sometimes, God blows my mind.

today! i met andrew. i was passing by and he asked meekly, "do you read the Bible?" "yes, i mean no, i mean i want to."

and this is amazing for a few reasons:

1. just last night, i was telling j, "i feel convicted to read the Bible more..."

2. this middle aged, vietnamese man prayed moments before that at least one person would stop and give Jesus a wee bit of time.

3. two strangers spent 15 minutes in the middle of campus sharing in His word.

basically, God just focused in on me, and said, "yes! read!" and my eyes were wet and my mind was blown.

Mr. & Mrs.

hello friends and family!!

we just wanted to say thank you soo much for your support and blessings, it truly means the world to us.

a wee lil explanation is in order :)

as you know, Joey has been sworn in and joined the Navy Reserves (an important piece of the puzzle). we knew, in our heart of hearts, that marriage was in our future. we also knew we wanted to give ourselves the opportunity, and maybe even the upper hand, to ensure we would be able to provide for our family (and start expanding our family!) when he returns home. on June 26th, 2009 we dedicated our lives to each other and became husband & wife <3.

Mr. & Mrs.

it was a very private, very special day for us. but don't fret! we sincerely don't want to miss sharing this very dear commitment with our family and friends, to celebrate all the love and bliss that comes with taking vows. there will be a ceremony, there will be a reception, there will be cake!! but more importantly there will be the joining of our very dear loved ones, our friends and family :)

a glimpse of what comes next...

next week: joey and i start our 7 week class, "Becoming One." even though things happened a tad backwards, we are dedicated to making sure we have all the tools to make it to forever <3.

three months: joey ships out to the Great Lakes. we're not entirely sure how long he'll be away, but all sources point to 6 months to a year. and we KNOW it's going to bring about great change, we've been preparing our hearts, preparing our minds, preparing our family, and praying for God to lead us forward.

this year: while my sweet pea is away, i will be finishing up school and finishing up ceremony/reception plans. so far, we're very much enjoying the wedding planning; venues and flowers and food, oh my! we don't have a date set, per say. BUT we're crossing our fingers he'll be home by June, 26th 2011, our two year anniversary, the date we're hoping to set. invitations will be mailed out early next year, so keep those eyes peeled ;)

so there you have it, we're married!! 9 months of bliss and love and growing, 9 months as husband and wife, 9 months as a step-mommy (oh how my heart beats for our little man).

we are so lucky to have so much support and love in our lives, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts <3.


"i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)" ~ ee cummings

family, family, family... pics!

isn't december wonderful?!? i feel so blessed, so thankful, and so in love with the most handsome men in town. my lovely (and gorgeous!) friend bee met us up at carbon canyon regional park for a family photo shoot and then created this super sweet, soul touching video for us. thank you bee, for such a lovely gift!

christmas tree sweetness!

one day we'll have a real tree, where you have to vacuum up the needles every couple of days. but hey, a pre-lit tree right outta the box?? i must say, is mighty easy. we spent our night sipping hot cocoa, singing to christmas carols, and decorating the tree. <3.

we're all about the marshmallows ;)

ohh look what we found! (i painted this little guy)

in 2003! j+m

daddy & hens making the tree skirt perfectlooking for the right spot..

to make our tree dazzle!

he is such a sweet helpful helper :)

now the finishing touches...

just in time, bed time <3.oh oh and our lights are up! every house deserves some twinkling lights. :)

we hope you all are having a loving holiday <3.

thanks, thank you, thankful, thanksgiving.

this thanksgiving holiday filled my heart to the brim. 5 full days of family and plans and thankfulness.

Monday: my mom, brother, sis-in-law, and nephew came down from utah and stayed a hop and a skip away from us and thus we spent every single day together <3.

Wednesday: we picked up the monkey and re-introduced him to the family (a whole year can be eons for the little guy). we swooped up the kiddos and took them down to long beach for a day at the aquarium.

they totally hit it off.

yay! for family photos :)

rolled down grassy hills



grabbed some lunch at chili's

then headed back home where nanny and pap made a super lovely dinner for us and my family, chatted over some wine. landon was all googly-eyed with all the toys henry showed him. and then it was off for a late night swim at the hotel (i wish i had pictures, the boys were too cute!). by the end of the night, herny was asking about his "best friend, landon."

Thursday/Turkey day: we woke up for a great big breakfast with nanny, pap, and aunt jaye. dropped the monkey off with mama and mark, then set in for the drive to palm springs. it was so wonderful to have the whole family together. (mom, dad, mama, cheri, andy, robert, nicole, daniel, landon, sammy, brandy, josie, sam, jayd, angie, lucy). joey and i tackled each girl (6 nieces!) equally. tickling, chasing, carrying, poking, you name it, we did it.

the tickling culprits!

then came the wonderful news from dahlia and alex, their first baby was on his way into the world! turkey baby, diego luciano gonzalez was born at 6:36pm, 6 lbs 13 oz, 19 inches, pure sweetheart.

what a thankful blessing

Friday: black friday! our very first and it was a great sucess! we "napped" for 3 hours, then hit wal-mart at 3am, sheesh! we were all ready to wait in line with our chairs and our blankets, but those sneaky wal-mart folk tricked us by opening early. our next stop was toys-r-us and we shopped and shopped, until our Christmas shopping was done and it was only 8am! had ourselves a tiny rest, then i was off to the hospital to cuddle and love on diego.

instant LOVE

after the hospital, we hopped back on the road to san marcos to visit my grandparents. only this visit was nothing like the visits before. my grandparents are fading fast (no pics this time, we decided to remember them the way we've always known them to be).

Christmas 2008

we pulled up a chair around their bed and chatted them up as much as they were able. grandma kept talking about spaghetti, so i rummaged through their cupboards and made them a nice little spaghetti dinner. we made them as comfortable as possible and said our goodbyes, it was so hard to hold it all together. i wrapped my grandpa's arms around me and felt him hold me tight while i whispered "i love you" over and over in his ear. i am so thankful for those intimate moments, for not letting that lump in my throat keep me from expressing such toiling emotions. i love them, i love them so much.

Saturday: and so the time came to say goodbye to my mama and big brother and hon and landon. i think we shared a billion hugs and kisses before anyone could pack back into the car for the long haul home. the week simply flew by. i miss them already!

at home we unpacked the christmas decorations, sent joey up on the roof for light duty, and turned the house into a light show (music and everything!). i'm almost positive you can see it blinking to "frosty the snowman" from space. ;)

the it was back to visit the new mommy and daddy and baby. it was the best saturday night snuggling and loving on them, pj's and all.

so in awe of him

Sunday: sleep sleep sleep!! we slept until the bed became uncomfortable, and we were still zombies! we did however manage to be productive, loaded the christmas gifts into storage and stumbled upon our winter and heating blankets (thank God! i thought we were gonna freeze this winter). I made a whole thanksgiving dinner (minus the turky, nanny was on turkey duty). Homemade mashed potatos, turkey gravy, stuffing, green bean cassorole... for the second time this week. it was amazing (pap even said it was better than claim jumper, hehe!). i picked my turkey coma self up outta the couch and made my way back to diego (i know i know, but he's just too precious to stay away for too long).


alas, this thanksgiving gave me so much to be thankful for. it was quite the week of living in the now. my dear family, my dear friends, you all mean the world to me. <3