Moving to Murrieta

In the middle of October we moved from Redondo Beach to Murrieta. It was hard to leave such good friends and such an awesome ward. Matt had just been called to be 2nd counselor in the bishopric a couple of months before we moved. We actually found out we got the house the same day Matt got called.

We've been in our new home for about 2 months and it still seems like a dream. We came from 800 sq ft to 2700 sq ft. I don't have to do my laundry in the kitchen anymore. The lights actually turn on when you flip the light switch. We now have 3 bathroom instead of one and the best part is that we finally have a backyard! We truly feel like we are living in luxury.

The girls are adjusting well. They love living close to their cousins and it's so fun to be in the same ward as my brother and sister. We are so excited to be in our new house!!!

The 3 Twilighters

My friend Brooke came back to Redondo to visit her most favorite friends and celebrate her 30th birthday. We had way too much fun and spent way too much money. The perfect vacation!!! We went to The Grove in LA and saw a movie and went shopping. The best part was scoring about about 30 free candy bars. There were people stationed all over the shopping complex handing out free samples of this new candy bar called Fling. We basically kept walking from person to person and collecting as many candy bars as we possibly could. In the end we figured we probably made money. After that we got all dressed up to eat at Ruth's Chris...steak...yummm.

Thanks for coming Brooke and for sleeping on my couch. Next time you come you'll have a queen bed and your own bathroom.

We bought a house!!!!!!

This beautiful home is located in Murrieta right off the I-15 going towards San Diego. We will be moving in officially on October 17th. I'm sad to leave all my wonderful friends but living in 2000 more sq ft. will help to ease me through. At least I will have enough room for everyone to come visit. And as someone once said, "We'll always have Disneyland!"

School Days

Natalie is officially a kindergartner. She goes in the afternoons from 11:20 to 2:40. Her teacher's name is Mrs. Santa Cruz. Natalie was so excited to go on her first day. She was not nervous at all. She was just upset because everyone had a backpack except for her (Mom's fault). She is now the proud owner of a Disney princess backpack and an Ariel lunch bag.

At the parent and child school orientation the principal mentioned something about homework and Natalie looked at me with this betrayed look on her face and yelled, "We have to do homework!?!" Then she whispered in my ear, "What's homework?" We struggled with the first few assignments but now she is getting used to it. I'm pretty sure I didn't have homework until I was like in 4th grade or I just have the worst memory ever. Our kids are going to be a lot smarter than we were...scary.

Alpine Slides

Tabernacle

SLC Temple

We went to Park City last week for a Riley family reunion. We stayed in the Westgate resorts. We felt so spoiled because we stayed in a presidential suite with Matt's family. The best part was the hot tub on the balcony. The cousins had so much fun playing together. One day we went to the Alpine slides and Natalie surprised me by being a speed demon and almost launching us off the slide. The official reunion was at Lagoon on Saturday. We had so much fun seeing all the Rileys and going on some really fun rides. On Sunday we stopped by Temple square before heading back to California.

Big Bear

Hanging out with cousin Halley

"Edward did what?"

We had our first official family camping trip. If you know me or Matt then you know that we're not really the camping type. It wouldn't have been possible without Jackie and Nathan who are expert campers and who came with us!

My top memories from Big Bear 2009

• Getting car sick on the way up and down
• Watching Matt set up our HUGE tent for the first time
• Realizing that our children were going to be filthy for 3 days
  
• Scaring off the endless squirrels that eventually ended up eating a huge bag of peanut m&ms
• PEACH COBBLER via the dutch oven...I love you Nathan
• Getting rained on at the lake
• Roasting marshmallows and sitting by the fire every night
• Taking major sleeping pills to help me sleep at night
• Finding a sick Jackie in the bathroom at 4 in the morning
  

Sabrina's birthday

Grandma Rhonda came and did face painting!

Sabrina is working on her fairy princess crown

Who knew painting water on the sidewalk could be so fun?

Sabrina is 3 years old!!! I can't believe it. She wanted to have a Tinker Bell party. We invited cousins and friends and had all the girls dress up like fairies or princesses. They had so much fun. They got their faces painted like butterflies and they each made princesses crowns. Sabrina had a blast and was so excited to have green cupcakes and green and purple balloons.

10 things I love about Sabrina

1. Her tiny little voice
2. Her dimples
3. Her hugs and kisses
4. Her hair is long enough for pigtails
5. She swims by herself with a floaty
6. She will only wear flip flops
7. She likes to take baths again
8. She still lets me hold her at bedtime while I sing her songs
9. She is fully potty trained
10. She LOVES to help me cook and clean

Summer School

Sabrina started preschool this summer with Natalie's preschool teacher Ms. Joan. Sabrina's best friend Kailey is in her class. I can't believe that my baby is already in preschool and that my other baby is starting kindergarten.

4th of July

Matt started off the 4th with a 5k...don't ask

Waiting for the Tustin Meadows Parade to begin