Family Get Together

On a Sundy afternoon...

Michelle and Nichole looking pretty and I believe hungry.
There is nothing like spending a Sunday in the company of your kids and grand kids, this blog doesn't really have a theme but if you look in the archives you will see that it has always focus on family and family life, and yes, mine in particular. I am pleased to see that we always pull through the adversities life may throw at us and we do so with unity, hope, and love, and lots of it.

That be me and Nikki. The pizza was just a hold me down until the real food was ready

During these past two years my little family has experienced many changes and little by little we are adapting to them, for a little while there I felt like we were all heading in different directions as part of the changes as well as the growth of the individual families, at times we all seem to just plain struggle but we are all making it one way or another.

When adversity comes knocking I am always amazed to see how fast my kids round up together and unite and start helping one another, this gives me a great sense of pride and to some point of accomplishment. My son is going through a rough time in his life and again not only my daughters but also my two son's in law have been there for him and it is so nice to see how he is thanking each one of us just by showing us some very positive changes. Yes, in this case actions are louder than words.

Michelle and El Daddy~O.
So for three Sundays in a row we have gotten together as a family and just enjoy each other's company weather by cooking or watching the football games, but mostly cooing, but as I told them, next week you're all on your own because this kid here will be making his first trip of the year to good ol' crowded Southern California, specifically the La Puente area.

I rock when it comes to cooking, today I prepared this finger licking good gallinita pivil.

Grand Kids

My family life continues to be very active, this blog has been mostly an account of our family life, our celebrations, our activities, vacations, etc. etc. We continue to be very active and the celebrations just keep piling up. We have so many that now we kindda have to pick and choose, otherwise it is just too exhausting.

Last Sunday after mass my son and daughter in law invited us to their house for a "just because" reunion. It was like bring a dish let's have a pot luck. So lots of us showed up and had a really good time. While I ate and ate, the kids were out swimming and playing on the play station.

Food, swimming, and games! If you ask me that is just a recipe for a good time. All my grand kids were there so since I always carry my camera with me I decided to make ME the center of attention and hire anyone around me to capture some pretty cool images.

I am lucky and blessed to be able to have all my kids and grand kids at the same place and the same time on any given moment. It kills me to read how so many of you out there only get to see yours once or twice a year.

So, anyway I just thought I share some of these images.

This is me with Brianna, my first grandkid. Not the oldest but the first.
This is me with Talyanna, my oldest grandchild.
And this is the self titled "La Princesa" Alayna. Alayna is my #5 grand child.

""From a little girl so very small, how and when did you get so tall?"" --- ~Karen Mortensen

Surrounded with love.

"Do you know why children are so full of energy? Because they suck it out of their grandparents" --
~ Gene Perret

My mom with Laila, the youngest of my grand kids.
This is my son and my #8 grandson Ramon. I know he doesn't look like a Ramon but he is. lol
This is Juanito, my #6 grand kid.

"Grandparents are there to help the child get into mischief they haven't thought of yet."
~ Gene Perret

Grandkids.
Atali.
Laila.
Me and my "duck".
Alayna, me, and Arielle.
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Memorial Day

So as you all know my camping trip was a success. I had so much fun and I loved the company soooo call me selfish but I want more. Therefore for the 4th of July 4-day weekend (what? yours is only three days, too bad, so sad) I am going to San Diego basically for the first time ever and will either go to Sea World and the San Diego Zoo or maybe just Sea World. One day for traveling and exploring, two days for Sea World my ticket supplier (Jen) can only get 2-day passes, and the last day for the beach (Jr. stop asking me to pronounce this word) and then traveling back to Phoenix, yeah that sounds like a plan. I am really looking forward to this trip so those of you that can afford it should plan to attend.

Since I have never been there, I need some pointers from those of you that have. What to see? What to expect? What is a must see at Sea World? What is a must see in San Diego?, Where to stay? Where to eat? What beach to visit? And so on, and so on.

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So Monday my daughter Nikki texts me first thing in the morning and asks:
Nikki: Daddy, are we doing anything today as a family?
Dad: I heard something about a carne asada.
Nikki: Really? I didn't
Dad: LOL that's cause I just made it up.
Nikki: Ja ja
Dad: So, set it up. Call everybody.
(Sorry huge family of mine, in this case everybody meant my big little nucleus)
Nikki: But I heard the sink in your house is busted. And Jen said we could do it at her house but they are having bathroom issues. Kika said maybe at Edgar's, but he said all spaces in his apartment were booked sooooo, Kika said her house it is.

So at about 1:00 p.m. we all started showing up. Carne Asada, rice, pasta soup, salsa, sodas, fruit, we had it all and we had a fantastic time together. the whole family showed up. I must be one heck of a lucky guy because all my 10 +1 grand kids were there. Even my cunado Mario was here from California, he got to see the whole family this time around.

Here are a few images captured during our get together:

My beautiful sister in law, and our gracious host.
My brother in law and I and a clown in the background.
Alex, Michelle, Nikki, and Loyiel.
Loyiel and Mario showing how it takes two to hug Juan.
Ariel just would not get away from me or let anyone get close to me.
My daughter in law dubbed this image "The Parking Lot".
Me, Juan, and Atalie.

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Fall Exhibit

So the day finally came, the exhibition took place but it almost went on without any spectators, however besides my mom, Elena, and Maryita whom got here almost on time which is rare for my beautiful sister, and Vane, Frank, and familia I did have a huge surprise when I came back from the store.

My dear blog friend Betty of "Life is Good" and her husband Paul showed up. Betty and I met just a little over a year ago through another of my dear blogger friends ChrisJ of "Flamblogger" blog.

Betty and I smiling because we finally met.
Betty is the only blogger other than my family that lives in Arizona and not only does she live in my state but she lives in the town next to ours. I'd say she only lives about 20 minutes away and yet it took us a little over a year to finally meet. With that said, to say that I was surprised and happy to finally meet her is an understatement.

Michelle, Nichole, and Cindi also showed up but only briefly because they were in the middle of an important celebration for them. Michelle and Nikki's mother in law had a surprised 50th birthday party and they had to be there.

One of the things I always do when having an exhibition is to present the host with a frame, since this one was being hosted by me I decided to present my mom with a frame that a while back she mentioned she would love to have. She had a picture of my grandfather (my dad's father) that my dad took over 20 years ago during one of his trips back to Mexico hanging by her little breakfast nook and somehow the frame gave up and fell. She had put it away but mentioned to me that she would like to put it back on the wall.

However, she said that she would like it even better if the picture was a little bit bigger, so I took her original (which I'm now keeping) and had it enlarged to an 11 X 14 then placed it in a black frame. Because the original picture was so old most of the colors were gone, we did enhance the image through picazza but in the end I opted for the original faded look. To complement the yellowish color of the print I bought a nice light green mat that in my opinion brought the image back to life. I was pleased and happy with it but most importantly so was she.

Mom, this is for you.
She loved it!
After receiving all the phone calls with cancellations I decided to just go and get some Mexican bread so we could have cafesito con pan. Mi chica also broke down some garlic snacks topped with Mexican cheese, ummm que rico! If you don't believe me go ahead and ask Ariel.

Grandpa keep the cookies coming and I'll say I love all your frames.
Here are a few more images from the night.

Betty getting ready to take a lot of pictures.
Sisters! My princesses Marya and Vane.
Grandma, her granddaugher, and great grandkids posing happily for this shot. OK, Emma did fall asleep but was probably still happy.
So, what to do now? I know let's karaoke. We sang (OK mostly me) for the next hour or so and then we called it a night.

We said goodbye and procceded to start cleaning. While mi chica swept I put all the frames away. Doing all this work woke up my appetite and I for some reason craved "chilaquiles". Mi chica said let's go to the store to get what we need. Ummm wow! Almost at midnight I was enjoying the best "chilaquiles" in town. And with that our night came to a close.

Awesome chilaquiles.

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Memorial Weekend

Well the idea was to have a relaxing weekend and I did just that. Since I decided to take Friday my weekend turned into a four day weekend and that was just fine by me. No trips to L.A. this year just stayed home and relaxed.

On Sunday we invited our kids to come over for a carne asada, so my son, my two daughters, the three in-laws and all seven grand kiddoes came over. It was a nice hot sunny day and the pool was the place to be. So while they all swam, I grilled some of the most delicious carne asada and chicken, which together with my special salsa, the rice, the pico de gallo, and grilled onions kept us asking for more.

For a good family gathering you can never go wrong with carne asada. To prove it here are some images of said fun gathering.


The kids working up an appetite by swimming all afternoon. My son there at the right acting as the life guard.



And as usual the kids at heart always make sure they entertain the little kids. Here's my son in law making a splash via a cannon bomb.


Oh, but we must take a brake from swimming to enjoy a nice cold icicle.


A few more cannon bombs from the big...


And the small.


And to close it all out, I captured this beautiful sunset, it's so nice to have our backyard facing west.

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