Hopeful

 

 

 

I am going to miss 2012, probably one of the best years of my life. Why you say?! It's obvious...LILY WAS BORN! Mark and I were discussing all of the things that happened in 2012, the good, the bad and we both agreed, it was a pretty awesome year. But alas, the past is for us to remember, not to live in...so it is time to say goodbye to 2012, and hello to 2013!

With 2013 comes no expectations from our family, we have nothing planned. It is totally unpredictable what will happen this next year. But we do have some goals in mind as to what we hope to accomplish. Since this is sort of our family journal, I will document our resolutions so I can reflect back on them a year from now and cut and paste them into 2014 ;)

Family Resolutions:

• Be better with Finances...if you don't need it, DON'T BUY IT!
• Save enough to go on a fun vacation
• Eat healthier as a family
• Be more consistent about tithing.
• Be better with all the religious stuff we are not consistent on...

Personal Resolutions

• Lose the next 20 lbs I've been saying I'll lose.
• Run a 5k...I say this every year...but this time I WILL do it.
• Allow time to accomplish all the projects I'd like to do.
• Use up all my vacation time I have earned by the end of the year.
• Magnify my callings
• Find ways to enjoy my job
• Worry less, have more faith and enjoy life.

Mark Resolutions

• To complete enough school so there will only be one semester left come 2014.
• Lose 20 lbs. to reach ultimate goal weight.
• Play in at least 5 golf tournaments.

Lily's Resolutions

• Go from walking to running.
• Try new foods
• Learn new words
• Turn 1 :)
• Continue being the cutest little girl in the whole entire world!!

Alright, that's it for now.

I am always a little fearful for a new year to begin. Afraid of tragedy and heartache. But as an apostle of the lord once said, 'your future is only as bright as your faith.'

I pray for a happy, safe and healthy new year for my little family, may the lord watch over us and protect us. I love life, and I am hopeful for the new year.

 



Lily's First Christmas

It's amazing how much a child can change christmas for a parent. This year I had ZERO interest in what I was going to receive for christmas. My only concern was how we were going to make this christmas extra special for our little lady.
I had a nightmare the other night that I had forgotten to get Lily christmas presents, that just shows you how important this is to me. The funny part, she is so little and will probably never remember her first christmas, but the fact that we have the opportunity to set her on a path of happy christmas' to come, makes it worth it.
We have been cuddling alot today, singing christmas carols. My thoughts? Nothing is better then holding my sweet baby in my arms and hearing her humm as I sing to her. *sigh*.
Here are just a few pictures of Lily's first christmas. She received LOTS of presents from Santa, Grandma's and her mommy/daddy. She has so many toys now! And I realized today that her birthday is in just two months...and she will receive even more toys! Let's just hope people give her clothes. lol!
These are in no particular order, but I will explain each photo.

Lily's main present, a giant gorilla pillow pet! She loves it, as I am typing this, she is enjoying a bottle and sleeping on her gorilla. so cute!

We were all spoiled by santa this year. Lily had the best spread.

Thought this was really funny, but Lily loves her dolly from great grandma O. This is actually how she gives her kisses.

At her Grammy's house, in her christmas pajamas...she looks thrilled. lol!

Presents christmas morning. she was not getting the concept of unwrapping the present...she needed assistance.

My baby enjoying her presents on christmas day at the grandparents.

This was at Horton Plaza, lily's second encounter with santa. She would not take her eyes off of him!

We went to winter haven, family tradition and so cold outside!

Lily meeting Santa for the first time.

Playing with the christmas tree.

A pre-Christmas photo. Love our little family!

We love our little Lily and are so grateful to have her in our lives. She brings so much happiness into our home and to everyone she meets. She is such a good natured little girl and is just an all around happy baby. We could not have been given a better child and we feel honored that heavenly father has asked us to raise her. I love her with all my soul, forever.

Now off to bed to wake up at 5 AM for work...vomit!

San Diego Quick Trip

We had the opportunity to go to San Diego to visit Mark's grandmother and Auntie Clarice. She has never seen Lily and it was a total surprise when we arrived, she was very happy to meet miss Lily. Wish that I could have recieved more time off of work, but hopefully we will have another chance in March.

Lily got to see the ocean for the first time and play in the sand (which she loved), we also did a bit of shopping at Horton plaza. We had pretty much just one day to enjoy in San Diego, but it was nice to get away. I love San Diego, and would love to live there someday.

We visited with my cousin Lena and her family, as well as my Aunt Holly and cousin Justice. It was so awesome to see them and have them meet my little family. They are such good people, hopefully I we will see them again soon.

First Steps...

Lily took her first steps today! YAY! Sure it was only two steps, but I was so excited and happy for her! I am soooo proud of how well my little sweetie is progressing and her desire to learn and to grown. She has achieved so may steps, sooner then I had expected. I was so worried that I would find out from someone else that she had taken her first steps while I was working, so I am so happy that she took her first steps towards me. I am going to work with her so she can continue learning to walk, I am predicting she will be walking on her own by Christmas. This girl is doing it all on her own, with hardly any help from mark and I. She is such a smart girl! (I am sure all parents think this about their children, but I really do think she is a smart little girl). I am just happy right now. I am going to try to catch it on video next time. yay!
She also had her 9 month appointment and is doing great. She is in the 90th percentile for weight (my healthy chubby girl), 54th percentile for height and 97th percentile for head circumference (see, told ya she was smart.). She was showing off to the doctor how well she can stand. She did not want to sit down during the whole visit! Show off! I love my little girl so much and am so proud of her. She is my happiness and my greatest blessing. Mark is my medicine and Lily is my peace, I am so blessed to have both of them in my life to make my world right.

Thanksgiving 2012

We had a great Thanksgiving! We had two Thanksgiving dinners, one with Marks parents and one with my parents...it was A LOT of food...but we managed. Lily loved it, cause the girl loves food. She will try anything, and any time you put something in your mouth, she will try to stick her tongue in your mouth to taste what is inside! I know, but it is soooo cute! She is definitely not a picky eater, which makes me happy.

Our little Family celebrating our first thanksgiving together.

Lily's before and after dinner face...girl was FULL

The spread at my mom's house, always my favorite. Mind you, this was our second dinner of the day...oye.

The Horton home dinner

Andrews first time carving the turkey. He was pretty nervous about it, but did a fabulous job.

We also went shopping Thanksgiving night for some deals, got a few things but nothing spectacular. We were on our way to Target when our car overheated and we needed to go home...that definitely put a damper on our Christmas spending, but maybe that is a good thing? I don't know, trying to think positively.
We also put up our Christmas tree on Friday. The tree has been up for almost a week and Lily has only touched it once! I am shocked! I even strategically placed our unbreakable ornaments on the bottom of the tree for her to play with, and not once has she touched it. Is it strange that I am disappointed by this? Probably.


Well, hopefully she will be mesmerized by Christmas lights when we take her to winter haven next week...we shall see.

Dia de los Muertos

Sunday we went downtown and joined the Dia de los Muertos procession. For those of you who have never heard of 'Dia de los Muertos', here is a quick explanation. Dia de los Muertos is spanish for Day of the Dead. It is primarily a mexican cultural tradition, in which friends and family members get together to remember those who have passed away. People will celebrate those who passed by painting their faces as skulls, adorned by bright colors and traditional dress.
Here in Tucson, we have a procession (parade). Bands will march, people will create floats and others will bring memorabilia of their family members who have passed on.
The was my first time going to a Dia de los Muertos procession, I have always wanted to be apart of one. We did not paint our faces, but we defintly will next year. I was surprised by how many people were participating, and I was touched by all of the pictures of loved ones who have died and were being represented by family/friends. We followed the procession, Lily wore her Folklorico dress and we brought her day of the dead mask.
It was lots of fun and very moving. I can't wait to attend again next year!
Here are some photos from the procession...

Remembering My Blessings

This past month I have heard, read and witnessed many unfortunate happenings in my friends and co-workers lives. The more I hear, the more I worry what my trail will be. While driving home from the gym today, I started to think, instead of being afraid of what trial life has in store for me, how about recognizing all of the many blessings in my life and being grateful I have yet to endure a hard trail. I follow the example of my friends on facebook, who have created a '30 days of Thanks'. Great Idea,
so here I go...Tis' the season to give thanks!

1. Grateful to live in a state which is sunny, pretty much 300 days out of the year. Waking up to the morning light and blue skys is a definite blessing.
2. Grateful to have a Job. Which beside the fact can be stressful, provides for the needs of my family and teaches me daily lessons on humility and patience.
3. Grateful for my amazing daughter Lily who is blowing raspberries at me as I type to get my attention. She is one of my GREATEST blessings and brings so much joy to my life. (I will be mentioning her again)
4. Grateful for my kind, happy and peaceful husband who despite my faults, always showers me with his love and concern for my welfare.
5. Grateful for my health. To not have to worry about how I will make it day to day. To not have to feel pain on a daily basis.
6. Grateful to have a belief in Jesus Christ and the power of forgiveness.
7. Grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who I KNOW listens to and answers my prayers. I love him and He loves me.
8. Grateful for a husband with a good sense of humor. He makes me laugh, and appreciates the weird things I do.
9. Grateful for a loving family who watches Lily every day so Mark and I can build a future for ourselves. Without them, I don't know what I would do! They love Lily so much and are so good to her. I know that no matter what happens to me, she will ALWAYS be taken care of and loved.
10. Grateful for the opportunity I have to be personally trained in cross fit. I have become stronger and healthier. My trainer is a great person and shows true interest in my well being, he will always be a friend to our family.
11. Grateful for the little surprises that Mark brings me almost daily. He loves to see me happy, which is what makes him such a selfless person. I love him with all my soul.
12. Grateful that I had a healthy pregnancy. Gave me hope that I can continue to have more healthy happy children.
13. Grateful that Lily sleeps all through the night, allowing me to wake up at 5 am and not feel like I have not slept.
14. Grateful that Lily is a good eater! Yes she is chubby, but I would rather have a chubby baby, then one that is under weight and does not want to eat.
15. Grateful for a loving and happy marriage with someone who I trust and I know is looking out for the needs our family. That we can have a healthy, relationship...but still keep it exciting ;)

Okay, I think that is good for now. I will think of another 15 blessings by the time the month ends. Most of them will probably be about Lily and Mark...but they are in fact my biggest blessings.

 

 

Halloween 2012

First Halloween for Lily went wonderfuly. We dressed up in a western theme this year. Lily was an Old West Saloon gal, which I know, they were the prostitutes of the west...judge me all you want, she looked adorable. I figure best to have the risque costumes now then when she is older and can comprehend what she is portraying...right? Anyways, I was the sheriff, and Mark was the bandito. Lots of fun, and I love dressing up as a family.

/
The little lady went to a trunck-or-treat with our church and enjoyed getting lots of candy. You may think the candy is for us, but lily loves candy! Gave her a sucker, and took it away shortly so she would not choke on broken pieces, she was NOT happy. Definitely don't want to make eating candy a habit....but it is halloween dangit!
Halloween, we went to my mothers neighborhood in Vail. People really get into halloween in her neighborhood. There is a house that gives out hotdogs, a haunted garage, a guy running around with a chainsaw, hay rides, and the fire department passes out glow sticks. Lots of fun and lily enjoyed it...not as much as her daddy though who was reliving his child hood going door to door asking for candy.
Mark and I were talking about how sad it will be when Lily no longer needs us to go trick-or-treating with her. I guess we still have 10 more years to not worry about that. I LOVE Halloween!

Halloween Traditions

This week we comensed our Halloween seasonal traditions. There are only two, but we are hoping to continue them throughout our lives.
We first visited the Corn Maze at Buckalew Farms. Mark and I first went to the Maze together when we began dating. It was our first date after deciding that we would take our friendship to the next level. We have four years of photos taken with the same pumpkin, it will be cool to see how our lives (and looks) have changed over time as we continue this tradition.

First date, 2008

2012

We were curious how Lily would manage the long walk through the maze, but she did awesome! She especially was happy when we started eating kettle corn together. Honestly, the kettle corn and bom fire are my favorite part. We only last an hour in the maze and begin to get annoyed cause we have only 3 out of the 18 check points. Overall we had lots of fun and happy that lily got to experience her first corn maze.

 

Then on Saturday, we carved pumpkins with the Ontiveros family. Mark carved Lily's pumpkin, which he tried to make it look like her, he did a great job. My pumpkin...not so much. I was over zelous and tried to do a dia de los muertos pumkin. Just as I was carving the last piece, the face popped out of the pumpkin and cracked on the floor. SAD DAY! I could not save it, so I opted for carving two big hearts and attaching them with toothpicks in the area where my real carving once stood. So lame. Lily was not to impressed with the pumpkins, she was way to tired to care. But, at least mark and I still had fun!

Next up...HALLOWEEN!!