OHANA Vargas

2009-06-03T20:15:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot what a blog was - almost forgot that I had one! Where have I been? I've been avoiding the computer at home. Lately at work I'm in front of one for long periods at a time, so the last thing I want to do when I come home is get on the computer. Plus, since my blogs aren't kept up and very vocal, I don't think anyone reads it; not much to read :) Most of everyone is on facebook now too. I struggled with thinking about "should I keep both?" why have facebook and a blog. I haven't come up with an answer, so I haven't done anything. How does everyone else balance??

Phantom of the Opera

2009-02-27T19:30:00.000-08:00

I am happy to share the news that we were able to go and experience the awesomeness of the Phantom of the Opera at the Pantages theater last weekend. Thank you to dad because it was our Christmas gift. It was an incredible evening and I didn't want the performance & music to end! I'm hooked!

The Lunch Pale

2009-02-04T21:52:00.000-08:00

I love my new lunch pale. Before I would leave the house with my arms full (or food items shoved into my purse, with frozen lean pocket lunches under each arm). So it made getting into the car an eventful occassion. My friend at work turned me on to the idea, as she came into work with what looked like a back-pack type of purse, BUT it was really a lunch pale. What a novel idea! And now-a-days, they are actually nice looking. So I ran to target and found a little 'duffle' type lunch pale - SO CONVENIENT and eco-friendly(lead free too). Good ole Target.

Last Update for 2008!

2009-01-12T21:06:00.000-08:00

So I'm thinking the image of our Homemade Coconut Cake is getting old and stale for everyone? The pictures below indicate things that we've experienced in the past 2+ months, good and bittersweet. 2008 has been the year of celebration (getting married!), and has been a year of loss (the passing of my grandma). Here's what we've been up to the past 2 months of 2008:

November, we went to the NHRA (National Hot-Rod Association) Winter Nationals; it was unbelievably hot, but still a good time. I finally was able to track down Gary Scelzi and get a picture with him, it was his last year racing. More fires broke out that day, as we were sitting back enjoying the 300mph vehicles flying by, it was kind of surreal; we didn't know how bad the fires were until we got home and turned on the news. The rest of November was work, work, work & overtime & bad news with many peeps getting laid-off at my work. The travel industry is taking it hard right now, like everything else. I am blessed, as I was spared and still have my job, and amazingly though, we still manage to be extra busy in the marketing dept. These are the times "Blessed to be Stressed" - My stepdad, unfortunatly is still unemployed; going on 5 months. If anyone is looking for a hard-working contractor, let me know!

December; it started off hot, but finally got cold for once. So cold that we started bringing our dog Duke in the garage at night to keep warm. One night we brought him in, & he wasn't himself, we could tell something was wrong; we kept an eye on him and stayed with him (all the vets offices were closed) & he passed away within 4 - 5 hours; just like that he was gone! It's a much longer story, but the end result was we don't know what happened to him or what was wrong and we were both heartbroken & it still hurts. Think it was so hard with Duke because it was so sudden; each day has been a little easier, but his presence is missed. He left us right before Christmas.

During this time it had been getting sooooo cold, that one morning (and many more after) I couldn't open my car doors -they were FROZEN shut! Imagine a little ole Cali girl running out to her car with her hands full, running late for work, and she goes to open her doors and like a rubberband snapping her arms fly trying to get her doors open; the result was dropping her stuff, including her favorite mug from Disneyland & in slow motion watching break all over the drive-way. Another loss, but nothing compared to loosing our dog.

My dad in Tehachapi received a TON of snow; we visited him twice, but the snow kept missing us-the first visit was Thanksgiving, and it started snowing after we left, and didn't stop until New Years - we went up again Jan. 3, and most of the snow had melted - ah well. It was still really pretty and our visits were great! Up there with the weather, you really take a liking and appreciation for good family games - we learned how to play Mexican Train with dominos; a lot of fun for a rainy day.

During November & December, I also stayed busy with crocheting. I knew I wouldn't be able to shop much this year with the economy and all, so I looked to crocheting scarves to get me through & to give as gifts; but I just couldn't get motivated because of how hot it had been. I turned to bracelets, to see what I could do. I found many different patterns, tried them out, but didn't end up liking them too much, so I did my own thing and crocheted away - I'm still not done yet. The picture of the 4 are the first batch I made. I added beads, buttons and embellishments to them. I told those I gave them to, if they didn't like them as bracelets.... they make an excellent book mark!

And last but not least, a great accomplishment was receiving new photos from our wedding-a surprise to Andrew for Christmas. Long story short I found out the couple who handled our wedding had some black & white pictures of us, which they took off of our wedding video for me. I was able to take these and get them developed for Andrew for Christmas - I waited 2 in a half months to surprise him, and the sneak already knew what I was up to!! Although, he knew of the pictures, he didn't know what they looked like, so he was still surprised.

Hope everyone enjoyed their holiday and new year's with their loved ones! Maybe my New Year resolution should be to keep this updated. I will try! :) God Bless

Coconut Cake

2008-11-02T09:50:00.000-08:00

We were feeling adventurous, so we decided to take on the challenge of making a coconut cake from scratch. Earlier in the week we got sucked into watching this show called "Good Eats" on Food Network & it was rather interesting, talking about the history of the Coconut cake. It looked really good & it looked really fun to make, so the next day I downloaded the recipe. Since this was the first time we were attempting this, it took all afternoon to get it made. Having power tools for our actual coconut helped a lot! Our most challenging portion was the frosting to my surprise; although it took 7 minutes and it did turn out tasty, mixing the egg whites gave us issues - who knew it could sometimes be tricky. I later learned from this that, to mix egg whites, you should use completely clean utensils - one drop of water or any other element will throw them off, and your egg whites will not get stiff and 'peaky', as it called for. So our frosting was a little flat. We decided NOT to make our own coconut milk or coconut cream, as this was too huge for our afternoon.

On top of all this action, Andrew was really craving homemade meatball soup - something neither of us have made before. I dug out the ole recipe book and improvised, and we made our own little recipe that turned out great! We ate it fast, therefore I have no pictures. If anyone wants the recipe, just let me know; so easy to make.

Today, I plan on going out to dinner :) Plus it's our 6 month wedding anniversary - time flies!

The U.S.S. Midway

2008-10-18T14:35:00.000-07:00

We decided to take a good drive to San Diego and go visit the U.S.S. Midway, a decommissioned aircraft carrier, now turned museum. It was amazing, and cold! And to my surprise, crowded. We were there for a good 4 hours and toured many places of the ship.. so much history. There are many volunteers working there with so much information to share; we toured the main bridge, flight deck, kitchens, berths, sick bay and the brig. And every where else you can imagine; captains quarters etc. In this picture we're standing on what is really a giant outdoor elevator that brings the fighter jets up and down. The whole day was a really cool experience.

As most know we like to do these little 'historical' excursions every once & a while. About 3 weeks ago we went to the home, now turned museum, of William S. Hart, who was a famous silent film actor. His home is up on a shady hill in Santa Clarita, very pretty, quit peaceful... and a good hike getting up to his house.

My newest adventure for my weekends is figuring out how to scrapbook. I'm looking for any helpful advice on this; such as what are the good "tools" to buy and invest in? As it looks kind of expensive! Whenever I go out to look and put something together, I get so overwhelmed and don't really know what a lot of the stuff is for, or what's worth buying? So I end up leaving with a few things & have a difficult time completing a project. My goal is to obviously invest in things that I'm going to get a lot of use out of. Any words of wisdom I'll take :)

Finally! An Update

2008-09-03T21:06:00.000-07:00

Hello out there - hope all is going well. I've been horrible at keeping this updated, we've been going through a lot this past month.

My grandmother passed away on August 9th, in the morning; it's still a surreal feeling. But I am doing good with time and am happy she's healthy again.

We enjoyed our last few weeks with Taylor, as she is back in Texas now and started school, and then we've celebrated Andy's grandmother's 88th birthday and a good visit from Andy's sis & another visit from my Aunt Debbie. I'm off now, but leave you with pictures and hope you're doing well.

2008-08-03T10:30:00.000-07:00

A beautiful day in Buena Park! Off to Knott's we went and made our rounds through the park. Taylor, Grandpa and I couldn't help ourselves in joining the ladies and resting our feet. Good and fun, but oh the crowds. Did you know it gets more crowded at night? As the price of a ticket is half off after 4pm.

2008-07-26T19:46:00.000-07:00

A good update, regarding my Grandma; she is home and doing good. She will be around a lot longer than 4 weeks. The miraculous turn-a-round was all due to miscommunication between the hospital staff with my family - the staff gave the wrong information to my family about the cancer spreading to her brain; what an emotional roller-coaster! It don't quite understand how they could make such an error. It had spread from her ovaries to her stomach, and she was recouparating from her 'early' stages of phnemonia, and was able to go home last Saturday. It was caught quickly, they say. She is still terminally ill, and can no longer take kemo, due to her white blood cells count being too low, so eventually it will spread, but it could be a long time from now. Like I said, she is pretty stubborn, and she has a great attitude.

For My Grandma Jan

2008-07-17T20:34:00.001-07:00

This is my Grandma Jan. She is 71 years young and she is stunning in blue, and would laugh to hear me say that. It's the most recent picture I have of her, taken in December of 2006. Today was the day I received the phone call that she is back in the hospital; .... what had started out as stage 3 ovarian cancer 2 years ago, has now spread throughout her body and to her brain. And with this, she now has phnemonia. The doctors have given her 2 - 4 weeks, and of course they throw in "she really could go at any time." My good news is that since she is stubborn and a trooper, I was able to talk to her on the phone; she's so happy to have the family around her & is in great spirits. So I'm putting this out there, if prayers could be said, that she remains comfortable and happy. I will get to see her this weekend and we'll continue to have our high hopes and surround her with our love!

El Matador Beach

2008-07-13T13:20:00.000-07:00

Has anyone ever been to El Matador Beach? It was a first for myself and Taylor, and it was amazing! Andrew's idea and it was a great one! I highly suggest going and checking it out, just be prepared for the walk down and the walk back up. It's not horrible, just be careful how you pack your items. Taylor spent most her time digging for the sand crabs that tickle her hands, and screaming at any seaweed that touched her feet. I spent my time relaxing in the shade and making mermaid tails out of little girls!

Too Busy for Words!

2008-06-25T18:18:00.000-07:00

Did I mention it's such a busy time? All for good reason... cleaning house and preparing for Taylor's arrival (Andrew's daughter). She is finally here! We get to have her all summer long, till August, and lately we've been busy getting adjusted. It's crazy to go from no kids in the house to having a 10 year old, but quickly we've adjusted and feel like she's never left. My sister-in-law will be here soon too, to stay for a week; so we'll all join in on a family celebration and kick up our feet at Disneyland!
Sorry for the slacking in the posts! I'm also in need of getting the rest of our pictures on our computer, hope to do that shortly!

First Timers

2008-06-08T21:07:00.000-07:00

It's our first time for a lot of things lately & it's been very exciting!

Andrew and I were married on May 1, 2008 in our favorite destination, Hawaii; it's our first attempt at creating a blog, I hope I figure this out; and it's the first time I have put $60 of gas into my little car!! Ouch. Have a funny feeling that isn't going to go away any time soon.

I leave you with some pictures from our wedding & hope to figure out more of our blog layout soon!