more xmas fun

My, non-blood, family came over tonight to hang out and see all my Christmas decorations. I enjoyed the time spent with the wonderful Matlock family this evening and only wish that it could've been a longer visit.

As I was awaiting their arrival, I heard some faint singing outside...and when I opened the door, they were caroling at my front door. I've never been caroled to before, it was AWESOME!! I enjoyed their beautiful voices and then asked them to come in. They went through each room and enjoyed the decorations and many trees I had put up, and then we sat around chatting for awhile. Great times!!

Thanks for coming over tonight you guys! Love you bunches!!


Here are some pictures of the decorations around my house...

Christmas Flu

Unfortunatley, this Christmas I had a 24hr flu. What a bummer it was that it was on Christmas Day (why not the day after?). But I lived! lol :) I was laying in bed (of course it was the middle of the night) and felt that if I moved I would throw up! I stayed as still as I could for most of the night, but finally gave up at 7am. Before I got up, I prayed and asked God to please allow me to make it to the bathroom and put my hair up before I threw up. Yes, I prayed about my hair! lol :) Anyway, God totally answered my prayer! I made it to the bathroom, put my hair up, and then had at it. I threw up at least 10 times, getting it all out, with tears streaming down my face. I absolutely HATE throwing up!! Then I headed for the couch, where I laid all day feeling sick. I had a minor fever and an upset stomach the entire day. At 4pm I finally decided to open some presents that my mom and sister had mailed me. It was all I could do to sit up and open them, and then had to lay back down. But I wasn't about to go through Christmas Day and not open presents! The day was a bummer, sick and alone! But through all the sickness and loneliness, I still feel blessed that I have such a wonderful family and friends who thought of me this day with gifts, calls, and cards. I love you all and so wish I could've spent the day with you! Maybe next year!

Christmas Eve Surprise

This year I made a few stops on Christmas Eve.

The day started off with a work-out to an exercise video. I did a bit of sweating off some lbs (or at least I like to think I did! haha). I then headed out to run a few errands at a few stores, and grabbed lunch at Chick-Fil-A. Then I headed out to my first Christmas Eve party stop...
I arrived at the Matlock house around 5pm. I was able to spend some time with their family, exchanged some gifts, and also wish the twins a Happy Birthday...as they were born this day! After a couple hours with this wonderful family, it was time for me to head over to my Gramma's house.
(Me and Annie in front of the Matlock's Christmas tree...I have on reindeer antlers and Annie is Santa. Aren't we cute!)Growing up, we always spent two days with the Vasquez family...we would celebrate Christmas Eve together, and then come back the next day for Christmas Day celebrations (usually we started the day after Christmas for this extravaganza). As we all got older, we stopped having the big two day get-togethers, in fact we rarely all got together after that. Kinda sad! Well this year, we unfortunately had a death in the family. My Grandpa Vasquez died. So we knew that my Gramma would need some family around her this time of year. So all the family members that live local decided to surprise her with a Christmas Eve family get-together. We had a great time! My Uncle Dave and Aunt Linda came out from Pismo and were staying with her. When the three of them arrived back at the house after going to the Christmas Eve service at church, I was the first to knock on the door. When Gramma answered she was so surprised to see me! She opened the door with smiles and welcomed me in. Soon after, more and more family members arrived surprising her with their presence. She was so happy!! We had a great time together, watching her open our presents, singing Christmas carols, reading the Christmas story from the Bible, eating some homemade chili spaghetti, taking pictures, and chatting with each other. Hopefully we will continue to all try to get together for Christmas in the future, as I really enjoyed spending this special time with my special family!The cousins (who could make it out) with our GrammaMy dad's brothers and sister with my grandparents pic in the background

ugly sweater party

I love my friends so much and feel so blessed to have such sweet girls in my life! So I wanted to have a fun special night for us all to get together and celebrate this holiday season. So, what better way then to have an UGLY SWEATER PARTY!!! :) We all dressed in our ugliest Christmas sweaters, and those that didn't had to wear one that I had for them. We ate yummy goodies, had great conversation, and did a fun ornament gift exchange. I got the best ornament...it is a Tampon Angel! Oh my word, so awesome! Of course it was put on the front of my tree for all to see! And then before everyone went home, we took this fabulous group picture with our fun ugly sweaters on! Hopefully cuter sweaters are coming our way for Christmas! lol! :)Even cute little Annie had on an ugly sweater...this picture doesn't show all its uglyness (actually, she looked pretty cute in it! haha)

Hyde Christmas Bake-Off '09

This year, Christmas with the Hyde's had a twist! Instead of just having our Mexican fiesta, we also had a Bake-Off! Only three of us cousins participated this year, hopefully next year the others will join in! But it was fun! I was super excited to bake, because I was making a cupcake cake!! It was awesome! I think it came out pretty good for my first time! The other girls made some yummy desserts too! Julie made a gorgeous cheesecake, and Christy made a perfectly drizzled cocunut bunt-cake. Our Grandpa was the judge and was forced to taste all our yummy baked goods. As he devoured each slice, we hovered over anticipating his vote for winner. Of course he didn't want to choose between the three of us, so he voted it a three-way tie! He's too nice! haha :) So we all left feeling pretty good about our Bake-Off, knowing that everyone enjoyed our creations. But secretly I vote myself the winner! LOL! Why not, right? :)

Young Adults Night of Ice Skating

My Young Adults group from church got together tonight to go ice skating out at the Irvine Spectrum. Only a couple of the girls decided to ice skate, while Cindy and I sat it out. My last experience ice skating was in Central Park in NYC and I went head first on the ice. I really didn't want a repeat! LOL! We had a good time on the sidelines chatting and watching the girls go around in circles on the small rink!
Then we were off to warm up and have a nice dinner at the Yard House. Great Night, with Great Girls!

SD Zoo

Its been a few years since I'd last been to the SD Zoo! My cousin Julie lives down that way and had some free tickets, so I drove down there and we had a great time! Last night I drove to her house, sadly I wasn't paying attention and went WAY out of the way on the fwy, but found my way and got there in time to watch a movie and hang out before heading to bed. I stayed the night in their guest room, and then we got up today and went on our way. We first went to VG's donuts in San Elijo (the best donuts EVER) and had our breakfast, stopped at a thrift store, Julie took me to her favorite Ross, and then we finally made it to the Zoo. We had a great time walking around, seeing all the different animals, taking super fun pictures of each other, getting lost and walking in circles around the park, and just enjoying each other's company. It was a great day!

black friday

So this was my first year out with all the CRAZIES shopping on Black Friday. Yes, CRAZIES...its insane out there!! I was at the Ontario Mills Mall at midnight the day after Thanksgiving, along with about a million other people! I swear, it was a fire hazzard in there! I stood in a 2 hour line for COACH and got two purses that are going to be returned (as I realized they're nothing special), went to Bed Bath & Beyond, Bath & Body Works, and H&M...then headed home at 4:30am. I woke up at 9am and continued the Black Friday shopping at Target, Walmart, Aaron Bros, and Pier 1. It was a long day!! Never again will I go shopping on this day...its way too crazy for me! I'd much prefer to wait a day or two and shop with the more sensible people, and still get the same sales!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on what God has done for us, and give thanks back to Him for all His provisions.

This year I was blessed by being welcomed into the Bethany Baptist Church family. This church, the wonderful people, have been such an encouragement in my life. God led me to them, and they showed His love through their welcoming arms. The words of encouragement, the inclusion in the Sunday night Bible study, boot camp, the women's ministry, and the young adults group...I haven't had a church feel like a family like this since I was in high school! I am so thankful! This family of believers is exactly what I needed in my life! Without all of them, and without my Rock, my Savior Jesus Christ...I would be lost right now! So THANK YOU! Thank You, Jesus, for loving me and giving me this precious family that I needed in my life!

This Thanksgiving I was also able to spend the day with another family that is so very dear to me, the Matlock family. They are such wondeful people, and I truly feel like part of their family. With my immediate family spread out across the country, the Matlocks have welcomed me into their family. What a special day this was, eating yummy turkey and all the fixins, and hanging out with such wonderful people. Thank you, Matlocks, for loving me the way you do! I am so blessed by you all!
Me & Judi Matlock
I am so very thankful for all my family, all my friends, and all that God has provided for me. Sometimes I get down and feel depressed, that things aren't going my way. When I finally realize how selfish I'm being, I see how truly blessed I am! God has given me so much to be thankful for, I can only pray that I will continue to have open eyes, and an open heart to see all He has blessed me with.

women's lunch

Today the Bethany ladies got together for lunch at Vince's. About once a month, the women at my church get together to spend time getting to know one another better and to have fun! This time we spent a couple hours enjoying each other's company over some yummy Vince's Spaghetti. I was able to meet some new ladies, visit with some old friends, and have a wonderful afternoon. I always enjoy it when the girls get together!

Sweet Friends...Another Year Older!

K R I S T Y M A T L O C K Happy Birthday Kristy! You are such a dear friend and I feel so blessed that God brought us into each other's lives. I have enjoyed so much getting to know you these past years and especially this past year. I am so looking forward to more fun times together and growing our special friendship. Thank you for being such a great godly woman and example in my life. I love you and hope you had a very special birthday! I'm so glad that I was able to celebrate with you on your birthday, with lunch at Vinces! Big hugs to you, sweet girl!

L I Z S H O R T S I also had the pleasure of celebrating Kristy's birthday a second time on a double birthday dinner party, along with my lovely friend Liz! A few of us girlies got together and went to dinner at Lucille's BBQ and got our grub on, celebrating birthdays for two sweet ladies! Liz, you have also been such a great friend over the years! I love you so much and am so glad that not only have we had the great opportunity to be friends, but co-workers as well! I do feel blessed to see you at least twice a week still, even though we don't work together anymore! :) Thank you for being a friend that will be straight up with me, no matter what!...who looks out for me and has my best interests in mind. I so appreciate the fact that you love me despite the bad choices I've made, and you continue to encourage me! You are so special to me! I hope that I can be the same friend to you that you've been to me over the years! I love you chica! T H E B I R T H D A Y G I R L S

time with family

My Uncle Marvin and Aunt Joyce were in town for a few days and I was very excited that I was able to spend a few nights hanging out with them. We, along with the Matlocks, had a super yummy lunch at Vince's Spaghetti... and a great dinner at Hometown Buffet with the Matlocks and my Aunt Joyce's mom Olga. We also all met up at The Sideboard Christmas Open House.I truly enjoyed seeing them and look forward to their next trip out to So Ca! :) I love you guys, thanks for thinking of me while you're in town!

Christmas @ The Sideboard

The Sideboard is a cute little shop in downtown Upland that is a must visit! They have the cutest things, that are must haves for all women! Well, this evening was their annual Christmas open house. They had super cute decorated Christmas trees out, carolers singing, goodies to snack on, raffles (which I sadly didn't win), and Santa even made an appearance! It was a great evening! My gramma and I made a night of it! We started off with dinner at Vince's Spaghetti, and then a fun evening shopping and visiting with friends at The Sideboard. Here are a few pictures from our fun Christmas night at the cutest store in Upland!Me and My Family - Tom & Judi Matlock (two of the owners of The Sideboard), Aunt Joyce & Uncle Marvin (in town from SC), and my Gramma Vasquez

tree decorating

Today was so fun! After church, and lunch with friends...a few of us ladies went to The Sideboard (the cutest store in Upland) to decorate Christmas trees! Every year we get together and have the most fun helping the owners get ready for their Annual Chistmas Open House by decorating all the trees in the store. This year, my friend Kristy and I got to decorate the tree in the Paris section. Our cute white tree was decorated to the gills with the cutest ornaments! I loved our tree! We had a great time visiting with each other while decorating, which was the most fun for me! I just love this girl so much, she is awesome! Anyway, the day was a success and we look forward to the open house coming soon! Ya'll better be there! :)