Sonja's Christmas Performance

Sonja had her very first Christmas Performance at her school on Thursday. She sang three songs with her class. One of the songs was The Reindeer Hokey Pokey and she kept losing her antlers. Hilarious! Daddy, Grandma and me were beaming with pride. And, they were surprised with a special visitor... None other than Santa himself! Sonja finally got to ask him, in person, for a cupcake maker.

Candelaria Christmas Party

Our Candelaria Christmas party was so much fun! So many people we haven’t seen in such a long time were there. Instead of gifts, we all brought donations for the Utah Food Bank. There were so many kids this year, and they all kept busy making decorations for the donation box. Elaine had a house full, which was surprising with the weather being so bad just a couple hours earlier. It was so great having everyone together just laughing and having a great time. That’s really what Christmas is all about. And of course, the ladies had a traditional shot (or two) of Tequila Rose.

Sushi with the Girls

It was the girls of Maggie Sottero’s turn to celebrate Christmas, sushi style. This year, our party of three grew into a party of eight! We went to Mikado’s in Sandy and laughed the night away with lots of Hot Raspberry (Purple Haze) and Pomegranate (Pama) sake.

Christmas with the Homies

We had our annual Friend Christmas Party at Mountain Mike’s Pizza this year. Angel and I didn’t show up in the required “ugly sweater” and we were almost tossed out on our @$$. Luckily, Angel was off the hook because he was the only guy who showed up in a black tie for Kate’s engagement party (at least that’s what he’s saying), and Tenille had an extra ugly sweater just for me to change in to. Chad won the grand prize, shoulder pads and all. I couldn’t look at him without cracking up! We did the boy/girl gift exchange, and I was envious of one of the boys’ gifts, a bucket of beer and a playboy. No, not for the playboy! Then, we played a friendly game of Cranium, boys vs. girls. Do you even need to ask who won? Of course, the girls kicked booty.

Oh Christmas Tree

Here is our Christmas Tree! Angel has a gift for untangling beads and hanging lights and ornaments. And Sonja can hang decorations all by herself now! Well, on the low branches. Every year since she was 5 months old, Sonja has put the star on the tree, so we’ve decided to keep that one of our Christmas traditions. We will also choose a special ornament for the year together as a family. For 2007, we have one for our wedding, and for 2008 we have a “Santa Claws” that my mom brought back from Boston.

I Love Surprise Pics

When my sister came, she had pictures from our wedding that I’ve never seen. Over a year later, it’s really fun to see different scenes from that day. There’s even a few from the bachelorette party and rehearsal dinner. If any of you still have mystery pictures from the wedding or any other get-together, stop being stingey. I wanna see!

Sista, sista!

I was so happy to get to see my sister, although it was under sad circumstances. Her great-grandpa passed away, so she drove from Arizona on Thanksgiving morning. With me being in Park City, I didn’t get to see much of her, but at least Sonja got to see Haylee. They are wild together! Two kids? This week, it’s a NO!

Tenille’s Baby Shower & Birthday

Yes, two dual baby shower/birthdays this month. Now it was Tenille’s turn. We went to my uncle’s condo in Park City to celebrate the anticipated arrival of Cora Michelle. We ate, played games, ate, gave gifts, ate, watched movies and… ate some more! In the morning we went to Squatters for a birthday brunch. It was another busy weekend, but such a good time. Melanie came all the way from sunny San Diego, and I couldn’t have done it without her. Carrie even surprised us, and came down one canyon and up another just to hang with the girls. Congratulations Tenille, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Black Friday

WE DID IT! For the first time, I bravely participated in Black Friday madness. Angel and I were in line at Target by 5:30am. Doors opened at 6am and by 10 o’clock, we were outta there AND crossed every last person off our Christmas list. Target LOVES us! It wasn’t too crazy. People were a little pushy at first, but we weren’t there for any of the big-ticket items. Angel was great at moving me through the crowds when I was on the verge of freaking out. By the time we were done, we didn’t even have to wait to check out. Man, it feels good to be done. I’m definitely doing this again next year!

Thanksgiving

Sonja and I spent the night in Tooele Wednesday night to spend some QT with mom and dad a.k.a grandma and grandpa. Thanksgiving morning we watched some of the parade and left for Grandma Colleen’s. I think next year I’m going to have my grandma teach me how to make her traditional Thanksgiving meal, so I can pass it down. It would be a shame for none of us to know how it’s done. The best part was watching my grandma kick Angel’s butt bowling on Wii. Ya, you heard right! She kicked Mr. Gamer King’s B-U-T-T! She’s my hero.

Family Pictures

Stacy came to the rescue, as we were on a tight budget for family pictures this year. They turned out better than I could have ever hoped for. She made us a slideshow that had my mom and I sobbing. I just couldn’t thank you enough, Stacy. These mean so, so much!

Randee’s Baby Shower/Birthday

We threw Randee a baby shower at my casa early in November. Sorry, that’s how late I am on the blog update. Good food, good friends, and good gifts. That’s all that matters in life, right? Kale and Sonja got to flirt a little bit. Sonja flipped her little ponytail and said, “Hey Kale.” You definitely had to be there.

The next morning we had a delicious potluck brunch at Mikala’s clubhouse to celebrate Randee’s birthday. Busy weekend, but it was a great time.

1st Day of School

Sonja had her first day of pre-school at Dancing Moose Montessori on November 4th. You would all be surprised to know that I didn’t shed a single tear. Angel and I walked her into her classroom, and she took off! We had to call her back to say good-bye. We watched her from the TV monitors in the lobby, and it didn’t even faze her that we were gone and she was in an unfamiliar place with complete strangers. At the end of the day, she told us that she made a friend named Bella, and there was just one mean boy that took a chair from her (I’m keeping my eye out for that little punk). We were so proud of her!

November Birthdays

Happy Birthday to Cluck, Randee, Tenille and my sweet Mamacita!

Once Upon an October

I left a few good times off of the blog this month, because again… NO TIME! So, here’s a trip down memory lane…

Mikala’s Birthday
For Mikala’s birthday, we took a trip to Park City for an early lunch and saw a play at The Egyptian Theater. It was such a beautiful day in PC!

What’s the only thing better than sushi? FREE SUSHI!




The Enright’s invited us over for all the homemade sushi we could eat. It was all The Donado’s could ever ask for! I’m telling you, Lindsey was a cook in another life, or will be in the next. It was delicious!


Finger Painting


Since it’s getting a little colder outside, I decided we needed some indoor activities to keep Sonja entertained. So, we bought some finger paints, and let her go to town. After taking a couple of pictures, we made the mistake of leaving the room for 10 minutes and came back to find globs of paint EVERYWHERE! Oops!

Good Company


Angel flew off to Boston for work, so I decided to have the girls over for some dinner and a flick to keep us company. It was sort of a Sex and the City DVD release party too. I made a little dinner and Brooke surprised us with cupcakes decorated with quotes from the series and the movie. I scooted Sonja off to bed and we had a good time watching the movie and having a few laughs. Thanks girls for keeping my mind off of my far and away husband.

Pizza, Pumpkin Carving, and Cookies




Lindsey and Elaine came over to fill-up our Sunday while Angel was gone. First we gutted some pumpkins and carved some cute faces for Halloween. Lindsey’s owl was so neat! Then, Sonja helped aunt Elaine make some Halloween sugar cookies while Lindsey made killer homemade pizzas (Get it… “Killer” for Halloween… Ok, I’m a dork.). One was steak and fetta with marinara, and the other was chicken with pesto. Yum! We plopped in front of the tv with our pizza and watched Labyrinth (David Bowie is the coolest!). It was such a fun day.