Do you see what I see... 2008

Keeping up with the Christmas Carol titles, here is a picture of Brendan that my parents took on Sunday morning. My mother says this is the first time that she has seen me in Brendan. He looks so much like Scott that she was surprised to see that he is getting my eyes. I even have noticed that Brendan's eyes are getting bigger like mine were as a child. What do you think?

...oh the weather outside is frightful...

On Saturday, November 15th we took a day and went to Disneyland, it was a beautiful day out! Brendan went on most of the Fantasyland rides and we just enjoyed our morning at Disneyland.

However, after lunch we we went back outside, the weather had completely changed! The sky was full of clouds and I realized that ash was falling from the sky! As we know know, a major fire had started in Yorba Linda that was covering the sky with smoke and ash. What a dramatic difference in the pictures over just a few hours!

Scott and I decided to go home then and not stay out in the smoke and ash. It was quite an adventure driving home since the 91 went right past the fires in Yorba Linda, we could see homes burning out of our window! Of course I left the camera in the trunk, so we don't have any good pictures of the file we experienced, but it was a scary drive home. Parts of the freeway we were driving 5 miles an hour with our flashers on because the smoke was so thick!

Good Christian Men, Rejoice...

Last Sunday morning (November 30th) we had Child Dedications at Church. This is a time for us to gather as a congregation and commit to pray for these little children and commit to work together to teach these children about God's Love and the Christian life. Faith is not based off parents belief and for that reason we do not baptise infants, instead and dedicate them as a reminder to all of us that it is the entire church's responsibility to help raise these children to understand who God is and that Christ gave his life for all of us. We are also instructed to teach these children the way of life, to honor and respect their parents and to become strong independent and hopefully Christian men and women of God.

I am thankful that I have a church family that is now committed to praying for Brendan and teaching him through Sunday School, fellowship and by example. It is our responsibilities as parents to bring our children up in the way of the Lord and I am happy to know that I am not alone, I have an army standing behind me.

We were blessed to have my family join us on Sunday in the commitment at child dedications. My Mother, Father, Grandparents, Sister, Brother-in-Law, and Brothers, all followers of Christ, were able to be with us when we made the public decision to our church family to dedicate our son to God as they joined us in praying for Brendan. What an amazing opportunity we had this weekend. I pray everyday for my baby that he may grow in Christ and one day know him as a Saviour. I pray for guidance as Scott and I raise this gift from God. Scott and I would be honored if any of you would also like to commit with us to pray for and support in the raising of our child.

Over the River and Through the woods...

Okay, so really it was down the freeway and to the coast, and we didn't go to Grandmother's house....but it was a nice Thanksgiving for us all! Last Sunday afternoon all of my family met together in Oceanside (San Diego area) for Thanksgiving week. Myself, Scott, Brendan, My sister Bekah and her husband Kevin, my parents, my Grandparents and both my brothers, as well as my Aunt & Uncle were able to join us! Thirteen people all together!

Our Thanksgiving Table (one of them). My mother made little goodie-bags as place holders. We even made Chocolate covered pretzels in the shapes of pumpkins for the occasion. They were very cute, and although we were in a timeshare, it felt like home with all the cooking, decorations, shopping, sibling rivalry, and family together, just like the holidays should be!

My Brother, JT (Brendan's Uncle Bud) slept through most of dinner after working a very early morning shift before flying to meet us.

Along with a new Thanksgiving outfit, new Thanksgiving bib, Grandma also gave Brendan a Thanksgiving Turkey that "Gobbled" he just loved to hear it make noise and of course chew on the feet. It was quite a long day for Brendan, by 8:00 he was out!

What a morning!!

This morning I woke up and I knew it was going to be one of those mornings. Brendan didn't do as well last night as we had hoped, I think being away from home for a week and surrounded by people threw his schedule off, but nonetheless, I was exhausted this morning when I woke up - I slept in a little more than I should have.

I quickly took a shower this morning and went to go pick up my now screaming child (who wouldn't eat for me at anytime convenient), with nothing to wear this morning (still can't fit into a lot of my pre-pregnancy clothes) I finally throw something on and go to dress Brendan. Once both him and I are dressed and ready to head out the door, we are only 10 minutes later than I normally leave, not too bad I think to myself.

I pack the diaper bag, grab Brendan, pick-up my purse and realize.....I have no keys! I call Scott and he goes out to his car, sure enough, my keys are in my jacket pocket - in my husbands car! I start making phone calls and text-messages to try to find someone to help me. I finally get ahold of Natalie (a friend from CBU) who is just walking out the door to go to work. She agrees to come and get me and help me to take Brendan to Day Care. What a Friend!

With all that excitement, I still get to work only 1/2 an hour late! Now the errands I was going to run at lunch will have to wait for tomorrow... Happy Monday everyone!

Friendship Friday - Erin

A friend of mine has really been on my mind lately, I just thought I would share with you all.

Erin and I have been friends since 8th grade. We have kinda been on-again-off-again friends. We have had our differences, had our fights, and had many good (and stupid) times together. We were part of a group of friends that we named ourselves B.E.E.R (Brittany, Erin, Elizabeth, Rachel) and at almost every gathering, we would have a six pack of IBC Root Beer to celebrate. To this day I can't drink an IBC Root Beer from the bottle without thinking of those girls.

Our "gatherings", were usually held at Erin's house because her parents didn't really mind us being loud, obnoxious, high school girls. We had a lot of fun times, and as I mentioned before, did some pretty silly/stupid stuff (that will not be mentioned here). I really wish I had a picture of the four of us together from freshman year to show you. But I have gotten off topic a little.

Erin and I went to the same high school (Folsom High) and had a few classes together. Although we were both stubborn leaders and wanted things our way, we managed to tolerate each other through all four years. When I left for college to Riverside, and Erin left for Seattle, we lost touch a bit and had a falling-out of sorts. But no matter how many times we decided that we fought and I decided we weren't friends anymore - she always came back.

Erin (who has an amazing voice) sang at my wedding, I flew to Sacramento to go to hers, because despite our differences, we were still friends. (She was a VERY beautiful bride, just ask her husband :))

Last month when I went to Sacramento, I got to spend just a short amount of time with Erin. Although it was brief, it made me realize how much I miss her and the fun times we used to have. We sat and talked about how stupid and innocent we were in high school, we talked about life and what was going on. We talked about her coming to visit sometime, perhaps going to Disneyland together. But it was nice to just sit and have a nice conversation with an old friend.

I know most of you probably don't know Erin, especially not like I know Erin. But like I said, she has been on my mind lately and so I wanted to share a bit about my friend. I hope that her and her husband are able to come and visit sometime soon.

Sears Portraits

Last week we took Brendan to get his Professional 3 month pictures taken (1 day before he turned 4 months). Below are the pictures we took, some are better than others.We ended up ordering a package of the last picture. It was our favorite, even though I thought they were all REALLY cute.