5.8 Earthquake in L.A.

We just had a 5.8 earthquake in L.A. @ 11:42a.m. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law were sitting in our living room just talking about work and all of a sudden I felt the room shake a little, then it got stronger and at the same time we ran under a doorway. Matthew was upstairs and ran to the baby's room, Naomi slept through the whole thing though. We all had a feeling that we were going to have an earthquake soon, because it had been a while since our last one. As of now, there are no damages, it wasn't too bad. I'm glad everyone is ok.

Home Sweet Home!

We arrived to California the 24th and it feels so good to be home. Matthew starts his internship on tuesday and I will be working with my in-laws during the six months we're here in their real estate business. I'm so looking forward to speding the holidays with family. My sister Alma had her baby girl the 23rd or July. Her name is Rebekah Maylen Benitez. This is my third niece, hopefully I'll have the nephew of the family. I want my first child to be a boy. Our little family is getting so big.
Rebekah is so cute and cuddly, I couldn't put her down.


Here's big sister modeling Matthew's hat

David Hernan Aguayo

Our friends David and Lemsy just had their baby a few days ago, little David Hernan. He is such a cutie pie and he's so teenie.

We worked with David and Lemsy in the stake calling and became immediate friends with them as soon as we met. I always tell them that our kids need to marry eachother. LOL.
They are truly the most awesome people and now they have their little family. I know they will be amazing parents.

Mission Accomplished

This last Sunday Matthew and I were officially released from our callings. Matthew as the first counselor in the young men's stake presidency and I as the first counselor in the young women's stake presidency. It was a bitter sweet moment because although we were sad to be released, it meant that we were closer to seeing our family. The experience has been phenomenal nonetheless and we truly gained so much from it. I feel like I served the mission I never did when I was 21. Matthew and I have had the opportunity to work together in callings since we arrived three years ago and it has helped us grow spiritually and has helped me in many ways in my personal life as well. I'm thankful for the opportunity and the people I was able to meet. I will miss everyone so much!

Au Revoir Jackman Family!

We had a little beach BBQ to say goodbye to our friends Emily, Chris, and their little girl Katie. We're really going to miss them. They actually don't leave till the end of the year but they'll be gone before we return from California. We're still hoping they make it for graduation in June so we can see them again.
Rudi, Chris, and Matthew started school the same year and we became good friends with them as soon as we knew they were members of the Church.

Kristen, Me, Emily, and Katie. We didn't plan on the green bathing suits, just happen to all wear green that day. LOL

I fell in love with this beach, it's so beautiful.



Matthew did a little body surfing.




EMILY, YOU GOTTA COME BACK!

* 4th of July *

Matthew and I spent our 4th of July at a beach called Punta Salinas. It was jam packed, but that's what you do for the 4th, go to the beach.
We always do that back home, except we get up extra early to get to the beach on time to reserve a fire pit and have a bonfire later in the day and watch fire works from the pier...ah how I miss that. But we had lots of fun anyway. The water was perfect and the day was nice and sunny.
I brought our favorite game, Backgammon and I won both times. Haha.
We left around 3:00pm got some hamburgers and headed to a movie; we watched get smart.

My Hubby in Action

Yesterday I took one of my good friends Denise to get her eyes checked by Mr. Ulibarri. It was fun because I haven't seen Matthew practice recently and I was able to see his improvements. He is an awesome clinician and a great people person, his patients just love him. It was nice to just spend the day with him, we also had lunch together.

"Desperate times calls for desperate measures"

My ward has been withought a young men's president since we joined in January, it's so sad. If Matthew weren't here the young men would have to join the priesthood every Sunday. Anyway, due to the lack of leadership in our ward, I've had to take over Mutual for the young men, it's a little awkard but I really feel bad for them and Matthew doesn't have time to prepare good mutual activities every week. They've been either playing basketball or watching movies, nothing else. So I decided to really make this fun for them and do something that they would really benefit from and use in their lives. So I decided to have them bake brownies and learn proper table etiquette. They were really into the activity and were so willing to help out. When the brownies were ready you can see how proud they were of themselves and were excited to share with the young women.



They had a blast and were so grateful to have an actual planned activity for mutual. I spoke to the bishop that same day and told him that Matthew and I were leaving soon and that I was really worried about the young men in our ward. He promised to call someone before we left, so I won't stop bothering him until he does. It's just not right.