Cheers to a New Job!

Jim recently interviewed for a new position with AAA and was offered and accepted the position on Thursday. He will be helping roll out a new claims program in Southern California. This will be a great experience and opportunity for him to grow both professionally and personally.

The only downside to the new position is that it is at the corporate offices in Costa Mesa. Jim will be living in Orange County during the week and coming home to San Diego on the weekends and possibly a night a week... this way he won't have to experience the San Diego to LA commute too often.

Although Maddux and I will miss him during the week and will have to adjust a little bit, there is no better time than now for him to take advantage of this opportunity. I believe the whole thing has been a God thing and I am excited to see what he will accomplish in his new role and where it will lead him.

Are we sure we're in Seattle?

The weather was perfect all Memorial Day weekend. Sunny, warm and not a cloud in sight. We were told that there hadn't been a Memorial Day weekend in Seattle when it didn't rain. The San Diego weather must have followed us.

For Jim's birthday this year we decided to go on a weekend getaway to Seattle. I have family in Seattle so it was great to spend some time with them and have them show us around town...plus Jim had been wanting to go to Safeco Field and watch a baseball game. Even though we were in town for only four days, we accomplished quite a lot.

Thursday evening Jerry and Sharon drove us out to Snoqualmie Falls just before sunset. We weren't sure how the viewing would be but it ended being perfect. The sun hit the falls at the perfect place and highlighted its beauty. The falls and the surrounding scenery were gorgeous.


Friday we were tourists and hit all the hot spots in Seattle. Here are the highlights:
-Seattle Underground Tour
-Fish & Chips at Ivar's on the pier (and feeding french fries to the seagulls)
-Ferry ride to Bainbridge Island
-Walked the piers
-Pikes Market (including the flying fish)
-The original starbucks
-People watching at the park overlooking the harbor
-Dinner at Dick's Drive In (although it wasn't as good we thought it would be)
-Drive past the Space Needle





Saturday morning Jim and I decided to go explore West Seattle and Alki Beach on our own. We enjoy going to new areas and just walking around and people watching. It gives us a feel for what the "non-touristy" life is like. We found a bench on what I guess could be called the boardwalk and people watched.



Saturday evening was probably the highlight of Jim's trip...going to Safeo Field to watch the Mariners and Giants though. Even though the Mariners didn't win, we had a great time watching the game and hanging out with Cousins. The next time you talk to Jim, you need to ask him about the Ivar-dog at game. He loved it!



To end the weekend we went with Sharon and Jerry to the Northwest Folk Life Festival at the Seattle Center. It was a fun experience that showed off all sides of Seattle. There were crafts, music, street performers and fair food.




Overall it was a great weekend to explore a new city together and spend time with family. Jim is already planing our next weekend get-away...of course it has to have a baseball team and stadium he hasn't seen.

*If you'd like to view more pictures from Seattle, check out my facebook album (you don't have to be on facebook to view) http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2053134&id=161502075&l=022d93f280

It's a Girl!

It's official, we are going to have a little niece in September. We are all so excited for Jen, Matt and Elijah--their little family will be complete with a 'lil prince and 'lil princess. Congratulations Jen and Matt. We can't wait to meet Miss Elsie Riess Prince!

It's about Time

It is crazy how time passes so quickly! Here are the highlights and some pictures of what we have been up to the past couple of months:

-Jim had the opportunity to go to Austin, TX for three weeks to assist with claims after a bad hail storm. Maddux and I managed to survive, as did Jim, working 12 hour days for three weeks, but are glad to have him back home. He's ecstatic to not have to live out a suitcase anymore or eat every meal out.

Maddux loves lucky the longhorn...her gift from Jim

-One of the nice things about having Jim away for three weeks is that I was able to feed my twilight addiction without him giving me a bad time. This led to many late nights, followed by sleepy days at work. My friend Nicole is also hooked on the Twilight Saga and I spent one evening watching Twilight with her and her husband while our puppies played. We both can't wait for "New Moon" to come out in November.

-I spent Easter with my family in Bakersfield and was able to watch Elijah take part in his first Easter egg hunt. He was soo cute. They said "ready, set, go" and Elijah took off running, throwing his basket down. He thought he was in a race! Once he realized he was suppose to be grabbing eggs, he made up for lost time and was picking them up two at a time.

even the puppies had an Easter basket :)

-Jen and Elijah came to San Diego to visit for a weekend, along with her two dogs Duke and Maggie (Maddux's mom and dad). Needless to say, it was a full house at my parents with Maddux and I joining them for the weekend as well. I know I say it all the time, but after spending time with Jen and Elijah, I wish they were closer. We were able to meet up with my friend Andrea and her son Corban so that Elijah could have a play date.



-My mom and I made a trip in the middle of March to Bakersfield to visit family. I realized it had been almost five months since I had seen my grandmas. I want to do my best to see them as often as possible since I don't know when I might no longer have the choice. To see their faces light up and get a great big hug, makes me wish I lived closer and could see them more often.



-For my friend Vivian's birthday, we had a girls weekend at Disneyland. We were able to be kids again and spend some quality time together making many memories. It was a great weekend with two awesome friends!

Go Cubs, Go! Hey Chicago, What do you say, Cubs are going to Win Today!

One of the many things Jim misses about Chicago is being able to go to Wrigley Field to watch his cubbies play. So the next best thing is go watch them at their second home in Mesa, HoHoKam Park, during spring training. We have kept up the annual spring training trip tradition for three years now and I am sure we will continue it for many years to come.

This year we were able to watch the Cubs slaughter the white sox, 9-0, while spending time with our favorite Arizona couple, Ryan and Theresa. After the game Ryan and Theresa took us to a cool outside shopping mall in Gilbert where we grabbed dinner then went to play some mini-golf and grab dessert at Culvers (another place we miss from Chicago). As good as Jim and I thought we were at mini-golf, both Ryan and Theresa beat us.

Sunday morning Jim headed back out to HoHoKam to watch some batting practice and catch some of minor league players that had reported to camp early, while I stayed home at Uncle Will's visiting and relaxing.

Theresa (and baby Killebrew) & I

Ryan & Jim

We wish we could have stayed longer but unfortunately we had to head back home until next year's spring training comes around.

Birthday Surprises

People have asked "how does it feel to be 26?". To me its just another day and I really don't feel any older. Maybe one of these years it will hit me but until then I won't let it bother me that I will only keep getting older. This year I could put a little twist on my usual non-reaction to "how does it feel to be another year older?", and respond with "loved and blessed".

Jim and I had been planning on going to dinner at PF Changs for my birthday. It is one of our favorite places and it had been a quite some time since we had been there. He made reservations ahead of time and made comment that they wouldn't seat us until our reservation so there was no need to get there early. I didn't think much of this. It was now close to our reservation time so we made our way into the restaurant. Jim gave our name and the hostess responded with "Your party is already seated" and started leading us to our table. Again I didn't think much of this except that they must have confused us with another reservation but Jim just kept following the hostess. As I was walking I looked up to see my best friend Andrea and her Husband, my good friend Vivian and our friends Laura and Godfrey from small group. They were all there to surprise me for my birthday. Jim had been successful at planning and pulling off the surprise. At that moment I felt so loved and lucky to have such a great husband and group of friends. All I could do was smile and smiled through out the rest of the night. Our friends Brooke and Hon came too and we actually walked right in front of their car as they were getting ready to park. Brooke was worried if I saw her that it would ruin the surprise but in reality I would have just thought her and Hon were on one of their last date nights without baby since she was due any day. Dinner was a blast!


The next day my mom and I had planned to celebrate my birthday with lunch and shopping. Before meeting up with my mom I treated myself to a new hair-do. Little did I know that since it was the first time I had been to the hair salon I was able to pick another complimentary service so I chose to have my make-up done. It was so much fun to have a new "birthday" look. I had a fun time shopping and hanging out with my mom.


To top off my birthday, the previous weekend Jim had taken me to the Coach Outlet in Carlsbad to buy my birthday present. I thought I was just getting a new clutch/wristlet purse but when I couldn't decide if I wanted a black or brown one and he saw me eying another smaller wristlet, he surprised me and told me I could get both. I couldn't turn that down :)


This was one of my best birthday weekends, filled with love, friends and suprises!

Puppy Days

I decided to make this a Maddux post today.


I love how Maddux can be so easily entertained. The other night Jim and I were talking about the stuffed frog toy she loves to play with and how we hadn't seen it in a while. It turns out froggy was left and grandma and grandpa's. Today we went down to my parent's and after lunch Maddux came running in with her favorite toy. The one bad thing is that froggy squeaks...and Maddux loves to squeak it over and over and over again. I figure though if she is having fun and entertaining herself with it, I'll put up with it for a little bit. Being a puppy is such an easy life.


In addition to her favorite toy, she has a favorite friend, her best friend Roxy. Maddux and Roxy play so well together and if you could watch them, you would be able to tell almost immediately that they really are best friends, even though they are just dogs. On Tuesday nights we go to Vivian and Roxy's for a play date. Maddux perks up in the car when we turn in to the drive way and can hardly wait for me to let her out of the car. Roxy knows Maddux is coming and will wait at the door until she hears us pull up. The minute the door opens, Maddux and Roxy play not stop for the next couple of hours. Vivian and I only found it fitting that Maddux and Roxy should have BFF charms for their collars.


It may be ridiculous but they are just too cute with the BFF charms.