Hi there!

Missed me?

Well I missed you!

It's been over a week and I have lots to share.

Big Forest Camp Out
Let's see, let's start with the camping trip we took a couple of weekends ago with Mateo's Boy Scout Patrol. As I mentioned, we went to Henninger Flats in Altadena. We had to hike 3 miles to get to the site. If you are ever driving down the 210 Fwy by Altadena and you look toward the mountains, you will notice that there are these light towers on top of the hill. Right next to them, there is a little patch of forest trees. That's how high we hiked! The site is beautiful and once you are up there, the view of the land below and all of the city lights is really breathtaking. Like any forest, this one is inhabited by wild animals and we think our site was visited by a bear, but we don't know for sure.

Before the hike. Look how happy they look. They have no idea of what waits ahead.

On our first night, we were woken up by a crashing sound. We figured it was the bear that had knocked something down but it was too dark to see anything. In the morning, we found that the trash can that was about, oh, 20 feet away from my tent had been knocked down. It could have been raccoons but we found bear-like paw prints right next to it.

If you look closely in the middle of the picture, you will see two paw prints. Susana, the forest ranger said that they were most likely from a bear. Yikes!!

Our view from the site. It is even more beautiful at night but my camera didn't take very good pictures of it. Sorry!

Our camping site. Rugged, huh?

On Saturday, the boys spent the afternoon, learning about forestry for the forestry merit badge. They had to identify 15 different species of trees and they did a great job!


On a moonlit hike.



On Sunday morning, we made our way down the mountain. It was a great trip and we had a lot of fun but the boys (and I) were glad to be back in civilization.


Disneyland/California Adventure

On the following Monday, we joined Horacio's sister, Yaret, her husband, Scott and there adorable baby girl, Alyssa at Disneyland. It was such a hot day so we made sure we went on all of the water rides. My legs were so sore. After all of that hiking we did at camp and then walking at Disney, I think I'm good for a while.

Taking a drawing class. We took two classes, one for Chip (from Chip and Dale) and one for Mini Mouse. It was so much fun.

Scott and Alyssa enjoying a shady tree. I think this is where Alyssa was about to take a nap.

The rapid ride. Wet and fun.

Jason and Viviana threw caution to the wind and decided to get soaked in the water feature at California Adventure. It was so hot that it didn't take them long to dry off.

This was the highlight of the day...meeting Tinker Bell!


Alec's First Birthday Party!

On Saturday, D&J hosted Alec's first birthday party. It was a movie night camp out themed party. It was so much fun. At the end of the day, we pitched some tents and camped out. Horacio, his brother, Hector, David, and the boys decided to sleep under the stars. Cari, Viviana, Andy, and I were the only ones that slept in the tent. Unfortunately, my camera's battery died so I don't have pictures of that, but it was a scene.

Happy birthday precious, Alec. I love you so much! God bless you!

Jeanette tied balloons to Luc's playhouse to make it look like the movie, Up!

That morning, Jeanette and I headed to the LA Flower Mart. Here are some of the arrangements that I made:

Teddy Bear Mums with Curly Willow by the kitchen window:

An arrangement of orchids for the living room. We saw an arrangement like this at the Flower Mart that Jeanette loved but it was pretty pricey so she bought the supplies and I recreated it for her. It was very easy and a whole lot less expensive. Yay!

Mini Hydrengeas for the coffee table.

The goodies for the party included Jeanette's mini Gala Apples dipped in chocolate and covered with delicious crunchy munchies like nuts and coconut shavings. Yumm! Hey, now that I'm looking at this picture I just remembered that I never found out what was in those blue bags. I'll have to ask Jeanette about them.

A tray filled with an assortment of movie candy. In keeping with the theme, everyone was given tickets that they could redeem for candy and popcorn right before the movie started.

Delicious chocolate, green tea, and vanilla cupcakes made by Jeanette's boss. Cute!


My dad and Luc are ready to grab a cupcake.

The happy family. Pure love!

Since Viviana was going to work the concession stand (Horacio was her supervisor), I made her this little tag.

Have you ever seen such a happy theater employee?


Here are Julian and Mateo (enjoying a burger).

My mom's cousin, Socorro and her grandaughter, Sophia.

Nico is scoping out what kind of trouble he can get himself into.

Two beauties, Valentina and Anaiis.

My dear friend, Julissa and her children, Ethan and our godson, Nico (yes, there are two Nicos).


Horacio did a great job operating the popcorn machine and handing it out to all of those little but demanding hands. Here is Savina getting hers.

Here comes the candy man...

With movie snacks in hand it was time to settle down and watch the movies, Toy Story 2 and Up!

Alec, you are too young to eat those M&M's. Better let your auntie Sara take care of them for you until you are older. Much older.


Happy Birthday Lorena and Rebecca! I love you, sisters!

Well the partying didn't stop there. On Sunday, after we helped D&J clean up their yard and went home for some R&R, we headed out to South Gate to for my cousins, Lorena's and Rebecca's birthday dinner. They were born one year apart on the same day. How cool is that? Lorena and Rebecca are like sisters to me. Growing up, we somehow always lived on the same block or around the corner. My Tia Felipa had four children (Lorena, Rebecca, Saul, and Jose -aka Piro) and my mom had four children (David, Armando, Carina, and me) so there was always a brood of children at either house. It was so much fun growing up. My mom and aunt dedicated so much of their time and talents that I know I am a better person because of it. They loved to celebrate the little and the big events in our lives and I think that is why we (the children) love to celebrate too. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family. Thank you, Lord!

Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera to the dinner so I don't have any pictures to show you of our get together and Lorena's adorable house. The next time I visit Lorena, I will be sure to take it so that you can all marvel at her decorating talents. She has an amazing gift for making the mundane look spectacular. But I did manage to take some photos of the gifts I made them. I made them each a dish towel.

This one is for Lorena:

and this one is for Rebecca:

Tip du jour:
Oh, I almost forgot to tell you this part. When we were leaving Lorena's and Ricky's house, Ricky mentioned that he enjoys the man tips he and Horacio exchange. Man tips? I asked. "Oh yeah," Ricky says, "Man tips." So I guess that just as we ladies get together and swap recipes, child rearing advice, and fashion tips, the men get together and exchange man tips. That is awesome! So the man tip for the evening was on the use of charcoal in the Weber. I will share the tip with you so that now it will be unisex. So, when you are gilling and your charcoals turn into ash, you cannot just add another layer of fresh charcoal on top of the ashes, you have to clean it out and then add the fresh charcoal. If you do not clean out the ashes, they will smother the fresh charcoal and it will not work. So there. Now we are all expert grillers. Hooray! Thank you, Horacio and Ricky!

Alrighty then, I am tired. Aren't you? This was a long one. Thank you for hanging in there with me. There was just so much to share. I promise to be more regular about blogging so that I don't have to do a blogathon next time!

Happy Celebrations!
Sara
xoxo