Per Tanyetta's Request...

Here is an update on my blog!!! It has been far too long (about 6 weeks!) and mostly I have Facebook to blame. It's just so easy to quickly post on there.

At the end of October our search for a new 4 legged friend finally came to an end when we found Jezebel (Brian's pick) at a local shelter. She's a (almost) 2-year-old German Shepherd/Sharpei mix and she is seriously the BEST dog for our family! She's great with the kids, loves to run with Brian and so well-behaved. We love her!

My mom, stepdad, and stepbrother came out to visit for Thanksgiving. We had a great time together and dinner turned out pretty much perfect!

We took the two dogs to the dog beach (they brought their lab, Lilly with them). The dogs had a blast! It was really fun to watch them frolic and play in the water.

We went to Ruby's Diner at the end of the Oceanside Pier one night for dinner. Seriously, good 50's style food!

Mom and I also got in plenty of girly fun together, which is my favorite part. We went and saw "New Moon" and had a great time shopping on Black Friday - in the evening of course!

We also finally conformed to our practical sides and traded in our Jeep Wrangler for a minivan. Yup, I said it. I never EVER thought I would but I now drive in a fashionable Town & Country. I actually do really love it. It's extremely convenient and very comfortable.

Halloween 2009

We had a great Halloween! My friend from Utah, Nicole was in town on vacation and brought her two girls over to go Trick or Treating with us. Our kids get along so well! When Gabe woke up the next morning, he came into our bedroom and asked where the girls went. He told me that he wanted them to sleep over and stay to play with him.

Sierra looks for the good candy while Ashlyn holds the bowl.

Ready to go!

Gabe dressed as a Dragon

Ashlyn was a High School Musical cheerleader

This is Gabe's signature pose.

The kids got lots of candy (that they aren't even very interested in eating!) and had a great time TOTing. Our neighbors across the street made a fantastic spook ally in their garage and Gabe went through it twice! When the costumed kids jumped out at him, he laughed every time. Ashlyn thought it was scary, but fun and Nicole's girls were a little scared. I carried Sierra through so she and I are now bonded! ;) Somehow my camera missed Madi, but she was here too, in her TinkerBell costume. Sierra was dressed as Silvermist.

Lavender Hill Pumpkin Patch

We took the kids to Lavender Hill Pumpkin Patch this past weekend to pick out our pumpkins for Halloween. The patch is a local, small organic farm and we had gone there last year. The kids picked 4 pumpkins and then also recieved tiny pumpkins as a gift from the farm. When you buy your pumpkins, they give them names. I'm trying to remember the names ours got... one was "Prize Winner" and another was "Orange Smoothie". I think it's funny that they name all of their pumpkins. The big ones had pretty funny names.

New Living Room Floors

Just about 2 weeks ago, while Brian's parents were visiting, we put new flooring in the living room. With the help of Brian's dad, brother Dan, and BIL Dan (yes, there are two) it was done in less than a day from start to finish! This is the same flooring we put in the dining room about 6 months ago. It feels so nice to cross another room off the "To Do" list!

This is the living room before we moved in.

It was actually designed as a formal living/dining room

but as we have no use for either, we decided to make it our

main living/family room. The chandelier in this pic

was replace with a ceiling fan/light.

Our living room now. I have two more pieces of furniture

coming. One is a console/sofa table that will go

under the window to the right and we'll use it as a sort of

charging station for phones, etc. The other is an

end table to go under the clock. Both are white.

One day, we'd like to add a piano.

Here's another view of the room.

The front door is there on the left.

The fixture on the couch is Ashlyn. ;)

Texas... Yeehaw!

I just got home from Texas Monday night after visiting my best friend. She just had her adorable baby Dylan and I was so glad that I was able to go and meet him and spend a few days with her family.
I had a really great time, totally relaxing and fun. I met some really nice people and saw a few I'd met before. And best of all, I got lots of time to hold and snuggle sweet Dylan. I know I should have taken pics and posted them but I really didn't take any... I was busy loving on that cute baby boy!
Thank you so much to Stacy & Jamie for letting me come out and hang with them for a few days!!

Back to School

Ashlyn headed back to school on Monday... this time as a 3rd grader! She is very excited at the prospect of learning to write cursive! She was also excited that our neighborhood got a bus (as was I, considering the school is just over 5 miles away!).

Here is Ashlyn, waiting at the bus stop.

Gabe & I walked her to the bus stop.

The bus is here!!

She's had a great week so far. She really likes her teacher. I hope the excitement is still there when she starts getting homework next week!

This busy life!

I know I haven't been staying on top of my blog lately, but I've been busy, really!!
Because we tend to host so much company (it's been someone every month since March!) and we still have our busy lives to live, we haven't been able to get a lot done on the house. We start a lot of projects that don't always get finished. We are attempting to get 2-3 months to ourselves to catch up and get some projects done. I am currently working on Gabe's room, which has waited a long time. We're putting up bead board in the lower half of his room and hoping to get that all done this weekend, but of course it's so much more than just that... it's chair rail and baseboards too!
Meanwhile, Brian has been very busy at work, getting home late and working plenty of weekend hours as well.
Gabriel goes back to preschool tomorrow (Yay!) and Ashlyn is enjoying her visit with her grandparents in Utah. She left Wednesday and is spending one week with my mom & Don and one with my dad & Jennie. Summer has gone by pretty quickly!
Hopefully my next update will include Gabe's finished bedroom!!

Ashlyn's 8th Birthday

We celebrated Ashlyn's 8th birthday today (two days early) and went to CB's Cupcakes at the mall. This place is so cute! Ashlyn invited 5 of her friends and they decorated cupcakes together. The theme was Harry Potter (what else?) so the cupcakes were red velvet with yellow (gold) buttercream frosting. The girls had a lot of fun putting all kinds of toppings on their individual cupcakes. Ashlyn included red and yellow gummy bears on hers.

I love the decor!

Ashlyn in her special chair. I want to make one

for my scrapbook room! It has chiffon ruffles

all around the bottom, like a tutu!

Blowing out her candle.


Opening gifts at home.

This is an inside family joke... we got Ashlyn a Snuggie!

She thinks it's totally great and plans on using

it tonight while she reads.

She was so excited to get her very own

(PINK!!) iPod! We pre-loaded it

with all of her favorite music from The Beatles

to Gwen Stefani.

Listening to "Dani California"

Wearing her Snuggie. Haha!! (And little

brother being silly)

We feel so lucky to have such an amazing daughter. She's intelligent, funny, beautiful, and caring. Ashlyn has a very important role in our family and she fits it perfectly. We love you so much Ashlyn!!! Happy Birthday.

Petting Zoo fun

We went up to Orange County last week to pick up Ashlyn's friend and take her to our house for a sleepover. We stopped at this little petting zoo before going home and stayed for a couple of hours visiting the animals.

Ashlyn pretended to take care of all the bunnies

Gabriel loved the guinea pigs.

This is the first animal he's picked up that

didn't squirm and try to get away. I'm pretty

sure guinea pigs have very small brains.

Don't let them fool you. These goats appear to
be sweet and gentle, but they are ruthless!

Look how cautious Ashlyn is. This is of course, after

a couple of them jumped on her, trying to get at food.

We love DisneyLand!

Okay so these pics are actually from the middle of June... but I just found them! We met up with our friends, Jean Claude and Elena, for an evening of fun at DisneyLand and California Adventure. We had a great time with them. We let the kids choose every ride. :)

Just the girls.

On Triton's carousel.

Look at our pretty princess.

We waited SO LONG to go on Toy Story Mania.

It was worth it though!

Waiting in line...

Gabe would not pose with me. Little stinker.

What's a "Sprayground"?

Whenever I post on my FaceBook page that we are going or have just been to the sprayground, I get at least a couple of comments asking me what a sprayground is. Hopefully this helps explain it a little better. I should have taken a picture of the entire structure but I didn't even think of it at the time. Next time, I'll get the whole thing in the shot!

The sprayground is a play area based around waterworks. There are several different sprinkler set ups. Basically, it's just a big wet zone with a bunch of different ways to get soaked! The kids were hanging around this small sprayer, filling up their buckets and then throwing the full buckets of water onto each other. There are bigger sprayers that you can run through and stand under as well. This sprayground is in the East County at Santee Lakes.

Help!

My computer got wiped and I lost all of my links to all of my friend's blogs. If I am a reader of your blog, please post a comment so I can link and save your blog.
Thanks!!

4th of July

While we girls stayed and played in San Diego, Brian and Gabe headed to Mt. Pleasant, Utah to spend the 4th of July with Grandma & Grandpa Healey and the rest of the Healey clan. They had a really good trip (I'm glad they had the time alone together) and had a lot of fun with the family.

Gabe getting candy at the parade

Right here! Throw me some candy!

I'm so glad he is big enough to fend for himself.

Brian tells me that Gabriel and his cousin, Kelsey were

inseparable the entire time. They are very close in age

and really enjoyed each other's company.

Brian decided to stop in Las Vegas on his way to Utah

for the night. He had booked a room online for the

Excalibur for just $40. When he got there, he asked

if they had any upgrades available and the desk clerk

put them in a SUITE in one of the towers!!

A living room, two bathrooms and this giant tub in the bedroom.

The tub was really deep, well above Gabe's head.

Gabe enjoyed his swim!

Girly Fun!

A very pregnant Jamie and her daughter, Ayda came all the way from Texas for a great visit!! For the whole weekend, it was just us 4 girls and we had such a great girly time together!! We all went to DisneyLand together the very first day and the girls had a BLAST! It was Ayda's first time so we got her a "1st Time" button and the girls also got "Honorary Citizen" buttons. I took them on the rough rides while Jamie (and baby Dylan!) waited for us then we all went on the best Disney has to offer together.

Ashlyn & Ayda at Sleeping Beauty's Castle

Ashlyn & I in the teacup

In our car at Autopia

BFFs waiting for Nemo's Submarine

Ashlyn & TinkerBell

The girls with Fawn

Waiting to meet Fairies