Marley is growing up...

and faster than her parents prefer.

Can you believe it's already been 5 years since our little Marley blessed us with her presence?!

Our home would be a little more dull and quiet without our darling princess.

Javier and I have a saying around here, "when Marley is away from our family, she is the missing spice". You know when you are cooking and the dish is missing a certain spice and once you figure out what that spice is, it completes the dish? That's what Marely is to our family, we are incomplete without her and when she's around everthing feels right.

Marley has a shining personality and being the center of attention is just what she loves! We always say that she will follow her Tata's steps into the spotlight and if/when she becomes famous, we won't be surprised! She gets along with EVERYONE she comes into contact with and is unforgettable to her teachers. Her teachers even go as far to say that she could be a Teacher's Assistant due to how much she helps and reasons with the other students! They have even recruited her to help with potty training on some of the stubborn students!

Marley is a great conversationalist and we find ourselves laughing hysterically during many of our conversations with her. She is a girly-girl to the max, what with her clothing, shoe, makeup and hair obsessions, which is perfect for me since I love all those things too!

Marley is fast to forgive and has a sweet soul that warms your heart. You can always find her wearing a smile, in fact...she started smiling at 2 weeks and she hasn't stopped since!

Our Father in Heaven blessed us tremenously with our beautiful daughter Marley Juliette!

Happy 5th Birthday, Marley Mae!

Christopher Turns 6!

Christopher's 6th birthday was the talk of the house around here for the past few months. I worked really hard at getting Christopher to remember his birthday. What ended up working is that we told him that people won't be able to wish him a happy birthday or get him a present if he can't tell them when his birthday is. Worked like a charm...he remembered it in lickity split :) I fact, he went so far as to say his birthday this year is "September 16, 2008", which we thought was pretty cute.

On his actual birthday, I made an awesome Whipped cream-Cream cheese with Strawberries Cake for him. That is, in fact, the official name ;) I think he liked it, but that he thought it was a little rich because he didn't want any leftovers of the cake. Oh well, more fore everyone else! The cake was fun to make it and even more fun to perform "quality control". In case anyone is wondering, I prefer baking to cooking anytime.

His birthday party was extremely small. It was really last minute and so I only invited one other family with boys, The Verdon's. They have 3 boys, all around the same age of my 3 kids. Their names are Malik-5 years, Gabriel-4 years and Trey-20 months. It was a lot of fun, but I could kick myself for not being more "camera ready". I only got pictures of the very end, when he was opening his presents. The main things I would love pictures of are: 1.the kids hitting the life size Superman Pinata, 2. the "Party Animal" cupcakes from Cupcakes, which were heavenly, 3. It seems I got a picture of everyone except Javier, Papa, GiGi and Uncle Phil...geez, what is up with my complete lack of photography skills?...Bummer.

Christopher was so excited about one of his Transformer's toys, he didn't want to look at the camera.

Tearing into the presents.

Marley: trying to be helpful ;)

Malik
Gabe

Trey

Fran Verdon (mother of the 3 nice boys) and TiTi enjoying some adult time.

Grandma Merle.

Though she looks totally unhappy here, she was actually very pleased to be at our house around all of the family.

Christopher seemed to really enjoy himself. Happy 6th Birthday! OXOXO

*Sorry about the photos not being too great; I used the wrong camera which does not take good indoor-at-night pictures.*
**Special Thanks to Javi, my dad and sister for their help. We all appreciate it :)

In Memory of My Mom...

Me and My Mom in San Diego on the Condo Patio Summer of 1979.

My mom's birthday was Sunday, August 10th and the 1-year anniversary of her death is today, August 14th. So, I have been reminicent of her quite a bit this week. I have so many happy thoughts of my mom. As most people know, she did battle alcoholism, which of course brings with it some difficult memories. However, that's not who she was to me...she was my happy, funny mom and I love her. So, I would like to list a few of the happy times I had with her...

1. She was always so easy for me to talk to. I could talk to her about anything and feel that she wouldn't judge.

2. She always cracked me up...she was known for her sarcasm and that was usually the manner in which she spoke.

3. She absolutely loved the Arizona Diamondbacks. She got into them the season we won the World Series, which was just a few months after 9-11, 2001. The thing that was so funny is that she believed that if she lit a candle, they would win. Well, since they were so good then, the candle thing seemed to work out well for my mom. Javier and I always got a good kick out of that.

4. My mom was an excellent R.N. and worked for Banner Health most of her career. She helped so many people with her nursing skills and would even receive numerous "thank-you cards" from patient's family members. Which brings me to my next point...

5. After my parents split and my mom realized she needed a degree to pay the bills, she went to Nursing School at the acredited Grand Canyon University. I have never seen anyone work or study that hard. She was a great example to me and my sister for being a hard worker and it paid off since she made the dean's list, semester after semester. I am very proud of her for what she accomplished.

6. I have so many different, happy memories of her during vacations. Some were up to Prescott, where we stayed in my great uncle's cabin. Other's were our usual vacations to San Diego. One time, we made an impromptu trip up to Sedona for one night and my mom let me and my sister play hooky from school.

Here she is in her Halloween 'Man' costume.

7. The last, funniest thing she did was Halloween of 2005, she dressed up like a man. Boy, did she do a great job of looking like a dude. She actually ended up looking like a trucker with her hat, flannel shirt and boots. She even fooled my dad and step mom who said "who is this man walking up here w/o any kids with him?". Turns out it was a great costume that recieved funny reactions from everyone. Aside from recognizing her voice, my kids (at that time it was just Christopher & Marley) were thoroughly confused by her gettup. What a silly mom I had!

8. The most recent happy memory I have of her are the lunches I would have with her, my grandma Merle and my 3 kiddos at any point during the week. I really enjoyed spending those relaxed, comfortable moments with her.

Javier, me and my mom at our 2001 Wedding.

Sure my mom had a few problems and I wish she was here with me still to see my kids grow up, but she was a great mom who left me with great memories. So, Thank You Mom for the fabulous memories. I will forever treasure them in my heart <3.>