California

Over the weekend I flew to California for a visit with family and friends. It was so good to be "home" and a great blessing to spend some quality time with everybody.  

Saturday: Lunch in Ventura with good friends Reva, Dave, 

Erin, and baby Kyle

This is my good friend, fellow La Reina alum and faculty

member, Joanna.  Since she taught some of this year's

graduating class as 7th graders, and I worked with some of

them in Campus Ministry during my time at LRHS, we decided 

to attend the graduation.  It was great to meet on our home

turf, since we have both moved away from California.

This year the two co-valedictorians were both Amandas. One of them

(the one who is speaking in this photo) was a great help to me in 

Campus Ministry during my time at LRHS.  She made quite an 

impression on me because she came to La Reina in 9th grade after 

having been homeschooled through the 8th grade.  Not only did she 

quickly make a great group of friends, but she got involved with all 

kinds of clubs and ministries and took full advantage of her 

high school years. It was awesome to see her at the podium 

representing her fellow graduates and speaking words of wisdom

as she prepares for the next chapter of her life. 

Katherine was also one of this year's graduating seniors.  

During her freshman and sophomore year, she was the most

dedicated member of my retreat planning committee. She has

always impressed me with her musical talent, strong work ethic

and conviction in her faith, and I was so proud to watch her receive

her high school diploma.  She has a heart of gold and is off 

to great things in life.

Sr. Lisa was principal at La Reina during my jr. high

and high school years and has since become a good friend.

She has an amazing love for the school and for women's 

education, and has been such an inspiration.

Sunday mass at St. Julie's.  This is Fr. Carroll, the priest

who married Neal and I.  Since it was Father's Day, I 

thought it would be nice to have a picture with my

spiritual Father.  

Back at mom and dad's house for a Father's Day BBQ.

Ana was not able to join us as she was busy preparing for

her finals on Monday and Tuesday, but I got to see my little

brother Andrey, my aunt, and cousin.  

Dad and Gaston enjoying the outdoors on a beautiful

California day

Mom with her sister, Norah

Stacey and Dave happened to be in Newbury Park

visiting Dave's dad today, so they stopped by for a visit.

I was so excited to see them, and to hold my godson

again after last seeing him a year ago when he was only a 

couple months old.  He's gotten so big and so handsome, 

I just couldn't let go of him!    

Isn't he cute?!!

Andrey and his girlfriend, Stacey

Monday:  having a delicious pizza lunch with Peter

Since Brian couldn't join us for lunch on Saturday, he and Erin

came by with the baby for dinner.  It was so great to catch up

and reconnect with him as well before I left.  I couldn't believe 

how big Kyle is either!  At 19 months he's running everywhere 

and talking up a storm.  What a doll!  

Tuesday: Before I left, I was able to meet with my cousin,

Cecilia, who had just returned from Florida with her grand-

daughter Hayley.  It's hard to believe that she will be in 4th

grade this year!  She's turning in to quite the beautiful young lady.

Mom, dad, Cecilia, and Hayley

What would a trip to California be without a meal at Duke's?!

This was the view from our table.  It was a sight for sore eyes to 

see the beautiful California coastline.  Yet, as I arrived back in 

Texas I was greeted by an even better sight when Neal

welcomed me home.

Engagement Party

It's Memorial Day weekend and we have more to celebrate than just the holiday.   A little over a month ago, Tony proposed to Christine and today, we had the chance to get everyone together to congratulate them. Twenty-six people filled our house in support of the newly betrothed couple, and we had a wonderful evening of fun, laughter, and eating 'til our heart's content.  We are so grateful to be able to share this special time with them, and look forward to many more in the future!

Neal prepared a surprise for Christine and Tony, and blew

up several of the photos we had of them.  We put them up

throughout the house in honor of the happy couple.

One of the pictures was left with a white border around

it for guests to sign throughout the evening

Tony and the boys, including his Best Man, Chad (right),

who flew in from Arizona to attend the party

Neal and the twins

Carolyn, Christine, Debbie, and Julie

Christine and Tony with his mom, dad, sister, and cousins

Preparing for cake-cutting on the wedding day!

The Police

Tonight was The Police concert (the tickets I got Neal for his birthday) at the Woodlands Pavilion. They were awesome! Here are some pics....

It was a great evening for an outdoor concert

Sting coming out for a preview to sing a song with 

opening act, Elvis Costello

Battle of the Bands

Well, the most anticipated event of the year took place this weekend - the Rock Band Battle of the Bands competition. This event was hosted by our super spirited neighbors - Mike & Lisa - and featured artists from fellow neighbors (Sarah, Gi, Neal, and myself), as well as others from the "regulars group" of Rock Band fanatics. We have all been playing like real rock stars over the last few months (some of us even jumped one or two levels on our instruments!) so Mike thought it was time we really see who's boss. He and Lisa put together three bands with four members each: a singer, a drummer, a bass guitarist, and a lead guitarist. Each participant was assigned a band based on instrument played and skill level (to even out the bands). Our mission was to dress up as if we were really going on stage in front of an audience, and show up prepared to rock the house.

And that's just what we did. No one in the competition was lacking a great costume. We all got very into our roles, as did our host and hostess, who had orchestrated a full-on stage, complete with elevated platform, overhead sign, fog machine, black light, and colored strobe lights. They had even prepared framed CDs with a laser Rock Band inscription and group photo to present to the winning band. This was the real deal.

We had a blast, though neither my band nor Neal's band won (through no fault of our own I must contend! :o). It was certainly a memorable evening, with great costumes, great company, and great music.

The Black Mambas:

Monica, Neal, Lisa, Joan

3rd place

The Dingleberry Shortcakes:

Jonathan, Sarah, Kelly, Scott

2nd place

The Infected Dorks:

Gi, Angela, Mike, Chad

1st place

Don't you love the kilt?

Amadeo

Neal flew to Arizona over the weekend to become a godfather to Amadeo, the son of his good college friends, Adam and Cindy. From the great photos, I'd say they had a beautiful ceremony and a nice time.

Neal, Jenny, and Amadeo

Adam and Cindy (to the left) with their family and friends

Happy Birthday Neal!

This weekend we celebrated Neal's birthday. The party started on Friday night (when Neal received a suspicious looking package at work from his mom and sister :) and ended on Sunday with a nice dinner out.

Here's the suspicious looking package.  Lynn is so cute, she 

even wrapped the gift inside with Transformer wrapping paper!

Hmmm....what could it be?

What else but Guitar Hero 3!  Neal has been wanting

this for quite some time and now we have a second

guitar to use on Rock Band so that we can have a

bass player.  We've already had a full band practice

on Saturday night with our neighbors, Sarah and Gi.

It was a blast!

Neal's sister, Carolyn, found this shirt tucked away 

at home and sent it with the package.  It was his dad's

 old Harley shirt.  What an awesome gift!  

Breakfast at iHop on Sunday morning.  There's nothing

like starting a birthday with a nice, big meal.....

....and finishing it off with another big meal.  :-)

For dinner we met up with Christine and Tony

at a place we haven't tried before - Cafe Adobe.

Supposedly they have the best margaritas in town.

It was a fun atmosphere and a nice time.

Opening gifts:  First, a Harley card from Mom and Dad

Continuing with Mom's wrapping paper theme, 

Christine included some Transformer tattoos 

with his gift.

For Neal's gift, I bought us some concert tickets to see

The Police.  He's been wanting to see them for the longest

time but has never been able to make their shows for one

reason or another.  Now he finally gets to go this month!

I'm really looking forward to it too.  They're kind of a blast

from the past, a band that anyone who grew up in the '80s 

grew up listening to. 

The spot on my right shoulder is water after having to clean

myself when one of the busboys dropped a bowl of salsa and

it splattered all over me.  Other than my salsa shower,

we had a good time.