Birthday finale and my room and more Rachel

Rachel smiling/gas.
in deep thought...
looking cute.
My mom and sister surprised me on the birthday and showed up in Waco with a picnic packed. We went to Cameron Park and had our greek food picnic, including dolma. It felt good to have dolma on a hot picnic again!
Not sure what they were saying... something like "it's your birthday!"

Thanks Mom and Lane!! (Lana is starting her own catering business if you want undeniable great food and orginial recipes, ask her to cater your next event!)

The following are pics of my room (for Erin, Kristi, and Carol... so you can see what I've done with my room!)

Aveen's little corner of the room.

Birthday Grillin'

Today is my birthday. Yep, I'm now 26 years old. It does sound much older than 25... but who cares, I'm not old! 26 is the new 18... the world is mine for the taking. :) What will this year bring to pass? I have no idea, surprises hopefully.

Some of my friends came down on the weekend to celebrate the bday and had the idea of letting me pick what we cooked and then cooking together. I have great memories of being roommates in college and doing crab & lobster boils with Carrie's mom (who live in Alaska and knows how to cook crab! And lives near a port where the Deadlist Catch crews come in and out of). So we tried to recreate that. But this time there was a surprise twist! We bought a live lobster from HEB.

Flan is an expert chef. And we told her clearly and multiples times that if we got a live lobster, it's all on her to kill the poor guy. She agreed. No problem.
And it wasn't a problem for her! She's a natural with a butcher knife! (We got a video of her killing the live on).
Photo op with the Mr. Lobby.
He's slimy and alive.

face off! Who will win?!
We did, haha.
This was our huge seafood feast. It was so good, and fun to be together.

Then the next day another best friend came down and she had a really creative idea, too! She bought me loose flower stems and let me arrange them (Which I love doing). so fun!

I feel so loved from the messages and different celebrations.

And really do think I have the best collection of friends, ever. I've somehow met and become friends with the best people on the planet!

Lots going on in the Hilton Family

Poppie gets arrested at 80 years old.

Just kidding, but he did turn 80! We had an 80th birthday party for him. Of course, he could have done without... he doesn't like all the fuss and attention, but it was fun. Lots of old stories were shared... and funny ones. I was like "wow, my family is funny!". After several toasts and words in his honor, he stood up to say something. All he said was 'you know, I've lived 80 years. I've done a lot of things right and I've done a lot of things wrong. But one thing I know I did right was (choking up, cracking voice, one or two tears)... was finding a wife. She's made me so happy." (and some other words about her that I don't remember exactly). And all the women in the room were tearing up. Who doesn't want their husband of 60years to say you were the best decision he ever made!?!? So sweet. My grandfather does make me proud to be in his family, and I look up to him in so many ways! Sean (Dallas police office) stopped in for the party while off duty.

Laura Hilton & Riley Hilton

classic Loo & Foo picture.... weird faces.

But as the BBQ, homemade salsa, and strawberry cake was consumed, we're all still sad at the recent news of my uncle Ken's cancer. We found out on Friday after a sudden discovery, that he has a mass on his pancreas that is malignant. Please, pray for him and the family! Pray grace, peace, and strength to be renewed everyday. And of course, pray for complete healing of his cancer. We believe!

My dad reading the newspaper.

Happy Birthday, Mom!! I cooked her some breafast... mmm. Wasn't sure if she would like huevos rancheros... but she did! I forget she's so Texan.

Rachel Joy Espinosa

born September 4th, 2010

2:48am

7lbs 13oz

about 3:00am

CUTE!

I love this picture. I don't even remember what Amanda was laughing at, but I love that she was laughing a few minutes after birth. And little Rachel is mid-cry with a cute little scrunched face.
Rachel meeting her Daddy.
The hand off. Ed is so excited to have a daughter! His excitement never wore off!
The Espinosa's FIRST family pic! I got to take it.
One happy mama. I'm so proud of you, Amanda!

A Few Tricks

This is Aveen demonstrating some of her newest tricks.

I'm all dressed up because I was going to Baylor for an interview! So that's my official interview outfit. Hopefully I won't have to wear it too many more times. :)

I was kinda nervous before, so I decided to film some tricks. I know, I know, all I talk about is Aveen... but she's a big part of my life right now!

Now, if i can just get her 100% potty trained!