A vacation to remember!

My mom booked a suite at the Marriott Villas in Newport Beach for an entire week and was so nice to invite us to tag along for the weekend! Here is a little recap of how our weekend played out.... We arrived on Friday evening and were in absolute awe of the property! The suite was along side the sea and had balcony doors that opened up to a panoramic view of the ocean!
We started off on Saturday morning heading out to Balboa Island. We took a boat tour of the ritzy upscale Island and or guide showed us famous celebrity homes, the set from Gilligan's Island and a whole bunch of sea lions!

Afterwards we headed to Newport Beach Pier where the kids explored the beach and I had a good ole time taking pictures!


Sunday morning it was off to Disneyland where the girls had an absolute blast on the rides, meeting their favorite Disney characters and watching the Disney parade.


On Monday morning we woke up to a delicious breakfast prepared by my Mom and Bill! Then it was time to say goodbye and head back home...

Mom if you're reading this I love you... I'm thankful for the time we got to spend together and I'm so blessed to be your one and only daughter to have you all to myself! Oh and Bill... Even though you ate my dinner at Joe's Crab Shack and almost got us lost (yes, even with a GPS) you are still alright in my book and it is nice to see my mom so happy with you... Thank you both for a memorable vacation!

"Dessert Rats"

Where should I begin... Well this past Saturday evening Oscar spontaneously decided to call up some friends and head out to Butcher Jones. I was a bit hesitant at first but decided to take a walk on the wild side! So we followed some friends down to Saguaro lake... Once we got off the main road the fun began... What Oscar failed to mention was how extremely rough the terrain was to get to this special place! Angela and I got a bit car sick on the way but managed to keep our cool. Oh! Did I mention the steep hill/mountains that we had to get up in order to reach our destination! This was quite interesting as we had one truck that was not 4X4! After several attempts we all made it up and into the cove. It was quite the spot actually and I see why so much effort goes into getting there. The kids fished and although they never caught anything they didn't seem to mind. Especially Simon... He kept yelling "I got a fish!" but each time it was just his line stuck! Oscar caught a small catfish, the kids roasted mega-marshmallows and Alisha made smores. The night came to a halt when just after midnight my brother mentioned his wife had to be at work at 6AM. So we packed up camp and then my hubby realized his key were missing! He and Manny went on a search mission in hopes of finding them... After almost an hour of waiting in the truck I stumbled upon them under the visor! Hallelujah! This was great news.. Especially when you have a truck full of kids and a Mia... On the way home my dog got car sick and threw up on my sister-in law (I'm thinking she won't be hanging out with us for a while after this trip!)*Natalie if you are reading this, you are such a trooper! I have to give you props for going to work after being thrown up on and only 1 hour of sleep!
All in all it was a night that won't soon be forgotten!

Mia and fire... Not a good pair.

"Little fishers in training"

Oscar setting the catfish free.

"Three Musketeers and Lucky"

Brian & Nat... pre-dog-trauma!

- WANTED -

Mia came home with this from school last week and I thought it was hilarious! She is only in Kindergarten so allow me to translate...
Name: Mia Contreras
Alias: "Cookie"
Wanted For: Eating Cookies
Reward: $10

This is so true... She's always getting busted for sneaking cookies!

As You Wish

Yesterday I received a coupon from "As you wish" good for free paint time and 50% off your choice of pottery! If you've ever been there then you know this is a smokin deal!!! So after I picked the girls up from school I told them I had a surprise for them and made them close their eyes all the way till we stepped foot in the studio... When they opened their eyes they were pleasantly surprised... Mia not so much as she kept peeking and pretty much knew where we were! Any who here are some Pict's of our special "Girls Night Out".



Mataya did an excellent job painting her Volkswagen bug.

Mia painted a Cat/Chihuahua... Still not sure which one it is???

Highlight of my day... uhmm... week!

So I'm VERY excited about my new favorite place to buy produce, Superstition Ranch Market!!! OK so I am probably just a little too excited about this... but what can I say... When your married with 2 kids all at the ripe age of 26 things like this excite you! OK enough defending myself... Apparently this place has been around for like forever but I'm just now being acquainted with it, thanks to some of my girlfriends who let me in on the secret... I headed over this evening right before 7 PM and grabbed as many things that I could throw in my cart before they closed! Here are some of my sweet deals...

Pineapple $1.29 each, Organic Celery 50 cents a bag, Jalapenos 33 cents a pound, Zucchini 3 for $1.00, Asparagus 67 cents a pound, Spaghetti Squash 33 cents a pound... and... my best buy... Strawberry's THREE 1 lb. clams for $1.00!!!! Whoop Whoop!

I can't wait to eat me some fried zucchini and chocolate dipped strawberry's!!!

I'm Back!!!

So it has been a while since my last post... All thanks to a nasty flu that had us all thinking we were dieing! Or at least Mataya and I.. Oscar and Mia are so tough it didn't even faze them! Mia would be running around all wild... then suddenly she'd say, "Oh, I have to throw up." Then immediately she'd be back to bouncing off the walls??? So with that being said I have some catching up to do...

Last Saturday the girls and I were on a mission to get some bargains! We started out at Scrapbook Etc's annual yard sale and scored some major goodies! I found a letter "E" for just 50 cents and had to pick it up for my Bloggin-Buddie Sis. E!
Then it was off to Goodwill's 50% off sale where I found Mia a beautiful bright yellow embroidered mu-mu perfect for lounging in and all for just $1.00! I also stumbled upon some items for the house... A black metal basket for $1.50! Perfect for storing some of my scrap-books! A sweet deal on a metal wall clock! To my delight the battery was included and the clock was still ticking! I paid a whopping $2.00!!! Last we made our way to "Once Upon a Child" where Taya picked up a brand new denim top for $1.50 and a matching paisley skirt for just $4.50! At the end of the day we had several new treasures and only ended up spending about $20.00! Don't ya just heart days like this!!! :o)