train, lunch, and a petting zoo....

last week we had isaiah's spring break. my mom was off too, so we decided it would be fun to take the train down to san juan capistrano.

we boarded the metrolink in orange and took it south. the boys had not been on a train since hayden was a tiny baby so they thought it was pretty cool.

once we got to san juan we ate lunch at ruby's. then we headed to the little petting zoo. the boys loved all the animals. they especially loved the bunnies and feeding them carrots.

it was a beautiful fun filled day. i will definately do it again.

i've been tagged....

i have been tagged by my friend dai, i have to list 25 things about my self. hope this is not too boring :)..

1. i LOVE dessert. when i went to new york with my mom and aunt they would laugh at me cause i had to find some sort of dessert every night.

2. i can bake a mean chocolate chip cookie.

3. i love old houses and i own one that was built in 1908.

4. i keep friends for a looong time. my friend keri and i have been friends for 23 years.

5. i am helping coach my son in track. i grew up running sprints so it is fun to do it again.

6. i played soccer for 20 years.

7. i LOVE hip hop. just listen to my mp3 player.

8. i am a rule follower.

9. i have been married to my amazing man for 10 wonderful years.

10. i have three of the cutest boys that you have ever seen.

11. i love mexican food and chinese food.

12. i like to cook new recipes for my family. i am not a chef by any means but i do like finding new recipes and trying them out.

13. i enjoy long distance running. i have completed two half marathons, and hope to complete more in the future. my goal is to push myself to be a little faster.

14. i love to read, especially on the beach while my hubby surf's and my boys play.

15. my ultimate date night would be going out to dinner (mexican or chinese)then walking around balboa island while eating a balboa bar.

16. i am a very timely person.

17. my husband and i are polar opposites i think that is why we work so well.

18. i have the best job in the whole world. i have the honor and privlege of raising three awesome boys. they are all going to make wonderful husband's some day.

19. i have a fear of only ever being a mother in law.

20. i have come close to death. i do want to go to heaven but i am thankful that God kept me here to see my children grow.

21. i can be a stresser at times. sometimes i worry about things too much, instead of giving it ALL to the Lord. my hubby usually reminds me.

22. i LOVE finding a good deal. it can be a good thing and a bad thing. sometimes i feel like i have to buy it just because it is such a good deal. my hubby gently reminds me that i am still spending money :)

23. i admire people that are humble.

24. i am a good listener (is this me not being humble???)

25. i love going to hawaii and can't wait to go in december 2009. yes i know i am a planner but we have a very exciting family trip to look forward to.

okay.....now i tag katie and michelle. (i don't know how to do that cool thing where you type their name, then are able to click on it, and will take you to their blog. i am not cool like that)

i love my boys...

right now all three boys are dressed as cowboys and are playing outside together. they really do love eachother and love to play together. the three of them are the best of friends. i love my boys so much. i love who God made them and even if i wasn't their mom i still think i would love them :). my oldest is the ring leader. but not in a bossy sort of way. he kind of just leads and every one follows. he just is that person that you want to be around. he loves to dress up and play make believe and naturaly the other two just follow. my middle son is a bit shy, and has a heart of gold. he follows his brother not because he is forced to but because he wants to. he is super easy going. he is also a great listener. i usually only need to ask him once to do something and he is on it. i love that about him. my youngest is hysterical. we call him our family comedian. he is the baby of the family and he knows it. he definately plays it for his advantage. he is only three but can keep up with the older two, no problem.

it's funny cause i would not have written my life this way. when i was younger i used to tell my mom that i only wanted girls cause i wanted to be able to do there hair and dress them. i told her that all boys did was play cars and play in the mud. now i would not trade the cars or mud for ANYTHING!! i love the story that God has written for me.

easter...

"He is so rich in kindness and grace that He purchased our freedom with the blood of His Son and forgave our sins" Ephesians 1:7

we had a really great easter this year. we headed out to temecula to spend the day with family.

since my sister and her family are out there along with seth's family we were able to spend the day with everyone.

we started the day off at RBC church, where shane is the youth pastor. the head pastor matt used to be a pastor at calvary so it was great to see him again. my parent's came down too so we all got to go to church together.

after church the whole fam went out to eat at this great little mexican restaurant in old towne temecula.

we then headed to seth's sister's for some easter fun with the cousins. we had a huge easter egg hunt and a great ham dinner.

this was blessed easter with family and praising God for sending HIS son to die for our sins, and for defeating death. Thank you Lord!

good friday....

instead of going to the good friday service at church we decided to stay home and watch 'passion of the christ'. this year we decided that isaiah was old enough to watch it with us. even though it is very violent we thought that he was old enough to understand the sacfrice that Jesus made for us on the cross. he had a hard time watching it and a lot of times had to close his eyes. he cried during the part when they nailed Jesus on the cross. the next morning isaiah and i were sitting in the kitchen eating breakfast and isaiah goes " mom, i fully understand now what it means when people say that jesus died for my sins. "

mops annual easter egg hunt....

every year for the past 6 years we have participated in the annual MOPS easter egg hunt at cedar grove park. this year it was just hayden and tanner because isaiah was still in school. the boys love it!

family hike in peter's canyon...

sunday we had such a beautiful day in southern california that we just had to take advantage of it. i have been wanting to take a family hike in peter's canyon for quite awhile and sunday was the perfect day.

the boys had so much fun. they felt like they were on an adventure. i think we walked for about 3 or 4 miles and they barely even complained. seth had to carry smooshie towards the end, but other then that they did great.

they had fun running down hills and collecting many sticks. i think we came home with about 10. we had so much fun on our little family adventure. we can't wait for another one.

disneyland date...

this past weekend we went to disneyland with just the adults. we rode a few rides and walked around. the boys stayed the night at my parent's house. they didn't even care that we went to D Land without them. they would much rather spend the night with nana and papa then see mickey mouse.

tj...

our little tan is loving baseball. he is having so much fun especially since 6 of his best buddies are on his team. seth helps coach when he can and i enjoy sitting behind the back stop cheering my little buddy on. Go MARINER's !!

baseball...

for some reason i was not able to get my pics on here (very frustrating) luckily my good friend salley took some pictures and sent them to me, and for some strange reason her's worked.(don't you just love computers!!grrr) ..........tan had opening day on saturday and his first tball game. this is he and his good friend jack really getting into their game :) don't you just love little boys in baseball uniforms. so cute! we had a lot of fun watching our little guy. he said his favorite part was batting. and he was very good at it. ( fyi: tan is #4 in the pic)

i AM mama....

the other day after laying smooshie down for a nap i could hear him crying that he was scared. this is usually what he says when he wants to get out of taking a nap. sometimes i just ignore him and he usually falls asleep, but on this particular day i decided to go and lay down with him. while i layed there in the middle of the afternoon snuggling my smooshie i began to think about how lucky i am to be 'a mama' . i have the privledge to take care of my little one's all day every day. i have the privledge of being the mom, doctor, chef, maid, coach, friend, disciplinarian, comforter, snuggler, bum wiper, bather, and launderer. i am so thankful to be all of these things to my boys. it is my calling. thank you Lord for choosing ME to be isaiah, tanner,and hayden's MAMA.

10 years....

seth and i will celebrate our 10th anniversary in a few days, so this weekend my parent's graciously took the kids so seth and i could share an entire day together. we dropped them off friday night fed, bathed and packed for the weekend. i had planned for our entire DATE DAY so it was fun to surprise seth he had no idea what we were going to do. we woke up early saturday morning and headed down to crystal cove to eat breakfast on the beach at my new favorite restaurant 'beach combers'. after we ate we took advantage of the BEAUTIFUL weather and took a leasurely hand held stroll on the beach (HEAVEN!!!) after our walk i told seth he could go surfing with no complaints out of me, he could pick any where he wanted and i would sit and read. we headed south to one of his favorite beaches salt creek. i enjoyed the weather and sat with no interrutpion and read my new nicholas sparks book. after his surf we went back up north and parked and again walked (slowly) hand in hand through laguna beach.
beginning to get a little hungry we stopped for some cupcakes in corona del mar. we shared the strawberry w/ strawberry icing and the chocolate filled with marshmallow. seth thought it was funny how many women were lined up just for a cupcake. he felt a little out of place, but was a good sport about it. we sat out in front of the store and enjoyed our treat.

we headed north and went to the metrolink stop in orange. we took the metrolink into fullerton. we walked around downtown fullerton and did a little shopping at the buffalo exchange. seth had never been to one, and he loved it. he got a new pair of pants and i got a pair of jeans and a top all for $35 gotta love that :). we took the train back to orange where we then headed to burke williams where we each got a massage. again HEAVEN!! we took advantage of the facilities and spent some time in the jacuzii , steam rooms, and sauna's. burke williams has everything so we were able to get showered and ready for our dinner (they even have curling irons so i was able to curl my hair)

to end our night we ate dinner at one our favorite restaurants in old towne orange 'renatas'. we came home to a quiet house and got to sleep in until 9. it was the most perfect anniversary. i love my husband and i am so lucky to be his wife. i look forward to many more years together.

band of brothers....

the soldiers got home from war last night

snow day...

we went up to the mountains this weekend to play in the snow. it is our last free weekend until may (baseball starts next weekend). here are some pics of our fun. there was SO much snow and the weather was beautiful!! (notice the huge glasses on my face, i forgot my glasses at home so my husband graciously let me borrow his. what a loving husband :) i seriously thought i was going to become blinded by the snow)

ha ha ha .....

looks like i am going to die...

brightroom event photography

13.1 .......

FINISH: 2:06:06 pace: 9:38
3 Mile: 26:34 pace: 8:52
7.75 Mile: 1:13:06 pace: 9:26

yesterday i ran the huntington beach half marathon. it was cold, rainy, and windy. i did another half marathon in september and that day it was hot and humid. i guess the bad weather just follows me. but despite the weather and my grumpy attitude about the weather i ended up having a great race. i ran with my great friend dai which really helped me get my mind off of the cold, and seth made me a great mix of music that kept me smiling. so with my head phones on, my visor on, and my friend to my right i put my head down and just ran. i ran and ran and ran for 2 hours and 6 minutes, my best time yet :) i can't say why i love running so much, but i just do. even though i am not the best, i love competing with myself to see how well I can do. the feeling of crossing the finish line knowing that you just pushed yourself phyically and mentally feels so good. i think i am addicted :)

thank you's-

thanks seth, boys, mom and dad, for meeting me at the finish even in the freezing wet weather

thanks dai for being a great running partner

thanks alison for pushing me those last 3 miles

thanks alis for signing up with me

shweet shweet babish

the other day seth and i were walking through the calvary book store and we came across a book about 'the youngest child'. it made us smile cause the first thing it said was that the youngest child usually has a pet name. all of our children have had pet names but none of them have stuck like hayden's. for the first few years of his life i don't even think hayden knew his name was 'hayden'. for those of you who are close to us you know that we call him 'smooshie', but besides smooshie he also has a few other pet names : shweet shweet babish (my pet name for him), stinkin smoosie (what seth calls him), tiny, tiny smooshie, smoosh, the smoosh, and boing. i wonder how long his 'pet name' will stay with him. we often laugh thinking about people still calling him 'smooshie' in high school. we love our little smooshie, tiny, tiny smooshie, smoosh, the smoosh, stinkin smooshie, shweet shweet babish, boing!

a day off......

today isaiah had the day off from school to celebrate MLK bday. za and tan had spent the night last night with their good buddies jacob and nic. what a treat for both of them . this morning when i went to pick them up neither of them were ready to be seperated from their friends. since dai and i both had the day free we decided to take all 6 kids to island's in newport and then to wonderland bakery for some yummy cupcakes. the kids were so great at lunch. people looked at us like we were a little nutty, especially since we were out numbered 3:1 but the kids did awesome. i think the secret is to starve them before you go out so they are so hungry that they forget about misbehaving. i am just kidding :) but really the kids were awesome. after lunch we walked over to wonderland bakery. kate was in princess heaven. it was good for her, especially after being with 4 boys all night. it was a fun day off with good buddies !

gno w/ new friends....

on sunday night i went to the movies with some new and old girlfriends. we saw 27 dresses which was a super cute girly flick. erin brought some great chocolate cake that we all ate during the movie. what's better than girlfriends, chocolate, and a girly movie?

gno....

wing stop + donuts + target =gno

new year's resolution.....

i have been thinking about my new year's resolution for the last week. i was really struggling with it this year cause i didn't want to make it about me. i feel like every year i make a resolution it is a selfish one. it may not be bad, usually it is eating healthier or excercising more..you know the typical resolutions :) last year it was to run a half marathon, and i did it and it felt great! but this year nothing selfish felt satisfying to my soul. while on a long run on saturday i couldn't stop thinking about two things, so i knew that i needed to make them my new year's resolutions....

1) To SLOW down- while on my run i was thinking about the new year and thinking about ALL of my commitments. it's only january 5th and i practically have every day full. i need to learn it is okay to say 'no', and to not do everything. it is okay to stay home all day and just play with the kids, go on walks, ride our bikes. we don't NEED to be with a group of people at a park all the time. it's okay to only work in isaiah's class once a month. it's okay to not be in bunko. it's okay to only meet with my prayer group once a month. i want to enjoy my kids while they are still young and want to spend time with me. i don't want to look back and feel like i missed it cause my calendar was too full. i want to make time to spend with my husband. i don't want to be walking out the door as he is getting home cause i HAVE to be somewhere at 7...when i got home from my run on saturday i sat down with my calendar and made a list of all my commitments, one by one i cut it down. my calendar looks GREAT now and i am so excited. i don't feel stressed any more about the new year and i think the people that will benefit most of all will be my family and that is the most important thing to me.
(...btw, i am running another half marathon this year, we have to have a little something for ourselves, don't we? :)...)

2) TO BE MORE GIVING -i never really thought of myself as NOT a giving person until our family went through seth losing his job. through this trial in our lives our friends and family were SO giving. i was so amazed and humbled by it all. in the new year i want to be more focused on other people and i want to give. it may not always be money either, it may be babysitting, meals, a listening ear, a car ride, a prayer. and i want to do it with a pure heart, just because i love them. this is the kind of giving that we recieved and in this new year and new chapter in our lives i want to give back.

happy new year...

we rang in the new year at our good friends the leedom's. the night was filled with good food, great conversations, lots of guitar hero, and some pretty sweet karaoke (seth tore it up on 'woomp there it is') we look forward to a great 2008!

mountains....

seth's family cabin is in running springs. when we had those really bad fires here the fire came super close to the cabin. this is us in front of the cabin and if you look closely behind us all the trees are burned. it is scary how close the fire came.
tanner, hayden, and i chilling in snow valley's lodge

2 days after christmas we headed up to the mountains to spend a few days in the family cabin. seth and isaiah went snowboarding. isaiah did great..i hung out with tanner and hayden in the cabin and then went to meet the boys for lunch at the lodge. our friends the wenster's came up for one night and brian took megan and lauren skiing. we had a great time.

christmas.....

tanner was determined to see santa, so he slept on the couch. seth ended up moving him late that night, in the morning he goes "why am i in my bed? i wanted to see santa"
christmas tree before all of the gift opening

the boys and micah in their matching pj's

the fam on christmas morning

we had such a wonderful christmas this year, i think the best ever. with everything that has been going on with seth's job we never got caught up in the 'i wants' of christmas. it was a time where we focused on jesus' birth and family. what a blessing.

christmas eve we went to our favorite restaurant yen cheng with family (us, mom, dad, katie, shane, micah, shane's parents, seth's mom, stepdad, and sister).it was great that we could all spend this special night together. then on christmas morning we had brunch at our house with my parents, katie, shane and micah. it was micah's first christmas, it was fun watching him open his gifts. he loved the wrapping paper. isaiah got a few new wii games so everyone had fun playing the wii all afternoon, especially the new 'guitar hero'. tanner and hayden enjoyed spending the morning playing with their new transformer guys. that was their favorite gift. the transformer guys that come in a 2 pack and are only $6, gotta love that !! all in all it was a fantastic christmas.

annual friends christmas party....

every year for christmas we get together with my high school friends for our annual christmas party. we have been having this party since the christmas of 1992. we used to meet at sheryl's parents house but as we got older and we all started to have our own houses the locations has changed. pretty much every year we have it at the oliva's, one year it was at our house. each year it is the same thing, we do a potluck dinner and then a white elephant gift exhange. it's always fun to see which white elephant gifts have been recycled from years past. the one gift that keeps making it's ways year after year is sarah's foot cast from third grade (so gross!). it has been such a blessing being with my friends through so many stages of life. when we first started having this party we were all 15, within this past year the majority of us have turned 30!! that is so crazy. i love these friendships and cherish each and every one of them. we have all been through so much together (dating, marriages, babies, divorce) and still manage to all be the best of friends. even if we don't all hang out in a group all the time, when we are together it feels as if we are 15 again. i love you guys and look forward to many more years together.

christmas blessings....

1) our Lord and Savior came down to earth as a baby
2) seth got a job (yeah!!!!!)
3) our family is healthy (even though we may have to hold it together with stitches)
4) we have people who care about us. i don't think i have ever had a christmas with less stuff but more love was felt.
5) this christmas, Jesus taught us to care more about giving
6) trader joes and all it's yummy goodness
7) our family; nana's, papas, grandma's, grandpa's, sissy's and aunti's you know who you are... merry christmas and we love you.
8) our friends; to the runners, photographers, botanists, welders, loan officers, soccer players, insurance sales, old people taker carers of?, electricians, catheter sales (ouch), teachers, dirt movers, lawyers, marketers, graphic designers (i hit like 10 of you there), pastors, and even mac users, you know who are...the holidays would not be the same with out you. thank you so much for your love and support.
9) the zas, zaiah, bing; T.J, tan, bong; smooshie, the smoosh, stinkin' smooshie, sweet sweet babiesh, boing. chistmas would not be the same with out the bing, bong and boing. let's talk blessings.
10) whoever this secret santa is... you rock. no really, you rock.
11) mark driscoll because the holidays need truth and it needs to be spoken truthfully. mark does this http://www.marshillchurch.org/
12) the bible - the blessing of the christmas story... amazing.
13) now stop reading this and go buy some streaming media hosting, seth sells it and he needs commission. :) www.streamingmediahosting.com

by the way seth snuck on my blog and wrote this, can't you tell? he meant all of it though.

secret santa....

someone out there has been our 'secret santa' for the past 4 days. we have no idea who it is! every morning (for the past 4 days) we have come outside and found a present on our front porch. the first present was labeled "the 12th day before christmas". every day since then there has been a count down. last night we recieved "the 8th day before christmas". it was a gingerbread christmas tree kit. we put it together tonight as a family. it was so much fun! the boys enjoyed eating the frosting and candy. i am surprised we had any left to put on the tree :). whoever you are 'secret santa'....thank you so much! this has been such a blessing for our family and so much fun!

the perfect gift.....

last night isaiah was in his first play at church. for those of you that know isaiah you know that he is our little actor. he was in HEAVEN on that stage. he did such an amazing job and we are SO proud of him. thank you so much to everyone that attended. it meant the world to us and to isaiah.

family pics...

this weekend by good friend and neighbor took family pictures of us. michelle is such a talented photographer and i am so thankful for her beautiful pictures. thanks michelle!

GNO...

on the first monday of every month i get together with my friends from highschool. we have all known eachother for 18 years. last night gina hosted at her house. we always have fun laughing and just having good girl time. we have all been friends for so long and have been through so many stages of life together. i look forward to another 18 years with these great women.