Milestone

There are many milestones that define our lives. Some we look forward to while others we hope to avoid. I have reached the milestone of losing a parent. My mother, Clemencia Cardenas, passed away on April 3, 2009 at the age of 68 visiting Family in Mexico.

My mother had diabetes and was somewhat frail but that did not stop my Parents from visiting family in Mexico at least once a year. On this trip, which I had the sense was their last attempt to go, I did not try to talk them out of it considering the news we have heard lately from that country.

I have felt a mix of emotions on hearing the news of my mother passing way. I feel comfort in knowing it happened in a place she wanted to be and she was in the comfort of family. With all the sadness I feel I am very thankful for the time she was with us to see all her Grandchildren and to see their lives start to take shape. It is peaceful to think of how I see some of her mannerisms and catch a glimpse of my mother in the faces of my daughters and that gives me solace of knowing her legacy lives on even when she is gone.

In these next few days as family gets together for a funeral I expect there will be a lot of tears and I hope some good laughs as we all share our memories. I suspect I will be hugging my children extra tight, but I do know I am very blessed with a beautiful and caring wife that will be the rock of our family and my comfort in these next few days.

I love you and I will miss you mom.

Stuck in the Snow

On Valentines Day Weekend (2/09) our family was snowed in up at Lake Almanor.

To pass the time away I did three things
1. Surf the web
2. Play the Wii
3. Go outside and take pictures

Here are some of the pictures I took.

Morning after a big snow over night.













The Close-Up













I was hoping to take a panoramic shot of the lake
but there was no way I was going to keep the lens
dry in the wet snow and wind.













The first sign of the sun we saw in days.


Oh yes, Frances and I did do some snow sledding.

Did you hear the one about the Oreo?

This is what happens when a four year old happily shares an Oreo with her little sister...

Halloween, Part 2 - Trick or Treating

Because Halloween and the Nevada Day "holiday" fell on the same day this year, the girls got to spend the day with Grammy and Poppy. Other than a little fall off of the bed for Lily, the day went pretty well!

As you saw in the previous post, Frances and Lily were a penguin and Tigger respectively for school. But, for trick or treating, they were wonderful Minnie Mouses.

Halloween, Part 1 - School Party

Blue Kangaroo hosted a Halloween "Carnival" this year. I was lucky enough to be able to go and enjoy the party with Frances' class.

All of the Critters

Frances and her BFF Ashlyn

Quinn Sakelaris - the future Mr. Frances Cardenas
Our favorite teacher, Miss Erin
Miss Kendra
Lily's "Hot" teacher, Miss Marissa
You know these two girls

Scheel's

Unless you have been hiding under a rock, you know that Scheel's opened a store in Sparks recently. We took our first trip there a couple of weeks ago and the Ferris wheel was definitely a huge hit with our daredevil Frances.



She would have stayed on it all night, but Jesse finally had get off because he couldn't handle being stopped at the top one more time.

Frances' face...

reminds us of Emily.

Trike-a-thon

Frances recently participated in a Trike-a-thon for St. Jude's Children's Hospital. She and her friends "triked" around the playground to earn money for the "kids who are too sick to ride bikes" to quote Frances. She rode 20 laps in 5 minutes and raised $200! Yay Frances!

Lily's 1st birthday

So, Lily is 1! Can you believe it?

She got her first baby - Julian Benny.

She really loves her Little People Farm.

But, she wasn't a big fan of the cake.

Disneyland

As many of you know, and many of you don't, we took the girls to Disneyland. What an incredible experience to live through the eyes of your child. There are no words to describe what a wonderful trip this was, so I won't even try.

I am not going to bore all 3 of my loyal blog readers with all of the details of the trip. But, if you really want a blow by blow recap, just ask, I will be happy to share with you personally! Less words, more pictures.

We were lucky that this was how Lily spent most of her first airplane flight.

Welcome to Disneyland

Alice was the only character that Lily allowed this close to her

This is how Lily and Poppy spent a large part of the tripHere we go!
Utter joy
Spin faster Mommy

And now, let's spin Grammy and Poppy

Frances is a little daredevil who couldn't get enough of the fast rides.

Splash Mountain was her favorite

Watch Lily's face...

Some pictures don't need words...Bye Disneyland! See you soon!