9 years

9 years ago was my wedding day. We dated for 6 months before that.

There are actually quite a few things I regret about that day and the days leading up to it. We were pretty crappy towards our parents, David's dad wasn't even at the wedding, something I will ALWAYS regret. I was in such a hurry to get out of my parent's house and on with my "dream" life that I ignored a lot of things and people that I shouldn't. I also allowed a lot of things to happen that I wished I wouldn't have. I BORROWED my dress :(. I let a lot of the bigger decisions just float by me (not to say that I am not totally and completely appreciative of everything that my mom and the rest of the family did for us, cause I am! I just wish that I had the forsight to be more PRESENT in my own wedding plans). Oh and we skedaddled out of our 'cake & punch' reception after MAYBE an hour. Ugh in some instances I have to agree that 19 is WAY young to be getting married!

This is me and my Daddy before the wedding.

Yes I wore flipflops under my dress! :)

The wedding party

Communion

David and the girls

But I do NOT regret getting married on this day 9 years ago. I do NOT regret WHO I married.

I know now that I didn't really know him then, I didn't even really know myself.

But I got lucky.

The man that I married is more than I could have ever dreamed of. WAY more than I deserve.

He is the love of my life. The father of my children. My very best friend.

I can not imagine spending the last 9 years of my life without him by my side. I hope and pray that I never, ever have to know what that kind of life would be like.

I love you baby, more than I can express.

Thank you for everyday that you've been with me.

I am so proud of all that you have become and am so grateful for all that you do for our family.

I look forward to the next 9 years with you and more!

All my love,

Your Wife

Going Backwards, and forwards

Not sure what my deal is these days but I just haven't been in the mood to write about what's been going on in my neck of the woods. Nothing bad has happened, I actually don't have PMS (shocker!), I'm not drowning in a book (but I am getting ready to start this one, am I the last person on earth?). Anyway, nothing has been keepin me from writing. I've been focusing on housework and house projects and a wee bit o' craftiness. Oh and a little thing some people like to call Facebook, but I call the black hole that I get sucked into daily and only come out when my kids need to be picked up or fed!

I finally got the gumption tonight to whip up my first ever video using the pictures I took on our recent anniversary trip. Last weekend, my parents were darling enough to keep our kids so that we could get away together. Our anniversary actually isn't until March 18th but with David's work + school schedule this was our only chance to celebrate. He has class the Saturdays before and after our anniversary, he is working the nights before & after our anniversary, and has class on our actual anniversary :( So we HAD TO GET AWAY when we could hahaha!

Now some of you may think that we are crazy for 1) celebrating our big day at Disneyland and 2) for going without the kiddos. Well ya we're crazy like that :)

We had a blast going on pretty much ALL the grown up rides, something we never get to do! I was trying to be a brave little wifey and accompany my man on all these scary rides but after going on The Tower of Terror I was dunzo! That is THE scariest thing I have EVER done in my ENTIRE life! No, I do not care how dramatic that sounds. I almost crapped my pants! I will never understand why being terrified, dropped a bajillion stories, or jerked around is FUN and entertaining for anyone!!! If you can, pause it when you get to the pic from Tower of Terror. I am gripping my love for dear life and he is laughing hysterically. The other people in the pic are posing, raising their hands, & even whistling! I was CRYING and praying for the welfare of my children after my untimely demise! No joke! Not fun, not fun at all and don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

Something else I have to mention, I forgot my camera charger :( I was able to eek out enough juice for these few pictures but there were so many photo ops that I just couldn't get.

All was made right with the world when my hunny bought us Annual Passes! He said, "Now we can come back when your camera is charged" hahaha he's such a sweetie pie! Seriously how did I get so d*amn lucky!? I have coveted Annual Passes for quite some time now! Did you know that SoCal residents can now use a payment plan for them? For a one income family like us that is a dream come true! Reason #1029383821 why I heart Disney.

Ok enough rambling, here's my wittle slideshow... mute my soundtrack down at the bottom so you can hear my favoritest love song ever while you look at the pics!

In Search Of...

If you follow me on twitter or facebook you may have already heard my cry for help. I decided to expand my search to the bloggy world.
Next month the hubs and I will be celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary! I can hardly believe it myself.
Hubs actually has to work AND go to class the day of our anniversary and has class the weekends before and after. SO we are attempting to plan a weekend getaway for the last weekend in February. We haven't had a weekend completely to ourselves in years. We went to Vegas in 07 with his family and before that I can't even remember.
So here's where I need your help. We are looking for something to do/somewhere to go that is not too far away, something relatively cheap, something romantic, something relaxing, something that we haven't done before or at least haven't done in a long time.
Any ideas?

Just a reminder....

Don't forget to enter my lil anniversary give-a-way!!!!! You have until this Saturday, July 12th at 11:59am to enter!

Happy Anniversary to ME!!!!!

Today is the one year anniversary of my very first blog post!!!!!!!

In 365 days I have made 256 posts!

I would like to shout out special thanks to these 2 lovely ladies for first tempting me with their blogs and making me want to be a copycat. Without them, I just might not be here today! And that would just be S A D right?

I mean maybe not for my house and such cause it tends to get a lil neglected every once in awhile :) but it would definitely be sad for me!

This blog has become such an outlet for me as far as expressing thoughts, feelings, tracking my crazy kids, documenting family events, etc. But it's also helped me find other bloggers that I can relate to or aspire to be more like. Just about every week I find myself adding a new favie to my lil list over there ------>

So while I don't know that that many people read my thoughts on a regular basis there are PLENTY that I read even if I don't really "know" them.

In honor of this lil anniversary, I've decided to do something that I've never done before.

GIVE AWAY A PRIZE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've seen a few other bloggers do this recently and it looks like ALOT of fun and I'm hoping it might help some of you delurk yourself? Let's all join together and take off those stalker capes, yah you know you have one, and put on our friendship hats instead! YAY! :)

So here's the rules:

You have until NEXT SATURDAY (July 12th) at 11:59am (PST) to leave me a comment that tells about a special out of the ordinary anniversary(i.e. not a bday, or wedding, or dating anniversary) that you "celebrate" every year.

Then, later that day I will put all the commenters names in a bowl and draw a name.

That winner will recieve a lil goody bag of prizes for yours truly. Now don't get too excited cause I do mean lil - it is birthday season around here you know ;) But it'll still be great!

So there ya go, have fun!!!!

St Patty's Day

Belated yes I am aware!

We started out the day with some very strange looking GREEN pancakes. They weren't that big of a hit LOL

For lunch we had GREEN jello and drank 7up through GREEN straws! (sorry no pictures)

We also took the time to color some Leprechaun and clover pics courtesy of http://www.familyfun.com/!

That evening, my Nana came over to babysit the kids for a few hours so that David & I could enjoy an evening alone to celebrate our 8th anniversary (which was the 18th).

So even though we didn't have a visit from any lil GREEN people like year's past, a great day was had by all :)

I'm an old married lady....

Eight years ago today, at the ripe old age of 19!, I became a married woman. I married a man, that technically my mom had chosen for me (funny how moms always know best huh?), but more importantly, HE chose me. He wasn't someone that I had to chase, or win over, or beg for attention. He chased me! He won ME over! It felt really good :) He likes to remind me just how close I came to him giving up. I'm SO glad he didn't. We have certainly had our ups and downs over the past few years but we have always come out of it all more united than when we started. I am so blessed to have a true partner to share my life with, to "grow up" with, to raise children with, and to just BE with. I love you baby!

Our Communion 3/18/2000

Last night, on our way out to dinner - 3/17/08


And now, a survey about my man...

What is his full name?

David Agapito Gago

May 2006

How long have you been married?

8 years today!


How long did you date?
Only a couple months before we got engaged, and then a few months after that we got married! All in all I think it was 6 months from start to finish LOL

Magic Mountain November 1999

Who eats more sweets?

Definitely me! He's not a big sweet eater at all!

Who said, "I love you" first?

That would be him. And he was so burnt that I didn't say it back right away! LOL I totally loved him but was just soaking it all in. I definitely had baggage haha

On our Honeymoon at Pismo Beach 3/2000

How old is he?

He is 30!

January 2008

Who is taller?

Definitely him by about half a foot!

Who is smarter?

He is, about some things, he has a college degree after all (inside joke). But there are a FEW things that I'd like to think I'm smarter than him about - like scrapbooking! hahaha

Las Vegas 4/2007

Who can sing better?
I say definitely me. He might argue that ;)


Who does the laundry?
His love slave, oh that's me :)

Who pays the bills?
He does and it is SO nice not to have that job! Although I do like to know what is going on with our money and he's really good about keeping me up to date!



Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?
Well, if you're standing at the foot of the bed, facing the head of the bed, he does,


Who mows the lawn?
Now that we have a lawn, he does, and loves every minute of it. I love watching him. He's so cute!

First time mowing his OWN grass! 9/2007

Who cooks dinner?
We're pretty much equal in that department.


Who drives?
He won't let me drive if he's in the car! Scaredy cat :)


Who is more stubborn?
Oh definitely me, I'm spoiled.


Who kissed who first?
It was mutual consent!

February 2007

Who asked who out?
He asked me out first, it took a few times of that before I finally said yes.


Who proposed?
He did, and I accepted :)



Who has more siblings?
Definitely me!

These are my siblings and I at my brother's wedding in April of 2004. I'm the oldest of 6. David is the oldest of 2.

Who wears the pants?
I love using this quote for this answer - "He wears the pants that I pick out for him!"
Disneyland - New Year's Eve 2007