February 2012

February - not a whole lot or anything really exciting happened this month.  Life got pretty busy with work and Danny's classes.  This was definitely an intense semester for him with lots of reading and essays, and especially in ROTC with lots of weekends training and tough drills because this was the last semester left before all the juniors went off to Leader Development and Assessment Course (LDAC) this summer, basically the last big training session for all future army officers to see how well they know their stuff.  Plus, this was the last semester's grades that would count towards his final gpa sent to the army for officer rankings, all of which made for a lot of extra pressure.  So, along with all that, plus the fact that both of us were sick off and on for a lot of the month, the month just sorta passed us by.  We didn't even really celebrate Valentine's day.  It got so busy and we just didn't have much energy for anything outside of work and school, so, not many pics for this month, but here's a few.

And, a little proof that spring does exist in Texas ... these just happened to be taken in February.  I loved seeing all the blooming flowers and budding trees and the baby ducks on my way to work and loved the beautiful spring weather that stays for a week or so.

so cute!  there are several ponds right outside my office building and lots of little duck families.  One duck even nested in a grass median in the middle of the parking lot. kinda freaked some people out at first when they get out of their cars and then get quacked at by a distressed mother duck, haha.

... and, one "upside" (I suppose you could say) of getting sick a lot was that I've losing a lot weight.  I finally fit into my skinny jeans and my favorite sweater from high school!  that was kinda a mini epic moment of the month  :)

January 2012

In attempts to catch up on blogging (and due to not really having all that many of my own photos), I'm going to be doing a quick monthly update of what we've been up to this year so far (and hopefully they won't turn into my lengthy novel posts).

January - After getting back from holiday vacations, Danny started the spring semester of school, and I went back to work full-time as a temp in the processing department of the financial aid at Texas State for another term ... I beginning to question the definition of "temp" now that I've been there for around a year and a half, but I'm grateful for the employment and at a job that I enjoy and fits me so well.  It took some time but eventually we got back into the grove of early morning ROTC pts and working 8 to 5 again.

This month also was my 24th birthday.  I decided to throw a party, invited a bunch of friends and made a really awesome chocolate vanilla cake, but unfortunately, I got sick halfway through and had to leave my own party... talk about embarrassing.  I didn't even get to blow out the candles.  Luckily, our friends were very nice about the whole thing and I was able to play a few games and chat before getting sick... but given the circumstances, I didn't take a single picture of my birthday. oops.  oh well.

I got a new dress for my birthday, first dress I've had (aside from my wedding dress) since I was in middle school.

... I was sick quite a bit of the month, so Danny and I did a lot of puzzles together.

Danny and I did have a chance to go out near the end of the month.  We got to go see a production of Wicked up in Austin, courtesy of a lovely Christmas gift from parents (thank you!).  I had seen the musical twice before and really loved it, but Danny had never seen it so it was a lot of fun getting to see it again and watching him see it for the first time. We both really enjoyed the show.  I wish they had this available on dvd, like they have for Cats or something, it's such a good play... way better than Wizard of Oz, lol.

Update:  I found some pictures from my 24th birthday!  I completely had forgotten that, since I was sick at my party, Danny wanted me to still have a special birthday.  So he got me a little cake so I could blow out the candles after I opened a few presents from him and my parents.  It was so sweet and I'm so glad I found these photos that helped me remember that (esp. since I don't remember much from those months). So, enjoy!

Dec 2011 - New Year's with Crookstons

Right after Christmas, we were able to go up to Allen where everyone on my side of the family was able to come for the New Year holidays.  We took a few of our own full family pictures too, though a bit more casual, lol.  We had a nice week there playing with the kids, watching movies, making cookies, playing with the Wii (we especially had some fun with this Just Dance game ... we had to move it downstairs after all of our synchronized jumping upstairs was shaking the living room ceiling, haha), and just catching up with family.

"Cheese!"

Andrew and Seth show off their new capes.

playing with some of their new toys

We also got to celebrate Katsu's birthday.  Andrew helps Katsu blow out the candles on his birthday cheesecake.

For New Years, we had a little party with a huge appetizer dinner spread, sorta a newer tradition we've had for a few years now.  We also got a set with hats and tiaras and noise makers and horns to ring in the New Year.

Mom was trying to show Seth how to blow the noise makers.

... he tried really hard but couldn't quite get it, lol.  He kept just sucking on them until they fell apart.

... doesn't Danny look so thrilled in his party hat? :)  I had my own tiara that I got at a new year's dance many years ago but kept because it doesn't have a year on it, so I can keep using it, hence why mine is blue.  Happy New Year!

Dec 2011 - Garcia Family Photos

The Garcia Clan

 For Christmas 2011, every single one of the Garcia family was able to get together for the holidays (not an easy feat with five kids and their families, plus the fact that we're literally spread across the globe).  So we got to spend a week in College Station with all of Danny's family.  The first few days even several of his extended family from Oklahoma came down and visited too.  WIth dozens of people, it was barely managed chaos at times, but it was a lot of fun and great to be able to meet and greet and see everyone and get to know the Garcias better.  One thing that Danny's parents really wanted, since everyone was actually there, was to take professional family photos, and so (given the fact I didn't actually take any of my own pictures), these are the only pictures I have from Christmas at the moment.  But fortunately, they all turned out really great!  Each family had a different color, so we could tell us apart but still be sort of coordinated (though Silverio and Debbie didn't get the memo, oh well).  We took a few with everyone, then each family had time to take some individual family pictures.  Since Danny and I don't have kids, we went last so the families with kids could leave earlier. Lucky for us, the photographer really enjoyed taking pictures of us and since she had more time, she took lots and many actually came out well!  It's nice to finally have some pictures of Danny and I that aren't just wedding photos.  So, enjoy!

The Garcia Kids (l-r) David, Nick, Elena, Tommy, and Danny

... add the parents

... and the goofing off, lol.

Elena's family in navy

(l-r) Dash, Brent, Race, Elena, and Wynn

David's family in blue (l-r) David, Grayson and Genevieve (they kept having to change their color because Grayson kept growing out of his outfits, lol)

Tommy's family in gray and purple (l-r) Josh, Emily, Jennifer, Abby and Tommy

Nick and Kay in maroon

... it was super freezing cold that day. they had lots of blankets and coats and handwarmers for in between shots.

and last but not least, Danny and me in green (and my sweater was *not* warm enough for the weather... definitely kept my coat on as often as I could).  I really enjoyed how they turned out.

one of my favorites

... having a bit of fun.

I don't usually care for black and white photos (she gave us copies of all the pictures in both), but I loved these ones in black and white better than color.  I just really liked the moment they captured.

for this shot, she told me to get comfortable, so I did just that  :)

another one of my favorites

Dec 18 - Christmas party w/ friends

(l-r) Phillip, Sonia and Ritchie, Chow and Russ, Hilary and Clayton, Danny and Me, Jeff and Brittany, and Michelle (not pictured: Heidi and Brad, they had to leave early)

This is the only picture I have of any of the events we went to, but it was definitely one of the fun ones.  Chow and Russ tend to be the big party throwers amongst our friends (they hosted the Halloween party, amongst many others), but Phillip claimed the right to the Christmas party and it was a lot of fun.  He made it Mexican-themed, so we had a potluck with enchiladas, mexican rice, chips and salsa and queso, etc. and he even had a Christmas-themed pinata  ... that he asked Danny and me to bring ... the day before the party.  -_-  remember all of my overcommiting? ... anyway, finding a pinata in the middle of December wasn't exactly going very well, so we decided to make one instead, but since we only had a day (plus I was pretty busy with all my other diy projects too), so paper mache was out.  I found an idea online of making one out of a cereal box, since the cardboard was sturdy enough to hold candy but thin enough to break.  So Danny helped me piece together two cereal boxes and then gift wrap with a giant bow to make it look like a present.  I wish I'd taken a picture before we busted it open, it turned out a lot nicer than I thought it would, given our time and material contraints.  And, it actually worked!  We had it hanging on a tree and probably a good six or seven people got several good swings at it before it finally fell apart.  (Chow is actually holding a piece of it in here hand in the photo ... not sure why though, lol).

The rest of the party we got to chat and hang out, and we also had a white elephant gift exchange.  That was a lot of fun seeing what people brought and what people fought over.  Some of the funny moments, when someone opened the gift that Heidi and Brad brought - a baseball glove - to which Brad looks at Heidi and says, "hey, that's mine!"  she just said he had tons of them, but he ended up trading later in the game to get it back, haha.  Heavily fought over prizes were some lotions, a tin of cookies, a back massager, some superhero magnets, a monkey snuggie, and a waffle iron (... some people have a different perspective on the whole white elephant concept, I guess).  Other more random items people brought were an old physics textbook, a wine-bottle sweater (Chow took it for her garden gnome), a clown sculpture, a photo frame of Russ, and a CD of singing cats (I ended up winning that one; Danny won the snuggie and was super excited about that one, lol).

All in all, it was a lot of fun though.  It nice to have so many friends who like to get together.  ... too bad half of them have since moved.  ...oh, one other kinda funny story about this, you'll notice in the picture Chow and Hilary are quite pregnant, both were due the following January.  Chow actually went into labor that night and had her baby the next morning!  She was over four weeks early, definitely a surprise (though they had to spend the week in nicu, baby and family are doing great now).  But kinda random to think that this party was her last day pregnant, lol.  Crazy how things turn out sometimes.

December 2011

(okay, so I've been putting this off long enough, mostly because I have very few pictures to post, and it just feels weird writing a post without any pictures, especially since I can ramble on and on for forever and a page... unfortunately, I'm not very good at actually taking my own photos, but I usually just get copies from family so it's not so bad ... unless, however, the one of the family's unofficial photographers loses all said photos in a hard-drive crash.  ...so, until I can scrounge up some pictures elsewhere, for now, what I have will have to make do, even if that means not a single picture from Christmas. *sigh*. really bummed about that, but I guess it just goes to show I really ought to take my own photos and shouldn't just depend on everyone else's photos. sorry.)

Just like the rest of our fall, December was really busy for us.  Between parties and dinners and holiday events (the creche exhibit our stake held was quite beautiful and we were able to take some of Danny's school friends with us too), Danny was studying for finals and I was trying to finish up the millions of projects I'd commited myself to during the few days I was healthy (feels like it's becoming a trend of mine, but I seemed to catch every cold and flu there was that fall, and spent a good portion of the last few months of the year sick and hopped up on cold medicine... really fun).  Somehow I was still able to finish most of what I wanted to get done (though it never seems enough), namely Christmas gifts galore.  ... I can't seem to do things small, can I?

Anyway, I thought I'd show off some of the things that took all my time and energy, and that I'm proud to say I made and actually liked (which doesn't happen too often):

This year on Danny's side we had Elena's family for the Christmas gift exchange.  We decided it'd be nice to give the parents a restaurant gift card for a date night, and for the kids, I thought it'd be fun to make them a set of hand puppets like the ones I had made for Amanda's kids a couple years back.  But this time, I decided to make just five people for each of the members of their family (l-r, Brent, Elena, Race, Dash, and Wynn).

... and I decided to try making some zoo animals since their kids love animals.  It ended up being a lot of fun to plan and make, definitely time consuming, but I was really glad with how they turned out.  Plus, it's so fun to use the patterend felt from hobby lobby (for the leopard and the zebra and the dinosaur outfit).  There were a lot of other ideas I had, and perhaps a few of them I might have done a little differently to make it a little easier, if I did it again.  Another time.  maybe for next Christmas, lol.

... the backs of the animals -- the people I usually leave plain on the back but some of the animals just wouldn't have been so cool without doing the back too, like the parrot's tail feathers or the zebra's mane.  I think the puppets went over well, but seriously, it seemed like Elena enjoyed them way more than the kids, lol.  I'm glad they enjoyed them.

 For my side of the family, I went with treat boxes again, since I think everyone liked them the year before.  This time I made chocolate caramel popcorn and oreo truffles -- definitely a hit.  ... pretty simple to make, though I think I'll use the food processor next time, it'll be a lot faster than crushing the oreos by hand.  For the nephews, I made some dress-up clothes to go along with dress-up hats they got for Christmas too.  I ended up making them: two super hero capes (one was green/blue, the other red/gold); a cowboy vest with a red bandana; a white chef's hat and apron; a lab coat; and a pink tutu (it was specifically requested).  It was fun to design and make, though I was surprised to find the ones I thought would be really hard and take forever ended up coming together really easily, and the ones I thought would be a cinch turned out to be a lot harder than I had anticipated.  Oh well, live and learn, right?  I think they all turned out pretty nicely in the end.  I forgot to take pictures of them before wrapping them, and then the boys were a bit reluctant to show them off for me during Christmas, but Amanda got some pictures of them after the holidays, so here's a few of them.  ... and the boys definitely enjoy mixing them up, haha.

Seth is wearing one of the capes ... with a cowboy hat, and Andrew is wearing the cowboy vest ... with a cop hat.

Seth showing off the chef's hat and apron -- they actually matched a set, lol.

... while Andrew wears the tutu, the lab coat, and a pirate hat.  very, um, unique combination, haha.

And last but not least ... the cupcakes. -_-  ok, it started off a simple enough idea.  I generally make plates of cookies for friends at the holidays, and goodness knows we have a lot of traditional and very labor-intensive Christmas cookies I like to make.  But I knew that would be trying to do way too much, there wasn't enough time and too many friends, but I still wanted to do something, and baking is what I'm known for.  So why not cupcakes?  those are nice and easy, just make some boxed cupcakes with my really good chocolate frosting with red and green sprinkles and Santa plates, it couldn't be easier, right?

... hmm.  well. let's just say that by the end of December I never wanted to see another cupcake again.  yeah, they turned out nice, and everyone loved them, but by the time we made enough plates and delivered them to everyone we planned on... I had baked and frosted over 135 cupcakes... in the course of maybe a week and a half?  oh, and I also had the bright idea that while doing that, I was still going to make one or maybe two of my favorite Christmas cookies I'd mentioned earlier, just for the family, because it's just not the same without them ... and that turned into making four different cookies ... while finishing up half the dress-up clothes ... and a few last puppets ... five days before we were leaving to see family.  oh, and toss in a couple Christmas parties at church and with friends that same week, all of which also required another baked good to bring.  ... and the fact that I still had one of my lingering colds.  (...oh, and did I mention that one of the batches of cupcakes had to be gluten-free too?) ... needless to say, I tend to overdo things, even when I try so hard not to... or at least I think I try hard not to... maybe next year I'll learn to simplify...

ANYway. yes. I somehow managed to get it all done, even if it meant practically living in the kitchen all month, and everyone loved the cookies and the baked goods at the parties and the cupcakes.  but no. never again. ever.  next year everyone's getting cards. or at least something that can be made weeks in advance (see, that's the biggest kicker with giving food -- you have to give it while it's still fresh).  Though, it's still always nice to see the biggest smiles when people enjoy the food I've made and give me the biggest compliments on them... it's one thing I know I can do that will make people happy.

one of the dozens of plates of cupcakes... at least they looked good and tasted great, right?

Nov 24 - Thanksgiving

(Yes, I'm getting behind, but isn't that just how life goes? hopefully I'll be getting caught up soon though, now that the semester is over. So, still trying to finish up 2011 stuff.)

For Thanksgiving this year, Danny and I were able to go visit my family up in Allen (since we would be spending Christmas with his family).  ... none of us really take many pictures, so I only got a few at the last minute. But we had a lot of fun for the week.  We did a lot of the usual, spent time together talking, playing games, baking, shopping, etc.  We also got to go bowling which was a lot fun!  I actually beat Danny and Dad one of the three games we played (Mom just wanted to watch), and I got my first turkey (getting three strikes in a row)!! fitting for the holiday, haha.  Though by the third game, Dad had a really good streak while Danny and I were getting really tired.  By the time we were a few frames in, we realized how behind we were, so then it was just a matter of Danny and I getting a combined score higher than my dad ... and we still lost! by one point! lol. something like 183 to 184, so we weren't really bad, Dad just had a great game.  It's still a lot of fun to go bowling when we visit my parents.

We also of course spent Thanksgiving day with football, parades, lots of food and more family, Michael and Meghan were able to join us too.  A fun part about this Thanksgiving was we kinda made it potluck.  I made the desserts (pies, of course), Mom made the turkey and rolls, and Michael and Meghan made all the sides.  It was fun to try a bunch of new sides.  They brought stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole, mashed potato and parsnips, and green beans.  It was all so good and a nice change to the usual, plus it helped ease the cooking burden from Mom too.  We had a really nice day with everyone.

So, of course, my famous pies - it just wouldn't feel like Thanksgiving without them.  I got a new ceramic deep dish pie pan (the red one in the back) on clearance for only a few bucks.  It bakes really nicely, and I just thought it looked great with an apple pie in it.  The pumpkin pie turned out well too (I really need to buy some mini fall cookie cutters, it's getting pretty old always trying to cut them out by hand), but I wasn't thrilled with the pecan pie... tried a new recipe from my Lion House Desserts book, just to see if it was any better than the BHG pecan pie I had made the previous year. ... definitely not.  It was much harder to make with odd measurements and instructions, plus it just didn't taste very good. oh well, live and learn. ... I really need to figure out a way to make a smaller pecan pie, a whole one is just too big I think.

... pretty much the only pictures took all week... don't I look so thrilled? I was just tired after all the baking and shopping :)

... hmm, yeah, my side of the family definitely doesn't do pictures like Danny's family does, wait till I post those, lol.

another Thanksgiving must - Black Friday Shopping! :) I got all this with totalling nearly 70% off original prices. yay for great sales! (and haggling with cashiers ... well, not really haggling, but we did have to fight a bit for the men's shirts, because in the ad they looked labled for $9.99 each and we found them under the $9.99 each sign, but they claimed they were $19.99 each.  Usually I don't like to bother with double checking prices, but luckily they let us get them at the lower price).  Danny was such a trooper while my mom and I tried on dozens of sweaters and shirts, and browsed tons of other different sale items.  We were planning on going to a few stores, but we had such great success at our first stop, Kohl's, we didn't even bother trying any other stores.  Dad of course hit up a few other stores and got some really good deals on electronics (we got the all of the Lord of the Rings dvds for only $4 each!).  ...this is probably the only day of the year that I actually look forward to shopping.

And a little bit more fall stuff, some extra decorations for halloween - I just thought the felt witch hat for my bear turned out really cute for making it in under ten minutes with a few scraps.