Meeting Bristol Palin

Caro and I attended the Making a Difference for Life 2010 Fundraiser Banquet here in Visalia and had the honor of meeting and talking to Bristol Palin, the keynote speaker. She made a powerful case for life and in all we had a great evening, along with about 800 plus other guests. We were very impressed and had a blast hanging out. At the end, we were given a couple of roses as a souvenir. Nice touch.

Mitchell Webb turned 1!

On Sunday, July 18th, we were honored to help Mitchell celebrate his first eventful year. Many family members and friends gathered and it was a fun afternoon for all of us. Happy Birthday Mitchell!

Jeremy's FIRST ever sermon at our church - lunch celebration

Our budding little librarian is crazy about reading, which makes Mami very proud!

On July 17th, Jer preached his first sermon at Visalia SDA on Community Service. Afterwards, family & friends gathered to enjoy good Mediterranean food and even better company. We all had a great time!

Thank you A&A, Millers, Andersons, Elicks & Buits!

RESIDENCY COMPLETED & PREGNANT!!!!

I'm so very proud of my smart brother, Rony, who just last week completed his Sports Medicine Residency WITH FLYING COLORS, has already finished a Masters in Sports Nutrition AND is about to also complete his second residency in Clinical Nutrition. Years of hard work & sacrifice have paid off so beautifully ...

and by that, I mean, that they are also EXPECTING THEIR FIRST BABY!!!!
Sandra is 6 weeks along and her due date is February 6th, 2011 (same due date we had with Brianna except 5 years ago).
CONGRATULATIONS, APA & SANDRI!!!! WE'RE SO SUPER EXCITED ABOUT THE LITTLE BUNDLE OF JOY TO COME. BEST NEWS FOR US TOO!!

Jeremy's SUPER COOL sky diving VIDEO

Check out Jeremy flying by himself ... Enjoy the ride!

http://www.youtube.com/jeremypierson

Carmel-By-The-Sea Weekend to celebrate Mother's Day

First walk to the beach with Scott, Shelly & Parker. Very delicious Friday evening Italian dinner following. Thanks, guys!

We celebrated Mother's Day on Saturday (to beat the crowds) at Katy's Place (BEST breakfast nook in town). Mitchell LOVED his spinach!

Lenden, Lori & Mitchell waiting for their amazing breakfasts. Happy First Mommy's Day, Lori!

Our finished project

Our backyard is almost finished! We'll put in a little garden and colorful accent pots in the future but the main things are done. The girls enjoy playing in the backyard and so do our guests. We can't wait to enjoy our Meyer lemons, apricots and peaches next year!

St. Helena on Sunday

Little animal lover, just like Tio Ken & Tia Crystal

Breakfast at Gillwoods, like the ol' times

Unbelievable Medieval Castle near Calistoga (Castello di Amorosa)

family tour of some of the breathtaking grounds

PUC Alumni Weekend

Brianna is happy to welcome alumni back to campus

Bibi's hosted her 2000 Class Reunion Lunch after church

Taking advantage of the gorgeous campus, we went to town with pictures.

On Saturday night, we had a GREAT time with the Rais. Brianna & Sophia (both four years old) bonded really quickly and played all evening. Josh & Kiara (10 mo. and 1 year old) loved playing together too.

Project Backyard Landscaping: Check

In a historic day, we finished our backyard landscaping and hosted a beautiful party for our beautiful baby girl. After all, we entertained two families, in our small house, for an entire weekend. It was a wild ride but we had lots of fun! Thank you to the Clarks & Burgos' for the amazing memories!

Make a photo book design

Happy 1st Birthday, our sweet baby girl!

This scrapbooking design generated with Smilebox

Our little Lauchi turns 1 today!!

One year ago at noon ....

Kiara Charlisse made her grand entrance into this world and filled our lives with joy. She's been a gift from God and we thank Him for the beauty of this little miracle especially today, on Good Friday ...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LAUCHI!!!!

Grupo Latino get together at our home

We had a fantastic time on Wednesday afternoon & evening. Several of Bibi's friends from Mexico and South America were able to come play and have dinner at our home. All kids dressed up in their fave costumes and played non-stop for several hours.

Argentine "meat" pie, pasta, veggies & "chicken" nuggets for the kids, salad, fruit and homemade chocolate coconut and almond chocolate pie for dessert. Yum!

Adriana, Roxanna and Liliana with kids (from Left to Right)

Jeremy had lots of fun playing with Mimi & Kiara

Almost 11 years later and it still fits!

Brianna had been requesting Mommy dress up in her wedding gown for some time so Bibi finally got her big golden box out of the closet and got her wedding dress, tiara and veil together for some fun pics with her very own "flower girls." Brianna was super excited to get her special dress on that Amee gave her and Kiara reluctantly wore the same flower dress Brianna wore for Rony (Bibi's brother) & Sandra's wedding.

2010

1999

Our adorable niece's first 10 days ...

Baby Shylah Laine sleeping

and all smiles already! We can't wait to hold her in our arms in July!

Our Spanish-speaking group

This is such an answer to prayer! A group of Spanish-speaking moms from all over North and South America recently formed here in town and Bibi was invited to join. Most kids speak Spanish as well and it's a GREAT venue not only for Bibi to develop new friendships but also for the girls to relate and appreciate Spanish dialects and exciting cultural customs & foods. Brianna is loving the time spent with new friends from Mexico, Peru and Colombia!

Jen & Mateo (from the US and Peru)

Back from "busyland" ...

We're hopelessly (and yet again) behind on our blogging though much up to date on cooking up lots of fun activities every day. Thanks to Tia Sherri, Brianna is now, officially a Top Chef Master. Her outfit is adorable and she loves to make creative dishes in her kitchen. Mommy's been teaching her different nutrition concepts and she's been, in turn, coming up with funny statements along the lines of "Daddy, these chips are not healthy, they have too much salt and that's bad for the heart. Next time we need to make a better choice." Our collective jaws dropped ....

We've also been sprouting several organic seeds (alfalfa sprouts are shown below) and giving them to friends & family to enjoy. They've come out really tasty so far and Brianna's been enjoying seeing God's creation processes at work.

Playdough art by Brianna

Brianna's handwriting: "God is love" (Daddy help to complete the word "es")