December Flashback

Hi friends (and family)!  The next few posts will be flashbacks over the past few months since I've been out of touch.  Enjoy!

Daniel's brother, Steven, graduated from Missouri State University:

I worked long, fun hours at my work's longest annual fundraiser, a Gift Wrap Booth at the mall.  This is a snapshot of one of the many great groups of people I got to work with (the great folks here are all from Corporate Business Systems):

Somehow I don't have any pictures from Christmas Eve and Christmas with our families.  Sorry!  Guess by the end of the Gift Wrap Booth month, my brain was a little fried.  We were blessed to have Daniel's family and even some great friends to our home Christmas Eve for a fantastic meal and then Christmas Day we woke up, had breakfast and headed to my sister's to eat Christmas lunch with my family.  A blessed time was had by all!  And we were all blessed as we remembered the reason we celebate - JESUS!

Oh, I know why there are no pictures.  We have video!  We were dance all-stars with the Michael Jackson Wii game and Dance Central for Kinect.  Maybe I'll post some video soon.  ;)

Fall Fun

I'm still alive, friends.  :)  It's really not on purpose that I post once a month, I promise!

Last month Katie and I took Ky to one of our local pumpkin patches.  So fun!

Fun and family - that's what we're up to these days!

Kyler + Flint = Showstoppers!

A couple weeks ago we had the pleasure of spending the entire weekend going to PBR events here in Springfield with my family.  (For you non-country folk, PBR is Professional Bull Riding.  ;)  )  The grand finale - Kyler not only was the PBR Fan of the Night on the last night, but he even got to go out to the middle of the arena and dance Michael Jackson with Flint!!  Just watch the video and you'll get it.



Needless to say, I'm a proud aunt!!  And we were all hooping and hollering, of course.  And, he was on national TV!  PBR plays on a channel/station called Versus and they showed a clip of him dancing with Flint.  So fun!

Family Time in California

I've decided to not worry about being caught up on my blog anymore.  Last thing I need is another thing to add to my to do list.  So, the fact that these pictures are from nearly a month ago doesn't even bother me. :)

Just over a month ago Daniel received a call that his sweet Tia Mayra had passed away (his dad's sister).  She'd been battling cancer for quite some time.  She's a fighter and bypassed all those dates the doctors would give the family of her life expectancy.  But on August 20, she went home to be with the Lord.  It didn't take us long to decide we needed to be in California with the rest of Daniel's family for the memorial service so off we went to L.A. with Steven and Evelyn.  While we wished the circumstances for the visit were different, we were very thankful for the chance to spend time with his family.  We were also extremely thankful Daniel and Alvaro had had the chance to spend some time with Mayra earlier this year.  Without a doubt, God is good ALL THE TIME.

Here are lots of snapshots for you!

River Rats

Daniel and I went home (to Van Buren, of course) a few weekends ago to get our last taste of my beloved Current River for the summer.  Aaaah....relaxation at its best!

(We took some friends and fam from Springfield with us, too.  That's the unfamilar faces you see in the pics. :) )

I Present to You...

Mr. and Mrs. Josh Johnson!

That's right, we have a new addition to the family.  We're so thankful for the work God is doing in Katie and Josh's life and pray they always seek to honor and glorify Christ alone.  And for sweet Kyler, that he'll be in a home filled with love.  Congrats - we love you guys!

(The wedding was a private ceremony with immediate family and then there will be a big celebration reception with the rest of the friends and family next weekend.  I'll be sure to post those pics as well. :) )

Happy Birthday, Steven!

We went to Olive Garden last night with Daniel's family to celebrate Steven's 23rd birthday.  Lots of laughs were had by all!! :)

Happy Birthday, Steven!!  We love you!!

L to R: Daniel, me, Tia Mary, Tio George, Steven, and Abuela

(Spanish to English: tia = aunt, tio = uncle, abuela = grandma)

Evelyn took the photo and Keila was on her way. :)

Kyler is 5!

Amazing to me that he can be five years old and going into Kindergarten this fall.  We love Ky so much and pray he grows to be a man after God's own heart.  Here's to your 5th Birthday (which was actually July 11 :) ), my sweet nephew!

Slip 'N Slidin' Fun

A couple weeks ago Kyler called to see if he could bring over his Slip 'n Slide to play with Uncle Daniel.  (I had told Daniel how excited Daniel got when he saw one for sale, so she and Ky were happy to share his Diego slide.)  We had lots of fun and ended up with plenty of grass cuts from sliding off  into the grass!

I hope to have some video up soon.  Soo much better than the pictures!

Of course, as much fun as this was, we had to get one where we could race!  The next weekend Daniel bought a 3-person Slip 'n Slide complete with flags to grab at the end.  This time Katie and Josh joined in the fun. :)

We Are the Champions

I'm sure the neighbors could hear all the yelling from our house last night as we (well, Daniel) celebrated the Lakers winning the playoffs.  When he called Steven to celebrate I could hear the yelling through the phone across the room.  As you probably noticed in our family pics , we are a Lakers house.  Daniel was born and spent the first 9 years of his life in L.A.  So, yes, we both had our jerseys on last night like good fans. :)

Daniel and Ky getting ready to watch game 5 :)  (phone picture quality, of course!)

My Cool Parents

Mom and Dad just returned from their vacation in Destin, FL with some great family friends of ours.  Of course, they had a blast and are now trying to adjust to "everyday life" again.  So glad you enjoyed yourselves, Mom and Dad!  You deserve it! :)

Here's to great fun and great friends!!

Riding Away

My dad surprised Daniel for his birthday back in April with this riding lawnmower.  While we don't have a huge hard, we have a pretty good incline for a pushmower.  So, Dad was very excited when he saw this in a yardsale.  He cleaned it up and even gave it a personal touch (see the Alvarez on the front?). :)

As you can see, Daniel was extremely excited and surprised.  Thanks again, Dad!  We love you!

Playing Catch Up? Not Me!

Yes, I know it's been a while since I've been in touch.  I'll skip the usual been busy why's and go right into some fun photos for the next few posts.  As they say, a picture says a thousand words! :)

Daniel went to visit family in California at the end of April so I took advantage of the opportunity to head home again and spend some great time with some family.  My lovely cousin, Mandy, came over along wither her daughter Addy and two dogs.  Yes, we had four dogs in my parents house!  Of course, mine were huge compared to hers.  Mia, a teacup Chihuahua, is 2 1/2 lbs and Duke, a Shipom (Shih-tzu/Pomeranian mix) won't be more than 10 lobs but is a 4 lb puppy now.  As you'll see below, Kobe found a great friend in Duke.  They were soo cute!

(This last one is horrible quality because it's from a cell phone, but it was too great not to share!)