Forgotten Carols

I LOVE the Forgotten Carols. It is by far, some of my favorite Christmas music. Wil and I decided to read the book together before Christmas and then we got tickets to the musical at Gammage for December 23rd. We took Wil's mom and my Grandma. It was fun to take the two of them to the show, and I think we all had a great time!

Go Suns!

We won tickets to the Suns vs. Cavaliers game from my work the Monday before Christmas. Row 16...in the lower bowl! It was a great game for the first half...then we got killed and it wasn't quite as great anymore, but we still had fun and are glad we got to go to the game!

Farmer's Market

Sunday morning, Elsa told us about a farmers market with great food in San Diego. Like you're probably thinking right now, I thought...yum, farmers market, fresh fruits and veggies, I LOVE those! I wonder if I should get some fruit to take back for my family...I'll have to try it first.

Not so much! The Farmers Market was a building with a bunch of Mexican food stands (I think it was cleaner at the tacos de la calle stand we ate at in Mexico!). It was tough to decide what to get, because they had so much good looking food! I finally decided to share Wil's carnitas with him (it's basically shredded pork roast that comes with corn tortillas so you can make little tacos.)

The Farmers Market

I watched, wide eyed, as the guy at the carnitas stand took his bare hand, stuck it into the guacamole, grabbed a fistful and flung it on the plate...he then repeated the process with the pico de gallo. But it was ok, because I was being open minded, feeling like I was getting a cultural experience, pretty much starving and determined not to think about it.

The carnitas were yummy, and I enjoyed most of the meal. Every once in a while, I would look at a piece of meat and say..."that looks funny"...and Wil would say, "don't eat it," and I would say, "ok" but didn't really pay much attention or think it was odd. One piece in particular I looked at and said..."that looks like liver...kind of like the giblets that come out of a turkey when my grandma cooks them for the dogs," and Wil said, "don't eat it," and I said, "ok."

After we finished our meal...Wil realized that the man had asked him if he wanted everything. Thinking the man meant, "do you want rice, beans, guacamole, pico..." he said yes. Then we figured out the man REALLY meant, "do you want all parts of the pig included in your carnitas."

We ate various types of meat listed on this sign.

Some of the highlights on this sign say, tongue (no big deal...I'd already eaten that!), kidney, stomach, liver, snout, ear and face. You KNOW you're jealous!

We don't think all of these types of meat were on our plate, but I'm pretty sure at least liver was on our plate (EWWW!) - good thing I didn't eat the liver. I wonder what I did eat!

Be Carefuly Horsey!

Our last activity in Mexico was to ride horses on the beach. Wil, Vivi, Hazel, Xujey and I each got our own horse to ride (it was less than $10 a person!).

This is my horse.

I have to admit, I haven't been on a horse since high school and I've never been real comfortable on horses, but I was excited to go horseback riding. I had a nice chat with my horse beforehand about not going too fast because I was a chicken. He kindly obliged by being quicker than the rest of the horses and in front of everyone else the whole way.

Xujey was thrilled to have her own horse - she felt so grown up!

And the winners for my favorite pictures of the trip:

La Lengua

We stopped for lunch on the way to the beach and had tacos de la calle (street tacos) at a stand in Tiajuana; they were delicious! Elsa talked me into trying a bite of one of Vivi's tacos..."try it, they prepare the meat differently by boiling it...they're really tasty." In Spanish to Vivi and Wil "don't tell her what it is until after she eats it!" I really need to learn how to say "don't tell her" in Spanish...in fact, I think this needs to be the first phrase I learn!

I was not sufficiently suspicious of my mother-in-law, so I said ok, and tried the taco. The meat was very soft and it was pretty good. Then I said, "what kind of meat was it?" (yes, I realize I should ask that question BEFORE I eat it!) To which, Elsa replied, "Cow." "What part of the cow?" I can't remember the answer, but it was something about beef and then she changed the subject.

It was not until we were adding up the number and kinds of tacos we had eaten so we could pay that I heard Vivi say, "I had two LENGUA tacos." LENGUA? LENGUA? That's definitely the word for TONGUE! (don't ask me how I know the word for tongue, but not the words for don't tell her in Spanish!) "I ate TONGUE?" Everyone else - "tee hee, tee hee, she told us not to tell you."

What Happens in Mexico

Wil and I decided to take a last minute trip to San Diego with Wil's mom Elsa, his sister Vivi and her girls the weekend before Christmas. It was a whirlwind trip - we left early Saturday morning and came home Sunday evening.

We spent Saturday at the beach in Rosarito, Mexico. It was so much fun!

The water was a little chilly, but it actually wasn't too bad...and it was actually a bit warm at the beach, so it was fun to stick your feet in the water. This is a picture of Hazel wanting to get her feet wet, but not wanting to get too wet...


She fell as she was trying to run backward away from the water...so much for not trying to get too wet! :-) We all cracked up...poor Hazel!


After that, the girls had fun playing all the way in the water - if you're al!


I think Xujey's favorite part was playing in the sand!


We bought a fresh coconut on the beach! It was delicious...in Mexico the fresh coconut chunks come with hot sauce and lime juice on them. Yum! We laughed at Hazel when she tried to get all the leftover juice out of the coconut!


Wil and Elsa noticed a group (heard, pack, family, what do you call a group of dolphins?) of dolphins playing in the water close to the beach. It was SO cool...can you spot the dolphin in this picture?

Craft Day 2009

We invited Wil's nieces to our house for a craft day several weeks ago. It was our second time, and so much fun I think we're going to try to make it a tradition. What did we do at our craft day, you ask?

We rolled out and cut sugar cookies.



Adaly and Karina were the masters at rolling and cutting out sugar cookies! They just got it and didn't need much help to roll and cut.

We decorated sugar cookies.




Clarisa had to leave in the middle to go to the doctor. She called us from the waiting room because she was so worried she was going to miss decorating cookies. We saved some for her when she got back.

By the way, these are the COOLEST cookie cutters ever! You cut the body and the legs separate and then the cookies stand up!!!

We made ornaments for the tree.



I remember doing this with my mom when I was a little girl, and I loved it. It was funny the different girls reactions to making the ornaments. Karina seemed to like it, but was ready to be done about half way through. Xujey was great at it and was done in no time. Lyzette wanted us to do it for her because she didn't want to get her fingers dirty. She just wanted to pick out the material and point to where she wanted it on the ball.

We colored pictures.


And then, we went to my aunt and uncle's house to watch a movie with their new projector.



Brrr...it was cold outside - hot chocolate and blankets were a must! First, we watched Frosty the Snowman, it makes my aunt cry every time he melts - which, I have to admit, makes me giggle just a little bit! Then we watched A Christmas Story. It was the first time I've ever seen Christmas Story and it was so funny!

All in all, it was a great day...and Wil and I were exhausted when we were done!