Bienvenidos!

Jay and I love to be surounded by family and friends, yet, somehow we've managed to set roots far away from most of them. Since we yearn to keep that connection with all of you, we've decided to start blogging about our family little funny moments (which happen pretty often), Gabriela's great milestones and the life in a land of vacation.

Let's start with a little catch up. Jay and I bought a house in Cape Coral, FL in August 2007. We bought it for what we thought was a steal since it was a "buyer's market." Little did we know that the market was really just starting to slow down. So, today, our house could sell for about half of what we bought it. But we love our house! There is nothing like your first home as a family. You get to decide what colors you want your walls and drill holes all over it without worrying about getting your deposit back, etc. The downside is... you have to mow the lawn! You never really appreciate just how hot it gets in Florida until you have to mow your lawn!

Here is a little before and after of the outside of the house:

It's definitely a work in progress but we're getting there. We have also done some work on the inside, but I'll publish pictures for that some other time.

We've had the pleasure of having many of you come visit and we love that! The beach is really close and we have cute little restaurants nearby (or we can just have Jay's ceviche which is out of this world). So come visit any time!

On November 29, 2008 we took the leap and got married in a beautiful ceremony in Venezuela. Well, first we had a double civil wedding with Gina and Odair right before we left for Venezuela. It was very special getting married alongside one of my closest friends. People think we're crazy for doing that but it was very practical! After our mini-wedding we flew to Venezuela and had the romantic and intimate ceremony with our close friends and family. Jay's mom and dad were able to make the trip from Ecuador so that was great. Gabriela was our flower girl and Andres (my nephew) was the ring bearer. They both looked really cute. We chose to bring our photographer to document the wedding there, and boy was that the right decision. Punam Bean did an amazing job! I highly recommend her.

Here is one of my favorite images from that day:

Image by Punam Bean