Time to get back into the game of blogging

Since blogger stopped supporting their mobile app I have been at a loss on how to blog on the go. So I just stopped blogging all together. But something keeps calling me back. I have things to share or I want to document all the amazing things my family does. Who knows? I actually crave a good blogging experience. So I have spent weeks trying to figure out how to blog again on the go. I haven't quite figured it out but since I have a laptop I have figured out how to easily move photos from my phone to my laptop to finally accomplish this task that I crave to complete. Maybe its a family history I want to leave behind for those interested. Well, whatever it is I am happy to report that I may be posting again more often our crazy adventures. So jump on board and look forward to weekly updates on the Ortiz-de Guzman clan. Plus I get to update my Elder Dante along the way too. It's what I call a win win.

Okay this week as I always want to say was so boring. It was just work, work, work and some soccer thrown in there as well. Well, Elly started her first week of school. I actually am excited to be on a schedule or so that was what I thought we would have going in. Although, this week I got a call from their school asking me to sub a class. Since we are planning some big trips next year I said yes. Who can't use a few extra dollars to play with. *who knew that later in he week this statement would be so true*

So that kinda made my week a little tough. All house activities are out the door. I was so tired working with kids in 1st-3rd grade. It is exhausting and now I have a new found respect for teachers. I was just assisting a teacher this week so my work was more helping kids to accomplish tasks. That alone was exhausting especially when I would have a line of kids waiting on me to answer questions. Why do they have a million questions? In the class we have this sign which I look at often. I really do like the simplicity of the thought it portrays.

The good news though is that I started doing this meal planning concept with my friend Summer Corey. We sit down every month and make meal plans for the month. Once a week she preps a meal for me and I prep a meal for her. It really has helped to keep our meals on the table and we actually eat out WAY less making for more money in the bank. Ideally right? This week I made homemade chicken noodle soup from scratch people. That is an amazing task for me. I hate cooking but now I kinda like it when people like what I make. So note to my family: Like all my meals or I get discouraged to cook.

I pretty much have soccer every afternoon between Elly and Analise. This week Elly had a scrimmage with a boys team her age and let's just say they kick the soccer ball really hard and are not very good at keeping the ball on the ground. So she got hit in the face with a ball and got a nice little swollen half of her face. She was not so happy about it as you can see!

To make my busy week even more exciting this happened.

Let this be a warning that you should NEVER drive your car past the Empty gas tank warning. I made it to the gas station with only 5 miles left in my tank but I may have blown the fuel pump. We are hoping for a more simple or shall I say cheaper repair. I am certain this is the many prices we pay for sending a missionary off. We are being challenged and have faced many trials. Is it October yet? I have never wanted a month to pass quicker before. Sometimes the trials can be difficult but mostly they hit the pocket book. Aw, but this time we came into the game prepared. Who cares if it wipes out my savings..

My car currently sits in the driveway broken down and as a reminder to me that no matter how hard I work sometimes I need to realize to take the trials as they come. We are down a car but Rodd gets to ride his motorcycle more yay! There is a positive. On Monday the car goes into the dealer for repairs. I am prepared for the large bill. I get to drive the Honda all over town which has saved us so much in gas. Yet, another positive. Those little cars keep on going on one tank of gas. It is quite spectacular actually.
If you ask Elly how her first week of school was..you will get this awesome response! It was so FUN and AMAZING!

We ended the week providing a service to our ward. Rodd is in charge of the ward bulletins. He is so committed to it. He has been a great example to me as no matter what is happening in our lives these programs will get done. Trust me, sometimes it would be so much easier to not get them done. We are at the church sometimes close to midnight accomplishing this task.  Those church building can be kinda scary at night. Kitty keeps us safe and alerts us when someone is in the building. She has scared a few people from time to time. Usually she just sits there and of course right when I wanted a photo she got up.

So all in all another week down. We are as healthy as can be expected. The stress levels are lower and maybe next week I will accomplish the household chores that need to be done so bad. Working moms really are super women.

Pokemon crazy week

So pretty much our whole week was spent hunting Pokemon. Late at night all day we are not picky. I caught his one jut sittin at work. Poor Dante do you even understand all of this?

This week we started Analise's activity camp that she is running and we are all so excited. We are also so very tired even the dogs. 

This week I got my heart monitor on and I get to hear the results next week. Stay tuned! 

We had FHE at the beach and Rodd had the day off and joined us all day. It was so fun! 

The new thing is battery packs. Rodd brought home a battery pack to help everyone with their Pokemon hunting adventures. 

It's official this week Gabe has announced his eagle project. We are so excited to finally get this started and hopefully finished before he leaves for school. 

We spent so much time supporting analise on her "job". She set up a play area for the camp. 

Analise spent the nights making super hero capes and many other activities for the camp. 

She sewed and slaved but she is making good money. 

Kitty still has so many moments where she begs. Poor Elly was trying to eat this ice cream in private. 

Here is the sign for Analise's camp. I'm so exhausted every day to be honest. 

She even made rules for the camp. 

Super hero camp is amazing! 

We have had a rough week of missing Dante. We make the adventures fun and try to distract often. We love our family and all the adventures they are experiencing all over the world.   

What adventures await for next week..who knows! 

What An adventure

This week has been an adventurous one.

It all started with Richard Nixon. I took him around this week in search of  an eagle project. 

He chose one at the fire station, Where he plans to make them a garden in this space. 

 I worked on our missionary board this week. It's so fun to see everyday. I kinda feel like you (Dante) is here with us every day. 

Pokemon GO has taken over the country and the boys have practiced their fighting stance. 

We ran around town hunting for Pokemon. 

We searched and collected till dark and we ran into many people hunting as well. It's everywhere now. 

The girls went to a playground in Huntington Beach while I worked one day. They went with some friends of mine. Think of the adventures of Tom Sawyer style of playground. They went rafting. 

Sindy, John and family came down to visit and Rudy cooked some taquitos, rice and beans and a yummy chili. 

The girls swam all day long..seriously their skin was so wrinkly. 

We went to knotts berry farm this week. 

except my photos are limited at that event because it was being used for Pokemon GO activities. 

We rode the train that gets robbed. 

Can you believe people were there line dancing. 

We also went back in time to an 1872 schoolhouse and of course Gabe had to wear the dunst hat. 

So it came time to release speedy and originally she went to the walkers pond but there she kept escaping and almost got ran over. She snuck out under their fence and injured her head so we took her back to try and help her lay her eggs but then she wasn't happy or eating so it became time to release her again. 

Except Gabe thought it was brilliant idea to take the turtle to say goodbye to the dogs. Kitty sniffed from afar but blind kenai went in for a good sniff and speedy the turtle hooked onto his nose. All I heard was a yelping dog in pain and Gabe yelling "oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" It was a sad moment but we finally released her at web lake. She is going to be way happier there. 

We put her down and she booked it for the water. 

Oh I almost forgot Elly is super stoked about her new snoopy for her doll collection that she took a selfie with him. 

Monday was FHE at the beach time. This is probably the first time in a long time that we left before the sunset. I have been so tired. Plus I didn't bring anything for dinner. 

Um we took Gabe in for his wisdom teeth  removal consultation and the doctor kept looking at him trying to figure out why his x-rays have him listed as a female. Haha! Gabe said he identifies with the female gender..oh my! 

It was cow appreciation day. Free food! It was like stake conference at chick fillet. Total Mormon town. 

After dinner we went for a walk with the dogs and to catch some pokemon ha! 

Well our week in a nutshell had some very good moments and some very hard ones too. I'm constantly reminded how precious this life can be and how important it is to try to be more grateful to all those around me. I'm in love with my family and the love they share with one another. I'm glad that I was placed in a position to have this life and couldn't have done it without the support of others. Mom's birthday was this week and this year she would have been 59 years old. I'm sad and I miss her especially when I'm hurting, lonely or just plain lost in this world. Oh well, every year I get stronger for that I feel blessed. 

Trails, everything is breaking..yikes

Well, Rodd had the day off and we spent some time together. We worked on the yard together. Worked on building a fence that fell down. 

Some boards needed to be replaced since our neighbors bought some that were bowing too much. The actual fence boards are on back order with the mill. Not sure when they will be coming in. It's on the side of the house that we can keep the dogs out of so its not too much of a hassle. So for now everything else is done just waiting on the boards. We also worked on my walkway. It's coming along exactly how I envisioned it. It's going to be awesome. It was nice to have Rodd helping me. I think when we both give a little aid to each other we accomplish so much more. 

Well he had the day off so we could do the parent/student/teacher conferences together with the girls. We started with Elly. She showed us her work that she does. I do have to say how different a Montessori world is from a public school. These kids are motivated and dedicated to accomplishing their goals for the day. It's pretty cool to witness. Here Elly is doing a research paper on sea lions. 

It's was Mrs. Diane's birthday and professional celebration day. She is the best front desk staff I have ever been in contact with. She is pretty amazing. 

Well on to Analise. She is always happy to see us. Sometimes she gets emotional but we are so proud of her. She wrote this letter to King George. 

I really liked reading about her perfect Saturday. Mercedes, make sure you share this with your boys. 

Elly started vocal lessons. She really wants to perfect her singing and she is very dedicated to it. I love seeing and hearing it. She gets very shy at first but she is starting to warm up to Miss Mariela. 

On my drive to santee sometimes I take a moment just to see the beauty around. The open road, the clouds. We are all pretty lucky to witness some of these beautiful moments. 

So life has some big trials and it's time to deal with them head on. Rodd has a pending strike at AT&T and he is pretty stressed about not being able to provide for the family. We should have prepared better but our savings is pretty low. It's probably time for me to really find a job that can help pay off debt and get us back on track with our savings. Urban jungle is fun for me. It's far and my part kind of dies down in the summer. I think I will still continue that while I'm working another part time job. I'm actually sad to have to go back to work. Sad to my core because of the things I will miss out on in everyone's life. Rodd has requested and he feels it's time and I guess somewhere in my past conversations we made a plan for this. Although I have made lots of plans that didn't pan out the way they should. Most of my money will just go away to pay for taxes :/...time to find the positive outcome. I'm so sad though. I did get a job at a Local hotel here in RB. Although they are not flexible with hours so that might not be the best fit. We shall see. Stay tuned.