Happy New Year!

From my behalf this has been an unpredictable and wonderful year. It began in January with a wedding proposal that I was expecting but was still surprised when it actually happened. It was a wonderful year for my job and career with me finishing my second year of Grad school two days before my wedding. Having a beautiful wedding in June as a half way point, with a wonderful breather in our Honeymoon in Canada. It was great to come back to work and school for both of us and then the greatest blessing finding out that we are expecting in November. The last two years have been a roller coaster of emotions with my change of jobs from Dixon to Mt. View and beginning Grad school. Now I have applied for administrative positions for the next school year and I will finish Grad school in April 2011. It is amazing how fast time has flown. I am also so grateful that Adrian and I have been able to meet our personal goals. For example: we finished reading The Book of Mormon together by Christmas Day and have started to read again. The Lord has truly blessed us and although I have to admit there are moments of apprehension of not knowing what is next, I am so excited and ready for the next year to come. Thank you for reading our blog, for allowing me an outlet, for your friendships and support throughout the years! May the Lord bless continue to smile upon us all is our 2011 New Year desire for you and your loved ones!

-Los Talonia

2010 in photos below:

January when we got engaged. En enero cuando me dio el anillo.

MVHS MultiCulutural Assembly and Student Club. Loved working with these kids! Los Estudiantes del Club Multicultural de mi escuela.

Our Engagement pictures in the Spring! Nuestras fotos para las invitaciones en la primavera del 2010

On our Honeymoon! En nuestra Luna de Miel.

Watching the fourth of July Parade with the kids! Viendo el desfile del 4to de julio con los niños.

Serving food at the fourth of July Stadium of Fire! Sirviendo comida en el estadio para el 4to de julio.

Girls night out in July! Noche de chicas en Julio!

Hiking the Y! Escalando a la Y!

Adrian's mom visits. La visita de la mamá de Adrian.

For Soraya's Birthday Adrian helps her sister Isabel out. Para el cumple de Soraya, Adrian le ayuda a Isabel su hermana.

Jared is born in July! Nace Jared en julio.

Thanksgiving with the girls! Día de Acción de Gracias con las chicas

Temple Square in December. La manzana del templo en diciembre.

Our First Christmas! Nuestra Primera Navidad!

Christmas 2010

Christmas was so much fun! This year we gathered at my parents home and ate: Chicken milanesas, mashed potatoes, smoked turkey, rice and beans (of course), salad and other sides. I made desserts my famous Christmas Lemon Raspberry Trifle (because I only make it for Christmas), jello and coconut pudding. Then after mingling and eating what I could, the kids had a white elephant gift. We adults, all 25 of us, also had a white elephant gift exchange. It was hilarious! Starting with Lilia's translation of everyone picking a present and getting naked! Below are some of the pictures.

Rebekah, Alex and Gabriel getting ready to open their White Elephant gift!

My mother, an adult woman fighting the family for the Friendship Bread that Lauralie (behind her in the white sweater) made. It was shameless and the funniest thing I have seen in years!

Christmas morning the kids wating for gifts from Tia Bibi and Tia Ginni . . . we are too good to them!

My beautiful mother with her sisters and brother: Martha, Lilia and Carlitos.

Our first Christmas as a married couple! Awwwwe . . . this is us at hope with our Christmas Tree, that we put up the week before Christmas.

Manuel and Grandma visiting together at the family Christmas party!

Christmas was great, with family, food and much laughter!

Expecting . . .

We are expecting it is official! We found out the first few days of November that I was almost 7 weeks along. The first week of December we had our first ultrasound. It was a little scary because they couldn't find the baby at first, and then they thought it was two. Well there were two sacks but one was empty. I guess that is more common than it sounds. The baby measured a little small so they are not sure how far along I am .

The baby is facing to the left. His eyes are dark black and has his arms out and legs out. He is sitting. When we finally got him on the screen he waved as if to say "Hello folks, I'm right here." I don't think I had ever taken such a deep breathe of relief. So for now we are due in July and your guess is as good as mine!

We will know in February whether it is a boy or a girl so we will keep you updated. I am doing ok. Have lost some weight but I think my appetite is coming back-every 4 hours on the clock if not I'm sick! This is a demanding baby as I am sure we both were-ha, ha, ha!

We would love name ideas. . . but lets keep them Latino so it goes well with Talonia!

More updates to come!

Laugh, laugh, laugh!

It is amazing what the laughter of a little one can do. It puts things into perspective and allows you to laugh as well. This is a daily and frequent event for Jared and honestly it is a blessing in all of our lives. I hope this makes your day!

Estamos agradecidos por . . . We are grateful for . . .

• el Evangelio de Jesucristo que nos trae paz y verdad/ the Gospel of Jesus Christ which brings us peace and truth,
• el don de la vida /the Gift of Life,
• los seres queridos que tenemos a nuestro alrededor/ our dear loved ones that are about us,
• un hogar donde nos podemos cubrir del frio/ a home where we are sheltered from the cold,
• la tranquilidad de este país en medio de tanta confusión y justicia/ the tranquility of this country amidst so much confusion and justice,
• la buena salud/ good health,
• los alimentos que nos dan la fortaleza necessaria/ the food that gives us necessary strength,
• tener paz y tranquilidad cuando estamos por dormir/ havig peace and tranquility when we lie ourselves to sleep,
• disfrutrar de las bendiciones de la Iglesia restaurada de nuevo/ enjoying the blessings of the Restored Gospel,
• las verdades eternas/ eternal truths,
• de un Dios viviente que se manifiesta a sus hijos/ a Living God who manifest himself to His children,
• tradiciones que nos unifican como una familia/ traditions that unite us as a family,
• la esperanza que el bien siempre truinfará sobre el mal/ the hope that truth will triumph over evil,
• música que alegra nuestros corazones/ music that makes our hearts happy,
• la Trinidad/ the Trinity
• la sonrisa de niños/ children's smiles
• las amistades que se fomentan y se han mantenido por tantos años/ friendhips which are formed and those that have been maintained over the years,
• las generaciones que han abierto las puertas para nosotros/ the generations who have opened the door for us,
• los sellamientos eternos de las familias/ the sealings of eternal families,
• nuestros trabajos y la oportunidad de estudiar y prepararnos mejor/ our employements and the opportunities to study and continue to prepare ourselves,
• y por todas las cosas que Nuestro Padre Celestial y Nuestro Salvador Jesucristo nos brindan/ and for all of the things that our Heavenly Father and Our Savior Jesus Christ give us!

¡Feliz Día de Acción de Gracias! Que lo celebren con sus seres queridos y que las más ricas bendiciones del Señor sean suyas.

Happy Thanksgiving! May you celebrate it near your loved ones and that the Lord's richest blessings be yours!

~los Talonia

Halloween 2010!

Happy Halloween from my nieces and nephews!

Pictures below: PS Rachel made her kids outfits, except for the Yoda mask and Ginni got Isma's costumes. So Dang cute!

General Conference-Conferencia General

We were so blessed to finally have Adrian's mom come and visit us from Mexico. Her visa cleared after much praying and fasting. She arrived two weeks before General Conference so our first item of business was to get her tickets for General Conference. It was a blessing to be in the Conference Center for the General Relief Society Conference and three of the four General Conference Sessions. Two of those we were seated on the plaza level close enough for her to see President Monson and the Twelve. It really was special. Here are some of the pictures we took on this occasion.

Hemos sido tan bendecidos en tener la visita de la mamá de Adrian desde México. Le dieron una visa después de mucha oración y ayuno. Ella llego dos semanas antes de la Conferencia General entonces la primera cosa que tuvimos que hacer fue conseguir boletos. Fue una bendicion poder estar en el Centro de Conferencias para la reunión General de la Sociedad de Socorro y tres de las cuatro sesiones de la Conferencia General. En dos de esas sesiones estuvimos sentados en el nivel plaza permitiéndonos ver al Presidente Monson y a los Doce. Realmente fue muy especial. Aquí están algunas fotos que tomamos en esa ocasión.

Adrian and his mom sitting by the reflecting pond-Adrian con su mamá enfrente del Templo de Lago Salado

Adrian y su mamá adentro del Centro de Conferencias-Adrian and his mom inside the Conference Center

Adrian y su mamá en la manzana del Templo SLC

Adrian and his mom at Temple Square

Mi Mamá Felicitas (abuelita) y la mamá de Adrian-My Grandma Mamá Felicitas and mother-in-law Juanita

Adrian made us laugh as he took this picture-Adrian nos hizo reír al tomar esta foto!

Hiking the Y the metaphor for our marriage

So a few days ago Adrian and I had nothing to do . . . which is wonderful so we thought at about 6:30 pm "Hey Why don't we hike the Y?". Water bottles in hand and not much more we started off on the trek. I have to admit that I told him at first that I wasn't going to make it. . . I mean come on that is a hike! So I just wanted to make it half way up and then another day we could attempt to do the whole thing. He was so supportive and said "Let's just do as much as we can." We started up the steep mountain and this nice lady took this picture for us.

As you can see it was evening but we kept walking and walking. There were times before the half way point that I just wanted to die . . . literally I didn't think I would make it. I just kept looking down one foot in front of the other and through the pain I pushed and pushed until We made it to the half way point. My husband so sweet took this picture of the beautiful city below us.

(I hesitated to write this part of the journey but feel that it will be a good reminder for me in the future. So here it goes)

For those of you who have not hiked the Y it is a switchback trail that is 2.2 miles round trip. It is divided into 10 parts that are posted and tell you how far to the next mark on the trail. When we got to the 5th mark I turned to my husband and said lets keep going. He was a little surprised but was supportive. It wasn't until we were only half way to the next mark that I just couldn't move. He was just a little bit ahead of me and turned back and said, "Hold onto my hand and we will make it together." I could barely see him in the dark yet I did what he said and we moved forward. At the next post we rested and he suggested we go back and I said "No, together we have come this far. Let's try to make it to the top", and onward we go.

This picture was the last picture we could take in the dark. Adrian calls it "Provo Sleeping". We made it to the next mark and suddenly I had an overcoming fear that almost paralyzed me overcome me. I suddenly was so afraid and not of the dark, not of my husband but all of these feelings of not being able to make it to the top just overcame me. My husband noticed and did what he could to calm me down, although it was all internal. I wanted to cry, I wanted to shout and I was so afraid of myself. Of the possibility that perhaps I am stronger then I thought and that in fact I could overcome this mountain. It is difficult to really explain what I was feeling. Yet, all I did was breathe, really just breathe and look at the valley as it slept and then I was able to, by my husbands side with his hand holding mine, walk to the very top of that Y. As we sat on the top of the "Y" I called my mom and said "hey look at the Y out your window-Can you see us?" She laughed and like all mothers told us to be safe on the way down.

So this is the great metaphor of our married life. We all have mountains to climb and overcome. With a hand to hold onto, one that sometimes pulls you and at other times you pull, it can be overcome. Our biggest challenges are not the mountain itself but us. We give up on ourselves too easily. Even when the fear comes and it seems more overwhelming than the mountain itself, cry, scream but no matter what don't forget to breathe and then keep moving.

FALL Football and stuff!

If you know anything about me, you know that I love BYU Football. This year I have someone to take to every game with!

We had a blast and if there is one thing that I love about being married to Adrian is that whatever I take him to is a new cultural experience and vice versa. I wish I would have thought about taking a picture in the junkyard but that was my cultural experience this summer! So in return I took him to the BYU Season Opener and it was a FABULOUS, Great TIME!

Below is a picture of Adrian from our season seats as we prepare to cheer on the Cougs'! "It's like I'm on a Hollywood Movie Set" is his response and I think to myself: Yeah! It's pretty incredible to be in a stadium with 60,000+ fans!

Right before halftime he went and bought a Turkey drumstick . . . I had some frozen lemonade and life was good for both of us. Sure we are a little sun burned and the next game we will be even more sunburned but that is part of the experience!

Besides football games we have both started school, Adrian at UVU and I continuing my masters at BYU. We are busy trying to sale a car and hope to finish the Jaguar for my dad within a week or two.

We have almost everything in place for Adrian's mom to come and visit us at the end of the month. I think it is going to be a great experience for her to reunite with her son and daughter (Faviola my sister-in-law) and to come and see the Church Headquarters. This is her first visit out of Mexico and we are planing to make it the best we can! If you have any ideas of fun places we should take her then Por Favor! Let me know . . .I'm always in need of knowing what else is out there!

Until next time . . . be true to your heart!

-Los Talonia

Wedding Pictures!

Because several of you have asked for me to post wedding pictures on the blog . . . here they are

My family-Mi famiia

Us with Mamá my grandmother Felicitas

Just Married!

My one and only Bridal!

My handsome husband! Love him!

Adrian and his sister Faviola

Elder and Sister Christensen and Adrian's mission Compitas

Beautiful picture of our centerpiece and rings!

The cake my BFF made . . . mmm . . . it taste of Hostess cupcakes!

Me dancing with Gabriel!

My man dancing with all of the little ladies!

The Stake Center so beautiful!

The buffet table made by my uncle Carlos!