8 years!

Wow! I can't believe how fast these 8 years have gone and how much we have been through and accomplished as a couple! Here are the top ten reasons why I love my Husband SOOOOO much!1. He really is my best friend

2. He honors his responsibilities

3. He helps me to grow as a person and strive for my goals

4. He married me in the temple for time AND Eternity

5. I just think he's SEXY

6. He makes me laugh and enjoy life more and more each day

7. I always to look forward to all we get to experience together in life

8. He is amazing with kids

9. He makes me feel completely safe and secure

10. Our DNA together makes a pretty cute kid ;-)

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We've Been busy...

We had a really busy week. It did start with a new haircut...I decided to try it really short. It is a nice change because all I need is a blowdryer...however it figures that my blowdryer died the day after I got my haircut...so I will be going to the store during the Christmas rush tomorrow. Max and I also had a chance to go to Disneyland on Thursday 12/18! We met our cousins Vicki, Brandon, Caitlyn and Jared, and our Aunt Pam, Uncle Pat and Aunt Sue. We had a great time, and Max' cousins Caitlyn and Jared just love to have him follow them around! Now I know some of you guys who are reading this blog live in areas of extreme cold and snow...I want to start by saying that you chose to live there and have cheaper mortgages because of it. As a Southern Californian it has been "butt cold" here. We don't have snow, but it has been high of 50 and lows in the 30's which is very cold for us living on the beach and paying the prices we do! But we also got to wear our cute scarves that have been hanging in the closet!

So after wearing Max out on Thurs, Brian and I went on a little kid free trip this weekend. Our anniversary is actually tomorrow 12/22 but we took the chance to go camping over the weekend up in Gaviota, just north of Santa Barbara. We had a great time! And yes it was "butt cold" camping too! As you can see we have a nice little set up with our tent and inflated mattress bulging out of the tent...however when we actually went to sleep we could not get the door closed and the zipper ended up breaking! :-( So we slept in the van! The next day we went on a little mile hike up to some natural hot springs! It was so beautiful and completely secluded...heehee... You can't really see the pools in the picture below, but there were three different pools to sit in that cascaded down.

Yes, I know that being pregnant I am not allowed to sit in hot water...I guess we would have to call these warm springs instead of "hot" springs. It was about the temp of a bath, but since it was 50 degrees outside and about 85 in the spring it felt really nice! Unfortunately we smelled a little funny afterwards, but we were camping...what do you expect. We spent the rest of the time enjoying a day up in Solvang and even hit the Chumash Casino (I know...bad, bad,bad) But we didn't spend any money! That night we had an awesome fire and met some campers that were on a bike Trek that started in Alaska and they are going all the way to Argentina! I wish I could have the physical capability to do that...but they were some nice company and had fun sharing stories (us sharing domestic bliss and they sharing stories of the wild!) So that is what we have been doing the past few days...Thanks again to the babysitters that helped take care of Max over the weekend so we could enjoy our 8th anniversary!
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It's A.....

Ok, it's official...our ultrasound tech was in a good mood and the baby was cooperative! We asked Max right before we left if we were having a boy or girl and he said "sister!" Well Max is right! We are having a GIRL! We are very excited and the baby is doing great, very healthy and active! Brian and I made a deal that if it was a boy I would name him and if it was a girl Brian gets to name her. So it's all up to Brian...right now he is leaning towards Amy Lee Anderson....we'll see if that sticks!
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Just Being Max

I just have to say, that my son makes me laugh at least once a day! He is always into some kind of mischief and saying or doing something cute. Here he is showing off his good fashion sense. I had been watching my nephew Tyler, and when Tania came to pick him up they both ran off. So we talked for awhile and when we went to find our kids, we found them in the closet and Max had picked out my sexiest pair of shoes! He was also recently at Hannah's house where he wore her Tinker Bell outfit while she was a princess...pictures to come!
Along with great fashion sense he continues to get so big and strong. We live just 2 blocks away from a park so we can frequent it often. Max used to just want to be on the swing the ENTIRE time, but he is now running, climbing, jumping and sliding all over the place! Recently he has discovered how to dangle. He will actually hang on while you push him across the bar and then drop as soon as it stops. We haven't dropped him yet, but we are trying to get him to tell us when he is going to let go!
And here is my great little car traveler! He loves putting on glasses and doesn't seem to care if they are on right! What a handsome Bicho! (Bug)
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IT'S A...

So we had our scheduled ultrasound today! We are very excited to report that our baby is growing well and very healthy. I am finally able to eat food again without throwing up, but not much... However we had a grumpy tech who was convinced that 20 weeks is way too early to check for gender and didn't even try :-( So we go on waiting.... until next month (December 15th)!
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One Long Halloween Post

So if I was smart, I would have kept up with my blog and had separate entries for all the fun Halloween stuff we did, but instead you get to read one long post with everything Halloween! Our first "event" was a neighborhood block party with our friends the Henkels. This was the first time we put Max in his Buzz costume and he seemed fine with it. It did have gloves and boots, but he only wore those for one picture, but they weren't necessary for the effect of the costume! He has loved watching Toy story...1 and 2 for the past month and we would ask him what buzz says and his version came out "innity..beeon!!!" It's really cute. He speaks very well for a 2 year old, but he just didn't care about the little words in the phrase "To infinity and Beyond!"

PUMPKIN PATCH

We had a few plans to go to various pumpkin patches this year, but ended up with a two for one coupon at a little local place and called it good! Max still loved seeing all the pumpkins and kept trying to pick them all up! He was getting grumpy by the time we tried some cute photos with the wheelbarrow.

CARVING PUMPKINS

This year Max was a little more involved in the carving of the pumpkins...no knives of course! He thought it was fun sticking his spoon in them though and even touched some of the "pumpkin guts!" Overall we were proud of our carvings and Max loved seeing "jack" everyday on our porch. He got to watch all of "Nightmare before Christmas"! He loves saying Jack every time he saw him, but really only lasted about 15 minutes...too bad for mom :-( Maybe next year...or for Christmas! (for those of you who don't know, that is my favorite movie)!WARD HALLOWEEN PARTYWe had a lot of fun at our ward Halloween party. Max got to play with some of his little friends and run around crazy. Here are our friends the Morris' in their pirate gear. Max just loves baby Logan, and I have a feeling even when they are 5 and 4 he will still be "baby Logan" Here is Max in the Costume Parade, I think he is trying to figure out who is calling his name!

HALOWEEN NIGHT

We didn't take many picture on Halloween Night, we were too busy trying to keep up with our older cousin Payton and saying "trick or Treat". Here are some pics when we ran into Max' friend Hannah. Overall we had a great Halloween, and we even decided to give Max three pieces of his candy this year...(we usually don't give him sugar) He thought that was great! Soon he is going to catch on that he has a lot more candy than that and not let us pass it back out...I am not sure what we will do then...we will just wait and see :-)

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Woot!

For those who do not know, woot.com is a website with a new "deal" to buy each day, and then they created another site shirt.woot.com where they have a different shirt to buy each day and people can create and vote on their favorite shirts. Anyways Brian asked that I get a few for him for Christmas, but I had to give this one to him early since it is for the Halloween and Thanksgiving season. It certainly gives us a good laugh! If you can't see it very well, here is a closeup :-)

UPDATE: Alyssa got a woot shirt too!

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Disneyland

Before we went to Disneyland we were able to stop by to visit our cousins Laura and Mike and their baby Abby, and our Aunt Sue who was visiting from Utah. On the 10th we snuck away for a quick family trip to Disneyland to start our Halloween celebrations. We had so much fun as Max continues to love Mickey Mouse more and more, and he gets so excited when he sees him.She may not be a princess, but Mary Poppins is always one of Brian's favorite ladies to see at Disneyland :-)

There are very few rides that Max can't go on, but there are a few height restrictions. There is a little roller coaster in Toon-Town that has the smallest height restrictions at 35inches. We measure him and he barely made it, so he was allowed on and had a great time :-)

Flying high in Dumbo. Max has just now started watching the movie Dumbo and loves all the animals and when Dumbo learns to fly. Nana is a little concerned about the scene where all the animals get high, but it will always remain a classic!So we waited in a long line at Mickey's House to go see Mickey...not sure it was worth it, rude people (yes they exist in Disneyland) were cutting in line and Max was restless, but he ran to Mickey and gave him a big hug and kiss...so maybe it was all worth it :-)We ended the night with our favorite restaurant in Downtown Disney and even gave Max some ice cream to make sure we completely spoiled him on his trip to Disneyland :-)
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Political Blog

Alright, I am not going to use our cute blog to express my political opinions...there are too many to discuss ;-) However I have seen this around a few times, and I really like this. My pet peeve is not people who disagree with my views but the ones who complain, and then don't do anything! So why not get involved...it's one day, takes 5 mins! Happy Voting everyone!
(Caution, contains some bad language)


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So the Sheriff's Academy...

... didn't quite work out :-) We are 13 weeks along!

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Max' Big Boy Bed

So this deserved it's own blog. Max has been ready for his big boy bed, but we are very fortunate that Grandpa Russ is very talented in woodworking and was actually making a bed for him. The bed was done just in time for his birthday party, so we took out the crib while Max was taking a nap and when he came home from his party he got to see his birthday presant from Grandpa Russ. Max loves his big boy bed and has no problem sleeping in it. Although I am getting used the the fact that when he wakes up in the morning he can now get up and cause mischief :-) I still can't believe how awesome his bed is and wouldn't mind sleeping in it myself! I was telling him that I saw a similar bed on-line for $2000, and probably still wasn't as cool as this bed!
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Max' Birthday

Max does not turn two until the 28th, but we decided to have his party last weekend! It was a Pirate/Nemo party down at our friend the Appel's property near Ojai. It turned out to be a lot more pirate because that is what Max loves right now. Max cake was supposed to have a pirate ship on it, but after I put the pirate ship all together and placed it in the "ocean" it ended up falling apart and sinking! SO we had an island with treasure instead...still tasted good :-) We had a lot of fun, with a bounce house and lots of bikes to play on. I still can't believe Max is two already...where did the time go?!?!?!?!
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Disneyland 9.10.08

So I am behind on my blogging...as usual, so here are a few catch up posts. On the 10th Max and I went to Disneyland with our friends Keely and Hannah. They were also who we went with our last Disney trip. It was so fun to see how much more Max and Hannah enjoyed seeing all of the characters now that they recognize them. We ended up parking on the Mickey level of the parking lot, and every pillar with a picture of Mickey Mouse ( which there were about 50!) Max and Hannah would yell out "Mickey Mouse!!" We had lots of fun and enjoyed the new Toy story ride! Our passes just expired, but since Max is free for one more year, I am trying to convince the budget that one more year of passes is a good investment :-)
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Family Moments

We have learned quickly as Max approaches two, that the time really does fly by, so we need to enjoy all the moments we have. Well, over the weekend, we invested in a used bike trailer and decided to have some family time on a bike ride to the Harbor. Max loves the bike trailer and we can;t wait for some more rides around town!
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