A Morales Minute

When Jaime and I were engaged we were registering for gifts and he scanned things like ice cream maker, milkshake maker, snow cone maker, etc. We were shocked to see that we were actually given all of them! I'm sorry to say, however, we did return some of them to get things we needed more at the time. The snow cone maker was one of the casualties. Little did I know at the time but Jaime LOVES snow cones and slushies. Jaime is a wonderful husband and father. I'm so blessed to have him in my life. This father's day I thought I'd get something for Jaime that I knew he would like. Sooooo...I surprised him this year by getting him a snow cone maker. Let me tell you, it's a gift enjoyed by all. The girls thought it was awesome. They helped me make different flavor syrups and liked watching the ice be shaved. Here comes the shaved ice! Black cherry, my favorite! He's having a hard time showing his childish enjoyment but it's there! Love the fruity mustaches! With a

When I heard Lindsey say there was a raccoon I just assumed it was a cat that may have looked like one. I looked out the window and what did I see? Yep, a real live raccoon was walking in our backyard in the middle of the day. We watched him scale the fence with no problems and trot down the driveway and run across the road into an empty field. Why he was in our yard or where he was going we'll never know but...aren't raccoons nocturnal?

When I was younger I remember thinking about how often my mom would do work around or outside the house. Sometimes I thought she ought to just have my dad do it. Don't get me wrong however, I have always looked up to my mom for her strong work ethic. Well, today was a very busy, hard-working day for me and while I was working I thought about my mom and all she does. Let me tell you why... This morning I got up to go exercise with my workout buddies. After running a mile on the treadmill and then doing an insane workout to "Insanity" I got home, fed kids lunch, put youngest ones down for naps, and then I went outside to do some yard work. My mom is amazing when it comes to yard work. She does so much and a lot at a time even on hot days. I took the hedger to some bushes next to our drive. I was hot and tired from all I had already done earlier but I wanted to get the job done. Now I thought, "I know Jaime is going to do this but if I do it then he won't have to a

My parents bought a huge playground for their grandkids to play on when they come visit. I love how our family gets together to make work fun. My sisters came to help and my brother, husband, and I all helped. The help expanded when we had a friend come by in the afternoon to help move things along. We were able to split up in groups and work on different parts to get the fort and swingset put together quicker. Things like this just show that even though we may have work to do, if you have the right attitude and make light of conversation and jokes, we can enjoy working...and working as a family makes it even better I think. It's times like these that my family looks back on and remembers fun times. Now we can all look at the playground and know that we built it together. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my family! It's such a blessing that we are so close in relationships and geographically! The posts are up! Don't they all look happy to be working? Do you see who our recruit is? It&#

My sister-in-law and I bought "plasmacars" for our families to ride around on. They are so much fun. There's no peddling or batteries involved. Just wiggle the steering wheel back and forth and it propels the car forward. I've even mastered backing up and turning around. We took them to the church to ride around the gym. We brought some other ride-on toys for the kids. It was fun to have so much space to spread out and go fast...or slow. I love watching Aidan drive one all by himself. He's gotten pretty good at steering around things. It's so easy that he and his cousin like to ride on them. Needless to say, we all had fun. Even the adults like to ride on them! If you look in the backround of some of the pictures you'll see Jaime driving around. I couldn't get one of him looking at the camera.