Madrid Madness

tyler's senior prom 4.23.2011

2011-04-24T23:47:00.001-07:00

tyler and ella took pictures at the house before we took them to webb for a reception before they loaded the chartered buses for hollywood. family came over to be here for the special occasion..... my boy looks so handsome!!

the reception pictures.... everyone looks so handsome & beautiful!

the prom after-party at dakota's house.

pre-easter b.b.q. 04.16.2011

2011-04-18T00:15:00.000-07:00

my uncle rick and family were down for some r & r at disneyland and came by the house on the way back to utah, so we had a little b.b.q. for them and introduced their family to confetti eggs...

yes, we had confetti everywhere and to this day (06.27.11) there is still confetti in our grass... messy, but sure was fun! (auntie joey can keep easter at her house) =p

kennedy's headshots 04.07.2011

2011-04-18T00:14:00.004-07:00

kennedy had here headshots done and i can't believe how grown up she looks! i admire her for not wanting to wear any make-up because she said that's not who she is...

it was so fun being on the sidewalks of l.a. watching her get her pictures done with lighting and all the photog goodies.. then moving in to studio with the fan and bulbs flashing.... so fun!!

house cleaning weekend

2011-04-18T00:14:00.003-07:00

my dad and becky came over for 2 days and cleaned our home from top to bottom before our furniture arrived in 3 days.... washed all the walls, scrubbed/squeegeed/scrubbed again the tile downstairs and the floors upstairs... washed all the blinds and windows and all the kitchen cabinets... we cannot say THANK YOU enough... we, of course, helped, but man... my dad kicked major major nasty tile/grout bootie!

then as dad and becky were leaving the second day, family came over to see the house and enjoy the pool...

the first week in our home brought really great memories and much needed family time =D

i love my new home.

g.a.t.e spelling bee 03.29.2011

2011-04-18T00:14:00.001-07:00

kennedy loves participating in the g.a.t.e. spelling bee every year. she did great and spelled all her words correctly, but as a team we were eliminated with the first cut... she was upset...

universal studios 03.25.2011

2011-04-18T00:13:00.002-07:00

we didn't go on any fancy vacation this year during spring break, but i was able to take a few days off here and there... kennedy wanted to go to universal studios, so she and i went and had a "super" time. we mainly wanted to see king kong 3d which was awesome!!

seussical the musical 03.19.2011

2011-04-18T00:13:00.001-07:00

kennedy loves to act and seussical the musical was her 3rd production with a theatre group in claremont. she is now rehearsing for her new production, the wizard of oz, in november.

we bought a house!! 03.24.2011

2011-04-18T00:12:00.002-07:00

we (finally) bought a house!!!! it was such a long process (short sale) and months of "just waiting for the signature" that for the last 2 of the 6 months we didn't really speak to the kids about the house because they had gone through the ups and downs in the beginning. tyler never saw the house. he didn't want to love a house that we may never get, so when he toured the house for the first time it was actually HIS home... HIS room... and kennedy was so excited to show him around. we literally went from months of nothing to sign here, wire your money here, here are your keys... all within 4 days!! no other family members knew that we were even looking for a house, so it was fun to call them from the house and have the kids share the good news. my mom and sister came right over....

here's the video of kennedy and tyler...

bucky's birthday 03.13.2011

2011-04-18T00:12:00.001-07:00

we went to auntie joey's for a birthday celebration!! we celebrated grandma bucky's birthday and lucy's birthday.... since i am updating my blog months after the actual event (i know, i'm trying to get caught up) i can't remember why my kids aren't there....

reign game 03.12.2011

2011-04-18T00:11:00.002-07:00

our realtor gave us reign tickets and tyler was unable to attend, so kennedy was able to invite her good friend tony... they had fun... we love going to reign games!!

new beginnings

2011-04-18T00:06:00.000-07:00

New Beginnings is for the upcoming beehives and it's an event teaching the purposes of the Young Women organization. It includes the Personal Progress program and to the Young Women theme, logo, motto, and values. Hillside did a Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory theme and they did an amazing job transforming the different rooms into rooms at the chocolate factory and they were all umpa lumpa's and at the end of the journey, the two newcomers also became umpa lumpa's too.... since I didn't get "approval" to show all faces, here is Kennedy and her friend that will be moving up to young women's this year....

u of u

2011-02-15T00:42:00.000-08:00

tyler was accepted to the university of utah

tyler's chapel talk

2011-02-15T00:07:00.000-08:00

tyler's senior address to the boys school, faculty and invited guests. there was also a song, an introduction from one of his teachers and a reading from a friend, but it was almost 20 mins long, so this is just tyler's talk.

tyler and the guys, who were told to dress "smexy" and with shades.

the girls were told to wear black dresses, some opted to just wear black.

senior portraits

2011-02-08T21:49:00.000-08:00

tyler's senior portraits came out really good... i'm glad we decided to do a "jacket" change to capture the elements of webb.

suu & svu

2011-02-07T21:13:00.000-08:00

Dear Tyler,

Congratulations! You have been admitted to Southern Utah University for the Fall Semester, 2011.

They personally called Tyler and notified him that he had been admitted to SVU.

cal poly pomona

2011-02-07T21:04:00.001-08:00

Dear Tyler,

Congratulations! You have been admitted to Cal Poly Pomona for the Fall 2011 as a(n) Electrical Engr major. Your selection from a pool of thousands of well-qualified applicants recognizes your academic accomplishments. We are pleased that you have chosen our exceptional university, and look forward to welcoming you to our campus community.

byu idaho

2011-02-07T20:53:00.000-08:00

Dear Tyler:

Congratulations! We are pleased to offer you admission to Brigham Young University-Idaho. Rich blessings and life-changing opportunities await you here.

webb international night

2011-02-05T23:25:00.001-08:00

tyler's president of the latin club and this year the club did a merengue dance... the pictures aren't that clear because i captured them from video...

enjoy the video....

kennedy's talent show 2011

2011-01-29T13:15:00.000-08:00

kennedy had a vision, a song, and now a partner... the rest fell into place and last night they did great!!

when you watch the video at the end it goes dark... the kids costumes then glowed, but you can't see in on the video.

auntie elaine's 50th

2010-08-21T23:51:00.000-07:00

uncle ruben had a 50th birthday celebration for my aunt elaine. it was beautiful and we had a lot of fun eating and dancing! kennedy took a little while to warm up on the dance floor, then we couldn't get her off!

warriors

2010-08-08T00:10:00.000-07:00

daniel started football last week... tyler & trinidad are part of the coaching team. pads start next week, can't wait!

a chorus line

2010-06-07T00:46:00.000-07:00

we went to see a chorus line on saturday and loved it!! then trinidad took us to these crazy streets in l.a. that are soooo steep. i couldn't handle it, so i had him pull over and made kennedy get in the front. she got a lot of joy out of my fear...

tyler left for china

2010-06-07T00:26:00.000-07:00

friday night tyler left for china for 2 weeks.. he went with a group of kids and a faculty member from his school. last time he went to china, i (along with a lot of other family members) was with him, so this time it was a little heart wrenching, but i know he's in good hands.

kennedy's 11th birthday

2010-05-16T23:34:00.000-07:00

kennedy invited 3 friends to go to universal studios for the day and we had her birthday lunch at saddle ranch restaurant. the food was sooo good and everyone had a great time. thank you to all the family and friends that drove so far to share this day with her. we love you and are so grateful for you!! Enjoy the pictures!!

happy mother's day

2010-05-10T19:58:00.000-07:00

had a wonderful mother's day weekend. started saturday with dinner at benihana's (except the chef was hitting the saki before he came out, which made it a little interesting). sunday before church i got presents and love from my family.... poems, cards, art... ahhhh, loved it! still had to take kennedy to l.a. for her class and after, when it's normally nap time for me, she comes in and has me looking through their baby photo albums. needless to say, i didn't get my normal nap, but it was nice (and a little sad) seeing my babies.... i hope you all had a wonderful mother's day~

happy earth day!

2010-04-22T09:51:00.001-07:00

be good to it... it's the only one we have.

webb days 2010

2010-02-28T22:28:00.000-08:00

so glad that tyler is making the best of his high school years at webb!

happy new year 2010

2010-01-04T00:57:00.000-08:00

we had a wonderful disney new year's weekend. we wish you health and prosperity in the new year!

enjoy pictures of our celebration....

christmas 2009

2009-12-29T22:16:00.000-08:00

i hope you all had a very merry christmas this year. ours was full of family, food, and christmas spirit. we had a great christmas... and i want to share it with you...

our tree...

celebrated 19 christmas' together

our tree in the hotel {me and kennedy made all the decorations}

the family ❤

and for christmas dinner, my dad fed the hungry...

with christmas spirit and disney magic... good things happen. thanks dad, we had a lot of fun.

enjoy our christmas slideshow....

HAPPY 19TH ANNIVERSARY

2009-12-08T22:51:00.000-08:00

it's pretty much ditto from last year.... happy 19th honey... what a ride!!

**posted 12/8/08**
Hi Honey,

Happy Anniversary! I love you very much and when scanning all these pictures to create our Wedding Album, I couldn't help but smile, laugh, and think what Happy, Big Haired, Boot Wearing, Absolutely Perfect, Dorks we were (and still kinda are), but that's what makes us perfect! I love you, I'm proud of you and I can't wait to see what the next 18 years has in store for us.

*******************************************

Tonight we went to eat dinner at Outback, sooooo good!!

happy thanksgiving

2009-11-26T20:47:00.001-08:00

we did it a little different this year, we went to lucille's for our thanksgiving feast!! i hope you had a wonderful thanksgiving!

dad's birthday at disneyland

2009-11-22T21:25:00.000-08:00

waiting for the christmas parade

christmas fireworks

small world

the end of a good evening!

happy birthday dad!!

2009-11-21T11:52:00.001-08:00

this was at the great wall of china and the red fort behind him was our "goal"...

today we'll be celebrating at disneyland, but here are a few picture of my dad.....

at our sealing and we finally had our daddy~daughter dance. my dad did not say one word to me the entire day because every time he'd go to open his mouth, he'd start to cry.... awwww dad!!

uncle rick & aunt susan waited for us at the top

happy halloween

2009-11-02T00:45:00.000-08:00

we spent this halloween at disneyland. kennedy was sad not to trick-or-treat, but said she had a really good time... it was fun and not crowded. the firework show was awesome!

costume day @ school

2009-10-31T10:19:00.000-07:00

kennedy was mj and daniel was bumble bee from transformers. poor kid had a lot to carry.

his "pupcakes"

trunk or treat

2009-10-25T23:07:00.000-07:00

last night was our trunk or treat... we combined with another ward and it was a lot of fun and there were lots of people....

congratulation asia!!

2009-10-25T10:47:00.000-07:00

this is from ashley's facebook post:
My sis, asia was inducted into Colton High School's NHS. I was so happy for her! Going to the ceremony also brought back my memories of when I was inducted into NHS.

disneyland 2009

2009-10-17T22:39:00.001-07:00

salt lake city

2009-10-16T00:45:00.000-07:00

my grandma and i went to salt lake city for a few days and had an amazing time. thank you to the family that made this dream possible for bucky! she had so much fun and LOVED having such a nice room all to herself. here are just a {very} few pictures out of the 1,800 that i took =p

tyler's 17th bd bash

2009-09-20T20:26:00.000-07:00

tyler had tonz of fun and had an amazing birthday celebration! thank you everyone for making it such a great party!! we love and appreciate you all!!

mexican independence day

2009-09-16T23:19:00.000-07:00

today is mexican independence day and tyler is the president of the latin club at school. he and trinidad created the spiffy shirt last night with some fabric spray paint and this morning we ironed on the bird!! funny that he's spain in the front and mexico in the back... trinidad's father's family is from spain... so it's all good =D

daniel

2009-09-16T23:15:00.000-07:00

daniel is changing every day!! his hair is so light... he looked so cute i did a mini photo shoot on our way to the car.

happy birthday kristy

2009-09-13T23:36:00.000-07:00

happy birthday kristy!!!
my sister's birthday was last week... here are some pictures from our gathering...

happy birthday tyler

2009-09-09T23:27:00.000-07:00

september 9, 1992 at 9:22pm, tyler alexander madrid was born... bootie first...
today, 09/09/09, my baby boy turned 17 years old!!
i love my son, he is so awesome, he is so kind and so loving and we always have so much fun together. today he had school, then me and kennedy picked him up and headed down to disneyland for his gift card. first we saw the movie 9 {interesting movie} then headed to dland... we had to go right after he got his card because he and kennedy both had homework... all and all he had a good day!! i love you.... happy birthday!!

yoga gone mj

2009-09-04T23:17:00.000-07:00

kennedy's teacher from last year has her class doing yoga during recess. she opened it up to other students, so miss kennedy joined. there are 4 routines to michael jackson songs. here is one of the routines that they performed at the school assemble this morning.

tyler's 1st day of school

2009-08-26T21:59:00.000-07:00

well this week is tyler's first week of his junior year, but it's the pre-start of the school year... b-b-q, beach day, assemblies... etc

next week is the official start of the school year... he doesn't even know his schedule yet!!

la temple 8/23/09

2009-08-24T00:24:00.000-07:00

as you know, i sit in the temple parking lot for about an hour and a half while kennedy is in her acting class. here are some pics i took with different camera settings while sitting in the car {that's why there's only the left, right and forward views} =p

Make a Smilebox slideshow

bucky's birthday video

2009-08-22T23:17:00.000-07:00

my grandma turned 75 a few years ago and here's the video that was played at her party....

restaurant outing - richie's diner

2009-08-20T21:34:00.001-07:00

had a great lunch today with these great women....

precious sydney

2009-08-19T20:12:00.001-07:00

two years ago yesterday little mario was born and his twin sister was born two years ago today... just before her 1 month birthday she went to home to our heavenly father and to her big brother... until we meet again precious sydney danielle...

Little Angels
When God calls little children to dwell with Him above,
We mortals sometime question the wisdom of His love.
For no heartache compares with
the death of one small child
Who does so much to make our world,
seem wonderful and mild.
Perhaps God tires of calling the aged to His fold,
So He picks a rosebud before it can grow old.
God knows how much we need them,
and so He takes but a few,
To make the land of Heaven more beautiful to view.
Believing this is difficult still somehow we must try.
The saddest word mankind knows
Will always be "Goodbye."
So when a little child departs, we who are left behind,
Must realize God loves children,
Angels are hard to find.

with a sad heart

2009-08-18T19:55:00.000-07:00

"You will have the joy, the pleasure and satisfaction of nurturing this child, after its resurrection, until it reaches the full stature of its spirit." -Joseph Smith

until we meet again my sweet little nephew

kennedy's performance night

2009-08-16T23:19:00.001-07:00

here's the commercial that kennedy wrote and performed in front of invited guests at the playground performance night. enjoy!!

brazilian bbq

2009-08-16T01:04:00.000-07:00

went with the girls to celebrate tana's birthday... {this was happiness before the check:p)

enrichment activity 8/12/09

2009-08-13T22:52:00.000-07:00

for this month's enrichment activity, we did a tie lap-quilt for president monson. his birthday is next week. we had a lot of fun and also collected canned items for a needy family in our ward in president monson's name.

1st day of school

2009-08-10T23:32:00.000-07:00

with kennedy so excited to start school, all i got was the back of her head as she rushed to class. i guess the "look at me and smile" days are gone at 5th grade :(

universal studios 8/8/09

2009-08-09T21:36:00.000-07:00

kennedy loves the old black and white Creature from the Black Lagoon, so when she saw that universal studios made a musical out of the movie it's been all she talks about. so saturday we went and during the first show they had to do one scene 4 times because of tech difficulties. they cancelled the next 3 shows and finally at the 6:30pm showing they were able to perform!! whoo-hoo!!! we had perfect seats and it was pretty cool. it was no comparison to spider-man rocks, but it was cool. kennedy loved it and she was no longer grumpy-fiddles.

restaurant outing - olive garden

2009-08-05T22:36:00.001-07:00

went to dinner with the lovely ladies from church tonight and had a really great time!! they are very funny and very talented! nancy made us "sweet rewards" banks because they are doing a lunch and dinner outing each month, so we need somewhere to put our spare change to feed the need!!

{no, i didn't give myself a bowl-cut ;-p}

family tradition

2009-08-03T02:03:00.000-07:00

we've been going to the ringling bros and barnum & bailey circus since 1993. every year we've gone to anaheim, and this year it was in ontartio...whoo-hoo!!! 10 min drive home!!
{have i mentioned i love my camera}
ENJOY THE SLIDESHOW!!

hb daniel!!

2009-07-29T23:55:00.000-07:00

daniel turned 6 today & was a super good sport when we were only able to be at disneyland for 2 1/2 hours! i needed to get back to tyler and didn't want daniel to miss out on his 56 bucks from disneyland. so we rode only 3 rides and i let him eat what he wanted and we shopped and got popcorn! he was a happy boy! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANIEL!!

tyler's diet

2009-07-29T23:34:00.000-07:00

he's doing better, but still bleeding, so his mouth is still stuffed with gauze. this is diet as of now {and he's lovin' it}

my poor son..

2009-07-29T01:07:00.000-07:00

today was a very painful day for tyler... he got all 4 wisdom teeth pulled. he woke up late because he stayed up so late and so he missed his opportunity to eat this morning. i fed him his smoothie by the 4ml... it was a very long process, but at least he had something in his stomach. it's 1:09am on, now, wednesday morning and really you don't want to know why i'm still up...just think empty stomach, vicodin, {blood}= huge mess! anyway, he feels better. kennedy has been his caretaker since about 6pm, she is so good. she's there for every dressing change and cleans up after him. she also warns me where not to look because she knows i have a weak stomach. hopefully tomorrow is a little less pain and he can get something in his stomach...

g-force

2009-07-26T01:58:00.000-07:00

we went to el capitan friday night and saw g-force and went to the incredibly cool g-force experience after the show... so much fun and so worth the moola. here are some pictures that were actually free!!

this is actually a nice family picture...guinea pigs and all!!

we're blocking the lazer beams... i look like i'm doing the hustle or something.

"CAKE!"

from the mind of tyler madrid....

2009-07-21T23:10:00.000-07:00

Mind Ranting pt.1

Today, 7/21/09, at 9:40pm

What is to live for? what exactly is to die for? do you speak out or do you stay bottled up? What is worth the risk, but what is not risking anything. Love is a powerful thing, a blinding thing, a hard thing to come by, and a hard thing to be sure of. Do you pour out your heart to someone when you know that they are just going to let it run through their fingers? There is no way to be sure what will or will not happen, all you can do is hope. Hope that you won't get hurt or that the truth will always surface. The reality is, is that you WILL get hurt...you will be in pain. You will either be in physical pain or in emotional pain. You will more likely be in pain due to the truth lacking to surface to reality. You cannot be sure of anything, even when you think you're sure, there is uncertainty lingering about. There is never a guarantee that they will be doing exactly what you don't want them to do, because they substitute their own reality for yours. Since their reality is the ultimate reality then there is an uncertainty of what is going on in their reality...is there not? Do you not know what is going through their minds? Anyone could be thinking about anything, but yet tell you exactly what you want to hear so your reality could seem connected to yours. This is what keeps the universe in balance...your universe. A vast shroud is placed over your eyes due to the words of others? this shroud is trust. Sometimes you can see through the trust down into the real. You will either like what is going on or you will despise it no matter what. This trust is non-existent because there will always be separate thoughts either from one side or from the other, you can never be sure unless you take the shroud off and actually see the world through your own eyes. What if this world is just an allusion from the real world? what is actually the "real"? Is there an alternate reality to the alternative reality in which we live. We live in an alternate reality because if we substituted our reality in place of the "real world", then everything will be perfect, but yet it would alternate the reality of the different perspective. In all there is no perfect reality for everyone because everyone's reality is not perfect. The belief that one's reality is the perfect reality is questionable. The belief in anything is a questionable notion on anyone's part. One's belief can trigger a vast amount of disbelief and uncertainty. Different beliefs is what separates us, divides us among each other. With this separation there is no trust, with the lack of trust there can be no peace, but yet we trust the others around us with our lives. If not, then why do we go outside? Say hi to the neighbors? walk down a street? There is trust among the separated, and among the trusted there is separation.
-Tyler Madrid

he's home

2009-07-20T00:36:00.000-07:00

{he's soooo tired & soooo dirty}

got the call around 7:45pm that tyler re-injured his knee and we needed to go pick him up....all or nothing, it's the marine way... just got home at 12:12am... going to urgent care tomorrow.

tyler had an amazing 4 days and was put up to guide right away. he reported to the big guns and he had 3 or 4 guys reporting to him. it was VERY VERY NICE to have him actually TALK to us for OVER 2 HOURS!!! and that was only 4 days worth, i can't imagine 10 days worth of awesomely fun experiences!! what he did experience he loved and he said he would definitely want his son {in about 25 years} to attend. One Marine got his butt chewed 3 times for going in 3 times to try to keep tyler on base....so sweet...Some of the Marines gave tyler going away gifts...so very cool! tyler is honored to have these Marines as Friends. {he's still talking with trinidad about it all and it's now 12:42am, he really did love it...}

kennedy cannot wait to go to devil pups when she's 14 and i mentioned that to one of the marines over tyler, so he walked kennedy and me around the devil pup base and explained everything to her and showed her how they are shacked up in these huge tents and it all just got her more excited.... it's so her!

upland clouds

2009-07-17T01:03:00.000-07:00

here are some awsome cloud that formed over upland sky last week. i had to pull over and start taking pictures.

bakewell manor

2009-07-17T00:36:00.000-07:00

yes, this is a house.... a dream house.... a very beautiful house.... thank you bakewell's for hosting our saber cats soiree. we had a wonderful time!!

annie opening weekend

2009-07-16T23:40:00.001-07:00

FINALLY.... OPENING NIGHT!!!!

{friday night, opening night}
kennedy did awesome thank you family for coming and supporting kennedy.

{saturday night}

this is a really great productions. we were very impressed with the sets and choreography, costumes... everything!! all the MANY MANY hours of rehearsal really showed!

tyler + devilpups = sad mom for 10 days

2009-07-16T22:50:00.000-07:00

{i still have morning swollen-ness:)}
tyler left for devil pups today and we pick him up at camp pendleton on saturday, 7/25. his hair is completely gone now, and i wonder what he looks like... no communication for 10 days is intense. at least when he was at wrestling camp i could text him and know that eventually that day i would hear back from him.... i told trinidad, i'm having a hard time watching tyler go to san diego for 10 days, i cannot imagine what julie will go through {her son was called to russia for 2 years}

there were parrots flying all around...their colors are so pretty.

thriller!

2009-07-08T00:10:00.001-07:00

2009-07-07T22:13:00.001-07:00

beautiful...gave me the chills

2009-07-07T22:09:00.001-07:00

you'll be missed

2009-07-07T21:51:00.000-07:00

live young.

2009-07-07T20:59:00.000-07:00

Saber Cats Reunion

2009-07-05T02:36:00.000-07:00

These boys were 9 & 10 when they played Pop Warner football together. Here they are 6-7 years later! boy how quickly the years go by... cherish every moment!

2009-07-03T20:25:00.000-07:00

july 2003

2009-07-03T20:01:00.000-07:00

christmas lights 2003

2009-07-03T19:58:00.000-07:00

Rainforest 2003

2009-07-03T19:57:00.000-07:00

in love

2009-07-03T19:55:00.000-07:00

october 2003

2009-07-03T19:54:00.000-07:00

july 2003

2009-07-03T19:53:00.000-07:00

July 2003

2009-07-03T19:48:00.000-07:00

Baby Bruce Lee

2009-07-03T19:47:00.000-07:00

July 2002

2009-07-03T19:45:00.000-07:00

crazy hat night

hb marcos

2009-07-02T09:34:00.000-07:00

yesterday was my cousin marcos' 34th birthday. unfortunately we were unable to attend the shindig, but here are some pictures sent to me by his proud mama.

the end

2009-06-29T21:59:00.000-07:00

{santa barbara}

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

day 6 - hearst castle

2009-06-29T21:38:00.000-07:00

{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

2009-06-29T21:23:00.000-07:00

{it was freezing}

day 5 - monterey

2009-06-29T21:18:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-29T21:08:00.000-07:00

{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

2009-06-29T20:55:00.000-07:00

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

day 3 - sunrise

2009-06-29T20:40:00.000-07:00

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....

2009-06-28T20:26:00.001-07:00

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

2009-06-23T00:20:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-23T00:13:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-23T00:02:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-22T17:32:00.000-07:00

{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

2009-06-22T01:50:00.000-07:00

HB to me...

2009-06-20T22:36:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-06-20T22:17:00.000-07:00

{my niece & I share the same birthday}

happy birthday valerie!!