Happy New Years from the Rose Parade!

I have come to realize that there are many things and places I take for granted having been born and raised in California. We have talked about going to the Rose Parade ever since I was little but just never quite made the two hour drive north to take in the parade in person. This new years we made the parade a reality.


Jim's parents came out to visit from Chicago and the Rose Parade has been on Bev's life list of things to do or places to go. My mom has also always wanted to go so we decided to make it a big family outing. Early Thursday morning Jim and I, my parents, and Jim's parents left San Diego headed north while Jen, Matt and Elijah headed south from Bakersfield. I was amazed at how crowded the parade route was at 6am. We made our way to the grandstands to take our seats and wait for the parade to start.


After the flyover by the B-2 bomber, the first float came into view. The view from our seats was great. The floats were incredible. I never knew such a variety of flowers, plant materials and organic materials existed. The designs and detail were impressive. My favorite floats were the ones with all of the vibrant colors. Jim's favorite float was the surfer float. The whole experience was a little surreal.

Vera Bradley float- I love purses!

The detail was amazing

Jim's favorite float

We all had a great time watching the parade and listening to the bands. Bev is already talking about coming out for the parade again...she loved it! I'm glad that we were able to play a part in making one of her "dreams" come true. Although we probably won't go back to see the parade in person for some time, it was a great experience and we were happy to share it with family. Next year we will probably watch it on tv and remember the fun time we had the previous year... and then maybe brave the crowds the day after to see the floats up close and in person.

This was a great way to start off the new year. Happy New Years!

Merry Christmas!

This was the first Christmas in a long time that we stayed in San Diego. Usually we are either up in Bakersfield with my side of the family or back east with Jim's family. It was nice to not have to travel and just relax. Jen, Matt and Elijah came down and we all stayed at my parents for a couple of days...even Maddux. We all attended the Christmas Eve service at my parents church (the church I grew up in) and it was great to see so many people we hadn't seen in quite a while.


Christmas officially began as soon as Elijah woke up Thursday morning. It was stocking time. Christmas eve my mom, Jen and I decorated our stockings, the girls with snowflakes and the guys with Christmas trees...Elijah's was special with a snow man. We had brought Maddux's stocking down so she got open it with us.


Not too long after opening our stockings, we migrated to the living room for presents. There were a ton of presents with most of them being for Elijah. It was so much fun to watch Elijah open his gifts. His two favorites were the little kid laptop he got from Grandma and the ukelele he got from me and Jim. He did not want to let his "guitar" out of his sight. He even made his first music video playing along to Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours".


This year Christmas time was so relaxing. It was great to be able to hang out with family and really enjoy each others company. Elijah and Maddux were good buddies and played well together. It was fun to see Jim and Elijah interact. Elijah loves his uncle Jimbo. They would play tackle with eachother and Elijah would body slam Jim and just laugh.


Christmas reminded me how much I love my family and being able to spend time with them. We hope you had a great Christmas and made many lasting memories like we did!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Well Kind of, except for the snow and freezing weather. However, it has been raining this weekend and the temperature has dropped.

I love Christmas time. Spending time with friends and family, decorating, and taking time to remember the true reason for Christmas. It didn't take much time after Thanksgiving for me to get the Christmas decorating itch. We turned the Christmas music channel on, lit Christmas candles, and started decorating.




The other night Jim let me put Maddux's sweater on her that she got for her birthday. It made the perfect Christmas sweater and I had to get a picture of her wearing it in front of the Christmas tree. Needless to say, the sweater didn't stay on too long after the pictures.




Last night was our small group Christmas party. It was a great time of appetizers, desserts and fellowship. Jim and I have really enjoyed getting involved with our small group at church and getting to meet other couples that have recently been married. It's hard to believe that out of our group, aside from Tom and Sue who lead it, Jim and I have been married the longest at two and a half years. We are looking forward to getting to know everyone better over the next year.

the girls: sue, megan, kristan, laura, me and of course Maddux

Maddux... A Year Later

It was a year ago this weekend that Maddux became a part of the family. She has brought so much joy and entertainment into our life and we couldn't imagine our life without her. She is our little girl. Here are some pictures from when we first brought her home and her now. Enjoy!

Like father, like daughter

It's hard to believe now that we brought her home in this box

Exploring around her new home

Lounging on the couch. Can you believe how big she is?

How could you not love this face?

Thanksgiving Weekend

This Thanksgiving we were reminded of how much we have to be thankful for: God, family, friends, our health, jobs and so much more. Sometimes we tend to take our family for granted but this thanksgiving I realized how much I missed spending the day with family and how truly thankful I am for family. This was the first thanksgiving that Jim and I spent on our own, without either one of our families. Although we missed our families, we spent Thanksgiving evening with my friend Victoria and her family. They even let Maddux join in the festivities so that she didn't have to spend it all alone. (Victoria has a Yorkie so him and Maddux got to play together. We had a nice evening with great food, friends and wii fun.

Everyone knows that with Thanksgiving comes Black Friday. We had done our Black Friday shopping early since Best Buy's ad leaked early and the sales they had last week were going to be the same. We figured this way we wouldn't have to get up early and fight the crowds. I told Jim early in the week that we should stay home on Black Friday so that I wouldn't be tempted to buy more things. But as most people who know me know, I can't pass up a good sale so we headed out Friday morning with the millions of other shoppers. We had a plan to only go to two stores and stuck to it.

The rest of the weekend we spent resting and relaxing. It was a great feeling knowing that we had a four day weekend. Jim and Maddux took lots of naps and I got started on the Christmas cards/letters. Saturday I took a break and Maddux and I met up with my friends Vivian and Christine for a hike around Lake Poway. It was great to get out and enjoy the unbelievably nice weather.

Twilight at Midnight

I must admit that when I first saw a preview for Twilight I looked at Jim and said, "I have no interest in seeing this movie". Fast forward a few months, and I am putting off much needed sleep to attend the midnight screening. Even up until just moments before the movie started, I was wondering what I was thinking letting Jim talk to me in to coming. I figured meeting up with Andrea and Reggie would be worth it. Reggie had won the tickets the day before and Andrea figured that even though we would all be out late, we only had to get through work Friday and then it would be the weekend.

Jim makes fun of me because I tend to fall asleep through almost every movie we rent. He thought for sure I wouldn't be able to keep my eyes open. The funny thing is it was the opposite. He fell asleep and I was wide awake for the whole movie. I didn't know much about the movie and hadn't read the book. The storyline eventually drew me in and by the end of the movie I was hooked, wanting to know what will happen next. I guess to find out what will happen, I'll need to read the books. I think I'll begin Monday and become one of the many Twilight followers.

Congratulations J & Nicole!

Yesterday the last one of the girls from our our group got married. Nicole was a beautiful bride and J an excited groom. The ceremony was beautiful and you could definitely tell that Nicole and J are in love and perfect for each other. The reception, flowers and cake were gorgeous.