Happy Birthday Bella...Your a Big Girl Now!

On Friday, Nov. 28th our niece Bella celebrated her 3rd birthday. We went up to Gridley to be with her on her special day. Bella decided she wanted to eat pizza for her birthday dinner, so we met at Round Table. After dinner the family gathered at Bella's house for presents, cake, and a little Guitar Hero.

Bella has a cute pouty face. I tried to get her to smile, but she refused.

Bella got a lot of great gifts for her birthday. She got a lot of cute clothes and will be a stylin' 3 year old. She also got some Disney princess stuff. Bella's big gift of the night was an art easel/desk with art supplies. We didn't know this, but Bella loves to color, draw, and paint. We also learned she is really good at it. She is young budding artist, so be on the lookout for her work.

Bella opening a present.

Dave and Jessica (Bella's parents & Rich's brother) playing Guitar Hero.

Holiday Shopping

This year we decided to take advantage of some of the holiday shopping madness. On Wednesday we went to the Arden Fair Mall for some of the pre-Thanksgiving sales. We got there in the evening so it wasn't too crowded and we actually got some great deals. JCPenny was open until 10pm and around 9-9:30pm the employees were putting up the doorbuster signs for early Friday morning. I saw a sweater I liked, but didn't know the price because the doorbuster price was listed. When I asked how much it was the lady told me we could get anything for the day after Thanksgiving sale price...YA WHOO!! We bought a few things and were happy to get the Friday @ 4am deal without getting up early or fighting the crowds.On Thursday night/Friday morning we went to Midnight Madness sale at the Folsom outlets. We have never gone before, but decided to check it out for fun. It was CRAZY!! Fortunately we went early and beat the crowds. The Gap opened at 11pm, so we got there at 11pm and walked right in. We also went to most of the baby clothes outlets and Wilson Leathers. The most crowded stores we went into were Carter's and Baby Gap, but even then it was only 10-15 minutes wait to purchase our items. As we left around 1:30am the lines just to get into a few stores were insane. The line to the Gap and Pac Sun were at least 1 hour, but the worst was for the Coach store which looked like it was a 2 hour wait...CRAZY, CRAZY, CRAZY people.

Thanksgiving Day

We continued our at home Thanksgiving tradition this year. It was just the two of us plus Luca. It was a nice, relaxing, and quiet day. We love being with our family, but sometimes it is just nice to stay in your P.J.'s and do whatever you want.

We enjoyed our traditional Thanksgiving feast: Chicken w/ stuffing, canned shaped cranberry sauce (Rich says it has to be shaped like the can), mashed potatoes, peas, bread, and homemade spaghetti with meatballs. For dessert Rich made a chocolate cheesecake pie. Since it was just the 2 of us I plan on making an apricot tart a little later, so we can spread out the sweets.

The activities of the day were watching videos and playing video games (mostly guitar hero world tour). We also enjoyed sleeping in and playing with Luca.

For fun and entertainment we gave Luca a stuffed turkey on a rope fork. He loves to chew and destroy sqeaky toys and it is always fun to watch. As soon as Rich made the turkey squeak Luca went crazy. The picture below is the crazed look Luca had in his eye as he jumped up to get the toy...He is so funny!

FREE Christmas Music

I turned on the Oprah show today and she was talking about Christmas music. She then said for the next 48 hours anyone could go to her website and download the Holiday Hits 2008 CD for free. I don't usually watch Oprah, but I was glad I did today. I just finished downloading the songs...YEAH FREE MUSIC!! Thanks Oprah!

If you want to take advantage of this offer go to: http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20081118_tows_holiday/2

Holiday Hits 2008 Playlist:
Faith Hill, "Joy to the World" from the album Joy to the World
Tony Bennett, "I'll be Home for Christmas" from the album A Swingin' Christmas
Il Divo, "O Holy Night" from the album The Christmas Collection
Josh Groban, "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" from the album Noel
Brian McKnight, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" from the album I'll Be Home for Christmas
Amy Grant, "O Come All Ye Faithful" from the album The Christmas Collection
Harry Connick Jr., "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" from the album What a Night! A Christmas Album
Aretha Franklin, "Silent Night" from the album This Christmas

Winter Recipe Contest

My friend April is having a Winter Recipe Contest. Her family has some special dietary needs, so it was a bit of a challenge trying to come up with something. I entered a modified version of my Grandma's Sweet-n-Sour Chicken recipe. I posted the recipe on my food blog, so if you are interested click here for a delicious recipe.

1 Year Anniversary

Today we celebrated our one year anniversary with Luca. We got him last year the day after Thanksgiving. We adopted him from the rescue organization Second Chance Cocker Spaniel. I had wanted a dog for a while, but it took sometime to convince Rich we were ready. Once I saw the photo of Luca (then Snowball) I knew he was the dog for us. Rich still wasn't convinced, but as soon as he met him Luca won him over.

Luca is the best dog and a great companion. He is so cute especially when he is clean and a little fluffy. He also is very funny and has a great personality. When we have a bad day Luca always makes us laugh and cheers us up. Sometimes he can be a little stubborn, but that is just part of his charm. We try not to spoil him too much, but when Luca looks up with his big eyes it is sometimes hard to say no.

During the past year we have had some rough times, but Luca has made it easier. Luca is a great addition to our family and we are both grateful to have him in our home. I know he will get a little crazy in January when we have a baby, but I also know he will love and protect the baby...that's just the kind of dog he is.

Luca ripping open his new Blue Kong. Luca loves Kong toys.

Luca is ready to play with Rich and his blue Kong. We gave Luca some doggie cookies to celebrate his special day. Don't worry we only gave him a couple and saved the rest for later.Luca tried to open the cookies by himself. He is a smart dog and can usually get into things, but this plastic tub was too tricky for him.
Lisa helped Luca out and gave him a cookie. Luca was really excited and chomped down his treat in no time flat. He is a little piggy.

Elder's Quorum Rocks!

Kyle on lead guitar, Jeremy on bass, and Cory on vocals

Yesterday Rich and some of the guys from the Rossmoor Ward Elder's Quorum had a video game night. They started at 3pm and some of them lasted until 11:30pm. Rich came home around 9pm because he was tired.

The guys enjoyed playing several games on the Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii. The crowd favorites were Rock Band 2 and Mario Kart. For a while they had a full four person band going on Rock Band 2.

Rich said the activity was a success and several of the guys were talking about making it a monthly activity. I think maybe an every other month activity sounds a little better.

Kim Comes To California

This past weekend Kim and her mom came to California for a visit. We were excited to see them and to see how cute Kim's pregnant belly is. She is small and tall, so her belly isn't very big, but oh so cute. After seeing the 3-D ultrasound it was great to see Kim and know our beautiful baby girl is growing.

On Saturday we took them to our favorite restaurant, Il Forno Classico, for lunch. We then went to Build-a-Bear and made Monica the Monkey to give to our baby. Kim and I also picked out some cute baby Vans because we both love baby shoes. Before leaving the mall we went to Big Spoon for some delicious frozen yogurt. Then it was back home and to the hotel to rest a little before dinner.

Kim and I putting hearts in Monica the Monkey. Monica is special because she has 3 hearts (one from each of her two mommies and one from her daddy).

We stopped for a frozen treat at Big Spoon.

For dinner both of our parents came to Rancho, so Kim and her mom could meet the soon-to-be grandparents. We met at Cattleman's to enjoyed steak and good conversation. It was nice to get some family together and I think everyone had a good time.

On Sunday they came to church with us and then we went back to our house to hang out. Rich had Kim make Mii's (personal characters) on our Wii because we have a Mii for every family member. Then they played a few Wii sports while I prepared my grandma's sweet-n-sour chicken for dinner.

That evening we just relaxed and talked. It was good to see Kim and let her see our house, the nursery, and meet Luca. It was a great weekend.

Luca crashing on Monday after the weekend of vistors. Luca enjoyed having Kim and her mom visit and he went a little crazy while they were here.

GO KINGS!

Last night Rich and I went to the Sacramento Kings game. One of his friends gave us tickets to the season's home opener...THANKS Gwen!! They played the Grizzlies and won (100 to 95)...Whoo Hoo!! We had a lot of fun and I am excited for this season.

The last couple of seasons I have not enjoyed King's basketball. First, I was upset when they traded Bobby Jackson because he is my favorite player. He might not be the best player, but he always gives it 110% and just seems like a good guy. I was then upset when they traded for Ron Artest. He is a good player, but brings a lot of drama and is not someone I am proud to support. I don't mind if the Kings lose, but I want to be proud of the players I support and to know they are giving it all they got.

This year Bobby is back...YEAH! I know he is older and probably won't get a lot of playing time, but he is still my favorite and I proudly wore my Bobby Jackson shirt last night. I also am impressed with Spencer Hawes and some of the other young players. I think the next couple of years will be exciting to watch as the team grows and improves.

Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting and Chocolate glaze

A few weeks ago I got a book called, Sky High Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes, from the Library and this week I made a cake from it. All of the recipes looked good, but the Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter frosting stood out. It sounded like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup and I love those!! The cake wasn't very hard to make and I was pretty happy with the results. The cake was really good, but it was also really rich and hard to eat a lot at one time.

My cake isn't as pretty as the one in the book, but it tasted good.

3-D PHOTOS

Today Kimberly had a 3-D ultrasound and she sent us some photos of our baby girl. Look how cute she is. It is so amazing to see her lips, eyes, and fingers.

Happy Halloween

This year Halloween was interesting. We both enjoy Halloween and usually go all out, but this year we weren't as excited. I think we have just had a lot going on and I wasn't feeling well, so we needed a break. Rich was more in the Halloween spirit than me though. He carved his pumpkin and attended our ward Halloween (harvest) festival.

We grew these pumpkins in our backyard.

Rich used his Dremel tool to carve his pumpkin.
Rich designed his pumpkin to look like it had one swollen eye.

Happy Anniversary

On Oct. 9th we celebrated our 12th anniversary of our first date. We went to Round Table for pizza. That might not sound too exciting, but we enjoy just being out together. It also might sound weird to celebrate our first date, but it really was a special night.

Rich and I met on my 19th birthday...to date he is the best birthday gift I've been given. We were in Utah at school and I was feeling a little homesick. My roommates made me a cake, so we invited some people over (we didn't know) from our apt. complex to join us. In this crowd of people was Rich, but I was feeling awkward with everyone staring at me that I didn't notice anyone in particular. He says he thought I was pretty and liked my hair barrettes.

After cake we went to the Fall Fling dance at BYU. On the ride there I still was feeling shy, so I didn't notice Rich until he said he was from California. This sparked my interest because it reminded me of home. At the dance my roommates kind of ditched me by going off with some of the guys in the group. Since I wasn't enjoying the dance I asked if anyone in the group wanted to go listen to some bands playing on campus. At first nobody seemed interested, so I took off by myself. Before I got too far I heard Rich say he wanted to come with me.

The two of us went to garden room where the bands were playing. We discovered we both loved music and listening to live bands. We talked quite a bit that night and I knew he was someone I wanted to get to know better. Back at the apartments Rich showed me some of his music collection and we talked a little bit more.

After this first meeting it took Rich a month to ask me out. We talked almost everyday and became friends, but I thought he wasn't interested since he wasn't asking me out. I found out later it was because my roommates and his roommates were trying to make him ask me out and he didn't want me to think that was the only reason he asked me out. He says he liked me and didn't want me to feel like he was forced to ask me out. Whatever it was, I almost gave up on him.

The night before he asked me out I gave it one more shot. I made him some chocolate chip cookies because he was studying for a big test. I left the cookies and a note of good luck for him at his apartment. I guess there is some truth to the old statement, "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach," because the next day Rich asked me out...Good thing I'm a good cook.

On Oct. 9, 1996, Rich took me to see "Blue" at the BYU International Theater. This is an interesting french film. During the movie I waited for Rich to hold my hand, but he didn't seem to want to and again I gave up hope. I made it obvious that I didn't mind if he held my hand and finally at the very end of the movie (a long movie) he held my hand...YEAH!! I know it sounds crazy, but we definitely felt sparks...it was amazing. I knew that there was something special about Rich and from that night on we have been together.

Rich and I dated for a little over a year before we were unofficially engaged and we were officially engaged in January 1998. Later that year on May 9th we were sealed in the Oakland Temple for time and all eternity. When Rich and I look back on our first meeting and date we often laugh about how awkward we were. At the time I was frustrated with him not asking me out, but now I think it was sweet for him to take his time.

Our first photo together. This photo is before our first date. We were at the Joseph Smith Building with some friends in Salt Lake.

This is our wedding day, May 9th, 1998.

Nathan's Baptism

On September 27th our nephew, Nathan, was baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We were so excited and proud of him. Nathan is a great kid with a lot of lovable energy.

Toward the end of the baptismal program one of the infants in the audience pulled the fire alarm, so we all had to leave the building and the fire department showed up. The mother of the of the kid was embarrassed, but Nathan thought it was pretty cool.

Back in Action

For the past couple of weeks our laptop has been down, but it is now up and running...YEAH!! We had a big scare because one day our laptop wouldn't open the desktop. We thought we had a virus, but learned later it wasn't that. We thought we lost all of our photos from the past year and I was a wrecked. We found that our photos and documents were still on the hard-drive in Safe Mode, so we felt better. We had a friend, Bill Barnes (the coolest person around), come and help us. He was able to save our files onto our much older and slower computer (thank goodness we kept it). We then reinstalled Windows and all our other programs. We are now back in action and able to put photos back on our laptop and now on our blog.

Tonight we bought an external hard-drive to backup our photos and other documents. We don't want to worry about losing them ever again. To any of you that have priceless photos on your computer I would recommend backing them up often. We are going to keep our photos on the external hard-drive, CD's, and on the internet...we want to make sure we are completely covered.

Checkered Board Cake

I let Luca get a little too close to the cake and he actually got a little lick.

For my birthday my mom made me (from scratch) a checkered board cake. This is my favorite cake and my mom makes the best cake. We had some with my family and then I took the rest of it home. I shared a little with Rich, but ate most of it myself. I love cake and I have a hard time sharing when it is so delicious and my birthday...sorry family.

McKinley Park

Last Saturday we decided to bug bomb our bedroom one last time to make sure the bed bugs are completely gone before we move back into it. This meant we had to leave the house for 3 hours with Luca. It's not hard to find something to do for 3 hours, but it is a little harder when we have to have our dog with us. We came up with a great plan to go to McKinley Park in Sacramento and then to a cool yogurt shop that has an outside doggie water bowl area and tables.

We went to McKinley Park to see the rose garden and feed the ducks. When we got there it was pretty crowded and as we headed toward the rose garden we realized it was being set-up for a wedding. We were a little disappointed not to be able to walk through the roses, so we headed over to the pond. Unfortunately I forgot the bread to feed the ducks, so we just walked around and let Luca sniff everything. Luca didn't seem to be bothered by the ducks, but he did try to chase a squirrel up a tree.

After the park we went to the yogurt shop, but when we got there they were repainting the outside and there was nowhere to go with Luca. Again we were disappointed and frustrated because most of our plans were not working out. Since we couldn't go home for a while we decided to get a hamburger and go to a more local park and hang out for a while.

Even though our day didn't work out according to our plan it was still nice and we enjoyed being together. We are also happy our room is bug free and we will be moving back in this week...YEAH!

Monterey Trip

Fisherman's Wharf Rich eating his traditional clam chowder in a bread bowl.

While on the pier a pelican landed right behind us. I was able to get close enough to get some great photos. I was so excited because I love pelicans, but have never been able to get that close.

Pacific Grove Natural History MuseumMe sitting a top of humpback whale.

Rich petting a stuffed badger.

Blue Whale eyeball.

The Food of Monterey

Archie's Diner Garlic Fries

Ghirardelli Hot Fudge Sunday

Monterey Bay Chocolate Factory

Turtle Bay Taqueria