Lara Family

Landscaping

2011-06-20T14:10:00.016-07:00

The weather has warmed up and we have finally finished our front yard. It looks great! We had so much help from family, neighbors and ward members-who racked, shoveled and laid sod. We couldn't have done it without you! As sad as it is to say, I think landscaping is harder than building a house.

This is just after Ernie finished the sprinkler system and began to fill in the trenches to cover the pipes.

After that we got straight to work on racking up the rocks and smoothing out the dirt. This took a good week to do. There was so many rocks.

Saturday afternoon we started laying sod! Everyone showed up to help which made the work load easy and fast. We had 4,135 sq. feet to put down for just our front yard! A lot of work.

FINISHED!!!

These are our planter boxes. I was a little nervous about how they would turn out because of how they looked after we put down sod. Looks awful and unfinished.

Weeks later.....

Anna is now showing off our finished front yard. Wait, what? You can't see anything? Hold on lets get a closer look.

We put curbing all the way around the porch which looks fantastic. It is colored and stamped which you can see better in the picture below.

We planted daylilies in the back and white geraniums in the front with a delphinium in the corner. It still looked a little unfinished, so we added chocolate brown wood chips. This really made the plants stick out.

To add a bit more color I added a red pillow to the chairs (shown in first porch picture) and I think I might add a red throw blanket to the other chair. Then I really got to thinking when I thought of painting our door red. I really need some input, will a red door add charm and color or will it distract?

On the corner of the porch we planted a Wisteria vine with purple flowers. I'm so excited about this plant, because as it grows we're going to have it wrap up and over the porch to frame it. I think this will look good.

This corner is right by our front door. I just watered the flowers, which is why the cement looks weird. I love how much life and color the flowers add to the house.

This spot was a little hard to figure out. We just planted these flowers to pass our inspection. I plan on digging them back up and putting them on the porch. Now I need to go back to the drawing board for this planter box. Any suggestions?

(Note: the left side, where the taller plant is, gets no sun.)

This is our Red Maple tree. In the fall the leaves will turn a deep red, which I think will make a lovely contrast with our house.

The planter box in front of the porch continues to wrap around to the side of the house where we planted another delphinium and a hydrangea! I'm so excited about this hydrangea plant, I love these flowers. The lady at the nursery said that if we planted it without any extra soil or fertilizer then the flowers will turn pink. Pink is what I wanted so that's what we did.

But...as you can see the flowers are blue. They still look gorgeous but not quite what I wanted. (There are some that are blooming purple which I love.)

Home Sweet Home

2011-03-03T19:14:00.006-07:00

These pictures are a little insight of what our lives have been like since August. It has been long and straining, but so worth it. Every step was an exciting one for us. Ernie and I both feel stronger and more empowered since building our own home. Many times we will be at a store and find ourselves thinking, we can build that! We have gained so much knowledge and experience through this program. THANK YOU to everyone who supported us through this we couldn't have done it with out you!

Here are progress pictures during building.

This is a picture of our lot before we started.

Our foundation. Basement and garage.

Interior walls. The hole on the floor are our stairs leading to the basement.

Exterior walls.

Exterior walls.

After we flew trusses.

After our house was shingled.

Hallway.

Living Room. Putting up drywall.

Ernie and me putting gable returns on. (This was about 11:30 at night. Not fun, but don't they make the house look great?)

Men preparing the house for stucco.

View of our kitchen and the appliances.

Our rock and grout. (By this time it was extremely cold! Life was miserable.)

Side view with stucco and rock.

Front view. Aren't the mountains in the background scenic? Love it!

We are loving our home and can't think of a better place to be! We still have landscaping to do this spring and we are looking forward to it. If you have any suggestions or ideas for our yard, let us know!

Our Lives So Blessed

2010-05-18T15:36:00.012-07:00

Our precious little girl was born Friday, May 14th at 5:27 a.m. She weighs 7 lbs. 7 oz. and is 20 inches long. Can you say so cute! She has such a sweet temperament with a beautiful smile and eyes to match. We had a hard time coming up with her middle name but finally came up with one. Her name is Macy Esperanza Lara.

Thank you to all who have supported us so much at this time with your love, help and prayers. We love you all.

Our Trip

2010-01-31T23:01:00.012-07:00

What could possibly be the best trip? How about a trip that took you away from the cold and the snow to 70 degree weather with sun all day, surrounded by family and a wedding to top it all off. Yes, we took a trip to Arizona to see family and to see my good friend get married. It was enthusiastically fun!

When we arrived at Devan and Robyn's home we were greeted with the grandest welcome. Mckay, James and Ashlyn came flying out the door to give us hugs, we felt like royalty. The Anderson family really made us feel at home. They took us out to dinner, Mckay gave up his bed, they popped us popcorn in their super fancy popcorn machine (so cool), treated us to a wonderful night of American Idol on the wii and delighted us with Cold Stone ice cream. It was a perfect weekend.

Anna had the time of her life with Ashlyn. Ashlyn took Anna under her wing and showed Anna the ropes of how to be a princess, how to dance, sing and dress. Friday night Susanne, Ashlyn and Anna put on a performance for Robyn and me. It was so great, I wished I had a video camera, but these pictures will have to do. Susanne was in charge of the music while Ashlyn danced and Anna copied whatever moves she did. Not only did they dance but they did the whole shebang with outfits and makeup! Loved it! Thank you Anderson Family!!

Friday was packed with fun events. Robyn was so awesome and watched Anna for us while we went to Melinda's wedding. It was so great to see a childhood friend again and especially neat to see her get married, the ceremony was wonderful. Her and Stephen make a great couple. Later, at the reception, I was able to see another childhood friend. I felt like a little kid again catching up with Andrea and being with the two friends I spent the most time with as a girl. I can't think of wanting to have any other childhood than the one I had. The whole time memories came flooding back, it was great!

I was able to see a lot of other wonderful people from my youth who were great influences and examples to me while growing up. You could say this was the best trip!

Just In Case You Didn't Know

2010-01-27T15:09:00.005-07:00

I know this is horrible and I feel really bad, but just in case you didn't know we are expecting our second baby! We are so excited anticipating our new little one's arrival. We found out that we are having another little precious girl who is due May 17th!

Each day I find myself deep in thought about Anna and her sister. I think about the adventures they will go on, the people they will meet and through all their exciting experiences knowing they will always have each other. Anna is very enthused about having a little sister. Dad said that Anna will have fun having a live doll to dress up, I think he is right.

Anna's First Haircut

2010-01-23T20:07:00.019-07:00

Yes, this is Anna's first haircut! For 3 years I put off cutting her hair because I loved her long hair. I loved styling her hair in a buch of different ways and I wish I had taken pictures of my favorite hair dos on her. But the time has come that I could no longer put off cutting her hair. I thought to myself, "If I'm going to cut her hair at all, I am going to CUT it!" So I started cutting and cutting and cutting. With the first chop I thought I had ruined it. I didn't realize how short I had cut it, so I started to worry and freak out thinking that she is going to look like a butch and then I thought I'm going to have to take her to a professional and get it cut even shorter in order to fix what I had done to my beautiful daughter. Each cut made me more worried, until I was almost done, then I could see her hair take shape. I felt a little relieved towards the end, but there was still a lot more to do like, even it out. Cutting children's hair is a lot harder then I thought. I wasn't fully sure about her hair until Ernie saw it and loved it. Anna told me that she liked her hair too, so I didn't feel too bad about chopping off 10 inches! While I am thrilled about Anna's hair turning out very cute I still have mixed emotions about her not having long hair anymore.

BEFORE AND AFTER

Diapers are for Babies

2009-05-14T18:25:00.008-07:00

Anna has been working very hard today and wanted to tell everyone her momentous news! This morning I explained to Anna that babies wore diapers and big girls wore panties. She was so excited and very determined to be a big girl. I am a very proud mama and, just like Anna, enthused to tell everyone that she has gone to the potty all day today. We can't wait to see how potty training goes tomorrow!

Stake Conference

2009-03-20T09:57:00.050-07:00

This past weekend was our Stake Conference. We had the opportunity to hear from our Stake President and his counselors, as well as, Elder Pocock and Elder Holland! It was a great experience for our little family to hear from all of these men. The spirit was strong and their messages were beautiful. At the Saturday session Elder Holland didn't prepare anything for his talk, he said, "I just want to talk with you." He then went on telling us of his love and concern for all of us, as if he wanted to get to know us personally, you could really feel his compassion towards us. What a wonderful man!

Because of his love and concern he pounded on the pulpit and said don't you dare lose your faith when storms come, that is when you need it the most. I've known how important faith is, but Elder Holland spoke about it in such a unique, spiritual way that it seemed completely new to me. It was like my eyes were opened finally. I didn't have anything to take notes and I was wrestling with Anna, so I can't remember most of his other points, but that one point made me realize that there really is no more sitting on the fence. I've always been quiet and never wanted to talk about the church to anyone because I didn't want to put any pressure on them, or offend them. But what I realize now was that I wasn't following the Spirit or relying on my faith. I can't be afraid anymore because this is the time when we need to put our trust in Lord, he won't led us astray. I think that I will always stress about bad times, and standing for something openly, but I know that Heavenly Father will be there, the Lord is on our side.

This doesn't come close to what I am trying to express, but I wanted to share a little of what I learned that has strengthened my testimony.

Ernie and I watched as a line was formed to shake Elder Holland and Elder Pocock's hand. They did not leave until every person that wanted to shake hands with them were shook. We know because we were one of the last people to shake hands with them. What wonderful men!

In the spirit of General Conference that is coming up here is another wonderful man.

I got this in an email from mom. It is a beautiful clip made by the Relief Society from one of Elder Uchtdorf's talks.

It Has Been A Long Time

2009-03-14T21:37:00.010-07:00

I haven't looked at our blog for a very long time. School, primary, and family takes a lot of my time, but I finally caught us up. I almost forgot most of the things that our little family has done in the past couple of months, it was nice to reminisce.
This video cracked me up, I think you'll enojoy it too!

Volleyball

2009-03-14T01:41:00.012-07:00

I am a big fan of volleyball. I love watching college teams and really enjoy to playing it. This season I had the opportunity to play in a tournament in Moab, and it was a lot of fun! I got to watch and play all day and all night. We did really bad so they put us in the C bracket. I thought we would get squashed because teams from all over Utah and Colorado came to play, and they were good. But when the tournament finally started for our bracket we won our first game, then our second, then our third and so on! We played the last team and lost, but since it was double elimination we had one more shot and we nailed them right between the eyes (figuratively speaking), winning the tournament. It was about one in the morning when we started playing the last game and there was some crazy things going on by the end of it. Some of our cheers consisted of "Meatloaf" I still don't know where that came from.

New Year's Eve

2009-03-14T01:25:00.011-07:00

Many of us can't remember a lot about New Year's Eve.

(Like this one)

Poor guy coundn't make it to midnight.
After we put the kids to sleep the night came alive (for some of us anyway). We played the Wii, and some kind of bored..oh I mean, board game and watched some movies. It was a lot of fun.

Our Trip to Gunlock

2009-03-14T00:58:00.013-07:00

Our little family went to Grandma and Grandpa Anderson's cabin in Gunlock for a weekend. It was fun to get away, lay back and kick up our feet. I loved the HUGE, gorgeous windows grandma put in. You can see part of the windows from these pictures.

I had to take a picture of this view as we were traveling. I loved the red mountains.

Anna is usually quiet when we are in the car, but this time it was too quiet. I looked back and I saw this!

She just ate a bite of her chip, and just as she was about to eat another bite she fell asleep. I think Anna and Will Anderson are the only ones who can fall asleep while eating chips!

Christmas

2009-03-14T00:03:00.020-07:00

Christmas was fun last year, but this year blew that one away. Anna was able to help us get ready for Christmas by: helping set up the Christmas tree, eating sugar cookies, picking out presents, and letting mom get extra wrapping practice (she got curious about some presents under the tree and felt obligated to find out what they were).

There were a lot of festivities, and here were the top three....
#3.) Putting the Christmas tree up and dancing to Christmas songs at the same time!

#2.) Watching Frosty the Snowman at Musti and Papa's home.

And the number one favorite was......Christmas Morning! We had our orange juice, then we excitedly gathered around the Christmas tree and opened presents. Anna was a little confused that we could open them now after I had to tell her no for so long.

Ernie and I decided that after opening presents we should end on the best present of all. we read from Luke in the Bible. It was a nice reminder of the true meaning of Christmas.

"One Year Older and Wiser Too"

2009-03-13T23:19:00.016-07:00

Anna turned two on November 15th. She is the best daughter I could have asked for. I am still shocked by how old she is already. I really only blinked once and there we were singing her birthday song. Here are some pictures from her special day.

She is an amazing little girl. Her love and charity towards others is boundless. I thank my Heavenly Father every day for sending us such a sweet angel.
Thank you to all who helped us celebrate Anna's Birthday!

Halloween

2009-03-13T22:46:00.013-07:00

Halloween is always a fun time. I enjoy seeing all the costumes and wishing that I had enough imagination to come up with something fun. This year Aunt Cheramie found the best costume for Anna.

She loves to get dressed up so this was perfect for her. Thanks Aunt Cheramie!

After getting ready we went to great grandma and grandpa's. The perfect house to find lots of treats (I mean ice cream!)

After we stuffed ourselves we headed off to Papa and Mutsi's. Brooklyn was there with her mom and dad and we had a ton of fun. We ate Musti's Halloween dinner (fingers and all), then we had even MORE treats and watched a fun movie.

By the time we got home we were two tired girls!

From Crib to Bed

2009-03-13T22:26:00.009-07:00

Anna has exchanged her crib for a bed! She does very well and has only fallen out twice. Each time she fell she was stunned to be on the floor, but she picked herself back up, got a comfort hug from mom and went back to sleep.

Rugby Anyone?

2008-10-13T09:35:00.036-07:00

I was clicking through channels on the television one night when I came across a Rugby game. All the players were smashing, tripping, pushing, and bleeding. They were all like Incredible Hulks. I don't know much about the sport, but the more I watched, the more intrigued I became.

The Haka dance before the game, New Zealand vs. Tonga.

You have to watch this great play!

A BIG thanks to all players of rugby, football, soccer, hockey, etc...who keep us entertained.

Can you guess who 19 is?

We Go Together Like A Wink And A Smile

2008-09-28T22:49:00.010-07:00

Papa and Anna always have a great time with each other.

They read,

They take walks in the garden,

And they even stop to smell the flowers.

They do go together like a wink and a smile!

The Four Primo Hermanos

2008-09-28T22:22:00.008-07:00

Ernie and his cousins got together and made a spectacular dinner! Recipe: lots of meat, tortillas, limes, and home made salsa. Tasted incredible.

Juan, Abraham, Ernesto, Rafael

Library Buddies

2008-09-28T22:14:00.003-07:00

Anna and her good friend Karrissa, like to go to the library for story time. After the library, their moms talk, so they sit on the stairs and eat cheerios.

Slides! Slides! Glorious Slides!

2008-09-28T22:09:00.003-07:00

She only goes for the big slides!

We Love Park City

2008-09-28T21:52:00.003-07:00

We took a short trip to Park City to look around. We found a frog in a hot car, which mom had to sanitize before letting Anna in.

Play Hard Or Go Home

2008-09-28T21:33:00.010-07:00

This is fun...but...is there anything else I could be doing right now?

Bottom of the ninth, bases loaded...

Here comes the wind up! She swings, it's going, going...

gone!

A hard day of play, deserves of nice relaxing swing.

Ernie's Oath Ceremony

2008-09-28T20:35:00.005-07:00

August 13th is the big day! At 12:49, Ernie is waiting to go into that building behind him, to take his oath.

There were only 30 seats in the room, and there were 30 applicants taking the oath. We weren't sure if any family would be able to see Ernie become a citizen. We were all squished, but we got in!

The oath was beautiful to hear. Ernie and I waited two years for this moment, which is short compared to others who have been waiting as long as five years. It tugged at my heart as I watched everyone say the oath while holding up their arm. You could see the joy on their face, they made it. A lot of sacrifice and waiting, but they made it.

Ernie just received his certificate, it is now offical , and it is now over! We are so proud of you!

Everyone gave Ernie a big HURRAY, when we got outside! A HUGE thanks to our family for their support, we were so happy and blessed that you could be there with us on that day!

Did someone say Swimming?

2008-08-17T21:48:00.002-07:00

We have had a lot of fun this past week! Most of our family were in town. It was nice to see everyone. One of our favorite activity was swimming. Ernie and I had a hard time getting Anna out of the water!

Lara Look-alike Meter

2008-07-18T20:25:00.003-07:00

This was pretty fun to do...although I was a little suprized by the outcome.

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

What is the Bill of Rights?? Ernie knows!

2008-07-08T17:45:00.007-07:00

Yes, Ernie does know the answer to that question. Along with 99 other questions he studied for his test. Ernie took his citizenship test in Salt Lake. We were both pretty nervous when we arrived, and passing through the metal detectors didn't help. They told us to take a seat until they called his name. We both sat there trying to make small talk or going over the questions again, but nothing calmed him or me. Anna loved it, she went around trying to choose which seat she wanted to sit in, or trying to figure out how the candy came out of the candy dispensers. Finally, a woman came out and called his name. After two years the big moment finally arrived. Anna and I watched as he left the room and the door shut beind him. About 15 minutes later, he came back out. He looked pretty pleased with himself. Overjoyed he said, "I passed!" Out of 100 questions he studied for, she only asked him six. They were...
1.) What are the colors of the stars on our flag? (White)
2.) What is the Bill of Rights? (The first Ten ammendments to the Constitution)
3.) What ship carried the pilgrams over to America? (The Mayflower)
4.) What group advises the President? (The Cabinent)
5.) What is the supreme law of the United States? (the Constitution)
6.) What holiday was celebrated for the first time in America? (Thanksgiving)
Ernie was a little dissapointed that she didn't keep going. He was on a roll. The next thing she wanted to have him do is write a sentence in English. She asked him to write, "It is a sunny day." He did so well up to this point. Ernie had a little trouble writing sunny! All our money and two years of waiting was riding on this word. At first he spelled it "suny" and handed her the paper, but just in the split second he was handing it to her, he looked at it again. He brain finally kicked on, and that smarty pants added the second 'n' to spell sunny correctly! She looked at his sentence and stamped his application with the United States seal and said, "Congratulations, you passed!"
We really don't remember the drive home. We were excited. The next step to finishing up the process is the oath ceremony! When we find out when it is, we would like all our friends and family to be there.

Proud to be an American

2008-06-30T10:45:00.006-07:00

We have an exciting day tomorrow, no it isn't the forth of July but it will feel like it because Ernie will be taking his citizenship test tomorrow the first of July! Anna and I are so excited and proud of him, he has worked so hard to support us and make our lives the best as possible. We are privileged to support him on this exciting day. When he passes his test he will take the oath in an oath ceremony. We will keep you posted on the events! Happy fourth of July!

Father's Day

2008-06-15T21:12:00.006-07:00

We had a great fathers day on this beautiful Sunday. After church we went over to visit Mutsi and Papa, we had a great dinner. Mutsi made steak and mashed potatoes for the special fathers in our lives. We then headed out to the backyard to find....A NEW SWING! Papa suprized Anna and Brooklyn, and they loved it. After the backyard adventures the girls went in to take one of Mutsi's famous bubble baths. I think this day turned out to be just right for all the dads and their princesses.

2008-06-03T23:22:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of our beautiful daughter, Anna Lucia Lara.

Late Nights

2008-06-03T22:52:00.000-07:00

Ernie is at work and I am staying up late looking at family blogs when the thought came to me, "Hey, why don't I start my own blog?" So, here is the first offical Lara Family blog. I don't quite know what I am doing, but it has been fun and I can't wait for Ernie to see it, as well as you. Thanks for visiting!