Maria’s Quinsenera

Today is Maria’s 15th birthday party which is the Mexican version of a Sweet 16. Paris and I helped set up the venue. The place looked amazing. Paris was a huge help-thank you princess!!

   

This is probably one of a very few number of pictures I like of myself so I put it in here. Paris took this of me as we were up the center pieces. I just wish someone was with me in it. Soon after this picture I changed my clothes to something a little nicer.

It was a beautiful party!

This lady was the entertainer and sang beautifully.Tristan wanted to know if we could buy her a dress like hers.

 

Maria was escorted in by her chaperones.

Traditionally the dad exchanges her flat shoes for some healed shoes to introduce her as a young woman leaving the little girl behind.

Then she danced with her dad and some of her family members.

 

Alex our neighbor sat at our table.

   

After the absolutely delicious meal that was served everyone started dancing.

Tristan found a couple friends to dance with.

Every now and then they would all go outside to jump in the castle.

 

Tristan our fashion girl. She took the centerpiece place mat and made it into a headpiece and scarf. It was a bit windy that night.

 

We saw some fireworks in the back yard. 

Then it was time for the cake.

Maria’s Aunt Janette, Uncle Israel, and Mom Veronica

  

Everyone made a conga line.

Paris was so sad when we left at 11pm, she wanted to stay until 1am when it was all over. Both girls can’t wait to have their Sweet 16 party.

I had to take a picture of Tristan with her headset on under her hat-that girl is so funny!!! Fashion first! How can you honestly not use an accessory, even when you need to put on headphones.

It was such a fun party. My Love and I did dance but we were surrounded by Mexicans that all know how to move every part of their body perfectly to the music. I was not born with that gift by any means so I just make everyone feel bad for my very talented dancing husband. Jared use to go dancing every weekend for years. I try and try but I honestly feel like a robot out on the dance floor. 

Maria was so happy and never stopped dancing the whole night. It was just awesome!!!

 

 

Maria’s Church Ceremony

Today Maria had her Quinsenera church ceremony. She looked gorgeous. Tristan’s first words were “She doesn’t look like the Maria that came with us on our trip.”

During the entire ceremony Tristan just watched Maria and everything that she did. Without knowing, Tristan was wearing Maria’s colors. It almost looked like she was part of the ceremony.

  

Jared and I were introduced to everyone as Esher’s parents because the Grandma has talked to everyone in Mexico about Esher. They were all so excited to finally meet him. All kinds of people talked to him and gave him hugs and kisses. He was like a mini-celebrity.

 

Jared’s niece and nephew, Megan and Tarl came down from Idaho for a baby blessing so we got to have dinner with them and they stayed at our house for a couple days. It was so much fun just hanging out with them!!

We introduced them to The Bombay House. They said they really enjoyed it-We love introducing people to new foods especially our favorite Indian place.

As soon as we got home Esher talked Tarl into playing the Wii with him.

 

 

14 Years Ago…

14 years ago on one of my saddest days in Korea I said a prayer, I was not religious and hardly ever prayed, “Do I have to meet a religious guy to be happy???” My worst nightmare! It seemed like every religious guy I had ever met was dorky looking, wanted to start a family and settle down which equaled SUPER BORING in my book!!!! My Australian friend Luke invited me to a farewell lunch for his friend Bina. After my crying and praying I got dressed and went to our favorite Indian restaurant in Itaiwan. I was early and so were two other girls so I sat and talked with them for a bit  and I notice these two white guys walk in, look around, and then sit down in the waiting area. We were in Korea so the odds of these two American looking guys being part of Bina’s farewell were high. So I walked over to ask and invite them to our table. Jared, my future LOVE, said he was so struck by my beauty that he couldn’t speak, so Wayne, the super shy guy who never talks to anyone new, was the one that answered.  Jared says he thought I was way out of his league, but was going to try to work it. So he did by making me laugh the entire time. I was in tears most of the time from laughing so hard. As we were leaving he asked if I had a boyfriend, I said NO since I had broken up with the biggest jerk in the world that morning. We all went for dessert at Baskin Robin’s and I decided to test him. I thought if he sits next to me he likes me so, I sat just a little away from the group and he didn’t sit next to me. I figured I was wrong, until we got on the bus to go home and he asked me for my phone number. I was so excited! That night I talked to my parents because I usually called them on Sunday nights. All I talked about was this new guy I met named Jared. The whole day I had wanted to call him but thought it would seem desperate or needy.  We had planned to meet on the 4th of July and I was just dying.  After the 4th of July we spent every single day together for a whole month before I went back home for a few weeks. It was the best month of my life!!!!!

Who knew a religious guy could be super handsome,funny, have an amazing personality, have a real spirit for traveling and no imminent plans to have a mortgage or 10 kids???

                                        The Day We Met

 

Every year we get together with Wayne to celebrate our anniversary together. We always go to the Bombay House for dinner. Rockie, who the boys met in Korea as well, sometimes joins us. Well this year with all the pay cuts and stuff no one had any money, but My Love found 1/2 off coupons for The Happy Sumo. So this year we went there. The waitress brought out a heart shaped sauce and said I don’t know why the chef did this but here it is. I said this is great because we are celebrating our anniversary. Then I pointed to the three of us and said we met 14 years ago. She looked at me super strange and Wayne just started laughing. I realized as she walked away very confused that I had made it sound as if we were all three lovers. I was so embarrassed. Leave it to me to say something like that.

 

So this morning the kids made us breakfast for our anniversary. I just have loved my life with My Wonderful Love and our beautiful kids. I could never have made it this far into motherhood with out the love and support of my wonderful husband. We are so very blessed to have each other!!! 

My life story with My Wonderful Love has been better than any fairytale I have ever heard of. I have always said that if Heavenly Father had asked me to create my perfect husband He would not have been anywhere near as AMAZING as Jared is!!!!!

Exciting Day!

We looked out our window and what did we see-A Big Giant Fire Truck.

This morning the kids got front row seats to these firemen working. Before the water went on the kids asked them what they were doing. They said they were out testing fire hydrants to make sure they all worked. It took them about 5 minutes to get the valve open on ours. Thank goodness they came- 5 minutes is a long time when your house is burning to the ground. The water sprayed all the way across our whole lawn… now that’s some serious water pressure! They let the water run for a few minutes, waved, honked and drove off. The kids just loved it!! Esher kept jumping up and down.

 

At Jen’s beautiful new house Janette got the tour and loved it. The kids played while we talked. It was so much fun getting together again like we use to in our neighborhood-we miss you Jen!!!

I forgot my camera in the car so this is the only picture I got as we were leaving. You can tell that Isaac was ready for his nap.

 

Such a cute picture of these two!!

 

Thank you Jen, it was so nice seeing you again!!! Lunch was awesome!

I Love Jackie!

Seriously Jackie is just so sweet and thoughtful. We have not seen each other for over a month, longest we have gone. Today I finally go to stop by and say “Hi” and catch up on her 3 week trip around the continent. She made me some delicious salsa with a cute quote on top and brought us some super yummy treats from Canada.

 

They were both gone pretty quickly!!

Thanks Jackie  and the rest of the Fox Den you are such wonderful friends-what would we do without you guys!!!

Finally

We have slowly been trying to update our house so about 10 months ago I bought new faucets. My friend Tony has been very busy so he just hasn’t had the time to put them in for me. Well since Wayne is unemployed and is staying with us for a few days I begged him to put them in. I love the way it totally transformed our bathrooms.

The old ones-yuck yuck!!!

 

The new ones-LOVE IT!!

 

Now if I can figure out how to get free new carpet and a marble counter top for the kitchen our house would look amazing!

About a month ago I ran over one of my sprinkler heads and then a week later another one, so Wayne was nice enough to fix them both. By nice I mean he complained and complained but in the end fixed them.

I’m so glad he came to visit!

 

 

The Blanchards

We had Troy, Daph and Uncle Wayne over for dinner. We talked all about our AMAZING trip.

 

Uncle Wayne played the Wii with the kids.

 

He stayed up late playing with Esher. I feel bad for Esher because all us girls don’t really play with him so he loves it when he finds a willing opponent.

Paris the Chef

This morning Paris made everyone breakfast. That girl is getting so close to being my favorite, he he. Soon I can retire and go back to school and have her run the whole house for me!!! The best part is that she loves doing it!

   

It was delicious!!!!