Halloween has come and gone. I did get the costumes done and everybody was happy.
Ressa, of course, destroyed her costume during trick or treating. All the beads popped off as people stepped on the skirt, the gathers became flat, and the dirt was everywhere. Of course her only memory is of being a beautiful bride for one day. She has, however, decided that she will never again be anything beautiful on Halloween. She is used to getting compliments on her "spook" factor, and that just didn't happen this year. New on the adgenda for next year: The Fairy of Death! We will see if this holds steady or not.
Foster held true to his skeleton costume. I found one that looked like an x-ray had been taken. He was extremely happy with his choice. I had joked with him that we should just buy him a speedo and outline his real bones with glow in the dark paint, but he didn't appreciate that so much.
Cyanne LOVED being Alice, and was even more excited when people knew who she was without telling them. We went to our friend's house, and Gharrett knew right away who she was. She had a gret time posing for pictures with all her guns drawn and her sword on her back.
Ammon was undecided on what to be until we went to Target to look for a costume. "Bumblebee" from Transformers popped out at him. He was posessed to be him for the night. He loved his costume so much he wore it, day and night, for 4 days. I finally wrangled it off him to wash. He really got into the Halloween spirit this year. He spent the week before and after dressing up in all the old costumes. He likes the "Storm Trooper" and "Peter Pan" ones a lot. He is a funny little man!
Thanksgiving was fun as well. The Holstes were unable to make it over this year. Instead they stayed home to pack for their upcoming move to Logan, Ut. We are so very sad to see them move so far away! It was a semi-sad holiday without them here.
The great part of the holiday was that another family we are great friends with didn't have plans. Heather mentioned to me at the gym that they weren't going to have family around either this year so we started planning on getting our families together. It was SO much fun! We split up the dinner-- both making our favorite parts, and we hosted at our house. It was fantastic! Her 4 kids are right inbetween our kids in age, and everybody gets along SO well. We had dinner, played games, rocked out on RockBand, stuffed ourselves with Heather's fantastic desserts, and laughed all night. It was really a perfect Thanksgiving!
I have news for a change. No... I'm not pregnant-- hee hee. I decided it was time for a bit of a change and started looking for a job a little over a month ago. I was getting shot down everywhere- even WalMart and Target. Really it was probably for the best. On a whim I decided to try calling all the local health clubs to see what I had to do to be an aqua aerobics instructor... afterall my background is in the water industry. Turns out it wasn't that hard.
As soon as the LA Fitness regional manager contacted me I had an interview and audition set up. I took 3 days to prep by going to a couple diffrent instructor's classes and came across an amazing instructor, Carol. She was a HUGE help and looked over my routine and told me what she would tweak. Then on the day of my audition she and a friend of hers played the part of my students. They made it so much easier! I was envisioning having to pretend to teach to a bunch of gohsts. I was hired the same day, despite nearly falling in the pool while demonstrating, and have been working for 3 weeks now. I get some heckling from some of the older people, but for the most part all my feedback has been positive. I finally me my regional manager face-to-face, and she said she had been hearing good things about my class. That was very welcome news. The best part is that I get free day care for Ammon through the gym day care! He loves to go there, and the girls that work in there are fantastic with him. It is just the distraction I've been looking for!
Nate is happy to be working closer to home. He seems to be enjoying Temecula Valley Toyota. The family that owns the store is amazing! The daughter works with Cyanne on her soccer and is a truly special person. She is all about sharing her wealth of knowledge and experience to help kids. She was a starter for San Diego State, so she has lots of experience. Cyanne just adores her too.
On the soccer front our recreation season is over. FINALLY! It was a long and tedious season due to some team issues, but in the end we finally won one game. I think that the parents were more excited than the girls. Right when I got excited about the season ending Cyanne was invited to practice with the younger club team. She knows most of the girls from school and just couldn't pass up the opportunity to keep her skills up. Coach Victor says there should be a club team for her to play on in the next 6 months. I'm hoping he is right as Cyanne is so addicted to it.
Well, other than that nothing huge has happened. I'm hoping that the year finishes off well, and that the start to the new year is good.
Happy Holidays to you all... incase I forget later!
Monday, November 29, 2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010
HALLOWEEN is here!!
The Halloween season is upon us again. I LOVE this time of year. A couple weeks ago I sat down with the kids to start discussing what the plan was for this year. Of course they had LOTS of ideas (Ressa must have the next 4 years planned out in advance). I think we finally settled on this year's items.
Cyanne: Alice- zombie hunter from the "Resident Evil" movies
Foster: A skeleton zombie- for Cyanne to hunt of course
Ressa: A beautiful bride- that has or has not been bit by a vampire. That is yet to be determined.
Ammon: undecided- either a storm trooper or Woody from "Toy Story". This changes every day.
Cyanne is wanting the costume Alice wears in the second movie. I think it should be fairly simple so I am leaving it for second.
Foster would like to purchase a skeleton costume and then add zombie make up to his head to be a skeleton with a zombie head on. This is his own creation.
Ressa and I went online looking at wedding gowns. She looked and looked, but finally settled on a couple to combine elements of. They, of course, were designer gowns. The bodice of a very expensive Vera Wang (except with "skinny straps"), and the skirt of a moderately priced Oleg Cassini. Something tells me her real wedding will be quite a challenge.
The Vera Wang bodice:
The Oleg Cassini Skirt:
Ammon with either wear an old costume of Foster's (storm trooper) or I will pick up some felt and make him a Woody costume. I have yet to decide as I'm not sure how long the wedding gown will take. He doesn't seem to mind either way.
I hope you all are just as excited for Halloween as we are! I will post pictures of the finished products when I can.
Cyanne: Alice- zombie hunter from the "Resident Evil" movies
Foster: A skeleton zombie- for Cyanne to hunt of course
Ressa: A beautiful bride- that has or has not been bit by a vampire. That is yet to be determined.
Ammon: undecided- either a storm trooper or Woody from "Toy Story". This changes every day.
Cyanne is wanting the costume Alice wears in the second movie. I think it should be fairly simple so I am leaving it for second.
Foster would like to purchase a skeleton costume and then add zombie make up to his head to be a skeleton with a zombie head on. This is his own creation.
Ressa and I went online looking at wedding gowns. She looked and looked, but finally settled on a couple to combine elements of. They, of course, were designer gowns. The bodice of a very expensive Vera Wang (except with "skinny straps"), and the skirt of a moderately priced Oleg Cassini. Something tells me her real wedding will be quite a challenge.
The Vera Wang bodice:
The Oleg Cassini Skirt:
Ammon with either wear an old costume of Foster's (storm trooper) or I will pick up some felt and make him a Woody costume. I have yet to decide as I'm not sure how long the wedding gown will take. He doesn't seem to mind either way.
I hope you all are just as excited for Halloween as we are! I will post pictures of the finished products when I can.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
LOTS OF PROJECTS
Having bought a house we are having a lot of fun doing projects. That's part of why I haven't posted anything in forever!
I have spent the last few months trying to pick colors that I could visualize in the house. After LOTS of humming and hawing we decided on a blue dining room. I ordered the paint and then Nate and I went to work. Thanks to the handy dandy electric powered roller we purchased the whole room was done in a an hour! This room has restricted light already so I went bright. As we all know I tend to embrace color, and lots of it.
Our upstairs deck was in need of drastic repairs. When Steve and Carla came back with us from Utah Steve took on the project! He spent his vacation replacing boards, taking out a million nails and replacing them with decking screws, and begining the scraping of the old paint. I was worried I was working him too hard on his off time, but he seemed to enjoy his project very much. Now I'm so pleaseed to say that you can actually walk on the deck-- the side to side motion of it has finally stopped! Next we ordered the stain, stripped off as much of the old paint as we could, rented a spray machine, and got down and dirty to give it the final face lift. Of course we had to have fun picking the color of the porch, so we picked "terra cotta solid stain". Only ironic since we live on Terra Cotta Street. We are nerds! We still have to do the pergola, but we will get it done in time.
My Grace Garden is in full bloom. I LOVE seeing all my roses and spending time in my gardens. We may not have grass yet, but my Grace Garden is well loved! When Carla was here she and I went on a planting spree. The corner in the front yard is a challenge because it gets so much sun and extreme heat. First, Steve ripped out the "ugly" bushes that were on the corner for me before starting on the deck. There were the ugliest lizards living in those nasty things. After he chased them away Carla and I got down to business on the planting. We put in 3 more star jasmine, 2 hen's nests, and 2 Lantana bushes that she used to grow in Texas. I can't wait for them to really take off! Right now everything still appears pretty barren, but by next spring they should be fantastic.
We also picked up a Tropicana Rose, a Medallion Rose, and a JFK Rose-- they were added to the Grace Garden. The JFK's blooms fried the first time around, but I think I have things figured out a bit better and the next set should be just fine! We also added to the side section of the Grace Garden 2 Hydrangea bushes. They are beautiful, but aren't too happy with the heat we get in the mid afternoon (despite being in the shade). I'm exploring options for them, but in the mean time I just water them everyday and they seem to be doing okay.
We have our above ground pool all set up now, and have been enjoying it everyday! The kids have a blast, and I have both Ressa and Ammon swimming!! Ressa is very comfortable in the water now. She has become quite a fish in the last couple weeks. She has learned to float on her back, breathe to the side, and do summersaults in the water. Ammon hardly spends any time above the water-- a fact that seems to worry some of the moms at the "friday swim day" that we go to. Lucky for me I have some of them asking about lessons after watching the kids. Maybe I will have some students next summer!
I hope all of you are doing well, and that you have something fun planned for the 4th. We miss everybody, but love our house. Happy Summer Everybody!
I have spent the last few months trying to pick colors that I could visualize in the house. After LOTS of humming and hawing we decided on a blue dining room. I ordered the paint and then Nate and I went to work. Thanks to the handy dandy electric powered roller we purchased the whole room was done in a an hour! This room has restricted light already so I went bright. As we all know I tend to embrace color, and lots of it.
Our upstairs deck was in need of drastic repairs. When Steve and Carla came back with us from Utah Steve took on the project! He spent his vacation replacing boards, taking out a million nails and replacing them with decking screws, and begining the scraping of the old paint. I was worried I was working him too hard on his off time, but he seemed to enjoy his project very much. Now I'm so pleaseed to say that you can actually walk on the deck-- the side to side motion of it has finally stopped! Next we ordered the stain, stripped off as much of the old paint as we could, rented a spray machine, and got down and dirty to give it the final face lift. Of course we had to have fun picking the color of the porch, so we picked "terra cotta solid stain". Only ironic since we live on Terra Cotta Street. We are nerds! We still have to do the pergola, but we will get it done in time.
My Grace Garden is in full bloom. I LOVE seeing all my roses and spending time in my gardens. We may not have grass yet, but my Grace Garden is well loved! When Carla was here she and I went on a planting spree. The corner in the front yard is a challenge because it gets so much sun and extreme heat. First, Steve ripped out the "ugly" bushes that were on the corner for me before starting on the deck. There were the ugliest lizards living in those nasty things. After he chased them away Carla and I got down to business on the planting. We put in 3 more star jasmine, 2 hen's nests, and 2 Lantana bushes that she used to grow in Texas. I can't wait for them to really take off! Right now everything still appears pretty barren, but by next spring they should be fantastic.
We also picked up a Tropicana Rose, a Medallion Rose, and a JFK Rose-- they were added to the Grace Garden. The JFK's blooms fried the first time around, but I think I have things figured out a bit better and the next set should be just fine! We also added to the side section of the Grace Garden 2 Hydrangea bushes. They are beautiful, but aren't too happy with the heat we get in the mid afternoon (despite being in the shade). I'm exploring options for them, but in the mean time I just water them everyday and they seem to be doing okay.
We have our above ground pool all set up now, and have been enjoying it everyday! The kids have a blast, and I have both Ressa and Ammon swimming!! Ressa is very comfortable in the water now. She has become quite a fish in the last couple weeks. She has learned to float on her back, breathe to the side, and do summersaults in the water. Ammon hardly spends any time above the water-- a fact that seems to worry some of the moms at the "friday swim day" that we go to. Lucky for me I have some of them asking about lessons after watching the kids. Maybe I will have some students next summer!
I hope all of you are doing well, and that you have something fun planned for the 4th. We miss everybody, but love our house. Happy Summer Everybody!
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
SIR SCREAMS LIKE A GIRL....
Foster and Ressa went hiking with Brandi a couple weeks ago. The hike went well, for the most part, and the weather was incredible!
On the way back to the car the kids had run up ahead on the trail. All of a sudden Foster stopped dead and started shrieking like a girl! Brandi thought that something had come out of the bushes and was attacking him. She had Ressa stop and come back to her. Foster continued to scream and after a few seconds turned and blazed trail back to her... screaming all the way. She finally got out of him what was wrong and glanced up. There was a 1 1/2-2 foot rattlesnake crawling off the trail and into the bush. Apparently he is terrified of snakes (much like his mother)! He was screaming and Ressa was bawling when some hikers came by. Foster made a point to tell them there was a snake. Brandi had to stand between the bush and them to get by where the snake had disappeared. They then broke into a run and didn't stop until at the car. Foster fell in his scramble and got what we call the "snake wound". They, of course, sent me all the following pictures on the way home.
On the way back to the car the kids had run up ahead on the trail. All of a sudden Foster stopped dead and started shrieking like a girl! Brandi thought that something had come out of the bushes and was attacking him. She had Ressa stop and come back to her. Foster continued to scream and after a few seconds turned and blazed trail back to her... screaming all the way. She finally got out of him what was wrong and glanced up. There was a 1 1/2-2 foot rattlesnake crawling off the trail and into the bush. Apparently he is terrified of snakes (much like his mother)! He was screaming and Ressa was bawling when some hikers came by. Foster made a point to tell them there was a snake. Brandi had to stand between the bush and them to get by where the snake had disappeared. They then broke into a run and didn't stop until at the car. Foster fell in his scramble and got what we call the "snake wound". They, of course, sent me all the following pictures on the way home.
NOT THE PINKY!!!
Cyanne broke her pinky practicing soccer with Nate and Foster. She has had to wear a metal splint for the last 4 weeks. She has not been a happy camper as she has been unable to participate in sports. This is her first week with the brace off and she is already talking about football at recess. Why do I see another broken bone in her future?
CYANNE'S PINKY ISSUE:
CYANNE'S PINKY ISSUE:
KEEPING BUSY... YOU KNOW HOW WE ARE!
Hi all!! I have been really bad about getting on here and updating what we are up to. Sorry. We have all been moving and shaking as usual.
Today I had something happen that made me think about blogging. I locked myself out of not just the car, but the house too. I got out of the car with Ammon and Gretch only to swing all the doors shut with my keys in the ignition. SMART! I tried calling my mom (she is still with us), but was unable to reach her. Brandi and Nate were at work, and too far to run home. The garage door would normally be a possibility, but it has a broken spring so I couldn't begin to open it. I walked around the yard debating my options. The fence is too high for me to scale, and even if I could what would I do with Ammon and the dog? Throw them over? I don't think so! After a few phone calls back and forth with Nate I decided to borrow the empty trash can from next door (abandoned house) to be able to get over the fence. I told Ammon to stay in front of the metal gate so I could see him and tied Gretch up on the chain we keep in the front yard. Once on top of the fence I had to figure out how to get down. My knees are killing me after the jump down, but I made it and no trip to the ER was needed! I let Ammon in and we walked around back to find the sliding door in the kitchen wasn't just unlocked, but was sitting 2 inches open! Way to go Smith Security!! Once into the house I grabbed the spare car key and could get back to life as usual. What a wild beginning.
We had a good Easter. We dyed eggs on Saturday. I love living someplace that the mess can be made outside! We had all 3 dozen dyed and put away in record time. Sunday the Bunny brought the kids a bit of chocolate and new swim suits. He also had WAY too much fun hiding eggs in our huge yard! I didn't have my camera, but once I get some pictures from Brandi I will post them. Later we put together the dog house kit we purchased for the dogs. So far they aren't sure what to do with it. The big earthquake (7.2 in Mexico) rocked our area, but it really wasn't bad here. We have not felt any of the aftershocks. All in all that was our Easter. Relaxing and fun. Hope you all had a great holiday!
I have had some projects happen! I added draped cap sleeves to a prom dress for a friend's daughter, painted the banister, painted more of the banister, managed to stay on a ladder to finish painting the banister and now have finished painting the banister. Yes... I thought I would start with a "small" painting project. For your information painting a banister is NOT a "small" job. Sanding took 2 days, painting all tolled was about 6 days spread over the last month. Here are the before and after pictures!
BEFORE:
AFTER:
After that painting the walls will be no big deal! I hope to start painting the common rooms in the house this month. Will post my progress.
Nate is working at Saturn still. We are patiently awaiting the opening of the new Kia store across the street. The commute isn't killing him too badly, but not having him home as much is interesting. I think we are all adjusting okay though. He did purchase a lawn mower and weed eater. On his days off the yard keeps him busy! For my birthday he bought me 11 rose bushes and helped me plant them! My Grace Garden is real now! I have to add a couple more plants, but I'm off to a great start. I can't wait for them to start blooming.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Cyanne is doing well. Last term she made honor roll again. I'm hoping this term will be just as productive. Would be nice to finish the year on a strong note. She has found a great group of friends. All the girls are on the tomboy side and are honor roll students. We love them all. We had a full house with them coming for play dates over spring break!
CYANNE'S AWARDS FOR SECOND TERM:
Foter is doing well. He is catching up in school and received an award for most improved reader for last term. He is not doing sports right now, but in considering going back into soccer in the fall. We shall see! He is acting his age... something I could do without. 9 is not one of my favorite ages. He did manage to hang out with his friends, Brandon and Vanessa, over spring break. He is starting to make some really good friends, and can't wait for summer... no homework!
FOSTER'S AWARD:
Ressa is doing SO well at school! She is reading, writing, and already has her own style of penmanship! I'm just excited that you can read her writing. She loves everything about school, and keeps us busy having play dates with her classmates. Zoey, Zachary, Noah, and Jaelynne are the most common ones found around here. They are such good kids!!
RESSA'S AWARD:
Ammon is, well, Ammon. He is into everything, beats on the dog regularly, never keeps his clothes on, and gets under the kids skin. He has developed quite the slap. His favorite target is Nates left cheek. He is definatley my kid! He is a full speed ahead kid with little to no fears. He loves to call people "freaks". Most commonly as they leave, "bye freak". He is so much fun to have around!!
St. Patrick's day was fun as usual! We did the green hair, green teeth and lips, green eggs and ham, and finally the green clothes. The kids may have been the only ones dressed up in the whole school, but they didn't seem to mind much!
On March 31 we celebrated the Grace's Day. I had tons of support from all my friends on facebook. Everybody left very nice comments about her, and I was happy to hear that some of them were willing to celebrate the day with me. I love this family holiday. We remembered her all day long working in the Grace Garden, making (and of course devouring) her old fashion fudge, and sharing old memories with family and friends. I can't believe she has been gone for 3 years already! We miss her, but her good food lives on!
Next month we are venturing to Salt Lake for my nephew's wedding. It should be a fun trip, and will be great to see everybody. Directly following that trip Nate's parents are coming to visit. We are super excited for them to see our new home!
We miss all of our friends in Long Beach, but do make it back to see them once in a while. I hope this post finds you all doing well!
Today I had something happen that made me think about blogging. I locked myself out of not just the car, but the house too. I got out of the car with Ammon and Gretch only to swing all the doors shut with my keys in the ignition. SMART! I tried calling my mom (she is still with us), but was unable to reach her. Brandi and Nate were at work, and too far to run home. The garage door would normally be a possibility, but it has a broken spring so I couldn't begin to open it. I walked around the yard debating my options. The fence is too high for me to scale, and even if I could what would I do with Ammon and the dog? Throw them over? I don't think so! After a few phone calls back and forth with Nate I decided to borrow the empty trash can from next door (abandoned house) to be able to get over the fence. I told Ammon to stay in front of the metal gate so I could see him and tied Gretch up on the chain we keep in the front yard. Once on top of the fence I had to figure out how to get down. My knees are killing me after the jump down, but I made it and no trip to the ER was needed! I let Ammon in and we walked around back to find the sliding door in the kitchen wasn't just unlocked, but was sitting 2 inches open! Way to go Smith Security!! Once into the house I grabbed the spare car key and could get back to life as usual. What a wild beginning.
We had a good Easter. We dyed eggs on Saturday. I love living someplace that the mess can be made outside! We had all 3 dozen dyed and put away in record time. Sunday the Bunny brought the kids a bit of chocolate and new swim suits. He also had WAY too much fun hiding eggs in our huge yard! I didn't have my camera, but once I get some pictures from Brandi I will post them. Later we put together the dog house kit we purchased for the dogs. So far they aren't sure what to do with it. The big earthquake (7.2 in Mexico) rocked our area, but it really wasn't bad here. We have not felt any of the aftershocks. All in all that was our Easter. Relaxing and fun. Hope you all had a great holiday!
I have had some projects happen! I added draped cap sleeves to a prom dress for a friend's daughter, painted the banister, painted more of the banister, managed to stay on a ladder to finish painting the banister and now have finished painting the banister. Yes... I thought I would start with a "small" painting project. For your information painting a banister is NOT a "small" job. Sanding took 2 days, painting all tolled was about 6 days spread over the last month. Here are the before and after pictures!
BEFORE:
AFTER:
After that painting the walls will be no big deal! I hope to start painting the common rooms in the house this month. Will post my progress.
Nate is working at Saturn still. We are patiently awaiting the opening of the new Kia store across the street. The commute isn't killing him too badly, but not having him home as much is interesting. I think we are all adjusting okay though. He did purchase a lawn mower and weed eater. On his days off the yard keeps him busy! For my birthday he bought me 11 rose bushes and helped me plant them! My Grace Garden is real now! I have to add a couple more plants, but I'm off to a great start. I can't wait for them to start blooming.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Cyanne is doing well. Last term she made honor roll again. I'm hoping this term will be just as productive. Would be nice to finish the year on a strong note. She has found a great group of friends. All the girls are on the tomboy side and are honor roll students. We love them all. We had a full house with them coming for play dates over spring break!
CYANNE'S AWARDS FOR SECOND TERM:
Foter is doing well. He is catching up in school and received an award for most improved reader for last term. He is not doing sports right now, but in considering going back into soccer in the fall. We shall see! He is acting his age... something I could do without. 9 is not one of my favorite ages. He did manage to hang out with his friends, Brandon and Vanessa, over spring break. He is starting to make some really good friends, and can't wait for summer... no homework!
FOSTER'S AWARD:
Ressa is doing SO well at school! She is reading, writing, and already has her own style of penmanship! I'm just excited that you can read her writing. She loves everything about school, and keeps us busy having play dates with her classmates. Zoey, Zachary, Noah, and Jaelynne are the most common ones found around here. They are such good kids!!
RESSA'S AWARD:
Ammon is, well, Ammon. He is into everything, beats on the dog regularly, never keeps his clothes on, and gets under the kids skin. He has developed quite the slap. His favorite target is Nates left cheek. He is definatley my kid! He is a full speed ahead kid with little to no fears. He loves to call people "freaks". Most commonly as they leave, "bye freak". He is so much fun to have around!!
St. Patrick's day was fun as usual! We did the green hair, green teeth and lips, green eggs and ham, and finally the green clothes. The kids may have been the only ones dressed up in the whole school, but they didn't seem to mind much!
On March 31 we celebrated the Grace's Day. I had tons of support from all my friends on facebook. Everybody left very nice comments about her, and I was happy to hear that some of them were willing to celebrate the day with me. I love this family holiday. We remembered her all day long working in the Grace Garden, making (and of course devouring) her old fashion fudge, and sharing old memories with family and friends. I can't believe she has been gone for 3 years already! We miss her, but her good food lives on!
Next month we are venturing to Salt Lake for my nephew's wedding. It should be a fun trip, and will be great to see everybody. Directly following that trip Nate's parents are coming to visit. We are super excited for them to see our new home!
We miss all of our friends in Long Beach, but do make it back to see them once in a while. I hope this post finds you all doing well!
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
OUR 2009 RECAP
Hi Everybody!!
We hope this letter finds you doing well and on your way to a happy and healthy 2010. Since we all know I don't have the patience to mail Christmas cards, here is our New Year letter...
One year ago we were living in a converted 3 bedroom 1 1/2 bathroom house on Keynote St. in Long Beach, Ca. In July our lease expired so we had to move. We began house hunting in January. After a lot of sorting through foreclosures, even more phone calls to the world's most fantastic Realtor (Dave Crandall), and fax after fax to representing Realtors we finally entered escrow the end of June. We moved into a friend's house in Rowland Heights (for the duration of escrow) the last days in June. During this move we didn't even bother unpacking everything. Just the bare necessities. It was a long and time consuming escrow that devoured all of our summer. August 17 we officially moved into what is now our home in Lake Elsinore, Ca. We now have 6 bedrooms (that are packed right now), 3 bathrooms, an open kitchen, a play loft, and a couple living rooms. We also scored one of the biggest lots we could find. Nate and I are in heaven just having our own master bath! We have plenty of room for the dogs and kids to play on our 1/3 acre! We are also loving our location. We are an hour from the beach, Long Beach, LA and San Diego.
The last day of June we went to Lake Powell with the Smith clan. Jeff and Sandee were kind enough to have us all stay on their houseboat for a few days. We enjoyed it SO much. It was a much needed break from the home buying stress! Jeff, Sandee and I all water skied everyday. I was very pleased to find that I haven't completely lost my skills. Jeff even let me drive his new boat for him. Let me just say it was AMAZING!! Let me also say that Sandee is the best driver ever for tubing. We launched all the kids into the air, and flipped the big boys (the dads) multiple times. Good times!
Cyanne got up on skis for her first time as well as mastered knee boarding and the tube. I'm not sure who's child Foster is, but he didn't enjoy the water sports nearly as much as the rest of us. He spent most of his time in Grandpa Steve's fishing boat and going on hikes. Ressa loved the tube and jumping off the house boat, while Ammon just loved jumping off the boat and tubing... maybe we have another extreme sports kid! It was a great time had by all, and was so very much fun seeing all the nieces and nephews that we haven't seen in SO long!
From Lake Powell Cyanne went to Montana for the summer. She stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Smith. She was also lucky enough to spend time with Great Grandma Mettie! She spent a few days with Jim, Denise, and great Grandpa Harry and ventured out on a camping trip with Grandma and Grandpa Harkins too. Uncle Sean took her on a date to see Harry Potter in his new jeep. Something she seemed to enjoy greatly. She spent a couple days floating the Blackfoot River (which made me quite envious), fished a lot with Grandpa Steve, and even went on horseback into the Montana wilderness with Steve and her cousins. All in all it was a summer filled with new experiences for her.
School started the week we moved into our house. This is Ressa's first year in school! She is loving being a big kid now, and is really doing well with it. She loves her teacher and adores the girls in her class. Foster and Cyanne both are making friends quickly and are enjoying their teachers. They are currently in the school running and reading clubs. Cyanne actually made the honor roll for the first term! We are so excited for her. Hopefully she can keep up the good work! Foster is making advancements and we are hoping he will be on honor roll this next term. Ammon is loving being the only kid in the house. He spends most of his time playing with the dogs and making messes. I prefer the first option, but boys will be boys!
The end of August my best friend from growing up, Brandi, moved in with us. It started out being a temporary situation, but has grown to a semi-permanent one. We adore having her around and the kids love her. She is great about taking them on "dates" as well as allowing us to go on dates. Of course, I LOVE having her around, and am so glad that we are finally in a position to help her!
At Thanksgiving my mom decided to come down. She enjoyed her time with us so much she has decided to give SoCal a try and move here. For now she is staying with us. She should be starting her new job in the next week, and seems to be excited. Again we are happy to finally be in the position to help!
I am still "just" a mom. I keep considering making a career change, but it is afterall, nice to stay home and do whatever strikes me. I stay home and hold the fort down while Nate commutes into Cerritos for work. He has been working for nearly 12 years for Saturn in Cerritos. Now that Saturn is dead in the water he is preparing for a change. The owners of his store have secured Kia and Subaru as well as a new location caddy corner from where he has been. He will continue on in the service department under the same ownership/management. We are hoping that this will be a seamless transition!
Love,
Nate, Tara, Cyanne, Foster, Ressa and Ammon Smith
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