Christmas, Nauvoo and A Winter Wedding

I have barely been able to keep up with the happenings of the past month, let alone blogging, so I will do my best to summarize, but be forewarned that this will be a long blog post. I will do my best to make it interesting, but I make no guarantees. Wedding Pictures will follow. I have to add them later, because as of now, I have none.

CHRISTMAS

Christmas is always a magical time of year. We got to spend this Christmas season here in Cincinnati with Sergio's family. All 7 adults and our two children were snugly accommodated in our three bedroom apartment. Despite the fact that our babies had colds when everyone arrived, it was only passed on to Michelle and Gramps, who must have angels watching over him because it never got worse than a cold which he was able to get over within a week or so. Here are some pictures of our fun together:

Sergito and Emma waking Grampa Garcia up in the morning

Grandma & Emma looking beautiful

Uncle David, Sergito, Emma & Grandpa Garcia getting ready to go out on the town

"Shop 'til you drop" is really more of a literal saying in this family.

It was somewhat cold while they were here, so we attempted to keep ourselves entertained in the house:

Getting Pulled Around in Boxes: Emma had a lot of fun, she just forgot to tell her face.

Playing Board Games where cheating is a must, especially playing against Sergio who somehow always manages to win.

Making Gingerbread Houses: We had a contest. There were four houses involved, but one of them collapsed before we could get a picture of it. Too bad, it was really pretty. Naturally such a contest resulted in the inevitable:

Frosting on Great Gramps' Head!

No wonder he gets lonely in Queretaro without grand kids to wrestle him to the ground, yank on his feet, stir up his food, or get into food fights with.

It was a wonderful vacation for all of us. Sergio had his siblings to play rock band with into the wee hours of the morning, I had my fabulous mother in law to spoil me and everyone who helped with the house and the kids. Sergio and I even got to go on a couple dates!

Sergito had his favorite uncle David who he followed around like a shadow as well as 6 other adults to pay attention to him and play with him. Every morning he would wake up saying something to the effect of, "Dey Dey? Michelle? Gamma? Great Gamps? Gampa?" The names listed and the order changed a little every day, but suffice it to say that he was thrilled to have everyone here. With so much family to talk to, Sergito's vocabulary expanded exponentially. Now he always has something to say. Unfortunately that something includes the word "no" at least 50% of the time, but since he recently turned 2, we consider that a good sign that he is right on target developmentally. And of course there was never a shortage of arms to hold and love our little Emma.

Bath time with aunt Michelle

Uncle David's version of doing Sergito's hair

Christmas Morning

Checking Out the Goods

Trying out the Workshop from Santa

Emma wearing and playing with her presents

There is no longer any doubt in our minds that Sergito understands the concept of a present completely and utterly. This year he was introduced to the culture of Santa Clause. How much he understands about Santa is a bit unclear, but he does seem to like the idea of a rolly polly man with rosy cheeks and white hair dressed in red velvet who brings him presents.

NAUVOO

After Christmas we were able to go to Nauvoo with everyone for a few days. It was cold, but we were blessed with about as good weather as you can hope for for this time of year. We enjoyed the different renovated homes and businesses in historic Nauvoo, as well as a wagon ride around the sites.

Bundled up for the wagon ride

(I did try to get one of Sergito facing the camera, but you can see how successful I turned out to be.)

We were able to go to the temple which is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. We also got to see Carthage where the Prophet was martyred.

We all enjoyed the trip, and Gramps even went so far as to say that it counted among the two best days of his life. Sergito behaved amazingly well considering we had put him in a car for about 9 hours to get there and then we wanted him to keep still and quiet during the tours of the different sites. At one point when we got outside after seeing Sydney Rigdon's home, we let him walk and he just took off running into the field. The cold didn't seem to bother him -- he was free!!!

"No, no, no, you can't make me go in there!"

We rented a house for our stay there which worked out great since we were able to not only sleep, but eat there as well.

Here you see Sergito and Emma's sleeping quarters. The pillows behind Sergito's head were meant to be a barricade. They worked . . . most of the time, and I am happy to add that Emma survived the one time they were ineffective without any bodily injuries.

Cruisin' Through the Grocery Store

While we were there we went to "Rendezvous" which is a little musical play the senior missionaries put on. I was extremely impressed. There they were, a stage full of retired men and women, dancing and singing, kicking their legs up in the air and even climbing up onto a pillar at one point. It was very entertaining and amazingly well presented. I'm not sure there is anywhere else in the world you can go to see such a spectacle for free. Apparently you have to be musically talented to be called to that mission, which means that is one place I will never go as a missionary.

A WINTER WEDDING

Our trip out to Utah for the wedding, started out with a 4 hour drive from the SLC airport to Provo (usually a one hour drive) due to an insistent snow storm which lasted through the night and most of the following day. This of course put a damper on wedding preparations. It was a whirlwind week full of exciting drama during which we almost lost the use of the reception chapel twice. We have no doubt that it was also a miraculous week since the family survived two car accidents, three cars stuck in the snow, and one car towed up the hill in the snow without so much as a scratch (as far as people are concerned. Unfortunately we cannot say so much for the cars). Ana Maria had of course the busiest week out of anyone and how she accomplished what she did is beyond me, and nothing short of heavenly intervention. The first time I saw her, she had slept 4 out of the previous 48 hours. Three wedding dresses (one which she made and another which she altered), bridal pictures, 2 exams, a 12 page paper, and a master's application later,not to mention tying up all the loose ends for wedding preparations (all in 4 days time), she was married looking gorgeous as she always does and having only averaged about 3 hours of sleep per night the previous week. Somehow, the wedding came together. It was beautiful, Ana Maria and Ryan did a little ballroom dance for all of us at the reception, the food was delicious, and the room looked spectacular. The only thing lacking was our father who was sorely missed. There were many moist eyes in the room as Kevin read dad's letter to Ana Maria during the luncheon. They make a great couple and we're excited for their future together. I personally have always been a fan of Ryan's, especially since he came to my rescue when I was 8 months pregnant and trying to clean up our apartment while keeping Sergito happy. He barely knew us, but was more than happy to help, or at least so he claimed and we believed him. It was wonderful, as it always is, to see close friends and family, who without their help, none of this could have been possible.

In getting to know Ryan's family a bit we were happy to discover that Ana Maria is almost as lucky and blessed as I am with her in-law family. Jessica was excited about going to Costa Rica on her mission and as twitterpated as they come with her beloved Peter. I was able to be with her as she went through the temple for the first time, along with my mom, Kevin, and our grandparents, which was a beautiful experience. We also got to know and were very impressed with Peter who was a huge help during the week. We only hope he does wait for Jessi as he claims he is planning. I always say, a mission is a long time, but only time will tell the end to that story.

I do feel a little guilty as a mother during the week we were in Utah because when I wasn't dragging my kids somewhere I was leaving them with family or babysitters. They didn't seem to mind too much, and Sergito seemed to really enjoy his aunt Jessi who he got left with more than anyone else, and of course his cousins Monica and Jessica. The highlight, I have no doubt for the three oldest cousins, was running in the halls during the reception, holding hands, and screaming with glee at the top of their lungs. Sergito, being the shortest and youngest of the three got tired the fastest, but he was determined to not let that get in the way of his fun, so he kept running and falling in his attempts to keep up. By the end, the three of them simply collapsed in a heap at the end of each hallway to catch their breath. The two youngest cousins, Emma and Natalia, were just happy to be held, fed, and to exchange the occasional baby babble with each other.

Here are some pictures (there are of course tons more, but this will have to do).

The Mother and The Bride (dress #3)


The Lucky Couple


Fun With the Decorations

Dress #1


The Bridesmaids


The Roundys At the Temple (some of us anyway)


The Bride with the unwilling nieces and nephew (there was a better picture, but this was more realistic)

Dress#2


The Roundy Bravo clan (except for Dad of course)