Fuentes Family Reunion: 2009

Serg's cousin Jeremy grilling

Serg and his Aunt Elvira

Serg and his cousin Erik

Ayden playing tug of war

Elijah playing tug of war

13 of the 16 brothers and sisters

21 of the 39 cousins

and a bunch of 2nd cousins....

All the "crazy" ones that married into the family

Everyone that showed up to the reunion(except me, I took the picture)

Ayden hitting the pinata

Rene (their cousin) and Uncle Checo

Last Saturday we attended the Fuentes Family Reunion. This is Serg's mom's family. His mom is one of 16 so saying there were a lot of people is an understatement. It was great seeing everyone and being able to sit and talk. I was able to show everyone all of my ancestry research and they all seemed pretty impressed. Its nice to see a family that big, all get along. They are such fun people! I'm so glad that I married into such an amazing family!

Baseball with the Nephews

Serg and his dad

Coven, Serg and Serg's brother SimonElijah

2 of our nephews, Elijah and Coven had a baseball game the first night we were in Texas. The team Coven was supposed to play didn't show up so the boys ended up playing the coaches. Serg played with the coaches. After that game Elijah played. It was a lot of fun!

Coming Home!

We had such an amazing time in Texas. We're waiting in the terminal now for a 4:20 flight. I will post pictures of our trip soon!

Love you all!

Kate and Serg

Lost But Not Forgotten...

This weekend is Memorial Day weekend and I feel that we should recognize a couple of outstanding Soldiers that were a big influence in my military career and without our paths crossing who knows where I would have been.
SFC(R) Steve Gernet: Died January 23, 2007 – You were a crazy man who taught me that just because I was a combat cameraman that it didn’t mean that I couldn’t hang with you guys. You helped push me through a lot of hard training and never let me fail.

Sgt. Maj. Bradly D. Conner: Died May 9, 2007 - Although I didn’t know you on a personal level you still treated me as a friend. You taught me everything I know about how to be a real soldier. I never thought that I would have learned the things that I learned. Thank you.

SFC Mickey Zaun: Died January 28, 2005 - Wow! Where do I start with you man? You were one hell of a friend. I could always count on you for a good laugh. You also taught me never settle for anything. Always look ahead all while having fun.

As I sit here in my kitchen thinking about the fun times we had training, I can’t believe that I am writing about you guys on Memorial Day. This is hard for me think that you guys aren’t out there making this country a better place to live. Its guys like you that make this country free.

- Sergio Rangel

A thank you to all service members past, present and future with a special thanks to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. In the history of our amazing nation over 655,908 husbands, wives, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters and friends have lost their lives keeping us free. Today we salute and thank each and every Soldier, Marine, Airman, Sailor, Coast Guardsman and their families.

Soldier Bake Party a Success!

I think I forgot to mention that on May 9, the girls in my family got together and did had a soldier bake party for the soldiers that Sergio trained to deploy. (If you remember I baked cupcakes for both units in February and March) Well they are now in Iraq and we finally got their addresses. We had a great time baking and it was also great to spend some quality time with the girls. It doesn't happen very often since both my cousin's have kids. We made chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies and rice krispie treats. We also sent over a bunch of packaged snacks. We got an email back from one of the units which I've attached below. It feels so good to give a little back to these soldiers who give so much! I don't know what you could possibly give as a thank you for the gift of freedom. We took 1 day out of our busy schedules while they are over there for a full year or more. We weren't even in Maryland that long. I can't even imagine just up and leaving my family to literally move to a war zone. The sacrifice of these men and women is unparalleled. As you go to your cookouts, the beach, the pool this weekend think of why you make have these freedoms. It's because of men and women who you've never met, that are willing to DIE for YOU. Anyways enough of my ranting here is the email from one of the girls:

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE PACKAGES! EVERYONE LOVED THEM!!! :) THEY'RE IN THE OFFICE RIGHT NOW, AND EVERYONE DUG INTO THEM.. YOU BOTH ARE THE BEST! (CAPS SORRY) BUT THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! I HAVEN'T RECIEVED ANY MAIL YET SO EVEN THOUGH IT WAS FOR THE WHOLE UNIT, IT WAS NICE TO SEE MY NAME ON A PACKAG, HAHA. HAVE A GREAT NIGHT! AND TELL YOUR WIFE SHE'S AN AMAZING BAKER AND WE LOVE HER. :) I'LL SEND YOU GUYS SOMETHING CUTE FROM HERE. TAKE GOOD CARE... :) ADIOS!

-COURTNEY

PS:

I HAD A RICE CRISPY TREAT TODAY, IT WAS ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE.

Leaving on a jet plane....

Well tomorrow around this time we'll be landing in Texas. We're going on a 7 day vacation to beautiful Corpus Christi to visit Serg's family and attend the Fuentes family reunion. I'm not that excited to get on an airplane again, but I'm excited to get down there and see everyone. Serg just can't wait. He is thrilled that we're both going and is super excited to see his family, since it has almost been 2 years since the last time he was there!

I'll be sure you post lots of pictures when we return!

Happy Birthday!

This past Saturday was my sister's 18th birthday and today is my brother's girlfriend Brittani's birthday. On Saturday we threw a party for them. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures yet but I will post them as soon as I get them. We had so much fun, order pizza, had presents and cake and even did a pinata!

Happy Birthday to you both!! :)

Baseball at the Stadium

Last weekend Sergio's team had a game at Prince William Stadium. They ended up killing the team they played even though they only had 10 guys and the other team had 20! It's really cool for Serg to play on that nice of a field. Here are some of the pictures I took during the game...

SLEEPOVER!!

Me and Jake doing sidewalk chalk

Being silly at dinner

Serg and Gillie throwing dueces

Colton, Gillian and Jacob at the park

Cozy on the couch before the movie!

Last weekend Serg and I had the honor of hosting a sleepover at our house with my cousin's 3 kids. We had a great time! We took them to the park and played a lot outside! Then watched a few movies before bed!

My Cousin's Wedding

Me with my brother and sister <3

TRYING to be gangsta....haha

On May 2 my cousin Dan got married. We had a great time. Here are a few pictures from that day.