I had such a great day with friends and family for my birthday bbq. Heather was very kind and generous in getting me a gas grill for my present. It was funny because she was going to surprise me but then I asked her if we could get one. It is so cool that we were on the same page. I just love her so much. Anyways here are some pictures from that day...





Heather's mom did a great job decorating the tables in the backyard...





...so much great food prepared...and even Heather's dad got in the action...



...friends relaxing...



friends in the making...



"...I can't wait till someone pinches my cheek!"


...I LOVE pies! I was treated to pecan, french apple, and banana creme pies...SOOOOOO GOOD!


We improvised and decided to use the pie as my birthday cake...


It tastes better that it looks!


Overall, I had a great day. Friends and family were great reminders of God's grace & goodness in my life. There are so many things I can look back to the past 25 years...He is to good to me and I continue to praise Him. I would have never imagined that I would be married to a loving wife and have supportive family and friends. God is too good!

RECAP!!!!

Um okay so obviously I'm really not the best blogger. Maybe I'll be a good updater. Huh? What do you think?

Okay so there is no way I can go back and get into all of the things we've been up to since our last post i.e. our honeymoon (um okay I said it... not so good at this blogging thing yet)
1. We got married (still waiting for the pics) yeah I know having a hard time being patient about I've seen them I just don't have them
2. Honeymoon we blogged a little about Belize was wonderful we enjoyed just spending time together but we were also able to share our adventurous side going hiking, snorkeling, and kayaking.
3. Christmas was a blur...
4. Back to work
5. Ele works 5 am to 6pm (mon-fri) ... I work 7 pm to 7:30 am (3 days/week) It can be hard we're praying about making some changes.
6. We took a lovely trip up the coast Hwy 1 for our first married Valentines day! Made stops in Santa Barbra, Big Sur, Carmel, Monterrey and Santa Cruz (yes I have pics but hey this is just an update)
7. My cousin Kara who is one year older than I has Cancer for those who don't already know. She found out after having some simple knee pain walking up stairs. Her daughter was 9 months when she found out. She's gone through chemo and removal of her femur and knee joint, then more chemo with still no effect on the cancer. I just found out this weekend she's responding to this last dose of chemo. Praise God!!!
8. Sad news is that her dad looks like he will need a heart transplant.
9. My Grandma was hospitalized this weekend for heart problems, things I deal with everyday at work but I might be making a trip up there this weekend to help her get situated with all of the new medications and M.D. appointments.
10. Looks like Ele might be making Sergeant with the next cutting score!Yeah go Ele! It's a big deal in Marine land.
11. Ele had a b-day April 3rd. He's a quarter of a century now! What an old fart :) We had a bbq it was fun.
12. I signed up for a Neonatal resuscitation course through the hospital. Praying about switching focuses to Labor and Delivery :)
13. Considering going back to school for my Master's Degree this fall. Need to take the GRE and decide really soon :(
14. And last but definitely not least Ele and I have been married 4 months as of April 15. Yahoo! Love that man.

Our Day at the mayan ruins!

Pronounced Choo= non- nu- witch! So beautiful. The drive from where we were staying was about an hour away. Our tour van comes the side of the river and our guide Gabe says, "Okay get out." A little bewildered having no idea what to do we walk down and see this wooden raft with a cable attached to it coming toward us.

Just as we begin to noticed the one man standing on the raft working HARD to crank it toward us our guide drives our van down the hill on to this little raft. I'm thinking ... is that sturdy enough and then he yells hop on. :(

Adventuresome Ele, who later today will eat a live termite simply because the guide says it's good protein, hops right aboard and sticks his hand out like come on' honey jump. In the spirit of adventure I did and went right ahead without concern for safety drowning or things such as weight capacities since we are on this thing with a van and about 30 people. Again: One man hand cable crank... he must have some guns in those sleeves.

We get across the river pheew.... and get back in the van, drive a little way up the mountain and then begin to hike. Its absolutely beautiful and lush and green. I'm thinking I don't see any huge ruins, little beaten down used to be something here and there and then BAM! Turn the corner and there it is... now the climbing begins.



According to our guide Mayans were very short. i.e. like Ele's Lola and Armenia would be giants. These ruins have steep stairs to climb so that anyone who would ever climb them would have to go on hands an knees before the gods and the Shamans.

It's steep with no rails El says, "go on ahead honey I want to get a good picture of you up there." :0 aaaahhhhhh uh gee thanks for the nomination of going first sweetheart. I climb. He snaps a few pics and then joins me.
We made it all the way to the top. Wahoo! Its so beautiful from up there you can see the other ruins in the distance. According to our guide this was the central communication tower where they would take shiny rocks or gold and face them into the sun to create a glare and send light messages to the other Mayan temples.

And then now to get down....

Finally time to sit down and write a little bit. So much has transpired since our "moving day." Well first of all WE GOT MARRIED!!! wahoo I love this man... **** !!!! Then we went on our honeymoon!!!!! Wahoooooo!!!!!!!!! God is good and his plan for marriage is perfect! Came home from Belize and wouldn't you know we had one day to attempt to "settle in" and then it was Christmas Eve with his family until 3 am and then Christmas Day with my family. Then the 26th more family came to visit that had been spending time with my Grandparents in NorCal and came to spend a few days with us. I've got some cute pics from out trip to disneyland. My cousins first trip since they were 8& 5 years old. They're from Oklahoma and wanted to soak up some California fun and adventure. From then on it's been back to work, lovely dates here and there and working on the house. We went to The Melting Pot restaurant in Irvine. (Both of our first time) It was a lot of fun but would you know we didn't take a single picture even though we got dressed up and fabulous. I need to work on this. Maybe if I get an SLR it will motivate me to document our lives more efficiently... maybe :)... What do you think El will say...
Anyway here are a few pics from lovely Belize on our honeymoon.
This is our little hut complete with a grass roof and everything.
The place was so relaxing the first day we just relaxed and enjoyed hammocks and umbrella drinks! One thing I loved about Belize was the food. Ele and I both LOVE seafood. So a country on the Caribbean was a perfect choice for us. Staples for them are spiny lobster, shrimp, conch (mmmnnn conch curry so good!). One night we had the sea bass that our honeymooning friends had caught earlier that day on an excursion. This is spiny lobster cooked in a wine cream sauce, with an appetizer of ceviche. So good!