Welcome to the good life!

change...

2011-09-09T22:10:00.000-06:00

I decided to start a new blog. Want to check it out??

saminsandyland.blogspot.com

Hopefully the snow melts soon.

2011-01-19T22:18:00.000-07:00

1-18-11

Sunset.

2011-01-19T22:16:00.000-07:00

1-17-11

They should just give me my own parking spot.

2011-01-19T22:14:00.000-07:00

1-16-11

I wont show you our score.

2011-01-19T22:12:00.000-07:00

1-15-11

Hopefully this is for the patient after me...

2011-01-19T22:10:00.000-07:00

1-14-11

Great way to spend a Thursday night.

2011-01-19T22:06:00.000-07:00

1-13-11

One of these things is not like the others...

2011-01-19T22:03:00.000-07:00

1-12-11

The way to a mans heart.

2011-01-19T22:00:00.001-07:00

1-11-11

she doesn't like her picture being taken.

2011-01-10T20:04:00.001-07:00

1-10-11

The one downside of losing weight...

2011-01-10T20:03:00.000-07:00

1-9-11

All the clothes that don't fit anymore.

(the top two are going off to the D.I.)

I want these rims.

2011-01-08T14:22:00.000-07:00

1-8-11

Hand and Foot.

2011-01-08T14:20:00.000-07:00

1-7-11

Who is cuter?

2011-01-08T14:19:00.000-07:00

1-6-11

A very important question.

2011-01-04T21:44:00.000-07:00

1-4-11

What is the best Christmas present you have ever recieved?

I should say mine is the very awesome IPad I got for Christmas this year but it isnt.

The best Christmas gift I ever got was:

The Harry Potter Boxset.

Sad I know, but it was the greatest moment ever!

They freakin came in a Hogwarts chest!

I still have not cracked any of the spines on them because I want to enjoy them with my kids one day.

Greatest Christmas presents ever!

2011-01-03T20:09:00.000-07:00

There is this CRAZY STUPID show on MTV called 16 and Prego.

Mo and I might be slightly obsessed with it.

One of the couples on the show had this really cute collage of photos with everybody holding up signs that say "I Love You."

We copied the idea for our parents Christmas present!

While taking mine and Diegos pictures my sisters and I decided to take some of just the girls to give to our grandparents.

We KINDA liked how they turned out.

Maybe one day I will be an artist?

2011-01-03T19:39:00.000-07:00

1-3-11

One of my Christmas presents from my parents was a painting by my Mothers painting teacher.

Another project?

2011-01-03T19:29:00.000-07:00

1-2-11

Diego has decided that it is finally time for ALL his tools to find a new home.

So he is building them a mini mansion in the backyard.

The best way to enjoy a Jazz game.

2011-01-02T11:53:00.000-07:00

Missed me?

It has been a very hellish 5 months since my last post but we are not going to talk about that.

We are going to talk about my new years resolution which I stole from my sister Mo.

I am going to join everybody in doing the picture a day posts.

So here is 1.1.11!

Playing catch up.

2010-09-01T15:58:00.000-06:00

About two months ago I noticed some weird stuff going on with my body. I thought I was prego! Two prego tests at home and both were negative. Of course I didn’t trust them. I drink so much water that I was positive my pee was not accurate! I mean why else would I miss my period and be sick every day? But I thought something was wrong because I was having major pain in my ovary area. I set up an appt with my family Dr. to see if she could help me! My old family Dr. was an OB also so I figured the lady that took over for her would be too. I had only met this lady once, but she didn’t seem like an idiot. They gave me a prego test and said it was negative. But since it was only a urine test I still had doubts about it. {I am paranoid!} The Dr. diagnosed me with a bladder infection and sent me home. She said she would send in my urine sample to get it analyzed. I took all my pills and when there was only one left I got a call from her saying that it wasn’t an infection after all. No shit Sherlock! I was still having severe pain. But now I had a yeast infection from the antibiotics on top of everything else! {She wouldn’t prescribe me the pill that I usually take with the antibiotics to prevent the yeast infection because she said my body was probably immune to it…} The Dr. made an appt for me the following Monday to get an ultra sound done. She said she thought it was either a cyst on my ovary or a kidney stone. All I wanted was for the pain to be gone. It was terrible. I was still going to work every day and coming home some days just to rest on my lunch break because the pain was so bad.

On Monday morning Diego and I went to my ultra sound appt. with high hopes of finding out what was causing all the pain. They said I would get my test results by Wednesday morning. Wednesday comes around and no calls. I call in the afternoon and they say I will have to wait till the dr. gets to them. No call on Thursday either. Friday I call and talk to one of my friends that work for a different dr. that is in the same office. I just asked her if she could tell me if my results had even come in. Since my Drs Assistant wasn’t there that day my friend was filling in for her and said my results had been there since Wednesday! Just Grand! Monday after work I called and asked how much I needed to pay to get my results back. The assistant says she will have a different Dr. look at them because my dr. had left for the day. She called me back two hours later and informed me that I could have a kidney stone and that there is also a large mass on my ovary that might be bleeding. And then informs me my doctor won’t be in until Wednesday afternoon, so she would transfer me to the front desk to make an appointment. SERIOUSLY! I made an appointment for Wednesday at 6 and started stressing out! It didn’t not give me peace knowing I MIGHT be bleeding out of my ovaries.

The next day at work I saw that I had missed a call from a number I didn’t recognize. I had a voicemail from my Dr. {My blood is still boiling from this!} She informed me that it was her day off and that she was at home with her kids but the office said I sounded worried about my test results. She said to call and make an appt with the office, but if I was really worried I could call her at home. She again reminded me that it was her day off though. I called my mother and had her listen to the message. She was just as shocked as I was and said I should change doctors. I agreed. My friend Brooke asked me why had I not gone to my regular OBGYN? I had not even thought of him! {I still am angry at myself for not going to him in the first place!} I call the office and they get me in to see Dr. Smith within three hours. They said they will have my results by the time I get there. The nurse comes and gets me from the waiting room and informs me that I have cysts on both ovaries. She told me more than my fist doctor had in 6 days in less than 30 seconds. I was so relieved to know what was going on! Dr. Smith sat down with me and we went over the symptoms. He thought I had endometriosis. I had no idea what endometriosis actually was. I have heard about it thousands of times, but only knew that it makes it harder for you to get prego. Dr. Smith explained what it actually was. Gross! He asked me if I wanted surgery. I told him I would do whatever to make the pain go away. It had been a month and a half of Hell. We scheduled the surgery for two weeks later. Happy Birthday to me!

The next two weeks were so bad. I knew my period was coming but I didn’t know that it would be so bad that I would be throwing up from the pain. I didn’t get off the couch for about 24 hours. I didn’t know what was going on but I knew it was bad. I have always had bad cramps, but midol always helped. Nothing helped! During the next week I realized it hurt the most after I ate. So I went to eating yogurts for the last week and barely making it through the day. Working a full day was so hard that when I got off all I wanted to do was sleep. I couldn’t do anything! The Friday before the surgery I had an appt to go over the procedure with Dr. Smith. I begged him to fix me. I didn’t want to live with this pain anymore.

Finally Monday the 30th came and Diego and I left for the hospital. I was so nervous and I couldn’t have my vice… water. If you know me, you know I always have a water bottle with me. I would have just walked around with the bottle if I could have! Alta View was awesome. They started my surgery early and everything went so well. During my surgery they pumped my stomach with air so they can see everything inside very well. And when that air tries to escape it goes to one of your shoulders, which hurts way more than the actual surgery! So for the past two and a half days I have been relaxing and feeling nauseous. Fun huh!?

Dr. Smith talked to Diego after the surgery and told him he drained both the cysts and cleaned up all the endometriosis gunk from my innards.

I am so excited that the pain is gone it makes me want to cry. It was that bad! Thanks to Yo Adriane and Kimber for bringing me dinner and treats. It meant the world to me! Diego took very good care of me too. It was nice having him with me during this. And thanks to everybody who offered their help and dinners to me. I am very loved.

My life rocks.

2010-08-16T15:53:00.001-06:00

Saturdays are my favorite day of the week.

I have been getting up very early on Saturdays lately to get to my new favorite place...

The Farmers Market!

The first time I went was kind of scary!

I am not a fan of being out of my Sandyland comfort zone and this is downtown!

But I made my friend go with me and we loved it!

Since starting my weekly visits I have found the best booths to buy my pesto, veggys and fruit.

This weekend I went with my friend Yo Adriane.

It was so nice to play catch up and we ran into her fantastic family who acted like we hadn't seen each other in two days instead of 6 years!

They even treated me to a waffle from Bruges that was excellent!

We walked around for hours and even ventured out to the Mexican market to pick up some meat for my bbq later that night!

{yo Adriane and I}

Later that night we had a block party.

We had an awesome turnout and everyone had a really good time!

#teamgale

2010-08-15T15:06:00.000-06:00

I love to read.

Fernando (my ipod) is filled with books.

Here are some of my favorite series to listen too:

Stepanie Plum Series
Alex Cross Series
Harry Potter Series (only the one read by Jim Dale)

But for the past year I have been OBSESSED with the Hunger Games Series.

I listen to Hunger Games and Catching fire at least once a week!

Its that great of a book!

And the final book in the series is almost here!

I am spoiled...

2010-08-13T21:23:00.000-06:00

My birthday is coming up.

I am going to be a quarter century old.

Suck.

But my hubby and family have already given me presents.

Because I ♥ presents.

Who doesn't right??

Madre and Padre got me a sewing machine!

Doesnt that sound so very adultish?

I decided to make an apron for my first project.

I thought this would be easy.

Mi Madre is a seamstresses.

I guess I did not inherit this gene.

It took me over an hour just to pick out the fabric.
Thank goodness I ran into Ashlee and Sam Jo who helped me with ideas!

I will keep you updated on the project!

I ♥ Boobies.

2010-08-07T08:00:00.001-06:00

My girl Wendy is strong.

That is the perfect word for her.

As I have posted before she is going through breast cancer and is going to kick its butt.

Wendy knew her hair was going to come out, she tried to prepare herself for the moment.

Would you want to watch your long beautiful locks fall out in chuncks or just get it over with?

Wendy wanted to shave hers so she invited her loved ones over to be there with her when she did it.

Welcome to the party...

Wendys Familia.

The sexy wig!

Could she be any sexier????

Love you Wendy!

Good thing my sis is so smart...

2010-08-06T16:00:00.041-06:00

When Diego and I bought our camera we debated on whether to get a nice compact or a cheaper DSLR.

We did our research and all the websites pointed to this bad boy.

We used the camera while in Uruguay and I loved the photos we got.

Mo recently got herself a bad ass DSLR and now she is a photographer...

at least she pretends to be...

She was playing with my camera and informed me of all the amazing things my camera does that I had no idea about!

Here are some of my cool photos...

Fun Huh!

The game of sweet revenge...

2010-08-05T20:36:00.000-06:00

Mi Familia has a problem...

we are all very competative.

Just playing board and card games gets very dangerous.

But our very favorite game is Sorry.

Yes... Sorry.

It may be a kid game but kids dont play as dirty as we do.

Our pawns get thrown across rooms and molested by other pawns.

Yes... molested by other pawns.

We even name our pawns.

We form alliances and turn people against eash other.

Now everybody run out and get Sorry.

Ultimate GNO.

2010-07-06T07:12:00.008-06:00

Did you notice the countdown on my blog??

BBB, her Madre, Paola, Meyke and I are going to Shakira in Vegas!

{All the hubbys are going to Vegas, but they arent invited to GNO!}

Can't freaking wait!

Final 4.

2010-07-05T05:32:00.000-06:00

Stressful.

Thats the only word that can descibe the World Cup.

But its so much fun!

If you missed the Uruguay Vs Ghana game, I did too.

I had to work.

But I was getting updates from Mi Esposo and BBB.

Suarez, being so hell bent on winning, made a play that the whole world is talking about.

He decided to be the goalie.

And he saved us.

Now he is banned from the next game.

Way to take one for the team!

#TeamSuarez

Diego talked to his sister in Uruguay after the game and she said it's loco there!

Everybody in the streets celebrating.

Damn I wish I was there.

Way to go Uruguay!

Proud.

2010-07-04T17:12:00.000-06:00

Happy 4th of July!!!

Representin U- Town

2010-06-28T21:34:00.002-06:00

Just in case you have been living under a rock, or not following my tweets, you might not know that Uruguay has made it to the final 8! If you had a life this weekend and didn't catch all the excitement and bad calls made, you can check it all out on the Fifa website.

And the player I like to look at the most...

Suarez

He made both of Uruguay's goals against Korea.

Mo and I decided to put the Uruguay flag up with out the help of Diego.

Wasn't the greatest idea we have ever had but it totally worked!

Represent.

And then there is Mo...

world cup has taken over my twitter.

2010-06-25T22:12:00.000-06:00

I hate being too busy to sit down on the computer and blog!

This week has gone by super fast and I haven't even been able to get on and brag about my team!

They beat Mexico!

Now they are in the final 16!

They play South Korea at 8 in the morning mañana!

I will finally get to watch a game instead of DVR'ing it!

My twitter feed is filled up with world cup scores all day, every day and its all we talk about at work.

{Well thats all I talk about with the cool people!}

I have always loved soccer, I played for at least ten years growing up but when I hit the ripe old age of 16 I was only playing to flirt with the boys. I wish I would have gone on but it just didn't happen.

My Saturdays growing up were spent at the soccer fields from sun up till mid afternoon. With three girls playing there was always a game to watch or just wait a half an hour for another one to start.

One thing I have always wanted to do is coach my niños soccer teams. {Yeah you have to have kids first but...}

So everybody watch Uruguay kick some South Korean butt tomorrow!

I ♥ Boobies.

2010-06-13T12:47:00.000-06:00

My dear friend Wendy is going through something that we all hear about everyday.

Breast Cancer.

Wendy is an amazing person that I know she will fight this with every ounce of her cute little being.

Everybody head on over to her blog and show her some love.

Love you Wendy.

It's not goodbye...

2010-06-13T12:37:00.001-06:00

Last night was an emotional one.

I tried very hard to not tear up at all in front of Jax, Kelly, or Paola.

Watching them was difficult to say the least.

Sgt. Darelli is getting shipped off for his 1st tour in Iraq.

His going away party was amazing.

As always the Darellis made me feel like I am part of the family and it makes me feel so loved.

We ♥ you Sgt. Darelli.

Mega bummer.

2010-06-11T19:35:00.000-06:00

I totally rocked my Uruguay shirt today.

Everyone asked if it said u r gay.

Ha Ha Ha.

Uruguay played France today and they tied 0-0.

Bummer.

Fun Facts:

The very first World Cup was held in Uruguay in 1930.

Uruguay beat Argentina 4-2.

Uruguay beat Brazil in 1950 on Brazils home turf. {Diego Still talks about this.}

Go Uruguay!

2010-06-10T19:39:00.002-06:00

World Cup is here!

Shakira sums up the true greatness that is Soccer!

4 Years ago.

2010-06-09T07:12:00.000-06:00

As most women say "I have the best husband ever."

Well Girls... Mine really is.

Yet again... Mo.

2010-06-08T16:32:00.000-06:00

Jacque and I are very supportive of Mo.

We planned our Saturday around going to Morgans final game with her club team.

{Actually... Mo guilt-ed me into going and I begged Jacque to accompany me...}

But it turned out to be a good day and we all had a lot of fun.

They lost 3-0 but nobody was too sad about it.

Go Mo!

Wait for it... wait for it...

Yes, she is available for modeling on the weekends.

{Coke might want to give her a call!}

Receiving their 2ND place medals.

Me, rocking the 2ND place medal that Mo just threw into her bag with out even looking at it.

Love you SCHMO!

Summer Nights.

2010-06-07T16:30:00.019-06:00

Holy Freakin Thunder!

After such a beautiful day I was excited to get some free water for my beauties!

I have been trying out some of the settings on my camera and it was a perfect night to take some photos!

Cricut + Spray paint + press N seal = good times.

2010-06-06T14:55:00.000-06:00

Mo and Tyler had gotten tickets to one of our favorite groups 3oh!3.

{I didn't go because I felt to old.}

They wanted to make shirts for the concert with the bands hand sign on it.

Me, being the wise old lady in the equation, was able to make a stencil using the fabulous Cricut machine.

I don't think any of these photos need an explanation...

Sometimes I even impress myself.

2010-06-06T14:27:00.002-06:00

Living two minutes from your parents means you never know when they are gonna drop by or just drive by.

And since my parents keep their yard and plants magnificent, they would definitely judge me for not doing the same with mine.

{Which is not a bad thing because it keeps me on my game.}

These are my BELOVED children.

We have cilantro, thyme and rosemary.
It feels so "Chef-y" to be able to use my own herbs!

Here is my... OK I don't know what they are called but they are big and pretty.
{P.S. Was informed by the very smart and very beautiful Ashley that they are called Lupine!}
{And yes, Minnie got shaved and is having a complex about it.}

This is my hybrid flower.
Last year there were two flowers right here.
A yellow one.
And a purple one.
Now there is only one.
Its yellow, white, and purple.
I know.
I am amazing!

We shall call it... The Blooming Samantha.

These pretty girls are called Columbine.
They just keep getting bigger and bigger.
And all I do is water them.
Good deal.

Wanna know the best part of all these flowers?
I planted them all last year and now I don't have to do a single thing!
Exciting huh?!

Copy Cat.

2010-05-22T09:55:00.000-06:00

I finally took a picture of my new wall art.

I'm not going to lie and say I did a lot of the work.

My mom taught/showed me how to make this project happen.

I feel very crafty.

Thanks Dittle Dattle for the great idea!

Missed Me?

2010-04-21T17:58:00.000-06:00

I know, I know!

I have been gone forever! And I should say sorry to my friends that I yell at for never updating thier blogs anymore. {One post a day Kelly? Sure!}

Well I have not been up to anything too spectacular.

I have decided recently that I need to become like Kim and Tray and become a Domestic Goddess.

These two can decorate better than anybody I know and I am jealous.

So I am now going to follow in their footsteps.

Mi Madre and I are working on copying this to put in my house!

Once its finished I will show you a picture IF it turns out cute!

I am loving that spring has finally arrived in Sandyland.

Diego and I have spruced up the front yard so it looks half way decent.

I am so excited to say that I planted basil, tomatoes, peppers, cilantro, and rosemary!

If they all die I am going to be pissed!

My tulips are cropping up every couple of days and I planted some bulbs that will hopefully make their appearance in two weeks.

But the real reason I have not been on the computer...

I finally got my ~~CrackBerry~~ BlackBerry.

Now I can blogstalk, tweet, and FB all from the palm of my hand.

And I love her.

Now I don't have to look at Diego's phone with such envy!

I did look at getting the Storm like his but I am so sick of having a touchscreen that I always scratch up that I was happy just to be done with them!

I hope to keep posting more often because I do miss my blog friends so very much!

Similar to...

2010-03-21T19:06:00.002-06:00

My Grandma recently got me a copy of her ward cookbook.

Guess what greatness was inside?

Knock off Cafe Rio recipes!!!!

I had gotten these off the internet before but they were never quite perfect. The dressing had 20 ingredients and cost a fortune. But the ones in this book are almost exact!

I decided to try them out on my friends a couple weeks ago and everybody loved them! {I didnt take any photos. : ( We actually prepared all the food and then ate it all at the bar. We dont need no stinkin table!}

So here are the recipes to make yourself an authentic-ish salad.

Dressing:

1pkg Hidden Valley Buttermilk Ranch dressing mix

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup mayo

2 tomatillas

1 clove garlic

1/2 bunch cilantro

1/2 juiced lime

1 small jalapeño pepper {seeds removed}

Purée all ingredients in blender.

Lime Rice:

2 tbsp butter, softened

1 yellow onion

4 cloves garlic {minced}

6 2/3 cups water

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/2 bunch cilantro

2 tsp. cumin

2 small cans diced green chiles

1 Tbsp lime juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cups long grain rice

In a saucepan, sauté yellow onion and garlic in butter. In a large pot bring water, chicken broth, cilantro, cumin, chiles, lime juice, and salt to a boil. Add onion and garlic to boiling water. Add rice. Reduce heat, cocer and simmer for 30 minutes.

{This is a lot of rice. I half it.}

Pico de Gallo

4 fresh tomatoes {chopped}

1 white onion {chopped}

1/2 bunch cilantro {chopped}

2 cloves garlic {minced}

1/2 Tbsp lime juice

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Combine in medium bowl and mix well.

Pulled Sweet Pork

1 pork roast

1 Tbsp honey

1 {1 liter} bottle Coke

Place all ingredients in crockpot. Cook on low all night. In the morning take the roast out, leave the juice in the crockpot. Shred the roast. Place the roast back in crockpot and leave it on low until ready to serve.

{I think you should use a two liter bottle of coke instead. It covers better.}

Chicken:

5 lbs skinless boneless chicken breasts

1 bottle zesty italian dressing {small}

1 Tbsp. chili powder

1Tbsp. cumin

3 cloves garlic {minced}

Mix all ingredients together in large crockpot. Cook on high for 5 to 7 hours. Remove chicken and shred with fork. Reserve a small amount of juice and pour over shredded chicken. Keep warm.

Serving Order:

Tortilla

shredded cheese

chicken or pork

black or pinto beans

red and green leaf lettuce

pico de gallo

guacamole

{top with}

fresh cilantro

parmesan cheese

fresh lime slice

dressing

En-freakin-joy!

Recap.

2010-03-21T10:56:00.000-06:00

This week has rocked and I havent blogged about any of it yet.

So lets begin...

The weather has been so great in Sandyland this week that Paola and I started our walking again! We have so much fun on our LONG walks, she fills the void that I have from having both my sisters living away from Sandyland. And since BBB is going to be living close for a little while her and Ary are joining us!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Minnie used to ♥ getting baths. Now if you even go in this bathroom she hides around the corner. She is not very trusting of her parents anymore!

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My cousins Meagan and Andrea came in to town from Texas for their Spring Break. I am not going to lie. Mo and I havent seen them in many years so we did not know how we would get on. Not to worry though. We laughed all night. Mo had informed them they needed to try Cafe Rio's pulled pork burritos. So we left the shindig and fed them some sweet pulled pork. They loved it!

I hope that we can get together more often.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Schmevin of Sell Party of 4 has finally arrived in the world!

I am in ♥ with him. He is just so tiny and perfect! Congrats Sell Familia!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We got to go watch the Jazz destroy the Hornets last night.

I know there are a lot of people that sit in the upper bowl and watch the lower bowl for empty seats and head down after half time. I would never have the guts to do that! These people above are two of ten that got kicked out of those seats last night! Hilarious how they all insist they lost their tickets. Access Denied!

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And last but not least...

My favorite thing about Easter.

They have been out for a couple weeks but I usually eat them so fast I can never get a photo!

{And if you dont know what they are, maybe we shouldnt be friends! : )}

Hope your week rocked too!

♥

Celebrate the good times.

2010-03-14T14:11:00.001-06:00

After the Bridal Shower all the girls went out to see "Shes out of my league" and then off to Chiles for dinner.

The movie was hilarious!

Definately go check it out.

condoms + toilet paper wedding dresses + 7 pieces of gum = fun times.

2010-03-14T14:00:00.000-06:00

BBB and Paola threw a Wedding Shower for their soon to be sister in law Jacque.

We had way to much fun blowing up condoms!!!

This is Nikki. She was our model for the "Make your own wedding gown out of T.P.".

Dont worry. We won!

The "answer questions about your fiance" game that every bride fails!

She only had to eat 7!

Such a fun party!

Not at all like taco bells.

2010-03-11T21:24:00.001-07:00

~~Chalupas~~

Mexican enchiladas

{The cook book got it wrong! : )}

2 cups cooked chicken

2 cans cream of chicken

1 cup sour cream

1 {4 oz.} can diced green chiles

2 cups grated cheese

1 bunch green onions

tortillas

Heat soup, sour cream, chopped green onions, chicken, and chiles. {Do not boil} Heat tortillas and put 2 to 3 Tbsp soup mix on each, along with some cheese. Roll up and place, seam side down, in greased 9 * 13 casserole dish. Pour leftover soup mix over top of ~~chalupas~~ enchiladas and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake, covered, for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Uncover and bake for about 5 minutes.

Fuego Date.

2010-03-07T10:33:00.000-07:00

Last night Diego and I got to go to the Jazz vs. Clippers game.

It was a blast.

After the game we went to Dee's!

How I miss having a Dee's in Sandyland.

My friends and I would stop there every Saturday night after cruising State for some Cheese fries.

I ordered the California Salad that they still bring to you in a "shell" bowl.

Memories.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

I just HAD to have it.

2010-03-06T15:51:00.001-07:00

One of my all time favorite stores is Kitchen Collection in Draper.

After getting married Diego and I were shopping at Kitchen Collection to pick up some of the things we would need to complete our kitchen.

Thats when I found this.

I told Diego that I had to have it and that it would be used all the time in my kitchen.

Of course I got it and have never used it for almost 4 years.

Well I used it last night and wow I have been missing out.

I wanted garlic bread with dinner but I only had french bread.

Got online and looked up a recipe for garlic bread.

The best ones said to use roasted garlic.

Good thing I have a garlic roaster right?!?

{You can use tinfoil, so if you dont have this awesome terra cotta thingy you are fine}

What you need:

Whole head of galic

Olive Oil

2 sticks of unsalted butter

Cut about 1/4 to 1/2 inch off the top of the garlic so you can see the bulbs.

Drizzle/cover with olive oil.

If using terra cotta dish soak top in cold water for at least ten minutes.

Place garlic in dish.

If using tinfoil just wrap garlic tightly.

Place in 400 degree and cook for about 40 minutes.

Take out of the oven and let garlic sit until cool enough to touch.

The garlic will be so soft it will slide right out of its skin.

Add to the room temperature butter.

Blend.

Use spatula to rub on bread.

Put bread under broiler until browned.

Better then anything you buy at the store!

Alfajores.

2010-03-04T20:45:00.000-07:00

I left my Sandyland bubble today to go get me some Dulce de Leche.

I get to La Pequinita and thought about maybe not going in.

I always stand out and I was not in the mood to get stared at.

I go in and head right for the dulce de leche like I know what I am doing.

Of course they don't have the one I want from Uruguay so I choose one from Argentina.

Then I start looking around and find the Bon O Bons.

I bought a whole box.

Since I had made my dough the night before I got it out if the fridge so it could get to room temp.

Dough recipe:

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 stick butter

1/4 cup sugar

1 huevo {egg}

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp honey {Thanks for the honey Kim.}

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix all ingredients well. Recipe says you can add water if dough is to dry. Mine looked like bread crumbs so I added water a tbsp at a time till the dough formed itself into a ball.

Refrigerate dough for 2 hours.

Roll out dough to 1/8 of an inch thick. Use a 2 inch circle to cut out the dough.

{Circles are boring.}

Bake cookies for 8 to 10 minutes on 350 degrees.

Jealous of my baking stones??

Seasoned to perfection.

After being completely cooled on wire racks put the dulce de leche in the middle of two cookies. If you want you can cover the cookies in melted chocolate. Yummy

Now enjoy!

What is this world coming too?

2010-03-04T19:17:00.000-07:00

I have been begging Mo to start a blog since she left for college.

Well she and Tyler did.

Run on over there so that somewhere other then Ceder will show up on her traffic feed.

Presenting Chef University.

Pleeeaaaaassssseeeee.

2010-03-04T17:35:00.000-07:00

Whenever I have free time I always mess around with a name for my blog.

I finally figured it out!

But I am such a computer dummy that trying to make my header is killing me!

So when I saw this on Jills blog I had to enter!

Usually when you enter you just leave a comment.

But oh no.

Not on this one.

You have to do work son.

Everyone else just answered the questions.

I elaborated on some of mine.

Added character right?

But nobody else enter please because I want to be the weiner!

Epic Failure.

2010-03-03T20:18:00.000-07:00

Tonight I got home from work at a very decent time so I decided I would make Alfajores.

I had printed off the recipe over the weekend and had boughten all the ingredients.

But yet again I did not FULLY read the instructions.

I decided to be a good little honorary Uruguayan and make my own Dulce de Leche instead of going to the specialty market and buying it.

Malo {Bad} idea.

I guess you can make it with a can of condensed milk {just found this out} but my recipe called for milk and a bunch of other crap.

After your milk and crap has been stirred on LOW for an HOUR AND A HALF you have to somehow cover your pot with plastic wrap and place your pot inside another pot of boiling ass water.

This is where plans changed.

My platic wrap would just not stay put.

I finally got it covered and put it inside the boiling water.

I then realized it had to stay in this ghetto double broiler for ANOTHER hour and a half.

That went right down the sink.

Guess I am headed so the good ole SLC tomorrow to pick up some dulce de leche!

Maybe I will take my BBB with me so that my homeys know that I am not just wandering in to their store on accident!

So stay tuned for the actual cookie recipe for these bad boys!

Blessings.

2010-02-27T16:47:00.000-07:00

What a day I had today.

Mo called me and asked if I had talked to Char.

I start freaking out!

I had not talked to Char since she left over 9 months ago!

What happened? Is she ok?

Mo tells me about the Tsunami and Earthquakes.

Obviously I had not been on the computer yet so I had no idea!

Char then called me and told me that she and the rest of the missionaries were being moved to higher ground and that she wasnt scared and everything is going to be fine.

I call Age to make sure that she had heard about the earthquake.

Her hubby went to Chile on his mission.

He had talked to his friends and found out they were fine.

Thank goodness!

I get on FB on my way home and see that my friend Molly posted that her and her family were about to go up to the temple grounds where the missionaries are waiting out the tsunami.

{Poor Molly finally gets home to see her family in Hawaii and a tsunami comes!}

I told Molly to look for Char while she was up there.

She found her!

I was so happy that Char had such an amazing person to hang out with while she wasnt with her family during this time.

{I teared up a bit}

Well the tsunami hit with very little strength.

As the news puts it "Hawaii dodged a bullet."

Thank goodness for that.

I hope all my friends with family and loved ones in Chile find them safe and sound.

I am now officially ready to turn 25!

2010-02-24T22:22:00.000-07:00

We have a had a "tiny" problem in our house since Sunday.

I named him Ferdy.

I found Ferdys little droppings/presents in my cupboard on Sunday night.

Diego ran to the store and bought me two traps.

These traps make it so that when Ferdy is killed you never have to see his dead body.

I woke up Monday morning and no Ferdy in the trap.

I had put some of my last moldy cheese bits in the trap and he must not have liked that.

So Monday night I come gome from work and he had moved to other cupboards.

{None with food}

So I take out everything that is in the lower cupboards.

{My house now looks like it could be on Hoarders.}

I wash and steralize everything.

Wait.

Nothing.

Tuesday morning still nothing.

Tuesday afternoon I decided to take matters into my own hands.

Stop at Home Depot and pick up three more kinds of traps.

Stop at Harmons and pick up peppermint oil and metal scrapey thingys to shove in the holes.

Clean the kitchen.

Shove metal scrapey things into holes and pour oil on them.

Still afraid to put things back in drawers because what if Ferdy is still hiding in one of the drawers?

Set new traps.

{7 of them}

Realize I only have Feta cheese in the house!

What mouse would not like Feta cheese right?

Ferdy finally met his maker tonight after going for the gourmet cheese.

I couldnt pick up the trap so I called Kim, who had volunteered to take out the dead Ferdy.

So at 10:00 p.m. on Hump Day my situation was finally solved!

And I did it all on my own!

So freakin proud of myself!

Am I getting the right message?

2010-02-23T19:59:00.000-07:00

So what do you think of the new version?

I actually did not have any complaints with it.

Most people complain about the rapping.

Thats my favorite part.

{Well Miley is my top but the rapping comes after that...}

But what message did you get?

That Vince Vaughn is a singer? {5.46 in the back row.}

That they are doing a tribute to M.J.?

That my sister should marry Justin Beiber?

That Kanye West was trying to improve his rep?

That P!nk is amazing?

That sunglasses should always be worn indoors?

All I could think about is that I should be adding some little Haitin babies to my family.

Diego just stared at me when I mentioned this...

so I guess thats a no.

My obsession.

2010-02-22T21:22:00.000-07:00

This is a question for all you "chefs" out there.

Do you get your recipes out of cookbooks or off the internet?

This shelf is my favorite thing in my house.

I live for cookbooks.

I bring them to bed with me to read at night.

I mark them up with markers and highlighters.

I rip up random pieces of paper to use as bookmarks.

But do I use them often?

Not really.

There are two that are always on the counter.

Cheap. Fast. Good.

365: No Repeats.

Since my homepage is a porn-for-fat-people website,

I usually just get ideas off of there.

But if you are ever going to google or bing a recipe always write amazing in front of it.

I know this sounds weird but it totally works.

So instead of putting just {chocolate chip cookies} in the search area,

put {amazing chocolate chip cookies} or {the best ever chocolate chip cookies}.

Now I am getting hungry...

Peace out!

♥ Day 2010

2010-02-21T13:39:00.000-07:00

Every year for Valentines I feel like I need to make an amazing meal.

Try something new and harder to prepare.

Our very first Valentines Day as a married couple is one I will NEVER forget!

I got out one of my very few cookbooks and found a meal by Rachael Ray that I had to try.

I had never cooked steak before so I thought I would try a "man" dinner of steak and potatos.

{This is before I realized my ♥ of cooking!}

I was doing my shopping list and was looking through my stuff to see what I already had and saw "steak" written on some meat that my dad had given to me.

While I was cooking these steaks I kept thinking to myself why the heck arent they turning brown?

But I kept cooking.

Made the sauce.

Cooked the potatos.

Still the steaks were weird looking.

Diego came home from work and we sat down to eat.

I bite into the steak and realize that it was from the pig my dad had just hat butchered!

I felt so freaking dumb.

But I did not want to let on that I had not meant for this to happen so I just ate my potato.

At the end of dinner, which Diego had eaten all of, he turned to me and asked why I had not eaten mine.

I said I did not like it.

He then said...

"Not to be rude, but next time... use real steaks!"

Ass!

I told him thats what it had called for.

He asked how I had not noticed. I mean I was raised on red meat.

I told him I had been suspicious while I had been cooking but what did I know!

Memories right?!?!

So this year I decided to ask all the guys at work what their all time favorite food is.

They all decided that Beef Wellington was the greatest.

I had never even heard of such a thing!

But I looked up a bunch of recipes for it.

Printed out my favorites and went to town!

What a mess.

{No pictures of this masterpiece. Sorry.}

I get to the store and it calls for $30 a pound steak.

And I needed three pounds.

Ha Ha Ha.

I bought a $10 peice of meat and decided I would improvise!

I slaved away in the kitchen all day making sure everything was going to be special.

Well I did not fully read the last paragraph about DEFROSTING the puff pastry.

I get the meat seared, the garlic, onion, and mushroom mixture chopped, blended, then sauteed.

Layed proscutto down with mixture of crap above and wrapped it around the meat.

Then it says to wrap the puff pastry around the masterpeice you have just created.

I pull out the puff pastry and it sure was not about to roll out nicely.

First roll... Broken in frozen pieces.

Second roll... tried to thaw in the microwave. Cooked itself.

Back to Harmons.

Third roll... Thawed it SLOWLY in the microwave!

Wrapped it around the meat and baked it!

It was gross.

I liked the meat but could not get past the mushrooms.

{Not a fan of them but my hubby is...}

But Diego loved it!

That was all that mattered!

Good thing I had made two deserts for the movie that night so I did not go hungry!

Here is the first desert!

Brownie Trifle!

First you make a sheet of brownies.

Cool completely.

Next you mix I box chocolate pudding mix with 1 can condensed milk.

Mix well.

Add a small container of {thawed}cool whip. {sorry dont know the ounces. maybe 9?}

Blend until no white streaks are left.

You will also need a 13 ounce thing of cool whip.

Now to assemble!

Layer of brownies. You can space them how ever you want.

I cut my 9*13 pan into thirds.

Now put a third of your chocolate pudding mixture down.

Then a third of your thawed cool whip.

Again...

Just keep repeating till you run out of ingredients!

It then says to grate a chocolate bar over the top.

I decided to use Toblerones!

{Make sure you freeze your bar before you grate it!}

Then I realized I had forgotten the most important part of Valentines Day...

Chocolate covered Srawberries!

Holy Cow!

I got in the car and Jessa, Mo, and I ran to Wally World.

I got to the chocolate isle and decided to "try" something different.

I bought the biggest Toblerone triangles I could find and melted it down!

Ah-freakin-mazing!

It worked like I had been making them my whole life!

Hope you all had as great of a Valentines Day as I did!!!

You can all stop searching...

2010-02-21T12:39:00.000-07:00

I found my camera cord!

Now I can start blogging again!

Day 18 January 12th

2010-01-17T10:54:00.000-07:00

Today we went back into down town Montevideo to do a little shopping before we left. I needed to get some stuff for my family and I wanted plates to put on my wall at home. We found the cutest stores, all with homemade stuff from Uruguay. I went into one and the girl started to talk to me in Spanish so I ignored her and started talking to Diego in English. This girl perks right up and starts speaking English. Oh goody. She was crazy but very helpful. I was looking for scarves for my mom and my sisters and this lady asked me which colors I wanted. I told her and she pulled down fifty scarves that had brown in them. I finally found one for all of them and found me some hand painted wood plates that I just love. The lady wrapped them up before I could take photos so I will hang them on my walls and then you can see them.

We went home and sat around for awhile and Diego decided that he should finally entertain me so we went out to look around at the malls. The first one we went too used to be a prison! It was very fun to walk around their malls. It was very similar to our but I did not know any of the brands that they were selling. We then drove along the outside of the city which is directly on the beach. It is crazy the amount of apartment buildings they have here. We went to the next mall and walked around. They have a Fox store! I was shocked.

We went home and Martin was making homemade pasta! Time consuming but wow it was good!

Catholic Church in Montevideo.

Mall that used to be a prison!

By the ocean in Montevideo.

What a sexy place to make out...

Homemade pasta!

Day 17 January 11th

2010-01-17T10:42:00.000-07:00

Today we sat around doing nothing. : (

We finally were able to have an adults night out tonight. I love to gamble so I have been begging Diego to take me to a casino here. We went to a brand new one in down town Montevideo. We did not leave the house till about 11:30 and it was scary outside. I did not even like looking out the window at people because they all just stare at you with their scary eyes. We got to the casino and it was tiny. You can’t even play cards with a dealer; you have to do it on a slot machine. We had spent all our money that we said we were going to spend {900 pesos, $50 American} and I won 950 pesos on my last credit in the machine!!! So we cashed out and went and found Martin and Natalia at the roulette “table.” They do not have a table with a person spinning the ball; it’s a machine with computers all around it. You bet on our screen and then the machine in the middle spins that ball. We decided to try it. We out in 100 pesos and lost it after a couple turns. We put in another 200 pesos and Diego and I both had a couple good hits and we broke even. Not a bad night at all. We were leaving the casino and I seriously thought we were going to be killed. When you are leaving your parking place there is always some guy that has assigned himself to helping you get out of your parking spot. You don’t ask for their help, they just offer it up. But they expect money for their “trouble”, even if all they did was tell you there was a car coming that you could clearly see yourself. Well a guy helped us and Diego did not pay him. The guy gets pissed and starts to chase us down, but we made the green light so he stopped. Scary!

Day 16 January 10th

2010-01-17T10:37:00.000-07:00

It’s our last day in Punta Del Este. I woke up early for the first time in two weeks so that I could go down to the beach and watch the sunrise. Not one person was on the beach. I walked along looking for sea shells to add to my collection at home and only found a couple good enough to take. I then ate my delicious breakfast of chocolate flavored cereal and went back to bed till 10! {Have I mentioned how you buy milk here? It comes in bags. It’s very different. I need to remember to take a photo before I leave!}

Diego’s Mom wanted to go buy some sea shells for her house so we stopped by one of the sellers on the side of the street. My bathroom at home is decorated in sea shells and light houses so I got two big sea shells to add to my collection! I got a big starfish for my neighbors that have been gathering our mail for us while we have been gone. {Shhh… don’t tell them, it’s a surprise.}

We stopped and ate lunch at a little restaurant by the water. I finally had a proper Chivito! It was delicious! They even served me my water in a wine glass, I am one classy broad! It was nice to relax after walking around in the hella hot sun all morning. Of course I had to pee right after we left and the only bathroom we could find did not have toilet seats. This is not weird to me anymore. Most public bathrooms don’t have them, I am not sure if they think they are going to be stolen so they just take them off but it sucks to have to try and hold yourself up!

The drive home was not bad but I got sunburned from sitting at the lovely restaurant on the water so the whole time we were driving I had to be careful to not rub my arm on the chair or it hurt like a biotch! We got home and relaxed by the TV {only in Spanish} and ate pizza.

The docks at Punta!

Not as good as wine but its just lunch time!

Proper Chivito!

Day 15 January 9th

2010-01-17T10:24:00.000-07:00

Today we woke up early again to go back to the Hand. We wanted Natalia to get a family picture because they had not gone with us yesterday. Nobody was there! So awesoe! I like our picture better from today because we have the background as the ocean not the ugly buildings.

We then headed into La Barra to get our picture in front of the Rollercoaster Bridge. Driving on the bridge is really fun. It feels just like you are on an actual rollercoaster! {411: I decided that they should put a Disneyland in Punta Del Este, it would be a wise investment for Disney!} I really liked our photo in front of the bridge. If you get up early enough you can get stuff done before it becomes deathly hot and all your photos look crappy because you are sweating to death.

We then drove into Jose Ignacio where there is a beautiful light house and beach! We hung out there for awhile so we could get pictures on the beach. We found a dead stingray on the beach and dared Diego to touch it and see if he got stung. He is a wuss and just flipped it over with his shoe. Jose Ignacio is a perfect beach town, not many stores to attract people and it’s about an hour out of Punta so not a whole lot of people on the beaches.

We went back to the beach by our hotel today, we waited until about 7 so that the sun would not be straight up in the sky and it was just perfect. I actually put my head under the water and swam around a little bit. Very proud of myself! I am going through so much sunscreen though. It’s kind of gross but at least I am not burned. {I actually have a tan!}

I have made a new friend at our hotel; he is guy in his 50s with not many teeth that sells tortas fritas {scone like treats} to everybody. The first time I tried to buy the food from him he started to talk to me and I hurry and blurted out that I don’t speak Spanish. {In Espanola of course.} And he fallows me back to Diego and starts talking to him about me. He talked to Diego for about a half an hour the first night and Diego just wanted to die. He was crazy! So every night I bribe my little nephew into going and buying my treats for me so that I don’t have to talk to him, last night though he found me. I walked away to take a shower and the whole time I was gone “my boyfriend” asked my family where I was and said that I have the biggest smile and the best laugh. I told Diego that he has competition!

Nobody sellin hats today!

I finally got my picture takin in front of the Hand!!

Rollercoaster Bridge

La Barra

The pictures dont do it justice!

Doesnt his look like the Gateway?

Newest hotel in La Barra.

Jose Ignacio was gorgeous!

They have porta potties that are cleaned after each use! This one even had flowers in it!

The shores were all sea shells. They just sparkled in the sun.

The dead jelly fish!

Diego playin on the rocks

Day 14 January 8th

2010-01-17T09:59:00.001-07:00

Today we woke up earlier than usual to try and get to the hand in the sand before there were a thousand people there. {I did not want strange people in my beautiful photo!} When we got there I was a little pissed that people were selling things right in front of the hand, do they not think about anybody but themselves? I wanted to push them out of the way so they would not be in my photo but Diego said I could not yell at them. : ( Then we wait our turn to take our photo. We get up to the statue and it smells like every drunken guy in Punta Del Este had peed on the statue last night. Disgusting! But I got my photo!

We decided to try a new beach today. It sucked! There were a couple hundred people there and it was H.O.T! I went out in the water and it felt like the sun was ten feet above me. I got out and went and sat under our umbrella. I decided I am not a beach person at all. Maybe I would be if I had a lot of money and I had a private beach with a house only a football field away from the waves! {Dream big right?} It was so boring. I had already read all the books that I brought on the trip so I just sat there and died of heat. I am proud to say I still have not gotten really bad sunburn!

We decided to go to McDonalds for dinner. I was very excited to try a Big Mac down here because when I was in Ireland they did not have a Big Mac on the menu and I wanted to compare the taste. It was so freaking yummy! I should have asked for more pickles because I miss pickles so much! I was in love. It made me miss home though. I imagined myself eating my Big Mac and fries while watching CSI Miami on my couch underneath my favorite blanket.

The place we are staying does not have wi-fi so I can still not upload all of my blog posts or pictures yet. It sucks. And if I do want to get online I have to pay to use one of the places computers that are so slow and crappy that it’s not even worth getting on. I have not been on in about 5 days now. It sucks not having access to the internet all the time!

So we thought most the people standing around the hand that were offering to take photos looked a little bit shady and we did not trust our camera with them so we tried to do it ourself.

1st try: Diego does not make it to the top. LMAO.

2nd Try:

We find a guy that looks safe so we ask him to take the photo. We had not taken off the ten second wait time so the guy put the camera down just as he was taking it!

3rd try:

We finally got it!

But I hate it!

The buildings in the background look stupid!

How do I photo shop this jack ass lady out of my photo?

I ran out of books so I went to the book store in town.

I was so excited to see the Twilight Series!

In Uruguay you are not cool unless you have a ton of stickers on the back of your car.

Thats all the world needs to see of me in my bathing suit!

McDonalds!!!!

They take their Mate to McDonalds!

Day 13th January 7th

2010-01-16T15:03:00.000-07:00

Today we went to Casapueblo. Oh my goodness it was gorgeous! The person that built it is an artist that has traveled all over the world to get his inspiration. It’s a hotel know and I really think it would be an amazing place to stay. They also have an exhibit that you can pay $5 {American} to walk through and take your picture in front of the ocean. It was well worth the money!!

We tried to go into the ocean again today but the waves were pretty big so we decided to just watch the water for awhile.

{The photos below are all from Casapueblo}

View of Punta Del Este!

Day 12 January 6th

2010-01-16T13:56:00.000-07:00

Today we drove into town to go do a little sightseeing. We drove over the roller coaster bridge into La Barra. Holy Shite. It looked just like Newport Beach with all its little shops right along the ocean. It was very busy in town though. I did not get my picture yet in front of the bridge so I will have to go back later in the week and take one.

We made gnocchi’s today. They are mashed potatoes made into something like pasta. They are time consuming to make but they are very yummy. I can’t wait to make them at home.

I decided that I wanted to make Banana boats on the fire that night so I made Diego take me to 3 stores to find all the ingredients. He was not very happy about it but he loves me so he did it anyways. We finally found marshmallows and I was a happy camper.

We made hamburgers for dinner and then we made our banana boats. It made me so happy! I don’t think Diego’s family liked them but I tried.

Day 11 January 5th

2010-01-16T13:48:00.000-07:00

We drove in to town to find somebody on the beaches that braid people’s hair. No luck. We walked along the board walk and watched the people come off the cruise ships for their day in Punta. I can’t believe how huge those ships are. I have seen photos and movies of them but never seen one in the water. Two of them were coming in and it was fun to watch.

We waited until about 5 at night to go to the beach because it was so damn hot out. I did not want to get massive sunburn on our second day here. I was not as scared today about going into the water, I was actually excited. The waves were not as big so I did more swimming around. I am the worst swimmer ever! I don’t know if I mentioned yesterday that the water here is salt water. When you get it up your nose it burns! Diego LOVES the water. It’s fun to watch him swim under the water and be so good at it.

But I guess I over did it in the sun because that night I felt like crap. I did not get sunburned but I sure had the chills and felt so dehydrated. I went to bed and slept for about 12 hours.

I want to go on a cruise!!!!

Conrad Hotel

Beautiful Beach!

Day 10 January 4th

2010-01-16T13:36:00.002-07:00

Today we arrived in Punta Del Este. Wow. This is my kind of town. $$$$$. Everything is so expensive!!! I told Diego that one day if I am a millionaire that’s where I want to live. It feels a lot more like home here.

We arrive at our “hotel” on the beach it’s not really what I was expecting but I can deal with it. We have our own private beach that is beautiful!! The “hotel” is owned by the company Martin works for and they let the employees rent out rooms with points that they have earned. It is like nothing I have ever seen before. There is a community kitchen and eating area. You have your room number on pieces of plastic that you can put on a fridge, gas burner, and table. We had done all of our grocery shopping before we left Montevideo so we unloaded all of our stuff and went to hang out.

Our room reminds me of our trailer that we used to camp in when I was young. It’s a long room with 6 bunk beds, 1 closet, and 1 bathroom. We are in the room with 5 adults and 2 kids under the age of 3.

I was so scared to go in the water but I finally did it. It was a little scary at first but Diego is really good in the water so he helped me when I got scared. It was fun to learn what you do when the big waves came. {Yeah I am 24 and deathly afraid of water, even in the pool I won’t go past the 4 foot mark.} We played in the water for about an hour. When I got out I still had the feeling that I was getting hit by little waves!

We went out to get ice cream for Natalia’s birthday. We finally found an ice cream shop in the mall. They have dippin dots here! {It’s not called dippin dots but it was the same thing.} My favorite thing ever!

Day 9 January 3rd

2010-01-16T13:23:00.000-07:00

Today I made Diego find the Uruguayan Temple. I know that I am not a church going woman but it felt like being close to home. It was quite an adventure trying to find the temple. Diego had looked up online what streets we needed to find to get there. While driving in Motevideo you do not have a lot of time to look for street names because you are going so fast and a lot of the street signs are bent so you have to look back and read the other side. Well we find the first one all right; it’s a really big street. Then we start driving and I see the sign for the next one but we can’t figure out which one of the streets its actually pointing too. Pain in the butt! We finally get on the right street and Diego forgets the street name that connects with the one the temple is on! We drive around this part of town and I am falling in love with the area. {Diego then points out that it’s the ritzy part of Montevideo!} Diego wants to give up and go home but tell him he needs to be more adventurous so we keep going. We are just driving down random roads and I find the road we are looking for! We find the temple and walk around it for awhile. It is so pretty! In Utah all the Temples are huge. This one is just a little thing but very beautiful!

We headed back home and Martins parents had come over to wish Natalia an early Happy Birthday because we were going out of town for her Birthday. They wished us a good time in Punta Del Este!

Day 8 January 2nd

2010-01-16T12:51:00.000-07:00

We went and ate lunch by the ocean. It was gorgeous view!

I had Natalia make us pedicure appointments so that we would have cute toes for the beach. I thought about doing this before I left America but figured it would be cheap here so I should just wait. Oh my hell. The place she made the appointment at was by her house but she had never gone there. It looked like a nice place, but no it wasn’t. We showed up at our appointment and the owner wasn’t even there. So we waited a couple minutes and another person with an appointment showed up and said we have to call the lady to come over to her own salon. What a joke. So we walk in and Natalia gives me a look. I figure out that face she gave me meant “this place is a shit hole”. I agreed. We sat down to wait for our turn and I decided to look through the colors of nail polish that she had in a basket. The basket was full of dog hair and fugly colors. I wanted to throw up. I looked at Natalia and she looked around nervously asked if we should leave. I said yes that we could do our own toes. We get up and the door is locked! We had to ask the lady to let us out! I was laughing so hard when we finally got out of there! I found a hot pink at the store and just painted my own toesies!

Tonight we went out with everybody to eat dinner. I really wanted to eat a chivito. We went to La Pasiva, one of the most famous places for their Chivitos and I ordered the wrong thing! I really wanted to have my Chivito on a sandwich but I ordered the one that’s just sitting on the plate. But wholly shite it was good! I am hoping I can make them when I get home but I think they are probably the most fattening thing on the planet!!!

Chavito

Day 7 January 1st 2010

2010-01-16T12:39:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year!

Today everything in Uruguay shuts down. Of course I did not prepare for this so I have NO water to get me through the day. So we have to drive around for an hour to find me bottled water. Finally we find a grocery store open and I buy them out of water.

Nobody wants to do anything all day so we just sit around. : (

Day 6 December 31st

2010-01-01T06:35:00.004-07:00

Today was our last day in Melo. We stopped and saw one of his family’s oldest friends before we left. They kept asking if I dyed my hair, they just could not believe it was natural. They were awesome.

On the drive back we stopped in Minas to get my favorite cookies. {Alfajores} They are amazing. I was going to bring a ton of them back but I knew that if we bought them now they would not make it back to America!

When we arrived at Natalia’s, she was getting everything ready for the fiesta that night. All of Martins familia was coming over to eat and celebrate the New Year. Martin had told me that almost his whole family speaks English and I was excited/scared to talk to them. They were AMAZING!! We had a blast. Martin cooked so much meat that was actually very delicious. It was a lot like the Brazilian restaurants at home. I was not sure I would like anything so I marinated chicken to eat just in case. I shared my chicken {Martin kept calling it kitchen} with everybody and they liked it!

I talked to Martins family all night. It was fun to watch them figure out words for things and get out the dictionaries for me to explain things. We talked about movies that we all liked and they all said they were fans of Lord of the Rings, I called them nerds thinking they would not know that meant but they did. They laughed and told me that people that liked Harry Potter were nerds! So damn funny!

I did not think I was going to last until Midnight but Diego had told me how spectacular the fireworks were so I fought to stay up. He had not explained it right. It was pandemonium!! Everybody does illegal fireworks all over the city. It sounded like bombs going off for about an hour. Everyone is out in the streets kissing each other and wishing them Happy New Year. {Feliz Ano Nuevo} Then they popped open a bunch of Champagne bottles and everybody toasted each other and ate more food. It was the greatest New Years ever!

All the meat for the party!

Drinking Mate while cooking.

Mate everywhere!

Everybody eatin.

Getting ready for midnight!

I love this girl!

Fireworks everywhere!

In the street.

Midnight.

Day 5 December 30th

2010-01-01T06:34:00.002-07:00

Last night we slept with the fan on us full blast and that helped out a ton! Every window in the house is open but there is barely any wind to help out. It is the first day that the sun had actually been shining! After trying to straighten my hair we decided to drive around Melo and do some shopping. I really want something that says Melo to hang on my wall at home but we did not find anything. We stopped at his Tio’s {uncle} old book keeping shop that is being run by his cousin. His cousin wasn’t there but the receptionist has been there since before Diego left so we talked to her for awhile. {Well I did not talk a lot but I did a lot of smiling.}

We went to Diego’s Abuela’s {grandmas} house and ran into a couple of his cousins there. They all call him fat. Everyone does. It’s hilarious! They all ask me when we are going to have kids. I am thinking they all just think I look prego but who knows!

His Abuela is so damn funny. She is 92 years old and is as spunky as they come. She told us that she wants to live ten more years so that she can get even shorter! I thought she was going to freak when she saw Diego. She talks a mile a minute.

After that we drove into the center of town and parked and just decided to walk through some of the shops. I got myself some ice cream and we set off. There was actually wind this afternoon so it wasn’t as bad to walk around. Diego ran into a couple old friends and I just people watched. {And people watched me!}

Every year Uruguay does a lottery that ends at the end of the year. There are ten tickets of every number; you can buy all ten or just one or two, whichever you want. But if your number is picked you get that percentage of the money. Diego’s sister wanted us to go in on a ticket with them so we went to go pick one up. When we walk in all the people from two days ago smile at me and point at the scratch and win cards. I played two and didn’t win again!

We decided we better go visit all the rest of his cousins, Aunts, and Uncles before we leave tomorrow. His cousin Becke has a really cool job, the only way I can explain it is that he is a bounty hunter for animals. When somebody steals somebody’s livestock he hunts it down and returns it. He and his wife have 5 dogs, a sheep, and a horse at their house. One of the little dogs is named Angelina Jolie! I loved her. It made me miss Minnie so much!

It was crazy to see a lot of his family in one day. They ALL kept asking why we don’t have kids yet. And kept calling Diego fat!

Diego and his grandma.

Grandmas house.

Diegos cousin, grandma, and I.

Diego with his cousins and Aunt.

LDS church in Melo.

Obviously this is something that happens a lot!

Selvas Kitchen.

Diegos Cousins Family

Me and Angelina Jolie!

Two of his cousins families.

Day 4 January 29th

2010-01-01T06:33:00.002-07:00

Today we went into Jaguaron Brazil to do a little shopping! Jaguaron is a little town that is separated from Uruguay by a river. Brazil was a little like Tijuana. The whole city is just a bunch of shops and vendors. We bought some towels from one of the guys for our week on the beach.

We stopped on the way back to see some more of Diegos Family. And of course I forgot to take a picture of them. I am pretty sure I was more dehydrated then I have ever been in my life. The sun here just sucks everything out of you! And its not even sunny! I have only seen the sun a couple of times so far.

On the way back from Brazil I slept the whole way to see if that would help me feel better but when we got home I still felt very yucky. I decided to drink a shit load of water bottles and eat some food and that helped a lot. And by the way I did find a water brand that I really like. We have bought all the gas stations and grocery stores out of them.

We stopped by Ta Tas last night to get some chicken to make dinner. Diego cooked!!! I almost dropped dead! It was very yummy too. They do not use a lot of seasonings on their food so I had to buy some black pepper for myself at the store. His mom does not have a pepper grinder so Diego just beat the crap out of it with a knife. It helped the food have lots of great flavor!

I tried to blow dry my hair yesterday and it took over an hour. It just will not dry. I straighten it as best as I can and just pull it into a ponytail but the ends start curling up. The front around my forehead is just a bunch of little curls!

Safety first in Uruguay!

Last city in Uruguay before Brazil!

Over the bridge!

I seriously hate this pic of me but its the only pic I had ofthe bridge.

Brazil.

Cobblestone steets of Brazil.

Bauru. Very yummy sandwich!

Day 3 December 28th

2010-01-01T06:32:00.002-07:00

Today we drove to Melo. It took us about 5 hours to make the trip. We stopped at the grocery store to get groceries to last us until Thursday when we are going to head back to Montevideo to celebrate New Year’s. At the grocery store I was stared at like crazy. In Montevideo people would look but not to much. Oh not here though. I am being pointed out by little kids, and the worst is when I am speaking. People just gawk at me. The people working at the Ta Ta {the local store} were so great. I would ask for something and 3 of them would help me find it. We ran into two missionaries at the store. One of them graduated from Alta two years after me! We did not know each other but wow, what a small world!

We went and drove around Melo and Diego showed me his old school and other interesting places. We went out to dinner and I had millanesas of course. We stopped and saw one of Diegos Aunts that I had met in America. It was nice to see her again.

I don’t know if I mentioned how hot Montevideo was, but Melo is ten times hotter. And I am not just talking hot, no no no, the humidity here is something I have never felt in my life. You sweat out of every pour of your body. You know when you put your head under the covers on your bed and all you can breathe is hot air? Well this is like that times ten. It is hard to get a cool breath of fresh air in. Yes I was warned that it would be hot. I did not know that they meant it would be this hot. I did not know this was even possible to tell you the truth.

Everybody in Melo drives motorcycles. Sometimes there will be a family of 4 just squished on the back of one. It’s crazy how fast they all drive through the intersections while barely slowing down!

We stopped at the local gambling place so that I could do some scratch off cards which are my favorite! The workers there just loved me. Everybody was laughing when I would ask Diego if I had won anything. I did not do very good but it was hella fun!

I got to call mi madre {mom} and mi hermana {sister} today. That was nice to hear their voices. Not to homesick yet. There is too much to look at to be bored!

If I lived in Urugauy this is the city I want to live in. They bottle my water here and they make the best cookies!

I just had to take the photo!

Pringles!!!

On the drive to Melo.

Welcome!

One of Diegos oldest friends!

Out to dinner in Melo with Diegos Mom.

My favorite food, Milanesas!

Its funny to see my clothes outside drying!

Diegos Moms House.

Day 2 December 27th

2010-01-01T06:31:00.002-07:00

Holy cow. I slept so good last night. It was nice to sleep in a bed and not a small airplane seat. Diego’s Sister Natalia and our BIL were nice enough to let us use their bed while we are here. That’s good because if we had to sleep in a small bed I would have made Diego sleep on the floor! : ) We did not go to bed until about Midnight because we stayed up and ate the yummy pizza Martin made for us!

We slept for twelve hours! It has been years since I have done that. I woke up with mosquito bites all over one of my legs. I guess that’s what I get for using really good smelling lotion before I went to bed! I decided to try an experiment; I really wanted to know how my straight hair would survive. I turned on my straightener and blow dried my hair. There is so much damn humidity in the air that my straightner was steaming without even being near my hair! My hair looked good for about half an hour, until I ventured outside. I pulled it up in to a pony and freaking used a whole bottle of hairspray to make it slick back. The front started curling and I knew I was in trouble. There is no way my hair was going to stay straight for more than ten minutes in this place! That’s what hats are for right???

Natalia told me that they have a swap meet in the streets below her house and that is where they get all their fruit and veggies. I decided I just had to see this for myself. I got myself all covered in my SPF 60 and we headed out. It was just like a little Tijuana. Vendors everywhere! There was fruit, meat, cheese, knock off clothes, {Nike, Adidas, Fox, Puma, Ray Ban, you name it} hair accessories, Mate cups, jewelry, and tons of play station 2 video games. They even had original Nintendo games! {I did not take my camera because Diego says they would follow me home if they saw my nice camera!} I was in love. We walked the whole thing and found the answer to my hair dilemmas. Headbands! I bought 5 of them in a bunch of colors and hopefully that will hide my fly-away hair while we are here! We were gone so long that Diego was going to go look for us.

When we got back Martin taught me how to bake milenesas instead of deep fat fry them. They really do taste the same, but way less greasy than the alternative. Can’t wait to make them when I get home!

We then went to la playa {the beach} in Montevideo. Since it was Sunday it was packed but we found a place for our chairs and hung out for a couple hours. It was fun to people watch. It is very different here than in America. Nobody cares what anybody else thinks about then or what they are wearing, they are just trying to have a good time.

We cleaned up and headed to an ice cream shop in town, it was weird to not know many of the choices of ice cream. But they were all so yummy looking that I tried three different flavors. The big thing here is dulce de leche .{caramel} It is mixed with every flavor known to man. It was delish!

My new hairbands!

My man.

Luca likes to play in the car.

La Playa

Playing in the sand!

At La Playa.

I need to paint me toesies.

Yummy!

Best ice cream ever!

So good!

Day 1 December 26th

2010-01-01T06:28:00.002-07:00

I did not like trying to fall asleep on the flight. I stole Diego’s pillow and blanket so I was at least able to get myself pretty comfortable. I woke up around 10:30 and we were landing in about 45 minutes. I did not know that brushing your teeth in the bathroom would be such a pain in the ass! It smelled so bad that I just wanted to die. I got back to my seat and we started having really bad turbulence. It was really rainy. My stomach was in knots. I popped one of my new best friends and by the time we were landed I was very relaxed. Perfect!

The airport in Montevideo is very small. They don’t have terminals that connect with the door of the plane. You walk down the stairs of the plane and they load you onto busses that take you to customs. Customs was crazy! It took us over an hour to go through the lines and get our passports stamped! We went and found our luggage. {Yes it had made it to Uruguay with us!} I started to freak out. I was meeting Diego’s whole family in two minutes!!! Holy Shite!!! We walk around the corner and there they are! Diego was in heaven. Diego’s mom, sister, BIL, and the two little boys were there to greet us! We got our rental car and we were off! Natalia lives about 40 minutes away from the airport so I had a lot of time to look around! Driving in Montevideo is crazy!! There are no lines on the road but there are lanes that people make up. Nobody uses their blinkers, people on motorcycles swerve in and out going hella fast, and the roundabouts have stop lights.

Diego and I follow Martin to his parent’s house to drop off their car and then we go to the supermarket to change our money. I was in awe. But Diego said we could go shopping later so we headed back to the house to make plans for the night. Diego’s family is so funny. They had bought different waters for me to try. And surprisingly I loved them! That problem was solved! Now they were all worried about what I was going to eat. They are so funny.

We decided to go to their big grocery store and get me some stuff to munch on if I did not like what they were eating. Its ginormous! They sell everything there! While we were looking at food Martin said he would make us pizza for dinner. We bought some groceries and headed out. Martin even showed me how to make everything!

Montevideo Airport with Diegos Familia.

Our rental Car

My Pasport Stamp

They ride their motorcycles even in the rain!

McDonalds!

Hellmas Mayo goes on everything!

The house across from Natalias house has a dog that hangs out on the roof.

We took MandMs for Natalia.

How many Uruguayans can you fit in a tiny backseat?

Hola!

2009-12-27T16:45:00.000-07:00

We made it!

I am taking tons of photos but they are all on my laptop and we dont have wi fi at her sisters house. Once I find it I will blog them all.!

Sorry so short!

Dos down, uno to go!

2009-12-25T20:27:00.000-07:00

We are now sitting in Miami!

I did not have any time to blog while in Texas because we were runnin round the airport.

Here are some pics from our flight from SLC to Houston. I did not get to take any pics on the flight from Houston to Miami because I did not get the window seat. : (

But we did get to watch The Time Travelers Wife. I hate sad movies. But it helped pass the time!

The Miami airport is huge. Nothing is open though. I was hoping my last meal on American soil was going to be Chiles To Go, but they were shut down for the night.

I can feel moisture in the air while we are sitting here.

I am not excited for a 9.5 hour flight. Hopefully I can fall asleep!

I will hopefully be back tomorrow night to post pictures of Diegos reunion with his Familia!

I have always wanted to try Popeyes Chicken!

They had one in Dallas.

My favorite thing in the world is chicken fingers and hey had some bomb ass ones!

Good Night!

Hope you all got a ton of Christmas presents!!!!

Take off...

2009-12-25T10:44:00.000-07:00

Holy F!

Yesterday morning we woke up early.

I got in the shower.

Blow dried my hair.

Finished my packing.

I was feeling a little nervous but I could handle it.

Then we get an email from AA.

"Your flight has been canceled.

We will let you know when your flight has been rescheduled."

I then popped a Xanax.

My stomach was in knotts.

We go to my parents to hang out while we wait.

An hour later we get an email.

"Your new flight itinerary.

You leave tomorrow."

Diego is soooo sad.

I am bummed that I was ready and now I have to go through all the emotions again.

I hang out with my family all day.

It saved me from sitting at home being nervous about maybe not being able to leave the next day.

We shopped, baked, and ate steak and shrimp.

Then we go home after playing skip-bo ten times.

We wake up to the Diegos phone telling us we have a new email.

Shit.

Please. Please. Please.

Dont be an email from AA!

It was just an email from costco.

We got up and went over to my moms so she could do my hair.

She dropped us off at the airport.

We are sitting here waiting to board!

Lets rock and roll people!!!

Merry Christmas!

FML!!

2009-12-24T09:14:00.000-07:00

Our flight was canceled!

We are leaving Manana. (Tomorrow.)

Wham... right in the kisser!

2009-12-19T08:48:00.000-07:00

It just hit me like a ton of bricks.

I only have 5 full days to get everything ready.

Still have not packed.

House is not spotless.

Have not picked up everything from the pharmacy.

Holy Shite.

Paying good $ for skin cancer.

2009-12-17T21:31:00.000-07:00

To be slightly tanner than my albino skin will allow, I went tanning every day for three months to get tan for my wedding. I was not going to go stand by my man in a white wedding dress and blend right in with it. I could not believe how tan I was. But then I would stand next to Diego and it did not look like I had been in the sun in months.

I know that its ok to be white. I mean twilight practically made it cool to be white. But I have learned over my long lifetime that the worst thing that can happen at the begining of a vacation is a BAD burn! After that you dont want to even go out in the sun so you hang out in the hotel room for a couple days taking baths in vinager and rubbing aloe all over your skin. I knew that Uruguay was going to be sunny sunny sunny so I decided to start my tanning early.

I did not start going till about three weeks ago. I did not know if I had given myself enough time because I only go into the bed for 5 or 6 minutes. I went for the first to days and saw nothing. On the 3rd day I decided to go for 8 minutes. BAD F ING IDEA! I got such a bad burn on my legs I could not even move. My legs were having spasms. I tried everything. Nothing worked. I could not get my body heat down. Sat in cold water for over an hour. I did not fall asleep until 4:30 in the morning. I woke up at 7 to go to work and I was dying!! It hurt to put on jeans and walk around! All day I drank freezing cold water just to keep my heat to a minimum! Hell!

So I went back down to 5 minutes a couple days later and havent had a burn since! Two days ago I used the highest bed they have! A bronzing bed. LOVED IT!!!! I dont know why I could not start with it! No burns just amazing brown skin! Cant wait to show pictures of my lovely brown skin!!!!

6 Days!

19 years in the making!

2009-12-15T01:19:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to my Fabulous sister Mo!

{Her birthday was Friday but thats ok...}

Check List...

2009-12-15T00:53:00.000-07:00

I am the most unorganized person ever! {Diego says he agrees with this statement.} We have known about our trip for a long time and I am just this week trying to get my stuff together.

Over 7 weeks ago I FINALLY decided to send in my passport to have my last name changed. {Diego would like to mention that he had been telling me to do this since we got married 3 years ago.} It said that it would take 6-8 weeks so I was not worried at all. In my head I thought that it would only take 4 weeks and that would give me plenty of time. So after 5 weeks and it had not arrived I started to get a wee bit worried. Last Monday I recieved a letter from the passport peeps. I had forgotten to send in my Marriage certificate!!! Huge ordeal. When I was getting everything together I put all the stuff in a white envelope. At the last moment I changed envelopes and did not see that I had missed my marriage certificate. So $30 later I had overnighted it to my peeps to get my passport back in motion. I called on Friday to see how long it would take and to see if I needed to expedite it to get in back in time. They said to call back Monday and check the progress. Crap! I was really startin to freak. Saturday morning I checked my email and guess what?!? It shipped! It will be here by Saturday. {Only 4 days to spare!}

I have started my lists of CRAP that need to be bought, CRAP that needs to be packed, and Crap that needs to be done around the house. Its a lot of lists! {Diego made a list for me too, it had 1 thing on it... SUNSCREEN!} But I am happy to say that I have started the packing and its going really bad. I usually just throw stuff into my suitcase because thats how I roll but I am now realizing that 3 weeks of clothes and shoes, {yes we will have a washer so I dont have to bring 3 whole weeks of clothes} does take up a lot of room. So I am going to have to be an extra good packer to get it all to fit. {This means Diego will end up doing it for me!}

My biggest concern??? No its not that I cant speak spanish or that I will be meeting his family for the first time, its what I am going to wear to travel in and what I will look like when I meet his family for the first time. Any suggestion??? It blows because I know its going to be freezing at the SLC airport but blazing hot in Miami and in Uruguay! Let me know what you think! ♥

An early Chrstmas present!

2009-12-13T15:39:00.000-07:00

Guess who my boys played last night???

Kobe and the Lakers.

We did not get the 8th row seats this time so we sat all the way up on the 21st row. ; )

The group up there is very, very fun and out going. We were on our feet almost the whole time!

BOO!!!!

My boys played in their old school colors!

Woot Woot!

This was what it looked like when the Lakers were taking a free throw.

Some of my Boys that did not play.

We won!!!!

Good Question TADA

2009-12-09T22:49:00.000-07:00

I love when somebody that I havent seen since High School asks me where my husband is from. {Someone that has never seen him of course.} When I tell them Uruguay they usually give me a very weird look. I then explain that yes, I am married to one of those brown people. {I am practically a brown person now so I can talk like that!}

Its still funny to me almost 7 years later that I have never seen the house Diego grew up in, the schools he attended, the place where he scored his first goal in soccer, the Circle k {I know we dont have those anymore, and that Uruguay definately doesnt have one, but that was the gas station closest to us growing up}that him and his freinds walked to to get drinks on a hot summer day, and so on. You get my point right? Our whole relationship has been on my "home turf". {And yes Diego could answer all the questions above about me!} We met in the neighborhood I grew up in. We bought a house 2 minutes from the house I was raised in. If we stay in this house our kids will attend the same schools I did. {Can you tell I dont like change?}

T.A.D.A. asked me where Diego is from.

He was raised in the Capitol of Cerro Largo {State}, Melo.

Diegos Madre still lives there so we will be staying in the house he grew up in! I cant wait to wander the streets and have him show me all the places he hung out at while he was growing up!

So cute!

2009-12-06T16:13:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would let you know what my favorite commercial is right now!

leftover photos

2009-12-06T11:29:00.000-07:00

I was uploading my pictures and found a bunch of pics that I had forgotten to blog about from Thanksgiving.

{Maybe because I had already done 5 posts that day...}

These are from the begining of cooking time to eating time!

Very Random!

Moses was not very helpful on this wonderful day. She was actually the DJ for our festivities.

I told you I had a huge Zit, here is proof!

Mi Padre {Father} doing his normal Thanksgiving activity. {Diego was at our house doin the same thing!}

Padre and Precious.

{Yes this is what they really call her...}

{Oh and yes that is a Moose mounted on the wall...}

Mo was Skyping with her Bestie while we slaved away!

We ♥♥♥ to play board games, so we played Clue while the Turkey baked.

Guess who won...

Mean Huh! She always wins... I dont know why I keep playing!

puff puff pass...

2009-12-05T21:15:00.000-07:00

Uruguayan lesson of the day:

Herba Maté:

One thing you learn when you are married to a Uruguayan is that they all bebir {to drink} Mate. Yes I have tasted the stuff, but I have to be in a pretty good mood to want to drink it. {I drank a lot of it while we were dating just to impress him...} And Diego will not just drink it by himself, no no no, its like a team activity. And I am rarely allowed to because I drink it so slow that I ruin the cycle.I am guessing you are wondering why that seems like a big deal. Well there are rules to this activity. And I am not good at following the rules so Diego just rolls his eyes and I walk away. Some of the rules are shown in the video below. {Yes somebody actually made a video of this! That is how SERIOUS they take there Mate!} When we get pictures or videos from Uruguay there is rarely one that does not have them either partaking of the mate or the ~~bong~~ mate cup is in the background! Serious buisness! Diegos Madre {Mom} puts orange peels in hers so I am excited to try it that way. {I am not allowed to do this in Diegos cup because it would ruin the cup forever!}

When we have friends that come over that have gone to South America on buisness or on their mission they always get excited that Diego drinks Mate.

And its not just for cold days. They do it ALL day, EVERY day! I will definately take pictures of all the Mate when I am there!

Diego and Paolo drinkin together!

Sight seeing!

2009-12-03T08:00:00.001-07:00

While Googling unique places to visit in Uruguay I came up with 2 that I really want to see.
This video shows both of them. {Start at 1:18 and watch until 5:20}

Punta Del Este

I have wanted to visit here since I saw a picture of this on one of Diegos Cousins Christmas card. I made Diego promise that one day I would get my picture taken there! And the time has finally come. Bummer for us that we are visiting at the BUSIEST time of the year, But I am excited to celebrate Christmas and New Years in 100 degree weather!

Casapueblo

{No there is not supposed to be a space}

Geography lesson...

2009-12-02T17:39:00.000-07:00

So Why Uruguay you ask?

That is where my husband was born and raised. His Parents and Sister still live there and he has not been back for over 10 years. His Madre got to come here for our Wedding but I have not met anyone else from his immediate family. This trip is going to be about Diego seeing his family and us just having a lazy couple of weeks relaxing and drinking Mate. {I will explain what this is later!} We are going to go see some really cool places while we are with his familia!

Where is Uruguay?

Homer will tell you...

I am getting so excited!

Are you ready...

2009-12-01T20:04:00.000-07:00

So the reason I went private is...

No I am not prego!

Diego and I are going on vacation to Uruguay!!!

I dont want random people knowing that my house is going to be empty for 20 days, so I thought it would be smarter to just go private till we get back. I have wanted to talk about this vacation on my blog for so long but I have quietly waited till today!

In the next couple weeks I will put up some pictures of the places we are going to visit!!

countin down...

2009-11-29T16:03:00.000-07:00

Only a couple more days till I go private! To keep reading my posts I need your email address that works with your google account!

red and green vs. multi colored...

2009-11-29T12:51:00.000-07:00

This is my man makin me smile by putting up my Christmas lights!

Every year we have the debate over which color lights to choose. Diego is a fan of the classic red and green, and I just want all pink. But we can never find those so last year we bought really nice colorful ones that should last us a couple years. Maybe later this week I will take a pic of the house all lit up!

Ouch!

2009-11-27T16:25:00.001-07:00

I uploaded my very first video onto YouTube today!

Go Me!

This is from the Jazz game on Thanksgiving.

Poor guy thought he was shooting a basket for $1 million!

Nope! His Bro Punked him!

He was a Lakers Fan!

Totally deserved it!

Sometimes I wonder...

2009-11-27T15:46:00.001-07:00

This is what happens if you leave your camera at my parents house and Mo gets ahold of it...

Bacon wrapped goodness.

2009-11-27T13:56:00.001-07:00

One of my all time favorite appetizers is bacon wrapped water chestnuts.

Mi Madre and I made them yesterday.

Soak your water chestnuts in soy sauce for about an hour.

Then roll water chestnuts in sugar and wrap with 1/3 slice bacon.

Bake on cookie sheet with lip on 325* for 45 Minutes!

Drooling...

Finally a win!

2009-11-27T13:23:00.004-07:00

To end our perfect Thanksgiving we went to watch the Jazz dominate the Bulls!

Boozer actually brought his A game to the court last night!

Morgan brought one of her good friends that leaves on his Mission in December! We are going to miss you Jimmy!

{There are no photos of me for 2 reasons. #1: I do not have a jersey and am very jelous! #2: I have the biggest zit on my face right now!}

Count your many blessings.

2009-11-26T08:16:00.000-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

I could sit here and write a list of what I am thankful for but I think my blog shows everything that I am greatful for. My family, friends, job and the love of my husband makes me one of the happiest people on earth! Hope you all eat till your top button pops off!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥