Family Pictures

Just wanted to post some family pictures.

Our pictures were done by Heritage Photography. I'm so happy with the results. These are just a few of the pictures.

Update

Well, it has definitely been a long time since my last post. So...here's a quick overview of what has been going on in our lives since the last post in May.

CAMREN: Camren's leg is now fully healed. He had his cast on for a total of 2 and a half weeks. He had a limp for a couple of weeks afterward but he is now running around as if nothing happened. He is currently 21 months old. He has the fit throwing down pat. Camren dressed up as superman for Halloween and was adorable. He had so much fun. He wasn't sure about it at first but after we went to the first house and saw they were putting candy in his bucket he was eager to go to the next house.

ANTHONY: Anthony is now in 3rd grade. I can't believe it! We just had parent teacher conferences and his teacher just had nice things to say about him. He is very smart and is a good writer. Maybe he'll be an author when he grows up....hmmm. We'll see. We bought a Wii this summer and Anthony has been playing guitar hero and loving it. He's decided that he wants to play the guitar, so for his birthday we bought him an electric guitar and he is now taking lessons from his uncle Kort. He's actually getting pretty good.

CHRISTINA: What can I say about myself??? I've been actively trying to lose the baby fat and have lost 10 pounds since June. YEAH!!! I try to go to the gym before work (yes that is 5 am). I've also been working more. Can you believe it?!? I now work about 24 hours a week. I also chopped my hair...got an A line haircut. My sister-in-law Marbella did a wonderful job. I love it. I also darkened it with some reddish color in it. It's fun. We just took family pics today so hopefully they turn out great. Can't wait to see them. I haven't taken a picture with my new haircut yet. I'll post some family pics once I get them.

OMAR: Omar is still going to school. He is scheduled to graduate in May. Can't wait. His job has not been affected by all the layoffs going on....yet....hopefully never but I guess we'll see what the future brings. I guess that's it for Omar. He's pretty busy with all that.

We took a family trip to California in June and visited my twin sis Cat and her boyfriend Cory. We went to Pacifica (it was cold) and Anthony did some body surfing. We also buried Cat in the sand and buried Anthony in the sand. It was so much fun. Omar and I spent a night in Tiburon without the kids and we had a lot of fun. We plan on going back for the holidays. Well, that's it for now. I will try harder to keep you updated.

Friday evening

Friday evening as I'm cooking dinner, Omar and the kids were outside and Omar thought it would be a good idea to put Camren on the trampoline with Anthony while he mowed the lawn. Camren started to cry so Omar brought him inside to me so I comforted him. When I tried to put him down he wouldn't stand up. I just figured he wanted to cuddle some more until I tried to put him down again but wouldn't stand on his right leg. We decided to take him to the ED. Before going decided to call a friend of mine who works in the pediatrician's office who later called the pediatrician. The doctor in the ED didn't even look at Camren's leg...just ordered the xrays. He later came in and said that we could go home because there was no break. We were relieved. He told us that Camren would be back to normal in no time. The next day called that friend of mine back to update her. She then called the pediatrician and she called me. His doctor was worried because Camren was still not bearing weight on his right leg by Saturday morning. She went in to the office on Saturday just for us. She wrote an order for more xrays on Monday if he still was not bearing any weight on that leg. All weekend he didn't walk. He finally started crawling on Sunday. So Monday morning we went in for the xrays. Later that morning the pediatrician's office called and the radiologist didn't see a break. Since he was still not bearing weight on his leg she wanted us to go to an orthopaedic. We went and he looked at the xrays taken that morning and he saw a fracture in his tibia. Camren now has a cast from his toes to his thigh. He was such a trooper when getting the cast on. He was all smiles. He even has a little boot for when he's walking. It's so cute. He gets really mad because he can't move around as fast as before. He barely started to walk this evening. When he crawls he has to drag is right leg. He's so cute but oh boy has he been moody. We love him still.

Storytime

I wanted to share a story with you all. It was August 1995. My favorite Mexican band, Los Tigres del Norte, came to the town I lived in. I went with my twin sis and younger sis along with my parents. I met up with my boyfriend there. My boyfriend and I got into an argument there so I didn't have a good time with him but I had fun anyways cuz I had a guy friend there and he made it fun. We danced so much to such an awesome band. That night a boy, who was 15, met my twin sis and he asked to be able to visit her sometime. She agreed. Well, this boy lived in St. Anthony which is over an hour away from our town. He begged his cousin who was 16 and had his night license to drive him because he didn't have a night license. His cousin agreed to drive him. That cousin put off a date with his girlfriend at the time named Christina. I was in a bad mood when they came over to the house and I was rude to him. When he asked me if we had a garbage can, I responded sarcastically "no, we live like animals." Apparently, that didn't thwart him cuz he asked to call me. My boyfriend and I broke up and he and the other Christina broke up. We became boyfriend and girlfriend and this July we will be married for 10 years. Well, I wanted to share this story because in March that same band came to the Idaho Center. Omar bought us tickets. It was so much fun. My sister-in-law and brother-in-law went as well as Omar's parents. It was amazing! There were other bands there too, butThe best one of those was the singer Graciela Beltran. She was great. I can't wait for Los Tigres to come again. I've included a picture of Los Tigres and of Graciela Beltran. If you are able to play video check out this little clip of Los Tigres playing. Hope you enjoy it.

A lot has been...

A lot has been going on since the last time I wrote. Anthony started his spring season of soccer. Omar is his team's coach again. Anthony has definitely shown improvement in his game and is doing very well. We are very proud of him.

Anthony is also doing very well in school. His progress report states that he is at a 5th grade reading level which is awesome since he's only in 2nd grade. He will be getting an accelerated reading award later this month. We are proud parents.

For spring break we decided to get out of the valley and went to Portland for a few days. The weather sucked while we were there, but we still had a lot of fun. We went to Newport for a couple days. It was cold and windy but you better believe that we still went to the beach. We also went into a lighthouse. It was cool to see how people used to live in lighthouses. We visited my aunt and uncle in Salem also. It's always nice to see them. We did some shopping at the Woodburn outlet mall. It was so much fun shopping for the kids. Not as much fun shopping for me but oh well. We visited the OMSI before we left the Portland area. That place is amazing. There is so much to see. I recommend visiting the OMSI if in the area. We wanted to go to the zoo but the weather did not permit that, but that's ok cuz we had fun. Camren did pretty good in the car.

For all those of you that knew Camren hadn't been doing well at daycare, he is now happy at daycare. He was moved from the infant room to the one year olds room and is doing great. He gets to play in the jungle room, play with older toddlers, and gets to go outside when the weather is nice. He has his days when he's not as happy but we all have those days once in a while. I'm just happy to not hear that he is crying for hours in a row at daycare anymore. I feel better about working.
Well that's a little update. More to come.

1st Birthday

Today is Camren's 1st birthday. I can't believe it! It's been a year. It seems like it was just yesterday he was born. Anthony didn't have school today because of the weather/driving conditions so Anthony and I were able to spend all day with Camren. We spent some time playing in the snow today. Camren was curious about the snow and was kicking it. It was cute. After Omar got off of work and was done with school we went out to dinner at Red Robin. Anthony chose the place because he wanted them to sing happy birthday to Camren. The food was good. I think Anthony was a little dissapointed because the waiter didn't sing to Camren because he was "only 1 and would not even know why they were singing to him and it might scare him." Oh well. Camren still got a sundae and Anthony enjoyed sharing that with Camren. We had a good time. We decided to celebrate with just a dinner since we had the cake and ice cream when we had family visit.

Walking???

I've been hoping that Camren would walk around the same time that Anthony did when he was that age. I know, I know I shouldn't compare. When he didn't walk at nine months I was hoping he would walk before his first birthday. As his birthday was getting closer and closer I didn't think it was going to happen. My sis Jolie tried to make me feel better about it by telling me Camren can be lazy like her kids and walk at about 15 months. Her words not mine. So then I was hoping he would walk before 15 months. Camren had taken a few steps back and forth between Omar and me, but Camren has been having a hard time at daycare and has been refuusing to take any steps on his own for about a week and a half. During the family visit Camren took a few steps with encouragment. On Monday, Jan 21st Camren all of a sudden got up all by himself without holding on to anything and walked towards a ball. It was so exciting. Catrina was still here visiting from California so it was especially exciting for her to see it. I was excited that he walked before his 1st birthday. YEAH!!! He is pretty much only walking, hardly crawling anymore. He even tried running the other day. He's so cute. He loves to clap at himself and loves it when we clap at him. He's so funny. The picture I've uploaded is of Catrina and Camren bonding. Cute.

Family visit

My aunt and uncle from Oregon, my mom, and my twin sis Catrina visited us about 1 1/2 weeks ago. We had fun. We had a nice dinner at my house Saturday night. We went up to Bogus on Sunday which was so nice. There was so much powder so it didn't hurt to fall. I'm still in the learning phases of snowboarding but I'm getting pretty good. Anthony is learning how to snowboard as well. He's gone twice & he's getting pretty good. This was his first time getting on the lift. He was pretty scared to go on it, but he did great. If you can see the video that I've uploaded, Anthony is in the red coat coming down. We are so proud of him. My younger sis Jolie and her husband decided to go snowboarding also. They've gone once before, but it's been many years. It was so much fun. I fell pretty bad and rolled a few times down the mountain but it didn't hurt cuz it was so soft. It was pretty nice because my mom, aunt, uncle, and brother David went also so they were able to watch Camren and my niece and nephew in the lodge. After we came down from the mountain we decided to celebrate Camren's birthday early since they were all in town. Camren got a little cake for himself and it was so funny watching him digging into his cake. It was a really fun weekend. The first picture is Catrina and Anthony. The 2nd picture is me in the purple coat and white helmet, my sis Catrina in the white and purple coat and black helmet, any Jolie coming down on the snowboard in the blue coat. The 3rd picture is of Omar and Anthony getting on the lift.

Derby

Well, a lot has happened in the past few weeks. I previously wrote about Omar helping Anthony with his car for the Pinewood Derby for scouts. They had a lot of fun (and frustration) working on that car. Omar didn't have much confidence in that car to win but he and Anthony were at least hoping it would make it down the ramp. How the Derby worked was the cars would race until it lost twice. Well, the first time Anthony's car made it down, it lost. It was sad. I was hoping that it would win at least once for Anthony's sake (and Omar's). Well, the next time it came down I swear I was holding my breath hoping it would win. Guess what...IT DID. I was so excited for Omar and Anthony. So that meant his car would race a third time. Unfortunately it did not win that time so we were done. Omar and Anthony were really glad they won once. We had fun and that's what really matters. The picture shows Anthony's car winning.

Update

We are all doing great. Omar finally got his promotion at work. We are all so very proud of him. He is happy coaching Anthony's soccer team. It sucks that he will be starting school in a couple of weeks again. I guess we will see him in May...ha ha ha. He is pretty involved in helping Anthony with his Cub Scouts especially with the Pinewood Derby. Omar's Birthday is coming up in March. It's his big 30th birthday. I'm thinking we might have to have a party. Hmmm. Maybe Omar will like to be Princess for the day again. Ha ha ha. Last year on his birthday he received a princess crown. Look at the picture. The picture is worth a thousand words.

I'm doing fine also. I've started working a little bit more since Camren is getting older. Work is going great. It's been a bit slow lately, but I'm still working and that's what matters. I don't know what else to write about me. I still volunteer at Anthony's school once a week. I love it and his teacher is really appreciative so I can grade papers so she can teach. I take Camren with me and I think he's a bit of a distraction for the kids in the class but the teacher keeps telling me he's not so I'll keep taking him until she tells me otherwise. All the kids seem to love
Camren.

Anthony just started school again. He's a good student. He's still playing the indoor soccer. His last game is this Saturday. The team has done well. After this game he will have a few weeks break before he starts Spring Soccer. Omar will be coaching that as well. He's also busy helping Omar build the car for the Pinewood Derby. He's been having a lot of fun in the snow also. We've taken him up to Bogus to snowboard once so far this season. He's had fun.

Camren's Birthday is coming up at the end of this month. Exciting but sad at the same time. I can't believe he's already going to be a year old. He is taking a few steps on his own. I think he will be walking pretty soon. It's about time. I say that because I'm hoping that he will be a little bit more independent when he starts walking. This little guy already has an attitude and he is going to be my tantrum thrower. We have fun times ahead of us. I'll try to keep you posted a little better than what I've been doing. Have fun in the snow.

The Big Haircut

We've given Camren a total of 3 haircuts, but they've all been with scissors. Well, the last time we did it was in November and it was a challenge because Camren kept moving. We've been wanting to cut his hair again because it grows so fast, but there are a lot of patches on the top part of his head and it kind of looked funny. His hair was getting so long that it really wasn't curly anymore. It was still wavy though. We decided tonight that he needed a haircut. We remembered that we still had my brother-in-law's clippers here so we used those. While we were cutting his hair, I thought maybe we should give him a mohawk. My nephew had a mohawk for a while. He looked cute so I thought Camren would look even cuter. Hmmm....What do you think?? Do you like it???

As cute as it was we couldn't keep it. I'm just not a big fan of mohawks. So we kept going with the clippers. He got a buzz cut. He looks so cute...in my opinion. What do you think? He looks thinner. He didn't need that since he's thinning out a lot.

Snow Time

Don't you just love all this snow that we are having? I don't like to drive on it, but I love seeing all the white. I can't wait to make it up to Bogus to do some snowboarding. On Sunday we woke up to a bunch snow so we (even Camren) went out to the canal behind our back yard and took our sleds and Anthony was sledding down the sides of the canal. Even Camren went down a few times down the small parts. Omar and I went down once each. Let me just tell you that there was not enough snow for somebody of my weight because it hurt when I hit the bottom. It was fun though.

It's been a while since I've posted anything and I've been told that I need to update this blog more often. A lot has happened since the last time I've written. Thanksgiving was a little hectic because Camren started having high temps the night before (after the pediatrician's office was closed of course). We took him to the Minor Emergency on Thanksgiving day and the poor guy had an infection in both ears. Camren ended up having to take 3 different types of antibiotics to get rid of the infections. Thanksgiving dinner was yummy and it was fun to have my sister and her family, my 2 brothers, and my mom at dinner with us.

Anthony started winter indoor soccer with Omar as the team coach. I never would have thought that it would be any tougher to play the indoor soccer than the outdoor soccer but it is. The game doesn't really stop because there are no out of bounds. The kids get so worn out. Our team has been doing awesome. We've only lost one game. Anthony and Omar have been having a lot of fun too.

Christmas was a blast. We had a big Christmas Eve dinner at our house. I believe there were more than 20 people at our house. My family was here and my in-laws as well. The food was great and it seemed like everybody had a good time. The boys had a great time opening up the presents. Camren liked ripping off the bows and wrapping paper. Anthony got some great gifts. Anthony was so excited to open gifts that he was trying to wake us up starting at 3 am. We finally got up to open gifts at 5:30 am. It was so much fun. Omar spoiled me even though we weren't supposed to get each other gifts. My sis Cat also spoiled me by getting me a Coach purse and wallet. I was so excited.

Well, this is all for now. Will post pics later. Camren is crying. Happy New Year's