The Franco Familia!

Now my family is a completely different story. We're diverse but in our own crazy way. On my side I have a Mom, a Dad, two Sistas', a Bro and an Abuelita. Slightly on the boring side, I know, but would you be more amazed if I told you we all look Mexican except for one! Ha! Different I know. Mom and Dad still live in Kaysville but come from very different backgrounds. My mom grew up here in Utah and my dad is from Nicaragua. I know it's a long word but say it out-loud a few times and you'll get the hang of it. My dad thinks he's hilarious all the time (That's probably where I get my funniness from!) and my mom just sits back and lets him try to be funny. They're dedicated T.V. watchers! Even though they both work full time, we TIVO pretty much everything and catch up on all our shows over the weekend together. Great times! They have four kids. Me, then Josie, then the twins, Ellie and Erick. Josie just graduated from high school and is trying out the independent thing down in West Valley, living with an aunt, an uncle and a cousin. She's loving it and although we miss her a lot, when she does come around, it's great fun! Ellie's the crazy one in the family. She's probably the funniest person I know, and the funny part is she knows she's funny. Bad combination, let me tell you! Erick is the chill one in the family, and I'm sure you have to be growing up the youngest with three older sisters. He's taller than us all and it's crazy to think he used to be so small. My abuelita (grandma in spanish) has lived with my parents since I can remember. She's the sweetest little old lady, doesn't speak a lick of English really, and makes the best food ever. Seriously. She's got magic in the kitchen. She understands some English but can't really speak it. Don't believe me? Call my parents house in the middle of the day and ask for me. You'll laugh, but we love her anyway. We all have that touch of Latin in us and the Franco parties are wild. Trust me!

From left to right: Erick "Cito" Jr., Erick Sr., and Patrick.


From left to right: Josie, Mom, Ellie, and Me.

ABELITA!!! She's crazy, I promise!

The Becker-Raymonds....

Patrick's family is very different than most but we love them all. He has a Mom, a Papa, a Dad, a Taff Mom, a Bro, two Sistas', an Emily, and a Baby! Crazy I know. Confused? I'm sure you are. I'm not going to go into details cuz the story is far too long, but we're all family. Mom lives in Bountiful and is a teacher and home school specialist. She's great with kids! Papa lives in Washington State and works as a secutity guard at a local hospital. He used to be a cop and he's got some crazy stories. Dad and the Taff Mom, a.k.a. Barry and Taffee, live just outside of Pheonix. They are amazing people. We have had some great times just sitting at the dining room table playing Canasta! We love that game! (They have a very famous person in their ward in Arizona, and I won't say who it is because most girls would be jealous and go crazy and I can't do that to you guys.) Patrick has a brother and two sisters: Garrick, Victoria, and Natalie. Garrick is married to Emily and they have a bouncing baby boy Braxton! They are such a cute couple and I absolutely love love love being an aunt! I'm the oldest in my family and it's so much fun having an older brother and sister now. Victoria and Natalie live up in Washington with their mom and Papa. They are too cute and too hilarious to capture in words! Victoria's going to BYU now (Guys, she's taken. I'm sorry!) and Natalie is on the volleyball team at her high school. They were in town the other day and it was so much fun having them around. So, that in a quick nut shell is the Becker/Raymond family!

From left to right: Patrick, Lilly, Me, Dad, Garrick, Victoria, Mom Taffee, and Emily.

From Left to Right: Patrick, Grandpa, Braxton, Emily, Garrick, Me, Lilly and Mom.

From Left to Right: Garrick, Braxton, and Emily

The Raymond Residence

Now, most of you reading this are probably thinking, "Weird family, those two are! I wonder if their place is just as crazy as they are." Well, it is! Our crazy house has a personality of its own.... **In my best announcer voice** And now for the grand tour of the Raymond Residence. :) We live in Layton/Kaysville. It's pretty on the border of the two cities and it's such a cute little area. We have a 4 bedroom, 2 bath, rambler. (Sounds funny... rambler! Ha!) Anyway, it's so different living in a home you don't own and owning the home you live in. We lived in apartments once a long, long time ago and it was fun starting out but then I realized I couldn't let my creative juices just flow as easily. We you own your own home you can do whatever you want to it. We decorated somewhat, but have mostly worked on the yard. The extremely large tree in the back yard that you can see in this pic is gone. We had it removed. It was a sad day for me but Patrick loved it! He also built us a beautiful fence. It's been amazing because living on a corner lot with your back open to the entire community can be a bit revealing. We never had any privacy or free space it seemed like but now... I can go outside and not have the neighbor dog charge our little Lilly. We've torn out a few other trees since we've been there and are still making small improvements. Someday, it'll be breath taking! You'll see. Anywho, the inside is fully done but not fully decorated. It's a work in progress (like most aspects of my life are.) Patrick and I have each claimed a spare room as our own, his and her offices. We also have a cute guest room and a large laundry room that's just kinda there... Once I get rooms more completely decorated I'll post some pics.

Lilly Munch!

The next member of the family is our little girl, Lilly. She's little, and she's a girl, but not quite what you think... She's our puppy! Lilly is a pure bred miniture dachshund. She's just barely over a year old and is the cutest thing ever. (We're allowed to be biased!) She's so funny and actually quite intelligent for her breed of dog. She plays fetch and tug-a-war and has done quite well with the potty training thing. We also havent' had too many problems with the whole "puppy chewing" thing. She had a few blunders early on, but hasn't done anything too bad ever since. She loves the outdoors and loves other dogs. Most other dogs! :) In fact, she does have a friend. His name is Howard and it's her only stuffed animal she plays with. They have a very interesting relationship, those two! She can be playing rough with the poor guy trying to rip him to shreds and dragging him all over the house, or, and please don't judge her for she's a little strange, she chomp's down on his muzzle and falls asleep right on him kneeding him, like a cat would do. I know it sounds scrazy and i'll have to post a video for proof. It's the funniest thing I've seen a dog do, truely! Another different trait our puppy has is her tail. If any of you have seen her and not heard the story, you would probably think that Patrick and I are abusive "parents" and smashed or broke her tail in a door or something but I want to reassure you that is not the case. Although, her tail is visibly bent, it's not our fault. She was the first puppy out of her mother at birth and her tail was broken then. It healed broken and the vet said it should be fine and not bother her at all. Luckily, it hasn't! She doesn't even notice, but people sure do notice her. We love it! She's unique and ours and we love her!

Just throwing off the Swing of Things!!

Hello All! Patrick here.. Just poppin in to say Hello! Beki didn't want me to because it would throw off the swing of things but that's what I do! So here it is! I'm throwin it off! Goodbye!

I guess I'm next...

To quickly sum myself up, since I don't really like to talk about myself... ;) I was born on January 31, 1987 in Salt Lake City. Unlike my husband, I haven't lived in too many places. My parents took us from Salt Lake to Kaysville and they've been there ever since. I have three "youngins", as I like to call them. They're Josie, Ellie, and Erick. They'll have to wait till their turn, this post is about me! :) Anywho, I graduated from Davis High a few years ago with some great friends and we all moved on to college and missionary days. I went to Weber State and graduated this spring with my Bachelors of Arts in Accounting (that's a mouthful!) That's pretty much it! I love to hang out with my friends and my family. With Patrick in school, I've spent a lot of evenings with my parents and it's so much fun! I currently work for a company called Axis41. We are a marketing and design company. Ha Ha! I love Dr. Pepper. Mmmm! (Just thought I'd throw that in!) Well, back tracking just slightly for a little about the "us" factor, during my senior year I met Patrick. We dated some and not some (if that makes sense) and we finally buckled down and tied the knot. We got married August 11, 2006 in the Bountiful Temple. For awhile we lived in Bountiful but eventually moved into a house on the Kaysville/Layton border, literally. It's great having a home but rough being a home owner, if you get my drift. Anyhey, that's my life.... and I love it!

OUR FAMILY!!

Because I'm so new at this and not many people really know what we've been up to the last few years, I'm gonna start off with a few "get-to-know-you" posts. The first victim is my husband! :) Smile sweetie! You know you love it! Well his name is Patrick Raymond. He was born on October 27 and his Social Security Number is.... JK! Ha! Anyway, Patrick has been all around this town. He was born in California, and has lived all over Washington and Utah. He has a bunch of great parents and a really cool older brother, Garrick. We'll get to them later. Patrick has a love for all things fashion and style. He's currently finishing his last few weeks at Paul Mitchell The School where he's at the "top of his class." He's won a few competitions, even one that got him a ticket to Signature, a huge Paul Mitchell event in sunny Las Vegas a few weeks ago! He's a great hair stylist and absolutely loves what he does in the Salon. It's great having my own personal stylist at my leisure! Right honey?! Anyway, he also works at Marriott Vacation Club International. Although it's not his dream job, he's sticking it out till graduation. In the mean time, the employee benefits at Marriott are great! Cheap hotel nights are always welcome! Patrick is a fun and pretty funny guy. He always tries to make a party more poppin', and loves to have a great time. His laugh is contagious and so are his hugs. He's the absolute love of my life and am very grateful he fell in love with me.

Hmmmm......

So I've decided to jump on the band wagon and start a blog... Now, most people start blogs at significant milestones in their wonderful and blessed lives, like weddings, babies, yada yada, but i'm starting this blog on a regular weekday, nothing significant, nothing out of the ordinary, just a regular old day. Nice....