Cutting down a Christmas Tree.

This year we decided to finally make a trip to Apple Hill and cut down a Christmas tree. If you have never heard of Apple Hill, well you should have, it is this amazing area East of Sacramento. It's an area that has numerous orchard, shops, and Christmas tree lots. In the last 1o years that we have been in Northern California, we have never made the trip to Apple Hill. Boy, have we been missing out on some fun. One of the best part of the trip for me was stopping at a farmers market and having some apple donuts and apple cider. The donuts were so crispy with a cinnamon and sugar coating. I have never had a donut so good before in my life. We also picked up some apple upon Tyler's persistent request and they were also the best apples I have ever had. We decided that we needed to make more trips to this destination.

We went to a pretty big Christmas tree farm and thought it was going to be great because we could spend time picking out the "perfect" Christmas tree. Little did we know how overwhelming it was to actually pick one out. The more we looked, the more overwhelming it became to the point we could not remember where all the trees were that we liked.

Tyler was in his element on this farm. He leaded us in between the thickest trees and when we struggled to get by some of the trees, he would laugh because he was small and had no trouble. He especially liked when we encountered a very muddy spot. When he saw a stump where a tree had been cut down or some dead branches, he would get sad and say, "Awww," because he thought they were hurt.
Tyler became tired from all the walking so he decided to take a rest and play in the mud.
We finally settled on a tree that we liked and had it cut down and taken to the front of the lot. We had no idea how heavy this tree was until we got it home and Eric had to trim the bottom and get the tree into the house. We should have had some clue when earlier the tree broke the chain on the machine that was trying to wrap it up at the farm.
This is the tree stuck while they were repairing the chain. It did not look that big to us while it was around all the other Christmas trees.

We also realized that this was the fattest tree we ever had when it took up almost the entire width of our wall in our living room. We were so concerned about the height of the tree when we were picking it out that we did not figure in the width of it. Thank goodness it fit.It sure did smell good.

Days in Passing.

Lately our family has been extremely busy hence why I have not been blogging in 3 months. We have had some very sick family members that we have been feverishly praying for, finals for Eric, work for Kelly, and growing up for Tyler. Through all of this mentally and emotionally exhausting last couple of months, we have also had some great adventures.

One fun project that Eric recently completed was the concrete for our shed out side our house. The best part of it all was the arrival of the huge cement truck. Tyler thought this was the greatest present to show up in front of this house. Sadly he realized that this nice truck had to say goodbye, but the reaction on his face when he saw this truck was beyond words. Eric learned a very important lesson with this project: It is cheaper to just buy your own cement mixer than to rent a truck. Lesson learned.Prepping the ground for the laying of the cement. Tyler loves helping his Dad.

The biggest truck Tyler has ever seen. As Tyler says, "Whoooooaaaaa!"

Eric worked very hard and made at least 7-8 trips with cement because the truck was too heavy to back up onto our grass.

Boys getting dirty.

One of our Friends, Braden came to help and realized that he would rather hire someone to do this in his backyard.

Eric is making grooves in the concrete to prevent cracks.
Gotta love this handyman!

Oh, What a night!

Our Anniversary could not have been any better.
Eric came home from work with a gorgeous bouquet of flowers that was so big I almost did not have a vase big enough to put them in. Our house just permeates with their wonderful smell.

We then took Tyler to Daycare and headed out to eat. Thanks to a recommendation from a friend, we headed to the Slocum House. Talk about elegant. Its this older home that has been converted to an upscale restaurant. There were lights in the trees, winding steps leading up the house, and believe it or not, chickens running around. We just loved it. The setting was elegant and quiet and we could look out the window and see chickens perching on the railing. It was great. We have been to a couple of elegant restaurant during our marriage, but nothing compared to the food we had.

We started off with an appetizer of Bleu Crab Cakes. Divine! Then I had Almond Crusted Salmon with mussels on a bed of butter and fennel with a gourmet salad. Eric had Filet Mignon with sauteed onions. The best part of the night was when Eric received his entree. Next to the Filet Mignon was these three huge Mushrooms. I am talking about 5 inches in size. We were quite shocked. Eric is not a huge fan of mushrooms so I told him I would eat one. He handed me one once the waiter left and when I cut into it, I was surprised. It was not a mushroom at all. It was a potato cut into the shape of a mushroom. It must have been the lighting because we were so deceived. It really looked like a mushroom until you observed it really close. We had a great laugh.

For desert I had a Banana Cheesecake with creme whip and a carmelized banana over carmel sauce. Eric had a carmelized deconstucted banana split. It was all the ingredients in a banana split sundae separated and put on a plate except the banana was sliced with a carmelized glaze, the chocolate was a ganache, and the strawberry was a strawberry gelee. It was really good!

Everything we ate was just delicious. It was one of our favorite anniversaries and we have found our favorite restaurant to celebrate at.

Now that I have your mouth watering, go eat some ice cream.

Happy Anniversary!

Yeeeessss! 5 years!
When its your wedding day, you can only imagine what it would be like in 5 years from then....kids, a job, a house. You imagine it to be so wonderful.
You know what?
It is!

5 years ago today, we entered the Oakland Temple, and were sealed together forever. We made a commitment to always love and cherish each other, to talk to each other no matter how mad we were, and together keep God and our Savior in our hearts and our home. Today, thinking back on that special day, I did not know then what the future would hold, but I did know that as long as we were faithful to our commitments that the future would be great. Today I could not be happier where we are as a family. We have a beautiful child, two dogs, cars , and a home. Though we probably thought Eric would be out of school by now and working, I am glad that we are able to support ourselves and that we have a wonderful family.

I am truly thankful for the gospel and the blessings we have received. I really believe that if it was not for the knowledge that we have and the blessings that we have received from being married in the temple we may not have had such a strong marriage. I am especially thankful for a husband who is so supportive, caring, loving, hardworking, etc, etc. I won't get too sappy.
Happy Anniversary!
Can't wait to see what the next 5 years will bring.

Latest Hobbie.

Michaels was having a clearance event today, So Tyler and I had to check it out. I got some great deals on beads. $0.98-$1.99 for them. I love Michaels! You can buy a whole coordinating ensemble of beads and just add the earring hoops and clasps and you have gorgeous jewelry. While Tyler was sleeping today, I made some cute jewelry.

I have too many craft projects going on right now, but I just had to make time for this.I was excited to find something to match these cute earrings that I had.


This porcelain bead it really pretty in person.


A packet of these flower beads was less than a $1. Love them!


I will make a matching necklace next with the rest of these black flowering beads.


I have been beading for many years and have built up a pretty good supply of hardware to make my jewelry so that when I find the beads that I like, I can make them pretty quick. Each set of earrings takes only about 5 min. Here is some jewelry that I made a while back and that I love to wear.
These are my favorite earrings that I wear to work because they match my blue scrubs. I also love them because they are vintage beads from 1970's.

Ty's Birthday.

This year for Tyler's birthday we spent not one, but two days celebrating. His birthday landed on a Tuesday so we decided that he should have a slumber party with his cousins. We ate pizza, played in the water, and watched movies. Then on Saturday, he celebrated with his entire family. Tyler is at such a fun age where he can open presents on his own and his reaction to any new toy is a high pitched squeal. He was showered with so many gifts that each morning thereafter, he would come out the living room and it was like it was Christmas again. He is so excited for all the fun toys that he gets to play with. Thanks to all who celebrated with occasion with him.Ty and his cousin teaching him to blow out the candles.

Yummy ice cream cake.

Ty's new Cars race track. He is such a boy!
(Notice the cool shirt that Mommy made just for him)

He received lots of Home Depot tools from Grandma and Grandpa.

Ty was so excited to receive a Mack truck that he just stood their and admired it before he actually played with it.

Tyler had a pinata for his birthday last year, but the difference was that he could hit it this year. All the kids had a fun time.

His new water toy from mom and dad. Now he likes to water the dirt path so that he can walk in the mud. At least it will motivate us even more to finish fixing up the back yard.


Ty wore himself out on his birthday. With his new pajamas and of course Mack he is ready for bed.

Family Photo Shoot.

The day of Tyler's Birthday party I decided that since our family was going to be in town that we should take some family photos. My friend was gracious and patient enough to take the photos for us and endure the chaos. It was a hard day. Tyler decided (like he did the last time we took some family photos) to be a pickle. He was a little upset leaving the house in the first place and decided that when we arrived at the park that he was not going to walk, but be held the entire time. I thought going to a park for the pictures would make him jump for joy, but that didn't happen. In the end we got some great photos and even some with Tyler smiling. Here are a few of them. This is the same pose that we used when we took engagement photos.

My family.

Eric's family


I just love this picture of my niece. Her eyebrows give her just the cutest expression.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Tyler!

AAAugghhh! How did 2 years go by so fast? How is it that my baby is really 2 years old.

Tyler:
I love the way you squeeze my cheeks and gives me a big kiss. I love the way you grab your little blankie, get your sippy cup, run to the couch and climb onto our lap to snuggle when you are ready to go to sleep and make sure that you are touching both of mom and dad. I love the way you hold my finger when we walk. I love how you meticulously line up your cars in a perfectly straight line then crashes into them laughing at what you just did. I love that you sit on top of the desk when I am on the computer and give me presents you find or make funny faces. I love when you eat something you like and say, "mmmm" then nod your head in approval. I love when you says,"bye " to everyone every time we leave a store even if you just threw a tantrum. I love when I lay you down in your bed at night how you lift your hand up to stroke my face and poke my nose. I love when you say, Mom or Dad.

I love my little Tyler!

Happy Birthday, Bubba!1 day old.

1 week.

7 weeks.

5 months.

10 months.

18 months

2 years old!