Day 243

Signing for his keys to his dorm :)

our last famiy picture until he comes home.


Dominic at his desk.



Dominic and his Room mate Asher.

Well today is the day. I take Dominic to University of Redlands to start his life as a college student. Its pretty sad that we all couldn't take him as a family, but Robert, Christopher and Kirstin had to work and Brandon and Austin had school. We got to Redlands around 9:30. His room mate had gotten there earlier and picked out the better dresser 5 drawers vs Dominic's 3 drawers and the better desk and the lower bunk. Guess that's what you get if you arrive early. Dominic said he's ok with all of that. I'm glad. We got him unpacked. Boy the room is pretty big. So big that the roommates parents are going to bring in a couch for them to hang out on. Everyone walking by had to stop and comment on it. We went to lunch at the Commons together. It wasn't too bad. The kids had some optional workshops and they also had some for the parents. Dominic went to a couple and when that was done we went to dinner. Where else but to the Spaghetti Factory. lol Its only 3.2 miles away so if he wants to go he can sure ride his bike or walk. After dinner there we more workshops to attend. After that it was time to say good night. I did really well and only cried for a few min. I headed to Palm Springs to stay at my friend Diana's house. We stayed up till 4 AM just catching up. The alarm was set to go off at 6:30 Ugh!

Day 242

The night before Christmas, Oh wait, that would make it a happy day. Its the night before Dominic leaves and there are so many tears flowing. It pretty much started at the beginning of the day when we got started packing. It hit me like a ton of bricks. He kept trying to tell me today was a happy day because he was still here. Well I just couldn't wrap my head around it. I'm not sure how many other moms out there send their kids off and don't feel like I do. But I feel like my emotions have gotten the best of me. I wear them on my sleeve as the saying goes. Its really hard to hide how I'm feeling. Well Glenda brought him pizza today so she could say her goodbyes. After that we went shopping for last min things. The people in Sams Club and Walmart Probably thought something was wrong with me. I was bawling like a baby. We came home and had dinner. While dinner was just about over he handed each of us a letter he had written. Damn if there wasn't a dry eye in the house. He is so gifted when it comes to writing that he knew it would go straight for our hearts. We had to pull ourselves together because we were going to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert via Simulcast at the theater. Their new album came out yesterday. It was fun hanging out with Dominic and the family listening to some great music. Now lets hope I can sleep tonight. Robert won't be able to go down with me to set Dominic up in his dorm. Work has made it nearly impossible for him to ever take a day off. It really sucks. Won't be home until Friday. So will probably update my blog then. Wish us all luck as we set forth on a new chapter in our lives.

Day 241

First day back to school. Brandon is now a Junior and Austin is a Sophomore. I can't believe it. Where is the time going? I did really good today, no tears. :) We got up and did our normal/annual measuring the kids before they headed off to school. Dominic grew about a 1/2 in. Brandon 1 inch and Austin 3 inches. He is by far, still the shortest of the kids at this age. Christopher has not grown in a couple of yrs. Guess he's done.
Went with Dominic, Christopher and Kirstin to the movies. We saw Fright night. It was pretty good.
Tonight we should be packing, but Dominic is watching the worlds Track meet. He wants us all to sit and watch it with him. Guess we can do that.

Day 240

Got up today and went to church. Dominic asked that I go with him for his last time until he comes back. After we all went to Glenda's house for Breakfast. The kids put in a order for quiche. She makes a delicious one. Once that was over we sat down to make charms and bracelets. So much fun to learn to do the bracelets. Dominic went up stairs to take a nap in Vanessa's bed. Both him and Robert ran 16 miles today. You could tell they were exhausted. Robert took Brandon and Austin for hair cuts since school is starting tomorrow :( I met them over at Walmart to get a few things for this week. While there, I saw Cliff Branch. He was a Oakland Raider for 14 yrs. You all know how much I love my Raiders. Well I asked him if I could get a picture with him. He said yes and I even got to wear one of his super bowl rings. We talked a bit, it was all good, it wasn't until I said, "I can't wait until Al Davis Kicks the bucket so we can have a great team". Oh man did that set him off. He said why would you wish someone to die. Al Davis does not play on the field, blame the players and coaches. (True) He asked me if I would be happy if someone said Robert should kick the bucket, I said well if he had great life insurance that might not be a bad idea. LOL well he didn't think it was too funny. I really didn't mean anything bad by it, but kicking the bucket does mean you wish someone dead. He went on and on for about 20 min. I think I may have apologized at least 10 times. Who knew he was like a second son to Al Davis? Robert taped a portion of it to put on Youtube. There was a couple standing nearby cracking up as were my kids. They said that was the greatest thing they've seen all week. I have not got a scolding like that since I was a kid. In the end he shook and kissed my hand and said love you. I felt so low. I will never say I wish Al Davis would kick the bucket. I will just say I hope he moves on soon.
Video, sorry its sideways, I don't know how to make it horizontal. If you know how please tell me. Also turn off my music so you can here him. And this was only a min of the 20 that he was on my butt!

Day 239

Fun filled Saturday here in Vegas. Glenda came over to help me work on some charms that I should have had done at least a month ago. we never did get them finished. I think that will be tomorrow. Then we went across the street to our neighbors house for a luau. It was Jamies 40th birthday. Art went all out for her. He made his backyard look like a beach. It was pretty cool. He even dug a hole and had a pig roasting in there. Our other neighbor Marisa has taken hula for 5 yrs and she did a few dances for the guests. From there we went over to the Lee's house for Ian's birthday. Happy Birthday Ian. Hung out there for a bit then we headed over to "Sanchez's" house to welcome the new foreign exchange student they are hosting. He will be going to the boys school so they wanted him to meet a few of the kids. While there Austin and Dominic tried this hot sauce that was called DA BOMB! Both broke out in a sweat and where in pain. lol No way was I going to try it. We headed home, not before we dropped off waters around the 16 mile route that Robert will be running tomorrow morning. He's training for a marathon in Dec.

238

Genica came over this morning for our last workout before school starts. I think she's kind of sad that school is starting. I am too. This summer just flew by. I like working out with her. She keeps me motivated. How could she not being 16 and all. I probably should not be working out at the moment since my back is killing me. I may take a few days off to see if it will be better by Monday. After our work out she wanted to do Zumba. We set up the xbox and started to play. My back hurt too much so I sat down. Brandon did a little bit with her. It was funny to watch him trying to do the latin dance.

Day 237

Temps around here are topping the 112 mark for the 3rd day in a row. Its the hottest its been all summer. I should be laying out by the pool, but for whatever reason I'm just not feeling it. guess I miss the beach. Anyway went to lunch today with Glenda. We always have a nice time when we hang out. After she got out of work she came over to work out. Its been a little over 2 weeks since she's worked out. Gotta get her back in a routine. While we were in Cali, my mom left my brothers house and moved back in here. As much as I would like to let her stay, I just can't. So today she found an apartment to move into and the boys helped her move some of her stuff. Im hoping its a good fit for her. Its not too far from here so maybe we can go over and visit sometime. I hope no one thinks im a bad person for not letting her stay, but I have enough stress in my life and she will add 100% more back into it. Its been nice not having to walk around on egg shells in my own house. (she will not let us take a picture of her, so we get her backside).

Day 236

All of us were wiped out from our quick trip to Cali, that we just chilled out all day. Well that is until the boys had to go to Cross country practice at 2:00 pm. They went and because I forgot to get their physicals they were sent home. They weren't to concerned since today was the hottest day of summer and also the first day of afternoon practices. Teachers had to be back to school today so no more early morning practices. Today the temp was 116.

Day 235

Dinner at Spaghetti Factory



Megan :)

Me and my 13 pack abs. Ya it was funny then. Who knew they came in 2's lol





I so wanted to sleep in this morning since we weren't going to meet up with the twins till after Noon. But someone left their alarm on their phone on >cough, Genica, cough< lol so I got up around 6:30 and couldn't fall back to sleep. It was all good, I was texting with Glenda at that time. She was getting ready for work and was kind of sad she couldn't be there to see her girls. I told her I'd take lots of pictures. I think we took 200+ in 2 days. lol Kids went downstairs for breakfast while I got ready. My back has continued to hurt me sometimes to the point I can barely stand. We had planned on hiking the Hollywood Sign, since 3 of my boys had never done it and Kirstin nor Genica hadn't either. but seeing how much I was hurting we decided against it. :( Super sad about that. But there is always next trip. Anyway, We got on the freeway to head to USC when I realized we would be passing by my old house I lived in growing up. I have taken the boys before, but I had new people in the car to hear my dumb stories. LOL We took pics and even headed for Shakeys to get us some Mojo Potatoes. We took them on the road. Got to USC and had a difficult time finding the parking, but that is because my kids don't communicate well unless they are texting. I finally told Dominic to pick up the phone and CALL. We met up with the twins. Their dorm room is so cute. It will have more room once the beds are bunked. I think Vanessa and Dominic were really happy to see each other. I went and saw My friend Alex (he is one of the ones I reconnected with a couple weeks back from St. Stephens) He was working just up the street. Came back and picked up the kids. In that 30 mins Megan took the troops around for a tour of some of the campus. I gave Genica the camera and she got some pretty good pics for us. We loaded up both our car and the twins and headed to Santa Monica. Today was the most beautiful day. I said I was in Heaven yesterday, well today was so much better. Sun shining, all the kids together having fun and me getting my tan on. Girls got buried in the sand, except Kirstin. After all that fun they cleaned up and we headed to our favorite spot. You guessed it the spaghetti Factory. Unfortunately it took almost 2 hrs to get there. Traffic in Cali is horrible at that time, 6:00 PM. It was so nice to see the girls. We said our goodbyes and headed home. I was super tired, so I had to pull over in Victorville to have Christopher drive. Im surprised I fell asleep. I must have been really tired. I don't normally hand over the wheel to anyone. Im sort of a control freak when it comes to my life and being in a car with someone else driving. He did good though. He had to stop in Baker. I took over from there and got us all home by 1:30 just like I said we would be. This trip was one of the best ones in a long time. Nothing better than being with my kids and the beach! Oh I think I may have said that a time or two. :)

The link to all the pics:

Day 234

In typical Lopez fashion (one im not proud of by the way) we left for our trip to San Diego late. We piled in the car, Austin, Brandon, Christopher, Dominic, Genica, Kirstin and I. We had wanted to leave by 6:30, not knowing how traffic would be getting down to San Diego. I think we left at 7:15ish. Oops. Seeing im on my best behavior while driving right now, I kept it at a steady pace of 85. Not too much traffic and we made it there in about 4.5 hrs. We had about 1.5 hrs to spare before going on the tour of USD. During this time we went to a nearby mall and walked for a bit. This is a school where Genica really would love to go. I wouldn't mind if Brandon decided to go there. Its a beautiful campus. That way if he and Genica get in there I can be down there in San Diego a lot. See I always have a plan when it comes to Cali. lol The trip, as usual with my boys, was filled with lots of laughter. Sometimes at the expense of me or Genica. They really do harass us in a playful way. Well I hope She took it as that. After the tour, we headed to the beach. Which is only a few mins away. Another plus!! The marine layer had already rolled in by then (5:00) so it was a bit chilly for me, but needless to say just being there was like heaven. Kids had a blast running around in the water and building a sand castle. A lot of new experiences for Genica. She wanted to stay for sunset. She had heard that when the sun sets you see a flash of green. I tried to tell her she wouldn't, but we all had to stare out across the ocean to see if there was a slim possibility that it did happen. Nope!. but it really was worth staying. Kids got cleaned up and we loaded back up in the car and headed another 2 hrs to our hotel. I wanted the hotel closer to our destination for tomorrow so we didn't have to get up too early. Everyone showered and the 7 of us got ready for bed. Me and Genica shared a bed, Christopher and Kirstin got the other one. Brandon and Austin shared the pull out and poor Dominic had to sleep on the blow up bed. Which during the night went flat. :( sorry!
I guess with me being sick/stuffed up nose and so sleepy I snored pretty loud last night. Why am I telling you all this, cause I got harassed mercilessly by Chrisopher for letting the train roll thru our room. LOL Its all good. At least Genica slep thru it. At least she said she did. I will post a link to all pictures on FB in Tuesdays post.

Day 233

Robert is training for a marathon in Dec. Today him and Dominic got up at 5:30 to run 12 miles. I was going to sleep in, but instead I started watching TV. Then Austin crawled into bed with me and we started watching one of my very favorite movies, A Walk To Remember. I can watch this over and over again and I cry every single time. I told Austin if he didn't want to see me cry to leave the room. Well he did and then came back looking like The miner from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.(at least I think so) LOL His brothers thought he looked like Zach Galifiankis from The Hangover. That started me cracking up. He's such a sweetheart. Then we took Dominic to his UofR send off party at one of the Alumni's house's. It was a very nice meet and greet. There are about 11 kids from Nevada that are going to UofR. From there we went straight to pick up the computer he picked out yesterday. I got me a web cam finally so Skype here I come. LOL Now I sit here when I should be sleeping. We are leaving at 6:00-6:30 for San Diego.

Day 232

Took Dominic to look for his computer since the other day I had no clue what I was doing. We went to Office Depot and talked to the guy we spoke to the other day. He told us to come back tomorrow and he would give us a really good deal. I'm cool with that. I like deals. After, we came home and for whatever reason, I got in the mood to scrapbook. I haven't been in the mood for several months. I took my stuff out sat down and put on the Raiders game, started scrapping, texted my friends and got busy. Then Dominic had to come and ask to use my computer. Well right there just broke my mood to scrap. Then the Raiders had to go and lose. Come on now it started off as a great day. LOL I guess I will finish the mini album I was working on tomorrow since it is for Vanessa and we will be seeing her on Tues. Can't wait.
*side note. Went to Old Navy today and tried on a size 6 pair of shorts. I got them on and buttoned up, but they were a little snug around the middle still. So I'm guessing by end of the month I could possibly be in that size. That is if I can still work out. I pulled a muscle in my lower back. I'm going to be so upset if I can't work out.

Day 231

Genica came over this morning to do our Friday workout. I really didn't want to do it because my back was hurting. Im glad she pushed me to finish it. She is so excited about our up coming trip to Cali. I hope we have a good time. Well I know we will. Anyway I laid in the pool maybe a little too long and burnt my bum pretty good. Kind of hurts to sit down. In the mean time I had told Glenda to come on over and just come to the back. Well I was wrapped up in conversation with a good friend while laying there and she scared the heck out of me. It was kind of funny. I forgot I told her to just come on in. We went inside to chat. I missed her. The boys all on their own decided to do their closets. I was in shock. they actually did a really good job. Now if I can just get them to put the clothes they took out in a bag for me to take to charity all would be good.

Day 230

First day I've been to XC practice since it started the day after 4th of July. Coach :( needed parents to drive the kids up to Mt. Charleston. I love going up there so of course I said I would. When we got up there the temps were in the low 50's. A big difference then down by the house. almost 90 at 6:00 am. It felt really nice. Cyndi, me and another mom walked 3 miles. No way was I going to run on rocks. I can just see it now, my picture all over FB if I had fallen. NO THANKS. Boys all did good. I saw this carved on a tree and I just had to get a picture of it. Then it was home but not before a Slurpee run. Seems like the kids like to get them after a good run.
Oh an yes another picture of me. I am really trying to post pics to see my progress. I just need to see the results as I go.