(All Up) In my head

Christmas 2009

So, Christmas 2009 was a pretty calm Christmas. We played some games...here's a picture some hostages...er...I mean family playing a game. Let's see, there's Auntie Nelma, Charity, Rosemarie, Eddie and Manong Jester. Lay-Lay is on the floor. She's getting so big!

This is a picture of the hubby ACTUALLY COOKING!!! (Of course...it was the instant pilsbury cinnamon rolls. They were yummy once we scraped off the burnt bottom)

Christmas morning! Last year, my niece was too young to open her own presents...this year, she had a ball ripping up the paper! Here's a pic of her playing with BUBBLES!!! Truthfully...we all had fun with that. =) hehe...

Awww...my nephew is totally rocking the antlers, don't you think? So cute!

Back to the Christmas party...here's a picture of some of the cousins...oh...and dad and grandpa? Hey, how did they get in there?

Cousins Jonathan, Jeremy, Eddie and Charity munching on dessert before dinner!

I like this picture of my sister and my niece. Mom and daughter look so happy!!!

Mom and Savannah. Awww!!!!!

Especially during Christmas do we miss our family, and my cousin Marvin hasn't spent a Christmas with the family in such a long time! We did a little Skype-ing with him and his wife and daughter, Ila and Izzy. It was nice to see and talk to them at least for a little bit. We decided to take a picture all together. They're on the computer screen.

It was a nice Christmas. I can't wait until Christmas 2010. Caleb's going to be Savannah's size and Savannah will be 2+! Time sure flies, doesn't it?

Graduation and Family

So, the weekend before Christmas, the hubby and I flew out to Florida to see my sis-in-law's graduation from the University of Central Florida. It was the second time I had gone to a graduation at UCF and the first time at the new area. The hubby also graduated from UCF, but he didn't feel it was necessary to march. Surprisingly, the hubby doesn't like to be the center of attention for everything! Like for instance, birthdays and graduations, he would sooner just pass over any recognition of the event...

Anyhow, here's a pic of my other sis-in-law, Carrie, my mom-in-law, Argentina, bro-in-law, Ruben and the hubby right before going into the arena and munching on bananas (disgusting, I feel, in its natural state!!! ick!). Oh...UCF has started to become a larger school over the last couple years. This is the school that Michael Jordan's son now atteds...

Here's a picture of Glorybell throwing out some attitude. Congratulations, Glory!

We spent a LOT of time outside taking some pictures. Here is one of the siblings and their spouses...and Ivan...someday spouse!

Awww...siblings!

Afterwards, we went and had lunch at P.F. Chang's. Surprisingly, Eliasib and I haven't had it since moving out to California - probably because it was in Florida, and hubby likes to experience "new" things since moving to Cali. It was yummy!!! I had my favorite - Dan Dan Noodles! We also met up with Eliasib's best friend, Alex. Here's a pic of him and his son. Seriously, this little man has the most beautiful eyes! He's so going to be a heartbreaker. Alex (and his wife, Alexandra) have a younger son and another on the way. It still baffles Eliasib how he used to hang with Alex as unmarried guys and travel Europe or go skydiving...

Oh...Here's a pic of hubby and I during the graduation. It was so big and there was speeches and stuff...we got a little bored. Ther's lots of these self portraits, but here's my favorite one.

After lunch, we visited hubby's aunts. Here's tia Norma and tio Nene (don't know spelling...)

Here's tia Nena (spelling??? Dunno)

December is also the in-law's anniversary. I don't know why I don't have a picture of the happy couple, but I have pictures of the food we ate at the awesome Turkish restaurant in Winter Park! Here's Eliasib's vegetarian dish. It tasted yummo!

Here's Ivan's chicken kebob-by thingy. Looked yummy!

But...my dish was sooooooooo good! I was sad we were leaving the next day because i really wanted the left overs...but it went home with Ivan who I trust ate the heck out of it!

After flying home, Eliasib and I got into San Francisco and, being that it was 9am, we decided to spare our family and take public transportation most of the way home. We BARTed (Bay Area Rapid Transit) from the airport to the Ferry Building in S.F. and ferried the rest of the way back to Vallejo. Here we are after barely any sleep and flying across the country on the ferry boat. I'm still trying to figure out if the hubby looks cute in this pic or a little creepy...I'll go for cute. =)

I realized that getting pictures of Alcatraz and San Francisco and the Golden Gate bridge from the ferry is cool since you can't get those angles from land...so here are a couple shots I took from the ferry.

It was a fun trip! I'll post about some of our other adventures and visits with friends in Florida in another post. Have a great day, all!!

2010!!!

August 15 was seriously my last blog post? Wow, in a way, that was the last time I had free time before Christmas, that is...

I do plan on posting to this blog...I haven't kept it mostly going since March 2005 for nothin'!!!

Anyways, since its been since August 2009 that I've posted, here's what's been going on -

My friend Kristen Meyer - now Kristen Harmon, got married!!! Here are some of my favorite pictures of the weekend:

Here's a picture of Kristen in her absolutely beautiful dress. Love this picture! It encaptures her happiness and the dress!

Here's the happy couple...

Picture with my Florida friends - Kristen Gleason (now engaged), Kristen and Elizabeth. Miss these girls!!!

Aww...the lucky guy - Joe!

I was able to visit with Kristen more during our quick trip out to Orlando for my sissy-in-law's graduation...it was so nice catching up! And as much as I love California, I do miss my girlfriends in Florida.

Ooh...didn't realize I was running short on time. I'll post more - since I have more to post - later.

Happy 2010 everyone!!!!!

While I'm at it...another cute picture!

While I'm on the topic of bragging about my nephew, I thought I'd post this pic of my little niece who is now one year old! Could you believe it? I can't...time is flying by!

Here she is in her cute church dress deciding to flip off the shoes and, umm... eat them! That poor rubber ducky better watch out, he's next! =)

Oh, and couldn't resis... the next generation of Adventist Rook Players!

My new nephew!!!

I've been so caught in life, I haven't had a chance to post a very important family event...

World...meet my new nephew, Caleb (with my lil' bro, the new father)!!!

Here's the proud mommy and the yawning one. Is he not so cute?????

Now that my niece is so big, I completely forgot how LITTLE newborns are! He's an absolute angel, though, from what his parents say, I should come around 2am to see how angelic he is then! =)

Anyways, congrats, Ang and Jun!!!

(I'd post more pictures, but most are on my phone, and I can't seem to figure out how to transfer them to my computer...)

Family & the 4th

4th of July weekend was so busy! Mostly because we were preparing for my sister-in-law's baby shower. I was so busy during the shower...that I didn't take any pictures. *sigh* but, it was pretty and the food was yummy...so, yeah, it was great and you'll have to take my word for it.

The pictures I do have are of Savannah's first fireworks show and lunch at my cousin Jester's house. Its so nice being back in California because I'm around family. Now, I'm older than most of my cousins, so its so nice to watch them all grow up. I'm not close to them, but maybe one day, we'll all be on the same level and be actual peers. Currently, I'm Manang Valerie. Someone older and someone you respect. That's cool...I'm fine with that!

Here are the pics:

Fireworks!

Angela, Manang Abigail and Savannah

Cousins (and sisters) ~ Mariel, Liziel and Melissa ~ and Savannah

Abigail and Eli. Why does my husband's head look twice as big as my sister's???

My beautiful cousins plus my cousin, Jester's, son, Mark.

Jun, Ang and Mom

Tahoe

So, this year, my sister pushed us to plan a family trip, even though it was a short one. And you know, I'm glad she did! We had a blast!!! My sister found this really cool cabin that we all pitched in and rented for a long weekend - Thursday to Sunday.

We really enjoyed our trip...though, unfortunately, I was SICK! I was reminded that I have a habit of getting sick before and during vacations - evidence: last year's cruise during our Christmas trip out to Florida. So, I do not have pictures of Sabbath when everyone packed sandwiches and hiked out to a beautiful (I hear) waterfall and see (I hear) a great view. *sigh* Your's truly was back in the cabin asleep. Oh, well...it was still fun, and I hope we can do it again later and for a longer time frame.

Here are some pictures:

Here's a picture of my niece, Savannah. She's almost a year old now and has such a personality. We were sitting outside at a restaurant for my sister-in-law's birthday.

Here's my sister-in-law's birthday "cake," and although I'm not a huge dessert person, that THING was GOOD!!! Probably didn't help my sickness...come to think of it, I was pretty sick the next day. Still, that was REALLY good!!!

Aww, Angela and Demetrio. Cute!!!

On Friday, we went out to the lake. Being Filipino, we set up camp in the shade under a tree. For sure, I didn't get in the water, but that didn't stop the hubby from jumping in to the ice cold water. There was still snow on the mountain tops in the background. Eventually, my brother-in-law, Brad, joined my crazy husband in the water...crazy!!!