I just have to say how much I love Shawns job and how grateful I am for their family insurance( for which we pay NADA, not a dime) He is the first assistant(right under a store manager) at Big 5 where he has been forever and he loves! Plus he gets awesome discounts, it's great to be my friend :) We don't pay a cent for our insurance besides the $20 co-pay and when ewe had VyVy and she ended up in NICU I was freaking out worried about the bill! Well I got it today and besides the $20 we paid we didnt owe a thing, the insurance paid 100%!!! I know people who have paid thousands and thousand in hospital bills!! Today I just feel thankful!!!!!!

Christmas in Overton

My favorite part of Christmas has always been Christmas Eve at Ama's house. My entire life and long before I was born my entire family has been gathering at my grandmas bright and early on the 24th to make what feels like 100 dozen tamales!!! When I was growing up her house would be packed full of cousins, aunts, uncles and hundreds of presents. As the years have gone by there are fewer and fewer able to make it but no matter how many show up it's always full of love and bud light!! Even if it is 8am( Mando)!

VyVyana Marie

VyVyana Marie Zubia-Santos
I finally feel well enought o sit at the computer for a few minutes and put up her pictures. She was born on Dec 1 at 10:02 p.m. Just short of four weeks early just like her brothers!! I had been having contractions since before Thanksgiving and the dr gave me meds to try and stop them but she wanted out. So when they finally started being three minutes apart we tucked the boys into bed with papa and headed to the hospital. I got there at 8:30 p.m and they said the dr would be here in 45 minutes to do my csection! I couldn't believe what a whirlwind the next hour was, mom almost had a heart attack trying to get to the hospital on time.

My last csection they put me to sleep so this time was so weird to be awake as they cut her out of me! She had a little trouble breathing when she came out so she had to spend a couple days in the nicu. But now we are home and happy to have her here in time for Christmas!!

Sasha finally had baby Lexi late last night, 8lbs 13oz 22 inches long. I have no idea how she fit in there but man she is adorable!!

30!!! Really???

I would like a recount, some proof other than this birth certificate that I am really 30!!! I wasn't there so how can I really be sure, I definetly don't feel that old. Luckily my boy have been trained since birth that mommy is 22 and will always be 22. So my cake of course says "Happy 22nd birthday Mom" Where have the years gone// It doesnt feel like it's been 30 years or even 11 years since I have graduated high school!

So today and the rest of the week I shall be celebrating my 22nd birthday(for the 8th time)!!!

Finally have everything ready for this little girl to get here. I still have 9 more weeks to go but with the boys being 4 weeks early you can never be ready too soon!!

I should just delete this thing........... I never post anything, or never know what to post. Life is too busy and Im just too lazy :)

Lately I have just been busy getting fat and waiting for this little girl to get here. Her dad is lucky I didnt have to kill him! Which I really would have if this was another boy.

The other two crazy boys are busy being well CRAZY. We actually survived the summer without any broken bones or stitches and that's a miracle! Croix finished baseball and is now playing club soccer, that I HATE!!! But he's good and he loves it, what ya gonna do. He usually gets at least a bloody nose in every game, sometimes worse. He's the goalie and gets pelted with a lot of hard kicks. We had to put his modeling on hold until his two front teeth grow in, hopefully that wont be too much longer cause Im sick of him asking "how long".

Shawn is still working hard he got a promotion and a raise last month, He ROCKS!! He's going skydiving soon for his birthday so I told him he needs to up his life insurance! You know just in case :) He can't wait for VyVy to get here, he is going to spoil her rotten. I'm jealous that means less spoiling for me :>

Garlic Grilled Peppered Steak with Balsamic Sauce

2 lbs Flank steak or tri-tip cut into 8 oz pieces
4 tablespoons black peppercorns slightly cracked
2 tablespoons
salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 c red onion minced
1 tablespoon garlic minced
1 c Cabernet Sauvignon( the alcohol cooks out completely)
1/2 c balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Tenderize meat lightly with a mallet. Dust with pepper and salt. Press salt and pepper into steak with the palm of your hand. Transfer to a baking dish and place in the refrigerator. Marinate 4 hours.
In a medium sauce pan over medium heat add olive oil and onions and lightly saute until onions are carmalized. Add garlic and cook until it begins to brown. Deglaze with wine and balsamic vinegar. Add sugar and let simmer and reduce for 30 minutes or until mixture reduces to 3/4 cup.
Place steaks over a hot grill. Cook for 5 minutes and flip cook for 4 minutes. When desired doneness is achieved remove steaks from grill and let rest.
Strain wine mixture and return to heat to reduce for 5 more minutes or until thick syrup is created.
Serve over a green salad

Three Cheese Risotto

If you like rice you have to try Risotto!!

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 c chopped onions
salt and white pepper
6 c chicken stock
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
2 cups Arborio rice
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 c heavy cream
1/4 c grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/4 c grated Ramano cheese
1/4 c Asiago cheese
2 tablespoons chopped chives

In a large saute pan, over medium heat add the olive oil. When the oil is hot add the onions and season with salt and pepper. Saute for 3 minutes or until slightly soft. Add the stock and garlic. Bring the liquid to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 6 minutes. Add the rice and simmer for 18 minutes stirring constantly or until mixture is creamy and bubbly(I taste it at this point to see if the rice is cooked or not). Add the butter, cream and cheeses. Reseason with salt and pepper. Simmer for 2 minutes and top with chives.
Serve immediately

Ginger Garlic Pork

2 lb. pork tenderloin
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon dry mustard
3 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 cup flour
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon granulated onion
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
3 tablespoons canola oil

Cut pork into 1 inch rounds. Stir soy sauce, mustard and rice wine vinegar in a large bowl. Add the pork and marinate for 20 min. In a shallow bowl mix flour cornstarch, garlic, onion, salt and pepper. Lightly press the pork and dredge in the flour mixture. Heat the oil in in a saute pan and cook pork until browned on both sides.

Gravy
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 yellow onion diced
3/4 c diced fresh ginger
3/4 c diced garlic
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 cup white cooking wine(can substitute extra chicken stock)
2 c water plus 4 tablespoons
2 c chicken stock
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons cornstarch

In a medium sauce pot over medium heat add the oil. When oil is hot add onions, ginger,garlic and pepper and saute until onions are translucent. Deglaze the pan with wine then add 2 c water and the stock,soy sauce and honey. Simmer for 1 hour or until reduced by half. Strain the gravy and return to the pot over low heat. Combine the 4 tablespoons water and the cornstarch in a small bowl. Slowly stir into sauce and cook until gravy has thickened.

Serve over rice

Have I ever told you how much I hate doctors!! So the ultrasound chick changed my due date by two weeks, the good news is I already scheduled my c-section for Dec 20th. But I'm still hoping to have the baby earlier since both boys came a month earlier. Hopefully this c-section will be less dramatic then the last!

Happy 4th Birthday Chaiz Mateo Zubia-Santos!

My summer is starting to fill up with vacations and mini vacations. I thought summer is supposed to be relaxing and enjoying the sun! Just got back from visiting Sasha and Paul(didn't want to come back) in New Hampshire. It is so gorgeous and the weather was perfect! Now I will spend the next two years convincing Shawn to move me there. Tried scallops and lobster rolls for the first time, loved the fried scallops but wished the lobster roll was hot. Discovered Bocci ball it was awesome,and I won :) Two more weeks till school gets out then it is a quick trip of deep sea fishing and another long weekend in Cali in June. July hopefully Sasha and Paul will come to Vegas and we can have a stay-cation on the strip. Croix takes his fourth trip to Hawaii towards the end of July with his dad. August brings our anniversary trip to Laughlin for bbq and jet skiing on the river then to Big Bear,Ca with my mom and sisters and all the kids the week before school starts. Somewhere in there I hope to get some time to do nothing and sit on the couch!

My gorgeous little boys!!

I have to find a new doctor, this one drives me crazy!! Plus he doesn't deliver at Centennial Hills Hospital and I want to go there. I don't know if you have seen the commercial but it says mothers get daily massages, tea time and gourmet meals! Sounds like a nice vacation to me. Since I am going to need another c-section (thanks to my last emergency one) I think massages and yummy food is the least I deserve :)

3 WEEKS!!!!!

Three weeks until we go back east to see Sasha, my first vacation in 9 years with NO kids!!! I'm going to miss the boys so much!! But I am so excited to be gone for 5 whole nights eating lots and lots of yummy food and having tons of fun without having to worry about kids! I absolutely love New Hampshire it is so PRETTY, if it didn't snow we would so move there!

UUUUGGGGHHHH!!! Whose idea was it to have another baby?!?!? What was I thinking, I am way to old for this crap! Luckily I'm not puking like Sash but I sure feel like I wanna. And if it's not a girl I'm going to shoot Shawn!

What a busy and fun weekend. Chaiz and I spent all day Saturday at a little carnival down the road and had a blast riding all the rides and eating yummy food. Then we went to church Sunday and headed to Boulder City for lots of fun at Vic's house! I cooked yummy cornished game hens and ham along with all the fixin's.

Goodbye margaritas, i shall miss you! See you in 9 months.

Dinner is gonna be yummy!!

Blazing buffalo bites

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken cubed(pretty small)
1 package won to wrappers
Wing Sauce(I love red hot)
1 package cream cheese
4 oz blue cheese
oil for frying

In a bowl combine wing sauce,cream cheese, blue cheese
In a pan cook chicken with salt and papper

Set down one wrapper put a small dollop of the cheese mixture and a piece of chicken, rub edges of wrapper with water, place another wrapper on top and press the two together.

In a frying pan place 2 inches of oil over med-high heat and cook till golden brown.

What a crazy weekend. Saturday was ridiculously busy, got up early and went shopping for my party and then prepped a bunch of food and made jello shots. Reupholstered the dinning room chairs cause they were cream when I bought them and were covered in fingerprints, footprints and every other kind of mess boys make. Now they are black corduroy and easy to clean! Then Croix had a baseball game at 2:45 which lasted two hours. Afterwards we rushed him home to change and drove out to Overton where my uncle Woody butchered his piggy"Chorizo" we ate some yummy food and had a blast with my family. Including Mando who had a little much to drink and started giving lap dances, he's like 55 or something!!! We managed to get home around 12:30 in the morning. The boy woke me up way to early at 8 and I spent all day cooking and cleaning getting ready for the party.

The party was so much fun got to see a lot of old friends that I hadn't seen in years including, Nena, Adriana and Yivi! Jaide throws the best "Slumber Parties!" Everyone had so much fun we asked her to drive backdown from Utah in May to throw another one.

Monday I drove all the kids out to Boulder City so the boys could have a slumber party at Vic's , it is so pretty up there I didn't want to leave the balcony and go get Shawn from work. But I did and he took me to dinner and we played Jackpot Party( my fav penny machine) half the night and I quadrupled my money!!!

Yesturday I had my two boys, Messy's two girls, the three other kids I watch 3 times a week and then Vic's four kids!! Talk anout a crazy day! Today luckily I only have seven kids, maybe I will just lock them all outside for the day:) Just kidding!!!!! Kind of.

Tonight is ladies only party at my house!! Woo hoo can't wait to see all the girls. On the menu nacho pin wheels, cheese stuffed biscuits and some yummy finger sandwiches, jello shots and tequila sunrise!

Nacho pin wheels are easy
a package of Pillsbury crescent rolls
a jar of tostitos queso

When you open the package of rolls divide the dough into the four rectangles and use your fingers to close the perforations. Spread with queso, roll into log, cut one inch rolls. Bake as directed!

Cheese stuffed biscuits
a package of Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits
your choice of cheese cubed

Open the package and separate each biscuit into three sections
place a cube of cheese in the center of each biscuit, close it up and bake as directed

Woo Hoo just found out Shawn got his raise!!! Looks like we will be doing some celebrating this weekend. Somewhere between work today, baseball practice in the morning,Woody cookin his piggy Chorizo tomorrow night and my party Sunday night. Busy busy weekend!!!! OOOH maybe now I can buy the purple suede Steve Madden shoes I have been eying at DSW!

Pulled Pork Quesadillas

I made the yummiest lunch today, I stole the idea(sort of) from Bobby Flay. We ate at his restaurant in Caesar's Palace, Mesa Grill for our Anniversary. Our appetizer was smoked chicken and black bean quesadilla. It was the best food I have ever eaten , the sauce was AMAZING!! I wanted to lick my plate, but I didn't :)


1lb pork roast
dry rub with:
onion powder
garlic powder
chili powder(I prefer new mexican chili)
chipotle chili powder(spicy!!)
salt
pepper

put it in the slow cooker for about 4 hours or until it "pulls apart"

pick your favorite kind of tortilla(I use corn)

Pick your cheese(gouda and smoked cheddar)

Build your quesadilla and enjoy!!

First of all someone hacked and deleted my blog, how rude!!! Luckily I am half way smart and figured out how to undelete it!!

I am so excited for Croix's first baseball game on Saturday! He did great at tryouts and is on the Cincinnati Reds. Wish it was a cooler team but oh well. We just ordered our family the jerseys with his name and number on it, I love baseball!!! He tells me one day he will be a pro and buy me a huge house with a slide in it!

Chaiz loves going to practice and runs around chasing the girls the whole time! He can't wait till next season so he can play. He asks everyday if he can go to school with his brother, he wishes he can just be five already.

Shawn is still workin his butt off at Big 5 and lovin it, he is waiting to hear about a raise this week. Keep your fingers crossed!!! He is more excited then the rest of us for baseball to start, he wishes he could play!!
We are counting down the days till our big trip to see Sasha(43 days) This will be our first trip anywhere with out our boys and we will be gone a week!! We are starting to feel the camping itch, we love it!! If you can't find me at home BBQ'in on the weekends then I will be at the lake!!

Oy life gets so busy sometimes!!! Now I watch both of Messy's girls while she works 7:30-5:30 mon-fri. Which really sucks cause thats like 2 hours earlier then I like to get up!!! But they love it and so does Chaiz. Shawn is still the manager at Big 5, which he absolutely loves.
This year feels like it's just one long week so far, but starting next week we have lots of vacations coming up. Cali for some wine tasting, Boston to visit Sasha, Big bear this summer, San Fran a couple times for baseball. Plus, of course every single 51's game we can possibly fit in.
Croix just had little leaugue tryouts we are waiting to hear what team he ended up on. He oves baseball it's his favorite out of soccer,juijitsu. Now hes trying to talk me into ice hockey!!! He is a mans man! I have had to tell him more than once to " give that little girl back her phone number and tell her she's too young to be giving it to boys!!" HE IS 8!!
I on the other hand am still addicted to the food networ, cooking, baking, volleyball, some people might say margaritas :) Now I just have to figure out what to do with myself next year when Chaiz goes to school!!!