Last Thursday was Derek's 28th birthday! We usually like to make his birthDAY into a birthWEEK, so we really celebrated the whole week. We started out the week by playing in the snow (sledding and snowshoeing), but then it got way too cold to be outside. So on Thursday we went to see a movie, ate some delicious Cafe Rio for lunch, went to a BYU basketball game, and tried a new restaurant for dinner.

On Saturday we threw a little birthday party for Derek. Brian, Meredith, Sally, Danny, Ashley, Anabel, Gibran, and Sam (Gibran's girlfriend) all came over for dinner. Sally made one of Derek's favorite dishes, brisket, and everyone else brought a yummy side dish to enjoy. Later on in the evening we invited friends to join us for some cake and ice cream. We had a great turn out and it was so much fun to catch up with friends.

Derek even made a time lapse video of the evening on his GoPro. I love to see how much fun he has with his new toy, he's like a kid in a candy store!I think you should all expect lots of videos from us in the near future :)

Christmas 2012 Highlights

I have been counting down the days until Christmas since September, so I was so excited when December finally rolled around! Our Christmas celebrations started the day after Thanksgiving this year as we celebrated with the Pando side of the family. Alina made a delicious Cuban style dinner for our "noche buena" and we sang Christmas songs. Sally started a new tradition of reading a children's Christmas book together now that we are introducing little ones into the family. She read "The Christmas Train" by President Monson. In the story, he recounts an experience he had in his childhood. It is a beautiful story about giving and the true meaning of Christmas. The next day was our faux Christmas, so we opened presents in the morning after having some delicious bubble bread (a family tradition). We also got to see the lights at Temple Square while Marina was in town. We had a great time until if started pouring on us!

The rest of December we spent seeing more Christmas lights, going to Christmas parties, watching Christmas movies, drinking warm apple cider, and hanging out with Santa Claus.

We spent Christmas with my family at my brother Javy's house in Bakersfield, CA. He and his family just moved into a new home and just had a new baby, so it was a very exciting time! I LOVE my little niece, Haven, and I'm convinced she is the cutest little girl in the world.

New baby Hudson is also just the sweetest little baby. I almost cried when I first saw him. He was only two weeks old and I was overwhelmed by his purity and innocence and felt gratitude to our Heavenly Father for placing him in our family. He also makes a cute Santa Claus.

Christmas morning was as magical as ever. It is so much more fun with kids around. You can see the excitement in their eyes and they are so easy to please. Sean was able to come celebrate with us as well, which was so fun. 

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

New Year

Hi family! We thought that the beginning of a new year would be a great time to start documenting our current adventures. 2012 was such an eventful and fun year for us, so we want to make sure we capture everything that 2013 will bring. With Derek in business school and me starting a new job this week, I know we will want to look back on these times and remember the many adventures we had together.
We also thought it would be fun to share it with the family so you can keep track of our happenings. As of late, we have just been having fun in the Utah snow. Derek has been enjoying his GoPro and mastering the art of video making. Here are 2 videos he made of our sledding and snowshoeing experience:

We wish you all a happy new year!