The Florez FLOW

the debut...

2012-01-27T12:25:00.000-08:00

here it is!! the fruits of all our labors...love this quiet book. jack had a blast playing with this in church on sunday. sam is still a too small to understand how cool it really is but he will get there soon enough. thanks ladies for all the hard work it turned out great. now all i have to do is make a cover.

karate kid

2012-01-27T10:12:00.000-08:00

we have started jack in karate. so far so good. he is really enjoying it and is trying hard. i think he looks pretty handsome in his uniform!

my latest stress

2012-01-11T19:00:00.000-08:00

a while back i was talking to a friend and she told me about a quiet book page swap she was doing with some of her friends. i have always wanted a quiet book for my boys so we decided to do a swap with some girls in our ward. silly me i forgot that i really don't know how to sew and i for sure didn't know how to thread my sewing machine but hey i totally got this. we set up the group figured out what our pages were going to be and off we went. well i didn't really get going right away because i was in the middle of training and to be perfectly honest i was nervous about how my pages would turn out.

finally after my race i really got down to business bought my materials started cutting my felt and even busted out the good old sewing machine. luckily i have an amazing husband who can mess around with anything and figure out to work things and he got my machine up and going, he even sewed a few of my shapes for my pages. i sewed a few things and discovered i really don't know how to sew curves, i've never put in a zipper and i for sure don't know how to do button holes. well again i'm a lucky girl and i had my in laws here for christmas and my mother in law came to my rescue, she helped with all that hard stuff and even managed to teach me a few of the things. needless to say i would have been in serious trouble if she wasn't here, so thank you, thank you, thank you anna!!

here is the fruits of my labor, totally not perfect but i'm still pretty happy with how they turned out.

i will do another post once i get all the other pages from the swap, but from this experience i have to come to learn that i really do enjoy sewing and creating stuff. it is very satisfying.

christmas weekend

2011-12-25T14:57:00.000-08:00

this weekend has been packed with christmas activities. first up was organ stop pizza and temple lights. if you have never been to organ stop pizza you are missing out!! the pizza is ok but boy oh boy let me tell you that the organ playing is AMAZING. the guy even takes requests. ok, really the crowd that goes there is 60 and over but the kids all loved it and we had a blast watching the kids dance and cheer for all the music.

it isn't really christmas time until you go to see the temple lights and we just barely made it right before christmas. i love seeing my boys explore the grounds and ooh and aah at all the lights.

christmas eve we had all of john's family up to our house for the day. we listened to christmas songs as we cleaned and cooked to gets us in the christmas spirit. we had our traditional dinner of ham and funeral potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, homemade rolls and pie for dessert. after dinner the kids got to open their pj's and then we read from luke 2 and had the kids use a nativity to bring in the right characters at the right time. lilly and jack did an amazing job even if sammy kept coming in to destroy things. we sang some songs and then it was off to see the christmas dancing lights at our neighbor's house.

christmas morning jack and sam actually slept until 6:45, which is late for them. we had nanna and papa with us christmas morning and they were up way before us waiting to be able to go down stairs to open presents. the boys came down to a note from santa and his gifts to them and their stockings. it was really fun to see sammy understand more about christmas this year and open some of his presents. jack was a very lucky boy this year and got everything he asked santa for. lucky for us he didn't ask for too much.

after breakfast it was time for church and we were really lucky because our ward choir is amazing!! the only down side to the whole day is the fact that my family is sick and not up for doing anything. we had a very merry christmas and are so grateful for our Savior, the gift of His atonement and are so glad we have this season to reflect upon His birth and all that He did for us during His time here on earth. we hope that you all had a very merry christmas too!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T20:19:00.001-08:00

we visited santa

2011-12-14T08:08:00.000-08:00

for fhe this last week we went over to santa's house. jack was very excited to finally be able to get to tell santa what he wants for christmas.

sammy not so much!

merry christmas!!

"tri" what!!?!?!?!?

2011-12-04T19:15:00.000-08:00

back in the summer i got to talking with my friend tausha and at the end of our conversation she managed to convince me that i could do a sprint triathlon. silly me!! well i managed to convince my good friend ashley to do it with me, silly her!! so off we went to train and train and train for this dang race. there were so many times that i wanted to give up but never did.

the morning of the race it was overcast and it sprinkled rain off and on and it was so so so cold.

first up the 1/4 mile swim. the only part of the tri that i actually felt good about.

yes that is me holding onto the edge of the pool, trying to catch my breath before going under the lane line for my next lap. i managed to pass several people in the swim but that is where it ended.

second the 12 mile bike. my second "best" event in the wonderful triathlon. during that section of the race i really grew to hate the phrase "on your left," which pretty much means you are going too slow and i'm passing you. needless to say i heard that a lot!! but i kept trucking and i actually got to utter that dreaded phrase a couple times myself. it's the little things that keep you going.

that tiny person in the blue shirt in the back is me.

finally the awful, dreadful, loathsome 3 mile run. can you tell i don't like running? i actually pretty much HATE running. getting off the bike my legs felt like cement blocks and it was hard going and i will admit i walked way too much but i also ran and i'm proud to say that i finished the race and i never stopped moving.

that's me crossing the finish line and i never felt so happy to be done!!

this is my girl ashley!! without her i wouldn't have done the dang triathlon. she made training fun and something to look forward to. we are eating our orange slices and drinking our water like true athletes, so she tells me. thanks ashley for torturing yourself with me.

this is tausha, my cheerleader, my coach and my inspiration. the one who started it all. thanks tausha for saying i could do it and always encouraging me.

couple things i learned from doing a triathlon:

exercising with a friend is the way to go
i hate running!
i can do hard things
i have amazing friends
i have a super supportive husband who let me leave him every night to go and train. i love you, hooch!!
i AM a triathlete!

star performer!!

2011-11-21T13:19:00.000-08:00

today jack had his thanksgiving program at school, and john and i were beaming with pride. jack was well behaved and he did such an awesome job. i can't believe how fast he has grown up and how mature he is getting. we are so proud of our little "native american."

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

happy halloween

2011-11-01T09:51:00.000-07:00

love,

yoda and obi wan

happy homemaker?!?!?!?

2011-10-09T19:08:00.000-07:00

so as of late i've been wanting to be a little bit more productive/creative. this is probably due to the fact that i have really talented and crafty friends and they have inspired me to develope some new talents. so the past couple of weeks i have done just that. here is a little of what i've accomplished.

and of course since last weekend was general conference weekend and we have tons of time at home i decided i would make homemade cheese bread. it turned out super yummy.

and here is sammy enjoying the fruits of my labor

next up, my friend ashley is going to help me make a valance with a box pleat for my window in the kitchen. wish me luck

country girl for the weekend

2011-09-28T19:19:00.000-07:00

this past weekend i was lucky enough to be able to go to idaho falls to visit my bestie smellin a.k.a melinda and her cute family. it was a weekend of hanging out, talking, debating, eating fabulous food, playing with the boys, monster truck riding, shopping and gardening. our friendship is one of those that no matter how long it has been since we've seen each other we can just pick up right where we left off. as melinda likes to remind me we have been friends for 20 years and that number is just going to keep getting larger. i'm so lucky to be able to count her as my friend.

those who know melinda know she isn't shy. while we were driving home we drove past the ford dealership and melinda was telling her boys to look at the cool monster truck and then she was like wait a minute my boys would love to go for a ride on that thing. so she flips a brody and wouldn't you know it we get ourselves not one but two rides on the monster truck.

and of course a trip to idaho falls wouldn't be complete without some farming. lucky for me, melinda just so happens to have a very good sized garden of her very own. she put this city girl to work and i'm happy to report i got my hands dirty and i only pulled out one of her plants and ruined it. go me!!

and for old time sake we had to get our traditional chocolate blasts from baskin robbins. those puppies are way too good!!

smellin head, thank you so much for letting me come and thank you to my awesome husband who took off work to watch our boys so i could go.

holy smokes...

2011-09-11T14:49:00.000-07:00

we have a 6 year old. this year for jack's birthday we went down to california to visit nanna and papa.

he scored some pretty good loot. batman tower, mario kart race track, trio blocks, mario sports and phineas and ferb the movie. he has the best nanna who made him an awesome mario cake to cap a wonderful birthday party bbq.

we went to disneyland on his actually birthday and i think it is safe to say that jack had a blast. he is now tall enough to go on ALL the rides. we took him on space mountain and john said jack seemed a little nervous during the ride but as soon as we got off jack screams, "space mountain rocks!!" his all time favorite ride was star tours. i'm embarrassed to admit this but i totally freaked out on that ride. i'm a little claustrophobic and as soon as they closed those doors and i realized there wasn't any air blowing on me i lost it, started sweating and almost started to pound on the door to get me off. i managed to keep it somewhat together (so as to not freak jack out), by keeping my eyes closed and taking deep breaths. i'm a total loser i know. after that things were just fine but needless to say i did not go on that ride again.

jack even got to be a participant in the jedi training academy show. he was of course doing his own thing but he was in heaven and so excited he got to beat up on darth vader. sammy was an angel at disneyland but the same cannot be said for the rest of the trip.

the rest of the time was spent hanging out with family, going for night swims, the griffith park observatory, thai food, bike ride at balboa lake park and of course the beach. the weather was pretty chilly at the beach and i actually got to wear a sweatshirt. sammy did not like the sand at all at first but he eventually warmed up to it a little. jack had a blast building a sand castle and making a tunnel.

it is always so nice to be able to go back home to good old north hollywood!! until next time.

the happenings...

2011-08-22T19:54:00.000-07:00

things, they are a changing in the florez household. jack started kindergarten and on one of the days i picked him up i asked him how he liked school and this is his reply, "i like school, but i don't like it THAT much." at least he is honest. but really i think he is having a good time, he already made a new "pal" as he calls him and it seems like he is really working hard on improving his writing skills. here is his first homework assignment...

he had to make a paper doll that looked like him. i was so impressed with his patience, normally when it comes to coloring or crafts jack wants nothing to do with it. But with this he pasted he colored and wrote his name.

now for the other little monkey and i mean monkey. this kid has to climb on everything. he loves, loves, loves to climb on the kitchen chairs so he can eat at the table like the big kids. he climbs on all the couches and of course he climbs all over anyone who is sitting on the floor especially his brother. jack just loves this, "mom sams climbing on me; mom sams wrestling me"

and i'm going to go on record and say that sammy is officially walking. still a little shakey on his feet but he is always on them.

and finally sammy enjoys the simple things in life, like shoes. the boy never wears shoes but when you do finally put them on he gets a little giddy

a step in the right direction

2011-07-31T19:37:00.000-07:00

sam is finally getting ready to walk. each day he takes more and more steps. i love watching my little drunk sailor try to walk!!

4th of july in st george

2011-07-13T13:55:00.001-07:00

i love family traditions and we were lucky enough this year to go back up to st george for a traditional celebration of the 4th of july. to make this trip that much sweeter we actually had ALL but two members of my entire family there with us.

from these two crazy love birds

came all of these crazy kids

we started off the week with the plan to hike the subway in zion but of course we couldn't get a permit even though tommy got there at 5:30am, they were all sold out. we decided to hike the kanaraville slots, through the water, over rocks and up slippery logs and it was awesome. i was so impressed with my nieces and nephews as young as 4 doing the whole hike and not complaining the whole time. the water was so cold that we couldn't really feel our feet but that turned out to be a blessing in disguise because my fancy water shows had apartly torn up my heels pretty good. it was well worth it because i had a blast on the hike.

i know this picture is really blurry but i had to document that we were actually hiking IN the water

matthew, justin and josh suck with us and we made it all the way to the second waterfall.

for the actual 4th of july my parents neighbors have a block party with tons of food, bike parades and of course fireworks. john and jonathan have become the masters of ceremony and had the fireworks show down to a science and put on a great show.

the rest of the week was filled with movies, good eats, climbing around the red rocks, going to tuacahn with the amazing personal pizzas, antigravity and so much more. it was just an all around great trip and i'm one lucky girl to have an amazing family to celebrate with.

let the good times roll

2011-06-01T19:35:00.000-07:00

summer has officially started for us arizonians. we kicked off with jack's preschool graduation. jack has been in his preschool class for three years and we are really going to miss his teachers and friends. they crossed over the bridge into kindergarten and performed some cute songs. we are so proud of all the progress jack has made since he started and we know he is more then ready to start kindergarten.

for the memorial weekend john surprised us with a little stay-cation at the squaw peak resort. we had a blast swimming, eating and playing mini golf. we also went down to gilbert to hang with the family and had some awesome food and an amazing dance off.

summer has just begun and we have already had a ton of fun. hope i can make it through the summer with two happy boys.

One Last Plug...

2011-05-10T20:06:00.000-07:00

Shannyn gave me one plug on here a while ago(about the ridiculous beard I was growing), but they extended my dead line for getting money turned in and I thought I would make one last ditch effort to get a few more dollars.
I have had the pleasure of working with the March of Dimes for a number of years now and I feel its my small way of trying to raise awareness and help for something that we have had very personal experience with.
As many of you know, Jack was born premature. Something we never expected and never anticipated. Fortunately for us, for the most part, all has worked out well for Jack and our family. It hasn't gone without some struggles and trials, but is has all been for the best.
When I started working for Citifinancial some 7 years ago, I first found out about March of Dimes. Hearing that they work to prevent prematurity and help families have healthy babies (you can read more about it here: http://www.marchofdimes.com/mission/prematurity.html ), I thought this was a great opportunity to get involved and do my part to try and make a difference.
If you have gotten this far, I am sure you are wondering, "What does this have to do with me?" Well, this is the part where I am asking you to help out as well. I have 3 more days to get to my goal. Anything helps me get there, even $1. Soooo...help me out...thanks in advance

www.marchforbabies.org/czarjohn

one year

2011-04-28T19:22:00.001-07:00

(sign made by yours truly)

one year ago today we were blest to bring our little sam into this world. we are so glad to have him our lives, he brings so much joy into our lives.

sammy is finally crawling on his hands and knees

whenever my phone rings he will put his hand to his ear and say hello in his language

loves to push cars around on the floor and he sometimes even makes the vroom sound

has to be in the middle of all the action

loves to climb all over you

now has three teeth

will eat just about anything (so nice to have a child that eats.)

loves to be outside. as soon as anyone opens the back door sammy comes crawling over to get out there and cries and cries if he isn't allowed to go outside

loves to throw balls

for his first party we were lucky enough to have nanna and papa here and aunt laura, lilly, max and luke come up and party.

we had a little easter egg hunt and some awesome torta's. my friend ashley let me borrow her super cute lanterns to make the house a little more festive.

i love our little family.

i made a jello cake with cool whip and i think the cool whip was sammy's favorite part.

he didn't go too crazy with the cake but i think enjoyed himself having the freedom to pick it up and poke it

opening presents. he was lucky enough to have a big brother and cousins there to help him get them open.

we had a blast and are so grateful that our family was able to come and celebrate with us. happy birthday sam we love you so much.

11 months

2011-03-28T20:10:00.000-07:00

are you serious? how can my baby already be 11 months old. sam has been on the move and doing great, except for the fact that he seems be sick every other week, he has inherited my immune system. sam is now climbing the stairs and pulling himself up on everything. he isn't very stable on his feet so he falls fairly often and has a pretty good bump on his forehead to prove it. he thinks he is so funny and cool when he sneaks off and gets up the stairs or manages to push all the buttons on the surround sound. he keeps us on our toes constantly. he is also getting so much better at eating table foods and wants to feed himself. if you put something in his mouth he spits it out and looks at it and then puts it right back in. here is a video of our boy showing off his new skills.

what is this!?!?!

2011-03-28T19:59:00.000-07:00

in the 17 years that i have known john i have never ever seen this before... this is after a week of not shaving, the man can't really grow a beard. he claims he is growing it out to help raise money for the march of dimes. please, please donate to a good cause and help me in the process so i can get rid of this "beard" soon. here is the website if you want to donate www.marchforbabies.org/czarjohn

spring break st george style

2011-03-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

this year for jack's spring break we were lucky enough to be able to go up to st george and actually have one on one time with my parents. that is very rare in a family with 6 children. jack had a blast and loved getting to cuddle with grandma and go on outdoor adventures with grandpa. here are a few of our highlights...

kayaking at gunlock

jack helped slow down dad with his paddle in the water so i could win our kayaking race. gotta love that boy!!

it is so tiring having dad paddle you around the lake

zion

jack had a blast throwing the rocks into the river, especially the big ones that made an awesome sound when they hit the water. he could have stayed there all day doing this. i love that boys are so easily entertained with rocks, water and dirt.

at the end of the narrows trail people had been making rock towers so of course we had to give it a try too.

i love my boys

our very first family picture on "the rocks" in zion (a long standing everett tradition)

park day

red rocks

sammy's very first licks of a popsicle

jack had a blast climbing with dad and has gotten so brave over the years

in the slot canyon. he didn't go in very far because john didn't think he would fit, i think he was too afraid.

it was so nice to get jack away from computers, video games and tv shows and actually go outside and enjoy nature and time together as a family. there is nothing like st george and being with grandma and grandpa.

9 years and counting

2011-02-16T19:03:00.001-08:00

can you believe it? we have been married for 9 years and wouldn't you know it, we still love each other. there is no one else i would want to go through this life with than john. i love you hooch, happy anniversary!!

Q.T.

2011-02-14T13:49:00.000-08:00

this saturday i decided that jack and i need some fun quality time together. before i got pregnant and had sam, jack and i were partners in crime. we did everything together and i really miss those times with jack so i took him on a "date." the place of choice was the children's museum. it was so much fun being with jack and actually being able to climb and explore and just do whatever it was that he wanted to do, no interruptions. it was so nice to hear jack say days before our outing, "mom i wish it was saturday so we could go on our date."

jack was planting me a garden and then giving me a valentine's bouquet, he is very sweet. the best part of the day was at the end he said he wished we could go out on another date next saturday. i love this boy and i'm so glad he is mine.

nothing cuter...

2011-02-07T15:40:00.000-08:00

then hearing a sweet baby laugh! enjoy

we messed with texas

2011-02-07T10:24:00.001-08:00

can you believe it? the florez family went on two trips that required flying in a span of 4 months. the world must be coming to an end. for this adventure john had his work kick off meeting in dallas, texas and it just so happens that our really good friends buffy and ian live there so john decided to make it a family trip. i was so excited to go and see our friends again that wouldn't you know it i forgot to take a single picture, but here are a few of the high lights from the trip...

for me getting to another state that i've never been to
getting to reunite jack with his future wife riley
going out to dinner at a bbq joint and seeing a real cowboy wearing his "fancy" going out cowboy boots, with the spurs and all.
jack getting to play in the snow and getting pelted in the face with a snowball
awesome food made by bufffy (seriously the girl can cook)
hot date with buffy in the richy rich part of town all the while wearing my sweet corduroy jacket. i know i'm a hot mess! (thanks ian for watching the kids)
getting an awesome sarah briggs necklace
taking a wrong turn and driving through one of the scariest neighborhoods i've ever been in and i grew up in the hood
getting hit up by two different homeless people at mcdonalds in the span of 5 minutes
going to the the nature and science museum and getting freaked out by all the animatronic dinosaurs (serious they were freaky and loud.)
buffy teaching me how to make some of her cute felt hair accessories
all the girl talk and just hanging out.

seriously it was an awesome trip and we are lucky to be able to call buffy and ian our friends.

saint louis

2011-01-31T20:55:00.000-08:00

back in october john had to go to st louis for work and he actually offered to take the whole family with him. if you know john you know that he doesn't offer to spend money to fly places very often so of course i had to take him up on his offer. so off we went and while john was working the boys and i were off to explore the city on our own. i was nervous at first taking on a new city but with the help of the handy gps we were off on a great adventure.

the first day i took the boys to the st louis science center. we spent a good 3 to 4 hours there which is amazing that there was enough there to keep jack entertained. we had fun playing with water current and races fish down the paths we had made.

pretending to be a mouse on the big exercise wheel.

sitting on the bridge watching the cars zoom underneath us.

building towers and knocking them over.

playing a magical harp with no strings

and of course playing on the computers.

the second day was a busy day of fun. the first stop was the st louis zoo and the city museum. needless to say we were all worn out by the end of the day. jack had a blast at the zoo finding all the signs to read and pushing the buttons, riding the train and of course seeing all the animals. jack still talks about this zoo today.

city museum is a place you could spend all day. there are so many tunnels and caves and slides and ball pits to discovery you could totally get lost. jack didn't want to leave.

our last full day john was actually with us and we got to meet up with our good friends scotty and rachel and their kids. we decided to be true tourist and visit the gateway arch

riding down the mississippi river on a "paddle" boat.

in the "pod" going up to the top of the arch.

we also went to a cute historic town, st charles.

this was such an awesome trip and i'm so grateful i got to take my boys to new places and expose them to so many different things. st louis was awesome and the best part about all of it was most of the things that we did were FREE. i would totally recommend going there if you get the chance. thanks john for letting us come along on your business trip we had a blast.

and this is just proof that sam was on the trip to being an amazing baby and going along for the ride.

holy cow 9 months

2011-01-31T18:39:00.000-08:00

time again for the monthly update, i know how annoying.

sam has graduated to the big boy bath in the big tub and loves it

he weighs 19 pounds 4 ounces

28 inches long

can do an awesome shimmy shake

has a sweet fake laugh

can give you 5 on demand most of the time

sometimes waves hello

imitates you smacking your lips together

tries to copy you clapping

attempts to pull himself up in his crib

8 month update

2010-12-29T12:39:00.000-08:00

battle crawling
can get out of a sitting position more controlled doesn't face plant anymore
made it through rsv
made it through eye surgery
returned to my sweet baby who sleeps again
loves to play with his toys
tried puff cereal but didn't like it
has an awesome mullet!!
starting to understand cause and effect

family christmas

2010-12-25T17:50:00.000-08:00

this year was truly our first christmas completely on our own. that means i was responsible for the dinner and the little christmas eve program. i felt a lot of pressure to start our own traditions and carry on those of our childhood and i have to say that we did a great job.

we had the traditional christmas eve dinner, funeral potatoes, ham, rolls, green bean casserole, green jello and pumpkin bars all made by yours truly.

after dinner we opened our christmas jammies (i told jack he got to open one present on christmas eve and when he saw what it was that he got to open he said he wanted to open a different one) put them on so we could be comfy for the rest of the evenings events.

sam opening up his christmas jammies.

the two greatest gifts i could ever receive.

we read the scriptures of the birth of our Savior while jack acted out the characters as the story went on. after that we went out to go see our neighborhood dancing christmas lights set to music. (jack's favorite thing to do)

Christmas morning

nanna and papa got jack these cool hex bugs

sam rolling around in all the presents.

santa brought jack this everyday hero's play set which he loves to have his mario characters play in. we kept asking jack if he wanted to open a present and kept saying he already has a present in the play house. finally after a while we convinced him to open his presents and he found out that he got a DS and wipeout for the wii. needless to say he was a very happy camper. all in all we had a wonderful christmas and we feel truly blessed to be able to spend it together as a family and teach our boys the true meaning of christmas. we hope you all had a very merry christmas too.

7 months?

2010-12-15T14:35:00.000-08:00

every time sam wears this hat jack seems to think he has to pet his head.

ok, ok so this is really late in coming and sam is really already almost 8 months but i had to get this in here for my records. here is a short update on what sam was up to at 7 months

sitting up with no support from his arms

making the "ma" "da" and "ba" sound

now loves to eat his baby food. his favorites are squash, sweet potato, carrots, apple, banana and pears

can put his binki in his mouth

recognize his own name

has rocked back onto his knees and hands but is still a long way from crawling (mom is secretly happy about that)

"sweet" success

2010-11-06T20:19:00.001-07:00

i'm knocking on wood as i write this because i don't want to jinx it but we had a break through with sam and eating baby food. this evening i decided i would try sweet potatoes and to my astonishment sam liked it, he really, really liked it. sam opened his mouth for it and even finished a whole package. here is a terrible picture of the finished product.

a week late and a dollar short

2010-11-06T19:47:00.000-07:00

i know, i know this is way late but i have to put up a picture of super awesome jack "mario." jack as most of us know is obsessed with video games and his current obsession is super mario and so naturally that is what he wanted to be for halloween. now i'm not super talented like my mom, who used to make all of my costumes i had to go and order the prefab version from the internet. even though the costume was super cheap jack loved it and he especially loved the mustache. he wore that dang mustache all day at school and was sad when it had to come off. without further ado here is mario...

now we can't forget about our sweet little sam. i looked and looked for a costume for sam and there were a lot of cute ones out there but they were all just too dang hot to wear here in arizona. i finally just decided to go with a cute halloween monster shirt, because after all he is mommy's little monster.
this year halloween wasn't all that fun except for the fact that my sister gave birth to my sweet little nephew hunter and we got to go down and meet him. both of the boys weren't feeling good so we didn't get to go to our ward trunk or treat and with halloween being on sunday we didn't really want to go out trick or treating. we decided we would have jack dress up in his costume and he would hand out the candy. he loved doing that, i would even say he loves that more then he does actually trick or treating himself. our boy isn't really a big fan of candy and i'm not complaining. here are our boys one more time. happy late halloween everyone

6 months

2010-10-31T21:04:00.001-07:00

what this little man is up to

17 lbs 2 oz
26 and a half inches long
rolling from tummy to back and back to tummy
uses rolling to get around places
scoots backwards
we've tried baby food and so far he is not a fan (really hoping he isn't like his brother and won't eat)
has baby conversations with you i.e. he talks, then you talk and then he talks back
can fully get his foot to his mouth and eat it
he is getting his first tooth (mommy is not too happy about this development)
beginning to recognize his own name

our month so far

2010-10-24T16:37:00.001-07:00

october has been one of the crazier months for our little family. some much has gone on that i hardly know where to start. i guess we could start with our little camping trip. the weather finally cooled off enough (meaning not 110) that john decided that we should go camping. so we invited some family and friends and off we went to dead horse ranch. not the most beautiful campsite ever but it had showers and flushing toilets so i can't complain too much. on the drive up there we realized that we were relatively close montezuma's castle so off we went for our "hike" to see it.

when we got there we found out that it was maybe a two minute walk on a paved path. oh well so much for hiking. jack had a great time pretending to be our tour guide and finding all the signs for us to read to him.

after that we went the crazy ghost town jerome. a small town pretty much carved out of the side of a mountain. we pretty much just walked around the town and found an old school park with a metal slide. the kids had a good time playing.

but really the best part about camping is hanging around camp and eating great food that john prepared for us. jack had a blast playing in the tent and with his flash light. all in all it was a great time and i can say i survived camping with a baby. thanks john for a great camping trip.
silly picture of jack showing off his flash light and his whistling skills.

after the camping trip we decided it was time to try and feed sam some baby food. well, let's just say that sam is not a big fan of eating rice cereal. here's to hoping we find something that he does like and that we finally get a child how likes to eat.

next it was time to start getting ready for halloween and what better way to do that then to decorate pumpkins for family home evening.

jack had a blast hammering in our vampire potato head pieces. so much so that he kept hammering and cracked him and the vampire had to be buried.

we had one more big event happen this month but i'm really too tired to blog about it now so i will have to do that at another time.

5 month update

2010-09-30T09:00:00.001-07:00

this sweet little boy is now 5 months old. it seems like it was just yesterday that we were blessed to have him join our family. here is a little update on what he likes and is able to do.

he loves his brother and lights up when jack will talk to him
he likes to stand up and play in his exersaucer
he can now sit with his hands down for support for about a minute now
he rolled from his back to his tummy. he showed us this skill while i was making jack's dinner and he was in his swing. he decided he was done being in his swing and rolled over and almost fell out. little trouble maker scared his momma to death
he loves to explore your face. he thinks it is so funny when you "eat" his hand
he finally discoverd his feet and he wants to put them in his mouth but can't get them past his big tummy
he can grab and hit things hanging above him

we all love this little baby boy and can't imagine life without him. can't wait until next month when we get to see all your new skills.

finally some brotherly love

2010-09-24T20:04:00.001-07:00

the other day at dinner jack and sam had a really cute brothers moment and we were lucky enough to get it on video. i think one day these two might actually become good friends. keep your fingers crossed.

this is the post that never ends

2010-09-13T12:52:00.000-07:00

Beach Day

the first day we got to california we went straight to the beach and met up with our family. jack and dad had a blast playing in the waves and making sand castles. sam and i had fun playing in the sand, enjoying the cool breeze and visiting with nanna.

Disneyland Day
we decided that this year we wanted to celebrate christmas a little early so we got our present to disneyland. we had so much fun. this time jack was tall enough to go on every ride except for indiana jones. he was such a trooper and even loved going on the roller coasters. he went on thunder mountain twice, splash mountain, gadgets go coaster and many more. thanks nanna and papa for coming and for our early christmas present.

this is jack's first run on big thunder mountain. please ignore john and me yelling at each other and look at the joy and excitement on jack's face.

we were having so much fun at disneyland that we didn't stop to eat dinner. on the way home i told jack that he couldn't go to sleep until he ate dinner. he was sooo tired from all the fun that he was eating and falling asleep at the same time. it was so funny, i don't know if you can really see it in the video very well.

Observatory Day
I had so many memories of going to the Griffith park observatory that i decided i wanted to take my kids there too (it also helps that it is free.) i really didn't think jack would like it all that much but i thought he would like wandering around outside, but he actually loved the whole thing. it made and john and me realize that we really need to start exposing our boys to more educational and cultural things.

jack had fun exploring and going on an "adventure" to find the huge telescope. he loved pushing all the buttons and he most favorite thing was going on all the different scales to find out how much he would weigh on all the different planets. he also spent some quality time with einstein.

My girls

these are my girls, becky and tracy. we have known each other for who knows how long. i'm so glad that every time i go to california i get to catch up with them. it is so nice to have friends that no matter how much time passes you can get together and things go back to how they were when we were young. i love them!!

Cowboy up day

jack had the awesome idea that he wanted to be a cowboy and ride horses. i was more then happy to oblige this request because i love to ride horse, i have ever since i was a little girl. well lets just say that jack had fun the first time around the track and the second time was a different story. see below...

"oh geez, oh geez, oh geez get me off of here."

we had so much fun in california. can't wait for the next trip.

4 months and growing

2010-09-02T11:47:00.000-07:00

this little guy isn't so little...

he now weighs 15 pounds 9 ounces
he is 24 and 3/4 inches
he rotates around on his tummy
he laughs full out not just a giggle anymore
loves to swing at the park
loves being outside
as stated earlier he now rolls from tummy to back
he is very handsy (sp?) he grabs my hair, my shirt, his pacifier, pretty much anything and doesn't want to let go.
he has become more brave with being tossed in the air
loves to play paddy cake and laughs when you clap his hands together
he is just a happy, sweet, adorable baby

i wish the time wouldn't go by so fast, i love having a baby in the house. stay little a while longer sam.

someone turned 5

2010-09-02T08:13:00.001-07:00

yesterday was jack's birthday and we had such a busy and fun day that i was too tired to do a post yesterday. i just want to say a big happy birthday to my bug. we are so lucky to have you in our family. we love you very much and can't wait to celebrate many, many more birthdays with you.

let it be known...

2010-08-12T20:09:00.000-07:00

my baby is skilled! tonight sam at 15 weeks rolled over 4 times from tummy to back.

we were only fast enough to catch the tail end of the roll, sorry.

3 months

2010-08-10T19:41:00.000-07:00

where does the time go, our little man sam is now 3 months. this makes me sad because i love, love, love babies and i'm sad that this is my last one and he is growing so fast! he pretty much already fills out his 3-6 month clothes, he is our little chubs. here are a few of the things he is now doing

he smiles at your smiles
he is "talking" a lot
he loves to blow spit bubbles
he is very social and lights up every time someone talks to him
he giggles when tickled (and giggles when cousin tyler plays with him)
he brings his hands together at mid-line
he holds a rattle and brings it to his mouth
loves to suck his fingers and thumb (i try to discourage this by giving him his pacifier but he is not fooled)
he has good head control
he loves his bath and splashes pretty much all of the water out of the tub
he is getting closer to rolling over (tummy to back)
track objects

we are having so much fun watching this sweet little guy grow and develop and can't wait to see all the other first that are yet to come.

he's pretty much a professional

2010-08-10T19:21:00.000-07:00

this summer we again decided to have jack do private swim lessons and he is doing really, really well. he now thinks that because he knows how to swim all kids should know how and if they don't know how he thinks he can teach them. i'm so very proud of my little swimmer.

summer fun?

2010-07-29T16:12:00.000-07:00

it is sooooo hot here you have no choice but to play in your baby brother's floor mat. kind of sad, don't you think?

it's raining

2010-07-29T16:07:00.001-07:00

we are officially in the monsoon season. Normally these monsoons happen in the middle of the night so it is a rare treat to actually get to see and play in it. jack had a blast playing.

FHE Arizona Style

2010-07-19T19:27:00.000-07:00

We finally got a pool in our backyard. Look out world, we are movin' up!

2 months

2010-06-28T17:22:00.000-07:00

this little boy sam is 2 months old and he now

weighs 12 pounds 6 ounces
22 and 3/4 inches long
smiles
coo's a little
can hold his head up while laying on the floor
and pretty much sleeps through the night

he is a super sweet baby and we are so happy to have him in our family. we love you little "sambo

it only took 3 and a half years...

2010-06-13T09:39:00.000-07:00

3 and a half years ago at a super saturday in my utah ward i made this super hero cape for jack. finally, he has decided he likes it and will wear it. my "hard work" was not a waste.

Sam's blessing

2010-06-08T19:50:00.000-07:00

i'm really not very good about blogging anymore but even those this is late in coming i have to post it. memorial day weekend we blessed our little sam. he was a perfect baby, he didn't make a peep and he didn't ruin his blessing outfit. john gave sam a beautiful blessing. i'm so grateful that he has the priesthood and can bless our boys and me. we were very loved and supported by our family, my parents came, john's parents came, my brother for california came with his family and of course all of our arizona family was there to support sam. thanks to everyone who came and to those who couldn't come but sent their love, we really appreciate all of you.

Because of this lady...

2010-05-31T20:14:00.000-07:00

Because of this lady I have a beautiful, sweet and healthy full term baby

Because of this lady I have a happy, smart and content 4 year old

Because of this lady I had a chance to experience what it was really like to be a pregnant lady

Because of this lady I had an easy and comfortable recovery from my c-section

I can never repay my mom for all that she has done for us these past 4 months. I'm so grateful you were willing to come and take care of me and my family. I'm so glad that Jack and "Grandma Ann" are now best of friends and have a relationship that can never be broken. "Ladies and Gentlemen" this lady is best mother, grandma and friend I could ever ask for, I thank my Heavenly Father for sending me to her every day. I love you mom!!!!

Busy week...

2010-05-01T08:57:00.000-07:00

Well, it's Saturday and this has been one of the busier weeks in recent memory. Work, school for Jack, appointments for Jack, cooking, cleaning, oh and we had a kid (almost forgot about that one).

We all got to come home on Friday evening and everyone is still doing well. The first night home was a little rough. After sleeping for hours on end in the hospital, lil' Sam decided he didn't want to sleep much between the hours of 11 and 1 last night. Mom finally figured out a way to get him to sleep, either that or I was so tired I passed out amidst the commotion and we got to sleep until Jack woke up at 6. I am sure that is will be the first of many adjustments in our life.

This is our last 3 person family picture.

Shannyn's last minutes as a pregnant lady.

Shannyn and I getting prepped for the big moment..can you say "Sloppy Joe, Slop, Sloppy Joe, yeah!"

Sam's first picture (although at this point he was still "Baby boy Florez")

Mom and baby's first interaction

Dad and his new baby boy

This is all he wanted to do in the hospital. Wouldn't even wake up to eat for the first day.

One of the rare awake moments caught on film. They say he looks like his mom.

The brothers meet for the first time. We actually didn't think this was going to happen in the hospital since there was still a flu/RSV ban in effect that prohibited kids under 12 from being there. Fortunately, they decided to end it 2 days early for us and Jack was able to meet Sam at the hospital. So far, so good.

The new and improved Florez family!

All packed and ready to go home

To cap the night off, Sam brought Jack a present for his big brother. You think he likes his new scooter?

And finally here is some video of the little guy...ENJOY!

Sam Edward Florez

2010-04-29T11:47:00.000-07:00

It took us a night of thinking about it but we came up with a name. Sam wasn't even on our short list before he was born, but when I saw him that was the name that came to me.
He is doing well and Shannyn is making progress towards a full recovery.
So all in all, we are all doing well.
Thank you all for the prayers and well wishes!

He's Here

2010-04-28T18:20:00.000-07:00

Still no name yet.

He was born at 5:16, weighing 7 pounds 1 ounce and 19 inches long!!!

Mom and baby are doing great!

one last adventure

2010-04-23T17:21:00.001-07:00

this morning i woke up and realized i only have 5 more days of being a mom to one child. holy crap! jack has been such a trooper through this whole bed rest stuff and me not really being able to do anything so i thought i would do something fun and actually take him somewhere. i called my sister and off to the zoo we went. today was beautiful, it was only 70 degrees and breezy. we had a great time looking at the animals, playing at the splash pad, feeding sting rays and having lunch outside all done at a sore pregnant ladies pace. i love my jack and am so glad for the chances that i get to spend with him. i'm very lucky to be his mom.

grandma helped jack with the sting rays because i don't think i could have gotten my belly over the ledge to see anything.

jack actually took this picture himself. dang zebra only gave us his back side!

"full term" baby

2010-04-14T08:44:00.001-07:00

it's official, i'm going to have a full term baby!

easter and a few more firsts

2010-04-07T09:44:00.000-07:00

easter was awesome and it was great to be able to come together and celebrate as a family. of course my mom is still with us because miracle of miracles i'm still pregnant and on bed rest. this year instead of the traditional easter dinner i requested won tons and they were delicious. i wouldn't mind making that a new easter tradition. we had steph and family and tom and family come up and celebrate with us. grandma provided an awesome easter egg hunt with candy, little treasures and money eggs. of course the easter bunny came and left a basket for jack. all in all it was a wonderful easter and was made that much better being conference weekend and being able to hear from the Lord's prophets and remember the real reason we have to celebrate, the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the opportunity we all have to be resurrected because of His sacrifice.

jack found a couple of the money eggs including the golden egg that had $5 in it. we traded the dollar eggs for quarter eggs because jack doesn't really care about paper money, silly boy.

now for the firsts going on in our household. the first one of note is that i actually have a scheduled c-section. it is set for april 28th and it seems like i will actually make it because all of my levels are staying stable. i can't believe it and i'm actually nervous because my last c-section i was completely under sedation and this time i will be awake the whole time. i'm excited that i will actually get to see my baby right away assuming all is well and healthy with him. i say him because we still have not picked out a name for him. we are hoping that once we see him a name will come to us.

another first for me is that my mom taught me how to crochet and i'm making my first blanket ever and i decided to make it for jack since "brother" is getting one from grandma and nanna. jack picked his colors, it is his imagination movers blanket. it is taking me forever, one because i'm not very good at it and two it is hard to crochet laying down so i don't get to work on it for very long. i tried to talk him into making it a scarf but he wasn't having that, it has to be a blanket. maybe one day i will finish it, hopefully before he graduates from high school.

finally and this is very late in talking about but my awesome visiting teachers threw me my very first baby shower back in march. i didn't get to have one with jack because he came so early and without warning that there wasn't time to have one. i love those ladies and i am so grateful to have them in my life.

some of the ladies that came to the shower.

that is all for now, stay tuned for updates on the baby and other things going on in our lives.

florez firsts

2010-03-01T09:59:00.000-08:00

this past week has been a week of some firsts for our family.

this is the first full week of jack wearing his big boy underwear with no, i repeat no accidents.

this is the first time i have ever been thirty weeks pregnant.

finally, jack got his first pair of flip flops without the strap around the back. they take some getting use to. needless to stay each week brings new firsts and we are looking forward to them all.

journal of the bed ridden

2010-02-23T12:14:00.001-08:00

i'm going a little crazy just laying around so i thought i would try and do something a little productive. i have now made it through two and a half weeks of bed rest which is a week and a half longer then i lasted with jack. it is the little things that count. i'm now 29 weeks and 3 days along and things are staying stable. i feel like a ticking time bomb like at any moment my body is going to decide that it is done being pregnant and shut down, i guess that is what most women feel like at the end of their pregnancies. i'm trying to do as my mom says and think positively, tell myself that i can do this i can go another 6 or 7 weeks. if it weren't for my amazing mom and husband i don't know that i would be able to. i will lay on the couch or the bed or do whatever is required of me as long as this little boy can stay inside me and "cook" that much longer. at the beginning of this pregnancy my goal was to make it to 30 weeks and now i'm shooting for the stars and i'm hoping for 36 weeks. i hope my john, jack and my mom will hang in there with me.

Tee ball and stuff

2010-02-13T09:59:00.000-08:00

So Jack started playing tee ball. Well, you can almost call it playing. It's still more like watching other kids play tee ball, but he is getting a little better and he says he "had a fun time" after the game is over. So that is a good thing. Today was his second game and we finally remembered to bring the camera. He is pretty good at hitting the ball (as you can see), but the other details of the game have escaped him (as you can also see). He's having fun though (most of the time) and that is the most important part!

Since I am updating, I figured I would also include some Valentine's well wishes. Shannyn had planned to make heart shaped pancakes this morning but since she is bed bound, I decided to make them for her. Everyone loved them.

Christmas in arizona

2009-12-27T17:34:00.001-08:00

this was our first year spending Christmas at home. of course i missed going to utah or california but we were lucky enough to have family here. nanna and papa came from california and we got together for christmas eve at laura and kevin's house. my sister steph and family came over and we had some old friends, the modrells from our california ward there too. that is one of the cool things about marry people from your home stake you always get to keep in touch.

christmas eve we had the traditional christmas dinner that we all contributed to and then the little kids performed the nativity. jack was the star of david and he actually kept his "star" on his head.

after the nativity there was a small talent show, with original songs as well as some of the traditional favorites. jack sang jingle bells all by himself. we were worried that he would get stage fright and not want to do it but he seemed to really relish being in the spot light.

christmas morning was very nice and relaxing. jack didn't want up until 6:30 and we came down to find that santa ate jack's treat that he made him. yes jack actually helped me make santa rice crispie treats, a first and hopefully not the last. opened our stockings and saw what santa left for jack. the presents were opened in about 15 minutes and then it was time to break out jack's ultimate gift. this year we bought jack a bounce house which he loves but also serves therapy purposes. after playing with our presents we went to denny's for breakfast, a newer family tradition that i really quite like.

jack discovering that santa came and ate his treat

in his stocking he got a notebook because he is really into blues clues and he needs a place to write down his clues.

opening his presents

that's right we have the bounce house in our living room!

later that morning nanna and papa came up to spend the weekend with us and we had a second round of presents. jack got a 500 piece marble coaster that john was lucky enough to set up. all in all it was a really wonderful christmas and we got a chance to reflect upon the things that are most important about the christmas season, the Savior, family and friends. we hope you all had a wonderful christmas and have a happy new year.

jack loves his papa

the early stages of setting up the marble coaster. doesn't john look so excited to be doing this?

the finished product and it only took him 4 hours

Christmas cards?

2009-12-20T17:21:00.001-08:00

this one is more for me because i didn't get a belly picture with jack, but the new man cub is in there.

i wasn't really feeling the need to do an official chirstmas card this year but i thought i would just do a little update on the family on the good old blog.

we have been living here in anthem, arizona for two years already. time really does fly when you get old. we are blessed to live in a really safe and family friendly little town. as much grief as i give john about living here i really do appreciate all that anthem has to offer. we have a great ward and i can finally say that i feel like we are finally feeling like we are a part of things. john has been serving as the teacher's quorum advisor/assistant varsity scout leader. i've been in the primary as a teacher for almost 2 years. they "officially" released me several weeks ago but asked if i could keep teaching until they find my replacement, which of course they still haven't. my new calling is as an activity days leader, i'm really excited to be able to work with the girls i taught my first year in the primary.

john is still working for citi financial as a district manager for 7 of arizona's branches. it keeps him really busy and traveling quite a bit. lucky for us this means he gets to rack up the hotel points. hopefully in the next year or so we will have enough points to be able to come and visit our friends and family. the job is still challenging for john, which means he isn't bored yet. we are just truly grateful and blessed to have a job during such unstable times and take nothing for granted.

jack is in his second year of preschool and still loving it. he is making huge strides with all therapies and we are lucky to have such great people in our support system helping us. jack loves to play the wii, much to my dismay. john assures me it is really helping him with his hand/eye coordination, i'm not sure i buy it. jack also performed in his first primary program and did a great job. he continues to amaze us and keep us on our toes. we love this little man and are glad to have been blessed to have him as our son.

i've have been keeping busy trying to keep up with jack and all that he has going on throughout the week. this "spring" we will be blessed with another baby boy and we are very excited for the new arrival. i'm nervous and excited and can't wait to see how jack deals with not being the center of attention all the time. i'm sure he will be a great big brother. pray for us that i will be able to keep this baby in a little longer then i did jack.

we hope that you all have had a great year and we wish you all a very merry christmas. we love you all, come out and visit us sometime.

love,
john, shannyn, jack and baby yet to be named.

drum roll please

2009-12-09T16:50:00.001-08:00

so it looks like we are going to be welcoming another baby boy into the family. i'm really excited and kind of relieved because i know what to expect with boys. everything during the ultrasound looked fine, the man cub has everything he is suppose to have.

Halloween Preview

2009-10-24T20:23:00.000-07:00

Halloween is still a week away, but we had no choice but to get in to the festivies early. Fortunately for us, Jack absolutely loves his Halloween costume so any opportunity we have to put it on him, we take advantage of. Today's opportunity came in the form of our ward's trunk or treat.

Here is one of Jack in his costume. He's a bee (in case you couldn't tell)

Jack and Dad enjoying some of the bounty. Word to the wise, giant lemon heads are pretty sour. Nothing like the little ones that came in a box for a quarter from the ice cream truck...nothing at all like those.

Here's Mom working the trunk or treat

Last but not least, here are some pics we took a little while ago but haven't got around to posting. Jack had so much fun with the gingerbread around Christmas, we saw a Halloween themed house at Wal Mart and knew it would be perfect.

Here is the finished product and proof that some of it made on the actual house and not just on Jack's face!

Great Day for Up, Jack Style

2009-10-19T19:34:00.000-07:00

Jack said he wanted to read a story. So he grabbed the book on the floor which happened to be Dr. Suess' "Great Day for Up." He had a surprise for me this time though. Instead of me reading to him, he read the story to me. Hopefully you can see the video. It was a little dark when I took it, but here is Jack's rendition of a Dr. Suess classic.

My favorite part is the end when he says, "I'm sleeping in."

I am man, hear me roar

2009-10-02T18:30:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share with everyone my latest accomplishment. That's right, you are looking at the giant scorpion that I squashed in our garage last night. Bad boy went scurrying across the floor and I introduced him to my size 13 Steve Maddens. That's how I do...

happy birthday, my little jack

2009-09-01T14:27:00.000-07:00

september 1, 2005 was the day you were born and it was a complete surprise! although you come during a chaotic time you have brought nothing but joy and happiness into our lives. you started out a fighter and continued on in the same fashion. you amaze me everyday with all that you have accomplished and all that you will accomplish in your life.

your first birthday was so much fun. you were a happy baby who loved to be out in the sun shine. you were easy going and had just started to battle crawl. even though you weren't very fast you were always on the go looking for something or someone to play with.

your second year of life was full of a lot of first. shortly after you turned two you took your fist steps and ever since then you haven't stopped moving. you liked to be out and about all the time.

your third year marked a big change in your life, you started preschool. you have grown leaps and bounds in all areas of your life when you turned three. you started to sing songs more, you started to recognize your letters and numbers and you became a little bit more interested in friends. you are a very smart and sweet boy.

now you are four and we can't wait to see what this year brings for your life. i love your sense of adventure and am proud to be able to call myself your mom. i love you very much and am blessed everyday that i get to be with you. happy birthday jack jack.

bowl-a-rama

2009-08-29T21:18:00.000-07:00

technically jack doesn't really turn four until tuesday but we celebrated a little early so we could have all our friends and family come up and celebrate with us. we are so lucky to have so many great people in our lives and that they are willing to come all the way up to anthem for our jack. we had a great time and we just wanted to say thanks to everyone. happy birthday jack we love you very much!

2009-08-29T21:15:00.001-07:00

friends and families are the best

2009-08-23T17:43:00.000-07:00

as stated before this summer was pretty busy for us. the last two weeks of summer where the craziest. we were lucky enough to have two family reunions, john's side and then my dad's side of the family. to start the reunion tour off i went up to st george and got to see my aunt marcia, uncle rick, aunt mimi, dennis, cousin laurie and kids and cousin mary and kids. we had a good time just hanging out trying to visit while 10 crazy kids ran around and had fun. as is tradition when we go to st george in the summer time we went to what we call the dolly parton pool (because it has two domes shaped like huge boobs) and the main street little river.

the second leg of the trip we went up to willard bay in northern utah for the workman reunion. it was so much fun to get to go camping and hang out on the lake for three days. uncle bert brought up his boat and jack loved cruising the lake and "going super fast." but his absolute favorite part was playing in the kayak and putting sand in the bucket. so lucky that boys are entertained fairly easily. we were pretty much in the water the whole time i didn't really take any pictures. on this trip i had a first, my first time tubing behind a boat. i was really pumped to go, i get on the tube go for about 30 seconds and of course the boat died. we were stranded in the middle of the lake for a good 30 minutes. though my ride wasn't long it was really fun. i was going to experience another first on the trip, water skiing. john and my borther in law kevin talked uncle bert into letting us take the boat out early before any of the kids woke up. so i get up at like 6 something in the morning freezing my butt off and get into to the boat so we can launch it. boats in the water, kevin trys to fire it up and it won't start. uncle bert messed with it for a little while and still nothing. life experience number two didn't happen. don't be fooled we all still had a great time at the reunion and i loved having a chance to reunite with family we hadn't seen in forever.

see the smiles on our faces we had a blast (sorry i stole this picture from your blog.)

during the reunion i was lucky enough to be able to go out with my girls becky, buffy and sarah from our condo days. we all live in different states now and it was really lucky that we were all in utah at the same time. we went to the gateway to shop, have dinner and do what we do best, talk! it was so nice to have the girls night and be with them all again. i haven't and i'm sure i never will be able to find friends as great as them again. i really miss my girls.

the last leg of the tour was up in jackson hole wyomming for my dad's side of the family's reunion. we drove from st george up to pocatello idaho and stayed the night, because of this i was lucky enough to get a chance to see my melinda. it had been about three years since the last time i got to see her and that i might add is way to long. melinda is my one friend that no matter how much time passes since the last time i saw her i instantly feel comfortable and fall right back into the ways things are when we are together no awkwardness at all. i got to see her beautiful boys and her super cute house. i love my smellin head you are one of a kind and i will have you for my friend for the rest of my life.

melinda and tyler's newest addition to their little family, ezra. super cute and super good baby.

melinda's other boys river in my arms and joseph with the drink cup.

after visiting with melinda in idaho falls we drove over to jackson hole. that has got to be some of the most beautiful parts of this country i have ever seen. if i wasn't so attached to say target and having serious medical facilities for jack i would move there in a heart beat. it is so green and amazing. once we got to jackson there was a ton of everetts there to greet us. i love it in jackson hole and it was awesome because my dad did all the cooking pretty much so we were "forced" to hang out with each other and get to know each other better. i have so many cousins that i don't really even know so it was great to be with them.

jackson hole decided to give me a really early christmas present and rain everyday we were there. it cleared up long enough to have a few adventures and cook dinner. it was so nice to be in weather that reminded me that there are other seasons besides summer. while we were there we went to jenny lake and went on a hike, swam at the community center, did the bungee trampline and much more. i owe my parents a huge thank you for arrange this reunion and letting jack and i tag along for the ride. you guys are the best and i cherish all the trips you have taken me on. i hope to be able to do the same for my little family.

proof that they really do like each other and get a long well for the most part.

you can't really see the mountains in this picture but they were beautiful. this is right before we embark on a little hike.

jack loves him some grandma. you can see the mountains in this one. it was a beautiful day.

jacks favorite part of the hike was climbing on the rocks.

half way through the hike when i was still able to carry jack. we didn't have our daddy with us to help me carry the turkey so my dad and heather were kind enough to help me with that. jack couldn't really see the rocks in the trail and kept tripping which is why he needed to be carried.

riding the boat over jenny lake to the hidden falls hiking trail.

some of our group up at hidden falls

jack and i relieved to have made it to the falls and great for the little rest and beautiful surroundings.

back at our lodging jack had a blast playing "baseball" and dumping rocks into that parking cone. again i'm grateful that boys are so easily entertained.

so all in all our last two weeks of summer were awesome, great and wonderful and i'm ready for the next go around next year. i'm one lucky girl because i have the greatest froms a girl could ask for and the best family.

why is blogging so hard for me lately?

2009-08-18T16:01:00.000-07:00

this summer has been crazy, fun and very busy. but i find myself at a loss as what to post and what to say about what we did. to start with our summer vacation has ended because our sweet boy jack has started his second year of preschool. happy to report that jack did great, he didn't fuss once and wasn't apprehensive about taking the bus to school. my how things change so fast. my toddler has grown into a boy and i don't know when or how that happened. he has become more independent and adventurous. he now snatches the utensil from my hands says "i can do it." he is a lot better at playgrounds and going over, under and through things. he swings from the monkey bars and i'm getting a lot better at letting him do it. i still worry but i'm trying to let go. i'm so happy to have such a fun, loving and sweet boy. here's to another fun year of preschool.

Usual pose...

2009-07-26T09:42:00.000-07:00

Just to prove that Jack is a wipeout addict (for those of you that haven't spent any time at our house), I took this picture of him today. Good night and big balls.

What a goof

2009-07-24T19:22:00.000-07:00

Funny story. We were walking in the parking lot of the outlet mall and there was an SUV pulling out that looked like Shannyn's car. Jack saw it pulling out and yelled, "hey that's my mom's!" It was pretty funny. What a goof ball.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

my little fish

2009-06-30T12:31:00.000-07:00

as per summer tradition i signed jack up for swimming lesson and to my surprise he is doing great. i elected to go the private lesson route because jack is not afraid of the water at all and i was afraid he would just jump in while the teacher wasn't paying attention. we've had 4 lessons so far and he gets better everytime. he only had one lesson where he cried the whole time, not because he was scared but because he just woke up in a bad mood that morning. it is awesome to see his natural instincts kicking in. when he goes under water he knows to "kick" to the surface and he is learning that if he falls in he needs to swim to the wall. i'm really happy with his teacher, she works really well with him and he trusts her which is huge. jack will even "jump" off the diving board on his own to his teacher. i'm glad i have a little swimmer boy because that is what i love to do. i can't have a kid who can't swim, that is just unheard of in my family. needless to say we have a ways to go but i'm really proud of him.

he actually goes off by himself, john is just there to make sure he clears the board.

back floats are a little ruff. he tends to get really tense and won't relax his arms, but we are making progress.

after every lesson jack gets to bask in his accomplishments with a lollipop.

summer road trip

2009-06-24T16:36:00.000-07:00

first trip of the summer is officially under our belts. the beginning of this month jack and i were lucky enough to have daddy with us for a whole week of pure fun. to start off our vacation we went to las vegas because john got us roped into going to a hilton time share presentation. good thing for him the accommodations were really nice and we only had to listen to the presentation for 2 hours. i do have to say that if i had the spare cash a time share isn't a bad way to go. but sad for me we don't really want to finance our vacations for the next ten years.

while in vegas we had a good time relaxing at the pool, eating great food and of course seeing the sights. although jack's favorite park was riding in the elevators and pushing the buttons. can't complain too much because that is very cheap entertainment.

at the aquarium at the mandalay bay

after vegas we went down to see john's family and do some reminiscing of the old days. it is always fun to go with jack to the places my parents took me when i was a little girl. we went down town again on the subway and i managed to score three pairs of sandals for $40 and 3 pairs of sunglasses for $15. got to love cheap crap, we are just waiting for all of it to break which inevitably it will. we also got to go play tennis with poppa. jack loves to play his "sports."

speaking of sports we took jack to play miniature golf for the first time and he had a lot of fun once we gave up on the golf club and just let him roll the ball around.

poppa is always so patient with jack and willing to try and teach him the proper way to do things.

the last place we went to was travel town which is pretty much a grave yard for old trains. we had a great time climbing on all the trains and the best part of all was it is one of the few free things to do in L.A.

on the way home we got to stop by my brother todd's house to see him and his family and the brand new baby. why is it vacations are never long enough. it is so sad having to get back into the normal routine. all in all trip number one was great. thanks nanna and poppa for letting us come and play. we love you guys. can't wait to see you again at the the workman reunion.

summer has officially started...

2009-05-31T16:22:00.000-07:00

and thanks to my sisters and brother we made it through the first week alive. i don't know about all of you guys but i was really worried about how i was going to fill up all our summer days. the first full week of summer my sister stacey came into town so jack and i high tailed it to gilbert to have fun with her. we had several days filled with water play and she even took us to see the new movie Up. i'm happy to report that jack actually stayed in the movie the whole time and actually watched the majority of the movie. that is a first for our little man, he normally likes shows of the half hour variety.

now let me back up a little before summer started. jack has now completed a whole year of preschool and on the last day of school they had a little party that parents were invited to attend. jack was very excited to have me there for about 2 minutes and then he figured that since i was there it was time to go home. every couple of minutes jack would whine and at me and tell me he wanted to go home. but we managed to have fun inspite of the tantrums.

this is the back of jack's friend joey. it is really hard to get kids to cooperate for pictures

we had a little dance party with hokey pokey and head, shoulders, knees and toes. after dancing was a lovely snack time of bagels and fruit which of course jack didn't want to have anything to do with. following snack they received their diplomas, year books and a summer present.

the grand finale was awesome. mrs. zeek, his teacher had arranged for an ice cream truck to come to school especially for the kids and they got to choose a treat. very exciting and sweet i thought. i really can't believe my baby is even old enough to have made it through a year of preschool already. we are proud to be his parents and are grateful for all his progress and successes. way to go jack!!

the kid can't seem to not pick his nose.

back to summer fun. for memorial day we decided to go camping up in prescott, arizona. jack had a lot of fun the first time he went for fathers and sons so we thought we would make it a family trip this time. it was just an over nighter which is perfect for us because one i don't like not showering and the toilets when you go camping are really quite gross. it is just nice to be in nature and not have to do anything but spend time together without the tv to distract us. i'm really happy that my little boy likes to be outdoors and camp. workman family reunion here we come, i hope.

we went for a little hike and jack only asked if we were done yet a few times. john found jack a little walking stick which we turned into a bat to hit pine cones.

jack kept sliding down to the bottom of his sleeping bag. he woke up at 4 in the morning and he found something really funny and was cracking himself up. we still aren't sure what was so funny. he stayed up for an hour and went back to bed and actually slept to about 8 which is really late for him.

last but not least i leave you with jack's newest trick. he's a break dancing fool.

hopefully all of our weeks of summer be this much fun. up next las vegas and california.

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T07:41:00.000-07:00

To all the Mother's out there, we appreciate and love you and we hope you have a great day today.

For Shannyn's mother day gift, I am giving here what mother's all around the world love and can't get enough of...no, not diamonds, sleep. So as she sleeps in this morning, I thought I would sneak a quick post in.

To my "babe," I wanted to let everyone know how much I love and appreciate everything you do for me and our family. You are a great mother and a fantastic wife. I never thought marriage would be so much fun and filled with laughter. You make my life so much more fun and interesting. I can honestly say that there would be a huge void in my life if you weren't around to fill it. You are the best wife ever and I love you!!!

Our mother's day weekend started on Friday night when we went to see music in the park at our community park. Jack kicked the soccer ball around for a while and then sat (not still of course) long enough for us to hear a little bit of the music.

On Saturday I had to work for a bit, so I took Jack with me (he LOVES going to Daddy's work) while Shannyn spent some quality time at Target. That was probably her favorite part of the weekend to be honest. After that we went to the Desert Ridge mall and had CPK. Hard to contend with BBQ chicken pizza and salad. After that we let Jack run around in their fountains for about half an hour. That is about all he can take before he starts shivering (it was over 100 this weekend mind you). So as long as today doesn't turn in to a disaster, I think we will consider this a successful Mother's Day. LOVE YOU BABE!!!!!!!!!!

Like Father Like Son

2009-05-03T16:48:00.001-07:00

This weekend was our ward Father and Son outing up at Mormon Lake. Since we are not real outdoorsy people, I figured this may be one of the few opportunities Jack has to explore "the great outdoors." So I took work off on Friday to get there a little early and give Jack some time to run around. I am glad to see that it was a lot of fun. Jack had a blast playing in the tent and running around kicking his soccer ball (I think we might have the next Landon Donovan on our hands). I even managed to get a little sleep over Jack's snoring and the air mattress deflating throughout the night (wouldn't be a complete camp out without that). Overall it was a lot of fun and I think there may be some more camping trips for us in the future.

ode to my mom

2009-04-16T18:20:00.001-07:00

super hero ann everett came to my family's rescue. this last week i had to have an unexpected surgery and my mom came down with only 24 hours notice to come take care of us. i was a little nervous and sad about the whole ordeal and i cried to my mom and she came. i know, i know i'm such a baby and i need to grow up but it just always makes me feel so much better knowing that my mom would be here with jack when i got home. we were so lucky to have her here for a week and she cooked, cleaned and even managed to deal with the demands of jack. i will forever be grateful for all the love and support she gives us. my mom has always been the greatest example of service and unconditional love and i hope that i can be 1/10 the person she is. i love you mom and i'm so glad i'm your daughter.

2009-04-12T21:30:00.001-07:00

"hoppy" easter

2009-04-12T20:32:00.000-07:00

april has been a crazy and fun month so far. we had some fun visitors and lots of fun outings. here in our good old little town we had anthem days with a carnival and all. all jack wanted to do was go in the bounce house and stayed in that thing for a good twenty minutes. the theme for the month seems to be bouncing/jumping because that is jack's new favortie trick. at school jack made rabbit ears and he would pretend to be a bunny and hop around the house. during the week of easter i was a little sick and managed to get myself sucked back into the world of edward and bella and read the 2nd and 3rd books again.

jack is now really getting into the holidays and kept talking about having an easter party so on saturday we dyed eggs and made little bunny party favors and then on easter day the easter bunny came and brought jack his "present" being his basket and then we had my sister and family, my brother and family and my mom over for easter dinner and an egg hunt. all in all it has been an awesome month. i'm really grateful for the easter season when we all get a chance to reflect upon what the easter holiday really means. i'm so grateful for our Savior and for the atonement. i'm grateful we all can be resurrected and live with our Father in Heaven again if we do what is right and follow His commandments. i love my family and am grateful we are sealed together for eternity. i hope everyone had a wonderful easter holiday. we love you all.

woooo whoooo spring break '09

2009-03-27T12:06:00.000-07:00

well our spring breaks aren't as crazy as they use to be but this one was filled with friends, family, fun and illness. who got sick you ask? well of course it had to be me. lucky for me though john had the whole week off and was the best husband and father. he took care of me and jack, cooked dinners and cleaned the house for a bbq. to start the week off we went to a train park in scottsdale with tyler, steph and haylie and had fun riding the trains and the carousel. that night tommy and family moved back down here and we are so happy to have them back. tuesday we hung out down in gilbert with family and then took my mom back home with us so we could go to sedona. wednesday was sedona and it is a very beautiful place. its like living in the middle and zion and bryce combinded. jack loved riding around on the bus of course. thursday john had to go to scout camp so my mom and i went back down to gilbert and enjoyed time with family again and then went out to tia rosa's for dinner. i love that place, if you are ever in town you should check it out. friday i finally got some time to rest a bit and recover from being sick and then saturday john hosted a bbq for the families he home teaches and it was a great success. there was a great turn out and no left overs. i always find it kind of funny that john is the party planner in our family. everyone seems to assume its me but it's not. it was awesome to have a week to spend together as a family and bond. it really makes me appreciate the family that i have and they love and support they give us. it was also awesome to get to see more of what my new home state has to offer. hope everyone else had a great spring break too.

is it just me or are my post getting more boring and lame as time goes on??

Help a Brother out...

2009-03-09T21:51:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!!! Just wanted to take a minute and let everyone know that I am participating in the March of Dimes March for Babies again this year.

As many of you know, our Jack was born premature and it was largely a mystery as to how it happened. The March of Dimes is a charity that I have been involved with for a few years and devotes time and money to studying these problems, among other things.

I am very excited to be a part of March for Babies, please support my participation by making a donation.

Why March for Babies? Because the March of Dimes champions the needs of moms and babies in our community and across the nation. The money we raise for March for Babies will help:

- support all-important research offering preventions and solutions for babies born too soon or with birth defects
- educate women on things they can do to increase their chances of having a healthy baby
- provide comfort and information to families with a newborn in intensive care
- push for newborn screening and health insurance for all pregnant women and children

Won't you please help me in this worthy cause? Contributing to my walk online is fast, easy and secure. You can donate directly from my personal webpage with a credit card or PayPal. If you prefer, I can also accept cash or check. Just click the appropriate box on my webpage.
My personal web page address for donations is ...

http://www.marchforbabies.org/czarjohn

Would you like to see what March for Babies is and why I'm walking?
Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P_dFD0J47I to see the video.

The March of Dimes mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality.

7 year itch

2009-03-02T16:39:00.000-08:00

so this is a few weeks late but i thought it better late then never. on february 16th john and i celebrated our 7th anniversary. we are a little older, a little wiser and a lot fatter (well at least i am, john has been losing weight) but we still love each other. i might say that we love each other more now then we did then. in those 7 years john graduated from byu, we moved to st. george, i got to go to school, moved back up to orem, had a beautiful son, moved to arizona and bought two houses. through all of that we grew closer together and i realized that i'm so glad that i married my best friend.

our very own picasso?

2009-03-02T11:54:00.000-08:00

most people who know jack know that he doesn't have a very long attention span or the creative gene (probably because his mom isn't very creative) but as of late jack has actually been asking to paint and do crafts. the best kicker of all is that he sits there the whole time and doesn't ask to do anything else. while jacks art is what you might call abstract and leans towards the cubism genre he is not quite a picasso yet but the fact that he is now loving it and asking to do makes for one happy mama. thanks to school jack is now opening up to more things then just the wii.

here are a couple of the projects we've done in the past couple of weeks.

this is just the beginning of the budding artist

also an update on the potty training, we had a good week where we actually got jack to go pee on the potty everyday twice a day and now he wants nothing to do with it. i haven't really been pushing it or pressuring him because i don't want him to get freaked out by it. is that normal for them to lose interest in it that fast? we will attempt it again soon but we are taking a little break for now.

say what?!?!?!?

2009-02-15T18:13:00.000-08:00

(oh yes he can pick his nose too, another proud moment for us)

i never thought this day would come and it hasn't really come yet but we are on our way. jack went pee in the toilet twice today. we've been letting him sit on the potty for a while now but nothing ever happens, but today he managed to pee twice. i know we are behind the curve on starting this process but he never really expressed interest in it before and never really tells us when he pees so we just didn't push it. we couldn't be more proud of our big guy. way to go jack!!! now wish us luck that we can keep this up and he will hopefully be fully potty trained before he turns 4, LOL.

Super Bowl Mayhem

2009-02-01T20:40:00.001-08:00

Too bad for the Cardinals but we still had a great time hanging out with our family and having great food. Same place next year everyone!!

adventures in jack's world

2009-01-25T15:04:00.000-08:00

there has been a lot of changes and accomplishments in the life of one jack mario florez. to start with jack can now do a standing jump and actually get a little air between the ground and his feet. now, that may not sound like a big deal for most but that has been one of his physical therapy goals for the last year and a half. we got so excited when he finally showed us what he could do. jack can also now do a forward roll or as some people call them a somersault.

finally for jacks last accomplishment thus far he has become a computer whiz the likes of which john has never seen before. by this i mean jack some how managed to get onto our computer and create shortcuts for all our programs on the desktop. they covered the whole screen. pretty impressive for a three year old wouldn't you say?

now for the change in jacks life. ever since starting preschool jack would see the bus and say he wanted to go on it. i was against the idea of sending my "baby" on the bus all by himself but he wouldn't relent so as of january my boy rides the bus to school and i pick him up from school. you would think that because it was his idea to ride the bus he would get super excited about it but every time i put him on the bus he screams and cries. as soon as they start to drive off he is fine, i asked the bus driver when i go to pick him up if he is ok and she says that he loves it and doesn't stop talking the whole way to school. i'm going to take that as a good thing and that he just gets a little nervous separating at first but then enjoys the ride.

until the next installment of adventures in jack's world.

since the last time i posted...

2009-01-05T11:16:00.000-08:00

so much has changed, jack had surgery, i turned 28, jack went to the dentist, we celebrated christmas, it is now 2009, we have lived in arizona for a year already and jack is now a sunbeam. i can't believe how fast time passes us by. we were lucky enough to go to st george for christmas which was a complete miracle. john ended up having to work in kingman and bullhead, arizona so john drove jack and me up to las vegas and had my mom come and pick us up. john came on christmas eve just in time to take care of jack for me because i ended up getting sick, which really sucked because i couldn't eat any of the delicious food. then christmas night john got sick but still went to work the next day. what a trooper! christmas was awesome in spite of all the sickness and we so glad to be able to spend it with our family.

christmas morning bright and early. jack woke us up at 4 in the morning. lucky for him he was in a pretty good mood and looked dang cute in his christmas jams.

this year santa brought jack a little drum set, a magnifying glass and grandma and grandpa got him his own digital camera.

then to celebrate the new year we had john's parents here and my parents which was awesome. we felt so loved. but what would a holiday be without someone getting sick. this time it was jack's turn. i was the lucky one who had to deal with it all alone in the middle of the night because john was out of town. the good thing about this illness is that it only lasted 24 hours. so along with the new year comes the resolutions and i'm sure i'm not going to keep them all but i'm sure going to try. but one of my resolutions is to do family home evening every week and to help with that our ward primary gave us a link with lesson plans for the whole year that goes along with the theme in primary. for all of you who are like me and need a little help with being creative here is the link...

www.sugardoodle.net/mambo/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3510&Itemid=429

speaking of primary my little tiny 2 pound baby is now a big boy and is in primary. i can't believe he is in sunbeams and that means he will being singing to me in sacrament meeting for mothers day and for the primary program. i was a little stressed about this new transition one because i was in junior primary and i knew jack wouldn't want to stay with his class if he saw me, so they switched me to senior primary;(more on that in a little bit) and two, sunbeams seems so completely different then nursery but john said that he did pretty well in sharing time and then john was able to leave for his actually class. his teacher is awesome and that really helped with the transition. what a big boy i have, i guess preschool has really helped jack.

now back to senior primary. what a different world that is compared to junior primary. i loved my class and kids in junior primary but i'm really excited about my new class and to actually teach lessons out of the scriptures. it is a wonderful opportunity for me to learn and grow in the gospel.

this christmas break has been a crazy happy one but i'm really glad to be back in my house and back to our routine. 2008 was a crazy year i'm glad it is over and i hope 2009 only gets better. i also hope i get better about blogging, i've kind of lost my gusto.

p.s. jonathan another new years resolution is to kick your trash in wii fit once i get one. bring it on sucker!!

oh christmas tree and zoolights

2008-12-14T13:06:00.000-08:00

hooray for christmas. we finally got our christmas tree and it only took me 4 hours to get it set up and decorated. can i just say i hate fake christmas trees but they are very economical and we all know how much john likes that. so after scratching my hands and arms up trying to spread out all the branches so it looks "real" this is how it turned out...

is it just me or is it really hard to settle on a theme for christmas? i mean christmas ornaments aren't cheap and you don't want to have to buy new ones every year. i finally decided to go traditional with a twist i chose red, white and a bright green. growing up i always loved my mom's christmas tree because it was kid friendly and whimsical so this is my attempt to recreate my moms tree. anyway jack really likes the tree and every time we turn on the lights he says "did mom decorate that?" i'm taking it as a compliment.

so after getting our tree and believe it or not watching fred claus i finally feel in the christmas spirit and to celebrate that we went to the phoenix zoo for "zoolights" with steph, jonathan, tyler and haylie. i highly recommend doing this, it is so cool and beautiful and the kids love it.

all throughout the zoo they have light animals running, jumping and sliding. the picture doesn't do it justice but it is awesome.

jack and tyler found this cave of lights and wanted to hang out their the rest of the night but we had more animals so to see. hope all of you guys are able to find fun christmas stuff to do. merry christmas everyone.

trying to get into the christmas spirit

2008-12-08T19:43:00.000-08:00

i can't believe it is already several days into december and it is still in the 70's. it just doesn't feel like the christmas season, i guess i've lived in utah too long that christmas means seeing my breath in the air and snow on the ground and that is just not happening here. so in order to feel more like it is really christmas time we made a ginger bread house, went to glitter fest in glendale, went the the "world's largest living christmas tree" lighting here at our local outlet mall, saw santa, went to the mesa temple lights and i'm even drinking my favorite stephen's hot chocolate while i write this post but even with all of that something is missing.

that thing that is missing is my christmas tree. in an effort to save money john ordered our fake tree online and it is still not here. cross your fingers it will get here tomorrow december 9th!!! i've been collecting ornaments for my birthday to decorate my tree and they are just sitting in the bag waiting. but until then here are some pictures of our christmas outings so far.

hooray for turkey day...and more

2008-12-01T13:01:00.000-08:00

this is the first year in 3 years that we actually got to spend thanksgiving with immediate family and it was awesome. we were lucky enough to have nanna and papa come up from california to spend the holiday with us. we even got the illustrious matt to make an appearance. the best part of the holiday besides all our blessing of course is the fact that i didn't have to cook the turkey and that jack actually ate the dinner served, i didn't have to prepare a separate meal for him. i've noticed that a lot of my posts have to do with what jack ate or didn't eat. oh well that is our life and i wouldn't change it for the world. we were also very lucky to have my sister and her family spend the holiday with us, it was an awesome florez/modrell/vaknin party. this is a late post but i just want to give thanks for my family and friends and this awesome country that we live in so we can the freedoms we have and the gospel in our lives. with that said bring on christmas!!!

we of course tried to get a family picture since this was the first time in a long time we were all together but the kids of course had other plans and didn't want to cooperate.

the whole crew enjoying the grub

jack actually sitting at the table and eating the food

laura and kevin borrowed a fun bounce house that entertained the kids for a while so the grown ups could have a little down time.

sing me a little diddy

2008-11-20T14:54:00.000-08:00

jacks sings all the time, he especially loves the mamma mia soundtrack (i guess i listened to that cd a little too much), primary songs and a cd he got from his preschool. i'm always trying to get jack to sing me a song so i can document it on video but he never will, he always says "i don't want to sing anymore." so the other day jack wanted me to take pictures of him so while i had the camera i asked again and he finally performed and this is the song he chose...

i love hearing him sing!!

i'm married to an old man

2008-11-19T18:39:00.000-08:00

today is john's birthday and i can't believe he is 30!! i guess it seems so weird because we have known each other for so long. john started his day by rolling his ankle again playing basketball. the last time he rolled his ankle was on jack's birthday, needless to say i told john that he is not allowed to play on my birthday. he came home limping to a lovely pancake breakfast prepared by yours truly. then it was off to work where his employee/friend kevin hired an austin powers impersonater to come sing to him. kevin is always doing so many nice things for our family. for jack's first day of school kevin bought jack a cars lunch box and sippy cup. for jack's birthday he bought him a gangster hummer that sang YMCA. what a guy kevin is, thanks.

after work john came home to a house decorated super cheesy to help him feel like he was still young, with streamers and a paper birthday sign. he informed me on the drive home that he actually felt like eating out (total shocker since he never wants to do that) which was fine because i hadn't started cooking the meal he requested. so off to red robin we went (because we had a coupon for a free milk shake.) came home to have cake and ice his ankle.

i want everyone to know that i love john more now then the day i married him, even though he is now an old man. he is the greatest husband and father and i'm blessed that he chose me to spend his life with. love you hooch, happy birthday.

copy cat

2008-11-11T17:16:00.000-08:00

i was looking at my friends blog and they had a tag i thought was really fun and i decided that i would do it too.

what you do is open your fourth picture folder and then open the fourth picture in that folder and tell the story that goes along with that picture. it just so happens that the fourth picture in my folder is not a picture at all but a little video clip.

the story behind this video is just a cute 17 month old jack laughing at his dad. i love being able to look back at jacks life and remembering what a cute chubby baby he was. sometimes i forget about how small and sweet he was and it is good to get a reminder on the days he is coloring pictures on my walls!!!!

Trick or Treat (We found the cable)

2008-11-09T13:26:00.000-08:00

Finally got the pictures uploaded from the camera and there were actually some really good ones from Halloween so we have to post them, as well as a few others.

As you can see, Jack was a pirate. We taught him how to say "Argh matey!" to make sure he really got in to character. He had a good time running around and in typical Jack fashion, really could care less about any of the candy he was getting (he is the anti-kid).

Overall it was a success and Jack only tried to go in the door of a stranger's house once (it was the first house we went to). He is already talking about how he wants to be a bat next year. Hopefully we can use Tyler's old costumes again!

what happened to october?

2008-11-06T14:35:00.000-08:00

so it has been a little while since my last post and i have had good intentions about doing a new post. i sat down a couple of days ago ready to do a new post only to find out that we have somehow misplaced our cable to the camera to download new pictures onto the computer. so i have a camera full of some really cute halloween pictures, trip to the zoo and our visit to the gilbert airport airplane display but with no way to share them. whats a girl to do? hopefully one day soon we will find that cable and be able to join the blogging world again. love seeing all of your blogs, keep up the good work.

California Dreamin'

2008-10-19T14:42:00.000-07:00

We had the fortune of going to visit Nanna and Poppa out in California this last week, sadly it came to an end way too quickly. Here is a recap of the weeks events:

Park day.

All I can say is thank heavens for grandparents! Seeing as how Shannyn and I have permanent shoulder problems due to having to push Jack on the swing all the time, it was nice to get some relief. Jack loved having Poppa around to push him to his hearts content.

Downtown day.
Shannyn wanted to get a "Dooney Burge" purse from Santee Alley in L.A., so we thought it would be fun to take the subway and the bus out there since Jack loves trains and buses. We managed to make it their and back without being mugged or harassed by bums, so it was a pretty successful outing. Oh and we got some cool stuff too. Try to take pics of the purses and shirts we got at some other time and put them up, but just know that they are pretty awesome (and they were super cheap).

Beach day.
One of Jack's favorite shows is "Ni Hao Kai-lan." It's about a little Chinese girl and her tiger friend Rintu, koala friend Tolee, and spider monkey friend Ho Ho (I can sing you the theme song if you like, that is how often we watch it). I guess he was getting tired from all the spanish on Dora and Diego so he wanted to try his hand at chinese. Anyhow, for one of the episodes, they go to the beach and make sand castles. Since that episode, whenever we would go to the park, Jack would say he is making sand castles. So we thought it might be fun to take him to the beach. Which it was, he loved it!
As you can see by his outfit (or lack thereof), we didn't think he would want to get wet since the water was so cold. We were wrong.

Disney day.
Nanna and Poppa got us tickets to Disneyland for Christmas this year (which may have to be a tradition, just letting you know ahead of time so you can start saving now). You might think it weird that we are getting Christmas presents in October, but I sort of like to get my presents from my parents way ahead of time. I don't think I have received a present from them on Christmas for about 10 years. Totally my fault though. Just don't have the patience. This way at least I get a good nights sleep before Christmas though. Right, Disneyland. Jack had a blast. He was great the whole day. Loved the jungle cruise (of course he loved the animals). Loved the tea cups (doesn't stop laughing the whole ride). Loved making Dumbo go up and down. He even took a nap while we had lunch in peace (that may have been the best part of the day). All in all it was a great day, THANKS NANNA AND POPPA!!!

i got tagged

2008-10-18T20:45:00.001-07:00

so we are going to have a post about our awesome trip to california but again i'm too overwhelmed with all the pictures we took to even begin the post. i will leave it to john to do that post, but for now here is a little look into our history.

I got man-tagged and now I have been hubby tagged. Here is a little information about the man I fell for and married.

1. Where did you meet? we meet in our stake back in north hollywood, his sister dated my brother and my dad was his scout master.
2. How long did you date before you were married? we dated for two years
3. How long have you been married? 6 and a half years
4. What does he do that surprises you? his ability to not let people get to him.
5. What is your favorite feature of his? well he is a fine piece of male specimen but i really love his legs especially his calves.
6. What is your favorite quality of his? the fact that he loves to be together as a family, we always take jack everywhere we go.
7. Does he have a Nickname for you? babe
8. What is his favorite color? i don't think he has a favorite color he likes them all, just look at his dress shirt collection.
9. What is his Favorite food? he is a man who loves all foods except stuffing, weird huh?
10. What is his favorite sport? he likes to play basketball and he loves to watch football, i think that is because of fantasy football.
11. When and where was your first kiss? our first kiss was probably like two months after we started dating and it was in griffeth park.
12. Favorite thing to do as a couple? watch movies and we really love to play volleyball together when we get the chance.
13. Do you have any Children? one little boy, jack
14. Does he have a hidden talent? not any that i'm aloud to talk about.
15. How old is he? 29, 30 on november 19th
16. Who said I love you first? he did
17. What is his favorite type of music? lover of all music except for country
18. What do you admire most about him? how he will do anything to support his family.
19. Do you think he will read this? yup i sure do

Who eats more sweets? he does, i'm not really into the sweets.
Who said I love you first? he did
Who is taller? he is of course, i'm really short
Who can sing the best? he can, have you heard his mom and sister sing?
Who is smarter? john is a genius
Who does the laundry? i do except for his dress shirts because he doesn't trust me to get them out of the dryer right when it buzzes
Who pays the bills? he does, he is in the financial industry
Who mows the lawn? no one we have fake grass and rocks
Who cooks dinner? i do most of the cooking but i'm lucky that he loves to cook and is really good at it.
Who drives? when we are together he does, he has taught jack to call me a crazy driver.
Who's the first to admit when they are wrong? me, john tends to struggle with that one.
Who kissed who first? he kissed me first but i didn't fight him at all
Who asked out who first? he asked me out kind of. he asked me to go to vegas with him for a friends wedding. it was all in his plan to get me alone in the car for several hours and woo me.
Who wears the pants? both of us

The rules for this tag: Answer questions about your spouse, list names of people you are tagging in your post, then leave a comment in their blog letting them know they've been tagged.

i now tag anyone who wants to share their history with us.

wait a minute, i actually miss utah!!

2008-10-01T12:08:00.000-07:00

(a picture of our trip to bryce with our friends scottie and rachel. i know it doesn't have to do with fall but it is just a reminder of how beautiful utah really is.)

can you believe you are reading this from shannyn florez, but it is true i miss utah. i miss my friends and being familiar with my area, knowing my way around but i especially miss the seasons. well i should clarify, i miss the fall season, the sweater weather, going to thanksgiving point for the pumpkin festival and the beautiful changing leaves on timp and provo canyon. it is still 100 degress here and i'm starting to think that i will never get to wear the hundreds of sweaters i have collected from living in utah for so long. ok that is all i really have to say because thinking about utah is making me sad.

a family that crafts together...

2008-09-12T14:54:00.001-07:00

i've noticed that jack and i tend to get on each others nerves a lot lately, and i blame myself . the poor kid is mainly just bored out of his mind so he whines at me to get my attention. he doesn't really like to do anything by himself like play with his millions of toys, or play out back by himself and now he wants me to sit on the couch with him while he watches a show and i was going nuts trying to find ways to get him to entertain himself. then low and behold i was looking at my sister-in-laws blog and she had a blog by this lady with all kinds of crafts and things to do with your preschooler. i'm not normally the craft kind of girl but i was desperate and these crafts actually looked like something i could do and they were super cheap because most of the stuff she used was stuff i already had. so rather then constantly battle jack to get him to do stuff on his own i decided that these crafts would be fun for him and i might actually like doing them too. here is our first attempt.

it was awesome because all i had to do was cut out the stuff and then jack got to help squeeze the glue then he placed the windows, wheels and things and then i let him color it. my son doesn't have much of an attention span so actually getting him to participate in this was awesome.

here is the finished product. nothing fancy but made with love by my jack jack. i picked the school bus because one, it was something he knows really well and sees it everyday at school and two because it was something i could make without messing it up too much.

i truly think jack's favorite part was coloring his hands and feet more then coloring the bus. gotta love washable markers!!

another thing that is probably only exciting for me is that we finally managed to get jack over 30 pounds. i took him to his three year well child check up and found out that he weighs 31 pounds and is 37 and a half inches tall. this is a huge accomplishment because as we all know jack doesn't enjoy eating very much of anything, so 31 pounds is a huge deal for our family. and if i would have listened to jacks dr in utah we would finally be allowed to put jack in a front facing car seat. can you imagine? just so you know i checked with jacks rehab doctor about the car seat thing and they told me jack was strong enough to face forward a long time ago, so i'm not a negligent mother.

oh and by the way the blog that has all the crafts is www.notimeforflashcards.com check it out if you need some ideas. thanks laura for finding it.

birthday celebration

2008-09-03T15:19:00.000-07:00

now that we live in arizona and it is still over 100 degrees i decided that this year for jacks birthday we would take him to our community "water park." jack still isn't really into anything in particular but he does love to swim so it was a win win. we had all of our arizona family come up to swim, bbq and celebrate with us. we were also very lucky to have my mom still here helping steph with the new baby. it was a great day and jack was extremely sad when everyone left to go back to their homes. thanks to everyone who came up we love you guys.

now is the time for the retelling of the days events...

jack is normally permanently grounded from playing the wii because that is all he talks about and wants to do. we thought that jack was taking his nap but he couldn't sleep because there was too much excitement in the air and he got out of bed and came down while john and others were playing rock band. so it was too late he already saw it so he joined in on the fun.

everyone that came up for the party at the water park.

the florez fam

loving dad and mom

here are all the arizona cousins together. this is the best picture we could get because of course kids being kids they didn't want to take a picture they wanted to play, except of course haylie she was great for her photo.

i'm probably a mean mom but even though it was jack's birthday i wasn't about to let him get away with not listening and misbehaving so i had to give him a time out, he was not pleased with that.

after his time out he was allowed to go and swim some more and he hopped right into the kiddie pool and became "one of those kids" who sits on the bubble blowers. i don't know why but it always gives me the creeps when kids do this. oh well what can i do, he isn't hurting anyone and he seems to be enjoying himself.

after swimming for a while we returned to our house to have the bbq, open presents and have the birthday dessert.

here we have lilly, max, katie and tyler. dang cute kids

jack taking in the mound of presents

this year for his birthday we got jack a play kitchen because he is obsessed with his cousin's. so john set up the kitchen the night before so when jack woke up he saw it and immediately started looking for the eggs like the ones tyler has. little did he know that i actually got him eggs but i was saving them for when he actually opened presents. so when it was time to open the eggs and he realized what they were he was so excited and had to immediately open them up and count them. as you can see by the big old smile he has on his face he loved the eggs. what a strange little man i have.

again i have a strange little man because the kid still doesn't like cake and still gags on it so we did ice cream cones again. all the kids were asking me what kind of cake we were going to have so i was really nervous that they were going riot when i produced the ice cream cones but luckily they all seemed happy with what they got.

i think jack really knew that at this point that this was his special day. he loved when we sang to him.

i just want to thank everyone who was able to come and share this special day with us. we love our jack and are so happy Heavenly Father sent him to us.