Princess Moni

asking for prayers

2009-02-05T19:29:00.000-08:00

ugh, i'm mad that I have to be asking for prayers for this, i hate the devil, for a few months now i've been dealing with a cyst that I got that turned into an infection, I got it removed (thru surgery & antibiotics) then recently in November it came back, went back to the dr. and dealt with it again. This past week or so, I've been feeling it trying to come back, but i have been praying SOOO hard against it. I believe that God can and will heal me. The devil's been trying so hard to fill my head with lies about sickness and death, and I hate it. I've been fighting back with God's word and just doing what I know to do, but it's hard. I'll be going to the dr. in a few days, but I don't even want to do THAT, I am really really believing for a supernatural touch from God, a miracle, a healing that only God can do for me. I just wanted to ask if anyone, when praying, if you remember me please pray for me against any sickness, diseases, infections...lies!!!!!
I've been praying this prayer alot! I got it from Joan Hunter.
In the name of Jesus I command my immune system to be restored. I command the electrical and magnetic frequencies in my body to return to normal harmony and balance. I command all the prions in my body to completely dissolve and be discarded from my body. I command my PH balance to normalize and command healing to every cell affected by any abnormal PH levels. Thank you Jesus! 3 John 1:2, Jer. 17:14, Matt. 4:24

in search of...

2009-01-20T17:17:00.000-08:00

I'm in search of a good marriage/women's devotional book to read. If you have any suggestions please leave it in the comment box.

Thank You!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday to my hubby!

2009-01-13T09:48:00.000-08:00

Today is my hubby's birthday! I thank God sooooooo much for giving me Matt. He is my rock, my #1 supporter, my love. Matt has been thru so much thru-out his life and it amazes me how he can still be a sweet sensitive God fearing man. He is honestly thee nicest sweetest guy i've ever met.

When I first "met" Matt, well I didn't actually meet him yet, he transferred from our church in palm springs to the one I was going to, he was about 20 and I was 17, I would see him from afar and my heart would beat fast and my stomach would fill up with butterflies. I thought he was sooooo cute! =) I would always dream of being his wife and think, ya right never he is wayyy too good for me. My mom, who had no idea that I was crushing on him, would always always always say things about him, at how good of a guy he was, how she wanted him to be her son n law, how I was going to marry him, but I would never say anything, I would just brush her off and say mooo-ooom stop. One of her friends told her to pray for it, if that's what she wanted. Finally one day, about 3 years later, he came up to me and told me he was madly in love with me, j/k he told me he'd been watching me for awhile, and that he wanted to start a relationship with me. He waited til he graduated college because he wanted to focus all of his time and attention on me. awwww! In between that time, we were both in a play/skit together and he was the brother and i was the sister, it was funny because we would have to fight, but we got to know each other thru that.

I just really appreciate this man and am SO blessed to be married to him!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT!

Where do I start?

2009-01-12T13:34:00.000-08:00

I know i've been totally m.i.a for awhile but I had such an amazing ENCOURAGING weekend that I had to record it somewhere so that I wouldn't forget. I don't know why I always get blown away at how God seems to "know" when I need a reminder of His love for me and that He KNOWS me and cares for me. He's an on-time God and His love for me is over flowing. This past year has been a rollercoaster for me health wise, i'm not really a sickly person, i hardly ever get sick. But i've been battling this ugly infection in a super annoying spot (the one that costed me my job) and then for the past 6 weeks i've had a super irritating UGLY nasty cold&cough. As I was reflecting the other day and really thinking about how i've been these past few months, I realized that I guess I was a bit depressed over it, because it was interfering with our whole baby making trial.

So this past Friday was our annual Women's All-Night Prayer service at my church. It's a huge event for us, it starts at 10:30pm and ends at 4am. I'm part of the planning committee. There's 4 different speakers and after each speaker there's a prayer time of 30 minutes. We also have an amazing worship time in the beginning. This year because I was feeling so horrible, my nose was stuffy, I was coughing like crazy, and my head was pounding, I honestly just went to "work" and help to make sure everything was running smooth. But...God had different plans for me (of course) every.single.speaker was SOOO anointed, powerful and their teachings were exactly what I needed to hear. He TOTALLY met me there. The 1st speaker, Barbara Casas, as she was speaking (I was sitting in the front row with my friends) she locked eyes with me and said "Tell God, I will not let go until you bless you". She was talking about determination. I knew God was speaking to me.

The next speaker was talking about her husband and how this past month he had gotten really sick and was in the hospital, in icu, and she was just telling their story. She was saying that it had been really hard on her and her 2 kids, how they would come home from the hospital and cry and pray. She seen how all that they had enstilled in her kids when they were younger her grown kids were using that NOW and how proud she was of her kids. Anyways, she said one day she was at the hospital and the dr.'s were saying how when they DO send her husband home that it would take a year for her husband to learn to talk and walk again. She said she went home and she heard God tell her, "WHO ARE YOU??" She realized she forgot who she was IN CHRIST. She forgot who her FATHER was, she forgot who she served. She forgot the miracle worker HER God was. She forgot she was His princess. I knew God was speaking to me.

My friend Michelle (the one I helped give a baby shower for -our young adults pastor's wife) gave her testimony of her story of her and her husbands desire for a baby and how they ended up getting pregnant and her journey thru the dr's telling her there wasn't a heartbeat and then there was and then there wasn't...she went thru alot of drama with different dr.'s and all of them telling her different things. It caused her alot of stress and tears. She went home one day and her husband told her "Michelle, we need to FIGHT". And as hard it was to hear her give her testimony and sit there in the very FRONT row all the while my heart was stinging and that lump in my throat was growing, I sat there and was happy for her and her blessing. She was saying to fight and to have faith. I knew God was speaking to me.

At the very end, the same women, Barbara Casas, called an altar call for healing. She was going to pray for those that needed healing. I KNOW that God is a god of healing so I went up. As.soon.as.I.got up and stood at the altar the tears just started flowing and would not stop. I cried and cried and cried and just gave it to God once again. It felt so good just to let it out, I find myself just going on with life, shoving my desires to the side, doing ministry, praying with 1st time visitors, tending to my family, making myself busy with my nieces and nephews, and try not to think about how much I desire to be a mother and make my husband a daddy. But as i stood there, I just let it all out. Several of the pastors wives came thru and prayed for us that went up from behind. Barbara came down from the stage and laid her hands on my head and prayed for me, as i think about it again my eyes tear up, by this time i'm sobbing, she told me "You know you stand out to me, and that means that you stand out to GOD." She told me "You think it's your fault (she was referring to my prayer), you think it's something that you did and God wants you to know that it's NOT your fault, it's not you, it's nothing that you did so don't think that. It's all part of God's timing, He has a timing for everything." oh my goodness, that was sooo good to hear. it really really encouraged me. God spoke to me.

After it was over and I had literally cried all my makeup off, Barbara came over to me and told me that I looked so much better. I knew she meant spiritually better because I know for sure she didnt mean physically, i looked like crap by then! =) I guess as she was speaking and she seen me I probably looked heavy burdened to her or God showed her something about me, but she said I looked better. I FELT lighter and I just thank God for the whole night. I went expecting nothing and left a whole different person. Praise God.

THEN on Sunday at church...Matt & I help in the 1st time visitor's room after every service. After the 1st service was over, we (me and matt) were just hanging out after all the visitors had left and 1 of my pastor's came over and told me that he wanted to pray for me. I was SO blown away because, while I love my pastor, he's all about ministry ministry and more ministry (in a good way of course). But he's a manly man, noone i would ever expect to talk to me about this. He said that God's been putting it on his heart to pray for me for healing, and that his wife confirmed it the day before when she asked him why he doesn't pray for me. He said he knows my desire to have a baby and he knows I love kids ...... he then asked me if he can pray for me. I got all teary eyed, thanked him, and said yes of course. So him, his wife and Matt all laid hands on me and prayed for me.

I was blown away by how God used these people to remind me that He knows, He remembers me, He loves me, and He cares. I thank God that He blessed me with these people, by their generous prayers, for being sensitive to God's asking and His spirit.

I have been tagged!

2009-01-12T13:21:00.000-08:00

Barb tagged me...here are the rules: You must go to your documents folder (or wherever you store your photos) and go to your 6th picture folder, then go to the 6th picture in that folder and post it on your blog. Tell us a story about that picture.

This is thee pic. This was taken in July and it's of my niece Lovie Lopez, she's 12. The city of Norwalk asked her to open their city counsel meeting with the pledge of allegiance. She did such a good job, I was one proud auntie.

Soooooo HAPPY!!!

2008-11-05T13:06:00.000-08:00

PROP 8 PASSED! THANK YOU JESUS!! WOOHOOO!!

Not Me Monday

2008-11-03T16:41:00.001-08:00

So I seen this on a few other blogs, so I thought today was perfect to try it out.

Today I did NOT get let go of my job, because if I did that would mean I'm a total failure, and I am NOT a failure! Nope, not me because that would make me feel inadequate! Never!

Ok, on a serious note, yes I did, I did get let go of my job today. Surprisingly I am very relieved. I know I haven't talked about it much on here, but I just didn't want to think about it more than I had to. I started off this new job loving it, but as the days went by, and they started throwing at me more and more duties to fulfill, and things to learn, I slowly started to hate it. I started feeling that the job wasn't for me, as far as all the administrative duties I was fine with, but then they started training me on billing and their company projections. Now, their idea of "training" me was when the v.p. was in the office which was very rare, and when their other employee had time. I started feeling really stressed out, I would bring the stress home, I would call Matt on my lunch breaks crying almost every other day. It just wasn't fair that they were expecting me to give it my all, when THEY weren't giving me their all with proper training. When I would ask said employee for help, she was rude, and make me feel like I was bugging her. She would look at me like I was asking her what 1+1 was.

So anyways, today my boss called me in her office and basically told me that when they hired me they added a bunch of new tasks to the position, and that they need to re-evaluate the position and bring someone in with a background in Finance, and that it wasn't fair to me or them. I told her that I completely agree, and that they should bring someone in with experience in finance, and give them proper training.

I honestly feel relieved. I feel a huge burden lifted and at peace with what happened today. I know God has something better for me. I had been praying about it, so I know God is in the mix.

Oh, and I did end up going to take the test for the City job on Friday. I have a feeling my job didn't like that I missed on Friday. But now I feel even better that I DID take the test! Even if I don't get called back at least I tried!

-moni

2008-11-01T21:02:00.000-07:00

Birthday Pics!

2008-10-27T21:56:00.001-07:00

I had a wonderful birthday! I loved that I got to spend it with my closest family & friends. After my hair appt. we realized that we weren't going to have time to go to the places that I wanted to go, but we did go to this store that was in the mall where I got my hair cut at, and I bought a cute top and some dressy pants for work. Then we rushed back to my moms house, Matt went in his car to buy sodas and a few other things, and me and my sis went to costco for this chocolate cake that is to die for! It's sooo chocolatey, all you need is one bite for a complete chocolate fix for a week. We got back to my mom's just in time to help fix the table and we were ready to get our grub ON! My 3 sisters came with their hubbys and kids, and 3 of my best friends came with their hubby's and kids.
me all cheesey!

Mish, rach, Christina, and me . We were sooo full, all we wanted to do was sit there til tomrrow.

My 2 nieces.

The lovebirds.

My lil nephew getting his grub on.

1, 2, 3, make a wish!

After cake and ice cream, we hung out in the living room. Good times.

and I opened my gifts.....

Me and my nephew! Luv him!!

I got super blessed!

On Sunday Matt closed the weekend off by taking me to a play at the local college to watch:

I aint gonna lie, I have never read the book nor did I know what the play was about, we got there about 10 minutes late, and I could not for the life of me catch on to what the play was about, and I could hardly understand what they were saying because of their accents. It was actually kinda funny that I was sitting there the whole time trying to figure everything out, and by that time it was over, and everybody was standing up and applauding.

After THAT, we went back to my moms because she had a whole tray of food leftover from the night before. My niece also had a baseball game in the area, so my sis and her fam showed up at my moms after her game. My niece is an excellent baseball player, she hit 3 home runs on Saturday!! and one on Sunday. And she plays on a team with 14 and 15 yr olds and she's TWELVE. Ya that's my girl!!

It's My Birthday!

2008-10-25T09:13:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned that I loooove my birthday, I think it should be a national holiday or something. =P just kiddin'. But I do love getting spoiled by my hubby and fam bam. Here's the plans for the day: 11am - i have a much needed haircut/color appt.. I am so excited for this, my hair is nasty right now. After that Matt's gonna take me shopping either to Victoria Gardens or Old town Pasadena, both have thee bomb stores for shopping. Then around 6ish, my mom's cooking me dinner = my fave = green chili chicken enchiladas. My sisters & hubbys & all my nieces and nephews will be there, and a few of my close friends. Yay!

Gotta go get ready now! Here's a pic from last night as we were getting ready for our Safe Zone event we have at our church on Halloween. The guys went out and bought pizza for us, and they bought me a guy version "cake"! =) (the candle is a straw. lol)

Me with my bff's!

Another decision

2008-10-19T22:48:00.000-07:00

So before I applied for this job I applied for a job with a nearby City...it's a part time administrative asst. position. When I applied I really really wanted it! So anyways, I dropped off my application but I knew I would have to wait awhile because the closing date for apps. was Oct. 9th. So then I got this job that I have now. Well on Friday I got a letter in the mail from the City saying I got accepted for the 2nd part of the interview, which is the "written" part. Oy! I really want to go but the thing is, it's Oct. 31st and we have a company mtg. (which i'm supposed to coordinate) the exact same time as the "interview"! I'm going to pray about it, and if God makes a way for me, and gives me the boldness to ask for half a day off, then i'm going to go for it. I just can't turn down an interview for a city, especially because it's part time, and the pay is 2 more dollars than what I get paid now!

Pray for me for wisdom!

moni

My hot diggity man

2008-10-19T22:46:00.001-07:00

he's such a multi-tasker...he kills me every time he wears those headphones. =P

Job Update

2008-10-05T21:25:00.000-07:00

So it's been a full week working at my new job. I seriously didn't think I was going to make it this far. The night before my first day, I felt sooo sick, I was such a nervous wreck! I felt like i had to puke, I was actually crying because I didn't want to go afterall. Matt encouraged me to go, "it's not like you're married to this job" he told me, just try it out and see how it goes. So I put on my big girl panties and went. And now I love it!! Funny huh?? I can't believe how nervous I was! The owners of the company are SO great! It's a women that's 40, she's the president and a women that's 27, shes the vice president. Then there's about another 15 other employees. I'm the administrative asst. to both the pres. & vice pres.. They are sooo nice and make me feel so comfortable. And best of all it's right across the street from the mall!! I'm just waiting for my first paycheck and it's on! =)

New job!

2008-09-25T11:45:00.000-07:00

So I got a new job! I can't believe it, it happened SO fast. It's amazing how God just dropped this job literally in my lap. I literally started looking for a job on Thursday. As much as I loved staying home, I knew that a) our savings was running low and b) with the holidays coming, I know myself, I'm going to want to buy nice gifts and help with things financially at church and with my family.

Anyways, back to my job, I went to my moms on Thursday night, and my sisters BFF was there and she started telling me about her friends friend that was hiring at her company for an Administrative Assistant position. She started telling me what the job was about and what the person would do, and I was thinking (and saying), wow that's totally something I would want to do!! So Gina (my sisters bff) emailed the women she knew from the company and asked her if I could send my resume in, and she said yes. So on friday I sent my resume and this past Tuesday she called me for an interview, I went in for an interview yesterday and she hired me right there, and I start TOMORROW!! I'm excited because of course now i'll be getting paid and money won't be tight anymore with us, but at the same time i'm so used to (now) being at home, and not only that i was sooo used to working at my former job (worked there for 7 yrs!) AND I was working with Matt which I loved.

I'm grateful to God because I know how the economy is, and so many people have been looking for jobs for awhile now with no luck, ( I know because my friend at church has been looking for awhile), so I'm grateful that I found a job so fast, and it's something that I would love to do. It's just the whole "change" thing which makes me nervous, because I am NOT a fan of change.
On a side note: I think I am really going to love my new boss, she's young, perky, and super nice!

So pray for me as I start my new journey tomorrow, my new chapter in my life.

Lost & Found

2008-09-19T18:38:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I LOST my ATM card, I didn't cancel it right away because I had a hunch it was either in my car, purse or a pocket in a pair of jeans. I searched everywhere, hi & low, practically took my car apart and put it back together, emptied my purse 17x and checked all my jeans. So, after using a whole book of checks and getting sick & tired of writing checks out and holding up the line at the market, I FINALLY decided to cancel it last week.
So right now, i'm in my purse, and I realize that the side of purse is totally tearing, it's like a whole 'nuther huge pocket. So I stick my hand deep down there (searching for my eyeliner) and LO & BEHOLD guess what I find!!!!!!
Not ONLY my ATM card, but my favorite tweezers AND my memory stick thingy that just last week Matt & I got in a lil family feud over because I need it every Friday to save our powerpoints for Ignite on.

I'm still debating on whether i'm going to tell Matt or not, I know he's going to make fun of me, I can see him rolling his eyes already.
Ok, i'm off to Ignite!

One word

2008-09-16T22:30:00.000-07:00

I found this on somebody else's blog and I'm bored so here it goes..

Your hair? growing
Your mother? Funny
Your father? Quiet
Your favorite thing? camera
Your dream last night? weird
Your dream/goal? mother
Your favorite drink? Sprite
The room you're in? living (room)
Your ex? highschool
Your hobby? Internet
Your fear? pain
Where do you want to be in 6 years? Happy!
Where were you last night? Shakey's
What you're not? Mean
Muffins? Chocolate
One of your wish list items? Shoes
Time? night
Where you grew up? Ontario (CA)
The last thing you did? changed
Favorite weather? Fall
What are you wearing? pj's
Your favorite book? Proverbs
Your TV? Basic
Your pet? None
Your computer? dying
Your mood? content
Missing someone? bro-n-law (he passed away)
Your car? Echo
Something you're not wearing? makeup
Favorite store? Target
Love someone? Mucho
Your favorite color/shade? Fuschia
Last thing you ate? Chips
Your life? Blessed
Your friends? Plenty
What are you thinking right now? Sleep
What are you doing at this moment? laughing (cause i'm watching america's funniest videos)
Your summer: CRAZY!
Your relationship status: married
What do you do when you can't sleep? movie
When is the last time you laughed? now
Last time you cried? yesterday

Checking in!

2008-09-15T23:34:00.000-07:00

Barb is so sweet, checking in on me. I haven't blogged much because I feel funny, I think i'm the only one that reads my blog! lol! Now I know i'm not the only one, (barb does too!). =)

I've been thinking that I need to post, and the title of my post would be: "Blessing in Disguise?"

And that title would be regarding getting laid off of my job. People keep asking me, are you bored yet? Have you started looking for a job? And the answer to both of those questions would be NO and umm, Kinda??. I am completely in love with being a SAHW (stay at home wife)! I wish I lived in the days of Leave it to Beaver where the wife stays home and cooks and cleans and takes care of her husband. Matt & I both like me being home, he says that it has brought us closer to together, and I think the same thing. God is really teaching me how to be a better wife thru me being home, our home is always clean (I heard somewhere that a clean de-cluttered home benefits a marriage), I am cooking more which = us staying home and eating together (before we'd always eat on the go/in the car because we were always rushed) also = us spending less money on restaurants & fast food, I have done so much organizing with all our stuff, I just love it all. We spend alot of quality time together it's awesome! I am grateful for this time of being able to stay home, a husband that supports me, and a God that has ALWAYS provided for us. I've been thinking how when a women has a baby she gets to stay home for a few months to take care of her baby, and I think well what if we never have a baby, this is MY time to take care of my husband & home! And what's wrong with that?? This is the first time that I have been off of work since we've been married. I cherish every day of this!

I've been praying about what God would have me to do when I do find a new job, because while God IS/HAS been providing for us these last few months since i've been out of work, our savings is slowly fading away. I'm looking into going to school to be an ultrasound tech, but first before I start all that, I want to see if: I would be comfortable doing it / I could handle it. So my friend's husband is hooking me up with an u/s tech from the hospital he works at so that I can take a tour and see what their days are like. If that doesn't work out I will find another office job, since I love administrative work anyways. I know Barb mentioned event planner, but living in L.A. I KNOW there are hundreds of VERY talented event planners out here. I'm way too intimidated by them! An assistant sounds good to me tho!

So while I am starting this new "season" in my life, if you happen to remember me in your prayer time, please say a prayer for me!

-Moni

Silly cakes

2008-09-15T23:24:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we had a combo birthday party for my niece and lil cousin. She turned 7 and he turned 11. My aunt made these cakes for them, she is by no means a professional, but I thought they were cute and different from our regular ole' Costco cakes we usually get.
A guitar for him...

and a gumball machine for her! My aunt used skittles as the gumballs which I think looked cute! And then my sis for some reason decided to fill the rest of it up with lifesaver gummies. I have no idea why she did that?? I think it looked better without them. =)

Baby Shower pics

2008-08-22T13:03:00.000-07:00

Doing this baby shower is something that I am very proud of myself for doing. It showed me that God has been working in me, changing me, bringing healing and I know it was 100% all God's strength in me. My friend M & I were trying to get pregnant, she got pg I didn't (still haven't). When I found out she was pg, it was super hard for me, I cried everyday for a long time. It was HARD. That's all I can say. As time went on, being the party & baby shower planner that I am, I kept thinking I can't do this one, I just can't do it, I know i'm not going to be able to, it's going to be too hard for me. I just KNEW that I wasn't going to do it. Well guess what, God had other plans, as time went on, the planning of this shower literally fell in my lap. It was either I do something or they have nothing. I just couldn't let that happen so I did everything I could to make it happen, I did all the decorations, me and another friend went around our young adults group and took signups from those that were willing to help out, my mom made all the food and it just flowed. I was sooo surprised at how great I felt, and how I WANTED it to be perfect for them. I KNEW it was God in me. The shower was held at our church in one of the rooms on the 2nd floor. I picked a color scheme that would match the room. Orange, blue and a lil bit of brown. We had it after a Friday night service and it went great!
The Room before everyone arrived: (2 friends helped me decorate during the day)

I made a banner of his name using scrapbook paper.

Another banner I made...

The Napkins ...

Cheapest favors EVER, I made personalized sticks of gum with the babys name.

A friend made these snacks: chocolate dipped oreos and pretzels and licorice.

the happy couple:

Me & Mish

mac video ?

2008-08-19T11:22:00.000-07:00

Does anyone know how I can add the slideshow to my blog of our Hawaii vacation? We made it on Matt's mac computer using ivideo. And we can view it in quicktime. Do I have to save it a certain way or upload it somewhere so I can post it on my blog??

Clueless in Cali

Chinese take-out anyone?

2008-08-16T17:37:00.000-07:00

I found this cute flower arrangement on this blog. I had to save it for a future party! It looks SO cute and super easy to make too.

p.s. I have our hawaii video to upload ...it's all done I just have to figure out how to post it. We made it on Matt's mac computer using the ivideo program.

p.s.s. We just had a baby shower yesterday for our pastor and his wife last night after church. I'll post pics as soon I get them. My dumb camera was acting up, so i'm waiting for my friends to send me their pics.

p.s.s. On the job front, I actually haven't even STARTED looking for a new job! lol. I LOVE being a SAHW! Our house is ALWAYS clean and there's never a dirty dish in the sink for longer than 10 minutes! I'm praying that God would give me some kind of clarity on what I should do...stay home/go to school, get a part time, get a full time....that IS once I start looking. For now i'm just enjoying being home/party planning/spending time with my fam/..... before I enter the work force again and probably never get this opportunity again unless I get pg!!

Hawaii Updates

2008-08-08T11:23:00.000-07:00

Ok I kept lagging on updating my blog because i've been partying it up, and then so much time went by I don't even know where to start. I guess I should start with Hawaii huh? ok. Hawaii.was.amazing.and.beautiful.and.sooooooo.relaxing!!!!!!!!! We had a wonderful time! Seriously. So my parents dropped us off at the airport in the wee early morning hours. We got there about 1 1/2 early because LAX is always crazy busy and you just never know. So while we waited, i browsed this super cute but expensive shop at the airport while matt chilled by our bags. Then we got some breakfast from Burger King and ate while we waited.

Our flight was right on schedule, we boarded around 8:15 and took off around 8:30, it was actually about 20 minutes early. Yay!

We arrived at about 11:30am! Alright!!

So we get our luggage, run out into the pouring rain, (yes it was humid and pouring)

it was kinda gross, we found the bus that we were supposed to take to the rental car place, it took what seemed like FOREVER, but we finally got our car. We drove into Waikiki and finally got to our hotel. From the time we landed to actually get into our room, no joke took like 3 hours, but we didn't care, we were in Hawaii together! So we get to our hotel, and they tell us that our room isn't ready so we check our luggage in and walk to Cheeseburgers in Paradise to share a meal. lol @ Matt, I think he was delirious in this picture, and he thinks i'm such a nerd when I take food pics.

Their cheeseburgers are sooo good and juicy and the bread is so soft, and the fries are so crispy and fresh! Yum! When we got back to our hotel, our room was all ready for us.

To be continued...our Anniversary dinner date later that evening.

Off to Hawaii!!

2008-07-20T01:36:00.000-07:00

Bye y'all, Matt & I are off to Hawaii in a few hours.

It's 1:30 am and I can't sleep because i'm so excited! Our flight leaves at 8:45am, so I dont know WHAT i'm still doing up! We are spending the night at my parents house because they're taking us to the airport in the morning. JoJo's (my 2 yr old nephew) right next to me, I need some cuddling time with him before I leave. I'm going to miss him SO much!! I left him a card telling him how much we love him, and inside I put a gift card to Dippin Dots for some ice cream for him. When we get back we're going to Sea World with all my family.

Tomorrow (well today now, Sunday) is our 5 year anniversary. We plan to go to dinner at Duke's Restaurant when we get there. I hope it works out!

"See" you guys in 7 days!

Hard Rock Cafe

2008-07-15T13:47:00.000-07:00

On Sunday I went out with my friends for one of my good friends Drea's birthday. We went to Universal City Walk and ate at Hard Rock Cafe Hollywood. There were about 9 of us that went-I love getting together with these girls because they are hilarious. You KNOW for sure that when you're with them you're going to be rollin' for sure. The waiter guy was laughing at us because about 5 of us ordered the "twisted mac, chicken & cheese" dish. It was so delish tho, I had my leftovers for dinner that night AND breakfast the next morning! The waiter asked us what we were there for and we told him it was Dre's birthday so he made her stand up and took her to the middle of the floor and shouted so loud to the whole restaurant that it was her "25th" b-day and on the count of 3, had everyone shout "HAPPY BIRTHDAY". It was so funny because she was so embarassed. haha!

Bobbye

packing my dish to go! =)

she was hating us.

the birfday girl!

Ignite Conference

2008-07-15T13:01:00.001-07:00

So this...

is where i'll be all week!! My church has Conference once a year, we have special guest speakers everyday, different bands/music everyday, awesome worship, 3 morning sessions and night sessions everyday for a week. This Conference is special because Ignite, the young adults services that we help oversee, is hosting it. Ignite has put their special touches, creativity and awesomeness into it! =) Our guys have been SO busy, spending endless hours at the church getting everything ready, and now it's finally here. The theme is The Strength of Generations, our head pastor has been putting alot of emphasis on preparing our generation for taking over the church, but this Conference is focusing on the younger and the older coming together. Our special guest speaker for Ignite is Pastor Lee Wilson from Georgia CA. He is high-larious!!

I'm excited for this week! And then on Sunday we leave for Hawaii! I've already started packing our clothes and stuff for our vacation. I've been on the search for tanks, shorts, bathing suits, so i've been hitting up Target, Marshall's, Wal-Mart and a few other stores. I think we're good to go! =)

4th of July

2008-07-14T23:50:00.000-07:00

I feel like I have been M.I.A. for awhile and even more busy than when I actually was working! It's funny how much i've been doing this past 2 weeks, and I haven't really been home and when I am home, i'm either cleaning or babysitting. fun! not. So I'll start with the 4th of July, it was so fun! We went with our friends to the park for a bbq. It was so nice to finally get out of the house and hang out with my friends, I hadn't hung out with the whole group for a LONG time. I even played volleyball, with my surgery n' all I hadn't played in awhile. I was sore later that night, but it was so worth it because we had so much fun. We played like 5 games in a row!

We didn't really have plans for the night as to where we would watch fireworks so we were just kinda playing it by ear to see what came up. So at the last minute we decided to go with our pastors/friends to Long Beach to watch the firework show at the Queen Mary. It was so fun! not. Long story short: we were supposed to watch the show on a friends boat, didn't work out, and we ended up missing the whole firework show after we all walked as fast as we could (because we had to park 3 huge blocks away because of the crowd), my friend being 7 months pg and me being slightly handicapped! We finally just sat down on the sidewalk because we were so exhausted!! All we could do was laugh about it after.

Thank God my family was at the same firework show because they gave us a ride back to our cars later that night.

Locks of Love

2008-07-01T17:11:00.001-07:00

So this past Friday my niece cut her longgg hair to donate to Locks of Love. It was her birthday weekend so I guess she wanted a change, ya know, turning 8 is a BIG thing these days. It was so cute, because she was so nervous, she kept talking about it the whole day before and all morning before Lauren got there. We (me and her mom) told her she would be fine, and it would grow back before she knew it. I was like dude it's gonna grow back! =) My hairstylist friend Lauren came over and did it at my casa, which was cool. Before:

During:

And after:

Since my sis (her mom) was at work, we drove to her job in Huntington Beach to meet her for lunch and so my niece could show off her new fresh do'. My niece LUV'D it and so did my sis. We picked up my sis and one of her coworkers and we went to this lil cafe called Monkey Cafe, it was SOOO cute!!

I had this grilled turkey sandwich that was so yummy! served with a side of salt & vinegar chips and some fresh lemonade. Just looking at this pic makes me drool all over again.

Yay for new haircuts and donating it!

New Project

2008-06-25T16:03:00.000-07:00

So we're having my dad a birthday/he just found out that he has 5 or 6 more medals entitled to him from his Vietnam days party. It's going to be July 12th. We are super proud of him, I mean he WAS only 19 with a pregnant 19 yr old wife at home, and went across the world to another country to fight a war to protect his country. I'm pretty dang proud of him. So anyways, it's going to be in a few weeks, at a park, more of a casual party, BUT I still want to do some special things for him, and decorate as much as I can being that I'm on a very tight budget now. I'll be doing a few DIY projects since i'm home all day. It's weird tho, because usually I dont have a problem with coming up with decorations/games for parties, but with this one i'm kinda stumped. I dont want it too 4th of July-ish, so i'm doing dark army green with red/white/blue but the antiquey-ish look (think pearl harbor days). These colors and look:

I have been searching the internet for days trying to get inspired, if you happen to come across any patriotic DIY ideas/crafts please let me know! I want to do something special for my dad too at the party, not sure what yet tho. Again if you have ideas please let me know! (Julie if you're reading this, I know you have ideas up your sleeve! Email me!)

Here is the invitation that I designed w/ Matt's photoshop skills. these are all pics of my dad back in the day:

Christina's B-Day

2008-06-24T17:37:00.001-07:00

Christina is one of my really close girl friend's.

She grew up in the church we attend, and when I came to the church at the age of 14 she was one of the first friends I met. I remember her coming up to me while I was standing with my mom and dad, and I turned around and she and another girl were standing there. They said "Hi" and introduced themselves. Every service after that she would invite me to sit with her or go to missionettes with her or youth group. She has held a huge role in my walk with God. She's been one of my best friends ever since, she even lived with me at my parents house for awhile before we both got married. On sunday we went out to eat for her 27th birthday with a few of our other friends. We went to Maggiano's restaurant at the Grove in L.A. We had so much fun! We reminisced about our high school days and laughed SOO much, I literally was doing the "ugly face laugh" from laughing so hard.
Me, Christina and her sis Lorena

Friends Drea & Angel

happy birthday to youuuuu

Fun was had by all! =)

Finally getting out and about...

2008-06-24T16:54:00.000-07:00

I've been able to get out a lil more and more as the days go by which is good, because i've been bored silly at home. On Friday night I went to my niece's softball game. It was cool because their games this past weekend were in a city called glendora which is about 20 minutes from where I live. Usually her games are too far for us to go to. I was pretty happy to go. I hate to brag but I just have to, she made it on an All Stars team, she's the only 12 yr. old while the rest of the team is 14 yrs old. Oh and one 13 year old. She's GOOD! She's at that age where you can embarass her really easily, so I love doing it. =) I shout out things like "Go Lovie", "WooHoo Lovie", "You Go Girl", "That's my niece!".

It's so fun, cause she just looks at me like, shutUP, my friends are going to hear you. haha. I rode w/ my mom and dad (Matt went to church) & JoJo and we met my sis, her husband and my other niece there. I picked up some In-N-Out and got my grub on all the while watching the game.

It was like 9 o'clock at night and it was still super hot.

Her coach gave her the game ball. They won, 6 to 1.

My lil JoJo and my niece.

The next day Matt & I went to her other game since it was in the same city. This is the only pic I got. But they won again. then after we went to eat with them at The Hat for some yummy pastrami's and chili cheese fries.

Shopping :)

2008-06-19T23:15:00.001-07:00

Today I went my friend Andrea to the mall to get a b-day gift. It was so nice to get out and spend some time with my friend + do a lil shoppin'. =) (even tho I think I did a lil too much walking for my poor body) Anyways, we went to Charlotte Russe, Forever 21, Aldo...where I bought these...

and then we hit up American Eagle and I bought 2 pair of MUCH needed jean capri/shorts for myself.

Then I met Matt at my moms house, we stayed there for awhile, then brought my niece & nephew over and they went swimming.

It was a nice day! =)

I'm it!

2008-06-19T00:34:00.000-07:00

I was tagged by Miss and I totally forgot until right now as I was reading her blog. Sorry Miss!

The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then go to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. What was I doing ten years ago? Well, ten years ago I was 17, aww I LOVED being 17! It was one of my favorites ages because I was young enough to still be considered a teen and get spoiled by my mom, but at the same time in my mind I was almost 18, which meant I was an "adult". I was graduating high school that year and was having SO much fun with my friends, going places, having a lil more freedom, graduating from "missionettes" (church ministry) and getting promoted into new "grown up" ministry such as projector girl, usherette...etc. I dont know why, but I always say being 17 was one of my favorite ages. =)

2. Five things on my to do list for today: Since it's so late at night and already Thursday (it's 1am) , i'll do my list for Thursday 6/19.
1. Sleep in as usual, my sleeping schedule is all messed up these days, I stay up really late at night and then sleep in the next day. I'm trying to fix that tho.
2. Put away all our clean clothes that I just washed.
3. For the first time since everything i'm going to attempt to go out with my friend Drea to the mall to buy my other friend Christina a birthday gift. Her b-day is on Saturday.
4. My to do list isn't very big as you can tell, so i'm trying to make stuff up now. Umm, go to my mom's house and wait for Matt to get out of work since it's been SO hot and our condo is hotter than Hades!
5. Attempt to make something easy for dinner that doesn't require the oven. Who am I kidding? I'm sure we'll stay at my moms house until it cools down and she'll "make" us eat her dinner.

3. Snacks I enjoy: I'm not really a snacky type of person, unless it's already sitting in front of me... but anyways lately i've been loving sherbert ice cream! I also like chips and dip/ranch/cream cheese&salsa, spinach dip in a sourdough bread bowl, watermelon, and I love chewy sour candy. Oh and I love Pepsi because it makes me burp really loud.

4. Things I would do if I was a billionaire: I would help my church in a ginormous way, buy a house for us, buy our parents and siblings houses, buy my aunt patty a new pad or do a complete homemakeover to her house cuz I think she really does like living in Compton =), help family in need, help those who need funds to adopt or those who need $$$$ for fertility treatment, and basically I would just love to help people with needs. Oh and go on vacations with my hubby and send my sisters on nice vacations with all their kiddies!! And of course support my parents so that they would never have to worry about $$ ever again!

5. Places I have lived: Ontario CA, Whittier CA, La Mirada CA

6. People I want to know more about, ie meaning TAG! YOU'RE IT!

OK, I dont even know who to tag! I have like 2 blog friends! I don't know who reads my blog, if anybody does! If you read my blog, please feel free to tag yourself, but let me know so I can feel all special, and read about you! =)

Father's Day

2008-06-16T18:39:00.000-07:00

Father's Day was pretty chill. We had a bbq at my parents house with my 2 of my sisters & their husbands and kids. My mom made steak, baked potatoes, and macaroni salad. It was delish! It was so hot, all the kids were playing on the slip & slide in the front yard, and the rest of us just chilled out in the front room or in the patio. We got my dad a card and cash. Matt went to Palm Springs to visit his dad for awhile, he said it was like 111 degrees over there! I would've fainted!!
Here's some pics...
hehehe...my niece catching some zzzz's

oh to be a kid again!

the dad's...

my pappy...

sweaty betty

GO LAKER'S!!!!!

by the way...

2008-06-16T12:25:00.000-07:00

If you've previously emailed me at my job email, you can now email me at moniluvsmatt@hotmail.com

Kicking someone when they're already down

2008-06-16T10:22:00.000-07:00

That's what my job is really good at. So i've been off of work since I had surgery, and Friday my job decides to lay me off. How sad is that. Just kick me when i'm down why dontcha? Surprisingly, I didn't even cry, wasn't even sad, it must be part of God's plan for me because I had such a peace. I'm not sure what it is, but these last few weeks have been off the wall. I was surprised at how they laid me off, but that's another story. it was pretty shady, especially after i've been working for them for 7 years! I just couldn't see how they could do that to me WHILE I was out on surgery leave.

Oh well, I had been feeling that it was time to move on lately. I want to do something that I enjoy. I love crafts, I love party planning, I love planning events, heck, I told Matt I would be elated to even work at Michael's craft store! But for now, i'm going to focus on getting better before I look for anything.

Pray for me please!

Romo Family Reunion

2008-06-11T15:41:00.000-07:00

I ended up going to my family reunion even tho I really didn't "feel" like it. I knew that if I didn't go I would feel even worse. I ended up having a nice time, met lots of family, hung out with old family, grubbed and soaked in the fresh warm weather. It was held at a regional park, so we had a huge area all to ourselves. It was from 10am-7pm, and we got there around 2 and stayed til 7.

Here's some pics from the festivities. I can't wait to get the pics the real photographer took because mine suck (well the group ones do).

My 3 sisters - their husbands (- 1 that didn't make it) and my parents.

I was soo jealous that I couldn't play volleyball with all the cousins! =( I'm usually the first and last one out there playing. I LOVE volleyball!

So I sat on the side playing with baby Nick.

lil love bug!

my cousin Mia playing games...

My mom and aunt playing horseshoes.

Me and my cutie pie gramma.

ALL the 1st & 2nd cousins...

Me w. my sisters...

me and my boo... =)

All the Romo Girls...1st cousins...

my nieces and nephews...

me and my jojo who obviously wasn't feelin it.

My sis and my niece Penny

My parents with all their kids and grandkids..

My parents with all their grandkids...
nicknames: Lovie, Lulu, Nickle, Vaness, Reya, Lalo, JoJo, Serg, Penny & Desi.

THE END... =)

Been under the weather

2008-06-02T16:48:00.000-07:00

So I haven't updated my blog in awhile. I had a lil minor surgery 2 weeks ago and i'm still recovering. While I "feel" fine, my wound is still healing. I've been rather slumpish, and have barely even been on my computer. I've been feeling better tho, and God has been showing me that things could be way worse, as much as III feel like what I went thru was pretty sucky. I've been staying at my mom's house (matt too) so I've been having alot of family time which is good.

This weekend is our big Family Reunion for all my family on my dad's side. I pray i'm completely miraculously healed by then! I'm excited to go and see all my family and meet family I've never met. It's going to be Hawaiian themed so I need to find something to wear. There's going to be a pro. photographer there and entertainment for the kids, games, prizes, volleyball, etc.. I know it's going to be so much fun!

my weekend

2008-05-18T14:10:00.001-07:00

What a hot day today is!!! and what an exhausting weekend I had! It's been super busy. Friday night we had Ignite and then my niece & nephew spent the night. Saturday morning we got up early(!) and I went to my parents house to have a yard sale while Matt went to Men's Discipleship at church. All I wanted to make was at least $50 at my yard sale for my haircut that day, and I made more than double that! Schweeeeeeeet!! I FINALLY got a much needed pedicure and haircut later on that day. Then in the night we went to Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. for my friend Michelle's birthday. We went to the one by the beach, and sat on the patio area, the weather was perfect at 8pm-not too warm and not too cool. We had a good time and about 20 of our friends showed up. This morning (Sunday) we went to 1st service at 9am then I worked in the 2's & 3's class, came home & cleaned up... and now i'm exhausted! The kids in our class kept us busy! Now i'm laying on my couch waiting for my sis to come over with her kids so we can go swimming. ::sigh:: It's HOT outside!!

2008-05-14T14:51:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share one of my favorite scriptures. I love scriptures that make me feel beautiful, not what what the world defines as "beautiful", but a pure Godly beauty, so perfect in Him.

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”- Psalm 139:13-14

So out of shape...

2008-05-14T09:25:00.000-07:00

Our young adults group got together and each of us invited somebody new or someone we just met, it's called "Connect". This month we played a game of softball...so on Monday night we all got together at the park and played. Ok, so how come I'm allll sore today as if I played pro baseball?? My legs are aching! lol. I'm so pathetic!! We had fun tho, so that's all that matters! The weather has been crazy here, that day was cold and gloomy. (and today is supposed to be in the upper 80's! ??)
cheeeeese!

picking daisies in the outfield..

Matt very excited to finally get there (he was stuck in a meeting at work)..

Lifehouse Skit

2008-05-12T15:08:00.000-07:00

A few months ago one of the girls that goes to our young adults church asked if her and a few of her classmates from college could come and put on a "skit" for us. They got the idea from this video on youtube. This skit is SOOO powerful! It had everyone in tears. It just reminded me of how much Jesus fights for me even when I can't see it. Trials may come our way, but we have to keep the faith and keep fighting!!!

It can easily be duplicated, so if you have youth or young adults, you should do it for your church too. I know many people were encouraged by it and even got saved thru it!

Special times...

2008-05-12T10:10:00.000-07:00

Although this past weekend was a bit hard, I definitely felt the prayers of my friends that told me they were praying for us to have a good time. Thank you my special friends! =) The weekend was filled with making memories and spending time with some VERY special people. On Saturday afternoon we got to our hotel, checked in, and immediately went and hung out by the pool, it was 95 degrees and perfect! Ok, it was actually really hot, but it felt good. Then we went to our niece's 4th princess birthday party and got to see a bunch of Matt's family that we hadn't seen in awhile since we don't get to go down there very often. (Palm Springs is 2 hours from us) Everyone invited us to the grandparents house the next morning for breakfast and a surprise mariachi band for their grandma. So that morning we went over there and it was cool because all the family was there, his parents, bro's and sisters, and a bunch of cousins. We ate, hung out and listened to the music til about 2..
This is Matt's grandparents...they are SO cute and SO in love. His grandpa has developed alzheimer's so he depends on her alot, and she takes such good care of him. I love to just sit and watch them interact, she has such patience explaining who is who to him, he looks around for her if she walks away for a few seconds, and then he takes her hand as they walk. They are so cute!

Matt's mom with her 4 sons...(her 2 daughters live out of state)

Then we went to my grandma's house for the rest of the day..
All the women chit chatting outside...

My niece trying to hide from my camera

Some of my family on my dad's side. My dad has 4 sisters and 2 brothers. So this is the 4 brothers and 2 sisters, and some of their kids, and some of their kids! Look at all the girls! We totally rule!

My grandma....I LOVE my grandma! She is thee most precious, loving, nicest, sweetest, bravest, strongest woman I know! Just looking at her makes me smile from ear to ear. When she sees me she always says, "aww my lil Monicita, look at you, oh you always looks so pretty", ok I know that's what grandma's are supposed to say, but I don't care, she always makes me feel so good. She's faced breast cancer and won! She's my hero! I LOVE her!
Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her. Proverbs 31:28
My grandpa passed away 10 years ago, but he adored her just the same.
She's gorgeous!

I look like her huh?? huh?? Don't I??

She's sooo cute!!
.
how precious! My gramma w/ my nephew Nicholas.

lol! Us girls played the White Elephant game, and my sister wrapped her gift in a Victoria's Secret bag, but in the bag was some chocolates and a candy vase. But it was hilarious to see my gramma holding the bag. I don't even think she knows what V S is!

My lil big jojo!

We looove each other!

I had a very nice day! My sister even gave me a "you're going to be a good mom one day" gift. I didn't open it til I got home last night, but it was thee cutest bag w/ red hawaiian flowers on it. Perfect for Hawaii! p.s. We watched August Rush last night with my gramma, omg that movie is SO good! If you haven't seen it, PLEASE go rent it!!

going thru old pics

2008-05-08T09:56:00.000-07:00

So I was just going thru some of my old pictures right now from 2 different family parties that I had. I hope you guys don't mind, but I'm about to bombard my blog with pictures!

These 2 are just random pics:
Flip flop cake that my aunt made for my cousins birthday:
I love it!

Donut cake that my sis put together for my niece's birthday.
Cute and EASY! Krispy Kreme donuts=Yum!

Please vote for my friend!

2008-05-06T10:47:00.000-07:00

Please vote for my friend Melissa's photo that she entered into a "motherhood" contest. She's one of the finalists and almost in the lead! Her photo IS beautiful and even if she wasn't my friend I would've voted for her picture anyways! =) It only takes a second to vote and you don't have to sign up or anything. Just click HERE and vote for Bill, Miss and Brood - you vote at the bottom of the page.

THANKS!!

Slumber Party Girls!

2008-05-05T10:05:00.000-07:00

I'm back and alive! lol! So Saturday night was my nieces' slumber party at my place. I had so much fun decorating, and I didn't spend alot of money at all, we even did our part in "recyling". My friend was going to throw away her pom poms from her daughters birthday, but instead she gave them to me to use. She even let me borrow her paper flowers which I put in different vases and placed them around in different areas. I used alot of things that I already had/found in my craft closet. My niece Sureya said she had alot of fun and she thanked me for letting her have her party there. How cute! The other girls had so much fun too (I think!)!! My sister (her mom), my 19 yr old niece Vanessa and my other sister came to help me. Here's some pics from the party, (also a tour of our tiny condo):
My other sister and my nieces decorated my sisters van that morning, then Sureya and my sis picked up all the girls for the party in the "party van".

My home and all the decor...I made sure to take pics before all the girls arrived.

The letters to spell her name I bought from Michaels.
The "vases" with the forks/straws/spoons were empty aluminum cans from my mom.
I had a cute roll of wrapping paper that I measured and cut and wrapped around the cans.

I used the same roll of wrapping paper and wrapped the water bottles.

Favors for the girls to take home. (these boxes I had leftover from my mom's party)

Each box had a lip gloss and different colored hair bands.
The lil confetti's....I bought 2 different sheets of scrapbook paper from Michael's and then I hole punched them with a circle hole punch and scattered them around. super cheap and cute confetti!

Each girl got a pair of flip flops. (found at 99 cent store!)

I made these candy skewers.
I just bought different gummy candy and skewers ($2 for 100). cheap and fun!

Goodie cups for the girls to take home. The butterflies are from Martha, I used the same paper as the confetti and whatever other colors Ihad at home. They were SUPER easy to make and you can find them here.

Happy Birthday banner I made on my computer.

Sprite and orange sherbert drinks! Yum!!

Doesn't everyone love funfetti cupcakes??

the paper flowers from my friend. She made them out of streamers!

First the girls went swimming..

Then they went inside for pedicures by Vanessa...

Brit getting pampered...

Enjoying their fun drinks...Vanessa made them smoothies!

it isn't a slumber party without pizza and popcorn!

Yum!!!

My crazy sister giving them a mouth full of whipped cream! lol!

Happy Birthday to Youuuuu!

(front room) and slumber area...

The next morning...eating waffles topped with vanilla ice cream/strawberries/whipped cream.
Look who spent the night with all the girls...lil Nick!

p.s. After church yesterday you bet I spent the whole day lounging around at home!! zzzzz!!

::doing the running man::

2008-05-01T15:05:00.000-07:00

Remember when I posted in my 100 things post about having knots in my stomach just thinking about Mother's Day? Well, they're still there. My stomach hurts just thinking about walking in church, seeing all the young mommy's so happy with their babies (and boy do we have ALOT at my church), receiving whatever beautiful thing they're handing out at the door for them, giving testimonies about their happy lives (not saying mine isn't happy, it's just missing something). I know this sounds completely selfish, maybe even foolish, but i've gone to too many of these services and put on a very big smile and have been genuinely happy for all of them. but. I just can't this time.

Soooooo........

I'm not even sure if Matt knows how i'm feeling or maybe he's feeling the same way, but we made plans. And I'm excited!

That Saturday we're going to Palm Springs, checking in our beautiful hotel room -that we JUST booked!- hang out, swim, lay out, eat, relax(!), then go to our niece's birthday party (in Palm Springs). After the party we'll go back to our hotel, spend the night and in the morning we'll take his mom out for breakfast. She lives in the next city over. Then we'll go to my grandma's house where all my sisters and my mom will be. Perfect!

Check out our bomb diggity hotel!

as if i'm really going to cook something! It's still nice to look at!

It's a suite!

That pool is calling my name...

New mission:

2008-05-01T10:19:00.000-07:00

My next birthday party to plan! This Saturday is my niece's 10 yr. birthday and guess what? She's having her first slumber party and it's at my place!!! I have kicked Matt umm I mean asked Matt to stay at my mom's for the night so we could have some major girly time. My niece is super excited and I kinda am -ok fine, I am too! I have already started decorating my lil condo to make it bright and fun. Plus i'm on a search for fun games/crafts and cute girly decorations!
Pray for Me! She invited 8 girls!

Daily Tip

2008-05-01T08:33:00.000-07:00

This is a good one, I will always try to remember this:
Generally speaking, you can't help morning breath or moments of being rather rumpled because of life (it's humanly impossible to look and smell pretty 24/7). That said, don't let the familiarity that comes with years of marriage cause you to slide in your effort to be fresh and pretty for your husband.
I'm not suggesting the impossible. I remember those baby days when I struggled to get a shower by the end of the day or days when I hit the floor running because of work demands. Life does happen and hubbies need to understand the pull of responsibilities. I'm just encouraging a certain amount of self care so that we are healthy and so that we can be a pleasing partner to our spouse.

... the fragrance of your breath [is] like apples, and your mouth like the best wine!
Song of Songs 7:8b-9

Oh Olive Garden how I love thee,

2008-05-01T08:24:00.000-07:00

Last night after church me, Matt, my mom and niece went to Olive Garden. I haven't been there in awhile, I forgot how goooood their salad, soup and breadsticks were! I feel like such a heffer today! =0 You can never go there and say you're just going to eat a soup & salad. I ate like 5 breadsticks dipped in alfredo sauce, aannddd some of my mom's pizza, plus my salad & soup. Can you say big guurrrrlll??
Just to make you drool on your keyboard...=)

Aaaa-choo!!

2008-04-29T09:59:00.000-07:00

As soon as we pulled into the parking lot for the Fish Fest (on Sunday) Matt immediately starts sneezing. And so it begins. The verizon amphitheatre was apparently built in pollenville. So we get there, walk to our seats and sit down to enjoy the concert, but it wasn't enjoyable AT ALL. Matt's eyes are watering, he's sneezing up a storm, and his nose is dripping. I thought to my selfish self "oh no, please don't let him start", he's known to get bad allergy attacks, so I start praying really fast: "Pleaaase God bring healing, please don't let him have an allergy attack, please give me half (or more since men are babies, lol) of what he's feeling, then at least I won't feel bad if we have to go home, because i'll know what he's feeling". Weird prayer? Well then I, the one who never has gotten allergies, start sneezing and my nose starts running. It was almost funny. but not. We're trying to stay as long as possible to try and get some of our money's worth, all the while sneezing on each other. To top it off it was hotter than heck out there, 90 something degrees. Matt was completely miserable, so after a few bands we headed home. =( We did make it thru Sixpence, Superchicks, and most of Rebecca St. James.

Sixpence

Rebecca St. James (Melissa, for some reason she was reminding me of you the whole time-I think you resemble her)

Rebecca's 2 brothers that sang with her.

Pollenville

All night and even yesterday we were still suffering! It was crazy! Now I know what Matt and all you allergy sufferers go thru all the time!

Feather wreath

2008-04-28T16:10:00.000-07:00

I found this feather wreath on this blog. I thought it was super cute! I'll have to make one for the next bridal or baby shower.

sad

2008-04-25T17:44:00.000-07:00

We got news yesterday that our friend D's 11 yr old son passed away yesterday. He was riding his bike when a car hit him. D goes to our young adults church, we will see him tonight. As you can imagine he is taking it very very hard. Keep him in your prayers for God's comfort and strength.

I did it!

2008-04-25T14:22:00.000-07:00

I changed the look of my blog! I love the look of white blogs, they look so fresh and easy on the eyes. I think i'm in love......

Fish Fest!!

2008-04-24T09:23:00.000-07:00

I'm SO excited, Matt "surprised" me with tickets (ok i've only been begging him to buy them and threatening that I would go alone, haha) to the Fish Fest concert and it's this Sunday!! It's only once a year and I loooove going. The FF is a big o' Christian concert put on by the Fish radio station. Here's the list of some of my faves that are going to be there: Jeremy Camp, Rebecca St. James, Superchick, Hawk Nelson!, KJ-52, aannnddd the reunion of Sixpence None the Richer!!!

I.CANNOT.WAIT. - 3.MORE.DAYS.

K & Z's wedding

2008-04-21T16:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday (3/20) was our friends K&Z's wedding! It was such a beautiful day, thank God there weren't any "April showers" for them! We had the privelege of standing beside them in their wedding. Everything turned out perfect, and the bride & groom seemed pleased with their day! =) Here's some pics:
The Beautiful Bride

The Happy Couple

Their cake (made by same cake friend)

Me and Rach

hubba hubba! ooh lala!!

Me and Mr. Handsome

After I just finished stuffing my face with some yummy chocolate cake!

Me w/ K!

I wish this pic would've came out! It was wayyy too dark.

Just had to add a pic of the back of my hair, I loved the way Lauren did it, it was a low side "bun".

After the wedding, me and Matt went to say hi to our lil guy jojo!

lol! somebody's a big cheeseball!

ABC's

2008-04-18T16:03:00.000-07:00

Since I am about to DIE of boredom, I found this on somebody else's blog and decided to steal it. So all 3 of you that read my blog, tag you're it! Steal it from my blog and answer it on yours!

Do you know your ABCs?

A: Attached or Single? Attached

B: Best Friend? I have a few, all in different ways...Matt 1st, and then friends that I met at church years ago!...Christina, Michelle, Drea & Rach

C: Cake or Pie? Chocolatey cake

D: Day of Choice? Saturday

E; Essential Item? flat iron

F: Favorite Color? Fuschia

G: Gummy Bears or Worms? Gummy worms

H: Hometown? Ontario, Cali.

I: Indulgence? Crab legs, I loooove crab legs w/ lots of butter & lemon.

J: January or July? July, it's our anniversary!

K: Kids? No kids yet, but I love other people's kids!

L: Life isn’t complete without? Jesus & family

M: Marriage date? 7/20/03

N: Number of brothers and sisters? 3 sisters

O: Oranges or apples? Oranges

P: Phobias and fears? Death of a loved one.

Q: Quote? I know that I'm a Princess my Father is the King of Kings. and "He that gossips to you, will be a gossip of you."

R: Reason to smile? Babies! Not when they're crying tho! =)

S: Season of choice? Spring

T: Tag three people? Melissa, Lauren & Jayme

U: Unknown fact about me? I've been at my job for 7 yrs. Matt & I co-lead a young adults group called Ignite on Friday nights.

V: Vegetable? Broccoli (steamed)

W: Worst habit? Undressing super fast whenever I get home, and not putting my clothes away til the next day.

X: X-ray or Ultrasound? Huh? Ultrasound??

Y: Your favorite food? Mexican

Z: Zodiac sign? ??

Shout to the Lord!

2008-04-16T13:28:00.000-07:00

Last week on American Idol it was their Idols Give Back show. At the end of the show the idols sang Shout to the Lord! THEN they sang it again the next day as the opening song. I couldn't believe it! I loved it!! They sang it SOOO pretty, it was truly anointed. I could just picture God and the angels rejoicing! I just had to add it to my blog so I could listen to it anytime I want.

Generous Wife Daily Tip

2008-04-16T08:37:00.000-07:00

Respect your husband's needs and wishes. We all know what our husbands like and and dislike (if you really don't know something, ask). If loud music bothers him first thing in the morning, play something softer (or nothing at all). If he likes a particular brand of toothpaste, buy that brand. Let him know that what he likes and wants matters to you.
... give preference to one another in honor. Romans 12:10

Bowling for Jesus!

2008-04-15T10:11:00.000-07:00

lol, I love saying that, I don't know why. But our young adults group (Ignite) just started something called Connect. It's basically where we go on outings once a month, and invite someone who recently started coming to church or just got saved. It's a place where we can get to know new converts outside of the church atmosphere and more on a one-on-one basis. These past few months we have been going bowling. It's so fun even tho I pretty much suck at it. But it's fun getting to know everyone!

That's my big ole' bootie!

Girls just wanna have fun!

2008-04-14T15:20:00.000-07:00

So Saturday was my friend's bridal shower. She's getting married this Sunday!! Matt & I are in thieir wedding too! =) I don't have any pics of the actual shower because I didn't have my camera with me but I do have pics of the goodies that I made for the party. I made sure to take pics of them beforehand.

I got this cookie idea from a girl on a cooking message board, but I just changed all the colors and designs.
I love how they came out!

Ouch! lol

I love these lil favors, because they're so easy to make! I just change each design according to
the theme of each party. These have lil bra's on them.

Chocolate covered pretzels w/ pink sprinkles.

Daily Tip

2008-04-14T10:03:00.000-07:00

Give your husband a hug and kiss for "no reason" (though a serious or silly reason works well too).
I will give you my love. Song of Songs 7:12

generous wife tip for the day

2008-04-13T09:31:00.000-07:00

from the generous wife emails:
Pray that your husband would be protected against temptation. Pray against the blatant and subtle things that would pull him off balance in his walk with the Lord (you might also spend a moment or two in prayer for those women who have unbelieving husbands, where the battle is a bit tougher in this area).
No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13

:::Yawning really big:::

2008-04-12T21:50:00.000-07:00

I am sooo tired right now, today was LONG and HOT!! Now I have a total headache and i'm exhausted! Man I can just imagine how summer is going to be! I need to keep hydrated because around 7 (while I was at the bridal shower) I started feeling dizzy. I have some pics to post from both showers today, but I don't have my camera with me. I need to go to bed!!!

JoJo's 2nd Birthday!

2008-04-11T09:36:00.000-07:00

So y'all know all about our love for our godson/nephew jojo already right? Well he just turned 2 a few weeks ago! We actually celebrated his b-day a few times, once with his mom & dad & siblings we went to Chuck E Cheese, once with all the family at the park for a bbq, and then me and Matt took him to Disneyland! He looooves Disneyland, he's already been there 4 or 5x and he's only 2! Lucky kid! Here are some pics from his 2nd birthday!!
Chuck E Cheese

Birthday Party at the Park!

JoJo with grampa! (my dad)

JoJo with his bro's and sisters

Disneyland!!

On the tram to get to D-land!

"Lady please! Enough with the pictures!"

Mickey's Playhouse show

Me and JoJo!

Enjoying the scenery....just chillaxin'.

Buzz lightyear ride!

Lil guy in a big world...

The teacups were sooooooooooo fun!!

He loooved this ride, and Matt was spinning us SO fast!

The End! Thanks for looking!

TGIF!!

2008-04-11T09:23:00.000-07:00

Yay, it's Friday and the weekend is here! I feel like I am at the starting line of a race and i'm about to take off! I have a busy busy weekend ahead of me! Tonight we have our young adults church to attend (Ignite) and we usually don't get home til about 11ish. Then tomorrow I have a baby shower for my good friend at 1:30, which I'm really excited about because I haven't seen this friend in awhile. Then at 4:30 I am going to a bridal shower for my friend Kristina. This is the wedding that Matt & I are in. I'm taking a few desserts too so I have to make sure I have that all ready tonight! Oy! I already bought everything I need to make everything, plus I dipped the pretzels last night so that's done! Sunday morning we have church, THEN it's our really good friends Daniel & Christina's son's 1st birthday! I also have a hair appointment at 3:30, my hair is in need of some major lovin'. It's pathetic.
Thank God for good weather tho! It's supposed to be around 84 on Saturday and 87 on Sunday! I wish I could go to the beach and layout, but unless I plan on going at 6am tomorrow morning there just isn't really time for that!

Please vote..

2008-04-09T14:32:00.000-07:00

on my poll to the right.
Thanks!

"Everything Changed"

2008-04-09T13:29:00.000-07:00

So this post is about my friend Luwann. She goes to my church and sings on the worship team, and has been saved for 11 years now. I've known her for years. She recently had a documentary about her life done by a guy named Bobby Marquez. Knowing Luwann now I can't even BELIEVE the struggles that she went thru, she seems so polished and well put together and above all has an amazing relationship with God, her mom and her sister. She is an awesome friend and prayer partner, with a big heart. Please take a look at the trailers and see for yourself the miracle of how God can take a good for nothing drug addicted person off the streets and turn them into a beautiful person doing what the Creator has called her to do.
Note: These are trailers for the upcoming documentary called "Everything Changed".

www.youtube.com/faithworksprod

Another baby shower...

2008-04-09T10:48:00.000-07:00

Another post of long overdue pictures! This was a baby shower for my sister's LAST baby! My sister had a super hard year so my mom, her bff & I decided to have her a lil something. Since she already had everything she needed from her previous baby, we did a small Diapees & Wipees Shower for her. Instead of any type of gifts we just asked (in a very cute poem) for either diapers or wipees for the new baby. (it was mostly family and close friends so they didn't mind that) The invitation had a picture of a pregnant lady on it and it said "This girl needs a party!"
Banner that I made with the baby's name. (after my dad) It's actually Nicholas but I didn't feel like doing the whole name! lol shhh.

Dessert table..

Strawberries & brownies that our friend made. They were delish!

kinda lopsided diaper cake that I made.

favors...cookies!

Game prizes (each filled with 1 gift card to various places)

Me!

Trying to get the full effect of how pretty it looked with the lights.

Me and my sister's bff. It was thee hottest day in August hence my red face.

My sis & her bff.

The Zam clan opening their gifts.

Sorry baby those aren't for you! =)

Just to show you how long ago that shower was, this is baby Nicholas on Easter! =)

My friend's daughter's b-day party...

2008-04-08T14:52:00.000-07:00

was so cute! It was the costume party invitation from a few posts down below. Me and my other friend went to her house a few nights before and helped her make some of the pom pom decorations. They're so easy too!

sorry it's so smoky!

My niece & nephew

pretty pom poms!

cute girly paper flower arrangements...

My friend makes amazing cakes! And she just started out! And she taught herself! I'm impressed!

Without God

2008-04-08T13:44:00.001-07:00

My niece just texted this to me and I thought it was cute...

Just remember without GOD our week would be Mournday, Tearsday, Wasteday, Thirstday, Fightday, Shatterday & Sinday!

My 100 things!!

2008-04-08T11:49:00.000-07:00

If you have a blog...I am tagging you to do the same! I want to know your 100 things! =)

1. I am a very personal person so this making this blog is stepping out of my boundaries big time.
2. I used to be SUPER shy.
3. I used to get homesick from my mom every time I went somewhere.
4. But once I became a Christian and got saved God broke me out of my shell.
5. I could spend hours in Target.
6. I could go in not really needing anything and walk out spending anywhere from $30-$70.
7. I LOVE Hallmark!
8. I spend hours picking out that perfect card for family & friends.
9. I wish I was a scrapbooker.
10. I could search the internet ALLLL day looking at anything related to party events or weddings.
11. I LOVE invitations, receiving them, making them, buying them, whatever. I have packs of invitations in my closet waiting to be used.
12. I became a Christian when I was 15.
13. I didn’t know ANYTHING about Christianity until I started going to church at 14.
14. I used to drink before I got saved. (How did I get it???)
15. I don’t drink alcohol at all anymore ever since I got saved. I believe that wine is a mocker and beer a brawler. (Proverbs 20:1)
16. I hate to be around people that are drinking. I guess that’s what happens when you grew up around a bunch of drinkers.
17. I don’t smoke.
18. My husband is 3 years older than me.
19. He liked me when I was still in high school, I always tease him about that. (I had no clue he liked me tho)
20. He didn’t approach me until after he finished college. (I still had no clue)
21. I had thee hugest crush on him for a LONG time!
22. At my 18th birthday party my dad made this sign that said something like, “If you want to date my daughter you have to go thru me first”. He actually had it out at my party and held it up, I was sooooooooooo embarrassed.
23. My mom, sisters and friends thought it was SO funny. I didn’t.
24. My dad fought in the Vietnam War.
25. So did my mom’s 2 brothers.
26. 1 of her brothers didn’t make it home. =( he was only 21.
27. Matt’s 21 year old cousin recently died in the Iraq war.
28. My mom took it so hard when Matt’s cousin died, I think it brought back so many memories of her brother.
29. I think my mom is the strongest person I know.
30. I LOVE my family!
31. And I am madly in love with my nieces and nephews.
32. I love having them over to spend the night too!
33. Me and Matt are totally completely in love with our godson. He makes us SOO happy and can change our moods to happy in an instant.
34. I love that my sister and her husband let us take him wherever and whenever we want.
35. I wish I knew how to cook better.
36. I can only make the basics. Tacos, enchiladas, spaghetti, lemon chicken…
37. I can eat chicken everyday.
38. I love finding new EASY healthy recipes.
39. I feel like I need to lose a few pounds.
40. My husband is thee most calm and understanding person I know.
41. He’s also the nicest guy I’ve ever met.
42. I knew he was going to be a good husband because of the way he treated his mom and his sisters adore him.
43. Our wedding day was the first time we ever kissed each other.
44. Our wedding night was also a first for both of us.
45. I love that about us. I hope we are an example to the teens or young couples at church (or in life).
46. I can’t wait to become a mommy.
47. Just thinking about Mother’s Day in a few weeks makes my stomach turn.
48. All I keep thinking about is how I’m going to get thru church service that day.
49. And I find myself hoping I wake up sick that morning and can’t go to church.
50. I never get sick. Unless it’s cramps.
51. But then I feel bad because it’s a day to celebrate my mom and sisters too.
52. I just want it to hurry up and come and be over with.
53. I know my husband is going to be the best dad ever!
54. I have this scripture taped on my computer. Psalm 113:9
55. I’m not much of a talker, not that I don’t like to talk tho.
56. My husband talks more than I do!
57. I could burp scaringly LOUD! Especially when I drink Pepsi!
58. I don’t know why I just thought of that.
59. My husband hates it!
60. I LOVE accessories! Bracelets, earrings, necklaces….
61. Buying even ONE of the above things makes me so happy.
62. My favorite accessory store is Forever 21.
63. I love browsing craft stores, I could walk thru Michael’s whole store 5x without getting bored.
64. I’ve been working at my job for 7 years and I am completely bored with it now.
65. I would rather work at Michael’s! (that’s how much I love party supplies/craft stores)
66. I can’t wait for our vacation in july!
67. When I was younger (3rd 4th & 5th grade) I used to looooove to read. I loved reading Baby Sitters Club & Ramona Quimby books!
68. I don’t read as much as I did when I was younger. I wish I did.
69. I need book suggestions.
70. I didn’t go to college and I don’t regret it.
71. Sometimes I think about going to a trade school tho but I’m not sure what for.
72. I sometimes wonder how I would’ve turned out if I would’ve been “one of those girls” that went away to college right after high school and stayed in a dorm.
73. I hate cats!! I think they’re evil. (sorry if this offends anyone)
74. My perfect date night would be to go eat at Maggiano’s and then walk around The Grove in L.A.
75. I love driving around Beverly Hills and looking at all the mansions with Matt.
76. The other night around 9:30pm Matt took me to drive around and check out all the beautiful homes and walk the pier on Balboa Island in Newport Beach. It was SOOOOO nice and peaceful.
77. I love to listen to worship music!
78. I went to England on a mission trip when I was 17. It was such an experience!
79. I also went to Puerto Rico on a mission trip when I was 22. Matt didn’t go because he was saving for my engagement ring. He proposed a few weeks after I came home.
80. I thought the party that Matt proposed at was a birthday party for my sister.
81. It wasn’t. It was an engagement party for us. I guess he was pretty sure I would say yes right? Heehee
82. I hardly ever drink coffee. Maybe like 1-2x a month. I love it though!
83. I LOVE my church! All my friends there are more like family to me.
84. All my sisters go there, and so do my parents.
85. My sister and her husband were sent out of our church to start another church in a different city. My family goes there too….my gramma, a few aunts, a few uncles and a lot of cousins.
86. This list has taken me literally all morning to finish.
87. Thanks Melissa! =)
88. I love wearing flats and flip flops.
89. I can’t wait for the summer, even tho it gets hell hot in our condo.
90. We LOVE The Office t.v. show and we can’t wait for it to come back on!
91. You have to force me to go to the movies, it seems like such a waste of time to me, UNTIL I’m actually there, then I’m fine. Especially if it’s a girly girl or comedy or romantic movie.
92. My favorite all time movies are Untamed Heart, Serendipity and Return to Me.
93. I could watch Elf over and over again (at home).
94. I am sooo completely over Oprah right now. I refuse to watch her anymore.
95. Only a few people know about my blog, and I’m still debating if I want to share it with my family and close friends. I don’t know why I wouldn’t share it either.
96. I HATE earthquakes!! They scare the crap out of me. I swear we just had one, but I think it was just the train passing by. (I hope!)
97. I love pinching people with my long toes. Haahaha. (especially my niece because she gets all grossed out!)
98. My hair is soooooooo thick, it takes me a good 45 minute to blow dry & straighten it.
99. I need a haircut sooo bad, but I’m letting it grow because we’re in a wedding on 4/20/08 and I have to put it up. Once the wedding is over I’m chopping it!
100. I am getting highlights on Sunday tho! Yay!! And woohoo I’m done!!

Daily Tip

2008-04-04T13:16:00.000-07:00

From my daily wife emails that I receive:

I've been thinking about what an incredible gift it is to be able to talk to God. The God of the universe wants us to crawl up on His lap and share our hearts. Amazing. Do you make time to pray? Consider setting time aside each day (and don't forget to pray for your husband). :)

The effective prayer of a righteous [wo]man can accomplish much. James 5:16

My sis

2008-04-04T10:57:00.000-07:00

This is just a lil tribute to my sister Gina. She & her husband pastor a church out in Yucaipa which is about a lil over an hour from all of us. I am so proud of her, she is such an awesome example to me of a Godly women. She has completely sacrificed her life of comfort to go to a new place and back up her husband in starting a church. I know that can't be easy, and I know she faces so many attacks and distractions but yet she still gives her all to reach out to people so that they may know Christ. Today she is going on a pastor's wives retreat for the weekend. She's never done anything like this, and i'm just so happy for her, it's always work work work for her, and I just really really pray that this weekend will be a time of joy, rejuvenation, bonding with other pastor's wives, and that God would just do a new thing in her - that she would be refreshed! And that the Holy Spirit would speak to her! If you get a chance to say a lil prayer for her that would be great!
This is my sis: (well this is 2 of my sisters, but she is the one on the right)

Daily Tip

2008-04-03T14:40:00.000-07:00

This was the "Daily tip" from the Genenous Wife email I am signed up for:

I have a "wrinkle line" between my eyebrows (I frown when I concentrate). One day I caught a glimpse of myself when I was sporting that line. I looked absolutely cranky. Now, mind you, I was having a rather pleasant day, but I still looked very much like I was feeling cranky. My tip for today is to pay attention to your face. Is it sporting the emotion you want it to? Do you smile at your husband or look pleasant when you mean to? It takes a bit of awareness, but it's worth the effort to communicate to your spouse (and others) that they are loved and special (rather than just annoying you on a very cranky day).
We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do. Mother Teresa

I can totally relate to this because I also have that "wrinkle line" between my eyebrows and my husband always teases me about it. I always catch myself doing it too! >:-) lol!

Personal Shower invitation

2008-04-02T09:23:00.000-07:00

My friend & I made these invitations last night for our friend's personal shower. I think they came out pretty cute:
This one is my fave!

the colors are fuschia pink and black.

whew!

2008-03-28T11:56:00.001-07:00

I HATE turning in my PTO (time off sheet) into my boss, so i'd been putting it off, but today both Matt & I (we work @ the same company) both turned ours in. Yay! And we were both approved, which is REALLY good since we already bought our tickets for Hawaii! lol! We're taking 10 whole days off of work, and I canNOT wait!

Also, I forgot to mention we're going on a missions trip with our young adults group in July. We're going to be visiting and helping our church in Guadalajara Mexico. So we'll come back from Hawaii on Sunday, and then that Thursday we're leaving again but this time to MX. July's going to be a busy busy month! We also have Youth Conference the 2nd week of July! I'm excited!

why did I test?

2008-03-28T10:30:00.001-07:00

why? why? why? did I test yesterday? I told myself I wasn't going to test because I didn't want to put myself thru anymore heartache when I didn't see those 2 lines! But what did I do? I went home after work and tested, and of course it was a negative. That just put me in the worst mood, and to top it off I had to leave in less than 30 minutes to our leadership class, now I didn't even want to go, I just wanted to stay home and sulk. Then of course I got there late, it starts at 7pm SHARP. I was so embarassed walking in late, but hey, they (whoever they is) should be happy I even showed up. I was a big ole' grouch. But actually it got a lil better, I was forced to forget about it because after my friend asked me if I wanted to go to the mall, since our husbands had to stay at the church to work on something. As much as I didn't want to go, I went, and I'm glad I did. We went shopping at the mall (my favorite place), then went to Target where she had to buy her 2 lil ones some diapers and milk (talk about adding insult to injury-I was forced to walk thru the infant section!-she didn't know I had just tested tho). I did buy myself a cute yellow tankini at Target for our Hawaii trip! =) Then we went to In-n-Out and grubbed. I felt so much better after too!

Side note: I'm working on "Delighting myself in the Lord" because then maybe God will give me the desires of my heart. =)

Tonight after Ignite, I'm going with the girls to BJ's Restaurant to celebrate our friend Melissa's birthday! I love Bj's pizza and I love going out with my girls, so i'm looking forward to it! =)

My sister's baby shower

2008-03-27T15:16:00.000-07:00

So this is kinda late, ok REALLY late, like 2 years late, lol, but just wanted to share pics from my sister's baby shower we had for her.

Centerpieces

One of the reasons I love living near L.A. - the Flower Mart is there - and the flowers are cheap!!

All of these goodies were from me & Matt (the godparents)!

Favors - chocolate FEET! =) The pictures are of my sisters older kids.

We did the Diaper Raffle which was optional-guests brought a pack of diapers for the new baby and about every 10-15 min. we raffled off prizes.

Prizes!

One of the gift baskets we raffled off.

This pic makes me laugh!

Me & my sis!

My sis with her mom, sisters, niece & cousin.

CUTE invitation

2008-03-27T10:27:00.000-07:00

I am a sucker for invitations. I love receiving invitations (of course) but I love to see new ideas or how people put their creative minds to work. I just received this invitation from my friend Joy for her daughter. I could stare at this invitation ALL day! She actually made them herself, and sewed the flowers together! So cute!

Speaking of my mom...

2008-03-26T08:47:00.001-07:00

She recently celebrated her birthday in February, and my sisters and I threw her a fab birthday party with some of her closest friends. It was held at The Node Cafe (my church owns it), they have a room that you can rent out and you just bring your own food and drinks and stuff. When I thought of having my mom's party I had already had a theme in mind...animal print, so I decided on zebra print and red. I really love how it turned out and more importantly so did my mom! She was so blessed! Here are some pics from the party:

Invitations:

Favor boxes:

filled with chocolate candy:

table set up:

famous pom pom's from Martha Stewart-so easy to make too!:

My mom and her sister:

Me!:

Prize winner!: lil makeup bags with a gift card inside:

My mom with her 4 daughters:

Details: (I took these after the party)

Pictures of my mom from when she was younger were on each table:

Can't.stay.away.

2008-03-25T17:47:00.000-07:00

from my mom's house! My moms house is the place to be for reals! She's one of those mom's where you can go do your laundry at her house and all the while she'll spoil you with yummy dinners. I feel bad sometimes because we're always over. So tonight I told myself I'm just gonna go home and relax and make myself a dinner, since Matt is gone meeting with some guys for something they're working on for church. BUUUT then my mom calls me right now and tells me that her and my sis (her hubby went fishing) just rented movies and made dinner!!! AHHHH! So guess where i'm going?

you got it.

to my mom's house.

=)

~Aloha~

2008-03-25T09:53:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited! We just recently booked our 5th wedding anniversary vacation! We're going to Oahu and we're staying right across the street from Waikiki Beach. Our anniversary is July 20th and we're leaving ON July 20th, early a.m. so we'll have time to go out to dinner & celebrate, and we'll come home on July 27th. We went to Oahu (&Maui) for our hm, so it's going to be nice to go back to the spot we honeymooned! Plus we'll get to explore more, when we went on our hm, we didn't even go to a luau, can you believe that?? We went to this fake one that was INDOORS! And the food was narsty! So if you happen to know of an awesome luau, let me know please! Also now I need to get my bootie into gear and start at least running a few times around the track! I need to shed a few and I only have 3 months 3 weeks and 4 days to do it! =) I told myself everytime I go to Target i'm going to buy at least 1 thing for our trip. I'm on a hunt for a cute tankini too. I'm just so excited, we're both in desperate need of a vacation!! This will be us in 3 months! This pic is from our honeymoon:

"At least I can make potato salad"

2008-03-24T11:15:00.000-07:00

That's what my niece said when she didn't find any "golden eggs" (the golden eggs had anywhere from some change to $1 or $5 in them)...she's 7. All she found was a bunch of hardboiled eggs, but she just shrugged her shoulders and said "Oh well at least I can make potato salad". All dead serious.

Yesterday was so much fun but it started off as a busy busy day! I woke up at 7am to get ready and frost my cupcakes for my 2's nursery class at church. We had 3 services, so we sat in 1st and I worked 2nd svc. in class. Then we drove to my sisters and her hubby's church (they're pastors) but we totally missed their service, how sad huh? Here's some pics from our Easter celebration at my sisters house...
Matt's lil Easter basket I made for him:

Matt & JoJo - 2 handsome guys!

Me & JoJo!

My sis and her youngest(and last baby) -she has FIVE! -lil Nicholas

Me and my Love
my niece in her festive lil dress. =)
wow, that poor dog!
she found the golden egg!
My other sis decided to join the kids in the bouncer. THIS heifer (ME!) was not tryin to get in that thing after all the food I just ate. I probably would've just laid there while all the kids bounced around me.
Uncle Matt-King of the Kids!
The weather was SO nice yesterday! Nice and WARM!
Isn't my niece Lovie's hair just insane?! She's 12 and has never cut her hair, besides a few trims here and there. She had her hair in 2 french braids so I took them down. Wow!
LOL!

Awesome worship song

2008-03-20T11:29:00.000-07:00

This is my absolute favorite worship song we sing at church. In this video, Danielle was singing for the school's morning chapel. Makes me shed a tear EVERY single time!

My Birthday- Oct. 25th

2008-03-19T22:46:00.000-07:00

These pics are from my birthday in October!! I know, i'm a lil late, but oh well. Matt took me to The Cheesecake Factory in Pasadena. We took my nephew JoJo with us, cause we LOVE him and he makes us laugh so much.

me and matty

Nina & JoJo (I love this kid more than anything!!! He can make me smile like nobody else can.)

Look, we have the same smile!!

Blurred vision

2008-03-19T22:40:00.000-07:00

So now that I'm going back and reading my posts, I can't get over how tiny my font size is, as i'm trying to read it, my vision is getting blurry. geez louise!

Well hello there bloggy blog!

2008-03-19T22:27:00.000-07:00

This thing hasn't seen ME in awhile! Silly me....I have been locked out of my blog forever! I couldn't remember my blog NAME, then when I did, i couldn't remember my PASSWORD, then I couldn't remember the email that I set up for this account, it was an all around mess. Finally, recently I figured everything out and now here I am! I want to start writing in here again, i'm not the best writer, but I think it'll help me getting vents out, frustrations, praises, and also I want to start adding pics of things I love to do such as planning parties! I looove all things that relate to parties, i love favors, centerpieces, invitations, etc. ... anyways, it's already 10:30 so I must go to bed now.

2007-07-12T08:54:00.000-07:00

To start off my post here I will start off my saying that my hubby & I have been trying for a baby for 2 1/2 years. I finally decided to see a doctor to see why I wasn't getting pregnant, I went in for my 1st appt. 2 weeks ago and they sent me for an internal ultrasound. Well yesterday I got a call from my dr. confirming that I have a health problem that is called PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) which has many symptoms but in my case is causing irregular menstrual cycles and infertility. It's not so much a disease but a syndrome that affects women in different ways, every women with pcos is a different case. One of the signs that I also have is called cystic ovaries where (I copied this because I'm still unsure how to explain it): The disorder is characterized by the formation of eight or more follicular cysts of 10 mm or smaller in the ovaries, a process related to the ovary's failure to release an egg (ovum). <--That messes with ovulation thus me not getting pg. It's not impossible for me to get pg but it does require medicine and who knows what else. I have another appt. next Tuesday (17th) to discuss this with my dr.

Anyways, yesterday I was sad about it and felt like I just needed to let out a great big flood of a cry but it never came. Today I put on my big girl panties and choose to move on without feeling sorry for myself because I know the God that I serve is a miracle worker. I know that he has the final word in what the dr.'s say, and that one day I WILL be a mommy and Matt WILL be a daddy. I just ask for prayers that God would have HIS way and that He would protect our marriage thru all this and that we would stay close to each other and Him.

My husband...

2007-07-11T08:48:00.000-07:00

PUT SALT IN THE SUGAR CONTAINER WITHOUT TELLING ME!!! So this morning we are running late to work but I being the heffer that I am wanted to eat cereal on the way to work, so Matt goes down to get the car started and I run to the kitchen pour some cereal in a cup, pour the milk all fast and pour some sugar in there too ( I know that's bad but I love sugar in my cereal). Well I notice the crystals are really big (he bought that kosher salt) so I stick my finger in there and taste it and it's SALT. Way to start the morning! I just stuck the cup in the fridge and ran downstairs to give Matt a piece of my mind....he thought it was SO funny too.

2007-06-27T16:51:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine wrote this describing how it feels to want a child so badly. I thought it was perfectly said and is exactly how I feel. I asked her if I could borrow it for my blog and she said of course. Here it is:

*************************************************
You love your boyfriend (or fiance, or spouse), probably more than you can understand. You want to be with him all the time, you know how much you love him and need him in your life. But what if he wasn't here? He was somewhere that you couldn't contact him or connect with him. And you only had a chance ONCE a month to see if he was coming home to see you. You love him so much and are so ready to be with him that you can barely breath. Everywhere you look are people who get to be with those they love, getting engaged, planning a wedding, buying houses, starting their lives etc, but you can't seem to be with the one you love and no one can really tell you why!
So every month you're just sure it's going to be the month you get to see him. And yet month after month, you find out it's not the month, it's not "your time". People tell you "don't worry, it'll happen at the right time" "Just relax" or "Take a vacation". and all you want to scream is "It's time NOW! This is all I want, to be with this person I love, to spend my life with him, what do you know about the right time, are you God?!" but you don't, you smile and nod and say things like "yes, I know, God will provide, He'll take care of me (Which you do fully believe, but it doesn't always make it easier)". But it still doesn't make sense why everyone around you has their boyfriend, or husband, the love of their life with them day after day and you don't.
So month after month you wait, and month after month nothing. And you start to wonder if you'll ever see him again, if he'll ever be a part of your life like you've planned and hoped and wanted for so long. You're starting to lose hope. Now it's been almost two years, which is two years longer than you should have waited since no one else seems to have to wait that long. But you feel like you're dying inside, like you will drowned in tears if you have to wait another few months, or even possibly years to have to see him. But all you can do is wait. And that's what you do.

Back from Vacation

2007-06-26T09:25:00.000-07:00

So yeah I'm back from vacation. It sucks to back at work, don't get me wrong I have a pretty easy job and i'm grateful for it, but it was SO nice to not have to come to work everyday and spend time with family. I wish I was a stay-at-home wife. =) We had fun tho on our vacation, we had family come in from Texas so everyday we went somewhere different, Disneyland, Universal Studios, the beach, b-b-que's at the park, out to dinner...we had so much fun! Oh we also had a few graduations to attend while we were on vacation, my niece Vanessa and cousin Bunny's high school graduation, my nephew Serg graduated from elementary to jr. high, and my niece Desi graduated from kindergarten. Here are a few pics from the week:

Vanessa's graduation:

Me and Matt at Vanessa's grad banquet:

My mom, Jojo, Matt & me at Universal Studios.

Matt & the kids throwing up the "M" for Mickey.

Hard Day

2007-06-17T23:08:00.001-07:00

Today I had an especially hard day...it's so hard waiting for something you want so bad if you know what I mean. Alot of things just don't make sense to me, but I know I just have to trust God that he knows what he's doing, even when it's so hard and my faith wants to waver. Pray for us if you get a chance.

MUCH NEEDED VACATION

2007-06-15T08:22:00.000-07:00

Vacation officially starts today! I am so excited and feel like I (actually WE-me and matt) need this vacation more than anything. It's been non-stop for the past year and a half. I actually didn't go to work today to finish up some last minute stuff for my niece Vanessa's graduation. Tonight's her graduation, then her party after at my moms, then tomorrow is the banquet. Yesterday I got my pedicure and my hair done, I feel so much better! Then next week is when the fam bam from Texas comes and we'll be out and about with them doing all the Cali touristy stuff which is cool because even tho we LIVE here we never do all the touristy things. Wednesday is Disneyland, yay! I haven't been there in a LONG time. Anywho I'm just sitting here laying in my bed, haven't even brushed my grill but it feels so wonderful and relaxing. Anyways i'll try to blog here and there while i'm on "vacation" since i'll still be around and am obviously addicted to my computer. Have a nice Week Peeps!!

Busiest week of my Life!

2007-06-12T10:09:00.000-07:00

Do you ever have those weeks that are just straight out crazy?? This Friday my niece is graduating from High School, she's the oldest of the grandkids so it's a big o' deal. On a side note: Her dad died when she was 10 so she's really emotional that he won't be there to see her walk down the aisle. Pray for her! All week is going to be filled with preparing for her big party after graduation, I still need to get all the decorations. =/ Then on Saturday is her graduation banquet which is for family too, and I still haven't found a dress! I hate dress shopping! Especially for a formal dress! To top that off my AF is "stuck" and won't come out! I should've started a long time ago so now I'm dealing with cramps, backache, soreness(!), bloatation (i made that word up), I feel like a fatso, and major moodiness, but no aunt flo. Lauren let me borrow one of her dresses but I feel like a wannabe 18 year old in it, like i'm trying to be a lil graduate. I tried it on last night. I feel so dumb in it! Or maybe it's just that i've never worn a dress like that?? I don't know. I just thank God we are taking a vacation next week!! I sure need it!!

2007-06-08T15:18:00.000-07:00

I love when girls do smoky eyes, I think it looks really pretty. I found this video on youtube of this girl that gives a really good teaching on smoky eyes. So I just wanted to share it.

Holy Ghost Hangover

2007-06-08T08:35:00.000-07:00

So last night we went to our Pastor's 25th Birthday Party. It was off the hook! I can pretty much brag that I have the best group of friends and we always have so much fun together. Whether it's just sitting around the table cracking jokes or singing worship songs & praying together, it's always exciting. God has truly blessed me! Even tho I have a Holy Ghost hangover right now, I think we got home around 12 something, which is why I came to work sporting some "holy" jeans and my pink Atlantic shirt. oh well. Here is a pic of me and my craziest friend Mischa, we love taking pictures of ourselves and we love gettin' toasted on Martinelli's apple cider, oh yeaaaaah baby, that's what it's all about!

2007-06-07T15:52:00.000-07:00

I could never find the right drink at Starbucks, so I never know what to order. I usually just stand there in front of the poor barista, trying to make a decision. Well today I met my favorite drink...me and my coworker/friend Bobcat went to Starbucks right quick on our 15. This is what I said: "Can I have an iced caramel machiatto with extra caramel?" Doesn't it look sooo delicious? It's already almost all gone!

2007-06-07T10:29:00.000-07:00

This is only a test. I am trying to upload an image to my post, just in case I have something cool to show you guys. Ok so only 2 people know about this blog so, just in case I want to show B & M something. =) This lil boy is the love of my life, my nephew JoJo. He is thee most absolute-est cutest, funniest, and charming baby ever!

2007-06-07T09:07:00.000-07:00

My first official Blog. Never thought it would be. I picked Princess Moni and My Father is the KING as my blog name because I have this bookmark taped to my computer that says "I know that I'm a PRINCESS My Father is the KING OF KINGS" and I LOOOVE it! Jesus is the King and I'm HIS beautiful daughter. That makes me feels great!! Now let's see how this thing works. I actually created this blog to encourage a friend to start one, because she is a pretty darn good photographer and I thought she should start a blog and post her photos for all the world to see. And hopefully she could get some photography gigs out of this. I told her I would let her borrow my niece and my nephew to take pics of to start off her blog. heehee Anyways, I guess I will just be posting random things on here every now and then, so don't judge me, I'm new at this.