Friday, August 14, 2009

THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT

Last night Victor and I stayed up until 12 watching a marathon of Eureka episodes on SYFY to catch us before the new episode this evening.

A rerun came on after that and it was one that Evan really liked and he asked if he could stay up and watch it before he went to bed. We told Evan that was fine, he just needed to make sure that everything was locked up and that he turned everything off before he went to bed. Aislyn joined Evan in the living room to watch the show.

At about 1 a.m. we hear several quick raps on our bedroom door and the voice of one of our children saying something about Victor's Red Dodge Ram. Victor and I quickly dressed and went outside to see what they were talking about... dun DUN DUN

As we are walking out the front door Evan and Aislyn explain everything that had transpired before they knocked on our door:

  • They heard a noise outside the front room window - a bang of sorts - Aislyn's eyes are enormous
  • They heard another loud noise further out in the street
  • Then... the truck alarm goes off
  • They look outside they don't see anything
  • They turn on the hall light
  • They go to Grandma's room
  • Grandma goes to the front room and turns on the outside lights
  • Grandma goes outside
  • Evan and Aislyn come and knock on the door

Victor and I discover that the rear driver-side window has been knocked out.

I call 9-1-1

At the end of the street we see several figures - one on a cell phone. At the other end a car starts up and drives down to these dark figures and picks them up. They drive by - Victor already has a flashlight and shines it on the car to see the people and to get the license plate number. Victor yells the number out to me and then instructs me to get his cell phone, wallet and the keys to the Durango.

Victor leaves and follows the teal coloured car

A sheriff shows up and inspects the truck; asks where Victor is - I of course explain that my husband has gone after the suspects in my car. Within minutes dispatch is coming over his speakers explaining that the supsects are being pursued by a man in a silver dodge durango and that he is giving each change in direction as it happens.

The sheriff smiles at me and asks "Is that your husband?" I said "Yes" with a big grin on my face. He tells me that he will be right back and takes off in the direction the one man pursuit is taking place.

An hour and a half later...

My husband has returned home. Two sheriffs have arrived and the suspects have disappeared (Victor didn't want to run the red lights). The sheriffs stated that in this case it would have been fine to run the red lights.

They tell us that there were 5 other cars broken into before ours and that they have been trying to catch these guys all night. Victor came the closest to catching them.

Victor had his brand new golf clubs in the back seat of his truck. We are certain that is what they were after. Unfortunately for them the Gonzales family moves very quickly and they were caught off guard and got nothing. In their haste they also left behind the crow bar that they used to smash the windows. We got a close enough look at them that we know that they did not have any gloves on their hands and that the crow bar has finger prints! :) They are so busted!

This morning we discovered that they had broken into two other cars on our street.

I have had 3 hours of sleep. Does anyone have any tooth picks?

Thursday, August 13, 2009

BEST of CLASS - Evan

Evan participated in the baking frenzy for the fair and did quite well.

BAKED ITEMS:

Peanut Butter cookies - 2nd place - red ribbon
Toffee Cookies - 1st place - blue ribbon
Rice Krisipie Treats - 2nd place - red ribbon
Pumpkin Bread - 1st place - blue ribbon
Carrot Bread - 2nd place - red ribbon
Pecan Pie - 3rd place - white ribbon (his pie just fell apart) :(
Oatmeal Cookies - 2nd place -red ribbon
Pumpkin Pie - 2nd place - red ribbon

Evan has been begging me to teach him how to embroider and has watched me as I have done some Swedish Weaving projects. The day before the entry date he pulled his huck towels out and thread that I gave him for Christmas and instisted that I show him how.

TEXTILES:

Huck Towel - Traditional Swedish Weaving design - 1st place - blue ribbon
Huck Towel - Teddy Bear design - 1st place - blue ribbon
Dream Catcher - 1st place - blue ribbon

CERAMICS:

Eastern Island Head Clay Vase - 2nd place - red ribbon
Eagle Coin Bank - 1st place - blue ribbon & BEST OF CLASS (BIGGER BLUE RIBBON)

The best part for me and Victor was that Evan really worked hard and saw the results of his hard work.

This is the first year that Evan has entered quality work and received a BEST of CLASS recognition. We are very proud of him.

In addition, Evan participated in summer school at the high school and took his 9th Grade Health Class and earned a "B" grade. We are very proud of his efforts and excited for the new year.

Evan starts High School September 1st - what a great birthday present! Seminary starts September 8th - so much for sleeping in. :)

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

AISLYN TAKES ON THE VENTURA COUNTY FAIR

Aislyn did "fairly" well at the Ventura County Fair and she had a good time doing it.

Baked Items:

Toffee Cookies - 2nd place - red ribbon
Butterscotch chips cookies with nuts - 1st place - blue ribbon
Pecan Pie - 1st place - blue ribbon
Peanut Butter Cookies - 1st place - blue ribbon
Butterscotch chip cookies - 2nd place - red ribbon
Pumpkin Pine - 1st place - blue ribbon
Oatmeal cookies - 3rd place - white ribbon (the cookies were the size of a quarter)
Rice Krispie Treats - 1st place - blue ribbon

Poetry:

Comet Haiku - 3rd place - white ribbon
Milky Way Haiku - 3rd place - white ribbon
I AM Poem - 2nd place - red ribbon

Crafts:

1 pair of earrings - 1st place - blue ribbon
Decorated Gift bag - 1st place - blue ribbon
Decorated Scripture bag - 1st place - blue ribbon
Silk Flower Arrangement - 3rd place - white ribbon
Ceramic Horse Tooth Cast (Science project) - 3rd place - white ribbon
Sewn flannel blanket - 3rd place -white ribbon (first attempt at sewing)
Ceramic casting - 3rd place - white ribbon
Decorated Father's Day Frame - 1st place - blue ribbon
Decorated Father's Day Frame - 2nd place - red ribbon

Handmade Cards (applied arts):

Gold and Black Butterfly - 1st place - blue ribbon
Silver bird - 1st place - blue ribbon
Blue Jay - 2nd place - red ribbon
Red Butterfly - 1st place - blue ribbon
Cardinal - 2nd place - red ribbon
Gold Butterfly - 2nd place - red ribbon
Bird with gold breast - 1st place - blue ribbon
Bird with gold head - 2nd place - red ribbon

The fun thing about Aislyn and the projects she works on is the time and effort she puts into it. Aislyn is so detailed and creative. She knows how she wants something to look and uses her imagination and ingenuity to come up with a solution. She does not race through the task and is quite obsessive until complete. (I wonder where she gets that from).

Aislyn was very excited and pleased about her accomplishments this year. I know that she will do even better next year.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

TAKE ME TO THE FAIR - ALLISA

Well Allisa was the baker this year at the fair. A bit of a pro she raced through her baked items and crafts like there was not tomorrow. It showed with a few of the placements she received.

Baked Items:

  • Oatmeal cookies - 1st Place - Blue Ribbon
  • Pumpkin Pie - 2nd Place -Red Ribbon
  • Pumpkin Muffins - 2nd Place - Red Ribbon
  • Easy Muffins - 2nd Place - Red Ribbon
  • Gooey Chocolate Brownies - 2nd Place - Red Ribbon
  • Mexican Wedding Cookies - 1st Place - Blue Ribbon
  • Rice Krispie Treats - 2nd Place - Red Ribbon
  • Peanut Butter Cookies - 2nd Place - Red Ribbon
  • AND OF COURSE her famous Pecan Pie - 1st Place - Blue Ribbon

Handmade cards:

  • Green Leaf Image - 1st place - Blue Ribbon
  • Tree Image - 1st Place - Blue Ribbon
  • X-mas Wreath Image - 1st place - Blue Ribbon
  • Red Flowers Image - 3rd Place - White Ribbon

  • Butterfly Images (1) - 2nd place - red ribbon
  • Butterfly Images (2) - 3rd place - white ribbon
  • Butterfly Images (3) - 2nd place - red ribbon
  • Butterfly Images (4) - 1st place - blue ribbon

  • Bird Images (1) - 2nd place - red ribbon
  • Silver Bird Images (2) - 2nd place - red ribbon
  • Red Cardinal Images (3) - 2nd place - red ribbon
  • Blue Jay Images (4) - 3rd place - white ribbon

She also tried her hand at jewelry making and made three pairs of earrings (1 set) - 2nd place - red ribbon

She also created two flower arrangements:

  • She made flowers out of tissue paper and put them in a vase - 1st place - blue ribbon
  • She made a silk flower arrangement for Mother's Day - 1st place - blue ribbon

Last Saturday she woke up early with me while I was preparing my home grown flower arrangements and she decided to create her own. She entered a live flower arrangement in the Floriculture department and received 1st place - BLUE RIBBON

Overall Allisa did a good job and when she did her best it showed. Allisa learned this year that it is not always best to have the most entries and that quality does matter. She had fun with her entries and will participate again next year.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Mormon Night and Dodger Stadium

Thursday evening we went to Echo Park and enjoyed the Dodger game with friends and many other members of the church.

Elder Ballard and one of the 70 threw the first pitch of the game. It was awesome!!!!! :)

Our friend, Bishop Ramirez, shook Elder Ballard's hand and spoke to him briefly.

We sat in the all you can eat section of the stadium. This is located behind right field.

The innings were very quick and a little frustrating for me personally. I love the Dodgers - but they let the Braves take home 4 times!!!!!!!!!!!! Manny Ramirez was not playing ball and should have sat out the game! He was very bad!! :(

We usually leave Echo Park once the 9th inning begins. We had brought Bishop Ramirez and his son so we stayed.

At the bottom of the 9th the Dodgers were down 4-2. I was very sad. When Andre Ethier was up to bat there were two players on base. I thought for certain we were going to lose. At one point he had 2 balls and 2 strikes.

If you follow the Dodgers you know that Ethier hit a home run and they won 5-4! I totally lost it. I screamed for almost 10 minutes. I had to buy a t-shirt with Ethier's number and name. Unfortunately they didn't have any my size so I settled for the child size. I am going to frame it with my Ticket stub, the news paper article from the next morning and the Dodger water bottle.

We had so much fun!!!!!!!!11

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

COUNT DOWN

The house has begun to buzz with excitement and anticipation as the Ventura County Fair fast approaches!

Last night we were talking about when we could go for the first time.

Opening Day, Wednesday, August 5th - Can't go. Activity at the church for Young Men and Young Women

Thursday, August 6th - Can't go. Mormon Night at Dodger Stadium (we are going with the Ventura Stake - we missed our own stake's Mormon Night). It's great to have friends from our old ward.

Friday, August 7th - MAYBE. It is date night and it will cost us $$$$$$ to get in.

Saturday, August 8th - Most Definitely. I have entries to take Saturday morning. The whole family usually goes with me to help me out with my cut roses and flower arrangments. We get stamped as we leave so that we can re-enter when the gates open. COSTS NOTHING!!!!! :)

We like going to the concerts and there are a couple really good acts this year. If you are into the 80's - Huey Lewis is playing - we are probably going to go to that.

There are a couple of country acts - we will probably go with a few of our friends who love country.

Saturday, August 15th - Most Definitely. I have entries to take Saturday morning. We will get stamped again. I take flower cuttings from all of the plants in the yard and enter them in the fair.

I also take items to the Ag building during the week. Vegetables; fuits; nuts, etc. Our Quince are the size of large grapefruits. I get a blue ribbon every year for them. They are very pretty this year. The squirels have been eating the guavas and the macademia nuts - so I don't think I will have anything to show this year.

Grapes; apples; oranges and avocados are not ready :(

We always go the last day of the fair - great deals with the Vendors trying to get rid of their inventory.

I can't wait to tell you how everyone did on their pre-fair entries. I am so excited.

Monday, August 3, 2009

WE MISSED YOU !!!!!!!!

Well, we were really looking forward to spending this past weekend with the Utah Clan!!!! :)

Chris and Tammy, we hope that your blessed weekend was wonderful! She is truly beautiful!

In case you were wondering what we actually did with our weekend...

We cleaned the house; ran some errands and baked for 12 hours on Saturday. If you haven't guessed it - The Ventura County Fair opens this Wednesday.

We had four children in the kitchen baking for 12 hours on Saturday; producing the following:

4 pecan pies
4 pumpkin pies
3 loaves of bread (zucchini; pumpkin and carrot)
two batches of muffins (easy and pumpkin)
about a dozen different types of cookies
4 batches of rice krispie treats
1 sheet of brownies
1 batch of brownie bites

While the baking was going on I washed 8 loads of laundry and we watched Harry Potter movies starting with #1 in the Kitchen - while Victor sat in the living room watching season 3 and season 4 of Stargate Atlantis.

Since we were tired of the kitchen, we went to Marie Calendars and ordered Potato Cheese Soup for our little bakers and a whole sheet of corn bread.

We woke up early Sunday morning and delivered the tasty treats to the fair grounds for judging. We were in and out of there in 30 minutes.

We spent the rest of the day recuperating.

We thought that we had properly covered all the remaining items from our baking frenzy - alas - while we were out Chiana discovered the baked items on the dining room table. We found one plate of rice crispie treats on the dining room floor - half eaten and three pumpkin muffins severely beaten on the dining room table. I would guess that Chiana did not like the pumpkin muffins.

Alex discovered that Zucchini bread actually tastes pretty good. He had complained and made faces while he was making it. Another triumph for me - I had told him that he should try it and then tell me that he didn't like it.

Victor's nephew, Kevin, was enjoying the mayhem on Saturday and joined in - making a 5th pecan pie and a 5th pumpkin pie. He took them with him when he went to Lompoc with Lucy on Sunday. Shared the baked goods with some of Victor's family up there.

Lucy told Kevin that he was learning from the best (referring to me). I was surprised and a little pleased with the compliment.

Beauty Emerges From The Darkness

I have been pondering upon the things that I have heard, seen, and felt over the past several months, weeks, and specifically during the pa...