Christmas e- letter

Dear Family and Friends,

Due to lack of preparation, Christmas snuck up on us and we were unable to send out our family Christmas letter so I am posting it here.

2008 has been an eventful year like every year when one looks back; tons of family came to visit, many dinners with friends, fun family outings and the hectic things we do day to day. We can't complain about how busy it was because the year was so good to us.

Jim has continued to work nights 40 hours a week and pursue his schooling in the day. In June, both Jim's and Vanessa's parents came out to Utah to watch Jim walk in the June commencement program. He continued school through the fall semester and we can now say that Jim is successfully finished with his undergrad and has a degree from Brigham Young University in Psychology. His focus now has turned to applying for MBA programs for the coming fall. Isaac and Vanessa are very proud of him for his dedication, hard work and sacrifice that he has made to be a student, father, husband and breadwinner.

Vanessa has enjoyed being a stay at home Mom. She loves taking Isaac on different outings and playing with him. It has been fun and trying for her to figure out the inner workings of a toddler. She has also been able to go back to CA this year 4 times this year to visit friends and family. Vanessa had a goal to lose 60 pounds this year. Even though she didn't make her goal weight, she was successful at losing 35 pounds this year and continues to hit the gym 6 days a week. Vanessa is also thrilled that she is expecting our second child in July.

Isaac has had a great year. He was able to go into nursery at Church which he loves and he has made a best friend at the gym daycare, Ashton. Isaac is really into his cars and trains, loves playing with other kids, cooking, getting dirty and getting into everything. Isaac is very into watching and playing football and his new passion is bowling. We take him at least once a week. He is such a sweet boy and has tons of hugs and kisses for everyone and has a special place in his heart for little babies. He has become quite the traveler and loves going on "p-tings" (airplanes) We just think that he is hilarious and he makes us laugh everyday. He brings true love and joy to our little family.

As a family, we took a family vacation to CA which included going to Vanessa's parents cabin by Twain Harte, going to San Francisco, swimming and seeing a ton of other things. Isaac and Vanessa are VERY excited to have Jim around so we can have more for family time starting in January. We are also excited to the new addition to the family that will be coming in July. Isaac will be a great big brother.

We are truly grateful for all the love and blessing that were felt and received this year. We feel that we are very lucky to have such wonderful friends and family.Warm wishes we send to you this Christmas season and new year and we hope that you can always feel His spirit under your tree and in your home. 

Merry Christmas!

Love,

Jim, Vanessa, Isaac and baby #2

The Cat is Out of the Bag

I was hoping to keep it a secret until after the holidays but it seems the cat is out of the bag. I'm pregnant!!! We are very excited after a year and a half of trying and a ton of fertility pills later, we will be blessed with another addition to our family in July.

Family Pictures

This year I decided that I wasn't going to send out Christmas cards and a family letter for a couple of reasons. 1)No one ever recycles them instead they get thrown in the trash. 2) I leave for California in a couple of days and it was just one too many things on my list to finish before I left. 3) They get to be expensive after you buy the cards, paper, ink and not to mention the price of stamps.

Although the cards are going out, we still decided to take family pictures to keep with tradition. I have posted the 6 pictures that were taken and luckily there are a couple of decent ones. I would have liked to take a ton more so I would have more to choose from but after the 6th picture was taken a flock of ducks flew overhead and one pooped on Isaac's hair! Can you believe it? Dark green poop in his swirly. You can't even cover that up. Needless to say, we all had a laugh and I am sure that we will never forget this year of pictures being taken for our family photo.

A different elf

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

We were Elfed

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I thought it was catchy

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Thanksgiving Fun

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Every year for Thanksgiving since Jim and I have been married, my parents have come out to Utah to visit us for 5 days. This has become more fun since we had Isaac. They have so much fun playing with him, he loves all the attention and I love the freedom to do things like updating my blog at a decent hour in the day. This year Isaac and I took my parents to story time at the library which they thought was cute. I have been wanting them to go for a while but this is the first time it actually worked out. We also went bowling which Isaac loves, Temple Square to look at the Christmas lights and out to dinner a couple of nights. For Isaac's birthday, my parents bought him a tricycle. Isaac was unsure of it at the beginning, but now he gets upset if he doesn't get to go out and ride it everyday. I wonder how it will be when there is snow and ice on the ground. Needless to say, everyone enjoys it when Papa and Nana come to visit. As for Thanksgiving Day I got up early to start making the turkey and all the fixings. Jim did make some AWESOME rolls! We had our friends, Artur and Inna and their baby Leah, over for dinner. They are from the Ukraine so I wanted to make sure they had a place to go on our holiday. Inna brought a potato salad and a strawberry pie which were fabulous! They are her from her grandmother's recipe. She wanted to make sure she could bring a little bit of her Ukrainian heritage to share. It has been a great few days and now to think that in exactly 2 weeks, Isaac and I will be in California!

Getting to Know you: Christmas Edition

Thanks Stephanie for posting this on your blog. What a great spin on an old classic. Come on and do it. No bah-humbugging around here!


1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper. I hate wrapping but it is so much more fun to tear the paper than to pull out the frilly tissue paper.
2. Real tree or Artificial? Real. That is what both Jim and I both grew up on. Ironically though, we have an artificial tree because we always go back to CA for Christmas.
3. When do you put up the tree? Day after Thanksgiving.
4. When do you take the tree down? When ever Jim helpless me. One year it was up until the end of February.
5. Do you like eggnog? Yes! I also like it warm with some nutmeg and cinnamon on top
6. Favorite gift received as a child? Diamond earrings from my grandparents
7. Hardest person to buy for? Jim and our parents
8. Easiest person to buy for? Isaac. He doesn't really care what you get him.
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? mail.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I can't say since the person who gave it to me reads this blog on occasion.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? I don't have one.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? December. I know too late
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? What isn't my favorite? If I had to choose, I would probably say the things I only get around that time of year: peppermint hot chocolates, Carmel apple cider, morcella, linguica, prime rib and twice baked potatoes.
16. Lights on the tree? Yes! What kind of X-mas tree doesn't have lights?
17. Favorite Christmas song? Carol of the Bells
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travel back to CA since both of our families live 5 minutes apart
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? dasher, dancer, prancer, vixen, comet, cupid, Donner, blitzen, Rudolph ..it that all of them?
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? whatever we have
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? Christmas morning!
22. Favorite ornament theme or color? No theme at least for the family tree with homemade and sentimental ornaments. I think you if you have a second tree it should be themed.
23. Favorite thing to eat for Christmas dinner? Prime Rib, twice baked potatoes, green peas, salad with Grandmas homemade dressing and an array of yummy desserts
24. What do you want for Christmas this year? World peace!...Just kidding..cliche'.. I would like a family vacation that is not to CA
25. Who is most likely to respond to this? Who knows?

Leaves part 2

For those of you that have read "Leaves," you saw all the great, big piles of leaves that I raked up in my yard. Well, thanks to Shannon for helping me bag and her kids for playing with Isaac, the task is COMPLETE!!! All the leaves are bagged!! WOO HOO! Now to someone who prides themselves on yard work would probably think that I didn't do a very good job because there are still some leaves on the grass. Oh well. If you saw a before and after, I don't think you would really care about the "few" that are left. Besides, it took 35 large garbage bags to bag up all the leaves. Because of the large quantity of filled bags and not a lot of room in the garbage can, we now we look like white trash with bags lining our driveway. If you have any spare room in your garbage can this week, I would love to drop some bags off in them since it looks like at least 3 or 4 weeks until the bags are out of the driveway.

Isaac's "New" Bed

Isaac has a new bed. OK, well, not really. It is his crib with one of the sides off. His crib can actually turn into a bed, but this suits him for the moment. He really likes it and has only fallen off of it in his sleep twice but one of the two times he didn't even wake up! So far we hadn't had any troubles with him not wanting to go to bed and crawling out. He just enjoys it.

Can You Believe It?

Today I went to go fill up my van with gas, a dreaded task. I feel like with every gallon going in the van the dollar signs just get louder and louder. Well, not to day. I filled my van up, all the way up for only $32! That's right, only $1.79 a gallon!!!!! This summer it was close to $75 /$80 to fill up. That is when I boycotted the gas stations by not driving and started biking everywhere instead with Isaac in his biking caddy. I am SO glad that gas has gone down and I actually left the gas station thrilled with my "savings" and not worrying about how the heck are we going to pay for this.

Birthday Boy

On Friday, our little boy turned 2! Can you believe it? I can't. We had a fun day. He had cupcakes and we had to sing to him a couple of times and let him blow out his candles a few times because he kept saying, "Again." Later in the day we went to BYU to go bowling; one of Isaac's favorite activities. He had a ton of fun. He is such a sweet, loving kid with a joy and excitement for life. He has blessed our family tremendously and I am so glad that he is my son. I love you Isaac and Happy 2ND Birthday!!!

leaves

For those of you who don't know, we have 2 very big trees in front of our place. When they are in bloom with leaves, they shade our front room which is very nice in the summer but it is also very nice to just look at the canopy of leaves. They are such a delight in spring and summer. However, when fall comes around, that is a different story. What goes up must come down, right? Well that is what happens. Our canopy of nice, green leaves change to a pretty yellow before they turn brown and fall to the ground. After spending a ton of time raking them up into 15 HUGE piles, I was pretty tired. It is a multi-day event. My neighbor, Shannon, came to help me bag them. After an hour, we bagged 4 piles which consisted of 20, that's right, 20 large garbage bags compacted to the max full of leaves. Only 11 more piles to go!

BYU vs. SDSU

So on Saturday Jim, Isaac and I went to the BYU/San Diego State football game. It was so nice to go back to a game since Isaac and I missed the last one because we were in California and we didn't go to the one before that because it was in the low 30's and I think that is too cold to make Isaac sit through a game.

Isaac was SO excited! He absolutely LOVES football. He loves to be at the games, watch it on TV or even watch highlights on YouTube. This makes me very happy and I hope he continues his love for football because I really enjoy it too.

Well, if you haven't heard, BYU spanked SDSU 43-12. Every time BYU scores a touchdown, field goal etc, the cannon fires and the BYU band plays the fight song while everyone sings along. Isaac is always so interested in the last part of the song where you cheer. It is really fun to watch. Also through out the game each side of the stands: North, South, East and West, all shout at different times, "B-Y-U-COUGARS!!" Isaac gets really into this too. As you can see, he likes practicing this at home. We are sad that there aren't anymore home games but we can't wait to watch the BYU/U of U game on the Saturday after Thanksgiving! GO BYU!!!

Church Issues Statement

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has been taking a lot of flack from opponents of Proposition 8. Whether you agree with the results of the vote or not, I agree with the Church's public statement regarding it's members involvement in upholding the proposition and the current protests outside California temple.

The statement reads as follows:

SALT LAKE CITY 7 November 2008 The Church issued the following statement today:

It is disturbing that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is being singled out for speaking up as part of its democratic right in a free election.

Members of the Church in California and millions of others from every faith, ethnicity and political affiliation who voted for Proposition 8 exercised the most sacrosanct and individual rights in the United States — that of free expression and voting.

While those who disagree with our position on Proposition 8 have the right to make their feelings known, it is wrong to target the Church and its sacred places of worship for being part of the democratic process.

Once again, we call on those involved in the debate over same-sex marriage to act in a spirit of mutual respect and civility towards each other. No one on either side of the question should be vilified, harassed or subject to erroneous information.

Speechless

"Yes We Can!"

Did you Vote?

I am proud to say that participated in a ritual that happens every four years in this country; I exercised my constitutional right to vote this morning. Whether or not we all agree on who should be in power on a state or federal issue or agree on propositions or amendments to a state's constitution, everyone 18 years and older need to exercise their right to vote. If you don't vote, you don't get to complain about anything!!! Plus, here is an incentive(although you shouldn't need one), if you show your "I Voted" sticker at your local Krispy Kreme Doughnut shop, you get a free star shaped doughnut with sprinkles. So if you haven't voted yet, get off your lazy bum and go do it!

Fall

When we left for California the trees in our front yard had all their leaves on them and they were still green. When we returned however, half of the leaves are now on our lawn and the remaining leaves are a really pretty yellow. Isaac was thrilled when he was able to run in the leaves, throw them and make "leaf angels." Changing of the leaf colors in one thing that I don enjoy about living in Utah. I never really saw it much living in the Bay Area. Now it is officially fall in my book.

I love fall! I love how the weather gets cooler but you're not freezing. A nice hoodie will do. I love being able to take a hot, long shower and fill the bathroom up with steam. I love the fact that I can bring back soup and bean nights back into our weekly dinner menu. Not only are they cheap to make and you can eat them for a couple of days but they feel hearty and warm up your belly. I love pumpkin:carving, boiling, pureeing, baking, smelling, you name it. Warm Pumpkin chocolate chip bread is my favorite! I love that I can now burn candles with scents that remind me of the holidays. There are so many more things that I love about fall but I think the main thing that I love is that this is the time when I really want to spend time with close family and friends; share a meal, sit and talk,enjoy each others company. There is something warm and inviting about fall weather that is unique to itself.

Oh last thing, daylight savings is this weekend. Whoo hoo! So anyone that doesn't have little kids gets to sleep in an extra hour later!

Happy Halloween

I hope everyone had a wonderful and spooky Halloween. We did. Since I love holidays and their history, here is some info on the history of Halloween from wikipedia.com

History

Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain (Irish pronunciation: [ˈsˠaunʲ]; from the Old Irish samain).^[1] The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, and is sometimes^[2] regarded as the "Celtic New Year."^[3] Traditionally, the festival was a time used by the ancient Celtic pagans to take stock of supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. The ancient Gaels believed that on October 31, now known as Halloween, the boundary between the living and the deceased dissolved, and the dead become dangerous for the living by causing problems such as sickness or damaged crops. The festivals would frequently involve bonfires, into which bones of slaughtered livestock were thrown. Costumes and masks were also worn at the festivals in an attempt to mimic the evil spirits or placate them.^[4][5]

History of name

The term Halloween is shortened from All Hallows' Even (both "even" and "eve" are abbreviations of "evening," but "Halloween" gets its "n" from "even") as it is the eve of "All Hallows' Day,"^[6] which is now also known as All Saints' Day. It was a day of religious festivities in various northern European Pagan traditions,^[7] until Popes Gregory III and Gregory IV moved the old Christian feast of All Saints' Day from May 13 (which had itself been the date of a pagan holiday, the Feast of the Lemures) to November 1. In the ninth century, the Church measured the day as starting at sunset, in accordance with the Florentine calendar. Although All Saints' Day is now considered to occur one day after Halloween, the two holidays were, at that time, celebrated on the same day. Liturgically, the Church traditionally celebrated that day as the Vigil of All Saints, and, until 1970, a day of fasting as well. Like other vigils, it was celebrated on the previous day if it fell on a Sunday, although secular celebrations of the holiday remained on the 31st. The Vigil was suppressed in 1955, but was later restored in the post-Vatican II calendar.

Symbols

The carved pumpkin lit by a candle inside is one of Halloween's most prominent symbols in America and is commonly called a jack-o'-lantern. Originating in Europe, these lanterns were first carved from a turnip or rutabaga. Believing that the head was the most powerful part of the body, containing the spirit and the knowledge, the Celts used the "head" of the vegetable to frighten off any superstitions.^[8] The name jack-o'-lantern can be traced back to the Irish legend of Stingy Jack,^[9] a greedy, gambling, hard-drinking old farmer. He tricked the devil into climbing a tree and trapped him by carving a cross into the tree trunk. In revenge, the devil placed a curse on Jack, condemning him to forever wander the earth at night with the only light he had: a candle inside of a hollowed turnip. The carving of pumpkins is associated with Halloween in North America,^[10] where pumpkins were not only readily available but much larger, making them easier to carve than turnips. Many families that celebrate Halloween carve a pumpkin into a frightening or comical face and place it on their doorstep after dark. In America, the tradition of carving pumpkins is known to have preceded the Great Famine period of Irish immigration. The carved pumpkin was originally associated with harvest time in general in America and did not become specifically associated with Halloween until the mid-to-late 19th century.

The imagery surrounding Halloween is largely an amalgamation of the Halloween season itself, nearly a century of work from American filmmakers and graphic artists,^[11] and a rather commercialized take on the dark and mysterious. Halloween imagery tends to involve death, magic, or mythical monsters. Traditional characters include ghosts, ghouls, witches, owls, crows, vultures, pumpkin-men, vampires, black cats, spiders, goblins, zombies, mummies, skeletons, and demons.^[12]

Particularly in America, symbolism is inspired by classic horror films, which contain fictional figures like Frankenstein's monster and The Mummy. Elements of the autumn season, such as pumpkins and scarecrows, are also prevalent. Homes are often decorated with these types of symbols around Halloween.

Church Halloween Party

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After a couple of hours after arriving home from Ca, Isaac and I went to our ward Halloween party. We had a great time. Majority of people were dressed up in costumes and some were really cute and interesting. There were actually 3 couples who dressed up as the shapes from the video game Tetrus and they actually had the music playing too. There was costume contests, pumpkin bowling, eating doughnuts off the string with no hands and trunk or treat. This was both mine and Isaac's first ever trunk or treat. It was really fun to see everyone decorate the trunks of there cars with scary spiders, lights, music, body parts and more. Isaac would go around to each car and say, "Tit Teet" for candy. He really enjoyed himself!

Spur of the Moment

So on **WARNING** This is a LONG blog entry. Read at your leisure.

October 15th I was talking to my brother, Ryan, on the phone and he wanted me to come home to see him in his play. Well, I don't know about you, but our money tree hasn't been producing much this year. (If yours has, please give me a tip to get a better harvest!) So he said that he would pay for half the flight and my Mom would pay for the other. So from the time that I booked my ticket online to the time Isaac and I were sitting on the plane, it was only 36 hours later!

It was nice to go home for a while and the weather was wonderful!! It was in the upper 70's and sometimes low 80's the WHOLE time!!! We surprised my Dad when he came home from his fishing trip, saw my Brother's play, surprised my Grandpa for his birthday and my best friend, Jennifer's birthday and saw my friend Jason who just got home from his mission in Mexico. It was really fun to have all of these surprises.

It was also really nice to just do my own thing. Normally when we go home, it is weeks in planning on whom I am meeting with and where with in all of my family and friends. This time was so much more low key.

Jeanne took Isaac to his very first trip to Fairyland in Oakland. I remember going there when I was little. He had fun running all over the place. My Mom took us to SF where we ate at the Rainforest Cafe. Isaac had mixed emotions. He was so excited to see all the animals, but was also so scared he was shaking. We also went to Pier 39 where Isaac had so much fun looking at all the boats on the water and watching the sea lions. He kept saying, "Ewww Mommy. Ewww." because of the smell.

On Sunday, Isaac and I along with the Wuehler's went to the Oakland Temple and then they threw him a birthday party since they won't be in Utah with us to celebrate it. Isaac thought he was so cool when everyone was singing Happy Birthday to him. He also loved eating the yummy cupcakes.

Isaac and I also ventured out to Ardenwood Farm. I went on field trips there when I was younger. It is a historical Victorian farm. They only downside was that we went on a "field trip day." Isaac loved petting the animals, looking at all the tractors, watching kids make corn husk dolls, riding on the train and helping out with farm chores in the garden.

For one of the weekends, we went to my parents cabin up in Cedar Ridge. Isaac is in heaven up there with all the dirt, bugs, and animals! This weekend he was really cute because he was my Dad's helper. Everywhere my Dad went he followed. He helped mend up some rotten wood by the water sprocket, helped wash my Dad's fishing gear and even helped putting the coals in the BBQ. He was very upset when it was time to say bye to the cabin.

On one of our last days there, Isaac and I went over to Half Moon Bay and visited the Lemos Farm. My grandparents took me there when I was little. This time of year it is a huge pumpkin patch with ghost trains, pony rides, hay rides, petting zoo, jumpers and more. Isaac was so excited to see all the spooky spiders and skeletons on the ghost train. He would laugh so loud and point to them. He also thought he was Mr. Big Boy on the ponies. He rode them a few times;all with out my help. At one time he was holding on to the saddle with one hand and waving to everyone around him with the other. It was so sweet. I think his favorite thing there was these horse type rockers. There were tons all lines up and he would rock with other kids by him and just laugh so hard to himself.

After the pumpkin patch we drove a few more minutes to Half Moon Bay State Beach. We should have made this trip a few days earlier when it was in the 80's but it was typical weather for us, foggy and breezy. On the beach Isaac had fun digging in the sand and picking up sea shells. He also found a dead seal with no head. Gross! Besides eating lunch his favorite activity there was chasing after the seagulls.

On my last full day there, I was able to meet up with my friend Jason who returned the day before from serving a mission in Mexico. That was one of the highlights of my trip! It was SO good to have lunch with him and for him to meet Isaac since the last time he saw me I was taking him to the MTC 8 1/2 months pregnant!

We had a wonderful time and my brother and my parents had fun playing with Isaac.

Thanks again Ryan and Mom! We'll be seeing you soon!