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Good afternoon FamilyBlog

2022-07-20T16:33:00.001-07:00

FamilyBlog

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HNC43N1

FamilyBlog how are you?

2022-04-26T16:26:00.001-07:00

FamilyBlog

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HNC43N1

2022-02-06T17:47:00.000-08:00

Family

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2018-09-03T01:04:00.000-07:00

Good morning Family https://goo.gl/sgV3wm

2011-12-12T09:23:00.000-08:00

Making Butter

We did this at least once a year. We did it this year to make some yummy variations to go on some of our holiday breads. We use these little plastic jam jars that I purchased at Walmart ( most hated store!! We also use these for snacks in lunches to avoid plastic bags as much as possible) they have very secure twist on lids to they are perfect for not spilling out heavy cream all over the kitchen. Stick a marble in there. ( if you have kids, you probably have a game of Mancala or Tumble somewhere. Just wash the marble first. We did not, but we are gross that way) add heavy cream, a dash of salt and any spices or extracts you desire! You can also add honey or maple syrup or some sauce from berries etc! Then secure the lid and have your kids take turns shaking. At some point they will most likely get tired and you will have to shake away as well. Its a hefty arm workout!!

2011-12-07T09:04:00.001-08:00

Some pics from the Baseball season

Good thing this was during warms ups and not during the game

Last game of the season score.

2011-11-30T07:12:00.001-08:00

Im more than a month behind on the family blog! Sorry about that to those back home wanting to stay up to date. This was our first time making bisquits! We tried to make ones that taste like BoJangles : ) Not so much, but still very good

2011-11-10T12:50:00.001-08:00

Luis's Birthday presents!

Hector totally spoiled him with a 3DS.. We bought the Zelda game and both of the kids love it! Sierra is so jealous.

Then we went to the local Family Fun Center type place. I'm totally spacing on the name right now and feel to lazy to even google it HA But it was fun! Go cart, slick tracks, miny golf, arcade, bowling, lazer tag, and huge fastfood resteraunt type playstucture. Sierra wont be allowed in it the next time we go because she'll be a huge 13 year old AHHHHHHHHHhh!!

Then we ended the day with our families new fav birthday cake. Homemade icecream cake. Well... It's more like an ice cream pie??

This one have homemade chocolate chip cookies all crushed up for crust at the bottom, a layer of cookie dough ice cream, a layer of cookies in the middle, then a layer of cookies and cream ice cream, crushed oreo's on top and chocolate chip cookies all around the edge to hold it all together. IT WAS AWESOME!

2011-11-05T10:12:00.000-07:00

The day before Luis's birthday, he had a friend come over and spend the night.

Sierra made them a treasure hunt to find some of Luis's gifts, that way the boys could play with them together that night. It was some crazy, letter decoding hunt. Exercise those brains while having fun.

Yummy homemade chocolate milk, with homemade whipped cream. Seriously a little piece of heaven.

I dont have any picture but later that evening we went to go see Real Steal. The boys didnt fall asleep till around 2am AHHHHHHhh lol and they got up bright and early the next morning at 6:30 and played with all the toys and games. It was such a great time : )

2011-11-04T12:55:00.000-07:00

My kiddos making lemonade!!! Yum.. Nothing like the crunch of the sugar in th homemade yummy goodness !!! The video is really long.... I had no idea he was making it. The last few seconds are the best part HAHAHA

2011-10-24T09:07:00.000-07:00

Its been a long time! I feel like I'm constantly reworking my daily schedule in hopes of finding the perfect fit. But of course, life is fluid and doesn't easily form to rigidity. I need to learn to use the time when I find it, because I can't store it up for later. I'll be adding some new posts soon, but since I had a moment I just wanted to practice what I'm preaching and use it, now. To all my friends and family, I miss you so much. I'm beginning to think that contrary to popular, worldly belief, South Cali peeps are some of the most real, friendly, loving people you will find. And since I've already found you, I don't want to let you go. Now, if the opportunity arises to test my theory abroad, I will jump at the chance. I've never been one of those, "I'm RIGHT and THATS That" sort of gals, so I'd be happy to do some research on my theory in order to prove myself wrong.

2011-09-06T14:40:00.000-07:00

Luis's Raffle tickets fundraiser!! He made a video today to send out to family to fundraiser for his team!!!! Soooo cute!!!! Watch it below!

If you haven't already read the previous blog, Luis is selling $5 raffle tickets to raise money for his independent baseball league to pay for their feilds so the boys can play ball. This league does not receive any money from the city, so its completely dependant upon money from the parents and fundraising. Its an amazing league that focuses not only on teaching the kids great fundamentals and baseball skills but sportsman ship, leadership skills and values.

This is his team praying before their game last week.

Here's his fundraiser video. If you'd like to buy a raffle ticket email me at HNC43N1@att.net

First day of Co-Op

2011-09-01T06:45:00.000-07:00

Connected by MOTOBLUR™

2011-08-31T08:33:00.000-07:00

Luis wants to go to New York for his Birthday : ) We'll see about all of that lol. We did tell the kids that while we're out here we wont have parties, we go places for our birthdays. That way we get to see as much as we can of this place. Sierra wants to go indoor skydiving for hers. Both of these are super great choices. I'm really hoping Hector will jump on board with the New York idea!!!! Maybe it could be for both of their B-days since they are a month apart.

And we could see a show on Broadway.

Stay in a B&B in the Hamptons????

I'm going to do more research on this!!! When does NY start getting snow?

I kinda wanted to go to NY for New Years Eve just to check it off the box. BUUUUTTT... then I spoke with New Yorkers about it.... Have you ever thought about the bathroom situation for all those people waiting in Time Square. I certainly hadn't!! It's first come first serve for finding a place to stand and of course its standing room only! Then its freezing! And can you imagine not peeing for 8 hours. If you leave to pee, you loose your place! So you'd have to shell out a bunch of money to be at a more private place in order to be able to pee and we aren't shelling out hundreds of dollars to stand in the cold for hours to watch a tiny ball drop. Maybe one day without the kids or when they are older and can hang for hours like that! Although, they have made it through the waiting for the Pirates Premiers at Disneyland. But there we did get to sit and lay down and leave to get food and go potty by taking turns. And I personally think seeing Johnny Depp is more worth is that the ball dropping. For the peeps who have gone with me, you know its so worth it to see him in person.

2011-08-30T11:59:00.000-07:00

. You have to do piTREE DOWN

EMERGENCY!!!

HURRICANE IRENE causes mass destruction at the Contreras residence......................

LOL

People super freak about storms out here!! I wanted to be prepared without going and buying 40 flashlights, 50 gallons of water, and 2 propane tanks LOL Literally all the milk, batteries, flashlights, lanterns and propane tanks were GONE!!! MILK people? If the electricity goes out your milk will go bad. It was just as windy as it gets at the beach on a normal Cali day except there arent all these trees everywhere making it seem more dramatic.

2011-08-30T06:39:00.000-07:00

Luis is selling raffle tickets for baseball.

I posted a little while ago that Luis tried out for an independent league out here and made it. Each player has to sell 100, $5 raffle tickets in order to help pay for the fields the teams owns to practice and play on. The league gets no money from the city, so the boys sell raffle tickets to try to help ease the financial burden on the parents a bit. Buying the raffle tickets enters you in for 2 chances to win $1,000 dollars.

Let me know if any of you would like to purchase a raffle ticket ; ) We have to turn them in by October 8th.

Thr Riverdogs thank you : )
This is a really great organization by the way. The partner with the local Exchange club. Through which we volunteer with families with children at Duke Hospital, volunteer with The Miracle League, an amazing Baseball league for Special needs children and do a canned food drive for one of the local missions. The league focuses not only on amazing baseball skills but teaching sportsmanship, leadership, and volunteering for your community.

2011-08-29T17:18:00.000-07:00

This is the turtle we rescued during the storm!Poor guys was wondering across our yard completely lost. So we brought him in to our bathtub and will take him down to the creek/wooded area tomorrow. Yes, we figured out he was a box turtle, not a water turtle shortly after this pic was taken. Though he could swim just fine! I'll post more pics of him later.

2011-08-29T14:57:00.000-07:00

Mr. Grizzles!

He's not fat, he's just fluffy!

That's what the kids say! But I say he super fat and have put him on a diet LOL

He's always had a bunch of hairballs do to all the fur. Which is so gross to someone who likes things clean.

Then we moved out here and he started barfing and having hairballs literally, almost everyday!!! WHAT THE HECK. He's not more hairy here than at home??? It could be the bugs? That he could be snacking on at night??? I was so sick of breaking out the steam cleaner everyday that I was just leaving it out permanently! BUT ....

Then I found these!!

He's literally had one hair ball since feeding him these! And its been weeks! YAY!!

So I thought I'd share in case anyone has a pukefacekitty

GrizzlyHood

I call this Samurai Homie

He puts up with so much!!! Look at his big ol' eyebrow whiskers sticking down in his face.

They love Sir Grumps Alot

2011-08-22T11:45:00.000-07:00

Super yummytastic chocolate!

Trader Joes rocks when it comes to supplying yummy goodness!

Both of these were amazing! I love caramel and sea salt and heath or toffee is one of my fav things. The only down side is they melt supper fast. I thing/hope its because they lack hardeners and preservatives!! That would make me love them even more. I def recommend keeping them in the fridge : )

There dark chocolate peanut butter cups have completely ruined me for Reece's! And they are much smaller and made with healthier ingredients to.

On a side note.... out here they say Ree Sees??? What the crap?

2011-08-19T09:39:00.000-07:00

The guilty party!

Our new puppy : ) Cammie Pendleton a mini-beagle. We've been considering adding a dog to our family for a long time now. We've researched a few different dogs and finally came to one we agreed upon. Hector would prefer a bigger dog of course, mean have size issues in general ; ) I found an awesome beagle breeder about 3 hours from here. And luckily it's about an hour away from a Charlotte a city he travels to frequently for work. So one weekend we packed the whole family up and went with him. We were planning on getting either a standard size beagle or a runt(just a little bit smaller) and hopefully a khaki colored one because the least. But the minute Cammie came trotting out in her fancy little lets play run we loved her. She is so playful, chasing and fetching, playing tug of war etc and yet so sweet and cuddly at the same time we had to have her. I knew she'd be a little more work than some of the calmer puppies they had, but you could just see how smart she was when she looked you in the eyes. And even still when she gets in trouble and rolls and her back to say sorry, I forgive her immediately.

I think you can clearly see in this photo how naughty she is...
When she's bad I call her Cammie Pendleton Poopy Puddles

2011-08-16T09:58:00.000-07:00

The Dog Ate my Homework............

My kids will legitimately be able to make this claim! Our new puppy literally snatch the book my son was reading from his hands and gabbled up this page in seconds???? What the heck???

You cant tell from this photo just how much tape is covering this page! Luis was just thankful he had already read it : )

I'll post pics of the puppy in question soon............ Well she's not in question. We know darn well it was her!

Maj. Jeremy Graczyk - Arlington National Cemetery

2011-08-13T07:15:00.000-07:00

Tracking Base jump from the Eiger Mushroom

2011-08-13T06:45:00.000-07:00

This is where Jeremy spent his last moments. He did record the friend that jumped before him. His last view was just amazing........................
This is not Jeremy or anyone he knows, it's just people doing what he was doing, in the exact spot he was doing it. Live Free or Die

2011-08-12T22:41:00.000-07:00

Our life long friend and inspiration.................

Left this earth while living his life being the amazing man he was, base jumping in The Eiger Mushroom in Switzerland.

Jeremy Graczyk

He was Hectors Capt several years ago and they served together in Iraq. They brought the town of Anah to peace and made life long friends with each other and the people of Iraq.

This was him in Norway a few days before.

After the month of leave he was on, he was going to be stationed in Virginia. We already had plans for him to come down to visit. I hadn't seen him in a while and was so excited.
And then, I went on his facebook to send him a message..........

A R.I.P was posted. Hector and I will miss him so much.

Below are the picture of his memorial at Arlington National Cemetery.

This was the procession.... The police were amazing. The freeway was completely shut down for use to travel from the funeral home to Arlington. This was the longest precession I've ever seen, and we weren't even at the very back of the line. It was complete with escorts and a motorcycle motorcade at the back.

You can see Washington monument in the background

Our entrance into Arlington

The police motorcade that had escorted us along the way, giving their respects.

After we reached Arlington the casket was moved to a horse drawn carriage

Hector and Major Graczyk

This is the group of motorcylce guys that followed our percession. There is a whole group that does this for military members when they pass away. They stood there the entire funeral and they hand water handy for guest that got over heated and washclothes with cold water as well, so sweet

Part of the crowd awaiting the arrival of the Marine Corps Band and the Horse drawn carriage

Presenting of the flag

The lovely woman was being escorted by at the end of the ceremony. The group looked like a memory walking through our present.

And our kiddos. They dont remember meeting Jeremy, but they will never forget bidding him farewell

2011-08-11T09:22:00.000-07:00

How do we let life get away from us so much..............

When we left D.C. last we went to Georgetown to eat at Johnny Rockets....(There are two places we hit when we are hungry in D.C. Georgetown and Old Town Alexandria. Tons to choose from and nice local run businesses) Which was sooooo yummy. I live on a pretty strict mostly clean diet more of the time so getting to have chili cheese fries its a huge treat. And listening to classic American music you've selected at your little table jukebox cant be beat.

When were walking back to our car we noticed a big sign in one of the shop windows for HGTV, of which, I'm a huge fan. It was Sprinkles cupcake shop, which is owned by one of the woman on The CupCake Wars. My kids and I watched most of last season, its just so fun to see them get cayenne pepper, bananas, cacao beans and brandy and see what they come up with lol. And for some reason we kept right on walking. Said, "Wow, that's cool" but that was it. And when we were driving home, Hector and I were suddenly like, "Why didnt we go there????" Next time..........

Well this weekend we were brought back to D.C. sooner than expected. We recently lost our treasured friend, Jeremy Graczyk. This past weekend was his funeral at Arlington National cemetery. I'll write and post more about that later. But what I will say is that he was the kind of guy that lived life to the fullest! New Years Eve in Switzerland, Racing in Baja, Climbing Dragons nest, rock climbing, sky diving, and last but not least base jumping in Norway. He reminds us all to not let even the smallest opportunity pass us by.......... and that includes cupcakes!!!!

We didnt end up eating at Sprinkles as you can see. By this time the HGTV sign was out of there window and now a new sign was posted in Georgetown cupcakes window. They will be featured in the upcoming season. So we thought it would be fun to eat there and then get to watch how they do in the upcoming competition. Now, I am NOT a cupcake or cake fan!! I'd much rather have a fresh homemade cookie AnyDay! But wow, these were amazing. We had a toffee crunch, mint chocolate, blueberry cheese cake and banana split......... WHO KNEW cup cakes could be awesome!