I don´t want to leave...

It´s almost 7pm and I´m sitting here in a cyber cafe right in front of the plaza here in Lagos De Moreno. The doors are open and the cool evening breeze is quite relaxing. I love it here. The girls are having the time of their lives. I´ve taken so many cool photos and have so many stories that I can´t wait to share with you all!

I guess all good things have to come to an end, but I really don´t want to leave. Ugh, just thinking about going back to Omaha and the cold makes me sad. The only reason I´m going home is because of my parents. I just don´t have it in me to leave them. I know, I know. I´m 24 years old and should be past this by now, but I´m not... Every time I call home, Mom tells me how much she misses us. I know how much it would hurt her if we didn´t go home.

I´m not thinking about moving here forever or anything like that. That would be a bit extreme. But, I´d really love to stay down here until the Quinceneara in April. By then, Spring would just be starting in Omaha and all the nasty weather would be gone. We´ve even went as far as to look at apartments and houses for rent! The rent is so incredibly cheap. But, there´s the whole leaving my mom thing and, well... you know how that goes.

Also, the one condition that would have to be met to ensure my happiness down here would be a computer at home. Holy crap, the computers are EXPENSIVE down here. I mean, a cheap-o system that you could get for $300 at Wal-Mart is over 8000 pesos!! OUCH! And, the girls would enjoy a TV. Another 3000 pesos for a simple little TV. Me and Jose have talked and talked and talked about me and the girls staying down here for awhile and we decided that we will wait awhile.

I will have time to talk to my mom about it and we will also have time to get the stuff together that I want to take with me!

Sorry this was so long and kind of jumbled. I love it here and can´t wait to share the pictures with you guys.

Ya llegue!

We made it! We are here! We left Nebraska at 2am Saturday and we arrived here in Lagos De Moreno, Jalisco around 12am Monday. The weather is soooo nice here! I´m at a cyber cafe and the keyboard sucks, so I´m keeping this short. Take care!

Its almost Saturday!

I've been getting things ready like crazy the last couple of days!! Jose is going to be quite impressed, because I usually wait until the very last minute to get things taken care of. I have our birth certificates ready, plenty of music for the trip, all the gifts packed, all of mine and the girls' clothes packed, batteries and camera ready, the bag of necessities that we will take with us inside of the truck, and I am currently washing heaps and heaps of old clothes of ours that I drug out of storage to give away.

Phew... I am tired!

Oh yeah, I also spent all morning at the llanteria getting the truck ready! :)

Once Jose gets home, I need to make a trip to Wal-Mart to get gift cards for my sisters and mom, and we will be ready to go!

I'm getting so excited!! The girls are, too. Isabel keeps asking me when we are leaving for Mexico! =D

Twitter...

I've added a Twitter widget to my blog. :) I'm hoping to update every so often via my cell phone during my trip, so if you use Twitter feel free to follow me.

Is it Saturday yet?

I wish it was Saturday so that we could hurry up and leave! LOL. I can't wait to get our journey started!

K-Mart had 2G memory cards for $9.99 today! I wasn't planning on buying another memory card (I have a 2G card in my camera already), but I figured this way I can take a TON of pictures and even some video! On a 2G card I can get 80 minutes of video or almost 1000 pictures, so I have plenty of space now! :)

Speaking of the camera, I loaded up on AA batteries as well. Last time we went I had a heck of a time finding decent AA batteries! I think I might even buy some more. I would be super ticked if my batteries went dead and I couldn't take any more pictures.

We've put two new tires on the truck ($240 each!! Sheesh!), and tomorrow I'm taking it to the shop to get the transmission fluid changed (flushed?). I'm also going to hunt up our birth certificates, because I think mine might be MIA and I need to get to the court house to get a new one ASAP.

The snow has died down. Our next batch is expected on Thursday. Let's hope it doesn't snow too much!

:) BYE!

Brrrrr....

Its soooo cold today and we're getting our first snow of the season! I stepped outside to get a couple of pictures and I am freezing!

The first picture is my Dad's truck parked in the driveway. The next picture is of the houses across the street. The last picture is my car (which is parked facing the wrong way but I was cold!)

Got Christmas gifts...

I called the suegra up this afternoon and asked if she wanted to go to the mall and to Wal-Mart with me, since I figured she would want to buy some stuff to send to Mexico. On my way to pick her up, Jose's brother Sergio called me and asked if he could come with. And then once I arrived at my suegra's, her viejo (Don Martin) asked if I minded if he came with, too.

The more the merrier! :) Off to Wal-Mart we went!

I only have two more gifts to buy for Jose's people in Mexico. Sorry if this is really boring. LoL, it's more for me to remember everything that I've bought so far than anything...

This is what I've bought (broken down by family):

Sipriano (Jose's brother) - flannel jacket
Imelda (Sipriano's wife) - sweater
Erika (daughter) - hooded puffer vest
Siprianito (son) - Still need his gift. He asked me for a Playstation 2 game. I might to to Game Stop and check out the used games.
Conchita (daughter) - Toy stroller and an outfit.

Magdalena (Jose's sister) - Sweater
Nacho (Malena's husband) - flannel jacket
Paty (daughter) - Long sleeve shirt
Daniella (daughter) - Long sleeve shirt
Valeria (daughter) - Long sleeve shirt
Cece (daughter) - Little dollhouse and a dress

Maribel (Jose's sister) - Sweater
Juan (Maribel's husband) - Flannel jacket
Ana Teresa (daughter) - Toy blender w/toy food

I'm missing Jose's Dad. I was supposed to grab him a flannel jacket, too, but I forgot so I guess I'll be making another trip to Wal-Mart. Also, Paty has a baby, so I'll probably buy the baby something as well.

Sergio and Baltazar (two brothers that are here in the USA) are sending their families a bunch of stuff, so Jose was just worried about the ones that wouldn't get getting anything. I'm also still making that trip to the Dollar Tree that I mentioned. And tomorrow, I'm going to our storage unit and am bringing all the clothes I can fit in my car home to wash. Of my stuff, I brought eveything that I really liked here, so the rest I plan on taking down to Mexico and letting everyone take what they like.

LOL, this is tiresome. I have to get everything done by Friday or Jose will seriously have a heart attack!

Our previous trip to Mexico...

I've talked about my trip to Mexico many times! I apologize if it is getting a bit repetitive. :)

Our last trip to Mexico was in the summer of 2007. It was one of those things where we didn't even know we were going until a couple days before we left! Jose's mom had been itching to go home, I was whining that I wanted to go visit, and Jose's niece was going to have her Quinceneanera. We left around 3pm on Sunday, July 8th and for the life of me I can't remember when we arrived down there!! Isn't that crazy? I don't even remember if it was night or day!

The drive was a tad on the long side. The worst part was the drive from Omaha, Nebraska down to Laredo, Texas. I think its around a 16 hour drive! By the time we reached Kansas City (less than 3 hours from Omaha) Olivia ended up getting car sick. Holy cow... This kid puked every 30 minutes until we reached Laredo. She wasn't SICK. She was laughing and playing in between vomiting episodes. We debated on whether or not to turn around and go home, but we pressed on. About an hour south of Kansas City we stopped at a Wal-Mart and I bought 6 bottles of Pedialyte, so we just made sure to get liquids in her.

Once in Laredo, (I remember this part - it was 8am on Monday morning!) we stopped at McDonalds. One of those with a play area for the kids. LoL, Olivia had long since puked on every single stitch of clothing I had packed in the little bag to carry with us in the cab of the truck. This was our only option:


LoL, that's not the best picture in the world, but you get the idea. That was taken right outside of the McDonalds. LoL, and yes, that is one of Jose's T-Shirts on her. We fashioned a wannabe dress out of it, and I tightened in the back with a scrunchie. Cute, huh? :) LoL, and I just realized when making the picture bigger you can see she has a handful of Doritos!

We were in Laredo about 2 hours. We went and exchanged dollars to pesos. We had breakfast. Me and Jose's mom went to K-Mart AND Wal-Mart. I bought Olivia some more suitable clothes and my suegra bought herself shoes. :) After about one hour getting permits and such at the border, we were officially IN MEXICO!

Once in Mexico, the drive turns quite interesting! At least for me it does!! Me and my suegra were STARVING after about an hour, but Jose refused to stop at any of the little roadside restaurants, saying that we would not want to eat the food they were serving. We ended up at a little gas station where I loaded up on cookies and soda and chips! LOL! Oh, yeah, and sandwiches! They sold some damned good sandwiches.

Of course, once in Mexico Olivia stopped puking. And then it was Isabel's turn!! She was a little older and could tell us when she was going to puke. We would pull over to the side of the road and let her do her business and then back on the road!

We were stopped several times by the Mexican soldiers. Our truck (2005 Ford F-150 - White with super dark tinted windows and 22 inch wheels) was drawing us negative attention. At every checkpoint they would signal for us to get over. We would all get out of the truck while they poked around out stuff and let the dogs give it a good sniff. After a few minutes they would thank us for cooperating and we were free to go. LOL - at one of the checkpoints the soldier told us to leave the baby in the car - para que no le fuera a dar aigre.

Olivia (just barely two years old at the time), looks at this guy square in the eye and goes, "Chinga tu madre!" (Thanks to her Tios she had a rather colorful vocabulary at that age!)

This soldier got so flustered he could barely speak. He started waving his arms and insisted that it would be better off if we did, in fact, remove the baby from the car. Ooops!

We stopped again in Matehuala, San Luis Potosi. This isn't too far from Jose's house! A couple ofhours maybe? We all got out and headed into a small, VERY clean resteraunt. I had some of the best gosh darned tacos I've ever had in my entire life!! Oh my gosh, my mouth is watering just remembering! Once we were done eating, we drove straight through to Lagos De Moreno! WE HAD ARRIVED!!

Here are some pictures from our stay down there. I'm getting so excited!!! :)

Here is a shot of the girls playing in the dirt. They were thrilled with all the dirt!!

From left to right - Cece, Isabel, Sergito, and Jasmin. I'm a watermelon fanatic and that was one of many watermelons I bought to enjoy while down there!

This is Sergito playing in a little stream that runs not too far from Jose's house. LoL, he was laughing because he wasn't supposed to be in the water and I was promising what his mom didn't know wouldn't hurt her!!

This is Olivia and two of Jose's Uncle's children. The little girl is Jimena and the little boy is Diego. That was at Jose's Aunt's 25th Anniversary celebration, the day before we came home. Look how dark Olivia is! :)

This is at Jose's grandparent's house. Behind the girls is Jose's Tia Olivia. LoL, she is scolding the dogs for not leaving me and the kids alone! Jimena and Isabel are enjoying a Chiquitin.

This is a picture of the girls at the Jardin in downtown Lagos De Moreno. LoL, if you click on the picture you can see Isabel's Chivas socks!

And this is one of the many beautiful churches in Lagos! At night it is lit up with Christmas lights and is super beautiful!

I can't wait to get down there and get more pictures!!!

Take care!

Christmas is coming!

This afternoon, Jose is going to wire me money to buy my family Christmas gifts. Its not as exciting shopping for them this year as it usually is, since I'm not going to be hear to see them open their gifts, but Christmas shopping is something I can't help but to enjoy!

My parents are sad about us leaving for Christmas, but also realize that Jose hasn't been with his family in Mexico for Christmas in over 10 years. Just this morning, I asked my mom what they want for Christmas. She said rugs! Rugs? Really? I'm not about to go pick out rugs for my mom. I'm no Martha Stuart. I suck at interior decorating. I just know whatever I buy would be the exact opposite of what she was expecting. So, she'll be getting a gift card!! :) LoL, she can pick out her own rugs!

My Dad needs a hand truck. Jose calls it a "diablito" and I call it a "dolly". This is what it is:

Also, in the last year we've come to realize that they both need to have cell phones. They are not cell phone people by any means, but its something they should both carry on them at all times in case of an emergency. I'm thinking just a simple trac phone. I seen some nice sets (phone, car charger, accessories, etc) at Wal-Mart and they weren't too expensive.

My sisters are VERY hard people to shop for. I don't even try any more! LoL. They will both be getting gift cards to Wal-Mart as well!

As for my neice, my sister said she needs socks and underwear. YAWN. LoL! I don't want to be the boring aunt that gives socks and undies for Christmas! Come on! I'll pick out some cute character undies and some socks, but I also am on the lookout for a cute little toy to go with. :) I'm sure I'll see something when I go to Wal-Mart to pick up the gift cards!

Jose hasn't said anything about buying for his family. We do every year, but since we're planning on leaving I don't know if he plans on bringing them back something from down there or what...? I'm waiting for him to bring it up. We'll see what he says!

We talked again this morning about our trip. Oh my Lord, this man is so indesiscive. Now, we're back to going in the pickup. He says with gas prices as low as they are that he can justify taking the truck! And the two new tires ($200+ a piece!) we need to put on it. I told him I don't care how we get down there just as long as I get to the beach!!!

He said he wants to be at the beach for my birthday (December 27th). YAY! :) Heather, I need a phone number or something girl so that we can meet up if I make it! That would be so awesome! My first Blogger-inspired meeting!!

That's all for right now... I'm getting super excited. If all goes as planned, a week from today we'll be well on our way to Mexico!

In preparation for our trip to Mexico, I plan on going to the Dollar Tree to load up on goodies for Jose's family. I plan on spending $50-$75 and buying the kind of little things that might brighten their day a little. I'm thinking disposable razors, coloring books, crayons, puzzles, lotions, Tupperware, little knick knacks, dish towels, photo albums, picture frames, etc. etc.

LoL, I know that sounds very CHEAP of me, but I think its a really good idea. Of course I plan on buying some things for his brothers and sisters, but this way I could make sure I have something for everyone!

My Dad is very upset about the whole Mexico thing. He watches lots of TV and movies and is terrified that drug smugglers are going to kidnap us. To be honest, the first time we drove down there I was terrified myself. I had heard many horror stories and had listen to my Dad talk about his trip down there a bazillion times. Once we were actually in Mexico, I couldn't believe the hype. It seemed, to me, like driving down a highway in a rural area of the USA.

Jose did tell me if we had not taken the cuota the entire way that things would have been a little scarier.

We DID get stopped quite a few times by the federales. Our truck was a tad on the flashy side, so I think it made them suspicious. They would have us all get out and they would let the dogs sniff around the truck while they poked around the stuff we had in the pack of the pickup. After they checked things out, though, they would thank us for our patience and let us on our way!

:)

I'll be back later to blog some more... ADIOS.

Rock the boat... :)

Jose seems to have made up his mind about the trip to Mexico. He really, really wants to go. He hasn't been to Mexico for Christmas in over 10 years! That's a long time! He promises that me and the girls are going to have a good time.

I guess I should start preparing. I still won't believe it until we are actually on our way down there, but if we do go, I should get things ready.

We're looking at leaving around the 20th. Traffic is going to be dense. The drive is going to be long. The drive from Omaha, Nebraska to Laredo, Texas is 16 hours. SIXTEEN!! The 1st day Jose would like to get as close to Laredo as possible, and then get a hotel room and relax for the night.

We would leave as early as possible the next morning, and hopefully make it to Lagos de Moreno sometime before dark. There is going to be lots and lots and LOTS of traffic crossing the border. This is the time of year when most people go back to visit. I am planning on the wait to cross the border to be HOURS. Ugh... just thinking about it makes my stomach hurt! LOL!

Jose says when I get his next check to go buy a portable DVD player and DVDs to keep the girls busy on the way down there. Chavela is majorly into Dora and Diego, so I'm thinking 2-3 Dora movies and then a couple of movies for Olivia. Olivia's favorites are the Lion King and All Dogs Go To Heaven. She's never seen the sequals to the Lion King, so I might buy those if I can find them!

I will need books and maagzines for myself!! More books than magazines, actually, because magazines never manage to hold my interest long.

I'm rambling now... LoL. Sorry!

Take care!

Could we be in Mexico for Christmas??

Jose just called and told me he has decided that he wants to go to Mexico for Christmas. Hmmm...

I don't know how exactly I feel about that. I love it down there; everything is so pretty and the warm weather would be a nice break from the cold here in Nebraska. It would also be great to see all of his family again. He still has two sisters, a brother, and his dad down in Mexico. And that's not mentioning the bazillion aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.

I also know that the girls would LOVE it. They had a blast last time we were down there!!

BUT, I've never been away from my mom for Christmas. That will be hard on all of us.

LoL, but then again, the more I think about it, the more excited I get!!

I guess we'll have to see! My biggest concern is the long ass drive down there. UGH!! :(

Where is the check?!

Damn, Jose's check didn't get here in the mail today!! I'm disappointed. There is a really, really good sale going on at Gymboree.com (25% off everything and free shipping!), and I kind of need that money to buy some stuff!

The girls pretty much have enough winter clothing, but I plan on buying Isabel one or two outfits from the new line. Maybe one pair of jeans but two shirts? I guess I can make solid plans once I actually have Jose's paycheck in hand.

Anyways, tomorrow should be a good mail day. I'll be getting my Black Friday Gymboree order! YAY! And, hopefully the check!

Tomorrow morning I'm going to take Jose's mom to the doctor's. I think I'm going to leave Isabel with my Dad but I'll take Olivia with me. We'll see...

Ugh, I miss Jose!! I didn't realize how much I missed him until he came home and then left again!

He'll be home for Christmas... :) Not too long to wait!

Funny...

LOL... this makes me LMAO. :)

http://www.tammiefritsch.com/laughs/sounds/policegotmycar.mp3

Tuesday.

Poor Jose. His flights were all delayed yesterday and he didn't get to his final destination (Binghamton, NY) until after 1am! And then he was back up at 6am to go to work. I bet he is tired!

Anyways...

I haven't mentioned the whole Rigo/Lupita drama in awhile. For the newer readers, Rigo is one of Jose's brothers (he has 5 brothers and two sisters). Rigo is probably one of the most immature 30 year olds I've known in a long time. Jose is constantly bailing him out of problems, lending him money, getting him a cell phone, letting him borrow vehicles, etc. etc. and all without so much as even a thank you.

Lupita is Rigo's pyscho on again/off again girlfriend. She is actually married to a friend of Jose and Rigo's that was deported to Mexico last fall. Rigo and her have been seeing each other since January.

The latest developement to there relationship came last week. They had been broken up for over a month. During that month, she had actually been staying with her husband, who was back in town. He found out about the whole Rigo thing and flipped shit. I don't blame him. He kicked Lupe to the curb and got into a fist fight with Rigo.

Rigo then moved all his stuff out of his apartment and is now living with Lupe in her mom's basement. She isn't allowed at Jose's Mom's house. I guess on Thanksgiving there was a big blow up between her and Rigo because he went to his mom's for awhile and left her at home. Ha ha ha...

And she's supposedly pregnant with his baby. We'll see.

:)

I already miss him...

Awww... :(

Jose is gone. We went to the airport this afternoon to drop him off. I was in a good mood and decided to take his mom with us, since she has never been to the airport. I'm glad I did. She was in awe the entire time, and as we were leaving she kept telling me how pretty it was! LoL.

We had a great time this week, though. I'm looking forward to him coming home in December. He'll be here for two weeks! That'll be pretty cool.

I'll update more later! Take care!