Goodbye 2008. Hello 2009!

I wouldn't say 2008 was an overly fun year for us after all we were planning and saving for our upcoming 2009 wedding. However there are a few highlights for the year.

1. The removal of the braces has to be the best thing about 2008!

2. The fun bridal shower that brought together many family and friends. Thank you Mom, Betty and Cristin for making it so special!

3. Uncle Ruben's birthday party. It was great having the Acosta family together again. It had been long overdue!

4. Watching Brycen and Shane play flag football.

5. Meeting up with my girlfriends, Melissa, Josie and Leah. Our lives get so busy that this proves to be a rare occassion.

6. Going to a few D-Back games with the LOML.

7. Shane & Sophia's Kindergarten graduation.

8. Crying when my younger/bigger (yes, he is taller than me) cousin Ben proposed to his girlfriend Christa. We can't wait for the wedding on 1/2/09!

Joe and I want to wish all our family and friends a very Happy and Blessed New Year.

The Familia photo

I was able to gather the family for a photo this year as it had been a few years since the last photo and we've had some wonderful additions to our family.

Taken 11/23/08 ~ Anthem park

(l to r: Caitlyn, Piper, Keri, Dan, Brycen, Mom, me, Joe, Sohpia, David, Linda & Shane)

Altered Clipboards

I got this idea in my head to make altered clipboards for my nieces and nephews as one of their Christmas gifts. I did a bit of research on the web and most people said they were time consuming and difficult to make. I actually found them pretty easy to assemble and alot of fun! Now I did these thinking they may use them for their school work so I didn't want to add too many embellishments. Here's how they turned out. I can't wait for the kids to open them. I hope they like them!

The front and back of the boys clipboard.

I was going to make them each different but liked this paper so much that I made them all the same. I think this makes them edgier and know they will think it's cool.

Here's the princess one.

I painted a chipboard using their first name initial and put ribbon on the clip.

I decided to make the girls clipboards each different to fit their personalities.

More of the girls altered clipboards

Happy Holidays!

The Acosta grandchildren

It's a rare occasion that all us grandkids are together in one location and everyone is willing to smile for a photo. Of course there are few grandkids and great grandkids missing but this is pretty good gathering.

Photo taken 11/15/08 at Uncle Ruben's

l to r (back): Craig (Michelle's husband), Kevin (Jodi's husband), Daniel, Paul (Melissa's husband), Melissa, Joe (my soon-to-be-husband), & David

l to r (front): Michelle, Leila (Melissa & Paul's daughter), Keri (Dan's soon-to-be-wife), Me, Brycen (Dan's son), Jodi, Cody (Jodi & Kevin's son), & Linda (David's wife)

It's Christmas time!

The place is all decorated, gifts have been purchased, wrapped and shipped. Cookie baking has been happening the past few weekends and will continue this weekend. Supposedly, my sugar cookies are a hit with my niece as she took them to bed with her. : ) I've been good and have avoided snaking on them. After all the wedding is approximately a month away.

This was last weekend. Joe brought the totes full of Christmas decorations from the garage to the apartment.

The mantle decorated and the stockings hung with care. Like our new Christmas Story lamp lights? We had a set last year but they stopped working so luckily we found a new set.

Here's our tree with all our fun ornaments.

The LOML's interior illumination skills. He also did the exterior as well.

The LOML with his reindeer ears. Isn't he cute?!

Yay! We got our cruise papers in the mail. Only 1 month, 6 days until the wedding and vacation - woo hoo!!!!

JoeStina

Yep, Joe and I should now be referred to as "JoeStina". It's our new celebrity signature. I was reading this article on a bridal site about a couple saving their first kiss for the wedding and I see this little ad for what the site calls "The Name Game". It's where you come up with your own celebrity signature like "TomKat". It gives you a few combinations so you can pick the one you like the best or that has a good ring to it. Give it a try and feel free to comment back your celebrity signature.