We are still alive!!!!

Hello everyone!!!! I'm so excited to be back blogging again. It's been 4 months since my last post- I can't believe it!!!

Anyway, I realize that I left ya'll hanging on my last post so here's to an update and hopefully more regular posts from here on out!!!

YES, we did actually move! It was really difficult to leave, we were really enjoying the neighborhood and the ward and the good friends the kids were making. We were not enjoying all the little problems that started showing up in the house. All in all, it worked out to be a blessing for us.

Avery enjoying some chocolate milk on one of the only seats left in the old house!

This is our current house! I say current because this will be a temporary landing spot for us while we look for lots or until we find a house with everything that we are looking for.

David and Avery are getting so big and they are great helpers, they love to help me paint or in this case distress a piece of furniture that has been in the family for a long time.

Avery is getting to be a pro on her scooter, she has loved being able to take it outside and ride up and down the street. She also continues to impress us with her fashion choices- gotta love those snowboots in the spring!!

Our street has a slight incline and Alex and his cousins love to ride down the street on their longboards, scooters, and ripsticks. There is a neighbor dog that isn't so nice that chases them sometimes, but I'm to scared to stay outside and try to get a picture of it- It is scary but really so hilarious!

We sold our old Orem house- we were really happy to get close to what we wanted out of it and are so grateful that we are done taking care of multiple houses!!!!

We celebrated our 14th Anniversary in March- no pictures or fun things because we were all sick! It's okay we look the same as we always do!!!

Alex turned 11 on April 1st. He only wanted an Ipod touch so after he had earned half the money we pitched in the rest and gave it to him for his birthday gift!!!! We wrapped up a fake toy Ipod and gave it to him before he left for school, he was confused but I think he was catching on that there was something more for him. He wanted to eat Filet Mignon at home so we stayed here and had a little celebration. It was fun and he was super excited to get his Ipod Touch!


Eli turned 8 on April 7th. He was a little upset that he didn't get a MP3 player that Alex had convinced him that he "needed", but we got him lots of fun toys and action figures that he loves to play with. He wanted to eat at Brick Oven so we had dinner there and then cake when we got back home.

Manuel's niece had a baby, his name is Joshua and Little Miss Avery is in heaven!!!!!!

Manuel and I went for a weekend to Colorado- shocking, yes I know! It was really fun to have some alone time away from the kids and we loved seeing all our old friends in Louisville. It was raining when we flew in and by mid-afternoon they had started to cancel flights and close roads because of the snow. We made it to our hotel and pretty much had to hang out there for Friday and a good portion of Saturday.

Even with the snow, we wouldn't have missed meeting Trish and Gerry (and Kyle) for dinner. They actually bought dinner for us which was not part of the plan. Now they need to come here so we can treat them to dinner!!! HINT HINT!!! We'd still love to meet you in MOAB, Mapquest says it is 5 hours and 47 minutes from Louisville!!

Thanks again guys it was great to catch up!!!

Okay so I think that catches me up through April so for now we'll leave you with.....

TO BE CONTINUED...................................................

Busy Thoughts!

I know everyone is busy, but somehow you WONDER WOMEN seem to find time to

download your photos and write fun little posts that I so enjoy reading. So I guess this is a "confessional" of sorts.

I am a blog reader and not the blog writer that I thought I would be.

I just can't find time to do both.

I think updating every month is more my style! Someday:

I'll have a food blog,

I'll workout everyday,

My house will actually stay clean,

I'll have an art studio where I can sit in the sunlight and be creative,

but for right now I am a Mom. That is my main focus and everything else must WAIT!!!!!

I'm still WONDER WOMAN, I just won't be wearing that little outfit anytime soon!!!

So, until I get the "blogging bug" back again, please know that I love to read your blogs and hear about your fabulously exciting lives!

P.S. We are probably moving soon, our house is having structural "issues" that we are not comfortable with so we are probably going to rent somewhere for a little while till we can find another home that we love!!! Call me if you want more details, we haven't told the kids yet so keep it on the down low for a little longer. I'll give you contact info once I know a little more!!!!! UGGGHHH!!!

Catch Up!

I have good reasons for not blogging lately, here are a few of them......

Ahh, the deliciousness of this time of year!!!! We have been doing some baking and enjoying all the fun treats and time in the kitchen. The kids are turning into great little sous chefs!

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Pumpkin Bread

we sprinkled raw sugar on the top and it gave it a delightful extra layer of goodness!

We have done a few arts and crafts projects- anything to keep the kiddos busy and happy while it's freezing outside!

David and Will and Avery(those are her fingers on the bottom left) having a blast using up all my old Christmas die cuts!
Avery painting a birdhouse that Manuel put together for her. That is serious talent to paint with 2 paintbrushes;)

We have been doing some decorating, these are a few of my favorite projects. Still lots to do but we are making progress!


This makes me smile everytime I look at it!!!!

We spent some time with Grandpa in town over Thanksgiving.

The highlight of the visit was putting fire crackers in the apples in the backyard and blowing them up.


Eli flexed his muscles with Santa!
Alex had a singing performance at the tree lighting ceremony at Zions Bank where Santa made an appearance. All the pictures of Alex had another boys head in the way- sorry Alex!!!

Manuel had a Birthday- He is 41-yikes;). I'd list 41 reasons why I love him but he never reads this so I think I'll just give him 41 kisses instead!!!!
We decorated the tree and listened to Christmas music!!!!!

We have been enjoying our generous helping of snow, every few days!
Snow boot requests have been added to everyone's Christmas lists- Is it too late to make requests??

We have tried to take SEVERAL pictures of the kids for a christmas card, all in various locations, (the couch was a last resort) This one is in the running for the BEST PHOTO!!!!! I'm planning to keep trying so if you see a Christmas card anytime between now and Valentines Day, consider yourself lucky!
We spent 1 evening at David's preschool for the annual holiday concert. Seriously don't let this picture deceive you, this is the only second that he actually sang. I'll try to download the video clips that I have. It is one of the best concerts in Yanguez family history!!!!

Happy Holidays!

Love the Yanguez Family!!!!!

Congratulations!

Congrats are in order for the youngest member of our family... Avery is finally potty trained!

(I am so happy to not have to add diapers to my grocery list anymore!)

Weekends

There are many Saturdays that get filled up with errands and all the nonsense that life throws at me, but last Saturday was different. We had a LAZY day!!!!! This means no trips to the grocery store, no laundry, no cleaning! What this also means is that I could actually revisit my days before I had children who needed me. This means that DAD is home and he can put out fires, make lunch and holler at the children to put their shoes on and close the door as they bolt for the backyard. This means that my deep yearning to create something or do something crafty may actually be satisfied. Could I really get a project started and finished in one day?

It was a longshot but I was optimistic and willing to give it a try just to please my creative soul.

The old piano in my front room has been begging me to make it pretty again, and I knew I could restore it, if only I could find the time. I guess this is THE TIME!!!

I've mentioned before this piano that my grandma so kindly gave to me. It has a story, like so many things in our lives do. While all its dents and scratches hinted to how long it has been around and to how many behinds have sat on it's bench, I knew it could look better, I knew it could look as good as it sounds. I knew it could be restored to pretty close to what it looked like when my sweet grandma returned from her LDS mission in 1947 and purchased it for $800.00. I knew that it was my turn to add my chapter to this pianos long and wonderful journey. You see, this piano is a treasure to me even though I can't even play it! Someday I WILL play it!

The Bench BEFORE

The Bench AFTER

This is the last corner. The part on the left is already done- so much better!

The above 2 are both AFTER pictures, It looks so awesome that it needed 2 pictures

Laughed so hard... I cried!

I hope I can re-tell this and have it be as funny as when Manuel told me.

Manuel received a calling during the summer to work with the 12 year old boy scouts. He meets weekly with them and then camping trips once in a while. So the other day Manuel gets an email about a meeting on thursday night that he needs to attend. Well, Thursday night is sort of when he plays basketball and more recently it's also become chess night. So he crossed the chess game off his list and went to the meeting in his clothes for basketball.

He walks into a room full of very serious scouting men and women, they are decked out in more scout paraphenelia than he has ever seen and they seem to be all older than him. He takes a seat and they start talking and presenting people with various neckerchifs (sp) and awards . Two men suddenly stand up and start singing a song something along these lines...

"We are the Owls, we are the Owls" Complete with shoulder movements up and down

"We are the Owls, we are looking for something that we just don't know" At least this is what Manuel is hearing. He said he turned his head sideways and raised his eyebrows.

The men sit down and they keep talking when another set of men stand up and start singing...

"We are the Beavers, We are the Beavers"

"We are the Beavers, we are looking for something that we just don't know"

"What in the world is this" (in Manuel's voice it is so hilarious), He is thinking

So they finish the program and an older gentleman approaches Manuel and asks if he is new here.

"Uh, yeah I'm new here" says Manuel

The old man says" Well welcome to the Brotherhood of the Beaver" he moves his face a little closer to Manuel and he puts his 2 front teeth out and makes a beaver noise.

"OMG, I have to get out of here" Manuel says to himself

He excuses himself to use the bathroom and puts those basketball shoes to good use as he BOLTS out of the church.

Whew!!! A deep sigh of relief and a fear that he won't soon forget..... The Brotherhood of the Beaver!!!!!

Autumn Fun

It's definitely a busy time of year, but OH SO FUN!!!

This is our trip to the Corn Maze at Thanksgiving Point. We went a few days before Halloween and it was pleasantly on the warm side. Yes, I know Avery's hair is a mess, she took out her barettes!

Alex, Eli and JT trying to decide which way to go.

My cousin Ben got married the day before Halloween so Avery and I went to the reception at Wheeler Farm, it was good to see family that we don't see too often. But the best part was

when sweet little Thomas actually asked Avery to dance. She was a little unsure at first but they got it down! Such a cute little moment!

Halloween!!!!!

I don't know what else to say, we had a fabulous night. We had MUMMIES for dinner and the older boys went trick or treating (before I got the camera out) with their friends from the neighborhood and their cousins. They scored BIG in the candy dept, which I have since had to hide from them, oops I mean myself;).

This is my "Pottery Barn catalog" photo from Halloween. They seriously are so cute at this age!!

We have been raking leaves, they are

NEVER-ENDING around here! But the kids have had NEVER-ENDING fun hiding in them. They love to play "Ghosts in the Graveyard"! (This is a VERY small sampling of all the leaves!)







I did some Fall-ish decorating! I know it's funny for those of you who have been to my house. I have hardly decorated the regular parts of my house (I really am working on it, just indecisive and BUSY), but the leaves falling outside made me want to celebrate the season and put some of my holiday decor out where it could actually be enjoyed.

My goal is to have made some serious decorating "headway" before the end of this month. I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

Have a Fabulous week, I think we only have 2 1/2 weeks to Thanksgiving!!!