Baby Lucy Central Coast Trip

Sunday was baby Lucy's baby blessing. Kelly and Julio live in San Luis so we decided to do a Central Coast tour while we were down there.

We headed down on Friday after Trevor's Cross Country meet. And most of the kids fell asleep in the car - awesome!
We stayed 2 nights in the lovely Motel 6 and made lots of fun memories during our stay.

Here are our top 5 moments of the trip...

5. Splash Cafe - TWICE!
We only ate there once, but met Kristen, Doug, Ryan, Tyler, Karen and Doug there and watched them eat their hot clam chowder breakfast because they were soooo cold from sleeping on the beach the night before.


4. Hanging on the Pismo pier
After breakfast we walked down to the end of the pier. The priceless moment came when Doug W. tried to take a picture with the pelican. That pelican did NOT want to be photographed and just about bit Doug's arm with a protesting "SNAP" of his beak! Doug jumped and squealed a bit as he scooted out of harm's way. Has anyone ever seen their father-in-law jump like that? I sure haven't.



3. Avila Beach
Avila Beach is so good to us. There are many things we love about this place. The Fruit Stand/Barn is a favorite stop. The kids always get to feed the animals, get a treat and maybe a scoop of homemade ice cream. (Notice Benny flashing the "Big Fuchi" sign... the Ward family has wholeheartedly accepted the Duran Family big fuchi obsession and that really is the sign.)

The waves are perfect for our little ones. The big kids usually enjoy some body surfing too.


There were dead jellyfish all over the place. The kids were picking it up and snuggling with it almost - ew gross! Most of the parents wouldn't even touch it. Bleagh.


The kids thought this was great! Ammon was the only one that got a little claustrophobic, but the others stayed happily buried until they got sand in their eyes. Doug R. was the master sculpter as he transformed the sand into various sand creatures around the buried kids.




2. Watching the "boys" play 3 flies up
For dinner on Saturday night Kelly planned and organized a bonfire party. All the Wards/Christophersons/Reids/Burtons were there, the Minnicks, some Hernandez's and some San Luis friends. We were quite the crowd. The bonfire was raging, the food delicious and the entertainment was entertaining. Someone brought a football and started the game. Every guy out there was a magnet to this little competition. It was like they were all in high school again. They didn't even come in when dinner was served - they were so into it! I don't know who won, but they all had a great time competing, jabbing and teasing each other.

1. Baby Lucy's blessing
This blessing was the whole reason for the trip. The Hernandez and Ward families took up about HALF that chapel - it was a great gathering. There were 13 guys in the circle (yes, I counted). She was so beautiful in her white gown and white bow. And that sweet little girl did not disappoint! She knew this moment was special and she wanted to be the absolute center of attention on her special day. She cried through the whole thing and the microphone picked up her wailing and made it even louder. Julio was a trooper as he prounouced a simple yet powerful blessing on his first child. He did great and so did she. The bishopric member even commented that Lucy would someday be a great singer with lungs like that. It was a moment we will never forget.

The after party was also great. Tostadas, homemade salsa and posole at the park - you just can't pass up Grandma Rosa's cooking! Everything was so tasty. It was nice to be outside too so the kids could run and burn off a little steam before we hopped in the car to go home.

He was Runn-ing

Trevor competed in his first every cross country race on Friday. He was peer pressured into joining the team, but is enjoying himself none the less. Trevor was pretty nervous about this event. At breakfast that morning he was telling me his plan, "I'm going to pace myself and then sprint at the end so I can pass a lot of people. I just don't want to be last." I thought the plan was genius.
We got there just in time to hear the gun fire and the race began! Trevor saw us on the sidelines and sped up each time he ran past us. He ran .6 of a mile and finished about mid-pack. It was about 101 degrees as they raced. That was some dedicated running! Trevor was proud of himself and glad that his plan had actually worked.

Here he is with his 2 running buddies Jacob E. and Jacob C.

Here's Robb after chewing me out for standing in the runners' way - which, by the way, ROBB was just as much in the lane as I was - thank you very much!

Some spectators


It was a proud moment for me when Trevor finished. He came over to get a bottle of cold water and was absolutely beaming. My heart was overflowing when I saw his own self satisfaction on his face. He was so confident in that moment I almost cried!
Way to go Trevor!

The field is RIPE and ready to harvest...

Jeremy thought this post should have been entitled "Black Boogers in the Shower", but I decided that was just too disgusting to share with the world, so napers on that one sweetie.

Our church owns a large grape vineyard here in Fresno. Each year, as members of the church, we go out to the vineyard to give our time to harvest these grapes so they can dry in the sun and turn into raisins. The church then takes half these raisins and uses them in humanitarian efforts. Jeremy, myself, Trevor and Logan got to go out to the vineyard tonight to harvest the largest harvest we've ever seen here in Fresno. It was unbelievable! There were about 20 of us working on our row and it took 2 hours to get 3/4 of that one row finished.

Trevor and Logan were hard workers out there, each with their own knife in hand, cutting away just like the rest of us. They worked their little buns off and enjoyed doing it!

Jeremy had a little fun of his own, throwing grapes at his brother and pouring water down his dad's pants. Hello?! Who are the adults around here?!

Oh yeah, about the black boogers.... this place is so dusty, you can actually feel the dirt being sucked in your nose as you breathe. Thus, resulting in a few not-so-pleasant nose blows after you get home.

Special thanks to Grandma Elizabeth who jumped at the chance to watch our 2 babies so I could go to the vineyard too. You are the best!

Soooo... who else is picking grapes this year?

Mom's Wicked Birthday

Mom's birthday was last week. She loves birthdays. Presents. Cake (All American Chocolate Cake from Costco to be precise). All of it! And she's not afraid to show her excitement. That's one more thing I love about my mama. (Notice the slice of cake that's missing. It had been eaten before she blew out the candles....I guess they just couldn't wait!)

In my family we are not ashamed to ask for things we want for our birthday gifts. We shamelessly make out a "birthday list" every year and email it out for all to see. It's just like registering for wedding gifts right? This "list" system has always been good to us. We get to give and recieve gifts that will really be appreciated. Gift giving around the Duran house is never a chore. We love it!

So at the top of Mom's list was "Wicked tickets" - to the musical that's been playing in Los Angeles for the past few years. We all pitched in and got them for her. She was soooo excited! WE were all excited for her! We all know she'll just love it. (The moment was perfect too... it was the last gift to open. Amy had it wrapped up so cute in this small gift box. I really think she had no clue. She opened it up and gasped. It was perfect!)

Here are some great shots from the partay...

Silly silly kids

Lizzie and Benny had a great time with the camera. Check out their fantastic photography - all amateur of course.

The Many Faces of Lizzie
by Benny


The Many Faces of Benny
by Benny

Jackson's first visit to the dentist

Jackson is deathly afraid of doctors. To him a doctor's office = shots and pain. Call it a reflex or a learned behavior. Whenever he hears his name called in the waiting room he backs up, starts whimpering and begs for mama. There was nothing different about this first visit to the dentist.

Dr. M is a great guy. He treats almost all of Jeremy's family and a few friends as well. He knows us all by name and we see him at Costco all the time. You could almost call him a family friend at this point. He loves kids and doesn't mind them circling him as he works. Yeah, he's great.

Jackson freaked out for the whole x-ray moment. He was on my lap the whole time and would NOT bite down on those danged scratchy cards. The receptionist was so kind as she whisked him away to the waiting room to play with toys until he calmed down. He thought he was done. 10 minutes later they called his name again. Oh man. The whole cycle started all over again. There was whimpering, that turned into crying that escalated in to flat out screaming. I soothed as best as I could (we had driven all the way over and were NOT going home without a cleaning!) and held him on my lap as I sat with him in the exam chair. Dr. M and I coaxed him through everything and he cooperated for the most part.

When it was all over Jackson jumped off my lap like a changed boy and exclaimed cheerfully, "All done!" He thought his new clean teeth were something else. The new toothbrush was clutched in his proud little hand all the way home.

It is finished

Well, I finally did it. I feel like I'm the last person in the world to read this book - it's been out for almost a month now - but everyone's already read it! I'm also sure that those of you that have read it are already done talking about it and have moved on to more important things in your lives, but I'm going to take my turn to share my 2 cents.

I had to re-read the entire series just to make sure I hadn't forgotten any of the details. Then the book club book - A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Kahleed Hossenei - needed to be read (this book was beyond excellent and I recommend it to all adult readers). And so finally I reached out for that 4th book in the series and read all 756 pages in short spurts over 5 days. I'm sure it took most people less than 2 days to read, but hey, I like to take my time and enjoy a good story.

I thank Kelly Amanda for shoving these books into my hands as I rolled my eyes, "Books about vampires? Really?" She promised they were SOOOOO good and SOOOO addicting. Well, I hate being wrong, but yes. I WAS WRONG. So sorry for rolling my eyes and all my sarcastic comments. I loved these books. Yes, I even liked this last one. There are so many mixed opinions I just don't understand what everyone was expecting? They were romantic, thrilling and entertaining. Just what I like.

So, I want to know...

1. Did you like Breaking Dawn?
Yes, I did.

2. Do you think there should have been a MATURE rating on this 4th book like me?
I heard that Stephenie Meyer wanted the publishing company to put some sort of warning on the cover, but they wouldn't do it. I don't think I'd want my teenager reading all those intimate scenes - even as clean as they were...

3. Did the "straw cups of blood" gross out anyone else?
I was literally gagging through these parts.

4. Which book was your favorite?
Twilight, book 1.

5. Who's your favorite? Edward or Jacob?
I love the intensity between Edward and Bella, but I thought Jacob was so great in the New Moon - can't decide.

6. Will there be a book 5?
I thought she sort of set it up for one.

7. Any other random thoughts on the book?
I liked how Stephenie gave a little shout out to her pal author Shannon Hale when one of the vampires exhibited the same characteristics as some of the characters in Shannon's Goose Girl books. (The vamp that could control wind, fire water and earth. If you haven't read the Goose Girl - go get it - I loved that one too.)

OK people. That's enough. Jeremy is going to roll his eyes at this silly romance novel post - I just know it.

And if you haven't read any books from this series - run to the bookstore, the library, amazon - wherever - and start reading. Twilight is first - you'll figure out the rest from there. If you're a sucker for CLEAN romance, a little adventure and some fast entertaining reading then you will love these books. Enjoy!