Done!!!!

Okay everyone, big exciting news...this is my last day of work!!!  I'm done within the next half hour...this is what I wanted to tell everyone (please excuse my language):

But this is how I've been:

I've accepted a position in the music department at CSUN (California State University Northridge), a university much closer to my home with really nice people (and it's huge!).  I start in January, so I get a nice break (we travel up to Washington on Monday!), and then new year, new job, new life, happiness.  I'm sooooo happy to be done here-I'll miss a lot of people, but I'll be much more happier with this new transition.  Since we have no internet at home, I'll see if I can update the blog in Washington-but if I don't talk to you all, Merry Christmas/Happy Kwanzaa/Happy Hannukah and Happy New Year!

Extremely Thankful

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving break like I did!  I wish it was a little longer, but Christmas break is right around the corner and the next few weeks will fly by.

I am extremely thankful for so many things in my life-most I will share with you now, but there's a big change coming in my life that I'm very thankful for, but in due time I will spill the beans.

For now, here is a lot of what I'm thankful for in a photo stream:

Friday, November 20

On my way back to my office, I really enjoyed the sight of fall in the trees but with a backdrop of towering palm trees.  I miss Washington but I'm thankful for really nice weather in the fall/winter here in CA.  It was a tad cold that day, but nothing compared to most of the United States right now!

Hubs and Leif met up with me at work so that we could go grab dinner for Leif then see a little bit of the Wind Ensemble concert Michael was conducting.  We ended up at the mall where Leif nibbled on french fries and hummus (didn't touch the delicious chicken nuggets for some weird reason!).  

 The concert was great...for the two songs we listened to.  On the second song, Leif started acting up and Hubs had to take him to the Narthex of the chapel while I waited until the end.

Here he is in action, courtesy of our campus photographer.  Go Michael! I'm definitely thankful to have him as a friend/coworker-I think I'd go insane without him.

Saturday, November 21

While I cooked breakfast, Leif did his sensory play, er, threw flour, steel cut oats and colored sprinkles all over the floor.  I'm fine with it-easy to clean up and keeps him occupied.  :)

We decided to get lunch at one of my favorite Greek places.  To keep Leif from going crazy/squirm overload, he played on daddy's phone.  Lunch was SO delicious, and Leif actually loved our gyro meat over the chicken we got him.  Definitely takes after his daddy.

Afterwards Leif got a haircut since we wanted to take Santa photos in a week or two...

He's generally well-behaved when getting his hair cut!  There was a little girl older than him who never got her hair cut, and she had to sit on her mom's lap.  Leif, you're awesome.

Ta-da!

While I checked out at Old Navy, Hubs took Leif on a little stroll outside.  Leif actually bit Hubs' nose pretty hard!  But I think he didn't mind, spending quality time with Leif is priceless.

That night Leif let daddy read to him instead of mama...it was precious.

Sunday, November 22

Backstory: in order to get back in time for football, we took off to the Dollar Tree to look for Christmas decorations early; Leif wasn't looking that great, but we thought he was just sleepy.  When we arrived, he was passed out and we debated whether to take turns in the store or to carry him while he slept...and we chose the latter.  We chose poorly.  As we were checking out, Leif puked all over himself and daddy.  It was so stinky that while I was cleaning it up off the ground, it made a customer gag and the cashier ill.  Whoops.  Leif had a moment of clarity that day, but he threw up one more time and slept the rest of the day.  Poor guy.

Tuesday, November 24

After shopping with my folks for Thanksgiving food, I came home and played with Leif and his busy box.  He actually built this!  Sorry, doesn't seem like much, but to us it's a big deal.  Our little architect!

Thursday, Thanksgiving!, November 26

I wanted to make a tradition of doing something active Thanksgiving morning (last year I ran a 5K with Michael and Alan).  Hubs had an aching back after sleeping with Leif, so my Pa, Leif and I took a hike close to our house.  It was a little hard at first (it just goes up for the first 1/4 mile!), but I'm glad we did it.  I carried Leif the whole way!

Leif eventually fell asleep towards the end of the hike. ;)

Since Miles was being a pain and no one was around, we let him off leash and he was actually good and stayed close to us!  He definitely enjoyed himself.

After the hike, my pa went back to his hotel to pick up my mom while Hubs and I played with some of our Christmas stuff...Miles hated the reindeer antlers, but seemed just fine in his Santa gear.  He even laid down on top of the couch with it on!  Haha...

I really wish I took photos of all the food we prepared, but alas, I did not.  I made a turkey with a new recipe that was guaranteed to make it really moist and flavorful.  I bought fresh herbs and didn't realize you have to basically shuck thyme off the stem...by the time I was finished with that, my fingers were brown.  UGH!  But, it turned out to be the best turkey I have ever made.  I really enjoyed all the food we cooked, it was delicious!  And Leif loved the turkey and ham.  It was cute.

My pa didn't realize that our garbage disposal is cheap, and it clogged from the potato skins (and, haha, uh, we didn't realize a bib was stuck down there!  He pulled out the majority of it, but some plastic probably got stuck in there too).  So I washed all the dishes after dinner in one sink.  It took a while, but I managed.  Overall, it was a really nice Thanksgiving, and I was happy to have my folks there.

Friday, November 27

Leif is now 23 months old!  We're going to have a 2 year-old on our hands soon, holy smokes...

That morning Leif had a blast rolling Hubs back and forth.  :)

We decided to brave the mall on Black Friday of all days...but turned out the mall we went to (close to my work) was actually fairly empty!  So we grabbed some lunch then walked around.  Since Santa was there, we were going to take photos with him but when we finally were ready, he was on a break and wouldn't be back for another 40 minutes.  So we walked around some more, and my Pa shared his ice cream with Leif who loved it...

By the time Santa came back, there was a line and my folks were tired.  So was Leif.  We decided to come back another time.  But I was able to pick up Christmas presents for my niece and Hubs got a few things.

 Saturday, November 28

Friday night I FINALLY received the title to my Mazda, so I called State Farm right away to get the paperwork started to receive my check.  When he mentioned that a rep will visit that following Monday or Tuesday, I figured it would be a good idea to do some car shopping on Saturday since we had my folks in town to watch Leif-car shopping with a toddler would be a nightmare!!!

My friend's mom works at a Nissan dealership close to our previous townhome, so we spent two hours looking at 2016 Rogues and going over prices.  It was just too expensive.  We went to lunch, searched online for used Rogues, and of course they had a few at the dealership but for some reason failed to mention them to us.  So we went back after lunch, and I fell in love with a 2013 model that had some really cool features and drove well...

I'm thankful to have a new car!!!

Photos to follow, but I think the process just took so long we wanted to get out of there once I finished signing all the paperwork.  Once I started driving it on the freeway though, I noticed some vibrations...uh oh.  I made an appointment for next Saturday just to have it checked out.  Hopefully it's something they can fix.

Sunday, November 29

We ended up back at the mall to take photos with Santa!  It took forever, but we did it.  He didn't cry as hard as last time, but he still put up a good fight.  I'll show you what I mean in the next blog post!

That evening Leif decided to try on Hubs' Seahawks hat.  Too cute.

Monday, November 30

Leif loves dressing up in his Buzz Lightyear costume all the time.  I'm thankful for an imaginative, happy kid.  :)

Tuesday, December 1

The tow guy showed up early Tuesday morning at my work to pick up my Mazda.  It was bittersweet to see it go-this car took me to Bellingham and back to Seattle for almost four years; I was proposed to in this car; and it drove me from Washington to California.  Bye bye Mazda!

I told Hubs how bittersweet it was to see it go, and he texted me "Hello from the other side"...I started laughing at my desk.  If you haven't heard Adele's new song, you should but I warn you, it will get stuck in your head.

And here's my new car!  Looks like my old one sort of, just on steroids.  :)

He's a beauty, and I named him Bosley.    

So there you have it.  As I said before, I'm very happy and thankful for everything right now.  I've had some rough patches the last few months, and they really affected me; but currently I'm in a really good place.  Sure, I'm not super happy with how I'm growing fast (I definitely haven't worked out like I did with Leif), but baby #2 is growing just fine and is probably more active than Leif was.  Besides all that I've mentioned so far, I'm thankful to have a growing family, a super supportive, loving husband, roof over my head, food to eat, and my health.  And of course, all my loving family and friends.  Let's hope December brings more joy and happiness!

November Update

Holy smokes, Thanksgiving is NEXT WEEK.  I really love this time of the year, but it just flies by.  I'm trying to enjoy every moment that I can even if our family gets sick!  I'm better...but I got Leif sick this weekend.  Now Hubs is battling the sickness.  Ughghghgh...

Anyway, just trying to catch you up on our little piece of the world:

Sunday, November 8

I had to work at a concert that Sunday, so Hubs took Leif to the Rose Bowl Flea Market which is HUGE.  They didn't stay long since Leif isn't a fan of being stuck in the stroller, but Hubs managed to score me:

This cool air plant!  It's hard to see but it's pretty amazing.

Monday, November 9

As I was trying to juggle multiple tasks after picking Leif up from daycare, I made the tiniest mistake of letting him hang out with the fridge open...and it got quiet...which meant something was up.  I rushed into the kitchen to see this little mischievous guy with a yogurt open and shoving it in his face.  It could have been worse I guess, but he's definitely a toddler.

Tuesday, November 10

Leif has been a big fan of daddy lately which makes both of us happy...and Leif has seriously figured out how to work his phone.  He's so smart.

Wednesday, November 11

Leif's daycare had the day off due to Veteran's Day, but of course Hubs and I both had to work.  So we were very thankful that my friend Susie could watch Leif.  He was a little shy at first, but it took him a whole three minutes to warm up and started running around the house like he owned the place.  When I picked him up he didn't want to leave!  Susie is awesome.

Thursday, December 12

Remember when I said I'd post photos that made me happy (besides photos of Leif of course)...?  Well, when I went to Starbucks that morning, they had these super cute Snowmen Donuts.  I had to get one for each of our family.  Leif tried it the next morning but wasn't a fan...I sure loved mine!

Saturday, December 14

I had to work that morning for scholarship auditions, but I hurried home late in the morning so that I could relieve Hubs of Leif duty and then he had to go to work.  After Leif's nap and some afternoon snuggle time, we took a quick adventure to get Miles's shots since he was due.  But as we were coming down our hill, we were stopped by five police cars, a fire truck, and a rescue truck:

After seeing the same sight on the way home and Hubs seeing it on the way back, we figured out that a car went off the cliff and he/she/they were trapped in the car.  They managed to rescue (I think) the person/people, but the tow truck was back the next morning trying to pull the car out.  Pretty scary scene.

We made it to this animal feed store in Tarzana where they offer low cost vaccines, and the store had this awesome bear statue...no idea why...but I thought it was a good chance for a photo op even if Leif never smiles in his stroller.

As I was doing laundry when we got home, Leif decided he wanted to throw on Hubs' Seahawks sweatshirt.  Too cute.  (Don't mind the toy mess!)

Sunday, November 15

Since the weather was nice and cool (well, in the 70s), I took Leif to the park to get out some energy.  He had a nice time even if he was the only one at the park!

After naptime/lunch, we headed to Best Buy to do some fridge hunting.  Our refrigerator is basically dead and we've been meaning to get a new one for weeks; we just didn't want to pull the trigger on an old or new one since we have to get a smaller-than-standard size fridge and will probably sell it when we move in oh, a few years or so?  Leif had a blast with all the appliances!

We found the perfect one and while Hubs was taking care of the payment process, Leif found the video game aisle...uh oh.

New fridge will arrive this Saturday, just in time for Thanksgiving!!!  Hooray!


Monday, November 16

Hubs had a weekday off which has been rare, so I took a sick day and we decided to go to...

DISNEYLAND!

I love this place when the Christmas decorations are up.  And being a Monday, it was not as packed.  And the weather cooperated!  The only downside-we dropped Leif off at daycare because he was slightly under the weather, and he always wants to be held by me when we're there...being pretty pregnant, it's getting harder to carry him for long periods of time.

Anyway, here are just a few photos of our quick trip:

Since we sped through the park, we decided to stop at the outlet mall outside of Pasadena to do some super quick Christmas shopping...

Apparently this is the world's tallest Christmas tree...?  It didn't look very fluffy, but it was definitely tall!

Tuesday, November 17

So the day finally came to find out what Baby #2's gender is/was.  I was super nervous and excited.  Hubs had the day off again, so he picked me up from work and we went over during my lunch break. The people working there looked like they were still in high school, including my ultrasound tech.  But she was super nice and she brought up revealing the gender right away which was nice, considering whoever I spoke to while setting up the appointment was a mean lady...anywho, she could tell right away what Baby #2 was, and so could Hubs who was sitting in the line of sight of the screen...

Drumroll please...

Change the doc to a young blonde woman and there you have it!

 Haha, I like this cartoon...but yes, it's a boy!!!  The appointment took forever as our little boy wouldn't sit still and was doing all sorts of acrobats.  He will be born in the Year of the Monkey, and already fits the bill.  I feel him all the time, and he moves way more than Leif did!

Let's address the gender now...I have to admit that I was really disappointed to find out Baby #2 was not a girl.  I had my hopes on that we'd have one of each and I'd have a whole new experience.  I like the idea of bonding with a little girl and watching Leif and a sister grow up together.  Then the more I thought about it/read more articles about having two boys, the more I'm happier with this verdict.  In homage to my beautiful friend Barbie, here is my list of why having another boy is wonderful:

• Leif will have another boy to play with/rough-house with since they'll be close in age
• Baby #2 won't live in hand-me-downs, but definitely less costly than having to buy a whole new wardrobe
• Leif and Baby #2 can share a room for a much longer time now so they'll require less space: I foresee bunkbeds!
• Boys usually cling to their moms...I'll have mama's boys for life :)
• Boys are way less dramatic
• Boys are easier to groom/quicker to get out of the house...
• Fewer shoes, fewer clothes, etc = less money to spend!
• Even if they're the same gender, they will have their own personalities so it will be fascinating to watch them grow as individuals
• I can avoid the puberty talk, daddy takes over in that category!

There are definitely more reasons to be happy with another boy, but all in all, I definitely feel better than I did before.  I guess I just had high hopes since this pregnancy was way more different than when I was carrying Leif, and the idea of a mother-daughter bond was nice.  But when my friend asked who I was closer to, I quickly answered daddy's girl.  Again though, since Leif is such a mama's boy, the idea that my Hubs would have a clinger was nice.  Although for the last few weeks, Leif has been more and more happier/excited to be with Hubs.  Maybe it's an age thing...who knows!

We also were hoping for one of each because that lead us to the decision of no more kids after this one...but now (even though this is so far off), Hubs is dreading that I'm going to want to try one more time for a girl...haha.  Even I think that's just too far to plan in the future-I'm focused on what we're going to name our second little guy!

I leave you with a photo of me and my little man from last night...I was starving so I made popcorn (failed the first time-nasty burnt popcorn, but succeeded the second try!).  Leif wanted some too, but then decided he would feed me.  It was adorably sweet.

So my folks are driving down for Thanksgiving!  They did that last year; although I think they flew down to Texas to see friends, then drove from there to see us and then flew back home.  This time it's driving down and back.  I'm excited to see them and excited for Leif to see them again.  It's hard not living close to our families, so anytime I can have Leif interact with family makes me super happy.  Plus with a second kid it's going to be very expensive to fly back home anymore-we already booked our flights to Seattle and back for Christmas vacation, and we had to get a seat for Leif since he's two years old soon!  A big shout out and HUGE thank you to our folks for helping us out with those, because we wouldn't have been able to afford them on our own.

I'm not sure if I'll be writing before Thanksgiving, so I hope you all have a wonderful time with family/friends/alone-whatever floats your boat.  If you go shopping, may you not be trampled upon and find the deals you want.

OH before I leave, I forgot to mention that I had my car looked at by State Farm (the insurance of the lady who caused that car accident)-they basically said I'll probably get a quote of the total of my car before it was hit, as the damage is pretty bad.  This means they'll tow my car to get more photos of the damage inside the trunk (they'll have to tear it apart!), give me a rental car for five days and hopefully at the same time a check, and then I go find a new car!  Pretty exciting stuff.  They said they'd call by Monday or Tuesday, but haven't heard from them, so I'll be calling them actually in a few minutes here.  So Black Friday for me may mean car shopping!

Okay, now I part ways.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Awesome Trip to Seattle

We're back-the weekend went by too fast!  We had a blast up in Washington, and we were able to bring back some of the cold & wet weather with us.  :)  Today the high is 66 where I work, 68 at home...but of course it warms up back to about 79 on Saturday, but that's not bad compared to 90s!

Here are a lot of photos of this weekend (it was Leif's first Trick or Treating experience, how could I not take lots of pictures?!  :))

Thursday, October 29

New hair cut!

So on my way to my OBGYN appointment, I was in a car accident.  On a freeway offramp of all places.  I was sitting at a red light and suddenly I hear this collision behind me, then the Cadillac Escalade slammed into me from behind, then I barely tapped the car in front of me.  It was SCARY.

It doesn't look that bad, but my bumper is busted and I can't get into my trunk.

Not the best photo, but this Nissan minivan hit the Cadillac.

The police took a while, but they finally arrived, took our info and I was still able to get a late appointment in.  What scared the $h!? out of me was my doc couldn't find the baby's heartbeat for a very long time...finally she went really low and there it was.  PHEW.  The whole crash is kind of a blessing in disguise though because with whatever check I get will go towards a new car.  But my poor Mazda, it's been through a lot!

Friday, October 30

Plane ride time!  YAY!

Goofy kid...I love how fun he is.

Once we arrived at the in-laws house, they had a couple surprises for him!  He loved this counting cookie jar.

Saturday, October 31 - Happy Halloween!

Leif decided it was wake-up time at 5:45am.  UGH.  But thankfully Aunt Missy was there with more energy than I could have mustered!

For my mom's birthday, we decided to all meet for breakfast in Kirkland at the Brown Bag Cafe.  I've been there many times, and the food is delicious!!!

We had the cousins touch-Ash is one of the cutest babies I have ever met!  He's so calm and smiley.

I wanted to get family photos, but Ari got her hand squished by my brother accidentally-thus the tears.  But it's a cute candid photo.  :)

My brother John and my nephew Lance-he's already 15!  

My happy folks.

And me with Ari, Ash and Leif.  I told Matt, "Don't I look good with three kids?"  Haha...I joke, but this may have to happen if this current baby isn't a girl!

We decided to try out Leif's costume early...and he LOVED it.  Aunt Missy decided to be one of the Pizza Planet aliens from Toy Story!

Aunt Missy is a trooper and was "shot" by Buzz.  :)

Cute!!!

I was Mike Wazowski from Monsters, Inc.  I love this sweatshirt!  I could wear it every day!

And our Pixar family!  Hubs is a good Mr. Incredible.  We took this as we arrived at the Redmond Town Center to go Trick or Treating!

Happiest Buzz Lightyear ever

Took a quick slide break...

The only reason why we went to Redmond was because my brother Avery and his fam were going to be there.  We got there a lot earlier though, so we hung out just for a little while then took off.  They are such an adorable family!

Yay cousins!

Leif tried to help us out and grab some money for us.  Alas, Buzz doesn't have a debit card yet.

Halloween success=tired toddler!

Sunday, November 1

Aunt Missy was the best and took Leif out in the cold rain to "water" the plants all weekend long.

Happy toddlers eat pancakes for breakfast.  :)

That afternoon we met with my friend Sara for pho which was amazing for me...not so good on Hubs' tummy.  Then we got ready for Hattye's wedding!  We didn't realize until on our way there that the wedding was just the reception-she decided to have her ceremony at the same place but right before in front of family.  Good for her!

I missed this pretty lady!

Their wedding cake, or "Bride's Cake"

And the Groom's Cake!  Love it!

Quick shot of the reception area-it was at "The Landing at Northcut" which is right across the street from the University Village (for all you Seattle peeps).

We hung out with Hubs' friend J.R. and his gal Lara the whole time...I knew a few marching band people, but I hadn't seen them in a really long time so I felt awkward trying to talk with anyone.  Sometimes I get a little socially weird!

Good buddies :)

Had to take a photo with the groom!  I've known Everett longer than Hattye!

Their first dance

A friend of Everett's giving a toast

Cake cutting

Our series of selfies...1. Sort of serious

2. Crazy couple

3. Happy couple

I tried to get J.R. to take a photo of us, but he turned the phone around and shot photos of himself first which made us laugh really hard.  I like this photo though!

We left after all the main festivities of their wedding to go to Hubs' best friend's birthday dinner in Fremont.  Here is the table of friends and what was left of some really delicious Asian food.

Monday, November 2

While we were packing up for our trip back home, Leif found a sombrero...

and played with PopPop before we left.  He kept putting his Mariners hat on his face, then on his head.  He really loved being with the in-laws/Aunt Missy.  When Aunt Missy left, he kept calling for her "Mee!  Mee!" it was a little heart breaking, but we kept trying to tell him we'd be back for Christmas.  He even called for her when we got home.

Leif was a ball of energy at the airport, so we tried to get him to use it all up before boarding.  He did a decent job on the plane until he got antsy right before we landed...then promptly fell asleep as we landed!  It actually helped us out as we grabbed luggage/drove home.  

That night Leif decided to try and ride me like he does Hubs, but with a pregnant belly it was harder.  Hubs managed to take this cute photo of him!

Tuesday, November 3

It took me all day to get caught up with work as scholarship applications were due November 1 and we have an upcoming concert next weekend, so I was processing all these last minute apps and ticket sales.  I finally caught up right before leaving for the day!

What made my morning was I received this packet when I dropped Leif off at daycare:

Leif's FIRST "class" photos!  I can't believe how they got him to sit and pose so well-and he's not even 2 years old!

Today

I was trying to find the perfect haircut before last week, and what I do is compare my hair length to what photos I'm looking at online...so I put together a before and after photo...hahaha.  Yes, I'm a weirdo.

I can't believe Halloween has come and gone already!  Thanksgiving is around the corner, then CHRISTMAS, then Leif turns 2!!!  Then another baby!  AHHH!  I'm definitely going to enjoy this fall, this upcoming fall weather, and being a family of three before a family of FOUR.  Wowsers.  Happy Hump Day everyone!