July & August

I'm alive. Yes I have resurfaced to explain my disappearance at least briefly.

I have changed jobs, and I am now working at IBC First Equity. I am a mortgage loan processor for Home Equity's, Home Equity Line of Credits, and Home Improvements. It's a great job, and I only actually work with one other person, my boss. She's really easy to work with and we are both new to the company.

Oscar and I have also gone on a trip to Carlsbad Caverns with my parents and the Barton family. We had a great time enjoying delicious fudge, a waterpark at our hotel, the caverns, and eating out. It was a unique and fun trip. We stayed in White's City, which is only a few buildings all connected by the same people running all of them. So you see the same people everywhere, and other than each other no one else is there.

Right after that, Oscar and I's nieces from his family who live in Juarez, Chihuahua , Mexico came to stay with us at our house for a little over a week. The girls are 6 & 7. They are completely different from each other, but both get a long great. Making the stay very enjoyable and entertaining. We had picnics, went to the movies, played at the pool, and Oscar took them around downtown and to Sea World while I was at work.

Then right after that, we got to go to the Brooks Family Reunion in Abilene, TX. It was great to see Jonathan, Adam, Robin, and Corban..... and of course, the Colton Family, Grandma and Grandpa, and everyone else. We had a great time there also.

So we've been busy. When we weren't having fun, Oscar and I have been working.

I am going to back to school this year at Amarillo College taking a couple of Distance Education classes.... Accounting and History. I am trying to take classes towards a Business Administration degree. I also might take classes towards being an architect as well, doing a double major. This may sound like a lot, but I probably won't be finish until I'm 40 or more anyways. So I'm excited to get back in school, and I think I will do better now that I'm married. Afterall, I've got a full time cheerleader or drill sargeant, whichever one I might be needing.

Well, time to say "Goodnight!"

Games

Tonight we had the Espinoza's over to play games. We tried out Citadels. Sister Espinoza reminds me some of Mom in her characteristics. Oscar and I stole all of her cards a couple of times, and I killed her once. I could tell she got a little agitated at that, since we ruined her strategy. But she was a good sport. Brother Espinoza and I tagged teamed both Oscar and her once also, stealing from one and killing the other. That was really funny. So it was fun, and guess what....I won the game!! Yippy-Yay!

Which reminds me.... When Mom and Dad came down we played Puerto Rico a few times, and I won every time. Those are the first games I have won against any one in my family since like elementary school. So just to prove, here's my backup!! Woohoo!!

Softball

I'm sore. I used some different muscles than usual playing softball this weekend. Our stake is doing a coed softball league, and we had our first games on Saturday. It was a blast!! I was a little nervous about being able to play, but everything worked out just fine. I felt like kicking the dirt again while batting, but I thought maybe that's a little much for the first games. I was surprized to remember all the plays, rules, etc. Oscar played with me, and we both had a great time. After that, we went to a help a family who moved into the ward fix up their house. So we were exhausted when we got home.

Well it sounds like a lot of our family got together in North TX for Father's Day. That's awesome!! I would have loved to have been there. So here's just a few things that I admire about my Dad.

• Honest



• Hard Worker



• Steadfast in the Gospel



• Respect & Love for my Mom



• Good Humor, and-



• He has always made a lot of time for family, despite working so hard.

And since I had not started this before Mother's Day, a few things that I admire in my Mom.

• Excellence in all things



• Her unwavering devotion to the gospel of Jesus Christ



• Creativeness used in raising the family, family gatherings, callings, etc.



• Intelligent



• Deep spirituality and love

So I guess, this is my little way of saying how lucky I have been. I'm just sorry I missed seeing things as I do now earlier in my life.

Summer Fun

This weekend was eventful. Oscar had his PT Test, which unfortunately he did not pass. He missed his running by two seconds. They ran around a neighborhood, which threw Oscar's timing off. Ya know, it's hard to judge in comparison to running around a track. So maybe, it just wasn't meant to happen this time around. He will now be doing an Excelerated class for his Officer Training probably in September. If so, he will be gone for 9 straight weeks where it is supposed to be pretty gruelling.



So, Oscar is now teaching Summer School at Manor ISD and making us some extra moolah, which is always a nice thing. He will be taking some summer college courses for the 2nd summer session.



I, on the other hand, was playing in the sun at Schlitterbahn. I think it may be the nation's largest waterpark. It was a lot of fun. I went with some of my friends from work, and it was a great day out. There are three different parks to enjoy. You have to even shuttle between them. For those of you who have kids, they have the coolest kid rides, pools, playthings (ships, animals, houses, etc.) I really wished I had some kids, so I would have had an excuse to go play on them.


This week at work has been kind of crazy, but nothing interesting enough to write about. By the way, if you don't like one of the songs just click next or click on another song you might want to hear. Well goodnight!!

Okay, I took the Fairytale Quiz!

Which Disney Princess Are You?
You Are Aurora! (A.K.A. Sleeping Beauty.)

Thoughtful and loving. Authority figures probably have been sheltering you all of your life. Thankfully you're a very tranquil person who is content with what life has given you, but secretly you want to know how the outside world works.

http://www.greatestjournal.com/quiz.bml?Q=16354

Music

Thanks Mom & Dad for the Flowers!!


Thanks Emily for my last B-Day present!!








Hey Guys,



It sure was good to hear from you Micah and Billy!!! Ya know, this blog business is kind of fun..... Well, Oscar is going to Kansas for his military for sure, as long as he pasts his PT test. I feel pretty confident he will, but I'll find out tomorrow morning. After he gets back, he will probably teach and do school in the evenings...... MUSIC: I put some music I like, but I also put some music that reminds me of different people in my family. Write back and tell me, if you can tell which songs I picked for you. There are ones for Mom, Micah, Helen, Jonathan, Emily, Adam, and Ambra. There may be more than one for many of you. It was a lot of fun thinking about the songs I relate to each one of you. One of the ones that reminds me of Micah is on right now. It's cracking me up because I can see Micah pointing to his bicep right now with that smile he has on his face when he used to do a good cutdown on someone, which was almost all the time. Right!! :) There's good ones for everyone. Put in your comments....By the way, all the people I sent an initial e-mail to can also post entries/comments etc to this blog. I was kind of thinking it could be for anyone in the family who would like to join in the fun. ...Hope to hear from you. Oh yeah, feel free to give family or close friends the blog site. I put it private, so you can't locate it unless you have the exact address. Have fun, I will talk to you all tomorrow. Goodnight!!

Family & Memories

Hello to All,

I am grateful for all of my family, and I'm glad that y'all are understanding when it comes to me staying in touch. I'm trying to do a little better. I've really enjoyed talking to some of my brothers and sisters, and I plan on calling the rest of you soon. Mom & Dad got to come visit in March down here in Austin, and we had a great time. Anybody who wants to come down here is also welcome anytime. What was great about their visit, was just walking around and seeing the sites. We didn't spend any money except on one dollar movie and of course, great food of all kinds. I know the family reunion idea didn't happen a couple of years back, but I'm always thinking about it. We have a great big park that is part of our subdivision, which is really nice that would be great for the occasion. There is also lots of great state parks around here also. We tried out one the other day, called "The Lost Pines". It is beautiful, and it is a pine forest in the middle of nowhere.

On another note, life has been good for us. Oscar is out of school and awaiting the next steps to layout for his summer regarding military, jobs, or more school. He is currently in the Officer Candidate School and loving it. He just got a job offer to be a summer school math teacher for Manor ISD as well. It's nice to see things all coming together after all his hard work he's put in.

I'm still working at a credit union doing lending, which is okay. I have to challenge myself, since the job itself is very easy. I put in a lot of suggestions, ask for training/projects, and create better ways of doing things. It's been a good experience overall because I have always worked for smaller places and have been curious if I would be able to hang in a large financial institution. It's all the same, and it turns out I can hang with the best of them. That makes me feel good because I am progressing, learning, and while not educated with a college degree, I am able.

I've also started working out, which has been so much fun. I go to different classes, and sometimes work out on my own too. My favorite class is kickboxing, which kills me. But afterwards, you're like "I can't believe I was able to do it". You are moving your whole body testing strength, form, and endurance for 60 minutes. For all of us out of shape, that's hard. I took Oscar to the cycle class with me the other day, and he didn't last too long. Hee-Hee!! He's always getting after me about running with him, but I don't like to run for a long time. It hurts!! :) So now he's got his thing, and I've got mine. Well this is getting long and probably boring, so I'll cut it off now. Until next time, we miss and love you all.

Well, I tried to post pictures, but it will have to wait until next time as it is getting late (it gave me an error-errh!!).

Here's to a new first..

That's right Adam, Robin, & Corbin, now everyone has to suffer while they trudge through my new blog. Just kidding, I've enjoyed y'alls blog so much, I says to myself "I can do that!" Well we'll see how I do all together now. Yay!!! For everyone!! Ha!Ha!

Currently:

Oscar & I have his family over right now, and we've been eating some good mexican food. We have cooked out the last couple of nights with some great mexican barbecue. For those of you who don't know, mexican barbeque is barbacoa in a taco w/cilantro and onion. Pretty fatty, but great flavor. Personally, I have to psyche myself out some before I eat. I'm not much for trying meat that comes from weird places (like the cow's face in this instance).

Enough of that, Oscar has just finished school and had a great finish. Now he is working on meeting his goals for military. He has begun attending Officer Candidate School and is thoroughly enjoying it. That is, once he gets past the pain of low crawling for a couple of hundred yards, no sleep, bad food, and a lot of stress. But he really is loving it!!

I am working at a credit union doing lending, etc. It's hard to believe, but I have almost been there a year. I've made some great friends, that make the day go by fast. We are always pulling pranks on each other, which makes for some loud unexpected outbursts. It's great. I have also started working out at a gym. That has been a lot of fun and uplifting for me. I finally got Oscar to try it out with me a couple of days, and I'm glad to say that I kicked his rear in the cycle class. Oscar always kills me in running, so it was nice to have a comeback.

Well, as it is getting late. I will say Good Night for now.