Where should we start?

We have so much to share with all of you that it will be hard to summarize what’s been going on in the past month and a half.

First of all, we have not been hit hard with the winter storms of these past weeks. At one time we were able to see the dead grass in our backyard and not only snow! Last year we didn’t even know we had grass until late March/early April when everything finally melted.

We had our first visitor of 2010. Our friend Scenet flew in from Denver and spent some time with us. We had a great time with her and I’m sure she enjoyed my “cooking lessons”. Here are some pictures.

During our morning walk:

We went to downtown Boston and the weather was perfect!

At the Cheers Bar:

Another event was my birthday in late January. My dear husband surprised me with an amazing birthday gift: a Canon Rebel! I absolutely love it! For now, Atenas has been the focus of most of my pictures but that will change whenever the baby arrives. I took these shots last Saturday during our evening walk:

My dear husband (it was chilly and it was getting dark):

Atenas, begging for a treat from Cameron:

In celebration of my birthday, our neighbors invited us over for dinner. The vegetarian dinner was delicious and the home-made green tea cake was SO good!

Our neighbors, Christian and Muriel:

And Robin:

And Maya:

And Lilo (Atenas's best friend):

Cameron encouraged me to visit my parents in Juarez early this month. The main purpose of the trip was to spend time with my family. Most of you know about my mom’s battle with breast cancer. It has been four weeks now since she had the double mastectomy and she is doing great! We have definitely seen God’s kindness during this process. It has been a tough process but we also see it as suffering for blessing, where the Lord is being glorified and we are all growing in faith and knowledge of Him.

It had been over eight months since I last seen my parents (last time was in Cancun last year). They were very excited to see me, especially since I’m carrying their grandchild. My visit to Juarez was short but we all enjoyed it so much!

One of the things that I wanted to do is for my dad to teach me how to make chorizo. This is my grandfather’s recipe and my dad started making it after I got married and moved away from Juarez. Last week Cameron and I made a batch of chorizo and it came out pretty good!

My dad showing off the chorizo:

The Maldonados invited us over for dinner one night. They are an amazing, loving, caring couple that has known my family for over twenty years.

Cesar and Lupita:

Lupita made tamales; they were so good that I lost count of how many I ate!

My parents:

Job is missing in this picture. Unfortunatley he wasn't able to come to Juarez; he had to study for an exam.

My mom, aunts and Lupita surprised me with a baby shower! It was Saturday morning in the hall of a hotel in Juarez and there were over 70 people present! A typical Mexican breakfast was served; everything was so good and I’m sure everyone enjoyed it. I was able to catch up with my friends and people that I hadn’t seen in over two years! I was so blessed with the shower that I immediately called Cameron to let him know about it!

The hall:

Aunt Martha, Mom, me, and aunt Goretty:

With Monica Rueda:

With Roxana and Paola (last time I had seen her she was three months old!):

Paola:

My little cousins: Genesis and Rosangela

I’m glad I was able to visit my family and friends in Juarez. This is a trip that I will cherish for a long time.

Our Christmas in New England

Despite of being away from family, we enjoyed our first Christmas in New England. As the holidays were approaching, we kept getting boxes from our family with lots of gifts in them. It was also fun waiting for the mail to see if we had gotten any Christmas cards. As the days went by, Cameron kept asking if we could open gifts before Christmas (this started about a week before Christmas). Finally we came to an agreement that we could each open a small gift on Christmas Eve but we would wait to open the rest the next morning.

On Christmas Eve we went to our church and we heard a great message on not only the importance of the virgin birth of Christ but also the importance of His death and resurrection. After the sermon, we all gathered for a Christmas party with lots of finger food and home-made eggnog.

On Christmas Day, Cameron wanted to open the presents at 6 AM! Unfortunately, I was half asleep and ignored his request. Later that morning before opening the presents, we read about Christ’s birth in Luke and Matthew – great reminder of salvation thru Christ as being the best gift of all! We are so grateful for all of the gifts that we received from our family; even Atenas got something from her Aunt Jan!

That day, we were invited to have breakfast at our neighbors’ house. We had a “light” breakfast because we were going to cook all day for our Christmas lunch/dinner. We cooked Mexican food: Tamales and Chiles en Nogada. I never thought I would be making tamales in New England (I had to call my mom way in advance to get a list of all the ingredients and the “how to” instructions – there is no recipe with exact measurements for my grandma’s tamales). Everything came out so good and we all had a great time!

Here are some pictures:

Getting our tree (proceeds went to charity):

Finding the perfect tree:

Our decorations:

We couldn’t find our tree stand, so Cameron built one. We might have lost it during our move a year ago. He did a great job, so far the tree has not moved an inch!

My dream comes true

When I was a freshman in college, I first came across a picture of the Neuschwanstein Castle. I had no information about this castle and later I found out that it was in Germany. I was marveled by the castle and I could only dream that one day I would visit this wonderful place. My dream came true last month and I never thought I would share the experience with my dear husband. The weather was perfect!

Neuschwanstein was the home of King Ludwig II of Bavaria. It took over 17 years for the castle to be completed and unfortunately the king only lived there less than six months before his unexplained death. The castle is amazing but unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures of the inside. This castle served as the inspiration for Disney’s Sleeping Beauty Castle.

At the main gate:

Hohenschwangau Castle

Hohenschwangau is very close to Neuschwanstein (within walking distance). This was the childhood residence of King Ludwig II and then later became the hunting residence of the royal family. They still display various hunting trophies along the spiral staircase of the castle. This castle is smaller but all of the rooms have outstanding murals that tell part of the Bavarian history.

The Bavarian Seal:

View from the castle's courtyard:

The castle's kitchen:

Dinkelsbuhl, Germany and Reykjavik, Iceland

Our last stop in Germany was Dinkelsbuhl. This is a small town surrounded by old medieval walls and towers. The day we visited Dinkelsbuhl was the first day they had set up their Christmas markets and there was a celebration with the arrival of St. Nick.

With Gramp at the front entrance:

The architecture is so cute, it almost feels like you are back in time:

Cameron and I shared a pizza looking dish for lunch:

The kids had fun riding the carrousel:

Arrival of St. Nick:

Iceland

We flew to Iceland and spent a day in Reykjavik. It was snowing when we first got there but it was not cold. Iceland has its own language, Icelandic, but almost everyone speaks fluent English. Cameron made the hotel reservation at the Hilton and we were able to upgrade to the executive suite!

We found this when we walked in to our room:

We woke up the following morning and headed down for breakfast. It was still dark outside and it was not that early, so we asked the waitress what time the sun came out. The sun starts coming out around 10-ish and it is out by noon!! Due to the lack of sun light and time, we decided not to go to the Blue Lagoon but to go shopping instead. We walked to the nearby mall, which is one of the largest in Reykjavik, and to our surprise it was very empty. We wanted to buy the traditional Icelandic wool sweaters. The sales associate where we bought our sweaters told us that people usually wake up around noon on Saturdays when the sun is out!

We love our sweaters! They are made out of Icelandic wool. They are water-resistant and extremely warm. I’m glad we got them and Cameron suggests they will last at least 20 years! Hopefully we made a good investment.

Views from our room:

We really enjoyed our trip, not only because we visited many sights but because we got to share this wonderful experience with our family.