We're going to the zoo zoo zoo...How about you you you... :)

It's my birthday this coming weekend so this last weekend for my birthday my bestest friend ever Christy took me out for the day to celebrate ME! :)

We started our day off right...with a yummy donut for breakfast (oh, on special celebration days, diets ARE NOT allowed.) :) After, we drover down to Balboa Park area where all the museums are and such. I went and saw my first IMAX movie. It was on the coral reefs and how in certain areas they are dying. There was such amazing footage though. Beautiful fish and reefs and sharks! It was so cool. I am now inspired to go scuba diving. :)

After we headed over to the San Diego Zoo. But before we did that we made a stop at the car for lunch. That was so yummy! My husband made us peanut butter and strawberry jelly sandwiches. They were oozers.



Onto the zoo. It was SO MUCH FUN! We saw just about everything...no, we did see everything. :) The funny part was I wanted to go see the Orangutan. There were 2 right by the glass and everyone was all gathered around. I inched my way forward to try and get some pictures and as I got up close, I noticed something a little odd. One of them was laying on the ground and the other towards the feet of the other. The one by the feet raised up the foot of the one laying on their back. Now, I'm thinking "How cute! He's playing with the others foot" and at the moment, it turned interesting. He moved the foot out of the way and mounted the other. OH MY GOSH! Had to turn away quickly, it kinda grossed me out. What's with this! Are they like exhibitionist or something! But what disturbed me most was all the parents letting their kids get up close on it and watch and all the perverts around snapping photo's like it was the president! Goodness people, that's just wrong. (the picture below was BEFORE I knew what was going on and BEFORE anything had really taken place. Just so you know. :) )

The rest of the zoo was awesome. Saw the Panda's, Koalas (they're my fav), elephants, and all kinds of other animals. Towards the end of our day we went over the where all the kitty's are (VERY BIG KITTY'S) and went over to the snow leopard's area. What a treat! They were not only out but right up against the cage are RIGHT IN FRONT OF US! They were so close I could've reach in and touched one...but the sign said not to or a band aid will appear on my finger. :) Such a beautiful cat with big fluffy tails. It was great.

After the zoo I met up with my husband and boys for dinner at Joe's Crab Shack. YUMMY!!! Got my meal free. No, not cause it was my birthday...it was because at the very last bite of my scampi I noticed something in the juices...a foil wrapper thingy. I showed it to the manager just to let them know about it and to watch out for that kind of stuff and they took my meal off the bill for us. SWEET! :)

Then we parted ways and Christy and I went over to Extraordinary Deserts. If you have never been, you need to go. They specialize in pretty, elegant deserts with yummy in mind. They look beautiful and still with every bite, pure bliss. Christy had the Chocolate Raspberry cake (so thick and rich...she let me have a bite...mmmmmmmmmm) and I chose the Apple Croistini...something like that. Mine was a baked light a crispy pastry thingy with warm custard apple filling on the inside. It was delicious!

Ahhhh, the night came to a close. It was such a wonderful, WONDERFUL day. I like these kinds of gifts cause a shirt will wear, cards will fade, but the memories from this day I can keep forever. Thank you so much Christy for a great birthday present and wonderful memories. :)

My dad sent this to me this morning. I love getting some of this good stuff from him. He's the best dad ever. :) Thought I would share it with you all. :)

1. Faith is the ability not to panic.


2 If you worry, you didn't pray. If you prayed, don't worry.


3. As a child of God, prayer is kinda like calling home every day.


4. Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.


5. When we get tangled up in our problems, be still. God wants us to be still so He can untangle the knot.


6. Do the math. Count your blessings.


7. God wants spiritual fruit, not religious nuts.


8. Dear God: I have a problem. It's me.


9. Silence is often misinterpreted, but never misquoted.


10. Laugh every day -- it's like inner jogging.


11. The most important things in your home are the people.


12. Growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional.


13. There is no key to happiness. The door is always open. Come on in.


14. A grudge is a heavy thing to carry.


15. He who dies with the most toys is still dead.


16. We do not remember days, but moments. Life moves too fast, so enjoy your precious moments.


17. Nothing is real to you until you experience it; otherwise it's just hearsay.


18. Its all right to sit on your pity pot every now and again. Just be sure to flush when you are done.





I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well

New picture's of Madison! - Just wanted to share some new one's with you all and give an update. She's doing much much better after Christy and I reset her brain a few weeks ago with the training collar (it was so an accident...) Oh, I didn't share the story with you all did I. I think I will. But all you animal rights people and all that, don't get all pissy when you read this. IT WAS ACCIDENTAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have had some issues with Maddie. She was finding it fun to chew up my couch, Jeff's shoes (one of them being his favorite) and the one that REALLY got to me, nipping and biting at my boys. We were faced with an ultimatum, well, at least she was. Shape up or ship out. My friend Christy and I took a day off to use my friends training collar and work on eliminating these bad bad habits.

We couldn't remember how to use the remote from when we last used it on Riley (her dog) so we looked up on the Internet and figured out which buttons do what. There's a positive tone, and negative tone and the shocker one.

Ok, time to figure out her level of response. There are a total of 8 settings on the remote for shocking, 1 being the least amount of shock, 8 being the most. Riley, her German Shepard/Rottweiler mix has a response to level 2. So we started her on level one....no response. Level 2.....no response. At this point, I make sure the collar is tight and in the correct place..it was. Level 3....no response. Ok, this was really weird we both thought. What kind of stubborn dog is this really!!??

Then, we set the level at 4. At this point in time, my friend Christy who is holding the remote realizes that it's not enough to just press the button once quickly, that it only would let out the negative tone then. You actually have to HOLD IT DOWN for like 2 seconds before the shocker comes on. Well, she pressed it, held it, and right in front of me (I was on the floor right in front of Maddie) she jumps 2 feet into the air, let's out a little "YIP" and tweaked to the side!!!!! OH MY GOSH!!!!!!! I was looking to see if she was smoking from the ears!!!! Christy started cracking up laughing and so did I (after I realized what happened and that she was ok). We only thought that happened in movies with special affects! I had no idea that a dog can jump STRAIGHT up into the air 2 feet. We laughed so hard that we cried.

Ever since that moment, she has been a totally different dog. She still jumps and is all excited when you first see her ad all but boy, she sure responds quickly when we tell her no. :) As I stated earlier, it's not that I purposely zapped my dog. She was 100% fine and it really made for a funny memory. :) Thanks Christy for your help that day. I'm glad you were the one who pressed the button and not me that way I can hold you accountable for her brain damage....HEHEHEHEHEHEHHEHE Just kidding. :) She's fine really.... :)

YAY! Opening day at the PetCo stadium. Would've been totally awesome if those darn Padres would've won that night. Oh well, the company totally made up for it. Christy (my bestest friend ever), Neal (my husband's friend) Jeff and me went last Friday night (well, 2 Friday night's ago now...meant to post this last Friday) and it was a lot of fun.

We tried to get downtown in time to be able to get into this really good parking garage however, we just missed it. One car ahead of us and they put up their "Lot Full" sign which we know from past experience, it probably wasn't. :( Argggggggg. So, we went around to another parking structure over across the way. It was a little bit of a walk but not too bad. Then, just as we get up towards the stadium and are about to cross, a freight train decides it wants to cross (there's RR tracks right by PetCo stadium) and then it stopped right on the tracks. OH MY GOODNESS!!!! It wouldn't have been so bad if Jeff didn't have to pee REALLY bad. So, thought quick on our feet and hired one of those bike guys that ride people places and had them ride us down to another crossing where the train wasn't and ride us back. Just as we got back to the original crossing where the train was, he had just moved and was clear. Oh well, nice ride for $20 :) I just kept saying to myself "It might have taken hours, you didn't know". Made me feel a bit better.

Got inside and smelled all the yummy food. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Found our seats and they were better than I thought they were going to be. We were in the front of the section and had glass in front of us so we could see the field really good. Enjoyed the pre game stuff, being opening day and all they had some neat things happening. Had a bunch of fireworks on the field that would go off and some high powered streamers that would shoot right out of the stands right in front of us. It was so funny cause Christy screamed out cause it scared her. Hehehehehehe...sorry Christy, had to mention it. :) (not much scares her so, this was monumental).

Right before the game we had the Marines on the field displaying a flag the filled the entire outfield. It was cool. We live in such an amazing country. It was a nice reminder of our freedom and as Christians, I really need to exercise that and tell others about our freedom in Christ. :)

Over all, we enjoyed good food (garlic fries....MMMMMMMMMMMM) and awesome friendship. Planning another game going on the 28th but this time it'll be with family and friends. Should be a lot of fun. :)

I'm so proud of my oldest son. His name is Ethan and he just is the greatest 10 year old ever. :) He's been involved in band now for 2 years. He play the trombone and although he's not the best YET, he's having fun with it and he's not all that totally bad.

He had a concert this last week. His very first. I was so proud of him and I did enjoy the performance. They combined with the High School band (it was their music I enjoyed the most though...the Honor band was still a little squeaky....darn clarinets). Here's a few snap shots of the performance. He also received a nice certificate from our Assemblymen congratulating him on his participation in the Honor Band. Good job Ethan, you make your momma proud!!!!!!

So much has been happening in my life that I've been busy living it and not writing about it. I told myself "Self, now that you have Internet at home you can update every night" HA HA HA HA, so funny Franny. By the time I get home, I'm good for nothing but bed. Soooooo, long over do but here's some fun stuff that's been happening. :)

Every Thursday night we have "Mommy Night". It's just me and my boys. This is time that they can have my full attention and I can just love all over 'em! My husband has "Man Night" every Tuesday where it's just him and the boys. This has worked out sooo good and the boys have just loved it.

I've been wanting to plan something really fun. My best friend gave me the idea of Treasure Hunt. It was so much fun! I planted clues all over our apartment complex (the mail boxes, laundry room, under the stairs....etc. The Treasure was the most fun to create. I made up little "Mommy Certificates" for things like Mommy makes the beds, free drive to school, any snack of their choice, extra 30 minutes at night and 5 hugs (which my boys told me mom, you give us hugs anyways....I said good point but these are EVEN MORE!) :)

Here's a few snapshots of the evening. We had a blast. I was told by my boys that it was the best Mommy Night ever. I encourage all those with kids, take a special time out just for them during the week. It will nurture both of you and create great memories. Our kids will one day parents and our example will be the kind of parents they'll become. Let's create some great generations to follow.

God is sooooo amazing! I just had to share with everyone something that happened to me just recently. I love it when God has a chance to show His awesome greatness. This is a little long but it is sooooooo worth the read. :)

As many of you know, my family and I just moved. We went from a spacious town home (well sort of) to a tiny apartment. I've made the apartment home and it works but, it's definatly a stretch at times. We (my husband and I) made this choice to do this so we could save up for a house down the road. We felt led by the Lord to become even better stewards over what He's given us. It felt so good moving cause we knew it was all in God's will for our lives.

Well, just before we moved my odd landlord went through our house and complimented and confirmed that there wasn't any major damage at all and he really enjoyed having us as tenants, and we would be getting our full security deposit 14 days after the 1st (which was stated in a letter given to us previously from him). Now, the law states the landlord has up to 21 days to return the deposit so even after the 14 days had come and gone, we weren't too concerned.

Then, the 21st came around and my husband called the landlord to see if I could swing by and pick up a check from him the next day for the deposit and such (it was a very fairly good amount) and at this point, the world came crashing down on us. The landlord told y husband that according to his wife, we didn't pay rent back in June of 2006. OH MY GOODNESS! What had happened is I had my purse taken then and I had to close accounts out and one of our checks to her bounced. As son as we found out we had told her before it all hit about having to close the account. She told us to pay her CASH and NOT TO TELL Bill (our landlord) as he would become upset. So we did as she asked and paid cash. The problem is, as they were going through tax stuff, she saw the notice from the bank from June and told Bill that we never paid her.

I was so upset, I left work to get the paperwork I had stating I would get all my deposit money back. Meanwhile, as Christy (my bff) was driving me home, she felt led by the Lord to tell me to forgive them, RIGHT AT THIS MOMENT, before anything was resolved, the Lord was asking me to forgive. OH MY GOODNESS that's a hard thing to do. In the midst of my anger and frustration at this injustice, I had to forgive them. After much prayer and tears, I did what the Lord asked of me. I called Jeff and shared with him to forgive as well (he was also on his way home) and it was a total confirmation as he told me the Lord told him to do the same about 10 minutes before I called him.

Now, as I arrive home, I was under the understanding that even after they deducted the month's rent, I still should've received about $600 and it was in the mailbox waiting for me. When I looked in my mailbox, the letter was in there as the landlord had stated however, no check. Instead, there was a bogus listing of problems with the unit (all which were not from us but from previous tenants WHICH was known by the landlord before we moved in) and NOW, they stated the I owed them $181. OH LORD!!!! I broke down and cried. I wept at this injustice towards our family. We did everything as unto the Lord in giving our notice and leaving this place in even better than received condition.

At this point my husband gets home and we all pray together (Christy, my husband and myself). We agree in prayer over the situation and conclude that it would be best to go and speak face to face with him, in love and in Christ. We also felt we should bring our children along (my 2 cute boys) to share with them the Godly way to handle a very bad situation.

As we talked to him, he was very defensive at first. We continued in explaining how we had paid cash to his wife and all the events around that time. We stated clearly that we are in no way calling her a liar, but possible because it was cash, maybe she forgot. We did mention also about all the other claims on the paper and asked for receipts, which he had none. Before we even arrived, we had purposed in our heart no matter the outcome, even if we lost out completely on the $1850, that the Lord will sustain and supply our needs (it was to purchase another car). At the end of our conversation, our landlord asked to give him 4 hours to talk it over with his wife.

As the hour got closer to the 4 hour mark, I was prompting my husband to call him and find out what the outcome was. But my husband felt in his heart that it wasn't the time and that the Lord would take care of things. We agreeed that if he didn't call my husband by 9am the next morning, then my husband would call.

No call that night. But just as I was dropping off my boys to walk to school, I got a call from my husband. "You're not going to believe this. Bill just called." My heart sank for a moment. "Yeeess???" I said. "He told me that he couldn't sleep all night, he kept thinking about what we said. He said that he couldn't rest until he called us to tell us that he feels in his heart that we're telling the truth regarding rent and that he will give us a check today for the amount of rent." YIPPIEEE!!!!!! Even though it wasn't the full amount, we had trusted the Lord and knew that if this is what was given to us, it was what's supposed to come to us. I told my boys of the wondrous victory the Lord gave our family. They were so excited to see God's glory they said that they're going to praise him all the way to school.

Isn't God so amazing!!!!!! We're still trusting in the Lord for the rest to buy a car but I have no doubt in my mind that when the time is right, God will supply all my needs. I encourage all that just read this, always trust and have patience in the Lord. If we would've called at 9pm the night before (when my patience was running out), I would've possibly harmed the chance for God to work on his heart all night long and prevented God's blessing in this situation.

Thank you Lord! You are forever amazing and forever unchanging!