Cruz's Parents Visit to Utah... Part 2

 We love having Cruz's parents stay with us. We were happy to take them on a little CALIFORNIA adventure! They were good sports to come on our little road trip.

First stop... Downtown Disney.

Lego Land... so fun! They had such amazing characters built from legos. 

Cruz's parents loved all the disney stuff. We didn't got to Disney they said, let's do that when we have kids. LOL. But we really had a good time in downtown disney for the night, as well as a good dinner.

The next morning we went to Long Beach and visited the QUEEN MARY. 

It was fun to see the ship, and the tour was good... a little messed up because they were revamping it so we kind of got lost. But still fun.

Long Beach has such a fun Pier. We looked around for a bit, and then introduced the parents to FUNNEL CAKE... they liked it. ;)

Next we visited Hollywood and the famous sign.

Then time to see the "Stars."

We also went to REDEO drive, and did some window shopping.

Next we went to Santa Monic Pier. 

Next stop... Santa Barbara! And the sun finally came out.

And then we went to Cambria. Such a cute little ART town. Fun stop.

We loved our little road trip. Lots of good laughs!

Part 3 is San Francisco!!

MeRRy ChRiSTmaS! Our Christmas Card

Click to see it bigger. :)

Above is our Christmas Card for 2012.

Had a great time designing it this year. I think we summed up our year pretty good on this little card. However, one fact on this card... didn't actually take place this year. ha ha ha. The husband-o pointed it out after we had already printed it. Can you guess which one it is? 

I wasn't very satisfied with the way it printed, but it still worked... I just love how nice and bright, and crisp on the screen. Maybe it's the Costco here... because I've had such good luck with them in UT County. Oh, well. 

I can't believe Christmas is so soon. 

Merry Christmas!

CRUZ'S PARENTS VISIT...part 1

Cruz's parents visited us for a month! We had so much fun with them. It was really great for me to get to know them better, laugh together and spend time with them. It was so great to see how excited Cruz was to show them. This is PART ONE of their adventure with us. :) 

warning: long post with lots of pics.

We picked them up from the Las Vegas Airport and then staied a few days hanging out and showing them the sights of Vegas. Cruz's Mom wasn't that excited about Vegas at 1st. Not much of a gambler, so she didn't really feel like she needed to see Vegas. Vegas is however one of Cruz's favorite places. His Mom quickly learned why. They loved seeing all the hotels, and their designs. We took lots of pictures, and walked pretty much the entire strip. We also went to Le Reve (The Dream) show. It was amazing! We all loved it.

One we got back from VEGAS, Cruz and I worked for a few days, and over the weekend we took them to the GRAND CANYON!

They loved it. Cruz's Mom was Freezing!! But the views were spectacular! Worth the drive, is what we all agreed on. 

On the way there we also drove through Zions, which was Cruz's Mom's favorite National Park that we visited. The Sunset was very pretty. Oh, and on the way there we saw a tumble weed go across the road. Cruz's Dad was thrilled. Something he'd seen in movies of the WEST. So, Grand Canyon and tumbleweed were crossed off of the list of must see things...

We then went to St. George for a few days, before heading to OREM for THANKSGIVING!

We meshed his family with mine. It was a great chance for them to meet each other for the 1st time.

HAPPY THANKGIVING!! 

We had lots of yummy food. Got to hang with the family for the day. It was fun. Cruz's parent are kind of hiding in the picture but they are behind Gerald. :) Thanks to my family for making them feel welcome. Now, let's all learn Spanish so that next time they feel even more welcome. ha ha.

They both loved the views of Timp. Whenever we were driving place to place they were pointing it out. Drove up to Bridal Veil Falls and through Provo Canyon.

On the way home we stopped and enjoyed the lights at RIVERWOODS mall.

The lights at Riverwoods were awesome! I think better than I've ever seen them.

Krispy Creme was a huge hit with the parents. We visit it often for their morning coffee, and some donuts too! I was pretty donut-ed out by the time we left orem.

next stop was the DINO museum at Thanksgiving Point. We have lots of funny pictures from this adventure. They have nothing like this, with all the full dinosaur skeletons where they are from.

Every time we were driving in the mountain areas we said to look for deer. My Dad was telling them maybe they could see an Elk. We never did, except for some dead deer on the road. :( So, we took them to Cabelas! A first time visit for me as well. And... you guessed it, they loved it.

Then we visited Salt Lake...

 Lights at the Gateway, and some shopping too.

 Lights and more shopping at City Creek Mall.

 Then to Temple Square!

They loved it, even though they were freezing! And it was actually pretty warm. We got them some hot chocolate to help them not turn into icicles.

Then we took them to Park City to see SNOW. A first time sight for Cruz's Dad.

 We had fun riding the lift up to the Canyon's Ski Resort. Had lunch at the lodge. 

We also took them to main street. 

Seriously, it was like a spring afternoon in Park City. We also visited the Olympic Park.

The Next day we took them to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

 It was amazing. They wished the singing lasted more than a half hour. After we all went to the little America for Brunch.

Tour of the Conference Center.

Back to St. George!

Well, the next week was in St. George. Cruz and I had to get caught up on work, after being gone. So it was more relaxing for his parents. His Mom (with the help of Dad) made us delicious lunches and dinners. We played lots of Rummikub, phase ten and uno. All games that aren't english based. :) oh, and see those silly pics of us with Christmas on the heads... that is at Walmart. Cruz's Mom LOVED that place. We went there often, and filled up many carts of food, and stuff. They did all their Christmas shopping while they were here! It became a joke.... well, we could go to Walmart! Oh, and they helped us with our Christmas tree.

St. George temple/visitor center. Had a great time there. Also, went to the tabernacle there... where they got free copies of the Book of Mormon. The other picture is when we tried to go to a Christmas concert at the tabernacle, ended up being a rehearsal only... Cruz's Mom was the youngest one there by at least 20 years... not counting myself. Funny story. Too bad Cruz was at work and he missed it. 

Live Nativity at Tuacahn. Short but fantastic!

St. George temple lights and frozen custard. 

more shopping.... at pier one.

Cruz took his parents while I was working to Zions and Virgin. They had a good time. Filled up the memory card with hilarious pics. :)

Little road trip to Arches National Park.

We did the little tiny hike to see the arch. Kinda far away. But we had a good time anyway.

Whew! Know wonder we were feeling exhausted. 

They love Utah, and all of it's sights. 

Part 2 is our California adventure!

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.