Lauren's Quinceañera

Last night was Lauren's Quinceañera. Lauren is the daughter of John's cousin Jose (whom we call Pepito). To the left is the Fernandez family, Doreen and Jose, and their gorgeous daughters Gabby and Lauren.

For those of you who aren't familiar with this spanish term and tradition, it's basically a "Sweet 15" birthday party. Here's some information I found about it:

Today's ceremonies embrace religious traditions, and the virtues of family and social responsibility. The custom is a celebration of the young girl (la Quinceanera), and a recognition of her journey from childhood to maturity. The celebration highlights God, family, friends, music, food, and dance. In the Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central and South American traditions, the custom can be referred to as a Quince (XV) Años, a Quinces, a Quinceanera, a Quinceanero or a Fiesta Rosa. The celebration traditionally begins with a religious ceremony. A reception is held in the home or a banquet hall. The festivities include food and music, and in most, a choreographed waltz or dance performed by the Quinceanera and her court.

Lauren made a grand entrance by coming down these stairs where her name was spelled by balloons. She looked absolutely gorgeous!

Maribel, Lauren and John

Nayda, Lauren and Pepin (Lauren's grandparents)

Marcelo, Lauren, and Maribel (Lauren's aunt and uncle)

Debbie, Lauren, and Jesus

Lauren's parents Doreen and Jose ~ Gabby and Lauren

Jose and Maribel (brother & sister) ~ Gabby and Jose

John and I were SOOOOOO incredibly tired! After working our tails off all day with the garage sale for charity, we barely had enough energy to get showered, dressed and out the door for the party. Once we were there, we had a wonderful time, but we definitely felt drained (maybe it's just me, but I think we looked pretty drained too!).

The Boys being goofy ~ Jose, Jesus, John and Marcelo

The Ladies ~ Maribel, Amanda, Doreen, and Debbie

One of the traditions is to do a candle-lighting ceremony. Lauren said something about all the important people in her life while a personally chosen song played in the background. Then the person/people came up and lit a candle. When she got to John and I, she remembered how John always spoiled her as a little girl and they went on skiing vacations together. Then she thanked me for being one of the only people in the family who supported her adoration of David Archuleta on American Idol ... of course, a song by David Archuleta was playing while John and I lit our candle :)

The last candle was for all of Lauren's friends ... is it just me, or do these girls and guys look a bit older than 15??? Oh how I used to love hearing that I looked "older" when I was their age :)

Man, this kid could dance! I'm not sure what his name was, but he was the son of the family hairdresser Joel. He knew all the hot moves and had the ladies wrapped around his little finger ... even 9 year old Gabby :)

The young ones preferred dancing in close groups ...

The adults needed room to really move!

It really was a fun night and a fabulous party. Doreen spent so much time planning the event and all her hard work paid off. The food was absolutely delicious and the DJ had fun music playing all night long. It was the first time John and I have been out on a real date and left a babysitter at home to put the kids to bed. Poor Nicole ended up babysitting for us for a total of 11 1/2 hours yesterday (5 hours during the garage sale and 6 1/2 for the party)! I don't remember the last time I had such a packed day that was so completely draining ... I'm happy it's behind us and I can now focus on our trip to Utah! Salt Lake City, here we come! (Thursday evening, June 19th!).