5 year Anniversary/Easter Weekend!

We've been married five years!  Sometimes it feels like it was just yesterday but most of the time it feels like it's been forever.  Jesus and I just fit.  We need each other.  I need him to push me out of my comfort zone, to make me take chances and to give me someone to rely on besides myself.  I need  him to teach me how to take a joke and understand sarcasm without being offended.   Jesus needs me to calm him down, to teach him that even if he grew up being loud culturally, he still needs to be sweet.  He needs me to let him know that not every leap of faith is worth taking.  He needs me to make him laugh after a stressful day of work. (We do that for each other).  He needs me to help take care of our babies that keep us both exhausted but full of joy.  Jesus and I are so opposite in so many ways but we're also so complimentary.  I can't explain how well he fits into my life and how I can be myself around him.  I mean the self I am around my family, that's who I can be around Jesus!  Everyone's a little bit crazy but Jesus is just the person to handle my crazy when it comes out.  As well as my anxieties and short comings.  I don't think I've ever met someone as forgiving as my husband.  Well...my mom...so maybe that's a reason I love Jesus so much because he forgives like she does.  I could go on but let's cut to the five year celebration!

We knew we wanted to do "something."  Like more than just go to dinner something.  So we bought seasons passes to Six Flags Over Texas which is just thirty minutes from where we live! Our first use was to celebrate our anniversary kid-free.  Two thirty-somethings riding the roller coasters.  What a fun day!  And scary...and sickening...but hey, we did it!

This ride is cray cray!  While going upside down those two loops, there's no shoulder harness, just a seatbelt and lap bar.  How can you upside down like that?!  Somehow the gravity pushes you down so much that it had me hunched over and I couldn't even push myself back up while in the loop!  That centrifugal force had me!  It gets better. Jesus went on the ride with virtual reality glasses so he could not see what was coming next except for the mimicking actions inside his glasses. He was a fighter pilot, shooting things and falling from buildings.  So intense and one of the first of its' kind!  My motion sickness was on its' last leg so I rode glasses free and that was still intense.

 

Mr. Freeze is another intense coaster that shoots you up the roller coaster track backwards at high speeds around a loop  and turns until you go backwards straight up a 180 degree angle, all to come rolling back down (but now forwards) the 180 degree hill and over the turns and loop one more time.

The next day was Easter and we celebrated with Jesus' cousins in McKinney.  Ligia made an amazing traditional dinner with ham and pineapple, cheesy sour cream potatoes and mini bundt cakes from "Nothing bundt cakes" bakery!  That place is surprising delicious.  After dinner, we sent the kids through the yard for the Easter egg hunt.  My family and sister-in-law's family, have always done an Easter egg hunt and I really missed not being with them this year. So to get to do it still, especially with my own little kids, made my day!

The good, the bad and the ugly.

I love social media just as much as the next girl in her early thirties livin' it up!  I love posting my adventures, new makeup, my kids, my dog, foodie photos, whatever.  But let's be serious for a second, do I post my whole life? NO!  Is my life only awesome adventures and cute photos?  Obviously not!  The reason I don't share too many negative things or complain on social media is because it's annoying as heck to me when other people do it.  I'm an unsympathetic jerk.  Just kidding (maybe)? I do feel for people in their times of need but for me personally, social media is my happy place.

Until now.  I have SO much to vent about!  You know how we're here in Dallas enjoying our new lives and got a new job and all that good stuff?  Well guess what else has happened?!  Since moving here, we've had our car towed and had to pay TWO days to get it out.  Then I popped two tires and we had to buy all four...well 3...but close enough!  Next, we had hail damage that annihilated the Audi.  (There's our intro to Texas weather).  I even lost one of my amazing grandmas since moving here.  Did you hear I got the flu for seven days and took two days off work but really should have been in bed all 5?!  It's the first year I didn't get a flu shot and I will not make that mistake again because I hadn't been so sick in years!  Then somehow, out of no where, probably from carrying my sweet baby either in her wrap or in her ridiculous car seat, I threw out my hip for about a week and still haven't gone to the doctor.  I feel much better now but I have all kinds of bruising.  I'm just going to take that as a sign that I'm healing???  Not only is my back/hip bruised but there are flea bites on it!  Why?  Because our apartment (and dog) are infested with fleas!  It has been terrible.  Every day after work, I have had to come home, spray the flea killer on the carpets and the dog, and clean and vacuum like crazy.  Luckily carpet is only in the bedrooms.  The fumigators are coming tomorrow, Gracias a Dios!

Here's my adorable puppy just finishing his flea bath with daddy.

So there, everyone's life is not what you see on social media!  On Saturday, I'm planning to go to Six Flags, to which my loving husband told me my string of bad luck will be culminated by one disastrous roller coaster ride

Pray for me.

Spring Break in Dallas!

It feels like so much has happened lately but that's just because we've been on Spring Break and had an exciting but very busy week with family and friends here in Dallas.  Jesus's cousin Uki and his wife Karen came to see us from Houston.  They are 3.5 hours away but that's pretty close in relation to all our other family.  Jesus also has another cousin, Marcel and his family, who live just 25 minutes away right here in a suburb of Dallas and we hang out with them often. They joined us for our Spring break weekend when Uki and Karen came to town.  Oh and Marcel's brother, Oliver, just moved here too!  His wife and kids will be joining him once they tie up their odds and ends in Florida and I'm excited to meet them...well we've met but only brief occurrences.  While there are only two (now three!) cousins here in Texas, they and their wives and kids are so awesome and have made us feel like we have friends here and we love being able to hang out with them!

Here our some of our adventures from the week:

Adventures at Klyde Warren Park

Ligia's beautiful, delicious crepe buffet

kid's table

A cousin's reunion...these 4 guys were born in Dominican Republic and then came over to Miami together as kids!

Karen and Uki were dog sitting and if you've known me long enough, you know how impossible it seems that I'd be in a photo with two dogs!  I've grown up!

The cousin's beautiful wives! So excited to live by a "Sprinkles" bakery.

Ten minute road trip to go see the Dallas LDS Temple.

This wasn't Spring Break but I never documented it.  I'm starting to make friends and we took a pro makeup class together!

The most exciting thing that's happened lately is Jesus got a new job right here in the Dallas area!  It's what we came here for and it's a weight lifted off our shoulders.  It's great to see Jesus so happy as he is very hopeful about this new position.  As for me, I am finishing the school year as Garden coordinator/teacher at Stonewall Jackson.  Once school's out for the summer, I'm planning to return to my life as a stay at home mom and I am SO excited! I had a moment this week, pushing my kids in their double stroller around the mall and I was just so happy.  It was that moment that really confirmed my decision.  I want to go to the mall, the library, the park and just be with these kids.  Not to mention, we want more kids and aren't getting any younger.  I realize I'm going to feel like I never get a break again because there are no vacation or sick days but I like that option more than the busy-ness I'm feeling now.  I get up early, go to work, come home, make dinner, clean, take the dog out, change diapers, briefly play and put the kids to bed. While both scenarios of working full time or being home full time are incredibly busy, I just know which one I want right now in my life.  I'm grateful to have a supportive Principal that announced to the staff that I would be quitting to stay home with my children.  If there is anything that supports women's rights, it was this.  You don't tell a woman to go to work and you don't tell a woman to stay home.  You tell her to do what she wants and I am grateful I have the opportunity to do that as I know not everyone does.  Here are some recent photos of my little lovelies for your viewing pleasure.

With this new job comes the nervousness I'm feeling bringing the kids to daycare.  Sometimes my anxiety feels like a lump in my throat making it difficult to breathe.  We have a very sweet Ecuadorian woman in our apartment complex who has watched several kids around here and currently watches one little girl Joaquin's age so he and her will be great friends.  The bonus is our daycare lady only speaks Spanish which will be great for our kids.  KJ is in the stage of crying whenever mom or dad go out of sight so I am hoping she can adjust well.  Dropping her off will be hard.  I might be most concerned about our little dog however.  The longest he's been alone is 6 hours so 9 hours will be a stretch and I just don't want him developing separation anxiety. I know we will all adjust as this is temporary.  (Any dog tips for those that leave theirs are welcomed!)

 

The last exciting thing this week is we have been potty training Joaquin!  I'd like to say we potty trained him but I don't want to jinx anything.  He's been accident free for 2 days and we've only been training for 4 so I can't speak too quickly but our daycare lady is going to support us in our efforts thank goodness!  I really think waiting 'til he was 3 was a great idea.  *knock on wood.*

Back to work tomorrow...