Chloee's first

Sunday night 10 pm, Chloee had this weird raspy cough and since she's never been sick before (other than a regular fever that only lasts 2 hrs) I got really worried but the after hours clinic closes at ten so I called the nurse on call to figure out if I should take Chlo to the hospital or wait until the next day, the nurse recommended that if she looked fine to just keep her propped up with a pillow so she could breathe and have a humidifier in the room, so we opted to just keep an eye on her that night so Hyrum and I started watching a movie but half way through the show she woke up coughing so loud and barky sounding and I freaked out and called the nurse again and she heard her over the phone and said "honey it looks like she has croup" I immediately got up and started packing stuff up to take her to the E R. I didn't know what that was and Josh nor Kate have ever had it. I called my mom so she could come with me and Hyrum stayed with the kids to not have to wake them up and bring them with us. At the hospital my little girl was so good through her breathing treatment and took her Prednisone so well and I was so relieved to hear it was nothing serious and it goes away in a day or two and its not contagious phew! I acted like a first time mom it was ridiculous but I don't like messing with my kids health. By the next day she was doing great!

At the emergency room

She loved her little name tag!!

Temple Square

My family had never been in Utah during the winter so we are trying to take them out as much as we can so they can see how beautiful this state is. On Saturday we went up to Park City and Salt Lake to see the lights at Temple Square. We had so much fun hanging out as family we rarely have the opportunity to get everyone to do something together. We went to see the Joseph Smith movie since my Aunt, Grandma and cousin are converts it was such a wonderful experience the spirit was felt everywhere. I'm so happy to have the gospel in our lives, its a great blessing!

Grandma Rita, Issa and Jose Raul

Us.. (more pics to come soon)

Christmas 2008

We are so happy Grandma Rita, Aunt Issa and cousin Jose Raul came to spend the holidays with us, they drove all the way from Houston because we had not seen each other in about 8 yrs, last time they were here Josh was only 6 months old. We started making dinner around 5 ish and ate at around 8 or so (Viva la tradicion Bernabe?) lol.. It was so nice to have our family together and celebrating this wonderful day and remember our Savior, Leech proposed that we watched a church movie after dinner. What a great night!

Christmas Day couldn't have been better. Hyrum and I stayed up late wrapping gifts (yes, we are procrastinators but we're working at it..). The kids woke up super early and ran into our bedroom "SANTA WAS HERE!!" Hyrum and I just looked at each other and smiled, its really cute how they do that every year! I wish I could've made something more special for them for Christmas day but I got sick the week before and that kept me in bed and with no energy, but what mattered the most was having my little family together and seeing them happy its just priceless!

These are the best gifts ever!! (made by Josh)

he was a happy boy!!

Good Job Santa, She really needed one!

Chlo loves this toy !!

Another baby lovebird for Christmas!!

Last year before we even thought about having more babies I mentioned to Hyrum how much I liked lovebirds and told him how we had had some when I was in high school and that we should buy a pair sometime just because they were fun and I had grown up around a lot of pets that my parents bought us (we were spoiled) but, never did I think that my wish would come true .When Christmas morning came Joseph and Kelsey came over and brought something that looked like a huge box covered in a sheet or something and Hyrum said that was my Christmas present, so I opened it and discovered a big birdcage with two little lovebirds inside, you could tell they were very young because they were smaller that a normal adult lovebird. it was a great gift, just like every single one Hyrum has given me. The same story happened with Buddy our dog (he was my mother's day present).

As the Spring came by we noticed they were starting to mate which confirmed our suspicions of them being a boy and a girl but we read in our lovebird book that even if they are the same sex they would mate... weird... but we hoped and hoped that they would lay eggs but didn't have luck. months went by so we gave it a rest and left them alone to maybe let them mature since they were very young anyway..

Well after spending all summer at my mom's, they came back to us and we found them a good place in our condo were they could have a little more privacy (except for buddy who seems to like them a little too much)

They finally laid their first egg, I'm so excited its happened!! I just checked them after writing my last post and went to take the covers off the birdcage and since Kika (the girl) is always inside the nest and you never see her I sometimes wonder if she's alive, so I went in a checked on her and saw this little itty bitty white ball looking thing right next to her, it was an awesome feeling I had to share it. And although I've read that sometimes the first egg they lay almost never hatches at least I have now confirmed that she is a girl for sure and she'll continue to lay eggs and they will hatch and I will take care of them!!! wow do I sound like Elmyra from the tiny toons?

My Kiko and Kika

sometime soon...

So much to do, so little time...

Christmas is right around the corner and it sucks to be stuck at home sick with strep. I started feeling my throat closing up around Monday night up until Wednesday night that I started losing my voice and woke up Thursday morning with chills and a fever of 102* so, I took advantage that the boys were gone to school and work and put the girls down for a nap with me. After sleeping a few hours I felt a little better and got in the shower to wait to Josh and Hyrum's parents to come over to visit before they flew back to WA. the next morning, but I started feeling sick again and went to bed early that night. On Thursday I couldn't even get up from my bed, I ended up calling my parents to come see me because I could not bear the pain so I made an app to see Dr. Berry to demand he gave me a shot or something that would make me feel better, fortunately that wasn't necessary since my Dr. is super AWESOME he said "no Mom should be sick, especially around the holidays" so he gave a penicillin injection OUCH, that stuff hurts! and gave me an Rx for pain killers. He made me wait 10 mins (to wait for allergic reactions) then sent me home to rest and stay away from everyone (not really) for 48 hrs. I have been home, for 4 days in a row without even sticking my nose outside the door and I am going crazy just to think of the many unfinished projects I have around the house, unfinished Christmas shopping, my To Do list keeps growing and I've only seen my kids for 10 mins total in 3 days because my parents have taken them (kidnapped) from me except for Chloee who is immune to this bc she is an infant? so they don't catch this nasty stuff and I miss them so much I cry... sniff... So the whole idea of the kids going to the GP's was to keep them away from potential viruses because they're children, they don't know better, but I should have sent Hyrum away from the house for a couple of days also.. last night after waking up due to a cough attack I noticed that Hyrum had drank from my cup that had my name visibly writen on it, now this morning... his throat hurts so bad he had to call in sick to work.. hopefully he doesn't get it as bad as I did.

Happy birthday Josh!!

I can't believe my baby has turned 8! We had a little get together Sunday with the fam to celebrate his birthday. G & G Christensen flew in the same day so they were able to be here, Josh was very happy to have everyone here. Since I couldn't go shopping the day before for some reason I can't remember. I couldn't buy stuff to make josh a cake and party stuff like planned so we had to improvise and buy him a store- bought cake (yuck). it was nice daddy went to the store and pick it himself, he did a good job and Josh liked it a lot! Josh also got some really nice gifts but I think my favorite was Katie's, all morning she was so excited working on this piece of doodled paper, she asked if I had a small box (which I did from my jewelry stuff) so I helped her decorate it. What was really funny was Josh's reaction when he opened the box he said " Katie this is the drawing I gave YOU!!!" lol I had no idea. I thought it was funny!! She is so cute!

We wanted to thank everyone that was here with us to celebrate this day with us.

So we couldn't really tell what the cake was Hyrum said it was the grinch so, I think we'll leave it at that..

Isn't it so cute?

We've Been Elved!!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

sleep over with the cousins

Josh spent the night at Lyda's on thanksgiving and played all day Friday. later that night Kaleb and Monica came over to spend the night with Josh and Katie. They had so much fun, they wrecked the house, but isn't that what kids do anyway? :D I'm just glad they got to spend time together because they go to different schools, different friends and they don't get to play very often. It was lots of fun. The next day (Saturday) they slept in WOO HOO!! until 9:30 am... Uncle Hyrum was so nice in going to the store because we were all out of sausage and made them pigs in blankets before going to work :( They played again all day, took baths and finally when they were starting to get bored I suggested we made cookies YAYY!! they were super EXCITED! and I'm sure Monica and Kaleb took baths again when they got home because they ended up covered in flour... They had an awesome time!

little rascals eating the cookie dough..

Its cookie decorating time!!

these two girls are CRAZY!!

Turkey Day

I'm so glad Thanksgiving is over. Don't get me wrong, I love the holiday but I'm truly glad is over, now today is black Friday and I can't wait for it to be over as well.. I did not go shopping this year, well the day is not quite over yet so maybe I will go a little bit after, hopefully when the stores are less crowded and there's less traffic. I've discovered that when I'm around a lot of people I get claustrophobic and that's def not good for me.. but today I stayed in bed and just enjoy the morning with my girls since Josh is sleeping over at my cousin Lyda's.

So yesterday we usually get together with the Becerra's for thanksgiving but since we do late dinner kinda thing Nan and I decided we would get together at my home, cook and then go to Lyda's. It was really nice, the kids made pilgrim and Indian hats, we ate and just enjoyed each others company, it was a lot of fun.

Marc, Josh, Kate and Chloee as Indians and pilgrims ( Ryder was sleeping)

Kaleb and Josh matching outfits.

Aunties Leech and Nan with Chloee

Hyrum and Elsie

My Wayito and I

Wizard of Oz

In case you're wondering "why in the world does Elsie have this Wizard of Oz music on her blog?" well It's such a long story.. My sisters and I, well Leech and I(because Nan is the least weird and crazy of us sisters) watched this movie, we liked it so much, there is sometihng about the music that makes us get up and dance.... I know almost all the lyrics and most of all, I love torturing my husband and son when I sing these songs, its awesome! and even though I haven't watched the movie in a while, I've downloaded some of the music and when I feel a little crazy I love to turn up the volume in my car and sing along, of course my kids are so grateful the windows in the back seats are tinted very dark! .So I bet that was a strange side of me you didn't know about.... ;)

We're off to see the wizard...

I just love her!!

Chloee being silly

Our baby is growing so quick. She recently learned how to blow raspberries, it just makes us laugh so much we have to post it!

pictures

Yesterday I watched Ryder for my sister Nan because my mom had some stuff to do that day. When my mom came back to get Ryder we took him for a ride so, we tood him to see the deer at the apple orchards by the utah mental hospital ( yeah, I know weird and scary) but I've always taken my kids there because its always packed with deer so I took a few pictures that turned out kinda cool I thought.

Checo's birthday/Dia de muertos

My Dad's birthday was Nov 2nd, we celebrated it with the whole fam (almost) just the way he wanted it. Again we went to Cam and Leech's house .It was a lot of fun sice we also celebrated "the day of the dead" (Mexico) because we want our kids to know about mexican traditions, since they've never been to that Country. So we set up what we call an "altar de muertos" where we remember our family that has passed away by setting up a table with foods that they like, candles, sugar skulls, flowers, decorations etc.. Ours turned out really nice for being the first time

My daddy. He's 54 now!

Our "Altar de muertos"

Barbi, Nan, Me, Leech

The family playing "loteria" (mexican bingo)

The party hosts, Cameron and Leech

Trick or Treat

Now that the kids are older and the last two Halloweens have been nice weatherwise, we take them around my parent's neighborhood since all of Josh's school friends live around that area, we love it. Everyone is so nice and there is this particular house that decorates so cool and this year they had a mini haunted house it was awesome. You had to walk inside the place to get your candy and there was a guy dressed up as Joker from the batman movie and he also had a chain saw that scared the kids..

Josh was again a star wars character, a clone trooper. Katie was the little mermaid, and Chloee was a green fairy. Marc, Nan, and Ryder joined us as well as Joseph and Kelsey. Smalls and Spike came to play with Buddy who was dressed up as a little devil dog.

The haunted house

Kelsey, Joseph, Spike and smalls with Joker

Halloween pictures

Who doesn't like Halloween? it's such a fun holiday kids dress up, get candy, they EAT the candy, and then they want to stay up late... but at least it's only once a year.

Uncle Joseph and Auntie Kelsey came over last night to bring the kids treats they're sweet Auntie Star sent them from Atlanta. they were so excited! She also sent them some halloween t-shirts. So I inmediately thought of having them wear them on friday morning so I could take pictures. I also made the girls some bows to put on their hair, but Chloee threw up on her shirt so she ended up wearing another shirt I got her..

she wasn't happy..

My cute little angels

Josh and Chloee

Chloee

My girls

Katie's first field trip

Katie had a lot of fun at her very first field trip at Pumpkin land in Orem. I really had to talk her into going in the bus because she is terrified about riding it, but I told her she would sit next to one of her teachers who are so nice and she loves them! Chloee and I also came to pumpkin land with her since parents were also invited.

Here's some pictures of her fun trip, and be advised that she posed for almost every single pic...

there she is looking at the camera..

you can tell she's paying attention..

isn't she so cute?!

Gifts with love..

I have this big hobby of buying beads, I've designed and made jewelry since I was in high school but I hadn't really made anything in the last 3 maybe 4 yrs except for buying lots of beads and storing them, so I finally pulled my collection out and made some really cute earrings and necklaces for my sister's birthday. I was very pleased with how they turned out and I think they liked them too!

the ones on the left (blue) were leech's because she likes the smaller stuff and the black tear drop ones are Nan's.

Leech & Nan's birthday party

Sunday morning, my mom calls me at 8:30 am with the intention of planning something last minute to celebrate the twins' birthday... so, since Leech is the one with the bigger house my mom suggested (sorta) to get together at her house at 5 pm. Everything was very good, we made tostadas de pollo y carne. And since it was all almost unplanned instead of having the usual cake, my mommy made this delicious gelatina mosaico (mosaic jell-o).

I love that both my sisters are older and married, I never got to really hang out with them before now we have more things in common (husbands, children, careers) its awesome. I love them so much!

My cute sisters

this is why it's called "mosaic"...

Nidia (our other sister), Mom and Leech

Hyrum, Me, Chloee and Katie. Who knows where Joshi was...