It's Official...I'm a Mrs.!!!

I'm Married!!!

To the man of my DREAMS

We were married at The Los Angeles Temple

It was beautiful

&

now I get to spend Eternity with this Handsome man

right here

It really was the best day of my life

Married life has been so much fun 

We have be able to spend lots of time together because

I got a new JOB!!!

No more Sunday-Thursday, 12pm-9pm shifts with an hour commute each way. 

 I started about 2 days after my honeymoon :) 

It really is an amazing story the way it happened but I'll leave that for another post.

So all this happened the week of my wedding.

Talk about STRESS!!!

Oh and to add some more stress to my wedding countdown.

 My poor mother was in a car accident about 2 weeks before my wedding. 

She was taken to the hospital. She almost broke her wrist and they didn't find out until after the wedding that she had torn some ligaments in her arm and that's why it wasn't healing. 

So my Matron of Honor/Big sister/ My rock

was starting to have contraction the week of my wedding. 

She was such a trooper and thankfully Izzy decided to wait until after the wedding to make her Debut.

Isn't she a cutie?!?!?!

I promise i'll upload better pictures when I get them off our camera.

We also had another baby join our family.

My Sister-in-Law, Lilian, had a cute baby boy.

Check him out...

He came almost 1 month early which is why he looks so tiny.

JR's phone rang super early Sunday morning. Lilian called to let us know her water broke.

Her husband works nights so we rushed over to help out by watching little E & big J so that they could head to the hospital.

She was in the hospital for a few days since they were trying to keep the baby inside for as long as possible. 

They weren't sure if he was done cooking yet.

JR & I had Little E with us until they came home with baby. 

He was so good with us. We were happy and were able to get a feel of what it would be like if we had kids. It was fun and E is such a good boy.

It was really nice to be able to watch him for those few days.

It sure is different having a 2 year old around day and night.

Thanks for being such a good nephew.

We Love you E.

I almost forgot ....

Just in case anyone was wondering where we went on our honeymoon.

Drum Roll Please...

HAWAII!!!

I know, I know.

You all already knew.

We can all thank Facebook and my diPhone for the status update/ play by play of my life.

It was AMAZING!!!

I'll write a separate post about our Honeymoon and add pictures too but for now

enjoy these pictures.

As you can tell my life has been a little hectic and busy.

That's why I haven't been blogging.

Please forgive me.

I've had several friends ask me to please start blogging again.

This post for you!

You know who you are ;) 

I promise I'll be good from now on

I really have missed blogging.

Less then one month left

Life has been busy.
 I started a new job 3 weeks ago and I now have to commute to work.
 It's been pretty stressful for me. The past few years I've lived so close to work. I was spoiled and now I have to drive 1 hour to get to work. It's been hard but so far I really like my new co-workers and job. I've had less time to work on anything wedding related. That has been one of my biggest challenges. Finding time to do wedding stuff! Today during my lunch break I worked on favors :)  I will say that I LOVE my iPhone or diPhone as I like to call it. I can check my e-mail and search for anything I need. Thank you JR for buying me my first diPhone. I'm addicted and I don't know what I would do with out it.  

  

Since the last time I blogged I am happy to announce that we finally finished the invitations. We have amazing friends!! They came over one night to help us put them together and it was such a huge help. I've learned that I am horrible at asking for help. I always feel so bad. I don't want to bother anyone or burden them in any way so I was just doing things by myself or with the help of JR. One Sunday our friend B offered to help us and recruited other friends to come over and help us. It was all done in about 2 hours. It was awesome!  Advice to all the Brides reading this....

Just ask for help.
 Ask me :) 
I really do love  helping with wedding and
 I would be more then happy to help out. 

 I would like to take the chance to apologize to those we were not able to invite. It was so hard figuring out our guest list. We had limited seating available at our venue and a tight budget. We do thank you for the continued support that everyone has given us and ask that you continue to support us.  

Please don't think that we don't value your friendship because we truly do.

Another big thing that has happened is WE FOUND A PLACE!!! I'm so excited! I move in about 2 weeks and JR will be moving in right after we get married. I can't wait to get things inside the house and getting it all organized and decorated. JR has started getting some things ready. He has a dresser and shelf he is currently staining so it looks nice in our new place :) 

 This is the Before and I'll post the after on my next post if he is finished with it. 

In other great news..... MOM is here :)

She flew in last week and has been staying with my sister

 She is happy to be here. She gets to see her cute grandchildren. 

My nephew was born last year and she never got the chance to meet him so that was nice that she gets to hold and cuddle with him now. 

He is such a cute baby!!  

All of my nieces and nephews are cute. My 2 adorable nieces are our flower girls and they LOVE the flower girl dresses they are so excitied that they are going to get to wear them at Tia's wedding :)  

If you ask  Lou Lou, my niece, what we are celebrating she will tell you 

"Tia's wedding"

 She also thinks every single bridal magazine and wedding dress is Tia's. 

Soon I will get to have 2 more nephews!! JR has 2 nephews now and they are so great! We really love them and enjoy spending time with them.

Well I have a busy weekend ahead of me. My bridal shower is tomorrow morning and I'm so excited. It's finally starting to hit me. I'm getting married!! I was telling my bridesmaids how It still hasn't really hit me that I'm getting married but I think by tomorrow morning it will all become real to me :)

I can't wait to become Mrs. R 

The Venue

 When we first got engaged we started thinking about different places we can have the wedding. We decided on having it at the Pasadena Stake center. It's the Church building JR grew up attending. He was baptized in that building so it had special meaning. About a year or so ago they started some construction on the building. It was supposed to be finished in December but it wasn't. We thought that by August 27th it should be done. No problem, right?? Well its still not done :( Jorge and I decided that we can't take the risk of sending out invites and having to call everyone and tell them things have changed if the building wasn't finished. The building might be done by August 27th we just can't take the risk. We were very sad about this choice we made but we had to do it. We have plenty of buildings in our area. We had made a back up list of our favorite buildings. We started calling them. They were all booked :( Can you believe it!! Our back up's were booked!!

We started searching online for different locations and options. I made a list and started e-mailing and calling them for prices and availability.  Most of them were already booked. We are less then 2 months away and I knew this would probably happen. The places that were not booked were about $100 a head and parking was about $10-$20 a person and don't forget about the tip! 

 I was becoming very stressed and nervous. How am I going to pull off this wedding with out a location.

 I called a few more places and found some better prices and then stumbled across this hidden gem! I had attended a wedding there once already and knew it was nice. We booked a same day appointment to meet with one of the consultants. We were very impressed and so happy because they were available and local! 

What started out as a wedding nightmare turned into a wedding blessing! 

Now the reason I say that is because before we were basically doing a DIY wedding. I also had a lot of different vendors to deal with. Chairs, Linens, Flatware,Glassware, tenting, Dance floor and a bunch of other things you don't realize you need until you are planning a wedding.  At our new venue they offer almost everything. I wont be worried if the dance floor guy arrived on time and if it is setting up correctly or is the chair people brought the exact amount I need.

 The venue has everything !!

YAY!!

 I can take pictures in peace :) 

I was in tears trying to figure out what we were going to do and now I feel relief.

This also means our guest list is getting a lot tighter which makes us very sad. We only are able to have so many people inside our venue. We can't exceed a certain amount and I won't be able to get great deals on stuff like cider.

 Can you believe a bottle of cider costs $18.00!!

Yes it's true.

How I wish I could just go to Costco and pay $10 for 4 bottles.

Our venue doesn't allow any outside food or drinks. 

with the exception of out wedding cake.

So this is partly why I've been bad about blogging. 

I hope you understand.

Here is another engagement picture.

JR would take me for rides on his motorcycle across this bridge.

I LOVE this bridge and was so excited to take our engagement pictures on it!

We hope to go back and have some more pictures taken maybe after our wedding.

Isn't JR so handsome?

How did I get so lucky?

Wedding, Wedding & More Wedding

I'm sorry that I haven't been blogging at all!! My life has officially been consumed with this wedding. I can't believe it only 50 days away!! So I've been trying to finish up the invites and it's been very hard. I thankfully had some help on Sunday night. Thank you girls for coming over to help me tie all the ribbons.

 So this path month I have changed the location of the reception and finally had some engagement pictures taken. I have also decided on a date for my bridal shower and have finally started and almost finished the invites :) 

Sneak Peak 

at 

engagements 

What do you think?

JR and I love them and are so happy with the way everything turned out :) We have tons more and I'll have to upload it soon. Our friend Ty did these for us. We are so lucky to have her as a friend. She truly is amazing .

Thank you, Ty.

We LOVE you!

I will write some more soon. It's bed time :)

My Beautiful Bridesmaids

I can't believe how quickly the days are going by.
80 days left

 It's just so crazy! I feel so behind on everything but I'm hoping everything will work itself out. 

I finally finished asking all the girls to be my bridesmaids. It was so much fun asking them and I'm so thankful that I have such great friends that are willing to help me on the most important day of my life!

 I would like to Introduce everyone to the rest of  my Beautiful Bridesmaids.

Cassie

I've known Cassie for years now. We both grew up in the same area and have since escaped ...

Just Kidding ;)

I have know her for years now and love the friendship that we have. I have always been able to be myself with her. Jessica, Cassie and I have a great friendship and always have so much fun when we are together. It's so nice to know I have a friend like her to turn to when I need something and have no fear of what she will think of me. She never judges and always listen when needed. 

 AZ during Spring Training

 Disneyland for Jessica's Birthday

 My Birthday at LA Kings game

3 of my Bridesmaids at my Football tournament and my cute flower girl in the corner on the iPhone. I love them and check out the shirts Cassie and Jessica made! We are the Angels so they made shirts with angel wings and had my name put on the back too!! I have AMAZING friends!!

Michelle

  Michelle was one of my first people that I met when I moved out here.She invited me over for a girls night one night and she was one of the first that I told about JR and I. We had been dating for a few months and then we decided to make it official and that night I went to Michelle's and spilled the beans :)  Michelle and I currently live together and I'm so excited to have her a part of our wedding party. She has been a great help and loves to talk wedding with me which is a dream come true :) 

One of our many adventures at Disneyland

Shooting and camping in the desert

This is her and her Andrew. JR & I love them :)

Heidi Jo 

I love Heidi Jo. Isn't she Beautiful :) We are Co-captains for our girls Football team. She is one of the sweetest girls I know. I love that she is competitive like me and we give it our all while playing football. She caught the winning touchdown at our football tournament and that year we were undefeated. HJ is one of mine and JR's biggest supporters and we are so thankful for her. We both love JCrew and  wear the same size everything!! Tops, Pants and shoes!! Basically HJ is amazing! 

Heidi has the ball and the girl is trying to grab her flag.

 The poor girl eats it. Heidi is just too quick.

 Michelle, Heidi & I at a Football Pep Rally

 Me running to Heidi  because she intercepted the ball and made a touchdown!! 

Lilian

Lilian is JR's sister. She is 1 year older then him and they are very close. When JR and I started dating her and her husband invited me over for dinner one night and  they were so sweet! I felt so comfortable with them and since then we have become more then friends, we are family. We hang out with them very often and enjoy spending time with them. It's so much fun being around her and she always gives the best advice. I think we have a great friendship and am so thankful for her. 

 On our way from CA to Utah. 

 Making some yummy empanadas

 Derek's B-day Party

In Utah for New Years.

Those are my AMAZING Bridesmaids!! Aren't they Beautiful?!?!

 I'm so excited to have these girls in my life. 

 Thank you girls for everything!!

 I love you and appreciate all that you do for Jorge & I.

Thank you for all the support and always believing in us.

This is going to be so much fun!! 

Be ready to dance the night away!!

99 Days Left....

   It’s true. 

I have left the triple digits and entered the double digits. In exactly  99 days I will be marrying the man of my dreams.  I’m so excited but at the same time I keep thinking about all the things that still need to be done! Eeekkk!

  Screen shoot of the wedding counter app :) 

Dad Update.....

I've had people asking about my dad lately. I would first like to say thank you to everyone. Thank you for all the prayers, concerns and good thoughts. It means so much to me and to my family.

 

Well a month and a half ago my dad had an appointment with UCLA. My sister and I both went to the appointment with him since it was an all day type of appointment.  We met with different doctors and social workers t o explain the entire Kidney transplant/donor list .  Everything has pretty much gone as expected. His kidney function has gone down enough to be officially added to the transplant list.  UCLA was really great. They were so nice to us that day and for that I am so thankful. Since both my sister and I were with him they made sure to speak to all of us. They asked about our life and if we had any kids or if we were married.  The last doctor we met with was the medical director for the Kidney Transplant Program. He was very nice and while he was speaking to us he asked if we had any possible donors in mind. I raise my hand a bit and let him know that I would like to donate. He then asks me about my health and my age. The best part was that he looked at me and told me that I’m skinny and that I look fit & healthy.  I’m not going to lie, It made me feel good :) Who doesn’t want to be told that, RIGHT!?!?! Well anyways, he then starts to ask me some questions like if I have any children. I tell him I don’t and my sister and dad explain to him that I’m engaged and plan on getting married sometime this year. After a few more questions and overlooking our family health history he advises me that I shouldn’t donate. Our family history with Lupus is not so great. My sister was diagnosed a few years ago and we believe others in the family may also have the disease. Although I don’t show and signs of Lupus now, he said that I am still young and my health can change.   He also briefly explained that I may also encounter problems with conceiving in the future and other risks. That part was scary. He wants me to pull back and for us to look for other possible donors.   I really respected him for telling me all of this because I’m not his patient. My father, the man who needs a kidney is his patient but yet he still made sure I knew the risks that are involved and told me no and that I can’t donate right now.  Now for me this was hard. I felt like I was letting everyone down. I wanted this to be quick and fast for my dad. I don’t want him to have to go through dialysis or anything. My dad cried when the Dr. left the room. He told me how thankful he was that I was willing to do that for him. My dad from the beginning was scared for me. He didn’t want this to cause any future health problems for me and after the doctor looked at our family health history and shared his opinion he knew it was better that I don’t donate.  I was thankful that my family was very okay with it. I really did feel like I was letting everyone down.  When I started driving home I called JR and cried.  It was a hard day for me but at the same time I knew that I needed to take care of myself too.  I started thinking about how it’s not just my decision. I have a wonderful Fiancé who loves me so much. We will be one soon and we need to make sure we make these big decisions together. I’m just so happy that he always supports me :) In the end the doctors told us that my dad is on the list so that is really great news.  He is doing well and just 2 weeks ago he flew back home to Bolivia & he is happy to be home with my mom.  The doctors say that my dad has time. The rate that his kidneys are going should be fine for about a year. Thank goodness he doesn’t need to be put on dialysis right now.  I know things will work out EXACTLY the way they are meant to work out. I have such faith that the Lord will take care of everything. My family is Eternal. I will be 

with them forever! How amazing is that....I get to be with the people I love FOREVER!!

Los Angeles Temple 2008

My FAVORITE Wedding Blogs

I've had some friends recently ask me about the wedding and a few wanted to know where I get my idea's. I thought I would write a post on it and add the links so it makes it easy for those who would like some AMAZING inspiration. 

These are the wedding blogs that have inspired me with my wedding. 

I check these blogs almost Daily. 

If you are engaged or plan on getting engaged soon you must check out these wonderful blogs. 

My Almost Daily Reads:

http://snippetandink.blogspot.com/

http://www.weddingchicks.com/ 

http://www.kissthegroom.com/ 

http://www.magnoliarouge.com/

 http://www.100layercake.com/blog/

http://www.stylemepretty.com/

I love the COLOR PALETTES they have on this blog.

http://www.betsywhite.com/flightsoffancy/

I love looking at the modest dresses and great reception ideas.

http://www.utahbrideblog.com/

Not just wedding ideas

http://www.thesweetestoccasion.com/

Eco friendly wedding ideas

http://www.theweddingwarriors.com 

Included in my blog list folder but don't always check as often

http://theknottybride.com/

http://www.marryyoume.com/

 This is my list of blogs that I enjoy reading. If you know of anymore that you think are also amazing please let me know.

It's crunch time right now and I'll take all the inspiration and help I can get.

103 days away from the Big Day. 

103 days away from becoming Mr. & Mrs.

Isn't that just CRAZY!!

It's going by so fast.

 I still can't believe it. 

This week's to-do list :

- Get started on my dress alterations

- Find  wedding invitations 

- Go to DTLA with my sister,Jazmin (MOH) and find some amazing wedding deals.

- Meet with my best friend, Jessica (MOH) and figure out cake details.

- Figure out wedding day timeline

Let's see how this week will turn out :)

Drum Roll Please.......

Saturday

 August 27th,

2011.

The Soon to be Mr. & Mrs. 

Wedding day has finally been set.

This time it's official!

 Save the Date :)

We originally wanted November 5th,2011. Then just 2 weeks ago we decided to change the date. This means I really need to get started! I thought I was on track and had plenty of time when we had the November date but now I'm behind. EEK! The wedding is in about 4 months!! 

I'm excited! I'm not extremely stressed or anything just nervous. We are starting to figure everything out and having to make final decisions. Putting together our guest list and looking for invitations because they will need to be sent out soon. The best thing about finally having a date set is knowing that my mom is coming! She said that she is going to come in July to help me with the last of the wedding details. She will finally get to see my ring and be with me when I pick up my dress for my final fitting :) It's going to be great!! I can't wait to become JR's wife.

We're Getting Married!!!!

The Royal Wedding

 I didn't wake up to watch it live but I did TiVo it and watched it when I came home from work. I was Blown away by the elegance and beauty of Kate.  Her dress was so pretty. I'm not sure if you saw her reception dress but it was also amazing!!  I  loved the 2 quick Kisses they had on the balcony. So cute!!

They make such a beautiful couple. It was so cool to be able to watch a real Royal Wedding. I shed a few tears during the ceremony because I am such a SAP!! I'm a big fan of LOVE. 

I love being in LOVE with this man :)

Things I didn't like about watching the Royal wedding....

BUDGET!!

I wish we had a Royal budget that way we could rent out the biggest venue we could find and hire the best caterers in town to feed our 500 guests!!!

Okay so we don't have 500 guests but I will admit making a wedding guest list has been the hardest part of all this wedding planning. How do you narrow it down?? How do you get your fiancé to start working on his side of the list??  We wanted to have a very small reception with 50 guests but that didn't work out so well so we have bumped it to 100 . I wish we could invite everyone but we really just can't. We do hope that people will understand that will be having only family and very close friends in attendance.

WORKING OUT !!

I need to start working out but I don't since I'm so lazy.

Whats wrong with me!!! I'm not super worried about losing weight or anything but I wish I could just fall asleep and wake up toned. Wouldn't that just be amazing! I'd have the nicest stomach, arms and legs EVER.

I've been telling myself I would start running since I live so close to the rose bowl but I hate running. I'd rather play some type of sport. I miss football. I miss having practice 3 times a week for about 2 hours or longer. I think I'm not motivated enough . I need a work out buddy. I you are reading this and happen to need a work out buddy week day nights or mornings please contact me! I need motivation so I can be hott on my wedding day :) 

I've been thinking about how I plan on doing my hair. For years people have always complemented me on my hair. I love my hair and have been growing it out for the wedding. It's pretty long now so I've been trying to figure out what would look good. I'd love to have my hair down but I always have my hair down so I thought that for a change maybe I can do something different and have an up-do. What do you think?

Here are some ideas I have had.

Up or down? 

Both?