Birth and 6 Month Comparison

It is amazing how different 2 sister can be! I was just thinking about them and decided to do a quick comparison. Here is Elizabeth at 1 day...

Here is Carla at 1 day...

Here is Elizabeth at 6 months...

Here is Carla at 6 months...

Wow are they ever so different! Carla was a string bean, then she exploded! Poose was a chunky monkey at birth and then thinned out! Crazy crazy!

Carla turned 3!!!

Yup my big girl! It is funny that she turned 3 because if your ask her how old she is she will tell you that she is 6! Crazy girl! She really acts like she is going on 6 though. She is so smart, kind, goofy and lovable. All of the pictures that we take of her she is making some sort of funny face. I love it most of the time. ;) This was her first year having a friend party at the house. She LOVED it! The children came over. Of course, we served dinner, I wonder what it would be like to only do snacks at a party, I made turkey, rice and beans.

We love them rice and beans, maybe because we are hispanic! Ella, Eliza, Justine, Owen, Eli, Baylee, and Taylor all came to celebrate with her. We played pin the tail on the donkey,

broke the pinata,

and then she opened her presents with her friends.

All of the children were super excited and she loved everything that she got. Especially her fairy wings.

She still won't put on the skirt that goes with it (she does NOT like dress up) but I have coax her to take her wings off before bed or whenever we have to get in the car.

She is such a girly girl. I love it! Every morning she takes me to the bathroom and picks out her hair bow for the day. Then she goes and finds her little brush, and brings it to me so that I can do her hair. She loves makeup and jewelry. Both of which she will be getting for Christmas because she keeps loosing mine! But shhhh, don't tell her! She loves to read. It is punishment for her to only read 3 or 4 books before bed, we usually spend at LEAST a half hour or so reading before nap and bedtime, and still during the day we read. I am so glad that she loves to read so much. She is a really good big sister. If Poose is crying she finds her binky and puts it in her mouth so she'll stop crying, then she'll rub her back and say, "It's okay sweetheart, it's okay." Adorable!

She loves to say prayers! They are sweet, innocent, and short, and usually consist of things that she is grateful for. I need to take some lessons from her! She loves to read the Book of Mormon and her favorite story is about the "fruta" with in English means fruit, Lehi's dream of the tree of life. We have learned about thousands of different applications for the message in Lehi's Vision. She is very independent. She can get dressed all by herself, shoes, socks, everything! She turns the car on, the climbs in her seat and buckles herself in. She does not like any help! It amazes me all that she can do.

Her hero of course is me...NOT! She loves her daddy. He is the love of her life. She always wants him close to her. In the morning when she wakes up, if I get her out of her room she always has to snuggle with daddy. She goes to our bedroom door and says, "I need daddy to snuggle me." So sweet!

This is Carla waiting oh so patiently for daddy to come home. She sat there for almost a half hour until he finally came home. One time, he left to take the missionaries home. I was in the bathroom, when all of the sudden I heard screaming and the door open. I ran outside chasing after her, she was chasing the car down the street. Thankfully Zach saw her and stopped. She is a blessing in our life. I don't know what I would do without my big little lady. I love you Carla!!

Anniversary and California

Our anniversary was spent driving to California. The End.

In California however we had so much fun! Too much probably, we didn't want to come home. We stayed with my little bro and his wife, Abi and Diana. Whom we are eternally indebted to. They payed for our gas to go up there and let us stay with them. We (Abi, Diana, Saria and Patrick-sister and bro in law, Zach and I) went out for hibachi our first night there. They sang to us, and Abi and Diana and took our pictures because we were all celebrating our anniversaries. It was amazing! We even got to wear Pikachu hats!! We spent a lot of time at the swimming pool at Abi's place and just hung out. We went to the beach, and yes, that is a HUGE snake around my neck, yes again, I am holding my 8 month old daughter.

The snake even crawled around her neck! EWWWWW!!! What was I thinking!?!?! Oh well, it was a great memory! The other girly is my niece, Noemi, who was excited to have the snake around her. Apparently she loves snakes. Crazy head! I loved being there with my family. I realized how much I really miss my siblings. It was great to be there with them.

Zach graduated!!

Zach also graduated! He didn't walk, he didn't want to take away from my moment of glory. So sweet! He got his AS in Integrated Studies. I'm so proud of him. When he graduated he had the same level of education as his dad, and the only child to graduate from college. I'm so so so amazed at all that he has been able to accomplish. Now he is getting ready to start grad school in March! So for him, I got him a cake and we broke a pinata! It was so much fun.I love you baby!

Sister Bath in the

Kitchen Sink??? Yup, they are in the kitchen sink taking baths. I first put the baby in, not uncommon, because she needed a bath and Carla was eating lunch, and I didn't want to leave either of them alone. So I put the baby in the sink. Then, Carla was adamant that she wanted to join in the fun, so she finished eating her lunch and went in the other sink. They make me laugh.

MANTI AT LAST!!!!

We have been wanting to go to the Manti Miracle Pageant for a couple of years now, but every time we start planning on it, something happens. This year, we had no money, and I mean absolutely NO money. My sweet mom paid for our gas so that we could go and we took our lunch, dinner, and snacks. We left here at noon and returned at 12:45 am. We spent almost the whole day at the park, which Carla LOVED, and also made a stop at the craft fair, which was really nice also. Then we went to see the pageant which was amazing as always. It was so beautiful how they told the Joseph Smith story, clips of the Book of Mormon, and the Pioneer trek west. Zach loved it, as it was his first time seeing it. Carla actually did miraculously well, especially after she fell asleep.
I had a sweet memory return to me. I remembered that was were I received my first testimony that the Church, Joseph Smith, everything was true. It was a wonderful to relive that moment, one which I treasure with all my heart, because that moment has changed my entire life. Without the Gospel in my life, I wouldn't have served a mission, an amazing and wonderful husband, a beautiful daughter, and all of the other blessings which I receive daily.

El Salvador

Pictures can say more than a thousand words, so I'll let the pictures do most of the talking. We went mostly to spend time with Abuelita Tere, which is what we mostly did. We went to Joya de Seren and the ruins of San Andres. Which are two very popular places in El Salvador. We also went to Guatemala for a few days and were able to see some very close family. It was wonderful to be back with our family. Carla discovered a love for bottle caps, brooms, cleaning, and wacales. She called her Tia Lucky "Tia" and even kept calling for her and her dog Bingo, and her bird Christina, long after we returned home.


She HATED the cold El Salvador showers but loved her Tia bathing her in the backyard of her house. I was so precious!

My Mom

As I stated a few blogs ago, Carla was born on my mom's birthday. My mom is absolutely amazing. She is such a wonderful, caring, sweet, kind, charitable, and patient. I love my mommy so very much. She is everything I want to be. I love my mommy. We got to celebrate both my mom's and Carlita's birthday at the same time. My mom turned 50 and Carla turned 1. The party was so fun! I loved watching her play with all the kids. All the babies love her. She tickles them and loves on them, and they call her "grandma," even though she isn't their grandma. For her birthday I made her a scrapbook. I titled it "50 years of memories." When I gave it to her we both cried. I put pictures of her adolescence all the way to present. It was so fun to give her something from my heart. I love you mom!

Sari's Wedding...

not Patricks! Just playing, it was Patrick's also. Yesterday was THEIR wedding. I was so blessed to be there. I have always looked up to my big sister. I always wanted to be like her. The same friends, the same clothes, same shoes, same body style. She has always been my hero. I remember how she would always take care of me. When I was sick, she would go pick me up at school and take me to get an ice cream at Burger King. I called her mom until 8th grade. She has ALWAYS been there for me whenever I needed someone. I love her very much! I'm so proud to call her my sister. She has been getting ready to get her endowments out for a long time coming now, and in May she did! I was blessed enough to be there, and now I concider it a HUGE blessing to be there at her sealing. It was such an emotional morning. She got sealed where our Eternal Family began, in the L.A. Temple. My parents were sealed there almost 32 years ago. As soon as we got into the Sealing Room, I started to cry. The Spirit was so strong and so peaceful. Then in they came, radient, full of joy and love. After the ceremony, we embraced and cried. She told me I was a bad influence on her because she wasn't crying until I hugged her. I have that influence on people, I make them cry. After the Temple there were a few pics taken then we went to get the girls ready. Together they have 5 kiddos, 4 of them girls. So Diana and I went to Fea's, Sariah, house and started to get them ready. After that, off we went to the reception. It was a beautiful outdoor wedding, but sadly it was 110 degrees outside. We were all roasting. Oh well, it was a lot of fun! The food was yummy and at the end, we danced. The first dance of the night was Sari and I dancing a cumbia. Oh man the memories. It was a wonderful day! I wish Sari and Patrick the best of wishes on their new adventure. I love you both very much. Patrick, you are one lucky man. You are married to an amazing woman! Cherish each other every day.

The girls...

Lexie and Lydia, two of Melissa's girlies came to stay the week with us. We had lots and lots of fun! We went to Chuck E Cheese, put up a rainforest pool in the backyard, taught them about the north star and Jesus' birth, went to the duck pond/park, and even made homemade pizza...TWICE!






It was so great to see them and to spend time with them. I loved having them here. We were able to really bond with them and learn so much about them.