And I'm just now finding this out?

Last weekend, we got the family together from near and far to celebrate my grandmother's 80^th birthday. We had a little "program" which means one of my aunts put together some history and had people give speeches. The History is what intrigues me most and really I'm SHOCKED that I've been oblivious to my grandparent's story.

My grandparents met when they were really young and very good-looking. (If I had some scanned images I'd share. Perhaps I'll update the post with pictures. ) They sent letters to each other naively through my grandfather's brother, Tio Pepe, rather than using the Post Office. Tio Pepe of course took advantage of the opportunity and read every single one of the letters he got his hands on. I have no doubt he teased them half to death because he would!!

When my grandmother was 19 years old, my grandfather asked her father for her hand in marriage. Her father adamantly said NO! There was no way that his sweet daughter would benefit from this marriage and so the answer was no and would remain NO! They continued dating – I guess that wasn't prohibited. My grandmother has always been "put together" and still will not leave the house until she feels she's reached near perfection. My grampa knowing that about her showed his love for her by spending a LOT of money to give her the most expensive powder and lipstick on the Mexican Market. One day, they were given permission to go to the movie theatre with her sisters as chaperones. They purposefully sat 2 rows behind my grandmother's sisters and guess what they did!? They sneaked out in the middle of it and ELOPED!

Plans were made way before the movie theatre outing and they took their merry little selves to Saltillo and stayed for who knows how long. They eventually came back – married!!! To date, she has no idea what movie they went to see!

I still don't know how growing up I never knew this story. I'm intrigued to know more. If you would like to see pictures of the party click on the picture below.

Long Overdue - a post full of pictures...

The Valdez-Rodriguez family started a tradition this year. It's the First Annual Pumkin Carving Party at my house. I learned that it's not a good idea to toss the pumpkin seeds out into the back yard.

My favorite picture of the night was Alyssa proudly displaying her pumpkin.

That face is full of HAPPY!

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Another tradition we have is the annual Family Reunion. We go to the beach house and go a little nutty. I think I've told you about it but never posted pictures. There was lots and lots of laughter that weekend. Oh - what I didn't tell you about is the newspaper fashion show. So we all made dorky stuff and Hannah blows us out of the water with this dress. The rules were: no scissors, only tape and newspaper.

Olivia is modeling this newspaper dress designed by the fabulously talented Hannah A.

Valdez-Rodriguez

This weekend the family got together at Crystal Beach for the 4th annual family reunion. To start, we took 3 hrs for an 80 mile drive! :o) This included a long stop for breakfast. Once we get to the actual house…everyone runs in to claim their room or bed. I think other families would actually have a layout of the house and assign who gets what, but this strategy allows for more chaotic and memorable experiences. Out of choice, I decided on a beach chair. I’m tellin’ ya…it was more comfortable than the beds that provided ZERO support. Add some cozy blankets and a fluffy pillow and Wham bam thank you mam – you’ve got a bed!
From there on out you’re up to whatever you please. On the porch, we hook up some music to some amps – let it blast and we DANCE. We build sand castles. The boys have their sand ball fight. It's all fun and games till - well, sand inevitably hurts when it's launched at you - someone cries!
In the evenings when everyone’s back in we play games. Catch phrase was the most popular this year! And we also play Loteria, which is the Mexican version of BINGO! There are prizes ranging from Bath & Body lotions & soaps to flashlights. All in all it was great!
There were really FUNNY moments that still have me laughing. I’m thankful for such a lovely family! I love spending time with them.