Spending Quality Time with the Nieces

I have such a strong bond with my nieces.... they absolutely mean everything to me. But since having Alejandro it has gotten a wee bit harder to spend time with them. So every so often I search Pinterest for cool activities to do with them and found this one after my boss told me about it. It was fun watching them create something from scratch that will hopefully last a long time. After the big(ger) girls were done making them we had the little one year old give it a go. So adorable watching her doing her ornament as well. I can't wait for Alejandro to be big enough to participate in these activities. :)

Our 10th Anniversary

On Friday, Manuel and I celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary.  We invited my mom, sis, bro, and their better halfs to join us at Casa Sanchez for dinner and mariachi. It was such good times! The food was yummy, the music was awesome, and the company was the best. I am so happy to be married to such a wonderful man... the father of this wonderful little baby growing inside of me :) Before leaving I wanted to take the opportunity to tell my family about the baby, so I told my little niece to share a picture with everyone and she was more than happy to do so. She was ecstatic as was everyone else.

Like I said, good times :)

The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens

You know that saying "I need a vacation from my vacation"? Welp, that was me yesterday. So today, I woke up bright and early and asked my hubby to spend Easter at the Hungtington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens with me. He didn't hesitate once. In fact, he thought that would be an awesome idea.

So we headed over and I just have to say how much I fell in love with the charm and absolute beauty of this place. It's not like the Arboratum... it has it's own charm. I love both places so much I could jump between both all day. However, the Huntington is a bit more steep in price. I guess that's because it's a private park as opposed to the Arboratum which is part of the LA County Parks and Rec.

The Huntington is separated into various garden settings which are the backdrop to a gorgeous art museum and a sweet looking library. We spent all day there taking hundreds of pictures. It was THAT beautiful.

The fact that it's spring time and the weather was so perfect totally helped set the tone for an awesome day. I'm definitely thinking of going back but later in the spring or early summer. God permitting of course :)

Feeling Like The Luckiest Girl in The World

Sorry I've been MIA. I've just been keeping myself busy with work. However, that's getting boring!

Ha! But you know what's fun and great and completely awesome?!?! Well, as of yesterday, Valentines Day I am now 13 weeks! THIRTEEN WEEKS! Which puts me at my SECOND TRIMESTER! Isn't that awesome? I love having these wonderful milestones coincide with Holidays... This will help me forever remember how I felt at such a stage. :)

I'm normally not a big fan of Valentines Day because I feel it's overrated, but this year was a bit more meaningful for me because it helped me appreciate my hubby for everything he does for me. Since finding out we were pregnant he's so happy and loving and quite even more attentive. He's going to be such a wonderful father just like he is a wonderful husband. :)

Life is great :)

Goodbye 2011

I can't for the life of me believe that 2011 is leaving. I, for one, am very grateful to the year. I accomplished so many wonderful things and personally had probably one of the best years of my life. I don't ever remember feeling so accomplished.

I think I grew up a lot this year. I don't mean age wise, but mentally and emotionally. I let go of old feelings and resentments and owed up to my own choices. Choices in which at some point I thought were mistakes, but now I realize were right all along. I took back control of me as a person. For a while, I was too busy trying to please everyone and keep up with others that I was lost. I'm so glad I focused on my health. Since January of 11 I focused on my health and it's been one benefit after another. I lost 65+ lbs! That is a whole lot of weight! I regained my health.... and in turn my fertility. I feel great.... a little nauseous... but great! Now, I can't predict the future, but I sure can thank God for granting me the opportunity of becoming pregnant and carrying this new life inside of me. It's a magical feeling. A feeling I thought would never come. Not only have I managed to make myself happy, but by being happy I've managed to make those around me smile as well. My hubby for one is the happiest guy alive right now. I love him. I cannot see myself with anyone else. Not to toot my own horn, but I've inspired so many to change the way they take care of themselves. Complete strangers even. Coworkers, friends, strangers, online friends... they've all told me how I somehow inspired them to lose the weight. It's such a great feeling. And I'm glad I've been able to do something for others even while doing it for me.

This year taught me that I can do ANYTHING and achieve ANYTHING that my heart desires. I know 2012 will just be a continuation of my wonderful life. I know things will continue to blossom for me and my family. I know that with a kind heart and an open mind, and a spirit full of faith we're all able to do great things. So no, I'm not scared that it'll all end. I know. I believe that everything will be alright and that God will continue to grace me with love.

I wish you all a very, very, very happy new year! Stay focused, driven, and filled with love and faith!

Christmas

Merry Christmas y'all! Hope you all had a wonderful and joyous day with your families and loved ones. I sure did! As you know, my mom, niece, hubby, and I spent Christmas eve making tamales. Oh, it was a lot of work. But so worth it in the end. Everyone loved the tamales and ponche :).  Here's Clarice just waiting to open all the gifts...

I gotta admit I was beat. After doing the tamales I went and took a shower and changed into tights and a tshirt! Yup. I did not feel like getting dressed up at all. I didn't even put make-up on. So sad :(. . .lol... It's crazy, but I seriously just felt beat. It made me appreciate all that my mom does for us though. I mean she never stopped to rest. Not Once. I truly admire her strength because she had dialysis earlier that day and she still managed to be full of energy. Love that woman! Here she is after opening her second gift... which was some more moola. She loves to play in Vegas, so now she has some extra cash to play :)

George, my sister's hubby got her a framed portrait of two of their wedding pictures. She was happy. They're lovely. He's like Santa Claus.... his presents were on going. LOL.... cute :)

Then we have my two beautiful nieces. Clarice had already opened all her gifts while Angie was at her dad's. So we got to see her open hers Christmas night. She's so cute and in love with hippos. Any size, shape, or form.... she loves them. Here are a few new ones that she's added to her collection. Watching her play "Mama hippo" is the cutest thing ever! Little Secret: I think it would be the sweetest thing ever if my baby had a stuffed animal addiction like Angie. Maybe to little stuffed Lions :) hehehehe.

Manuel had to go to work before midnight, so we decided to change it up a bit and began opening presents at 9pm that way he didn't miss out. I really appreciate my family for taking him into consideration. He was very happy. Here he is opening one of his our gifts.... movie tickets! We love going to the movies!

This is Salvador. He's my step-dad. An awesome, kind, and giving man. My mom is very fortunate to have found him. Since my mom's kidney failure he's been the most awesome-est man ever. He got nothing but colognes from everyone. Hahahha... he loves to smell good :)

Luis, my brother got liquor. He was very happy about it. Luckily, he doesn't drive so he can enjoy his little bottle. LOL...

And finally here's George... trying out his new sweater. Fit him perfectly. 

So how was your Christmas? Did you have a big party or a small family dinner like us? Well whatever you did hope you had fun and thanked God for your meal and the memories that were made! Have an awesome rest of 2011!  eeeeeeeeeekkkkk!

P.S. Just in case you're wondering, we haven't shared the news with the family yet. It's killing me to do so, but we're going to after our appointment tomorrow. Maybe invite the family to dinner... :) How exciting! 

Christmas Eve Tamales

What a day it's been! We woke up early and started prepping for the day long tamale making. Man, they are hard work. You gotta get EVERYTHING ready before even starting all while preparing the famous Christmas Eve Ponche. Yummm. My mouth is watering just thinking about all the yumminess that we'll be enjoying toward the end of the evening. My mom always makes the best tamales and I'll admit I never really helped. But today I actually dove right in and helped with everything and I'm beat! I was standing for hours and my back is killing me. I'm tired and all I want to do is take an eight hour nap. LOL. So right now I'm supposed to be resting, but I decided to blog about the process instead because later on I'll just be too tired to remember.... So here are some pictures of the process... Maybe next year when I'm all about I want tamales I'll remember the hard work and think about it more. lol..... But yeah, the house smells delicious! 

By the way, these are Guatemalan tamales. Yum. Yum. Yum! 

Christmas Shopping

Manuel and I went to the Santa Monica Promenade or as it's known now the Santa Monica Place. I hadn't been there in years. It's a pretty nice little mall out in the open air. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't that perfect as it rained on us a bit. Not too bad, but enough to get my hair all in a frizz. I was hoping I'd get everyone their gifts, but that was not happening. At least I was able to get the kiddos their gifts. I'm sure they'll love 'em. Now I gotta get the rest of the family in the next 6 days. :/

So let me tell you where this is going...

She Found Herself a Nice Spot to Read, originally uploaded by AnnuskA - AnnA Theodora.

Tomorrow I go back to work. Ughhh. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my job, but let's face it. . .I enjoy being off much more. Hehehe. Any who, I hope that I am able to keep up with this blog because sometimes it gets super hard and life just gets in the way. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's always good to have a place to vent and chill. I want this to be that place. We'll see. Any who, I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter and Spring Break. I know I did. I got to spend it with my lovely family. . .and while I'm on the subject of Easter it got me thinking that I need to go to church. Not that I want to live inside one every day, but there's just so much to learn. I haven't been to one since I was a tween. . .and back then I didn't want to go because my family was just forcing me to go. Seriously peeps, if you have kids don't force them. . specially if YOU are not going! Well, that's a completely another story. But yeah, I'd like to go. Maybe I should bring it up to my hubby. He's great, so I'm sure he'll support me. I kind of feel like I'm just rambling. AND I am! Ha! So hey, did you guys feel the quake earlier today. They say 7.2 by the border! Scary stuff!! I'm pretty used to quakes, but this one creeped me out because it kept going. It wasn't harsh at all down here in Los Angeles, but it lasted at least a minute. Felt like I was on a boat. In fact, I have to admit I actually had a panic attack! I just wanted to get fresh air. It was WEIRD! LOL.

Well, enough rambling. . .time to get to bed. . .another day awaits!

Love,

Sandrah