The Quesada Family

The one time it's ok to SWEAR

2011-03-08T22:58:00.000-08:00

Signing the City of Hollister Oath

I know it's been a very, very, very long time since my last post, but without further ado here it goes! Monday morning Javier was sworn into his new job at the Hollister Police Department. And no, he's not a police officer, but he will be some day. That's the goal anyway, why else would we take a part time job without benefits? His title is Community Services Offiicer, which is kind of like support to the officers and animal control. The chief told Javier that they want to train him from the ground up to work for the Hollister PD. They have many officers that are not trained to help with animal control, and therefore cannot take the calls which results in a large backlog for the animal control. So their solution is to hire some part-timers that aspire to be police officers and then train them accordingly so that when they are officers they will have the experience and knowledge. I am so happy for him to be one step closer to his goal. He started volunteering at the police department about a year and a half ago, and when this position opened up they encouraged him to apply.Swearing to protect from all enemies foreign and domestic

I have to admit I wasn't super excited about it because it was only part time with no benefits, so I kind of discouraged it! How selfish of me! He even almost listened to me and tucked the application away, and then the last week decided to turn it in anyway because he thought at the very least it would give him experience with interviews and help for police officer jobs if he would ever get selected for an interview in another department. After almost a year, 200 applicants, a test, an essay (YIKES for Javier!), 4 interviews (jeez!), a physical, and a thorough background check you are looking at the two newest CSO's for the Hollister PD! The other guy in the picture is a CSO also, but will be doing parking enforcement and Javier will be doing Animal Control. That is why their uniforms are different. Then in a while they will switch so they are both trained in both areas.His new bosses, Chief Miller and Captain Westrick

My Little Roomba

2010-04-13T20:45:00.000-07:00

Have you seen those robot vacuums that automatically vacuum an area at a specific time and then returns to it's base all on it's own? Well, I sort of have one of those. We don't call it Roomba though, we call it Carson. He just roams around the family room and kitchen on his belly and swoops up any microscopic piece of food. He doesn't care if it's fresh or 100 years old and petrified, it goes straight into his mouth. For that matter it doesn't even have to be food! He is really serious about his job too, because once he has something in his hand and he sees you coming he turns and crawls away as fast as he can. If you catch him before he puts whatever he has in his mouth you still have to pry it out of his fat little fist. He clenches his fist as if it was the only morsel of food he will have in days. He's even better than a Roomba because he reaches under couches and stoves, where a Roomba can't even go. He pulls stuff out from under the stove that I haven't seen in years, if I happen to recognize it. No matter how often I try to clean, I still catch him chomping away on something that is not meant for his belly. I swear, the person who invented those vacuums had to be inspired by their 9 month old.

Sealed......At Last!

2009-09-28T21:43:00.001-07:00

Saturday, September 26th, 2009 was our 11th anniversary and the day we were finally sealed for time and all eternity. It is by far the sweetest memory of my life and I want to write about it in detail so that I never forget, even the little things about that day. Our sealing was scheduled for 11 am at the Oakland temple, which is 1.5-2 hours away, and we had to be there at 10 a.m. That made it so we had to leave our house no later than 8 am, and that made it so we had to be up by 6:30. We got up on schedule and left on schedule, which was a good start for me since I just can't seem to get myself out of bed these days. We were 3/4 of the way there and we hear yelling and see fists, hair, and feet flying in the rear view mirror. Cassie and Seth broke into a full on yelling match and fist fight minutes before we were supposed to arrive the most peaceful place you can imagine, the temple. I should have expected that at least, since they fight and make-up at least 10 times a day. I was hoping that at least for one day we could show nothing but love. Yeah right! We got there with plenty of time and were greeted at the front desk and ushered into the records office where we verified all of our names, birthdates, etc. Not too long later came a sister temple worker who took all three kids to a nursery room, and would be responsible for changing them into their white clothes. I gave them all a quick kiss goodbye and urged Cassie and Seth to be reverent one last time. The next time I saw them was when they were escorted into the sealing room. The next step was for Javier to be escorted to the men's room to change, and then someone came and did the same for me. The woman who was my escort was named Maria Lourdes Jones. She was a gray haired, short, chubby, Ecuadorian woman with a thick Spanish accent. She treated me as if I was a bride. She took me into the bridal room, along with my mom, and helped me change into my dress. Once we changed into our white clothes we met again and Javier was sitting on the couch waiting for me. As we approached the woman who was escorting me said to him, "Arise for your bride" in her thick spanish accent while motioning him to stand up with her hand. He looked at me with a smirk on his face. I couldn't hold back a giggle because I felt silly being called a bride and because of the look on his face when she said that. She then escorted us upstairs where we met with Brother Davis, our sealer. Also Annette's dad.

He took his time and gave us instructions about what was going to happen and what and when we would need to do something. Finally we were escorted into the sealing room and greeted with the bright smiling faces of my closest friends and family. We were both so nervous because neither one of us done or witnessed a sealing before. He spoke a few sweet words of wisdom and then had us kneel across from each other at the altar. Once we were sealed together as husband and wife they called the nursery and brought the kids up to us to be sealed. I was so happy I couldn't stop smiling, by now my cheeks were sore from smiling so big for so long. I just couldn't force my mouth to not smile, it was impossible! When Cassie, Seth, and Carson came in they were reverently folding their arms and had sweet looks of curiosity on their angelic little faces. As the temple worker handed Carson to my mom he gave her the cutest, gummy smile. It melted everyone's heart. The next part of the ceremony lasted a few short minutes and before I knew it, the day I thought would never come was almost over. The Quesada family was sealed and I was a happy mommy and and a happy wife. Next item of business was to get photographic evidence, i.e., a family portrait of all of us in our white clothes. That almost didn't happen, but luckily they decided to allow us outside in our white clothes long enough to get some cute pictures. Once the pictures were over with we all went back to grandma's and had some lunch and cake, after all it was our wedding anniversary too :)

Carson's Blessing

2009-09-09T22:16:00.000-07:00

My Favorite Little Guy

We had Carson blessed last Sunday, August 30th. It was an extra special blessing because he is our third child, but the first one that Javier blessed. Cassie and Seth were both blessed by my dad. I had my uncles James and Loren, and my brother Jesse stand in with Javier, and of course Grandpa, my dad, and the branch president, Presidente Alvarado. Carson was such a little angel, he didn't make a peep during the whole blessing and then was happy to let anyone hold him and take a bunch of pictures of him. He is such a good baby! I was a little worried because we attend the Spanish branch, so of course the whole meeting was in Spanish. None of my family speaks Spanish so naturally I was worried that they would be bored. We solved it by getting the headphones out and Sister Booth was able to translate all the talks to English, so everything worked out great. With my whole family there, we easily tripled the size of our little branch. I was so proud of Javier, he gave Carson such a sweet blessing. I tried hard to listen, but it was difficult with Seth whispering in my ear the whole time. The best I can remember is that he blessed him to have a happy childhood, to grow strong and healthy, to marry a sweet and beautiful girl someday in the temple, to love his parents and siblings, to find the path to happiness in his life, to be a good student so that someday he will have a good career and be able to support a family. Of course immediately after the blessing he held Carson up and he just looked as cute as can be. After the sacrament we all went back to my mom's for lunch and pictures. Here are a few from that special afternoon.

My Little Family
Everyone that was able to come to the Blessing

Dad, Jesse, Javier, Grandpa, Loren, and James(not pictured) stood in the circle

Carson's Birth Story

2009-07-13T15:06:00.000-07:00

He is finally here! It seemed like forever, everyday that I was overdue was an eternity. My due date was June 30th, and at my last appointment I was dilated to one and the doctor said that if I didn't go into labor on my own he would induce me Sunday night at 10 p.m.-another six days! I thought surely I will go into labor before then. I was actually hoping for a 4th of July baby, but that came and went too. In fact here is a picture of me 5 days overdue at a 4th of July block party.
Sunday finally came so we got everything ready, ate dinner at my parents and visited a while and then headed to the hospital. Cassie and Seth stayed the night with my parents and poor Cassie was so upset because we were going "to the hospital". I had to explain to her that that's where you have babies and it's not only for people that are hurt. By 11p.m. the nurses had me in bed and the drugs in me to start the labor. About an hour went by and the contractions were starting slowly but consistently-I was even texting back and forth with my friend and Javier was watching a movie on the laptop. Soon enough the contractions grew more and more intense and were getting very painful. I just kept telling myself "you only have to get to 4, then they can give you the epidural". Pretty soon I was just getting hammered by the contractions, less than a minute apart. I was having front and back labor. Before one subsided the other would start-the contractions weren't letting me come up for air. Now it was about 3 a.m. and the nurse came in to check me again. I thought surely I am a 4 and she will call for the epidural. Well I wasn't!

I was only between a 2 and a 3, not even a 3! The thought of another 4 hours was just unbearable. I suffered through another hour, by now the contractions were very intense, I was gripping the side of the bed as if the harder I squeezed I would somehow get relief. Finally at 4 a.m. I sent Javier out to the nurse's station to ask her to check me. Again I thought surely I have to be dilated to 4 with these strong of contractions. Sure enough she checked and said "well now you are definately a 3". I about lost it, I had to choke back the tears. So I questioned her "why do I have to be dilated to 4, you can see on the monitor these contractions are less than a minute apart. Why can't I have the epidural now?" She reluctantly agreed to call my doctor and ask and he thankfully agreed to let me have it. Good thing because by the time the anesthetist got there and administered the epidural it was another hour! Finally at 5 a.m. they layed me back on the bed with epidural in place and everything seemed so sweet after that. Once they administered the epidural they started the pitocin and within an hour and a half I was dilated to 8. I guess I just have to have the drugs to get things going, because on my own nothing was happening. Once I was dilated to 8 the nurse called Dr. Armstrong and by the time he got there I had started pushing. The nurse told me everytime I felt the contraction to pull my legs back and give three big pushes. So Javier held one leg and I held the other and pushed until I thought my head was going to explode. Finally the doctor got there and started getting his scrubs and gloves on. By now each time I pushed Javier could see the head, so he told me to wait because the doctor wasn't ready. Well, you can't just wait at this point. Your body does the pushing for you. Then another nurse saw the head and said "um, she is crowning". Dr. Armstrong had to get in place because this baby was coming whether he was there or not. Then the most beautiful feeling happened, he was out and I could instantly breathe again! He started to cry that weak newborn cry that just melts your heart. They put him up on my chest and he was calmed, I couldn't believe he was finally here. The feeling is just overwhelming. He was all swollen and blue, and smashed, but still the most beautiful thing you ever set eyes on. Then they took him and put him in those little hospital cribs with the light over them and cleaned him up. Javier was right there at his side just looking at his sweet baby boy with tears running down his cheeks. Carson was just calm as could be and of course asleep almost the whole time we were there in the hospital, except for when they had to wake him up and take his temperature, or when he was hungry. I am so thankful that he is strong and healthy and happy! He weighed 8 lbs 6oz and was 20 inches long. It's funny how you can instantly love somebody so much! Within a few hours my mom brought Cassie and Seth to the hospital to meet their new brother, and you can see by the looks on thier faces how excited they were. It was a very LONG wait for them, so to finally meet him was so exciting! Cassie and Seth can hardly contain their excitement while Javier and I can hardly keep our eyes open, we were sooooo tired after a long night!

Spring Break at Disneyland

2009-04-19T22:27:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my awesome dad (he paid for the tickets and hotel) we got to go spend 3 days in Disneyland over spring break. It was so much fun! A little crazy for me, but fun. I went to Rexburg, Idaho the weekend before to see my sister, Brianna, graduate from college. I left Thursday to be there Friday for the graduation and got home Saturday night at 11 p.m. Sunday we went to church, came home and packed and drove to Anaheim and got there at midnight so we could wake up fresh and go to Disneyland. We didn't tell the kids we were going to Disneyland because we wanted to spare ourselves the "are we there yet" all day long. I told them that we were going to a hotel to go swimming, and that seemed to make them happy enough.

Here she thinks we drove 5 hours just to go swimming.
Notice the section of missing bangs from when her friend gave her a haircut.

Monday morning they woke up and the first thing Seth said was "can we go swimming?" "Of course, go get ready!" I said. Cassie makes friends where ever she goes. She saw some kids in the jacuzzi so she marched right on over and plopped herself in and said "Hi, I am Cassie, and that's my brother, Seth, and my dad is 37 and my mom has a baby in her tummy and it's a boy and his name is Carson." The kids just look at her and say "hi". Javier and I just laugh together because we don't know where she gets it; neither of us were ever like that. After they swam for a while and we were back in the hotel room, we sat them on the bed and said "Ok guys, we have something to tell you. The real reason we are here is to go to DISNEYLAND!!"

Cassie and Javier waiting in line for the Grizzly River Run in California Adventure

Krista, Cassie, and Seth on the Teacups.
We were happy to let Krista take them on that ride! No thanks!

They just looked at us like "why are you yelling?" Our little surprise was anti-climatic, they didn't really give us a response. I think they didn't know what to do. It made me realize that my kids need to know things ahead of time so they can build up the excitement. We spent Monday, Tuesday, and some of Wednesday at Disneyland and they rode all their favorite rides at least a couple times. The bad thing about going during spring break is that it's really crowded, but they have all the parades and fireworks and it stays open until midnight. You just had to decide you are there to have fun and not let it bother you. Cassie's favorite ride ended up being Thunder Mountain Railroad, which she named "the fast train". And Seth's favorite was Pirates and Splash Mountain, although after everytime we rode them he would say he didn't like it. I know that wasn't true because a little later that's all he would talk about until he rode it again. I have to give myself a pat on the back for keeping up with them since I am 30 weeks pregnant. My feet sure were killing me and I felt like I waddled all over the park, but it was worth it to see their cute faces having so much fun.

Me and Seth in Bug's World

Cassie kept saying she wanted to stay "forever", so I said "Well, we can't. We all have to go back to school and work," so she said "ok, then 10 days!" The last morning we had to pack up and be out of the hotel before noon, and she saw that we were packing so she started to cry and begged to stay "just one more day!" We had tickets to go into the park that day, which we did for a few hours, but we were gonna drive home that evening. I would've given in and paid for us stay one more night, but the hotel was totally booked so that decided it for us. Poor Cassie cried as we drove out of the parking lot and onto the freeway, at least we know who had the most fun!

Cassie's Artwork

2009-03-20T15:11:00.001-07:00

Cassie loves to draw and color all the time. She makes me give her paper and then she staples them together and makes "books". Last night we were lounging around after dinner and she came up to Javier and asked him to help her draw me on one of her pages. So he drew me with a huge belly, thanks babe, and sent her on her way. She went in her room and after a while came out to show us her new artwork that she colored. This is what she brought us.
I have no idea what that is coming out of my back, but as you can see she added the baby inside. How cute! I burst into laughter the second I looked at it. I think this one is worth saving.

Becoming an Elder

2009-03-02T23:09:00.001-08:00

Yesterday Javier was ordained an Elder in the Melchizidek priesthood, which puts our family one step closer to the temple. Javier wanted my grandpa to be the one to ordain him, since he thought it would make him proud. Grandpa has always been so encouraging over the years. It also happened to be grandpa's birthday, so it was an extra special birthday for gramps. My dad and all my uncles came and stood in, which made me very grateful to be part of such a large and supportive family. Sometimes I take it for granted, but yesterday I really felt joy in my heart because of it. I am so proud of him for putting forth a lot of effort in his calling as the ward mission leader. He is taking it serious and has done more church service in the last few months as he has in the last 10 years combined. I have really felt the difference in our home and am so thankful for it. This year has been particularly stressful for many reasons, but even in the midst of the stress and uncertainty I am comforted because I know we are being blessed in so many other ways.

Javier's Baptism, August 9, 1998

Hearing Aids

2009-02-03T21:17:00.001-08:00

Ok, I know I am really lame and haven't posted in almost two months. I definately have failed my readers ( I just know there are thousands of you), so I am sorry. I got overwhelmed at Christmas time because things were happening so fast and close together there was no time to blog about them, so I just skipped over it completely. I promised myself I will do better next time. One thing that did happen at Christmas was that all my siblings were home and we all together as a family for a couple days. That is when I realized how bad my hearing had gotten. When we were all sitting around the family room together and talking in a big group, I felt myself withdrawing because I was missing out on what was being said, laughed at, etc. I even made a few wrong comments based on what I thought I heard and then just got laughed at and teased about it. I am definately not above being teased or teasing, but when you get teased about something you can't help and you made yourself feel like an idiot, it brings on a completely different feeling. No one meant to deliberately be mean, but it made me decide to take action. As soon as realistically possible I made an appointment with an audiologist for a hearing test and to discuss what possibilities for hearing aids I could use. Hearing loss at such a young age unfortunately is something I inherited from my grandma and mom. I grew up being around several family members with hearing loss and I was really dreading having to use hearing aids some day. My mom and grandma's hearing aids are pretty noticeable and, I am still young and self-concious about it so i was so happy that there were other options for people with my type of hearing loss. I ended up getting an open ear hearing aid, and it is barely noticeable at all.
The plastic piece that goes over your ear is where the microphone is, and it is small enough that your ear completely covers it. The plastic tube comes up over your ear and then goes inside, so the only visible part is a little piece of the plastic tube. You can only notice the tube if you are sitting right next to me. From accross the room the tube blends in with my skin and you can't even see it. Now that I have them, I just have to get used to hearing everything again. Except sometimes I don't want to hear everything, especially at home with two kids!

11 Weeks Pregnant!

2008-12-07T20:31:00.000-08:00

I am officially announcing on my blog that we are expecting our third child! The due date is June 30th, which makes me happy because I won't have to be pregnant through the whole summer. Just the first month or maybe less if the baby is early(not too early), which is what I always wish for. I feel like I have been pregnant for along time already since I have known for over a month. It must feel so long because I have been the sickest with this one out of the three. I wasn't sick at all with Cassie, and hardly at all with Seth. Maybe this is a sign that with each one the sickness gets worse, so I better stop now. I have been sick everyday all day so far, not sick enough to throw-up luckily, just wishing I could if it would give me some relief. We are both really bad at keeping secrets, so as soon as we knew we told our immediate family. I didn't want to tell the kids right away, only because I knew then EVERYBODY would know. Well Javier didn't think it was fair that everybody else knew in the family except them, so he told them before I convince him otherwise. We explained to them that there was a baby growing in mommy's tummy and in a long time it would come out and they would have a brother or a sister. They immediately started arguing over what it was going to be, as if whoever won the argument would get the gender they wanted. The next morning when Seth came into my room to let me know he was awake and ready for his breakfast and morning routine of Nickelodeon, he asked "Mom, is the baby still in your tummy?" I said "yes, it's still there" and he said "oohhh! I keep waiting!" and slapped his hand on the bed next to me. The only other person more impatient than me in this family is Seth, so I am prepared for a lot of hand slapping and "I keep waiting!" exclamations. The very next day my fears were confirmed when I got a call from Cindy, Seth goes to her house two mornings a week to play since he was so bored when Cassie started kindergarten. I hadn't even left 10 minutes and she was calling me to "make an inquiry" as she put it. She said that as soon as I left he said "Cindy! My mommy has a baby in her tummy!" I thought it was interesting that he didn't say anything in front of me while I was there, he waited until I left. We didn't tell them to keep it a secret, so I don't know why he waited until I was gone. Anyway, after the initial excitement they had'nt been talking about it much. Then last week in primary they were talking about the baby Jesus since Christmas is coming up, and Seth bolted out of his chair and announced to the whole primary "my mommy has a baby in her tummy!" All the adults just snickered and a few came up to me later in the hall and said "Congratulations! Your son made an announcement for you in primary." Seth is very excited to be a big brother and has announced it to everyone for me, which is just so darn cute. Cassie on the other hand hasn't said much of anything. I think when it's closer and I actually have a belly it will seem more real and she will be more excited. I know they will both be a huge help when the bundle of joy is finally here. I know I still have a long ways to go, but you know, I am Ms. Impatient. Hurry up!

Halloween

2008-11-10T23:36:00.001-08:00

This year for Halloween Seth was Curious George (actually just a monkey costume I bought at Target but I told him it was Curious George) and Cassie was a beautiful pink Unicorn. We did the usual tradition of carving pumpkins, although we didn't get around to it until the night before. Poor Cassie had a 103 degree fever and didn't even want to sit in a chair to watch, so I pulled our big cushioned chair into the kitchen so she could roll up in her blanket and watch. She ended up falling asleep, which is highly unlike her. Usually she's got toothpicks holding her eyelids open because she hates to go to bed. Seth, Javier, and I finished our pumpkins and took some pictures, then I just laid them next to her for a photo shoot just so she didn't get left out. Notice how Javier is wearing latex gloves, as if he or the pumpkin are going to get some kind of infection. He wouldn't want to get pumpkin guts under his fingernails, how grotesque! The next day was Halloween and I had to keep her home from school because of her fever in an effort to try and preserve what energy she might have for Trick-or-Treating. She missed her class parade and pizza party:(. She wasn't even upset, since she is always trying to weasel her way out of a day of school; which I am usually immediately repentant of whenever I give in. Thursday afternoon Seth had his Halloween party at pre-school, and it was so cute. There are only three girls in his class and they came as a fairy, Cinderella, and Belle. Kylie, the girl in the Cinderella dress was freezing cold, but wouldn't put on a jacket because it would take away from her costume, which is fashion blasphemy-even she knew that and she is 4 years old. The boys were mostly super-heros like Spiderman and Ninja turtles. One of them even came is Indiana Jones, which was so cute. So we lined them all up and marched around the school while all the moms laughed and ooohed and aahhed at our adorable children and took pictures. That evening it was off to the church parking lot for the easiest and most efficient trunk-or-treating around. Their bags were overflowing within 15 minutes and we only walked about a 100 foot radius. That works for me!

YES on Prop. 8!

2008-10-31T21:17:00.001-07:00

My dad and I have been faithfully campaigning by knocking on doors, hanging door hangers, and holding signs on busy street corners in support of proposition 8. Today was kind of an intense day for Prop. 8 campaigners. We had a show-down on the corners of San Benito and Fourth street in Hollister. We had people on the corners this morning and they were there for about 3 hours, but just as they were leaving the "No on 8" group started to show up. Everybody that had been there got called back, and anybody who could come and join got summoned. Within about 1/2 hour we had all four corners covered with people waving signs and and it felt good to be part of something you beleive in and know that you are making a difference. As supporters of "no on 8" drove by they flipped us off and yelled obscenities. The "yes on 8" supporters honked to show their support, but did nothing to the "no on 8" group. That to me, is a clear reflection of the type of people that support gay marriage; angry, self-absorbed, and hypocritical. They can't peacfully and properly support their cause, they have to push their objective by lying, malicious conduct, and yelling obscenities. They are the tolerant ones and we are the angry ones? Really!? We aren't the ones maliciously stealing yard signs and retaliating. Not that I want them to have any support, but maybe they would be more effective if they held their signs the right way. I gave Cassie and Seth some signs to hold out the window as we drove and honked several times through the intersection. After we did that for a while Seth and Javier went home, while Cassie stayed with me and held signs on the curb. I know they don't understand the issue, and I wouldn't want them to at their age, but someday they will see the pictures and hopefully feel proud that they were out there with me. I will be happy when this is over with and we have won again. Hopefully this time it will last for a longer period of time than when we passed Prop 22.

Husband Tag

2008-10-29T23:13:00.000-07:00

1. Where did you meet? We first saw eachother at a dance in Costa Rica, but weren't properly introduced until my date and I ran into him at McDonalds one night. My date introduced us. My date was a big loser, so I was happy to be introduced to someone else!

2. How long did you date before you got married? 1 year and 4 months.

3. How long have you been married? 10 years!

4. What is your favorite feature of his? His athletic build-mmmmmmmhhhhhhhh!

5. What is your favorite quality of his? Always tries to find the positive in situations when we face challenges.

6. Does he have a nick name for you? When we were dating he used to call me "preciosa", which is preciously beautiful in Spanish. Once in a while he still says it to me if he wants to butter me up.

7. What is his favorite color? Blue

8. What is his favorite food? A nice juicy steak.

9. What is his favorite sport? Soccer! I better get that right.

10. When was your first kiss? Definately too soon. That's the beauty of falling in love, right!

11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? Date night which is the usual dinner and a movie, and pillow talk. He gets grumpy if we don't get to go out Friday night.

12. Do you have children? 2, Cassie is 5 and Seth is 4.

13. Does he have a hidden talent? Yeah, but I can't write about it here ;)

14. How old is he? 36

15. Who said I love you first? He did, he asked me to marry him after 10 days. I laughed at him, and then said I loved him too.

16. What is his favorite type of music? Anything with a good rythm. Pop and Latin music.

17. What do you admire most about him? His ability to overcome obstacles and challenges.

18. Do you think he will read this? If I tell him to :)

Puppy Update

2008-10-14T11:47:00.001-07:00

We have had Twinkie now for about a month, and I have to confess that my previous post about her being "mellow" is not accurate. I spoke to soon. Given the circumstances in which we found her I think she was literally starved and that's why she didn't have much energy and we interpreted that to mean she was mellow. We were dead wrong. She has been eating regularly and has regained her strength and vitality and is a very happy, hyper puppy. Cassie has a little mechanical puppy that wags it's tail, walks, and barks when you push the buttons. Seth got it out the other day to play with Twinkie. She flipped out and was barking and growling like crazy. She hunched down in attack mode like she was going to pounce on the toy puppy. So Javier grabbed the toy puppy and made it run at her while making a growling noise and she backed away lightening fast and tried to hide behind the couch. We couldn't stop laughing, especially Seth. I think it is safe to say she is all bark and no bite! What a chicken! As for not chewing things up, I spoke too soon about that too. She goes into any open closet and hauls off with a shoe and then goes behind the couch and goes to town on our defenseless shoes. Since I have caught onto her little scheme, I thwart her chewing frenzies by making sure all the closets are closed. So what does she do? She tries to chew the shoes that are still on our feet! She managed to chew-up something pretty expensive in the garage.
My wet-mop cord! Now I have to buy a new one. I guess we can't let her sleep in the garage anymore until she grows out of chewing. Anybody know how long that takes? One good thing is that her gas has significantly lessened. She must have gotten used to her food, thank goodness. I can stop burning so many candles. My Partylite supply was starting to get low! Even though she is a hyper chewing monster-everything I was afraid of- she has grown on me and now I couldn't get rid of her. Even if I wanted to, we micro-chipped her and she would just get returned to us ;)

One of Javier's soccer cones she chewed into oblivion.

Tahoe Trip

2008-10-10T15:19:00.000-07:00

For our 10th Anniversary we went on a little escape to Tahoe. We arrived Thursday night and went golfing together Friday morning. Golfing is something I knew he would like and doesn't get to do alot so I figured we could take advantage of our free time and golf together. I am definately not a very good golfer, but I have to say I did improve a lot by the time we finished. I think I could be good if I did it consistantly. He was patient with me. I have to say though, I was better at putting than him. As for hitting them down the fairways, I was pathetic. I was sinking the close ones more often than him. We even had a competition to see who could make it in the hole most by putting, and I beat him fair and square.

Isn't he cute with his golf hat and shoes?

After golfing we went back to the hotel and bought lift tickets for the ski lift to take us to the top of the mountain and overlook Lake Tahoe and the valley. It really is amazing and worth every penny. It is the same lift they use for skiiers, but they run it in the summer just for people to come up and see the view.

At the top if the mountian there is a restaurant and bathrooms, and if it were winter it's where the ski runs begin. In the summer they use the ski runs for hiking trails for those that want a little more adventure. Hiking is not my thing, I need to be moved around on something with wheels-especially if it's uphill. We found some chairs and enjoyed the view and people watched for a little while and got a kick out of this sign. We laughed and joked that since we were there for our 10 year anniversary and since he is just turning 21, then we got married when he was only 10! The next thing he did for me was my favorite thing ever. He treated me to a massage at a salon we passed on the way to take the ride up the mountain. He left me there for an hour and fifteen minute hot stone massage while he waited in the hotel watching t.v. I just love massages! I don't think I could ever get enough, or get tired of them. When the girl was massaging my neck she was seated behind my head and looking down my face. She asked me if I had braces as a child. I thought that was a random question, but told her that yes I had. Then I was quiet for a minute and my curiosity got the better of me. I had to ask her why she asked me that. She told me that she could tell because by looking down my face she could see that my nose was crooked with the rest of my face, and that was a sign that I had braces as a child because when you are young your bones are still moving and shaping and when you have braces it forces those bones into place for your teeth to be straight. When I came out I saw Javier in the lobby waiting for me to go to dinner. As soon as we were outside he asked me "How did you like it?" just as I asked him "Is my face crooked?" He was confused by the question, so I quickly explained. Then he said "yeah a little." Oh well, little imperfections make us more interesting, right? RIGHT!? Good, you agree. I feel better now. Then we moved on to my next favorite thing, which is eating! We went to the Chart House, which was up on a hill overlooking the lake and the lights of South Lake Tahoe. By the time we were done, we had to practically roll out of there and back to the hotel to play some roulette. I kept playing "26" because that was the special number of our day. I hit it a couple times, but in the end lost our "fun allowance." It was a fun trip and it just made me want to get away more so that I can have him to myself more often.

10 year Anniversary

2008-09-30T22:46:00.001-07:00

We have made it 10 years! How lucky we are to have spent the last 10 years together. September 26th, 1998 was when we got married in my grandma's backyard with all my family and poor Javier all by himself. None of his family had the money or visas to come for our wedding. I can't believe how fast these years have flown by! These past years have been good to us. We have two happy and healthy kids, and we have grown so much-both together in our relationship and personally. For our anniversary we took a little trip to Tahoe for the weekend. My mom kept the kids so we could go. We left Thursday afternoon and got there just in time for dinner. When we left I told him I didn't want to talk about business, money, or kids. So we were quiet for about 5 min. until we thought of something to talk about. I have to admit, it was kind of hard since that is ALL we talk about now. I wanted to talk about things we used to...like funny stories about our families or friends, gossip, childhood memories, future goals, what we love about eachother. You know, the things you talk about when you are newly in love and dating or newly-weds. So we told eachother things that we would never forget about our courtship. I will never forget how he sobbed on my shoulder when I left Costa Rica to come home after my 6 months were up. We were so in love, and we didn't know if we would ever see eachother again. I was so young and he was so poor. How would we ever be together again?! It seemed hopeless.

September 26, 1998

He was able to come on a work/study visa through his university. He borrowed the money for the program fees, which included airfare to Miami and he was able to legally work there for 4 months. Well, he went to Miami, not much closer than Costa Rica. But cheaper to talk on the phone! So we talked every night for a couple hours, him from a payphone outside his work or apartment, and me at home annoying every member of my family. For my 18th birthday we convinced my grandpa to get him a ticket with his flyer miles so he could come to California and meet everyone. Grandma at this point would refer to him as "turkey" because "Javier" was too hard for her to say. She cracks me up! I remember the night he flew in, grandpa drove me to the airport to pick him up. It was arriving around 10p.m. and he had a layover in Denver. I had butterflies in my stomache and could fell my limbs weak with anxiety as we stood there at the gate waiting for him to appear. I hadn't seen him for 6 months and I just wanted to kiss him all over when he was finally within range. People were trickling off the plane in little groups here and there, and the gaps between them were getting bigger and bigger, and my heart began to sink as I worried that he got lost in Denver, or never boarded in Miami for some unknown reason and hadn't been able to contact me to tell me why. Grandpa could feel my anxiety building and gently put his hand on my shoulder and asked me if I had seen him yet. I choked back the tears and replied, "No. I am worried that he didn't even get on." He tenderly assured me that he probably just got stuck behind people and would appear any second. I was glad that grandpa was standing there with me, to keep me from melting down as the disappoint was becoming overwhelming. Then I saw him. I couldn't stop smiling, and the tears came anyway. He slowly walked up to us and gave me a big hug and he looked just as handsome as when I left him. I could tell he felt unsure of how to act with my grandpa there, he couldn't talk to him because he didn't know English yet. Now I wanted my Grandpa to disappear so we could make-out right there in the terminal. Ok Gramps, it was good for you to be around a couple of minutes ago, but now you need to go. The sooner the better. Don't you have a sudden urge to use the bathroom or get a drink? Of course he didn't get it, and just stood there towering over us, sizing up this latino rico suave that was after his granddaughter. This granddaughter that wouldn't stop talking about him for 6 months. On the way home we sat in the back seat and whispered sweet nothings en espanol to eachother. My grandpa's ears were perked, but I knew he wouldn't understand anything. Something I use to this day around my family. We got back to my grandparents house and he met my Grandma, who was instantly sweet to him. I hadn't told him yet that she had nicknamed him "turkey". By now it was almost midnight and they were ready for bed, but we wanted to talk and just be together. Of course that wasn't going to happen. Over their dead bodies were they going to allow us to stay up after they were asleep. So grandpa did what he does best; hoover! We were in the kitchen and I could here him pacing in the foyer-as if there is anything to be doing in there. Duuuhhh grandpa! I know what you are doing, I am just ignoring you! My grandpa is a professional hooverer. It really bugs when you just want some privacy. So I played dumb for as long as I possibly could before he finally summoned us both to get to bed. "You can see eachother in the morning. You haven't seen eachother for 6 months, you can wait another 8 hours," he said. "He had no idea what it was like to be in love and seperated for so long, another 8 hours is an eternity!" I said to myself. I finally went to bed and was a bucket of nerves and didn't sleep a wink. I was so nervous because I thought maybe after seeing me after six months he would decide I wasn't worth it anymore. You know how you think you want something until you have it, then you're just not that into it? I was also nervous to introduce him to my family. I knew everyone was so skeptical and questioned his motives even if they didn't say it. He was 8 years older than me, from a foreign country, no money, etc. All those things didn't matter, because I knew what was in his heart and even though we have always bickered (because of my oneryness) he has always been true to me and never, ever let me down. I love that man!! How lucky I am! I truly don't know who else would put up with me. He remembers the same night, but for different reasons. He remembers exactly what I was wearing and thinking how "hot" I was, as he puts it. As Dr. Laura says, men are simple. My memory of our "reunion" took up about 20 minutes of our car ride and his was one sentence! Haha!

It definately isn't easy being married to someone who is from a different country, and learning a new language, and changing culture, religion, family, and friends. There have been tough moments that most couples wouldn't experience, but also funny ones too. I bet no one has had there husband ask them to make him "muffins with frosting" because he didn't know the word "cupcake", or call gophers "woofers" and watch people pretend like they know what he is talking about. He hasn't said anything like that in a while, but we still laugh when we talk about it.

Dog-Hating Nazi's

2008-09-28T22:03:00.000-07:00

Yep, that's what we were called when I told my family about our new puppy.
"What! The dog-hater's got a dog? What on earth came over you!?"

"Well isn't that interesting, the dog nazi's got a dog."

Those are just a few of the comments we got when I told my siblings about our cute little puppy "Twinkie". She definately looks like she has some German Shephard in her, and who knows what else. She is a mutt, but is a very pretty color. She is a light brownish-blonde, which is why we named her "Twinkie". I was even a little surprised that Javier wanted this dog, after our kids have both been bit by my parents rat terrier, Tootsie twice. Poor Cassie was bit right on the cheek when she was only 15 months, and we had to take her to the emergency room in Sonora because we were at the cabin when it happened. It was totally unprovoked and happened so fast there was nothing I could have done even if I was right there with her. So needless to say, we have both been weary of dogs because we don't want our children's faces scarred for life. So whenever we are around dogs we remind the kids to not get close to the dogs, because we are scared that any dog will bite unprovoked like the last time. Our protective comments have made us be perceived as "Dog-hating Nazi's" by my siblings. Naturally we just want to avoid the tip of a nose bit off, or a lip, or something worse. Javier had to get some landscaping materials out in Paicines, which is about 10 miles away from Hollister and very rural. A mother dog and her three puppies, about 4 months old, had been dumped out there, which is a common tactic to get rid of animals you don't want. People drive out into the country and dump them off, because if you take them to the pound you get interrogated. Twinkie was one of the puppies, and she was so sweet. She came up to Javier and was nudging his leg and licking his hand. Needless to say he wanted to bring her home, but was worried about whether I would want one or not. He told me she didn't even bark or jump up on him, so I was willing to listen to his plan. He wanted to take me back out there and meet her and then I could decide if we wanted to bring her home. I went back and saw her and yes, she is a mutt, but she was so mild-mannered, I thought if he wants her and agrees to clean-up her poop, and feed her, why not? I like dogs, I just don't want a tore up yard and my children bitten. She's a female, mellow-even for a puppy, and we'd be rescuing her from the pound or certain starvation our there. So I agreed to take her home and try her out for a few days and see if she was going to stay mellow and not start those annoying dog things like digging everywhere and chewing everything up. So far, she is a playful happy puppy and we still have her. I just don't know what to do about her farting! She stinks soooooo bad! I have to put her out because my eyes start to water. Hopefully she will get used to her food, otherwise she will be mostly an outdoor dog.

The Butterflies and Red Bulls

2008-09-06T16:51:00.000-07:00

These are the names of Cassie and Seth's soccer teams. Can you guess who belongs to which team? Today they both had their first games. Cassie's game was the early one, starting at 8:20 a.m. She did great. She ran the whole time and got some good kicks, and even almost made a goal once. She plays with 4-6 year olds, and the 6 year olds pretty much dominate. The girls were focused and played the whole time without much fuss. The boys on the other hand.......let's just say they needed a lot of encouragement. I think Seth spent as much time on the ground as he spent standing. Every little kick or bump made him fall, and then he would stay down long enough so that everyone would see that he had been injured. I think he has been paying close attention to his dad's games. Men are such babies!When you watch little kids play you will see that they don't pass. Passing the ball to a team-mate is above their skill level. They all just run after the ball and kick it, but because they are all standing around the ball it doesn't get far unless it get's lucky and passes through someone's legs. I call this kind of soccer "bunch ball", and you will agree when you see this next photo.

A few times Seth broke loose with the ball, which was great considering he is only 4, and because the 6 year old boys were dominating. One time he was even right in front of the goal, and he turned and shot and it just barely rolled into the net. GOOOAAALLL!!!! He turned to us with a big smile and a very proud look on his face. So we jumped and clapped and cheered. Javier and I yelled from the sidelines "Way to go Seth! You're the best!" Then we turned to each other and laughed because neither of us had the heart to tell him it was the wrong goal. Hey, a goal is a goal when you are only 4. These next shot two shots I took before he scored and right after his first auto-goal. Sportsmanship can change in the blink of an eye on the soccer field of 4-6 yr. old Boys.

Here he is walking off the field pouting.

Right after his auto-goal. He thinks he is hot stuff!

With all the injuries, pouting, and wrong goals, I am wondering how we will ever make it through the season! I guess we will just have to take one game at a time.

I Love Co-Ed Softball!!

2008-09-06T15:48:00.000-07:00

Javier and I are playing on a co-ed softball team for the first time! Not only is it our first time playing together, it is Javier's first time ever playing. He has always played soccer, and played well. Last year I was invited to play on this team, and of course I jumped at the chance to play. I had never played co-ed, but I was excited to get out there and have the fun I used to. Well after a season of playing with the team, I decided that it would be much more fun if Javier played with me, since there are several couples that play on the team. He was reluctant because of course he has never played and was worried that he would make some dumb mistake that would cost us the game or something. I reassured him that even though he hasn't played softball, he is an athlete and all he needs to do is learn the game and he will be a good player. So they played him in center field and he caught all the fly balls that were hit to him. For fielding, we're good. Now it's time to bat. He didn't strike out, but he didn't get a strong hit so he got out on first. The second time he was walked, and in co-ed if a man gets walked he goes to second base. Now we are good, we have runner on second. Well he decides to play like a pro and lead off second base. The umpire behind home stops the game and calls him out for not being on the base during the pitch. He was embarrassed for not knowing and making a mistake, and after the game he said he didn't want to play anymore. I thought I was talking to Seth for a minute, then I realized oh yeah, this is my 36 year old husband, he'll get over it. After that game Jesse, my brother, coached Javier and taught him how to stand at bat. For our next game Javier was ready and waiting to leave when I got home to get ready. "Oh good, he is over not wanting to play," I thought to myself. Javier finally gets up to bat with his new coaching fresh on his mind, and he swings and gets a good hit right in between two players and makes it to first base. I am cheering loudly when I see him walking off the base into the dugout. I am like "get back on the base you are safe!" Turns out he was called out again for throwing the bat and hitting the catcher. Another little rule that no one ever breaks so we forgot to tell him about it. Everybody on the team are really good sports and just laugh at his little mistakes and keep playing. Now the joke is "what new rule is Javier going to discover?" Our next game Javier got on base again, and was running to third and tagged the base but then went over and was off the base for a few seconds. Everyone in our dug out was yelling "Javier!! get back on base!" He jumped back on base just as the third baseman caught the ball. The next player got a hit so he ran past home and came into the dugout and Ms. Anna, who's both Cassie and Seth's preshool teacher, ran up to him and said in a laughing teacherly voice "Javier you learned something without getting out!" Everyone in the dugout laughed. In soccer he dominates and his team always takes 1st place, so I give him points for being a good sport to keep playing with me, especially since he has had to swallow some pride.

Seth's First Day of Pre-School!!!

2008-09-06T15:13:00.001-07:00

Today Seth began pre-school in the same class that Cassie was in last year. Seth is already familiar with Ms. Anna, the teacher, and the classroom since he went with me to pick her up everyday last year. I am the class-rep for his class, which means that my job is to schedule the mom's for their workdays in the class, since this is a co-op preschool. Well I figured I would just do myself a favor and schedule myself the first day of school, since I was probably going to be hanging around anyway. (Last year he tried pre-school and we only lasted a couple weeks) But this is a new year and he is one year older!

When you are working in the class you get to wear a black apron and your child gets special priviledges that day. They get to ring the bell to call the class in, they get to bring something from home to share with the class, and they get to pick a song from the song box. So for sharing time we brought "Bear-John" from when we went to Build-a-bear with Tita, who is actually a cheetah dressed as a soccer player that roars. We had to make sure he was nice and safe for the drive to school.

Now when it's sharing time, you get to sit on the teacher's lap while she asks questions about it and then walk around the rug and let your classmates touch and wish they had your toy because you are getting all the attention at that moment. It truly is the highlight of Preschool!

The first day of school went nice and smooth, however I can't say that for the second. I found out when I picked him up that he and Ms. Anna had a rough day. He almost got sent to the principal's office and a phone call home! I am hoping that it was because he was disappointed because he didn't get VIP treatment like the first day, and that it isn't a preview of the next 12 years!

First Day of Kindergarten!!!

2008-08-18T10:55:00.000-07:00

Today was Cassie's first day of kindergarten! She has been so excited to go to school. She has missed her friends this summer and made a new friend within the first few minutes. She has two teachers, one teaches only in Spanish and her name is Senora Lane, and the other teaches only in English and her name is Mr. Rios. All the parents stayed for a couple hours for orientation and then it was time for the parents to leave. That's when the pouting and crying started. Cassie was insecure about me leaving her, and I am pretty sure it was because she was starting the day in the Spanish classroom. Sra. Lane was really sweet and put her arm around Cassie and tried to comfort her in Spanish, but Cassie just looked at her and then said to me "I don't like Spanish!". Haha! Well she better get used to it. She will have half day in Spanish and half day in English everyday. She finally got busy playing and I slipped out without her noticing. Now I am home with just Seth and I feel like half of me is missing. I am sure I will get over it. Whoohooo!!!!!! She is in school!!!!!

Camping at Bullard's Bar

2008-08-03T00:30:00.000-07:00

We went camping a couple weeks ago and had a blast! The kids were begging to stay "just one more night". We went to Bullards Bar, a lake about an hour past Marysville up past Sacramento. We are new at camping as a family, especially Javier since in Costa Rica you don't camp. It would just be to scary, too many scary animals since you are in the jungle. Well, of course he was worried about Grizzley bears and I assured him that "I have never seen a bear while camping" and not to worry about it and just relax and have fun. Well we pulled into our campsite and the first thing he noticed were these big metal cabinets in each campsite. I said, "well you know they are probably for the bears, but I am sure it is rare, so just relax and have fun!" So we did, we had s'mores the first night and played games. Then the second night came and we all fell asleep in our sleeping bags and then it happened. About 2 a.m. we hear our ice chest make the classic igloo ice chest "cccreeeeaaaakkk" open and something with a big hairy arm moving everything around, and then slam it shut super hard! It was almost as if he opened it and saw the food we had and didn't like it and said "these guys suck!" and then slammed it shut again. I didn't wake up until it slammed the ice chest shut, but poor Javier heard it's footsteps walking around our campsite and rummaging through everything as it was picking and choosing what food to eat. The bear ended up eating our macaroni salad, cheese, butter, and milk-which he ripped open from the center with his big claws. Someone found our butter carton in the middle of the road. Then we found out that one of our neighbors saw the bear and said it was probably a 300 hundred pound bear! It finally got scared off and left us alone. The rest of the time we spent boating on the lake and swimming in the river. The kids were content to play and dig on the shore. One of our fellow campers asked Cassie and Seth if they wanted to try their Ski Skimmer, and I was surprised but they both wanted to and they both got up on their first try! They did really well, I was so proud of them. We are really excited for next summer to go camping again, hopefully this time with some family.

Sleepover at the Dover's

2008-07-17T21:35:00.000-07:00

My kids and I had a fun sleepover at our friends house, The Dover's. Dee is my best friend and Cassie and Delaney are just 4 days apart and have known eachother literally since they came home from the hospital! Alyssa is Delaney's older sister by two years and Brandon is their older brother. We spent the day together here in Hollister, and then decided to all go back to their house in Gustine for a sleepover and swimming.

The kids have just started taking swim lessons this week, and have improved immensely in just a few days. Cassie started out using floaties, which is a big improvement from her life jacket, and within a little while she tore those off and wanted to swim without anything like her friend Delaney who just started swimming this week without a life jacket either. So this week, two fish were born! Seth was running and jumping belly-flop style into thier pool. He's not quite as strong a swimmer, so he kept his floaties on the whole time. I also bought a cool camera this year for my birthday that is waterproof and takes underwater pictures, so I tried it out on the girls and got some pretty cute pictures. By the afternoon we were all tired and I decided it was time to go. We weren't even outside their neighborhood before I saw heads bobbin' in the back. They were both sound asleep and stayed asleep all the way to Hollister.