December 2011

Dec 3- Ed sells his baby. With the upcoming move to Utah, Ed knew his convertible BMW M3 would not be practical for the weather. It was fun while it lasted!

Dec 10- Cleaning day! 2 days til move!

^Sexy cleaning/moving clothes yes? Yikes!! My favorite Elena who helped me clean my house for 2 years! Best thing I've ever done! Don't want to forget her. She was so sweet to us and our kids!

Dec 11- With almost everything packed - plates made of foil had to do.

Dec 11- Farewell Friends! Kim was nice enough to host a big potluck with most all of our close friends in attendance. Friends we will never forget that have been like family! 5 years together. Love you all!

^Thomanders

^Youngs

^Parkers

^Bergs

^Hendersons

^Dukes

^Maginots

^Baldwins

^Nelsons

^Kirks

^Aufdermauers (minus a few)

^Burlisters*

^Drummonds

^Shafers- also moving this month to Washington

^Bonds

^ So happy to have had you all as part of our lives! We hope to see you all again!

DEC 13- (Sorry no pics) Move to Utah!!!! 16 hours in the car!!! Living at my dad's until we find a house. HUGE adjustment! Bitter-sweet! Warm, yet cold welcome to Utah. Good to be home in time for Christmas. Stressful. Have we doubted our decision, absolutely! But it's worth it to know what will be best for our future. It can only get better. Lot's of changes ahead. We are hopeful. :) Looking forward to making new friendships and having closer relationships with our families!

Dec 20- Friend Party

We got together at Talitha's, had a soup potluck, played Christmas Pictionary, and caught up. Fun to move right back to welcoming friends! I'm excited to resume these relationships. ;) Missed all those who could not make it!

Stephanie, Shandra, Jennie, Mindi, Talitha, Me, Alisha, Jenn (Lisa came later)

Dec 24- Christmas Eve with Johnsons

^After a full day of hanging out from brunch on- we were all pretty tired!! :) Oh, and I had bronchitis. :( We love our family though! Should have taken more pics!

Sarah's ornament 2011

Kai's ornament 2011

Ed's ornament 2011

Sarah's new jammies 2011

Kai's new jammies 2011

Ed's new jammies 2011

Yay ornaments!

Yay Jammies!

Forgot to get pics of mom's. :) Whoops!

Dec 25- Christmas!!

^Kai's loot!

^Sarah's loot!

The kids were super excited about Santa this year! They made some lists, left some cookies, and are starting to get it! Mom and Dad got a TV and Washer and Dryer this year. :) Merry Christmas!

Dec 30- Katz's visit UT

Kristen and the kids stopped in quick for some hair doing, nail doing and play time. We've been lucky to see them so much since we've both moved!

Dec 31- New Year's Eve

^Neil and Jodi invited us out to their house for homemade pizza and games with a small group of friends. Great time! Happy New Year!!! 2012 is going to be huge for change!!! Can't wait!

November 2011

Since we found out we were moving to Utah near the end of October, I decided to take some last pictures of our cute little CA house on Peach Avenue before I started to start packing. 1300 square feet seemed plenty big for our family, but we're excited to start a new adventure and it just feels like good timing. Very tough decision though! That's the hard part. We aren't leaving CA because we don't like it. Ed loves his job, we have great friends, etc., but one thing is missing... the chance to own a home and live close to family. We'd like to give that a shot!

Nov 8- Sarah's Room:

Master Bath:

Kids Bath:

Kai's Room:

Our Room:

Hallways:

Living Room:

Kitchen:

Yard:

I don't want to forget any of it! We started our family in CA. We love our friends and neighbors. Our kitties love it here. The area is amazing! Hard to imagine it's coming to an end...

Nov 10- Ed's Birthday Surprise!

A gracious friend watched our kids while I surprised Ed with a day out for his birthday (a few days early). First we got burgers for lunch at The Counter. MMM! And then we drove to the Palo Alto Airport...Ed had no idea, but has always wanted to fly a plane. Since we are leaving the area I decided he HAD to go at least once! Expensive hobby... but I finally surprised him!

He was all smiles!

^Looks complicated to me!

^Our HOT pilot!

I got to come along in our 4 passenger plane with Ed and the instructor. We took off from Palo Alto and flew to Half Moon Bay. Beautiful Day to fly!

Beautiful views from above

Ed got to take off and land once. First ever flight! He did great!

^I don't think this look ever left Ed's face. He loved it! And I loved seeing him so happy! Well deserved!

^Stanford University from above

^Ed and the instructor, Howard.

Happy Birthday Eddie Pie! Love you! Glad we got to check one of the things off your list that you really want to do. Our pocketbook fears this won't be your last time flying. ;)

Nov 13- A day out golfing with a friend, Ed's ALMOST hole in one! Hotty!

November 15- Ed's 36th Bday!

It's birthday tradition to go to dinner with Nixon's (Paul's bday is the 14th) and Kaylynn and Brook.

^Birthday Boys at Forbes Mill Steakhouse. Cute!

Nov 16th- L.A. Trip pre- Thanksgiving. We left in the morning and of course stopped along the way for fast food. The kids always love ice cream on the road.

Typical Road Sleeping pics

We drove straight to Kristen's, did some hair and had dinner and let the kids play and then drove to our hotel for the night.

Nov 17th- Disneyland Day 1

The kids had a pretty good time, but they are still scared of a lot of the rides since they are sometimes dark, fast or loud. Oh well! We made the best of it! We spent time in California Adventure and then met Kristen later at Disneyland.

It was critical Sarah meet Rapunzel this time. :)

I couldn't go on some of the rides being prego, but Ed and Kristen took the kids on Matterhorn (which Sarah was obviously afraid of), and other rides.

^Teacups

Kristen left, we had dinner and then we tried to stay late for the World of Color Show at CA Adventure, but our kids must be a little too young and Sarah must have really sensitive ears? We left about 15 minutes into the show. Oh well!

Nov 18- Day 2 at Disneyland! We met princesses. Sarah cared more about this than rides I think. We met:

^Tiana

^Ariel

^Jasmine

^Cinderella

and Sleeping Beauty!

Then the Katz came again for the day, with David this time, and we went to CA Adventure first...

3d at Toy Story

Then we went to Disneyland for the parade. Great seats and the kids loved it!

^We love you Katz's!

^Group pic

^We went on a couple more rides and then stayed for fireworks, but as you can see before the fireworks even started, we lost one to slumber. Long day for little ones. It will only get better. :)

Nov 19- We drove to Katz's for Sydney's 5th bday party. Princess themed as you can see, so we were happy not to miss out. ;)

^Happy #5 Syd! We love you!

^Then we drove to Visalia to see the Cheney's one last time for a while and stay for the night. We got to see the twins, do some hair, go to church in the morn, and then we headed out. :) Love you Cheney's!

Nov 20- The ever so hot (not) pregnancy pictures! 20 weeks!

Nov 24- Thanksgiving!! Ed worked the whole night before Thanksgiving and for 3 nights following but was luckily off for the day! :) We brined and cooked our first turkey, and as you can see...it was beautiful, large, and delicious!!!


^ Our table setting. We were joined by friends who brought most everything else. We had turkey, potatoes, gravy, stuffing, veggies, yams, beans and homemade rolls. Don't forget the pumpkin pie and razzleberry pie. Our company and food was SO SO good! We were joined by the-

^Nelson's

^And McPhies...some of the only other peeps without families around. ;)

^We are so Thankful!

Nov 27-

We had dinner with Thomanders and then went to a Christmas parade in downtown Palo Alto. Gotta get in all the time we can with wonderful friends!! We will surely miss you all!