Hitting The Pavement At The Big Apple

So I went to the Big Apple with my little sister to be a tourist and to attend my 15th High School Reunion...yes no hubby and no kids!!!! I truly recommend for at least once a year for you and your spouse to take a trip on their own with their friends....I know that sounds wrong but truly you appreciate yourself and what you have when you do. It also a chance to reconnect with myself. So my sister and I met in Minneapolis and took a plane to New York City together. So be prepare to see a ton of photos of my trip and I didn't post all of them.

Sight out of our window and we're excited to see New York!!!

My baby sister and I ready to hit the pavement.


First stop: Bronx Zoo...this is a special place for both me and my sister because it is the place my mom would take us every spring break....it's truly an amazing place. Here are some photos of what we saw at the zoo.

Enjoying the Asia Exhibit

My niece Aryana and I had a great time reconnecting and getting sore feet.
The wonders of the Rain forest

More of the amazing creatures we were privileged to see.





Next Stop: South Seaport....WOW!!!Clay can't believe her eyes with the boats that are dock there.
Sisters(The Brooklyn Bridge in the background)
Dinner with great friends since High School( The food was amazing)
View of Manhattan from the train
Next trip Coney Island....NY Aquarium here we come! Here are some amazing creatures that live in the ocean.Clay enjoying the rain next to this garden.
Myself with my sister Eve and niece Aryana
Next Stop: Madame Tussauds to meet up with Oscar


Clay in the big busy city
Found Oscar and we had a blast in the Wax Museum
Wait, wait maybe the Hulk should take him.
Some of these statues were so life-like, it was so eerie.
Yeah two Pretty Women...in a good way!
No I'm taken but New York is great for my Ego!!!
Ummmm...he's so tall!
Malcolm X and Oscar
Maya Angelou is an amazing person and poet!
Hmmmm it does Matter!!!

Hanging with my friend Louie Armstrong...."What a Wonderful World"!!!
Janis Joplin and Oscar are grooving to the Blues
"I just want to hold their hands"
A great American Actor...Paul Newmen
Rocking with Tina Turner
Getting my Bono fixs!
Hanging out with Steven Spielburg...maybe we'll get casted in his next movie...NOT!!!
Clay with her idol Bill Gates!
And one for the kids...SpongeBob SquarePants.


Next stop: The Museum of Natural History

Clay on the steps of this amazing institution Me and Easter Island Statue...Dum Dum give me gum gum...sorry dude out of gum!

More photos of the great exhibts that I enjoyed






Next Stop: The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The MET)
Great Art!
My two sweet sisters
Enjoying the Japanese garden
Clay in awe of the Temple of Dendur

Next stop: Coney Island for a free Concert...Blondie and Pat Benatar
We had a great night and we had entertainment behind us, in front of us and on the stage!
We had fun singing but our stomach won and we headed to "Nathan's" and got a hotdog!!!

Next Stop: South Seaport at Night
The Brooklyn Bridge
Clay and Subie
My bestfriend since High School
New York City is amazing at Night
Dancers on the dock dancing the Tango!
Wow...it inspired my sister Clay to take Ballroom dancing at school this semester.

Next Stop: Shopping at Time Square
Had to have a New York Pizza and better yet with friends.
The old crew is back together.
Even Elmo made an appearance.
New York City
and it's lights.
The plazas are amazing and a great way to rest up your feet
We were lucky to get a table because this place was packed.

Next Stop: "Sofrito" Puerto Rican Restaurant



The food was amazing and so was the band.
Go Linda and Oscar!

Next Stop: Home
I had a great time reconnecting with my roots, friends and family. A week wasn't long enough but it was amazing trip anyway. Stay Posted to the reason I went to New York City...High School Reunion!

Summer Fun coming to an end.....

As the summer comes to a end...we have enjoyed the beauty that Nature has to offer and spending time with each other. Here are some photos of what we did in August....

Playing soccer against dad
Went on a hike to Indian Painted Rock...very hot but beautifulSpending time in the pool and sprinklers.
Daddy and his little girl spending quality time with each other.
Our camping trip to St. Joe's....we got rained out but we had one day of perfect weather.

This bridge was an adventure especially when it swayed side to side.

My sweet kids enjoying our hike.

My pride and joy.

They actually had a good time with each other.
Brothers for life

Family for Forever

Fishing is a way of Life

That statement is so true for my hubby! Beside me, fly fishing is his drug! He loves everything about it and sharing his love with his boys!

It was a long drive through the desert before we found this oasis and the views were AMAZING!


Mya, Bean and I explored the shores of this creek while the boys went fishing.


Isaac's picture taking is getting better and better! Thanks sweetie!
We had a Great time exploring the area!Candid photos of the kids! (even Bean is my kid, Hairy but still part of the family!)

Sometime it's the little things that create memories that last for a lifetime!

And Summer Continues....

Here's some of the things we did for the month of July;
Harvest the raspberries from our garden....YUMMY!
I ran my first race and learned I'm not as in good shape as I thought I was but it was a great learning experience.
Having fun at the aquatic center up the road from us. So I spent 21 dollars to enter which was a shock to me, so we spent most of the day there, from 10:30 a.m to 4pm. We had a BLAST, even though I'm still suffering from the sunburn I got there.
We met up with some friends and it make the day BETTER!
I decided that the kids needed to do something creative and this was the project;
Had several Hula performances and this one was one of my favorite...it could be we had real Hawaiian food and the ladies I dance with are AWESOME!!!
Our Stake had an 24th of July celebration at Medical Lake and we had a good time!

July hasn't ended yet but I had to post all the adventures we have had...stay tune to more adventures in Washington.

Uninvited Guest From the WILD!!!

Last Saturday night, getting the kids into bed, I heard Isaac and Nathan yelling for me to come and see what's in the front yard. I was annoyed at my boys for doing anything to stay up longer and told them get into bed but they kept yelling for me to come look at their window. I asked why, I was told there was a Porcupine in the yard and my response was "no it's a cat" and I went to the window and was stunned to see what was in my yard but a PORCUPINE eating my roses!
I ran and got the camera. I ran outside and started to take pictures and it didn't mind. It was going to town eating my roses and I was floored that I was sitting a couple a feet away from a Porcupine which I have only seen in a zoo. Here are some of the photos of the many pictures I took of it.


I couldn't believe that this creature was first in my first yard because we don't live near any woods or forest and second that it was eating roses. After I took tons of photos of it, then I started to worry about my roses and it was destroying them. We tried to scare it away by tossing pieces of bark at it but it didn't move. Then we brought out Bean and that creature ran so fast into the tree. Did you know that Porcupine climb trees? Well, Bean barked up a storm and we thought it was scared away but a little while later it was back. Then we turned the sprinklers on and finally it was scared away but I was in awe to experience a "Uninvited Guest From the Wild"

The Beginning of Summer FUN

So far July has been a fun and fulfilling month. We had discovered so many neat and fun places for our family, finished projects that was in the work for almost a year, enjoyed the fruits of our labors offered in our own yard, having fun with friends, and ward family. Still trying to figure out the weather here...normal in the mornings are in the 50's but it does warm up. Over all we've been having a BLAST!
Fish Lake...The kids had a hard time adjusting to the cold water, was excepting warm waters of Hawaii but not so. I couldn't blame them because I didn't go swimming either!
We started our 4th of July cleaning the ward building which was hard because we went to bed so late.(Blake and all the husbands of the Primary Presidency went on a Backpacking and camping trip so all the wives and the kiddies came over to our house and had fun playing in the sprinklers and having ice cream...kiddies didn't get into to bed until after 11pm. SUPER late for our household.)After cleaning the ward building, we cross the parking lot to the Moran Prairie and Lincoln Height wards' breakfast party . Had a great time and the food was great! Then we went to a Pool and BBQ party at a friend's house and had a GRAND time spending the 4th with friends.
Decided to can the Bing Cherries from our tree and we spent most of the day harvesting it. Too bad that they had worms and had to be tossed out. Learned the lesson of spraying our fruits trees
In our ward we have a "Ladies Night Out" once a month at different restaurants in the neighborhood. Made new friendships while talking for three hours standing outside of the restaurant after it closed. Blake didn't believe me but it's true! Didn't come home until 11:30 and I left home at 7pm...YIKES ( But it was FUN!!!)
We finally finished painting the exterior of our house actually I have two doors left to paint in the back but it's basically finished. HOORAY!!!
I truly love being in the Primary Presidency and we had one of the best Primary Activity I have ever been too and it was a great success! At the end of the activity we had a tug a war against the leaders and the kids and the leaders won(but it was close!) then we had a water fight and the kids attacked the teachers and the presidency....it was great and the weather was WONDERFUL too!

So much more to post and the month hasn't ended yet...stay tuned to see our "Uninvited Guest For the Wild"