Getting Our Very Own "REAL" Christmas Tree

Every single year Jamie forces me to go and get a real Christmas tree, which I absolutely do not want. This year was especially painful because she made us go to a tree farm instead of just a store parking lot. As you can tell I was just overflowing with the Christmas spirit!

After being drug around a good portion of the farm by Jamie and Ella we did finally find our perfect tree.




After we found it we got to get free hot chocolate and popcorn while we waited for it to be wrapped up for us to take home.

Then Jamie, Ella, and Lola transformed the house into Christmas central! Secretly I loved it but I just have to protect my Grinch image.

A Little Change of Plans

So, I know that it is becoming a little bit of a challenge to keep up with what is actually going on in our lives, but there has been a change of plans in my career and living arrangements. We are no long going to be moving to Phoenix, but instead, we will be moving to Dallas, TX. I know, a lot of people including my grandmother were very excited for us to be moving to Phoenix. The reason we are not going there, is that a company in Dallas that I had previously interviewed with and sent a letter of rejection contacted me and said that they really wanted me to come and work for them. After some discussions, we are now going to be moving to Dallas, TX (Arlington actually). It's overall a better deal. We will be getting a better salary, and the cost of living is substantially cheaper in Dallas than Phoenix. The housing is also much cheaper, so we will be able to get a house much sooner than if we had moved to Phoenix. Another reason it is better according to my wife is that it is much closer to Nebraska than Phoenix. I know it's getting close to when I graduate, but at least I was able to have a choice in jobs, because with the economy, a lot of my classmates are either stuck with one offer, or they don't have one at all. I'm so grateful to be so blessed. I know that Heavenly Father has been watching over me and my family, so I know that this is what and where we are supposed to be. Thanks for everyone's comments, and i look forward to reading these next ones. Have a great week everyone.

Finally, I have a job and know where we are moving

It's official, the Barrera's are moving to Phoenix, AZ. I accepted a job with Sundt Construction. It was a very nervous and weird experience with all of the interviews I went on. I interviewed with 5 contractors, and I received 4 offers. I didn't get the one offer I was hoping for, because they decided with the current economic conditions, they aren't going to hire any December grads, or May grads. This economy has really hurt the construction industry, so I am lucky to have had more than one offer to choose from. In the end, Jamie and I prayed and decided that the best option for me and for my future, was with Sundt in Arizona. It was the lower paying one, but with better future for me ( I hope). Jamie is trying to deal with the fact that she will not be enjoying snow much longer, and that our house in Arizona will atleast at first will be without much grass. I hope that this works out to be a tremenous blessing for our family. I will keep everyone posted with the upcoming move, and my upcoming graduation from college on December 20th. Take care, and may Heavenly Father bless everyone.

Family Pics (Finally)

So, it's been forever that Jamie has been bugging me for us to go and get actual family pictures taken. I'm usually not one for pictures, and I am definitely a guy who does not like to have pictures plastered all over walls like crazy, but I decided that it was probably time to get some pictures taken.

Just before we went to get the pictures taken (about 2 days before), Lola decided to leap off of the couch and smack her face right on the floor. At first it didn't look too bad, but the next day Lola had this huge rug burn on her little nose. That is why she has the cut on her nose during the pictures. I hope everyone likes the pictures, and now no one can say that I never get my picture taken.

The Barrera Family

The Barrera Family 2

Ella and Lola Barrera

Trick or Treat

Every year on Halloween, our church has a safe trick or treating event planned for all of the kids in the different wards. We call it "Trunk-or-Treating", and it's basically all of the families that want to participate will park their cars in the church parking lot, and pass out candy out of their trunks. This allows all of the kids to walk to the different trunks and get candy safely. I'm so grateful for this, because for one, I don't have to walk around a neighborhood for an hour or so, and it's very safe. Jamie was taking pictures throughout the night, and so because of that, she is not in any of the pictures. I know what everyone is thinking, and yes Jamie is much better looking than me, so she should have been the one who was in all of the pictures. Sorry for the disappointment.

me and my girls

Lola the cutest monkey ever!



Ella as Cinderella, and the monkey

It's quality family time like this that make me realize how blessed I truly am. I hope everyone has enjoyed another Barrera family update, and please continue to visit our blog. If anyone has any good ideas to make my blog a little more interesting, just send them my way.

Family Day at the Pumpkin Patch

On Monday, I had the day off from school, and I decided to not go into work so that I could spend the day with my family at the pumpkin patch in Roca, NE. It was a little cold outside, but we braved the cold and had a fun day. Normally I don't like going to the pumpkin patch, but I'm glad Jamie made me go, because it was so much fun seeing my girls have so much fun. Oh, and we also brought our neighbor Julianne and her daughter Emmie with us. It was their first time at the pumpkin patch. I don't have a lot of time to write more detail about what went on because I'm crazy busy with school right now, so I'm posting some of the pic's from the day. Hope everyone enjoys them.


These were just a couple of the pics from the fun day. The picture of Lola (our youngest) was the only one of her not screaming. She was not in a good mood for pictures that day, but oh well. Hope everyone enjoyed seeing the pics, and have a wonderful week.

Sundt Construction

On the 27th of September, I flew down to Phoenix, AZ for the weekend for an interview with Sundt Construction Inc. They are a pretty large general contractor based out of Tempe, AZ, and they have offices in Arizona, and Southern, CA.

So on the 27th, I got on my plane, and it had been probably 13 years since I'd been on an airplane, and so I was kinda excited to go on it. The only thing I didn't like was that I had a long layover in Denver. But it was ok. The only part of the whole flying thing that I didn't like was that when I was flying back from Phoenix, to Denver, the plane just before take-off, just completely shut down and the power went off. Then it came back on after a little while, and the pilot came on the loud speaker and said that sometimes the planes are like laptop computers, and they just need to be rebooted. Now I don't know about anyone else, but that's not something I want to hear just as we are about to take off. We made it safe and sound though, so I'm over it.

Now, the reason I went down there was for a job interview, which I am happy to say that I got an offer from them. Not my ideal offer, and Jamie really doesn't want to live in Phoenix, so hopefully I get other offers with the other interviews I have, but at least I have a job, worst case scenario. The crazy part of the whole interview was that while I was down there, I started to feel sick. The worst part of it was that during the day of the interview I actually ended up have to rush off to the bathroom twice to throw-up. Even after all that, I was still able to impress them enough to give me an offer.

That is basically what is new with me, so I hope that everyone else is doing wonderfully, and may Heavenly Father bless everyone in there lives.