Baby Shower

Staci and Becky threw us our first baby shower last Saturday. It was a beautiful, elegant shower with great food and wonderful company! We were so blessed to have them there and they showered us with love and gifts for our little one.

Avs vs. Ducks

We recently went to the Honda Center to see our two favorite hockey teams play each other. We had to be loyal to the Avs, but it's weird to go to the Honda Center and not cheer for the Ducks! Oh, well... it's only once per year. Unfortunately, the Avs were not victorious this year but we still enjoyed the game.

Thanksgiving

We got to celebrate Thanksgiving twice this year. On the actual holiday we spent time with Mom, Dad, Grandma, Staci and Mike at Mom & Dad's house. We had a great dinner and lots of family time. Then on Saturday, we celebrated at my Uncle Rick's house with the extended family. We were missing a few, but had a good time together enjoying food, fellowship and family. We even got a mini-concert by Kira! :)

Las Vegas

This is a little late, but I have to post it before I put the Thanksgiving pictures up! Andy and I went to Las Vegas for the annual manager's trip with my company in November. We had some great dinners - at Jasmine in Bellagio and The Eiffel Tower Restaurant in Paris (the hotel), plus we were able to see "O", which we have been wanting to see for years. Here are a few photos from the trip...

Eating dinner at Jasmine

It had a beautiful view...

In the "O" Theater

We had a great view for the show, too! But we couldn't take pics once it started...


The gardens at Bellagio

We had to stop and visit illy espressamente in honor of Blythe... and maybe for a little caffeine fix for Andy, too. :) He said it was excellent! Just a few more months and I will get to partake, too!

We visited the Ferrarri museum at Wynn, as well...

Andy and I at the group dinner at the Eiffel Tower Restaurant

Pie Auction

Lifespring! held a pie auction as a fundraiser for the youth group a few weeks ago. Basically, people voted on who they wanted to see get pies in the face ($1 per vote), then the honor of smearing the pie was auctioned off for each of the top ten people selected. My dad and Mike both ended up having to get a pie in the face... by their wives! Several others got it, too.




Timothy's Pie...

Marlin's Pie...

Disneyland Treasure Hunt

We went on a treasure hunt at Disneyland last weekend to find some Classic Pooh ideas for our little munchkin's nursery. We enjoyed a beautiful day at the park and got the chance to get a lot of walking in with all of the stores and galleries we visited!

We got to ride the new Mark VII Monorail...

See the castle partially decorated for Christmas...

And looking beautiful in the moonlight...

And we walked away with our baby's first Disney onesie. :) It was so cute, we couldn't resist. We can't wait to see her in it!

And we DID find a few ideas for the nursery. Now if we could just find a way to make some room in there...

28 Weeks

It's been a while since I've posted a pregnancy picture on this site... I mostly post these on the Pregnancy blog. But incase you're not following that one - here's an idea of where we're at. :) 28 weeks and counting! Less than twelve weeks to go (hopefully!)...

Andy's New Toy

I got Andy a barbecue for his birthday. It's a Weber Genesis, which was the one he's been wanting for a long time. He and Mike put it together when it came in. Unfortunately, we have been so busy we haven't gotten to use it yet! We will soon, though - we're looking forward to cooking up some steaks on it!

Halloween at the Auction

So I'm a little behind on posting... but here is a photo from Halloween at the auction. This is my staff - from left to right, me, Barb, Lisa and Sharon. We decorated the office like Heaven...

Which nicely contrasted with the front office...

I'm glad I'm on our team! :)

Our New Entertainment

We have a new place for entertainment in our neighborhood! The Citizen's Business Bank Arena opened across the street from us this past weekend. We now have a minor league hockey team that is housed there, as well as special events and concerts that are planned there. They will also have indoor ice skating - all within walking distance from our home.

We went to the opening event on Friday, which was the L.A. Laker's versus the new Oklahoma City Thunder.

Then on Saturday, after a GREAT Lifespring softball game (which we won!), we went to the opening game for the Ontario Reign minor league hockey game. It was a fun weekend!

NKOTB

I went to the New Kids on the Block concert last Wednesday with Staci, Tanya & Becky. We screamed our heads off and jumped up and down like little kids seeing Disneyland for the first time... it was great! :) We were a little too young to be able to join the concert circuit when they were originally popular, but we were all MAJOR fans. Major, major fans... We were obsessed. For that reason, this concert was all the more special for us!

Alternatives to traditional birthday cake

My handsome husband turned 31 this weekend. We were able to enjoy a few different alternatives to the traditional birthday cake.

First, we enjoyed a piece of Hula Pie from Duke's in Huntington Beach.


I didn't catch the picture before he blew out the candle. Oops! This is one of our favorite desserts - Macadamia nut ice cream in an oreo-type crust smothered in hot fudge, whipped cream and more macadamia nuts. It can be easily split between four or five people and with everyone getting a considerable amount. Split between the two of us... it's just sinful. :)

We also had a wonderful dinner at Fleming's, one of our favorite steakhouses. We had the dessert sampler, which consisted of peach cobbler, creme brulee with berries, (super-yummy) cheesecake, ice cream and a molten lava cake. Mmmm...


We had a good time celebrating his birthday this year, although he got sick on Friday when we were supposed to go out to celebrate with the family - so that was a bummer for him. But he was feeling better by Saturday afternoon, so we made the most of the weekend and we ended up having a really great time together!

A note from my Dad

My dad occasionally puts up blog posts on the church's website and I really like the one he put up today. If you haven't had the chance to visit his blog, it can be found here.

What Do I Hold On To?

October 3rd, 2008 by chapobrien

As congress debates economics and our politicians give promises we wonder who can we believe anymore? We distrust for good reason. People are sometimes not trust-worthy. I think I have heard three jokes just recently about campaign promises. (And they were not too favorable toward believing in anything that is being said…) Folks, they are human. Which means they have the same temptation to be self-serving as anyone else. Don’t get me wrong. I do have my favorites in the political arena but they are all human and therefore subject to the same temptations.
Here’s a thought. Instead of placing our hope in the candidate or political flavor, look to you heavenly father who has never failed you. He is always looking for ways to make you happy. He loves you enough to call you his children. When everything else shakes around you there is one solid ground that you can depend on. That solid ground is your relationship with your Lord. ”Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ!” I have found him to be completely trustworthy.

ps (Pastor Steve)

Birthdays

Last weekend was a busy one. On Saturday we had lunch with Mandy and Dotty, who were visiting from San Diego (Dad has to send me the picture - hopefully it will be up soon). From there, we rushed to Sarah's baby shower (see below) and then had Mike and Staci over for pizza that night.

The following day we celebrated birthdays with Collins Taco's at Grandma's house. Since we were celebrating September and October birthdays it was Grandma, Matt, Mike, Andy and Staci. More pictures to come from the celebration continuation this weekend... :)