Christmas 2009

Jon and I headed to Orlando for our marvelous Christmas Holiday. We enjoyed seeing my Aunt Claudia and her two sons (my cousins). We laughed, we ate, we stomped on roaches, and in the end I was happy to be surrounded by the family that raised me and seeing my husband interact with our craziness. As I sit here in my warm living room eating Jelly Belly's & Chick-Fil-A (Jon quote: "What happens in 2009 stays in 2009", Claudia's response: "Didn't you hear the General Conference talk about how bad that quote is!") OK, I have veered off topic but in my defense I have been up since 6:00 AM and am tiiired. Plus, I have Chick-Fil-A plus Jelly Belly's to digest so give me a break! Now what was I saying...CHRISTMAS! That's right! Enjoy the pic's:

You know who!

Bryan, Tia, & Hector (Hector rode on a bus from Miami to O-town after work on Christmas Eve and what would have been a 5 hour ride turned into 12 b/c the bus broke down!)

Jon receiving a Christmas gift

My amazing Chef Aunt Claudia preparing my favorite meal- Sancocho

Carlos (my Aunt's hubby) and my dad building a fire pit for the Sancocho

We gave Hector a guitar strap that was off the chain

We gave Jonathan a sweet backpack for college

The family playing Bingo with my Bingo ball cage I got for last year's Christmas

Cutie pie Jonathan

J-man & Bro

Hector & Me

I love the Ortiz family!

"I just stepped on a roach!"

Gingerbread hands

The ginger bread house was made by yours truly with Hector, the grape ginger bread Temple was made by Jon & Andres (they used grape jello in the mix. They were going for taste vs. presentation), the tree was made by Jonathan, Cecilia, & Bryan.

Janeth agrees

Zoom in for fun!

The next day . . .

I sewed my mother-in-law a pillow (thanks Natalie Hill for the fabric!)



Jon's papa gave him a bike!



Just imagine having Jon next to you while opening Christmas presents : )

Jon's Dad & Sister

I graduated

Last Saturday I graduated from the University of Florida and it was wonderful. The weather was perfect and the ceremony was quick. We had Moe's catering and cheesecake from the cheesecake factory. It was such a happy day and will go down as one of my happiest memories.



Tim Tebow!



Claudia on stage shaking hands with President Machen

I love this picture Jon took because it looks like I am praying. Prayers were a big part of helping me get through college : )

Christine, Me, Jon, Allan - The Boress Family

Papi, Me, Mami, Jonathan, Stephanie, Andres and Janeth - Perez Family

Monica, Tio, Patricia, Me, Abuela, Laura, Harold - My Aunt, Uncle, Grandma, and Cousins

Esperanza, Me, Cecilia - Lifelong Friends of the Family

Papi y Johanna


Jared and Johanna - my brother-in-law and soon to be a first time father!

My wonderful family and friends

My sweet husband who helped me immensely throughout my college career. I love you!

I love balloons!!

Monkey Muffins

You have to make this right now:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/12/monkey-muffins/

It took me less than 10 minutes to make and Jon was licking his fingers at the end. SOO good and I used crappy generic Wal-mart biscuit and it still came out delish!

Happy 2-9

Letter to my one and only 2 days after his big 2-9:

You are so unbelievably altruistic. It amazes me sometimes how kind you are to me. You called me on Friday morning, the day of your b-day, to tell me how much me being in your life means to you. Some of the things you said to me that day will stay forever in my heart. Thank you for helping me find my way in this confusing world. Thank you for the 2 hour meals-from-scratch that you make for me after being in school for 10 hours. You amaze me. I love you.

I know how you "love" that your b-day is close to Christmas and that the only cake I could find to mark your 2-9 is a Christmas cake. Oh, and thank you for not noticing the fact that I forgot the number 2 candle.

Jon diving into his cake

Jon making a prayer wish "it's um, more powerful than a regular wish". 'Nough said.

Happy Birthday my eternal love.

My 1/2 Bath

For a while now I have been wanting to paint my 1/2 bath cabinet. The problem I had was the paint. I didn't want to buy a huge can of paint for such a small project. I already have about 8 cans of paint lying around the house so I figured I'd use one of them. I also had another issue with painting my cabinets, I didn't want it to look too painty and sticky. So my friend Bryn referred me to this neat little paint can called 'Cabinet Rescue'. It does not feel like paint whatsoever. The only problem was that you can only dye it a light color. I decided to go with light blue b/c I originally bought the can to paint the guest bath cabinet and the walls are already blue. But b/c I'm trying to be cheap I took a small amount and there you have it:




This is my first attempt at distressing. Its not my thing but this bathroom called for it. I got the cute knobs from Anthropologie.

Since I introduced blue to my yellow/black bathroom I purchased this poster (22% off) and will be gluing it to the wall (wish me luck)!


P.S.
Happy Birthday to my one and only Prince Charming!

Messenger Bag

A couple of months ago I was talking to a friend at church about how I would one day like to own a sewed messenger bag. My skills are not that good so I stored the idea in my 'To Do Project' folder. Then on Sunday my doorbell rang and it was my friend from church, Natalie Hill and her twin girls. She handed me the prettiest messenger bag. Her daughter Maegan and Natalie worked real hard and I was seriously flabbergasted! What sweet girls!! I don't ever get surprised and this was very unexpected. I love my new messenger bag. It's perfect!

Thanks so much Natalie for being so thoughtful.

I LOVE pockets and she remembered!

People are crafty

I found this while searching the wide world of blogs and felt it deserved a mention here:

They are so talented!


Check out Giggleberry Creations for the step by step tutorial.




I must have baby fever because today at Wal-Mart I saw this and squealed! Just imagine a black haired toddler with big green eyes riding this. Or look at the last picture on my blog.