BEST Salsa EVER!!!

My SIL, Sandra, brought this Avocado Feta Salsa over on Christmas Day and within minutes it was gone! It is so ridiculously good!!!

I made some today and put it on my salad for lunch. Talk about making anything yummy, this is it! So good!

Have a happy Thursday!

A Great Night!

Last week we made it over to the Quast's house for a great night of pizza and salad. Jerry and Ben had to go to Basketball practice so they had to head out early. Before they left Jerry showed us the school project Jake (and Jerry) have been working on. Building Noah's Arc! Did you know it wasn't an actual boat? This is what it looked like!

Gemma, Carson, Gabe, Audrey and Jake.

Gift time.

Aloha.

A blessed time!

Hope you all had a blessed Christmas Day celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior! We had a great time! So many laughs, so many gifts given and received. It was a blast!

Here is a link to see pictures!

ZZ, Gabe, me, Carson, Grandma and Debbie! 12.24.11


Raul and Izzy playing. 12.24.11

A sleepy Gabe. And mama. 12.24.11


Carson and his new sling shot (from Grandma) and new sweatshirt from GG (note the tag in the left armpit. It stayed there until after nap time!). 12.25.11

The Coster Clan. 12.25.11

Have a blessed New Year!!!

AlOha.

A Blessed Christmas!

Did you know that the chopping down of the Christmas tree represents the death of Christ and putting it back up again represents the resurrection of Christ?

Did you know that the wreaths we hang are never ending circles that represents eternity?

Candy canes were made to look like shepherd hooks and the colors red; Jesus' blood, white; purity.

The gifts, represents the 3 gifts the wise men brought for Jesus.

The lights represent the light of the world, Jesus Christ.

So when you are running around trying to get the "perfect gift", stop yourself, take a deep breath and remember we have been given the perfect gift. Jesus Christ was given to us to remove all of our sins.

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Raul. He is all ready for Christmas too!

Carson's 5th birthday kid party

We had a little party for Carson this morning with a couple of his friends. I think the kiddos had a good time!

You can see more pictures here!!!




Aloha.

Pictures

If you would like to look at our October pictures...HERE IS THE LINK.

HERE IS THE LINK to November pictures.

Thank you!

Aloha.

Brothers

Trever, Cameron, Chris and Garin

My Brother-in-law, Chris just emailed this to me. I love it! The last time I remember seeing all of them together in a picture is either from our wedding, or maybe even before that. So at least 9 years old!

Don't they look great?! Love it!

Celebrating Carson!

11.30.11 Grandma took us to lunch at Taco Bell for Carson's birthday.

12.1.11 I blew up a bunch of balloon's for Carson to play with for the day. He and Gabe are loving them! He also had a gift from Pat and Trev and I to open. He was very excited!

Getting a birthday call from Grandma. 12.1.11

Carson's crazy hat hair!


Carson playing with his new gift from Pat. Gabe watching and keeping a very close eye on the helicopter. :)

Opening his gift from Pat. 12.1.11

Gift from us. 12.1.11

Playing. 12.1.11

We had Carson's first birthday celebration on Sunday night, his birthday today, and will be having more celebrations next week with friends and the Coster's.

Thank you friends and family for the wonderful love, gifts, memories, and time spent on Carson (and myself too!). We love you very much!

Aloha.

How much is too much???

The 17th was my 32nd birthday and I have always been more than willing to celebrate bunches! :) This year was no different. It is kinda all different things though, and a lot more spread out.

It kinda started on the 12th. I was at the Expo craft fair all day, my mom had the boys and Trev was in California with his dad, brother, and nephew. My mom and the boys picked me up and went to Senor Sams and shared an old favorite, nachos!

The 13th, my Grandma, mom and the boys went to Morning Glory for my favorite breakfast! Those oatmeal pancakes are just too good!


The 16th, my mom took me and the boys to another oldie but goody! House of Thai! I haven't been there for so long! And that used to be a favorite birthday place. Gotta love their chicken phad thai.

I haven't eaten out this much in ages!!! Maybe high school days?

November 17th! The big birthday. I spent all day with my besties enjoying one of our favorite pass times! Stayed up way too late, but it was worth it!

The 18th, our family friends from Portland stayed the night at my moms, they got in a little late so we didn't meet up until breakfast. We had a great time on the 19th and had fun talking, playing and repacking their SUV up! It was a great morning!!! I haven't celebrated a birthday with Jacqueline for about 15 years (actually there was a year we did have lunch with them about 9 years ago in the Portland area)! And we had her adorable girls here to party with my boys and her husband, Jake, got to join in also!




The 27th was a family and friend dinner at my moms for myself and Carson's 5th birthday! It was very busy, but such a blessed time! We also got to celebrate Annalies' 10th birthday which is on 12.4.11 and Katrina's which is today, 11.28.11!

Thank you to all who came! I hope you enjoyed yourself as much as I did! It was a blast! Thank you very much!

With all that, it has been a very blessed birthday! I love my family and friends very much!

Hope you had a blessed Thanksgiving!

Lots of love today!

A Thankful Heart.

Promises from the Lord, especially Psalm 91 (this week).
A home to live in.
Provision.
The Holiday Months.
Forgiving Family & Friends.
Perky, adorable blue eyed & blond haired boys, that can so easily make me want to laugh & cry all in one day! :)
A husband who loves me.
A car to drive.
A great church to belong to.
A favorite book I got to see as a movie.
An awesome bed to sleep in at night!
A place to exercise at, thank you YMCA.
A camera to document life.
Great AWANA workers to teach and take care of our kids.
Middle of the week dinner at a local church, time to visit with an old friend & worship.
The love of the Lord. Always & forever loving me. Amazing.
Besties.

These are just some of things I am thankful for. What are things that you are thankful for?

Have a blessed Thanksgiving! Love you and have a safe fun day!

His Protection

I am so thankful for Psalm 91. The Lord's promises to us, to guard us and keep us safe if we call on Him and believe what He has for us!

¹ Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
² I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”

³ Surely he will save you
from the fowler’s snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
⁴ He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
⁵ You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
⁶ nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
⁷ A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
⁸ You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.

⁹ If you say, “The LORD is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling,
¹⁰ no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
¹¹ For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
¹² they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
¹³ You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

¹⁴ “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
¹⁵ He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
¹⁶ With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”

Is it Harvest Time???

For over a month now, I have been wanting to get the seeds out of the pumpkins to bake them on up! Has it happened until now??? Nope! It took Thanksgiving being this week to get it done! But we did it! Carson was AMAZING! He got all the seeds out of the two little ones that we are going to make into pies, and I emptied the large one to carve it up! And he also scraped them out and got as much stringy, slimy stuff out as he could. He did great! And then I made sweet and salty pumpkin seeds! YUM!



Here is the lovely carved pumpkin! Carson loved it, which eased my concern of it not being good enough, so that warmed my heart! So cheesy, I know!


Here is the wonderful flannel blanket that Kristin made for me! My size, cozy, adorable blanket! YAY! Happy birthday to me! :) Thanks Kristin!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Have a great fun day!!!

Love ya.

A little bit obsessed.

Look how lovely this style is?!

Here are a bunch of other lovely hair styles too!

And the new way to curl your hair!? RIGHT HERE! Here is another spot that shows pictures of the sock curling.

Pretty neat stuff out there!

Aloha.

Dryer Fun & A Harvest-Full Walk

Yesterday Carson was somewhere in the house, and while he was gone, Gabe did a little hiding! Carson would say, Gabe where are you, and then we would hear Gabe say something...Carson kept going from the laundry room/garage door and back to the bedrooms. He couldn't find him anywhere! So, finally I joined it and we found him! In the DYER!


Carson wanted a turn and was in there about as long as I had the camera up taking this picture. He didn't like it much!

This morning, my mom, Carson, Gabe and I walked to the Library for story time. I rode the scooter, Carson his bike, Gabe in the stroller and Grandma pushing the stroller. On the way there, it was little hard because it was up hill mostly, and Carson wasn't wanting to ride. We were bookin' it on the down/flat part of the way home though. It was a blast!

We found come chestnuts on the ground and piled up Gabe's hat with the nuts and the very poky outer layers. We have no idea what to do with them, but boy are they lovely!!! Then we came across some apples that were on the ground and grabbed those for the horses.

The outer part of the nut doesn't look like pretty. And it doesn't feel pretty either.

The inside is just lovely though!

***IMPORTANT*** These chestnuts are the poisonous ones! They CAN NOT be eaten!!! See link for detailed info!!!

Apples for the horses.

AlohA.

25 Ways!

HERE is a link to view 25 ways to wear a scarf! Love the creativity!!!

Church now, Appreciated Later

For about the last month or so, I have been going to Ashland Christian Fellowship for worship on Wednesday nights. On a side note, there are some people who prepare dinner for anyone who wants to eat before the Wednesday night 6:30 service. I gotta say thanks to them, because they are blessing us with the ease of getting to church earlier, and getting dinner in our bellies! And I don't know about you, but I love it when food is prepared for me and my fam! :)

While the boys and I were looking for Grandma, a gal that knows me from growing up in church said, "you look so happy! And you are doing such a great job. And in about 20 years, there will be two gals that are very thankful for what you are doing." (Meaning, getting my family and I out the door will not only benefit us now, but benefit two gals that Carson and Gabe will meet one day). That really blessed me. Things like that aren't often voiced, or spoken about.

I know we (or maybe I should just speak for myself) can get really carried away with things in our daily lives. Laundry, dishes, projects, work, exercise, the list can go on and on. Some days just trying to get through the day seems like a miracle in and of it's self. To think about what I am teaching my boys now, and how it will affect their whole life and the gal's that they end up marrying is a bit on the huge side! But, it is something that I rarely think about. So, thank you for the reminder (*gal that I saw while I was growing up at ACF, whose name I should know*) that all this hard work, of getting the boys to church on Sundays, and to AWANA and to Wed. night worship, is going to pay off and be meaningful, not only now, but a ways down the road as well.

I pray you and your family are healthy, well and happy! Enjoy your autumn, Christmas will be here in less than 2 months!

Aloha.

Pumpkin Patch!!!

We went to one of the local pumpkin patches today! We had a "hay" of a good time!

We went on a tractor hay ride and wheelbarrow ride, the boys rode ponies, sat on pumpkins, ate lunch, and climbed, rolled, jumped and threw hay at the hill of hay! We had a blast of a good time.

Hope you are enjoying your season of harvest

AloHa!

Puggle and Cubbie

On 10.2.11 we headed to AWANA for the first evening celebration. Gabe is now a Puggle and Carson is in his last year of being a Cubbie! We had a great BBQ, and lots of jump time on the big dragon jump house! The boys had an absolute blast!!!




I love this AWANA program and all of the staff. I know they are so busy with their own families, kids, school, work and yet they still take time out of their week to work with my kids. It is greatly appreciated!

AloHa.

Family Time

On Wednesday, Debbie and my sister, Zapata, came up from Yreka to

celebrate my moms birthday.

We headed to a play ground, had a picnic lunch of Big Town Hero and Bento. We thought it was going to be a lot sunnier than it was, but we had a great time! After we got the boys down for their naps, we chatted and just relaxed with each other which we haven't done for a long time!

It was great to see them! I am a very proud big sis! I love my little Z.Z! Carson kept saying "Auntie Zapata and Deborah are coming!" I think he was a little confused with Debbie being called "Auntie" along with Z. He loves his Aunties and Uncle Guy too (even though he didn't make it up with them).

Thanks for coming up ladies! Love ya bunches!

Aloha.

Sweet Baby Logan!

Happy 1st birthday to Logan! We love you and are so sad we can't be with you to celebrate!
You are ADorAble!!!
Love you Cuz's!

Random Sound

Our nephew, Cole, has been part of this band for about 3~4 years now. Random Sound played Saturday night at the OSF for the Green Show. They even played some original songs
for the crowd!

We haven't made it to many of their shows, for no particular reason, but I really enjoyed myself!
I am a very proud Auntie!
Keep up the great work boys! You guys are doing a really good job!

AloHa.

Pictures

If you would like to see our August pictures, click HERE!

Aloha!

July Pictures

HERE is the link to see July pictures. Guess I kinda forgot about i! :)

She's a NiNer!

Right about now, 9 years ago, I was standing behind some tress with my mom and two of my besties, waiting to walk down the isle in Lithia Park. I am so amazed that 9 years have gone by!?!



Last night Trever and I were talking about our anniversary and he said, "I am more in love with you now then I was then!" And amazingly it is true for the both of us! Love is very powerful action. I am so thankful to not rely on my emotions from day to day that can change.

As we all know, 1st comes LOVE...



...Then comes marriage...

8.31.2002

...Then comes babies!

Baby Carson (born in 2006) and baby Gabe (born in 2009).

Our Family.

8.31.11

Praise the Lord for a wonderful husband, and with that a wonderful family!

AloHA!

Gabe's Little Arm

8.20.11

This Week and Boys Clothes-are there any?

This week has been kinda busy for us!

Wednesday my mom, the boys and I drove up to Lake of the Woods to enjoy some fresh mountain air and water! It was so great! On the way there we saw "Mountain Cows." If you are anything like my husband, you might be wondering what those are? They are cows that are in the open range area walking all around. We saw a baby cow walking down the middle of the road, and the mama waiting for it on the side of the road. Then we went a little farther and there was a cow pie in the road so I thought we might be seeing some more. There was a whole family! A dad, children, mom, and maybe even cousins or grandparents. They even mooed at us and we stopped, rolled down the windows, and checked them all out.

While we were driving we also saw a bunch of chipmunks, and a couple of deer. Once we got there, two jets flew over pretty low! We were very excited to say the least. There was a duck we were feeding that enjoyed some of our chips, my mom and the boys saw a couple of fish. It was a very eventful morning!

Carson loved being in the water! I pulled Carson and Gabe around for a while.
After lunch Carson pulled me around and then Gabe joined us too!

On Thursday Trev, the boys and I went to Emigrant Lake for the morning. It was so nice! There barely any boats coming in or out of the lake. Carson and Gabe got to take a close look at the Sheriff's boat and were given two coupons for free ice cream cones at Dairy Queen for wearing their life jackets in the water. We played with rocks, shovels/buckets, and some water floaties. Trev and the boys walked to one of the boat docks and used the boat ramp to get in the water. I joined them for a little dip also.

Last night Carson, my mom and I went to Medford to do some shopping for a wedding we are going to next weekend. We started off at Kids to Kids for some shoes and 5t pants. There was one pair of khaki pants that were torn up and stained. We decided to pass on those and find some at TJ Maxx, Ross, or Target. Ross had jeans. That is all. Tj's had about 2 items of boy things and tons of girl clothing racks. Target was our next bet. We found a pair there, that are cute and will last for a couple of years, unless Carson has a HUGE growth spurt. I found myself getting more and more frustrated with every store we went to and every store having mostly girl clothing! There are boys in this world people, they need clothing too!!!

This morning my mom and I went to about 8 yard sales. Haven't done yard sales in years! I was on the hunt for a pair of needle nose pliers. At the second sale that specified "tools," I asked if they had any and the gentleman said "no, but if you have a minute I can see if I have an extra pair." He found a pair and sold them to me for $1! I was very excited! I got a couple other things too. Earrings, a couple shirts, a brand new hot/cold reusable little lunch box, oh and a Razor scooter! It is larger than the one we have, folds in half (I know most do, but the one we have doesn't work right) and even has shocks!

Then Trev, myself and the boys went up to the FREEZING cold reservoir today to play and have a picnic for lunch! The water was so cold!

What has your week been like? Enjoying the end of your summer (even though it feels like it just got here?)?


Aloha!

I was Reminded Again!!!

I write this with an attitude of appreciation, thankfulness and awe at how awesome the Lord is!

I feel like more often than not, I am not very good at appreciating what I have been given and being thankful for what I have.

Why do I struggle with with that so much? Why can't I be thankful every second of every day?! WHY? :)

A light bulb went off in my head today when I was thinking about some family and friends who are going through some very tough things right now. I know things can be hard for me at times, but I think there are always people going through harder things than my current situation.

I have a friend who on Facebook has what she calls "Thankful Thursdays." She posts something that she is thankful for that day, and asks others what they are thankful for. I usually read over what people say, but lately I haven't wanted to participate or really think about and truly be thankful for something in my life. It is what you could call a bad attitude. ;) I am sure no one else has ever experienced that, huh???

But really, with all that said, we do need to be thankful. I need to be thankful!

The Lord is so great and so full of compassion and patience! How amazing it is for me to realize these things and know that my Lord still loves me, cares for me, directs me and guides me even though I make silly decisions about not being thankful for what I have been given.

Things I am thankful for right now...just to show a few, in no particular order...

AWANA. The program and all the leaders/helpers that aren't all shown here.

My family and surviving the 4th of July run. :)

My 2 besties and our best-cation ever!

Meeting Kiowa Gordon and Tinsel Korey.

Family. And all of my family that isn't pictured here as well.

My two little busy, active, creative, feisty, adorable, smart, independent boys.

Reconnecting with a childhood friend and her adorable baby Kai!

Thank you for listening to me! I hope this encourages you to be thankful. ;)

Aloha.

Yreka Fair

Yesterday we headed down to the fair. We had a great time! Ate yummy food, saw crazy animals, made a new bunny friend and got really hot and tired.

HERE is the link to see the rest of the pictures!

Hope you are having a great summer!

Aloha.