Its here!

Well, I officially have been a loser about blogging again. As I sit at work on Christmas Eve feeling guilty for not being home, I will try to redeem myself a bit by blogging some Christmas-y feelings. Yes, I am at work on Christmas Eve. Yes, Jesus is home with his family and our children waiting for me to join in on the festivities. Yes, I hate the fact that I am at work, but it was either that or Christmas Day, so I can't complain too much. When I go home (in about 30 minutes... but who's counting?) There will be a feast waiting for me, and anxious children ready to open presents (Jesus' family's tradition is to open the presents on Christmas Eve and then Santa will come and bring his presents in the middle of the night).
Today we baked christmas cookies to leave out for Santa (I picked my favorites...tee hee hee) and that just made it all seem real.
Tomorrow morning we will make the trek to Pine Valley (after we see what Santa left for us) to spend the day with the McKnight clan..... oops, sorry, had to do some work there for a second. Darn people, can't you see I am blogging here?
I have complained a bit about having company at our house but all in all it has been nice to have them here. Amidst all the chaos and messes, there was a feeling of Christmas excitement and cheer in my home this morning. The kids kept asking me periodically through the day "do we get to open presents tonight?" and then when they recieved the answer they were hoping for ("yes"), they would run away giggling looking for something to do to keep the excitement contained.
Yes, tomorrow is Christmas. Months of planning, stressing, budgeting, and all in all excitement will come to an end tomorrow. Hopefully we can keep the spirit of Christmas in our hearts and minds for the upcoming year. Love you all and hope you have a Merry Christmas!

One Whole Year

It's hard to believe that my "baby" is not a baby anymore. Yesterday was her first birthday. One whole year has gone by since we brought her into the world. From the beginning she has had her very own personality. She came into the world with her tongue out and hasn't put it away yet. She decided when she was ready to come meet the world and the doctor almost missed it because she came so fast.

I was in awe yesterday watching her attempt to walk. She's not completely on her own yet, but she will toddle around the coffee table and even attempt one or two steps before he plops onto her bum. She is a girl of few (real) words, but the ones she does know are very distinct. The moment Jesus walks in the door from work I hear plain as day "dad", over and over and over again until he scoops her off the floor and gives her loves. She is a daddys girl and has been from the start. She's an adventurous girl, climbing on everything she possibly can. The stairs we never an obstacle for her, they only deterred her for a day or so and now she has them mastered. She loves to laugh and loves to be tickled. She loves to torture her brother and take his toys, just to laugh and crawl away.
I loved being able to breastfeed. Bentley never really took to it, and that was hard for me. Chloe nursed like a pro from the beginning. I loved the time to ourselves when we could actually snuggle. Every once and a while she would reach her hand up and rub my cheek. Even though I knew Bentley was destroying the house while I took this time out for Chloe and I, it was all worth it.
It's amazing what change comes with having kids. Chloe has taught me perseverance (breastfeeding through thrush on both of us), patience (teething for about 8 months straight to finally cut two teeth at 10 months), and most of all unconditional love (big slobbery baby kisses that should gross me out, but somehow don't).
Being a mom has made me a better person. Having someone rely on you for every need in life makes you a lot less selfish. Your own needs are nothing in comparison.

When people found out I was having a girl they would always tell me "having a girl is so much fun, you can dress them up so cute and blah blah blah". But having a girl was exciting for me for other reasons as well. It would about passing on knowledge that only a mother can pass onto her daughter. It was an extension of me. As much as I do love to dress her up and buy her the cute clothes, I look forward to building the bond that a mother and daughter share. The bond I see between my grandma and her five daughters, and the bond I share with my mom and sisters.

Dinner time at the Espinoza's

Most nights dinner time at our house is pretty boring, if not non-existent. Since I work mainly nights I try hard to make a nice dinner on the nights we will have dinner as a family. Tonight I made a favorite of Jesus'. Its rolled chicken tacos with sour cream and ranchero cheese (its a crumbly cheese- super yummy). Jesus felt bad for Chloe and her mainly Similac based diet. He made her a plate of sour cream and cheese and let her go at it. These are the results.....









and just for kicks and giggles here are a couple pics of how cute she was at the beginning of the day...... (don't mind Bentley climbing on the furniture in the back :o) )and one with Bentley because he is pretty cute too....

The wait is over!

Well Megan, I told you it would be like Christmas morning when you opened my blog and saw a new post. So here you go! I had to blog today for the simple fact that Bentley said something so cute I had to document it so I never forgot. Today Bentley, Chloe and I were running some errands and decided to pop into Albertsons to see Grandma. While we were there we took a stroll down the toy aisle and Grandma let the kids each pick out a small toy. Bentley decided on a Spiderman paddle ball. It wasn't too long before the string was all tangled up. Being the Supermom that I am, I was able to untangle it. I handed it back to Bentley and he said (now get ready - here it comes...) "Nice work Mommy! You fix it!" I almost cried it was so cute!
Here is a picture of Bentley proudly displaying his new favorite toy!
No less than five minutes later the ball was removed from the string.... ahhh such is life!

First things first!

Well, since Megan and Tennille both have blogs, I will follow. We all know how much I always copied them, why should it be any different now? I have never really "blogged" so we will see how this will go.
Since this is my first I guess I will just introduce us. We are "The Espinoza's" (imagine thunder rolling in the background or something equally dramatic...). We consist of Jesus, Rickell, Bentley and Chloe.

My husband Jesus is a car salesman. Yes, a used car salesman. (Insert joke here). He loves cars and four wheelers and anything of that nature. He is a city boy born and raised, but being a part of the "McKnight Clan" he is learning to love the outdoors. Jesus was born in Mexico City, but moved to California around the age of two. He lived in Southern California until he was 8. From there he moved to Lake Havasu, AZ. In 2000 he moved to St. George, Utah, where he met his beautiful wife Rickell (tee hee hee) and the rest is history.

Rickell (aka me) was born in St. George Utah, and lived there for the majority of her life. She did move to Kansas for roughly a year, and from there moved to Arkansas. She was there for about two years, when we all got home sick and moved back to good ol' Utah. Rickell works at Green Valley Spa, and loves it there. She enjoys scrap booking and doing arts and crafts. She also loves interior design, and would love to go back to school someday and get her degree.

Bentley is a crazy two year old who (like his daddy) loves cars. Anything with wheels will keep him entertained for a good amount of time. He is learning to talk more and more every day, and keeps us entertained with new things.

Chloe is our "baby". She's right around ten months old and still bald as ever! She has crawling down pat, and is seriously considering walking soon. She loves her big brother and is definitely a daddy's girl. Not that she doesn't like mommy, but daddy definitely has a special place in her heart!

Well, that's a bit about our family! Watch for future posts!