Hi, we still do not have a camera so bear with me :).

I do have noteworthy news though, we found out that we are having a BOY! Can you believe it? So fun, we are very excited!

Also, I read a book that I want to recommend about food to those who want to be pregnant soon, are pregnant, breastfeeding or feeding a little one solids. It is the best book I have read on the subject (Finally!)

It is called Real Food for Mother and Baby by Nina Planck

Music to my ears

First of all, I am so sad to say that our camera is broken. I have been thinking about the few of you who check in here and what I could post in lieu of pictures. It is hard because I usually just post pictures. Well here is something I have been thinking of. These following lines have been said recently and they were "music to my ears."

Me, "Emma, we can skip History today."
Emma, "I don't want to skip History!"

Chloe, "I want some bell peppers."

Lucy, "I have to go potty."

Emma, "I want to go to Israel."

Lucy, "I want to snuggle!"

Chloe or Emma, "I want to help!"

Doctor, "That is a good strong heartbeat!"

And that heartbeat he was talking about wasn't mine (although I am sure mine is strong too :).) Yes, we are expecting a new baby in July and are so excited. The girls are excited, grandparents are excited and everyone else is shocked and think we are crazy :). It is all good! Children are a blessing from the Lord :). It is so fun having them around and being with them etc.
And Emma wanted me to tell you that she lost another tooth!

CHF Toy Wrap 2011

In early December we went to wrap toys for Children's Hunger Fund. They distribute several hundred thousand toys during the Christmas season to needy children (as well as food to families and the Gospel message.) This is our second year going and definitely a tradition now! My mom also went with us and we had fun wrapping and wrapping and wrapping!

This is not related to the toy wrap at all :).

Family Photo Shot

In October, (yes I know I am way behind!) we had our little family shoot with our beautiful friend Amanda Rodriguez as our photographer. Here are some of the shots and you may recognize some from our Christmas card this year :).
Hopefully more updates to come but our camera died and so it wont be easy ...

My girls as 2 year olds

Happy Birthday Emma! She turned 7 this year :). Here is one of her favorite gifts she got. She has made some beautiful paper doll clothes with it.

My little Lucy turned 2 this year! She is discovering her independence and is quite the chatterbox.
She is ready for this hand-me-down trike from Chloe (who got it handed down from Emma.) First Emma needs a new bike and then Chloe can have Emma's and then Lucy can have this trike :).

Pumpkin Patch 2011

Of course I chose the hottest day to go to the pumpkin patch but we had fun anyway!

Lucy loved the animals.
Emma led us around the corn maze.
Fun picture props.


Fall is so fun! I think each season is fun when you get to it.

Today

Every breakfast time I have this cutie pie helping me! She is a great egg stirrer!

"A" for effort but...

not "A" for taste! So sad. So I made these Asian Spring rolls with a sauce and even got the special rice wrappers. I even bought a few ingredients that I have never purchased before: radishes and sprouted mung beans. Let's just say, the mint leaves were too overpowering and well, I only ate one. Rick was a good sport and tried one too.
I do like to experiment in the kitchen but this one was not a good one. I think I will try egg rolls next time :). Some other experiments going on in my kitchen are a lot of gluten free items. I tried my own sourdough gluten free crackers, a sourdough gluten free pancake recipe and I will be doing sourdough gluten free pizza crust on Wednesday. And I just learned how to make my own water kefir soda so we have some of those we have been experimenting on, my favorite is water kefir lemonade and water kefir grape soda.

L.A. County Fair

About 2 weeks ago Rick took the day off and we all went to the Fair! We had a nice time :).
I think our favorite part is the California History section. Here is Chloe making an old fashioned rag doll.

The girls learning to make a rug with fabric scraps.

Emma is trying gem panning. She has been dreaming about this for a long time!


We also visited the famous pig races and other animals. Rick debated over getting chocolate covered bacon and decided not to. We saw the traveling circus, some shopping booths and a shark tank. It was worth the trip especially since we got in for free and parked for free!

The Cutest Jack-O-Lantern Ever!

This was almost two weeks ago.
This was today!

Family Zoo Trip

We had a lovely trip to the zoo with my mom and brother. And it was a beautiful day! I love seeing all the fabulous animals that God has created.

Some recent happenings:

Visiting the Aquatic Center

Water wars with Papa and Grandma. Papa also brought over this huge box and turned it into a house for the girls. The took an afternoon to paint it. They are now convinced they can paint our house for us...