Halloween meets Michael's Birthday!

 My sister Amy is great at hosting and throwing parties and she especially loves playing dress up.  Last year we had a Harry Potter Halloween Party which was super cute.  My dad made a great Hagrid!  Well this year Amy chose a Zombi theme.  The doctors and scientists were trying to come up with a vaccine against a host of diseases... The research took a turn when the vaccine started turning people into Zombies.  Here are some pictures of family and friends who came to rescue the remaining survivors at the Lab.

Michael is not for dressing up so he threw on a mask and pretended to be a zombie killer from off the street.

Some how we didn't take any pictures during thanksgiving.  But we did get pictures on Michael's birthday three days later.  Michael turned 26 this year.  He got new glasses and contacts from my Mom... poor Michael has needed an eye appointment for some time now and I have just been too cheap to get him one.  A video game from me, he picked it out of course.  We are terrible at surprising each other with gifts.  He always knows what he is getting.  Amy gave him a best buy card which he has already spent.  His sister Cammy gave him a football and Steve and Gloria got him a cute children's book called Pingo.  He read it to me in bed the other night.  Michael's grandma Hernandez would call him and the other grandchildren pingo; A term of endearment for little devil or little menace.  I hope he had a good birthday.  I felt badly because I didn't get to spend much of Saturday with him due to work.  Here are a few pictures of the birthday boy. 

The Foothills

The Boise Foothills have many hiking, biking, and pet friendly trails to explore and enjoy.  Michael and I  explored Camel's Back/Hulls Gulch Reserve this Saturday.  It was a beautiful little hike through practically our backyard.  Thankfully this time I didn't get stung by any bees! 

   

  

 

View of Boise Capital and Down Town

From this view, you understand why Boise is called the City of Trees

Hot and Sweaty after our Hike

Women's Celebration

This weekend was fun.  Michael volunteered as an escort for St. Luke's Women's Fitness Celebration 5K.  He also stood on the side walk in his half tuxedo (dressy on top and casual on bottom) to slap hands and cheer on the runners, joggers, and casual walkers as they near the finish line.  Following the race there was a fun concert and lots of dancing.  Michael got to dance with an older lady on the concert stage.  Here are some photos.

Several husbands came to celebrate the women in their lives. I think they are adorable.

Last runner to cross the finish line.

Michael escorting a senior runner and dancing across the stage.

Later that day we enjoyed the company of Josh and Whitney Blauer.  Josh is back from Iraq and Michael was able to be with his bestie for an evening.  Those kids are silly when they get together.  We watched the Boise state game at the Sub because we don't have the CBS sports channel and the student guest tickets were all sold out. :( The game was fun and the crowd really gets into the game at the Student union which definitely adds to the excitement.  To end the night right we went for frozen yogurt; It was a delicious ending to a great night.

Bee Sting Business

Every summer since I can remember I have encountered an angry bee, wasp, or hornet and came out a sore loser.  I've had multiple stings on my ankles, a sting on my face, thigh, arm and hand... Friday, I went for a walk up to the foothills and took a little adventure along the river trails.  On my way up the final hill, I felt a sharp stinging sensation radiating from my knee.  As I bent over to take a look at my knee I rested my hands on my shorts... inadvertently I trapped the stinging bugger under my clothing.  The hornet stung me again higher up on my thigh.  I was a little over a mile away from my apartment and decided to run home.  The running helped lessen the pain and irritation.  But I think it might have helped make the venom spread a little faster. Thinking the sting would go away on its own, I ignored it.  I woke up in the middle of the night with severe itching.  The redness and swelling around the upper part of my thigh was 3'' in diameter.  I took some medicine and hoped for the best.  The itching got worse and so Michael got me some generic cortizone 10 cream from Walgreen's.  The itching continued all day Saturday.  I tried Ice, the cream and benadryl with little success.  Actually the ice felt really good...I just ran out of ice.  Saturday the swelling/redness measured 7" across.  Here is a picture of my itchy inflammation/battle wounds (please ignore my thunder thighs).  I am guessing that my immune response heightened it security the second go around... probably why my inflammation is so much larger on my upper thigh. Sunday the redness and itching had lessened.  The skin is still tight and inflamed a bit but at least its getting better.  Imagine what I would look like if I had gotten stung 50 times!

Updates Finally

Our blog was greatly overlooked this spring and summer and now that we are back in the swing of things and settled into our new apartment, I thought it was time for a brief update.

• Chelsi Left on her Mission to the Alpine-German Speaking mission in March.
• Sister Megan Hernandez is already half way done with her mission in Bolivia.
• We got baby DUCKS in the spring and raised them over the summer. Now they are laying eggs!
  
• We recently moved back to Boise and enjoy the North end environment.
  
• We had our annual Hernandez Family Camp at Indian Springs in Aug.
• We enjoyed the Cassia County and Western Idaho Fair Food....mmmm.
  
• Michael is finally a BSU Radiography tech student.
• I am in my last year of nursing school.
• And now for the most EXCITING news... We are going to have another baby niece or nephew in March from Juliana and Josh! I'm hoping for a nephew.

Easter Egg Hunt

Shoshone Falls

Crazy Lilly

Baby Ducks

Little Aurora wouldn't smile for the camera.

The stream at Indian Springs kept all the kids entertained.

Holly's Family Photo

I survived Valentine's Day!

This was my first year helping out at the flower shop on Valentine's Day.  It was crazy!  I thought we had way too many flowers and I really wondered how on earth we would sell them all.  Here is how the day panned out.  An hour before the store even opened the phone was ringing off the hook and we had our parking lot filled with men and women waiting outside.  We had close to 200 deliveries and many carry out orders that it was difficult to keep up.  Dad was the all star delivery person along with our newest employee Camile, a senior in high school, who skipped school for the day to get the real feel of V-day! Boy, were we glad she could help out! We had a lot of good help which made things work in our favor.  We sold out of every color rose but 1.5 dozen orange.  It was amazing.  The cooler looked empty by the end of the day.  We worked so fervently during the day that we were able to get out of the flower shop by 6:00 pm. Valentine's Day was a success.

Following the long day at work I made my way back to Boise to get ready for nursing clinical Tuesday morning.  It was sad being away from my sweetheart on such a fun holiday, but I survived.  Michael wrote me a very sweet Valentine's Day card which definitely helped make my day brighter. 

Chelsi got her Mission Call!

Chelsi recieved her mission call this week!  We all gathered in the flowershop to watch her open her letter and to discover where she would go.  She has been called to the Alpine-German speaking mission.  Little Chelsi bug is going to be near the beautiful Alps! Her mission covers southern Germany, parts of Switzerland, Austria, and Liechtenstein.  She leaves March 23, just intime for her to finish her internship in San Diego.  Michael will now have someone to practice his German with once she gets home.  We are very excited to have two missionaries in our family serving.  Megan and Chelsi are a great blessing to our family.