2010 Beach Party

Once a year I organize a huge beach party to celebrate Summer. It is a great way for everyone to get together and let the kids roll around in the sun (sand). We have had up to 100 people show up! I'm not sure how many people we had this year but Horacio said they grilled about 150 hamburgers! Of course, since we were there all day, some of us had hamburgers for lunch and dinner. Also, most families bring their own dinners.

I had a great time. I'm just sorry that it went by so quickly. Horacio, Mateo, my mom, and I got there at 7 AM and we left after closing (10 PM) and I still didn't get enough of this day. My brother-in-law, Luis, and his boys showed up at 5:45 AM so that we can get a bonfire pit! Luis is the man!!!

I just love this day! I look forward to it every year.

My mom and I enjoying the quiet time before everyone got there. We always have pan dulce
(Mexican sweet bread) and coffee when we arrive.

Bella (Horacio's cousin's daughter), Mateo & Andy (my sister's son)

Valentina (my cousin Lorena's daughter) & my princess Viviana (my sister's daughter)

OK guys stay with me: The girls in red and turquoise are Horacio's sisters, Yaret & Xochitl, respectively. Scott is Yaret's husband and in between them is their little baby, Alyssa. Amy is Horacio's brother Omar's daughter and the boy in the baseball uniform is Julian, Horacio's brother Hector's son. Phew! I have mentioned that my husband has 15 siblings, right?

Nicolas (my sister's) & Luc (you've seen him before)

Horacio was glued to that grill the entire time!

Our friend Lizette holding my nephew, Alec (Jeanette's son) & my sister-in-law, Jeanette
with Lizette's daughters Anaiis & Ariana. Oh, and my brother David lurking in the background.

Andy on guitar

the bonfire

Ricky (my cousin Lorena's husband) & our friend, Elizabeth

Elizabeth and her husband, Jerry

Elizabeth and Jerry provided the perfect ending to the perfect day and gave us an impromptu performance.

We are blessed to have such wonderful family and friends. God bless everyone!

XO, sc

Sunday Night Dinner

Sunday nights are good for frying some green tomatoes picked from my brother, David's garden. David and Jeanette (his wife) have a huge backyard and he and my dad harvest vegetables like zucchini, hot peppers, squash, tomatoes, bell peppers, watermelon, you name it. He also has a number of fruit trees like avocados, lemons, apples, plums and peaches. Urgghh peaches. I'll come back to that.


Mateo gives the fried green tomatoes a thumbs up! I made a basil mayo sauce to go over them. Delicious! Go here for the recipe.


We got together at David and Jeanette's for Sunday night dinner. They are both excellent cooks! David BBQ'd a red snapper that they caught on their (David, Horacio and company) boys' fishing trip this weekend. Jeanette made a plum and apple cobbler. We took the fried tomatoes.

Here is David with his harvest. Apples, plums and dwarf peaches.

And his son, Luc.

Oh, about peaches and me. Well ever since I can remember, peaches and I do not get along. I love the flesh but I hate to bite into the fuzzy exterior. I cannot even bear to touch it. And no matter how hard you scrub them, the fuzz just doesn't go away. If someone takes pity on me and peels one, I will happily eat it. But since my family is more inclined to throw some peaches under my bed sheets so that I can freak out, the canned ones will have to do. Boohoo.

No soap in the mouth here!

This is what happens to bad tweens that don't listen to their mommy and think they are too smart in our house!

Poppy Afghan

I have something to show you. I have finally finished the SunshineDay Afghan from Alicia Paulson's blog, one of my favorite blogs, by the way. I started crocheting this afghan in January and I completed all of the puff granny squares in about a month but when it came to piecing it together and adding the border, I slacked off. Progress was slow. But it is finally finished!


Here it is without the border as I blocked it. I used my mother's quicky way of blocking. Just pin it to a sheet, lightly spray with water, use the steam from the iron and let it dry.


I tried making it exactly as Alicia describes it in her tutorial except that I added a slightly different border.


You can't really see the variation in the border but if you look closely, you will see a little pink "knob" at the top of the border. I made these little knobs at each end of a row of blocks by chaining three and slip stitching it at the point I started the chain.
Lesson learned: make sure all of the yarn that you use is the exact same type and weight otherwise you will end up with some of your squares being larger. I do like the way the cream-colored squares pop.

We went to Saul and Lori's house for the 4th of July celebration. As always, they are wonderful hosts. The food was delicious and it was even more delicious to spend the day with family and friends.

Here is some of the gang; Priscilla, Yesenia, Lorena, "Big Guy", and me:


I got to see Sandy's new baby, Lorenzo Noah. He is a little doll! So tiny and precious:

There was a small but grand 4th of July parade around the pool:

Sandy sang a few songs:

Ricky gave one of his legendary performances and played the Star Spangled Banner on electric guitar:

Mateo played the trumpet for everyone -he's becoming less shy about doing this:

The fireworks were spectacular:

Good times. Thank you, Saul & Lori!

Sometimes he bakes too

His favorite things to do are cracking the eggs and using the KitchenAid.