Interesting Choices...

June......

2009-08-09T08:17:00.001-07:00

We went to Disneyland with the Connolly girls (& Anthony). Nathan grew up with these girls and they are like sisters to him. Anyway, they were in town and we went to Disneyland....

This random man stopped us and asked us to do a Hoedown, so we did. (actually Caitlin volunteered us all :-). It was fun! He was making lots of jokes.... basically he made fun of us.
Side note: everyone in this picture is wearing something Disney (Caitlin sporting a Oregon Duck shirt) except for Nate and I.... conclusion: they are hard core Disneyland tourists! (Apparently, Anthony, Meredith's husband used to go to Disneyworld every year for family vacation growing up and he is the oldest of like 6-7 kids. He definitely knew his way around Disneyland and knew all of the inside knowledge and background... he was my tour guide).

Fionna was in the front on Splash Mountain and got SOAKING wet. She was a good sport.
The first time Nate and I went on 3-D toy story ride in California adventure... it was awesome. We have been missing out on this!
It was my friend Lahela's birthday in June so we celebrated her! I made her wear my wedding tiara and use the special plate. This is my other friend Megan eating watermelon!

I decided to get in touch with my creative side and I made these invitations for my sisters baby shower. Megan helped me because she is an event planner and very creative. I think they turned out pretty good for my first home-made invitations! THanks to Megan

Amanda and AJ came to San Diego so we met them in Laguna Beach for fun!

Amanda got frustrated because AJ kept licking her in the pictures before this so she rejected him only to find out Nate was doing it...

I love Amanda and baby boy in tummy!

AJ pretending to be a lifeguard....

The end for June.... more to come for July!!!

The Worst Day at the Dentist!!!!

2009-08-03T19:16:00.000-07:00

I am taking a brief break in updating my blog to pay tribute to the worst day I have experienced at the dentist in my life. Now, don't get me wrong, the dentists themselves were nice and their was fancy technology which was fun (I got to look at the xrays of my teeth) but despite all of this I still call it a bad experience! Why? I hate the dentists because I am a bad patient and don't floss but Nate and I have never had much work done on our teeth since being married. Here is my story, sorry it is long... had to vent.

Well Nate and I had appointments at 1:30 p.m. This was our first visit to the dentist since moving to California. We arrived at 1:30 and signed in. The receptionist asked if we pre-registered online ahead of time and I said "No, I didn't know about that." (because I didn't). So she asks us to go to the computer in the reception area to do this. No problem. It takes like 10 minutes. We are done and waiting in the waiting room by 1:40p.m

At 2:15pm we are still waiting, so I ask Nate to ask them how much longer because we have another appointment at 3:00pm. (I didn't think it would be a problem because I have never spent more than an hour at the dentist before). Nate asks and they check and say that we are next and it shouldn't be much longer, oh and the exam doesn't take too long. So I think ok 45 minutes should be ok. Nate calls our second appointment to tell them that we will be late, more like 3:30pm. No problem.

Finally at 2:20pm I get called back..... to get xrays of my teeth. I have had xrays of my teeth before. No problem. Now they took about 12 sets of xrays. AND then they took actual pictures of my mouth and then my face! What?!?! Oh and she made me gag like 5 times! Almost vomited...

At 2:45pm I get to the exam room, waiting for the dentist. Oh they offer movies on the little screens so I start Runaway Bride while waiting. Dentist comes in, very nice, takes a 5 minute look at my teeth and says, "not bad, you need one filling. I will send one of the girls in to talk about this and then I will be back to do it." Ok

"Girl" comes in and explains the options with my insurance. She knows we are on a time crunch and I ask How long it should take and she responds "about 30-40 minutes". I ask her what they said about Nate and she responds "Welllll, ..... I am going to let him tell you about that." Weird. OK where is he? Across the hall and she takes me there.

Nate and I then find out that Nate needs approximately $1500 worth of Onlay work (what the heck is Onlay???!!!) Long story short..... Nate's dentist comes in and explains to me what the heck is going on with Nate (something about failed filling and crack in tooth) and her recommendations.

In the meantime, my dentist is confused where I went and is waiting around for me to do my filling. Keep in mind that neither of us has had our cleaning yet!

3:30 pm (2 hours after scheduled appt): Ok, so after a thorough convo with Nate and his dentist we make a decision and I go back to my chair to get my filling. My movie is gone. My dentist comes back in.... is not so nice and friendly this time... takes another look says that someone will come in to clean my teeth..... enter in mean old lady that didn't say more than 2 words to me..... "Open and Close". She also was very harsh, hit my lip with her instruments, and didn't even floss all my bottom teeth! To rinse I have to get up and go to a sink outside the exam room. They don't have the portable sinks to spit into in the exam rooms. What?!?!

Dentist comes in to do my filling. I am done at 4:40pm (3hours 10minutes after appt time).
Nate isn't done until 5:35pm.

Wow what an experience! That was long.... but I feel better!

May Visitors!!!!!!!!!!

2009-07-20T18:17:00.001-07:00

Part of my family came to visit at the end of May!!!
We went to Sea World in San Diego....

Carter telling us where to go.....
(He is now 3 years old!!!)

Is this not the ugliest thing ever???
We went to the beach and it was overcast....My little MoMo...

Is she not the most adorable with her teeth??
(She is almost 1 year old in this picture)

Nate's birthday Thai dinner

And that was the end of their trip here. I was so sad to see them go but don't worry I will be seeing them in less than a week now that it is July. :-)

Still Catching up.... WEDDINGS!!

2009-07-13T18:10:00.001-07:00

So May was the month of wedding for us. We were able to go home for 2 weddings, 2 weekends in a row. That was crazy flying month. Anyway, here is some pictures from our time in Oregon for the weddings....

Jamie and John's Wedding:
The group.... oh I miss them!
-We all had stamps that said "867-5309" for the bar we went to.... (Jenny Henry do you remember that song??? I thought of you!)
The GirlsSo sadly enough I forgot my camera at the wedding so all I got was the night before. :-(

Elissa and Danny's Wedding (Nate's cousin)

It was beautiful at a vineyard outside Dallas, OR

Nate and Michael, his brother
The whole fam...
Our table at the reception

Nate and Michael dancing with Melia, their niece. Priceless.

Today is THE day....

2009-07-02T16:29:00.000-07:00

4 Years Ago TODAY..... was THE best day of my life!!!!

I married my best friend....

(anyone remember this moment?? It will go down in history)

on July 2nd 2005....

we celebrated all night with friends and family....

and I LOVE HIM NOW, FOREVER & ALWAYS!!!!!
I am so proud of him and the husband that he is...Happy Anniversary Nathan!!!!

Boston!!!!! (a work trip)

2009-06-27T09:05:00.000-07:00

A view from my Hotel- Boston is a very beautiful city with lots of brick buildings! I love brick! And a TON of history!
P.S. The hotel we stayed at was the same as the Craiglist Killer Hotel! Scary!

Alison, a co-worker, eating a lobster.

Some of the people I work with... by the way I went to a conference but didn't take any pictures of the conference. Why would I do that?

Cheers! The actual bar that the show was designed after. This is the real thing!

The site of the Boston Massacre and the balcony where the US Constitution was read to the people for the very first time!

Bell In Hand Tavern- the oldest tavern in America

We were in the North end (aka the Italian end) of Boston and I had never had one of these.. I can't remember what they are called now but it was good.

The Old North Church where the signal lanterns of Paul Revere were displayed in the steeple... anyone remember there History class???

Very cool, old cemeteries-buried here is Sam Adams, Paul Revere, John Hancock and Franklin's wife

The Boston Monument

Finally, me at Harvard square in Cambridge. Apparently it is good luck to touch the gold shoe (later I found out from a Harvard alum that at freshman initiation the boys have to pee on the shoe-..... awesome)

Good times with friends and sports....

2009-06-13T09:43:00.000-07:00

Pisey, Rebecca, Nate and I decided to go to a LA Clippers vs Portland Trailblazers Basketball Game at the Staples Center. We cheered for the Blazers and represented Oregon!

We had terrible seats but Pisey brought his binoculars. :-)

Good friends! We love them!

Then we went to an Angels vs. Mariners Baseball game with Josh & Lauren, Kyle & Lahela, and us... first we had to stop at In N Out for some scrumptious cheap lunch!

The Angels baseball stadium...

Our seats weren't that bad. It was a pretty field.

Ken Griffey Jr at bat... no homeruns for him that day
Kyle (left end) was very sad because the Mariners lost badly!!
Our friends...Fun times with good friends. We love them too!

My Birthday Weekend (2 months ago)...

2009-06-06T18:35:00.001-07:00

The crew on my birthday (brother Jon, Jo, mama, and hubby).

My mama came to visit for my birthday- yay!

Below- some "drunk" man took a picture of us at dinner and thought it looked ok. ??? Right... are you dizzy yet?
We went to a Japanese restaurant and they made me wear a wig when they sand to me... yikes.

My beautiful flowers that my wonderful husband gave me!

My mom and I went to the Huntington Library/Gardens while she was here. She was in garden heaven!
P.S. anyone think that the bamboo shoots behind us resemble the ones in Lost??

Oops... I am not very good at updating...

2009-05-03T19:43:00.000-07:00

Sorry friends who wanted to learn all about my life via my blog. I, apparently, am not very good at this. To my defense our computer was out of commission for a while. Sorry. Anyway, I have lots of pictures from the last few months and I am going to post them but I don't have time right now so I am only go to post some of the pictures.

Here are some pics of when I went home/Oregon in March for a visit...

My nephew Carter hiding in a plastic bin. I love him!

My niece Morgan (Momo) "talking" to me.

These two are the little joys in my life. I seriously count down the days until I see them.

Next post to come... my birthday weekend!

Cross it off....

2009-02-21T10:29:00.000-08:00

Ok... so here it is! I have wanted to make a blog for months now and i have had it on my "to do " list for a while (are you all surprised?) and here it is! Now you all can read all about Nate and I down in California and see what is going on (just don't use this as an excuse to not call me once in a while so that we can really catch up). No seriously though, I have loved reading everyone else's blog so i decided i should repay the favor and share my life.

I have titled it "Interesting choices" in honor of my mom because she always would say that to the kids when were growing up. I have definitely learned that life is a choice and some of my choices have been .... interesting to say the least. :-) (i love you mom). Anywho, I hope you guys like reading my blog as much as i have enjoyed all of yours.

Here are some pics to start off this journey...

We went to Santa Barbara with Kirstin and Nathan when we first got here. It was pretty

We even tried the LA County Fair before we started school and work in September with Kirstin and Nathan.

Nate and I went to So You Think You Can Dance Concert in Anaheim at the Honda Center in September because I watched the show all summer with my sister. There was some excellent dancing!

Kaytee Rose came to visit in October. Good times! We love visitors!

Nate and his Greek boys at Thanksgiving. We had our first Turkey away from "home" but I tell you Rebecca Sok makes one amazing turkey bird!

These are some friends from Nate's school. We used to do happy hour every monday night during football season. I think it was Nate's favorite night.

Last but not least... our life group from church. We love meeting with these couples every week! Some people are missing but you can get the jist.

So there you have it... some pics of fun things and people to get everyone caught up on what we have been doing down here. It has been an adjustment, but we are enjoying the time now. We love out new friends but miss our old friends and family. Until next post....