New Mexico with family

These are a few pics with the Alavarado family of our trip up to the Catwalk in NM during our last visit on the first week of August.

Payson with Family

Here's some pics of us when we (my sister, nephew, my son, and I) took a drive up to Payson a few months ago. We went to the Tonto Natural Bridge, and also went to a local park which turned out to be quite the hidden treasure.

New Years

We had friends and family over for New Year's and had a relaxing time. Ate a little...drank a little...and played A LOT!!!

Dad and sister
(just polished off some menudo...yummy)

Marco

Michael's goofy face

little werito chowing on some 7-layer bean dip

my beautiful niece

more familia
Mi amiga caught off guard
que pretty
cousins (in deep thought)

Rockband

I am sure you all have heard of Rockband, right? Well I just recently learned about it. My son got it for his Christmas present...and we love it. Throughout the holidays we have had plenty of friends and family visiting and have all had the opportunity to enjoy it.

Marco putting the game together...

Cousins joining in on the fun

I have gotten pretty good at the drums, but have not mastered the guitar. And I love to get my hands on the microphone...that is when my son let's me. So come on over and join us for a mini concert anytime. :-)

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we had lots of company...some from out of town, and some local friends. It was a great time of fun, food, and fellowship. I felt very blessed to be honored with my guests. The preparation began on Wednesday. Everyone was good about chipping in and doing their part. Tita and kids.

Here's all the kids being goofy.

Michael had a little too much to eat...was in desperate need of a nap.

La Familia

My dad came to visit last week from out of state. His presence was very much enjoyed by all of us. My sister and her kids came on Sunday afternoon, and we had an awesome time...it had been a while since we'd all had an opportunity to get together...it was very nice and special.His grandchildren were especially happy to see him and spend time with him. The only one missing is the great-grandson, Willy.

Hatch Chile - straight from Hatch NM

Mis amigos los gringos have company this weekend. Wero loco's parents The Klugs came to visit from Nuevo (Las Cruces, NM). I'll have to explain the "Nuevo" some other day. Anyhow, before their trip to Arizona, they went to the Chile Festival in Hatch, NM and bought a huge burlap bag with about 20 lbs of green chiles to bring to los weros here in Phoenix. We thought we could go to one of the local grocery stores selling roasted chiles and have them roast the chiles for us, but unfortunately were turned down. Therefore, we were left with no other option but to roast the chiles ourselves, and with so many helping hands around we knew it'd be a piece of cake. :0) The Klugs were in charge of roasting on the grill outside, Mr Haney (Erin's Dad) was just the man we needed to make sure each and every chile was sprayed with cooking spray so the chiles would not stick to the grill or the cookie sheets. Between Erin, Chris and myself we would man the oven while chiles were roasting on cookie sheets. And before you knew it, all of the chiles were done. Afteward, Erin made some yummy quesadillas with the delicious chiles.

Now the weros are pros at roasting chiles. :-)

Here's the before...,................................and....................the after shots!

Hiking - Phoenix Moutain Preserve

You all have heard (or read) me whine recently about missing our hikes and stuff. Well, guess what? We've officially started our hikes once again....whoo hoo!!! My hiking buddy, Grover, and I decided we'd start with an easy hike and begin working our way up to the more difficult / longer hikes. We invited our coworker, Bud, to come along. We had done this trail once in the Spring time. It is a fairly easy 4-mile trail that begins at the 32nd Street & Lincoln trailhead. Well, if you remember from my previous hiking posts, Grover tends to get us lost sometimes...actually most of the time. Well, things haven't changed. He decided this time were were going to do the trail the opposite direction from the last time...BIG mistake. We wound up on the wrong trail from the beginning, and it took us a while to actually get back on the right trail, but thankfully eventually did end up on the correct one. I know, I know, you all are probably asking yourselves why I allow him to continue to lead our trails...I guess it just makes it more adventurous and it gives me more reasons to talk trash about him. :-) Which I know he likes!!! Let's hope we didn't scare Bud!! I'll keep you posted...if I don't mention Bud joining us again, then you know what happened.

Betty's Birthday

Today we celebrated our dear Betty's 90th Birthday!! Whoo Hooo!!!! She was SO happy! And what a delight to have the pleasure of knowing her and spending this special day with her!! Yay!!

Here's Lori and her friend Eileen with Betty!

Pastor Michael, Mrs Fox and Rosemary
Pastor, Mr Fox and Breanna

Tish, Pat, Ramona & Dorothy

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BETTY!!!

What???

How many of you having been reading the multitudes of reports regarding Henry Cejudo's awesome Gold Medal win? And how many of you have read the issues surrounding his mom's immigration status? Sick....isn't it. Why don't people leave this poor woman, Henry and their family alone and let them enjoy his victory? Here's one of the articles for you. Your thoughts???

Medalist's mom at heart of immigration crisis
It is not that we can't quite get to the heart of the immigration crisis. Our problem is that we don't allow heart to enter into the discussion.
Luckily – or not – we sometimes don't always have a choice. That's what happened Tuesday.
On that day at the Beijing Olympics 21-year-old Henry Cejudo, who attended Maryvale High School, won the gold medal in wrestling's 55-kilogram (121-pound) division.
He later told reporters, “This is cool, coming out of a Mexican-American background. It just feels so good. Not many Americans get to do something like this. I feel like I'm living the American dream.”
And he is. Following his victory there was an appearance on NBC's Today Show. There were highlights on ESPN. There were articles in newspapers from all over the United States and abroad.
All of which told the tale of Henry's hardscrabble young life and his dreams of an Olympic championship, and did so in a manner that was upbeat, inspiring, heart-warming and, ultimately… troublesome.
You see, there's one little problem.
In telling Cejudo's triumphant story, the media outed the young wrestler's mother for having entered the country illegally before Henry was born. (He is a citizen.) His father, who wasn't in the picture during much of Henry's life died some time ago in Mexico.
But what about his mother? Now that we know that she is not a citizen, what do we do? I posed the question on an Internet blog on azcentral.com Wednesday.
The information about the gold medalist's mom has been on TV and in the papers. It has been discussed everywhere. Should Sheriff Joe Arpaio send some deputies to follow her until she commits a traffic infraction that might allow them to pull her over and get her deported?
The articles that I've read talk about how Cejudo's mom has held down numerous jobs while raising her children.
Should we try to find out who those employers were (or are) and bust them for breaking Arizona's law against hiring illegal immigrants?
Or should we ignore her immigrations status and give this one woman a pass?
The Internet responses were fast and (as with any discussion of immigration) furious.
“Either you're pregnant or you ain't. Either you're an illegal alien or you ain't,” one reader wrote. “Deport all illegal aliens. No exception.”
Another wrote, “Are you kidding me Montini? His mother is here illegally and she should be deported. The issue of breaking the law has nothing to do with whether or not an individual is a good parent. Clearly, by breaking the law she really isn't a good parent. She has set an example for her children that it's okay to break the law when it's in your own self-interest.”
Others saw a more complex problem, like the reader who wrote, “Ignoring the commenters who are obviously blinded by their hatred (either of immigrants or Montini), obviously the woman should be allowed to stay, and in fact, a bill should be pushed through congress to grant her citizenship. It's just unfortunate that there are many, many other people in similar predicaments who will never have their stories heard. Perhaps if the true face of the immigrant were seen by the public, there would be less hatred.”
It's easy to reduce an argument about immigration to numbers, to describe people like Cejudo's mother as “illegals,” a word that makes them seem less than human.
But she is human. And so is her son, the Olympic gold medalist, the American. The two of them persevered. They have guts. They have heart. Do we?

Hiking Anyone??

I woke up this morning, and found the morning to be exceptionally pleasant. Sooooooo, I said to myself, "How about going for a hike this morning?" After all, I haven't been hiking in a while. I got myself ready, dropped my son off at football practice and headed over to the trail closest to my home, the LV Yates Trail. And, guess what? It was gorgeous out!! And it felt really, really nice being out there. Gosh I miss our hikes!!

Memed ... thanks Lylah

I was memed by my friend Lylah a couple of weeks ago. I'm suppose to follow and post the following rules:

Here's the official rules as they are to be posted:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Oookaaay now to the 7 facts:

1. I am terribly afraid of public speaking, but I'll do it anyhow.
   
2. I was raised as an only child, and met my half sister and half brother as an adult.
3. I love being a mom to a boy/young man. Not knowing what it was like growing up with brothers, it has been quite the adventure to watch my son grow into a young man.
4. One place I would love to visit (maybe by my 40th bday) is Machu Pichu, Peru.
5. I would very much like to learn photography.
6. I was born in Mexico, and moved to the United States when I was 6 yrs old.
7. I've lived in AZ for over 17 years, and had never been to the Grand Canyon until this July.

This will have to do for now...I'll have to get back on finishing up with items 3 and 4...adios!!!

UPDATE: Okay, so I only have three friends to meme right now, so here they are: Linda, Jen, and Valorie.

Road Trip - July 2008

We just returned from exploring the northern part of our beautiful state. Our trip lasted six days and we covered over 1000 miles. My sister and nephew joined us for the first couple of days, and then it was just my son and I. We had an awesome time. Below are several slides that capture some of the beauty that we saw along the way...


















Montezuma Castle, Montezuma Well, Sedona, and Oak Creek Canyon

Kaibab National Forest and Grand Canyon's North Rim

Page, AZ