3 years already!!!

I can hardly believe how fast time flies! I am so blessed to be married to such a wonderful guy :) I count my blessings everyday that we found each other and get to be husband and wife. He is truly the best thing that has ever happened to me. In a world and time when so many people think of marriage as an archaic tradition or something that somehow stifles individuality, I am grateful for my testimony of eternal families and celestial marriages. When two people are joined in unconditional love and unite themselves with the Lord, nothing else on earth compares to that. Jeff and I have known each other for over 15 years and I feel like he has always been there, I love that! I still get excited everyday to see him after we get home from work and I miss him like crazy if we spend any time apart. We really are two pieces of one whole. Happy anniversary to us, and here is to forever my sweetheart!! :)

Oh dear Sadie Mae...

Me and Hali'a

the "donut" or cone #3

cone #1, eaten (don't have a pic

of the second one)

back in the day - my precious puppy!

About two weeks ago, we finally got the opportunity to have our dear Sadie Mae "fixed." I was on spring break and thought it would be the perfect time to have her surgery so I could stay home and just hang out with her. She did really well during the whole procedure, although I must say, Jeff and I almost had a freak out moment when the guy at the clinic told us he could not find our dog. (I thought Jeff was gonna punch someone :) Jeff went in and found her though, and she walked out to the car and got right in with a little nudge from dad. She literally jumped out of the car when we got home and I almost had a heart-attack. She did pretty well and stayed somewhat mellow, mellow for Sadie anyway, the first 2 or 3 days. The first day we left her alone was 4 days post surgery to go to my aunt and uncle's for the annual Easter egg hunt and party. During those two hours she managed to eat her cone and stitches out. Jeff called me and I ran home to find her guts split open. Not pretty. I was kind of freaked out because it was a holiday weekend and I knew how much it was going to cost us to take her to an emergency room - a fortune! But off we went to Fountain Valley to the nearest ER. Everyone in the office was so amazing to us and the vet there, Dr. Campos, put in her staples for free!! All we had to pay for was the pain meds he gave us and a bigger, longer cone for her head. Tender mercy right there folks, and a huge blessing for paying our tithing :) Fast forward to Tuesday nite when I got home from my parents and Jeff got back from work, and she has EATEN her cone and her staples!!! Crazy dog! Off to the ER again, and lucky us, Dr. Campos was there. He was pretty amazed at her "determination" and by the fact that the sedative/pain meds he gave us did absolutely NOTHING to her, not even a nap. We went home with a "donut," more pain meds, and muscle relaxers. He told us Sadie needed a farm and was hyperactive- no kidding :) She slept Tuesday nite for all of 6 hours, a record folks I am serious. But man oh man, do we love her to death! We are glad her and all her craziness are ours :) AND, today is her 1st birthday! We are off to the Pet Expo tomorrow (awesome!) and I am sure we will pick up tons of treats for her! More to come...

The month of March

So the month of March has come and pretty much gone. Nothing too exciting, but we did celebrate Mom's birthday (sorry, no pics), and my favorite holiday of the year - St. Patty's Day. And yes, St. Patrick's Day really is my favorite holiday :) The picture is of Jeff and I at the Cerritos Performing Arts Center. Jon, Aubrey, Troy, and Lynette came with us to see the Irish folk group, Danu. We had dinner together before hand at my parents and overall had a great evening. The only bummer was that Jeff was feeling under the weather, and oh, Jon and Troy both fell asleep during the show. I guess they were not that impressed. As for the second pix, well I must say that, in and of itself, is a true miracle. Never in a million years did I think I would get all three of those dogs in the same picture, let alone all looking at the camera. I believe Soto thinks we have something against him. Poor thing. But at least they aren't fighting. At the moment, we are unsure of Duke's fate. Jeff is dying to keep him, and I, well, I am slowly warming up to the idea. We will see how the next few days go. If he can learn to sleep outside at night instead of ON me, well, he might have a permanent home. Luckily, we have a backup home if he can't stay with us. Work is work. Nothing very exciting there. April should be fun and exciting with conference, spring break, Easter, a new baby in the family, and some more birthdays. We'll keep ya posted... ;)

Duke...

So this is Duke. He is an almost 4 year old chocolate lab. Jeff found him. Now we might be keeping him. Good grief, LONG story. Maybe when I am not so sleepy I will fill you all in. It is a very crazy story indeed...

An ode to love...

Look at those faces! They are enough to melt a mother's heart :) Hope everyone had a great Valentines Day and if nothing else, you took the time to let someone you love know it! A big squeeze to my favorite person and valentine ever. Now, I know not everyone is a dog lover or even an animal person for that matter. You might think they are dumb, smelly, annoying, etc. I am ok with that. However, I KNOW everybody loves to laugh! Can you do me and our family a personal favor? If you go to http://www.pedigree.com/03Adoption/SuperBowl you will be able to watch some of the funniest video clips ever! My favorite is Tyler and his bison... Anywho, for every video you watch on Pedigree's site they will donate a meal to a dog in an animal shelter. You do not have to give them your email address or any other info, and you don't have to buy anything either! How great is that?! Thanks especially from Soto and Sadie Mae. They appreciate you helping out their kind so very much...and so do their parents!! Much love and have a great week :)

Showers and birthdays

Dad's birthday dinner

Lynette and Hali'a

So in the last few weeks we had a baby shower for Hali'a and my dad's birthday. I did manage to get a few pictures, but not as many as I would have liked. I do recognize the progress I have made, however, because I think there was about a ten year stretch after high school where I did not take hardly any pictures at all. Crazy. I wish I had been better at documenting my life but alas, I can only move forward :) It is a good thing digital cameras came along and that I have looked exactly the same for at least the last 15 years! I guess that could be considered a good thing, haha!

And so today begins a new year...

I really have some catching up to do! Christmas was great. We got to see a lot of family and friends and I am just utterly amazed at how fast the holidays have come and gone. Jeff, Amy, and Kayla were here for ten days - it went by just way too fast! Kayla is such a chatterbox and so stinking fun to be around! We got to go with her to build a bear where she made a bunny. Gotta love that picture of her and Justin :) We also went out to eat with my parents for their anniversary, hung out at the house and watched movies, played games, fed the ducks at the park, and even had an awesome sing-along Christmas night with Aubrey's family. I am sad vacation is coming to an end!! Oh, and I can't forget that darling baby Hali'a got blessed. Quite a fun-filled busy break. We hope this year is filled with many sweet memories and blessings for everyone. Happy 2009!