Surprise, Grandma!

This last weekend, Mom, Garrett, and I made a trip down to Burbank to surprise my Grandma for her birthday. She was very excited and thanked us for making the trip for her.

Saturday morning, Mom, Grandma, my aunt, and I went "garage saleing" around Burbank. See, this is a tradition. We always go to garage sales with these relatives whenever we're down in Burbank on Saturday. It's just something we always do! We bought some real nifty things, too, at great prices.

After going to garage sales, we returned home and refreshed ourselves. That night we went to the Macaroni Grill with all my Mom's relatives, minus 2 who couldn't make it, for my Grandma's birthday dinner.

Sunday was full of fun stuff! Grandma, Mom, Garrett, my cousin Richard, and I all went to the Americana outdoor mall in Glendale for the first half of the day. We ate at the Cheesecake Factory, and then continued to across the street where we roamed around in the Glendale Galleria. I spent most of my time in Claire's (a jewelry and hair accessory shop for girls and women), where I bought some bracelets and earrings, and Garrett got a pocket knife that's kind of like a switchblade at the sword store. And besides all that, we continued to just enjoy walking around the mall.

When it started getting late, we packed up and left for the Ben & Jerry's shop back in Burbank for our last treat of the day.

The next day my aunt took my Grandma to Knott's Berry Farm for her birthday breakfast, and the three of us headed back home. My Grandma said this was the best birthday she can remember having, and that she was spoiled rotten! We were glad we made the trip for her.

Family Seadooing

Well, after a long time of dreaming (about 6+ years), I finally can say I've ridden a Seadoo! And boy was it fun!!! I drove most of the time (to my great delight), and enjoyed myself thoroughly.

We were given an hour to rent the Seadoo at Bass Lake, and I actually thought I could drive that thing the whole day if I could, but I was glad to be given the time that I had. We went at the end of the season, so the lake was pretty much ours.

The guys who instructed us how to control the Seadoo, said we could do pretty much what we want, go as fast as we want, but if we wanted to fool around and make donuts and such, to do it within the "Jet Ski Zones" that were set apart for that purpose. And that we did. Garrett started driving first (I was sitting in back of him), and took us to the first of these "zones", where he made donuts, whirlpools, etc. and successfully freaked me out.

After about 10 mins. of playing around, he let me drive. After getting used to it, I found MYSELF making donuts, whirlpools, and jumping off waves that I had made. To my own astonishment, I also found myself speeding the thing up to 50+ miles an hour! Garrett cheered me on from the back, squealing gleefully like a little child, when I would get the Seadoo to jump off the waves. It was truly a great experience - especially since I was in control :)

After going around the lake, we made a switch at the dock - Garrett off, Dad on. I showed Dad the "awesome Seadoo skills and techniques" that I had learned and took him for a spin (he said he'd rather not drive, so I took full advantage of it!). After going half-way around the lake, we returned the Seadoo :( Our hour was up, and I felt I was just getting started! ;)

Now that we were done Seadooing, we had a "lunch-dinner" at The Forks restraurant in Bass Lake to finish off our outing - which was delicious.

With all that said, here's the photos!

Ahh.... the 'old' days!

The family and I literally 'laughed out loud' when we watched this video... for those who grew up with the Muppets (and enjoyed them =P ), this one's for you :)

"The Cat Post"

Well, here we are – coming out of blog hibernation (second post in two weeks)! Finally more consistent blogging from the Valdivias. Well, I guess the beginning of spring sprung some pretty busy times for us but we are recovering now and ready to come back a bit to the computer – at least with a bit more consistency. The weather is great and the garden is almost planted. Yes, don’t laugh, our garden is not quite what most people would call a garden but it is what we can do with the deer, gopher, and water rationing problems we have here!

Speaking of gophers, we’ve added some weapons to our home. Well, gopher hunting is kind of a side benefit to this addition but comes as a welcome one!

A special family was in need of a home for these 3 beautiful cats and now that my allergies are almost eliminated (I say almost because I still have a few aspects to them to work out), we decided to let Megan finally have the opportunity to have some feline friends. We tried in the past but had no success as my allergies were just too serious. I have held these beautiful creatures and although I still have some reaction to them, I am confident the remainder of the healing will be finished soon. I am getting allergy elimination treatments through a protocol with the name of NAET which is an acronym for Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Techniques and has done way more than eliminate my cat allergies. I am no longer struggling with a life-long motion sickness in the car and my food allergies are almost all but a memory now! This is truly a miracle that the Lord has granted me this last year through the gift of my close friend. (Thank you!)

So here’s introducing:

On the left: Teddy (Teddy Bear for me because he is the most lovable and cuddly one and Teddy Roosevelt for everyone else because they wanted a more manly name and calls him “Mr. President”). :)
On the right: Riley – which means “valiant or noble”. I think you will agree he has quite a noble stance! He demands the most respect and gets it! We love him.

Now for the show stopper:

This is awwwwwwww (wait, we will take a deep breath now), okay, now we’re ready. This is:

Tsukiya – (yes, Megan, the name queen, named him) and what a beautiful name! It means “moon” and it really fits his exotic Siamese mix! It is pronounced “sue-kai-yah”.

These 3 cats are brothers and get along beautifully. They just experienced our yard yesterday for the first time and although Tsukiya didn’t make it back for dinner, he did make it back for breakfast. I think they have marked their territory quite well because they are hanging out on the property exclusively today so we are much more relaxed. :)

Tsukiya decided to “break the Valdivias in” by bringing a special gift into the garage where the cats call “home”:



He was very proud. Having only had indoor cats all my life that played with cloth mice, I was amazed that their outdoor counterparts play exactly the same with “just killed” specimens. I kind of wish they would just eat their prey though. It seems like a waste to loose all that nutrition and kill a very good garden inhabitant just for fun! But, we will have to get used to more of the same. The worst is that we LOVE birds, feed them, and save them from every enemy. BUT, it would be wrong for us to have outdoor cats and not let them exercise their instincts so we are preparing to let the little sparrows expire at the hand of our higher food chain pets. You can be assured that they will not be in the house though because we still believe in protecting our pet birds from their “instincts”. So, you can see, there is some conflict in thinking going on in the Valdivia home. We’ll balance it out over time, I’m sure!

In parting (for now), I will share a couple more photos and officially name this entry “the cat post” since it’s been taken up by our new family members. Enjoy!

Until next time:

Tsukiya and Riley


The award winning physique of Riley – Mr. Valiant!


Teddy (Mr. President)



I think they are really going to have a blast with this Bob, The Builder playset.


This is how we warmed them up to the front yard the day before we let them out.


Home Sweet Garage


Oh Riley! You're so cute :)


Taking a good nap, Mr. President?


Tsukiya, the Great Lizard Hunter


Bedtime stories :)

Star Wars According to a 3 yr. old

Our family got a kick of out of this, so we thought we'd share :)

An Update on The Valdivias

Well, well, well! Here I am again =)

Here's a couple little random pictures to start off the post:

I made the family a Valentine's dinner on, well, Valentine's Day =P I ended up making Spinach and Feta stuffed chicken breasts, Caesar salad, & Cream of Broccoli soup in mini Sourdough bowls.



For dessert I made a Banana Split for Mom and Dad to share (Garrett made sure I put M&M's on it!).



The following week on the 22nd of Feb. we took our normal Fresno trip, but it was far from "normal". The day before, Buddy was showing some signs of something (his droppings were extremely watery and he was eating and drinking a lot - more than normal) and since us bird owners/lovers have to act quickly or they may fall dead by the next day, we made an appointment at the vet to take him in when we went to Fresno on Friday. So, after the appointment, which was at about mid-morning, we decided it was worth while to take Buddy back home and then go back down to do our "normal" Fresno trip. Turned out that we didn't get back home until 2:30 (long story) and we didn't leave for Fresno again until 3-ish. Mom and I condensed our shopping trip as much as possible and flew in and out of the stores. We didn't get home until almost 10. A couple days later the vet called and gave us Buddy's test results. Turns out he's pretty healthy for an 8 year old bird. We're continuing administering pro-biotics until his droppings firm up again.



One evening we saw these awesome clouds over our house. Mom says they're either the beginning or the end of Mammatus clouds. Here's what extreme Mammatus clouds look like (you do NOT want these around! If you do... take cover! ;) ):


Image courtesy of NOAA weather



We had a surprise guest at church on Sunday. The little girl was born as one of our family's were walking out the door to leave for our house. The family did come once they did what they needed to do and brought the goatie with them. She ended up staying with the church throughout the whole evening! She was even a good girl while we prayed and sang songs =) I don't care for goats, but I did have to admit that this little girl was quite cute!

Not much has been happening since I last posted besides the few things I mentioned above; thus, the lack of updates! It appears we'll be getting busier as the days roll by. Garrett is taking a martial arts class twice a week.. He goes to the little kids class before his to help the instructor set up, helps teach and 'control' the kid's class, then goes to the adult class as a student, and THEN goes to the "Black Belt Club" where they teach more complex 'maneuvers', and then he helps clean-up. So he's gone almost 8 hours a week now and I'm missing him terribly!! A few years ago I went along with him and we both participated in the class, but I opted out this year. The class was established to do things The Christian Martial Way. Anywho, he's participating in the class with a number of our other close friends and he's enjoying himself immensely.

I've also started becoming a little busier, as I'm trying harder to involve myself in our family economics even more. Dad's teaching me more about the ways of Quicken and once things are 'in order' I might be taking over the accounting! Ack! Not something I particularly enjoy, but it is necessary. I'm also trying to pursue a couple side projects that may provide more income for the family, so I'm excited about that! As they develop I'll report them, I promise ;)

Mom's also kept herself busy - which mothers do best. Planning, cooking miraculous dinners (and I mean miraculous. When you think there's nothing in the house but a bit of cracker crumbs, she sets down a meal that could serve more than just our family! One day I want to master that art =) I'm glad I have such a great teacher!), learning about new things to improve our family living and health, encouraging the family when things get tough, selflessly serving everyone but herself, even when her health suffers, etc. She's a great woman!

Dad's keeping himself very busy also! After working at the Post Office for most of the day, whatever time he has before dinner and after he tries to find other means to support the family. He also strives to keep his family spiritually fed and brings us together in the evenings, either reading quietly to ourselves, studying, or talking about numerous different things that need to be discussed. He invests time with me by taking Sunday morning drives (when able) together as he teaches me how to drive the Cruiser. These drives are precious times that we share together, since it's just the two of us and it brings on intimate discussion which I really enjoy. He also spends a lot of time with Garrett and they've gotten really close. The two of them work in Garrett's room, as we moved Dad's “business” computer in there with Garrett's, and they do window washing jobs pretty often, both of which provide plenty of time for conversation.

We're striving to become even more knitted together as we enter into this new phase of our family life. Now that all Mom and Dad's children are in their 20's (yes, all two of us!), we're trying to understand and feel this new ground that seems so strange to us. It's been such a blessing being part of this family, and I'm ever thankful that the Lord plopped me here among these three great individuals!

As we keep moving forward, here, I'll keep you posted when things happen in the Valdivia household! Until then, the Lord bless you!