Ismael & Araceli

Let's Celebrate

2011-06-13T09:15:00.000-07:00

Julian turned one and it is crazy to think that a year ago I had a tiny little baby in my arms. Now I have a 1 year old who is always on the run and doesn't want to be in my arms unless its nap time. He is such a boy, exploring everything, climbing, and jumping all over the place. He is keeping us on our feet, but we adore him and love every minute of his life. For his birthday party we had a Mickey Mouse themed party. I went hard at work making a few things on my own and help from the family and Cricut.

The invitation, you would pull out the card and it would reveal the address.

The birthday banner that I am so happy as to how it turned out.

Centerpieces made by me and of course we could not have a party with out chips and salsa

I made a guest book with the left over material from the invitations.

Mickey Mouse rice crispy treats for our guests.

Julian and dad with his Mickey Mouse balloon

Another pic of the birthday banner all set up

Julian loved jumping around in his bouncy house

A Family Picture

all of the children that helped celebrate with us

Pinata full of yummy candy

Since he started walking just two weeks before his birthday, Julian didn't want to pose for the camera. He just wanted to walk all around.

Thank you to everyone who joined us in the celebration!

Thank you Norma and Antonio for allowing us to celebrate our baby's first birthday in your lovely home!

Catching Up

2011-05-04T08:12:00.000-07:00

Hello again, it's been a long time since we last posted anything and well we've been pretty busy and sick. Those "colds" were actually symptoms from Julian's ear infections that he had for 4 straight months. Julian is finally feeling better!!! He took too many antibiotics, had high fevers, developed bronchiolitis and got an stronger antibiotic in a shot before the ear specialist decided to put ear tubes in. Almost two weeks after his quick surgery, the congestion, cough and runny nose has ended (relived mom). We stayed low during that time, not too much went by.

Julian did such a great job!! I was so worried that he was going to have a fit the morning of his surgery as he loves his milk. But he was easily distracted as he normaly is with the lighting, couches, toys and of course bubbles. And as a true Child Life Specialist mommie I had Julian try on and play with the anesthesia mask and he did good. I wasn't even nervous of the surgery as I was more worried about him getting upset over not eating. We got there at 6:30am, got him in his hospital pj's, took his vitals, played a little bit and by 8:40am he was in surgery. I got to go in until he fell asleep. He did cry a little after the anesthesia started but he quickly fell asleep and started snoring right away. I gave him his kiss and went out to wait in the lobby. At about 9am, I was called to recovery where he was crying waiting for mommie to feed him. We were out of the hospital a little before 10am on our way home. Once home Julian napped for almost 3 hours.

We hardly went anywhere during the 4 months of Julian's illness because he had constant runny nose. I kept thinking it was a cold so therefore I didnt not want to have other kids exposed to it. This one time we made an exception, he was looking a little better so we went to Universal Studios and as you can see by the way he was dressed I was still being an over protective mother and made sure he was all warm.
Then when he started taking antibiotics we decided to take him on his first trip to the park. He was not too thrilled about the swing so not too many pictures of that. But he sure did love the slide, ducks and scaring away the pigeons. He also has so much love towards his big cousin Chuy and enjoys playing with him.

Julian now has 8 teeth, started to pull himself up and walk around holding on at 10 months. Little by little he figured out how to get to different parts of the house by holding on to furniture, toys, people's legs, and of course crawling super fast.

At 11 months he started to show more confidence and two weeks before his birthday he decided he was a big boy and started walking on his own. Now we are on our toes constantly keeping our eye on our toddler. He still hasn't said any words although he babbles a lot so I'm curious to hear what will be his first word. A few weeks back I thought I heard momma but it was in this form momamamam....and he only said it once so not too sure if that meant momma.

Here's a picture with all of his cousins except Chuy. Just the other day Lalo told me "tia, julian is the best cousing and I love him very much" and I love lalo too :)

Ismael bought me a cool camera for my birthday and well its kind of hard to pick my favorite pictures from one pose so I did my best.

Sometime in the near future I will post all about Julian's one year and I will try to make one before his next year ..lol ok within the next two weeks :)

8 Months/Christmas/New Year

2011-01-02T14:20:00.000-08:00

Well it has been some pretty busy couple of weeks. After Thanksgiving Julian came down with what his pediatrician swore were the chicken pox. Although they were a mild case I am not truly convinced that they were the chicken pox. He was a normal little guy, continuing to play, laugh and learn. He had very little episodes of itchiness, a runny nose and one fever during this whole ordeal that started half way through his "mild case of the chicken pox". Then as I was starting to see him get cleared he then got another cold. I do not know what is up with my little guy as he tends to get a cold every month. The saddest part to this cold is that he had it right during Christmas with fevers and all. He still has his cough and some runny nose now but it is starting to clear up (or I hope it is). So I have been busy caring for this cute boy. But we did get a break in between illnesses to visit Santa at the mall.

In the week after visiting Santa, Ismael started to feel sick. He too was sick over Christmas with fevers and body aches. I do not know what exactly got into Ismaels system but he is just too getting over what ever he had. So I have been out of the house only to go to work then come home to care for my two boys, its been tough trying to stay sane and not catch anything. Finally on New Years we got to go out briefly to go get our Disney Passes before our tickets expired. Now with the rain again I do not know when we will be out and about the town. But I am determined this year to make lots of memories. Getting out and exploring cool things around California and why not even out of state. For the moment enjoy our few Christmas memories.

CHRISTMAS EVE AT GRANDMA REBECAS

CHRISTMAS MORNING

CHRISTMAS DAY AT GRANDMA ESCOBAR

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-27T18:18:00.000-08:00

This year was Julian's first Thanksgiving and mommys first time cooking and hosting thanksgiving dinner. Daddy was a big help as he cared for Julian while mom prepared the dishes. At times I was a bit nervous thinking dinner would be way late or that I would burn something and there wouldnt be any dinner at all. But it was a success with just one burn on my hand that I referr to as my "Thanksgiving Badge". Hope everyone had a geat Thanksgiving with their loved ones. I know we did, Enjoy the pictures :)

7 Months

2010-11-21T23:55:00.001-08:00

Another month went by... really? Well we have been having some fun, trying to squeeze it in when mom and dad are both off work and there are no gigs/band practices to attend. We went again to Knott's and will be going more often now since we have season passes. Julian got to ride on his first ride attraction. He also got to play a game and won a prize.

We went to Disneyland, Julian's first time. He loves the theme song to the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. When ever it comes on he stops what he is doing and looks over to the television and with full attention. When we are in the car and he begins to get fussy, I put on the song on my phone and he calms down. So of course we had to take him to Disneyland to meet Mickey. He reached out for Mickeys nose and could not stop looking at him. I like how he is not afraid of these huge characters that we get near (hopefully it stays that way).

He is such a good boy when we are outdoors. He enjoys people watching, lights and trees. For some reason he stopped being a fan of the car rides. He does well when the ride lasts about 10 minutes. Anything longer than that he cries until the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse song comes on.

6 Months

2010-10-21T17:48:00.000-07:00

It's been a lovable, learning, exciting, exhausting (at times), and fun 6 months since Julian arrived. My doctor asked me if I still did not want to make a return, and my answer is NO. I am deeply in love with my little man, not a second goes by that I do not think of him. Ismael believes the same too. Julian is now getting his third tooth and has been a good boy about it. He is such an explorer. He reaches out for toys, food, paper, books but rarely does he reach out for people. Don't get me wrong, he's also a people person. He does not mind getting passed around from one family member/friend to another. He LOVES food, He is willing to try everything. He started with rice cereal and now eats pureed vegetables, fruits and meats. He's also tasted chicken soup and of course chocolate and lollipops thanks to his Godmother, and he loved it. He enjoys his jumper and walker. Rolls over more often and pushes himself up but yet has to figure out how to scoot around. Oh and he babbles and babbles and babbles, boy I hope he is more of a talker than his mom.

We baptized Julian last month and his Godmother flew in from Kansas for the special day and Ismael's brother is Julian's Godfather. He was a good boy throughout the 1 hour ceremony, did not cry at all.

For his 6th month, we went to get pictures taken since I did not get them when he was a newborn. I figured it was time to do so. He was a great sport, smiles the whole time.

Have a Safe and Happy Halloween

from our little Dragon <3

5 Months

2010-09-21T21:17:00.000-07:00

WOW!! Time is sure flying by. Julian is growing lots, at times I forget that I am holding a baby that is 5 months old and not an 8 month old. He wants everything in his hands then in his mouth. He loves his jumper and likes rolling around in his walker. No long trips this month and we stayed away from Knott's but we hung out with lots of family.

This is a short post as we have not been feeling well. Julian is coming out of a cold, while dad and mommy are feeling a little under the weather. Also mom is keeping busy with the little man, full time work, household chores and planning Julian's baptism. Well enjoy the pictures :)

Crystal with Julian and Mom

Cousin J.P.

Cousin Francisco, he helps Grandma take care of Julian

Sunday Outing

hmm tasting Elmo

Not so yummy

Grandma and Grandpa's birthday and all the cousins

Cheese

Cheese 2

Cheese 3

Cheese break

Can you see his two teeth??

4 Months

2010-08-22T21:57:00.001-07:00

Wow has a month already gone by? Well we've kept busy once again going to Vegas, Knott's and visiting family. What can I say, I love taking Julian out and about. Julian is such a good baby and enjoys being anywhere with anyone. That stranger anxiety has not kicked in, and by the way Julian is, I am not too sure he will have that. He's a peoples kind of guy. His smile is still the best, melts my heart every time he shows it. He can be sleeping and wake up all of a sudden, look up at me, smile then go right back to sleep right away. He loves it at grandmas house and loves seeing all of his cousins. We can already see there will be trouble once Julian starts walking. Julian is also starting to reach for things to put in his mouth, including his toes. He's rolled over a couple of times. And he is making many more sounds. He amazes people by how big he is and how attentive he gets. Julian continues to go with grandma to her English classes every morning. According to grandma he's also a good student. He sits there attentively and almost seems as if he is reading along with the rest of the class when the students have to read to the teacher. What can I say he loves his books. Hope that continues on to when he grows up. So many pictures have been taken of this little guy that its so hard to decide which ones to post on the blog. Here are just a few ;)

At Knott's Berry Farm being held by his big cousin

All of his partners in crime...his favorite cousins!

Happy Baby

Another trip to Las Vegas

Two of his favorite ladies :)

Morning hair

Always wanting to see what others are seeing

Notice his tongue?? Well that's his comfort now that he is teething. He has one tooth out already and another one making its way. He's such a good baby that teething doesn't ruin his day. Didn't get sick and hardly gets fussy. I have not been able to get a good shot of his teeth but don't worry I'm working on that. As soon as I figure out how to get all of my pictures from the cell phone onto the computer with out having to email them, I will post more on the blog.

3 Months

2010-07-21T21:13:00.001-07:00

It's now 5 weeks since I went back to work. It has been tough not being with Julian all day long, but we've adjusted a little. Still, there are days when I am at work that I want to go home really bad just to hold my boy. But he is well taken care of by my mom and his two cousins that grandma takes care of too. It is so sweet to hear that Julian's 8 year old cousin Francisco does not like it when grandma goes outside the house for a second while Julian sleeps. Every time that happens he runs to his bedside and sits there with him quietly until grandma get back inside. He also loves holding Julian and Julian likes it when he holds him that he falls asleep with no problem or hesitation. Another favorite cousin of Julian is his 4 year old cousin Fabiola. She has been reciting the alphabet to him since he was just a few weeks old. Up to this date he still listens to her attentively and smiling. His cousin Eduardo helps grandma when it comes to bathing Julian. It sure does take a village to raise a child :)

Julian has grown so much and its crazy to think that just 3 months ago he had tiny fingers that he kept curled up all the time. Now he's starting to become more aware of his surroundings. He likes music which is no surprise given the fact that dad loves music. He loves it when we sing to him, and his love for "reading" just keeps growing. He is starting to giggle and laugh more and of course he keeps smiling all the time. He is truly a happy baby. He now sleeps through most of the night only waking up once to feed. A couple of times he has even slept the whole night waking up until 6am which is the time I get up to get my day started. He also stays awake and happy during the day for longer periods allowing me to get some chores done. I am a lucky mom to have a good baby:)

Always smiling

So attentive during reading time

Fabiola reciting the alphabet to Julian

His first trip to a theme park

Meet Snoopy but Julian was more interested on his hand

exploring his first rattle

Again such a happy baby even on car rides

He like to be swaddled when hes just too tired

Just relaxing with mom after work

Relaxing with dad after work

On his way to grandma's early in the morning

Tummy time

Road Trip

2010-06-14T15:59:00.000-07:00

At 7 weeks old Julian joins us on our first road trip to Las Vegas. Last place I would ever think of taking a new born baby for a weekend. But since dad has family that lives in Vegas, we headed out there this past weekend for a family party and for dads family to meet our big boy. We headed out friday night, Julian did so well. He slept thru most of the trip only waking up for feedings, and once we arrived he stayed up until 1am. Saturday was the party, an all day event to which I was worried Julian was going to be cranky from the late night before. But he was a sweet calm baby despite not having many naps during the day. On Sunday we headed back home and this time baby did fuss a little but still not too bad. We just made sure he had a clean dry diaper, was well fed and had the air conditioner on.

Julian is growing and growing not only in size but also in brains :). He likes it when we read to him. I would say his favorite book is I Love You Trough and Through (thanks Wendi). He smiles when we read it everytime. Julian is starting to discover his hands and sucking on them. The other night we noticed him sucking on his thumb, I wanted to stop him but he looked so cute doing it. Luckily he only did it for a few second. He also smiles more often now everytime we talk to him. He looks for us when we call him and we're not in his view. The best part of all is that he knows I am his mommy. If he's crying with dad, the second I take him he stops crying. If someone else is holding him and I talk to him he starts to look for me and when he sees me he stares and smiles (my heart melts everytime).

Julian all dressed up and ready to go to his cousins promotion ceremony

Now I am just one day away from going back to work. As all moms say "I dont want to go back" but I need to if I want to give my baby all of the best. So I am taking in these last hours I have with him and making sure he knows I am his mama and love him very much.

A month old....

2010-06-01T15:54:00.000-07:00

Julian is now a month old, where has the time gone? So much learning has taken place since we brought our little one home from the hospital. The number one lesson; Julian is the boss of the household. Everything is done around his schedule, my plans and my schedules go out the window. Just when I am getting used to his sleeping schedule he goes and changes it around. I was getting used to having him sleep at 9pm and not waking up til 2 or 3am for feeds and fall right back to sleep. But this last weekend he decided that he wanted to go to sleep at 6pm wake up at 10pm and remain awake til 12am. This causes him to wake up late in the morning and sleeping more often in the day time, which is when mom is awake doing chores. Meaning I am lacking lots of sleep. Julian has also done the typical trick that little boys do and that is pee all over the bed during diaper change. Also he has had a couple of poop explosions, where it gets all over his clothes and misses half the diaper. Despite this he is still a good baby and I love and enjoy every second I am with him.

Ismael and I also celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary and this was the first time Julian was away from mom for 3 hours. Julian stayed with grandma while mommy and daddy went to dinner. It was pretty rough for me to be away from Julian so I rushed trough dinner only to get home to Julian sooner.

Now I am only 15 days away from going back to work. Just thinking about it gets me teary eyed. I am not looking forward to that day. The only thing that makes it just a tiny bit better is knowing that my mom will be taking care of him.

How can I stay away from this handsome little boy?

Julian joins us

2010-05-01T11:55:00.000-07:00

My due date came and went, and there were no signs of Julian wanting to join us. He was just way to comfortable in my belly, I think it had to do with all the cookies and milk I loved eating =)

Then something started to happen at week 41. I began feeling contractions and had some spotting. As a first time pregnant lady and not knowing what to expect, I called my doctor to tell him what was going on. He then told me to just go to the hospital and get checked out. So Monday afternoon we got admitted but an hour later we were told it wasn't time yet. My contractions were only 10 minutes apart and I was only dilated 2cm. So back home we went. That night my contractions started to slow down and even on Tuesday they were now about 30 minutes apart. Everyone was excited that the time was near, especially my sister who took me for a long walk that afternoon. I got home exhausted from the walk. That night my contractions started to get closer again but only 10 minutes apart. I tried going to bed and resting but had no luck since these contractions were coming every ten minutes. At about 1 in the morning I started to notice they were now anywhere between 6 to 8 minutes apart. i started to think this might be the day and wether or not I should rush to the hospital. Not wanting to get sent back home I just took a shower and kept timing my contractions. With no sleep, tired and hurting I had a doctors appointment Wednesday morning. My sister in law Betty drove me as I was still getting my contractions every 6 to 8 minutes and even 4 minutes apart at times. Then finally, after checking me, my doctor decides that it was time and sent me straight to the hospital. I was now 3 cm dilated. Betty called my husband as he had went to work and I informed my sister. So I was admitted a little before 10am and Julian was born at 9:44pm that's about 12 hours in labor at the hospital and not counting the entire night before. People started asking me "oh ready for the next one?" and so far my answer is NO! Back labor was very painful, I did ask for some meds but decided not to have an epidural. I did get morphine but it was useless, it did not ease my pain not one bit. Just thinking about it, I still feel the pain and pressure on my back with every contraction. The three people I had with me supporting me and encouraging me through it all were my husband, my sister Norma and sister in law Betty. In the end I got my precious "big" boy who came out weighing 9lbs. 10oz and measuring 22 inches. I should have maybe cut back on the cookies and milk shakes =} We came home on Friday afternoon and I had flowers to welcome us home, I love flowers. Maximus was a bit concerned once Julian started crying but now he simply stays under the bed caring for us. He also got used to people coming over and not wanting to jump all over them. I accidentally misplaced Julian's pacifier but max found it. So auntie Norma bought Julian a new paci and we are keeping it far away from max. Dad has been pretty happy to have Julian and whenever he's home he tries to be helpful and give mommy some napping time (if Julian is up for it). My mom has also been taking really good care of us. Making sure I eat, helping with keeping my house clean, and bathing Julian.

10 days old

Our Sweet "Mo"

2010-04-10T22:10:00.000-07:00

So we've had our doggy for over a year now and boy has he grown and we've grown to love him lots. We've come up with so many nick names that he really doesn't respond to maximus anymore but he does respond to: Mo, momo, baluga, max, little pig, and sometimes molicious.He loves to be around us, gets extremely hyper when people come over that he needs to be put in his kennel, and loves to sleep. And at the sound of an earthquake, he makes a big deal to bark and run like crazy towards the door as if we're being invaded and he's ready to save us from harm. He truly is a sweet dog despite his malicious looks and being 61lbs. Now please enjoy some pics of our "tough" sweet doggy.

1. he loves taking in the sun

2. he loves to be loved

3. he definately does not like to be put in clothes!

38 Weeks

2010-03-29T12:12:00.000-07:00

So I am now 38 weeks, and no sign of baby yet. I have been feeling some braxton hicks but not too many. Baby still activie and moving around stretching mommys belly 'til he can no longer push it out. Daddy and mommy had dreams where they held baby in their arms and compared them. According to our dreams we will have a baby with lots of dark straight hair, chubby cheeks and to our surprise he will not be as light skinned as his parents. The due date is fastly approaching that we will soon get to see our little bundle of joy.

In the past month mommy has been pretty tired. This last week was the begining of her maternity leave. Been doing alot of organizing and resting in between. We've been so blessed that we had two baby showers. One from mommys lovely co- workers and the second a 'surprise' baby shower by mommy and daddys family. Daddy painted the room and got to buy and put together the crib. Mommy got to decorate it after with all of the fun things that we got at our baby showers. I believe we are now ready for baby's arrival, when ever that would be, but there is alot of anxious members in the family waiting too.

Here are just some pics of the room:

Later I will post some pics of our baby shower.

11 Weeks To Go

2010-01-26T19:41:00.000-08:00

UNBELIEVABLE!!! I can not believe how fast my pregnancy has gone. It seems like only yesterday I had found out we were going to be parents and now I am 29 weeks. 2nd trimester went by with a few bumps such as another cold, bad enough to keep me up an entire night and out of work. Not only did I get a cold but also constipation issues that also kept me up all night too in the same weekend. Now in my third trimester, I am starting to get a little more tired. I am also starting to understand why some pregnant women wobble :/ But it is all worth it, as all mothers I know have said.

Last night we went for our 3D/4D ultrasound because we just couldn't wait until Julian's arrival to see who he is starting to look like. (Btw we decided to name the baby Julian Ismael). Julian was shy and not wanting to show his face but after a while of mom moving around he gave in and even gave us a smile. We came to a conclusion that he has mom's lips and will have dad's eyes. Ismael finally got to hear the baby's heart beat too and he loved it and was excited about that. It was an awesome experience. While waiting for our pictures I read this quote by Maureen Hawkins that I loved:

Before you were conceived I wanted you

Before you were born I loved you

Before you were here an hour I would die for you

This is the miracle of life.

I have not met my baby yet but I know that I would die for my child the second I have him in my arms.

Now time to be an annoying mom to be and show off some pics of Julian in 3D and in moms belly :)

Week 25 Week 27 Week 29

I am enjoying my belly more than I thought I would :)

Screaming it out to the world

2009-11-25T17:45:00.000-08:00

So my husband got home and of course I wasn't simply going to tell him what we we're having so he had to do a little unwrapping (listening to xmas music lol) ....

each gift contained a pair of baby socks (different colors) and a picture from the ultrasound. I had to have him guess with each gift what he was thinking the baby looked like....boy or girl. Till the last gift where it revealed clearly what the sex of the baby is :)

It's A Boy!!!!!

Pregnancy Update

2009-11-25T14:36:00.000-08:00

So I'm halfway done with my pregnancy. 2o weeks into it and I am enjoying it. It has taken me so long to update the blogs simply because I had a tough first trimester. No energy, always tired, not able to keep anything down. Then I cought the cold, very close to getting a fever. After I started getting over my cold, Dad to be came down with what I think was the flu. He was in bed for almost two weeks. Very nerve wrecking experiences I have been through that I did not feel like posting any type of update.

But now life is getting better. I am having a great pregnancy, mom and dad to be are healthy. Dad has a job and we are getting back on our feet.

I am now feeling my sweet baby growing in my tummy. Everyone is excited for the new addition to the family, especially my god daughter Fabiola. She keeps asking when will the baby come out. My god son even told me why didn't I just go to the doctor already and have him take out the baby so they can all meet him or her.

Today I went for my 20 week ultrasound and of course to find out if it will be a girl or boy. Ismael could not go with me due to his new job so my mom went with me. She was able to hear the heart beat and find out the sex of the baby first. I of course was loving the fact that I was able to share this moment with my mom.

And I know you are all expecting me to say what I will be having but I will not be able to share the great news until Ismael finds out next. So I am trying really hard to keep my lips sealed until later tonight. In the mean time enjoy some pictures.

So if I remember correctly these pictures are from early on. The first one I definately do not remember how many weeks, for sure it was in my first trimester. The second i want to guess 12 weeks. the last one i know for sure is 20 weeks :)

Then enjoy my sweet baby that we nicknamed "lima bean". Here at 12 weeks:

Here is the baby at 20 weeks. Baby is also moving around more often now.

Happy Birthday Maximus

2009-10-03T22:29:00.000-07:00

Well Maximus turned one, he is no longer is a puppy :( But he sure is still adorable and cute.

He is now so heavy and huge that he pushes me back every time he jumps up at me. I have no idea how much he weighs, I am guessing more than 60 lbs. His favorite hobbies still include sleeping and snoring and when he's awake he loves to follow mama around the house :)

He was not a big fan of the birthday hat, he kept trying to take it off unless we held him.

Awesome News

2009-08-10T21:45:00.000-07:00

This year we celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary and our 8 years of being together. So its about time that we share with everyone that.........we are ......Pregnant........

We found out on Saturday morning and by morning I mean 5:30am. I immediatly seen the results and ran out of the room pulled the blankes off of Ismael and dragged him to the restroom to show him the results. Needless to say we did not go back to sleep and were wide eye open and just thrilled. After work on Saturday I had to re take the test to rule out any mistakes, but again it was positive.

Monday we headed to the Doctors to confirm our positive home pregnancy test with a blood test (ouchy). And today Tuesday it was confirmed.

All of our family members are thrilled and happy for the new addition to our family.

AraChely now up and running

2009-07-09T21:23:00.000-07:00

I did it, I listened to a good friend and started an account at www.arachely.etsy.com . I have been posting some of my handmade work on estsy to sell, hopefully it will take off. So check it out and spread the word. Also, if there is a color or length that is of interest to you let me know and I'll try to create something you'll like.

Side Job?

2009-06-26T21:26:00.000-07:00

So back when we had our retreat for work, I made a lanyard, bracelet and earrings. I was so excited to show it off to Ismael. First words out of his mouth "wow, I can make money from that, let me sell it". That was not the comment I was expecting to hear. I wanted to hear 'oh babe good job' but nooooo "let me sell it". Anywho I guess that was also a compliment from him. But he did plant a seed in my brain and I thought about it over and over.

Finally, I decided to invest in the supplies of bracelet making then went on to necklaces to earrings to lanyards. My sister was thrilled of the idea that she became my sales consultan. Everything I have sold has been because of her. Now I am waiting for my husband to do what he said he would if I started this "business".

Anyways just want to share a few of my samples that have been sold.

Any Ideas?

2009-06-15T10:40:00.000-07:00

So we have a beautiful living room and a cute kitchen/dining room. But some of the walls are bare and I need some ideas as to what I can put on them with out making the room look crowded. I love simplicity, after two years of crowded space I need simple. I really wanted to show you some before and after pics but somehow they disappeared. So you just have to trust me when I say it is a huge improvement.

I am content as to how my kitchen turned out. Before, there was tons of clutter, and it looked much smaller than now. Its kinda cute.

So here's where i need help what can I put on the wall behind the tv and max's kennel? I dont want anything that might take away the focus of the wall with all of our pics.

Another area is the walls next to the windows. I was thinking two family picture frames one for pics of his family and another with my family. But not sure where to put them. Or maybe some candles....?!?! i dont know. Im kinda a perfectionist where everything has to be placed equally spaced and the space around the windows are not equal. What do you suggest?

Long Time

2009-05-13T21:50:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a bit crazy, hectic, and busy in the Angulo household. As many of you know my mother in law moved out. So now Ismael, myself and Maximus have a 3 bedroom house that we're renting from my dad all to our selves. For the past month we have been re doing bits and pieces of the home to make it more comfortable for us as we spread from a previous one bedroom to an entire home and make it ours. My dad re did the bathroom, and its lovely now. We painted the kitchen green, the living room a light beige, the "studio" red/yellow and bought new furniture for our bigger bedroom, living room, kitchen and scrapbooking/studio room. So fun but yet frustrating as I wish everything would be done already. I have no pictures of the before but two and well since the rooms are almost done but not yet I will not be posting any pictures this time. So in the mean time enjoy some adorable pictures of my sweet baby Maximus. Keep in mind that he is still a puppy.

"Can I sleep already?"

Maximus favorite past time, Sleep.

"I wonder what would happen if I press these buttons"

"Testing one, two, three..woof"

"wasn't my idea"

"taking in some sun"

exhausted after running around on a slippery floor.

Maximus: "can I be your buddy?" Coyote: "WTF...I aint falling for that trick"

"Cheese"

"Chilling at the crib"

"Pretty Please... can I chew on this?"

Future Rock Star??

2009-03-11T19:40:00.000-07:00

Well he is in my eyes, my husband. He loves music, loves making it, and loves playing. At times it does get a little annoying for me that I can go a week without listening to music. But not Ismael, thats what he knows. He's been in a couple of bands both Spanish (lead guitarist) and English (bass). Had some good gigs when we were dating but then all of a sudden the gigs ended and band members weren't on the same page.
After a few years of no gigs, Ismael has joined a new Spanish rock band and its pretty cool. Too cool so far, as I am home alone for the third time while he's rocking out at a club. It looks like this will be a routine for Wednesday nights, probably even Thursday and Sunday nights as well. It's all good, he loves it and is excited about having paying gigs.

He's so serious when he plays
.

Just a really quick video of their first gig that I actually went to. Not the greatest video but as a good wife I got front row seats, took pictures and video. Maybe I will be there on his next gig that doesn't fall on a day in which I would have to wake up early the next day to work =(

Sick Puppy

2009-03-09T00:31:00.000-07:00

Maximus has been down in the dumps this past week and its been kinda rough for us as we have to clean up after him. Max has had diarrhea since Tuesday and we have no idea what could be the cause. Maybe he cought something outside on our outdoor time. Maybe it was something he ate as he tends to think he's a vacuum and sucks up everything he finds on the floor. Or maybe it could be the red peppers he loves to eat when we're visiting my parents.

Anyway, I finally decided to take him to the vet on Saturday as I began to worry it could be worms. We will know by tomorrow if he has worms. But in the mean time Max is on drugs, prescribed that is. Aside from this morning, no diarrhea so far but then again no poop either. I also started feeding him white rice and chicken like the vet said and well of course Max is thrilled about that.

The good thing is that he's still playful, loving and of course still likes to chew on toys and mama's toes. He also likes to keep a smile on his face, what a champ!

Funny

2009-01-29T21:15:00.000-08:00

Yes, that's Maximus asleep on his back snoring...

he reminds me of Stich from the movie Lilo and Stich

When does it stop?

2009-01-22T21:10:00.000-08:00

So it seems like Maximus only likes to find comfort in chewing. I completely understand, he's teething. But to me, as he starts to chew more and more he also tends to bite on us specially me :( and it hurts. I have tried getting him chewing toys, and he likes his keys that Allison bought him (thanks Allison). I also try getting him exhausted by playing with him but somehow he always ends up trying to chew my hands, arms, pants, or toes. Any ideas as to how I can have him stop biting mama. He does it to Ismael but not as much as when he does it to me. I guess he's just not to fond of me, or like his shirt says; hes just not listening

Meet Maximus

2009-01-07T21:01:00.001-08:00

The newest additon to our family:

English Bulldog, Maximus 3months of age

Nervous but very happy to have him around.

Hello Again

2008-12-31T16:46:00.000-08:00

Has it really been over a month of my last blog?? Well nothing much has happened since my birthday. But I will break down the things that have happened with a picture or a few.

1. I re-took my Child Life Certification Exam in Arizona, which had lots to do with why I have not blogged. It is hard to concentrate or do other things when you have to wait 4-6wks for the results. And its even worse when you've taken it 5 times... F*&(#!!!!!!

2. We drove to Fresno one crazy evening and came back the next day early in the morning.

(did I mentioned it was during the fires off the 5FWY)

3. Thanksgiving with the family.

4. Finally........ Got my test results and they were GREAT!!!!!!!!!!

(I was victorious in Phoenix, Arizona)

5. Holiday Christmas party with cool girls.

6. Holiday Christmas party with My hubby.

7. Drove with my husband to Kansas for the holidays and visited some dearly missed people and met a young new little person; My cousin Rocio, Kandra and baby Harper.

(We played Rockband on Christmas Eve 'til 4am)

(baked cookies on Christmas day)

8. Spoiled my self in celebrating the fact that I am now a CERTIFIED Child Life Specialist.

The End.

Happy Birthday to ME

2008-11-06T18:07:00.000-08:00

So as I have said in the past, I love birthdays. I like celebrating whether it's a small gathering or a big celebration. This past Monday my husband planned a small dinner with my family for my birthday. It was cool and I enjoyed having my kids sing me happy birthday.

My hubby and me

all of my kids except one

taking a bite of the cakeMy mama and papa

My sister and brother who come over straight from work on a weekday

Only one problem though, my godparents were not there. You may think it's no big deal, but I believe that they play a huge part as to why I love birthday celebrations. See every year since my first birthday, my godparents would bring me a cake and a gift on my bday. This year though, they broke the tradition or so I thought. They called me on Monday afternoon to wish me a happy birthday but said they were not able to come until Tuesday. I waited on Tuesday and they were a no show :( I began thinking no biggie I am getting older and well it's okay. But today they did show up and guess what they brought me a dessert as my cake and my gift. I so love them.

Pumpkin Carving

2008-10-18T22:02:00.000-07:00

Out of the blue, we went over to Home Depot picked out three pumpkins. Got ourselves a carving kit and began carving my first ever jack-o-lantern as my godson says.

LA County Fair...a bit late

2008-09-28T17:45:00.000-07:00

It's Wednesday, the sun is out and about, and it's time for the L.A County Fair to see

"El-Chupacabras"

Ok, so it's not "El-Chupacabras" It's a cow that was never treated for severe horn syndrome, ok so sever horn syndrome doesn't exist either. I felt like kicking a football through it's horns, for some reason i felt like buying a slingshot. But enough with the Cow, or at least I thought it was a cow.

Chely and I decided we should take our God-Daughter Fabiola to the L.A County Fair to enjoy the rides, food, the animals and many other thing's the fair had to offer. ~ Ismael

For me it was a way to see if Ismael could handle having a three year old in our care. Fabi is usually a little feisty girl. It's her way or the highway usually. Well not this day, she was a perfect little angel. Very quiet and sweet with us the whole time. Not once did she throw a tantrum. So this was great for Ismael as it just made it clearer to him that he still wants a little one soon. Plan failed!

Anyways, we did enjoy the hot sunny day at the fair and towards the end the three of us were ready to come home.

Here are a few pictures:

The car seat fit perfectly in our car... hmmm

Nino and Fabi having fun as corn
Maybe she'll grow up to be a Firefighter

It was so hot that Fabi enjoyed splashing water in our faces (we did not realize how hot it was going to be so we had to buy matching hats to help us keep the sun out of our faces)

Fabi walking on "snow" in the Winter Wonderland at the fair

And that's all :)

Happy Birthday Rocio

2008-09-21T20:50:00.000-07:00

Today is my BCF's (best cousin forever) birthday.

She's the coolest, funnest, trustful and count on anything type of cousin. She joined the air force and moved to Kansas so I do not see her that often anymore. I haven't even been able to have a conversation with her for the past 3 months since she got deployed to Qatar. Today I have not heard from her through email, so for this reason Ismael and I made her a quick b-day video clip.

Pookie I hope you enjoy it, especially the end and we wish you the very best. We shall celebrate when you come back.

WARNING: I am not a professional singer but it is sung with lots of love

Meet Tiny

2008-09-07T11:16:00.000-07:00

I would like a dog like this only if I had a huge yard.

This is Tiny, my brother's dog.

Isn't he cute:)

jack johnson video

2008-09-04T20:40:00.000-07:00

So after many attempts to load the video of the cool concert we were unable to load them. For some reason we were able to load a few onto Chely's myspace page. So check 'em out if you like.

Happy Birthday Mom

2008-09-01T20:58:00.000-07:00

Well what can I say about my mom.... She is absolutely the best!!

Spoils me when she can, makes me feel better when I am sick and loves me dearly as I love her.

Happy Happy Birthday!

Once again we love celebrating birthdays, even if it's a small BBQ with just us.

All of the grandchildren who sometimes drive my mom a little crazy. Who knows but maybe next year around this time she'll be holding a little one in her arms.

Jack Johnson Concert

2008-08-31T18:11:00.000-07:00

It's Labor Day weekend and we're at Jack Johnson's concert in San Diego having some hot coke, cold burgers, and taking in the fact that you just got dragged to the Jack Johnson concert, but that's not what we're all here for; right ? I wasn't too exited about Jack Johnson but, there was plenty of music to enjoy throughout the almost 2-hour show. While it may not have been the most energetic concert I've ever attended, it did leave me feeling as though I had just spent almost two hours at a mellow beach party with some fun friends who played some mellow, cool music. Here's a cool video of the concert:

(unfortunately we are having trouble uploading our videos, as soon as we load them up we'll post to share)

The opening act Culver City Dub Collective with special Guest Paula Fuga were actually very good, they had a nice reggae jazz feel to their music that makes you wanna light up a spliffy; and by the smell in the air; I wasn't the only one. One complaint though, security there had very little control where we were sitting at because people kept walking down to the front hoping there were empty seats available blocking our exit from our isle which became very annoying after awhile because they refused to listen to security to clear the area. I swear security was no older than 21 years old weighing about a 1 buck 50. Here's a few more photos of the show...

After experiencing a Jack Johnson concert, Chely and I are looking forward to another night of mellow music, cold burgers, hot sodas and margaritas .....

Happy Birthday Dad

2008-08-28T22:14:00.000-07:00

We celebrated my dad's 55th birthday today. The man that never lets me down and is always there for us no matter what. A responsible Husband and father that makes sure we are well taken care of.

In honor of his b-day I ofcourse gave him his favorite, Koi Fish. He loved them!

I Love my Dad more!!

Close Call

2008-08-14T22:44:00.000-07:00

Hooray, my parents are on their way back...phew. So, in honor of them coming back I wanted to make sure the koi fish pond had fresh water so my dad can see his precious fish. My mom had cleaned it before they left so in about a month the water went from clear to forrest green. I was starting to panic because from a total of 5 fish I could only see two and that was when they came up for food. I was beginning to think that the others had died.

I started to clean, keep in mind that I've never done this, I've only watched my mom do it before. I took out the water and found all of the fish alive, Yay. I put the fish in a huge bucket with the same water as my mom does it. I began to sord of scrub all the yucky stuff as much as I could. By this time I took a break since Ismael came home with dinner. I had a quick dinner and returned to my pending job. I took a look at the fish and I noticed they kept going up as if they wanted air or something (but fish don't breath air) so I gave them food thinking they were hungry and it was the time I usually feed them. Then I noticed something was going wrong. My dad's two favorite fish which he's had since they were small started to look very weird. They started to swim sideways. So I panicked, I rushed to rinse the pond and put fresh water in it along with the drops to take the chlorine out. Before the pond filled up the two fish stoped swimming and began to float but were still breathing. At this point I thought OH S*%!, what am I going to tell my dad. These fish are about $80ea. at that size. I seriously thought I was going to have a heart attack. I had given up, began to think that maybe I could replace them and my dad won't notice. That wont work cause these fish knew my dad, he had them spoiled. then I started thinking of his reaction, not a good one. My heart was pounding fassst. Then Ismael told me to put them in the pond even though it still wasn't full. I was hesitant to do that thinking why would I put a dead fish in a clean pond. Ismael kept insisting as the fish were still breathing. So I put them in, took about 2 mins for the first one to start swimming slowly. The second was not moving, it just layed there on its side. Then about 5 mins later he started to show life. Oh my goodness that was a huge scare. As of right now all 5 fish are happily swimming in the clear water pond or so I think.

Here are pictures of the survivors:

The white fish and the orange/red with black fish were the ones to blame for my almost heart attack.

House sitting

2008-08-10T14:27:00.000-07:00

My parents have been vacationing in Mexico for the past 3 1/2 weeks so Ismael and I have been taking care of their house. My father a nature loving type of guy is always adding new types of flowers to his yard. My mother a plant lover takes care of the garden by watering and cleaning up the yard. So my job has been to make sure none of the plants die under my care. It seems like a simple job, just water the plants and they'll live. Well let me show you what the yard looks like.
The Palm tree that sticks up tall was planted by my dad at least 20 yrs ago when it was about 4" tall.

It takes me about 2 hours to finish watering the plants and that is with the help of the sprinkler system that waters the grass automatically 3x/week.

Here are some pictures of some flowers that color my parents yard:

Compared to my dad's fishes and my mothers birds I am doing an excellent job at keeping the yard green. Unfortunately I have lost (they died) one white dove and my mom's favorite cockatoo :( and my dad's koi fish are swimming in green water. I am planning that by the end of whis week the fish will be swimming in clear water but I feel bad for the birds.

My parents LOVE their yard and I love it too, I just do not like the duties that come with keeping up with the yard. I keep the plants an flowers in my house to a minimal compared to my parents :) and I am re-thinking the having our own pets idea.

Happy Birthday Fabiola!

2008-07-27T21:30:00.000-07:00

Today we celebrated our God daughters 3rd birthday. It was a small celebration compared to other birthdays but it was still fun. The cousins enjoyed playing out in the yard while the grown ups spent time joking around. Grandma, Grandpa and her older brother missed the celebration as they are on vacation in Mexico but she did get her birthday call earlier today from them and Grandma left her gift for me to give to her.

Just a few pics from her birthday get together.

Fabiola and her parents: Norma (my sis) and Antonio

Fabi with her God Parents or as she likes to call us .. Nino and Nina

Fabi and her gifts, she loves baby dolls and clothes.

Coldplay Concert 7.14.08

2008-07-18T16:57:00.000-07:00

It's a monday and my wife and I are getting ready to go to the Coldplay concert at the Forum and we were excited to go see them live after a long time of waiting. Chely on a previous blog wrote that she was going to drag me to the Coldplay concert just like I dragged her to the Pearl Jam concert. Personally I was stocked about it. So we get the forum and buy our food and drinks anxiously waiting for Coldplay to hit the stage. The concert is kicked off with a D.J playing techno/jungle/beats with a large screen displaying animations that were skinned to the music. I guess it was alright. The second act was pretty cool, they kinda sounded like R.E.M with the voice of Pink Floyd's David Gilmore; they were done around 8:20pm. Finally after a long 1 hour wait which by the way felt like the longest 1 hour ever; the lights turn off and the crowd goes nuts over the back round music that's slowing getting louder and louder and you start to see the band members on stage playing the first song of the night. Here's a brief video of Chely rocking out to Viva La Vida...

We're really looking forward to another Coldplay concert; next up is Jack Johnson in San Diego. Maybe this one might be the concert Chely is dragging me too... haha... I mean, I do like some of his songs but I just can't see myself jumping up the boogie to Jack Johnson. Here's another video. I found these links on you tube of the concert (not taken by us , but it was the same concert we attended)boo! http://youtube.com/watch?v=X3ad_ZvM2to & http://youtube.com/watch?v=1HzA-B_9stA

I just had to......

2008-07-06T23:11:00.000-07:00

One more time, I know I said it before but this time is for real. After I did it I started to notice how long hair can be beautiful and fun again. Do not get me wrong I like my short cut but I am finally going to let it grow out. In the mean time I will have fun with my short hair.

I'm so Excited!!! part 2

2008-06-24T21:33:00.000-07:00

Well this month it has been a roller coaster of emotions for me, where one day I'm feeling happy and the next I'm feeling like crap and somedays just wanting to cry and quit my job.

Just a few weeks I was thrilled to have gotten tickets to see coldplay at the Forum in Inglewood. Just thinking about it and listening to their song on the radio gets me cheerful and excited.

Just last week I received my results from an exam that I am starting to detest and because of it liking my job has taken a different meaning. I did not pass by 6 miserable points. So frustrating, upsetting, hurtful, and everything else that is not happy. I've had the crappiest week at work and I do not remember ever feeling that way before. This time it hit me hard to the point of thinking that maybe I should change careers. Who knows maybe its a sign??? But after hard thinking and talking to close friends and family I will keep trying. Arizona is my destination in November where I will pass this stupid exam (sorry but thats the way I feel about it).

And on another happier note...... :D Jack Johnson!!!! Yup I will be going to see him in August at Chula Vista. It will be a weekend away from home with my hubby, he will feel like I felt the day he dragged me to see Pearl Jam.... ha!

So two upcoming concerts make me feel a little great. I can't wait Whooo Hoooooo!!!!

Happy Birthday Juan Pedro!

2008-06-08T18:56:00.000-07:00

Aka John Peter our Godson, had his 4th birthday today and we all went to El Dorado Park to celebrate. It was so much fun that everyone of every age enjoyed it. There was food, pinata, candy, cake and of course games. I forgot how fun outings at the park can be where you see nature's beauty and where the kids really enjoy running around in an open space. Here are a few pics of the day.
Peter with mom and dad.Here he is hitting the pinata that he picked out.

Here is all of Peter's cousins, from left to right; Eduardo, Fabiola, Francisco, Crystal, Peter, Chepa and the oldest Jesus.

I'm so excited!!!

2008-06-07T16:29:00.000-07:00

I have been waiting for Coldplay to be in town for quite some time now and finally they will be here on July 14 and 15 whoo hoo! Tickets went on sale today and well I was at work but that did not stop me from buying my tickets. My favorite and only sister in law hooked me up. She sat at her computer waiting for the tix to go onsale and bought them for me. Yay I can not wait, for the concert and to be able to listen to their whole new cd wich I ordered already on iTunes. WHOOO HOOOO!!!!

Our Anniversary

2008-05-29T17:26:00.000-07:00

Going out to celebrate our 1 year Wedding Anniversary

We made it thru our first year as a married couple. I am a little late in bloggin about our anniversary due to the big test and attending the child life conference. We did not do much to celebrate it, all we did was go out to dinner to Pollo Inca, the restaurant where Ismael proposed. After dinner we came home so I could study but I did not even do that since we had to go help my mother in law get off the freeway after her car stalled. It was a frustrating situation that unfortunatly had to occur on our special day. When we got back home we continued our small celebration by eating our wedding cake and sharing it with Ismaels family.

It was late when we got home and to say the truth I had forgotten about the cake until I was in my pj's ready to go to sleep and Ismael remembered.

I wasn't so sure about the cake, I guess I was just thinking about the time it spent in the freezer. Ismael thought it was delicious. The rest of the family mention it was really good but then said it was ok once they realized it was our actual wedding cake.

After all we were gratefull that we made it past our 1st year and we look foward to many more. Hopefully this upcoming month we do something big to really celebrate our year together.

Oh and my parents also celebrated their wedding anniversary, my mother was very happy that my dad took her out to a nice quiet dinner to celebrate their 34 years Wedding Anniversary. After all these years it's hard to get them both to look at the camera at the same time with out joking around, this was the best I could get.

Tagged

2008-05-28T20:16:00.000-07:00

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
Finishing up my Junior year in high school and really looking foward to starting my Senior year.
2. 5 things on my to-do list today?
*go to Target
*re-arrange my bedroom
*catch up on my blog posts
*pay bills online
*go to sleep early (I'm exhausted today)
3. Snacks I enjoy?
*The non healthy stuff ;)
*chips and salsa, Doritos
*string cheese
*cookies and milk
*ice cream
4. Things I'd do if I was millionaire?
*Have children
*buy me a house
*give some $$ to our family
*Lots of traveling
*Donate
5. Places I've lived?
* Los Angeles.
I tag Andi

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-16T18:59:00.001-07:00

I have been wanting to post a blog about Mother's Day but due to lack of time and the upcoming Child Life Exam that I am studying for I just can not post a long one. So I hope all of the mothers had a wonderful Mother's Day.

These are two hard working Mama's that I was able to take a picture with on that day. My sister Norma (mother of 4) and my Mama (mother of 3).

Fun week!!

2008-05-13T23:03:00.001-07:00

So this past week my dearest cousin who lives in Wichita, Kansas came down to visit her family. The last time she came was for my wedding almost a year ago and it was great seeing her then and it was even greater seeing her this year (she brought along her BF to meet the fam).

I took a few days of work to be able to hang out with them and spend some good quality time with Rocio aka Pookie (long and old story for the name) and to get to know this Jimmy fella. We both had been waiting anxiously for her to come back to town. She is a Cali girl who left when she joined the Air Force. A few days before her arriving she called me and tells me that I have to plan her week out here in L.A. because she wants to have fun. My reaction was a bit confusing since she has lived in L.A her whole life prior to moving to Kansas. But I just laughed and said ok. So I did plan a few days where I was going to be able to spend time with her but other days I left up to her so she could visit her family and Jimmy could visit his friends.

Monday 5/5 afternoon she arrived. We went out to dinner to Siete Mares (sea food restaurant) where they serve some delicious fish tacos. Rocio doesn't get much Mexican food in Wichita so this was a must for a first day back to L.A. meal. There is no pictures here since I forgot my camera :(

Tuesday 5/6 we went to Knott's Berry Farm. We got on some roller coaster rides, ate good BBQ chicken and Ribs, funnel cakes, and pickles. There is no pictures to this day either since my very intelligent self accidentally deleted the pictures from the camera before downloading them onto my computer ahhh (very upsetting). But I am waiting for my cousin to email me some from her camera and when that time comes around I'll post them.

Wednesday 5/7 was her day to spend with her mom and sisters and for Jimmy to visit his friend.

Thursday 5/8 My parents had a Carne Asada for Rocio who is their God Daughter and was a perfect day to have Jimmy meet the family. Boy oh boy did they mess with him, but like we warned him ...Don't take it seriously Jimmy. No pictures for this day either :( I just don't have an excuse for this day.

Friday 5/9 A day off from work for me to show Rocio and Jimmy around China Town and Hollywood. Before they came to L.A Rocio had told me that Jimmy really Really wanted to go to China Town. I thought it was because of his culture but I was wrong Jimmy is Philippine and only wanted to go to China Town to buy movies, so we did just that. He bought his movie and off we went to Hollywood. We walked a bit looking at the stars and went into the Wax Museum then the Guinness something something (I forgot the name of it), Chinese theater and then back. We got a good workout for the day. And guess what guys.... you guessed it no pictures since I forgot to take my camera along.

Friday night was drinking night. Rocio had this idea of getting me drunk since she has good practice at making drinks now that she lives in Wichita, so we had a drinking Game night. The game 'Three Men", it involves a hat, dice, drinks and crazy rules. If a person rolled a 3 then that person had to wear the hat until someone else rolled a 3. If another person rolled a 3 plus something else, the person with the hat had to take a sip of their alcoholic beverage. If someone rolled a 6 and a 1 the last person to touch their nose had to take a sip. A 5 and 1 the last person to put their thumb on the table had to take a sip. A 4 and 1 I believe was a social sip so everyone playing had to take a drink. If you rolled doubles that was the number of drinks you got to give away to one person or split them up to everyone. If you rolled doubles 3 times in your turn you got to make up another rule. Kind of confusing when you first play it but as it goes on it becomes a hilarious game. By the way I did not get drunk as planned by everyone else, a Ha! I did take my camera to this event but was only able to take one pictures in between our sips and laughs.

This is Jimmy and Rocio, Rocio is the three men. Oh and the little shot glasses you see in the picture are Jello Shots that I helped make but did not eat many of them. The one that I did have was delicious.

Saturday Rocio took Jimmy to TJ and I stayed home. On Monday we went over to her sisters house to say goodbye :( as she was going to leave on Tuesday to San Francisco with Jimmy's Family.

This whole week was fun and I had a great time spending time with my cousin and getting to know Jimmy. Hopefully I can go visit them in Wichita when she returns from Qatar in October and not have to wait another year to see her. Love you POOKIE :P

Happy Birthday Mom-In-Law

2008-05-07T21:10:00.000-07:00

We celebrated my mother in laws birthday today. I enjoy birthdays especially when we can celebrate them. This time it was up to Ismael and his cousin to plan out the food while I was in charge of the flowers, card, and cake. Right before I got off work Ismael informed me that this other person is making the food already, we had ceviche tostadas (seafood). Ismael still went ahead and bought some meat so we can also enjoy a little carne asada. We were trying to make this a surprise for my mother in law, so as soon I got off work I rushed it to the store to buy her cake and flowers and as I got home my mother in law was parking. At this time Ismael's cousin rushed outside and jumped into my mother in laws car to distract her by asking her to give him a ride to the store. Once they left I ran inside the house and put the flowers in a vase, finished the decorating, and dedicated her card. A few minutes later they came back and we sang happy birthday to her. I like birthdays and love to surprise my loved ones.

This is Rebeca when she just got home along with Luis (Ismael's cousin), Juan Carlos (their friend and the one who made delicious seafood).

These are of course her sons Jose Humberto and Ismael.

These are Rebeca's lovely daughters in law :)

And lastly a picture of us with the coolest mother in law:)

Dodger Week

2008-04-29T18:11:00.000-07:00

So last week was Dodger week for Chely and I and, well; ofcourse Dodgers games rock. April 24th Chely and I went to our first game of the year with the tickets given to us by our comadre Norma ( thanks Norma). We had great seats, great view of the action, beautiful weather, Dodger dogs and the exiting feeling you get when your star player gets a hit. Oh, and then there was this moment; An Arizona player hit the ball to Jeff Kent, Jeff quikly steps on second base then throws the ball to first for a double out play and to Jeff Kents suprise; the umpire called the runner at second base SAFE so Jeff Kent unhappy with the umpires call; starts to argue with the umpire and you can really see Jeff Kent heated up as you can see one of his team mates holding him back. Jeff was ready to swing at the guy. You can also see Joe Torre on the left jogging towards them to clear things up. The result of all this Both Jeff Kent & Joe Torre were ejected from the game Unfortunately the Dodgers Lost 4-6 to the Arizona. We left Stadium Disappointed. :( But still said " We have to come again. And again we came the following Saturday 26th with my brotherand his girl friend. BROTHERLY LOVE This the Dodgers were playing against the Colorado Rockies and the seats were a bit further than the last game But as mentioned before; Dodgers games ROCK.... So there we are enjoying the 1st inning the Dodger Ace is Pitching (Brad Penny) and the Colorado Rockies hit a homerun in the first inning making the game 2-0, Chely turns to me and says " Man, the dodgers suck this year see, they even gave up a homerun already off the best pitcher they have. So alittle annoyed by the comments and hoping the Dodgers can prove my wife wrong this game. So it's 3 outs and it's the bottom of the first inning, the Dodgers score a run, then 2, then 3 then 4 and next thing you know this is the score. 10-2.Yey.. Its was soooo exiting to see them score 10 runs and was waiting to see what Chely was going to say now. To tell you the truth, I dont remember what she said :) In the 4th inning; Brad Penny threw a 96mph fast ball that hit the umpire in the neck close to his jaw. The umpire was briefly unconsience and they had to call an ambulance to take hurt umpire to a near by hospital. I had never seen something like that before at a baseball game. Througout I kept telling my brother that we should'nt leave even if the dodgers were up by 8 so early because when my brother and I we're kids; we went to a Dodger game where the Dodgers scored 11 runs in the first inning as well and they ended up loosing that game 13 to 11. But this time around they did keep a 7 run lead by the end of the game. I have to say this game was one to remember.

Sunday Gardening

2008-04-28T21:33:00.000-07:00

So most of you know that my dad is my landlord and we live right next to each other. You also know that we share the house with my mother in law so we can save money to buy a house some day. Well I never felt like making the yard look pretty until I came to the conclusion that it will take us a while before we buy our house. So I decided to make the yard look beautiful by adding some plants and flowers with the help of my father who happens to be a Gardner.

I have been bugging my dad for weeks about getting the yard fixed up. He had his concerns about it since I am not the type that waters the plants. I tend to forget and remember when its too late and the plants have died. But this time I am was serious, I wanted a nice decent yard. And to my surprised my dad began buying plants.

So this Sunday was the day, I woke up and went out to say good morning to my dad. He had just got home from the nursery with more plants. At that moment I knew that this was going to be a day out in the yard under the hot sun. So we went ahead and started, my dad began planting the plants as I got rid of the weeds and flowers I disgusted.

This is what my yard looked like. Those plants on the side of the gate get on my nerves so bad.

This is my dad working on the yard. The plants will ultimately fully cover the gate giving the property a little privacy.

In the process of cleaning up the yard we found a few friends.

Mr. Lizard who kept scaring the crap out of me.

And Mr. Grasshopper, my dad's friend but not mine.

After planting the plants and adding a new line of sprinklers we had hosted our first BBQ in our house. Every Sunday we have BBQ at my parents but this Sunday it took place at my house and it was fun. I have no pictures but we will definitely have more BBQ's and pictures in the future.

Monday morning I woke up early to keep working on the yard. I just had to plant some flowers that my dad no longer needed and water them.

Back in the old times when I was young, my cousin used to live at this house. Her dad and my dad decided to build an improvised BBQ grill. Because there is so many memories with this we could not take it apart so I decided to keep it and make it a pot. My goal is to have it covered with flowers hanging off the side.

This is our end result

I am looking forward to seeing the trees grow and cover up the fence but that will take a while. It does not look like much difference from the pictures, but from what it used to look like before and what it looks like now it is a big change.

Shitty Day turned okay (excuse my language)

2008-04-19T22:13:00.000-07:00

So my day started as usual, not wanting to get out of bed but finally making it to work. I get to work and everything is the same as any other Saturday. We get a few calls before Alicia and I head over to Miller West to provide distractions to a few patients on the core. Then we headed over to our playroom and patients. We return to lunch at 12:40pm, I take a 30 minute lunch to prepare for a birthday on the core. I check messages in the middle of my art project and that's when it all began. Can not really go into details due to confidentiality, I am doing this mostly to vent and get some stuff out of my head.

A patient passed away and they needed child life to help the 5 siblings cope with the news and answer any questions concerning the cause of death and organ donation in SPANISH. Great now who can I turn to for support? Alicia agreed to go and help me, fortunately as we go to the room One Legacy has already started the process and are very well familiar with child life and happy that we are there ..phew.... So Alicia went back to attend to our kids in miller west as I stayed to support this family. To try and make this short, the immediate family was interested in organ donation but had various other family members attempting to change the parents minds about donating, even though this was something the patient had mention to mom while alive and well that she wanted to help others if the time came. So many things happened during the 5 hours I spent with this family that I went home so frustrated and upset. I could not think of anything else but what this family has been through and instead of deciding for themselves and going through with what they wanted they kept having someone else in their own family question their decision. I kept going back and forth thinking as to how I would react being in their shoes and as a professional wanting the best for the family. I guess I would also be listening to all my family who would be telling me to think twice about approving to organ donation just because I would like to hold on to any type of hope for a miracle to happen. But then I think about everything that One Legacy had explained to the family and it made perfect sense to me that there was no miracle waiting to happen. The only thing left was to try and help someone else in need by donating organs. All of this might not make any sense to the reader and even in my head it still seems confusing with all sorts of emotions involved that what I am writing so far is making sense to me.

I got home and I just wanted to sleep, not talk to anyone, not even my husband. Him on the other hand knew I had a hard day and wanted me to talk or to get up and do something fun to get me out of my funk. We went to get dinner came back and even during dinner I could not stop thinking of what just happened at work. So to try and forget I went to my room and began playing solitaire. Then my husband comes in with two shots, salt and lemon. At first I was a bit upset that he wanted me to take a shot because I hardly drink let alone to feel better for a while. But then I remembered what Michelle from One Legacy told me after we were done with the family "go out relax, and take care of your self." So I thought why not, let me relax, enjoy the night. We put on some music and all of a sudden we started our own little karaoke fun where I was the only one singing. It was fun and hey I began feeling a little lighter emotionally. No, I am not drunk it was only two shots and I am starting to feel okay. Everything will be good and I learned from this experience. I decided to become an organ donor, so to my family; if the day comes, do not argue or go back and forth with the medical team. If they say there is no hope for me to live or am brain dead and i can help someone else live, please listen to the medical team and let me help others. After all if a miracle would happen then it will occur at any time whether you decide to argue or not.

LAKER GAME

2008-04-16T21:30:00.000-07:00

So it's a Sunday afternoon and Chely and I are at the freaking Laker game ! Wooh Hoo !

First time for both of us, Chely is not too thrilled about sitting at a basketball game trying to figure out whats is going on and why people are cheering and booing at certain times in the game.

The Lakers really showed off their team work and accomplished a great win. With Plays like these:

Which showed they have a good chance of winning the championship this year. The only thing that we were bumbed about is that they did not have a good half time show.

Happy Birthday Ismael

2008-03-31T09:07:00.000-07:00

Saturday, March 29 was Ismael's 27th Birthday and I had been planning a small celebration for weeks. On Saturday, we went out for dinner to Wokcano in Brubank along with Ismaels brother and his girlfriend. The dinner was delicious, and we had a good time at the restaurant. Ismael even got to make a wish and blow out his candle.

(This is Hallie and Jose, the couple we hang out with the most and always have a good time together.)On the way to the restaurant Ismael told me that he kept wondering why no one had given him his birthday gift including me. What he had no idea of was that I planned a surprise birthday gathering for him on Sunday, so that is why he did not get any gifts on his actual birthday from his mother or my family. Going to dinner for his birthday was sort of like a trick to make him think that the dinner was his only celebration. It was until we finished dinner and he blew out the candle that I finally gave him his present, 2 Laker game tickets agains the San Antonio Spurs. After dinner we went to play pool, my first time ever and it was fun.
On Sunday, Ismael dropped me off at my sisters house because I told him that we were going to go shopping. We had planned that after we got back from the mall Ismael was going to meet us at my sister's for a movie. But instead of going to the "mall" I helped my sister get ready for the surprise party. My sister and her husband were kind enough to let me borrow their house for Ismael's party and they were extremely helpful in every way possible.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH NORMA AND ANTONIO.

When our guests started to arrive I decided to call Ismael and let him know that we were home and that he should come over so we can watch the movie. Ismael still not knowing anything got a little upset because he was thinking of going over at about 4 or 5 in the afternoon and I was asking him to get there at about 2pm. He had even planned out his day to visit some friends, watch the baseball game, and even record some music at home with his equipment (which he had just set up right before I called him). But he dropped all his plans and agreed to meet me at my sisters early. So when he got there I walked him to the back yard, which he questioned and I don't remeber what I replied because I was afraid of giving it away before anyone would say Surprise,and it all came together just fine.

This was the look as he seen everyone there.These are just a few of our guest that were there. It was a small gathering with just family, his mother, aunt and grandmother arrived later.

Eventhough it was small, Ismael still had a good time and he was surprised, didn't even have the slightest idea of what was going on for the past 2 weeks.

And he got presents. Hope you had a wonderful birthday weekend!

Easter Sunday

2008-03-26T17:44:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to write this quick blog about Easter Sunday. I can't remember the last time Easter Sunday was so fun. The vibe throughout the entire day at the compadres home was great. The day included, BBQing, Playing games, egg hunt, water balloon competitions and yes; even Adult musical chairs was in the agenda.

But, the best moment was when my Godson Peter was opening his Easter basket. Araceli put a $5.00 bill inside a plastic egg so Peter can open it and say "Wow, Money!" you know? A kid receiving money in my experience is something a kid loves....Peter quickly says " Give it to my dad" Araceli says " Ok, I'll give it to your dad to hold it for you" So she calls John over to give him the $5.00 and Peter tells his dad he can keep it. "Why" we ask Peter. Peter responds, “Because my dad needs it for work. At that moment I can see how proud John felt that his son gave him the $5.00. Even though John might not have needed the $5.00; just the fact that Peter gave it to him out his heart; it just made my day...

Long vs Short

2008-03-24T20:03:00.000-07:00

Through out my young years as a little girl, then teenager and even young adult, my father would only trim my hair once a year. We had it scheduled, it took place every February 2ND. When I say trim it meant barely cutting the ends just to straighten it. My father just like most Mexican Males have the idea in their head that any female looks beautiful when she has very long hair. So my father never thought of or even pictured me with short hair. If I ever brought up the conversation of me wanting to cut my hair shorter, he would state that if I did I would not look as pretty as I did with my long hair. So I did not cut my hair throughout my childhood. What I did do was permed my hair when I was in middle school and then dyed it when I was in high school. I have to say that my father did get upset when I permed it to the point that he stopped talking to me for a few days. He did not say much when I dyed it since to him his opinion no longer counted since the day I permed my hair. Towards the end of my high school years I started to get the idea of cutting my hair thinking that my father would not say anything about it. Oh no, to my dad cutting my hair was still an off limits conversation. No, not while you are living under my roof he would say. But I really wanted to cut it, so around the age of 20 I began warning my dad that I was going to cut my hair as soon as I turned 21. So the whole year he kept getting the warning so he would not get upset and expect it once it happened. So November 3rd came around I was now 21 and..... I could not do it. I could not get rid of my beautiful silky hair so, I got layers around my face but still had my beautiful long hair.

And that was the beginning of cutting my hair. So I finally went ahead and chopped it off.

After that, I let it grow more, cut in layers, let the layers grow out, cut it straight, let it grow, cut it to shoulder length, let it grow, gave it more layers, let it grow, cut it straight no layers, let it grow and Finally up to today; I decided to cut it the shortest I had the guts to go.

Now I am thinking about letting it grow to the point where I once had my long straight hair up to my butt. So what do you guys think, is it better long or short?

First Day on the Job

2008-03-23T20:06:00.000-07:00

In the beginning of March Ismael began his job at the California Credit Union. It was so exciting, well most likely for me because my husband was now getting ready to leave to work while I relaxed at home on my day off. After being unemployed for nearly 3 months I had to take the first pictures of him looking good on his first day off to work.

I don't look my best since it was still early and I was going to go back to bed after my dear husband would leave on his first day of work.

Ismael still has to get used to his new position since it is nothing like his previous job. So far he is okay with it and it is just going to take him some time to actually get comfortable and enjoy what he is now doing. Keep up the good work love!

A day outdoors

2008-03-03T08:47:00.000-08:00

Well my body is finally feeling a little better today than yesterday and Saturday. This past Saturday I had the day off work and instead of sleeping in and relaxing at home, Ismael convinced me to wake up at 6am to start off our day. First stop Starbucks, it was cold and I needed something to keep me warm while I watched Ismael practice his swings at the golf range.

This is me feeling cold and watching him warm up.

Towards the end, he somehow convinced me to try hitting a few balls. I was a bit embarrassed cause I have no idea of what golfing is all about. To me it was just hitting the ball with the stick ?!? and thought it was easy but I was wrong.

This is me trying it for the first time, what Ismael did not get a shot of was when I somehow hit two golf balls at the same time. I might have been too close the balls.

Alright here goes nothing

And its still on the groud ladies and gentlemen.There were many swings just like these where the ball just would not collaborate. To that I blame the soreness in my arms. So after no action Ismael took over and showed me how it was done.

And that was the end of the golf range. We still wanted to work out for that day but I did not want to go to the gym. I feel wierd at the gym, I think everyone is looking at me thinking 'oh look at her she is doing it all wrong' so we went hiking to Galster Wilderness Park in West Covina. It was my first time there too and it was beautiful. We went up a few steap hills and that is where I got the soreness im my legs. Here's a few pics:

We then took a quick break underneath this tree, it was a really cool spot.

Towards the end we come across the swing set in the park and well I just had to remember my childhood days and become a little girl in a big girls body.

And to the swings I blame my hip soreness. I really need to get in shape. I must say though that this day was an awesome day off work and I sure did not mind waking up early. I can't wait to do it again.

New Job !

2008-03-02T12:53:00.000-08:00

FINALLY, I start my new job tomorrow at the California Credit Union. I had 2 1/2 months off, wow. Although it's a part time position, I feel good and exited about it. Not too exited though; but anything is better than my last job. I would write about it but; nah...Why give my self a headache. I want to thank my loving wife for backing me in my decisions and supporting me(Literally)these past months; she kept a positive attitude and was patient enough. I feel the love everyday...Love You Baby !

Happy Birthday Crystal

2008-03-02T10:29:00.000-08:00

My niece had her 10th birthday yesterday, time goes by so fast. Maria Crystal loves birthdays and every year does a countdown to her day. This past week she kept reminding us that her birthday was on Saturday and when Saturday came around I had to call her at 8am to wish her Happy Birthday. She was still sleeping but was happy that the birthday calls were starting. HAPPY BIRTHDAY CRYSTAL, I love you.

Gym

2008-02-22T20:31:00.000-08:00

My husband has been asking me to go to the gym with him for the past 3 weeks and finally today I decided to go with him. We've been wanting to start working out mainly for healthy reasons and also to loose a few pounds. I have always found an excuse to not go; "I don't feel good", "My back hurts", "I'm too tired" etc... But not today, I finally decided to join my husband and provide support. It was a good workout, now I just have to keep it up and be more active.

Having A Baby

2008-02-08T19:07:00.000-08:00

Well today my co-worker had her first baby and he is so adorable. I am so happy and thrilled for her. When I seen the pictures of baby Andrew I got the feeling that I wanted a baby too. I have been thinking about it lately and wished that the time was right. Ismael has been ready since day one. He's been so patient and understanding that we have waited this much because timing is just not right, according to me. I know that when we finally decide to have a baby he will be an awesome dad.