Latest Updates summer 2010

It has been a while since I last updated our blog. Where do I start. Well, Roberto is now working for Schlumberger and not for Lockheed Martin. With a lot of prayer and patience, he was finally blessed with a new position outside of the aerospace industry. He is thrilled and happy. You can see the joy in his eye now that he is working in the oil and gas industry.

I have been blessed too:). After careful planning and patience, I was able to quit my job in the aerospace industry and continue my schooling full time versus part time. Now I am on the right track to pursue my MSME in Bioengineering in a reasonable amount of time. I don't recall ever being this happy since our wedding day and the day I graduated college.

Roberto and I are so severely blessed. We both turned in our resignations on the same day and our last day of work in the aerospace industry was May 27, 2010. We never realized how unhappy we were at work until we were happy! I don't know if that makes sense but to a recently unhappy person (in both our cases) it makes perfect sense!

Now for picture updates...



Roberto surprised me for my birthday by packing up the crew (Nanook, Aluche and Smokey) and driving across Texas to enjoy some of the finest pizza at Peter Piper Pizza for my 26th birthday! I can't believe I am 26 now!








My mom, Roberto, the pups and I spent sometime at the cabin. We all took Aluche and Nanook on their first hike. They loved it so much. It was so fresh in the mountains. I don't think the temperature ever exceeded 85F in the day. I have never seen our pups explore the way they did.



This screen door was very confusing to the pups. They ran into it a few times. There were times when they were wrestling inside and one would want to seek a safe haven outside. As one of the pups made a run for the outdoor safe haven he slammed into the screen door. Come to think of things, Nanook almost took the screen door off its sliding track at one instant. It was hilarious!



We also did a lot of swimming at our house in El Paso. The pups found a new toy...a basketball. They would bark bloody murder when playing with the basketball! They were unable to bite the ball so they would get very angry. They couldn't put the ball in their mouths so they would bark louder and louder. It was hilarious watching them play with the basketball. It was almost like watching a soccer game but with two puppies and a basketball. Pops seemed to be the referee:).



Another joy in El Paso is hanging out with my in-laws! They are the best. My Suegro is truly a character (I think Roberto gets that from him). My mother-in-law knows how to cook like nobodies business! We had a small get together with my parents and the in-laws and the result was a feast! I don't know how my mother-in-law does it but she is absolutely awesome!

Utah Ski Trip

Robert and I decided to go skiing for one of our yearly adventures. We decided to explore Utah. First stop...Cheesecake Factory in Salt Lake City. It was a very exciting trip because Roberta (long time best friend), Nate (Roberta's hub) and Jace (their chubby cheek baby) drove to Salt Lake City for the weekend and met up with us for some fabulous lunch. It had been years since I had seen Roberta and it was so nice to catch up on old times and create new times! We only wish we had more time to catch up. We are planning a girls trip here soon!





























Robert and I stayed in a lovely town called Park City, Utah. It is about 30 miles southeast of the Salt City Airport. We were determined to ski two resorts...Deer Valley Ski Resort and the Park City Ski Resort.

When we flew out of Houston to Salt Lake City I wasn't feeling 100%. Robert assured me that the trip would do me good. I am thankful that he pushed me onto that plane because he was absolutely right. The only down fall was that when we arrived to Salt Lake City Robert got sick! That didn't stop him from skiing everyday except one day we were there. We had a great time! The skies were clear the snow was groomed and the temperature never exceeded 30F. We had tears of laughter and crazy falls when we went skiing. The ski resorts were top notch. Everything about them was beautiful. It was hard for us to leave but we look forward to our next adventure!

Ringing in the New Year 2010

We (hub, Nanook, Aluche and I) decided to take a drive across Texas to surprise our parents for New Year. It was spectacular! Initially, we weren't going to tell any of our parents about our secret arrival. In order for us to have a successful surprise we had to tell my mom. My mom and pop go to the cabin for the New Year every year and I wanted to make sure they were in town when we were in town so we had to tell her. Either way the trip was wonderful!




First order of business...PETER PIPER PIZZA! There aren't any Peter Piper Pizzas in Houston which truly sucks. There is no pizza like a pizza from Peter Piper Pizza. My goodness those pizzas we had that day were the best tasting pizzas we had in a long time:).



For the New Years gathering my mom cooked all day for the family get together. My mom made pozole, tamales and tres leches. Even though my mother in law was in a boot due to surgery she still made her famous rice that can convert a rice hater into a rice lover! She also made fire hot queso. The queso was a huge hit for my pop.





After all the festivities calmed down my pop, mom, brother and I took a drive to the cabin in Cloudcroft. The weather was wonderful. There was at least eight inches of snow. Since there was so much snow we feared that our vehicles wouldn't make it down to the cabin. We all walked a quarter mile to get to the cabin. BTW those tracks you see coming down the driveway aren't car tracks...those are tracks from the luggage my mom and I pulled. The person you see in the back is my brother, Martin. Good times!





We thought walking to the cabin was going to be the worst of our problems. Once we made it to the cabin we learned that the cabin had no running water. All the cabin's pipes were frozen solid. It was late and it was cold and we didn't want to carry our luggage back to the vehicles because we were tired. We all decided to rough it out and live like cavemen with electricity/power:). We figured we would boil all the snow on the deck. For every gallon of snow we boiled it seemed we would barely get a half a cup of water! It was fun.



Another memorable moment of the trip to the cabin was we had absolutely no phone service. We felt like fools walking around in the cabin and outside trying to call people. I found this one area where we had service. I couldn't move the phone because I would lose my call. See for yourself:).



The next morning Martin and I went skiing at Ski Apache. When we arrived it was a zoo of people! I was a little discouraged at first but then we decided to head straight to the top of the mountain. I was a little hesitant at first considering I hadn't skied in almost three years. I changed my mind when I was apart of the zoo of people. Martin reassured me that there wouldn't be anyone at the top of the mountain. By golly he was right! The top of the mountain had no more than five people at a time. It was magnificent!






Martin and I drove back to El Paso after a day of skiing, laughing and falling. I couldn't leave El Paso without seeing the little girl from across the street, Andrea. She came over Sunday morning for breakfast. It was more like a feast rather than breakfast. My pop and mom combined forces in the kitchen and a feast was the ending result. They cooked mandarin cream pancakes (from scratch), eggs, bacon, cinnamon roles, toast, coffee and juice. Everything tasted GREAT! I will see Andrea in May at her graduation!




Leaving El Paso was not easy for both of us. We made it back to Houston in ten hours but once we made it to Houston it took us an additional 1.5 hours to get to our house due to Houstonian traffic. It was a horrible mess! The amazing part was Nanook and Aluche slept 11.5 hours STRAIGHT! We pulled over in San Antonio to let them stretch a little and they didn't want to get off of their beds. They were so tired from all the excitement with their cousins, Frankie and Mona. They didn't peep the whole way back home! What a blessing!