LUNA Dedication Post

Before you all go ballistic on me, don't freak out that I haven't been blogging lately. But today's post is going to be all dedicated to my sweet baby Luna. A few weeks ago she was diagnosed with hip dysplasia. Well..we noticed that she was having difficulty when I returned from vacation and the diagnosis went on for a while and finally after an x-ray it was determined that she had Hip Dysplasia. After a couple of weeks of thinking about my options, I have decided to move forward with her surgery. She will go into surgery on Tuesday, September 7th.

What exactly is Hip Dyslpasia you ask? When a dog has dysplasia, it has an abnormal development of the ball-in-socket join that makes up the hip. In a dysplasic hip, the ball (the head of the femur, or thighbone) and the socket (the acetabulum, a portion of the pelvis), do not fit together snugly. The result is a painful and damaging friction. When a dog bears its weight on the joint, the friction strains the joint capsule, which is a fibrous tissue that surrounds the joint and produces joint fluid. The straining then damages the cartilage and leads to the release of inflammatory proteins within the joint. Thus begins the cycle of cartilage destruction, inflammation, and pain the symptoms we associate with arthritis.

At this point, Luna has no cartilage left and is basically looks to me a dis-located hip. I can definitely see now how painful it is getting for her within the past few weeks. She's been a real trooper through this and sometimes the way she acts jumping around, mainly when we are going out, then it makes me wonder.

So..for today I'm posting just about Luna and hoping that everyone reading this blog will keep Luna in their thoughts and prayers on Tuesday. Oh..and a little thought for me will be appreciated too because I know I will most likely be an emotional mess on Tuesday as well. :)

So...Here we go with just a few pictures of my sweet little baby!!

Adoption Day (May 14, 2009):

1st Summer away from her for Vacation (July 2009):

This April during our CRAZY Spring - She was literally another Member of our Team.

One of her favorite Spots - outside on the patio.

Take a few weeks ago - hangin out with Joe, Camila & I at the office.

Another one of her favorite spots - my area rug. Lately (obviously because of the heat), I've caught her laying around like this. TOOO FUNNY!

One morning when I got up for work - I headed back into my room to make my bed and she had curled up. How can I be mad at a face like that!! Gosh I love her sooo much!!!

Last Summer 2009:

1st Birthday:

Last Summer - September 2009:

Luna being adorable:

Look at how little she was!

That's my walk down the Luna memory Lane. Love to you all!!!

A Night Out

Last night I headed out downtown with some friends from work. It was soo much fun to get out and enjoy a little bit of the night life! There was a little bit of drinking and a little bit of dancing. It was really enjoyable!!!

We went to the Karoke bar and had fun watching people singing and having fun!! There were definitely some talented singers and then not some.

Doryan, Michelle and Jethro

Nesto, Doryan and Michelle

Doryan and her adorable man - Nesto.

Michelle and Jethro

What would one of my blogs not be with a picture of Luna. Here she is from this morning hanging out on the patio.

Guadalajara Mexico

Last week Kristin and I made a VERY quick trip to Guadalajara. One very quick trip. Kristin had to take care of some passport business, we were able to visit our fabulous flower provider, walked the flower market and took in some sights. 10 hours of Bus Travel..10 hours of Guadalajara and back to PV in less than 24 hours. It was a VERY quick trip!

Kristin and I started off in the bus station trying to keep our eyes open, did a quick change of clothing and off it was to the American consulate. We stopped for a quick breakfast. We should have just stopped with these delicious muffins (they were YUMMY and buttery) and our coffee and hot chocolate, because we ordered plates, but didn't even eat them.

A view of one of the skyscrapers from the corner cafe.

We were chauffered around town my our flower provider. We checked out his store, ran across the street to the flower market and I saw some really intresting flowers.

Our Tour Guides:

This flower is actually called "alium" and is actually the flower from garlic. It would be soo cool to use these, but I don't think they would appreciate the garlicky aroma they give off.

These sunflowers were absolutely breathtaking!

I can't remember the names of these, but soo cool!!

Aren't these sooo cute....

While we were being chauferred around I caught some very quick pictures of the city. Guadalajara was such a HUGE city. We asked about the size of the city and they compared it to the size of LA. Not my town..I definitely realized that I'm a small town girl. Could never handle that size of a city.

Sophia Turns Two!!!

It was a fun weekend for all!! Sophia turned Two on May 12th and Kristin and Pablo threw her an adorable Backyardigans themed party with family and a few close friends.

Waking up from her afternoon nap and everything was all decorated and ready to go!! Lorena (Sophia's Nanny) worked really hard to get her a backyardigans Pinata and came through with flying colors.

There were balloons everywhere - thanks to Grandpa Vargas.

All Dressed up and ready to go!!

Enjoying time with Zarely and Grandma Vargas!

Where's that Pinata???

Ready to blow out those Birthday Candles!

Look at how adorable this little family is all decked out in their own Backyardigan masks!

Tasha (aka Sophia), Pablo (aka Kristin) and Tyrone (aka Pablo).

BeeHives....YES...BeeHives

I was re-organizing all my picture frames deciding which ones to put back up on my NEWLY painted walls and found this strange looking object behind one of them. At first glance it freaked me out..but then taking another glance I realized what it was...part of a beehive. It's still amazing how different things are here compared to the States. Would never find a 1/2 formed beehive behind your picture frames..would you????

You can see part of the honey pods starting to form here.




And for those of you that enjoy sunsets..here was one that I captured one night while working away at my computer on some wedding project I'm sure.

Easter 2010

I know....I know...it's been like two months since my last post but it has been very crazy on the workfront. So..we'll catch up a bit on the blog front and hopefully my blog followers will forgive me for not blogging the last couple of months.

First - We start with Easter 2010. I made the same egg dish as last year, just switched it up a bit and then I tried my hand at making homemade Sangria. It turned out pretty good. Here are some pictures to help explain the day. We started out with a family photo.

Then it was time for Soph to see if the Easter Bunny arrived after Church. Sure enough he brought some really cool goodies for her.

She received some really fun sidewalk chalk and Mom & Soph enjoyed decorating my steps!

One of the baskets that the Easter Bunny dropped off for her. That bunny is soo sneaky hiding baskets in my pantry.

Trying out the sidewalk chalk.

Here is a picture of the Sangria that I made. YUMM!!

And the Easter 2010 Dinner Table!

I'll be posting more soon so stay tuned!!