micah moo turns 1.....

my nephew had his first bday party on saturday. we love you micah!

tide pools....

after church today we went down to the tide pools out by aliso creek beach.

the boys were hesitant about going at first, cause they wanted to stay home and play "guys" (aka: marvel characters). which by the way, they play EVERY DAY!!

finally, after much probing by their mom they reluctantly got into the car. and of course once we got there they had a great time. they loved the tide pools and all the creatures they could discover.

we found a huge starfish, discovered a cave, and enjoyed putting our fingers in the little sea anenomenes.

the water was crystal clear blue, and the air was warm. the boys were bummed that i didn't bring their trunks. and guess what? they were sad when we had to leave.

GNO santa barbara 2008.....

this weekend i went up to santa barbara for a girl's weekend with some of my best friends. most of us have been friends since we were 12 and a couple of us have even been friends since we were 7. our dear friend caitlin hosted 10 girls for a gno weekend at her beautiful house in santa barbara.

(caitlin, anita, sheryl, vern, shannon, salley, gina, keri, me, katie, and nat)
we left friday morning and arrived to some beautiful warm weather. we brought our bikes so we all took a bike ride downtown.

on saturday we woke up to home made waffles and berries, and then headed to the san ynez valley to go wine tasting. it felt like we were in a foreign country it was so pretty.

saturday night we went out to dinner and then to a club to get our dance on :)

sunday we went to a great breakfast where i got the most amazing french toast. i had to take a picture of it just so i could show you how great it was.

thank you to caitlin for hosting a great gno weekend. and thanks to all my girl's for all of our year's together. i love you :)

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!