Meeting Tommy

picture with Tommy & Tommy's sister, Christine

We had a wonderful weekend. Auston was invited to a cousins birthday party, a cousin on his biological fathers side of the family. Auston has not had any contact with this side of the family for 12 years. we had been trying to set a meet with his Auntie Christine for the last couple of years, but it just never happened. and to be truthful, i didn't think it would ever happen. it made me sad to wonder why. but that all changed on sunday.....

auston has been asking about his biological father, Tommy, for a long time now. we have always kept pictures of him and his family in auston's room, not hiding my past from him. Daniel has adopted auston but, auston wanted to meet Tommy and we wanted to try and make that happen for him.

SO, sunday... Auston was nervous, i thought i might throw up when we parked in front of auston's auntie's house but, didn't thank goodness. we meet some family in the yard and then were introduce to family waiting in the house, as soon as Tommy walked into the room auston saw him and looked at me with a BIG smile on his face. i was so happy for him. Tommy was just as nervous as the rest of us. everyone was super sweet and didn't bombarded auston with any questions, waiting for Daniel and I and asking us things now and again. they didn't want to make auston uncomfortable. we spent the day with them and when it was time to say goodbye, auston was sad. his family re-assured him they would see him again. on our way home we got a text message from auston's auntie christine saying they had a great time and thanked us for coming. she wants to bring her daughter up to ramona to spend time with auston in a couple of weeks, auston is ecstatic.
picture with Tommy & Christine's daughter Lillie

Wedding Fun

Here is a picture from the bachelorette party. I am waiting on more and will post them to my facebook.

Starting off our weekend of wedding fun. we started with a rehearsal at the ceremony site. it was so pretty with the water and the smells of the ocean. it was a beautiful spot. we had a lot of fun laughing and doing a walk through for the wedding day. Anjeanette had paid for a wedding coordinator, she was AWESOME, took over and helped the bride to relax knowing "Erin" would take care of everything. i would strongly suggest getting a coordinator you soon to be brides =) Elisabeth was the Maid of Honor (Anj's sister) Shaana and I were the Bridesmaids. we enjoyed each other company and LOVED helping Anj on her special day. after the rehearsal we all went out to dinner at Bucca De Beppo's! LOVE that place, we went to the one downtown and it was GREAT. lots of laughs and fun were had there with Anj's family and Ours.

Wedding Day! We started off meeting at the brides home (my brother's house) @ 9:30 am. My #1 gal Harr was our hair dresser (Awesome Job Harr!!) and we had our make-up done by Anj's friend Tes. we were all so beautiful on this most joyous day. We finished up with hair and make-up just in time for the limo to pick us up and take us to the Maria Village in San Diego.

Well 3 miles down the road this beautiful limo blows a tire and we were made to get out of the car and wait on the side of the road for another limo. won't use any names but, that company won't get our return business. we got another limo, much smaller and were on our way. only 45 minutes off of schedule. we had enough time to change and take pictures before the ceremony started.

the ceremony was so beautiful. my brother was handsome and on top of the world. Anjeanette was a such a beautiful bride and was so far from a bridezilla, i was impressed! i felt so blessed to be a part of there wedding and will be there for anything they need. I AM READY FOR NEICES AND NEPHEWS =)

It was great to see all our family that traveled for this and our friends who we haven't seen for way to long. it was like a mini school reunion. I loved it!

we finished up at midnight and started the clean up. PAY EXTRA for the clean up crew! trust me, money well spent. we were on our way home at around 1:30 am and in bed by 3 am. the next morning we missed church because we were exhausted and had a wonderful lunch at the brides mother's home. it was great to kick back and relax with our family and our new family. we are truly blessed to have such a great family being joined to ours. GOD is GOOD =)

Oh My!

It has been over a month or so since my last post. I have been so busy this summer. The kids and I went to Oregon to watch my hubby graduate with his Master's from Southern Oregon University! We are so happy for his accomplishments. The boys and I drove up with my dad & grandma Mary and stayed in a skunner (trailer) on the Howard Prairie Lake. It was so beautiful. The boys were able to fish and kayak almost everyday. I would like to own a vacation home in Oregon, we all loved it so much. After Daniel graduated we went to Crater Lake, that was just as beautiful and Kolby was able to play in the snow for the first time (how sad it was in July) his eyes were sparkling the whole time. so cute. we also stopped at the Shasta Caverns on our way home. It was a Great Vacation. After a week we went on a shorter trip to Flagstaff for Daniel's family reunion, it has been over 20 years since their last reunion. it was so great to meet his side of the family, they were all wonderful. we all stayed at the same hotel and were able to hang out the whole weekend, over 80 people attended. Woooo Hooo to the Madrid Family Reunion! the following weekend I went to San Diego for my future sis in laws bachlorette party at the Hard Rock Hotel. needless to say, i was sick the whole time. i did manage to have some fun though. but all day saturday i was stuck in bed with little fun to be had =( my sis in law had the time of her life, and let face it, that's all that matters! well i am at home sick with pneumonia right now and am trying to get better so i can go with my sis in law to the spa this weekend (not that i haven't spent enough money this summer) and then it's the wedding on the 22nd! i am so excited for my brother and future wife Anjeanette. can't wait for their big day. But no people our summer still wont be over, school may start on the 31st but we still have one more affair to celebrate. my little boy is turning 5 in september and we are taking him to disneyland! two days at the parks! he is so excited. this will officially be the busiest summer we have ever had.

But we are loving and every minute of it and are BLESSED to be able to do them all.......

Don't understand why it says pics were added when the CLEARLY were NOT????

Saying Goodbye

We will be saying goodbye to our iguana Bud tonight. This afternoon when I put him in his newly moved and remodeled cage outside to enjoy the sunlight, I noticed his cancer had returned and come through his leg again. Although we are all really sad, I have enjoyed all 15 years of his life and Thank GOD for my LOVE for reptiles. Bud will enjoy all day out in the sun before we take him back to ACACIA tonight.

Thank You for all your LOVE and Concern for Bud over these last few months...

Love, Janet

On another note, my hubby leaves for college friday morning. we will miss him so much.

Coffee Ladies

Just want to plug how much I Love My Coffee Ladies =) I look forward to each week getting together with you and sharing what is going on in our lives, lifting each other up, eating & drinking coffee =) It is important for us ladies to get together and stay connected! Thank You ALL for coming and enjoying yourselves.


(supposed to stand for; Love Janet)

In Bloom

We are getting settled in to our new house and LOVE IT!! No buyers remorse here. We are so blessed to have been given the opportunity to become home owners. I am looking forward to all the projects we have lined up for our home. Some more painting, landscaping, changing out fixtures, updating our kitchen's lighting, adding lights to our closets, fans to some rooms, Screening in the boys balcony, Oh how the list goes on. But I am looking forward to doing it all =)


As my garden grows I am getting more and more excited. I have lots of grape vines everywhere, when we looked at the house the very first time, the owner sent us home with two bags full of grapes. Oh they were so yummy, I can't wait to share them with all my friends. My raspberries are also becoming ripe, a few a day, Double Yummy =) I also have two orange trees and I think a lime tree ( we will see) I love all my flowers, seeing new ones blossom all the time. I am reminded everyday how BLESSED I TRULEY AM =)


God Bless. I will try and blog more often!

Daniel's & Auston's Birthday's

Auston's birthday isn't until tuesday, the 19th but, he celebrated it on saturday at Ultrazone. Laser Tag! He had a blast with his dad, grandpa, uncles and 4 friends. My son will be 13, yes a teenager. Time has flown by so fast, pretty soon we will be signing up for college, oh wait, we already have. Auston will be taking college for kids classes this summer. A video game making class and an advanced video game making class. He wants to make video games, so we decided to let him check out what it in tells to see if he wants to stick with that or not. Unfortunatly we have no pictures of this event =(

On Daniel's birthday, sunday. Kolby and I took daddy out to dinner while Auston went to another bday party. We meet up with Auston later for a little fishing. Islands is one of Daniel's fav restaurants for nachos! My hubby loves his nachos =) Kolby was quite behaved. After lunch and Daniel's free dessert, we were off to dos picos for some catch and release fishing.

Kolby took this pic of Daniel and I at Islands =)

Auston's friend Marcus was having is birthday at dos picos park. Kolby asked about 100xs if we were going fishing while we were eating, in the car and when we got there. Dang kid, calm down =) Here is a picture of Daniel showing Kolby the worm they will attach to the pole. Cool!

Here is Auston and Marcus! Marcus caught 12 fish and Auston caught 3. They were so proud =)

Kolby caught 1 and wanted to catch a whole bunch more but, he didn't.

We ended our evening with cake and ice cream, yummy!