5 B's: My New Year goals

Hey friends and family! Everything is going well with us. Me and Rosemarie are doing fine. We have been busy with work, church, and baby. We have also been busy preparing for Estela's first birthday party. We still have alot of time, so I ain't trippin. It will be happening on Feb.21. So we have about a month left before the big shabang! It will be a good time to see my family together again.

It is the 22nd of January and we have still kept all of our new year resolutions. This is longer than last years stint. I believe I quit most of my resolutions last year by the 10th or 11th and/or stop caring....I am such a slacker. Some of the more important resolutions, from the long list of resolutions created by us, that I am super-duper focused on this current year are listed below. Here are my top 5 'B's.

1. Be a Better Father - be more actively engaged in my fatherly duties (diaper duty, reading to baby, playing with her, etc.) Make sure that I set aside Daddy/Daughter time. Quality time. Watching ESPN together doesn't count. Luckily, Estela has a wonderful mother...lol....fareal!!

2. Be a Better Husband - match my wifes passion to keep that love life burning. I need to find more creative ways to be romantic and considerate. Continue having our weekly Date Night. I also have a tendency to not appreciate all that my wife does for me. Stop being lazy. I need to lessen the arguments. Estela is watching!!!

3. Be more active in Church - we need to attend ALL of our meetings ALL the time (all 3 hours). Magnify my calling more effectively. We need to read our scriptures nightly and have FHE more often. Be more consistent in having family prayer every night. Try my best to finish my Visiting teaching list. Share the gospel to my friends. Encourage each other to be better.

4. Be better with our funds/Save that $$$ - These are tough times. We need to be better with our money and more frugal in our daily routine. Stop eating out so much and buy more food to cook at home. Stop buying shoes and other useless junk. Prepare for the future. Try to convince Rosemarie to stay home and not work. She can stay home to take care of Estela and we would save money on daycare...hint..hint...babe. Continue to move money in Estela's savings account. Improve and expand our food storage content. We can't live off of twinkies, ding dongs, water and cup of noodles....buy items of substance, like rice, tuna, corn pops, hot chocolate and ritz crackers...lol.

5. Be committed to shed the pounds - we need to eat better and exercise more often than we do. Estela needs a healthy mama and papa to raise her. We need to be more aware of our calorie intake and we need to burn it out...you know, jumping jacks, pushups, sit-ups, hot steamy sex, etc....hahahazzzz...whatever works!

We will see how this process goes. It is a Day-to-Day commitment. I hope we have the patience and fortitude to maintain during the tough times and the days that we want to quit or give up. We can do it Rosemarie....1.2.3.TEAM...lol...that was kinda wack!!!

SPORTS TEAM UPDATE

LONG BEACH POLY: We lost the Open Division State Championship game to Grant High School(Sacramento, CA). The score was 25-20. Both teams were undefeated, LB Poly(14-0) and Grant(13-0). The game was held at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA. Me and Rosemarie attended. It was a nail biter. We were up 20-19 with 1:11 left in the 4th and they scored to win the game. It was pretty exciting game and also depressing. This was considered the biggest upset in CA high school football history. Maybe next year Jackrabbits.

LAKERS v. CELTICS: The Christmas Day showdown met all my expectations. It was a tough and physical game. At the end, the Lakers won 92-83. This is all that I wanted Santa to give me for Christmas. It came true. Lakers improved to a 24-5 record and is the best in the west. Celtics fall to 27-3(the league best). Lakers snapped a previous 17 game winning streak. Go Lakers!!!

USC FOOTBALL: USC wins 3rd straight Rose Bowl by defeating Penn State Nittany Lions 38-24. It was not as close as the score suggest. The halftime score was 31-7. We played an awesome game.

The Holiday Season is about over...

This Holiday Season was awesome. We had a great Christmas filled with presents, music, and family time. More importantly, this was Estela's first Christmas. She seemed very happy during all the holiday festivities. However, she seemed more interested in tearing and playing with the wrapping paper, then the present. I guess that is what happens when babies are young. We also had the chance to spend Christmas with my little cousins: Celest and Mefi from Long Beach. We got them a few presents and they seemed to enjoy themselves. On Christmas Eve, we went bowling and ate pizza and nachos. On Christmas Day, we just chilled at the house and opened gifts. Oh yeah, and watch football games. Good times.

New Years was also super-duper fun. Eli came from Lakewood to spend New Years with us. Football season is finally over, so it was a great time for him to relax and get away from LA. On New Years Eve, we all went to Tony Hsieh's house for his annual Pajama-jama New Years Eve Party. He has a huge house. Ate. Shot pool. Karaoke.It was pretty fun. These past few weeks during the holidays have been a blast.

2009 is finally here. I am excited to see what the New Year has in store for me and my family. I hope we continue to be blessed like we were in 2008. New resolutions and commitment to those resolutions, will make this year another great one. The biggest blessing we received during 2008 was the birth of my beautiful baby girl, Estela. I never thought fatherhood would be so rewarding. I am also more aware of how blessed I am to have a fantastic wife. She has attributes that complement me well. I am extremely blessed.