red ring of death

oh yes, it has finally happened to us. We came back from AZ to find it dead.
Interesting note about our XBOX is that this was the very first thing we bought as a married couple. :) funny, huh? I was all about buying decorative things for our apartment, but the one and only thing Tim wanted was an XBOX. He was able to reason with me by saying it would also function as our DVD player and that he can play on it to unwind from the stress of school, blah, blah. And so $400 dollars worth of gift cards went just like that! haha I hope you like your salad, Tim. (Inside joke.)

desert for Thanksgiving

Since Tim and I have started dating we have always had Thanksgiving in California. So for the past 6 years! Well, I take that back, one of those six years was in Utah with his side of the family still.
This year we decided to change things up a bit and head over to AZ to see my cousins on my dad's side. Phoenix is so close I can't believe we haven't gone sooner.
The girls were great, unlike our Utah trip, and they had a blast. So many of my cousin's kids to play with, space to roam, and my aunt and uncle are killer grandparents and spoiled my own children like their own grandchildren. We had so much fun with everybody and we are definitely going to make an effort to visit more.

I was totally lame and didn't take pictures of my fam. Well, I have a few, but it is not of everybody and they aren't that great...
What I do have pictures of is our white trash outting on the drive back. :) We stopped for lunch at Subway in Yuma, AZ, and while we were getting out of the car Marisa sees a big mouse on top of a building. She says, "OH, LOOK!" She has never been to Chuck-E-Cheese before and the mouse alone was enough for her to beg us to go in there without even knowing what is in there!
So Tim and I just smiled at each other and I said, "Well, here we go!" And we just laughed while walking over there because we felt so white trash going to Chuck-E-Cheese in the middle of nowhere. The girls sure loved the games (even though half were not functioning and I had to ask a dude to keep coming and fixing them), but they were both deathly afraid of the mouse when he came out to see the kids! Oh the memories...haha.

perspective

"If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will—to your surprise—miss them profoundly.

Stresses in our lives come regardless of our circumstances. We must deal with them the best we can. But we should not let them get in the way of what is most important—and what is most important almost always involves the people around us. Often we assume that they must know how much we love them. But we should never assume; we should let them know."

-President Thomas S Monson


I was grateful when I first heard these words during conference, and I'm grateful that I ran into this quote again on a friend's blog. I'm in constant need of a reminder, of a perspective change. So when I saw these...




I just smiled.

mormon battalion

We took a day trip with other families from church to visit the Mormon Battalion and the San Diego Temple on Saturday. I have never visited the Mormon Battalion before. It was super interesting to learn more about my spiritual ancestors and to feel their trials and faith. They amaze me.
The girls had fun pretending to be pioneers afterwards. Panning for gold, washing clothes, and pumping water. I'm grateful that my Father in Heaven knows me and that I wasn't born during that time. I would have been a terrible pioneer. Tim had to help me pump the water every time because it was just too hard for me.






The San Diego temple is MAGNIFICENT on the outside. I've driven by it on the freeway a couple of times and it is no wonder it literally causes collisions on the road. So as you can imagine I was dying to see the inside. Not only is it huge, it is BEAUTIFUL. All the temples in the world are, but I secretly hope one of my daughters gets married in San Diego. :) Stunning.
Tim and I have made it a goal to visit the temple as a family as often as possible. Once we even met Tim during lunch and had a picnic on the temple grounds at the Newport Beach Temple. We really want the girls to know and feel the importance of the temple. It truly is a sanctuary and I know the girls felt the spirit.



After it all, we stopped at the ever so popular In-n-Out. During the always long line, Marisa wanted my camera and I love the pictures she took. Here is the perspective of our little 3 year old. If only life was as simple as hers.

apple farm

I think we are done with the visiting of farms for preschool fieldtrips. I'm farmed out. :) But if my kiddo is having fun, then it is all worth it. It was a very long, busy day so I'm going to let the pics do all the talking for me.

The first thing we did was make freshly squeezed apple cider. Anything fresh is right up my alley.



The farm had a few apple presses lined up where the kids got to throw in fresh apples from their farm into a grinder. The grinder spits out the skin and everything else into a bucket below while the juice of the apple slowly drips out into a pail.


Once the bucket below is full, our guide wrapped up the grinded apples in a sack and then the machine pressed the apples down real good until the juice from the apples were flowing down. My mouth was already watering at this moment. Once the pail at the end of the press was full he filled up a gallon jug with our fresh apple cider. We drank it for lunch and it was d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s.




The apples, the fall colors, the coolness in the air, so yummy.



Next, they got to go on a tractor hayride. Hayrides are even fun as an adult I have to say. During the hayride we got to see a rooster, which kept "cock-a-doodling", as Marisa would say, really loudly. It was pretty cool to listen to so up close. And the piglets were just a few days old and they were sooo tiny. Pretty cute for such ugly little things.






They also got to "learn" about corn, the different parts to a corn, different ways they used the parts back in the day, and how they grind it. This part was so boring as the lady talked for like what seemed forever in the most uninteresting way possible. So many times I wanted to interrupt and say, "They are only 3." But I know I can be overbearing and bossy sometimes so I didn't. She definitely acknowledged how young they were, but she had no idea how to really reach them. The only fun part after the 30 minute lecture was pretending to grind the corn.




At the end, the kids got to fill their own bag with apples they picked from the trees themselves. Marisa thoroughly enjoyed this part.





I love the look on my kid's face when she is having fun.

little miss busy

Because of all that transpired on Thursday I haven't yet posted the good news on Natalie's 15 month check-up. So here it is!

First thing, the doctor hands me the little piece of paper with her stats and says, "I bet you never thought you would see those numbers for her!"

So true!

Weight: 21 lbs 14 1/2 ounces 40th percentile
Height: 31 inches 70th percentile
Head: 18 inches 45th percentile


My tiny baby is getting big!

Natalie had a great appointment. She is perfect. ;)

I know moms always say this, but her life has flashed before my eyes. Time seemed to go by slower with Marisa, I think because she was my only child, but with Natalie I can barely keep up with all of her changes and milestones. I guess that is life with two kids?? I don't even want to know how fast life goes with more!


Natalie is talking a lot. Mostly jibberish but to her she thinks she makes perfect sense. But to my amazement she has been learning almost a new word a day. Natalie is always happy and loves to love life. She loves to say hi and wave to anybody. Whether it is our neighbor's dog or a stranger walking by our shopping cart at a store. She physically can't keep still and we are in constant amazement how she can maneuver her little body to do the things she does. Can you stand up straight on tip toes on the bottom edge of the back of a table chair? I didn't think so.

I love my little Natalie. She keeps me way busy. Two kids make me way busy. But I'm loving where I am at, I am loving my two girls. Life is good right now.