mom's 58th birthday

Today is my mom's 58th birthday!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

The day started off waking up a bit early, getting ready for church, mom opening her birhtday present from me...and then off to get a yummy Starbucks!
Mom loves her carmel frappuccinos, so I had to make sure she got one today! :) Then off to church we went. It was a great service, with life applications that were exactly what we needed. When church was over we hung out for a bit chatting with people, and then Jeremy and Krista sang Happy Birthday to mom in Russian! It was so cute! Here's a video (a reinactment...as I didn't push record the first time, oops!)

After church I had a young adults luncheon to go to, so my mom went off to have lunch with Judi. Little did she know that Judi had a surprise gathering for her lunch! A few of her close friends surprised my mom at Vince's for a fun birthday lunch. She had a great time! After lunch, they headed back to Judi's house where the Matlock clan and I were waiting to celebrate mom's birthday again with a yummy strawberry ice cream cake. She was surprised again! What a fun day! :) Mom blowing out her birthday candles...
Mom, did you make a wish? :)Check out the ice cream cake after we let it sit out for awhile...oops! :) Later that evening we ran a few errands to get ready for our road trip (oil change, checking the tires, etc.) and then headed out to visit my Gramma Vasquez. Gramma and I took mom to Taste of Texas (super yummy tex-mex food) for some fajita tacos! MMMMM :) We also strolled through Target spending time with Gramma doing her favorite thing...shopping! :) It was a great night!I'm so glad that I was able to spend this day with my mom. I miss having her living in California, so it was nice that things worked out that we could be together on her birthday. I LOVE YOU MOM and am so excited to spend the next month doing fun things together! Happy Birthday!!!

camping at carlsbad

When I was little, our family would go camping every summer. We would spend one week camping in Yosemite and 2 more weeks camping at the beach. Man, those are some of my most favorite memories! I love[d] camping! Well, this last week I had the opportunity to go to one of those campsites again and it was great! The group that went camping when I was younger still goes, only now those that were kids back then are now adults with their own families...and that's who I went camping with! Just like old times, except that we're a lot older and life is definitely different now that we're not kids anymore! But it was fun, and it brought back so many great memories!

So after being asked to go camping with everyone it was time to get ready. I searched through the garage to find all my old camping gear. When I found it all, I realized that it was pretty old. I had bought it all when I was a kid...I had saved up all my money and bought my very own tent and sleeping bag back when I was like 10 yrs old! I didn't want to sleep in the tent-trailor with my family anymore (Jenny would grinde her teeth) and so in order to be out on my own I had to save the money to buy it myself. It was great! I always loved being on my own, and guess what... I still do! :) heehee! Anyway, I put up the tent to make sure it was all still in one piece before I took it camping. It was, but it was pretty small. You know when they say its a two man tent, but really only one man could fit in it? Well, that's what this tent was...SMALL! But it would have to work! I packed everything up and headed to the beach!

Setting up my portion of camp was pretty easy. The tent is pint size, and took maybe 10 minutes to get put up. Once everything was all in order, we all headed down to the beach. Man do I love the beach! I love being in the sun, playing in the water, bump'n the volleyball, throwing some frizbee, and just hanging out with great friends! The week was so fun! Everyday was spent down by the water, get'n some color, and enjoying time with each other. There's nothin better!...am I right, or am I right?!!! :)

The only negative thing about Carlsbad are the dreadful stairs...you have to take like A MILLION stairs to get down to the water...and A MILLION stairs back up to the campsites! But, it was good exercise! We all felt the burning in our muscles! haha :)
Ok, so a few embarassing moments for the Jodster happened on this trip! Day 1, I sat down on my beach chair (that's about 15 years old), took out my sandwich and started eating. Half way through my egg salad sandwich,
THUMP!
I FELL THROUGH MY CHAIR!
Geez, if I didn't feel fat before, I sure did after that! hahaha! :) It was embarassing, but pretty funny too! Needless to say, I was chairless for the rest of the day! Check out the rip...geez!Then, Day 2...the end of our time at the beach and we were heading back to camp. We got to the top of the dreadful stairs and what happens? I'm busy in conversation, not paying attention, and step down on the edge of the concrete and rolled my ankle...falling down on all fours! OUCH! It hurt like crazy, but to make it worse...everyone saw it happen! Oh my word, what luck huh? :) I scraped my knees and hand, my ankle was in tons of pain, I was a bit embarrassed, but I walked away laughing. Good times! haha :) Sorry folks, no photos of that one! Too bad, so sad! :)

Anyway, let me just tell you about how great all the girls are that were on this trip! I love them! Not sure how it all got started, but we had this thing going on all week calling each other our BFF's! :) Deanna even made us all our own BFF friendship rings! :) I just love these girls so much and am so blessed to have such wonderful friends in my life! Thank you JESUS! :) Here's my ring...its so me!Deanna making our BFF rings :)
Here are a few pics from the beach...I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed my week camping with great friends! :)

Me and my BFF Thiam :)the beautiful sunsetthe cutest little mermaids! (all my girlfriends kids)Me and sweet lil Faith...we're BFF's too :) She painted me a picture and we displayed it in my tent window :)playing UNO with the kiddoseating at yummy Juanitas! swimmin with Hollycheck out how cute Holly is all decked out for a day at the beach! :)cute little Gideon found his own BFF...and baby lizard! He sure did love that thing and was so sad to say goodbye to it when he let it go.

PHOTOSHOOTS:
My sweet friends, the Cheatwood's, let me stay on their campsite for the week. So when Thiam asked me to take some family photos for them, how could I resist! :) I also took some photos of my friends Josh and Kristy and their family. I totally enjoyed the time shooting them all and was grateful for the experience. Check out their family photos on my photography blog as well as some other beach photos at:
Jody Vasquez Photography

last year's photo...

As some of you may remember, last 4th of July my fireworks photo was accepted and published on the Budget Travel website!
click here


EXCITING STUFF!

4th of July Bash

Well today was a good day! It started off a little stressful, waking up late and then having to do a ton of baking before the big party. I quickly got ready and headed out to the grocery store to pick up a few needed items. I then came home and got to work. The kitchen was HOT! The wall unit [a/c] was on but it didn't help me...I was sweating! The heat from the oven was almost unbearable! But I got all my sugar cookies made, the deviled eggs made,and the yummy brownies baked. After about 4 hours in the kitchen, it was time to head over to the party!!

My cousins have a party for all their friends, family, and neighbors every year for the 4th of July. They live near the Upland High School where there is a fireworks show...so around 9pm we all laid on the blankets out on the grass and we watched the beautiful and colorful show, while Don had very appropriate patriotic music playing in the background. It was awesome! The whole night was fun...We had a good time just hanging out and chatting! My friend Carissa came with me, I was very glad she was able to make it as I love to hang with her :)Me and with my sweet cousin CathyDon...Me...Kylie
Uncle Bill grillin his famous squabI ATE SQUAB!!!
PIGEON!!!!
It wasn't so bad, it actually tasted pretty good! I was very proud of myself for trying this, I think I deserve a HUGE pat on the back for this one! :)My sweet patriotic lil girl, Anniehanging with ShaneySwim'n Fools :)
Firework Fun!Me with my firecracker!
FIREWORKS!!!

bearing fruit

So I was outback today, checking out the sprinklers in my backyard (which need to be replaced asap) and noticed that I have a grapevine growing out there! Seriously, how cool is that!!! :) Hey, maybe I should start making wine for a living! haha, jk! :) No, but finding these grapes reminded me of a passage of scripture in the Bible and I thought I would share it with you...

John 15:1-11
Jesus Is the Vine - Followers are Branches
[1] I AM the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
[2] Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit.
[3] You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
[4] Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
[5] I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.
[6]If anyone doees not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch, and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
[7] If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you.
[8] By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.
[9] Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.
[10] If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love.
[11] These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.

Isn't it awesome that little things like finding a grapevine in your backyard can lead us back to scripture and the love of God!!! :)

6 girls...1 boy

Tonight was a fun outing for the Young Adults group for Bethany Baptist Church. 6 girls showed up, and 1 guy. Come on guys, get on out here with us!!! Anyway, we had planned to all meet at downtown Upland for their weekly street fair. It was a great time! We walked around, listened to the bands play, ate yummy food (I had nachos and funnel cake - mmmmmm, good!), did a bit of shopping at the booths, and I bought a cute hat! All in all, it was just a nice time getting together for a few hours out and about :)

If you are a young adult, between the ages of 23-35, we would love to have you join us for our fun outings. Just hit me up with a comment, or email me, and I'll let you know when the next event is! Hope to see you there :)