We must have partied the month away...

...seriously, I blinked, and the month of November was over. Which is probably why its already the end of December and I'm just barely posting this!!!
We had two big milestone birthdays in November. Cammy turned 12 and is off to Young Women's and junior high soon, while Krystian turned 8 and was baptized. I keep telling them that they are not allowed to grow up anymore, but it seems no one is listening!
Being me, I took lots of pics, but I'll try to narrow it down...

Awe... this is one of those happy mom moments!

Cammy wasn't about to share her cake... :)
Do you think she likes gift cards???
Doesn't every pre-teen!?

Krystian's birthday party...

I think Krystian made it clear that Brad was the only boy allowed in the house during her party...

Opening presents...

The super-fabulous birthday cake...

Krystian wanted a sleepover, I wanted to keep my sanity...

so we compromised. Who doesn't love a "late-over"!?

You get to come in your pj's, play sleepover games, and eat tuns of popcorn...

then fall asleep in your OWN bed!!!

YAY for late-overs!!!

Super excited about turning 8!!!

Be sure to check out her pictures from her baptism...

Oh happy day!

The Baptism...

I still can't believe that Krystian is 8 years old, but it true...
Krystian was baptized on December 5th.
She had been talking about her baptism non-stop for about 4 months. Let's just say she was super excited to be baptized!
Brad baptized her... she asked him to. A bunch of Krystian's little friends came, and so did her grandparents, aunt, uncle and a bunch of cousins.

My favorite memory of the day was right after Krystian was baptized and all of her friends came rushing up to her wanting to hug her... I told them to wait just a couple of minutes while she dries off. I just thought it was so cute that they all wanted to hug her even though she was sopping wet!

Afterward, the girls, Brad and myself went to dinner with our "bestest" friends Natalie, Micah and London. Krystian wanted to go to the Mayan... it was so fun watching all the girls get so excited during the thunderstorms and cliff diving at the restaurant.
It was the perfect ending to a perfect day...

Wait... I thought you were still 4 years old...

My beautiful Camryn just had a birthday. Not just any birthday either... she is now the big 1, 2...
I look at my girls and I feel like I blinked and missed a whole lot of stuff. I could swear she's still 4 years old.
I got out some old photo albums yesterday and I'm so glad that I'm kind of a freak about taking pictures... there were so many memories captured, some I had forgotten, I just couldn't help but sit for hours and remember all the goodness.
So, here's to the fun times, fun memories, and the photos of my once 4 year old...

The project...

So, I've been feeling like every ounce of my creativity has been sucked out of life lately... so I took on a project or two... maybe three... those of you who know me, know how I am! I can hear your mockings!!!

I decided to make time to be creative, and here is the result. I recently re-painted/re-designed my bedroom. I'm so in LOVE with that pale, greyish-blue color, and you all know me for using my signature black and white color scheme. There's just something classic about black and white, with a subtle pop of color...

They're not the greatest pictures, but eh. The project was so simply and super inexpensive (under $20). I covered artist canvases with paper... but I'm going to tell everyone that I painted them... It'll be our little secret! shhhh....

The warmth...

It snowed!

I got to enjoy a little warmth with Miss Krystian this morning. I'm off of work for the week and got to do the one thing I cherish most... spending a small yet warm moment with one of my girls!

Krystian and I walked to school this morning. Now it's only a short walk across the street, but Krystian made every second count. She serenaded me with her rendition of Frosty the Snowman, then we stopped to crunch snow under our boots, and finished by catching a few snowflakes on our tongues. She talked and talked about all the fun she's having in her classroom this year and how excited she is for Halloween this weekend.
I love our conversations.

I enjoyed waving to all of my neighbors who were smart enough to drive to school on such an icy, cold morning. And I thoroughly enjoyed visiting with all of my daughters' friends along the way.

It may be cold outside, but the walk to school this morning was a warm reminder of how wonderful life really is!

Mean Girls...

This next post was actually the inspiration behind the creation of my newest blog...
Here's to the Drama...
http://adayinthelifeofdrama.blogspot.com/
I'm devoting an entire blog to the daily drama of raising daughters.

For those of you raising girls I hope you can relate. For those of you looking for a good laugh or those simply needing a boost, Here's to the Drama...


Drama. That's right... drama. Raising girls brings on all sorts of drama.
So, the unthinkable happened over the weekend. My sweet Kayla unknowingly made some enemies. 3 "mean girls" as I like to refer to them. Actually I'd like to call them something else, but I'm practicing restraint.

Well, let me start by telling you that a boy was involved. I haven't figured out what to call him yet, so that's all I'm going to say about him. Kayla decided that this "boy" wasn't her caliber of guy and broke his heart by telling him to "get lost". Said boy got his little feelers hurt and took it upon himself to tell some of his friends (girls) that Kayla was talking about them behind their backs. You know the typical junior high drama.
So, over the weekend Kayla got a few phone calls and text messages (from the mean girls) telling her that they were going to beat her up at school on Monday. Yes, my sweet Kayla. The girl who befriends everyone and whose calling in life is to be a peacemaker.
My blood began to boil...
How dare someone even think of touching my little girl! I fantasized all weekend about going into the school on Monday and ripping their little heads off. Oh how I just wanted to straighten them out and wake them up! And all of this started because of a boy? Well he better watch out too!
Monday morning came and I pulled up to the school. My daughter got out of the car.
I just sat there in my car sick to my stomach. Do I go into the school and "snitch" on the 3 "meanies"? Do I let it go for the day and see if it all passes over? Do I just let Kayla handle it on her own? The last thing you want to do as the mother of a teenage girl is create a scene and add to the drama of everything.
So I pulled out my teenage instruction manual. Crap... NOBODY gave me one of those!!!
Well, Kayla in all her 14 year old wisdom turned to me and told me that she would handle it herself, but if they touched her she would go to the office. So there I was having to put my faith in my daughter's ability to reason with another teenage girl.
I prayed a lot that day.
I had to work, so every moment I could sneak away and check my phone I did.
Nothing all day long.
Finally about 1 o'clock I receive the message... mom I worked it out with them. I just talked to them and told them I wasn't going to fight with them and that I didn't say any of those things about them. I told them I didn't even know them, so why would I even be taking about them.
Let me just say first of all how PROUD I am of my daughter. Second, I'm incredibly grateful that this is the first time this has happened considering this is her last year of junior high. And third, that the drama of it all was short lived. Thank heaven!

Why do girls have to be so mean? And as for the boy... little punk!

Times flies... and I didn't even get to have any fun...

No, I'm just kidding!
Well, as you can see I haven't been a big blogger lately. It seems like all I do lately is write papers, study for exams, go to work, come home, play with my girls and make time for... me. Ok, wait... now I remember why I don't have time to blog anymore!!!
I'll keep this short and sweet since I have a paper due in the morning that I haven't even started on... it's only 11:30 p.m. so I've got time! ;) I'm a huge procrastinator when it comes to writing papers. I actually really like to write and always seem to pull off a good last minute paper, but man, I just can't focus lately!
School is good. Super busy... maybe it's the 15 credits I loaded up on this semester!? Taking so many classes sounded like a good idea... I seem to forget that I work and I'm a mom too.
Westminster is super liberal... more than I expected. It's kind of ironic that I've talked more about Mormonism in my first 6 weeks at WC then I did the entire time and LDS Business College. I wish I could say that all of the "Mormon talk" is positive and good, but no. It bothered me at first, but now I just kind of get a kick out of it. If anything, it keeps me on my toes and makes me really appreciate the gospel even more.
Well, I promise to make an attempt to write more this month. September just flew by and I need to update a bunch, so I shall be making time soon, preferably when I don't have a huge paper looming over my head...

ps... I wrote the 5 page paper in about 45 minutes and got full points. :) saweeeet...
I would like to say that I won't do that again...

What the FREEEEEAK!?

Halloween came early to our house...

So, I'm outside one evening talking to one of my friends when I hear my girls screaming! Cammy comes running out of the house saying "There's a bat! There's a bat! There's a bat!" I thought maybe I had misunderstood her. Do bats even exist here????
So I walk over to our patio to check it out... sure enough we found this little guy in between the screen and the glass door on our patio. Thankfully he was outside!!! Anyway, I told the girls to just turn off the light and let him fly away. The plan was flawless until I walked out the front door a few days later and he was back, hanging out (literally) on my front steps. It seriously FREAKED me out!!!
I'm not really into bats, and didn't want to keep him. He apparently liked our house and wanted to move in. Gives me the creeps just thinking about it!!!
Anyway, animal control came and took him away....

Thanks to our little baby bat for bringing Halloween to our home early this year. Hmmmm, maybe I should have kept him as a decoration?

A new school year deserves a new smile!

Kayla has been anxiously waiting this entire summer for Dr. Parker to tell her she can get her braces off. Well, the day came... I took one look at her without them on and BEGGED Dr. Parker to put them back on! She was beautiful before, but now look at her!

Oh NO... I'm in deep trouble!!!
Before & After

Dr. Parker gets the celebration started with balloons & a bottle of sparkling cider. He then cranked up the music to one of Kayla's favorite songs on the sound system...

"Get this party started"... it was the perfect song choice!

She doesn't look too happy does she!? ;)

School Daze...

Everyone is officially back to school! YAY!!!
This is a big year for the Garcia girls... this is Kayla's last year of junior high & Cammy's last year of elementary school. There's quite a lot going on this year.... so hold on!
My babygirls are growing up way too fast!!!



K, if anyone finds out who is sitting on the fast forward button will you kindly ask them to GET OFF!!!

My Favorites... the candid moments...

I have this thing for photographs. I love surrounding myself with pictures... it reminds me how lucky I am, and how great life really is.
You know you need a bigger house when there is no wall space left to hang photos!

Well, as you know, we had some family photos taken about a month ago (the infamous water balloon fight). I have been pouring over the pictures trying to decide which are my favorites. It's hard when they all turn out so great. I love looking at these photographs because they make me smile. It's a reminder of our summer, the great relationships I am so lucky to have with my daughters, and how much they really do like each other! I really am one lucky mom!!!

I have way too many "favorites" from the photo~shoot, so I thought I'd post a few that most of you haven't seen yet. Most of these are candid shots... I love the emotion involved in a candid shot. Enjoy...

The calm before the storm...

I'm really relaxed... maybe TOO relaxed!!!
Hangin out at the pool everyday, sleeping in, having time to braid Krystian's hair...
In all reality I know it's too good to be true... school starts for everyone in about 2 weeks and then I'm sure I'll be pulling my hair out! I thought I'd take some time to memorialize this moment...

okay... it's over... mommyhood is calling (um, actually screaming) my name...

Blessed...

I'm not sure where the summer has gone, but it's... well, almost over! I can't believe it! I got an extended summer break this year when I became ill last April and missed the last 5 weeks of work. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I am really ready to go back to work! I miss my cute students and my co-workers. Having spent some extra time at home this summer, I spent a lot of time thinking about my life and how blessed I truly am.
Not only am I blessed to have my 3 wonderful daughters, I'm also blessed to have many close and amazing friendships! People ask me all the time how I do it... raise 3 girls, work, go to school... Well, I don't do it alone... I have incredible friends and a sister~in~law and step~mom that help me keep it all under control! I am so grateful!!!
Blessings have definitely come in other ways too. I have been the only active church member in my family since I was about 14, so when my darling sister~in~law, Liz came back to church a few months ago, I was ecstatic!!! I am so amazed by her strength in bringing her family back into the gospel. Her oldest son, Nickolas was just baptized this past Sunday, and it was such an exciting day! I have high hopes that my brother, Jason will soon follow. :)
I think the pictures from Nick's baptism say it all...

Conversations with a 7 year old...

So, this morning I met up with a couple of my friends at the Jordan River Temple for an early (6 a.m.) morning session. I thought this was the perfect plan. I could slip out and be back before my girls wake up for the day.

I arrived home as Krystian was waking up... she looks at me dressed in my Sunday clothes and says, "so, where have you been all night mommy? You're getting home really late... what time is it anyway young lady?"

She was completely serious.

I had no response...

A water balloon fight and some pictures to go with it....

My girls and I just did the most fun photo shoot I have ever been a part of! My longtime friend, Joanna Taylor, is this AMAZING photographer and she had this ever so fun idea for a photo shoot... we had family photos taken and then ended the shoot with a water balloon fight. I absolutely LOVED the idea!!! Joanna is the master of capturing relationships and candid moments. Follow the link to see some of the photos she took of us. This really was the most fun I have ever had while having my picture taken!!!

http://joannataylorphotography.blogspot.com/

Sharing the sun with a friend...

Krystian LOVES, LOVES, LOVES play dates...
I love play dates too because it means that we schedule time out of our crazy lives just to play!
Krystian's little friend Sydney came to swim the other day... what a way to spend the day. I affectionately referred to these two as "my little fishies"... I think my favorite part was them trying to splash me by doing "cannonballs"... um, they both weigh practically nothing, so the splashing wasn't too successful... thankfully!!!

A buzzzzzzz in the air...

5 tickets to the Bees baseball game = $83
3 nachos, 2 hot dogs, 5 sodas and 5 snow cones = $$$
cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching
A warm 4th of July evening spent chillin at the baseball game with my babygirls and Brad= sweeeet...

B~rad and me...

Krystian and her mommy...

Me... really, really excited to have Krystian taking my picture... again! :)
Brad and little missy...

Krystian waiting and waiting for a foul ball to come our way... I'm kind of glad one didn't considering that Krystian insisted on being the one to catch it!
Beautiful Kayla...

Finishing off the evening with a snow cone and fireworks...