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I love these beautiful people. Somehow I know they love me too.

Bennett Family Reunion 2011

On Saturday, July 16th, a few of the Bennetts got together at Grandma Barbara Bennett's house for the annual Bennett Family Reunion. When Zach and I got there, we found Grandma sitting in the corner of her favorite sofa, the long one under the mirror. She looked very pretty. She was glowing, her cheeks were even rosy. She sat there as everyone that came, talked and ate. She was holding her right arm, and then she wrapped it with a dry rag. She said it was hurting and it felt really cold. She had a little bit of lunch and then took a long nap in her bedroom. When I took the pictures she was sleeping and then when I wanted to take her picture, the camera's battery died.
Here is what I want to say about Grandma Barbara Bennett. I met her just before I got married and everytime we visited her, she made me feel very welcome. She has been a sweet great-Grandmother to my 2 little monkeys and she is that way with all the children that visit her. This August she will be turning 97 years old. She is a living treasure. I love this great lady. Because of her, I have my little family.

Colleen and Pam smile for the camera....can you tell Colleen is a proud grandma of a gorgeous baby boy? Well she is!

Burke and Zach goofing around and having fun

Burke is a decent guy, he didn't let Zach get a feel for his bossoms.

Chow time: Chicken thighs and drumsticks and chicken tenders for Chester's along with lovely salads, and that sweet coolwhippy salad with the little marshmellows and jello and cottage cheese...oh yeah, and my salsa fresca with cheeeeeeeps.

Most of Burke's and Julie's babies....except for the 2 cute mexicans :) those are mine, all mine!

Uncle Lynn and his bride, Alice and their family.

say cheese!

Phyllis and Larry and Aunt Caroline...these 2 blouses I  thought were so cute, super cute!

Robert pointing at the yummy plate Zachy made..."this here chicken is the best Preston has to offer"

Stay Thirsty My Friends

Discussing the mission and the weather and Zach's videos

Smart idea to set the tables under the shade of those gorgeous big trees. Here's Chris enjoying the shade and the light cool breeze.

Cool Burke and Jaxon

Did Julie want to go outside with the others?

The livingroom was the hangout place for the girls

Burke and Julie's beautiful family just before they left to swim at Downata Springs, FUN!

This was supposed to be the 'silly' shot....not everyone got that memo it seems!

you can add your own caption here.................

This shot was to be the serious one.....good job Zachy!

Granny, here are your granddaughters from Idaho......wish Jackie was here! or is it 'were here'?

We were so happy to see Gramps again. Little Franklin bawled his eyes out when we left. He wanted to take Gramps home

The Traditional "Let's go See the Vacas Shot" They were specially stinky this day. But we thanked them for the milk and then my camera's battery died.

conversations

As we drove into work this morning, my 7yr. old was telling me about her 1st day of 1st grade. She said there was a little boy, who shall remain nameless here, you know, to protect his identity, this little kid sat by my girl and he looked right at her face and said: "you're pretty" I am sure m'girl smiled; who doesnt like hearing these flattering words as a young lady? then he proceeded to tell her: "you want to come to my house after school?".....whoa! was my reaction...when my girl told him no, because she didnt even know him that good, he said "if you go on a date with me I will give you a dollar". She still said no, but they became good buddies in the 1st grade.
Hey, I never had that good luck in school with boys!

Cherry Blossoms

My mother in law is one of the prettiest ladies I have ever met, that's her among all the flowers of that cherry tree. She and my father in law are currently living in Washington D.C. while they serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They sent us a few pictures of the area, the cherry blossoms are so neat, I can only imagine the aroma....mmmmm.

brick houses

I like brick houses. They remind me of old Mexico.

TLC's Extreme Couponers

Last night I finally caught a couple of episodes of TLC's Extreme Couponing.  It was very interesting to see how people in the show were able to obtain so much stuff from the grocery store and pay pennies on the dollar, one lady actually paid 2% of her entire purchase...which was over $1000. This is extreme! I use coupons on a regular basis. I am always looking for deals on the things my family uses. Sometimes, when the item is free, and all I have to pay is 6% tax, I buy as much as I can, which is always, 6 not a 100 or 200!

Because of the show, I am hearing a lot of local ladies say that they get dirty looks at the supermarket when they use the manufacturer coupons, I am guessing because these people, the starers are assuming that us couponers have warehouses chuck full of food and other merchandise that we got for free.
I speak for myself, and some of the folks I know who use couponing as a way to help with tight budgets, we see coupons as a tool that help us save money. Manufacturers send out these coupons so that their product will be sold. We are in a bad economy now,  grocery prices are going up because of fuel costs, to me it just makes 'cents' to use manufacturers coupons to save. Manufacturers reimburse groceries stores the amount on the coupon plus an added compensation for basically advertising their product. I never never never feel bad for using coupons. When I know my checking out is going to take more than normal, I always tell the people that line up behind me that my order will take a while, so far, I just get a thank you and a smile and they go to another register.
So, in conclusion I say, keep on saving.
***if you are going to buy a whole bunch of stuff, which will clear out the shelves, do as my lovely former neighbor did (she got me couponing) she would go to the manager and make a special order, so that other people would not have to suffer. How considerate is that!?

this is not mine...just a pic I found in the internet...Im not this organized unfortunately...some day, I hope!

OK. That's my shpill on couponing. If you have any couponing stories please share...any tips, any worries or concerns, just comment below.

Slow Down

On Sunday night, my body said "slow down there lady!" I felt like an explosion had occurred inside my tracchea, down to my stomach. So much so that I could not lay down, sit up, stand up...I wondered what it could be? I concluded that maybe just maybe 'chile' abuse may have a lot to do with this phenoma.
Everyday, since I can remember, I have peppers with every meal. (except for cereal and pancakes, I am not that psycho!) If we go to a fast food place, out comes the ziplock baggy with 2 or 3 serrano peppers.

I am proud to say that I went all day yesterday without touching or eating for that matter, anything spicy. And today, also. I found that I eat extra when my mouth is on fire. I am trying this chile free life style for a week, and after that I hope to bring it down to about 25% of what I normally ate. Wish me luck! I miss my peppers, but I love my health more!



saying goodbye is hard to do, for this week at least!



time travel

I have decided I love looking back into the past. I started indexing. This means digitizing old records such as a censuses, draft cards, etc.. so that they can be easily accessible.
Because someone did this before me, I was able to find out about grandparents and greatgrandparents on both sides of my family. For example, I learned that on the Castro side, my dad's dad was a big wig landowner, el jefe if you will, and everyone around him worked for him. 
I spoke to my sister who lives in Mexico, and has had conversations with a certain older lady who is a cousin of ours. Mari, my sister learned about our grandfather thru this lady, Teresa. She said he was a mean boss as well as a hardworker. That he treated the people as peons, slave-like almost. Dang it! I didnt like hearing this, but there was a reason why he was on top.
As for Magdaleno, his son, my 'father', she said he was lazy, but ever so good at doing business. She said he could trade a piece of metal, junk essentially for a strong horse. I would like to know more about them, I am sure there is a noble, honest, decent person in there somewhere. I would like to know how they came about to be so 'well-to-do".  So for that, I will just keep on digging for answers!

IT's NOT SUGAR, IT'S A DONUT!

Some of my Favorite Things

I saw this lovely post on my friend Gail's blog. She lists a few of her favorite things. So here I go.



************MY FAVORITES****************

• To get us started off in this list are the expressions on my kids faces. Everyday they make me laugh. They amaze me in how smart they can be and also how much they are a part of me. What a blessing they are to me. I love the whole rest of my family. I am so happy to know that I belong to a very big group of wonderful people.

• FOOD is perhaps my favorite thing in the world. I love to eat good food. I like trying new things, but in the end my biggest love, when it comes to food would have to be my "frijoles de la olla", tortillas de maiz, and chiles to spice up the life.



• FLOWER GARDENS, there's something so fulfilling about seeing beauty come out of the ground to color your surroundings. Love it!

• Basketball, I like you because when I play you, I have fun and dont even realize I am running back and forth as fast as I can. And after about an hour I look like ran a marathon.

• I love a clean house. Is my house clean? No! But I still love a clean house. Nothing better than a clean fresh house to rest your tired body in....ahhh!

• A clean house that smells good is also a great thing. So I like to have good smells in my house.

• A full tank of gas. I really like that. The thought of being stranded without gasoline in the middle of nowehere is a bit terrifying for me.

• I am mad about SUDOKU! I like to do a puzzle almost every night. I am working out my brain muscles, now if only I could be crazy about working out my gut's muscles.

• I love to see kind people in action because it inspires me to try a little harder to make someone else's life more meaningful. Kindness is contagious, I really believe that!

• For the last 2 or 3 years I have come to know the power of coupons! I love to stock up on stuff we need at about a third or less the cost of the product. I love my coupons!!!



• And to end this post I will list a few t.v. shows that I love...

There's something heartwarming in discovering big talent...the auditions are also hilarious!

I'd like to solve the puzzle Pat! "I kick butt at Wheel of Fortune!"

Now, this is more like it, a real family...not like all the super fancy rich, problem free stereotypical sit-com families of the past.

This show is sooooo funny! Who's with me on this one?

And Finally one of the funniest movies of all time, Three Amigos! I love quoting lines from this movie. And others but this one is on the top 5.