IOWA

My brother and his family live in Story City, Iowa and they just had their second child, a girl...little Finch Adalene Vasquez. My mom and her hubby Ray-Ray had planned a visit out to see them, my sister's family was hoping to get out there too, and so I decided to fly out there. We were hoping to have a family reunion, since its been over a year that we've all been together. Well, it happened...we were all able to get together!My mom and I flew out at the same time, and everyone was to come later the next week. The trip was fun, we did lots of sleeping, eating and relaxing. It was nice. I was glad that I was able to take lots of photos of my nephews and nieces. Here are a couple pics of Townes while he was eating breakfastand bath timemore pics of all the kiddos will be on my photoblog (soon)

My mom and I did a little antique/thrift shopping... unfortunately we didn't find too many treasures. I'm always hoping to find LOTS! :) I did find this rad shirt....The first week while I was there we had a blizzard! The snow came down in all directions! We had a "snow day" and had some fun playing games...like speed scrabble and the card game "golf"and playing "hide" with little Townes under the blankets and pillows
puzzlesFun times in the snow!

Jessie, her dad, Townes and I had a little outing to the grocery store and took a few pics...and I bought Townes his very first Starbucks! I love being an Auntie :)
(don't worry, it wasn't coffee...he had a hot chocolate)
Townes had just sucked down (within seconds) his first Starbuckscheck out this cute little baby goat...so sweet!Jessie also had one of her friends come over and give us haircuts...that was nice. My hair was so long and I hadn't had a cut in forever! I finally got a style again...and had about 5 inches or so cut off! My hair feels so much lighter! :)Mom also got her hair cut, but not too much...Ray-Ray likes her with long hair! (cute) Townes was so cute getting his hair cut...but he's just cute all the time! On the little Main St. in Story City, they were doing a "Toddler Fest" one day. Townes got to meet a big blue dog named Smiley, sing and alphabet song while keeping rhythm with some sticks, talk with a clown, learn how to wash his hands properly, and he got to climb all over a fire truck and wear a fireman's hat! How fun!!!

When my sister's family arrived the second week while I was there things got a little more exciting around the house. We all managed to stay in the same house...all 14 of us!!! A little tight, but fun none-the-less.

Mom and Ray-Ray were happy to be reunited again after being apart for two weeks...And our first night with EVERYONE together we met up at Bandanas in Des Moines...Danny's new favorite restaurant (its BBQ food).Me and my MammaThe boys seemed to have a lot of fun playing with their marshmallow shooters

playing on the tire swing

Cute Sammy on the horsey on the porchWe spent quite a few hours making duct tape wallets and purses with the boys

the boys got to color Easter eggs and have a fun Easter egg hunt







and through the whole trip, there were LOTS of funny faces!

Townes' Aunt Amy and Uncle ShawnGrammy and GrampySteevie-WeevieAuntie Jo with her sweet little nephewsSilly SistersAuntie Jo with Zack


and then there was a family photo shoot:
(you can't all travel cross-country and not take some pictures, right?! :)





Well, it was a great trip! It was nice being able to go for such a long trip...being unemployed has its perks! :) Hopefully our family can all get together again soon...and not have to wait a whole year again!

car troubles

Well I've been experiencing a lot of car troubles lately. I've definitely been tested with patience. Of course it was my fault, I waited till the last minute to look at my car registration information and realized a couple days before it was due that I had to get my car smogged. Once I realized this, I started to stress. My check engine light had been on for awhile, but I've been putting off fixing it till I got a job. Unfortunately I had to get it fixed in order to do the smog check so that I could get my car registered for 2009. Anyway, I took my car to Meineke to get checked out and they told me that the third cylinder was misfiring and they needed to change out all the spark plugs, gaskets, and the coil in the third cylinder. After that bill of $585 I had to drive 100 miles so that the computer would clear and they could do the smog check. So I drove 185 miles, and just my luck....the check engine light came back on. Geez, what a bummer! I had driven out to San Clemente to camp with my cousins and had to leave early to fix the car...again. So back to Meineke I went. Now they had to change out the fuel injector. That cost another $200! So after spending (borrowing) all this money, my car was fixed. I was able to get the car to pass smog with flying colors! Finally that stress is over with!