Brides and Grooms and Family and Cake.

This weekend I flew to Florida to host my sister's engagement party! A quick trip there and back, that lasted only about 30 hours from take off in Birmingham to landing in Birmingham.

We enjoyed a nice BBQ dinner with our family and my sister's fiance's family. His name is Luis (Lu, for short). Since I was planning the party from a few hundred miles away, I had to keep the decorations simple and effective, with just a few centerpieces, balloons, and a cake.

I didn't eat the cake, but I was told it was amazing

I tried to get everyone's pictures as they came in: 

My mom!

The future Mr. and Mrs. Holguin

Mr. and Mrs. Steve Brown

But that only lasted for three pictures before all of Lu's family arrived at once. And I do mean all of his family. It was too difficult to get them all to pose for a photo, so I gave up and allowed them to sit.

(Starting on the outer row of chairs) Here we have Lu's best friend Mike,

Melissa (a bridesmaid) and Steve Brown, Melissa and Lu, Mirta and Luis

(Lu's parents), and Michelle and Katelyn (Lu's sisters). In the inside rows,

we have Aldo and Ivan (Lu's identical twin brothers), and Abuela Elena.

I wasn't kidding when I alluded to the fact that they were many. 

Then I decided to make Melissa and Lu pose for a few more pictures before the rest of our side of the family arrived: 

Then our family arrived, we all ate, and I took a few group photos:

From front to back: My aunt Kim, my cousin Jason, Mommal,

Uncle Timmy and guest Tina, Anthony and Mirta (Lu's married

sister and her husband), Katelyn, Michelle, and Luis and Mirta.

And on this side, my cousin Jeff and his girlfriend of 9 years, Amanda,

Mom, the twins Ivan and Aldo, Mike, Abuela Elena, and the Browns.

Token cake-cutting photo. They better get used to this, because I'm

doing it every time they're around a cake.

My cousin Jeff and his girlfriend Amanda

Steve and Melissa Brown

Melissa and Lu open a Pyrex set!

Melissa and Lu with the proud parents. 

Melissa and Lu with their grandmothers.

I snuck in for a picture too!

Melissa and Lu with their siblings!

The wedding party: Michelle, junior bridesmaid; Melissa, bridesmaid;

me, matron of honor; Katelyn, flower girl; Melissa and Lu,

bride and groom, obviously; Aldo and Ivan,

best men. (And no, I can't tell the twins apart yet.)

Our cousins, in age order. (28, 28, 25, 20)

Melissa and Lu with their best friends.

My mom and her siblings, Kim and Timmy

Melisa and her flower girl, Katelyn

After the pictures and the party were pretty much done, I told Katelyn she could have all the flowers. She was in heaven! And then my mom gave her all the balloons and I wasn't sure she could hold in all her excitement.

I don't like lactose, and I won't tolerate it.

Like the rest of the world, I made a New Years' Resolution. I don't want to lose weight- I'm small enough- I just want to feel fit, so I made a resolution to do some sort of exercise every day. I have five very different workout DVDs and I got another Groupon for Dance Trance, so the hardest part will be to actually do the workout. So far, so good. I've exercised every day this year in some way.

In addition to exercising daily, I've decided to start treating my body better when it comes to food intake. For several years, my body has been outright rejecting dairy products. Milk, cheese, creams, chocolate. But I ignored it for such a long time, and have spent years with my stomach aching and me wishing I hadn't eaten that creamy, cheesy 4-cheese ravioli. 

Well, when it came time for me to do the Nutcracker last month, I decided once and for all, that I was done with dairy. Honestly, this decision was made mostly because I was nervous about looking and feeling bloated in a leotard on stage wearing a costume that showed off my midsection. But I did it. And it has been wonderful. 

I haven't been going to bed every night with horrible stomach pains, gas, and feeling sick. I haven't been terrified to go see a movie with friends after eating dinner.

At home, eating dairy-free is easy. Since I do most of the cooking, I have 100% control over what products go into the food I eat. I never feel cheated or resentful toward my body. The problem is when I go out. When I leave the safe and dairy-free nature of my house. 

Have you ever noticed how much dairy is in everything?? 

Everything, I tell you. 

I love my in-laws, but no, I can't eat the Green Pasta dish that used to be my absolute favorite. (I loved it so much, I'd get 3 or 4 helpings) (Then I would spend the rest of the evening in the restroom hating my life, my choices, and most regretfully, my body.) No, I can't dip my vegetables in the Ranch dressing like I want to. No, I can't eat the super tasty pesto hummus, because all of those things have dairy in some way. 

And I love going out to eat on Thursdays with our church friends for trivia. And I love going to Bible Study and to different holiday parties with our church friends. And, boy, do I love The Melting Pot.

But it's when I go out to eat that I feel most restricted. Even entrees that don't have cheese on top or a cream sauce, are most likely cooked in butter. And it's when I go out to eat that I feel most ostracized. I can't eat the chips and salsa at Las Trojas, because I can't be sure that the chips don't have any dairy. (Side note: most breads have dairy of some form- whether it's milk, butter or whey. Whey is a lactose-containing product made from milk). It makes it hard to order any food at a Mexican restaurant. Or an Italian restaurant. Another difficulty- any breaded food. Pancakes. Waffles. Cookies (even those without chocolate chips!). Muffins. Gravy.

I'm not complaining about being lactose intolerant. In fact, I'm doing the opposite. I finally feel comfortable in my skin. I finally feel like I can be honest and out in the open about it. I finally feel like I can go out to eat and not be tempted to get the 4-cheese ravioli (don't get me wrong- I still want the 4-cheese ravioli, but I won't get it).

I'm proud of myself for finally admitting to it, and finally putting an end to the pain and literal physical suffering I've been enduring for years. 

I miss dairy products, but I don't miss the discomfort and agony. And I don't miss the 3 pounds I've lost from not eating it.  I certainly don't miss the bloating and the embarrassment that comes when I'm gassy (you can only blame it on the grandma or dog so many times...).

Now that I'm really living and eating a lactose-free diet, I need to figure out if any of the lactase products out in the big world help me at all so I can enjoy three nights in Venice, Italy and a 9-night Mediterranean cruise without feeling left out of the world's tasty offerings (and the 24-hour ice cream bar). Good thing I have 164 days left before we leave for our trip. But who's counting?

Warm Christmas!

This year, Christmas was warm.

For us at least.

Hubs and I drove down to south Florida to be with my family for a holiday. On our way, we stopped overnight in Orlando at my cousin's house. The next morning we got up and visited Kennedy Space Center. The weather was truly perfect. (A little warm for the Hubs, honestly, but that happens a lot when we go to Florida).

NASA meatball-ornament!

A kind man took this photo for us. The flags represent all the nations

that are partners with the International Space Station.

The shuttle Atlantis is on display in that building behind

us. I could hardly contain my excitement!

There it is! The real shuttle!

The Shuttle Atlantis was the fourth shuttle, of five, to be built. It flew to space 33 times, travelling almost 126,000,000 miles, and orbiting the Earth 4, 848 times. And it was right in front of me.

After I calmed down from that excitement, Husband and I went to the Astronaut Encounter, where we met Astronaut Jon McBride!

Can you believe this guy is like, 70?

Once we got to my mom's apartment, we were able to relax. Driving such a long distance is exhausting. We spent the majority of the week hanging out with my mom at her place, and enjoying the relaxing nature of "Cuba," as Hubs calls it. Over all we didn't do too much during the week, and it was perfect. We spent the Friday after Christmas in the parking lot of the mall, trying to find somewhere to park (ended up parking across the main road at an Arby's), then we went in and walked around, window shopping, and people watching.

Hubs and I went to the Christmas Eve service at the church I grew up in, and we caught up with lots of my old church family. It was really nice to see the people who watched me grow up- and to see their proud looks when they realized that I really am well on my way to achieving my dream. They all loved getting to meet Hubs, or getting to see him again.

On Christmas we all went down to the pool (even though only Hubs and I got in!).

We enjoyed the weather and hung out with a small handful of my friends during the week.

On our way back to "God's country," as Zach calls it, we stopped at Disney's MGM (or "Hollywood Studios," except that it'll always be MGM to me) for the day.

'Star Tours' ride!

Waiting for the stunt show to begin!

Riding the trolley car back to the parking lot, exhausted.

Then we went to pick up Puppy from the Disney kennel (which was surprisingly cheap!)

I think between the on-and-off rain, my slight headache and all multitudes of ridiculously rude people, I managed to not get near enough pictures of our day at MGM.

Christmas was fun.