Christmas in California

This was the first time that the whole family has been together for Christmas in about 15 years. On Sunday evening all of my aunts and uncles and cousins were at mom and dad's for dinner. We showed up a little late, but were still able to see everybody, including my cousin David who I haven't seen since right after I got married 7 years ago. In fact, his first comment to Guaci after talking to her was "Hey, You speak English!" The last time he saw her, she didn't speak hardly any English. She laughed and said "I know Dude! And I'm taking college classes!" On Christmas Eve morning,just the immediate family came over to mom and dad's for breakfast and gift exchange. We had a good time. It sure was nice to see everybody. Later that morning, we went down to the beach with my brother Tony, his wife Amy and their son, Antonio. The weather was soo nice. We went to Laguna Beach and took some pics at the same beach where Guaci and I took our engagement pics. This time our family was a little larger. It was also the first time that Ari had ever been to the beach. We came home today, Christmas Day, and we are all exhausted. I have to work tonight.

Dec. 20, 2007

I'm still working at the Springs Preserve trying to get rid of all of the punchlist items remaining. Looks like we might get out of there by the end of Jan. I know the Springs Preserve is sick of us being there. But definitely not as much as we are!
We're going to California for Christmas to visit mom and dad. All of us kids will be there. This will be the first year we have all been together in about 15 years or so.I'm anxious to see Antonio, Tony's baby. We've yet to meet him.
Tami and Ari are so excited for Christmas. Ari loves all the lights on the tree and Tami can't wait to see what Santa has in store for her. Guaci has been a real trooper holding down the fort while I've had nightschool and working the graveyard shift. She's about as exhausted as I am, if not more so.

Black Friday Shopping....

I just went to Toys R Us for their Black Friday sale. They opened up at 500 am so I showed up at 430, thinking that I would beat the rush of people trying to buy stuff. In retrospect, I should have arrived somewhere around midnight. The line was ginormous, and wrapped around the building. I stood in line for one item only. The Zune MP3 player for 79.99, which has 30 GB and holds 100 hours of video or 10,000 songs blah,blah,blah, etc. etc. I actually got into the store pretty quickly considering how long the line was. Of course, they had already sold out of the Zune MP3 player. I left quickly and came back to work which happens to be a block away. Next year, I'll be one of those camping out on the sidewalk the night before listening to my walkman to pass the time.

Turkey Day already?

I am so not ready. It's a good thing we are going to some friends' house that know how to deep fry a turkey. mmmm I know my way around the kitchen, after all, I did take a cooking class and a chocolate class at College of Southern Nevada. But I cannot do a turkey. I've never tried to do one actually. I prefer to do the other stuff. Guaci is at Costco right now actually, buying everything I need to take an apple pie. She's buying an apple pie. See? My higher learning in the kitchen is paying its dividends. I am, however actually making Cream of Corn from scratch. Well, not really from scratch, I mean, the corn is frozen and all I really do is boil it in some heavy whipping cream. At least I can say though that the candied yams are definitely mine. Well, when I say mine I mean, I'm the one that put them in the oven and smothered them in butter and marshmallows and brown sugar. I guess that counts as cooking. Chef Steve, my teacher from last year's cooking class would be proud. I'm just glad I bought that $250.00 set of German knives. Maybe I'll put my chef uniform on while I heat up my food, just for giggles.

Jarond Suman as Bello, Latin Male Model

"I ain't got much of a smile" by Cacaman

Testing, testing, 123

This is my first post and hopefully it will not be my last. I have tried writing journals before but those usually only last a couple of weeks. Except for when I was on my mission in the Canary Islands. I wrote a little more regularly then. Anywhoo, yeah, I know, this sucks, but it will get better. It can't get much worse can it? I'm at work right now. Graveyard. Yaaaawn. I work for Whiting Turner Contracting Company as a Superintendent. Right now I'm at the Springs Preserve in Las Vegas, overseeing the completion of punchlist items that some of our subcontractors need to complete in order to make the owners happy and so we can complete our end of the contract. http://www.springspreserve.org/ Check it out if you'd like. If you're ever in Vegas and want to visit, call me. No, I can't get you in for free but I sure would like to see ya.