GRAND CANYON Road Trip

Cruz had to go to no mans land for a work thing. I came along for the ride, and once we finished up that adventure we decided since we were more than half way we would go to the Grand Canyon. This was the 2nd time we have been to the Grand Canyon since we have moved down here. :) On the way home we also drove through Zions. We really live in a stunning state. 

 This is at the animal place we had to go to for Cruz's work. They have tons of land all dedicated to taking care of animals. 

The sun, was just coming over this mountain.

Cruz was loving this stone... "WONDER STONE" in Kanab, they mine it there.
I had never heard of it, Cruz was surprised by that. ;)

After visiting the animal park, we went and had a super yummy hometown breakfast at this little cafe HOUSTON'S... it was delicious, and we were pretty much full for the day!

 Love the views of the Grand Canyon.

It was worth the drive, and we did some walking once we got there. Very pretty place, and got to see lots of deer along the way, and pretty fall trees. Everywhere we went Cruz was saying I have to take my parents here. Today 11.12 we will pick them up from the Vegas airport. It seems weird that the Vegas airport is closer than the SLC one. But we are both excited to have them come see us and the places we love to go... !

On the way back we drove through Zion's N.P. for fun. :)

Love this time of year!!

Thriller! Halloween 2012

The last few years we have had super festive halloween parties, either one we have hosted ourselves or attended. This year was much more simple, and yet still lots of fun.

 This year for halloween we decided to go to THRILLER at the Tuacahn Theater.

It didn't disappoint. We loved it. The dances were festive, creative, and entertaining. 

Our pictures from halloween are sort of pathetic. 

 They had fun halloween lights projecting onto the mountains. You can kind of see them behind out heads.

 The zombies were fantastic! They crawled around the audience during breaks and before/after the show. They would just come and hangout by you. Sometimes people wouldn't notice and then turn and look... and jump or scream. ha haha.

We didn't dress up, but there were lots of people who did. Next time I think I would like to dress up. 

My favorite costume was someone who dressed up as Effie from the hunger games. She looked amazing, and it was very fun. We were boring, and all we did is where shirts that had black, and orange. Ha haha.

Greatest Blessings

This last summer we've had a lot of changes with moving. Often to keep my spirits up I would find myself listing or counting my blessings. It often reminded me that I have been richly blessed. Even when hard times have come, I am still really blessed. My parents really are on the top of our list, not sure where we would be without them the last few months. We are super excited to say our house is sold and we are settling into our new place.
SO...
My parents just painted their kitchen, and now they are  planning on doing a family picture wall... and in the middle they wanted this quote. So I did a little design for them. Can't wait until Thanksgiving to see it all put together. :) My Sister-in-law made some cute curtains with grey and teal colors. I was nice to finally have something to do for them. My Dad had already picked the quote, thought it was cute.

© Christina Marcano.

These are the colors that their newly painted kitchen, with their new floors...

Hopefully it looks great, printed and on the wall!

Love doing little design projects like this.

Let me know if you have a favorite quote you want designed. 

-christina

Aladdin at the Tuacahn

So far since we have been living in St. George we have had 2 sets of visitors. 

1st was Alan and Lisa (and family) came over labor day weekend... weird that we didn't take any pictures. But we had a great time. Playing in the pool, great food, bowling, and we hiked a little hike in Zions.

2nd was Ash and Jason. We went to the TUACAHN production of Aladdin!!!!

It was fantastic. I love it. The weather was perfect. We will for sure be going back. 

It was such a good time. We were so glad they made the trip.

Oh, and yes I had my picture taken with the genie and jasmine... we were walked to the car and saw the huge line to get out of the parking lot... and went back to the theater for a pit stop. They were almost done with their line of people and I hopped in at the end and took advantage of the photo opt. LOL.

Want to hang in St. George.... 

Stop in and say hello!!!

We are now out of our hotel and into our own little apartment. 

I was worried that we would have to get rid of some of our furniture... but it all fits. Yeah.

We've been living here a week as of today, so far so good.

4 YEARS!

On August 30th we celebrated 4 great years!

Wow, time is flying by.

I have loved all of it.

I moved down to St. George on our anniversary. It was the best present I could have gave our marriage.

I am much less stressed out, and it is really the truth, once you get married...

Home is where your HUSBAND is.

 This year we celebrated down in St. George!

(Our new home... however, we live in a hotel.)

 Cruz surprised me with these pretty flowers waiting in our hotel sweet.

 We went to this fun restaurant called Anasazi Steakhouse & Gallery.

They cook your food on a lava stone. It was festive and unique. 

We also had yummy cheese fondue and for dessert was chocolate fondue.

All was very yummy.

It's true every year we are more in LOVE.

Happy Anniversary, love love!

Thanks for everything.

So, excited to be living down in St. George with you.

Love you.

Remember our...

1st Anniversary.... here.

2nd Anniversary... here.

3rd Anniversary... here.

All good memories. Weird to think that we bought our house on our 2nd anniversary and by the 4th we are trying to sell it. Who would have guessed that. Not us.

thanks for making work so very SWEET.

So, when Cruz told me he had a job opportunity in St. George... I was still at work, and immediately cried. I was super excited for him and his opportunity but it would mean big change for me too. One that would change my career. I have been lucky enough to work exactly where I have always wanted to. I love doing graphic design. I do it for work, I do it for fun. It is awesome. Covenant offers so many unique things to do from making books to aprons...! Moving would mean leaving the job I'd been working (also loving) and doing something else. That was hard. I didn't really want to... but I also knew it was exactly what we needed to do. Though I had mixed feelings.

Mark, Margaret, Me and Jennifer.

See these people up there... they are some of my co-workers from Covenant.
The place I have been working for the last 6+ years.

Oh, the funny stories I could tell. We have had so many good times, and well... some down times too... but that is what makes it real life, right? We have made mistakes, and learned from them. I love all the people that work there. They are all very funny. They will help you with anything they can. They have blessed my life. They started out just being my co-workers but now... I call them my friends. 

So, for my last day... I wanted to bring them a little treat.

The last day of work really jumped up on me...

so, I was making these well after mid-night.

They turned out good though.

My co-workers really did make life very sweet.

the people you work with really do make or break the job.

I was lucky enough to work with people that made it a fantastic job.

Hugs to all you Covenant employees... current ones and those who have moved on.

Love ya. Miss ya.

... and the best part is, that they love me too... enough to let me do freelance stuff for them. So, it has made the transition a lot easier. Though I miss seeing them.

august and september birthdays!

We have a lot of birthdays in august.

So, we have a big birthday party.

Gerald's is the 11th

Candace's is the 14th

(Who was on her honeymoon... so we gathered her gifts for later.)

Alan's is the 26th

and our Mom's is the 29th.

Let's eat cake!

... and we did.

Alan and Lisa hosted a little family gathering. 

We had good times, with good laughs.

Some funny things...

J.J. sticking his face in the air when the camera is out, and closing his eyes in case the flash goes off. Too cute, and really funny. He did want his picture taken.

Emma wanted to wear... a tutu, scarf, jacket, gloves, hat and a towel dress that you you use after a bath!  Needless to say she is into dress-ups. (When we were leaving she was wearing a red church dress.)

Happy birthday all of you!

And... speaking of family birthdays...

these guys have birthdays in September!

Since we won't get to celebrate in person... we will celebrate via blog style.

Cruz's sister Armery's birthday is TODAY. ¡Feliz Cumpleaños! Big hugs. Hope you have a wonderful day. This picture was from when we went to Venezuela. She is such a good little Mom to her little one. She has a big beautiful smile, and a contagious laugh. Miss ya. Hope your day is fantastic.

and... little Emma had her 3rd birthday on SUNDAY. Love ya silly little girly.
I know she was excited to have a birthday. She wanted pink cake! 

We hung out the weekend before, when her family came to St. G. and while on a hike I learned that PINK is her favorite color, and She doesn't want to get married. I asked if she knew Cinderella? She said nope. I told her after she gets to know Cinderella she may change her mind. She said, I don't think so. LOL.

Now that I am living in St. George, I am sure we will miss out on some birthday parties. Something that I will have to get used to. I've always lived around my family, except for when on a mission... and when I went to college for the 1st 2 years. I love a party, and love my family more. I'm going to miss little gatherings. But I am happy that I am in the same state, and I could go visit them at anytime. It makes me think how amazing my husband is. His family lives in another country. So far he only sees them every 4 years. Thank heavens for Skype, Facebook and email.

Introducing Mr. & Mrs. Humphries

Candace and Corey got married!!!

Three cheers!

It was a beautiful day.

Candace looked beautiful and Corey looked very handsome.

They were both very, very happy.

I loved watching her dad walk her down the isle. 

They had a lovely little ceremony under a large tree filled with blowing pink ribbons 

with their closest family and friends. 

Later that day they had a fun reception that was cupcake sweet.

All of the planning and handwork paid off, everything was perfect pink.

The happy couple then escaped to a mexican cruise honeymoon.

So excited for my niece to be married.

I also go to design her wedding announcement.

She knew exactly what she wanted.

We spiced up her idea with some damask and bright pink.

She loves pink, and loves bright pink even better.

Love ya Candace.

Hope you are enjoying married life.

all designs © Christina Marcano

Let me know if you need a wedding announcement designed. :)

Cruz's Citizenship

So proud of Cruz! 

If you ever have a chance to go to one of these Oath and Ceremonies... then you should.

It was pretty much the most patriotic thing I have ever been too. It really made me think of all our freedoms that we enjoy here in the USA. 

Here is a little rundown of how it went...

Welcome in the judge. 

Have 2 musical numbers (Star Spangled Banner, and God Bless America).

Short talk from a Lady, who talked about don't forget your culture; and share it with others.

Judge talked. 

He spoke about his family immigrating from Romania. Then spoke how his wife's father fought in WWII, she never got to meet her daddy because he died fighting for our freedoms.

(It was a powerful story, that made me really thankful for those who fight to keep our freedoms and liberties.)

Then the Oath.

Short movie clip, with a welcome from President Obama.

Then they allowed the new citizens to say a few words if they wanted to.

This was one of the best parts, people spoke for 30 seconds to a minute or so. They talked about how grateful they are to be able to be apart of this great country. About how we have so many opportunities at our fingertips, so many liberties. The one that stole the show, and left no dry eye in the building was a women from China. See when you get citizenship from another country and you are from China; China basically disowns you. You have to give up your chinese citizenship, and you are not welcome to go back. She spoke about having mixed feelings, and yet she was so very thankful to be able to become a citizen of this FREE country, a country that people have the rights to do what ever they dream, a place that supports your choices, a place where you can be happy. It was one of those moments where you realize your life has been richly blessed, just by where you were born. Made me even more grateful for my ancestors who sacrificed so much to come here. Land of the free home that I love.

Present all new citizens with certificate.

Oath and Ceremony 

 Big congrats to my HUSBAND-O. He really did all the work. Excited for him and his new citizenship. Now we can go to London without him almost deported. (Remember that story... here)

 Cruz's new co-worker in St. George was getting his citizenship as well. Small world. It was nice to have a friend there. It was good for me too, because I got to sit by his friend Jenny while we waited for the ceremony to start... good thing too, it was a long wait... it was nice to have someone to chat with. 

I thought this was the perfect card.  

When Cruz was studying for the citizen ship test, he really got into it. He knew all the answers by heart, and pretty much the questions too. There was one that asked "name two of the the 13 or 14 states (I can't remember) that border Canada?" He always wanted to answer with not just 2 or them but all 13/14 which ever it was. LOL!

What do you get someone who loves trivia... a trivia game. 

It was a fantastic day.

We are happy.

We celebrated with my parents and went to dinner.

Love you Mr. Cruz Armando Marcano, one of the newest citizens of the United States of America.

25 main

25 main, in St. George. This is such a cute little place. (It is kind of a girly place.) We went there back in July. We had our lunch there before we headed to do some shopping for the husband-o in vegas. I had been wanting to go there since I saw the place, and finally we did. It didn't disappoint, fun decor, and the food was yummy too. I can totally see myself taking people there that visit me from Orem.

Life is kinda busy, and the blog has been very ignored. I have lots of exciting things to be bloging about, but other things keep getting in the way.
Thanks for all those who have been downloading my halloween soda labels. They've been a huge hit lately. :)

Sorry to mention this again... but you never know, maybe someone will see this blog post who is also looking for a pretty house.
So, if anyone is possibly looking for a cute house in the Orem, UT area, ours is for sale!! Moving due to the husband-o's promotion at work. If we could we'd take the house with us we would... but we can't.  Check our listing... here.

life is busy + life is good.

I have been super busy, with everything that is going on.

1. work and their crazy busy season... it's pretty much ended. { Just finished our trade show! }
2. going to st. george every weekend to see my handsome husband. { I have never loved Friday more, driving 4hours... has never had a better reward... being with my husband.)
3. doing freelance projects { these have been so very appreciated and could have not come at a better time... thank you! }
4. trying to sell our house/preparing for leaving my full time job to start freelance design FULL TIME. { this takes a lot of time, and i have only done a few things }

here is a fun, little shower card I did for my niece who gets married in just a few weeks. I also did her announcement... but since her wedding hasn't happened yet, I won't post that quite yet. Crazy to have a niece who is old enough to get married.

Speaking of OLD... funny story that made me feel pretty good.

Went to the St. George library, just to check it out. Wandered around, and the husband-o decided he wanted a book in French to read... so I went to the front desk to ask if we could get a library card. She asked "how old are you" when I responded 31, she was shocked. I then said "how old do you have to be?" She said 18. WHAT, she thought I wasn't 18???!! I will take it as a complement. :) LOL.

To prepare for working as a freelance designer, I had to purchase this little baby. (No, not the elephant... the computer.) Being that I've been working as a graphic designer for about 8 years now... it may surprising that this is my first mac. 

It's been a crazy summer, hard to believe that it is almost over. But I am very excited to see what the fall brings. It will be an adventure, with moving and leaving my job etc...! I am feeling ready. I am so very ready to have me and the husband in the same place. I don't know how those military wife's do it.  Now if we can just sell our pretty house. 

Want to buy it? Check it out here...  (see, I told you it was pretty. If I could I would pick it up and take it to St. G. with me.)

life is good.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: a little kind

I found this lovely little quote a while back. 

I thought it was perfect.

If you like it too... you can download it here.

Life can be a challenge. 

You never know what people are going through.

I found this quote, when work was crazy.

And we all needed to be a little kinder!

I printed it out and hung it on the wall.
It was for me, and for those who came into my office.
When work is stressful, and you work long hours...
it is easy to get stressed out and say things more harshly than needed.

Right now describing my life in ONE word would be: CHANGE

It is good, just different.

I am used to having my life organized and planned.

I feel like I have a lot going on at work and also it's kinda crazy being gone down to St. George every weekend. Things feel kinda disorganized. I am feeling really ready for things to get back to normal. I am ready for me and my husband-o to live in the same place again. I do feel like this time has helped me to feel more ready to sell our beautiful house... and move, but I am ready for the next phase. 

I am really crossing my fingers that our house will sell. SOON!

I am ready to move to St. George... change and all.

Also, right now I am loving:

that it is about to rain,

doing some free-lance projects,

getting to spend some time with little Emma--while her parents go on a date night,

skyping with the husband-o,

waking up, having the sun shine though the windows,

getting together with girlfriends,

weekends with the husband and the hotel pool ;)

and reading books.

Life is good, change and all!

fantastic week { cruz's b-day, 4th of july, family, etc... }

I was so happy that Cruz's birthday was on a Saturday this year... so we could spend it together.

I was able to go down to St. George on Friday and stay until the 5th. It was the best.

Cruz wanted to go to Vegas for his birthday. I told him it would be too hot. He said he still wanted to go, so we went. Happy 29th birthday love. We had a good time... cheesecake factory, pools, freemont st., etc... Cruz's co-worker also gave him the awesome hamburger cake.

 While in St. George for almost the whole week...
Cruz still had to work on Monday and Tuesday... so, I spent a lot of time at the pool. I especially loved visiting in the morning before it was too hot, and it was just me. It was completely relaxing, and got a pretty good tan for me that is. ;)

It was our first time to celebrate the 4th of July in St. George.
It didn't disappoint. They had live music before the fireworks. Then the fireworks had music and words to go with... I loved it. Made me proud to be an American. They let off the fire works from 4 locations. This was fun, because it was like they were surrounding you.

 Oh, man is it hot in St. George. Good thing they have this yummy place to help you cool down.

I headed home on the 5th of July, and went back to work. Cruz came down on the 6th to Orem because the following day we had a little family reunion on the 7th. (That means I got to see him every day of the week.... FANTASTIC!)
We celebrated our Christmas in July party at the Mt. Timpanogos Park. At first it was super windy... but after a bit it wasn't bad. We had lots of yummy food, and lots of good chats with cousins, aunts, uncles.... It was fun to see everyone. Thanks Mom and Dad for planning everything, it was enjoyed by all.

Thank You.

Got to hang out with this little girl a few times last month (June). First was when her parents went on a date night. Since Cruz is gone, it was nice to have someone to be my side-kick for the night. She loves the camera, and always wants to take a picture. I was lucky to get a shot of her before she wanted to be the photographer. :) Em is in a fun stage, her little vocab is growing... sometimes she will say the funniest things. She will also repeat everything you say.
Also, her parents invited me for dinner the other night too. Which was nice. Lisa did a lot of the work since Alan has a hurt foot... and we added my parents to the table at the last minute... so thanks Lisa for being flexible and having me over for a delicious dinner. They also served Marion Berry Pie Ice Cream...WOW! That stuff is good!

Since Cruz has been in St. George and work has been less crazy busy... I've been a little bored... so it was good to have something to do with people.
Thanks Guys.

Together Again.... picnic

Picnic was June 10th... at timp park. 

Little fact... Cruz and I got engaged there exactly 4 years ago on June 8th. We always go to timp park the night marking that anniversary. We normally take a picture. We tried to that night as well... we even brought our camera... but we forgot one important thing. The SD card for the camera. oops. (Here was a post on our 1 yr. anniversary of our engagement... including proposal story.) Ok... back to this post...

Lexy planned a little picnic.

It was fantastic to see some of these faces, who we don't get to see often enough.

We had a yummy dinner, however... I didn't get the camera out until most of it was gone.

Seriously everything was very tasty. Camie stole the show with her super easy steak fries. I need the recipe. She told us more than once, but I have to write those things down. :) I will have to get it from her. 

 We got a little cold, it was still cool in the mountains once the sun went down.

 Joel brought this yummy bowl of goodness.

Ash brought heavenly raspberries and strawberries filled with cheesecake. I could have ate the whole plate. Remember when I said all the food was good... well, it was.

That pic of Ash, Lex and Camie is too funny... almost looks family portrait like. ;)

Joel ate that flower. He said it tasted sweet. :) I guess if I am hungry and have nothing to eat I will eat my day lilies in the back yard. lol. Joel told us all about the plants.  

I was super glad this guy could make it. I have sure missed him while he has been working in St. George. Wondering why he is there? If you haven't heard already we are going to be moving there. (I have kept it kinda quite... just because everyone at work doesn't know. But the big boss, and my boss know... so I figured it was ok to post it. I will post more about it later.)

Thanks Lex for planning this picnic. 

I loved it. 

It was great to see everyone.

I know it will be less often that we see each other since we are all kinda going different directions.

I know that is just part of life.

Change is good, but sometimes it is a bit sad.

We used to hang with these people at least once a week in the singles ward.

Often times we had many of activities that brought us together way more often than that.
But we are all kinda doing different things...
all good things, life often just takes us different directions and changes. Which is good too.
I would never want to do the same thing FOREVER.
I need change... I'd go bonkers without it.
It is a welcomed part of life.

It was fun to gather with our friends again. I hope we do it again sometime!

Good times.

Good friends.

Good laughs. 

and... Good night!

TOGETHER in Saint George

Cruz is working in Saint George since May 30th.

It has been crazy to be apart so much.
We are glad we live in a day and age that there are lots of ways to communicate...
cell phone, facebook, email, skype, etc.

But nothing is like being together. I was more than happy to go and visit him for the weekend.

7 days apart is way too long. I sure loved being together again. We enjoied the summer sun, and the hotel pool... along with some yummy eats and treats. Can't wait to go down again this weekend!!!

Mid Year!!

Can you believe that half of 2012 is already over! How did that happen? Time is flying by, faster and faster each year. Remember this post... here.

I really love making new goals for the year. It's something that I really do take seriously. I do think that is ok to adapt or change them at any time. Also, I am not against adding to them either.

So, being that it's half way though the year. I would see how I was doing. 

#1: Travel to a new place. I have been some new places, but I am not ready to check this off the list quite yet. We did go to California... and we did get to see some new sites... that I hadn't seen yet. So, technically I have done this... I just hope to do MORE of it.

#2: Celebrate Life: We are pretty good at celebrating holidays, and time we get together as a couple. I have no issue with saying that I feel like we do this well. 

#3: Why is this one such a roller-coaster for me. I have been doing super good on this especially from March until the end of May. I've been struggling the last few weeks. Need to get back on track.

#4: Oh, boy. This one we are doing well. More on that in the upcoming days.

#5: Pretty good at this. I do like to have somewhat of a plan, even if it is just a little one. 

#6: Help others: I hope I am doing this. I have been blessed with so much help from everyone. I know that I did get to help someone out this last weekend. It felt good to return the favor.

#7: Working on this little by little. Ha. I need to be better at making time for it.

#8: I have been working my guts out the last little while (Seriously, I've worked about 50 extra hours in the last month). I can't complain about the fun things we have done this far. We have had good times traveling to Vegas twice, California, and little spots around UT. 

Most of all I feel SUPER BLESSED! 2012 has been good to us thus far. :) 

We are happy. We are loved. We are blessed. Life is good!!