Parents on vacation

Growing up we didn't have much money, my dad worked a lot and we saved every dime we had. My dad would not even go and buy himself a drink from the store when it was a hot day, instead he would get a hose and drink out of that. My mom stayed home with the kids till Diana was 4 then started to work when we were in school and home when we got off. I don't remember ever being babysat so they could go on a date night, actually they never went on date nights. They were always with us the kids. Just in the last year they started going on vacations and I am happy for them, they never did for themselves when we were growing up. They gave us what they could while trying to be fair (still think Lorenzo was the golden child). haha I'm grateful for my parents they did well raising us, I know I wasn't the easiest child to have but all turned out well.

So many birthday's, so little time

Laurel, Nikki and Cindy's are just some birthdays to celebrate in the month of August. Yesterday we took Laurel and Nikki out for their birthday, we headed down to Pasadena to El Cholo. El Cholo was no bueno!!! The service El SUCKED! I was not even impressed with the food. We had great laughs despite the horrible experience, we got a great review from a girl in the ward and thought we would try it out. Afterward we walked around and did some window shopping. 

Today we headed to Cindy's house for some dinner. I was able to find a fun gift for her on one of the trips I went on. It was a necklace with a stone in it and copper wire that was used for the chain and decor. I thought it would be neat for her because Jake is in the trade and copper is something he has worked a lot with. It has been a great couple of days and so glad I was able to spend time with these great women.

Ventura fair

I love going to this fair! This year they have great bands playing, so far we got to see Beach Boys and Little Big Town. Nicole was able to come down with the kids and the dad's came later on. It's so great seeing her, I cannot say enough how much I miss them living down here. We had fun watching the kids go on all the rides, they are so brave. The tickets for the rides were $20 for 30 tickets or get a wrist band for $25 and go on the rides unlimited times from 11-7pm. Nicole and I made the best decision and got the wrist band for the kids, each stinking ride was like 5 tickets each. Later that night we watched the Beach Boys and thanks to dollar store glow sticks the kids were entertained. We were the only ones in the stands with glow sticks, kept it easy to keep track of the kids.
Yesterday we headed back to the fair and the Andersons,Evans and Ibarras joined us. It was wonderful the kids had a blast and ran around, the weather was perfect and we busted the jackets out. We got some yummy fattening food and headed to the concert. I will be defiantly going to Little Big Towns up coming concerts, I LOVED IT! Rachels parents were able to meet us, I have to say they are wonderful people. I love being around them! Jessica wasn't feeling good all day, after a trip to the Dr's in the morning she had enough and Jake took her to the hotel to rest.
Two wonderful days with great friends (family), so blessed to have them in our lives.

Daddy had a ton of calls coming in so when he would leave the stands to take the call he would take baby Jake. We this is what is happening when mama is not watching!

Just an old picture

My cousins keep finding old pictures of us when we were small. They crack me up and bring back so many funny memories. This first picture was when I went to Chicago to visit, I was just newly engaged to Jake and my cousin Lorenzo is next to me. The next picture is of my uncle Giovanni, my dads brother. The 3rd one is of my cousin Francesca, me and Lorenzo which looks like it was around the Christmas holiday. The last one is of Me, Diana and Lorenzo at my parents house in Castaic. Crazy how time fly's!

It only took a year and 7 months

We went to the beach yesterday and the weather was perfect. There was no one on the beach and the kids were easily entertained. We stayed for a good while and then I headed to my moms to meet my nephew for the first times. Weird, right?! Well due to family and stuff I can't even remember a year and seven months have past. When my mom got back to the house from picking the kids up he was nervous to come in. So the person I am, I picked him up. He was not happy with that but got over it quick due to bribery of a cookie. I think I kissed him like 50 million times. I had him playing ball with me and taking pictures within no time. My mom and I took all the kids for ice cream and then we walked over to the dollar store I let them pick out stuff to have. When we got back to my moms we ran around with glow sticks and laughed.
It's hard to not be a part of these kids lives but I just feel that my family was not welcomed and yes I could be the bigger person but to constantly let things go after repeated situations is just getting old and something I am not willing to do again. For now I got my 2 hours of fun with them, who knows, maybe one day they will know me better.

Citrus Festival

Yesterday Jake called me from work and asked how I was doing. Well, the kids were fighting and I was cleaning, no fun. He told me he saw that there were hot air balloons flying and he thought that there was a festival going on. So, I loaded the kids up and headed to Santa Paula. The Citrus festival was going on and I remember wanting to see this last year but forgot about it. Jake met us there and we headed in to see what they had. The kids played games and we walked around looking at old cars and eating all the yummy food they had. At night the band came on and the balloons started to fill up. It was AMAZING, I was like a little kid at Disneyland. The kids were just as excited and the people who owned the hot air balloons were so nice and let people climb in and take pictures. This will be a for sure next year must go to!