Jul 27: 5th Anniversary - 5to Aniversario

This... is our room at the Brown Palace hotel, which is in Downtown Denver. We arrived Friday afternoon. We walked around 16th street mall and went for a late lunch at The Cheescake Factory mmmmhh! We took the free bus back to the hotel (well, a couple of blocks away) and took an afternoon nap. For dinner we went to Maggiano's little Italy where we had lasagna.

Este es nuestro cuarto en el hotel Brown Palce en el centro de Denver. Llegamos el viernes en la tarde y después de registranos y checar el cuarto, nos fuimos almorzar al Cheescake Factory. Luego nos regresamos a descansar al hotel y a echarnos un sueñito. Para la cena nos fuimos a Maggiano's por comida italiana donde pedimos la lasaña.

Breakfast on bed at the Brown Palace.

Welcome to Omni Hotel

Our second night was at the Omni Hotel close to the Flatiron Mall. The package was a killer deal! It included couples massages, lunch, and as you can see welcome strawberries and champaign. And of course we were close to the Mall!! Hello Shopping!

Nuestra segunda noche nos la pasamos en el Hotel Omni cerca del Flatiron Mall. El paquete incluyó masaje de parejas, almuerzo y fresas cubiertas de chocolate y una botella de champaign como bienvenida.

Dinner at the Melting Pot.

Jul 25: Colorado Rockies Game

My company had a team building day and we went for a baseball game at Coors Field where the Rockies played against the Padres. We sat on the rock pile and boooy was it a hot summer day in Denver!! Luckily we had some beers before the game at Breckenridge Brewery and because the Rockies won Blake Street Bar was giving away one free beer... of course we went and checked it out!

Trying to find cover from the sun!

View of Coors Field with Denver's Skyline in the background

Word homies!

Jul 21st: Longs Peak Chasm Lake - Lago Chasm en Pico Longs

Jon, Esteban and Josh on a new adventure. I went out hiking again with two friends from work. This time we went to Chasm Lake in Longs Peak in the other side of Rocky Mountain National Park. We started on a much higher altitude this time to keep on training for our backpacking trip. From the ranger station to Chasm Lake it's about 4.2 mi and I think we started at 9K feet...

Fresh and ready, so the journey begins...

Beautiful indian paintbrush flowers along the way

Almost there... 1.7 mi to go

The Conquistadores

0.7 mi more to go... so close!

Columbines


I was so excited that we made it that I wanted to keep on going and started walking on water!!!

We had lunch and Jill's hiking best friend joined us... a marmot. We named it "Woody Woodchunk". Apparently someone left a banana pill that Woody was chowing and not sharing!

Jul 14: Mallory Cave, Boulder, CO

I went with a couple of friends from work, Jon and Josh, for a hike to the Mallory Cave in Boulder. It was really fun despite the fact that my heart almost exploded, but thanks to a candy bar I was right on track and ready to Conquer the trail. After the hike we went Pearl St in downtown Boulder where we ate at BJs italian restaurant which has awesome pizza and calzones and the wheat beer was mmmmh de-li-ci-us!!

El Conquistador

Checking out the view.

This is from 3/4 of the hike to the caves and if you pay attention you can see the building on the background from where we started, pretty cool huh.

4th of July - 4 de Julio

As if one night of fireworks wasn't enough! We went to the Colorado Rapids on July 4th for a soccer game and more fireworks. We went with our friends and neighbors Robby and Rachael and their kids Jenson and Jameson. Final score was 0-0 but there were some really good plays and at least we got a chance to get loud and blow the horn to cheer for the Rapids, to bad I forgot my Blue Demon wrestling mask. Jenson did a better job his first try blowing the horn than Neil did when we went visit him and Marth to L.A. and went for a Chivas USA vs Chicago Fire match.

Como si una noche de fuegos pirotécnicos no fuera suficiente nos fuimos al partido de futbol de los Rapids de Colorado para el 4 de julio y por supuesto para ver más fuegos artificiales. Fuimos con nuestros amigos y vecionos Robby y Rachael y sus niños Jenson y Jameson. El partido quedó 0-0 pero al menos hubieron varias jugadas donde tuvimos la oportunidad de echar porras y hacer ruido con la trompeta pupu-pu-pu-puuuuuu. Lástima que se me olvido mi máscara de blue demon pa' ponermela, a lo mejor por eso no anotaron.

The Girls

The boys

At half time most of the Colorado Mascots played some soccer. It was really funny, too bad I ran out of memory. Al medio tiempo varias botargas de differentes equipos de colorado jugaron un partidito de futbol. Estuvo bien divertido pero de mala suerte se me acabo la memoria de la cámara.

Jun 12: An early surprise - Sorpresa temprana

Don't freak out people, it's not our early surprise! It's our good friends and neighbors Wendy & Jeff's baby boy Will, who decide to come into the world a month earlier. Isn't he cute? Look at all that hair! This was just a taste for parenthood and we can't wait!

No se asusten, no es nuestra sorpresa, es la sorpresa de nuestros buenos amigos y vecinos Wendy y Jeff, y se llama Will (sobrenombre para William) quien decidió venir al mundo un mes antes. A poco no está precioso? Miren cuanto cabello. Pues esto fue una probadita de lo que es ser papás y esperamos con entusiasmo el día.

Jul 3: The Rockies & Fireworks - Los Rockies y fuegos pirotécnicos

"Take me out to the ball game,Take me out with the crowd..." We went to see the Colorado Rockies (who are doing awesome this season) Tuesday July 3rd and the Fireworks show. We went with our friends from Mexico and we had a lot of fun at the game and we really enjoyed the evening... and the fireworks of course. The Rockies beat the Mets 11-3 that night and won the next game, becoming the latest team who swept two teams from New York in the longest time. I told ya, they rock this season!!

"Take me out to the ball game,Take me out with the crowd..." Así empieza la canción que cantan en la séptima entrada y todo el estadio se para y la canta. El miércoles 3 de julio fuimos a ver un partido de beisbol de lo Rockies de Colorado y por supuesto para ver los fuegos artificiales al terminar el partido. Fuimos con nuestros amigos mexicanos y nos la pasamos muy bien. El partido lo ganaron los Rockies 11-3 contra los Mets de Nueva York.

Made y Ramón

Mark y Tere

Ricardo, Susana y André y nosotros.

My other children - Mis otros hijos

Chequen las fotos más recientes de mis plantitas de chile... Estoy super orgulloso!! Check out the latest pictures of my pepper plants.... I am so proud

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Get your own

May 25-28: Los Padrinos - The Godparents

Fuimos al DF para visitar a Mara y Raúl porque queríamos darles la noticia en persona de que estamos esperando, además de preguntarles para ser los padrinos. El video muestra la reacción de Mara cuando le dijimos que iba a tener un sobrino.

We went to Mexico City to visit Mara and Raúl because we wanted to give them the news in person that we are expecting and ask them to be the godparents. The video shows Mara´s reaction to the news!

Después de las noticas nos fuimos a comer a un restaurante muy padre. Tenía música en vivo, unas margaritas excelentes y muchos tipos de tequila como pueden ver. La comida estuvo rrrrriquísima!

After the news we went out for dinner to this really cool mexican restaurant. It had live music, superb margaritas and almost all kinds of tequilas as you can see. Food was delicious!

Tequila y postre:Que excelente combinación... mmmh!
Tequila and dessert, what a combination!... mmmmh!

La destilería - the distillery

Los mariachis

¡Ay que rica está mi margarita!

¡Salud!

Al días siguiente (sábado) fuimos a Teotihuacán a ver las pirámides del Sol y de la Luna.

Next day (saturday) we went to Teotihuacán to see the piramids of the Sun and the Moon.

En frente de la pirámide del Sol - In front of the piramid of the Sun

Después de las pirámides fuimos al hipódromo donde perdimos todas las carreras en las que apostamos. Al menos nos la pasamos muy bien.

After the piramids we went to the horse race track where we lost everytime we bid on a horse. At least was really fun!

Hace unos años le prometí a la Virgen de Guadalupe que traería a Jill a la Villa. ¿Qué mejor oportunidad que ésta cuando estamos esperando por un bebe? Éstas son algunas de las fotos que tome.

A few years ago I promissed the Lady of Guadalupe that I will bring Jill to "La Villa". What a better chance than this specially when we are expecting. These are some of the pictures I took

Gracias Mara y Raúl, nos la pasamos muy padre... ¿cuándo nos vienen a visitar a Denver?

Thanks Mara and Raúl, we had a greaet time... when are you visiting?

May: My Desk - Mi Escritorio

This is my new workspace. It's not a fancy office like I use to have but the office is full of really cool and smart people and work is just great! I love it. Plus, we have a foosball table for whenever we need a break! I am getting good!

If you click on the image you can see from left to right: My state Coffee mug (go state!), my alebrije, my pepper plant, pictures of my sisters and my mom, Olmec head pen holder, my boromir action figure, picture of jill and me on our honey moon and on the very left another picture of us when we went to hawaii. behind the monitor I have a bunch of pictures from the tailgate with everybody and of course the picture of uncle jerry and me jumping.

...

Este es mi nuevo espacio de trabajo. No es una oficina pero al menos la gente es mucho mejor buena onda e inteligente y el trabajo más interesante. Además tenemos una mesa de futbolito para jugar cuando nos sintamos estresados. Ya me estoy poniendo al tiro.

Si le das click a la imagen para agrandarla podrás ver de izquierda a derecha: me taza de café de la universidad de michigan, mi alebrije, mi matita de chiles, fotos de mis hermanas y mi mamá, una cabeza olmeca, mi muñeco de boromir, foto de jill y yo en nuestra luna de miel y hasta la derecha una foto de nosotros cuando fuimos a hawaii. Detrás del monitor están las fotos cuando fuimos a los partidos de michigan.

Jun 9: Happy Birthday... and to me too! - Feliz cumpleaños para mi también!!

Un amigo mío cumplió años y para festejarlo fuimos a una pista de carreras de carritos. Estuvo increíble el asunto éste. Fue uno de los mejores cumpleaños a los que he ido y ni siquiera era el mío. Hicimos tres carreras en total y cada uno fue de 8 a 10 vueltas a la pista. Alcanzamos velocidades de 46-49mi/hr que vendrían siendo alrededor de 70km/hr. Al principio me la pasé dando vueltas como trompo y patinando en las curvas hasta que le agarré la onda. En algunas ocasiones me salí de la pista y pues tuve que empujar el condenado carrito de regreso a la pista. En la última carrera me fue mucho mejor y al menos no fui el último.

Estoy más que puestísimo para ir otra ves... ¿quién dijo yo?

June 16, 2007 - Winter Park, CO Wedding

My friend Kyndra from work got married to Matt in June in the Winter Park area. It was our first "mountain wedding" and it was beautiful! The weather was perfect and in the 70s (which was nice b/c it was in the 90s in Denver) which was a relief to Kyndra as it had been snowing up there just 2 weeks before! The views from the church and reception site (a ranch!) were also fabulous! We went up on Saturday morning and stayed through until Sunday. It was a great getaway:)

The 2.5 of us at the reception!



Jill & Kyndra



View from the Ranch

May 2007 - Let the Barbecues begin!

View from Patio

View of Patio and Master Griller

We are pretty fortunate to have a larger backyard (for Denver/Highlands Ranch anyway) and we have been thinking about putting in a patio for awhile. We decided earlier this summer to go for it and thought that we would post some pictures so that you can see the final result! We have had a few barbecues (American and Mexican style) as well as a Taquiza to break the patio in. We don't have patio furniture yet but the good thing about living in Colorado is that everyone has at least a couple of camping chairs! As such, all of our gatherings have been B.Y.O.C. (Bring your own chair)!

Ponce de Lezama or Ana Bahama Lezama?

We had our 21 week ultrasound! It was an amazing experience. I don't think either of us realized the detail that would be reviewed in the little bean during the ultrasound. It was really interesting for Esteban and very reassuring for me. The technician took video/pictures/measurements of the organs such as kidneys, the bladder (which was functioning), the heart and an in depth look at the brain. This was in addition to measuring the head (frighteningly large right now - but I've been assured that the body will catch up;), stomach, limbs and counting vertebrae. It is just so impressive that they can see so much detail at this point in time. And then of course we were able to find out the sex of our baby! As many of you know we are having a boy! We were so excited and even more so when the technician told us that she was 100% certain and proved this to us through the ultrasound:) Overall, he received an A+ from the Doctor in terms of his development and health. And I must say that he looked pretty darn cute to us (no bias here)! We so enjoyed watching him wave his little fists (he was woken up for the ultrasound and it seems that he is as much of a morning person as we are - poor little guy), yawn and lay back with his crossed legs. I don't think that our ultrasound technician knew what she was in for when we walked in but she sure got a big hug from Esteban as we walked out! Pretty funny. It was a great day and we are excited to have a healthy baby boy in the oven:)!

Pregnancy Photos - Fotos de la Embarazada!

We have been taking pictures every 4 weeks to try to document "the transformation" that is occuring. I didn't think that it would be fair to track my growth and not Esteban's - so we have pictures of us both:) I think his stomach can still outstretch mine right now (how do guys do that?) but I am certain that mine will win out in the end!

Hemos estado tomando fotos cada 4 semanas para documentar "la transformación" que nos esta pasando. No pensé que era justo de seguir sólo cómo estaba creciendo yo entonces ya tenemos fotos de Esteban también! Creo que su estomago está más grande que el mío ahorita (¿cómo hacen eso los hombres?) pero estoy segura que mi panza va a ganar al final!

April 18th: 12 week ultrasound - el ultrasonido de 12 semanas!

(Click here or the image to see the videos)

We were so excited to go and see the baby again! It's amazing how much the little bean had changed in just 6 weeks. At our first ultrasound we could see the heartbeat but in this ultrasound we could see the little face, legs, arms in addition to hearing the heartbeat. Wonderful! The baby was very active and actually jumped a few times during the ultrasound. The technician told us that the movement/jumping was in part due to the formation of the nervous system:) This is probably a good time to mention the nicknames that have been bestowed upon this little child by friends/family - Crazy Uncle Neil has dubbed the baby Ponce de Lezama (or "Ponce" for short) which has stuck. Of course his other suggestions have been Cheeto, Zorro and Bob. He is nuts! Angela from work provided our girl nickname Ana (pronounced Ah-Nah) Bahama Lezama:)



Estuvimos muy emocionados para ir a ver el "chamaco" de nuevo! Fue muy impresionante de ver que tanto había cambiado el bebé en sólo 6 semanas. En nuestro primer ultrasonido pudimos escuchar el palpitar de corazón pero en este ultrasonido pudimos ver la carita, piernas, brazos además de escuchar su corazón. ¡Qué emoción! El bebé fue muy activo y saltó unas veces durante el ultrasonido. La enfermera nos dijo que el movimiento fue en parte por la formación del sistema nervioso que se había formado en el frijolito! :) También para contarles tenemos unos sobrenombres que han estado arreglado al bebe por familia y amigos. El Loco Uncle Neil ha dado el nombre de Ponce de Lezama ("Ponce de corto") que es el nombre que usamos. Pero tambien Neil sujerio Cheeto, Zorro y Bob. Loco! Una amiga del trabajo sujerio Ana Bahama Lezama por el sobre nombre si es niña ;)

April 2007: Telling the Grandparents

Esteban and I went to visit mom for her birthday. We thought that it would be fun to tell Mom and Dad our baby news by giving them picture frames to open at the same time that said "Grandma" / "Grandpa" "+Me". We waited 12 weeks to tell them (the longest ever) but it was worth it to be with them in person!

March 2007: Souvenir from the Mexican Wedding - Un recuerdito de la boda mexicana

It looks like we brought a little something something back from Mexico when we went for Mara's wedding. Here's the first photo of our baby! Oooh Tabasco, land of fertility! The picture was taken after seven weeks and luckily everything was and is going just fine.

Al parecer nos trajimos un recuerdito de México cuando fuimos a la boda de Mara. Aquí está la primera foto de nuestro bebe o beba. Aaaay Tabasco, tierra de fertilidad! La foto la tomaraon a las siete semanas y gracias a Dios todo iba y va muy bien.

Estamos Esperando - We're expecting

Red Rocks - March 2007

Mom and Dad came to visit us in early March. They had never been to Red Rocks Amphitheater, so we spent a Sunday afternoon on the trails around the theater - and of course checking out the theater itself. This visit to Red Rocks was awesome. We had never seen it with snow, especially in March... we have been getting some crazy weather since last December.



Maybe sometime we will take Mom and Dad to Red Rocks for a concert! It is a Colorado "must do" item:)