New Project

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

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...

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 :)

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!

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

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...

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

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

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

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

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!!

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...

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

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...

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!!