New Year's (and Some Random Pics)

 

(this picture was not taken on New Year's Eve. I love the kids playing in their backyard :))

New Year's Eve was spent at The Pearce Home.  But we first had a fun visit with Carmen.  She came over to spend some time with us and we drove up to the lot and filled her head with all sorts of house stuff, that is super fun and interesting to us but maybe not so much for her :).  She was a good sport and was excited for us.

Otis took a special interest in Carmen, as most of the nieces and nephews do.  He quickly went up to her and mostly, just wanted her.  It was cute and Im sure Carmen loved every minute of it.

After our little visit with Carmen we headed to see our friends the Nakaya's for like two seconds.  The holidays were so busy that time to see them was super limited.  But I am glad we saw them just the same :)  THEN, we headed to The Pearce's for dinner and some fun looking at old, OLD pics of the Trevino family.  [(a little random here) Dave has taken on the task of scanning ALL of the pics Al has EVER taken.  He and Leah started with the slides.  There are some PRICELESS pics in there.  Leah is doing some "genealogy" (which would make Karen SO proud) and earning a little cash while doing it]. We then just hung out and chit chatted.

I was grumpy and frankly not feeling well.  I didn't enjoy the night as I normally do.  Truth is the changes that have occurred in the last 3+ yrs have been VERY hard and this is the reason for my grumpiness.  Life is not the same and although I try to make the best of it, sometimes I get down and it affects my "mood."  I hope it didn't ruin anyone's night.  We took off shortly after 10 and got the kiddos in bed early.

I think Dave and I watched a movie that night and that was really nice :)

Some Randoms:

Carmen made Leah and I sweaters!  Carmen is a fantastic knitter and we LOVE it when we get something from her.

Leah wore her sweater EVERY day for an entire week.  She even wanted to sleep in it!  I had wanted to take a picture on Sunday, because we both wearing our sweaters with our boots... We were super cute ;), but she was starving when we got home that we missed the opportunity.  Still, WE LOVE OUR sweaters!!!! Thanks again, Carmen.  XOXO


Leah and Dave scanned TONS of slides over the winter break.  They worked side by side and Leah loved it. The pics carry great memories and we have enjoyed seeing Dave and his siblings as well as Grandpa and Grandma when they were all so young.  I will post some of my favorites on another post. 

This has also been Dave's "office" since we moved her last June.  It makes for a very messy kitchen/family room, but it is nice to have him so close :)

Leah, Mylo, Milli and I went to watch Esteban and Marcos play some indoor soccer.  It was fun to cheer them on and although they lost, I enjoyed watching them play together.  They are both great athletes :)  

(this post took me forever, to post! UGH!!! Glad I am done with it :))

HAWAII

Dave had to go to Hawaii for work, I know, so hard for him!  He went last year and he promised that if he had to go this year he would take me.  I was able to go with him with his extensive amounts of skymiles AND the two angels that watched our kids while we were there! 

The trip was SUPER relaxing and mellow.  We didn't really do any tourist-y things.  I mostly hung out by the beach while Dave "worked".  I use that word loosely, as it was very mellow work, but thats just the way Hawaii is, mellow and chill and you just have to go with the flow.  I ran a few times, it was GORGEOUS.  I took a few naps a day (on the beach), read People Magazine, ate yummy food and rode our bikes everywhere!

On the plane, ready to take off.  Little did we know that that night the winds would bring such disaster to Bountiful.  When we found out what had happened I wanted to come home, but Abuela told us to just enjoy ourselves and that the kids would be ok.  And they were :)

We made it to paradise!  The beach is literally a few steps from the house we stayed in.  I literally had to hold back tears at the beauty of this place!  What a beautiful world we live in!!!!! 

This is the view from the yard.  The steps are just below my feet here.  

I would sit out here in the morning and watch the surfers do their thing.  

The relaxing sounds of the waves and the cool morning breeze were beyond awesome! 

TED BAKERY!!!! 

We had breakfast here EVERY morning. 

We would ride our bikes the 1.5miles and enjoy every bite.

In this picture I am eating an Almond Danish, SO YUMMY.

Lilikoi.  W.O.W. This is my favorite ALL TIME FRUIT 

and this drink is TO DIE FOR (if you are me).  

I dedicated a post a while ago, to passion fruit.  It is THAT good.  

I drank several of these a day while in Hawaii.  Cold and refreshing!  

Beached Whale... a sight to behold!  :) 

One day I went on a search for a fruit stand.  The lady at this particular fruit stand was AWESOME!  I paid $12 for EVERYTHING in this picture.  If I was to buy 12 Lilikoi at the store here in Utah, it would have been easily $30!  Needless to say I was VERY pleased with my big ol' bag of fresh fruit.  It was quickly consumed and the next day I went back for more :) 

Our mode of transportation.  There is a bike path everywhere.  

It was really fun to just hop on a bike and go.  It felt freeing and I felt like a kid :) 

One day we went to see the Temple in Lai'e.  

Dave remembered that his mission President lived close by.  

Turns out they live directly in front of the temple.  

We got to visit with them for a little while and that was a nice time.  They are SUPER sweet! 

Shrimp Farms are easy found on the island and I thoroughly enjoyed a nice plate of these beauties :) 

Two of my favorite things: Dave and Lilikoi 

The best part of the trip was hanging out with Dave.  Having an entire week with just him was awesome!  He came home a few days after I did and was only here for 24hrs before he left AGAIN.  I feel it was a blessing to have had family and friends that could help us do this! 

Sunday Best for My Boys

I love to get the kids dressed up and looking all nice.  Last Sunday I added a tie to Oti's already cute outfit (he was wearing a white linen shirt, adorable, in my opinion).  I couldn't help but smile when I saw all my boys in their Sunday best. 

NONE of them look pleased that I wanted to take a picture of them... which totally makes me laugh!  I love them just the same  :)

Dave's 1st day of {real} work

 

So just like the first day of school, I took a picture of Dave's first day of work!  This was a big deal to us.  A HUUUUGE life change for me.  I am now tyed down to being home when Otis is sleeping and I have to take all the kids to the grocery store and if one kid needs to go to the bathroom and one wants a snack, I'm the one that has to do it ALL... BY MYSELF!!!!  

Really, no big deal.  I have enjoyed Dave being at the office and I enjoy him even more when he is home now.  We needed this and we are SO grateful for it, SO GRATEFUL!!! 

The same day that Dave started working at the SK office, I found Otis like this.  Poor baby!  Had Dave been home, one of us would have put him in bed way before this happened.  But its just part of life, at least the Trevino house, all kids must fall asleep like this at some point. 

 

Now the saucer is gone and this little monkey no longer has the option of falling asleep in it :) 

Spring Break: La Jolla

We took a drive to La Jolla to check it out, since we wanted to get family pictures taken there.  It was later in the day and it was cool and beautiful!  

Abuela and Milli stayed in the car, since Milli was zonked!  

Leah and Mylo raced the waves. Dave played with his camera for a while and Otis and I just watched and enjoyed the scenery.  It was beautiful!!!!

Leah trying to look 'natural'.... love her :)

After this little excursion we took the kiddos back home with abuela.  Got them some pizza and we got to go out to dinner, a little container store shopping and desert when we got home.  It was a chill, but fun and yummy day :) 

side note:  after further inspection, this was after the zoo, hence the same clothes :)  it was busy busy day... not so chill, still fun and yummy :) 

Spring Break: Beach Day

We planned our beach day to be the warmest day of the week.  It was beautiful!  We went to Coronado Island.  The kids loved playing on the sad and making a sand castle with Dave.

I love some action shot of the kids... check out Milli's leg muscles.  I tell you she takes after her mom :)

I caught Mylo mid jump.  There is also a sequence of Mylo doing some sort of cart wheel that must be recorded for future reference.

Milli was playing in the sad when Dave joined her.  Then one bucket of sand at a time they created their master piece.... best $10 I have spent at Costco in the last few months, this beach set was perfect!

If you look closely you can see that they added a water pouring thing that went right into the big "castle."  We later added some tunnels and they were pretty cool.  Again, the kids were in heaven!!!! 

Otis slept most of the time there but once he was up we were excited to introduce him to the sand and beach.... I think he really enjoyed it.

   

The TWO HEADED monster, compliment of Otis and Mylo

Milli even made some sand-angels :) Truth is she is MY angel ;) 

SUCH a fun day!  I wish we would have had more days like this.  However, Three of us got a little more sun than we bargained for.  Leah's lower back got fried, Mylo's entire back and shoulders got fried as well, due to a negligent mother, and my back also got fried.  I guess the sun is still strong with all that wind :)

Spring Break: Seaport Village

Sunday we tried to watch conference, since last year we were able to.  But they were in the middle of changing the cable service so we missed it.  Still we were not going to let the day go to waste.  While they were fixing the cable (yes on a sunday.  I guess they work on Sundays there... sad) Abuela and the girls got their toesies all pretty and ready for the beach.  No picture of that, but trust me, they were cute!  :)

Then we headed to Seaport Village.  Its a marina where there are a bunch shops and lots of vendors and some hand-reading psychics (interesting).  There was also a "silver robot" guy.  He was really good and the kids had a fun time watching him, from afar :)

Even though there are not pics of Otis, he was also there and he was the reason we didn't stay long... well, it was really my fault.  I prepared his bottle stuff, but then forgot the formula on the counter at home.

Still we did have some fun.  There was a guy that was letting people hold parrots and other birds and the kids loved that!  Check out these faces....

We also saw a magician and a band playing some fun Beach Boys type music... it was nice.  Plus, the day was GORGEOUS!!!!  Although our day was cut some what short we really did enjoy it.  It beats staying home :)

Later, we picked Dave up from the airport, since he was on a business trip.   I cannot remember what we did that night to save my life!

Tomorrow- BEACH!!!

Skullcandy + Dave = Awesome

The title of this post is a little bit of an inside joke.... I hope we remember about it when we are old and re-read this :)

For the last 2 1/2 yrs Dave has been a successful entrepreneur.  He and Quinny, his (business) partner {heheheee}, started a company called &Art.  It is/was a small videography company.  They had a few clients but ONE major client who was Skullcandy.

If you don't know already, Skullcandy makes headphones.  What do headphones have to do with video?  Well, Skullcandy sponsors professional BMXers, Snowboarders, Skaters, Motocross-ers.... &Art would film and edit everything they would ask them to do.

Turns out Skullcandy wanted to bring the video side of things in house.  We were VERY grateful for the monthly work.  It blessed us tremendously! But the opportunity of being in house with Skullcandy would be such a blessing.

They talked to Dave about this possibility a long time ago.  After much talk, Quinny (we call him that, that's not his real name, its just Quin ;)) and Dave thought this was the best direction they could take.  Plus, Quinny wanted to go to school.  So, IF this opportunity became a reality it would be PERFECT, for both of them.

Skullcandy had said, back in November that they wanted to make this position effective at the beginning of the year. Well, January came and went.  Dave continued to do work for Skullcandy, by himself, since by this point Quinny was in full-time school.  For us, "the beginning of the year" meant January 1-15ish.  February, also, came and went.  Still, the same thing, Dave continued to do TONS of work for Skullcandy.  He would talk to his-would-be-boss weekly and he would assure him that this was still a go and that he was hoping to finalize it "next week."

By this point we were just getting used to the idea of getting disappointed and we were getting used to the uncertainty of this ever becoming a REAL thing.  Then, March.... "next week we are going to get this all said and done"... blah blah blah, yeah, right.  I've heard that before.

Then out of the blue, when I got back from my run on Monday, Dave says, "Brett called." I was THRILLED and couldn't wait to hear what he said!!!!!  Dave has not been blessed with an "excited" side to him (like me or his girls.  We get excited over anything and you KNOW when we are excited... we show it :)).  Anyway, we read the contract and felt good about everything.  After a final talk with Brett, later in the evening, everything was done and the contract has been signed!!! YAY!!!!

We are SO happy and this is exactly what we wanted and needed!  This is a HUGE blessing for our family.  We will have insurance again!!! YAY!!! I am so proud of Dave and excited for this new adventure and chapter in his life.  I think all of his hard work is finally paying off.  Can you tell I am SO HAPPYYYYY???!!!!  Cause I TOTALLY AM!!!!!  WE are totally thrilled!  Dave has a new... I don't know what to call it... a new "feeling" about him.  He seems to have a new bounce to his step.  LOVE IT :) 


ps.  I like to rock my Skullcandy Chops while I run.  They are the perfect headphone, in my opinion, for exercising.  :)

Big Al Turns 71!!! (picture overload)

Al turned 71yrs young last Sunday.  On Saturday they, Diane and Al, had a VERY fun party planned at a "bowling alley."  It was a blast!!!!!  Most of Al's kids were there and most of Diane's family as well.  The kids bowled like there was not tomorrow and so did some of the adults, which resulted in some very sore arms the following day :)

Al and Diane.... 

 Most of the grandkids.  Note Milli, not wanting to be in the picture, at all! 

Bowling pics form the rear... the best "form" goes to Dave Pearce, seen bottom left. 

left to right: Me, Bob, Dave T., Jake, Abuela, Sean and Dave P.  

Bowling pics from the front.  

Again, I think best bowling face goes to Dave Pearce or Al.  LOVE IT!!!

left to right: Sean & Alex, Dave T., Sarah, Todd (Diane's son, he is just awesome! and a new grandpa!!!), Todd and Mackay, Sean M. & Chole, Karalee & Alex, Gary, Me, Gary (again), Birthday Boy and Dave P.

Cutie Pies.  I just love these two!!!

Max, Megs and Jake.  Max was so funny this evening.  He was singing Beiber (sp? don't even care to look it up) and was actually pretty good and was cute to take our jokes.  These "older" cousins are super cute with the younger ones.  I love Jake's crazy face in this picture too.  

Maddie and Leah.  Later in the evening they were playing bar tenders with Jake.  

Lots of opened soda cans, ooooops!  But they had fun.  :) 

Emily with her chubbers, Riley.  He is a cute "little" tank! 

My cutie pie, Otapotamous and Abuela.

Milli was so good all night.  She was just pleased as could be playing with balloons and "coloring" on the bowling score sheet.  Plus, she was just so happy.  LOVE HER!!!!! 

This was such a fun party!  We all really enjoyed it!!! But of course, the best part was celebrating Al.  It was his b-day after all and we love him.  :)  He is a sweet grandpa.... Happy Day to Al!!!!