Lets try this again...

Ready, Set, Action!!! Take 4! Is that what we are up to? This is the last "take" in the Cardenas Family, lets hope. So many things have to be different. We have a long road ahead of us, but we are both willing to make the plunge again, whatever it takes, to make this work.

These pictures were takes at temple square during conference. Doesn't D.J. look like his daddy? Since the time D.J. was three, he has been asking us if he can go inside the temple so he can see Jesus. He thinks he lives there, which he is right, just in a different sense. There is nothing as beautiful as the innocence of children.

This is Annie chasing D.J. by one of the pools at the Temple grounds.

Not quite sure what Annie was doing, but it sure is cute!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was great this year! I went to work late so I could go to D.J.'s Halloween school parade at school in the morning. This is Annie waiting so patiently but getting a little ichy. Care bears aren't so cuddly from the inside...

D.J. strutting his stuff with his classmates.

Even I dressed up. These are the girls I work with from left to right; Amber, Me, Mollie, and Jessica. Jessica doesn't work with us anymore, but it was fun while it lasted.

Here is the Incredible Hulk (D.J.) with a Princess (Ciera, my parents foster daughter), and a Care Bear (Annie) . D.J. had the coolest costume. The eyes had lights on them and the giant gloves yelled, "You're making me angry! You won't like me when I am angry!"
Trick-or-Treating!

Grandma and Grandpa Almstrom's house.

Cheese! Examining the goods...

Blog Book?

I just found this link while I was blog surfing. What an amazing thing! I thought I should put this all out there for all my fellow blogger buddies. :) http://www.blurb.com/create/book/blogbook On this website, they are able to turn your blog into an actual book!

Already???

About a week ago D.J. said, "I just stayed in the bathroom at school because I didn't want to go back to class! I waited until recess!" This happened after only two weeks of kindergarten. Two weeks!!! I may have a long road ahead of me....

The big "D" craziness

Ok, so I know I told everyone that I was on my way to divorce.... Well, David had signed the papers and gave them to me to take to my lawyer. I still have not yet been able give them to the lawyer! It has been over a month! What is wrong with me??? It is the weirdest thing, I just can't make myself. Does anyone think it is possible for David to change, or am I just being crazy??? Why do I feel crazy when I even maybe consider something with David? I don't know... WTF

Slacker

I have been totally slacking on my blog! Here are some new posts and what we have been up to the past month. There are a few of them, so make sure to look at them all. Enjoy!

D.J.'s first day of School!!!!

Just look at that guy! He is usually hard to wake up in the morning, but today he got right out of bed! He was so excited to wear his new clothes, bring his spiderman backpack, and eat his awesome lunch that I packed for him. I even gave him a haircut the night before (thank goodness). Here we are, just getting out of school for the fist day. He had so much fun! He said, "Mommy, you know why I like my teacher so much? Because she is SO cute and SO pretty. She is nice mommy! Hey you know what? There is someone in my class that has the same shoes as me! We are a team now because we have the same shoes......" He went on and on.

I don't care what anyone says; Spiderman IS the coolest!

D.J. : "Mom, I am just so sad."

Mommy: "Why?"

D.J. : "Because we are going home. I just want to stay here all day!"

And the Cutie Pie Award goes to....

You got it!!! Annabelle! This is Annie getting ready to go. She crawled up in D.J.'s seat and wrapped the seat belt around herself. I thought that was pretty good for an 18 month old!

This was so sweet. She brought her baby into the bath with her and grabbed a wash cloth and washed her baby's hair and face. It was soooo cute!Pretty.....

Sunday Best

I finally did it!!! Twice!!! Here are some pictures of my kids BOTH looking at the camera and BOTH smiling... at the same time! These pictures were taken a few sundays ago. D.J. usually cooperates, he likes to have his picture taken. He is the cheeser in the family. Annabelle has learned to say "cheese" now and I think it helps her to smile. Aren't they adorable? I swear, I could eat them... but I won't.
"Cheese!"
This is what "enough" looks like, in case you were all wondering.

Mirror Lake Camping!

Pioneer Day weekend I went camping with my kids, my mom, Ciera, my sister Danielle, and her daughter Makenna. Usually every year my family goes somewhere for the fourth of July but I couldn't go this year. So I had to make it up to my outdoor kids (atleast they got something from me). We went up to Butterfly Lake camp ground close to Mirror Lake. We had a blast! We went hiking, kayaking, and ate gool ol' s'mores!

This is my hot little man, posing for the camera.

My mom had cut a watermellon on the picnic bench and Annie saw something that she just had to have! She just helped herself. She even had to stand on her tippie toes, but she finally reached!
"What are you looking at?"

This year is MINE!

With everything I have been through the past years, I have claimed this year to myself. I am really not a selfish sort of person, but I feel I need to rekindle an old love.... the love of myself! I am going to do things for me! I need to cross some things off my bucket list so... some friends of mine from work and I have decided to run a half marathon! We will be running the Salt Lake City half marathon next April! I know that is kind of far away, but I am so out of shape after the babies and I know I will need the extra time. I am really excited for this!

Annie singing.

Annie loves to sing and dance. She is concentrating so hard! Half way thru her song, she gets distracted by her pretty pink toenails. I love my baby girl!

Cutest pictures of the week

Lets practice our good oral hygene, and brush all 8 of those pearly whites!

Later that same day, Annie managed to squeeze her fat little leggies into play shopping kart (where the dolls should go). I am really not quite sure how she got in there...

Watch out Anne Geddes! Do you think she could do a section of 5 year olds?

Here she is again, playing under the bathroom sink with her baby. She likes to unravel the toilet paper, rip if off, throw it in the toilet, and flush it. Kinda missing the whole point of the toilet paper.

Filed.

So yesterday, we were slow at work so I left a bit early, which turned out to be perfect. Also what turned out perfect, was that David asked to see the kids (which doesn't happen that often). I went home, collected myself, and then went downtown to my lawyer's office to sign the papers before he sent them off to you know who. As excited as I normally am to have this all over with, I was actually dreading it. Not because I will be missing the person I am about to divorce, but the whole process of it all. But as I sat down, read through the complaint, I felt so relieved! Like this problem doesn't have to be mine anymore. I can finally let it all go. I did my part and everything I could do, I did. A mairrage can't be fixed by one person. The papers are being sent to David, which he will have the option to sign right away. The papers will then be filed on Wednesday or Thursday. After that, I went to Barnes and Noble and bought myself a good old fashion love story. I am not a big reader, especially of love stories, but I felt it was appropriate. I have heard of this book and have wanted to read it for a while and so.. I am going to take time for myself to read this one book; Love in the Time of Cholera. After the bookstore, I went home and CRASHED! There were no kids in the house, they wouldn't be home for hours, so I passed out like there was no tomorrow! Lately, I have not been able to sleep with all of this up in the air. I layed down, shut my eyes, fell asleep, and didn't stir once until the kids came home. I honestly don't know when the last time was that I slept like that. It was glorious. I am sure everyone was wondering why the bags under my eyes are so large. So if I have been a little off lately, all of this is why. I am not sure exactly what to do from here, but for now I am going to take it one day at a time. I feel like Dori from Nemo sometimes: Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming swimming swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim.

Happy belated Birthday!

On Saturday, while the kids were visiting their dad, I bought this totally amazing Spider Man bike for D.J. as a belated birthday present. He has been eye-ing it for a while at the store. So I surprized him! He was so excited to get it. Just look at his face! The training wheels on his old bike have come off, so I had tried to show him how to ride without. Wow. We were unsuccessful, needless to say, and my lower back was killing me for days afterward.

So how does everyone like my ghetto looking back patio? What is all that stuff?

Here he is, getting ready to take it for a 10 o'clock stroll around the block.

Spider-man, Spider-man. Does whatever a Spiderman can....

Movies in the Park

Last Friday I took my kids to see E.T. in the park! It was really fun. I have forgotten how good that movie was. There are movies throughout the summer. There is a schedule of all the movies and where they are located at http://millcreekoutdoors.org/millcreek-calendar.php

Be sure to bring blankets and pillows, the wind kind of got us when we went. Truly an awesome date night especcially with the kiddos!

Happy Birthday D.J.!!!!

Wow! I can't believe it! I am a mother of a 5 year old! Yes, 5 YEARS OLD! It all goes by way too quickly. What happened to that fat little rolley polly baby I used to have? I can't believe that he will be entering kindergarten in the fall. It is so crazy. Now that he is "5" he tells me that he knows EVERYTHING and can do whatever he wants. "I don't have to do that, because I am 5 and can do what I want. I am big like my daddy." If you are so big, does that mean that Mommy doesn't have to wipe your bottom anymore?

Here is a picture of the "Amazing Spiderman" cake that I made for D.J. I stayed up until 3 a.m. the night before to make it an extra special surprize for him when he woke up the next morning. He thought it was the coolest cake ever!

Murray Park

"I wish... I wish... I wish someone buys me hulk boxing gloves for my birthday!"

This is my sister, Danielle, sitting with Annie.

Oh, the concentration. Annabelle was picking the food up with her fingers, putting it on the fork, and then eating it! It was so cute!

Mom and Dad (or more commonly known as Grandma and Grandpa) with Ciera Bear.

D.J. with cousins Makenna and Mikaela.

Wow! Wishes really do come true!

A Brother's Love

I never realized how beautiful this photo was until I saw it full screen on my computer. It captures exactly the love that D.J. has for his baby sister. He is the best big brother that I have ever seen. He loves her so much that if she ever starts to cry or gets hurt, then he will cry too and hug and kiss her until she is better. As a mother of two kids, I never thought it would be so amazing to see my two children bond.

Lovin' the Hot Weather!

We went to the pool over the weekend. I had to go out to the one in Kearns because we used to live out there, and D.J. is convinced that that is "his" pool. It felt so good to just be in the sun, for a change. The weather was beautiful, the water was cool. We had a great time.

Here is Annie, just chillin' in the chair with her baby and sippy-cup. She is such a big girl.D.J. is starting to try to hold his breathe under water. He kind of hesitates for a minute before he puts his head under.
"Look what I can do, Mom!" I guess her little arms can hold her up. She thought she was so cool and kept doing it for ten minutes straight. What a work-out for the girl!I also took my parent's foster daughter, Ciera. Here she is, playing tag with D.J.

Girls Night Out!

Dinner at the Cheesecake Factory was awesome!

They gave us enough food for three days.

Wow. Jen, I don't know if that will fit.

We were all really hungry, especially Tracey.

Debbie wasn't that hungry

Bowl, Amber, Bowl!

Amber, kicking my butt at boxing on the WII at Jen's house.

I am so proud of myself. I took the WII fitness challenge and
I am inthe physical shape of a 55 year old! Yeah!