Lake Fun

Today our family headed over to Millerton Lake for the first time as a family, and for me, the first time in my 30 years of living in Fresno! Yes I know, crazy! The weather was in the upper 90's, so not too bad for Central Cali. This was an Elder's Quorum activity so we had access to two boats and toys, this was an added bonus, since we don't own a boat. So, Max, Jesse and Michael headed out on one of the boats right after lunch and I stayed behind due to 1. the boat was full and 2. I didn't think my stomach could handle the waves. Max and Jesse strapped on some life jackets and Michael hopped on to a floatation device/water toy for a ride. He had a blast, even Max and Jesse gave it a try. They came back with big smiles on their faces, then headed out a little while later on the second boat, and this time I went, ***CAUTION** those with squimish stomaches should not read this part, so after a few rocks of the boat, swirves for the enjoyment of those who were trailing in the water, I got nauseous and I tossed my lunch over the side of the boat and fed the fish in Millerton Lake. ** SAFE TO READ** It's probably safe to say that there are no cruises in my future unless I am heavily sedated or covered in anti-nausea patches :) We stayed longer than any of us planned, but all had fun, even me. I enjoy getting out with the family, where we all have fun, and today we got to try new things thanks to some nice people in our ward. We told ourselves we need to do this again. Here are some pics from our day on the lake.

Pioneer Spirit

Today was Pioneer Day for our Stake and the kids had fun doing all of the various activities. There was cotton candy, Max and Jesse had some for the first time, a dunk tank (Max and Jesse both got to try to dunk Damien and they succeeded), there was kettle corn, a yummy pancake breakfast, and waterslides. All three participated in the parade. Thanks to some research my family has done, I was able to include a little bit of family history info. on our entry to the Primary Children's parade. It was so neat to read about my family's history and that I had ancestors that were pioneers and traveled to the Salt Lake Valley. Another of my ancestors on my mother's side Daniel Garn, was an amazing man, while reading through some of the history about him I found out that he was one of the first to be baptized into the Church in the year 1830. He was baptized by Hyrum Smith and confirmed by Peter Whitmer. Some of the other things I learned was that he was a warden of the Utah State Territorial Penitentiary (must have been a tough guy, but had a strong testimony), opened the first Mormon Church in Hamburg, Germany, lead 484 emigrants, and converts across the plains to Utah, he was married and sealed by Brigham Young, and served for a time as Joseph Smith's bodyguard. Soo amazing! His story as well as the many unwritten stories of my ancestors. So today we celebrated our heritage, and what a wonderful one we have, I look forward to meeting these courageous individuals some day. Wonder what my posterity will say about me?

Here's Michael and I in the photo booth that they had at Pioneer day. I think the pics came out good. Michael said while looking at the pictures, "We adore eachother." I think so :)

Damien was barefoot in the parade, like some Pioneers probably were along the trail. 20 minutes later.....Cotton Candy Here's Damien and Jesse on the very WILD waterslide

Here is Max and Jesse having fun trying to dunk their big brother

Couponing Bliss

So, by request I am posting one of my latest couponing adventures. Today I headed over to Vons for their cereal promo. This is always a great time to stock up. With careful planning and the assistance of some wonderful couponing blogs, I printed some coupons, loaded my e-coupons to my Vons card and awaited my super savings. And I was not disappointed! Before coupons and a $1.50 catalina I got from my 1st transaction, this would have all cost over $30, I got it all for $4!! What is cool about saving money at Vons is that you don't see the sale prices and e-coupons until you swipe your Vons card, so with one swipe you get to watch the total dwindle right before your eyes. I know, I am crazy :) Just the almond extract alone was $2.49! Oh, and to clarify there are two boxes of Cheerios :)

Service and Swimming

So today we eagerly awaited 8 am to roll around because we had a very special law mowing service coming to our house. The Missionaries! I know I am totally capable of doing this but they asked Michael the other night if there was anything they could do to serve our family since they feel we do a lot for them in the way of feeding them dinners occasionaly and Michael going out with them every Sunday to help spread the Gospel. Since I didn't have to mow the lawn, I washed the car while we were waiting for them to arrive, just as we were about to dry the van they showed up, and said, "We can help you with that." So I let them and I told them that they have some stiff competition since Bro. Mejias used to work at a car wash:) That got a good laugh, and maybe made them polish away each and every water spot :) Then it was off to mowing, they did a good job.





I have to admit it was a little hard to sit back and let them mow, since I am type A personality when it comes to how I get things done. I took the pics through the screen since I didn't want to come off as "wierd" but I really wanted to "document" this rare occasion at the Mejias house. Max and Jesse without asking offered them some water. I do have some good boys!




Later in the day we were off to day two of swimming lessons and today Max and Jesse jumped off the edge, climbed out of the pool on their own without a ladder, tried floating on their backs with the teacher's help and more grabbing the fishies off the bottom of steps. Whenever the teacher would be working with Jesse, you could always find Max with his face in the water.













At the end of the lessons they both rang a bell announcing to all within ear shot that they passed preschool level one. So proud of them. Today was a much better day then yesterday. And we topped off the day with a trip to Home Depot, notice Max wearing his goggles?

Yes....I know

I've offically been sucked into the whole blogging world as of today. Since I like to journal, I have a feeling that a lot of my entries might be lengthy with text, we'll see. Today was day one of 10 for Max and Jesse's swimming lessons. To my relief, both were behaved. Max can go all the way under water, and Jesse likes to bend his head down and put his face in. They mostly stayed on the steps today practicing blowing bubbles in the water, getting the little fishes off the steps and handing them to the teacher, and "walking" along the wall in the pool. It's a half and hour class, which goes by quickly. I'm looking forward to more action in the water. Lately we've been going for bike rides in the morning before it gets to hot. Mike put tires on one of his older bikes and now I use it. I strap the buggy on the back, put the boys in and Damien rides along side. My least favorite part is loading them in cause someone always likes to cause a commotion. But once we finally get going, my hopes of not wearing my swim suit cover up come alive, well we hope :) Even with the manaic Mondays like today was, Sunday's drive home from church was a good one. We like to share what we all learned at church, and Jesse's usual answer is, "I learned about I am a Child of God." Which usually gets a laugh, or sometimes Damien will beat him to it by saying, "Let me guess Jesse, you learned about I am a Child of God." That's a big brother for you. Well, since I looked at their coloring page from Primary, I noticed they learned about what they were thankful for, so I asked, "Jesse what are you thankful for?" Not really knowing what kind of response I would get, he said, "I am thankful for my family, my house, and food." Well, that made both Mike and I smile, and myself tear up a little. Moments like that keep me going as a mother.