4 months and Christmas

❤ ❤ ❤

Little adorable Claire turned 4 mo old on December 28th 2014

Weight: 15 lbs 8 oz (90%) 

Height: 26.3 inches (95%)

Head: 42.2 cm (75%)

wearing 3-6 mo old clothes. 

Dear little c…
We are loving this new stage of your life!

You have started rolling over.

You laugh all the time. Especially with Dad. You sure think he is funny!

You put your toes in your mouth. 

You are super chubby, and super cute.

❤ ❤ ❤

This was our Christmas card that we sent out this year.
Oh, we think you are so adorable! Thank you for being such a fun and happy baby.

❤ ❤ ❤

We had such a fun time with you on Christmas!
You were getting over a cold, so we tried to not take you out in the freezing cold too much.
We were up North for Christmas visiting Grandma and Grandpa Ashby plus the rest of the family.

 We went to the National History Museum with Alan and Emma.
Afterwards you stayed with Aunt Lisa while Dad (Cruz) and I went and did some shopping.
Emma and Alan built a snow man. It was really cute.

 Christmas Eve, with the family!

 You had lots of visitors…
It was great to see some of my cousins too…
Some of the Gull Girls came by, and Melanie's little Girl Ellie was so excited to see you.
You however, were ready for a nap.
Amanda also stopped by which was fun, I had not seen her in awhile.
Candace was excited to hold and play with you. Also cousin David tried feeding you a bottle on Christmas day… until you slobbered some of it out… he thought it was gross. (Too funny!)
You were loved by aunts, uncles, grandparents, friends and pretty much all. :)

You had so many wonderful gifts from family and Santa… you got lots of new toys!
We were so happy to have you around this Christmas! Last Christmas we had just found out you were coming. What a difference a year makes!
Little c, we love, love you.

Merry Christmas little 4 mo. old.
Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

❤ ❤ ❤

oh, BABY!

We are super, super excited to announce that we are expecting a BABY! 

due date: August 21st 2013

(Joining the August birthday club with my family! We already have 4 birthdays in that month.)

We are just over 12 weeks!

Last doctor appointment we got to do an ultrasound. Which was fantastic!

And with that they measured the baby and moved my due date up a week... which was awesome. Skipped right past 11 weeks and onto 12 weeks. 

I have been feeling pretty good. 

I am counting my blessings on that one.

I have been really tired. Especially in January.

So our little lime (that is about the size the baby is...) is growing strong.

Cruz thinks it will be a BOY.

For me I am not sure. Boy or Girl feeling neutral about it.

Only time will tell.

We told our families the other day, and it was fun to hear their reactions.

So, nice to have such a awesome family with lots of support.

Cruz's Mom said "about time" which made us laugh.

Cruz's Sister Josmery squealed with excitement.

My Dad was the 1st to know after Cruz, and it was when I was super sick with the flu over Christmas. We were trying to decide what medicine I could take. He said "Bless your heart" which made me laugh a little. But his face was filled with excitement. 

My friend said, I can't wait to see what a little Marcano looks like. I couldn't agree MORE.

Yay!! 

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.

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!!!

You are the heart on my Valentine.

Remember more than a month ago it was Valentine's day!
We kind of kept things simple because the next morning we left for California!

My Husband surprised me with a decked out car with little chocolates and a valentine card.

To get me to come to the car, he texted me and said... I think I left my wallet in the car,
can you go and check. lol. It totally worked.

I made Cruz a Valentine-Candy-Gram!

XOXOXOXO!

spinach chicken artichoke pizza, in the shape of a heart.

I love valentine's day every year because I get one of these... a card, with a love note from the husband-o.

i ♥ u...

Yesterday, I went to my sweet next door neighbor's (where I grew up) viewing. She passed away after suffering from pancreatic cancer. She was a wonderful example to me, and so loving to my family through the years. They had this saying on a pillow next to a family picture. It made me cry my eyes out, right then and there. I was super embarrassed by this, but my heart was really sad. I tried to hold back the tears, but that just made my face really red. I was touched by this cute saying.

I am thankful families really can be together FOREVER!

Print your own 5x7 print by clicking the links below.

Teal

Purple

Green

Salmon

(They preview off color, but once downloaded the color looks normal.)

Sweet Valentine! (Friend Party)

 My cute friend Lex, decided to have a friend Valentine's Day Party.

It was so much fun. See that bowl of chex mix... only pic of it that I had... but seriously that stuff is amazing. Thanks, Ash.

She got really creative, and decked out her house with hearts and cute banners.

Cruz and I brought Pavlova. 

All the treats were so yummy! We had a sugar rush for sure.

Ashley B. Made these cute cupcakes with chocolate hearts.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Lex made these super yummy jello parfait.

Lex, also gave us these fun valentine's with mustaches on them.

I "MUSTACHES" you a question...

Will you be my Valentine?

This was such a fun little party. I loved that it was a few weeks before Valentine's day (02.04.2012)... it got me in the spirit of this lovely holiday. :)

LOL. Got to love these friends...!!!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY EVERYONE.

and...
a little love note for the husband-o.


dear husband-o,
i ♥ u.
i love you the mostest-er!
thank you for the sweet card, and valentine's day surprise.
you are the best.
i hope you have a wonderful day.
i am excited to go to San Fran with you tomorrow.
hugs, and kisses.
—love, your wife-a

just because... flowers

(above... flowers from the husband-o, just because.)

My super nice, and handsome husband brought these me these pretty flowers a few weeks ago. I am still enjoying what is left of them. (Sorry for the cell phone pics.)

(above... flowers from the husband-o, just because.)

This was in August of 2011, but I had forgotten the funny note, and had to post.

Love to have flowers every so often. 

Love them when it is a surprise.

Love all the colors.

Love my husband more.

will you marry me?

(pics are from our engagement photo session.)

3 years ago today (June 08.2008), my handsome husband asked me to marry him.

I said yes! Read the full story here...

And... a little love note for the hubby...

I Love you so much. I love being together.

You know how to cheer me up, and you know how to calm me down.

You take care of me. I love being with you!

Happy ENGAGEMENT anniversary.

I plan to have a festive evening.

LOVE YOU!!!!

-chris

Valentine's Day (WEEKEND)

I know that Valentine's day was almost a month ago... but I finally got my computer to cooperate with me and allow me to get these pictures off of my camera and on to it. :)
However... we had a fantastic Valentine's day or should I say weekend!

Cruz did such an amazing job at making me feel like the most wonderful wife ever on my birthday... I wanted to have some fun with valentine's day. I made a yummy dinner Friday. Then I made breakfast in bed for him the next three days. I tried to keep things budget friendly, and still fun.

We opted for restaurant on Saturday... instead of the actual v-day.

We didn't even have to wait. Perfect idea if you ask me.

Valentine's day can seem commercial. But I really do like having a day that the calendar says "Hey, do something romantic for each other." I like getting flowers, little chocolates... and I also like doing little surprises for Cruz. He is my LOVE, and I loved spending Valentine's day weekend with only HIM!

{Click images to see them larger!}

happy LOVE day!

I have a lot to be thankful for. I am well loved, by family, friends and an incredible husband.

I wish you the very same!

I really do have the best VALENTINE that I could ask for. 

LOVE YOU CRUZ.

Why

      do I

         love you?

These are a 

             hundred 

                     answers

and yet

ONLY ONE:

because 

            I do.

Wedding Anniversary #2!

It is true, we are so happy together. We have had such a fantastic first 2 years. It was good to have a chance to celebrate eachother.

This year was different than last year, because we were closing on our house at the end of the week we decided to not go anywhere overnight, and we tried to keep the cost down. Yet, we wanted to celebrate. So, we said that we wouldn't spend anything on gifts, and we'd just go to dinner. I followed the rules, Cruz however did not—but that is OK because he bought me a really fantastic shirt. (The one that I am wearing in these pictures.) He gave once again the traditional gift... the second year wedding anniversary gift is COTTON. I love the shirt and it was something that I needed. I too had a gift for him, one that I made. I made some coupons! (Included: Get out of doing a job/chore, 2 Get what I want and bring it back to me, A back massage, Lazy Night= Dinner of his choice...with no clean-up, as well as something of His choice.) I was worried that he would think they were too silly... but actually he really liked them. Yeah! Two thumbs up for sure.

We went to the cheesecake factory (Cruz's favorite) for dessert. Beforehand we had gone to the Olive Garden (My favorite) for dinner. We were thinking of where to go for dinner... thought about trying some new places, but decided not to so that we could eat at places that we knew we'd love the food. It ended up being so yummy.

So much fun to celebrate our love together. I am seriously so lucky (ie. blessed) to be married to such a wonderful, kind and handsome husband. We have so much fun together, just the two of us—happy as can be. Thank you Cruz for always being fantastic. I love being loved by you. I can't wait to celebrate next year.