Benito & Isabel's Wedding

Our little family at the wedding reception.

The lovely Bride & Groom: Bean & Isa.

Bean & Isa's first dance.

J.R. & his siblings. (Front l-r) Crystal, Isabel, Benito, & Angela. (Back l-r) Meny, Leslie, & J.R.

Let's just say I had to "force" him to have a picture with me in the hot sun! Again, couldn't get him to even "fake" a smile.

A couple of weeks ago J.R.'s big brother, Benito, finally married his long-time girlfriend, Isabel. (Our kids have been calling her Tia Isa forever!) We traveled to Boise for the weekend for the wedding and had a fabulous time with all of his family. Though J.R. was raised as an "only child," he has a very large family with very complicated dynamics that would be too hard to explain here. So let's just say we saw everyone, spent as much time as possible with everyone (including both his mom and his dad), and we had a very hard time saying good-bye. We were especially glad our kids got to spend time with ALL their cousins! It's too bad we don't get to see everyone more often, but we made the best of the time we had with them and we hope to see them all again soon!
The wedding was very nice and the reception was a blast. We enjoyed a fun B-B-Q the night before for their rehearsal dinner. And then for their reception and dinner they had yummy Mexican food serenaded by a Mariachi Band! So fun! Our little Isabelle (not to be confused with the bride, Isabel) was VERY impressed! The dinner was followed up with a lot more music and lot more dancing! We partied all night long. Man, those Mexicans sure know how to throw a party! And now I'm realizing why they were all so bored at my wedding reception. Anyways, we had a great time and we are so glad we took a few days off to relax and spend some much-needed time with family.

More Wedding Fun...

Jesse, Angie, & J.R. just before the wedding.

J.R. & his mother walked Bean down the aisle. (They walked too fast for me to get a good picture, so just imagine Linda on the other side. I didn't intentionally cut her out of the picture). I couldn't get either of them to smile at me. Basically because J.R. never smiles in pictures and Bean was too nervous to smile!

Our three little monkeys at the reception. This was after they drank orange punch and had orange mustaches!

The Macias cousins before the wedding on the church steps. Samantha, Logan, Madisyn, Izaak, Isabelle, Taylor, Isaiha, & Yessica.

The Macias cousins at the wedding reception. Madisyn, Logan, Taylor, Yessica, Isaiha holding Brexton, Samantha, Izaak, & Isabelle.

Spring Ballet Recital

Taylor had her Spring Ballet Recital a couple of weeks ago, and is now done with ballet for the summer. She did such a great job and learned so much this year - we are so proud of our little ballerina!
Our darling little ballerina putting on her ballet slipper.
Dancing to "Some Day My Prince Will Come!"
Tay-Tay played the part of a hunter in their production of "Peter and the Wolf." Fun little "camo" costume!
Flowers from her Daddy and brother.
The one thing I always hated about my own ballet performances was how dumb I looked with my hair all slicked back in a miserable bun. So, even though she hates the torture, I always try to give her a prettier look than a normal bun. So here is my "masterpiece." Luv her bunz!

Happy Mother's Day To Me!!!

The greatest Mother's Day gift I have is my three precious children. Though being a mother is a tough job, when they smile and say they love me (despite all my flaws), it makes it all worth it! I just love these three little monkeys!

Isabelle was so proud of her little hair bows today. She kept them in the entire day!







Izaak always looks so handsome when he wears a tie!








And where has my little girl gone? I can't believe Taylor is all grown up!

Mother's Day Grillin' Fish!

My studly hubby, little Bubba, & Tay-Tay caught some trout on Saturday for us to grill for Mother's Day. My mom absolutely loves fish, so we caught some and had the Old Folks over for dinner to celebrate the day.

Ikes & Dad showing off their catch.










The fish on the grill... Yummy!!!

Flowers, flowers everywhere!

So the other day I was thinking about how I don't have any living things in my house (besides the people and the growing mound of laundry). I don't have any pets, plants, or flowers. How depressing! So it was a nice surprise for Mother's Day today to end up with lots of pretty living things: FLOWERS! These have sure brightened the spirits in our home.

Flowers from my darling husband, J.R. Oh how I love him!!!







Flowers from my parents - how sweet!








Flowers from church - very beautiful this year.

Happy Birthday, Ikes!!!

Our little "Bubba" (as Isabelle likes to call him) turned 6 on Wednesday. I can't believe he is so big already! He is such a joy in our home and we just love having him around. He gets bigger and smarter every day and he's so much fun to be with! He finishes kindergarten at the end of this month and then will be off to full-day school for the next 12 years!


Izaak's
birth story:
At 30 weeks I went into labor and the doctor had to give me a really big shot to stop it and then put me on some drugs that I had to take every 4 hours to prevent contractions and then said bedrest until he was a little more baked. Just a reminder: Tay-Tay was 18 months old at the time! It was rough, but with lots of help from grandparents, neighbors, and the Relief Society, we made it to the safety zone before he was born. So when I was finally able to stop the pills, guess what? Contractions started. So on May 6th (35 6/7 weeks) I went in to L&D in the afternoon and I was at a 2-3 and the contractions weren't regular enough to keep me and I wasn't far enough along for them to "help the process" so they sent me home. We went home and got a good night's rest and then I woke up a little after 6:00 am and realized I was in a LOT of pain and bleeding (sorry for the visual, but it's the truth). So we RUSHED to the hospital (we lived in the country, 5 miles out of town, a good 10 minute drive)! When we got there the nurse checked me and I was at an 8 already, and I think she momentarily regretted sending me home less than 12 hours before that. So I quickly (in my stupid, pregnant state of mind) asked, "Can I please have an epidural, this hurts?!" And she laughed at me! And said, "Um, no." And then, she went out in the hall and stated to all the nurses out there, "Hey this girl is at an 8 and asked if she could have an epidural! Ha ha ha!" Yeah, I was real glad they all thought that was so funny! In the meantime they gave me some crazy drug to help "take the edge off" and I really wish they hadn't. We had to wait about 5 minutes for my doctor to get there, and as soon as he arrived, he broke my water, I only pushed a few times, and at 6:48 am on May 7th there was little Ikes. I had been awake for less than an hour so far that day. He was exactly 4 weeks early and very small (5 lbs. 14 oz.) and didn't cry at first, so I was pretty worried, but they rubbed him and swatted him and stuff and then he finally let out a howl. What a rough morning! He was purple and bruised from the fast labor (it's not healthy for them to come that fast), but it went away after a couple of days. We initially thought he would have to stay in the hospital for a few days, but his test scores were good and we got to take him home the next day. So now I'll be honest: he was a pretty difficult baby. He had colic and cried a lot and then when he was able to scream instead of cry, he would scream. He wouldn't take anything other than mama, so I had one straight year of solid baby-bonding time. But I guess the hardest babies turn out to be the best kids because he is just so great! Taylor and her cousin Emma would always call him "Baby Ikes-It" because Izaak is pretty hard to say, and soon it was shortened to just "Baby Ikes" and now it's just "Ikes." Most Izaaks go by "Ike" but not ours! And people always wonder what we are calling him when we call him that, but whatever. We love him to pieces and are so glad we have a little boy amongst our girls. Life would be so boring without him here to entertain us!

6 fabulous facts about our 6-year-old:
1. Izaak love, love, loves football and wants to be a football star. He especially enjoys watching the USU Aggies play football.
2. His favorite color is orange, but doesn't like to admit it. He will usually tell you it is blue, but if given the choice to wear an orange shirt or a blue shirt, he will always choose the orange one.
3. He is the best helper I have, and is very tidy for a small boy. He helps with Belle, the dishes, the laundry, and the vacuuming on a regular basis.
4. He is VERY shy. The complete opposite of his sister, he does NOT enjoy being the center of attention. But after you get to know him, he is a barrel full of laughs!
5. He is very perceptive of people. If Ikes does not have a good feeling about someone (usually happens with adults) we can always tell. He picks up on stuff that the rest of us usually miss. On the other hand, if he does have a good feeling about someone, he will make friends with them and then always ask when we can see them again (Uncle Todd is a good example of this).
6. He is a very good swimmer and was swimming the full length of the pool only about one week after being taught how to swim. He can't wait for the pool to be open again!

Pizza...

To celebrate Izaak's birthday Papa Bruce & Grandma June took us all out for Pizza & Ice Cream! We had a fabulous time at Pier 49 & then followed it up with a little Casper's! Yummy!!! For his birthday he got a new fishing bag/cooler thingy majigger and he also got a Play Station Eye Toy & game to play with it (still coming in the mail...) A great time was had by all! Thanks for being born, Bubba, and thanks for spending the evening with us, Papa & Grandma!

... and Ice Cream!!!

I LOVE Casper's Ice Cream!!!

Yum... Yum!!!

Where have we been???

For those of you (well both of you) who religiously check our blog, you may notice we have not posted anything new for about 2 weeks. In blogger world, that is almost a sin! Anyway, no need to call "Without a Trace" because we are alive and well. We have been doing many fun and exciting things lately and I haven't posted any pictures from any of them. For starters, my siblings were all in SLC a couple of weekends ago, so we went to see them, and of course, I forgot my camera! Note to Barrett: please e-mail me the pictures you promised me so I can post them on my blog! Then we have had more soccer practice and more soccer games and Ikes is still the star of the show! Then Taylor had her Spring Ballet recital and then another performance at an elementary school. We are so proud of our little ballerina. We then ventured to Burley and then on to Boise for J.R.'s brother, Benito's wedding. What a blast! We have been going and going and going like the Energizer bunny! We just got home last night and are exhausted, but we had to continue on with school and work and everything else today. And then tomorrow is "Bubba's" birthday! And this weekend is Mother's Day. Oh the excitement never ends! I think we will all be happy when school is out at the end of this month so we can follow through with our plans to slow down and just swim in the pool! Great pictures will be posted soon of all our adventures!