the end

{santa barbara}

the perfect end to an amazing family vacation....

day 6 - hearst castle

{on our way from monterey to hearst castle}


the beautiful hearst castle {i cannot even imagine living like this}

day 6 - carmel by the sea

{it was freezing}

day 5 - monterey

the boys didn't want to go to the aquarium so it was just us girls. we all went to chili's that night. we always get a family picture in front of the different chili's city sign {except our home chili's, go figure}, someday i'll dig them all up.

day 4 - yosemite giant sequoia's

{bottom center picture is what you get when you set your camera timer and a family member says it already went off, then says, oh no it didn't}

what we learned was yosemite is nothin' but trees {huge trees} and huge granite/rock formations....WHERE'S THE WILDLIFE?? we did see lots of squirrelmunks, as kennedy liked to call them. visiting yosemite made us miss yellowstone {we're thinkin' probably next summer's vacay}.

day 3 - yosemite

tomorrow we go on our 9 hour yosemite tour...

day 3 - sunrise

i had to go one more time before we left for yosemite. so i was up before 5am and off i went to see the sunrise. i went by myself and was there by 5:15am. what an amazing experience {i took over 700 pictures:)}.

I also took some in black and white, they are beautiful too.

we're back....

we're back and everything was amazing... we had such a great time. i posted until we lost internet & have tons to catch up on....

i called it a photo-frenzy vacation and that's exactly what it was....OVER 4,000 DIGITAL PICTURES!!! and that was just me...not to mention the 35mm that trinidad took and the 100+ diana pics that i took and the 3,000+ pictures that tyler took. so by that alone, you can imaging that the scenery was spectacular! now, going through 500+ pictures of "trees", not so fun:(

day 2 - sunset

mono lake, s. tufa for sunset - BEAUTIFUL! what a wonderful end to a perfect birthday. thank you honey, tyler & kennedy for a perfect birthday. i love you all very much!!

day 2 - bodie

bodie - what was a gold mining community, is now a ghost town. people left their items in their houses... amazing items!

day 2 - panum crater

yes, we were vay up there! so very cool...we took the rim trail and walked around the whole crater. if felt like 20 miles, but actually was only about 1.5.

day 2 - sunrise

{mono lake, s. tufa}

the whole reason why we're here! yes, i was on location for sunrise and yes i even cried. trinidad came with me and we got here about 5:30am.

day 1

HB to me...

as i mentioned earlier, me & my niece have the same birthday. it works out really well for me because joseph throws the party for valerie & i bring a gift & i leave with lots of gifts for me:)!!!

this year was extra super cool because, not only did i get the diana camera kit on my wish list {highly recommend the wish list}, but as you can see, i got 2!! and had my mom not been afraid to purchase online, i would have received 3!! i love my family:)!! well, my dad's diana gift made it to the party. i didn't know my honey bought me one too. he knew how much i wanted it for our trip this week so he made sure that i had it before tomorrow. when he found out that my dad had already bought me one he opted to send his back, but he got me 5 rolls of film too...whoo-hoo!!! i received super cool gifts & thank you! thank you! thank you! i am sooooo excited to use all my cool toys this week. ohh, my dad read my chocolate frosting blog post and bought me this super yummy chocolate birthday cake with roses and polka dots, from some fancy bakery!

my super cool gifts: {2} diana camera's, {i'm only keeping one}; colorspash flash that will work on my 35mm too; 120 film color & b/w; super-blingin' heart bracelet; rechargable batteries and 15 min charger w/car adapter - now it won't take 4-6hrs {thanks mom for the $$$}; eternal love {thingy} i don't know what to call it; chocolate; old navy gift card; flowers...and tomorrow starts my photo-frenzy birthday vacation!! what an awesome birthday and it's not even here yet!!

Thank you everyone!!!

HB Valerie!

 

{my niece & I share the same birthday}

happy birthday valerie!!

 

Happy Eternalversary

it's our 1 year eternalversary & tomorrow we get to witness the sealing of the naea family!! what an awesome weekend!

PRAYERS PLEASE

I am the oldest of the three sisters.

Bobbi is the youngest and Kristy is the middle.

My sister Kristy is in her mid 30's and she has been diagnosed with CHF {Heart disease runs on my dad's side}.
She has recently been accepted to Loma Linda's Heart Institute.

I ask that you remember her in your prayers...she's really scared {I am too}.

Congestive Heart Failure Congestive heart failure (CHF), or heart failure, is a condition in which the heart can't pump enough blood to the body's other organs. This can result from

• narrowed arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle — coronary artery disease
• past heart attack, or myocardial infarction, with scar tissue that interferes with the heart muscle's normal work
• high blood pressure
• heart valve disease due to past rheumatic fever or other causes
• primary disease of the heart muscle itself, called cardiomyopathy.
• heart defects present at birth — congenital heart defects.
• infection of the heart valves and/or heart muscle itself — endocarditis and/or myocarditis

The "failing" heart keeps working but not as efficiently as it should. People with heart failure can't exert themselves because they become short of breath and tired.

As blood flow out of the heart slows, blood returning to the heart through the veins backs up, causing congestion in the tissues. Often swelling (edema) results. Most often there's swelling in the legs and ankles, but it can happen in other parts of the body, too. Sometimes fluid collects in the lungs and interferes with breathing, causing shortness of breath, especially when a person is lying down.

Heart failure also affects the kidneys' ability to dispose of sodium and water. The retained water increases the edema.

read more {here}.

inspiring.. go now and live

image found {here}

meet nick byrns

this sweet boy is the nephew of one of my co-workers. he was diagnosed with a brain tumor in january {and they took it out} then last month they found that another one grew back at rapid speed. he's been in excruciating pain and the family has been dealing with different doctors and hospitals all which were unable treat due to the severity of his case. FINALLY the awesome doctors at MD Anderson accepted his case and he's now in houston, texas. nick will receive 8 weeks of proton beam radiation {(2) 1/2 hr treatments per day, for now} and they had to leave their new home in louisiana and relocate to texas. he doesn't need to be hospitalized, but he does need to stay very close to the hospital, so they have to rent a hotel room for 8 weeks!!! the good people of their church raised $3,000.00 for them the day before they left!! How Christlike is that - AWESOME! click {here} to read his story or you can click his picture to the left.