Family Updates

Sorry, I don't have a picture to attach with this one. Our computer is not cooperating these days. But, please read on! There's lots to tell. T was just accepted on to the gymnastics pre-team at her gym. It's quite an honor because several of the athletes here are olympic medalists. This is the premier gym in the Valley and very well respected. T was evaluated by the owner of the gym and olympic athlete Chris Waller and then offered a spot on the team. It's a great opportunity, and I think T will learn many valuable life lessons with this experience. Plus, she's already getting so strong! She did 6 pull-ups on the bar the other day!!! I can't even do one. She woke up this morning and told me her whole body was sore from the previous day's three hour practice. But, she was happy because she loves what she does.
A recently completed private swimming lessons with a fabulous instructor here. He learned to swim on the second lesson! In fact, he was doing canon balls into the deep end at our pool and swimming all over by the 3rd lesson! Needless to say, I won't have to worry so much about him every day this summer when we're at the pool. He's also learning to ride his bike without training wheels. Daddy of course is taking that one.
R loves his job!!!! That's all I can say about that...Sorry!:)
I currently teach at two clubs in the area and love it. One is just 5 minutes away, which is great since gas is over $4.00/gallon! I also might be working part-time as an instructor at a tutoring center for Honors students preparing for college and SATS. But salary is still under negotiation, so I'll let you know how that pans out.
Overall, we love it here. I think we're here to stay for a while. What a relief that is, since we've been on the move our whole married life. Keep in touch you fabulous people!

Happy Mother's Day!

It's been so busy for me the past month, so sorry this is coming late. Happy Mother's day (belated) to all the wonderful mothers I know. I know this sounds pretty cliche, but I have learned so much from each of you; How to be a honorable woman, wife, and mother. Thank you! So you're probably wondering why I posted a "bike" as my picture for the day. This is my mother's day present from R. What a thoughtful and sweet gift; I've wanted a beach cruiser (with a basket:)) since we moved here. Even though we live about an hour from the beach we are blessed to live in a suburb filled with many scenic bike trails. And of course with the occasional trips to the O.C. I'm sure our bikes will be in tow. We've truly been enjoying the past two months living here. I promise I'll post in the next week to give you all the Garcia updates! Take care and love you all!!!

Birthday Boy!

A turns 5!!!

Today A celebrates his big #5 birthday. It's bittersweet for mom because he's my baby and it's been hard to let him grow up. Time has definitely flown by, but we have cherished every moment with our little dude. He continues to be a very active, curious, busy, and charismatic little guy. Today we celebrated with extended family: Joseph and Kathryn and Aunt Emilie, Eric, Stephen, and Ashley. We spent a few hours at the pool, then barbecued in our backyard, and partied with Asher. What a great day. And how happy and blessed we are to have such a special boy in our lives. Happy Birthday!!!

We're finally here!

California is awesome! When we arrived it was 69 degrees, sunny, and beautiful. Where we live is simply breathtaking. The community is masterplanned so there are bike trails interwoven throughout all the neighborhoods. You can pretty much get anywhere on a bike trail: schools, parks, shopping, library, etc. Which is good since gas is almost $4 a gallon! Anyway, I can walk T to school every day, and the gym I hope to teach at is like 2 minutes away. We also have pools and hot tubs all over our community we can use. Honestly, I have a feeling that we're never going to want to leave here. Of course Roman's career will dictate where we'll be in the future. We could very well end up in the D.C. area in the next couple of years. But, wherever we end up it will be an adventure as long as we're close as a family. So now I'm busy unpacking the house and got T registered for school yesterday. Next week will be decision time for T's future in gymnastics. They are VERY competitive here in California. In Utah T would be ready for competition level 5. Here she's probably a competitive level 4. But the committment and financial responsibilities are HUGE! I'm not so worried about the financial committment as I am the time she'll have to invest. I'm talking 12 hours a week to start, manadatory meets, mostly on Sundays. It'll only get worse as she progresses along. Anyway, I wish there was a gym here that could teach her skills without competing on Sundays, but there aren't. I have a few ideas up my sleeve. I'll keep you posted. As far as A is concerned. I'm not enrolling him in preschool for the last two months we're here. For two days a week, it's almost $300 bucks in some places! I may regret my decision especially on those days A drives me to banging my head against the wall. I'll just have to be creative I guess. Quality time with Mom. Should be interesting....

Beautiful T shines!

T and I played two pieces together for her recital last Thursday evening. She did awesome, even though I messed up a few notes. Sadly, I haven't been keeping up on my piano skills. I played competitively as a child and then quit at age 14 to pursue dance. Yes, I regret it a bit but meanwhile discovered a love of dancing. Anyway, I hope T can stick with it. She seems to really enjoy piano, and it's an additional plus that her teacher is her grandma!

We're moving back to Cali!

We will be moving back to CA the end of March. We're looking forward to being close to R once again. It's been too long!! In the next few weeks I'll send our new address via email or postage to everyone. Please come and visit us anytime. We would absolutely love it.