Baby Blessing + Reunion

I just noticed that I didn't post anything for the month of March. I kind of made a New Year resolution that I'd post something on this blog at least once a week. But that just doesn't seem very possible right now. With a full-time job and doing photography part-time, I've never been this busy in my whole life. My 2 days off from work really isn't enough. They just go towards cleaning and organizing, and doing groceries and running errands.

Anyways, Brandon and I were in Parowan, Utah 2 weeks ago for the naming and blessing of my nephew, Gavin. In LDS Church, we have the ordinance of blessing and naming the babies that are born in our Church. It's like the baby officially becomes a member of the Church and is officially named. But this is different from baptism. Children are not baptized in our Church until they have reached the age of 8. Usually families gather together for the baby's blessing. So when Gavin was blessed, it was a reunion. It was sad that my family in the Philippines couldn't come. They missed out on so many other important events already. :(

First day in good ol' Parowan.

First thing I wanted to do was take pictures of Gavin. I missed him a lot. Last time I'd seen him was when he was only a week old.

At 3 months, he's now so much more fun. He giggles when I play with him, and oh, he smiles and laughs a lot.


First night.

We had ourselves a good dose of Wii workout

I love Kristine's in-laws. Aside from being really nice people, they're also a lot of fun to be around.

That's me in stripes, getting my groove on.My poor husband was having a hard time focusing the camera on me.

Meet Kiers, probably the most hyper little girl I've met. She reminds me so much of my youngest sister, Roxanne, when she was her age.


Uhmm...don't try this at home, k?

I could post 20 pictures of her doing her tricks.

Who dat?! :P


Second night was Gavin's blessing. But before the ceremony we had a meet-and-greet party at the LDS chapel.

The Bartons. Gavin wasn't in a happy mood for family pictures.

If I were five years old, he'd be my boyfriend :) Ha! Seriously, this boy is really cute.

Shianne. I have more pictures of her here.

My favorite part at any event.


After the big dinner, we proceeded to the blessing and naming of the child ceremony. It's not that I'd be hung upside down if I took pictures of the ceremony, but I chose not to. I just felt like it would be rude for me to be clicking my camera and distracting everyone else who were very reverent. So fast forward to about an hour later, the ceremony was over and we took more pictures.

Kristine's family and her parents-in-law


I'm no expert at child photography but I've learned that if you tell kids to smile or say "cheese", they're more likely gonna give you this:

or this:

But if you tell them a joke, (even the corniest one), it becomes more natural :)

Gavin in his cute blessing outfit. It's the same blessing outfit that his dad wore for his own blessing. Sweet huh!

Such an angel! :)

Before the year ends...

...I'd like to update this blog and greet everybody "Merry Christmas!" Sorry I'm almost 2 days late for that greeting. I've been here in a small town in Wyoming with Brandon since the 24th to spend the holidays with my sister and her husband and in-laws...and her brand-new baby boy! Yay, I'm an aunt now! I'll have to post some pictures of her stinkin' cute babe here later. And since I'm on a vacation, I haven't done anything but sleep, sleep, and sleep.

So, since I don't get around here much often, I feel obliged to write an update of what happened since my last entry. I tried to remember as many as I could, but these are all I can think of for now:

November
I turned 27. That's pretty hard to believe, and even harder to accept that I'm getting older fast. Ha!

December
-I became full-time at my second job so I had to quit my other job last week because me working 2 full-time jobs at the same time just sounds insane to me.
-I became an aunt for the first time. What a blessing!
-I bought a new DSLR camera a week before Christmas as a Christmas present for myself. :)
-Christmas morning was awesome!

Pictures will be up for this post soon.

update (1/16/2011): and here are the photos! :)

We slept in on Christmas morning and didn't open the presents until about 10 a.m. So while the neighbors had already gone back to sleep after unwrapping their gifts, our excitement just started to kick in.

We did this tradition at the Bartons' residence (my sister Kristine's parents-in-law) and I was glad that we did. Why? Because me and Brandon got tons of presents from them, something that we didn't expect at all. They sure are amazing people, and ever since Kristine got married to Justan, I have always felt like Justan's parents are my family too.

We took turns opening the presents, and I was always itching for my turn.

This one is from my mom-in-law. I still don't know where to put it so its temporarily just sitting on top of the fridge (I hope Brandon's mom won't get to read post.) I suck at decorating and I'm so good at procrastinating to decorate.

I normally don't do the peace sign because it kinda annoys me that everybody does it especially when they do it in every picture. So this is probably the only peace sign picture I have and will ever have. Anyway, this was the last bag I opened because I wanted to save the best for last.

The fat guy in the funny red suit was so good to me this Christmas.

I'm inlove with my new baby.

Considering that it was a winter month and we had a good amount of snow 3 days earlier, Christmas morning was unbelievably beautiful in Wright that I honestly didn't care for a white Christmas.

To close this post, I'll leave you with a pic of my adorable nephew. I swear I couldn't get enough of this teeny-tiny guy. Meet my new favorite boy, Gavin!

Visiting the Sunshine State Part 4: Into Parenthood

This is the last part.

Click here for Part 1
Click here for Part 2
Click here for Part 3

Brandon and I don't really have a timeline on when to have our first baby. It's not that we don't want one, we just don't feel ready. Well, actually Brandon is ok about having one soon but it's me who always say no. Before I got married, I used to think of bearing a child immediately after the wedding, like within a year. Maybe because I grew up in a country where babies come either before marriage or shortly after. Living in the USA and seeing the Americans' way of life definitely gave me a better understanding on a lot of things, parenthood being one of them. I feel like I woke up to the reality that being a mom is a lifetime responsibility, and without a doubt the biggest responsibility a woman can place on her hands. And I don't want to be faced with that responsibility financially, emotionally, mentally, and physically unprepared.

Like I mentioned in part 2, Brandon's younger sister has a baby boy. He is sooo adorable that I couldn't get enough of him. Here are few pictures of me taking care of Parker while his mom was at work. I was his nanny for the whole day that day. I fed him, changed his diapers, played with him, hushed him when he cried, and put him to sleep...in other words, I practiced mothering with him that day. Honestly, it was more fun than stressful.





These 2 were taken after doing the family pictures (see part 2). Don't we look cute as a family? :D



One day, you'll see me and Brandon on this blog holding our own baby/ies. I promise! :P

Visiting the Sunshine State Part 2: Meet the Crew

To read Part 1, click here.

This is my U.S. family. Brandon has 2 sisters and a brother. Each member has a very strong relationship with one another, and they're all very sweet and loving people. I am one of those immigrants who are in good hands and very thankful for that.

A little information about the Carree's. Brandon's dad works for B.P. America and his mom is a SAHM. Brittany, the younger sister (curly red hair, red shirt) is studying cosmetology and has a stinkin' cute boy, Parker. She used to do modelling before she had a baby. Brianne, the youngest girl (long blonde hair, blue shirt) is a junior in high school. Bryce, the youngest kid in the family is 9. He's the dad's buddy. Brandon and Bryce have almost the same personality. They're both quiet and video game addicts. At 9, Bryce already has his own PS3!

This greeted us at the doorstep when we got to my in-laws house in Gulf Breeze.



the dudes

the chickas


Some pictures of just me and B


My mother-in-law was taking pictures of Brit and Parker at the same time that I took this one, that's why they're not looking at my camera.

Bryce, being an uncle :)


These 2 always remind me of my own sisters. It's fun having other girls in the family! :)

After the family pictures, we ate dinner at a sea food restaurant on Pensacola Beach. I think this photo looks funny. I was taking a picture of the lemonade. Brandon's mom noticed it and tried to pose.

I'm addicted to lemonades. Raspberry or plain, pour some for me please!

Caught in the act: Husband stealing a sip of his wife's drink!...then pretends like he did nothing. Haha! Brandon and I often act like little kids around each other such as I don't let him eat my food or drink my beverage, then he steals and eats/drinks it whenever he gets the chance to, just to tease me.

Pirates :)


Here are 2 more members of the family that I want you to meet too.

This is Sammy. She's the oldest cat I've ever met. Sammy has been with the family since my husband was little and he told me that she's about 16 years old.

And this is Micha (pron: Mai-kah), a male Persian. I'm actually sad while writing this part. Micha is a very sweet cat. I fell in love with him quickly. In fact, I like him better than my own cat, Wyatt. He's only 2 years old. The day that we left Gulf Breeze, I noticed that Micha's breathing was fast. He also seemed to be weak. He was lying on the floor most of the time and only got up when I hinted him to, but would lie back down right away. So I told Brandon about my observation with Micha and he relayed it to his mom. We were on the plane on our way back to SLC when we got a text from Brandon's mom informing us that they took Micha to the vet. At first the vet thought the cat had asthma so they gave him oxygen. But the vet later found a worse diagnosis, Micha had a heart failure and required surgery. This meant costing my parents-in-law thousands of dollars. So they just resorted to the option of putting him to sleep. Micha died the night that we got home. This news made me cry. I just didn't want him to die that early. This is the reason why sometimes I'm hesitant of owning another pet. I fear of losing them one day.

To read Part 3, click here.