DANIELA's party!!!

Well, we had a Surprise Party for Daniela (oldest sister) ... she thought we were taking her out to eat steak ... Belinda had already sent the invites to everyone and we had a great turn-out...She had her friends and family there to help celebrate her 40th !!

Belinda, Sabrina, Julissa, and myself all went decoration shopping on Saturday... we got all 40th b-day decos for Daniela to decorate the inside of my house and for the outside, it was all for Julissa's Luau party...I had a pool for Julissa and tiki torches (not lit) and leis... it was hot, but fun!!

Sabrina, Nathalie, and Mario helped with the decorations and Belinda and I worked with the food prep...I had the beans cooking in the crock pot since morning, to make sure they'd be done on time... then we chopped the onion, cilantro for the tray to put with the food, and then Beli tried to do the rice, which she used the whole 2lb bag for a wok-like pan...(bad move)... 1/2 the rice was cooked, the other 1/2 was not...then it started getting mushy... so after Mauricio and Alonso finished with the yard work, they were riding bikes and we sent them to the store to get some more rice (I had some, but wasn't sure it would be enough)... SOOO I started cooking the rice (new batch).... and then Beli started cutting the fajitas....

People (daniela's in-laws) showed up right at 4pm on the dot!!! I was getting the grill ready to put the meat...(so I was the cook of the day)..

Everything came out great! The people started to arrive and then...Belinda was looking out for Daniela... when she showed up, we opened the double doors and everyone yelled, surprise!! Daniela was holding back tears...( i could tell)...

ALL IN ALL, EVERYONE HAD A GREAT TIME!!!
(they must have, because this is the first party that there was no food left over!!)

Month of MAY

The month of MAY...

This month started out BADDDD!!!

We all headed out to Groom, TX... with a camping site stop in Canyon, TX (Amarillo area)...we left on Saturday, (5/2/09) at 3am....Mauricio, Nathalie, Mario and I were in my Jeep (and CoCoa too)... Beli /her family and Daniela with hers were in Beli's suburban....I was following her... around 6am or so... I let Mauricio drive my Jeep cuz I was really getting sleepy... I felt as if I barely slept when I hear and felt that he hit something...I woke up all scared and hear him saying..'chingao, lo pegue, no tuve tiempo para darle la vuelta'... I asked him what he hit.. Mauricio said he hit a deer.. that he didn't have time to swirve... I told him to pull over and then I start to see smoke and hear a hissing sound from the radiator.. it was about 6:45am...I told him to signal Gabino (driving beli's suburban) and to flash his lights to get Gabino to stop.... then I get off the Jeep and walk to the front to see the damage.. damn deer ruptured my radiator and busted my grill/headlight etc .. etc.... it was the side that I had just gotten repaired in JAN/FEB from the previous idiot that rearended me!!! There we were all waiting for state trooper to arrive.. we had no idea where we were, no mile markers, no signs.. I was on the phone with my insurance company trying to give her all the information and trying to figure out where the heck we were... when the state trooper showed up (about 15 mins later).. he was able to explain to her where we were and which wrecker service he called to come for the Jeep and also which town was the closest to get a rental...well we had to turn around go back 10 miles to Vernon, TX to drop off Jeep at the wrecker's lot and then go back 55 miles to Wichita Falls, for the rental....good thing is that they had a rental big enough for all of us and all of our camping gear....we were only 2 hrs from arriving at the camping site when this all happened.. so instead of arriving around 8:30/9am...we arrived around 2pm !!!!

We arrive at the canyon to camp out and we put up the tents... Daniela stayed and started to prep the food.. while everyone else went climbing the mountains...whooo hoo..

After all the monkeying around... and eating... we all went into our own tents around 7:30- 8pm to sleep!! TALK ABOUT EARLY!! But the evening was nice and cool.. I heard the rain during the night.. Mauricio brought his air mattress from Houston, so I was sleeping good...Mario had his own tent (which I need to buy another.. he is too tall!!).. Nathalie shared with Sabrina and Julissa... and of course Guicho and I had CoCoa with us... which she did really well ... had to keep her locked up the majority of the time since the sand would get into her splint and start an infection...the next day we all woke up.. took showers ... ate... and packed up to leave to Groom, TX... to Cross Ministries....

have to post pics later....

Groom, TX = VERY EMOTIONAL FOR ALL

The insurance company labeled my Jeep as 'TOTALED' ... so I had until May 16th with the rental...but I took Friday off and Mauricio came in from Houston to follow me to go back to Wichita Falls to return the rental and to get my things out of the Jeep. I received my insurance check fast...so on the way home from Wichita Falls, we stopped by my brother-in-law's cousin's car lot in Grand Prairie to check out a 2001 Jeep that he had on the lot.. but he said that it isn't really a nice vehicle, a motor overhaul was done and it still needs to be checked out...and since it was a 'cash only' car lot, the minimum he would take was $5k...(out of my range)....so Mauricio took me on Saturday, the 16th, shopping around for another vehicle... first we stopped at the lot where I had purchased my Jeep 2 yrs earlier.. I saw on their website that they had a champagne colored Mercury Mountaineer....but on it was not on the lot... so I have no idea how often they update their pictures/inventory...so we go to another area of car lots in Garland... (garland ave behind Prestige Ford)... we see a 99 chevy suburban and 'cash only' for $3900...we take a test drive, runs nice /smooth and everything works.. leather interior...CD/cassette.. grill guard ... but the least he would take was $3800 + TTL (which is more than I had)... so then we go pick up Belinda to check out the suburban and to see if she could get the guy lower... nope, he wouldn't budge..so I take it he wasn't in need to make a sale... so off we all go to another car lot.. Belinda said that she saw a Trailblazer in another lot close by... so off we go to that car lot... we took a test drive in a Buick Vezrous(??), but anyways it ran rough, and sounded rough.. steering wheel was tight too... this car lot guy (Frank owner) said that all he requires is $2k down and in 2 weeks make the first payment, which is $100 each week ($400 mthly)... so the $2k down includes TTL... SOLD! I paid with a check the down payment and Monday after work I am able to pick up the vehicle.........BLACK, LEATHER INTERIOR, SEAT RECALL WHEN EXITING, CD/CASSETTE/RADIO, TIRES GOOD CONDITION, AND so much more....

So now I have a 2003 Black Chevy Trailblazer!!!

(and yes, I've already attached some 'pink' decals on it!)

Memorial weekend -- We head to Daniela's for the cook-out... then we head to OKLAHOMA WINSTAR CASINO !! Guicho won between $800/$900 and came back with $500... he loved the EBAY slot machine....we will be heading back soon!!