Savannah, Georgia - The Wedding

Henry's oldest brother is Sam.  Sam moved to Georgia when he was 20.  He got married and had a son, Damian.  Sam and Damian's mom got divorced when Damian was about 7 (he is now 17).  About a year after the divorce Sam started dating Cheryl, a women he knew from work.  Well, they fell in love, bought a house together and just recently moved to Dallas, TX together.  Prior to moving to Dallas, Sam proposed and they planned a Savannah, GA wedding.  So, even though they live in Dallas, everyone flew to Savannah for their wedding.  It was nice to see them take the vows.  It was a beautiful wedding in a beautiful city.

Since we are all Monroy's, here is how I will introduce the families:

The Henry's

The Travis'

The Originals

The 5 Grandbabies

The Brothers

The Sam's

Tybee Island

At the end of April we went to Savannah, Georgia for Henry's brother, Sams, wedding.  I had been to Georgia before, but never to Savannah nor the beach in Georgia.  We did some research and decided to stay at Tybee Island instead of in Savannah.  We rented a condo that was less than 1/2 a block from the beach.  Henry's parents stayed at the condo with us.

The first day at Tybee Island, we spent most of the day playing in the ocean.  This was not my first time being to a beach.  However, it was my first time playing in the ocean the way I did.  I was jumping into the waves and "riding" them into the beach.  The whole family and so much fun.  The kids swam, built sand castles and chased seagulls.  Henry's parents also went to the beach with us and his brother Travis and his family joined us later on.

Grandpa Turtle Turns 60!

Okay, this post is a little late.  I started writing it at the end of March.  I have been accused by some as slacking on my blog.  So here I go, trying blog on the last couple of months.

Over spring break we went to Jal to celebrate Grandpa Turtles (Henry's dad, Saul) birthday.

Henry (with family), his brother Travis (with his family), his brother Sam, Grandmama, Aunt Irene and Aunt Carol all went to Jal for a surprise birthday party.  Saul had no idea we were all showing up for the weekend.  You should have seen his expression when he answered the door and we were all standing there.  

Turning 60 is a pretty big deal for Saul.  Saul's father died from a heart attack.

Saul has had 2 heart attacks and 3 open heart surgeries.

Like I said, turning 60 is a pretty big deal.  Happy birthday to a great father-in-law.

Ryan as Mortimer

Ryan was a start at his first grade performance.  The last number for the performance was a skit of the book "Mortimer".  Ryan was chosen to be Mortimer.  Enjoy watching his great acting skills.

Before the performance started I heard a few students here and there say, to their parents, "that's Mortimer" while pointing at Ryan.   

After the performance we went to Dairy Queen for some ice cream.  As we were leaving Dairy Queen a random girl said "bye Mortimer".  Being dramatic Ryan, he asked "why does everyone call me Mortimer?"  Ally replied "I don't know Mortimer".  Pretty funny

Easter 2012

For Easter this year, we headed up to Taos to spend it with my parents, Grandma and Grandpa Cookie. Henry and his brothers had planned a trip to Dallas for the same weekend with none of us realizing that it would be Easter weekend. I guess that is what happens when Easter comes the first week of April.

I took the pop-up and set it up in my parents yard. My niece Cathy went up with me and the kids on Friday. My sisters and their families followed that evening and the next day.

We celebrated Easter on Saturday at my Grandma Elsie's. We barbecued, hunted eggs and just sat around enjoying each others company. It was a nice day with family.

Everyone got into the action of coloring eggs (my sisters were not in Taos yet).

Coloring eggs with Cathy.

Me and my babies.

Ally and Ryan hunting for eggs.

Baby Daniel getting some help from Cathy.

Ally found an egg!

Ryan also found one, but can't quite reach it.

Enjoying family time.

Happy Easter!

Finances - Julie Style

So if you know me you know that I love:

Yard Sales

The Auction

and Clearance

I have convinced myself that anything I buy on clearance is like making us money.

With that said, I have been trying for years to convince Henry to buy us dune buggies/go carts to go cruising on the mesa. I'm still working on it.

Now, I have looked at these Razor Go-Karts for a couple years, for the kids. But, I could not bring myself to spend $300 on each one. So one random day during spring break I went to Wal-Mart (I never go to Wal-Mart - I detest Wal-Mart). Lo and behold, at the entrance they had a bunch of clearance items. There were a lot of electric scooters and such. And at the bottom of the pile, there were 2 Razor Go-Karts on clearance for $100!

How can I not buy them? I told the kids happy early birthday and bought them the Go-Karts.

I swear, I'm making us money.

Spring Break 2012

A couple weeks ago my kiddos and I had our spring break. This year was pretty low key when compared to previous years. Last year we cruised southern California for spring break. Other years the kiddos and I have cruised southern NM and El Paso. This year we hung around Albuquerque for the majority of the break.

We did spend one day of spring break at Explora Museum, which we love (after all, we are members). Both my sisters, my niece Cathy and my nephew, Baby Daniel, also went with us. We first had a picnic at the park, where the kids rode their scooters around the park. From there we went to Explora and spent the day just playing around.

Here is a picture of me and Baby Daniel as he is amazed by the exhibit. I give his mom a hard time that she does not take him out to places like this and that he is visibly in such awe looking at the exhibit.

The last weekend of spring break we headed to Jal for my father-in-laws 60th birthday (see next post). On the way down to Jal (a 6 hour drive), we stopped in Roswell and went to the UFO Museum. As many times as we have driven through Roswell (over 13 years now), we have never visited the UFO Museum. You know, I don't believe in UFO's where as Henry does. He also has our kiddos believing in UFO's. Well, after visiting the museum, and seeing (or shall I say reading) all the "evidence", it sure puts some doubts/questions in your mind.

Wow, an aerial view of the crash site.

Oh wait, it's just a model.

In Jal we spent time with Henry's parents, his brothers, Travis (and his family) and Sam, Grandmama, Aunt Irene, and Aunt Carol. I love going to Jal because it is so tiny and their is nothing to do there that you are forced to slow down. A few of us walked (or scootered) to Jal Lake and fed the ducks. We walked to the Allsups a couple times for treats. We barbecued and roasted marshmallows. It was a nice, slow time with family.