Our new Pets

On Monday I went with the kids to Petco and Petsmart to see the cute animals and we left Petsmart with two new goldfish. They are little and easy to take care of, but the kids love to watch then eat and swim. One is Kaylee's and its the orange fish her name is Miley (as in Hannah Montana). And braden's is the brown one his name is Woody (as in the toystory character). They are so cute, they help me feed them and clean their fish bowl.


Woody and Miley

Hogle Zoo

On saturday we had on taking the kids to the zoo. Since Braden is now officially Potty trained I told him that his prize could be to go to the zoo. So saturday morning we headed to the zoo. It was a nioe hot day, not much people were in the zoo. And we had a good time there. We saw the majority of the animals and saw the elephant show which was so cute to see the elephants doing their thing. We were able to ride on the new Conservation Carousel and the Train. The zoo has changed so much in the last couple of years that I was amazed at how clean and nice it looked. They have made major remodeling on certain animal exhibits and it looks nicer now. I hope you all enjoy the slide show of pictures.

Breaking Dawn

I can't believe we are 1 week away from the "Premier" of Breaking Dawn. I will up at Girls camp the day it comes out so I have told Jorge that he needs to get it for me so that when I get home later that day I can start reading it. I think I will even read the ending to Eclipse so that I can familiarize myself with the ending of that one. It's been awhile since I finished reading that one. But I'am so excited and hope all of you are also. We are contributing to Stephanie Meyer's bank account, now with the new book and on December with the movie.

Pioneer Day Holiday Weekend July 24th, 2008

This weekend was a great time to rest and relax. Working for the church has its perks. Jorge works for the church and he gets the 24th off. This year since it was on a Thursday he got the 24th and the 25th off plus the weekend. So on Thursday we just stayed home and relaxed. I went out with my mom for a much needed alone time for myself. We went window shopping and I ended up getting some stuff for Kaylee and Braden. Why is it that always I end up getting stuff for my kids instead of for myself?








On Friday night we got together for a family BBQ. We made hamburgers, hotdogs. After we were done we played ROCKBand till 11:00pm. It was so much fun.

Monday Night Activity

My dad and Jorge shaking it!!

My mom (Marta) and my mother in law (Denise)

I also helped to shake it

On monday night I wanted to visit my parents. It had been about 1 week since I didn't see my dad. My mom I always see because we hangout together alot. Either we go out or she comes over or I go over her house a couple times a week. So yesterday I told them we were coming over and that I was going to bring everything necessary to make ice cream. I got this fun and simple ice cream recipe from my friend, Evey. We work together with the Beehives in our ward and for last weeks beehives activity we cleaned the nursery toys and made ice cream. We mixed everything in a ziploc bag and got a bigger ziploc bag and put the ice and salt in it and then we put the smaller bag in the bigger bag and wrapped it with newspaper and tape and shaked it for about 5 to 10 minutes and VOILA!!! ice cream done. It was so good. So we made the same thing over at my parents yesterday and enjoyed homemade ice cream. If any of you want the recipe let me know and I will email it to you.

The Leavitt Family

Yesterday we had dinner with the Leavitt Family. They used to be our neighbors but moved to a new house here in Syracuse. They are still close by enough that we can get together and have the kids play. We went over their house and barbecued and talked. The guys played their guitars and also played Ping Pong. Jenny and I have been getting together lately but we had never done something that included the "Husbands" and we found that yesterday they had alot of things in common. That's great that we can rely in good neighbors and friends.

Braden is Potty Trained!!!!

Yesterday was the day that suddenly I felt the need to start "POttyTRainig" braden for the 10th time (literally). And to my surprise he wokeup all dry. So I thought, "Well he will need to go soon because in the mornings we all have to pee", right. At first he was reluctant to go, but on the second try he did it!! Just a little bit. And then after he put some underwear on he came back saying, "MOm I need to go again", so there he was sitting on his potty for the second time in 5 minutes and this time he really emptied his bladder. I was so happy I screamed. Finally!!! So through out the day he did just fine he didn't have any accidents. And when naptime came I put a pull up on and he fell asleep and he wokeup all dry. I was very happy. The big test was going to be overnight. But this morning he woke up all dry. And just about 1 minute ago he told me "MOM potty, potty. And he just did it like a pro. I made a chart for him and he gets stickers each time he goes. I told him when he is all done pottytraining and fillingup the chart we would take him to the Zoo. (This was an idea I read on my friend Susan' blog, she did the same thing for her little boy). The best part is Braden was running out of diapers and now that he is trained I don't have tons of diapers left and I don't have to buy anymore diapers in my whole life.
Jorge even brought him a gift. A cute little chevron car.

Which Princess are you?

You Are Jasmine!

Independent and adventurous. You don't want much; just to break out of the guilded cage society has put you in and experience life to the fullest. Following orders isn't really one of your strong points, and you would rather live a life of poverty than being forced into something that you hate.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Playdate

Yesterday my good friend Jenny came over with her kids to talk and to have the kids play together. We ate lunch and made some brownies and played outside and chatted for awhile. It is a nice time to talk to her and catch up with our lives. The girls played makeover and did makeovers on each other and the boys with played with cars and trucks. The typical boys and girls stuff. It was fun to see them interact with each other.

Check out my Slide Show!

Family Night Activity

Today we decided to have a "Family night Activity". I think about 1 a month instead of having a Family Home Evening lesson were do an activity with the kids. So today we took them jumping or bouncing at Classic Recreation Center in layton. They have a bouncing section where they have different slides, and inflatables were the kids can go crazy. We where there for an hour and Kaylee and Braden were tired after just 1 hour. They had alot of fun. After bouncing we got some take=out from Mimi's Cafe and went home to eat dinner. It was a simple activity but the kids had fun and me and jorge were able to talk about our day with peace and no interuptions.

Jensen Nature Park

Yesterday Jorge took the kids to Jensen Nature Park. This is a park we have close to our house that connects with our Trail System. It has a Pond with fish in it so people can come and fish whenever they want to. It also has trails so that people can walk, bike, rollerblade, ect.. And, so on Wednesdays I have Young Women activities that I have to go to. And Jorge decided to take the kids to this park so that they could ride their bikes more freely. Now that Braden has his own bike he loved the idea. So off they went and had a good time. It is also great exercise because as they ride their bikes jorge walks and when I go, I walk too. So its great family fun!!

Check out my Slide Show!

Get Togethers

This Holiday weekend we were able to do different things with the kids. It's nice when we have a long weekend because we can relax from the weekday routine and be together as a family. The day of the 4th we started the day with some water games for the kids. I bought them some water guns and they got wet with some neighborhood kids. Later around noon we took the kids to the new Syracuse 6 Movie theaters and watched "Kung Fu Panda". It was a cute and funny movie. We then came home to rest for a couple of hours and to get ready for the evening activities. We had the BBQ and later fireworks.

The next day on Saturday our friends the Gonzalez Family invited us over to their house to make some arepas and to have lunch with them. The Kids played in their backyard and swam in the pool. Manuel and Cami Gonzalez have 2 boys Diego 7yrs old and Lucas 2 yrs old. We have been friends since before we got married so about 9 - 10 yrs ago. Manuel and Jorge meet each other at work. Later Jorge quit that job and got a better job working for the church and found manuel a job with the church too. And ever since they have kept in contact. They even bought a house in Layton after we moved to Syracuse. So through the years we have helped each other out and have been their for each others family. I just need to start doing more things with cami. She is a great friend and we have things in common, but for some reason we don't get together often. But that needs to change so that our kids can play more together. Yesterday was Sunday and Jorge woke up feeling sick so he stayed home from church and I went with the kids to church and had some much needed spiritual uplifting. I helped my sister with her sunbeams class (they were a handful) and after I went in to the Young Womens class, I was able to share some experiences with the girls and felt the spirit so strong. We have a great group of girls. Can't wait for girls camp in about 2 1/2 weeks. Pictures will come some time today.

Independence Day BBQ

We wanted to celebrate so we cooked some steaks, salads and got together to talk and just hangout as a family. After we ate we talked and told jokes and laughed and had a great time. When night came we lighted up some fireworks and had our own show. I didn't take pictures of the fireworks ( I was too lazy and tired to get the camera).

4th of July!!!

I'am so thankful to be an American. I was born in Puerto Rico but we Puerto Ricans have the priviledge to be citizens of the United States. For me and my family was different in regards that we are spanish speaking and are consider hispanic. But I really didn't start to appreciate my citizenship until we moved to the USA in 1989. That's when the whole "American Dream" started for us. My dad always had the dream and wish to move us to the USA to become better people and to have a better future and a better quality of life. I'am so glad he did this for us. This country offers us alot of opportunities and we have the constitution, rights, and Freedom!! Unlike other coutries around the world. Have a Happy Independece Day!!!

Check out my Slide Show!

Activities

This coming school year, I have decided that i want to teach the basics to my kids at home. Kaylee turns 5 years old but she needs to wait 1 more year to go to Kindergarden. So, since she's had 1 year of preschool I'am going to invest some time with both Kaylee and Braden and teach them a couple of things starting in September. What we did hear was a preview of what we will be doing. On monday I got into the PBS Kids website and found alot of ideas and fun activities, I printed some pages and we decided to make homemade finger paints (they weren't the best but the kids had fun and that's the important part). We all helped out and the finished product looked cool. By the time we were done the paint was very hot because you have to cook it on the stove top. The kids ended up painting with it the next day when it was cold. But one of the drawbacks was that it became like a gel and it was hard to paint with it. Needless to say it was a fun project.