Tamale Day.

Its been a great vacation!

So great that I did not waste time posting on this neglected little blog....

I am going back to before Christmas to post some of the things we've have been doing. 

At my parents house this year, we decided to make tamales instead of buy them. 

Everyone got in on it. 

 We used premade masa - "dough". We didn't like the texture so we used home made masa on the last few dozen.

When the masa is the correct consistency, we had the spread station. 

You take the back of the spoon and spread a thin, even layer on the "smooth" side of the corn husk (its hard to tell which is the smooth side). If you do it on the wrong side, it makes it difficult to pull off when eating. These are the ones we used.

 

Before doing that, you have to soak them in cool water. The pot is in there filled with water to help keep them from floating to the top. You have to pat dry them when they are done. 

 

The "spreaders" ...

pass it on to the "rollers" who roll and bend the tail back.

These have a tie around the middle to indicate that they are spicy!

 When they are all done, we put them in the roaster. 

There is a small saucer in the middle so that you can stack like a pyramid. This way, water does not get inside.

We made about 8 dozen that day. What I didn't include was all the work that goes into making the filling. We had chicken and pork. The process involved boiling and shredding 8 pounds of meat! From start to finish took about 6 hours. 

I learned a lot and hope to practice again soon!

Thanks Mom!

Dedication.

This past weekend, we had Reyna dedicated at church.
I was so glad to be able to share the day with both our parents, and my sister and brother-in-law.
Living away from family, I know it was a sacrifice of time and money to be there but it meant so much to me. She will always know that she is loved.

The dedication was great. Neil prayed a prayer for her and she received a Bible and certificate.
She also kinda stole the show. She waved at the crowd and giggled for everyone. It was a perfect display of her joyful personality.

Her little dress.

 Doesn't she look so grown up in this picture?

 Notice her two front teeth!

Of course I always think about it after the fact, but I wish I would have gotten a picture with everyone who came :(

7 months.

During this last month, we had our hands full with teething, sickness, and the start of mobility.
We were able to get lots of help from visiting family and friends.
We celebrated Thanksgiving and her Dedication at church.

She has grown to be so curious. She still loves people and can wave, too!

She is about to crawl, we think. She tries so hard but only moves backwards. 

Boy, the months are flying by.

My Mommy Car.

I didn't want a new car. In fact, I got a NEW new car two years ago and I LOVE it! With Neil traveling from Waco to Austin EVERy.DAY, it made more sense to take my car. The gas mileage is great and it has cruise control. I took Neil's Aveo. I was fine with it but when Neil told me to find a new car, I said, "Okay"!

The problem was that I had to find and negotiate it myself! I thought that was one of the perks of being married!!! I knew that I wanted something bigger. I drove around some parking lots on campus and wrote down what I liked. I noticed a trend. They all seemed to look the same. I also wrote down the same ones multiple times. As Neil put it, "You definitely have a type".

I narrowed it down to the ROUGE, MURANO, and TUSCON. After a solid negotiation, in Georgetown, with a baby in tow, I got what I wanted, for the price I wanted.

2012 Hyundai Tucson

If it looks familiar, its because it is the SUV version of the car I got two years ago! Ha! I guess I do have a style :)

I love it and it is serving us well!

Nice November Weather.

The days have been great for playing outside. Some days we go to the park and watch the kids run around the playground. We pull a blanket out and take a nap. I especially love these pictures because she is wrapped in our wedding quilt.

I decided to try the swings and she seemed to really like it!

 

 This weekend we went for a walk around the stadium while Neil ran.

We brought her to our family brick. 

We decided that she might be the youngest person to have her name at the new stadium!

We are in the 50s today but I'm not ready for the winter. I hope we have a few more days to be outside!