The Darancous

Family Pictures

2012-02-05T18:46:00.000-08:00

This is so long overdue, it is not even funny. My excuse- I am pregnant.

We had a friend, Kate Allen, take some pictures of us in the Fall. She did a great job. Here are some of our favorites.

I kind look like a lion in this one but it is good of the Enriques.

It's catch up time!

2012-01-29T11:23:00.002-08:00

If you have not heard we are expecting a little girl in June. We are so excited! I have been really sick with this pregnancy but I am finally feeling better and it is definitely time to catch up on what has been going on around here. Here is little Enrique at our ward Christmas party with Santa. As you can tell he is less than enthused to be sitting on his lap. He even ripped off his beard! Hopefully the other children didn't notice.

Qui Que loves to stack blocks with his Papí. They play this game every night before bedtime. I think their record is twenty something....

Here is Enrique and Qui Que ready to deliver our neighborhood Christmas treats.

Qui Que has decided there is nothing he enjoys more than sitting up on the kitchen counter to help me cook. I actually really enjoy having him up there with me unless I am in a hurry. Those times he hangs on my legs and cries because I won't let him up.

Christmas Morning! We were definitely more excited for Qui Que to open his presents than he was. He had no idea what was going on and was still half asleep. However, he was very excited to get his Winnie the Pooh bear- he is loving his bear.

I made him he little vest and pants. I had a hard time getting a good picture but he looked pretty cute.

We didn't have a white Christmas this year. It actually felt like Fall. This is the boys on our way to a friends house to enjoy Christmas afternoon.

Qui Que and Aunt Demi in Utah. I feel bad I didn't take many pictures of our trip. Again, I was not feeling well so I wasn't thinking straight.

I love this picture. We had our friends, Russ and Emily, and their boys over for dinner. It got really quiet for about 10 minutes so we ran to find the boys. They had found my mom's gingerbread house and started eating it. Qui Que loved it. He actually went back for seconds the next morning for breakfast.

Qui Que and his Uncle Curtis. Uncle Curtis introduced him into head phones and music and it was Qui Que's favorite thing!

Qui Que playing with Abuelita Adela.

Again, cooking with mommy.

I have been redoing my living room. Here a few of the pillows I have been working on. I will post a before and after picture when I am done.

Qui Que and Papí shoveling the snow.

We babysat our little friend Everett the other night. Looks like they are enjoying a nice bedtime story called Operative Dentistry.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-26T18:38:00.001-08:00

We had a great Thanksgiving. Our neighbors, Pamela and Bob (Whitney's parents) invited us to their home. We had a great time and the food was delicious! This is Pamela and Whitney in front of the feast.

Qui Que loved Thanksgiving dinner too!

Scarlett is Qui Que little amiga. She loved Thanksgiving too.

We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and are enjoying the holidays!

3 years!

2011-11-26T13:39:00.001-08:00

Enrique and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary on the November 21st. Well, we actually celebrated it on the 22nd because he had a test on the next day and of course wanted to study. Either way, we celebrated our 3 year anniversary. Enrique told me it feels like we have been married longer than that. I am not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing....:)

Our wedding day was the happiest day of my life and ever since that day life has been a journey of adventures. We are far from home out here in the midwest. We are learning what is like to have our own family and make our own family traditions. Who knows where we will end up next but as long as I have my two Enriques life is great.

I love you Enrique, happy anniversary!

Our good friends, Nick and Whitney offered to watch Qui Que while we went out to eat. We took this picture at their house right before heading down to Linn Street Cafe.

And if you are wondering what is going on with my shirt. That is what happens when you where a white bra under a black shirt and you take a picture with a flash. I should have known better.

Halloween

2011-10-31T18:36:00.000-07:00

We were so proud that Qui Que not only let us put his Halloween costume on but wore it trick or treating! I was so worried that as soon as I put it on him, he would rip it off (which is what happened during all our dress rehearsals).

He was a hot air ballooner this year. Warning proud parent overload on the pictures!

These pictures were taken at our church Halloween party. We handed Qui Que a sucker as soon as we put his costume on so he would be distracted.

I felt like a horrible mom when he ate the entire sucker- tootsie roll and all and wanted more!

Que Qui with his good buddy, Cannon Ward the monster.

Qui Que loved helping me carve the pumpkin. I love his little smile in this picture.

Halloween day! We are getting ready to go trick or treating. This time for a bribe I gave him fruit snacks. I guess that was a little better than the sucker. His cheeks look a little pudgy because he keep shoving them in his mouth!

Qui Que's good little friend, Scarlett came over to go trick or treating. She was the cutest little butterfly!

Whitney, Nick and Scarlett

This is my favorite picture. He is running to the next house!

Lost and found

2011-10-22T13:37:00.000-07:00

Little Enrique loses his shoes multiple times every day. I am not exaggerating even a little bit. After several lost shoes I decided to stick our return address labels on the bottom of his shoes. They stay legible for about 2 weeks and then need to be replaced.

Last night was the Homecoming Football parade in Iowa City. We put little Enrique in the backpack and walked downtown. When we got there we discovered he was missing a shoe. I traced back our steps but did not find the shoe. Poor little Enrique was with out a shoe which meant he could not get down and play.

This is our return address labels. I faded out the address for any weirdos that might be reading this.

We took this picture when we discovered he was missing a shoe.

Although little Enrique was shoeless he enjoyed the parade. Especially the dum dum he is eating.

I was so sad about losing little Enrique's new shoe. I was planning on him wearing them in our family pictures tonight. During his nap I went to go downtown to retrace our steps and look for his shoe. When I opened our door I found this.

Some dear, thoughtful person found our shoe and returned it! Thank you who ever you are!

Fall in Iowa City

2011-10-16T14:08:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been a while since we have posted. We have been enjoying the beautiful Fall in Iowa City. Here are a few random pictures from the past month.

We took these pictures while out for a walk in our neighborhood.

Qui Que posing for his picture and eating raisins- his favorite!

Yes, my child is watching T.V.

I swore I would never be a mom that put her child in front of a T.V.

I am sorry for judging.

Sometimes T.V is great.

Especially when your child is teething and nothing makes him happy.

Enrique put Qui Que in the backpack and walked downtown to see me selling my pillows at Octoberfest. Qui Que is behind Enrique.

I love this one.

Note: Enrique is not enrolled at Pacific Dental School. He is still at Iowa. He just loves that shirt. I think it is time we buy him an Iowa Dental shirt.

Happy Birthday Enrique! Enrique turned 32 October 5th. We love you Enrique!

Qui Que playing with the leaves.

Serenity now!

2011-09-25T17:56:00.000-07:00

If you have seen the Seinfeld episode when George's dad keeps saying "serenity now!", you will understand what I am trying to say. When ever I used to walk into my closet I would think- serenity now! It was disgusting. It was the one room (ok there were a few) when we bought this house that we thought, that is going to be the first thing we change. Well, two years later I finally got around to changing the nasty closet. I no longer have to run and shut the door when I have people over. Here are the before and after pictures.

As you can see we definitely needed to paint this sucker. I went to Mennards (our version of Lowes or Home Depot) and bought my paint. Turns out I hate Mennards and their crappy paint. But the damage was done, I had already bought my cheap paint so I needed to use it. Note to self: do not buy cheap paint. It felt like I was painting with water colors.

I don't even want to know what this nasty dripping stain is all about. Either way, it had to go.

I know, I hate to paint over beautiful hardwood floors but let's be honest. This is not beautiful. They too, needed to go. I ended up painting them gray. I wish the gray would have turned out a little darker. I will just blame it on the young, not so knowledgeable kid at Mennards. But the light gray looks way better than this!

Finished product. Again, I don't love the paint colors but at least now it feels clean!

Painted wood floors


Nasty dripping stain is gone!

Iowa State Fair

2011-09-17T06:29:00.000-07:00

Little Enrique was so frightened of the big horses. When he would see them he would turn around and run right up Enrique's chest and almost over his shoulders! However, he did like the small horses. He thought they were dogs and would make barking sounds when he saw them.

This is suppose the be the largest pig. Poor thing could not even move.

This was my favorite part! We went in this huge building with tons of baby animals. We saw little chicks coming out of their shells, baby lambs, pigs, and even ostriches! This lady let us pet the baby lamb. So cute!

The boys walking around the fair grounds.

We meet our neighbors at the fair grounds. This is a picture of us enjoying lunch.


We ate the Iowa Pork Tent. Sounds legit. It was ok. I was a little disappointed. I would have rather had a funnel cake.

2nd Saturday Market

2011-08-20T14:11:00.001-07:00

2nd Saturday Market!

The down town association (Iowa City) is putting on the 2nd Saturday Market in August, September and October. It is basically a craft fair. I sold my pillows, necklaces and hair bows. It was so much fun! This is my friend Whitney (click here)
She has a great shop on Etsy and has darling knitted everything!

This is my booth, a little picked over- but you get the idea.

Whitney's booth.
The next 2nd Saturday Market is September 10th from 9am-3pm.
Come check it out!

Enrique's first photo shoot!- warning: picture overload

2011-08-02T19:33:00.001-07:00

My sister, Babes (Candace) is a massage therapist and was so generous so do a trade with her friend (Xandra) who is a photographer. Xandra took these pictures of little Enrique and I think she did an awesome job!

These are very similar but both so cute- I just had to post both of them!

Thanks Babes! You are such a nice aunt!

Happy UNO Enrique Jesse!

2011-08-01T12:29:00.000-07:00

My little Enrique turned 1 year old on July 21st!
Happy Birthday Enriquito!
Papi and I love you so much. This year has been one of the happiest of our lives.
You are our little buddy.
You do not lack in the attention department. Whenever you are down for a nap and we hear you wake up, we race into your bedroom in hopes of reaching you first.
You are such a happy baby.
We just returned from Utah- an 18 hour drive. I can honestly say, you did great! You got a little fussy the last hour but so did I!
You are walking now. You started walking when we were up in Bear Lake with my family. You look so cute as you toddle back and forth to get around.
You can say...
Hola and wave your hand (although it sounds like lala).
agua and you say it not only for water but for everything you eat!
and uh-oh.

We celebrated Enriquito's birthday party at park in Provo Utah with family. I saw the idea for an Uno party here. I thought it was such a cleaver idea and fit my little bilingual baby. Here are some of the pictures of the fun!

This was the invitation I sent out to everyone.

Abuelita Adelita, Enrique, Qui Que, Grandpa Jon, me, and Grammy Camille or Mi Mi

I had great ambitions to make this really cool fondant cake.
I had a little war in the kitchen and after 2 failed attempts, Costco won.

But hey, they did a great job.
Thanks Costco.

I made Qui Que this Uno shirt from the tutorial here

The cake was a hit. I thought he would just play around the the frosting. No. He ate it. He would have eaten the whole piece if I would not have taken it away.

Opening the presents. Of course his favorite part was the tissue paper.

Playing with the baseball set Grandpa Jon gave him.

Thanks to everyone that came to the party! It was fun!

Darancous in Denver

2011-07-23T12:22:00.001-07:00

What a great summer this has been! Not only has Enrique been out of school which is awesome but we have been able to travel out west to visit friends and family. Our first stop was in Colorado Springs to visit some friends we know from Iowa City.

We went to the Garden of the Gods. It is amazing. Red rock, beautiful rock formations- it reminded us of southern Utah.

This backpack is so cool. We can tote Enriquito around everywhere!

Our second stop was in Denver to visit Enrique's Dads side of the family. Everyone was there. All the aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters, grandparents and even great grandparents. This is a picture of Enrique's Dad with Qui Que.

This is Erica (Enrique's sister) with her little boy, David. He is 3 months old.

Grandpa Armando y Rosa bought this little soccer ball in Mexico. Here is a picture of him showing Qui Que how to play.

My very first Quinceañera! This blew my mind. It was so cool. Enrique's cousin, Breeze turned 15 and it is tradition to have a Quinceañera. For those of you that are not familiar with what that is, it is a large celebration to mark when a child becomes a women. There was a church ceremony and a huge party afterwards. Enrique's aunt Mari did a great job on all the decorations and Breeze looked beautiful!

We have got the 4 generations here.

Enrique, Armando (his dad), Enriquito, and Great grandpa Ruben.

So cool.

Enrique with is brothers and sisters. As you can tell they are beautiful people.

Cindy, Brian, Enriques, Armandito, Erica

This is Enriquito with is traditional guayavera shirt on.

Perfect for the surprise birthday party for his great grandma, Ester.

This is Enrique's grandma, Ester. All the aunts and uncles threw a surprise birthday party for her 90th birthday. She LOVES to knit and drink cervezas so her cake was a basket of yarn with a bottle of Corona in it. All made from frosting. It was the coolest cake ever!

That is it for now. More pictures to come of Qui Que's first birthday party!

Father's Day!

2011-07-01T09:45:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day Papí!
Here is a picture of little Enrique with his Papí before church.

Enrique requested Cafe Rio sweet pork salads for his father's day dinner. Definitely a family fav. You can find the recipe we like here http://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/2007/11/jared-and-i-love-cafe-rio.html

I made him this shirt and tie cake but apparently I got carried away with the food coloring and the frosting tasted like crayon. We didn't eat much of it.

I was so excited for Father's Day because I made this book for Enrique. The book is called Papí y yo and it is all about Enrique and Enriquito. This picture you see below shows my favorite pages in the book. The page on the left shows 4 pictures of who Enriquito is named after. Enrique (husband), Enrique (Enrique's grandpa), Jesse (my great grandpa), and Jesse Dee (my grandpa). The other page shows a picture of Enrique and Enriquito at the same age.

Happy Father's Day Enrique!

11 months!

2011-06-22T10:32:00.001-07:00

11 Months for Enrique Jesse!
What a big boy you are!
You can wave "hola" and bye bye.
You give us kisses- lots of kisses.
You can shake your head back and forth as if to say no.
You can clap your hands together-only sometimes.
Although you can do so many fun tricks you don't like to do them on demand. When I tell you to wave "bye bye" you bury your head in my chest and get shy. You are precious!

You are standing up all by yourself. I think it is because you don't like the grass and you don't want to be on it because whenever we are outside on the grass you stand up.

You love your daddy, as soon as he gets home from school you crawl over to his feet and cry until he picks you up!

You are into everything. You love to watch me sew and want to be a part of the action- which means I do it when you are sleeping!

You still love baths! We tried a shower the other day and you hated it! I think we will stick to baths for now.

You love to make lots of noise. You are either banging your toys together or babbling so loud I can't hear a thing!

Te queremos mucho Enriquito!

This last picture is hilarious. He missed his afternoon nap and feel asleep in his high chair. One minute he was eating and the next he was snoring!

Northside love

2011-06-12T17:40:00.000-07:00

Last week we had our annual Brown Street Block party. We look forward to it every year. We get to know all our Northside neighbors better and eat delicious food. And this year I wasn't 8 months pregnant so I was loving it. Here are the Enriques at the party. You might be thinking Enrique is loving his gray Nike basketball shirt- yeah, I was thinking that too. He had it on in the last post.

Me and my baby-note the awesome cobblestone road.

la familia

Qui Que and Jack- Northside baby buddies

Stealing Jack's chupon

Giving Jack kisses

And that's a wrap. Can't wait until next years Brown Street block party!

Memorial Day

2011-06-06T09:53:00.001-07:00

Memorial Day!
Yeah, this posting is a tad late.
We had such a fun Memorial Day! We met our friends the Abarcas and the Wards at Kent Park. It was beauitful! Qui Que-pronounced key-cay (we call him that more than Enriquito because it is shorter) loved the water and the sand! He had a blast with his little friends Jace Abarca and Cannon Ward.

Yeah, I saved this little red, white and blue outfit for this day. Kind of cheesy but so cute!

Qui Que and Jace Abarca

Jose Abarca, Matt Ward, Enriques and McKenna, Jackson and Cannon playing in the back.

He loved the sand!

Check out how full his diaper is!

We love all the parks around here. Iowa is so beautiful right now!

sewing with Mom

2011-05-30T12:57:00.000-07:00

My mom helped me (basically did everything) make a skirt while she was out visiting. We found this pattern and fabric at Home Ec. (love this store) here in Iowa City.

This is a picture of what the pattern looked like.

I made a matching bow tie for little Enrique. This picture didn't turn out so good because of the flash. We were having a huge storm and it was super dark outside which is why we had to take the picture inside.

Thanks Mom! You are the master seamstress! I hope to be able to have sewing skills like you one day!

Enrique Jesse meets Mitt Romney!

2011-05-28T09:40:00.000-07:00

We got to meet Mitt Romney in Cedar Rapids last night! What an experience! We heard about it on short notice and all headed up there. He is such a nice, personal man and was so generous to snap as many pictures as we requested!
Enrique Jesse with our future president! :)

Enrique is not in this picture. He was too busy pounding down the free hot dogs.

Notice Mitt Romney in the back ground.

My mom with Mitt Romney. She was also interviewed by a new reporter and on channel 2 and 7 representing Iowa! Good thing they didn't ask her where she was from.

Sara, me and my mom getting ready to meet Mitt.

10 months and so cute!

2011-05-22T20:14:00.000-07:00

10 MONTHS!
We snapped a few pictures before church this morning.
You might be thinking this is the same outfit as some of the other pictures but it is not. I made it this week. I just love the look of tan and white. I made him this outfit from some fabric I had around so it cost me nada :) I used the tutorial for front flat pants with pockets from Made http://www.dana-made-it.com/2008/07/tutorial-kid-pants-with-flat-front.html
and I made this vest from a pattern I bought on Etsy and just winged the bow tie.
Who says boys aren't fun to sew for?!

I love this little hat but he won't keep it on!

Grandma (Me-Me is what she has been requested to be called) is here visiting!

Abuelita

2011-05-09T09:21:00.001-07:00

Adela came to visit us last week. It was so fun having her here! She was so helpful with Enriquito, I felt like I had a full time nanny. She was so sweet with him and they became the best of buddies.

She bought him this cute little hat. We joked and said he looked little a little Cubano!

Bazaar Success!

2011-05-01T18:04:00.001-07:00

The first Bungalow Bazaar was a success!
After many months of planning and anticipation, it is finally over.
What will I do with my time now?
Saturday was the Bungalow Bazaar and it was a hit. We had so many people jammed into our little bungalow. There were times when we had lines to get through the house.
All the vendors did a great job and the feedback from our customers was very positive.
We had a lot of local support from the Northside neighborhood and it was fun to meet some of my neighbors for the first time.

We had a 70% chance of rain and guess what! Not one drop!

Sara and I in front of Sara's shop. Sara and I worked many long hours on putting this together. Thanks for your help Sara!

Lindsey, me and Sara with our pendant flags. You can't tell from this picture but we made so many flags that they were strung from my house to a tree, back to the house and then to another tree. There was no mistaken which house was the Bungalow Bazaar.

Lindsey in front of her shop- Snuggly baby. This is at the end of the day so her stuff is basically gone.

This is my shop. Sew Hip & Humble http://www.etsy.com/shop/sewhipandhumble?ref=si_shop

Sara made the cutest coin purses! http://www.etsy.com/shop/SophistoDesigns?ref=pr_shop_more

We also had handmade cards, receiving blankets, home decor and delicious treats!

And here we have some awesome baby clothes, jewelry, baby slippers, aprons, and hair bows!

We were lucky enough to have Divine Domestication join us. Check out Martha Stewart's wedding addition in September (I think) to see Amanda's bow ties! They are darling!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/DivineDomestication?ref=pr_shop_more

I wish I had taken more pictures of the other vendor's stuff! We had so many other awesome things. Birthday banners, magnet Altoids dolls, baby Hawkeye apparel, key fobs, luggage tags, darling frames and a whole lot of bows! :)

That is it until next time!

Easter Sunday

2011-04-26T15:03:00.000-07:00

Enriquito's first Easter!
Well we dyed eggs together but unfortunately we waited until it was too late and he was a little grumpy. We only got a few done before we had to put him to bed. It was fun and at least we got a few pictures!

Of course, he put the egg in his mouth!

Easter morning
Enrique and I just rounded up some of his favorite toys from around the house to put in his Easter basket. I put a bottle in there too because he loves bottles! And by the way, the candy you see in this picture is for Enrique, not the baby. :)

Me and my baby right before we left to church. Enrique was sick and didn't get to join us which is why he is not in any pictures.

Bungalow Bazaar

2011-04-24T19:34:00.000-07:00

We are so excited for the Bungalow Bazaar this Saturday.
There is really going to be some great handmade treasures.
Come stop by and check us out.
We have some great presents for your Mom (Mother's Day-it's right around the corner)
511 Ronalds St.
Iowa City
9am-4pm

Check us out on facebook, just search Bungalow Bazaar.

9 months!

2011-04-22T08:28:00.001-07:00

Enriquito you are 9 months!!
Oh we love you. You are crawling all over the house. I am learning to keep my floors cleaner because sometimes I find you with ball of dust from our floors in your mouth. Gross. You have learned how to scream and you do it just for the heck of it. You have also discovered how to make the sound OO and you sound like a little owl. You are teething right now (I think- I have been saying this for 8 months) and you are a sad. This week has been a tough one, you have wanted me to hold you all day. Sewing and holding a baby don't mix well. But I have enjoyed cradling you and singing to you. I know one day you will grow up and I won't be able to snuggle you. Your daddy and I love you so much.
Te quieremos much Enriquito!

Enriquito making his favorite oo sound.

Enrique Jesse

2011-04-11T05:32:00.000-07:00

We have not been up to much. Just doing crafts while my baby plays and entertains himself. Here are a few pictures of him. I bought him this rocking chair at a garage sale for a dollar. Love it!

Craft Corner re vamp

2011-04-02T18:01:00.001-07:00

Well, I was able to have a some what productive day cramming my projects in before, during and after conference. My craft corner has been kind of a mess. I had stuff in a shelf next to it which was just begging to have kids pull things out and eventually fall down on them. I decided it was time to get all my junk and put it up. Yes, that meant on the wall. Now instead of my junk available for all the children to play with it is now available for all the see. I bought this shelf at an estate sale this weekend for $5.00- can't beat that. Lindsey (my friend that helps me with everything) came over and helped me mount it on the wall and then I was left to do the fun part.... Do I throw this away or keep it? ....... I have had this for 7 years and never used it, should I keep it? Ok, where do I put it?
You got the idea.

Now, you might be thinking it looks a little junky but that is because I have junk on the walls. It is suppose to look that way. I could have taken few things out for the picture to make it look nicer like most of the blog world would do but I decided against it. Here it is, I am not trying to sugar coat the craft corner. It is for crafts not entertaining guests.

Speaking of crafts, here is one of my pillow I will be selling at the Bungalow Bazaar on April 30th.

And because 99% of you just look at my blog to see pictures of my baby here he is.

8 months!

2011-03-25T08:12:00.000-07:00

8 months!

Enriquito, you are so fun right now! You babble all day long, I even hear a few ma ma ma ma's in there! You are beginning to crawl, mostly army crawl but you manage to get around. You love to look at new things. When ever I cook I let you watch me because you love to see the sizzling on the stove. You are my little buddy! You love your daddy. When ever he comes home you smile so big and won't stop looking at him until he picks you up.

Te queremos mucho!

Taking off! This is one of his new faces- a scrunched up smile.

They make me do these at the gym and I hate them. I don't know why he does them on his own.

Spring Break

2011-03-21T11:33:00.000-07:00

Our Spring Break was very relaxing. Enrique still had to study a lot so we just hung around here. He studied during the day and we watched basketball at night. (Go Cougars!) On Friday we took Enriquito to an indoor pool. His first experience at a pool! He was a little overwhelmed by all the loud noises but other than that he enjoyed it.

Just arriving at the pool.

We could not get him to look at the camera! He was taking in all the noise and children running around.

Still won't look at the camera!

My friend, Angela, gave me this cute swim outfit. Thanks Angela, it looked so cute on him!

I can't wait until summer to take him to the real pool! It is going to be so fun!

Our little gentleman

2011-03-14T12:10:00.000-07:00

I made this little bow tie out of one of big Enrique's old ties. I also made him this little vest. I know, it is like the third one I have made but I love this pattern!

By the way, I got braces. You can't really see them in this picture but that is the whole point. They are invisaline braces- clear trays. I have to wear them for a year- not bad.

This is one thing he loves to do! Sit on a blanket and go through his basket of toys. He sits there and goes through each of them, taking them out one by one. I love it because he is entertained for hours.

We recieved an unexpected package in the mail about a month or so ago from Enrique's aunt Carmen. She sent us a bunch of cute clothes and this one she actually knitted! He looks so cute in it. Gracias Tia Carmen!

I love his rosy cheeks in this picture!

Crown molding in the kitchen!

2011-03-10T10:40:00.000-08:00

Well the crown molding in my kitchen is finally done! Thanks to Lindsey's skills and her endless supply of tools! Here is a quick recap of how it was done.

This is Lindsey cutting the molding. This was the trickiest part. If it had been left up to me we would have had some major problems but it wasn't, it was left up to Lindsey and she did great!

This is me using the nail gun to attach it to the wall. I know, you are wondering how my hair got so long and stringy! It is on the list of things to do- cut my hair!

In this picture Lindsey is marking how big the gap is that we need to fill in. We had to cut that part by hand.

This is how it looks before we caulked it and painted it. A lot of spaces need to be filled in with the caulk- top, bottom and sides.

This is how it looks after is has been caulked. All it needs is the paint!

And ta duh! Caulked and painted! The pictures don't really do it justice. It looks way better in person. So come over and check it out!

Uncle Sam

2011-02-22T17:35:00.000-08:00

Well, right now I am stalling. I am suppose to be doing my taxes. Yes, that is right, me... not my account...me. And yes, this is coming from the same person that up until about a year ago thought the phrase was "ride it off" not "write it off".

So, here goes nothing....

7 months

2011-02-21T20:24:00.001-08:00

7 months!
Enriquito you are as cute as a button! We love you! You are doing so many fun things. You are talking to us all the time. You are about to crawl ( I am actually not that excited about that). And you love your baby food! I accidentally introduced you to peaches and bananas and now you won't have anything to do with peas! I am trying to reverse this.
Te queremos mucho!

Gracias Uncle Jace and Aunt Jenne! Go Braves!

Happy V-day from the baby

2011-02-14T12:05:00.001-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!
This holding up a sign idea didn't work to well. As you can see, Enriquito didn't not want to hold it up at all. He wanted to eat it.

Love the look on his face!

Me and my baby!

2011-02-09T19:33:00.001-08:00

Me and my sweet baby.

And this is my sweet baby making a sweet mess.

Life is just a little more fun!

2011-02-05T17:36:00.000-08:00

Well, life is getting a little more exciting for Enriquito. He has friends come over to play with him and he can sit up all by himself! He is really good at sitting up except for every once in a while I will her a thud and look over and his little face will be planted on our wood floors. Poor guy. I put a blanket down but it doesn't really help. It is actually kind of funny to watch. He doesn't know how to stop himself so it's just head first onto the floor. This is a picture of him playing with his friend, Millie.

Big happy smile for the camera!

He loves textures. When ever he feels a unique surface he scratches at it (including my face!).

And to make life just a little more fun he loves his baby food! He gets so excited when he sees me take it out. He makes this squeaky noise. It is so cute.

Hip and Humble

2011-02-02T18:42:00.001-08:00

I finally opened an etsy shop. Here is the link

http://www.etsy.com/shop/sewhipandhumble

Some friends and I are going to have a Bungalow Bizarre April 30th. We are going to sell our handmade items. It will be the Iowa City mini version of the Bijou Market (emphasize mini)
http://www.bijoumarket.com/
Why are we calling it the Bungalow Bizarre? Because it will be at my house and I live in a bungalow. Bizarre, because it will be a collection of things. Hence, Bungalow Bizarre.
I will be selling pillows and slippers. I can't wait to show you the other fun things people will be selling. Fun, fun, fun!

Kitchen revamp

2011-01-28T13:46:00.000-08:00

I decided it was time to paint my kitchen. I love the all white look but thought it would be nice to have a little definition between the cupboards and the walls. We also have cool old trim around our doors that was kind of hidden with the white on white look. I was also inspired when I went and visited my super cute cousin. She is an interior decorator and has great taste. Her house had a nice light gray paint with white trim. http://6thstreetdesignschool.blogspot.com/
I wanted a similar look. The color it turned out isn't exactly what I imagined but I like it. Now my next step is to do crown molding. Lindsey.... hint, hint....my friend of many tricks...

This is a before picture

Before

After

After. I love how you can see the molding around the door now!

Ok... now is imagine a marble counter top and a pendant lamp hanging down!

6 months!

2011-01-23T18:37:00.001-08:00

Our little lamb turned 6 months old this week! He is getting so big. He is babbling on and on. He loves people. He is getting so strong. When we put him on the floor he pushes his bum up in the air and he wants to take off crawling! (I still need to baby proof the house!)

He spends a lot of his time in his johnny jump up, especially when I am cooking or sewing. (So A LOT of time :)

We took this picture this morning right before church. Although you can't tell by this picture, they have matching ties!

Me and my little baby!

Christmas!

2011-01-17T07:43:00.001-08:00

Christmas! A little late but nevertheless here it is. This was our annual gingerbread house. This year wasn't my best but at least it got done.Christmas Eve. Any ideas as to what is in those boxes?

Christmas jammies! I made the boys matching jammies for Christmas except Enrique didn't get a big E on his shirt. I don't think he cared. :)

Enriquito with his presents on Christmas morning.

Enriquito with his Aunt Demy in Provo.

Enriquito with his great grandma (we call her GG) and her sister, Aunt Helen.

Enriquito with his Grammy Camille.

The baby and his fan club. They all wanted to help bathe him.

My sister in law and I made truffles the night before I left. They were delicious!

A picture with Aunt Demy right before we leave to Iowa. This is our back yard. Good bye Provo!

5 Months

2010-12-22T12:27:00.000-08:00

5 Months! Old enough to want to hold the sign himself.

Baby update:

is still fascinated by his hands

love to touch different textures, especially rough surfaces

loves people!

always wants to know what is going on around him

so snugly!

can't crawl but moves across the floor by rolling and rolling and rolling

had first hair cut! (mom is sad.)

Enrique finally talked me into letting him cut my baby's hair. Look at his sweet face in this one! Enrique loves the new cut but I miss him old long hair!

Bundling up to take the neighbors some Christmas goodies.

The baby (yes, we call him that sometimes) has been spoiled by his daddy since he has been out of school. Enrique can't stand to hear him cry at night. This picture was taken at about 11:30 am. The baby should have been sleeping but is milking his daddy's attention.

But it's my birthday...

2010-12-13T10:59:00.000-08:00

Well, I think Enrique is a little relieved my birthday is over. By the end of the day I think he was tired of hearing me say, "But it's my birthday..." I milked that for all it was worth. :)

We went out to Atlas downtown Iowa City (Join the Club | Atlas Restaurant Iowa City) for my birthday. If you click on the link above and join their mailing list they will send you coupon to use the month of your birthday and you get a free entree! So I definitely took advantage of that and ordered myself a free $30 steak.

You will notice that we are in restaurant in this picture. I wish I had taken picture of us at the end of our dinner because it would be a picture of us eating dinner in our house. After we ordered we realized bringing a baby to dinner wasn't the best idea. He got a little squirmy and we were afraid (actually Enrique was afraid) he would start to scream so we got our food to go.

I have to say the highlight of my birthday was going to my friend, Lindsey son's birthday party. We have the same birthday so I kind of felt like it was a party for me too :) Lindsey threw him a cowboy birthday party. Here is a picture of us and the Clydesdale horse. So cool!

Check out the awesome cake in the back ground!

Birthday Dinner

This is little Enrique's happy birthday face.

Back in Utah

2010-12-04T20:00:00.001-08:00

We had so much fun over Thanksgiving. Little Enrique and I were able to go back to Utah and visit out family. He loved it. He has a huge fan club there. He is still trying to figure out what happened to them and why people don't want to hold him all day everyday.

Enriquito with his grandma Camille also known as Grammy or "Me-Me"

Enjoying the fan club

Enriquito with his abuelita Adela

Enriquito with his grandpa Jon. They are watching the BYU vs. Utah game.

This is the first time Sally and Lisa have seen the baby. As you can tell, he was happy to see them!

My high-school friends and I got together and threw a surprise baby shower for Chantel. She is expecting a girl!

Little Enrique is meeting his cousin Jett!

There was a fight over who got to feed the baby. Jace won.

Love this picture.

Little Enrique is playing with his friend Hayes in this picture and having a great time!

2 YEARS AND 4 MONTHS!

2010-11-22T18:27:00.001-08:00

Happy 2 year anniversary to us!

I love you Enrique! The day I married you was the happiest day of my life!

Exactly two years later. Little Enrique turned four months on our two year anniversary. He is a little treasure, here are a few of my favorite recent pictures.

This is him helping me make the annual gingerbread house. Don't worry, more pictures to come....

Enrique was making him laugh so hard. It was so cute.

Halloween Iowa Style

2010-10-31T12:49:00.000-07:00

About a month ago Enrique and I were on a drive and I asked him what we should be for Halloween. He looked around and said, 'Corn and we can be farmers!' Considering we were surrounded by corn fields it is no wonder he thought of corn! So here is our baby boy as an ear of corn.

Halloween church party

Enriquito and Jack the tree frog.

Happy Halloween!

3 months

2010-10-21T18:44:00.000-07:00

Little Enrique is 3 months old today! He is the happiest baby! He is such a joy in our lives.

Right now in his 3 months of life, he is enjoying his fists. He sticks them out right in front of him and stares at them. I can tell by the look on his face he is thinking, ' How can I get that inside my mouth?' He hasn't quite figured out he controls those fists. But sooner or later they find way into his mouth and he loves it. He loves to suck on his hand. He even tries to stick them in his mouth while I am nursing him. And why not? Why not have the two things he loves in his mouth at the same time?

Te queremos mucho Enriquito!

Twins :)

2010-10-11T10:54:00.001-07:00

My mom made me this skirt last year and mailed me the left over fabric. I decided to make a little vest for Enriquito to wear so we could match. What could be more fun than matching with my baby at church? You can tell by this picture he thinks it is great fun too.

I took this picture myself (obviously) while Enrique was scurrying around trying to get ready.

And here we are again. I will have to think of some more fun ways to match my baby.

Enrique's contribution to the nursery

2010-10-10T11:38:00.000-07:00

When we moved into our house, there was a second bedroom but the bedroom had no door. Which I guess means maybe it wasn't suppose to be a bedroom. Who knows, it's an old house and old houses are kind of funky. The family who lived here before us just hung up a curtain but I didn't love that idea. Anyway, this summer I finally talked Enrique into making a door for the nursery. I think being 8 months pregnant and telling him if he didn't do it then I would might have had something to do with it.

Enrique building the door.

Da duh! The door from the outside view.

We thought it would be cool to do a barn door look. This is the view from the inside of the nursery. Enrique put the door on a rolling track so it slides back and forth.

Thanks for making the door Enrique! You did a great job!

Autumn in Iowa City

2010-10-09T18:39:00.000-07:00

Happy Fall time in Iowa City! Our friends, Matt and Sara and baby Cannon and us decided to take advantage of the beautiful fall leaves and take some pictures. Here are a few of our favorites.

He feel asleep at the end. All tuckered out.

Our friends, the Wards.

Thanks for taking pictures of us, they turned out great!

Blast off!

2010-10-01T12:57:00.000-07:00

Little Enrique's new thing is sticking his arm straight out with a clenched fist. He holds it like that all day! Kind of weird. Enrique (big) is just glad he is doing it with his left arm instead of his right. He is hoping for a left handed batter. Anyway I thought his new blast off arm would look great with his rocket p.js

Here he is again in action.

Photo shoot

2010-09-18T13:06:00.000-07:00

My friend, Katie took these pictures a few weeks ago for me. We had a lot fun dressing up the baby and putting him in awkward photo positions. Enrique walked in on us in the middle of our little photo shoot and suggested we put clothes on the baby and do something a little more masculine. We, on the other hand, had other plans.

I love his lips!

Thanks for taking these for me Katie!

Enriquito's baby blessing

2010-09-06T19:13:00.000-07:00

Updated family picture :)

Enriquito in his blessing outfit. My mom sent the cute little outfit he is wearing and Enrique's grandma knitted the blanket he is laying on and the bootie's he is wearing.

Adela, Enrique's mom, was able to fly in for the blessing. We are enjoying having her!

Our sweet little baby.

My boys.

My dad and sister, Candace, were able to come for the blessing too. It was fun having them. Thanks for coming guys!

Enriquito and his grandpa Jon.

Hawkeye Tailgate

2010-09-06T19:05:00.000-07:00

My Dad came in town for Enriquito's baby blessing which happened to be the same weekend as the first football game of the season. Unfortunately we didn't actually go the game but we did walk down to participate in the tailgate festivities. (Note my dad enjoying a hawkeye brat)

Poor Enriqutio had no idea what was going on. All he knew was that his little face was smashed against my chest and he had no choice but to sleep.

Firsts

2010-08-29T16:43:00.001-07:00

Well we are all about "firsts" these days. There are going to be a lot of them.

Here's a few......

Enrique's first day of his second year of dental school.

Enriquito's first Sunday at church with Mom.

(This is not the church, we were just leaving.)

First Sunday- picture with Dad.

First family picture! We took this with the photo booth option on our computer.

That is why it looks a little awkward.

baila!

2010-08-20T18:38:00.000-07:00

You might think according to this post title that we have been out dancing. That is not the case. You will see why that is the title when you scroll down to the bottom. Here are a few pictures of what we have been doing.

This is a picture of our first family vacation. We went to Galena Illinois. It is a cute little old town. It kind of reminded us of Park City.

Enrique took this picture and he was very proud that he got Enriquito to look at the camera.

Our baby loves....

2010-08-14T12:37:00.000-07:00

Enriquito loves his swing. He will sleep in this until we wake him up!

He loves his baths! Enrique loves to give Enriquito a bath and thinks it should be done daily so I let him do it.

I am not sure who enjoys bath time more, Enrique or Enriquito?

Our baby also loves...

the Hawkeyes and is excited to watch some football games with his Daddy this year.

2010-08-04T10:54:00.000-07:00

What an eventful first couple of weeks! Enrique was born Wednesday morning and we were sent home from the hospital Friday afternoon. Sunday, I got starting getting really sick. I got the chills and a really high fever. Enrique took me back to the hospital and they re admitted me. We thought we would only be there over night but I ended up staying an entire week! They found bacteria in my blood, urine, kidney and they think uterus. They had me hooked up to an IV at all times to pump me full antibiotics. Unfortunately that didn't solve the problem. I continued to get really high fevers and chills which really really sucked. So they decided that I probably had something else. They then decided I had a blood clot in my ovarian vein. So I am on a blood thinner. Enrique has to give me a shot every night. I hate it. I think about it all day long and dread it.

Anyway, I am feeling a ton better and glad to be home with my baby!

My mom giving Enriquito a bath. She was a ton of help. We are so glad she was here to help us!

I love this picture!

One of the best pizza places in town. This was Grammy's last night with us.

Enrique thinks Enriquito likes to sit like this. I am not so sure...

Goodbye Grammy! We will miss you!

Welcome Enrique Jesse!

2010-07-23T18:23:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a long few days. Our little angel has finally arrived. He is beautiful and healthy. We are so excited to have him as part of our family. He has only been with us a couple of days and already I can't think of our lives without him.

He was born July 21st at 2:21 am.
Weighed 7.95 lbs
20 inches long

Today is the day- or maybe tomorrow or the next...

2010-07-19T07:10:00.001-07:00

So, I am officially I week over due which I think is totally unfair. I have served my time and it is now time to get the baby out. I am going to the hospital tonight at 8:00 pm for them to begin inducing me. Apparently since my body is not ready ( I don't know why, it has had plenty of time to get ready!) it may take a couple of days. Anyway, I should have the baby by Tuesday night or Wednesday sometime. I will post pictures as soon as I can! We can't wait to meet this little guy!

40 Weeks!

2010-07-13T08:07:00.000-07:00

No, that is not a big red balloon. That is just my huge belly.

Ok, little Enrique, today is suppose to be your birthday. Please come out and play! I promise you will like it out here. Just come out..... Please!

Last night I spaghetti and lemon poppy seed muffins for dinner. A couple of friends told me it can put you into labor. I woke up last night with a contraction but it didn't last long and there were no more the rest of the night. Ok, getting really discouraged. I know 3 girls that were due after me and they have already had their babies. Seriously, it is time.

Come out.

Craft post

2010-07-07T13:57:00.000-07:00

So, Enrique once told me I was turning our family blog into a craft blog. Anyway, I decided to separate the two of them. I just finished the window treatments for the babies room. If you want to see them click here Cupcakes and Curtains

School is out!

2010-07-03T10:55:00.000-07:00

School is finally out! It is so nice to have Enrique around. Last weekend we went to Des Moines. We went to a botanical garden center. It was beautiful but very hot. Enrique was dying! As soon as we walked in there, he wanted to walk back out. But he was a good sport.

Last night we went to the lake just to sit by the water and chill. It was very relaxing and fun. That is my huge belly and fat swollen feet.

Right now you are looking at the best dollar ever spent. I purchased that chair at a garage sale for $1.00. I got one for Enrique too but his doesn't have a foot rest and head rest like mine. Anyway, that is me in my huge obese pregnant glory.

Enrique chillin in his $1.00 garage sale chair.

So, I have really wanted to build this door to put on the baby's room. Right now the nursery is doorless. I had planned on doing it myself but the closer I get to my due date the less amount of energy I have. Anyway, Enrique said he would do it for me when he was done with school. He really really did not want to do it though. He tried many times to talk me out of it and try to convince me it would not work. He tried to tell me a curtain would be just as sufficient. Then, a blessing came. My friend asked me to watch her little boy for the morning. When it came to his nap time the poor little guy just cried and cried. Probably because he was put in the the crib in a nursery without a door. He kept poking his little head over the crib and watching us walk by or hearing all the noise that was going on. That afternoon Enrique went to Lowes and began working on the door. hee hee :)

We are going to mount it on a track and it is going to slide back and forth. I will post more pictures when it is finished.

Uh... mini tornado?

2010-06-19T10:55:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I don't know what happened yesterday, all I know was I was in my house and trees started falling from the sky. I heard crack, splat and boom and I looked out the window and trees and huge branches were falling down on houses and cars! I could hear branches blowing against our house. With in a few minutes this is some of the damage that was done. All of these pictures were taken from houses on our block. This picture below is in our back yard. That truck got badly dented and the red car too.

Do you see that big branch in the back? When I looked out our front door I saw that branch fall about 1 foot in front of our car. I freaked out, our bran new car! I stupidly I ran outside with tornado like winds and branches falling every where and moved my car into the garage. At least our car was safe.

This is a picture of a house just right around the corner from us.

This house is so sad. It is a beautiful home and a huge tree fell right through the roof. You can't really see the damage to the house from this picture but you can see how big the tree is. Can you believe a wind did that?!

While all of this was going on Enrique was at school. I called him freaking out. I told him about the trees falling from the sky and our power was out so I wasn't able to see the news and I had no idea what was going on. My super energetic husband responded with, "Huh.." And if you know Enrique, you know that is a typical response. Nothing excites him, not even his pregnant wife being trapped in a storm. I found out later he thought I was exaggerating (I never exaggerate!) because nothing really happened at the school.

Baby bassinet!

2010-06-12T18:18:00.001-07:00

I bought this bassinet at a garage sale in Chicago.

Cost $12.00

Bargain!

I semi-sanded it down. I hate sanding.

I had to make a new mattress out of some foam from Hobby Lobby because the one it came with was just nasty.

I was running low on funds, so I bought a cream sheet from a garage sale for $1.00 and with that I made the fitted sheet and bed skirt.

Now, if the baby comes early, at least we have some where to put him while I am finishing the nursery!

Hurray for Mexico!

2010-06-04T08:22:00.001-07:00

So, I think Enrique was beginning to feel left out on our blog. When ever he would look at our blog he would comment there was nothing about him. I told him that was because he does the same boring thing day in and day out. Go to school and study. Am I suppose to take pictures of that? Anyway, he did how ever have an exciting day yesterday. He watched the Mexico vs. Italy game and Mexico won 2-1. This win is huge for Mexico because they beat Italy (defending World Cup champions) and the World Cup is coming up. Enrique is about excited for that as he is for the baby coming.

Update on me: still very big and very pregnant.

2010-06-01T06:48:00.000-07:00

Wow, what an eventful past couple of weeks. I flew into Utah for my brother Jace's wedding. I was there for about 2 weeks. While I was there I had two baby showers. One was thrown by my aunt and cousin. They did such a cute job. I wish I had taken more pictures to show all the details. My cousin, Kirsten is a great blogger/photographer and she took some cute pictures. You can check them out here Snippets of Life. Thank you Aunt Sue and Kirsten for throwing such a cute shower!

So, I was unprepared and didn't charge my camera before my brother's wedding. I know, what was I thinking? Maybe I was thinking, ' pictures have not been looking so good of me lately so I am in no rush to charge my camera to have more bad pictures of me. ' kidding, that would be very vain of me. Anyway, I was able to get a couple before my camera died.

Proud mother of the groom!

My girlfriends threw me such a cute baby shower. My friend Lindsay made this sign which is now proudly hanging in my nursery.

Lindsay (as you can tell is super crafty) made me this diaper cake too. She also made all those cute little onesies hanging on the wall. All of the guests wrote down their advice on the back. The picture on the right is of the girls making their estaminets of how big around they thought I was. This was not my favorite game! :)

This is me trying to suck in to prove everyone wrong! You should have seen how long some of those toilet papers were!

So, we totally forgot to take a picture of everyone before people started leaving. Bummer! We remembered right at the end with just a few of us left. Thanks girls for such a cute shower!

I was also able to go to my sister's Demarie's graduation. See those yellow ropes she is wearing? I didn't get to wear those. You have to earn them. Maybe if I had known working harder in high school would result in my graduation outfit looking cuter, I would have worked a little harder. Demarie will be going to BYU next year, the first of us siblings. Good work Demarie!

Poop proofing the crib

2010-05-14T19:39:00.000-07:00

So, I got done painting my crib about a week ago. I love it. I love the color and I it turned out just how I wanted it to. The paint I used had a matte finish and I actually really liked it and was going to leave it like that. Then a couple of days ago I got a call from my good friend Candice. She told me when she went in to get her daughter in the morning, her daughter had taken her diaper off and spread poop all over. Gross. I mentioned that to my mom and she said that was pretty normal. I of course never did anything that gross but my younger sisters did. Anyway, I decided I needed to poop proof the crib. Today I put a gloss on the crib. Now my baby can wipe poop all over the crib and it will come right off!

Spring is here!

2010-05-09T20:05:00.001-07:00

So, I need to be better about updating our blog so I don't just pile on a bunch of random pictures but that is pretty much what this is. I will get better though. This picture below is of me and my Aunt Celesta. She and my Uncle Randy drove up from Topeka Kansas to visit and bring us the cutest baby gift. This is a picture of the quilt they had made for us and I am holding one of the vintage baby giraffes they brought. They are from around the 50's and are so cute. We had a good time while they were here. I would post more pictures but this is the only one I look semi decent in.

I couldn't wait to plant flowers this Spring! I love putting together my hanging baskets so I did that first and then planted some red and white flowers in front. My budget says I am done but my mind keeps thinking of so many other things to plant!

Mother's Day for me! So Enrique is busy with finals and didn't have time to make me dinner. So instead of feeling sorry for myself, I asked him what he would make for me if he could make anything. This was surprisingly kind of a hard question for him to answer. I had to reassure him he would not be obligated to make me this dinner, it was only a question. He finally came up with salmon. If he could make me anything it would be salmon. I told him that is what I would make for Mother's Day dinner then. Since he can't make it, I will, but it was his idea. He also said he would make me banana pudding for dessert. I think by then he had caught on and this is what he secretly desired for dessert. But that's ok, I like banana pudding too. This is a picture of our meal. Enrique bought me those flowers you see on the table. When I woke up this morning he had those with a card on the table. :)

After church today I spent my time working on the baby quilt. Unfortunately, I don't know if it's because I have been staring at it for 6 hours or if it's just ugly but I don't really like it. Oh well, it is done. Well kind of, I still need to quilt over it. Anyway, here is what is what it is going to look like (kind of).

Up close of the fabrics.

We are still here

2010-04-21T05:54:00.001-07:00

So, here I am 28 weeks! Happy 3rd trimester!! I am ready to have this baby out and I still have 12 weeks to go! You might wonder why I am taking this picture myself and why my husband is not around to take a picture for me. Well this is what Enrique does...

He studies. This is his little "office" we set up for him in the basement/dungeon. See that chair? He loves it. He keeps trying to sneak it upstairs to put in our family room. It is hideous, I keep telling him it doesn't match- he doesn't care. It makes our house look like a collage dorm. He doesn't care. At least for right now it is still in the basement where it belongs.

My husband does crafts! See that set of dentures on the desk? He made those for school. He came home yesterday and told me he was going to do his own crafts. I have to admit, his crafts look more complicated then mine.

Yeah, he wins.

pregnancy pictures

2010-03-21T19:01:00.000-07:00

16 weeks

18 weeks

20 weeks

at our ultra sound appointment

22 weeks

Here we go the moment we have all been waiting for. Fat pictures of Angela. As many of you know I spent most of my life fat, so gaining weight (although it's pregnancy weight) and posting pictures of this weight gain is not my idea of fun. Anyway, here they are. I am actually going to be 24 weeks on Tuesday but this is my most recent picture.

WE ARE HAVING A BOY!!!

2010-02-23T06:13:00.000-08:00

Enrique and I went in for our ultrasound on Friday. I was lucky to have him with me. He hasn't been able to make any appointments because he always has class. We scheduled this one for 7:30 am so he could make it. Anyway, after the technician spending a lot of time pointing how the features that to me looked like frog features, she told us it was a boy!

Needless to say, I was shocked. I think we all know I was expecting a girl. I don't know why, I was just convinced it was a girl. Enrique, on the other hand, has always known it was a boy. Now, whether he knew it was a boy because of his fatherly instincts or just because he really wanted a boy, we do not know. I suggest it was because he really wanted a boy, but either way, he was right and he is so excited.

I am very excited too. It took me a couple of days to get used to the idea. Not because I do not want a boy, it's just that I wasn't prepared for a boy. I need to re plan my nursery and start thinking blue, green and brown clothes instead of pink, pink and pink. It looks like my mom won't be starting the beautiful smocked baby blessing dress for a few more years.

I am down in San Antonio working for a few weeks. I am on the lookout for little baby boy cowboy boots and a guayabera (that might not be spelled correctly). A guayabera is a very traditional Mexican shirt. I am sure you would recognize it if you saw it. It what all the Latino guys wear when they go dancing or just get dressed up. Enrique has one and he looks so handsome in it!

Anyway, we are so excited for our little Enrique to join our family!

My first labor cramp

2010-02-12T06:30:00.000-08:00

Well, I went into labor last night- in my leg! I felt like I was having a baby out of my calf! It was horrible. I screamed for what felt like forever. Enrique finally had to massage it out and tell me to flex my foot upward. I couldn't go back to sleep, I was scared of getting attacked again. I laid in bed thinking how on earth am I ever going to get through labor when I thought I was going to die from a cramp in my leg?!

Diaper Bag!

2010-01-26T14:30:00.001-08:00

Wish list:

1. This diaper bag!

babys room

2010-01-26T06:56:00.000-08:00

So, I know we don't even know what we are having yet but I can't help but think non stop about the nursery! It has got to be the cutest perfect little nursery and not cost a lot (hardly anything actually). Is that possible? I am trying to find looks that I like but don't look to expensive. Anyway, here are some cute pictures I have found off designdazzle.blogspot.com

I have seen this Jenny Lind crib a lot and every time I see it, it speaks to me! I love it yellow too! I also love the wall color in these pictures. Enrique keeps telling me we should leave the walls white but I just sweetly remind him his job is study and mine is to decorate. :)

We are expecting!!

2010-01-13T06:32:00.000-08:00

These are the pregnancy tests I took. I took two just to make sure.

We waited until Christmas morning to tell our parents. Well, Enrique's mom, Adela found out a little sooner but she did a good job of keeping a secret. I made our moms aprons and hand stitched "grandma" and "abuelita" on them.

My Dad didn't get an apron but nonetheless he is a proud grandpa in waiting.

My mom modeling her apron.

Christmas at the Darancou's!

2009-12-08T07:51:00.000-08:00

Christmas in Iowa City! I have always been a big fan of Christmas lights. I love them. But I knew if I didn't put them up this year, they would not get done. Enrique doesn't have time for that kind of stuff. Anyway, I put them up myself. You might not be able to tell from the picture but I think they turned out so cute!

Persuading Enrique to leave his studying for a couple of hours so we could go pick out our Christmas tree was ... well part of being a wife of a dental student. :) I tried to be quick about it. The first tree we saw, I said it was great and we bound it up and threw it in the back of our miraculously still running rodeo. When we got home we tried to show the trunk of the tree into the tree stand- it wasn't going to happen. No, problem, I will just drive right back to Lowes (even though we had just come from there) and get a new one. When I got back from Lowes we discovered the branches on the bottom of the tree needed to be trimmed before it would fit into the stand. Realizing we didn't own a saw, we used steak knifes to saw the branches off. Enrique wasn't to happy by this time. His allotment of Christmas tree time was way past due and he wanted to get back to studying. But he was a good sport and it was worth it because now our tree looks like this!

Finished Christmas tree!

Well, I come from a long line of passionate bakers. My grandma and her sister grew up in the depression and learned to make something out of nothing. These two women mastered the art of Gingerbread houses 50 plus years ago. Every year at Christmas time my mom, as a young girl, would watch and learn the trade of gingerbread houses. As a little girl, I followed suit, I took my turn in learning the cherished family tradition.

As much as we love the finished gingerbread house, the process of making one doesn't always go so smooth. No matter how "small" we say we are going to make the house, it always ends up that the kitchen, house and family are neglected for about a week. Although, every year my mom would curse and swear this year is the last year she would ever make a gingerbread house, we were always able to talk her into making one next year. In fact, even though we are all grown up, she is still making them today. And she told me this year is the last year she will make one. We will see........

To me, the smell of gingerbread is the smell of Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

Happy 1st Anniversary to us!

2009-11-22T17:31:00.001-08:00

I woke Enrique up on our anniversary to a scrumptious breakfast! I made eggs benedict, roasted potatoes, and orange slices. He bought me that orchard you see in the back. Also, I don't know if you notice the name tag holders, they are bells. We had them at our wedding luncheon. I kept them so now we can use them every anniversary. (When the bell rings we are suppose to kiss.) Enrique got a little annoyed with that while he was trying to eat his breakfast.

Enrique looks a little weird in this picture. He was a good sport about taking a picture first thing in the morning.

We went to this really cool steak house for dinner that night. The building is over a hundred years old (or something). It is an old mill then turned to power building and then in the 70's is was turned into a restaurant. It is right on the river by the dam. Where we sat we could see the water rushing by. It was really cool.

craft blog

2009-10-27T07:44:00.001-07:00

Enrique thinks it funny that I post all my craft ideas on the "Enrique and Angela" blog so I started a craft blog. It just has some of my craft ideas. If you want to check it out it is:

cupcakesandcurtains.blogspot.com

Arm chair reupholstered

2009-10-10T19:24:00.000-07:00

Umm... when I typed in reupholstered I was sure that spell check would tell me it was wrong but it didn't. I love when I unexpectedly spell a word right. That doesn't happen very often.

I wish I had a true before picture. I didn't take a picture of the chair before I painted it red. So you will just have to use your imagination. When I first got these chairs they were brown wood and the fabric was cream swirly-ish. I painted these chairs like 3 different colors. First I painted them purple, them royal blue (yuk) and then finally red which I like. Then I attempted to reupholster them. This is the first thing I have ever reupholstered so it was definitely a learning experience. I used a mustard yellow velvety fabric and then finished it off with a blue trim. I attached the blue trim with fabric glue. I had never used fabric glue before and was actually quite pleased with how well it worked. I will be using it again.

Anyway, here are my chairs. I say chairs because there are two of them I just took a picture of one of them.

Ta duh!

Happy 30th Birthday Enrique!

2009-10-05T19:57:00.000-07:00

Enrique turned 30 today. I would have loved to invite some of our friends over to celebrate his birthday but he told me he had to much studying to do! He is such a hard worker. If it were me, I would have looked for anyway to get out of studying. This is why is he is the one in dental school.

For dinner I made flautas and rice and beans. For dessert I made New York cheesecake. I have to say, I don't even like cheesecake and this was amazing. We both ate way to much! Don't worry, I made it with half the fat of regular cheesecake. You might be wondering how I was able to pull that off and still have it taste amazing. Well, I just cut the recipe in half. I only made half the portion, therefore, half the fat. Right?

Vanity!

2009-09-23T10:44:00.001-07:00

I got this desk at the Goodwill. It was nasty. I had to vacuum tons of spider webs and spider egg sacs off it. After detoxing the thing, I painted it. I had to give it like 6 coats. After the first three coats, it looked horrible. But after a few more it shinned up real nice. I found the perfect little chair for it at a second hand store. I recovered the fabric on it with scraps from the quilt in my room. I love it!

Cost for desk: $26.00

Cost for paint: $8.00

Cost for chair:$10.00

total cost: $44.00

And who said I can't budget!

2009-09-18T06:26:00.000-07:00

Enrique and I rode our bikes down to the stadium for the first football game of the year. It was nuts. The whole town was there! It was the biggest tailgate party I have ever seen. Food everywhere. Hot dogs, beer, polish dogs, beer, hamburgers, nachos and beer all right under our nose at 10 o'clock in the morning! Enrique took advantage of the hamburgers and had one for breakfast. I passed, I was still full from by bowl of wheat chex.

Enrique outside Kinnick Stadium.

So, see that American flag? Well, now it's gone. That night one of the crazy undergrades must have thought it would be funny to take it. When I told my mom what happened she told me I wasn't suppose to have have flags out past dusk anyway. huh.... Well I do remember at girls camp we would always take the flag down at dusk but I guess I didn't put two and two together that when I have my own house I was suppose to do the same thing. So I guess it's my fault. That is to bad because I thought it looked pretty cute.

New curtains

2009-09-17T19:39:00.000-07:00

I just made this curtains for our bathroom. They are kind of struggling. Any advice is appreciated.

Update on the curtains: I redid them. Check out my craft blog to see the refinished project.

www.cupcakesandcurtains.blogspot.com

Breakfast bar complete!

2009-09-03T15:07:00.000-07:00

This is what it looked like before the bar

This is what it looks like with the bar

So we have these really sweet bar stools. They are old horse saddles (from my friend, Candice Munk's grandpa) attached to bar stools. The only problem was our new home didn't have a bar. These barstools are just to great to go in the basement for 4 years so I built a bar. Da duh!

Now our (what Enrique likes to call) "fun room" is complete. We painted it white and added a bar.

Our little bungalow

2009-08-27T07:55:00.000-07:00

I bought the old stain-glass window at an antique store in Salt Lake City but it came from England. Enrique hung it in our window and it looks great!

Kitchen

One view of the family room.

This is the entrance to our house.

All the door knobs are antique. I love them.

Kitchen/Dinning room- eating area. I don't know what you would call this room but we eat here.

Our bedroom

My favorite part about our bathroom is the old antique crawl foot bathtub.

The is a picture of the room we painted. This is the "after" shot. I couldn't figure out how to post the before shots before the after shots.

This is after

After:

Before:

So, we are still trying to get our house organized. And we are doing pretty good, everything is looking put together except for the one room chucked full of boxes. It is the room that I have been stashing all the boxes I don't know where to unload yet. Other than that, things are coming along fine. We love Iowa City. I have never walked so much in my life. We live walking distance from just about everything so instead of driving our not so eco-friendly, very loud sounding and about to die rodeo, we walk everywhere. Enrique says we are going green. Not necessarily because we are good earth loving people but because we are conserving the last few miles we have with Pepe (our rodeo).

I am posting some pictures of the house. The only change we have made is we painted a dark wood paneled room white. My mom said it was a shame to paint over history like that. The wood paneling was very old. I would normally agree about painted over history but the "history" had a cabin feel and it was to dark. Now instead of a cabin feel, the room feels like a white paneled beach room. I love it.

Darancou update:

2009-08-21T14:58:00.000-07:00

Enrique wake boarding

Girlfriends from highschool

We gave Abby a bath after getting chastised for her bad hygine from the vet.

We rode the ski lifts at Sundance this summer. It was my first time, I felt like a tourist in my home town!

Enrique, my mom, me and Adela went for a hike in Brighton. We hiked to twin lake. It was beauitful!

Tradition is to eat the top of your wedding cake on your one year anniversary. We cheated and ate it on our 8 1/2 month anniversary instead. We didn't think the cake would hold up on the 20 hour drive to Iowa.

It still tasted wonderful!

My mom, me and Enrique (and everything else we own) packed into the Uhaul ready for our 20 something hour drive!

Home sweet home! We made it!

My mom and I visited the Amish community that is just 20 minutes south of us. We thought it appropriate to put on their hats so we could blend in. :)

Enrique and his proud wife on his offical first day!

Pictures of Iowa

2009-06-24T09:18:00.000-07:00

Nauvoo temple

University of Iowa campus

This is the river that runs through town. This river flooded the whole city last year!

My husband is eating my points

2009-06-24T08:58:00.001-07:00

My friend, Candice, has convinced me to join Weight Watchers. So I did. While I am easly persueded into any diet (or "life style change") I also thought it would be a good idea to monitor my eating habits and hopefully lose a few pounds.

Weight Watchers is what they call a food budget. All food has a point value and you are allowed to eat a certain amount of points each day. I love my points. I value all of my points and at the end of the day, no points go are ever disgarded.

Since I love my treats after dinner, I bought popsicles and ice cream treats that have a low point value, 1 or 2 points. I came home the other night and Enrique was eating my last strawberry cream 1 point popsicle. As I tried to remove my "point" from his gripping fist, he continued to eat it.

Then last night as I was devouring my 2 point tiny portion of low fat ice cream, he wants a bite. I tried to explain to him those are my points and he has plenty of fattening ice cream in the freezer. He still wanted a bite. I am a bad wife for not sharing my points with my husband?

Our first casita!

2009-06-15T21:26:00.000-07:00

Well, after alot of stress and worry and thinking we weren't going to be able to get the house, we got it! We are so excited. Our offer was accepted and we are appoved for the loan. We will close mid August. We can't waite to move in and make it our home.

(I posted a picture of the house down below.)

Come visit us anytime!

First week in IOWA

2009-06-01T19:41:00.000-07:00

Day 1-
We went to our first Sunday of church. We enjoyed it very much and look forward to spending more time here. Although we did make it clear it was our first Sunday. After Sacrament meeting we got up and starting heading off to Sunday school. We realized in the midst of walking out that we were the only ones walking to the next class. The rest of the congregation was reverently waiting their turn to quietly dismiss themselves.

Day 2-
While Enrique enjoyed his first day of school, I began house hunting. After a long day of looking at many homes, I needed a quick pick me up. So I headed to our only McDonalds in town for a chocolate chip cookie (which I highly recommend) and a diet coke. Not only did the girl at the drive through not understand what I was trying to order after repeating it many times loud and clear, but she proceeded to tell me they did not carry that food item at that location. ...... And that might be a problem.

Day 3-
Enrique heads off to school in his cute new blue scrub outfit. Meanwhile, while I am at home, I find a dead baby bunny rabbit under our car. My first reaction was to rescue it and try to bring it back to life. A few hours later, I become more concerned with that fact that that poor cute dead baby rabbit will start to attract maggots. And that is not so cute. I will have have to recruit Enrique to scrap the little corps out from underneath the car and dispose of it.
We received good news tonight. Adela (Enrique's mom) is engaged! We are so excited for her and Bob! Congrats!

Day 4-
I am sick.
I think I have a cold.
Or I am allergic to Iowa, or maybe just the drafty basement.
Enrique wants me to add that the little baby bunny rabbit framed him. Enrique says he did not run it over. He claims it crawled under our car to die and to frame him.

The good news is, we we have found the perfect house! We hope everything works out so we can buy it!

Day 5-
Well we submitted an offer on the house. I guess we will see what happens.
I went to the "mall" today. Lets just say we should not call it a mall. Infact, I don't think we should call it anything. I don't want to go back there, kind of creepy. The only store I could find with clothes in it for girls my age was a plus size store. Which reminds me, I am noticing alot of larger women here. My goal tomorrow is to find a gym and get a membership. If I am not careful, the next thing I know, I will be shopping at the plus size store in the so called mall of Iowa City.

Day 6-
I still really like that house. We are continuing to negotiate with the owners. Hopefully we can get it.
I bought me and Enrique an IOWA t-shirt today. It's official. We are University of Iowa fans. I hear to football games are nuts. We are excited to go.

Day 7-
Enrique is asleep at 11:00 pm on a Saturday night. That bugs. He is definitely a morning person, and I am an evening person.
Pepe, our 1994 Isuzu Rodeo, has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. His engine is going to die soon. We don't know how much more time we have with him. Although his shocks gave out (who knows when) a long time ago, he has been a loyal and dependable part of the Darancou family and we will miss him. And we will also miss that he was paid for.
Enrique and I headed off to the Amana Colonies tonight. It is a little town, (which I was mis-informed about) about 20 minutes from where we are living. I thought it was an Amish colony but it turned out to be a very old German town. We ate at a restaurant that was kind of an expensive version of Golden Corall. Good hearty, fried, fattening German food. It was like Thanksgiving in June. The town is darling though. I would love to go back another day when the little shops are open. Like the fudge shop. Speaking of fudge, I have decided to kick it in gear and bring out healthy Angela. My goal: only eat treats on Sunday. I love treats and eat them often so this might be difficult.

Things we will miss about Texas...

2009-05-23T07:21:00.000-07:00

Nuestro Amigos! (Our friends) This is picture of our friends we met in the ward. Bishop Rojas, Anet, Jared and Joshua.

Our ward! This is a picture of Enrique playing church ball. He was the tallest player.

Rudy's BBQ! This is the best bbq ever! Except Enrique said he couldn't go often because it hurt his stomach. ( Which was due to the fact of him over-eating every time we went!)

BLUE BELL ICE CREAM! If you have ever tried this stuff, you know what I am talking about! This is Enrique eating his favorite flavor, Keylime pie!

Our favorite Mexican market, Mi Tienda. Great food and drinks. I have ordered one too many orchatas here.

The amazing oak trees that line the streets. I love them, love them!

Supporting the local sports teams. I was sad when the Rockets lost in the playoffs. This is picture of us at the Astros vs Dodgers game, however, Enrique is supporting the Dodgers.

And we will not miss the mosquitos. Poor Enrique, they love his blood. He gets eaten alive when ever he walks outside!

Exploring! We drove around trying to find a public park one Sunday afternoon and we came across Rice University. Beauitful campus, so much detail in the buildings. I was very impressed.

We have enjoyed visiting the San Antonio and Houston temple. This is a picture of us outside the Houston temple. Enrique is wearing the tie my grandpa gave him.

Monterry Mexico

2009-05-17T22:09:00.000-07:00

So when we were living in San Antonio we decided we were too close to the boarder to not take advantage of it. We decided to take a short little trip to Monterry Mexico. It was suppose to only be 6 hours away. I think it ended up taking us at least 11 or 12! After we drove 30 minutes passed the boarder and into Mexico we were sent back to the boarder to buy a driving permit for our car. Since the streets are labled so well in Mexico it only took us like 2 1/2 hours to find the place that was only 20 minutes away. Anyway, it was a fun little trip and we are glad we got to see Monterry.

2009-05-12T08:20:00.000-07:00

Juarez Mexico

Look who is a blogger!

2009-05-12T07:45:00.000-07:00

I feel is it fair to warn everyone I do not claim to be a good speller. Consider yourselves warned: there might be misspelled words from time to time. I will try to use spell check but if a misspelled words pops up please don't be offended. With that in mind....

Enrique and I got married a little over 5 months ago. A few months after we got married we packed up our stuff (which might i add sucked, I had way more stuff than I had ever imagined) and moved out to Texas. We are selling pest control. I know, I know you are all thinking, "Angela I thought last year was your last year selling and I thought the year before last year was your last year! Well, guess what- this is my last year!

Although we have been selling pest control we have taken full advantage of our time in Texas. We are fully aware that we will be living our next 4 years in one of the coldest areas of the US ( Iowa City, Iowa for dental school ) so we are living it up while we can. On our way out to Texas we stopped in Juarez Mexico to visit Enrique 3 tias (aunts) that live out there. You might all be thinking, Wait.... isn't that the city all the news channels are telling us to stay away from? Yes, it that would be the place but we were totally fine. Since we are not involved in drug trafficing or any other illegal acitivity we had no encounters what so ever with the drug cartel.

We lived in San Antonio for the first month and a half of our pest control kind of selling summer. We LOVED San Antonio. I would love to move back there one day. Such a happy culture rich city. Everyone is so nice and friendly and there is so much to do. Currently we are living in Houston. I like it, Enrique really likes it but he likes everything. He is easy to please. Houston is such a big city. We live down town which is kind of cool but a lot of traffic. This is my least favorite city I have ever sold in which is probably why I don't love it here. But I do like a lot of things about it. We really like our ward. We have been going to a Spanish ward. People were alittle confused at first since Enrique doesn't really look latino. I think they just thought one of us served a spanish speaking mission. They are always surprised when Enrique tells them he is Mexican. But they have been very welcoming and we enjoy attending the ward.

Enrique starts school June 1st. We are very excited to begin the chapter of our lives. Enrique studys all the time and he is not even in school yet. He will love being in school again. Well that is the update on the Darancou family.