Brandi's Baby

Brandi's baby boy, Cameron, was born on April 29th.  Luis was supposed to come with me to the hospital, but ended up home teaching for 2 hours and missed his chance.  I still had my friends Jen & Maria to go with, so I wasn't too much of a grumbling wife...not TOO much at least.

Luis went over with me the next day, but for some reason I can't get those pictures to upload.  So, I uploaded this picture of a pinata, but instead of the pinata, imagine Luis...and picture him holding a little baby...and pretend he's sitting on a living room couch instead of the garage floor.  You pretty much get the picture. 

Happy Birth, Cameron!

Surprise Visit

I got a call last Thursday from my brother, Dennis, asking how the weather was in Rancho.  Seeing as how he NEVER calls me, I knew something was up.  Turns out he and his wife Julie won a trip from work that landed them in San Diego for the weekend.  On Saturday, we got to spend some time with them on Coronado Island, near San Diego.

The weather was fabulous!

 After setting up camp, the boys headed off to the water for some boogie boarding.  Too bad the water was FrEeZiNg!  The wimps almost didn't go in until a certain someone pestered them about their manhood.

Dennis was looking pretty tan compared to Luis. 

If you noticed my legs in the pictures above, you'll see I've pretty much given up on tanning.

Next, for some light amusement, we buried Dennis and Julie took out some pent-up rage.  We may need to schedule some marriage counseling.

I love that Dennis' head in just hangin' out in the background.

Next to our plot on the beach, we noticed a man tirelessly working on this sand castle.  He said it took him about 6 or 7 hours.  (Someone has a little too much time on his hands.)  The man did leave buckets all around where we could put our donations.  I just took my picture and left.

We had only planned to play at the beach and go, but then Den's work invited us to dinner.  I wasn't quite prepared, but luckily Julie helped me find an appropriate wardrobe accessory.

At the fancy shmancy restaurant Den's company took us to, Julie ordered veal.  She ended up with the whole left flank.

Halfway through dinner, Luis and I had a nice little conversation that went like this:

Luis: Did you ever think that before you met me, you would go to a nice restaurant without doing your hair or makeup?

Me: I DID do my hair.

Luis: Oh... it looks really nice, honey.  What I meant was, see how much you've changed?

Me: Are you saying that I'm letting myself go?

Luis: Um... 

Hoppy Easter

Another holiday away from family means another holiday I've got to "up my game" to create fun memories.  This weekend turned out to be a very Hoppy Easter
(get it...hoppy?  Clever right?) 

We started out our weekend with the WesternU LDSSA barbeque.  There are tons of western students in our ward, but they are all in the Dental or Doctor programs.  It seems like there are many families involved in those programs.  The pharmacy program is mostly single, Asian women.  That's fine, but it means Lu doesn't have many school buddies he can relate to.  So the BBQ was a great way for us to get to know some other students at western who have more in common with us.

There's my Lu!  Am I a great photographer or what?

As a still fairly newlywed couple, we have a few hand-me-downs that we've wanted to update.  Every week we get ads from furniture stores.  Since I always find something I want, I leave the ad on the counter for a few days to tease myself.  After a week I remember that we can't buy new stuff right now and throw it away until the next ad arrives.  As a part Easter gift, part spring cleaning revamp, we decided to buy a few new items: bedding and a couch slipcover.

This is what we used to have.

(Okay, so we did have a slipcover on this couch before, so it wasn't quite this tragic...but still.)

Ta-da!

What do you think?  The red couch was a bit shocking, but I must say, I really like it!

On with the festivities.

Every Easter season since birth, I have participated in an Easter Egg Hunt.  I knew that there was no way I could NOT be in one this year, so I informed Luis that he and I would have one just for the two of us.  Since we already have candy that we rarely touch, I came up with the idea to fill our eggs with IOU's.  I cut some cutesy scrapbook paper into small strips and then we each took 10 and wrote out our IOU's.

We held our egg hunt in our apartment and found that it was really hard to find some of the eggs.  I played the classic primary singing game to help Luis.  You know the one.  You sing louder or softer to help the seeker find the hidden item.  I sang "Peter Cottontail" for Luis and he really liked it.

I really stink at egg hunts and ended up needed lots of clues with eggs 4-10.

Luis came up with some great IOU's like:

• washing my car
• dinner and dishes
• grocery shopping
• a night out dancing

Some of mine were pretty good too.  My favorite went a little something like this:

• IOU one walk to Krispy Kreme (doughnuts not included...okay fine, they are) and back.

We ended our fun with fondue.



Of course, Easter means much more than just fun activities.  I know I am rarely serious on my blog, but I do want to say how much I love our Savior.  He lived an incredible life here on Earth and is such an example to me of how I should live.  Being around kids and cranky people can be so exhausting.  It is sometimes quite easy for me to loose my patience.  But, I try to remember how Christ treated people in the scriptures and hope that someday I can learn to have more of His love.  I know His Atonement brings healing in our lives and have felt it so much this past year.  I also have great hope because of the Resurrection.  Recently, a family in my ward lost a 14 month old daughter to illness.  As sad as it is, I have been amazed to hear the young parents speak about how blessed they are to have had 14 months with their sweet daughter here on earth and eternity with her later on.  What a blessing it is to know that our families can be together forever because of our loving Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

Randomness

#1

In March, the Spanish branch asked me to play the piano for their Relief Society Birthday Celebration.  While on the phone with the RS President, I was told to bring Luis along.  (Despite my outrageous Spanish skills, I couldn't quite decipher every word of our conversation, so I wasn't sure why Luis was needed at this womens' event.)  As it turned out, they needed him to play Joseph Smith.  The sisters were impressed with how much he looked like Joseph Smith.  I thought, REALLY?

 #2

I was makin' me some smoothie goodness when I got in a fight with the blender.  The resulting chaos was absolutely THRILLING!

#3

Luis was invited to a special ceremony where he was presented his scholarship certificates.  I couldn't go since I had to work, so he took the camera with special instructions to 1) ask someone to take his picture on stage; and 2) bring the camera home.  (Certain much-loved family members have a tendency to loose things.)  Lu succeeded in 1/2 assignments.  BUT, to make it up to me, he took these pictures at home to document the occasion.  Looking at them makes me feel like I was right there at the ceremony!



Other newsie items of late:

• Today, my nose is runny.  I try blowing in tissue, but my aim is really off, because I keep getting it all over my fingers.  By the way, if you want to come over later, I'm making sandwiches.
• I was asked to conduct nursery singing time last Sunday.  After 5 minutes I found myself singing with my by myself on the rug.  Talk about awkward!  Ideas for the next two Sundays?
• Speaking of with my by myself... http://www.hulu.com/watch/37752/saturday-night-live-the-lawrence-welk-show
• Luis & I went with the sister missionaries for an appointment.  It was my first time, so I was, admittedly, a bit nervous.
• We had plans for a drive-in-movie date.  It rained, so we stayed home and watched Tangled.
• Luis has employed me as his barber.  I think I better start charging.
• I need a hair cut, but am 9 hours away from my favorite hair-dresser.  What to do, what to do.
• Luis got accepted into a summer internship, which means we are no longer seeking a cardboard box in which to live.
• My co-worker got mugged after work as she walked to her car...and I leave an hour LATER.  Wonderful!
• I bought veggie burgers yesterday.  VEGGIE burgers.  I made the mistake of letting Luis contribute to my shopping list.  That's not happening again :)
• Luis reminded me last night to only put one "clover" of garlic in my Cafe Rio salad dressing.



PB & J

I try to help Luis as much as I can, so I make his lunches.  PB & J's are my specialty, but some days I get carried away.  Let's just skip the J.

Wait...where am I?

A Bum Off the Street

I went visiting teaching.  Luis was lonely.  So he went and found a bum off the street.  Oh wait, that's my brother-in-law! 

After he left, I cried like a baby.  Nothing makes me miss my family more than saying goodbye.

Californian Spring Break

So...here's what we did for the rest of our Spring Break once we came home.

We took our first trip into Los Angeles to visit the temple.  It is a gorgeous temple!

We mixed things up by trying a new restaurant (at least for me).  I'd never even heard of Claim Jumpers before.  The atmosphere was a lot of fun.

One night, we took advice from some sisters, and had a cheap date at the local B&N where we found many great reads.

With so many page-turners, Lu couldn't decide.

Some little kids were hogging the kiddie table, so we had to settle for the floor.  Luis had NEVER read The Very Hungry Caterpillar or any of the Eric Carle classics.  It's a good thing he's married to a kid-book fanatic who can culture him in all things kid-book.

Not surprisingly, we ended Spring Break with a fav.