Engaged Encounter

Guess what?! In five months, Juan and I are getting married and officially starting our family of three!!! This past weekend we spent our weekend up in Oceanside at the San Luis Rey Mission. for our Engaged Encounter weekend. I'm not going to lie...we were both a little anxious. Neither one of us are fans of having our entire weekend planned out without any say in what we will be doing. Not to mention the fact that we slept in the old mission living quarters a hand reach away from complete strangers, shared community bathrooms and were not given an itinerary (we were literally at the mercy of the retreat planners from sun up to well past sun down). Although it was exhausting it was a great experience. Our roommates were a very nice couple and the retreat leaders were two wonderful couples who shared some amazing personal stories, opening up their hearts and in turn helping us open ours. The priest who was the spiritual leader of the retreat was fascinating. Juan and I sat with him over a couple of the meals and really enjoyed getting to know him. Although it was a long tiring weekend it really did help prepare us for this next chapter. One of my favorite moments was late one evening, they had us stand up, I thought we were just going to do a stretch because we had been sitting for a while. They had the men place their hands palms up inside the ladies palms and proceeded to talk about those hands and then we switched and they talked about the ladies hands. I was bawling. Those are some very special hands. I can't wait to hold them at the altar, see them hold our first child, our grandchildren and watch them grow old and wrinkly. 

 Such beautiful gardens!

And just like that it was over. A weekend we will never forget.

I love the original but just heard this cover today....dedicating it to my love....

 

Answer to the song: FOREVER!

Tree Time!!

Last weekend Juan, Gisele and I booked it to Target first thing Saturday morning to hopefully get the fake tree we wanted (50% off!). I'm not a fan of the Black Friday / Cyber Monday shopping but we had to do it (post Black Friday madness). We got the last one!! And of course we picked up a bag of marshmallows and some hot chocolate! We had a wonderful day going through all of our Christmas decorations and decorating the tree. Best of all was when it got dark the three of us snuggled up with blankets and pillows by the tree and sipped our hot chocolate with marshmallows. It was a wonderful way to kick off our Christmas celebrations and prepare for the celebration of our Lord's birth!

 Love starting new traditions with my soon to be Martinez family (year 2 of Christmas decorating)

 I love her so much! Look at our girl! So proud of our "beautiful" tree :)

November in a Nutshell

Wow, is it just me or is this year flying by! I can't believe it is December!! November was an awesome month and obviously I was beyond busy....my blog posts along with many other things took the back burner.

The weekend of November 2nd Gisele met Brooke and Brighton for the first time and we officially welcomed the Evans family to SD. We love spending time with them. The kids (and adults for that matter) get along so well. Saturday afternoon Juan, Gisele and I went to my good friend Nic's wedding at Founders Chapel on the USD campus. What a beautiful wedding! I teared up (no surprise there) and was so happy to have Gisele experience a Catholic wedding before our big day :) Overall it was a great weekend! The DiLoretta wedding was a great way to kick off November.

Nov 8th...Juan, our friends David and Erik and I rented a car and there began our Tucson adventure. Destination....Charlotte and Paul's wedding! Wow what a wedding weekend it was! We got to Tucson just in time to get ready and cruise over to their Rehearsal dinner. It has been years since I have seen Charlotte's family and Paul for that matter. It was so great seeing everyone! It was a wonderful intimate rehearsal dinner. Once Juan and I said our initial hellos it was like old times for me. Long laughter filled conversations with Char's dad and intimate conversations with her Aunt Char. It was such a nice way to start our visit. I have such a special memories with her family....weekends in Tucson....SD visits and even traveling around Spain with them. I loved seeing her Grandma and appreciated her "Juan stamp of approval." After the vino stopped flowing the soon to be newly weds and a group of us hit a local night club. I'm getting way too old for that stuff but man did we have a blast! I think Juan caught a glimpse of Char & Raquel in college :) The rest of the weekend was jam packed! Actual rehearsal, quick trip to Avis (the guys drove over a bolt and we needed a new car), 2nd rehearsal dinner at the Desert Museum and then the big day!! What a wonderful day it was. We (the wedding party) all met up nice and early, had breakfast, got ready and hit the road. Mission....pictures all over Tucson. Char was beautiful and Paul was handsome as ever. Once we finally made it to the Stillwell House and the time came for them to exchange their vows, there were very few dry eyes. It was perfect. I couldn't be happier for Charlotte and Paul! I can't wait to see what this next chapter brings for them.

As if November wasn't exciting enough....the next weekend Juan, Gisele and I took off for the Rowland Ranch to celebrate Cole and Christian's (early) birthday. Boy were we in for a surprise. We turned down their drive and bam! Their driveway was lined with cars."Wow that is quite the party they are throwing for the boys!" Juan: "Why is my dads car there?" Raquel: "Linda & Armond's truck is there. Wait...this party is for us!" Juan slams on the breaks...we were both in shock and then Juan says "I don't want to cry." Once we finally pulled ourselves together and walked in the door we quickly lost it again. Seeing a very big group of our family and friends in one spot just for us was so special. It was a surprise engagement party! We were both so surprised and felt so very loved. We still can't thank everyone enough. It was such a special night...one we will never forget. We are truly blessed.

The next weekend was a little calmer. Friday night we attended Luis and Jarek's birthday celebration at Stone Brewery (I had never been to that location and it was awesome). It was great seeing a bunch of the USD crew again. We had gone so long not seeing each other and then we saw each other at Char's Wedding, our surprise party and then the Berga's bday. So awesome! Nice getting to know Heather (Jarek's wife) and Claire (Nic's wife) a little more. I really am so happy for my friends. Life is treating all of us so well.  The next morning Juan and I went food and cake tasting for our wedding reception (oh ya we have a wedding to plan lol) and then we headed out for one of our favorite little girls b-day party. Roxanne Gaut turned 3!! It was such a fun party...she was so adorable when everyone sang her happy birthday...a special day for a very special little girl.

Now...November must be over right? Nope. THANKSGIVING! We kept it low key this year and just got together with the Evans family. Stephanie and I split up the different dishes. It was quite the feast!! Such a lovely way to end such an awesome month. Juan and I cooked our first Turkey together and it was the BOMB! Looking forward to what December has in store!