Cool Pic's

emily & nico's birthday collage

the most handsome boy in the whole wide world

chela & alan hooray!!!

How I met my Husband...

My friends and I had a tradition going for about 3 years of going down to San Felipe every Memorial Day weekend. I really liked going there because it was the only place I could get a nice tan plus it was fun to just hang out on the beach and watch the tide come in. The tide goes out like a mile or so at night and then in the morning you can watch come in slowly. Back then like 1996-1999 it was really cool. It wasn't too crowded and the crowds that would go were cool people that had been going there for years. Nowadays it's kinda crazy, all these younger kids go now and it's changed quite a bit. Well, on Memorial weekend 1998 we rented a Ford Expedition and filled it to the brim with all our girlfriends and took the 6 hour trip down to San Felipe. When we got there we tried to getting some hotel rooms at our usual spot El Cortez Hotel, but it was full. So we went to a couple other hotels and they were full too. Just when we thought we were going to have to sleep in the truck one hotel said they had one space available but it wasn't a regular room, we didn't care as long as it had an A/C cause it is HOT down there. Well, it sure wasn't a regular room it was a teeny tiny trailer, you know those little round ones. Now, we were about 8 girls, I don't know how we did it that first night but it was crowded. (The next day we ran into some other friends that had rooms and some of us stayed with them.) So when we all got settled in, we all got ready and headed for Rockodiles, the then best place to hang. It's a restaurant bar that has the best view of the beach and the strip. We could see all the people walking up and down the strip from the balcony there. Then, someone caught my eye, a very cute, very buff dude. He was walking with another bigger buffer dude, I pointed them out to my friends and they concurred. We just hung out like that checking out the dudes and rating them and stuff like that. Then, as we were leaving to go walk around, the buff dudes were coming our way. My friend Mary asked if I wanted to be introduced and I said NO!
Soo she walked right up to the shorter one and said "Hey my friend would like to know you"
I turned beet red!! Well, he walked right up to me and asked me my name and I told him and he told me his, Fernando. He asked if I would be coming to the club later that night and I said sure. He said "Nice meeting you hope to see you later".
We went back to the trailer to get ready, which we had to do in shifts because of the limited space. When I was finished I went to sit outside. I saw someone from the corner of my eye trying to get my attention it was Fernando! He was staying in the same hotel! (They had a room though)
He walked over and said "How many people are staying in there?"
We laughed and then he said he was looking forward to seeing me at the club later.
So, when everybody was finally ready we headed back to Rockodiles they move the tables out to make room for the dance floor at night. I was sitting at the bar with my friend Gisel waiting for Fernando and I think I waited for about an hour and I was feeling pretty tired and a little bummed that maybe I'd been stood up. So I asked Gisel if she would go back to the trailer with me so I can go to sleep. I hadn't slept since we left L.A. the previous night. Well, as we walked out guess who was just getting there? Yeah! Fernando and let me tell you he sure cleans up well!! He asked me where I was going and I said "Umm.. I uh.. was just going to get a hot dog, yeah we'll be right back."
He said he would wait for me.
So, me and Gisel just looked at each other and said we should go back , you know just for a little bit yeah and check on the girls you know... well we got back and Fernando was sitting at the bar and asked if I wanted something to drink.
We started talking and we danced a little and talked some more, then we made our way out of the club to the shore across the street. We sat there under the full moon talking about everything, family, friends, future plans and stuff like that. When we finally realized the dance was over, my friends who had no idea where I had gone were calling my name out really loud. I waved them down and was like "What?" They were soo upset they started yelling at Fernando and me for not telling anyone where we had gone. We snuck into a cab while they were arguing amongst themselves and made our way back to the hotel. We went to sit by the pool and we talked some more. Then I fell asleep, he didn't realize it till he heard me snoring!! I was sooo tired!!! So I told him I better get back so he walked me to the trailer where Gisel had just arrived. She talked to him a little as I crashed onto the little bed. Then I heard some loud shouting, I got up to see what was going on, it was the rest of my friends getting back from the club and they were a little inebriated so they started yelling at Fernando again and then his friends showed up and it got louder until Gisel went out there and broke it up. The next day me and Gisel couldn't stop talking about him. "He's so cool, and he's cute!!" I was looking forward to hanging out with him again but I didn't see him again for the rest of the weekend. I was bummed, I thought maybe he was scared off by my friends.
Gisel said "It's okay Tina you'll see him again you have his number right?"
"No."
"Well he has yours right?"
"No."
We had talked all night but never exchanged numbers. So as we drove home I just thought about him and wondered if I would ever see him again. I told my mom about him and I even had a picture of him that my friend had taken. It was a nice memory. I thought that's all it would be.
BUT....
Like 2 weeks after getting back I received a phone call at work. I was working at Great Western Bank back then. Gisel answered the call (she worked there, too)
"Tina, it's Fernando?!"
"Who?"
"Fernando, San Felipe dude."
"NO WAY!! How did he find me?"
So I took the call
"Hi it's Fernando. Do you remember me?"
"Umm.. Oh yeah San Felipe right?'' (didn't want to sound desperate or anything)
"Yeah, when can I see you again?"
I told him it to give me his number since I was at work and I would call him later. I waited a couple days before calling though you know ;-)
It turned out that he remembered me mentioning where I worked when we talked and what city I was from. Soo, he asked his postman cousin to find me. His cousin happened to work the area where my branch was located and that was that.

We went on our first date to a restaurant in Glendale called Shakers. We hit it off like two birds of a feather. We had soo much in common!!
We dated for like 2 years and that's when Chela shared the Gospel with us, and life just wasn't the same. You know it was like our eyes had been opened and we could see how sinful our lives were. We couldn't stand to see each other for a while.
So, we started attending Grace Community Church and we heard the truth as we had never heard it before and asked Jesus to come into our lives. From then on it was like we had just met for our lives changed sooo much. We were new creations!! Fernando proposed to me in December of 2000 and we married in August 2001. I love him with a sacrificial love and he loves me with a Christ-like love. We have two beautiful kids and we have our ups and downs just like anybody else. But, we have a common foundation that can't be shaken and all our hope is in God alone.

p.s. Fernando's version is a little different, I'll share it later.

Whoa! It's been a while...

Sorry I haven't blogged lately I forgot I had one of these. I forgot the password and all. Anyway I'll try to blog as often as I can. It's been a hectic year. We foreclosed our home and we lived in a trailer for a while, then we found a house to rent (currently). So, now that we're settled in a little I'm starting to get back to things forgotten like this BLOG. It's about 12 midnight right now, the kids are asleep and Fernando is ironing some clothes for tomorrow. Today was a lazy day for me and the kids. We just stayed home and watched movies. Then we went swimming in the backyard (inflatable pool). We had chicken salad for lunch then my dad came over to help me with some broken sprinklers. Then I remembered that I had some flowers that I've been wanting to plant so I asked my dad if he could help me with that. I had Emily help too. She really loves working with dirt and flowers and all that. My dad just kept saying how tired he was. Then after all was fixed and planted he headed over to my moms house (she lives two streets over) to help her with some gardening thing too. Then me and the kids took a shower and waited for papa to come home. Then we made some popcorn and ate leftover chicken salad (mom's recipe) and watched "The Adventures of Huck Finn" with Elija Wood in it. I read the book some time ago and I really liked it. The movie was pretty good the kids liked it too. Then it was sleepy time, and after putting them back in their beds 3 or 4 times they finally went to sleep. Me and Fern watched the evening news and then came over the the office to work on some emails. And now I'm here and I'm done. Good night.

Hey wow long time no blog!! So what's new hmmm let me see....Well today was Emily's first day of school. I put her in a Headstart program, which is a government funded program, it's right down the street from our house. My camera is broken so I wasn't able to take pictures. She liked it alot!! She started talking to all the kids right away. She was saying "Hi my name is Emily I'm going to be 4 years old on October 13th" the kids were like "Oh ok wanna play". I know she's going to do just fine, it's me I'm worried about boo hoo. I'll miss her around here.

Hey my big 30th birthday is coming up, this Saturday. Emily asked me how old I'm gonna be, and I was about to say 21 but that would be lying so I said 30. She looked at me like I was gonna die soon. So that sunk it in. Man!!!

This is gonna be a short one so that's it for now. Thanks for reading.

Mall Rats

So today I finally got a chance to go buy Nico some new shoes. Nico, Emily and I went to the Northridge Mall and I did find the shoes I was looking for in his size but was very disappointed that they had no arch support whatsoever!! Nico's feet are a little flat so he really needs that. I think that arch support is better than the ankle support (the shoes I was looking at were high tops). So I went to a few other shoe stores and was surprised to find that none of these name brand expensive toddler shoes have arch support?! So I went to Payless and they have this one brand called Smart Fit that was exactly what I was looking for and only $12 bucks. Nico loves his new shoes!! Emily wanted some shoes too so I got her a pair. Then she wanted to wear them and good thing I let her because after alking around in them for a little bit she got a blister soo I took them back. Emily was very upset, she wanted to make sure the cashier saw her blister so she lifted her little foot upto the counter and said "Look an OWIE".
I decided to let them play a little in that play area, there weren't that many kids so they had fun. When it was time to go though Emily didn't want to and I told her not to be selfish but to be thankful for the "little time" I had let her play there and then she said "I don't want to play a little time, I want to play BIG TIME!" It sounded soo funny!! She meant it as the opposite of "little time" but it sounded more like a line from Carlito's Way.
Then we had lunch, Emily ate a whole cheeseburger!! She's been eating very well lately. Nico had half a cheeseburger and lots of fries. Me too:)
Emily likes shoe stores and costume jewelery stores like Icing. She can spend hours trying shoes on and jewelery she loves that! I know she doesn't get that from me I own less that 10 pairs of shoes and jewelery is not my thing. Hmmmmm.....
We must of spent like 6 hours there. It was fun just hanging with my kids.

Ok, I get it

So today I woke up at about 10:30am with Nico & Emily in my bed. I try not to wake Nico up to early so he can be well rested. I feel that he doesn't get as many seizures when he sleeps well. Emily wakes up and wants to see Dora the Exlporer, so I try unsuccessfully to get up without waking Nico up. As I was getting them dressed I hear a knocking at the front door, my Mom says she was in the area and wanted to stop by. She was on her way to Porter Ranch she said to walk around. I wonder if she misses it being an open pasture. We used to go there as a family and just walk around.
Anyway, it's the same routine every morning for me...Nico cries until he gets his breakfast and Emily doesn't want to eat so I have say "Emily eat your food please" like 5-10 times. My mom helps me by feeding Nico so I steal this time to brush my teeth and wash my face and get dressed. As I got dressed I was trying to open my closet and the door got stuck and that's when I saw a big pile of Fern's clothes almost exploding out of it. It reminded me of a our dating days when he once asked me to get a sweater for him from his closet at his bachelor pad. I wondered if it was just a laundry day or if maybe he was reorganizing but now I know the truth. I don't mind really, it only takes me a day to organize it. It takes him about 2 months to create it. So I begin to remove the clothes little by little waiting to find a "nido de ratas" which my dad would say about my closet when it got that way. It really grossed me out so I became very organized after that.
My mom took the kids outside to play a little but it was too hot so they came back in. She then took a nap on the couch while the kids watched Dora. Then she got up and helped me with the dishes and with my plants. She said she was gonna go to Walmart and bring me a plant for one of my planters so she left like at 1pm.
Nico's speech therapist came at 2:00pm today and played and talked with him and made a little flower picture using cut-outs of his little hands on consrtuction paper. It's very cute. Then we had lunch. I put Nico down for a nap and I continued working on the laundry. Emily is playing Monopoly and she wants me to play with her now, which means the money and the pieces are all over the floor and I need to clean it up......

My first Blog Attempt

Hello?? Is this thing on...