The 4th of July Marathon...or so it felt!

We decided to make the most of the holiday weekend and take advantage of all that the Freedom Festival has to offer. No regrets, right? We started off at 5:30 a.m. by going to Balloon Fest. We go every year and it never seems to get old. We get there supper early because you get to watch them blow them up and get really close. Miguel's sister and her family met up with us and Gabriela soon disowned us and became an honorary member of their family. She loves her cousin Raquel and tells me, "she wants to live in their family." It makes me feel great that she loves us so much. I thought that wasn't suppost to happen till she's like 13. She ended up going to IHOP with them and I came home with the girls. I hit up a yard sale down the street and got some awesome deals on things that I've searching for for a while. That made my day.

Miguel and I were able to go on a date on Friday night so we went to Center Street with all the booths and vendors to walk around. We ate this scruptuous funnel cake smothered in whipped cream and strawberries. Yummy! It was so sweet in fact that we had to go hit the taco shop for some spicyness. If you live in Provo, you've got to try the tacos al pastor at Chunga's on Freedom Blvd. and about 600 N. So, so, so good. They'll burn your lips, but they are the perfect blend of roasted pork flavored with grilled pineapple topped with cilantro, onion, and a spicy chipotle salsa. My mouth is watering all ready. After indulging ourselves we went and staked out our spot for the parade. A friend of a family member has a house on center street so we left some our chairs only to have to wake up at 4:30 A.M. to go and put them on the street curb. It almost got ugly folks. Miguel and I kept our composer and we ended up with a spot to rope off. I'm sure you're thinking blah, blah, blah, but I'm writing this for me and my familia out East.

I had to go to a baptism that morning so Miguel took the girls and I met up with them later, just in time to run across the street as the cop goes by to start the parade. Whoohoo. Nice timing.

I got the girls all geared up in their red, white, and blue , duds and I thought they looked great.
Julianne thought the parade was pretty good. Can't you tell by her face.

It got pretty hot as the sun came up over the mountains. You just can't resist those sweaty, greasy cheeks. A mix of sunscreen, cheetohs, gummy bears, apple, chips, popcicle, and sweat.

She had ants in her pants the whole time and just wouldn't sit still. She down for about five minutes. Enough time for me to pull out the camera and get a shot.

Sophia gets the best parade goer award. She sat and waved to everyone that passed by her. Then she gave us all a side show as she danced around and pulled up her dress. That kid looks hot,so we gave her grandpa's hat for her head.

Julianne seriously is an eater. She kept herself entertained with food. Everytime I turned around she was eating something.

After the parade we headed home for about a half hour nap to head over to Miguel's brothers house for a barbeque. I made this festive treat and Miguel actually liked it. I was so excited, because he is usually not impressed by my culinary creativity.

The kids got to swim and have a good time.

At about 6:00 we headed home and the kids crashed until we woke them up again at 8:30 to go see the fireworks. We rode our bikes and Miguel had Julianne in the baby carrier on his back, while I pulled the girls in the bike trailer. They got to play with sparklers while we waited for the show. Sophia was hesitant, but good ole Gabriela was giving everyone a show with her interpretive sparker dance. I kept hearing people around me wispering about it. That's my girl...a true entertainer no matter where she's at. I actually thought she had some good moves. These omminous dark clouds were overhead and could hear thunder and just knew we were going to be soaked and have to huddle under the small blanket we brought, but it held off. The show was great and I just sat there thinking how thankful I was for my cute little family, for this great nation, and that I live in Provo and have so many great ways to celebrate just blocks from my home.

GRATEFUL for GIRLS!!!

When I was pregnant for the first time I wanted a girl so bad I just couldn't stand it. I was so worried that I would have all boys and not know a thing about what to do with them. When they told me Gabriela was a girl, I was so excited, because I knew all that that meant. Bows, dresses, princesses, makeup, dance, and so much more. Not only did the Lord bless me with one daughter...here I am with three, and I love every minute of it. I just felt to grateful this morning as I got these two cute kids dressed for dance and how much I enjoy watching them and having something I love so much in common with these kids. How blessed am I that they even like dance. It's a dream come true and I am so excited for the journey ahead. Who knows if I'll ever have a boy, but if I had to choose...I'll take my girls and be happy as pie. The Loves of my Life.

What's the fastest and scariest animal in the whole world?

You got it...the fierce cheetah!

Sunday is a special day!

My girls were looking particularly good this morning before church, so I decided to snap some pictures. But I would like to recount (for my future posterity's sake) our day at church which has turned out to be quite the norm. Sacrament meeting has turned into a time to push Mom and Dad's buttons and well as my sister's. Julianne and Sophia just can't keep their hands off of each other and it usually results in hair pulling and skin scratching. They fight like girls. Julianne is like a tazmanian devil and will not stay in one spot more than two seconds, so you feel like you are in a wrestling match. Today she spots the family sitting behind us with pancakes and proceeds to yell at them until she has won the prize. All the while Sophia has kicked the sacrament tray with bread and it goes flying in the floor. After that the two little ones fight over coloring books which leads to Sophia's hair being pulled and an enormous outburst, so she's out to the hall. Julianne got it in her brain that she wanted to roam the aisles so when I pull her back into the row, she starts screaming, so now we are out in the hall. Once sacrament is over I'm off to primary to watch more kids acting irreverently, so by the time church is done, I feel like I've ran a marathon and my nerves are a little on end. Not to mention that I had Julianne in primary for the last hour. This too shall pass, but it will make for a nice memory.

So here is my only video of Julianne walking. I didn't think to hold the camera the right way, so you'll have to crank your neck to see it, but at least it's proof that she can do it. Oh, and please ignore the annoying high pitchness of my voice. From now on, I'm not speaking while videoing.

Another week goes by.

Here's a late tribute to our honorary father. We really do love this guy and he's great for putting up with us girls. He got a PINK dress shirt and tie for father's day which made him a little nervous, but we decided he should broaden his horizons when it came to dressing for work. No more white shirt and tie. Of course the girls thought pink was the perfect color as well. We had a dinner with all of his family and I came through with the lawn mower cupcakes, thanks to Family Fun magazine.

These two just can't get enough of each other lately and are usually fighting over toys or attention, however on this particular morning I caught them being tolerant of each other with their baby dolls in tow and eating their snack. So cute and endearing to see them getting along.

Julianne has started walking this week, which is exciting. She started venturing out from the couch and hasn't looked back since. I bet she's walking 50% of the time now. She has the biggest grin in the world too when she does it. Either she's really thrilled with herself or she's laughing at our faces as we cheer enthusiastically.

I finally got a good shot of Sophia all done up for dance class this week.

Sorry I've been such a lame blogger lately. I've just got a lot going on and then not a whole lot that is blog worthy I guess. What else have we done...in the last week we've been to Huch Finn Day at Strawberry Days in P.G., Thanksgiving Point Farm for pony rides, and to Veterans Pool to swim, which was a lot of fun. Miguel and I had our first official date since starting the babysitting club. We hit a couple of taco shops around town, walked around BYU, and went grocery shopping. It may not sound like much, but we enjoyed each others company WITH NO KIDS!

Lets Dance !!!

Horray, we started dance back up today! And best yet, Sophia got to join in on the fun. We take at the Dance Club in Orem (I would highly recommend it) and Gabriela takes Jazz and Sophia is in the Fairy Tale Ballet class. Since Gabriela is first, the whole time Sophia would say, "my turn yet Mami?" She was so anxious for her class to start. Even though she is really young she followed her teacher to a tee. I was quite surprised at her attentiveness. That's my girl. They get to dress up according to the story they read and today she was Princess Jasmine. Sorry, the picture color is weird. I'm taking these through tinted glass.

Sassy little thing.

Watch her sache (?) around that hoola hoop. She loved every minute of it.

A week in review

This is just another reason why I love my backyard. I looked out of the window while washing my dishes and this is what I saw swimming in our pond. The Mommy duck has been MIA for a while and suddenly she appears with these sweet little things. Made my day watching them.

We've officially joined a baby sitting group, which I'm exstatic about. It's with three other families and each takes a turn watching ALL the children, while the other three couples get to go out. Miguel and I never get to go out, because we can't ever find someone to watch our children so this is a big deal for us. We initiated ourselves into the group by going first and it wasn't that bad. We filled the sandbox that night and her and her buddy stayed in it the whole night.

This was the joyous sight we saw Saturday evening. Gabriela thought is was the coolest thing ever. If you can tell it was actually a double rainbow and certainly the brightest one I can remember seeing. Set against the mountains...it doesn't get better than that my friends.

This is the kaos that is involved when making cookies at our house. It starts with Sophia wanting to help and then Gabriela follows and before long Julianne is pulling on your leg to get up there. They dive into the chocolate chips in a feeding frenzy. Before I knew it, all three were up there on the counter. The SWEET joys of life!