping and had dinner at this yummy all you can eat place..

The day after, we drove up to Carthage Jail in Carthage. Carthage Jail was where the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyram Smith were martyred. It was very spiritual there.

We also went to visit a little town called Nauvoo where the saints settled for a short time prior to their movement west. We got to see a few houses the prophets lived in and toured the city. We ate at this nasty diner called Dottie's Diner. So if you do go out there don't ever eat there.

Our trip was a great experience and I recommend others to go check it out. I learned a lot while I was out there and it only made my testimony much stronger.

March 2009 -
Devin and I flew out to Utah to visit family. Devin and Jeff went to some seminar that talks about the aftermath of a killing or something like that. While Devin and Jeff was doing that, Nana and Papa took me to Salt Lake city to check out the church buildings. I got a chance to see the temple! It was beautiful , and huuuge! Devin and I have plans on being sealed there next year.

I got to meet Jeff, Jen and all their kiddies. They are soo cute! I had a great time..too bad it was only for 2 days.

April 2009 -
We just celebrated Brenna's birthday on Friday. We had pizza and went roller skating afterwards. The kids had so much fun!

Happy 7th Birthday Brenna-Bug!

Sunday (Apr 5th) Was Dale & Tiffanie's wedding at Wine and Roses in Lodi. It was beautiful! I am so happy for them! I was one of the bridesmaids in the wedding and Trinity was a flower girl.

Some pics of Baby Leia...

Guns & Hoses 2009

Today was a fun day. Finally Pigbowl is here! Devin was Defensive Line and played a few times. He tackled a Fire guy and caused him to fumble and we ended up intercepting the ball! Sweet! Final Score was LAW 35 ...FIRE 20..WOOHOO we won!! Fire sucks! heheeh..Afterwards, we got together with Tim & his Fiance Amanda and hung out to celebrate our win. We got to visit a couple of our friends from work and went home. Some pics and more to come....

Me, Dee, Christie, Kim & Becky

Becky & Devin

Kirsten, Kim, Becky, Christie, Me and Sam

Defensive Line

Salute to our Helicopters (Fire/SSD/SPD)

Devin is # 73

Garrin's Roller Skate Party

Thursday 1/22/09, right after I picked all the kids up from school, we headed straight down to Great Clips so Garrin can get a haircut. Garrin wasn't really looking forward to his haircut so I bribed him with hot chocolate (this always works!). He got a cute cut! He kept the top and trimmed the sides and the hair dresser spiked his hair up. It looks good! Afterwards, we ordered Garrin his Indiana Jones Cake, all chocolate with chocolate fudge. Devin was out at football practice and then stayed home to study while I took all the kids to Cheer practice..Yikes! Friday, 1/23/09, we celebrated Garrin's 9th Birthday! He wanted to go to a Roller Skating Rink. We took our girls, Roger (neighbor kid), and Dasia's Classmates- David, Robert & Isaac. Tina met up with us there. We had a great time. Brenna & Garrin were both hesitant about roller skating because I guess it was their first time. They ended up picking up the technique and did well. Afterwards, we went back to my house and served cake. Garrin got $10 cash, Bakagon set, Tech Deck ramp & skateboards, and a big Bakagon thinga ma jiggy. All kids were in bed by 2230 hrs! sweeet!
HaPpY 9th BiRthDaY GaRrIn!

Baby Leia @ 4 months!

Sweet child of mine!

Happy Birthday Dasia!
Last weekend we celebrated Dasia's 10th Birthday. 10 years!! Can you believe it? Crazy how time goes by so fast..I still remember when she was a little baby :( Dasia was my very first child. She was such a good baby. She was always happy, friendly and loveable. She is still that way today but can actually talk rather than babble. Dasia is known as the social butterfly. She has a lot of friends and loves having new ones. She is such a great helper too. Dasia stands nearly 4'9. I think by the end of this year she is going to catch up to me (5'3). It's amazing how we look alike..often times, strangers think we are sisters. We walk the same, talk the same..you can't deny that this child is mine!

Dasia & I at Sacramento Zoo - 2006

The Girls @ SF night Market *Chinese New Years 2006

Santa Cruz 2003


Dylan-2yr, Dasia-5yr & Trinity-3yr ..



Dasia - 5yr?

Dasia-4yr

Dasia-3yr

Dasia - 3yr

Dasia 5yr

Dasia - 4yr

We celebrated her birthday on Friday Jan 9th at John's incredible pizza. My neighbor Cassandra came with her 3 kids, Roger -10yr, Phillip-7yr and Lulu - 4yr, Dasia's classmate Dominic-10yr, and my friend Tiffanie. Devin happened to be the only man there..but that's ok..haha..We got to John's at around 730pm and stayed till 1045pm. I got Dasia a "Pink" CD and a ring. Dominc got her a "I love Dominic" shirt (whats up with that??), and Cassandra bought her a Nintendo DS game. The kids had lots of fun. I was way tired..that's a lot of kids!