All in a month's work

This Christmas break has been a whirlwind. I have been looking forward to it for months and now it's over. It's amazing how time flies. We squeezed alot into a month so here are some pictures to prove it.

First, my parents and Reag came home for Christmas and Oklahoma experienced its biggest snow storm of the last 50 years or something. Mom, and dad, and Reagan are used to that now that they live in Alaska, but for us it was a huge deal. It was an awesome Christmas, except for the fact that Tate was a little late to get to us. We had an awesome couple weeks of family time and now look forward to spending time with everyone plus baby girl James in California in March. CAN'T WAIT!!

We said goodbye to the fam in OK and headed down south to spend a few weeks in Venezuela for New Years and such. New Year's Eve in Venezuela was a new experience for me. The fireworks were unbelievable. They started the 29th and didn't stop until about January 2nd. Literally. It was very cool.

A couple days later we headed to the Andes to spend some time seeing a different part of the country. The family enjoyed it because they got to have a couple days of "cold" weather which they are not used to. It was fun for them to dig out their jackets and sweatshirts that haven't been seen in a while. We went extreme horseback riding, played mini golf, ping pong, and just spent time hanging out together.

After freezing in the Andes (ha!) we relaxed and enjoyed one of the most amazing beaches there is. Perfect white sand, turquoise water, and virtual seclusion are a hard to beat combination.
It was amazing. It's always so hard for me to leave.

We got home from Venezuela on a Sunday and two days later we hopped in the car and spent 3 days riding in Breckenridge. My good friend Kaylyn came with us and was brave enough to let us teach her to snowboard. She did awesome! We had a blast. It was a great way to round out the Christmas break.

As I write this I can see the snow falling again in Oklahoma. It's beautiful. Efren is back to school and I am back to work. It's good to get back to a routine for a while. Not too long though. Baby niece will be here soon so we're headed to California in about a month. We'll see if I update again before then....

SURPRISE!!!!

Over the past few weeks I have been planning, along with Efren's parents, a birthday surprise for Efren. The idea was to get his brother, Carlos, here without Efren suspecting a thing. Sounds easy, right? Wrong. Apparently I tell Efren everything including what I had for lunch yesterday and which route I took home from the hospital this morning. This became obvious to me in the days leading up to the big surprise. There were so many lies! Ah, it was terrible to try to keep them all straight! Carlos was flying in on Tuesday. I was working Tuesday. I got off, but Efren didn't and wasn't supposed to know that. So when he asks me, "Do you want to take the left over pizza for dinner tonight?" I'm freaking out thinking....."Take it where??" pause.....oooohhh he thinks I'm going to work! "No, honey, thanks, but you can have it." Whew.

I had to get out of the house, without him coming along, to pick Carlos up from the airport. So I told him I was going to lunch with the ladies to plan a baby shower (yes, for you B and KK). With a little stalling (ladies talk alot!), Efren left for Norman before Carlos and I got back to the house. Now for the surprise. When Efren got home that evening there was a package delivered for him on the front porch. Wow, a large package, actually huge! After a couple seconds of awe over how large the box was and wonder of what could possibly be inside, Carlos busts through the top giving Efren the surprise of his life! Wow. He couldn't believe it! He was completely caught off guard and had never suspected a thing. Success!

Ok, so this first picture is a little set up...I wasn't fast enough to get both of them in the initial picture, but that's about what it looked like. Efren hit the wall when Carlos popped out!

It's so fun for me to hear them talking and catching up. I am now realizing what it has been like for him to be so far away from his family. What a sacrifice he has made for me.

Last Saturday Efren and I, along with some of our friends, went out to Lake Thunderbird in Norman to go horseback riding! Now, I really like horseback riding, in fact I used to be quite obsessed with it, but I'm not a huge fan of just sitting on the horse while it plods along staring at the horse butt in front of him. Usually, that's as exciting as it gets. Saturday, however, we were able to choose either beginner, intermediate, or advanced horse. Beginners are trained to stick to the trail, and let me tell you, they do stick to the trail. Intermediates will basically go where you tell them to and will trot with a slight kick in side. Advanced horses will do the same, but are a little harder to handle because they are somewhat finicky. There were 6 of us. Five of us chose intermediate and only one girl, who was a little nervous, chose beginner. There is a trail that you follow, but when you come to a clearing you are allowed to trot or go around in circles or what have you. There is no guide so you have free reign, all they ask is that you don't run the horses. My horse was named Rocky and Efren's was Mojo (or Moho as he called him with his Venezuelan accent). Efren was a little nervous at first, not that he admitted it, but I could tell. ;) But after we got on and he and Moho bonded he had a blast trotting around and taking pictures. It was such a fun day and cool to do something different. I hope we can make it an annual thing.

One Year and Counting!

This past weekend we had the awesome priviledge of heading south to Dallas for a weekend gettaway and OU/Texas madness. Our one year anniversary was only a couple weeks before so we decided that's how we would celebrate. We headed out early Friday morning to beat traffic and spent most of the afternoon shopping at one of the huge outlet malls right outside of Dallas. That night we ate dinner at the House of Blues right down the street from our hotel. It was good, but I know the one in Anaheim is better. ;) After dinner we walked along the West End just to see the madness of thousands of people dressed in either burnt orange or crimson doing.....anything to show allegience to their team. Our hotel was about 10 feet from West End so needless to say I barely slept a wink that night!

Saturday was the game, and although the outcome was sad and we were all hurt again for Sam Bradford, it was an exciting game and such a fun atmosphere. It's true, there is nothing else like it.

That night we had an amazing dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and walked around a very expensive mall filled with designer stores. Sunday morning we packed up and headed north, but due to the potential traffic we stopped off for a few hours at yet another outlet mall. We got some great Christmas presents, found some good deals, lunched at BJ's, and headed home.

It was a great weekend, a fun weekend, and an awesome way to finish up our first year of marriage. It's hard to believe it's been a year. By the way, when is it that a couple is no longer considered newlyweds? Been wondering that. Our first year was amazing, we have both absolutely loved being married and are looking forward to what the Lord has in store for us this coming year. It should be an exciting one!

Updates

I know it's been a while since I blogged, and I always promise to try harder. It may not seem like it, but I really do try....it just doesn't happen. But here I am! This weekend was a blast. Efren's cousin, Patrick, and his new girlfriend, Amelia, came down to spend the weekend with us. Thanks to my awesome brother, Tate, we managed to snag 2 student tickets to the OU game so that we could all go together and it worked out wonderfully that the people in front of our season tickets didn't show up! I never remember them not being there so I think it was a God thing that we all got to sit together. Patrick is also from Venezuela and had never been to a college football game...let alone an OU game. We lent them some crimson attire and we all had so much fun. Amelia and I have the same camera and we busted them out on gameday with great intentions of documenting the whole thing. But.....both camera batteries were dead so I don't have any picks to post of us all bundled up cheering on the Sooners. Sorry.
Efren is doing great in school and really enjoying it. He is very busy since he is taking alot of hours, but still finds time for me and/or golf ;). Now that it is getting quite chilly I'm not sure how much more of the latter he will actually get to do. He is also in the process of looking for an internship possibility for this summer.
This weekend we are going down to Dallas for the OU/Texas game and to celebrate our anniversary. I'm also hoping to get some more Christmas shopping done. I'm actually close to finished! Just the darn boys....they are so much harder to buy for then girls!

Cultural Differences

I have always had a hard time blogging because I just felt like I had nothing cool or interesting to talk about. I have recently thought of something to share. As we all know Efren and I have a multicultural marriage. This can provide for funny, awkward, different situations that not alot of other couples experience. I have decided to share those with you. They started popping up the day we met and I'm sure we will be experiencing them until we get to heaven. Some are English words, some are Spanish, some are situational, some are random, and all are pretty funny. The very first that comes to mind happened at the very moment we met. It went like this:

"Hi, I'm Efren."

"I'm Cayce. What's your name again?"

"Efren."

"What??"

"EFREN."

"Spell it."

I had never heard of that name before and his accent was pretty thick. I felt bad that I couldn't understand him, but I guess he didn't think I was THAT rude.

Thank you, Jesus, for Skype because the first 15 months of our relationship was played out in cyberspace. That's where the next situation took place. As well all know my hair is very straight. One day, I woke up from a nap and did what I always did back then, got on skype to talk to Efren. We say hello and catch up a little and then came his question:

"Um, Cayce......why is your hair so.....(pause)....close to your head?"

Flat, he wanted to know why my hair looked so flat. As women we know that's not a good thing to have flat hair, but apparently mine was. At times he doesn't know the word for the point he is trying to make so he has to describe it. The same happens for me in Spanish. One day I described something as fluffy and he didn't know that word. Try to describe fluffy. "It's like....(waving my hands in a big circles)....fluff...er....fluffy....uh......" Finally I just related it to a cloud. "Yeah, a cloud is fluffy!" Ok, good enough.

In Venezuela there is no Santa Clause. Instead, there is baby Jesus. In all their nativity sets Jesus is missing until Christmas morning when he is finally born and placed in the manger. He is the one that brings the gifts. Quite a night for a little baby. Last Christmas Efren hid all the baby Jesus's from my mom's 47 nativity sets (much to Reagan's dismay) and replaced them Christmas morning. I like that one, I think we will celebrate baby Jesus instead of Santa. Our kids will probably be the one to ruin the Santa suprise for the other kids at school....sorry ahead of time.

What makes your marriage or relationship fun and different?

It's That Time Again!

As some would say, and I would agree....it's the most wonderful time of the year! Tomorrow begins the much anticipated 2009 OU football season. I can't wait. I love the sounds, the smells, the feelings, the competition, and comradery that it entangles. I love the feeling of being here...

and listening to the band play the national anthem followed by OOOOOOOklahoma which inevitably brings goosebumps to my arms and a sense of good ole OK pride. Ok ok, maybe a little water to the eyes as well. What can I say, I'm an emotional being. The excitement is tangible surrounded by 86,000 people all yelling in unison. I know there are a few in my family who would agree.....aaaaand then there are a couple who couldn't care less. But, all this to say, we are excited about the season as always, it seems to get more exciting each year. Look for Efren and I in the stands. We will be there thanks to my parents (and the fact that we are the only true fans left in the family ;) ). It should be a good one.