What a Beautiful Day!

Abs of Steel

2012-01-22T08:08:00.001-08:00

Levi is working on that 6 pack...

Spit up...

2012-01-22T07:59:00.001-08:00

Andrew and my new everyday attire.

I serioulsy am amazed everyday at how much he spits up. Luckily we have wood floors because he will make puddles on the ground. We have now trained Olive to come lick it up. I know that is a little gross but when it happens so often you just get use to it. My mom said that I spit up just as much when I was a baby so I guess he gets this from me.... yahh.

Family Vacation

2012-01-21T16:13:00.000-08:00

A few weeks after Christmas Andrew, Levi and I went up to Shaver for 5 days for a little family get-a-way. It was crazy to be up there in January with no snow and cool, not cold, weather. Sitting by the fire outside, making smores, going on walks and hikes. During the weekend we have some friends come up and stay for a few days. Bryan, Kim, Christian, and Lacy came up Friday and left Saturday. The Carolyns came up Saturday and left Sunday. All in all, it was a great trip.

G Sue's cabin

A family hike (#1) up to Eli Mountain

Andrew carried Levi in the bjorn on our hikes. This pictures is the best... can you see the spit up caught in action??

Our hike #2 was to this hidden little lake and dam that was so beautiful. It also helped that the weather was perfect.

Thanks Shaver for a great time... we will see you again soon.

4 Months

2012-01-20T15:22:00.000-08:00

Levi had his 4 month check up today with Dr. Mojibi. He has grown into such a happy boy during these short 4 months. I have feelings of being so excited to see what he is going to next but at the same time wanting him to stay little and enjoying each day with him. It is such a privilege to be a mom!

Levi's 4 month stats:

Weight: 18 lbs. 10 oz. (95th percentile)

Height: 25.5 in. long (75th percentile)

He got 2 shots... lots of tears

- He has so much more control of his hands now. His hands are always in his mouth now as I am thinking that the teething process is starting.

- He gets really excited when Andrew get home from work which is really cute. His excitement comes out as a squeal and huge smile.

- His sleeping has regressed a bit to waking up now every 3-4 hours during the night

- When he smiles, his whole face lights up which is pretty much the cutest thing I have ever seen.

- When he wakes up in the morning or from a nap he is becoming quite the cuddle bug. As I hold him he just nestles into my chest and just stays there for awhile... So sweet

- Most days he wakes up between 7:30 and 8:00 and we have been putting him to bed around 6:30

-He is still taking previcid for his reflux. We tried a few weeks ago to wien him off. When we decreased it from a 1/2 pill twice a day to only one time a day we didn't see much of a difference which we were excited about but when we took him all the way off I started to notice that he would kick his legs and arch his back while he nursed. I had scary flashbacks to when he was super colicky and would do that every time nursed (also add coming off and screaming all throughout) so we immediately put him back on the 1/2 dose of previcid. We will give this some more time before we try it again.

- Can I just say that I love being a mom!!!

Henry

2012-01-12T09:58:00.000-08:00

I love being able to watch Henry grow up, even if it is from a distance. Having a nephew is so much fun and now watching his sweet little personality come out just makes me look forward to each visit so much more. My favorite thing, since we don't live in the same town, is to skype with him and Katie (and Charlie). He loves to show me his toys, books, and anything else that he is playing with at the moment. The internet is an incredible thing that is going to help our boys know each other in the midst of being a few hours away.

Here are a few pictures that Andrew took after Charlie's dedication.

Grandpa Arly turns 80

2012-01-12T09:28:00.000-08:00

The weekend before Christmas, we all celebrated Grandpa Arly's 80th birthday. The social bug that he is, wanted to have a big celebration with all of the people he loves so that is just what we did. Somewhere around 80 people gathered together at Shafter MB for food, live music, and hanging out. Just by the look on Arly's face we knew that he loved every minute of the party.

I didn't get to grow up with Grandpas so marrying into a family that has an amazing one has been such a blessing!

Uncle Ryan giving a toast

The band was amazing, playing some old country music. (my favorite) One of the guys in the band is a friend of Arly's who is also blind.

Talking with his sister Luetta and brother Gene

What an amazing testament to the type of guy Arly is. I hope I can fill a room with this many family and friends when I am 80.

Aunt Carley lovin on Levi

The 5 siblings

15 weeks

2012-01-03T21:18:00.001-08:00

14 weeks

2012-01-03T21:14:00.001-08:00

13 weeks

2012-01-03T21:11:00.000-08:00

12 weeks

2011-12-19T09:52:00.000-08:00

Skill #1..

2011-12-16T11:33:00.000-08:00

Week 12: hand-eye coordination

He is loving his hanging play gym. Those little arms get moving to hit and occasionally grab onto the hanging toy. I am also loving it due to the fact that he can lay there for awhile entertained and I get some "me" time.

Christmas Tree Time...

2011-12-16T11:28:00.000-08:00

As always, it's just not quite Christmas without a Christmas tree. This year, Levi helped us pick out our tree=)

Merry Christmas...

2011-12-11T07:34:00.000-08:00

...From the Feil Family!

11 weeks

2011-12-11T07:32:00.001-08:00

Do you have an "classy" Christmas sweater??

2011-12-05T20:41:00.000-08:00

Our friends Jordan and Jamie gave Levi this Christmas sweater. Since it is a funny Christmas sweater, we decided to head to the Thrift store and find ugly Christmas sweaters to take a family picture with. We definitely found some "classy" ones=)

and a few regular photos while we were at it...

Christmas Music

2011-12-01T11:44:00.001-08:00

Who doesn't love some great Christmas music. As always, our music debuts itself every year the day after Thanksgiving. When we first got married, Andrew was not a fan of Christmas music.... you know, the boring traditional Christmas music... the stuff I LOVE! But as he did his research (and if you know Andrew, he definitely did some research=) he found some great music that was more his style. He has now become one of the biggest Christmas music fans I know. Here is the newest addition to our Christmas music collection this year. If you are in need of updating your collection, I would definitely recommend this album.

Cute

2011-12-01T11:39:00.000-08:00

Here are some adorable letter/number flash cards...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7505834@N03/

9 weeks

2011-11-26T21:19:00.000-08:00

This is Levi's 9 week picture. We spent the week in bakersfield so our normal picture didn't happen. Plus I think this picture is pretty cute of him=)

A girl from church made Levi this adorable owl beanie. She is so talented and super sweet for thinking of Levi. Thanks Amber... you are the best!

backyard update

2011-11-16T14:48:00.001-08:00

As you know, our backyard has been a continued work in progress since we bought this house. It started out with a funky apartment/brick bbq room that pretty much took up the entire backyard and now is beginning to look like a backyard that we can hangout in and enjoy. Here are the steps that we have taken so far...

Step 1: Plant 3 fruit trees

2: Tear out apartment/bbq room

3: Restore back to a garage

4: Remove all the unnecessary concrete

5. Level the dirt

6: Mark out flower beds

7: Put in sprinklers

8: Plant grass

9: Build trellis against the neighbors fence and plant star jasmine to create a hedge

9: Build garden boxes and start a garden

(Since almost all of this was done while I was pregnant, Andrew has worked so hard by himself to create our dream backyard)

The last thing that we have had done was remove the brick driveway and concrete path that ran to our side fence. After much debate we decided just to tear our the brick since it was laid right on the dirt and was already breaking as we drove on it and just plant grass there instead. It already makes our yard feel so much bigger.

Our next step is to get some pavers from katie (thanks Katie) and build a paver patio to give us somewhere to sit and hangout on. Hopefully this patio will turn out as great as we have it envisioned in our minds.

This has been a long and incredibly fun process for us, turning something that was so awful into something that is beautiful.

Here is what is looks like right now...

Hi Olive! No more brick driveway

At Andrew's request we are going to put an avocado tree in that corner by the garage. Andrew says that avocados are the food of kings=) Royalty... here we come!!

The patio will go here where the cement pathway use to be

Andrew's beautiful garden boxes. We have been eating salad every night from our garden.

This is the trellis that Andrew built for our star jasmine to grow on.

8 weeks

2011-11-15T08:54:00.001-08:00

Week 7 accidentally got deleted off of the memory card so here is week 8. The rolls keep coming. We go today for his 2 month checkup so I am interested to see how much weighs. I will keep you posted=)

6 weeks

2011-11-15T08:06:00.000-08:00

Levi Waking Up

2011-11-12T21:37:00.000-08:00

Levi waking up on our vacation!

Capturing the moment

2011-11-07T12:49:00.000-08:00

As we took his Halloween pictures this morning he was so happy that we decided to capitalize on the moment and take a few more...

Levi at 7 weeks

My little Frogger...

2011-11-07T12:45:00.000-08:00

Levi's decided to dress up as a frog for his first Halloween.

Cutest Frog I have ever seen!!!

Who wouldn't love being a frog!!!

5 weeks

2011-11-01T17:15:00.000-07:00

Thank you Aunt Katie for taking Levi's 5 week pictures since we were at your house.

Smiles

2011-10-30T21:38:00.000-07:00

The smiles are starting and making all the screaming worth it!!!

Shaver

2011-10-30T21:35:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures from our family trip to Shaver...

I love how much Henry loves his Uncle Drew

Olives heaven... having adventures in the woods

Charlie smiling at Levi

Cousins

Warrior Dash

2011-10-30T21:14:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday Andrew ran in the "Warrior Dash" in Casa De Fruta. This is a 3 mile race that has running, obstacles, water, mud, fire, and for a lot of people, costumes. There were a total of 12,000 participants over 2 days. Scott and Becky Carolan also ran in the race. Instead of making it a day trip we all went down Friday night and stayed with our friend Jeremy's parents who live 10 minutes from the race. The weekend was a ton of fun and it is always fun to see Andrew covered in mud from head to toe. I will definitely have to participate next year.

4 Weeks

2011-10-30T21:09:00.001-07:00

Thank you Jeremy for the adorable onesie. Levi is so cute in it!

Cute

2011-10-20T11:53:00.001-07:00

I know he didn't smile on purpose, but this face is just so darn cute. I can't

wait until he can smile!

Levi sleeps... and so does Mom

2011-10-20T11:49:00.000-07:00

I love this picture of Levi sleeping on Andrew

3 Weeks

2011-10-17T13:46:00.000-07:00

3 week highlights:

Levi is still waking up every 2 hours which means we are still getting very little sleep
He has started taking reflux medicine due to his projectile vomiting and painful cries. We will see if this makes a difference.
Breast feeding has gotten incredibly better, latching is almost a non issue... thank you Lord!!!
One of my favorite things is when Levi falls asleep on my chest. Some of the sweetest moments!
My milk must be working because Levi has been getting more and more little chubby rolls on his arms and legs. Also, a pretty killer double chin. Why are rolls so cute on a baby?!?!

Levi's first trip to Bakersfield

2011-10-10T07:56:00.000-07:00

Levi made his first trip to Bakersfield this past weekend to meet some of the family that hadn't seen him yet. Friday night, my dad cooked up some amazing salmon and had the extended family over for dinner. Levi definitely is not going to have a lack of love with this family. Then on Saturday, Carley was having a birthday party (Big 17 year old!) so we headed over to the Feil's to visit and catch up with Andrew's family.

Great Grandma Net with all 5 great grandsons

Charlie and Levi

Henry has the cutest little personality. He disappeared into the bedroom only to come back out dressed like this. Adorable!

Jack really wanted to hold Levi, he was so sweet with him

Levi with Grandma Sue

Grandpa Rod

And the infamous, Great Grandpa Arly

Layne got to meet him for the first time this weekend as well

Happy Birthday Carley!!!

2 weeks

2011-10-09T20:21:00.000-07:00

Levi is 3 weeks today so those pictures will be up tomorrow but I have had these pictures on Andrew's camera since last week so they definitely need to go up first.

2 week highlights:

He had his 2 week check up (16 days old) and he now weighs 9 lbs. 9 oz. and is in the 75th percentile. He is still 21.5 in. long which puts him in the 90th percentile.
He wakes up every 2 hours to sleep and is still trying to figure out his nights and days so Andrew and I are definitely a bit sleep deprived
I know it is on accident but I love it when he makes a smile face... maybe I am partial, but he is an incredibly handsome boy
He has projectile vomited a few times and is starting to get a painful cry at times. Our doctor said this could be starting signs of reflux so we will watch it and see if it continues/gets worse
It is crazy how much he has changed looks in such a short period of time. I am trying to cherish each day because I know he will change so quickly
We love our Levi!

Levi's Crib

2011-10-05T08:56:00.000-07:00

Last week Levi took his first nap in his crib. For the longest time, we had a nursery ready for a boy or girl... whoever God wanted to bless us with. And now Levi is here and doing an amazing job of making that space his.

This baby sign was created and used at my Fresno shower so it now adorns the front of the crib. Thank you Lacy!

Thank You Aunt Katie...

2011-10-02T19:48:00.000-07:00

... for my awesome quilt!!!

The Moby Wrap

2011-10-02T19:09:00.002-07:00

Mission: Make blueberry muffins before Andrew wakes up...

You definitely need 2 hands to bake. Holding Levi didn't give me that option so I thought I would try my hand with the moby wrap. It worked well for a few minutes but Levi doesn't like to be in the same position for all that long so he got tired of it. Let's just say Andrew woke up and ended up finishing the muffins. So much for having them all ready for him.

Mission: Failed

We now work on Levi time...

Grandma Gail

2011-10-02T08:39:00.001-07:00

After Levi was born, my mom stayed with us for a week to help Andrew and I transition into parenthood. Oh man was it helpful. She was able to answer all the little questions as they came up. One of the nicest things was that we now had 3 people to trade off with during the night when Levi would cry or just decide to be wide awake at 2 a.m. She did our laundry, made food, and basically took care of Andrew and I so that we were able to take care of Levi. THANK YOU Mom!!! You are seriously the best.

Props to baby photographers...

2011-09-27T14:37:00.000-07:00

Andrew, being the amazing photographer that he is, decided to take some pictures of Levi... you know, the more professional looking ones. We went into his room and setup 4 different props/poses for pictures. We thought we were being smart by having everything set up in advance. The first pictures were going to be in the suitcase (the ones you see here). We put him in there and he fell asleep which was perfect. Oh things were going to work out great. This thought quickly ended as soon as we moved to pose #2. He peed all over the blanket and then then started to scream. We soon realized that our picture taking moment was over and that we would have to try again later. I guess 1 out of 4 poses is better than nothing. I now have a much higher appreciation for baby photographers!

1 Week Old

2011-09-26T09:53:00.001-07:00

Happy 1 week birthday Levi!

In the first week of Levi's life:
- Day 1 and 2, lots of crying but since then he has been very consolable (change diaper, feed, or just needs to be held.)
- I didn't know if I would be a pacifier person but due to the crying on day 1 & 2 I thought I would give it a try and Levi loved it. He had been latching and feeding really well up until then. I don't know if it was the pacifier or something else but since then, latching has been very frustrating. Let's just say there has been no more pacifier since that one time.
- Takes most of his naps in his car seat that clicks into the swing. I have LOVED this swing!
- When I received them, I thought, "who needs 4 swaddle blankets?" Well now I am glad I kept them. Last night, Levi peed through his diaper and had to be completely changed 3 times which meant that he woke up this morning in swaddle blanket #4.
- He consistently eats every 2 hours
- He came out with long finger nails so on day 2, he had his first fingernail clipping
- He has had lots of visitors and I have to admit, he is so cute I would want to come visit all the time too=)
- Thank you Grandma Gail for staying with me the first week. I can't wait for you to come back and hold me and someday play with me. Love, Levi
- A lot of just trying to figure it out but Andrew has been amazing and we are doing well. Levi has brought so many smiles to our faces already. We can't wait to watch him grow!

Who would have thought....

2011-09-24T20:20:00.000-07:00

We would be nursing our babies at the same time=)

Cousins

2011-09-24T13:18:00.000-07:00

Even though Katie and her boys were here on Saturday, since Levi came that night, they had to come right back up to see him. I can't wait for these boys to be able to play together. I am seeing lots of adventures being had in the future.

Here are a few pictures of our time together (if you read Katie's blog you have seen most of them but I still wanted to document them here).

I am pretty sure that these boys have the best grandma ever!!!

Levi James Feil

2011-09-22T12:58:00.000-07:00

Levi James Feil
7 lbs. 14 oz.
21 in. long

Well, here we go on our new adventure. It all started at 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 17, 2011. Katie, Henry, and Charlie were in Fresno and hung out for the day on Saturday while John attended a coaches clinic at Fresno City College. We went shopping all day and I felt totally normal. Not even a hint that this little guy would be coming in just a few hours. I had worked up until that Friday but with my sister's experiences of being induced on day 10 with both of her boys, I was expecting to be late as well.... God had different plans.

Andrew and I went to bed at 10:30 that night and at 11:30 I was startled awake when my water broke. At first I wasn't sure what happened but figuring that I didn't pee my pants, it must have been my water. Contractions didn't start right away so I jumped in the shower before plans were made. The doctor told us because of possible infections we should come in right away.... a few minutes later the contractions started. Not slow and easy like some people but pretty intense right away. We got to the hospital and was immediately checked in and sent to a room to be checked out. YES, they confirmed my water broke and that labor was in progress (who needs to "check" and make sure a woman is in labor...) From there we were taken to the delivery room and got all set up. Everything progressed really fast. I got to the hospital at 4 cm and in about 45 mins was at 5 cm. 5 cm. lasted for about an hour with hard contractions and so much pressure in between that I couldn't catch my breath. I also started to have the shakes which made me feel out of control of my body. I first asked for iv pain meds but instead went right for the epidural. As much as I would like to have a completely natural birth, I can't say that I regret getting it. Things calmed down after that except the shakes continued. I tried to sleep for awhile but the shakes kept me up. Andrew on the other hand had no problems sleeping on the window seat next to me. 30 mins. after the epidural, they checked my again and I was at 7 cm, 45 mins later at an 8 and an hour later at a 10. It was now about 5 a.m. Again, hearing Katie's story, I didn't want to start pushing until I felt the urge and the nurse agreed since they hadn't even called the doctor yet. I waited until 6:30 and then started to push. After about 4 pushes, she told me the doctor was on his way but if I kept pushing this baby would be out before he got here so I stopped. 20 minutes later my doctor came in and after 3 pushes, Levi came into the world at &:12 a.m. About an hour later I got really queezy a threw up quite a bit but all in all it was a good process with no complications... thank you Jesus!!

Welcome to the world!

39 weeks

2011-09-17T16:31:00.000-07:00

Here I am at 39 weeks...
This was also taken right when I got home from my last day of teaching. A very weird feeling to not go back on Monday. I have had the same classroom for 4 years and I got a little teary eyed when I had to turn in my key. I am so glad that I am leaving with this feeling of knowing that I love to teach.... But now for a new adventure, bring on Baby Feil=)

39 weeks

2011-09-15T06:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I am 5 days away from my due date so sometime soon Baby Feil will be making his/her entrance into this world. As of Tuesday I was 3 cm. dialated and have another apt. today so see if things are still progressing. It is a crazy feeling to just be waiting around to feel something happen. I am still teaching as of now and Friday will be my last day. It is wierd to think that I wont have a classroom to go to and a place to be everyday. Definitely a bitter-sweet feeling but I can't wait to be a mom and figure out everyday what that means. Be praying for Andrew and I as we deliver this baby and begin parenthood.

Baby Feil Canvas

2011-09-01T08:18:00.000-07:00

Some Fresno friends threw me a baby shower a few weekends ago and this was a gift from my friend Jessie. She is very artistic and creative and I absolutely love what she made. Some mod podge, book pages, fabric, letters, and twine were used to create an amazing "Baby Feil" sign that now hangs on the outside of our nursery door.

Soon Baby Feil will have a name!!!

(Colette, I hope this is close enough to get a better idea of the sign.)

37 weeks

2011-08-31T21:46:00.000-07:00

36 Weeks

2011-08-25T07:36:00.000-07:00

School has started up again so I am back to work. It is crazy to think that I could only have 2/3/4 more weeks of teaching. I am spending my time 1) trying to teach in way as if I am not leaving at all while 2) making sure that I am prepared to make a smooth transition for the teacher that is coming in to take my place.

In the midst of this, Bryan was kind enough to take a few maternity pictures for us.

Cutest Nephews Ever!

2011-08-03T15:18:00.000-07:00

I am pretty sure that I have the most adorable nephews on the planet!!!

I love that I have Katie and John to watch, ask questions, and model parenting after since they are amazing parents to Henry and Charlie!

Feil Family Vacation

2011-08-01T19:14:00.000-07:00

Destination... Shaver Lake, California

The Feil family use to go camping at Stoney Creek up in the Sequoias every summer but last year we started a new tradition. My Grandma Sue has an amazing cabin up at Shaver that she is so generous to let us use for a weekend. Just like last year, our second annual trip to Shaver was a huge success. Hanging out, walks, fishing, and lots of time on the lake were the various activities that took place over the weekend.

Olive runs away... Olive comes home

2011-07-31T14:59:00.001-07:00

We had a scare last Saturday night. Kim, Bryan, Andrew and I went swimming at our friend's house in S.E. Fresno and decided to bring Chuck and Olive along. We were not aware that there was a small space under the fence. The escape artists that they are, Chuck and Olive found this hole and set out on a little adventure. They have gotten out a few other times and have always stayed together. This was our hope because earlier that day Olive's collar broke, I got her a new one but it was too small so she was collarless for the night. We searched and searched for them and about an hour later I found Chuck running across the field around their house. Olive was no where to be found. Now I started to worry, without a collar there was no way we were going to get her back. After searching some more, we went back, had dinner, and then headed home for the night. I was far more upset and emotional than I thought I would be. I knew she was gone forever. It was so sad that night getting into bed and not seeing Olive in her bed. The next day Andrew made flyers and I went to put them up. I stopped by our friend's house to give them a few flyers to pass out. Not two minutes after I left their house did Candi call my phone to tell me that Olive had just snuck back into their backyard. She must have heard or seen my car and came looking. Totally filthy and scared after wandering all night I couldn't believe that Olive was coming home.

32 weeks

2011-07-31T14:48:00.001-07:00

Ya ya I am terrible about being consistent with these pictures. I am trying to hold my shirt in so that you can see my stomach but really it just looks like I am holding my pants up... hahah oh well. The count down begins... I can't believe we only have 8 weeks to go. Or if I follow in my sister's footsteps, 9 and a half weeks to go. Bring on baby Feil!

Notice the bead board in the background. Andrew just finished putting it up in out bathroom. Now we can finish painting and soon enough we will have a whole new bathroom. I Love it!

Nashville, here we come!

2011-07-13T10:55:00.001-07:00

Nashville, Tennessee
Country music capital of the world... doesn't get any better than that=)

Today, Layne and I are getting on a plane and heading to Nashville to visit new life! We get to see Erin, Matt, and their baby boy Liam. I can't wait to see Erin as an amazing mom in action.

Another perk to Nashville is getting to have the BEST pancakes in the world. We will definitely be taking a trip to the Pancake Pantry for their superb pancakes and their unbelievable cinnamon cream syrup... to die for!

28 Weeks

2011-07-03T21:19:00.000-07:00

Totally forgot about week 26 and 27... Here is week 28. I feel like I am popping out like crazy. This picture was taken up at Hume Lake Christian Camp. The Well had a leadership training up there this past weekend so we got to enjoy the amazing Sequoia National Forest for 3 days. Great weekend.

San Simeon

2011-06-27T12:57:00.000-07:00

For Christmas this past year, Bryan and Kim gave Andrew and I a camping trip as our gift. We went on that trip this past weekend to San Simeon. Christian and Lacy joined us and we had an amazing 4 days.

Having dinner in San Luis

Chrstian had to take Lacy home early for one of her masters classes. When he came back for the last day he brought our dogs. Our family of 3 (4 if your count the one on the way=)

Our pantry

Elephant Seals

Chuck and Olive, hanging out

A little beach Bocce Ball tournament

Andrew and I took 1st place, Our victory photo

The backyard

2011-06-19T08:13:00.000-07:00

Remember this house...
Well I know I haven't blogged about it much but that will soon change. We have now lived here for 3 weeks and have been busy working on projects to make this house feel like "home."

This house sat on the market for along time, mostly due to the fact that the backyard was a monstrous disaster that would need A LOT of work. Finally the price went low enough that we decided that we would take on the challenge.

The backyard originally had a garage that the last owners turned into a sketchy living space (no windows and definitely not up to code). Then a bbq room was attached to the front that contained brick for every wall except for the ceiling. All of this made the backyard tiny and not attractive at all! To make a long story short, our friends who rented this house from us until we could move in, were given free rent for a month if they would help Andrew demolish these new additions. Boys with sledge hammers... they agreed and the tear out began...

We then had what was left turned back into a regular garage...
Once everything was put back to normal, we then noticed that the removal of the excess buildings left huge cement slabs in the yard so those had to go.

You can kind of see all the concrete in this picture.

Andrew was going to rent a jack hammer and do it himself until his dad mentioned that we should look on Craigslist for someone who has a bobcat and needs work... Let's just say that it was the best decision we could have made.

The job was done in one day with all of the concrete removed and dispossed of. The guy said that he dumped 20,000 lbs. of concrete at the dump.

So this is what our backyard looks like now and we are so excited to start over with a clean slate.

Summer is officially here

2011-06-13T15:25:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day that I feel like I am on summer vacation. Andrew went to work and I am home to do whatever my little heart desires. Tomorrow I am going to start going to a water aerobics class at the gym which should be interesting considering that I will probably be the youngest person there by 40 years or so. Question.... for those of you who have been pregnant before, what is your pregnant swim suit of choice?? This has puzzled me and knowing that I will be BIG, pregnant right through summer, I need to figure this out. I think the pool is going to become my new best friend!

I had to go to our bank this morning to do a change of address which just happens to be in Old Town Clovis, home to some amazing antique shops. Who can resist just at least walking though.=) With a nursery in the works and some birthday money on hand, I came out with some treasures.

I am not a huge fan of themes, or really anything super babyish so I am going to decorate this gender neutral room in a vintage style. Here are my additions as of this morning...

An old Fisher Price school house

Globe

A pull and play xylophone

Kids ironing board and iron

Globe piggy bank

It's fun to think of having a little one running around this house!

25 weeks

2011-06-12T16:15:00.001-07:00

Katie has Henry sneaking in her weekly pictures... I have Olive. Isn't she so cute=)

Andrew and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary this past Thursday and went up to my Grandma's cabin in Shaver to celebrate. The weather could not have been better. We did a lot of resting and relaxing which was very needed. We also went on a different hike each day we were there.

2 words... Olive/Bear

So Olive was in dog heaven while we were there. She went with us on our hikes and was free to chase as many squirrels, birds, and butterflies as possible. On our first hike, she would run ahead of us but was never that far away. At one point she ran off into the trees, which was normal, but what wasn't normal was the barks that we heard a few seconds later. She never barks so there had to be something wrong. I ran back to see if I could find her. When I spotted her through the trees I also spotted something else next to her. It was something big and black and you better believe I was out of there. Luckily Olive came when I called her and we took off up the road. Andrew, being the interested man that he is, had to stay back and figure out exactly what "the big black thing" was. Yup, it was definitely a black bear that Olive was barking at. I am just glad she didn't try to play with it.

24 weeks

2011-06-12T16:01:00.001-07:00

and my last day of school!

Who needs a bigger Reagan Elementary work shirt... I do=)

The day I turned 27...

2011-06-12T15:20:00.000-07:00

Let's take a trip back about 3 weeks ago to May 26th...

Today is my 27th birthday!!!!!

(wearing green is must on my birthday)

I think this needs to be my new life theme because I am pretty sure there is no better day than your birthday...

I know that not everyone gets as excited for their birthday as I do but I just happen to have a husband who encourages my gittiness and excitement. I woke up to Andrew making me my favorite, chocolate chip pancakes, for breakfast. Not only were they chocolate chip pancakes but they were in the shape of a 27.... Love it!!

From there I was off to school. If you ever want to feel really special on your birthday you should just hangout with a bunch of 5th graders. I came into the room and they all started singing "Happy Birthday" to me. They also tried to be sneaky and created a card that everyone signed for me. So sweet. Andrew then brought me a Turkey Bacon Avocado sandwich from Sunnyside Deli for lunch.

That evening my mom and dad came up to install a gate for our new house that my dad welded himself (pictures to come soon). They stayed and treated Bryan, Kim, Christian, Lacy, Andrew, and I to dinner. THANK YOU MOM AND DAD!!! They headed back to Bakersfield and the rest of us walked to Second Space Theater for a show.

Can I just say that it was another great birthday!

23 weeks

2011-05-30T08:19:00.001-07:00

22 Weeks

2011-05-24T11:40:00.000-07:00

We are now starting to feel our little one move around, especially at night. Maybe that is the time when I actually relax enough to notice the little flutters and kicks.

New House...

2011-05-17T07:50:00.000-07:00

The past 3 weeks we have been making some inside improvements so that it will be fresh and clean before we move in on Memorial Day weekend. The first thing we did was had the whole inside painted. Then we refinished the hardwood floors (these before and after pictures will be coming shortly.) And now we are in the process of putting new tile in the kitchen and bathroom. Here are a few pictures of our kitchen and bathroom stripped down of the old and gross tile.

20 Weeks

2011-05-09T12:21:00.000-07:00

Andrew was out of town for the 19 week picture so we missed that mark but here is what 20 weeks brings.

Note to self... Find a new spot to take this picture, terrible lighting

Mother's Day

2011-05-09T10:44:00.000-07:00

I didn't even think about me being a "soon to be mother" but my husband did. I am telling you, each day makes me love being with Andrew more and more. For Mother's Day he got me some summer reading material since I only have 4 weeks of school left. He knows what I love and I can't wait to get started.

My favorite actress of all time has come out with a Memoir... isn't she just the definition of a classy lady!

And who doesn't love Marry Poppins with Dick Van Dyke...

I can't wait to dive into their lives.

A gift from my sister...

2011-04-25T17:31:00.000-07:00

So I must admit that I have the best sister in the world. She told me about a month ago that she wanted to make Baby Feil a baby quilt and that I needed to come down to Bakersfield and pick out some fabric with her. Well, that sounded like a great idea to me. After spending the day at my grandma Net's house on Saturday Katie and I went to Strawberry Patches and found some super cute fabric that will be turned into a quilt. I can't wait to see how it turns out. All of this planning stuff makes me being pregnant all the more real. Sometime you forget that at the end of this I am going to have a child...

Here is the fabric that we picked out (all but the fabrics with pink in it since we are not finding out if it will be a girl or boy)

18 Weeks

2011-04-25T17:26:00.001-07:00

Henry came to visit..

2011-04-18T14:51:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago Katie and John went to see "Wicked" here in Fresno with the Wiebe family. When she called to see if we would baby sit Henry while they went to the show I couldn't think of anything else I would rather do. Not living in the same town, I miss out on all of the everyday things with my nephew... like babysitting. So Andrew and I were totally excited to spend the day with Henry. Here are a few highlights from our time. (All of the pictures are taken outside because that is all Henry wanted to do... play outside)

He was very intrigued by Olive's dog house...

...also with the helmets that were in our garage.

Yes, maybe a little biased, but I have the cutest nephew in the world!!!

On a very exciting and life changing note...

2011-04-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

It has been out there for awhile but as I can see from others, this is a great place to document and keep track of the process and excitement of life...

17 Weeks

16 Weeks

My Due date is September 20th.

A New Adventure

2011-04-13T09:43:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, our church has picked an area of downtown Fresno to love on and create community development within the neighborhood. It is silly to think that we can build trust and truly make a difference for Christ if we come in once a week and do some sort of project. For us and a number of other families at our church, we have a heart to not want "their" schools and "their" neighborhood to improve but to come together and help "our" neighborhood come alive. About 6 months ago we bought a house in the neighborhood and put our house up for sale. We rented out the house until our house sold. We didn't know how long that would be but sure enough, last week we got the news that an offer was accepted and that we are officially in escrow. We will be moving in the middle of May.

Especially for me, this is not an easy move. It's so easy for me to want all of the safety and comfort of how I grew up and living in a "nice" neighborhood. I have never had to put ALL of my trust in God like I have the past few months. And will continue to do as we move forward. Maybe that is why God calls us to follow him and put our own comforts aside, so that we truly learn how to TRUST in him and not ourselves. Pray for us as we start this journey!

Taking a little nap...

2011-01-24T12:52:00.001-08:00

Look at my cute family (Andrew and Olive) taking a nap together on the couch. I had to capture the moment=)

A New Granola Bar Recipe

2011-01-17T13:19:00.000-08:00

I made granola bars about 6 months ago and didn't like them at all. I have finally decided to try my go at them again, this time with a different recipe.... Can I say SUCCESS!!! I didn't use protein power and my additives were craisins, almonds, and flax seed. This is a must try.

Peanut Butter and Honey Granola Bars

Ingredients:

2 cups Old Fashioned Oats
2 tbsp of your favorite “chaser”: such as millet (shown), flax seed, flax seed meal, wheat germ, etc. (optional)
1/4 cup of Soy Protein powder (optional, but gives nutritional boost)
1/2 cup Smooth Peanut Butter (I use natural/organic)
1/2 cup Honey
1 tbsp Brown Sugar (optional, I don’t need it, but my husband prefers it)
1/2 cup of your favorite “additives”: sunflower seeds, raisins, cranberries, dried blueberries, figs, almonds, pecans, whatever your heart contents
1 tsp salt (optional, don’t use if you are using salted butter or salted nuts already)

Preheat your oven to 400F. Prepare a small saucepan with the honey, peanut butter, and brown sugar (if using)

Take this time to get out a 9×9 baking dish and line with parchment paper. Also set out a cooling rack.

Spread the oats (and chaser if needing toasting, such as millet or almonds) onto a deep dish baking pan. Place pan into oven. Turn the saucepan onto low to med-low heat. You want the mixture to get warm and combine smoothly, but be careful not to burn or simmer. You know your stovetop best to know what setting will work to accomplish this.

While the oats are toasting, prepare the additives into a medium sized mixing bowl and coat with protein powder (if using). Be sure to watch the oats carefully, they don’t taste good when they get burnt. Take out of oven when they are a golden brown. This takes about 5-10 minutes for me, usually around 7 minutes.

When oats are done, carefully add to the medium bowl with the additives. On top of this, add the peanut honey mixture. Mix well with a wooden spoon. This will take a bit of muscle work, but it is possible to combine it all together.

Plop the mixture into the baking dish lined with parchment paper and spread evenly into baking dish. The bars are ~1/4″ in depth when spread correctly. Carefully lift out parchment paper from baking dish and let cool on baking rack. After about 30 minutes (or cool to touch, I like to flip the block over to cool more evenly.

Our new house: Project #1

2011-01-17T08:38:00.000-08:00

About 4 months ago, Andrew and I bought a new house in a more urban neighborhood that we eventually want to live in and invest our time in. We are not living in it yet due to the fact that our current house has not sold. We have a few of Andrew's friends renting it from us right now which has worked out perfectly.

We are about to undergo the 1st project of many on this house. When we bought the house, it had a crazy "garage/apartment/bbq brick room" in the backyard which was definitely not built up to code and left us with no backyard. Andrew and the guys at the house tore everything down except for the original garage. Now we are going to hire someone to rebuild it back into a garage. Here are the before pictures with most everything already torn out. We are getting bids so the final product will be coming in a few weeks.

This was during the demolition time

Now with everything tore out

We adopted a puppy

2011-01-14T11:01:00.000-08:00

Ok, so Andrew and I have been throwing around the idea of getting a dog for awhile but with no kids, we travel and go places a lot so we didn't want to have to figure out what to do with a dog during those times. Well, we put our big boy pants on last week and went down to the SPCA and looked at the dogs they had there. Now, it was time to decide what kind of dog we wanted. Both of us are not tiny, little yippy dog people and because of where we live and the fact that we both work all day we didn't want to get a big dog (even though we really like bigger dogs) so we dicided to go for a small to medium dog. As we walked through the SPCA, there was this little red and white dog that had the cutest little eyes. I must say that I think it was love at first sight.

We brought home our new dog, Olive, on Tuesday (my mom's birthday). She is about 9 weeks old so definitely still a puppy. She is pretty scared but has made definite improvments from the first day that we brought her home. She is a cuddler and could lay next to you all day.

Olive

These pictures were taken the day we brought her home so she was very scared.

Give a day, get a day...

2010-11-28T13:47:00.001-08:00

Last year Disneyland provided an opportunity that if you volunteered your time at a participating nonprofit you would get a free ticket to Disneyland. Well who doesn't love to spend time at Neighborhood Thrift?!?!? Andrew, Bryan, Kim, Christian, Lacy and I all received tickets to Disneyland so we planned a trip. Last weekend we spent the day in the happiest place on Earth. A little rain wouldn't slow us down.

The return of Captain E.O. in 3D

Shaver

2010-09-23T19:48:00.000-07:00

Our Fast family took a weekend get-a-way up to Shaver. Plenty of fresh air, family, good food, and great times were had by all. Of course being able to hang out with Henry for a whole weekend was one of my favorite parts!

Chicago

2010-09-21T17:23:00.000-07:00

I love Andrew's job, I get to travel to all kinds of different places...

For the past 3 years Andrew has gone to a conference called CCDA, Christian Community Development Association, for his job. Every year this conference moves to a different city. This year the conference took place in Chicago and I was able to go with him. How great... some conference... some city ... what could be better. Ok, it gets even better. Bryan and kim went to the conference also!! We had an amazing time hanging out together and experiencing a new place.

Here were a few highlights from the trip...

The Obwald Kids

2010-08-29T14:02:00.000-07:00

Andrew and I baby sat the Obwald kids this past Friday and Saturday while Dave and Erin had a Southeast/Fig get-a-away for some church dreaming. Our weekend consisted of some charades, Mario Cart and Just Dance for the Wii, taking a trip to the splash park, Barbies (this playing with Barbies stuff was a 1st for me), watching an episode of Little House of the Prarie and I Love Lucy, and a birthday party for Emma and Casey Jo Getz. We had a great time being parents for a few days. If only they all came out well behaved and potty trained!!!

My classroom blog

2010-08-21T12:01:00.001-07:00

Now that school has started, I will definitely be posting a lot less on my blog.... I guess someone has to bring home the bacon=) In place of my posts here I am going to have a classroom blog this year to help my parents keep up with what is going on with their child at school. Just in case any one is interested in checking in on my little squirrels, my blog address is...

http://feils5thgrade.blogspot.com

Enjoy...

Back in the swing of things....

2010-08-18T21:38:00.000-07:00

I mean, staring Denise Feil...

Well I have officially finished my 1st day of school for the 4th time. This year things are much the same as the last 2 which I am totally excited about.

Reagan Elementary

5th grade

Room 17

Go Red Hawks!!!

Today went extremely well. I only have 19 students at the moment which sounds like a great thing but which also means we will be the feeder school that gets all of the new kids in the district... in other words... new kids ALL the time. I am excited for this year. I could not ask to for a better school to work at.

Huntington Lake

2010-08-14T15:10:00.000-07:00

With my last few days of summer vacation I decided to head up to Huntington Lake to hangout with The Krause family for a few days. I have amazing memories camping at Huntington during high school and hanging out this week definitely added a few more great memories to that list. When I first arrived, Layne and I decided to go for a hike up to Nelly Lake. One minor problem.... I didn't bring any tennis shoes. Well, I am always up for a challenge so my rainbow sandals took me the 4 miles up and the 4 miles back. I was pleasantly surprised at how good my feet felt afterwards. Some good camp fires, smores, reading, and conversation filled up the rest of our time. Thanks Krause family for letting me join your vacation!!!

Don't judge our grungy look.... we are camping with no showers=)

thrift store finds...

2010-08-03T13:59:00.000-07:00

I went to the thrift store the other day and came home with a few new kitchen decorations. Not bad for $3 total.

I love that I can just spray paint this tray whatever color I want to use it for all sorts of things.

girls' day

2010-08-03T08:42:00.000-07:00

Anna, Sarah and I spent the day up at Shaver this past Saturday. We originally went up to hike Potter's Pass but couldn't end up finding it so we changed our plans. We hiked a well known trail behind the lake to the edge of the water and had a picnic there. After that we went to the marina and rented kayaks for an hour. So much fun.... we took those things all over the lake. The water was so perfect we had to jump in. To finish off the day we headed to the Hungry Hut for some ice cream. What a great way to spend a Saturday.

What do you think...

2010-07-30T14:09:00.000-07:00

It's not official yet but we are getting closer. I am having fun thinking of all the possibilities of redoing this house.

I am not exactly the best decorator, which is why I will be relying on my sister to help out with this project.

Here is the 1st question... What color should I paint the outside of the house? I have been exploring blogs and other websites getting ideas but I haven't come to any conclusion yet. Here are a few super cute houses that I have seen. What do you guys think??? I would love to have your ideas.

khaki w/ white trim

white w/ black trim

white w/ grey trim

Another tan w/ white trim

A tribute to my Golden Girl... I love you Layne!

2010-07-27T13:30:00.002-07:00

On July 26th, my amazing friend Layne turned 26!!! and Yes, that means it was her golden birthday. She made me proud by decking herself our in gold.

On the Saturday before her birthday, Colette, Layne, Jamie, and I went down to L.A. to watch "In the Heights" in the Pantages theater. I love the theater and I especially love musicals. Can I just say that I wish my life could just break out in song and dance all the time. I didn't know exactly what "In the Heights" was about but as I watched I wasn't let down. It was an amazing show and I would definitely suggest that everyone go see it.

I am not quite sure if anyone knows just how long Layne and I have been friends.... well let's just say that our moms were friends before we were even born so when we were born exactly 2 months apart it was a smooth and natural friendship. I am truly blessed to have a friend like Layne that I have literally spent my whole life with and praise God for the person that she has grown up to be.

Here are 26 favorite memories that I have with Layne over these past 26 years.

1. Camping trips to Carpenteria

2. Filling out bathing suits with sand and pretending that we had huge bellies.

3. When we were little I would take the candles down that were too high for Layne to reach and she would eat them.

4. Spritzer and chili picante corn nuts at Hartland

5. Making up many dances together

6. Finding out that Layne was getting to come to RBG in 4th grade

7. Planning our barn dance in my dad's new shop

8. Dee Dee giving us good luck fishing up at Huntington

9. Dress up, dress up, and more dress up

10. Homemade movies... "get on the hog"

11. Staying up to all hours of the night beating Mario Bros.

12. Having Layne there when Katie and I cleaned our room so that she could take all of the stuff we didn't want.

13. The best college roommate ever!! Sch and Krause House

14. Spring Break at NewPort beach (melissa's tattoo)

15. Dying our own hair

16. Camp outs in my back yard

17. 2 words... Pancake Pantry

18. Layney Loo

19. Neicey Woo

20. Making brown bobbies

21. Getting a ride inside of the cotton picker with Layne's dad

22. Layne's car catching on fire (loved the bug)

23. Picking a football team because it's always more fun to have someone to cheer for

24. Sunday afternoon bike rides with tandy

25. Smoking our 1st cigar by the 13 palms

26. Three legged race champions in the Awana Olympics!!!

Let's make some more memories.

Love you Layne!

San Luis Obispo Triathlon

2010-07-26T17:12:00.000-07:00

Well, Andrew and I completed our 2nd Triathlon this past weekend. The weather couldn't have been better and we finished in about 1 hr and 40 mins. (According to Andrew's watch). Swim and bike went great and I felt great. The run on the other hand... I was tired. I have been having a little knee trouble so I haven't been able to run for about 2 months. I thought just doing the elliptical on my run days would be fine but it was not the same. I guess I know that for the next time.

The only picture we took. A victory picture after we finished.

After the triathlon we stayed the night at my Grandma's Morro Bay condo. The perfect place to go back and relax at.

zig zag quilt top

2010-07-21T17:46:00.000-07:00

Well, here is my first go at a quilt... Luckily I have a sister who is bomb.com at sewing. We did this one together.

Sorry for such a bad picture

Our Feil family trip to Shaver

2010-07-18T16:58:00.000-07:00

Every summer the Feil family goes camping up at Stoney Creek in the Sequoias. This year we made a slight change to the location of our trip. Instead of camping we ended up staying in Shaver at G-Sue's cabin. As always the cabin was perfect and we had an amazing time. We played some Tetris party, Taboo, and of course a vicious game of Monopoly. I have definitely married into an incredible family!

The day before the trip Andrew, Bryan, Kim and I got on the phone with Rod and begged him to bring his boat. Our begging was successful so we spent the weekend out on the Lake.

Our captain!

and the rest of the crew...

Yes, that is Andrew and I...

Englewood Block Party

2010-07-15T16:52:00.000-07:00

One thing that I love about The Well is that for the 4th of July they encourage people to host block parties on their street as a way to get to know and connect with their neighbors. Bryan and Kim did just that. On their street, Englewood, they got permission from the city to block off their street and host a party for all of their neighbors to be apart of. The party included a bounce house, Bryan bbqing up some amazing burgers and hotdogs, face-painting, and on a hot day in Fresno what could be better than a sprinkler for kids to play in. By the end of the day about half of their street was out there. All it takes is someone to throw out an invite and people want to come.

Bryan and Kim, you guys are amazing!!!

Andrew and I are in the process of moving down to the Susan B. neighborhood and are hoping to buy this house across the street from Bryan and Kim.

Who loves cleaning!!!!

2010-07-13T11:08:00.000-07:00

I think one of my favorite things is cleaning out that ol' junk closet or drawer. You always find treasures of some sort. Andrew and I cleaned out our black hole closet last night and found all kinds of goodies. I think you will be seeing a few of them in my next few posts. Katie, you would have been proud!!! (and yes, I found the ear warmer that is on my head in the closet.)

I know, I asked myself the same question.... How do we have that much junk all in 1 closet?!?!?

4th of July

2010-07-13T08:58:00.000-07:00

We always have a birthday/4th of July party at mom and pop Feil's house. Andrew, his dad, and his uncle were all born on the 4th of July... how crazy. This year was even more special. Erin and Matt joined the party on their way through Bakersfield on their honeymoon trip. Layne also came over. Since we wont see Erin for a long time we thought we would take one last picture... 4th of July style.

B.F.F. - Best Friends Forever

Costa Rica ...

2010-07-11T20:38:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my "Super Sawyer" post, we just got back from Costa Rica. What an amazing place!!!

Week 1: The 1st week was spent working alongside Students International within 4 different, run down communities there. Everyone on staff there had an amazing attitude about what they were doing. They said that they were just living in Costa Rica and doing little things to change lives and show God through spending time with the people. The simplicity of their mission was inspiring to be creative where I am at and with the people I live around and do life with.

Week 2: The 2nd week was spent enjoying the country. We traveled around with 2 other amazing couples, Allie and Jesse Penner, and Breann and Kris Kadieux. Here is a top ten count down from our trip...

10. Jaco Beach

9. Taxi Boat

7. Montezuma

8. Ivan's House (Our house right on the beach)

7. lounging on hammocks on the front porch

6. Waterfalls

5. A.T.V.ing around the peninsula

(Not sure where these pictures went??)

4. Crazy huge lizards on our patio

3. Breann breaking her ankle

2. Spending alot of time in a Costa Rican hospital

1. Taking a great trip with amazing new friends!!!

This is just a snap shot of our trip to Costa Rica.

Super Sawyer

2010-07-10T09:03:00.000-07:00

We have spent the last 2 weeks in Costa Rica. One week with an incredible missions organization, Students International, and the 2nd week on vacation. The 1st week we were there we stayed with the head of the Costa Rica branch and his family. They had two kids who both had birthdays while we were there. Olivia turned 6 and Sawyer turned 4. One night Sawyer (who was suppose to put his clothes in his backpack for school the next day) brought his clothes into the living room and proceeded to put his pants on his head and use his shirt as a parachute to jump off of the steps. Before he could jump he had to run into his room and get his safety goggles. Eventually his shirt made its way to become a cape and finally the outfit was complete.

Jesse Penner was there with us and Sawyer thought that Jesse needed to give it a try as well. We definitely laughed a lot that night.

We are going to send them a thank-you care package and in it we are adding this official "Super Sawyer" cape that I made.

My Golden Breakfast...

2010-07-10T08:53:00.001-07:00

I just came across these pictures from my birthday and had to put them on my blog. I have an amazing husband! Every year Andrew makes me feel so special on my birthday and this year was no different. You saw my golden party outfit/pictures but I forgot to mention the golden breakfast that he prepared for me that morning before school. Everything was golden (or yellow and orange).

My Golden Birthday

2010-05-30T21:13:00.000-07:00

This birthday has definitely topped the charts of all time greatest birthdays for 2 reasons:

1. It was my golden birthday (I turned 26 on the 26th)

2. My amazing husband planned a semi-surprise party for me

When I got home from work on Friday I was greeted at the door by 2 of my most favorite people, Layne and Kim, both of whom were wearing 80's attire. I had to walk through gold streamers to get into the door and immediately noticed that the house was decked out in gold. Talk about golderific!! I was told I had to go into my room and put on my outfit which Layne had picked out for me to wear. (A HOTT gold sweater from Goodwill, a gold belt, gold ring, gold earrings, spray painted gold shoes, and my personal favorite, tights that looked like stone-washed jeans.) I was soon ready for the party.

I walked outside to 80's / 90's music playing (thanks Christian) and Andrew dressed in an incredibly outrageous Gold outfit. He couldn't have looked better. Friends started to show up wearing either gold or 80's clothing. I don't know how anyone could not have a great time when dressing up is involved?!?!? We ate amazing food and then moved the party to Cedar Lanes where, if I can remember right, the girls beat the guys in bowling=) I have amazing friends and an amazing husband who made me feel so special on my golden birthday.

Thank you Katie for sending up a cute bunting card and a delicious chocolate sheet cake. It was as if you were there!

More photos to follow...

Triathlon

2010-05-30T09:47:00.001-07:00

Andrew and I did our 1st triathlon on May 23, up in Auburn. We had some friends and family, Sheila, Chad, and Uncle Ryan, do it with us which made it that much more fun. Andrew finished in 2 hours and 21 mins. Sheila and I stayed together the whole time and finished in 2 hours and 27 mins. As tired as we were when we finished, I definitely think this triathlon will be the 1st of many.

Auburn Sprint:

1,000 meter swim

18 mile bike

4.3 mile run

The swim: Can I just say that whoever invented the wet suit is my new best friend!!! Swimming a lake though was a new experience. Talk about confusing. Majority of the time I had no idea where I was going. I had to stop and look up after about every 5 strokes.

The Bike: We were told that the first 6 miles was all solid up hill, which they were definitely right. But why is it that when we finished mile 6 we were still going up hill.... they forgot to mention that pretty much the whole course was up hill.

The run: Beautiful course along a stream and through trees.

Great Experience!

1st Annual Tea Party...

2010-05-02T17:13:00.000-07:00

...was up in Shaver a couple of weekends ago. I got home from work on Friday to see my 3 best friends leaning out the side door to my house. What a great sight! From there we were off for a girl's weekend. As life goes we are going to have to make time to hang out so what would be better than an annual get together.

Here are some pictures from our 1st...

(fun buns for life)

Thank you GSue for letting us enjoy your cabin!

San Francisco

2010-04-26T21:28:00.000-07:00

Doesn't life fly by? In the midst of all that life brings, I decided to surprise Andrew with a weekend away in San Francisco. April 9-11 we took off and headed for the city. Our goal: to hangout, enjoy each other, experience the city, see Wicked on Broadway, and finish off the trip with a Giant's game. All was accomplished except for one thing. Sunday we woke up to a down pour of rain which kind of ruined our plan to enjoy the Giant's game. We couldn't give up that easy, so we bought rain ponchos and headed to the stadium. We walked around, enjoying the incredible view, but to no avail the rain did not stop. Finally we couldn't wait any longer and headed out. Come to find out later that the game finally started 4 hours late. I guess this means that we must go back.... darn

Here are a few pictures from our trip:

Andrew's amazing photography:

Farmers Market

Stow Lake:

Town's End: An amazing breakfast place

AT&T Park:

Spring Week at Reagan

2010-04-02T09:30:00.000-07:00

The week before spring break was full of excitement. That was the week the 5th grade went to Sierra Summit, but even more exciting than that was our dress up days. Each day was a different dress up day and being an elementary school, I think the teachers got more excited about this than the students. Who doesn't love an excuse to dress up.

Thursday: 80's Day

Monday: Nerd Day

I love the people I work with!!!

All home at the same time!!

2010-03-31T09:05:00.000-07:00

That might be normal for some friends but for us girls, I feel that these times are going to be few and far in between. God has an interesting way of leading people in all sorts of directions. For my girls, this is definitely the case. Yes, I miss these girls when we are gone but I wouldn't change a thing. Each of us is following where God is leading and for that I am thankful. What a blessing to have 3 friends, basically from birth, that love and look forward to these weekends where we can have breakfast at J & Ms and hangout and talk all night. I am encouraged and challenged in my faith when I talk with or are around these girls. I love my girls and can't wait for more weekends like this!!!