Photo Shoot!

Our friend Rick is starting a business is photography.  These are just some of the picks that he took for us.  Now, if you know Arianna you know these are just awesome picks, because she is just so shy with other people.  If you are interested in having a family photo shoot, or any other pics let me know and I will send you his information :)

Alma's Birthday

My sister had said she wanted to do a family gathering for her birthday.  Then, she scratched the idea. Tony and I decided to do that for her.  Unfortunately was at last minute and some people could not go, but we were still enough to celebrate and enjoy a feast!  We had portabello mushrooms with a delicious pesto sauce.  We had some amazing steaks, and chicken, and guacamole, and rice... just delicious.

My brother and her bride :) funny to think that my brother is all grown up and a newlywed.  Yikes!

 How about Logan?  Nice glasses!

 All waiting for the steaks to cook.  At this point our appetite was great to just dig in!

 Mike was trying the boy's bed.  It looks comfy!

I wondered what was so funny.  I don't think my cousin knew either...

 After the meal, Tony lighted the cake in the kitchen and walked with it surprising my sister once again :)

 Everyone was singing happy birthday and waiting for Alma to make a wish and blow the candles!

 Here to a wonderful year.  We love you lots.

Happy Birthday Alma!

Paper dolls!

Arianna's cousins are getting so big :) Here we are celebrating my sister's birthday (September12), but we went that day in the morning to a craft fair.  I was expecting a lot more of the fair, but I still managed to find 2-3 things that were lovely.  One of those were these doll papers for my nieces.

I think pretty soon Arianna is going to love to play with paper dolls!

Family outings...

My cousin Carlos came from Canada to visit and we were able to get together for a fun day of Sushi and Hamburgers.  Arianna and Mike stayed home because Ari was sleeping, but my sister was able to come with us.  It had been a long time since all 4 of us were together...

Then, later in the week we were able to go back to Chuck's restaurant for breakfast.  It is our new breakfast place to go to when we want some awesome pancakes!  They expect lots of kids and they have crayons ready which Arianna loves!  (The picture below I snapped it while she was wearing her hat which a lot of time she does not want to!).

Grandma and Me

These pictures were taken while I was in the house hiding by the curtains and they were singing in the back of our yard. They did not know I was taking the pictures until the last picture ;) I love that Ari loves her grandparents as much as I loved mine.   I wonder what song they were singing?

Oh no!  They saw me!

An outing for the parents.

It has been awhile since we have gone out as a couple, we usually go out as a family and we love it.  But, this time Mike surprised me by buying tickets to see the musical/ play Pride and Prejudice so a date was set.  This picture was taken as we parked in downtown... since it was a weekend the price was not as bad as we thought.  You know how some parking lots go by different names per floor, this one had a "green theme".  I loved how colorful it was.

Our idea was to have dinner and then drive to the theater.  Now, Mike had promised me to take me back to Frontera Grill (restaurant), but for whatever reason it had been 3 years and we had not made it back so he drove there.  The owner is Rick Bayless and he has a new restaurant that opened recently, Xoco.  I wanted to try that one.  It was supposed to be faster, it is just tacos, tortas or soups, but when we got there we found out that it had more than one hour wait time.  I did not want to rush and we found plan B.  When we were parking, we saw a restaurant named Havana.  So, we tried it.

When we got there, it was not full.  We were seated right away under very nice chandeliers, soft music, and dim lighting.  The service was wonderful too.

Here are the pictures of some of the food that we ordered.  The steak was Cuban style, and had lots of flavor.  Mike ordered pork shops and they were very good and not dry!

But of course, my favorite part was the dessert.  I actually pick desserts first :)  This time I had to tried Strawberries with cream.  Mike had the lava cake and let's  not forget the awesome plantains.  We would love to go back, so we will see.  But, we definitely recommend this restaurant.

When we left the restaurant, I saw this car and was transported back in time....love the color as well.

I was playing with the camera trying to get a couple's shot when the waitress volunteer to take a picture.  Here are both pictures! 

Then, it was off to the play which was just lovely.  But since parking was hard, I did not have time to take pictures and when it finished I realized I left my camera in the car, so no picture of the theater.  But, we will try to do something like this in the near future.  Then, it was home to our darling Ari.  It is amazing how you just need an hour or so away sometime, but then we just miss her too much :)  (By the way, thanks for babysitting).

WPP #5

The first picture is not my WPP, but Mike's. He took this picture during the week and I liked the motion of the Cardinal. I think is a wonderful picture.

This one is mine. We have about 4 squirrels that are in our yard quite often (if not always). We have more than that, but they come and go. We had some leftover apples and I figure they may liked them. After a few minutes, they spotted the apples, came from their house (the tree is next to our fence), and started eating some of it... then they took off with the entire apple, but I forgot to snatch a picture of that. It is amazing what they can carry!

In the summer, I have a hate-love relationship when they keep trying to eat my tomatoes and flowers, but I always try to plant extra for them and try to buy food they like so they leave my tomatoes alone (for the most part). After seeing a Chicken Hawk almost getting one, I was so scared for the little one. I know is the circle of life and such... so I figure I can re-plant. No biggie. I may still complaint a bit if they take a super nice flower :( but I love the little critters. Plus, I remember how my grandma used to feed them peanuts. She loved animals. I wish she could see my garden. She would have liked it. I try to imagine what she would have done: plant? pick flowers? veggies? birdwatching? squirrel feeding? Now, I just need to do that so she can watch us wherever she is. :)