And then there were 6...

...in the Garcia family!!! We just found out on Friday that we are EXPECTING!! Baby #4 will make his/her debut in spring of 2014 :) We are SOOOOOOOOOOO excited! Our kids are ecstatic and we just can't wait for baby to come.

We have been asking Gabriel, "Do you want a brother or a puppy?" (I know they aren't comparable but I just thought it'd be funny to see what he'd say) He has answered puppy every single time. Friday night he finally got his puppy! Abuelita Olga got him a little black and white sweet little chihuahua mix. Then right before bed, I took a test, and it came out positive! So apparently he gets BOTH!! Lol. Well we just wanted to share our news and if you see me eating A LOT, lets just say it's the baby ;) Wish us luck, cuz we are surely going to need it. (School, work, kids, new baby, it's a lot but it'll be fun!)

Xoxox,

Josh and Lala

Independence week

After the temple w/tia Lupita's family

We've had such a fun week!! We got to see Josh's tia Lupita's family before they left. Well we practically got to see most of his family this week and it has been a while. We got to go to the temple with Lupita and her boys before Aaron left to the MTC. My kids loved spending time with them and harassing their kids. (My three are CRAZYYY.) Independence day we went to the Freedom Days in Provo with Glenin and Annette. My kids looooooooved it. Although it was crazy busy Gissi got her face painted, Gabriel went on a fun ride, I went with both of them on the spiny ride (which I will NEVER do again) and they all got prizes at the end! I think it'd be fun to start a booth. I just need to find something to sell. Lol. But later we went to Olga's again and had a family dinner which Abuela, Mario, tia Elizabeth and Veronica came to join us and tia Lupita's family. And we got to end the night with our fabulous neighbors to watch some fireworks! (did you see that one chelle??) It's hard to write about all of it without going all over the place so I'll just post some pictures. Lol.

getting her face painted

Her cute butterfly!

(don't mind my screenshots. my phone wouldn't let me save it. lol)

sparkelers!

I am also very grateful to live in this beautiful country. I feel so privileged to be an AMERICAN! Although my roots came from the small (tiny) islands of Tonga, I will forever be an American. Born and raised in this country, with international roots has opened my eyes to the blessings and privileges most American's take for granted. I love indoor plumbing, A/C, heaters, all the technologies along with the right to speak my mind, cuz I am a girl, the right to marry who I want (yes Josh I'm grateful we're married :)) and to have as many kids as I want! (even though I think we're good for now. lol) I am grateful to those who prepared the way and sacrificed and still do sacrifice for our freedoms in this country. I pray that with God as our guide, we will be able to move forward with peace and love. Life is to short to not see the beauties all around! I hope you have had as great of a week as I have and it's not even over yet!! Happy birthday America! I love you!!

my complaint about the fireworks. LOL

Father's day 2013

 Another Father's day comes again. Usually if I were with my parents we would BBQ. I love shoyu chicken and teri burgers! Talk about ONO! But since were in Utah with my in-laws, instead of the usual going out to eat or a movie, we went to the park. My FAVORITE PARK! We figured since it's nice and sunny, the dogs would appreciate joining us in an outing. Plus my kids have been begging to go to a park and we've been a little busy all week! (We did other fun things, but they still wanted to just play at a park.)

We went to Provo's Bicentennial Park . It's kind of hidden and a lot of people don't even know about it. I had tried to explain to my husband and his brothers where it was but they just kind of laughed at me and thought that I was weird because you can't see it from the main road. I'm so glad my step-mother-in-law knew what I was talking about. They absolutely loved it! It is a HUGE ultimate Frisbee field, with a cool kind of playground, a volleyball net and kind of a wetland swamp area for walking. 
My kids had a blast. My in-laws loved it. It was cheap, simple and was a great place for us to spend some good family fun together. Even though it was super hot and we all drank at least a gallon of water each, it was perfect for our Father's day activity together!

Oh and I made some AMAZING chocolate chip banana bread :) Or cake I guess because I didn't have a bread pan. It's for my step-mother-in-laws parents and a good friend of ours who is like another father figure to my husband. This banana bread was simple, easy and DELICIOUS! I just added some chocolate chips. I'm going to say a half a cup. I should have put more, I like TONS of chocolate chips but it was great the way it turned out.

All in all, we had great fun, spent some good time together and had a great excuse to make amazing banana bread!