Spring Break

For Spring Break this year I decided to be go on an adventure and take the kids on a road trip.

We stayed in Sacramento for 4 days, and Grandpa Jim was finally able to meet Amy. Here is a picture of Amy with the baby goats that live next door to Grandpa Jim. They also had baby rabbits and chickens, so my kids basically had their own personal petting zoo which they loved!
While up north we decided to take a trip into the city and see some of our cousins and Uncle Jeremy. Max loves the Golden Gate bridge ever since he saw it at Disneyland (Soarin' over California) and thought that it was so cool that Uncle Jeremy took us on a walk on the bridge.
Amy finally being nice to Uncle Jeremy and not crying!
After 4 days in Sacramento we then headed over the mountain to stay with my Aunt Sue! On the drive over Max loved all the snow, so we took a little snow day with uncle John, Aunt Tawny and Ethan. Amy wasn't so thrilled, but Max had fun on the sled.
My cousin Ethan (15) also suggested that he could take Max snowboarding. Since he is only three we just had to rent the equipment and Max was able to snowboard Heavenly for free! I thought Max was only going to last a half hour, but a little over 2 hours later,and a long trip up the big chair lift and snowboarding down, it was time for us to get going :) He can't wait for more snow next year! Here is a little video of Max on the hill!


So I was gone for 6 days...7 hour drive up...10 hour drive home, and two worn out kids turned out to be a nice trip! Poor Amy actually got sick the last day and when I took her in on Monday I found out she had a double ear infection and sinus infection! they were both so great on our trip without Brian that i might just do another one this summer ;)
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Amy Turned 1 !

I can't believe that Amy is 1 already! Where did the time go? We had a great 1st birthday with lots of family and friends. Thank you to everyone who was able to share this special day with us.
Amy finally get's her first taste of chocolate!

My little princess. She was loving all the attention towards her!
Our family! We look forward to the many more adventures that life has in store for us!
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New House

Well if I have any readers left out there, I am really updating my blog! So we finally closed escrow on our house just before Thanksgiving. Brian and I went in and scraped the ceilings (they were that awful popcorn), tore out the nasty carpet and started tearing apart our kitchen...see pic below! The my Uncle John came down the week of Thanksgiving and started the remodel...we changed the kitchen around, replaced a sliding glass door with a window, and we had to mud ALL the walls and re-textured them! Then came the pretty stuff... baseboard, hardwood floors, new paint and carpet in the bedrooms. We officially stated living here the second week of December... just in time for Christmas! We have been enjoying our new house... our neighborhood is great and we are getting used to living in suburbia :) In other news...
Max:
*He is finally tall enough for the "big" rides at Disneyland and went on Space Mnt! What a STUD!
*He continues to do great at Preschool and LOVES to read
* He got a big boy bike (with training wheels) and enjoys going on bike rides to the park
Amy:
*This girl can eat! The other night she ate as much meatloaf and mashed potato's as Brian
*She just took her first steps on March 1st and will be running soon no doubt
*Amy is our water baby and LOVES splashing and playing in the tub and pool
Brian:
*He continues to commute to Westlake Village for work and seems to be enjoying his job
*We got Rock Band before Christmas and Brian is a Rock God :)
*He started a new "date night" in our family where we each switch taking one kid out for some special activity so that we both get some one on one time with our children...Max loves to go bowling and Amy loves to go swimming.
Alyssa:
*Having fun trying to dig up a new garden in our house (should be ready to plant next week)
*Trying to keep up on some good books and finally feels adjusted to the new home and the life with two kids.
* Got into Law School and will be staring in Aug!
That's all of us in a nut shell. I will try and keep better updated :)

This is our kitchen in the middle of construction...we removed a wall and added a pony wall for the island. Here is the after photo of our living room and kitchen Scrapping ceilings...FUN! :) Here is the before pic of the kitchen...we took out the wall on the left and added an island, we also moved the doorway to the laundry room/bathroomMax' new roomHere is a front view of our home.

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Ye of little faith...

I have/ had the calling in our church of primary pianist (I play piano for the little kids). I am not a very good piano player, and I don't know the primary songs very well, so it makes it interesting. The only stressful part of that calling comes once a year in primary program, and it sure came fast; just two months after I received the calling. Through all of our life commotion it really came up fast! So realizing that I was just not able to learn all of the songs well enough for the program (I can play the right hand,but not so good at the left) I decided to split the program in half and have some help. But the only other person in the ward that played wasn't going to be there that Sunday...so I started praying, and practicing...but my piano was in storage! Then we moved into our temporary house, and guess what...it had a piano! So now the program was in two weeks and I had 10 songs to master...up to this point I only played the right hand of these songs! So practice, practice, practice! The day of the program I knew that I would make some mistakes, but the kids look so darn cute that it shouldn't matter what I did. The bishop came to me with some words of comfort right before the program..." If nothing else, you can at least play the right hand!" Well the program went great. I did make some mistakes, and I had times where I felt a warmth and as if someones hand was on mine...not necessarily playing the right notes...but letting me know that it was okay. Afterwards with much praise from my loving family, the best validation came from the bishop. He came up to me with the most shocked expression on his face, and just said..."Wow, you must have really been practicing, it seemed like there were 30 songs in the program! Good Job!"...his expression really said it all :) Even though it was very stressful thinking that I wouldn't learn the songs, but it gave me something else to focus on through the hard times, and it felt great to really feel live I gave 110% to my calling! Now we are moving to a new ward...and I don't think I will go around advertising this particular talent :)
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Mi Vida Loca

Why are there no pictures on my blog...let me tell you about our crazy life....
We have been trying to buy a house, and on Aug 1 we found out that our lease was up...what better way to get our butt in gear to buy :) So we figured we would be in escrow by the time we move, live temporarily with Brian's parents and move into our new house in time for Turkey Day. ...Well 12 house offers later and our Sept 13 move date upon us, we regrettfully put our stuff in the garage and moved in with the in-laws for the weekend so we could find a house. And we did! The day after we moved we put our 13th and final offer on a house, which was accepted... with a 60 day escrow! We could not hang out with the in-laws that long...instead, we decided to keep the family relations happy :) After three weeks we found the perfect situation, a friend renting out his fully furnished home month to month! All this time our external hard drive is in a box and we haven't uploaded pictures to our computer since our desktop is in storage....SO, no pictures. Ok, so now you all know where we are living, and everything is going great with our house! We close on Nov. 13 and we hope to move in Dec. 1 after a little remodeling. Here are a few highlights of the last month or so...
Max:

• Started preschool and loves it!


• Our big boy turned 3...where did the time go!


• Went on our first "field trip" to the pumpkin patch


• Loves our "temporary" house, and can't wait for our "real" new house :)


• Is almost tall enough for the BIG rides at Disneyland...he is 39in and you need to be 40in


• Completed swim lessons and he now willingly puts his face in the water. He just started pee wee soccer and after will do tumbling/gymnastics.


• Oh yeah...he decided he is too big for naps, so we are keeping him busy :)

Amy:

• She is growing up WAY too fast!


• Started solid foods, and she is just like Max...eats a ton and we can not get it in her mouth fast enough.


• Said Ma Ma this week as her first word...we are now working on Da Da


• She can scoot, flop and crawl backwards, and can crawl one step forward...almost there!


• Still has a dark brown Mohawk, and where she was bald, hair is growing in blonde...it's an interesting style, but very cute!

That is some of our life in a nut shell. We all had some not so happy times...losing our beloved dog Pippin, that same week, my mother was in the hospital, and my dad found out he has cancer...when it rains it pours :( I am just very thankful for the power of prayer, and especially to have an eternal and gospel perspective on life. Not that I haven't had a few crazy days, but I have felt an ease and comfort through it all.
We will try and get some pictures on here soon, especially of the two cuties in their Halloween costumes.
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Pippin

Our beloved dog Pippin was hit by a car and died on Saturday. Pippin was a very special pet to us and will be sorely missed. We bought Pippin just 4 1/2 years ago when we were told we could not have children. Pippin helped fill that void in our life, and even after the kids came along (when he did not get much attention), he always was a source of happiness to our family. The things we will miss most of all are: Pippin snuggling us in bed, making Amy laugh, playing with Max in the backyard, cleaning up under the table and all of his love and devotion to us. We will miss you Pippin. Here is Pippin on the first day he came to our home.

Max and Pippin: Best Buddies

Pippin used to sit up on our shoulder like a little parrot.

Christmas

Meeting Amy for the first time.

You have left an indelible mark on our hearts and lives...goodbye Pippin, we love and will miss you!

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Mystery Date

So, after having Amy, and when life started settling down, I realized a little weekend getaway would do us good! I wanted to do something fun, and something that Brian wouldn't guess. I got guest passes to the Magic Castle in Hollywood, and planned to spend the night in L.A. and sneak in a temple trip as well. Well as I started planning, things just kept getting in the way and we had to cancel our date twice! But last weekend we made it. We dropped off the kids at Grandma Jeannie's house (THANK YOU!!!!) and went to the temple. Then we checked into our hotel and got ready....all of this being a surprise to Brian. Finally we headed to the Magic Castle and Brian finally figured it out about a mile away! For those who don't know, the Magic Castle is an old mansion in Hollywood, that is a private club to Magicians. It is formal attire, with a dress code, and you go have a very nice dinner and then there are various magic shows and acts throughout the castle! We stayed until 1:30 in the morning and then slept in until 10:00am without kids! :-) That may have been the best part! It was an awesome weekend with my husband!

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