Jun 30, 2008

Bitter sweet

Well, it's official.
We have said goodbye to life in Huntington Beach...

...and hello to life in Highland, Utah.





I still can't believe it's real. After being in Huntington Beach for 6 years, it was really hard to leave. There is so much that we love about Southern California, but the thing that we will miss most is definitely our friends. I know I've said it before, but since we have lived away from our families we have just relied on our friends who have been like family to us. Sorry if I didn't get to officially say goodbye to you, but I found myself thinking/assuming I'd see people again before we took off, then the time just disappeared. I think part of it was me subconsciously avoiding saying goodbye, since I knew it would be so hard. By the way, in case you were wondering, moving sucks...bad! We only had a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment to move and it was a nightmare. I can't imagine what it was like for my parents who moved after living in a home for 27 years. Crazy! My mom was awesome and flew out on Friday morning just to help pack and clean and then drove back with me, while Dan and a friend drove the moving truck. On Saturday morning we had a handful of guys who came to help move, which was such a huge help. I just can't believe how much stuff we had. It was crazy. And then even after the guys loaded up the truck and left, we still had a ton to do. It just felt like it was going to never end. We totally thought we'd be able to hit the beach or get pedicures, but no such luck. We did go to dinner Sat in Dana Point with my mom's brother and his family, which was fun, but we were exhausted! The Schumann's were kind enough to offer us to stay at their house Sat night, which was so nice. It was great to be able to be completely done and then sleep in a real bed, rather than an air mattress. We woke up, hit Sugar Shack for breakfast and then set off for the long trip to Utah. It wasn't too long until I was shedding a few tears (while my mom slept) as I thought about this chapter of our life closing and I thought about all the friends and the memories that we were leaving behind. Change is just hard, even when you know it's a good thing. (Or a necessary thing). On a good note, the drive was not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. I drove until St. George and then my mom drove the rest of the way. Dan's Acura is really comfortable, so it wasn't bad. I didn't have stop any more than we did for gas/food, so that was good. We got to my parents around 10:00 p.m. and then waited for Dan. After dropping off his friend Joel and switching cars, etc...and driving back to Highland, we didn't end up going to bed until about 2:00 a.m. The crappy part was that since we were getting there so late, we ended up asking all our family to come Monday night after work to unpack the truck, so I had all day to kill without being able to unpack anything or get settled. I'll admit it was nice to sleep in and go shopping with my mom, but I would really love to just get settled. Anyway, this whole move is definitely bitter sweet. Tonight we had both our families eating dinner together and helping us move. It was so nice just to be able to spend time with them and we feel so grateful to have them close by. (I'm sure even moreso after I have the baby). But I know there are going to be many days when I'll really miss my life in California.


Things I'll miss about life in California....
My friends
Beach sunsets
Bonfires on the beach
Beach cruisers
TK Burger
The Manor ;)
Sugar Shack
The Happiest Place on Earth
Cheap pedicures
The sound of the waves
Great shopping
Sephora
Beach days at San Onofre
The traffic (kidding!)

Things I'm looking forward to in Utah...
Spending time with family
Having a washer, dryer & dishwasher (no more coin laundry!)
Girls night out with my mom and sister
Starry skies
The mountains
Affordable housing
Summer nights
Snowcones
Cafe Rio
Air conditioning!
Boating with my family
Free babysitting
Fresh fruits & veggies from the garden

Jun 24, 2008

Spoiled Rotten

My friends (who are amazing!) threw a baby shower for me in Huntington Beach on June 14th. It couldn't have been a better day--perfect weather, delicious food, friends, family and adorable gifts! Amber Baltzer was kind enough to offer her house for the shower (in the midst of remodeling!), which has a beautiful yard which was perfect for it. It was so much fun! I got ridiculously spoiled! People were so generous. I can't tell you how many adorable outfits I got. I can not wait to see this baby girl all dolled up! I went home feeling so loved and blessed to have such amazing friends. Thank you to everyone who helped out and who came to the shower to make it such a perfect day!
Me & Jeni Baird

Emily Curfew, Steph Jensen, Amber Baltzer & Helen Ritter

Britney Hillstead, Amber Sim, Kristin Arnold & Michele Briscoe

The loot!


Opening presents! (I can't wait to see our little one in this hoodie--so cute!)


Just one of the amazing handmade blankets I got. This is one that my aunt Carol Pearson made. I love the pink/brown.

More loot. ;)

Steph, my personal scribe, doing a great job keeping track of all the baby gifts

The girls!
(Melody O'dell, Me, Amber Sim, Kelly McDonald, Amber Baltzer,
Jen Schumann & Steph Jensen)

A group shot of more friends

Friends & Family (L-R around the table, Aunt Carol Pearson, Sara Mortensen, Patti Payne, Candice Moffett, Natalie Moffett, Tracie Syed, Aunt Carol Plowman, cousin Kim Pearson)

As much as I hate belly shots, I figured I should have at least one picture at my baby shower. Jeni surprised me here by kissing my belly!
Me & Steph

More pics from San O

Well, Dan finally came back from Utah--yea! I kinda like him, so it's great to have him back after having him gone for 2 weeks. I texted him one day and said, "Are you ever coming home?" He wrote back promising that he would be back Friday and then said, "I guess it's a good thing I'm not in the military or something". I would be a horrible military wife!
Anyway, Dan also brought back with him his laptop with all our pics, so I'll post a few more pictures from our San Onofre trip.

Isn't Dan a hottie?


Dan's sister Jen and his parents Roger & Deanne


A shot of the girls!

And one of the boys. I love this pictures of Dan and his dad.

Here is a cute picture of Dan's mom doing a photo shoot of all the surfers and Dan's dad watching through the binocs. I thought it was cute.

Dan surfing


Cute Layne Barnes....love this girl! She was my little buddy.

Jun 14, 2008

Last San Onofre trip!

Our friends planned a little San O surf/beach trip a couple of weeks ago as a last little shindig. San Onofre is in San Clemente, where we used to live, so we have lots of sweet memories there. We love San Clemente, so it's always fun to go back. We just relaxed, bbq'd and soaked in the sun. It was such a perfect beach day! My pictures are on Dan's computer in Utah, so I had to steal a couple from Steph's blog (thanks, Steph!). I'll post some more later. We are so grateful for our friends in Huntington Beach. When you are away from your family, you really do rely on your friends like you do family. We are so grateful to have been blessed with such amazing friends. That's definitely the hardest part about leaving! (Well, that, and the amazing weather, and the beach, and disneyland, and....)People tell me I'll appreciate having these pictures later. I'm just taking their word for it. (There's really nothing better than hangin' out at the beach all day in your maternity swimsuit, laying next to all your skinny friends!)
Some of my favorites! (Kelly McDonald, Jen Schumann, me, Jeni Baird, Steph Jensen, Alex McDonald & Amber Sim)

Work baby shower

My social work friends from UC Irvine threw me a baby shower last week, so I thought I'd post a few of the pics. We had great mexican food and a delicious chocolate cake. I got a big, fat gift card to Babies-R-Us, which will be such a huge help, as well as some adorable outfits. It was also fun just to be able to spend time with my work friends. My favorite part was that my new boss David wore my nursery colors pink/brown as part of the decor. So funny!
Some of the gang (I forgot to take pictures until half the group had already left!) My former supervisor and preceptor Donna Baker & Jennifer Higgins from the Cancer Center where I did my internship last year. I love these women!

Another picture of me & Jen

My boss David Hubley all decked out in pink/brown to add to the decor!

My good friends Dettie Romero & Amy Tierney

Congrats, Jared!

My brother-in-law Jared Lee just graduated from UCLA dental school. We were able to go up to his graduation and then attend a fabulous luncheon (complete with a tooth-shaped cake) at his parents home in Fullerton. Dan's parents and sister Jen were in town, so it was fun to be able to spend some time with them as well. We have loved having Debi & Jared close by and it's been so nice to be able to spend so much time with them. We will definitely miss having them around, but are excited for their new adventure in NYC as he starts his Ortho. program in just a month. We can't wait to go visit them! Congrats, Jared! We're so proud of you!

Girl's Weekend!

Dan and his boys have a golf trip to Palm Springs every summer, so a few of us girls took advantage and had our own little girl's weekend. It was Debi's last weekend in So Cal before moving to New York, so we met up with her friend Stacie and played for the weekend. Thursday night Debi came down and we went and got massages and pedicures, made dinner and rented a "P.S. I love you". After work on Friday we headed down to San Diego and headed to a Padres game. Stacie hooked us up with an amazing room at the Hotel Del Coronado for $30 each--ocean view and everything! It was so sweet! We stayed up late watching the waves and catching up on smut magazines and gossip (including researching on the internet whether or not Prison Break's Wentworth Miller is gay. I love him, so I'm determined to believe that he is straight). Saturday morning we had brunch and window shopped on the island before heading back up to the O.C. That night we went to the Block, had dinner at Cafe Tu Tu Tango (I love this place!) and went to see "What Happens in Vegas." Pretty good flick. Then we crashed at my place and said our goodbyes on Sunday morning. It was the perfect girl's weekend!






Jun 11, 2008

Enrichment stuff




My enrichment leader Rachel is super creative and always has great ideas for enrichment and for crafts. Last night we made cake plates--these are ridiculously easy, so I had to post it. All you need is a plate, a candlestick (or a bowl or vase), and some epoxy, and voila! There you have it--an adorable cake platter! The first pics are some that she did (I love the green 2-tiered one) and the black/white one is the one I made last night. I think the grand total for mine was $7.00 (thanks to Ross, where I found cute cheap plates & bowls). Aren't they cute? What a cute, inexpensive gift idea. Love it!

Memorial weekend at the River

This is long overdue! At least I kind of have an excuse....I'm computerless right now, since our desktop computer died and Dan took his laptop to Utah with him for 2 weeks!
Anyway, back to the blogging.....We went with some good friends (Dawn & Brian Lombardi & rugrats, Steph & Jeff Jensen, & Amber & Matt Sim & rugrats) out to the River over Memorial Day weekend. Lombardi's family has a great house right on the water. We were a bit nervous about the weather, but it ended up being pretty nice. We relaxed and boated the first day when the weather wasn't fabulous, then Sunday and Monday were perfect--lots of blue sky and sunshine. We played games, watched movies, fished, bbq'd and soaked up the sun. Oh, and I watched everyone else waterski, wakeboard and tube! ;) Good times, good times.
Here's some fun pics from the trip.

The River

Some of the gang

Steph & Jeff

The Lombardi clan
Steph & the little rugrats

My crush Caden (who didn't love his straight jacket!)
Me & Dawn
Jack's awesome hair
Amber & Caden


Cute little Ruby!

Jake sportin' some cool shades



The fellas fishin'
Me & Dan (and his nice windblown curls!)

Thanks to the Lombardi's for hosting a great trip!