fall fun with family

So here's the deal everyone, All of the sudden I just got tired of posting....how boring of me, I know. These pictures here are from way back in the middle of October when my sister came up to visit us.

Since then we have had our good friends come up from Heber and stay with us for a few days. Then Joaquin left for a few days for his annual hunting trip and my Mom flew in to stay with me while he was gone. Nothing ever goes exactly according to plan with me or my family so, Joaquin ended up only hunting with his brother and my brother for 3 or 4 days rather than a full week like he normally tries to go for and then my Dad booked a last minute flight to Salt Lake City to buy a truck, (he does that kind of thing.) and then drove himself along with Nickie up to Boise for a little visit. It was too short of a trip for me but at least we got to spend some much needed time with some family. Anyway, the point being of all of this, I've kind of been busy but I've mostly just been lazy.


Again, these pictures are from a while ago.

















My sister is one of those people that is truly an amazing person. She can sometimes be hard for certain people to read, at first, but once you know her and she really opens up, she's the most amazing person. She is someone who is more loyal than anyone I have ever met. She is a person that I love and respect so much. She is an example of how all people should be. She is so great and I am so thankful to have a sister like her.

boise zoo

The Boise Zoo. What a fun little place to visit. This is the second time visiting the Zoo since we've been here. A friend of Joaquin's from high school, Wendy Brown, asked if I wanted to join her at the zoo. Of course I did, and Thursday's, the cost is half off. We had a lot of fun with Wendy and her 3 little ones. The zoo isn't very big but for some reason, that's why I like it. They have a lot of different exhibits that make it fun for the kids.

Right to Left: Everett, Brock, Sophie and Chloe.

It's hard to tell but the picture above is of bats. Real up close bats.


The prairie dog exhibit. Pretty sweet.





Some kind of African cockroaches. Ewww.


Shot of the boys making a face that would show ewww.


(I did post this to Facebook but I'm gonna put it here too.)

"If it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down." Quote from meet the fockers.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! So funny.


Thanks Serena.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

my day

Here's how our day went down. I had to go into the doctors office to have those awful 15 stitches removed. I was planning on Joaquin being able to go into work a little later than normal but apparently someone pretty important was suppose to be there and he didn't want to look flaky by not coming in on time, even though I have been dieing to get these foreign things out of my body since the day they put them in. So I ended up bringing 3 children with me to the office. It went surprisingly better than I thought. I do get overwhelmed and sometimes I "feel" like people are giving me dirty looks and judging me by thinking, "Hey lady, stop having kids if you can't handle the three you have!" So then I automatically say to random strangers, "They're not all mine. Just the boys. The girl is my niece." (Little do they know I'm planning on have at least 6 more. ;)) I don't think it makes much difference telling people that though. They still get annoyed with 3 children running around touching breakable things and jumping off of chairs when they shouldn't, then screaming at the top of their lungs when you tell them no and then proceed to try and take them down from the chair. Sheesh, this is why I always have pit stains under my armpits.
*Oh and as a side note, the really important person who was suppose to be at Joaquin's job didn't show. Nice, real nice.

After the fun doctors visit we took a day trip to petco then the mall to let the kids run around and get some energy out.

This was our dinner tonight Oh yeah baby, more of that comfort food I was telling you about. That my friends is a delicious chicken pot pie with our family initial. This is what fall is all about. If anyone wants the recipe this is where I got it: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/chicken-pot-pie-ix/detail.aspx

This is how my night ended. I once wrote something on facebook about how going to the gym is like running into an old boyfriend. It's super awkward, your not really sure what to do or how to act and it's so true every time I start going. But at least I went!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

deliciousness

Uh oh look what made it to our house this weekend? Eggnog! Eggnog is one of Joaquin and my favorite things ever. It's so so SO bad for you but neither of us care because it just tastes so good. You know I put on about 5 lbs since I had these stupid stitches put in and I keep blaming the weight gain on these stitches but I'm sure this might have had something to do with it, along with the banana bread, zucchini bread, chicken and dumplings and all of the other comfort foods I've been eating. My subconscious must be afraid that if I don't eat everything in front of my face, when winter comes, I might die of starvation. Well my conscience had a talk with my subconscious today and explained how that could never happen, so to stop freaking out about it. Well they agreed that they need to start getting my butt to the gym. Especially if I'm going to eat such wonderful comfort food like eggnog.

(And since when do "they" start putting eggnog out at the beginning of October. Don't "they" know Americans are obese enough as it is. It's just not right to put such things on shelves and expect people not to buy them.)



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

quite a little project

Our new kitchen table...nice huh?





Joaquin bought this table and chairs off craigslist when we first moved (which has been 3 months.) and I wasn't crazy about the color of it but I loved how sturdy it was. So I thought about how all of these other women have these little craft blogs and they refinish things all the time so why couldn't I? So that is what I decided to do but it is taking me a lot longer than it should and costing me a lot more than I thought. I'm going to keep working on it but I have to tell you that now that I'm actually working on it I'm starting to wonder what the heck did I get my self into?

I plan on getting it finished by next weekend and I will put the end result on here. I just hope it turns out like I think i want it to and that Joaquin likes it.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

my boys

"I'm so glad when daddy comes home, glad as I can be...."

Big BOYS! Showing off their guns.

our senses

Is it strange that I enjoy the smell of the heater when it turns on? I also love the smell of wet cold air. Today I actually mentioned to the family, (including little Emma, since she is sleeping over tonight with us.) that it smelled like Christmas outside today. And Emma responded with her little accent, "Why Tia Michelle?" I wasn't really sure how to explain it to her. But it sure did smell like Christmas which then sent my brain on a flash back of memory lane. Our senses are so cool how they help us remember certain times in our life's. My memories around this time if year, luckily, are all good. Although, I can recall one memory of when I was a kid living up in northern Idaho where I would have to wake up early to feed our "farm animals", (chickens, turkeys and rabbits) and then shower once I was finished with my job. Well I can remember coming out of the shower and being so cold that I literally thought the cold was going to take over my whole body and I might die. So now, to this day I hate taking showers early in the morning in the winter. So weird huh? Other than that memory, they're all pretty good. :)



I had to help Emma today with her homework. She had to decorate a pumpkin with her family and then when she goes back to school next week she gets to present it to all of her classmates.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

its been a few days

Well it's been a couple of days so I thought I might show what we have been up to. :)

The library that's near our house is very small but pretty sweet. It's got an awesome kid cave with computers along with the other usual library things. (ie. Books)





Today Joaquin went to work from sun up till sun down. (literally) He has been working his butt off at this new job to make things happen. I think he has been a little stressed but I know it's going to pay off soon. So after the boys and i ate dinner tonight we went over to the Corn maze again. No one was there and it was so much fun. It actually felt like fall today because it rained all day and cleared up this afternoon so we had nice cool crisp weather. Or what I like to call sweata' weatha.



I feel very silly taking pictures of myself, (especially in a mini van...barf!) but I got ready and I figured that was picture worthy since I only put makeup on 3 times a year.



This is a picture of the most amazing, delicious black beans I have ever eaten and I actually created them from scratch! This is a monumental thing for me. You know that phrase that goes something like, "she can't cook worth beans..." or maybe it goes, "she can't play worth beans..." well now I feel that that phrase doesn't apply to me because i actually can cook worth beans. Well I should rephrase, I can cook beans....! I was over joyed. They were so good that I think I could can them and start selling them to grocery stores.

Incase you were wondering why I have them in a blender it's because I turned them into refried beans. I learned that trick from one of the teachers I taught with while I lived in Guatemala.

i'm out of control

I know, I know, I am out of control with these postings and I'm sorry but I did want to show what my tummy looks like 2 days after being cut up. Just as an FYI this picture is the better one out of the two. The back stitches are way worse but when I had Joaquin take a picture he showed way too much back fat so this is the one that you get to see. It looks terrible. I'm pretty sure we will be finding a new dermatologist. It's just strange to me that they did a full on surgery without doing a small biopsy first. That was the way they did it back at Kaiser Permanente way back when I worked there and I still talk to people from there and nothing has changed that I'm aware of. The doctor was very nice but I'm a little worried that every time I have check ups he'll want to cut something else out of me. I don't think I want my body scared up like that unless it's absolutely necessary. Am I right or am I right? I'm totally right.






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

giddy for fall

(my neighbor has the most beautiful garden in his front yard and this pumpkin is just one of the cool things he has growing in it.)

Fall has finally arrived in the state of Idahow. (as Rachel Wagstaff would pronounce it.) Well at least near my house and I couldn't be more happy about it.

Yesterday I was still in a lot of pain from the dermatology appointment I had on Tuesday so the boys and I stayed inside the entire day. So depressing. I made them watch tv and play on our couch cushions all day long. I felt really bad about it. As soon as Joaquin came home with taco bell for dinner I asked him if he would take us for a drive to get out of the house. I was sort of expecting our drive to be similar to when we would go on drives in salt lake, 10 or 15 minutes and we would be up Heber canyon. Well it isn't quite that way here. There aren't any mountains that are that close. I was kinda bummed but it was still nice to get out of the house and take a drive with the windows rolled down.

There is something magical or whimsical about the fall to me. I don't really know how to explain it but it truly is my most favorite time of the year. Some of my fondest memories take place around the fall. I think it reminds me of spending quality time with family. The weather cools and it gets darker earlier so you're forced to spend more time with your family.

Anywho, Joaquin and I both love the fall. His reasons are a little different than mine. He loves fall for the football and opening of hunting and I'm pretty sure that one day that will be why my boys get excited for the season change too. But until then I will brain wash them to love it for the smells of pumpkin spice and the taste of candy corn.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

just for fun

I got a fun new app on my phone. We've been playing with it for an hour or so.




Frankenstein



Conan O'Brain



And Mad Eye Moody


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

yuck

This post really is gross so I'm sorry if anyone has a weak stomach. I had some surgery this morning and I snuck a couple of pictures of what they did. My sister and brother both have had melanoma moles removed so all of us have to have regular mole checks. I went in yesterday and they didn't like the way two moles looked so the dr scheduled me to come in the next day to have them removed. Everything went fine until after they were done and I left the office and I almost blacked out. (Twice) So then I laid down and called Joaquin for help. I was too afraid to drive myself home. I had driven the van because the car was out of gas so he had no way of picking me up so he called Andon to pick me up. Geez- what a wuss I have turned out to be.


Ga-ross!!!


Yes that yellow/red stuff is fat.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

corny fun

We headed on down to one of the local corn mazes today for some good family time fun. It was fun but ridiculously hot. Well hot for the second day of fall anyway. We all had a lot of fun but once we had run around for a couple of hours in the middle of the heat, I was ready to be done. I bought a little groupon so the pass that I got allows me to go back again and again. I hope the kids like it a lot because we'll be spending all month there. :)








The boys got to milk their first fake cow.



We got to go on a tractor/cow/train ride.





We ate 3 bites of a nasty, $5 dollar pile of grease and threw it in the garbage. What a waste.



We got to see the cutest little pigs race. After I saw them, I told Joaquin I wanted one as a pet.



Ev on a big old red tractor.


Big B on a big blue.



This picture was actually taken later in the day. We went to a sports bar to watch the BSU game with the boys and this was basically the face we got to see from Brock a majority of the time. He had thrown a pretty good tantrum and Joaquin was trying to get him to laugh and lighten up. So this was our first try....


and this was our second try. He decided to do it after I showed him the first picture. He wanted to be funny like his dad I guess. Uhh kids.

Fun weekend. Joaquin is a happy camper since BSU won, again.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

where did my feet go mom?

Sometimes I wish I could be 2 again. Life is so fun and carefree. You get to play all day long.



Everett


Brock

Kinda looks like we're at the beach. Don't be fooled, we're not.

settlers park

Today we drove to this amazing park called Settlers Park and it is pretty awesome. I would love it if I were little. I watch my niece Emma while her mom is out of the country and it gets hard for me to keep the boys and her from fighting so we went on a joyride to the park and I must say it did not disappoint. The park is pirate themed and there is a lot for kids to discover.

If anyone wants to visit this super duper cool park, all the way up in meridian, just know its free and you have a place to stay. ;)






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

a date with myself

I took myself on a date tonight. Joaquin suggested I go do something for myself. What a wonderful husband right? He sees how hard I've been working with the boys and just out if the blue, he asked if I wanted to take a night off.....yeah right. He just schmoozed up to me because Friday night he wants to go and watch the Boise State football game at the local buffalo wild wings, (since we don't have cable.) and Saturday morning he wants to go fly fishing. So I took him up on the offer.

I ran a couple of errands before 9:20pm and then I pulled up to the Majestic movie theater, where I then bought one ticket to see The Help. At first I was feeling a little apprehensive about being there alone but I got over it soon enough. I sorta felt Beyonce/Destiny's child-ish. You know, "All the women who are independent throw your hands up at me." :)

Anyway, all in all it was a great feel good movie, Joaquin said he and the boys had a fun night together too. So I told him I should probably take myself out more often.

(Just as a side note, Joaquin really is an awesome husband! And I think I make him a pretty good wife.)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone