We started our year with a mini vaca in January to Big Bear with Cori and her kids, and we got to take the pups with us. They had a lot of fun in the snow! Alex and I went snowboarding for the first time together. I was better than him.. LOL It had been a really long time for the both of us, and once he traded his boots in for a larger size, his performance improved drastically. We had group dinners and breakfasts, but Alex and I and the pups got a lot of alone time to bond and take nature walks. I love my furry family.
At the village
LOVE this pic of them watching Alex walk back to the truck...
We actually planned to stay 3 nights, but a big storm was coming and we left a night early to avoid getting stuck. Alex saw snow falling for the first time while we crawled down the mountain with everyone else trying to leave. It was cute to see his excitement!
February is a month of birthday's...including mine! Both of Alex's brothers, and two of his cousins all have birthday's within days of mine. So, we all chose Feb 6th to have a night out on the town together to a new lounge in West Covina. First, my soon to be sister in law Veronica had us meet at her house for a warm bite to eat and Alex's parents joined us too. It was a typical family get-together until we sang happy birthday. They had a cake and we all sang happy birthday to ourselves - it was really funny! When we finished Alex walked towards the kitchen and told us all to hold on, that he had a cake just for me. I thought "mmmmmm must be a yellow cake with chocolate frosting just for me" - it's my fave! Then I saw roses too and a cake still in the box....he put it all down on the table in front of me and had me wait to open the cake.
He then went into a loving speech to his family about how much he loves me, how I make him a better person, and how he wants to spend the rest of his life with me. I sat there listening to the love of my life say the nicest things anyone has ever said about me with huge butterflies in my stomach because at one point I thought "Oh my gosh! Is he proposing??!!" Then he gets down on one knee and asks me to open the cake box which read 'happy Birthday Babe, Will you Marry Me?' He then asked me "Will you spend the rest of your life with me?" Shaking, I managed to say "Yes, of course I will!" and kissed the hell out of him! That night we became engaged and the journey of the rest of our life together officially began! I am a very lucky woman to be loved by him. Best birthday present EVER!!
Saying his speech
The weekend after that, while on cloud nine, my dad and step-mom had a little birthday party for me with my family at their house in Laguna Niguel. My closest cousin Danny was a victim of 'cake in the face' at like his 12th birthday party courtesy of me - he's now 25! It turns out that was a very traumatic experience because he still talks about it with sadness in his face. I decided to let him 'cake in the face' me that day, but he couldn't get himself to do it, so I did it for him. He was happy.
he's the one we're all sitting on
A month later was lil' Zoey's first birthday. Of course she got a Happy Birthday Cookie and LOTS of love. She was thrilled.
that was delicious!
In April we finally got grass in our backyard!! I was patient, and it was so worth the wait! The dogs couldn't have been happier, they LOVE playing in their grassy backyard.
Before
After
We have a lot of plans for a nice backyard, but the canvas has been started at least.
The same day we got our new grass was my soon to be Father in law's birthday party. We bought him exactly what he wanted - a new DVD player so he wanted to take a picture with us. I made Alex stop playing basketball with his nephews to come pose with his dad and I. It's my first picture with Senor Gutierrez.
In May our good friend Sasha celebrated her 30th birthday in Vegas. We were lucky enough to be invited to this intimate affair with hers and her boyfriend Abel's families. Alex and Abel have been friends for years, and when I met Sasha - we hit it off right away. I love this girly! We had a great dinner with everyone at Maggiano's, then the youngsters went to club Tao. We had a lot of fun with everyone.
The birthday girl with Abel at dinner
The four of us before gettin' to da club
Memorial Day weekend was spent watching the Lakers advance themselves to the Finals, me being reunited with some old very good friends from high school, and Pete and Sabrina's wedding at Friendly Hills Country Club. My babe was a groomsman, and the wedding was really nice surrounded by all our good friends. I have a whole new appreciation for weddings now that I am planning ours.
At the beginning of June we finally met with Yvonne to take our first set of engagement pictures. Yvonne is a friend of Mitch's and she did a great job with her wedding pics. We are so excited to have her be our photographer, she is so talented - we know we are going to have amazing pictures! Here are a few of our faves from our engagement session at the San Juan Capistrano Mission.
The following weekend was my fiances 30th Birthday party - everyone around us is having this milestone, so it was his turn to welcome a new decade. We had close to 100 people in and out of the house that day since we invited his family, my family, and a ton of our friends. Needless to say I was a little busy and didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked. But here is my birthday boy, who let's just say had "too much fun" and was hurting some the next day.
My aunt, G-Mom, and us
Alex with my tia muy loca
Taking shots with my dad, uncle, and friends
A couple of weeks later we had our second session of engagement pictures with my very talented Nina, who is also a professional photographer. She specializes in children and nature. Her and my uncle have taken some trips around the world and she comes home with amazing shots. Here are a few of our silly pictures that we are so happy with at a park in Walnut.
We all went to Olvera street afterwards and had some delicious taquitos, then we headed over to the Staple's Center to get some shots of us supporting our FAVORITE team ever!
We're in the huddle with the team!
P90X is really paying off
The next day I was back in LA to attend game 3 of the Dodgers vs Yankees series! I was very lucky to get these hard to come by tickets, and this was my Father's Day present to my pops. As you know, I am truly a fan of both teams. I was raised a Dodger fan, yet when Jeter came into the league in '96 I fell in love with the Yankees whom at that time were coming off a really bad few seasons and considered the underdogs. Because these two teams only play each other once every four years, I don't have to "choose" very often. But on this day I realized that my loyalty is with the Yankees. They were getting smashed by the Dodgers and my pops was happy, but then the Yanks made an awesome come back forcing the game to the 10th inning where they defeated the Doyers, and I was ecstatic. I wore my Yankee jersey with my Doyer hat to show my love for both, but when we got back to the car I put that Yankee hat on with pride. It was really an awesome game to be at and we had a lot of fun.
Old rivalry
Jeter warming up before game
Pettite getting ready for his start
hip-hip-jorge!
The man - Mariano!!
Well there you have it - the first half of 2010 in a nutshell. It has been wondeful so far, and the second half will be even better. The wedding plans are underway and things seem to be falling into place. We have an exciting summer with lots of events ahead of us. I'll attempt to update monthly so they aren't as long. Thanks for following!
