I turned 30!

After a somewhat crappy January, we were all looking forward to a new month. Poor Brian had his birthday on Jan.6, which was the day that they gave my father about a week left, then I tried to make it up for him with a birthday dinner on Sunday, but got a call right as we were sitting down that the situation with my father was quickly digressing and I left for LA. So Brian did not get too much birthday celebration. However, the 1st of Feb marked my transition to the 30's....SO OLD :P Brian out did himself and got me Pit Tickets to see Slash and Ozzy in concert in LA on my actually birthday! For those who don't know I LOVE SLASH! I loved GNR back in the day and have followed slash through his other projects with Slash's Snake Pit, Velvet Revolver and his solo/collaboration album. He is such an Amazing guitar player and when I heard he was touring I couldn't wait to see him, and then we found out the LA show was on my birthday...definitely a sign! Plus my birthday was on a Tues, which is the night I don't have school...even better right?!?!? My mom watched the kids that night, and Brian took me to Hard Rock for dinner, and then we were first in line for the concert, so we were able to get right in front of the stage! The concert was everything and more! I can't wait to see Slash again, and it was a perfect start to a new month! Thanks to be wonderful hubby for an incredible night! Enjoy the pictures :)

Front Row PitThis just shows how close of a picture we were able to get...we were 5 ft from Slash!So Awesome!After Slash, Ozzy came out...this is after we were all sprayed by Ozzy with some kind of foam!

Ozzy has been around SO long, but he still put on a great show! He is still pretty crazy and the songs sounded great. You can see here he is dripping wet, he would soak himself each song, and at the end many buckets of water were also thrown on the crowd....the price you have to pay for the front row....ALL very worth it!

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The start of 2011

2011 had a pretty rough start! My Biological father Russ who was dignosed last year with cancer, but then seemed to have beat it, was given 3 months to live after Christmas. However it was very rapid and he passed away on Jan.10. Amazingly he worked up until the day before Christmas, so he was only taken by the sickness for a short period of time, and we had a beautiful service on Jan. 18.

On Jan. 16, Max fell off the roof of his playhouse. After holding his arm strangely for a period of time, we called a firend on our Ward who is a chiropractor, hoping that maybe he had "Nurse Maid Elbow" and could just have it popped back in. X-Rays showed a break in the Humerus. Since it was a Sunday night, we wrapped it and called his Dr in the morning to get a referral to a specialist. We also had to take Amy in that day anyways, since her double ear infection was not clearing up after a week on antibiotics. Amy got a new prescription, and when we went to the Orthopedic specialist we assumed it was to get his arm in a cast. However, when it rains it Pours! We found out Max' break was significant, and had actually been at an upward angle, on a growth plate which would require surgery with the placement of pins to correct. This was Monday afternoon, The funeral was the next morning and we were able to schedule the surgery for Wed. Oh Yeah, Law school started right after the first of the year while all of this was going on too!Here is Max at the hospital! So Cute ;)Being Goofy. I got to go into the room with him while they put him under, and experience I hope not to repeat any time soon!Here is Max right after surgery. He did really great! We did find out that codeine apparently does not make Max sleepy but actually hyper! It was a rough couple of nights at first,but a week later he was able to get a cast and has been back to his normal self...With many reminders to not jump, run, climb, scooter or bike ride while he is in a cast! Very difficult task for a 4 year old. Max will have his cast for 4 weeks, then they will cut it off, remove the pins and depending on how it is healing, they may or may not re-cast it for a couple more weeks! So that was our January... it can only go up from here!
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Shutterfly Holiday Cards

Every year I love to do a photo Holiday card. It is the easier way to show people who do not see us very often how our little family is doing and how we have grown. I look forward to the design and picking the best pictures that exemplify our year in summation. We have also gotten creative with birthday invitations and other cards to send out to family. Although I have used Shutterfly for otehr photo products I am always excited to try something new. Also, know I know I will not be using the same Costco holiday template as all my other friends and family as in previous years :) I am excited about maybe using the picture tree card
( http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/picture-tree-christmas-4x8-photo-card-4x8-photo?sortType=1&storeNode=93480)
since we have had so many adventures this year to share. Especially during this busy time of year...and now with finals approaching, it will be nice to be able to create a fun Christmas card without all the hassle. Thank you Shutterfly for the opportunity to share on my blog this opportunity to write a review and try out a new Holiday Card. For more info and a way for you to get great Holiday cards follow this link. : Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly, follow the arrow à http://bit.ly/sfly2010
Here are some of the other photo cards I like!

holiday cards to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards
photo cards to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery
birthday invitations to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/birthday-invitations
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Max Turns 4...almost

On Sat we had Max' 4th Birthday party. We had such a fun time with family and friends. One of the big milestones was that we told Max he could ride a skateboard when he turns 4. He loves his new skateboard and is excited to learn how to ride it. Of course my camera was almost out of batteries and it was crazy busy so I didn't get many pictures. The one thing Max asked for was a spider pinata. Not a spiderman, but a spider. I called every shop and went to many Halloween stores and no spider pinatas. So we had to make one! Considering that I haven't done paper mache since 4th grade I thought it came out pretty good. I couldn't find duct tape to make it a little stronger so i used dry wall tape...needless to say, the kids couldn't break it, but everyone got a turn :) Max' actual birthday is Tues so we are surprising him with a family trip to Disneyland! I will be sure to take pictures then!!Here is Max helping make his cake...he loves to help in the kitchen, and is really not too bad at it.

Max liked his Phineas and Ferb cake...not quite what I had in mind, but not to bad either...it tasted yummy :)
Max and his many girl friends on the water slide! Enough said :)
The cake
The pinata. Max helped cover it in black and make his eyes and fangs. He was so excited when he got to stuff it full of candy and help make it.
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Summer

So here is a quick photo blog of our Summer. We had a lot of fun! Max started Preschool last week which is great for the whole family :) He really does love school!
I am in my third week of Law School, and well....it is busy! Amy is getting so big, babbling, running, tackling and really showing her feisty personality.
Brian started a new job with a start up company here in ventura. We are excited about the opportunity it could give us, and he has been very busy as a one man programmer on a new website!
(We will be shamelessly soliciting the website in future posts ;) And that is our update...in case we have any readers left out there! Beware...many photos to follow...


This is my first attempt at submitting a cake to the fair...it won 3rd! :)


And this is Amy "helping" make the cake...she some how got a gold of the black icing...thankfully I found her before she caused too much damage!


We got to go the fair with our cousins, and even Grandma Jeannie and Uncle Chris joined us one day


Amy got her first stitches this Summer! Just two above the eye after falling at the playground.


We Went camping in Refugio and celebrated our cousin Adam's 4th birthday...we were outnumbered by the kids while we were camping! Lot's of fun!


Brian and I took a moment to go on a kayak ride while camping.


This Summer we went to Newport for three day with all the cousins on Brian's side. We were all there to be able to do temple work for Brian's Grandpa Max who passed away last year. It was just an amazing experience to have everyone together. The picture above is me "babysitting" while most of the adults were at the temple, but they were pretty self contained :)


Photo Moment at the Newport Temple.


Our Cousin Mike got married in July! Here we are enjoying the beautiful wedding!


We went to the X Games again this year. Such a fun tradition!


This is a giant helium balloon in Irvine. Max was so excited...me not so much by the heights, but a good experience.


Although we live in Ventura, we really don't go to the beach much...so here is proof that every now and then we brave the sand!


Here is the very happy bride and groom. Congrats again to Mike and Annie!


At the beach.


Here is Max, Amy with our friends Hannah and Graham. A very fun Summer!
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Mormon Bugs!

We planted a garden! I've been meaning to post about this for awhile...but better late than never! We started digging up a space in our front yard back in Jan. There was a landscaped area that got perfect sun, so we took out a palm tree, various shrubs and lots of grass! Needless to say this took 10 times as long as we expected!
After digging by hand for countless hours and days, we rented a rototiller to finish the job! I them had to removed a bunch of dirt and then we were ready to plant. Max loves to help water and watch the plants grow.



Here is the final product. We have corn, onions, peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, artichokes, snap peas, green beans, basil and garlic. After the first couple weeks I noticed some slugs were eating my artichoke plants. We have established an organic garden so i didn't want to use any chemicals to get rid of them. After reading many ideas, it seemed that beer was the number one solution. (supposedly if you fill a shallow dish with beer the slugs will go in and basically drown) I don't drink and have never bought alcohol, but I found someone with a beer and filled a shallow dish and waited for my slugs and snails to drown themselves in a drunken stupor. They didn't go for it! I tried a few other things and then I was reading about how coffee grounds are good for the garden for a variety of uses. No problem there, I asked my family the next time they come over if they could just bring their used coffee grounds. I was mixing in for some compost and putting it over my new seedlings, and also put them around my artichoke plants. Well, apparently my slugs believe in the Word of Wisdom, because they have not gone near my plant with the coffee on them! So no alcohol and no coffee...Mormon Bugs indeed!
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Club 33

It has been a dream of Brian's to be able to go to the elusive Club 33. For those who don't know, this is a 5 star restaurant right next to the Blue Bayou. You have to be a member to even go inside, and there is a 10 year waiting list, and it cost thousands of dollars to join. So...obviously we were not going to become member, but it also makes it so that not many people are able to go, which just adds to the hype and wanting to be able to get in.When you have reservations to Club 33 it comes with a park hopper ticket so we planned to spend the day at the park. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience. In the pic above is our group. We had dinner with four complete strangers and it was incredible! It was so fun to meet different people and enjoy this experience together!
Everything within the Club is marked with 33 "logo" The menu was beyond delicious and we all gorged ourselves on a five course meal.
The other thing about Club 33 is that is has a dress code. Obviously we did not want to be walking around Disneyland all day in our dress clothes so we has to change just before dinner. This was obviously a kid free day for us, and we actually got a picture of us alone in front of the castle ;)
Mickey Mouse!
All in all it was a great day. We had fun going on all the "big Kid" rides and seeing a side of Disney that not everyone experiences. We can't wait until our passes are not blacked out for the Summer and we can go back with Max and Amy. Until then....
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