California Vacation

When I started school four years ago, the kids and I talked about going to Disneyland when I graduated to celebrate. Well, a couple of my aunts helped make our plans a reality. My Aunt Deb and Aunt Roberta gave me and the kids our passes and hotel to Disneyland for my graduation gift. We were able to take a one week trip to California the first part of May. We had the most amazing time. The kids were old enough to go on whatever ride they wanted to AND they could last the whole day without getting too tired:)

Here we are waiting to get on the Hollywood Tower of Terror. This was one of our most favorite rides we went on!

Meeting Minnie Mouse. The girls were so excited to get her autograph!

These bears were sooo funny! I think these were the kids most favorite characters to meet. Notice the shirt that Andrea is wearing.....it says "I survived Hollywood's Tower of Terror" She was so proud of herself for riding that ride she bought herself the T-shirt:)

California Screamin' was another one of our favorites. The faster the ride, the better! We had the best time and can't wait to go back for another visit!

Mountain man biathlon

Alex competed in the Mount Logan Middle School biathlon yesterday. They had 6 different heats to split-up all the kids.

Alex and his good buddy Hunter signed-up together so they got to compete together. They were really excited and have been training for a couple weeks.

Here is Alex finishing up his 1 1/2 mile run.

His transition to the swimming

and his first lap in the pool.


I didn't get to stay to watch him finish because the PTA was helping with the grade school district mile run so I had to go help with that but Hunters mom was there as they crossed the finish line. Alex finished in 20 minutes and 32 seconds! It was fun to see his hard work pay-off:)

1st grade program

Bizzy had her year end program the other day and it was really cute! The kids were supposed to come in their best dress and Bizzy chose her valentine dress. I love watching my kids perform. The theme was "One Big Happy Family". They talked about all the different kinds of families that we are a part of. Bizzy had a speaking part and she did GREAT!

I can't believe that my baby is done with 1st grade:(

time to catch-up

A lot of really fun things have been happening for us in Utah. A few weeks ago I made a short entry about my graduation from Utah State. I graduated with my bachelors of science in social work with cum laude honors with an overall GPA of 3.74. Not too shabby if I do say so myself! The batteries in my camera died but I was able to get a few pictures. Me and my Aunt Deb. She has been one of my biggest cheerleaders and supporters over the last four years.

Here is a picture of me and my cute dad. I love him and was so happy that he was able to make the trip out here to clap for me. The kids love having him here. They think that Grandpa Arevalo is pretty cool:)

This picture was taken before the commencement walk in the morning and even though most of us don't look very happy, we were pretty excited!

Another group picture. Aunt Roberta and Aunt Deb took turns taking the picture.

What a day:)

The girls had their year-end dance showcase last night. They performed every dance they learned this year. Alex was on the honor roll at the middle school and they had a program for him that same night at the same time so I wasn't able to be there with the girls. I went to their dress rehearsal the night before and recorded all their different dances. They danced 9 different dances between the two of them so I was busy helping with costume changes and then making back out front to record the dance. Here are Andrea and Bizzy in one of the hip-hop costumes for their dance "Fuego"



Just another picture of the girls


I think they are two of the cutest dancers out there!


I am so proud of this boy! He worked really hard and made the grades to get on the honor roll at his middle school. There are 1,400 students at his school and almost 600 made the honor roll. My boy was one of them and I could not have been more pleased with him. His goal is to get invited to this celebration every year!

DONE!

I am done with my undergraduate studies! It was such an amazing experience but I am so glad to be done. I met some really great people and had a lot of fun. May 8th was the graduation and I had my dad, aunt flora, uncle rudy, aunt roberta, and my cousins gracie, doug, ayda, cesar, mario and rebecca (plus their 9 children) my aunt deb and of course my three kids there to celebrate with me. I am so glad that they were all able to make the trip from Oregon to be here to support me! I will post pictures soon. This is a picture with most of the people who graduate with me from the social work department.

Maybe someday

A few weeks ago we actually had enough sun and the temperature was warm enough, that we were able to go outside in shorts and enjoy it! We packed up and went to Willow Park to have a BBQ. Alex and Gary played an intense game of soccer,



and the girls enjoyed the playground. Since then, we have a lot of snow and rain......I can't wait for warm days!