#12 Grandchild!

Lyla Mae Merrill is here! She was born on Thursday, February 17th at 4:38 p.m., weighing in at 7 lb. 11 oz. and was 20 1/2 in long. Isn't she adorable?!!

But I am way behind as usual so first I want to post some pictures of the baby shower my sister Debbie and I gave Natalie on January 22nd.

Natalie loves owls so we decided on an owl theme and she and I made these cute invitations to send out.

We had it at Debbie's house and she did an awesome job as usual decorating everything. We had yummy salads and rolls for starters.

Natalie loves crepes so in the kitchen we had a crepe bar for dessert.

Stephanie made some adorable and delicious owl cake pops for favors.

Just a couple of the cute things people brought for Lyla.

Kimberly did a great job planning some fun games and also got this cute piggy bank for Lyla and had everyone write down some advice for Natalie.

Kim, Nat, Steph and cute Emma.

My sister Debbie with Natalie and I.

Thanks to everyone who helped bring the yummy food and came and supported us, it was a hoot!

Now on to the main event:

Here's Nat laboring away!
If you can call laying in bed with an epidural labor :)

Lyla in all her glory.

The new little family.

She has the chubbiest cheeks I have ever seen on a baby. Too cute!

And here's one with her eyes open.

She's a doll and we are so glad she is here safe and sound. Natalie is doing awesome as a first time mom. Welcome to the family Lyla!

Sakes Alive Matthew's 5!

Matthew turned 5 last week and had a party at Peter Piper Pizza. It was a Batman theme and Stephanie went all out making him a darling cake and some cute cake pops for the guests. Lots of people, presents and of course pizza made for a good time for all.

The cool Batman cake and cake pops

The cute birthday boy

We love you Matthew!

Girl's Getaway!

Last weekend we had a fun girl's getaway. Melanie wanted to do something with all the girls before Natalie has her baby and gets tied down. So we loaded up and headed to Yuma without husbands or kids! Gabe brought his kids to the valley and stayed at his mom's so we had the house to ourselves. We left on Friday afternoon and came home Sunday afternoon. Everyone was in charge of bringing a project to work on and we crafted the time away. We also managed to fit in a Saturday morning work-out, shopping, eating out, going to the movies, and hot tubbing! We also came home with some cute projects. Here's a look:

Kneaders is a staple in Utah but they also have one in Yuma so we hit it up for some yummy salads and sandwiches!

Went to the movie Country Strong and I've been overdosing on the soundtrack ever since!

The workout babes!


Now for some of our projects:

Charm bracelets we put together from a kit.
We also made candy bracelets to take home to the kids but I didn't get a pic of those.

Cute valentines baskets we dolled up with ribbon.

Photo clips we made from a large clothespin.

Cute holders made with twine and empty cans.

Adorable flutter capes they made for their girls

Didn't quite finish this cute wood project. We still need to modge podge family pictures on the empty blocks. And we also wanted to do a banner out of chipboard and scrapbook paper but didn't quite have enough time to get to that. Oh well, next time!

All in all a fun and relaxing weekend. The daddy's had diaper duty and did a great job. Thanks guys, we couldn't have done it without ya! We definitely need to make this a monthly, (well maybe annual or semi-anual) event. : )

8 is Great!

Our grandson, Ryder, turned 8 in September. Emma turned 7 a few days later so Stephanie, Melanie and I surprised them with a quick trip to Sea World. The weather was great, the crowds were light and we had a wonderful time! We even got soaked on the shipwreck rapids ride. The kids had a blast and really enjoyed their birthday adventure.

Meeting Shamu

lots of flamingos

Then on November 20th came the big day for Ryder to get baptized. We were able to have it in Gilbert so all the family could be there. Gabe baptized him and papa Ron confirmed him. What a special day!

Gabe and Ryder

what a handsome boy!

Ryder with grandma and papa

We love this kid and are so proud of him!

What the heck were we thinking?

Meet Booger. He is the newest addition to our family. Dollar signs got in the way of good sense on this one. We bred Daisy with a neighbors dog some months ago and had such good luck selling all the puppies that Ron decided we needed our own male to breed her with. Thus the reason that we now have 4 dogs! (5 if you count Nat and Tommy's boxer that is living in our backyard for who knows how long :) Booger is a crazy puppy and at times a royal pain in the behind but he has wormed his way into our hearts and we all love him! What can I say - we are crazy!

How can you not love that sweet face? :)

4th of July Getaway

I love California. . . more specifically, I love the beach! During my growing up years, my family took a vacation to San Diego every summer and I loved it. After Ron and I got married and had our children I finally convinced him that we needed to go to California in the summer for vacation. So for the last 15 years or so we have headed to Oceanside and rented a condo for a week or two along with some of my siblings and aunts. It's been a blast! But with the growth of our family and the downturn in the economy, we have not been able to go lately. Last year I was able to get my beach fix with Debbie's family and this year Mel and Gabe invitied us to come over for the 4th of July weekend and stay with them. It was great! We made it to the beach twice and fit quite a few other activities in. Steph and Curt were over there too for the first couple of days so we hooked up and went to the beach and Seaport Village. Here's some fun pics:

Cousins on the beach

Gabe getting a workout

This is what Ron did most of the trip

(He's reading if you can't tell)

Aren't these some hot chicks!

Got sand?

We went to the beach on Coronado Island

This is the beautiful Hotel del Coronado


The Rojas kids sporting their 4th of July outfits

Papa lovin on Ruby

And it wouldn't be a trip to San Diego without Ghirardelli's!


We managed to fit in a couple of movies, shakes from Ruby's, delicious bbq from Phil's, and peach pie from Marie Calendars. We also saw a spectacular fireworks display from the comfort of the apartment backyard. All in all a great trip, wish we could have stayed longer!

Oh and did I mention the fabulous weather? Heavenly!

God Bless America . . .

Land that I love! I am so thankful to live in this great country and have all the freedoms that we enjoy and take for granted. I don't get too politically involved but in honor of the 4th of July we got out the paint and made some cute holiday decorations. Thanks again to Ron for being such a great wood cutter!

See I am patriotic! Now if someone would fix all the problems this country is having . . .