Showered with love

When Roger and I got married last year, only a few of my family and friends were able to make the trip down to Nicaragua to be with us so my parents decided to have another wedding celebration for us here in Colorado last weekend. It was such a blessing to be able to celebrate with so many loved ones and spend the entire weekend with them. The first event of the weekend was a Post-Bridal Shower that my Aunt Cindy and Grandma Betty threw for me. It was absolutely beautiful and it was such a special treat to be with so many wonderful women who have been with me through all the different stages of my life. I truly felt like I was “showered” with love! Thank you to all of you who were there and a very special thanks to Aunt Cindy and Grandma for all your thoughtfulness, hard work, and love.

The bouquet on the table is actually placed inside the recipe box that my aunt gave me – she asked all of the guests to write down their favorite recipes in order to “fill” the box. What a special gift! I will truly cherish it forever:)





After the shower, Jenny and I tried on our wedding dresses together. Sister Brides!

Work Hard, Play Hard

We have been in the USA for 3 weeks now and we have been REALLY busy – the time has flown by so fast that I haven’t had a chance to blog. We spent the first week in Miami looking for an apartment. Roger and I both got really sick as our bodies had to reprogram to different food, water, etc. so we lost a few “shopping” days but thankfully we found one and even got to move a few things in before we took off for Colorado.

We are in CO now and will be here for another week before making the 4-day drive out to Miami. We’ve been very busy here helping my parents with all kinds of projects at their house, getting ready for the wedding celebration they are having for us this weekend, and packing up my stuff to move to Miami. But it hasn’t been all work and no play – we have also been enjoying the beautiful summer weather in Colorado and all the fun activities that come with it. Our camera is on the fritz so I don’t have pictures of everything, but here’s a quick list: rode the alpine slide in Winter Park, went to a Rockies game, Elitch’s, bowling, and of course the Greeley Rodeo, and even had garage sale. This is Roger’s first visit to CO during the summer and I think he is a fan!

Happy 4th of July everyone! I am so excited to be back in the USA to celebrate and Roger is really looking forward to the new culture and traditions. I better go get ready for the parade. We'll post pictures soon - which is very exciting to say since many of you could potentially be IN the pictures:)

And we´re off!

In just 10 hours we will be taking off for Miami (Yes, no better way to start an international move than with a red-eye flight – sleep deprivation always helps to lessen stress…or not!).

For the past week, we have been staying with Roger´s family in Carazo which has given us lots of quality time with his family – we even got to celebrate his mom´s birthday yesterday with a delicious lunch that WE made (we´re a pretty good team in the kitchen). We have also been able to get in a few farewell visits with friends and were blessed to spend our last night in Nicaragua (last night) celebrating the marriage of a dear friend of mine from Peace Corps who also found her soul mate in Nicaragua:)

This week has also given me time to reflect back on the past 2 years as I am finishing in almost the exact same place where I began (remember…Roger was "the cute neighbor across the street"…). Here is a brief excerpt from a recent journal entry that captures some of this reflection:

“I know that I am leaving Nicaragua TWICE the woman I came as, both metaphorically and literally. I have been grown and stretched and challeged and blessed in more ways than I can express and will take these lessons with me into the next season of this journey, this journey that is no longer mine but OURS. I came here 2 years ago, 1 person, 2 suitcases, and dreams of finding adventure. I am leaving (for now) with my husband, 4+ suitcases, and dreams of settling down…”

We hope to see you all very soon:)

Final Days

It’s official, we are moving to Miami in just 15 days! We feel very blessed because God has already provided me with a job teaching chemistry at an excellent private Catholic high school starting August 10th (what a great birthday present!!!). The entire moving process is actually going to take us about 1 ½ months since it involves many “stops” along the way to collect all of our belongings and get them in 1 location. We are excited about the move and ask for your payers as we have many more decisions and details to come.
Since these are our final days in Nicaragua, we are trying to squeeze in every last bit of fun, family, and friends that we can. Here’s a little video I put together of a few of our fun activities (I just discovered iMovie – so great!!!).

P.S. For those of you wondering about the song, it is one of our favorite salsa songs that I decided was a good fit for a video of our adventures since the words say “Give me your hand, give me an opportunity, you won’t regret it, and we’ll walk together into eternity”. I plan most of our adventures and Roger goes along with them, usually apprehensive at first but in the end he enjoys himself. I often find myself saying things like this song and reminding Roger that he vowed to be with me and my crazy ideas forever:)

Ometepe Island

This past weekend Roger and I visited Ometepe Island – one of Nicaragua’s most beautiful natural treasures (it was actually in the running for one of the New 7 Wonders of the World – but was outvoted by Machu Pichu, The Great Wall, The Taj Mahal, etc.). Ometepe is an island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua (the lake that is nearly the size of Puerto Rico and accounts for almost 10% of Nicaraguan landmass) and is home to TWO volcanoes. The island is often called “Fire and Water” since one of the volcanoes, Maderas, is an extinct volcano whose crater is now filled by a small lagoon, while the other volcano, Concepcion, is active and could potentially erupt any day now. We stayed at a quaint little hotel on the water and had a great view of the volcano and the sunset. I couldn’t possibly visit the island without hiking one of the volcanoes so I convinced Roger to do it with me (it only took a few days, but unfortunately I don’t think he’s a fan). The hike up Volcan Concepcion was probably one of the most intense hikes I have ever done – basically 3 hours straight uphill (about 5 kilometers walking distance but 1000 meters in altitude) and an hour and a half fighting gravity on the way back down – my quads are still killing me and it’s been 4 days!!! The view and the experience were amazing – avid hikers, Nicaragua awaits you:)
Concepcion "welcoming" us before our hike
Roger's first (and probably only) hike
We made it!!!

Spring Break

We are having a hard time adjusting back into “work-mode” this week after an incredibly fun and relaxing Spring Break in Florida with my parents. I think we had the perfect balance of fun “tourist” activities, relaxing “beach bum” time, and delicious food! We spent most of our time in and around South Beach where we stayed in a classic Art Deco hotel, went on a Duck tour, visited the famous Vizcaya mansion, and partied at the legendary Mango’s Café nightclub. We also spent a few days in Key West where we ate Cheeseburgers in Paradise at Jimmy Buffet’s Original Margaritaville and watched the beautiful sunset. We even squeezed in a little time to check out some areas where we would like to live next year and visit Roger’s 2 brothers who also live in that area. Thanks Dad and Mom – what a great trip!!!

Miami Skyline
Art Deco Hotel
Margaritaville
Key West Sunset
Mom and Dad at Mango's
Vizcaya Mansion
Roger with his brothers and nephew

Believe it or not!

We took both of these picture today – as extreme as they might seem, it was just an average day in Nicaragua:)

The line for the bank (We also made a trip to the bank today - we were in line at 8:10, 20 minutes before it opened, and we were the 9th customer)
Hazard? (Roger took this picture while I was driving – I couldn’t even get annoyed at how slow the man was driving because I was laughing so hard)
Bottom line: In order to survive in Nicaragua, one should know that everything is going to take longer than planned and you MUST have a sense of humor.