Our new baby Tonka!!

Our newest addition is a 90lb American bulldog. We weren't necessarily looking for a dog; this one came into our lives over a month ago. He had gotten lost and found us. We put him in our backyard and gave him some water. He was so sweet and calm. I was preparing to make some signs to post up the next day. However, the owner found him that night. She said that they had 5 full bread dogs and were looking for homes for two of them, Tonka included. She said he was still a puppy, 9 months old!!! And still growing! He's huge already, so I can't imagine what he's going to look like at 2 years old when he's full grown! Anyway, the owner left that night with Tonka while we pondered whether to keep him. The next day we decided that YES we wanted this dog! We contacted Tonka's family immediately but weren't able to bring him home until last night!! After we picked him up in our van, we drove around picking up food and toys. Our good friend Jay also gave us a crate for him to sleep in at night. Thanks Jay! We will be crate training him. Today I signed Tonka up for obedience classes at our local Pet Smart. Starts next week. I also need to get him neutered soon! Saying that the kids love the dog is an understatement! We'll see how strong that love is in a few months! After they have to pick up his piles in the backyard! But, honestly, so far Tonka is a very loveable animal. He is obedient, submissive, calm, and just so sweet. I think he's going to be a perfect fit for our family!

Lovin' Utah!!

I have more pictures of our fun times here in Utah, but you'll have to wait until I get home and download them. Sorry. But here are a couple of us sledding on New Years Day. T is shown with her best bud Erin, and of course there's me with my little cherub. We've had a great time here, and honestly I don't want the vacation to end. Most of all I'm going to miss my family. I just wish we lived closer to them. Here's a brief list of all our activities these past two weeks. All in chronological order. I'll elaborate later. Salt Lake temple trip with siblings, their spouses, and parents. Spaghetti factory dinner celebrating Dad's 60th birthday. Skiing at Park city with brother, sisters, and R. Way fun!!!! Decorating cookies with grandma. Visiting sister at work and eating all her non-free snacks and playing ping pong and pool. Me mauling baby Shad 24/7 (he's 2 months old). Shopping and more shopping. Endless hours playing guitar hero and DD revolution and other card and board games. Me and R's 11 year anniversary skiing at Sundance (I'm still a crappy skiier. Poor R). R and I visit our old stomping ground at Sundance and in Provo. Going to see two movies, one of which probably wasn't very appropriate for my kids. Oops! Me going to Gold's Gym a few times (I LOVE Body Combat!!). Lunch with mom. Lunch with sisters. Lunch with friends. Eating way toooooo much!!! Sledding with the fam. Hurting my back doing nothing (I'm OK. Just needs ice). Lots of fun. Soon we'll be home!!!

Merry Christmas!!

I love Christmas! The family and I have had a ball decorating the house, wrapping presents, listening to holiday music, and making festive treats. Last weekend Ida and Pete spent Saturday with us watching holiday movies and making cookies. Ida has this really fun recipe where she creates Christmas cookies with different colored dough. They are delicious! The kids had fun creating with her. It was like playing with "edible" playdough. We had a fun visit with them. This weekend my aunt and her family will come and decorate more cookies with us for our annual "cookie decorating" party. We are excited to see them. Next week we are off to Utah to see family! I can't wait! I miss them so much. I know T and A are excited to see their friends and extended family again. Hopefully we'll get some ski time in while we're there. R and I will also be celebrating our 11 year anniversary. Crazy!!!! I can't believe. We're like an old married couple now. Well, I know this sounds cliche, but I truly feel blessed this year. We moved to paradise, basically. We couldn't ask for a better place to raise our kids. Everything we want or need is right here. All except for our family in Utah, of course. We love our church here! The families are amazing. There's so much love and spirit in this ward. I personally feel inspired by so many of the women here. They are so talented. I have so much to learn from them. R has a great job with lots of promise and opportunity. And most importantly, He loves it!!! And I love my job as a mother of two very special children. I'm also blessed to be able to earn a living part time as well. I teach aerobic classes at three clubs in the area as well as dance classes at T's gym. My bootcamp business is also thriving, and it's so exciting to these women getting healthier and stronger. I often go to work thinking, I can't believe I get paid to do this!! T and A go to a wonderful school where their teachers are amazing. I'm so grateful for that. They are really being challenged and pushed. A recently finished soccer and is now attending my Wednesday night kids hip hop class. He loves it! And I love having him there. He also continues to be our little comedian at home. T will be moving up in the next month or so to team level gymnastics. We are very excited for her. This is something she really loves, and she is so good at it. She will have the opportunity to learn from two coaches who were past olympians, one a silver medalist in the 2004 Athens games. Hey, I'm just impressed that she can do 10 pull-ups and I can't even do one! I am so grateful for the blessings the Lord has showered upon my family this year. I hope that all of you have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!! We love and appreciate you all!

End of the Season

Sorry I haven't posted pictures for a while. My camera was broken, so I had to send it to Sony to get fixed. It was kind of a bummer because I didn't have a camera for the pumpkin patch trip, our church Halloween party, or trick or treating. So if any of my "local" friends have pictures (of my kids) from any of these events I'd appreciate some copies. Thanks! A's soccer season is officially over and here's their last day team picture. Unfortunately, I don't have a professional one because we were at Disneyland when they were taken. So this is the best I can do until next year. Featured are A's coaches, including his dad, and his teammates Kyle, Preston, Christopher, and Colby. It was a fun season, but I'm glad to have my Saturdays back. Now A wants to pursue breakdancing. That should be interesting!:) I think he'd actually be good at it. We'll see. T is going to be bumped up to team any day, so I'll probably wait for that and then get A signed up. Love you all!!

Thank you all!!

A, T, and I went waving signs for "Yes on prop 8" the other day. About 45 minutes into it, A had a nasty fall off of a wall close by and landed on his face. I didn't see it happen, but someone else did and brought my boy to me. He was gushing blood from his mouth and nose. I thought for sure he had suffered major trauma to his poor little face. His nose looked broken and I wasn't sure if he had suffered a concussion or injury to his mouth. Many people gathered to assist, and then Cathy Arbuckle offered to drive us to urgent care. Thank you so much Cathy!!! T stayed with my visiting teacher Kerrie Edwards and played with her girls. T had a lot of fun too. Thanks Kerrie!! At urgent care A was in a lot of pain and wouldn't stop crying. The bleeding had stopped, but the doctor was unable to examine him properly because A was so upset and didn't want to be touched. R met up later and we both told A he could pick out a toy at Target if he could quiet down for the doctor. Almost immediately he stopped crying. After a little while his spirits lifted and the nurse took him in to get x-rays. We thought for sure his nose was broken. It just didn't look right. Fortunately, the doctor said it wasn't broken and sent us home with a prescription of motrin. Two days later, A is doing fine. He couldn't play soccer today, but we still went to the game to cheer his teammates on. His nose is still black and blue and swollen, but I think he'll be fine. Thank you all who have kept him in your thoughts and prayers. We received many kind phone calls and emails from people in the ward. Thank you Corine Malloy for the goodies you brought over. A has felt very loved. I've felt so touched by the many guardian angels in this ward family. Thank you sooo very much!!!

I did it!!

OK, I know I was supposed to take longer to study for this test, but with our plans to adopt I felt the need to hurry up and get it over with. I've been studying pretty hardcore for a while and felt prepared to take my personal training exam on Saturday. It was soooo hard!!! I really had to know the stuff. It took a couple hours to take and I thought for sure I had failed it. But, as luck would have it, I passed! I know there's so much more to learn in terms of excercise science, but I think I have a good foundation to build upon. I've also started a bootcamp business with a friend of mine. I'm really excited about this opportunity and blessed to be able to do something that I absolutely love that really helps improve a person's quality of life. We start our first 7 week session the first week in November. We'll run it 3 days a week. Mandy and I thought of starting after Christmas, but we chose to get the ball rolling now, especially during this very "dangerous" holiday season ahead!!! I've also got some potential FBI clientelle as well. I have a reputation for "kicking the crap out of people," so I'm sure that's what they're after. I do have a website but don't feel quite brave enough to put it on my blog. Sorry. Anyway, thank you all for your love and encouraging words in the last blog. We are very excited and nervous about this adoption. Tomorrow is our first official meeting with our social worker. I'll keep you updated!!

Disneyland Trip

Just wanted to share a few photos of our recent Disneyland/California Adventure Park trip. We went with our cousins Fred and Kristen Garcia and their son "little" Roman. Such a fun time and the first for us going to the California park. Their rides were pretty fun, especially the Scream roller coaster ride. Very smooth. And of course what made the trip special was going with family members we adore!!!!