Baptism Day

Two of my nieces were baptized. Above my sister, Tera's, daughter. Below is my brother, Leif's, daughter. So sweet. I got to play the piano for the baptism. The cousins all sang a pretty song. Too bad I have a serious shine factor in these pictures. I'm not used to the heat of Coalinga.

We didn't go to the derby rides because of the filth and digustingness but the parade was great. The kids loved it. Especially Micah!

Leif rode on a float with his class--they had their 20th class reunion.

That afternoon we had a water fight and barbeque. So much fun with the whole family!

Leif's family with Grampa N. and Grama Shirley.

Catch Up-Easter

I'm a bit behind still on posting my pictures.
We had a nice Easter Celebration in Coalinga.
At Grama and Grampa Zuniga's house we dyed Easter eggs.

We barbequed...

...and ate. Jacen is in heaven.

Jacen hid the eggs.

and all the cousins found them.

Micah was proud to show his Dad the egg he dyed.

He even put stickers on it.
It's nice when kids are excited about just the regular old fashioned egg dying. I see kits that enable one to create gorgeous eggs but I can hardly get incentive to do the regular ones. I'm just not that into egg dying. I guess because it makes such a big mess maybe? Not sure.

Then we ate the eggs. It was really funny to me that none of the kids in Albert's family eat hard boiled eggs. Maybe its not a Mexican thing.

We drove home Saturday night and were in our own house for Easter Sunday.
The Easter bunny came.
Linnea learned the truth about the Easter bunny. I think it was a bittersweet moment for her.

The next week, time to give the puppies shots. My first time. It was scary at first but then easy.

Fresno Zoo

Well, I am playing catch-up here.
In April for spring break we visited family in the San Joaquin Valley. We went to Fresno to the zoo with Grama Shirley and Chris' family. It was the first time Micah has been to the zoo and he loved it!

Chris' son below, excited to see his favorite attraction, the elephants.

Micah's favorite was by far the giraffes. He couldn't get enough of them!

Gavin

Chris' youngest.

At Grampa and Grama's house the kids loved the trampoline as usual. Here they are playing with their cousins, Jada and Dezmon.

Oliver!

Linnea was recently in the 5th grade play Oliver.
She was a townsperson with a singing part.
Oliver is based upon the book Oliver Twist. It was so much fun to see!
She did a great job and so did all of her classmates.
Micah sat right in front with us and loved the whole thing! He kept saying, "Nay nay" (that is his way of saying "Linnea")

Me: Linnea, what was your favorite thing about the play?
Linnea: My costume
Me: What is your least favorite thing about it?
Linnea: I wanted to be a different character.
Me: What is the next kind of play you'd like to be in?
Linnea: Another musical play.

Me: What was your favorite song in the play?
Linnea: I liked all the songs but my my favorite one was either "Consider Yourself" or "Where Is Love?"
Me: What is your least favorite song?
Linnea: Oliver
(Try looking for some of these songs on You Tube. I wish we could have taped her and her classmates performing them though!)

Mothers Day

I didn't get any pictures on Sunday, Mothers Day. I did; however, get some pictures of the Saturday before. Saturday was nice too. I got up and ran 9 miles along 17 Mile Drive. It was gorgeous. I also got to go to a cute mothers day tea with Linnea at Pauline's beautiful house and garden. I also took the kids to the park and we had fun there. Sunday was nice too. Church, a nice long nap, family time. I'm blessed to have a great family. I love them so much.

Linnea's Science School/Camp

Linnea wrote this post!
She went to science camp this past week. We missed her a lot but she had a lot of fun!

I love this picture. We hiked by here and this mini creek leads to a pool0like creek bed with a waterfall. There, I made rock paint for my skit my cabin had to create.

Goats. Their secret weapon that eats the broom. There are two goats. I only got a good shot of one goat. This one is Jasper. This is a picture of Jasper eating broom from my hands.

This was my wonderful naturalist Casey. She is the one who taught me which plants are edible, which ones cure stomach and headaches, which ones work as toothbrushes, which ones are weeds that look as pretty as regular flowers (broom), and many more important things that I am so glad I learned.

On our "all day" hike, we hiked down to roaring camp and stopped in a shady grassy spot and ate lunch. I still can't believe I hiked about 7 miles in 100 degrees (or more) weather. But I thought is was pretty cool to see the roaring camp train. It was kinda worth it.

We hiked everyday for class and this is one of my favorite places we hiked to. In a huge circle layered with tall, tall, redwood trees. In this picture I took, I looked directly up standing in the exact middle of the circle.

This is my cabin. I am sitting right in front of my counselor, Victoria (Tori) Lis. My bestest friend Morgan, is sitting kitty-corner from me, she is also in 2 french braids. The rest of my cabin is Vanessa (on my right), Genevieve and Jane, acting silly next to Morgan, and Brianna (green shirt), and Dominique, on Victoria's left. They were the best cabin!

Wrapping Up April

This crazy little guy is acting very typical here.... He loves to "pet" the fish and they actually swim up to his hand. He would jump in if he could. He loves water. I recently found him giving my camera a bath in the sink. Subsequently, these pictures were taken with the camera I just bought Linnea a few days before.

The kids have been participating in a Just Run program affiliated with the Big Sur International Marathon for the past couple of months, practicing running after school. Saturday was their 3k (about 1.6 miles) race and they did so well. Last minute I ended up running with Gavin to calm his nerves. Too bad I didn't have an elastic band for my hair or cool running clothes on (or even a sports bra). It was fun though. Linnea ran on ahead with her friends. Gavin and I enjoyed watching the ocean and sea lions and he never stopped the whole way!

That afternoon was sunny and amazingly beautiful, as it has been here for quite some time. Albert wanted to barbeque. He bought Jacen a steak all to himself and chicken for the family and portobello mushrooms and zucchini and corn for me. I LOVE grilled veggies. They are heavenly!

Jacen with his steak.

My yummy vegetarian fare.

Speaking of vegetarian, I'm thinking of eating vegetarian all week and yesterday I looked up some recipes to try. Tonight I made Unsloppy Joes. I tweaked the recipe just a little and they were So delicious! I wish I could have taken a picture but couldn't because Linnea went to science camp up in Santa Cruz this morning and took her camera with her. (We will miss her!) Anyhow, the sloppy joes:

In a saute pan put chopped onions, shredded or finely chopped carrots, finely chopped or sliced celery, chopped garlic and saute until soft. Add one 8 oz. can of tomato sauce and one 15 oz. can of kidney beans and 2 T. tomato paste. Add 1 to 1 1/2 t. chili powder for just a little kick. I added little more garlic powder because I really like it. Now, you can use rolls and scoop out some of the breading inside for a place to put the "sloppiness" but I used this really good whole grain, seeded bread I picked up at Whole Foods Market today. I brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with garlic powder and broiled until toasted and then put the sloppy filling inside. I served with a salad. Albert, carnivorous Albert, loved it. Gavin had seconds. Micah liked the filling. Jacen wouldn't try it and just skipped to strawberries for dessert. Of course, Linnea was gone.

Oh, and I am continuously busy with these little guys...plus their seven siblings. SO much work. They are darn cute though. Two more weeks...

Today I took a break though and took Micah to the park and the beach for some sun and relaxation. Micah loved chasing the birds and playing in the water. I loved talking to friends and watching Micah have fun. The puppy poop can wait. Oh, and I made the best salad for lunch. I will have to tell you about it another time. But seriously. so. good.

Garbanzo Beans

Have you seen these fresh Garbanzo beans in your store's produce section? Try them out!

I have eaten them at my mother-in-law's house but have never noticed them in the supermarket. Well, the other day I did notice them at Whole Foods Market and got a big bag. I put them in a pot filled with a couple inches of salted water and cooked for a while...maybe 10-15 minutes? Then you just take them out and open the outer shell and eat the inside bean....SO good. They were gone in no time. Healthy snack too and way better than potato chips.

Our happenings

I have been busier then ever and desperately trying to hang on to sanity. Some days are really great and others are equally awful. I don't recommend having a toddler and a teenager at the same time. I don't recommend having a teenager at all. Just skip that stage. Wishful thinking. The positive part of all this stress is that I have been able to release it in my running. And I am running more then ever. I did my first ever 10 mile run last Saturday and it felt great and not even a little bit sore the next day. It helps to run beautiful 17 mile drive. The following Monday Micah and I ran 7 miles. I just love losing myself in my running. Anyhow, on to the pics...

Do you see the excitement! He found powdered sugar. Great.

I really don't give my children boxes of sugar to eat! Micah found this and thought he was in heaven for a few seconds until I could get it from him.

Celebrated Grama Shirley's birthday but she and Grampa got sick and it was too late to cancel the cake so we celebrated with out her. We later had another celebration with her and some cupcakes. Lots of cake!

We've been playing with puppies! They are so much bigger though than this picture shows.
Lots of work... but fun.

Doesn't this face just break your heart?
We have lots of emotions around our house with an almost 2 year old and a 15 year old both trying to figure out their emotions in a similar way. Not fun.

Here Micah and Linnea were fake crying.

Back

I guess I didn't need a very long Hiatus. I guess it doesn't really help to be away. Blogging helps beat away the tumdrums anyhow.

General Conference was really great. It helps lift my spirits so much. I always feel like a few points are directed just. to. me.
And in between sessions (after the huge fight with Jacen) we went across the street and blew bubbles, threw frisbees, picked daisies and made bracelets with them, swung in tree swings, soaked in some warm sun and walked with the dog.

So today I started the cleanse diet that I mentioned a few posts ago. My sister is going to do it with me but she is starting tomorrow. Today I can only eat fruit, but no bananas. I made a huge fruit salad to have for breakfast and it was really yummy. It contained raspberries, cantaloupe, strawberries, apples, pineapple, and oranges. For lunch I had a fruit smoothie of strawberries and pineapple and melon. Then this afternoon I had another bowl of fruit salad. I've been drinking lots of water. This morning I had water in which I squeezed a lemon. I'm a little hungry and a little tired. It's kind of hard watching the kids eat taquitos and cookies. I'm making a recipe for dinner from an Iranian friend of mine that is soooo good. But I won't eat any. I'll have to make it again when I can. I'll post the recipe sometime. I wonder how I will feel running tomorrow. I'll post and let you know how things go on this cleanse diet. I'm determined to finish.