I can't believe we are two days away from Christmas! It happened so fast! It seems like yesterday I was waiting very impatiently for the chance to listen to Christmas music and decorate the tree. Now, way to soon for my liking, it is almost time to pack up the decorations and throw away the tree.
Along with our Christmas decorations, the rest of our belongings will soon be packed up for the big move! We don't have much, but packing and cleaning are still time consuming. Our close of escrow date got moved up to Friday, January 16th which is very exciting! That means only three more weekends of shopping for furniture and appliances! We may have found the couches we want, but we still need to pick out a fridge, washer, dining room table, ceiling fans, paint ( windsor blue is in the lead right now), toilet seats, curtain rods, bathroom accessories....the list goes on! I love it though, we've been waiting a long time and it is hard to believe that we will be moving very soon!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
Amusement park fun!
Last weekend Jose and I had to do out of county group home visits. We timed the visits perfect with Knotts Berry farm's free admission for social workers! We only went for a few hours in the evening after we had seen all the kids. Because it was sooo crowded (with scary looking thugs mostly) and since we didn't pay to get in, we left after one ride. The ride was awesome though! One of the best roller coasters and they video tape you on the ride! We laughed so hard watching out expressions after the ride!
Don't bother watching the Knotts parade. LAME!
The following morning we headed to Magic Mountain. My mom gave me a free ticket, and it was Toys for Tots day. We brought a toy to donate and got in free (we know how to work the amusement parks free days). I love Magic Mountain! We went on the two newest and scariest rides first and had an hour wait and then a 30 minute wait. We assumed we would be waiting in lines all day, but were pleasantly surprised that the rest of the park was empty and we literally walked straight on every other ride! Jose decided he isn't the biggest fan of roller coasters so we left early in the day.
See, no lines!
Don't bother watching the Knotts parade. LAME!
The following morning we headed to Magic Mountain. My mom gave me a free ticket, and it was Toys for Tots day. We brought a toy to donate and got in free (we know how to work the amusement parks free days). I love Magic Mountain! We went on the two newest and scariest rides first and had an hour wait and then a 30 minute wait. We assumed we would be waiting in lines all day, but were pleasantly surprised that the rest of the park was empty and we literally walked straight on every other ride! Jose decided he isn't the biggest fan of roller coasters so we left early in the day.
See, no lines!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Calling all our paint-loving friends!!!
We went to take another look at our house, and show Jose's mom and grandpa. Event though they just put in new carpet and fresh paint, I forgot how disgustingly dirty the cabinets were! We are going to have a huge cleaning and painting party when we move in!
The view from the family room/dining area into the entry way and the living room. Downstairs bathroom is on the right beneath the stairs
All you who like to paint, or just all you really good friends who want to help us out....we are going to need some help painting these huge walls! And I need some inspiration on what to do! I have some colors in mind, but don't know where to end and begin!
My favorite flowers in the whole world are cherry blossoms (they count right?). I was so happy to see a little cherry tree in the front yard! I can't wait until spring when hopefully our grass will be revived and our little tree will be in bloom!
The view from the family room/dining area into the entry way and the living room. Downstairs bathroom is on the right beneath the stairs
All you who like to paint, or just all you really good friends who want to help us out....we are going to need some help painting these huge walls! And I need some inspiration on what to do! I have some colors in mind, but don't know where to end and begin!
My favorite flowers in the whole world are cherry blossoms (they count right?). I was so happy to see a little cherry tree in the front yard! I can't wait until spring when hopefully our grass will be revived and our little tree will be in bloom!
Monday, December 8, 2008
Velazquez 2008 Christmas letter
This was the letter we sent out....
Dear Family and Friends,
Merry Christmas! I am very excited to write the first annual Velazquez Christmas letter. Jose and I love the Christmas season. We started listening to Christmas music in November, and our tree and decorations were up the day after Thanksgiving! From Christmas present shopping to baking cookies, we love it all. It would be so easy to get caught up in the “busyness” of Christmas and forget the true meaning, that Jesus was born to be our savior. It is because of that night 2000 years ago that we have a reason to celebrate!
Our first year of marriage was all we could have asked for—and more! We rang in the New Year in style with our friends in San Diego!
January turned into a month long birthday celebration for Jose. If I remember correctly we had a total of five birthday dinners for him! Because he loves sports we also went to a San Diego Chargers game,
a Clippers game,
and were blessed with free box seat tickets for the Lakers vs. Cavaliers game!
Every month it is guaranteed that Jose and I will get to travel. Part of our job with Child Welfare Services is to visit children who are placed in group homes around California. The county pays for the gas, food and lodging, and we make the most of it! It has been so nice being able to get away (even though part of the time we are working!). Most of the time we go to Southern California, but we’ve also been to Sacramento and San Francisco.
In June we took a couple of vacations to the lake with my parents and Jose’s mom. Our biennial trip to Bullard’s Bar Lake was a memory that we will never forget! Because of the Northern California fires we could barely see across the lake, we heard bears behind out tent, the boat broke down leaving us stranded in the middle of the lake until 10 pm, and a mysterious rash on Silvia’s hand forced us to make a trip to the ER! Nonetheless, it was a blast!
To celebrate our first anniversary we went back to our Honeymoon destination, the Dominican Republic. We had a blast revisiting Punta Cana. We took a great ATV excursion and saw more of the countryside. Jose even swam in a natural spring cave!
Other big achievements for us have been the completion of my Masters in Clinical Psychology degree, and the decision to begin house hunting. For the past 8 months we have been searching for the perfect house to purchase. We are so grateful to Jose’s sister Emma, because we think any other realtor would have fired us after looking at the 100th house! We are definitely learning a lesson in patience, but are hopeful that soon we will find “the one.” Hopefully next year’s Christmas letter will be mailed from a new address!
We have been so blessed to have had such an exciting first year of marriage. We are curious and expectant to see what the Lord has in store for us in 2009!
Dear Family and Friends,
Merry Christmas! I am very excited to write the first annual Velazquez Christmas letter. Jose and I love the Christmas season. We started listening to Christmas music in November, and our tree and decorations were up the day after Thanksgiving! From Christmas present shopping to baking cookies, we love it all. It would be so easy to get caught up in the “busyness” of Christmas and forget the true meaning, that Jesus was born to be our savior. It is because of that night 2000 years ago that we have a reason to celebrate!
Our first year of marriage was all we could have asked for—and more! We rang in the New Year in style with our friends in San Diego!
January turned into a month long birthday celebration for Jose. If I remember correctly we had a total of five birthday dinners for him! Because he loves sports we also went to a San Diego Chargers game,
a Clippers game, 
and were blessed with free box seat tickets for the Lakers vs. Cavaliers game! 
Every month it is guaranteed that Jose and I will get to travel. Part of our job with Child Welfare Services is to visit children who are placed in group homes around California. The county pays for the gas, food and lodging, and we make the most of it! It has been so nice being able to get away (even though part of the time we are working!). Most of the time we go to Southern California, but we’ve also been to Sacramento and San Francisco.
In June we took a couple of vacations to the lake with my parents and Jose’s mom. Our biennial trip to Bullard’s Bar Lake was a memory that we will never forget! Because of the Northern California fires we could barely see across the lake, we heard bears behind out tent, the boat broke down leaving us stranded in the middle of the lake until 10 pm, and a mysterious rash on Silvia’s hand forced us to make a trip to the ER! Nonetheless, it was a blast!
To celebrate our first anniversary we went back to our Honeymoon destination, the Dominican Republic. We had a blast revisiting Punta Cana. We took a great ATV excursion and saw more of the countryside. Jose even swam in a natural spring cave!
Other big achievements for us have been the completion of my Masters in Clinical Psychology degree, and the decision to begin house hunting. For the past 8 months we have been searching for the perfect house to purchase. We are so grateful to Jose’s sister Emma, because we think any other realtor would have fired us after looking at the 100th house! We are definitely learning a lesson in patience, but are hopeful that soon we will find “the one.” Hopefully next year’s Christmas letter will be mailed from a new address!
We have been so blessed to have had such an exciting first year of marriage. We are curious and expectant to see what the Lord has in store for us in 2009!
New home, here we come!
Is it a coincidence that the day after I write the post about being content in this house searching, we get an offer accepted?! House number #9, the last one to reject us called back and said they changed their mind! They first tried to counter offer and ask for $15,000 more- which we said no to. But changed their mind and accepted to offer as is!
We signed the papers this morning, and on January 20th we should be happy home owners!
We signed the papers this morning, and on January 20th we should be happy home owners!
Friday, December 5, 2008
Starting to understand why...
As you know, we have been trying to buy a house for 8 months (but seems like FOREVER)!
We have had 9 offers rejected! Nine! The first few (ok the first 8) were really disappointing, and we couldn't understand why God didn't answer our prayers. We were so patient (i.e we had no choice) waiting 5 1/2 months for what we thought was our "dream" house. When we didn't get it we were pretty bummed out.
But here is the cool part. Last night after we looked at house offer #10, we were pretty giddy about the awesome neighborhood and great floorplan. We started talking about how long this process has been, but it hit us that every house we look at gets better than the last! When we first started looking in March, the nicest we could afford were houses with zero lot lines, in a "Truman Show-ish" style (that is what my mom compares it to). We were convinced we would be happy there with the huge new home. And we probably would have been. But now, in December home prices have dropped (and interest rates!!) and the same price range we had in March can buy so much more today! Our fave neighborhood in Santa Maria (new homes by Walmart) is now in our price range!
So all that wondering why God didn't let us get the house we HAD TO HAVE, makes sense when we have so many more options now!
We just faxed offer #10. If we get it AWESOME (even RADICAL- inside joke to my family), but if we don't no biggie. Because there are plenty of fish (houses) in the sea (Santa Maria). Right Silvia? ;-) God knows the desires of our heart (and my wish list: fancy fireplace, stairs, laundry room, big kitchen, formal dining room, living room AND family room...), and he is looking out for us. When the right house comes, I think we will get it.
Here is a sample of a few of the many offers we have submitted.
and offer #10
Oh, one more thing. Unfortunately this house is a short sale (aka LONG sale). We have tried to stay away from these after our forever long wait of 5 1/2 months, but couldn't resist this one. As luck would have it (I KNOW it is not God doing this ;-) the same horrible selling realtor from before is also selling this one!! Ugh... hopefully it goes smoother this time.
We have had 9 offers rejected! Nine! The first few (ok the first 8) were really disappointing, and we couldn't understand why God didn't answer our prayers. We were so patient (i.e we had no choice) waiting 5 1/2 months for what we thought was our "dream" house. When we didn't get it we were pretty bummed out.
But here is the cool part. Last night after we looked at house offer #10, we were pretty giddy about the awesome neighborhood and great floorplan. We started talking about how long this process has been, but it hit us that every house we look at gets better than the last! When we first started looking in March, the nicest we could afford were houses with zero lot lines, in a "Truman Show-ish" style (that is what my mom compares it to). We were convinced we would be happy there with the huge new home. And we probably would have been. But now, in December home prices have dropped (and interest rates!!) and the same price range we had in March can buy so much more today! Our fave neighborhood in Santa Maria (new homes by Walmart) is now in our price range!
So all that wondering why God didn't let us get the house we HAD TO HAVE, makes sense when we have so many more options now!
We just faxed offer #10. If we get it AWESOME (even RADICAL- inside joke to my family), but if we don't no biggie. Because there are plenty of fish (houses) in the sea (Santa Maria). Right Silvia? ;-) God knows the desires of our heart (and my wish list: fancy fireplace, stairs, laundry room, big kitchen, formal dining room, living room AND family room...), and he is looking out for us. When the right house comes, I think we will get it.
Here is a sample of a few of the many offers we have submitted.
and offer #10
Oh, one more thing. Unfortunately this house is a short sale (aka LONG sale). We have tried to stay away from these after our forever long wait of 5 1/2 months, but couldn't resist this one. As luck would have it (I KNOW it is not God doing this ;-) the same horrible selling realtor from before is also selling this one!! Ugh... hopefully it goes smoother this time.
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