Does this count?

Ahh...Summer break has begun and my kiddos are out of school. Unfortunately, the weather has intensified already. I keep wanting to add pictures that are long overdue, but something always seems to come up. I'm taking an English course this summer and I'm actually enjoying it. We'll see how much I enjoy it when challenging papers are due.

Since summer is finally here and the sun rises by 4:45 in the morning, Mr. Joseph thinks it's time to play on the computer. I've had to implement a few things for him to do PRIOR to playing computer games. Why did he install Warcraft??? Ugggg... Is this a male geek thing?

The first thing he absolutely HAS to do is read for at least 30 minutes for one hour of computer time. That's reasonable, right? Someone has found a loophole. He checked out the book "Where's Waldo" from the library and is now using it as part of his reading time.

Huh? Whaaaaaat? Does that count?

Uh....okay....

"Well as long as you find Waldo, it counts" was my response.

Huge smile on Mr. Joseph's face :D

I figure this should help him in the future, as many men have...

Man blindness ...grin...

Alycia is semi-famous!

A few months ago, Alycia submitted a comment to the church's New Era magazine. It got published in June's edition. I'm still amazed it made it through! We're super proud of the choices she's making as a young woman. Here's a link to the article!

It's titled "Be Strong"

http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=e5a1c79fed3b8210VgnVCM100000176f620a____&vgnextoid=024644f8f206c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD

Am I evil or what????

As many of you know. Arizona has passed an Anti-illegal immigration bill that have people divided. The day the Governor of our state signed that bill, my mother called my cellphone and left a message. (She watches Telemundo and other hispanic TV stations). I'm paraphrasing her message...

"Anita! Don't go out. Don't leave the house. There are riots in Arizona and the police will arrest you because you're hispanic! Be careful!"

Whaaaat??? I turned on the television and saw that there were people crying and screaming. Hmm....

I called my mom and left the following message on her voicemail...

"Mom. I just got pulled over and they're arresting me. I'm not sure how long they'll let me keep my cell and Brent's not answering his phone. Can you get a copy of my birth certificate to show the cops that I was born here. Mom....I'm REALLY scared! Call me!"

This is when it gets Wicked....

I have Alycia call my Mom from her cellphone. This time my mom answers and this is what Alycia tells her...

"Abuelita. The police just took my mom to jail and she needs a copy of her birth certificate. Do you have a copy?" "I'm (giggle) scared (giggle giggle) "

"Haha...She can stay there!" my mom says.

Bummer... the joke's over....it was fun while it lasted! hehe

Yikes!

Yikes! I can't believe it's been 5 months since I've blogged! I have so much to share ...so many pictures. But I must first finish up the sashes for the dresses AND sew on the zippers on. Ugg... I know I should NOT have procrastinated.

Once I'm done with the dresses ...I promise to add pics of our lovely family..okay?

I must ask...How in the world does one young 10 year old use up $70 worth of cellphone minutes in 2 MONTHS? He doesn't call anyone...Mind you..This phone is to used for emergency use ONLY! Apparently, Mr. Joseph decided he didn't like having the cheap free games on his cell. So...my little man decided to purchase and download Lego, Pokeman, Sonic something?, Iron man, and a few others. Arrg! We had no idea he could access this or figure out how to download with his little phone. I guess he has the engineering gene....Gee...I wonder where he gets that from?

I almost wanted to cry when we told him to empty his piggy bank. That was such a sad moment. Pitiful little piggy bank. We explained to him that there are consequences to one's actions and he now needed to pay restitution. He has extra chores to make up the difference and I really hope he learns his lesson.

Ugggg.... now we have to add more minutes to his phone AND make sure this never happens again.....

Police station's are never a nice place to be.....

Yesterday night was a horrible night for us...

As we were doing our taxes, we found that we were missing a few documents and hoped that we'd be able to find the information we needed on our bank's website. When I saw our savings account balance...I was sick to my stomach. There were thousands of dollars missing. How could this be? As we were checking, there were numerous transactions in Southern California at gas stations. The amounts were sickening. WHY? C'mon.... how much gas could one person need?

I called my bank immediately and reported my card number stolen. I could barely sleep that night. I woke up early....early for me on a Saturday... and drove to the bank with Joseph. He had a birthday to go to afterwards, so he had to be my little companion for the morning. To be honest with you, I was NOT a pleasant person to be around...especially with the bank personnel. He didn't seem to know how to answer my questions on how these thieves stole my information. So frustrating. How could my bank not have noticed $300 gas transactions per day? Why did no one catch this? More frustrations. I signed an affidavit stating that the $3000+ were fraudulent charges and that I wanted my money back ASAP. GRRR!

After the bank, Joseph and I went to the police station to file a police report. I was pleased to say that it didn't come close to what the San Jose police station reminded me of. It wasn't as busy as I thought it would be. There was an elderly woman there for identity theft. What a nightmare. I filed my report, to which they said they would close the case since all the fraudulent transactions didn't take place in their jurisdiction. ...more frustrations.... I said that I had no problems filing charges should they catch these thieves.

In all...by Monday afternoon most of our money was returned to our account. This has been such a nightmare, but I am now diligent in checking my accounts on a daily basis. That was my nightmare for the weekend.

Man's best friend....or friends....

On Christmas Eve, Allison (Brent's sister) and family joined us for Christmas Eve dinner. Their dog Buddy joined us also. As you can see, the dogs were very patient while Brent carved the ham...

My little quilting bee.....

Alycia was helping a young man in our ward complete his Eagle project by tying baby quilts. She had a lot of fun with the girls in our ward. It was so much fun!