Merry Christmas!

So it's been a fun filled week of Christmas celebrations in San Diego. We had a big family get together with ALL of Sophia's cousins on my side on Saturday night and another one the next day at my sister Melisa's in Encinitas. Here, little Joseph is pushing Sophia on their cousin Heath's bike... I need to get her something like this, she LOVED it and did NOT want to get off.










Here I am with my two sweet sisters. Melisa is my oldest sister on the left. She has a super cute little 3 year old boy named Heath and a beautiful house in Encinitas where we all got together. Lacy, on the right is five months pregnant now... and having a girl!!! Joseph is 17 months old now so they'll be like 21 months apart... AHHH! This is a really random blog but I had a minute while Sophia was sleeping so I thought I would do a little update.

We spent Christmas morning with Lacy, Joe, Joseph, and my parents at my parents house in Bonita. It was a perfect morning full of family, unwrapping gifts, sausage rolls, eggs, sweet Christmas music, and happy children.

Sophia opened her new Tickle me Elmo doll and loved it. She would stare at it kind of suspiciously and then go crazy laughing and trying to give him loves..... or wrestle him...I'm not really sure. But I'm pretty sure she liked it.

Now we're off tomorrow to Utah to spend New Year's with Ross' family. I'm so excited to let Sophia play in the snow since for all intents and purposes it will be her first time. I feel so lucky that we get to spend time with both families over this holiday season and that Sophia will get to play with ALL of her thirteen cousins... and I'm pretty excited that I'm going to get to eat at Cafe Rio.

Goin' on Holiday!

So today we leave for San Diego and I'm SOOOOO excited. I've felt like a little kid waiting for Christmas where the days before go by so slow. Lacy and Joe are coming out today from Florida and Ryon and Jeanette from Phoenix so my whole family's going to be in one place for a couple of days. I'm so excited. A whole week with Lacy... I look forward to those stretches all year. Here's a picture of me with my sweet sister for those of you who haven't seen her in a while.

We'll spend a week in San Diego and then head to the airport and fly to Utah for another five days for New Years with Ross' family. It's going to be such a fun couple of weeks. Sophia has cousins, grandparents, and different toys to play with so my job gets a lot easier. Not to mention I have my husband with me, home from work the whole time. I seriously can't wait. About five hours and counting.....

So since I'm in the mood to blog, and I might not have a chance to do it for a little bit, I think this will be a little scattered. This is a picture of Sophia in the park in Palm Desert where Ross plays flag football. We went to try to actually catch part of the game after her nap and it ended right when we go there so we just played at the park for a little bit. I couldn't believe that it almost looked like we had some sort of season there. Although I'm sure it's officially winter, it looked like fall with all the beautiful leaves on the ground and I snapped one picture before my battery went dead. It seems like such a tiny thing, but with no real developed trees in OUR neighborhood, you don't see ANYTHING like that. So to realize that it felt a little better just a town away was comforting. The air was cool that day and there were clouds in the sky (a very rare occasion in the desert). It was a good Saturday.

It got even better when the wife of one of the guys playing football told me she had a trunk full of girl toys, books, and dolls from the girls she nannies that she was trying to get rid of. Ross looked like Santa Claus as he loaded a huge trash bag full of toys--- one of which was like a hundred dollar doll that talks to you and in my opinion is VERY SCARY--- into the trunk of OUR car. It was a good Saturday.

She colors!

This might be when I realized my baby was now a little girl. She started coloring! And by coloring I mean sporadically making some contact with the crayon to the paper, or maybe the table...or chair... I figure pretty much anything but her mouth counts. My little girl is growing up so fast!

Survivor Disappointment

So we are regular Survivor fans and just finished our Tivo'd finale last night. If you Tivo'd it and haven't watched the results... stop reading now!!! :) So Yul Kwon was really nice and all. In fact, he went to Ross' high school in Walnut Creek, was a Senior and valedictorian when Ross was a little Freshman. But Ozzy! How can you not love Ozzy?! He was like this half man, half animal, half super innocent little boy. He won and won and won... so I think he should have won. I was seriously so depressed when he didn't. He looked so sad, a little fuller faced and wearing an unfortunate v-neck in the reunion show, but so sad. And I'm sure he could have used the money a little more than our Lawyer friend Yul. At least he won the car.

In the Survivor island mode, I think I'll post a few pictures from our September trip to Hawaii. I meant to a long time ago and the time just kept passing so I gave up. But in honor of cool weather, sweaters, and beanies, let's reminisce a little on summer vacations... well on my summer vacation. :) (Here we are in front of the Laie Temple.)

Ok so Ross and I are so lucky to have really great friends with a Marriott time share that they used in Ko'olina, Hawaii on Oahu. About a month before they were going, they're studio became a full two bedroom suite-- so they invited us to come along. They have a super cute little 23 month boy and they had Lizzie's mom set up to watch Tanner so we had to get someone to watch Sophia. Ross' WONDERFUL parents volunteered and honestly made us feel like we were doing them the favor. They had so much fun with her and Sophia even learned to walk that week in Utah with them... my punishment for leaving her I guess.

So for a whole week, Shad, Lizzie, Ross, and I explored Oahu with no babies in tow and the most beautiful resort to go back to every night. It was unbelievable. Ross hadn't been since he was a young teenager and I hadn't been back to that island since I went to BYU Hawaii for one semester right out of High School in '99. It was our first time together and we saw pretty much everything we'd hoped to. Here are some pics.

On a hike up Waimea falls--- it's not really a hike and the falls were all dried up unfortunately, but it was a beautiful walk through a botanical garden.

Outside our resort, Ross really climbed like half way up this palm tree, he had scratches on his arms to prove it to Shad later. I missed the photo opportunity the first time so he had to do it twice. Oops

A VERY LIVE Nativity

So this is our very own angel. We went to a little group Family Night on monday with a bunch of friends where the kids were all dressed up and we tried to do a little reenactment of the Christmas story. Mostly it was just my friend Tabitha's husband, Kyle, reading the script while an array of angels, wisemen, donkeys, shephards ...etc. ran around eating cookies and playing in the dirt. That is Sophia's kind of party. Cookies AND dirt. She had a blast.

Mmmm mmmm

I've found a new favorite. I've decided blackberries are my very favorite fruit. Sophia loves them too... I'm pretty sure she could eat a whole container from Costco in one sitting if I let her. She's done about that with blueberries before on a car trip when I was willing to do anything to keep her happy... her poop was black as night and smelled just like blueberries. Maybe that's why blueberries aren't my favorite any more... I actually hadn't thought of that. Oh no, I'd better not feed her too many blackberries. They make me so happy right now. It's way too late.

Happy Birthday Mama!

Yesterday was my mom's birthday and I too thought I would copy my friend Missy's great idea and honor my mom on this special day on my little blog.

Look at this beautiful woman. Is it just me or has she just gotten more beautiful with age? The first one is a recent picture of her at Ian's wedding. The next is her in Hawaii, where she grew up, probably only 19 or 20. She was an island girl raised in Hawaii, Samoa, and Tonga. She is the reason Sophia and I share Kelani as a middle name. She spent her youth running on the beach to dry her hair after a shower and working at the Polynesian Cultural Center (first Hauli (sp?) to work there). She has never lost her intense love of ocean water, a warm sun, and a tropical breeze. When at the beach, she still seems as carefree and happy as she must have been at 19 in Hawaii. Growing up, I always felt so cool because my mom was the only mom who would still get in her swim suit and actually swim in the ocean. She taught me how to dive under the waves and everything.

She's a beautiful strawberry blonde mother of six with the spirt of a YOUNG island girl. I only hope I can have a fraction of her contagious energy, youth, and spirit when I turn 56.

Happy Late Birthday Mama--

At least a little glimpse

So this is one measly picture of the shower before the rose petals were on the tables. I took pictures with Lizzie's camera and haven't been able to get them yet so this is the only one I got. Maybe more to come. The food table is always more fun to look at in my opinion... probably 'cause there's food on it.

Oh and here's one with my adorably pregnant friend, Lizzie.

A Busy Week Over!

So wednesday night, my house was part of the progressive dinner for our Relief Society which really shouldn't have been any big deal since they provided me with frozen lasagna, bagged salad, and paper plates. However, of course it still gave me a tiny bit of anxiety as several women, most of whom have been moms, wives, and home owners far longer than I, would be visiting my little house for the first time. And when I say "home owners" I mean, home cleaners, decorators, organizers, etc... they notice things. They notice messy corners and unorganized bathroom drawers; overstuffed pantrys and undusted cieling fans... not that they're judging, but they notice. They must. I feel like every day I find something new in my house that I hadn't before realized I was supposed to clean or maintain. And I'm not a dirty person, don't get me wrong. But I've never been responsibe for a whole house until now, not to mention a whole house in the desert, where if you don't dust twice a day your house is filthy (and that's when the windows are closed), and especially a whole house with a "real live" little toddler running around throwing who knows what she got from who knows where behind the who knows what. And just when I think I've really mastered keeping my home clean and organized each day, I find something new that lost order when I wasn't looking. I definitely think mastering order and cleanliness in one's ever changing home comes with time.

Point being: I figured that no matter how clean I thought my home was, these women must know more than I, and just might spot a give-away... yeah, a give-away that I'm 25, a new mom, new wife, new homeowner, new maid ... new adult... exactly what I should be. And then I got over it.

What I really meant to blog about was that I also threw my GREAT friend Lizzie's baby shower (she's having number 2- A GIRL!) in my backyard this morning. As you can imagine from my previous confession, the whole event was preceded by a bit of anxiety, but it went great. I used tents, tables, and tablecloths from my dad in SD (he drove them out because he's the best), and I must say I think it was beautiful. I'm too lazy to grab my camera right now as I'm supposed to be preparing my lesson for church tomorrow (that's what Ross thinks I'm doing) so I'll be posting some pictures from the shower tomorrow.

Kind of a long, rambling post, I must just feel like writing, better stop before I lose my readership of two. Love you both. ;)

Resemblance?

So who does she look like? The top is Sophia and me. The bottom is her and Ross. I tried to make it fair as you can tell. Sometimes we really think she looks like me, sometimes, exactly like Ross.... I thought I'd try and get some unbiased opinions because of course we both want the credit for this beautiful girl.

Sophia Behind Bars

This was taken back in Phoenix. The older kids were in the pool and she watched with those sad eyes from behind the very necessary and impenetrable gate. (I have very strong feelings about gates around pools.) It looks so sad, but the pool was just a little too cold for her...(ok and mostly for me.)

I just thought it was such a cute picture.

An afternoon at the park

This is our little neighborhood park where we usually end up when we decide to go for a jog instead of the gym. Sophia loves the day care at the gym and jumps out of my arms as soon as we walk in. So now she thinks my work out time is her play time and gets kind of anxious when she's stuck in the stroller too long. Luckily the park is never too far away.

So I love the park because I can sit at the top of the stairs while she runs in circles, up the stairs, down the slide, laugh laugh laugh clap clap clap, back to the stairs...etc...She loves it. Of course she flips around and goes down on her belly like the picture depicts. Her hair is usually standing more than on end after each wild ride from all the static, also tried to capture that in the second picture. I feel like my writing is so dull right now... my permission to stop reading...

Anyway it's Saturday but it feels like every other day today because Ross is gone on errands. He's getting two new queen palms for our backyard because I'm throwing my friend, Lizzie's baby shower back there next week... I'm so nervous because everything back there tends to die as we live in...well... hell. Just kidding, I really have learned to love it, especially for the price of homes and the winters. Right now I'm wearing a sweatshirt and my toes are cold and I love it... a rare feeling in the desert.