So Thankful ...

... for so many things.


For God.


For a beautiful and loving ...

For daughters Hannah, Makaela and the best husband, Joel.

For wonderful friends.

For health.

For food on the table.

For a job.

For the ability to buy a new home.

For a roof over our head when in between homes (thanks Dad).

For the chance to wake up each day and decide to become a better person.

For my dog, Buddy.

For lessons learned.

For lessons to be learned.

For perspective.

For laughter.

For tears.

For emotions.

For choice.

For freedom.

For a military who serves to protect that freedom.

For creative talent that directs me to the theraputic hobby of scrapbooking.

For you who take a small interest in my life by reading this blog.

Happy Thanksgiving. May you be as blessed as I am and may you have the power to recognize your blessings.

That "FAMILY" project was designed by Cindy Farbach. I LOVE it. It was a class she taught a couple of weeks ago at SGT. I can't stop staring at it. The colors are so me and I just know it will bring me great inspiration.

Quick Update!

I know I know. I have been terrible about blogging. And I totally miss it. It's kind of hard here at my dad's to get on the computer and really devote a large amount of time to it. Gotta make sure the kids aren't destroying Papa's house or disrupting them by making too much noise. Gotta make sure I am not hogging the computer. I do have to share with my dad, his wife, and of course hubby Joel. Then there's just every day life not to mention a cold that has worked its way through all of us now. Groan! Oh and I recently discovered Facebook and have been spending some time there reconnecting with long lost friends. Pretty cool but can be addicting.

So anyways, what's up with me? Well I am sure I mentioned we sold our house and were officially out of it in late October. Began the house hunting process and am pleased to announce we are in escrow on a lovely home in Chino Hills. We're essentially doubling the size our home!!! Sadly we're sacrificing the yard, but we'll be in a great neighborhood with a huge park that's a 2 minute walk up from our house. It's also a huge walking neighborhood, so we've promised to get Buddy dog out often for walks. Here's a pic of the front. I'll post more and tell the VERY interesting story behind this house once escrow has closed. Don't want to jinx it too much. It's not mine yet.

Did you vote?

So I am about to step out the door to go vote. I am dragging my poor, unsuspecting girls with me. Please Lord let me make it through this task!

I hope that you all will vote. I feel it's such an important thing to do. Do I like the chore of actually doing it? Heck no! But I will. Because as I heard someone commenting on NFL Football of all things, "It's your duty and your privilege." I think back to how hard people fought and worked so that I, a woman, could vote. And those who fought so that my husband, a Filipino man, could vote.

I wish I could say I felt more confident in my choices of what I am voting for. Or maybe I wish I had better choices. Nonetheless, they are what they are. I feel like I can't bitch and complain about anything if I didn't take a few hours out of my day to vote on the direction I hope my country will go in. We all have a voice. My theory is that if we could get this lazy nation of ours to show up in numbers of 90% or more to vote, the politicians would not be able to lie to us anymore. They would have to be accountable because if not, then the next election, 90% of the population would show up to vote them out of office. I think Americans have NO idea what power we could have if we all got out and voiced our wants throug voting. People argue, that we don't want "all those idiots" voting. Well I will admit that there are people that understand the issues of this election a LOT more than I do, but am I an idiot for going out and performing my civic duty? I think not!

So I encourage you to vote today. I don't care who you vote for, but use the power of your voice that our democracy allows us. And don't use the old "I don't know where my polling location is", or "I didn't receive a sample ballot" as an excuse not to. I didn't receive a sample ballot and am going to have to go through the extra rigmarole to get them to allow me to vote.

Happy Election Day!

I know I am late ... what else is new?

Finally the Halloween pictures!

Makaela, the mermaid ...

Hannah the dragon (she wasn't feeling very well)...

A happy mermaid ...

Sisters in costume ...

Ready to hit the streets for candy ...
The mermaid couldn't hang while trick-or-treating ...

Hannah and a "fat car" (fast car) ...

I hope your Halloween was as wonderful as ours. Now on to Thanksgiving!