2011: A Year In Pictures {Part Two}

Here are some of the highlights {in photos} of our year. Most were shared in my blog, though some occured prior to starting Yellow Mango, which is hard to believe because I feel like I've been sharing for much longer than 10 months. It's fun to look back at my life prior to becoming preggo and the months I spent carrying our little guy, but I wouldn't change where I am now for anything.

January - to celebrate our friend Jeremy's birthday, we tagged along with him and his wife, Sirvan, to Denver for a weekend getaway. We toured the Coors Brewery, drove up into the mountains, ate at John Elway's, shopped at Cherry Creek, had some drinks and enjoyed spending a fun weekend with such amazing friends.

Our group with Keno - our ride for the evening

Jeremy's birthday cotton candy at The Office

At the Coor's Brewery in Golden

A view from the Rockies

March - girls trip to Scottsdale with Aly and Patricia. We had a great time lounging by the pool, shopping and clubbing. We made our own fun this trip and I wouldn't take back the memories {after many bottles of champagne and limencello} that we took away from this trip for anything!

Champagne at the Phoenician

March 17th - Lady Gaga concert on St. Patty's Day with Tessa. One of the best performances ever - she put on an amazing concert and I got to spend some QT with one of my favorite mamas.

Qwest Center in Omaha for Gaga

March 20th - the day we found out that I was PREGGO!

April/May - I had to go to Atlantic City for a work meeting, so Mom and Jen arranged to meet me afterwards in NYC. It's one of my favorite cities in the world and I love our trips there. This was the first trip where we had no agenda and truly let ourselves wander around - we found designers markets, cute streets & shops, visited the Top of the Rock, walked the Brooklyn Bridge & promenade...you name it. The most amazing memory from this trip besides the time I got to spend with mom & sister...Osama Bin Laden was finally put to rest and what a party NYC threw while we were there. The next morning we visited Ground Zero and it was an awesome sight.

Tribeca Film Festival

Brooklyn Bridge {the 1st time I walked it even though I lived there for months}

Proud to be American - the day after Bin Laden's demise

The city harbor from Liberty Island

Top of the Rock view of the Empire State Building

May 20th-22nd - this was my 30th birthday weekend, starting with an great mini celebration at work with an awesome "high heel" cake...to a dinner with family & friends at Hiro & Nomad for cocktails afterwards and rounding it out with the Usher concert the following day. It was a whirlwind weekend, but I couldn't have "ushered" in a new decade any better!

A creation by our talented chefs at work

Hiro with two of my fav ladies

We are family

June 27th - our ultrasound appointment told us "It's A Boy!"

The BEST envelope I've ever opened

Our baby

July 4th Weekend - trip to Okoboji with the Crew. What a great weekend with some of my favorite people and family members. We rented a couple of suites and partied on the lake like rockstars. The only thing that would've helped make this trip more memorable would've been if I could indulge in cocktails with the rest of them...but being the sober one on this trip wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and I remembered EVERYTHING!

'Boji shots



On the boat at Lake Okoboji

July 9th - spending time with an oldie best friend. Angie came up from Houston for a friend's wedding in Lincoln and she & I got to spend some time together reminiscing with friends and just enjoying each other's company. The one drawback {or better yet...memory!} we showed up wearing very similar royal blue, one-shoulder dresses....great minds really do think alike!

Ang, April & I at the Wilson Wedding

August 1st - we celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary with a little getaway in Omaha. Nick & I checked into Hotel Deco downtown and then spent the day hanging out in the Old Market and Midtown Crossing. We had drinks at Zin Room, dinner at Cantina Laredo and then retreated back to our room to relax together. It was a perfect way to spend our 2nd year as a happily married couple.



Our suite at Hotel Deco


August 13th - Bush concert at Stir Cove....one of the best concerts we've ever been to and to top it off, Tessa & I attended the M&G and met one of my biggest crushes of all time - Gavin Rossdale.

What do you say to Gavin Rossdale?
Hmmm.."come here often?" seems like a good start

Nick & I at Bush

October 1st - surprise 30th {Nick} and 40th {Chris} birthday party at Stir. Tessa and I pulled off the surprise {well, somewhat because Chris' friend ruined his surprise}. The best parts of the night - the "true surprise" performance from Anna Roxia and the Roast of our guys. Nick's gift - an autographed Ryne Sandberg jersey personalized to Nick & Cruz. This was a night we will not soon forget.

Anna Roxia giving the "men of the night" a special dance

Hawkeye cake

Ryne Sandberg jersey...for Nick & Cruz

October - Nick & I had been talking about trading in my Mazda CX-7 for something better for our soon-to-be-expanding family. I showed him the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee and had found one in Fremont, so we packed ourselves up and headed to buy my first "new" car (it only had 31 miles on it!). I absolutely love it and its perfect for the three of us.

October 8th - Nick's dad John was inducted into the Wayne State College Hall of Fame due to his spectacular record as the Head Coach for the baseball team. It was a special night where the family all got together to celebrate this special honor.

Nick & his {extremely} preggo wifey

The Manganaro-Gardner clan

October 9th - my sisters threw Cruz and I an amazing shower at our church social hall in Emerson. The highlight for me was the awesome spread of my favorite cravings - hostess cupcakes, lemon Nothing Bundt Cake, raisinettes and chocolate covered strawberries.  It was a great day hanging with our family & friends and celebrating little man's {soon-to-come} arrival.

October 23rd - my other family {SILs & MIL} got together to throw us a shower in Omaha and it was another hit - a great mix of family I haven't seen in a while and those that are near {and dear} to my heart.  Little Mango was extremely spoiled by those who already loved him to pieces.

The Hostesses w/ the Mostesses

Grandma's to be

November 4th - I had the opportunity to co-chair the Angels Among Us Fall Festivity event. There was a lot of work and time that went into putting this together and executing the event, but it went off without a hitch and we raised a significant amount of money to go towards helping our families. I'm very proud to be a part of this amazing organization.

Angels Among Us - Board of Directors

The Nichols Family - Jacob is a strong little boy fighting a form of
cancer that left him unable to walk or talk for a while. It was amazing watching him
walk up to the stage and thank everyone for attending the benefit!

November 11th - a very special birthday took place on 11/11/11 - Maya's 5th birthday. We celebrated with a doggy treat cake, her cute birthday hat and our family. As you can tell, she just loved her hat...

November 13th - Cruz's day of birth! There are so many emotions that revolve around this day. Nick & I were extremely blessed to give birth to a healthy 6lb 15oz baby boy. He is our life!

First family picture

Our Little Mango



Dressed in his first outfit - ready to head home

December 9th-11th - Cruz had his first major car ride to northeast Nebraskas for his cousin DeLaney's 1st birthday and Baptism.

The Bapteesed {Ashley & DeLaney} and their sponsors

Celebrating D's 1st birthday

December 23-25th - Christmas Tour 2011 - we hit Laurel, Emerson and Omaha to visit our family and celebrate Cruz's first Christmas.  It's always a whirlwind tour, but great fun nonetheless.

Tradition: family photo at the church

Christmas morning

Cruzer was 6 weeks old on Christmas Day

December 31st - we celebrated New Year's Eve - my first time not working in 7 years. We had a group dinner in the private dining room at Kona Grill and then moved onto Shevy's for Karaoke, the Running Man, beer pong and cocktails. It was a rough start to the new year for me the next morning!

The girls....

...and the men.

Looking back, 2011 was an amazing year and I was truly blessed to be able to spend a lot of time with family and friends and I have many memories that will stick with me for years to come. Bring on 2012!!