An Araiza 4th of July

click on slideshow below!

4th of July 2008

Patrick's daughter has been singing "Amazing Grace" off and on all day - it touches me and she doesn't even know it. We just got back spending the lovely 4th of July afternoon at my Uncle Alex and Aunt Peggy's beautiful home in Mt. Helix, La Mesa. We were there last year as well (see blog here) and had such a great time that we made it a family reunion this year. Thus, the Northern Cal Araizas all flew down and we started it off by 15 of us meeting at a lovely outdoor wine bar in Point Loma last night. I love my cousins so much and am so proud of all of them - they are truly beautiful inside and out. To see where they are now, after growing up and spending so much time with them as kids and teens really brings warmth into my heart.

 

Today, I spent the first 45 minutes of the party muddling, preparing and passing out mojitos since I announced I really know how to make them (I also don't cook much, so I opted to bring the booze - sigh). The food was as usual amazing - with scrumptious feta-cheese dips, pasta salad, green salad with fruit and for the carnivores - grilled carne and pollo asado. Ummmm....

If all the talking and laughing and eating wasn't enough we also spent a lot of time at the pool where the kids, especially, spent about 6 hours straight before they were made to come out, wrinkled as prunes.

 

Having my cousins, their spouses, my Uncle Al and Aunt Peggy who drove out from Oklahoma, not to mention my dear cousin Leslie who is 4 weeks away from having her 2nd son (and still can manage to look stylish and gorgeous) - - it was truly a happy day for me. I am always so proud to bring Patrick and Ciara to the Araiza clan, and everyone is so good to Ciara and makes sure she fits in with all the nieces and nephews.

 

That is love, ya'll. That is decency... Even in this year of religious scandal and hype present in the War and in our Presidential race it is very encouraging to me to know that God still lives in and does right by many in America. May God Bless our beautiful country, the USA. :)