The West Family

Warning: LOTS of Pictures....Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-27T22:08:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving...

Well... we had an amazing time at my parents cabin up in Lake Arrowhead! It was so fun to see and feel more colors of fall up in the crisp mountain air. We made it up the mountain with a few casualties. My brilliant idea of changing Bennett's diaper in the car on the road ended in poop all over me and the door of the car and a soaking wet lap from being peed on. Then we went up the mountain which is always awful, but there was fog so it took longer and was more sickening. But once we got there, we played and ate Thanksgiving dinner. Very traditional menu this year for Hillary's first Thanksgiving home. The food was very good and we all ate happily. Then after the dinner we all got bundled up to go see Breaking Dawn! It was so fun to see with my sisters and mom! Connor came too and he even liked it! It was so good. Much much much better than the previous three and I loved the soundtrack! We spent most of our time playing games. Nertz, scrabble and Catch Phrase! SO Much fun! Especially Catch Phrase! Hillary and I were pretty good on the same team, my mom and I rocked it, but Owen and I were really quite a great team. Connor spent most of his clues in either sing song or hand gestures. Barely using words to indicate any kind of clue or hint. In short it ended in tears rolling down my cheeks and a good hard laugh I have not enjoyed in a long time.Very therapeutic. We watched some holiday movies and hung out. Bennett had a blast with all the fun people and toys. Of course my dad brought the walker up and Bennett just loved it. He can now navigate in any direction he so chooses. It is so fun to watch him round corners and even back up. He turns his little body and puts his back arm over the back of the walker seat, looking just like he is backing up a car! It's super cute. He slept ok this week which is more than I can say for Owen and I. We just can't sleep in a full/queen sized bed together. We sleep too wide and end up either bonking knees or with one or the other's knees in the others back. Plus Monkey takes up covers and space so it just doesn't work. Bennet LOVED the hot tub! Dad turned it down so it was more like a warm bath and Bennett just loved it! He would launch himself from one person to the next trying to get the lights on the sides of the tub. He loved the water and bubbles. He especially enjoyed the lights tho. My dad also made him his very own remote control toy! An old remote left from the previous cabin tenants with all the sharp edges sanded down and the batteries and backing and coils removed. HE LOVED IT!! It is his new most favorite toy ever!! So cute of dad to do that. Well we also went on a short hike, where my own 54 year old mother had to wait for Katherina and I to catch up to her! She is such a stud! We also walked around Lake Arrowhead village where Monkey and a Goose had a major macho-off. Monkey would bark and the goose would puff it's chest out and flap it's wings and squak really loud at him! They were only a foot away too, but with a fence between them. Monkey was so mad at him! It was fun to watch! We enjoyed eating, playing and lounging. The most important staples to a great Thanksgiving. And it was....now we get to look forward to Christmas! Glad it's still a month away. need to finish up all the presents! Here are some pics from our weekend. Some are from Owen's camera (the good ones) and the rest are from mine! Enjoy!

May I just humbly add my Thankfuls for the year. My Baby Bennett for being such a ray of sunshine and happiness in my life, my amazing husband for supporting me mentally, physically, spiritually and economically, Pinterest for helping me learn and grow, and the love and support of church and family. I am also infinitely grateful for prayer. I am so very blessed and I am so grateful for it. Love you all. Happy Thanksgiving.

Warden, McCombs Mini Reunion!

2011-11-18T11:11:00.001-08:00

Las Vegas was the place.
Wardens, McCombs and Wests were the people.
Fun was the game.

We (me, my dad, sister, and Bennett) spent the last four days in Las Vegas with my wonderful extended family! This time my dad's side of the family. They were so fun to see! We really don't see this side very often because my Grandma McCombs lives in Mexico along with two of my uncles and their families. My Aunt Deanna Warden lives in Vegas with her husband Mark and their children Noelle, Charlotte and Noah. Deanna, an amazing chef, made the most wonderful meals for us all from her family cookbook. Old family favorites from her childhood. We made Kraut Baroke (have no idea how to spell it) but it's cabbage, onions, ground beef all mixed together and wrapped in a thin dough (like a delicious version of a hot pocket)which is very German. We had sourdough waffles one morning for breakfast and the last night we were there she made Thai curry and vegetables (no meat!) and I LOVED IT!! Repeat: THERE WAS NO MEAT!! I loved it!! I didn't even miss the meat! It was so flavorful! I will be sharing this recipe bc she just put literally all and any veggies she had on hand: sweet potato, zucchini, okra, peppers, mushrooms, eggplant, and carrots in the pot and viola! Delicious! It was super easy and fast! Then for dessert we had mango sticky rice that BLEW MY MIND!! With coconut sweet sauce on top and coconut ice cream!! Seriously, it was heaven in a bowl!

Anyways...other than the food, we mostly just hung out and enjoyed catching up. Everyone was overjoyed to meet Bennett, most especially my Grandmother. She was so sweet and happy. We did go to Red Rock Casino one morning for brunch and it was delicious. I indulged and had the most delicious sausage, biscuits and gravy. MMMMMMMMMmmmmmmm! So yummy comfort food. And much to Hilary's amusement, we went late around 11:00am so we could literally enjoy brunch: breakfast and lunch. They serve breakfast until 11:30 and then lunch buffet comes out. Once everyone was done with their breakfast plates, we all got up and went straight for lunch! It was really fun. I skipped lunch and went straight for dessert and had the most delicious restaurant apple crisp I have ever had and ice cream topped with hot caramel sauce. MMmmmm. I think the food was obviously a huge bonding thing for us! Hahaha!

Anyways....we played games and watched Star Wars. We looked at old pics of family vacations/events. We found a picture of me when I was in the Bahamas as an 8mo old and I look exactly like Bennett, but with droopier eyes. He has bright alert eyes and mine were much less so. Dad and Bennett spent lots of time cuddling and playing. I think this was the most fun I have seen my dad have in a long time!! It was so precious!! What a wonderful time spent with loving family. I am so grateful we were able to make the trip! Here are some pics from the trip!

Lately...

2011-11-12T22:32:00.000-08:00

Well, lately I have been in and out traveling about showing off my little Burrito. October felt like a long month and then all of a sudden we were almost halfway through November! Here are some pics from the last little while. As you can see Bennett is all over the place. He is extremely mobile and only mere moments away from standing by himself with no aid! I can't believe how strong he is. Dressing him and changing his diapers has become a two person job these days. I am super tired tonight but I wanted to get these pics on here before I forgot! Enjoy! I will update again after this week. We are headed off to Vegas to see my Grandma McCombs. It will be her first time meeting Bennett before she has eye surgery and it will be a special week! He is her first great grandchild and so I will be taking pics. Plus we are seeing some family we never really see since many of them live in Mexico. Anyways...enjoy the pics of Ben destroying the house and being generally adorable....

Family Weekend and 7 Month old Burrrrrito (Almost)

2011-10-21T14:38:00.000-07:00

SO MUCH FUN!! Last weekend we spent some long overdue time with some of my wonderful extended family and had such a blast!! Everyone was totally smitten with Bennett (as is good and right.) and we just had such a blast having cousin time. I LOVED catching up with My cousins Alissa and Marissa! I even stayed up one night until 2am just laughing hysterically with them! We all got together because my Grandpa Manning's 85th birthday coincided perfectly with Hillary's welcome home missionary talk. So much fun to have so much family visit. We even got professional shots taken at the beach of the whole family! So fun! Hillary gave a wonderful talk and Katherine and I sang "More Holiness Give Me" as the rest hymn. Katherine totally blew me away! She sounded so fabulous and clear. She has an amazing timbre to her voice and it was the first time I had heard her sing a solo. She rocked it, in a very spiritual way of course. I also finally got a good pic of my grandparents and Bennett, with a real camera. I didn't take many pics of that weekend and regrettably none with Hill, but we have more time to do that before she goes up to school in January. Owen was the perfect husband. He was helpful and social and even though he had to leave early, he let me and Bennett stay and enjoy our family time just one more day. Such a wonderful man! So grateful to him for working so hard to support us.

Alright now I have to update Bennett's growth and development. Oh my goodness! Well I have just been blown away at how big my little burrrrrito has gotten over just the last few months. I can't believe how fast it has gone by!! He will be 7 months in just 8 days and he is super mobile! He is also weighing in these days at around 19lbs!! Big boy!

He can now...

-Crawl super fast. If I'm trying to get him out of the kitchen and put him in the family room, he can almost catch me up on my way back to the kitchen.
-Sit up by himself from just about any and all positions.I also regularly step in pools of drool or spit up that he has left in his wake.
-Pull himself up onto his knees on something like a bookshelf or his changing table.
-He has started pulling himself up and sitting up in his crib now making nap time just a bit harder.
-He is super alert now and will no longer fall back asleep for a nap if he has been woken up.

-Does not like shopping as much as he used to now that he is so mobile on his own, being in the stroller is like baby jail.
-LOVES being up on shoulders and holding on to hair.
-Has TWO teeth and possibly will have another soon.
-Likes to chew on celery sticks and rice rusks.
-Loves to play with cups and loves his sippy cup. He can't fully use it yet but it seems like he will be soon.Right now he mostly just likes to bite it and let the water dribble down his front.
-I thought he was weaning himself off breast milk, but as soon as I started thinking of switching from breast to bottle, he decided the breast was his favorite thing, only biting me occasionally with his glass like teeth.
-LOVES cords and electrical outlets, phones, keyboards, remotes and everything else black or electrical looking. Seriously I do not know why but the chords are his favorite thing to bite. (Yes we have baby proofed our house.) Today he chased me while I vacuumed.
-Loves music. Backyardigans is still his go-to show when he needs a little relax time. I have just started listening to Pandora and we jam out daily to the sultry sounds of Melody Gardot and Adele, or Disney jams. (Occasionally I do indulge in a bit of Best of Brittney Spears. Does that make me a bad mother?)
-He still likes walks but not as much as he used to.
-No longer is his jumper his favorite thing. Since my parents bought a walker for their house, he knows now that it should move where he wants to go and the fact that the jumper is stationary just frustrates the crap out of him. (Sometimes literally :) Baby poop joke.
-Loves being tickled and is starting to like being chased.
-Still loves baths and water.
-Chases Monkey around the house daily. Poor monkey. Bennett likes his collar and his ears most.

That's just about all I can think of right now. He is still sleeping really well and he is still very happy and mellow. However, I have not been this exhausted in a while. I have to watch him every second and I feel like my body has been put through a boot camp. Just picking him up and relocating him over and over has done a number on me.Here is a video I tried to take. He was crawling really fast right before I started recording but then stopped. Please excuse the loud Jungle Book music in the background and also my horrible singing along and commentary.

Productivity

2011-09-26T22:57:00.001-07:00

Today I was SO productive. It feels so good when I have days like this. I love being able to feel like I accomplished something. I was able to do two loads of laundry and dishes. Mop all the floors of my apartment, vacuum and dust, finish unpacking some things that have been laying around in our kitchen since we moved in, cleaned out the fridge, finally put away clothes I had laying out for our photo shoot (which was great!! but we don't get our pics for another 3-4weeks :( ) and fix my organization issue in my bathroom/bedroom. Here are some of my solutions!

The earring frame and hook set was a gift from my lovely sister-in-law, Kathy Bell, which unfortunately I had to repaint bc it no longer matched my room. (Sorry Kathy!) Also, the ribbon broke bc my necklaces were just too heavy. Soooo that is where the three tiered jewelery holder comes in and I just LOVE how it turned out!! So feminine and beautiful! It helps take some of the weight off of the other. I think it will be my new favorite piece in my bedroom! Plus I love that I have the bowl on top for small stud earrings and bobby pins I take off at night. Now I have somewhere to put them so they don't end up on the floor, and inevitably in the vacuum.

It feels great to have gotten so much done. Now the question is.... Will my house stay so clean while I am gone in Irvine visiting Hillary? Let us all hope so ;)

Lately

2011-09-23T21:39:00.000-07:00

Well I thought I would update you all on our lives lately and show off how amazingly adorable my baby boy is. I am amazed at how much more I keep falling in love with him! I can't believe my heart has more room to grow!! Anyways...we have been busy lately. I have finally made another batch of Bennett's food. Carrots and pears. Next it will be a mix of carrots and zucchini.

He had a doctor's apt today bc I was worried about a little rash on his bum but it's nothing to worry about and the doc said it will clear up on it's own. We had a rough day tho bc I think either his tooth is still bothering him or he was super gassy. Bur after he finally fell asleep he seemed much happier.

Our new doc is part of UCLA med ctr and we had to park on wilshire blvd in Santa Monica. I wasn't sure how long we would be so i filled the meter up for a full two hours. But our apt didn't take very long so we ended up getting lunch at a delicious little deli across the street called Bagel Nosh. I had Locks and cream cheese with tomatoes and capers. It's my fave bagel sandwich and it was pretty good. I had to nurse Bennett and eat at the same time but luckily there was a place kind of out of the way so I had a bit of privacy. It was kind of nice.

We finally got Ben a new stroller!! It's the Jeep Cherokee Sport Stroller and it is perfect for us!! I can collapse it with one hand. I can steer it with one hand too and it's super light! Plus Ben LOVES it!! I am so glad too bc he hated our other one I sold before we moved. Here is a pic of him chillin....

He likes to watch Monkey.

I have also been on a mission to find new and easier hair styles so that I can be lazy but beautiful. Any of you who have spoken to me recently know about my new obsession....PINTEREST!! I LOVE IT!!! I found some great tutorials and tried two of them out. Here is the result of the one that worked...

The link to this hair tutorial is http://blogs.babble.com/the-new-home-ec/2011/09/06/3-hair-videos-that-changed-my-morning-routine/

The sock bun method did not work for me bc my hair is just too thick. But the dolly curl method at the bottom is the one that worked best for me.

We have our first family photo session tomorrow with the lovely and talented Cindel Huston of EP LOVE. I am so excited! Especially since we never got pro shots of Ben when he was a newborn and I already feel like he is growing up so fast. I will be sure to post those as soon as I can!

Aaaaaannnnndddd coming soon to a computer near you...Hillary McCombs is back from her mission in Chile!!! Well technically she is still in Chile but she is not on her mission anymore....she's with the fam touring Chile and Peru. I am visiting them next week when they fly in and will be spending the whole week with my long lost sis!! Soo excited and so fun bc she had not met Bennett yet and it has just been such a long time!! So next post will be Hillary and Family Photos!!

Paint, paint and more paint.....

2011-09-16T15:08:00.000-07:00

OK so I thought it was about time I updated everyone on my latest home projects. There are some rooms missing from these photos but they were nowhere near clean so they will be saved for another post. I was working on a bookshelf idea that I found on Pinterest and it was just not working out so I decided to paint the background instead of trying to find a fabric I liked. Here is the finished product.....

This took a fabulously long time. Really I had to paint the bookshelf which used to be dark brown and very overridden with books. We got rid of a lot of the books and I like that it has some empty space.

So I had to paint it about three times total. Then when I tried to paint the back portion yellow, which was my first choice, i ran out of paint. So turquoise was the only other option unless I wanted to go to Home Depot again. Which I did not. Then you have to tile the stencil layout and then you paint it. But the paint and the stencil maneuvering is really quite the task. But here it is finished and boy am I glad that's over and done with!!

I also stenciled my old rug for the front and it turned out pretty well. It's nice to have an update to an old rug that was starting to look kind of dingy.

I also painted that hook set you see by the door a nice dark grey color and I think it turned out nicely. A perfect place to hang Ben's carrier and Monkey's leash, an umbrella and a flashlight.

Next Owen and I had a hard time deciding what to do with Owen's stuff. As you may recall he had a whole room to himself in our old house and it was quite the design disaster, as many man caves are. I was horrified at the thought of having all his gaming stuff out in front where all would see. Mostly just bc he had so much stuff with wires and what not. Especially bc his computer screen is as big as our TV. But then I came up with a solution that I think worked out pretty well. And I surprised him with it on his first day to work here in LA. He was so happy.

He picked the desk from Ikea and got rid of a ton of his old stuff which I am so grateful for. I tried to make his side look masculine and mine look very feminine. I painted the pinboard I got at Home Depot and I still need to put all my stuff on it. And I really wanted a place for my sewing machine and crafting. It's actually so much fun. Now at night after Ben's asleep we both get to do our hobbies next to each other. It's kind of intimate and dare i say, romantic? Owen actually comments a lot on what I'm crafting and always says super nice things. I even chime in on his game stuff once in a while.

Before we moved I also painted this tv stand that was gifted to us by the previous tenants of our old house. I thought it had super cute bones and I love the color I chose.

Sorry it's hard to see. I also wanted to show you my new rug!! Ikea! $20! Such a great price and a perfect size. We also got a new slip cover for that old armchair and a new loveseat sofa. I am planning on updating my pillow cases and if possible I'd like to paint the fireplace wall a dark grey color. I think it would look amazing!

Well....that might be all from me for a while. Ben is teething and won't let me get much done during the day. Poor little guy. Also tomorrow my family leaves to pick up Hillary from her mission in Chile!! I am so excited to see her!!! I will post pics of the other rooms when they are closer to being finished!! Love you all!!!

TEETHING???

2011-09-13T20:43:00.000-07:00

OK is this the twilight zone or candid camera? Seriously my baby boy, my little tiny burrito has a tooth!!! It just reared it's ugly little head today and I just can't believe it!! I couldn't understand why he was all of a sudden really unwilling to be alone, on his own. He wanted to be held all the time and cuddled and he is not usually like that. I just ate up the cuddling, but the whining CONSTANTLY not so much my favorite. Anyways...Owen did say and has been saying for a few weeks now, "He is probably teething. His tooth is coming in. I can feel it." Blah, blah, blah. I think I was in denial. I just ignored him and brushed it off. How does he know anyways...I'm the MOTHER! I'm supposed to know everything about my baby boy. Well I was wrong and poor Bennett probably would have been less uncomfortable if I had realized earlier. Poor little guy. Anyways....there is a tiny little tooth on the right side of his bottom gums. I just still can't believe it. He of course will not let anyone look at or even really touch it now so no pic but I will keep trying. I am so sad. My baby is growing up too fast. I can't believe only 2 months ago I was complaining about how I wanted him to grow up faster so he could play on his own a bit more. Boy was I wrong. Be careful what you wish for.

Weekly Update

2011-09-11T21:09:00.000-07:00

Week one in LA was pretty successful! Already I love that we have to take Monkey out bc it makes us walk together at night which Ben LOVES! We have Venice High School right down the street from us and so we sneak in and let Monkey off his leash to run around the track there. We weren't the only ones and soon there were many other doggies for Monkey to hassle. We did notice tho that once the sun sets there are NO women walking around alone, but right before the sun sets there are ONLY women walking, running around. It was kind of interesting. BIG NEWS!! THE BUM IS FINALLY GONE!!! Apparently there was a major ruckus made one night which thankfully we heard none of, but one of the bums (bc there were 5 since they were apparently having some kind of bum get together) was presumed dead and the ambulance had to come. Then the people in the apartment closest to the area which they were in called the cops twice bc they were being loud and disorderly. So luckily that is over with. I can now say "We live in the apartment across from the 99c store," instead of"we live in the apartment with all of the bums." Do i sound snobby? I don;t mean to it's just rather unsettling when just a few paces outside you living space some crazy drugged out guy is living and using your front yard as his personal bathroom. Not to mention the smell. We had the BEST Empanadas on Saturday! Even Owen, who never gets excited about food was super excited about them. He even ordered more to go to eat later. We finished them off today after church. It's going to be a huge temptation on Sundays bc we have to drive past it twice to get to church.Church went well. It's a huge ward. We are in the Westdale 2nd and there are a couple of babies Bennett's age so I'm hoping to make some friends. Also we noticed through conversations that people here aren't quite as into the homemade trend that is so popular, especially in San Diego (or at least in my little circle of San Diego) and so Bennett's little tie onesie that I made attracted major attention and people just couldn't believe that I made it. They thought I was some amazing seamstress and were surprised to learn I really don't know my way around a sewing machine. I probably still couldn't thread one without help. So this might be a fun thing to invest some time and energy into. Maybe I could sell things here. Who knows.I love our apartment. I just love being here. I think the space makes such a huge difference. The big beautiful windows and the modern feel of the home kind of makes me feel at ease. I still have a ton of unpacking to do. Mostly on the organizing end, but it will get done. I need to finish up some home deco projects before I take pics and post them, but they are going to be finished. So excited to show you all! Ben is getting so BIG!! He is loving his solid foods. I made my first batch of homemade baby food this week. Apples and peas. He LOVES apples and bananas. Loves carrots and pees he got used to. HATES sweet potatoes. But he is starting to grab at everything! Feeding him actually wears me out. I have to angle my body just right and catch the food he spits out and keep his hands away from everything. It's incredible to watch him grow. He also has learned to get up on his hands and knees and rock back and forth. It's crazy close to crawling and I know he is just going to be there so soon. I have already started looking at our house through baby eyes and there is like DANGER everywhere. I thought I would have more time before I had to worry about all of that. Well he is also super vocal. He just talks and screams all the time now. He charms the crap out of people bc he is so smiley all the time and people are always saying how happy he is. I am so grateful to have him!Anyways.....so far the area is still a little sketchy and both Owen and I HATE driving here. There are like two freeways, and coming from San Diego where there are like 6, it just feels like there a billion people on the roads. Also the roads are in terrible condition. Other than that I love having the dollar store next door. I was making cookies and realized I was out of baking soda and just ran next door and was back in no time. So great.

We are IN! LA that is.

2011-09-07T23:07:00.000-07:00

Ok....so we finally are mostly moved into our new place. Owen and I are exhausted from such a busy weekend. Luckily Owen had work off on Monday so he was able to have a bit of extra move/rest time before going back to work. For those of you who don't know, Owen picked our place alone, I never came up to see it with him so Friday was the first time I saw it in person. I have to say JOB WELL DONE!! He did a great job. It is a much bigger apartment than our others and it even feels sort of bigger than our house in SD. It's not but the huge windows in the kitchen give such a grand illusion of space. Along with huge floor to ceiling mirrors in both bedrooms on the closets. We also have the privilege to finally have raised ceilings. This makes a HUGE difference in small spaces. It's so nice. We live in venice and the area is right on the fringe of Culver city and Venice. We are right across the street from a 99cent store and for those of you who know me well, you know that makes me happy. It actually even sells fresh groceries too so it's going to be nice especially since I don't have a car.

Owen and I spent the weekend moving in. We got to Ikea and the one nearest us is HUGE!! it has an escalator and two cafeteria areas! It was like going to Disneyland, but instead of rides you got to put together your own furniture? Anyways...we got a new dining table which I am in LOVE with. And a new loveseat, rug and a desk and chair for Owen. The desk and chair are where the design problem came and that is why Owen's surprise was necessary. (I know you are curious, I will post about that soon.)Ben had some trouble adjusting but not half as bad as mmonkey. He still wanders around and sometimes hangs out at the door like "when are we going home guys?" We even got him a new dog bed but he still wanders.

The area seems nice kind of. It's funny, I have been telling Owen that LA is so weird. I have never lived in a place where there is not a clear separation between like the ghetto and super nice areas. But here the separation is literally one street. We are on a lightly ghetto street, and one street up, everything is super nice and all the cars cost as much as a house. It's really weird. Plus there are just weird people everywhere. Like very few people look like normal people. It kind of reminds me of people watching at the entrance of walmart when I was 8mos pregnant and locked the keys in my car. There are just so many weird people out there and it's just so interesting that they congregate in certain places. And apparently Walmart and LA are melting pots. Don't get me wrong I love Walmart and in no way am I passing judgement, it's just an observation.

Observations...The first night sleeping here, I woke up to someone throwing up below our window. Granted it was friday night on a 3-day weekend so I understand maybe it's a party night. They also seem to live with their entire family bc one apartment has like 8 people living in it. There are two or three girls that live in a house or apartment near us and everyday around quitting time they scream and scream. My belief is their dad or mom just came home from work and is playing with them. Also can collecting seems to be the full-time job of the hispanic men who live in the apartment building across the street. I hear cans rattling constantly and they have a big truck they haul big black bags in and out of. The street near us isn't super busy, but it is still pretty loud sometimes. Mostly bc I think trucks use it to bypass street traffic and lights.
There is a homeless guy who lives in the alley right next to our building which is a bit unsettling to me. Everyday I wake up with "La cucaracha" in my head and wonder why until I hear it played in the late afternoon when the same truck honks out front. I think I am starting to go slowly insane to that tune. Ben and I had an adventure trying to get things ready for Owen's big surprise (which I will post pics of later) and so we ook the car and our TomTom and set out trying to locate those chain stores like Home Depot and Michael's. It was smooth sailing until I ended up at the beach in downtown santa monica where the driving was a whole lotta "one way" streets which I hate. I spent about 20 min circling the same block trying to find what the TomTom said was "on the right" and gave up. Luckily I stumbled across JoAnne's and was much happier to find that bc I think they have better prices overall. Owen works in the same building as Beachbody HQ. Which is kind of cool bc I used to use their workout video. Also it's a super cool building. I was waiting for him to come out and it looked like I was watching a tv show on the CW about LA. All the cars were super nice. Porsche, convertible BMW, Audi, Mercedes...and over and over. It really felt like LA.Like how it should look or at least how glamorous it looks on tv. We met some people who live right across the hall from us and they have a 6mo old baby and a small terrier dog. Like our doppleganger couple and they are really nice. We will be making friends with them.

Well, we had a ton of help from both sides of the family and we are so grateful for that. We experienced some good food when my parents came down on Monday. They got some delicious hawaiian BBQ from somewhere close and I have been craving it ever since. Also, they got cupcakes from a place called HotCakes and they bought a salted caramel bar. I am not a hugr fan of cupcakes but these were really good, especially the spiced mango. BUT the salted caramel car was OH MY GOSH TO DIE FOR!! The caramel wasn't too chewy and didn't stick to your teeth and the bar crust was just perfect. I couldn't stop eating it. I think for every special occaision from now until we move again, that is what I want. No cake, just that bar. MMMMmmmmmmmmm......

Overall I am thoroughly pleased and can't wait to finish the main deco projects so I can post pics. I am so excited to have new furniture to play with. Anyways...hopefully this place will grow on me like SD did, but faster. I will soon be posting more!

LA!!

2011-08-19T18:36:00.000-07:00

Alright it is official!! We are moving to the city of angels. Good thing too bc I am hoping we will have angels with us constantly ;) Yes I am pretty nervous about it. I am not a huge fan of big cities but Owen is super excited about his new job opportunity so I know it is the right thing for us. We finally got approved and have an apartment just north of Culver City. Super close to Owen's new office and even though we are moving to a smaller place, I am really excited to decorate a new place. We will be moving in just two weeks! Sept 1st we will be in LA. Crazy! Anyways...There will be more updates soon!

4 Month Checkup

2011-08-02T20:17:00.000-07:00

Well today was Bennett's 4 month checkup. It went well considering he got two shots. ;( So hard to watch. Anyways he weighs in at a staggering total of 16lbs 10oz and 26" long! He is in the 95 percentile for both height and weight. Crazy! I can't believe how fast time has flown. Doc ok'd solid foods and we will start that in the next two weeks. I seriously can't believe how big he has gotten!

Other fun things he is doing:
-Rolling, from front to back and back to front.
-Sleeping through the night 9:30-7:30(for a while now-about two months)
-Laughing and giggling, although it takes some real effort to get him to giggle
-TALKING! Like baby talking obviously but he just never stops! Even to get to sleep he talks himself to sleep. It's pretty adorable. In fact, during sacrament last Sunday he did this very thing, super loudly, to get to sleep. Owen and I just couldn't stop laughing. It really is like he is trying to tell you a sad story.
-Figured out he has more hair and will sit and play with it looking slightly confused. It is still unclear what color it will be but it is looking darker and darker every day. I think the red is definitely out.
-Loves to see himself in the mirror (remind you of anyone? i know,Owen is soo vain;)
-Scoots a ton. Especially at night since he sleeps on his tummy.
-Sleeps with his butt in the air and his hands under his tummy. So sweet.
-CHEWS like crazy! He has these blankets from Ikea and he LOVES to chew on them. When he is done with them, they are usually sopping wet. But he loves them.
-Sucks his thumb to sleep. Will no longer take a pacifier at all. He regards it as some kind of punishment or torture.
-Watches TV. Specifically the Backyardigans. He will even smile HUGE when the themes song s sung to him. He likes this when he is calming down for the night.(I am also a HUGE fan of Backyardigans. It is so stinkin' cute.)
-Will not cuddle. He even doesn't really like being held unless he can be turned forward. He wants to see everything. He LOVES his baby carrier. He can recognize it now and smiles or stops crying in the car when he sees me put it on.
-Starting to get stranger danger. New faces are slightly scary to him.
-Loves bath time! Will kick and splash and squeal like crazy.

Overall he is just so darn cute! He is such a great baby. Super low maintenance and happy as a clam. I really don't hold him much during the day or even have to calm or console him. He plays by himself for periods of time, I play with him, and he comforts himself. I am so grateful for this!

This video was taken at the doctor's office while we were waiting for him to come in. We had to wait FOREVER!! Sorry it's sideways. Anyways...enjoy!

Too cute not to share

2011-07-23T20:36:00.000-07:00

Bennett Talking

2011-07-11T11:28:00.000-07:00

Lately this is Bennett's favorite noise to make. I love when he smiles and coos at me. Lately his favorite thing to do is make this noise CONSTANTLY and the only thing that quiets him when it's time for a nap is The Backyardigans. Not my doing...Owen turned it on for him one night and he loves it. The song has been stuck in our heads since. Even when I just sing the opening theme song to Bennett he loves it and gets all excited. Haha. We also barely got him into his Johnny Jump Up. I thought he would love it bc he loves to walk and jump. He is still a bit small for it but he likes being in it for a little while. Anyways...he is so much fun to watch and play with. I am so happy to be his mom.

Northern California Family Vacation

2011-06-28T18:06:00.000-07:00

First things first....this face is just...I....there are no words to describe how infinitely adorable this face is.

Well...we had the great blessing of riding up with my mother up to visit our family up in Rocklin, CA. After the HORRIBLE 9 hr drive up through the grapevine, and a somewhat embarrassing accidental flashing of many drivers on the I-5, we arrived and had a blast just hanging out with family and showing off my ADORABLE baby boy! Here are some pics from our trip. So glad to have been able to see my Grandparents and wonderful family, but also very grateful to be sleeping in a SEPARATE room from Ben Burrito Mr. Grunty-pants. He literally grunts and moves ALL NIGHT LONG! Even tho he slept through the night, he was super grunty and I woke up every time. Also, MAJOR MOM FAIL! I forgot a real camera and was stuck with my phone camera, so some of these aren't as good quality as they could have been. Anyways...enjoy.

In the car ride up. Poor baby, so sad to have to be in his car seat. So sad. He was actually really good.

Logan and Bennett having some cousin time. I'm not sure what the relation is called between your baby and your cousins baby, but that's what Logan is. He is super cute and only one month older than Bennett. It was super fun to see Marissa and Kevin (Logan's Mom and Dad). So fun to chat about mom stuff.

Meredith! My LOVELY teacher cousin! I love Bennett's face in this one.

Some of their Great Grand-kids with their loving Great-Grandparents.

Loving Aunt Katherine holding a sleeping burrito.

Aunt Katherine having a blast with Bennett.

Bennett after his first swim with Great-Grandpa Manning. So cute.

Grandma's!! Grandma Elizabeth with Bennett and Grandma Genna with Logan! So fun! Sisters!

Well...He's a Boy's Boy!

2011-05-31T10:52:00.001-07:00

Well...I was invited to a baby shower and the woman is having a girl so I made some of my headbands, and then a thought occurred to me.....I HAVE A MODEL!! Finally I have a model to see if they actually look good on or not. So I put them on and here is the result......

He did NOT like it. Plus...it just looks wrong! I thought "Oh he's a baby and most of the time you can't tell if they are a boy or a girl." But really, these just look wrong on him. Hehehe. Owen don't be mad....I'll try not to make a habit of this. Hehe.

Here are the finished products...in a less disturbing view....

One Of Megan't Talents (by Owen)

2011-05-30T03:06:00.000-07:00

I thought it might be nice to break up the craft and sissy posts and have a manly post. This is a family blog and I thought a post for men about burly things might give a good balance to this. A topic like guns, sports, drinking (root)beer, video games, or not eating my vegetables.

This isn't that post.

For years in the 90's I had a song in my head, and I had no idea who sang it, what the words were, or how to find it. I would hear it from time to time on the radio or around and I'd be like "THIS IS IT!!!" and I'd go around asking anyone around if they know who sang it or what it was called. No one knew.

Sometimes I'd just get the song stuck in my head for no reason. I didn't hear it, it would just pop in my head for a few days. I needed to find the song. This was waaay back in the 90's, I was in middle school and high school but it lasted for years. I would tell people about it and ask them in the following way:

me: "Hey do you know the song that goes "do do dodo, do dodo do, dodo dodo dod do do do"?"
them: "that's all the same note."
me: "Yeah, it doesn't have words on that part, super hard to find"
them: "no, your singing that in the same note, with no tune at all, if you sang it with the actual notes..."

They didn't know. And my journey for the song continued.

Fast forward 7 years. 7 YEARS!! When I was dating Megan I told her about it. In the same way as above. But this time Megan does something amazing, that no one else was able to do. She was able to sing the song from my (horrible) clue. She didn't know what it was but she could finish the song and knew some of the lyrics. That was all the info I needed. As soon as I got the words "I am sitting" I was golden. I could and did find the song. This song:

That's the song. I excitedly told Megan I found the song on our next date, and she was not that impressed. And while I would have liked her to be more impressed I was just glad I had found it. She had no idea that it was the end of a long quest for me.
Mission Complete! Objective reached! Gold star!

Megan is very talented with music. Ben and I really enjoy her singing around the house. She says she's out of practice and doesn't sound as good as she used to; but to us, she sounds perfect.

Up next: pictures of me restoring a WW2 motorcycle with only tools available in the year 1850. Then after that, will be a post about how to be successful fishing in the Amazon, for piranhas, with bare hands.

Mother's Day and Bennett's Blessing...

2011-05-09T18:26:00.000-07:00

Well...It was a crazy day, but a wonderful day. Thank you to all the family that helped us get things together with the lunch. Bennett's blessing was beautiful. Owen gave a wonderful blessing and both grandpa's assisted as well as Uncle Jeff and Brett Montgomery, Owen's childhood friend. So nice to have such wonderful people assisting and supporting little Bennett. Bennett will probably never understand how much love and support he was shown before and after his birth. Countless gifts, clothes and baby accessories, meals, and physical help cleaning, holding and just loving him. I can't believe how many people from far and wide have reached out to us. I am overwhelmed with the continued support of close family members (aka grandmas!) and especially the knowledge that if at any time I need help, I have many willing helping hands ready to come down and relieve me for a spell. This has meant the world. I know that Owen appreciates it too.

Anyways..enough mushy stuff. Here are pics from yesterday.

Little Bennett in his blessing day outfit. We were so worried he would cry through it as he has been crazy fussy lately but he was an angel. I bet he could feel the spirit throughout and it calmed him. This is the only picture I got of his outfit. His onesie is one I made with a little tie ironed on the front. I loved it. His daddy matched but in all the hubub we didn't get any pics of us all dressed in our church clothes. Fail.

Grandpa McCombs playing with Bennett.

Grandma's gawking over the baby.

Happy Mother's Day! I made the two Grandma's some felt corsages to wear. I think they look smashing.

Three Mother's and little Ben burrito.

My Mother's day gift from Owen. I LOVE IT!! So dainty and I love that it has the ability to be added on when we have more kids.

I have to say, as a very very VERY new Mother, it was nice to be recognized. Church was fantastic! The speakers were so great and the spirit was so strong. I loved being able to go and not have t leave half way through to feed Ben. I have a new appreciation for mothers, not just my own, but for all mothers, especially those who have to do this by themselves! I don't know how they do it. I really think I would just fall apart completely if I didn't have the enormous amount of support that I have been so blessed to have.

To those who are contemplating motherhood, while rewarding and one of the most important things you will ever do, it is not easy and NONE of it comes naturally (except the milk ;) At least not for me. I am constantly doubting every move I make and every move he makes wondering if I am doing the right thing for him. I seriously wonder how do women have two at the same time, or a toddler and a newborn! It is incomprehensible to me. This is probably what the next 30 years of my life will be like and I'm hoping I learn to cope with it as gracefully as my mother and mother-in-law have. I hope to be able to one day regain my zest for life, and return to the social butterfly I once was, as now I feel more like a slug. Fat and slimy actually sum up my day pretty well what wih the baby weight and constantly wiping something slimy off either me or Bennett (hehe.)

I know that will happen. I know that Heavenly Father gave me the gift of being able to bring life into this world only because he wanted to send certain special spirits to me specifically and that must be because I have something worthwhile to offer. I am excited to one day be able to look back and feel proud and confident that I did the best job I knew how and that it will be enough. I am sorry to end this post in a slightly depressing tone, but it feels good to get it out and hopefully you all can pardon my emotional rant and grant me some leeway here. I know that part of this is just how I feel right now and will change as things get easier and more structured. Anyways....I hear him crying and so that is my cue!

We missed those who couldn't come and look forward to seeing everyone soon!! Love you all!

So Grateful...

2011-05-05T16:15:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to say how incredibly grateful I am for my sweet mother-in-law and Kathy for coming down and helping me get some sleep the pat few days. I cannot even begin to say how much I needed this and how grateful I am for how loving and supportive you have all been throughout this wonderfully exciting if not utterly tiring event.

That said, I must try and nap while he is being so good. I wanted to post this video bc it was just so nice to see him content after the last 24 hours of being crazy. Sorry it's sideways, I uploaded this from my phone and I don't know how to fix it.

Epidural....yes please!

2011-04-27T18:59:00.000-07:00

Ok People, I don't know how curious other people are about my labor story but I am always excited to hear all the details about others, so for those of you like me....this is for you. I hope it's not too much info.

Well......honestly I was so blessed. I had a pretty good delivery. 26 hours, but only 8 hours of active labor that I felt. Seriously though without that epidural I would have been dying!! I had back labor which is when the baby's head is turned the wrong way so it was pushing against my tailbone so hard it felt like someone was trying to split my bones in my tailbone and spine in half from the inside. It was excruciating. But I guess I was in labor for a couple of days and didn't know it. I mean it all started the night before, Sunday night. I couldn't really sleep I was up every two or three hours with back pain and what they call practice contractions or braxton-hicks. They don't really hurt, but they are uncomfortable. Well these ones were really uncomfortable and getting stronger, but I didn't really think much of it. I had my doctor's appointment late afternoon Monday so I went to run some errands that morning with our car bc our car battery died. So I had to take Owen to work that morning, and then I went to Walmart and ran some other errands. Post office, grocery store, babies r us and target.

Anyways...I pretty much walked all day until my doctor's appointment. When I finally went to my appointment I had to park a couple streets away so I wouldn't have to feed the meter. I got into my appointment and I was feeling pretty rough. All morning I had back pain in my lower back all day but I thought it was just bc I couldn't sleep well and I was so pregnant and uncomfortable. I was waiting forever and he had to check if I was dilated. Anyways, he said I was 1 1/2 cm dilated and that he suspected it would take the rest of the week before I was ready to deliver. Sad news to me but I was glad I was a little dilated. I was walking back to the car when I think the first one hit. It was not that bad but it certainly felt different. Almost like my lower back muscles were spazing out or it was a charlie horse or something. So I had to get back home and then they hit! BAM! Like right as soon as I got home at around 3 or four I was having serious back pain and it was happening regularly. I have an app on my phone that tracks contractions so I started timing them when they went from about thirty minutes apart, to fifteen. Then I had to go pick up Owen from work. I was driving while in active labor! So dangerous! I almost missed a light bc a contraction hit and I could barely see straight. I got Owen and he drove home. I was dying. but they were still about 20 minutes apart or fifteen minutes but not regular. I went home and ate dinner, and watched the cosby show on netflix while the contractions got closer. I was tracking them and when they hit ten minutes I called my OB and told him. He said he was surprised but it sounded like I was getting ready to deliver soon and when they were regularly five minutes apart I should go to the hospital. So I showered and did my hair bc I had not showered for three days. Owen helped me blow dry my hair and we would stop when each contraction hit. I had to get down on all fours each time bc they were so bad and I couldn't stand or walk or sit or anything. So when we finished my hair and getting all the stuff in the car and the car seat and I got dressed, we headed to the hospital.

When we got there they made me wait and check in! It took like almost an hour to get totally checked in and for the night nurse to check how dialated I was and to call my OB and everything. I was in so much pain bc I had to stay on the table on my back! It was awful!! I was clawing at Owens sweatshirt and trying to breathe right but NO RELIEF!!! She finally came back and said my OB said it was up to me if I wanted to stay at the hospital, or go back home and labor some more there hoping it progressed more in an hour or so. That seriously sounded like torture. So they admitted me and about twenty minutes later I was hooked up to my IV and my epidural was in and I was not feeling a thing. It was fabulous. Seriously after all that pain I barely thought about the needles and what not. I had a contraction while he was doing the epidural and that scared me a bit but the guy who did mine had been doing it for 30 years so he was quick and efficient. My night nurse was so cute. I was so relieved when I could look at the computer monitor and see a really bad contraction pass without feeling it. It was great. They said I was dehydrated and that may have made the labor come on more strongly and so once I got my IV they got less intense for a while. I just slept and Owen slept next to me in the chair they had. i had a weird reaction to the epidural and my left leg was totally dead weight. I could still wiggle my toes and my ankle but I couldn't lift my leg. It stayed that way the whole time I was hooked up and it was kind of a pain bc I couldn't move on my own. They had to come and rotate me every hour or so. I had a standing appointment at 6 am to start me on pitocin to help my labor go faster and see how far I'd come and when they checked me again I think I was a four or a six. I can't remember. So they watched me all day. We talked and they brought me ice chips and popsicles. I was progressing all day but around 9 cm dialated I stalled for about three hours. But my water broke on it's own which is good. I was like an hour away from having to get a c-section bc his head was not coming down or changing positions, and all of a sudden he moved and the nurse who was my day nurse was so on my side and tried everything to not get me a c-section. I tried pushing and she said my one or two pushes brought the head right down and after that happened, everything went really fast. She called the OB who had previously thought I would be pushing for three hours, and told her that I was only thirty to forty minutes from delivering and she should hurry and get there. I even had to stop pushing for a bit so she could make it. I was so grateful to Heavenly Father bc my prayers were truly answered and I know He helped the baby turn and so I didn't have to have a c-section. The nurses said I was a great pusher. They were so impressed with me and I was so happy to be doing a good job. Anyways...once she made it I pushed a total of 40 mins and he was out. I loved not having to feel the pushing or the ripping. Seriously I was so relaxed to be able to enjoy holding him for the first time even though right after they out him on my chest I had to deliver the placenta and she had to stitch me up where I tore. There was no screaming and I was just able to enjoy holding him once he came out. After delivery they had to get a moving crew to come and move me bc the nurse said I was so heavy and my legs were totally dead weight I couldn't move myself they needed help moving me. Seriously?! I know I'm fat but a moving crew?! She must have said it like a hundred times too. Not nice.

Anyways...they moved us to our new room and we all stayed together, me, owen and baby, but he wasn't named yet. Took us a while to decide but he just looks like a Bennett. I LOVED that our hospital didn't have a nursery, so the baby never left our sides. He was washed in our room and tested and everything. It was so nice. He was with me from birth to discharge. They only took him away for the hearing test our last day there bc obviously there can't be any other noises. But he is perfect! Just perfect. He was a little Jaundiced and they had to do this photo therapy that he HATED! Oh poor thing couldn't be bundled or anything just had to be in his little diaper with this tanning booth light on his whole body. UGH!! I hated watching him struggle an cry. He couldn't be out of it for longer than a half hour at a time and that's pretty much only long enough to feed him. Poor thing cried and screamed all night long. It was terrible.

Well...the afterbirth me was a BEHEMOTH!! Seriously, I had been warned that the epidural would make me swollen. When I finally could walk my feet jiggled like FAT JIGGLED!! There was a giant pouch of fat pad on top of my feet. They were troll feet!! It was ridiculous! But finally they went down a day or two after. I think in comparison to the hospital, labor and delivery, recovery is much worse. The hospital and delivery is a cake walk in comparison to recovery. In the hospital they gave me perkoset and vicodine and motrin to deal with the pain. Mostly I just had back pain from the back labor, but when I left, they didn't give me anything to take home. I did react weird to the perkoset though. The perkoset made me so loopy! It was like I was out of my body and could barely see straight, but it also made me deliriously happy.

I was pretty sad to leave the hospital. They were great. They brought me whatever I needed, held my baby when I needed them to, got me food and juice, and pain meds. It was really great. Plus they were always available with the push of a button. I do have to say I am SO glad we went to Scripps Mercy instead of Mary Birch bc I was chatting with a girl in my ward who went to Mary Birch and she had to share a room and she said it was awful! She got no sleep bc their tv was on or people were visiting. Yuck! I would have hated that! Overall I am really grateful to have a healthy baby and now that it has been 4 weeks I am finally feeling a little bit more like myself. Now I just have the baby weight to lose and bit more healing and I'll be right as rain!

Best Reads of 2010-2011

2011-04-20T16:22:00.000-07:00

I was recently going through some of the books I read last year and I was just dying to share it with someone! I want someone else to read it so I can discuss it with them! So since those who I would want to hear it from are in contact with me through this blog, I thought I would give a short critique of each book in the hopes it would stir one of you to read one of them and then chat with me. So here goes....

The Hunger Games Trilogy

Now most of you have probably heard of this and have read them, but for hose of you who have not, I really recommend this series. The premise sounds so disturbing, but it really proves phenomenal. It is well written and extraordinarily vivid. You will not be able to put it down. Quick synopsis: There are 12 districts, each responsible for one major industry. Catniss Everdeen, from the coal mining district twelve, the poorest of the districts, comes face to face with everyone's greatest fear, the Reaping. Every year the officials draw 2 names from each district, one girl and one boy, and they must compete in a major fight to the death. There is only one winner of the Hunger Games. Catniss finds a way to defy the Capitol in rejection of the government and their totalitarian regime. This dystopian commentary on our fascination with reality television is really supreme. I love how this book makes you think, what level are we humans willing to go to for entertainment? If society says it's entertaining and not damaging or dangerous, do we follow suit? (One that screams to mind is Bridalplasty, or even The Hills, or Jersey Shore ) The end of the trilogy is the only place where I can criticize, but in reality, the ending stays very true to the trauma and damage that any human would suffer after being exposed to such tramatic experiences. I won't go into more detail for those of you who have not read it yet. Enjoy!

Graceling

This is such a great novel. The world that you jump into head first is just so imaginative. In this novel, people have been given graces. At a certain age, their eyes change colors and each eye is a different color. This sets them apart from society. Some graces are useable, like the ability to forge metal, or cook. But there are others not so coveted. Mostly the graced are looked at as separate from society. Especially since just looking at one who is graced, you cannot tell what their grace is. I love that the main character is female and her power is the ability to kill anything with her bare hands. I think the fact that she gave her female lead character such an un-lady-like grace is interesting and lends itself to an interesting battle between femininity and strength. The characters are incredible, and the story line is really one you can't put down. I really recommend this for those of you who enjoy fiction.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth

This novel took me completely by surprise. I am so not a zombie-lover. In fact I am the BIGGEST scaredy cat ever. But this look at the zombie apocalypse is so creatively set up, you can't help but imagine, if there ever was a zombie apocalypse, would the government step in and establish some defenses? And if not, how would you personally deal with it? And with your family? This has kind of become an inside joke in our little family. Owen and I constantly refer to the zombie apocalypse in reference to things like food storage and 72 hour kits. In this novel, there is a society set up in a fenced area. The chain link fences run around the entire compound and even to go near the fences is enough to instill fear into the people living inside. The forest outside is crawling with infected, the living dead, and one bite will transfer the virus to the bitten. The world has been this way for generations, and the knowledge of a time before is kept close in the confines of a sisterhood of nuns in the center of the village. Our main character is kind of thrown into their midst and discovers a bit about a new breed of undead. A quick and lively zombie who is obviously from another village or place. Her curiosity is piqued and just before she discovers more, the compound is compromised and the few survivors must flee. Their journey through the forest is really thrilling and I just loved how descriptive and detailed the action scenes are. This book is not too gory. There are one or two shiver-inducing lines, but overall, the writing delivers the thrill without the gratuitous gore that is so commonly included in zombie fanfare. Plus the story line is really very good. I was thrilled to find out this is a TRILOGY! I am so looking forward to the next!

The Obernewtyn Chronicles

This journey through a world unrecognizable centuries after it was ravaged by nuclear weapons, becomes very interesting when the radiation has changed the physical makeup of humans and beasts. These "mutants" have gifts like being able to speak with animals, or see the future. They are cast out of society and sent to Obernewtyn, which originally starts out as kind of a concentration camp where experiments are done on the mutants who are sent there. Eventually it becomes a safe haven and the journey to discover what happened to the world is long but incredibly filled with action, suspense and creative details of a world once recognizable as earth. There are like 9 books in this series, and they do take concentration and focus. They are not quick reads and sometimes even I had to go back a reread certain passages in order to fully understand what was going on. They are very detailed and exquisitely put together. I really liked this series. Definitely recommend this to people who love series.

The Books of Bayern

These books are absolutely adorable and at the same time really good reads. I love The Goose Girl. The story line is really enthralling and you just can't help but fall in love with the characters. Each books of the series is about a different character and their own special powers. My favorite of the series has to be Enna Burning. Just really enjoyable. This is an easy read and really uplifting. Easily recommended to any of my friends and loved ones.

These are the books I most highly recommend to you friends. I really hope one of them jumps out at you. I am excited to chitty chat you up! Get reading!

Four Marvelous Years

2011-04-09T17:55:00.000-07:00

Four years ago, this man made this face at me across the altar in the Newport Beach, CA temple and made me the happiest woman in the world.

This picture was taken and it is one of my most favorite memories of Owen. We went camping at Beaverdick Park in Idaho and I went off to go use the restroom, and he started packing up our camp site. As I was walking back and even talking to him, i rounded the tent corner and he popped out of the tent, made this noise that I wish I could recreate for you here and with wide eyes looked from my feet all the way up my body and lurched back away from me. I have never laughed so hard in my life. I think he said he thought I was some kind of animal. Those of you who know him know he is hard to scare, so this was a rare treat. In his defense I was covered in fleece from head to toe and my slippers had sheepskin fur around the ankles. Hehe.

Disneyland was a wonderfully romantic place for us when we dated. I remember Owen would drive all the way down to pick me up and then we would go over to D-land and have a magical time. Riding the rides and watching the firework shows. I just loved doing that with him.

This picture represents my other favorite moment with Owen. We went one night to the boat to hang out and there was a red tide. I had never even heard of this and so we went from boat dock to boat dock jumping on the wood and watching the colorful fish scurry away. It truly was like a scene from a romantic comedy.

St. George visiting my Grandparents for Thanksgiving before we were married. This trip was so special to me. I was able to have Owen meet one of the dearest people to my heart, my Grandpa Manning. After my Grandpa and Owen talked electronics and we watched Seinfeld, Owen and I journeyed on to.....

This place. This is a picture of the gorgeous St George Temple. This is the place where upon prayerful consideration, I decided to marry Owen. Such a special place to me. Such a special trip. I will never forget the strong feelings of this day.

Then of course we were married! Such a happy day!

Honeymooning in Puerto Vallarta. Owen even went in on a better room for us the last night or so we were there. Spoiled me and it was so fun!

A trip to Hawaii right after we were married. This trip probably would have been more romantic if we had been alone, and not with my entire family. But we were so grateful to have been invited and it was a fun trip.

Owen has been a trooper going to as many of my family reunions as he can. We have one every year so it's a tall task. But we do have fun together!

It's pictures like this that show forth his true nature. Just such a happy and playful man. It is his wonderful sense of humor and happy spirit that made me fall head over heels in love with him.

This picture is here to show off his ability to learn. He has an uncanny ability to learn ANYTHING! Not just learn it but MASTER it. Over the past four years, I am constantly amazed at how Owen is constantly looking to learn. This is something that I so admire about him and I have tried to embrace a little of this spirit myself because of his influence.

Graduation from MBA school is no small feat. I was so proud of him for graduating from his MBA program. He worked so hard to get through this program.

And now another amazing moment to add to my favorite memories. The birth of our first baby. Our little Ben Burrito. Such a special day and he is beautiful. It's amazing that he is a little bit of both of us. (Although tight now he looks like a lot of bits of Owen...;)

I could post a ton more pictures and go on and on about all the great times we have had, but I just wanted to post a few to show how much I love this man. The now father of my baby boy, the intelligent, hilarious, caring, hard working man I love more than anything in the world. Owen Richard West...these past four years have been amazing. Not all have been easy for you or me. But they have all been worth it. I am so grateful for all the hard work you have done for this family. For giving me the opportunity to stay at home with our baby. For the way you make me laugh, even when I don't want to. The way you care for me and make sure I am ok. The way you support me through thick and thin. The way you are willing to sacrifice to provide for me and now the baby. I just feel like words are not enough to express how much I love and appreciate you. I know I'm not perfect and I know I have a bit of a crazy streak, but thank you for loving me and being mine. I am grateful for a wonderful four years and looks forward to many many more.

Home and Hangin!

2011-04-07T12:14:00.000-07:00

Well...we are home from the hospital. All is well. Wish I was 100% recovered already. But, Bennett is doing marvelously! He weighed 7 lbs 4 oz on Friday the day after we got out of the hospital, and yesterday at his checkup doctor's appointment he weighed a grand total of 8 lbs and 4 oz! That is 4 oz gained per day! The doctor couldn't believe it. He said that was better than good. I was so relieved to know that my milk works and he is gaining weight well and all else is perfect. Now Mom just needs to catch up! I'm trying to be patient, but I was never really good at that.

Since we have been home, both families have been able to visit. We are still waiting for the aunts and uncles on the West side, but they are all so far away. Hoping to see them all soon. Here are some pics from the last couple of days.

SLeeping and happy.

First walk with Grandpa McCombs.

I will try and take more pics and update more.

Bennett Owen West

2011-03-30T13:00:00.001-07:00

110330-100024.jpg, originally uploaded by OwenA6.

Born 29th of March at 7lbs and 12 ounces. 21 inches long. Both mom and baby are doing well in the hospital.

Last Days Crafts...

2011-03-20T12:45:00.000-07:00

Well during this last week, all the nesting energy that I was truly enjoying was zapped as quickly away as it arrived. I feel like walk of the living dead. We actually have a doctor's appointment on Monday and my OB will give us a better idea of when the baby will be born. I have a feeling it will be sooner rather than later. Cross your fingers!! So I was able to finish some crafts I wanted to finish, but I think this will be it for a while. I am super excited that I got them done tho.

This wreath was supposed to be paper flowers from an old book, but that was seriously hard and I couldn't get the hang of it so I decided to use some fabric instead and make a floral wreath. Not done with it yet exactly. Need to add something, but I like how the flowers turned out a lot.

FINALLY!! I found a craft for BOYS I could sink my teeth into!! Aren't they adorable?! Little iron-on tie onesies. I think they turned out really great and I am super excited to see them on!!

Well the OMEGA BABY is almost here. I ask my friends and family to keep us in your prayers that all will go well and he and I will make it through healthy and whole. I love you all and am so grateful for all of your support and love. Next post might just be a baby post!! Yay!!

PILLOWS!!!

2011-03-04T07:30:00.000-08:00

I FINALLY finished my pillows!! BIG thanks to Karina who helped me out a ton! Couldn't have picked the fabrics or even sewn them without her help. She totally talked me into the zebra and I LOVE it! I never would have picked it on my own! I am really excited about how it turned out. I feel like it gave my whole house a new finished feel.

My favorite pillow is this burlap damask pillow. The texture is great and I love how it looks! It was also the hardest to sew but it was totally worth it!

So happy to have been able to finish this project before this Saturday and before the baby comes too! The blue isn't the exact color I was going for but I LOVE how it brightens the space. NO MORE BROWN ON BROWN!! YAY!!!

2011-03-01T21:30:00.001-08:00

So....since I am not having a girl I have channelled some of that girlish energy into gifts for friends. So here are the outcomes for today.

I am also on a hunt for curtains and fabric that match tan and robin egg blue. I can't believe how hard it has been! Hopefully I can find something tomorrow. I really want to recover my pillows in my living room before Saturday! Before a whole bunch of people come over to my house for my baby shower here in SD. Plus I don't have a sewing machine so I have to ask my good friend, Karina, to borrow hers. Anyways...four more weeks until baby comes. List of things to do include....clean craft room, finish organizing kitchen, recover pillows in living room, get curtains for living room, get dresser for nursery, and finish nursery organizing.

Bedroom Makeover!

2011-02-27T20:07:00.001-08:00

Ok so I was able to borrow my mom's sewing machine and I finally recovered the pillows I needed to to makeover my bedroom! I think it looks much more alive and colorful. Still not sure about the colors but I think I like them. It was the only pattern that had green and grey and other colors that are similar to the colors in my bedroom. I was also taught how to do this papercraft by my bestie Karina and I love how it turned out. Since I don't have a headboard I think the papercraft helps add to the space so it doesn't look so white. So here is the before.....

Seriously don't judge the terrible brown and green pillows from Walmart. It was an impulse buy. So bad.

And after....

While Owen doesn't LOVE the pink or the floral, he did admit that the room looked good. I am so happy to have a happy sapce where I will probably be spending a lot of recovery time in. Now it is on to finishing the nursery and organizing it all s I know what I have and what I need. I also have a ton of cleaning to do in my lady cave bc I somehow messed it up again. Also, I have three more pillows to recover. That is a goal for this week. Anyways....4 weeks until baby comes!!

YAY!! It only took 3 years...and two days.

2011-02-23T20:14:00.000-08:00

OK so my Mom gave me these great dressers when Owen and I moved into our first apartment with no furniture. They had great bones, however, they needed some serious updating. So I have been planning to paint them for seriously three years, and after I got laid off I decided now there are no more excuses, even pregnancy can't count. So finally I got to it and they really look great! Check it out!

Before....

After

I even re-did the knobs and I really like how they turned out. Anyways....I feel like a huge craft burden has been lifted! So nice to be done.

I also made some clips for a friend who had a baby girl! I love how they turned out too. Of course these are the ones Monkey didn't find and destroy! I swear that dog sometimes...

Now it's on to the next project...recovering my pillows. I have four that need to be recovered. But for the rest of tonight I will be happy to relax and enjoy the night. Yay for finishing projects. This whole crafting thing has really helped keep my mind off being so pregnant. It's been nice. Anyways...next post will hopefully be recovered pillows!!

Half the Nursery is FINISHED!

2011-02-17T16:50:00.001-08:00

So Here it is!! I am so happy with it! Very bright and colorful!! We didn't want to paint so the wall decal was the substitute for painting. I love it! Also, love the lamp from Ikea that kind of looks like a burning planet or something! Very fun! Next step will be getting the dresser bc then I can hang the wall mirrors I made last week. Anyways...getting ready for baby! Almost here too! Only 6 weeks left till delivery day! Now all I have to do is finish this room, paint my dressers in my bedroom, recover my pillows in my bedroom, and organize the rest of my house.

Great Quote...

2011-02-14T21:35:00.000-08:00

I was blog surfing today and stumbled upon a list of Mormon Fashion Blogs (at this site http://www.clothedmuch.com/p/mormon-fashion-bloggers.html) and one of the sites had this quote featured....

"WOMEN OF GOD CAN NEVER BE LIKE WOMEN OF THE WORLD. THE WORLD HAS ENOUGH WOMEN WHO ARE TOUGH; WE NEED WOMEN WHO ARE TENDER. THERE ARE ENOUGH WOMEN WHO ARE COARSE; WE NEED WOMEN WHO ARE KIND. THERE ARE ENOUGH WOMEN WHO ARE RUDE; WE NEED WOMEN WHO ARE REFINED. WE HAVE ENOUGH WOMEN OF FAME AND FORTUNE; WE NEED MORE WOMEN OF FAITH. WE HAVE ENOUGH GREED; WE NEED MORE GOODNESS. WE HAVE ENOUGH VANITY; WE NEED MORE VIRTUE. WE HAVE ENOUGH POPULARITY; WE NEED MORE PURITY. "

-MARGARET D. NADAULD

I really love this quote. How inspiring to be reminded of our individual worth as Women of God. Food for thought.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

2011-02-13T10:43:00.001-08:00

I just wanted to take a minute and say how much I love my sweet husband. I am so grateful for his love and support throughout this pregnancy and our marriage. I am truly blessed. Happy Valentine's Day Owen.

Also, I made this wreath from foam decorations I bought at the dollar store and I was really pleased with how it turned out! Now we actually look festive to the neighbors! Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

More Nursery Crafts

2011-02-09T18:16:00.000-08:00

So....today I woke up with a terrible migraine and I couldn't shake it all day. Tried a hot bath, two walks with monkey, and even a nap and nothing worked. So I just stayed in my pj's and took it easy after that. I decided to finish some crafts for the nursery that I have been trying to finish. So...here they are.

My new favorite crafting tool is my three dollar exacto knife I bought at Michael's. It was so sharp and made the whole thing so much easier. I took paper and mod podged it to the frame. I was worried at first that the mod podge wouldn't dry clear but it did thank goodness. The green paper is this adorable pattern of gadget gears I found at Michaels. So cute for a boy's room. The stripes are cute too and close to the color of the sheets. These will go hung above the dresser in the baby's room. Hopefully we get a dresser in the next little while. The frame is some of that left over pillow fabric. This craft is not done tho. Once we pick a name I will put the letter of his first name on the frame with possibly a ribbon of some sort. Actually I'm not so sure about how to finish this one off. I wanted to needle point a cute message on it but yesterday I came home and Monkey had chewed up all my batting and I was too lazy to go spend 30 cents to get more. So I will come up with something else. Suggestions.......?

Week One of (F)Unemployment...to quote a friend ;)

2011-02-04T18:01:00.000-08:00

Well...I have been busy busy since my last day of work on Monday. I am lucky enough to have Karina living close by and I got to spend two whole days crafting and shopping with her! So nice and relaxing. Today is my first day at home all day. So what did I do? Well....

Monkey and I went on a walk to test Monkey's reaction to walking with a stroller. So my new neighbors were probably somewhat stunned to see a huge pregnant woman pushing an empty stroller around. Monkey did surprisingly well. He was just so excited to be on a walk that he didn't really pay close attention to the stroller until he would run into it or hear it.

I made Zucchini bread for the first time ever! I ran out of cinnamon tho so I had to supplement with cloves and nutmeg, although I do feel like it may have turned out better. I was very pleased with the outcome and the recipe was huge so I made two loaves. Owen will have to take the other to work.

While the Zucchini bread was baking I started making an alien pillow for the nursery. I bought these two beautiful fabrics to use in a mirror craft, and found out that conceptually using fabric to cover the wood of the mirrors was not going to work. So After making pillows with Karina yesterday with one fabric, I decided why not do another pillow in an alien shape. I thought "Oh sure! That was something I learned how to do in 5th grade. Sew a shaped pillow." So....it literally took me about 4 hours when I had thought originally it would only take like an hour.

You can barely see his mouth. I think I might have to fix that...

This of course is completely opposite from yesterday when I went to Karina's to make pillows and she busted hers out in 20 mins! Like seriously superwoman. Here is hers...

Gorgeous!

And here is mine...

Mine took considerably longer bc I stupidly sewed the wrong sides of fabric together. Pregnancy brain wha...?

On my way to Karina's yesterday, I stopped by a thrift store near my new house and explored it a bit. I found this china cabinet that was seriously to die for and if I could I would have bought it in a heartbeat, but it's just too big and expensive for my life right now. Anyways...here it is.

Like seriously it has so much potential! Love the red bordering. And it even has chicken wire!

I did however find a wonderfully cute tea tray that I have wanted for a long time!! It was only $4! Such a great buy!

Such a great buy! I was so tempted to buy more but I thought better of it since my budget has gone back to very limited. I am happy to say that I am thrilled with my purchase and LOVE that it has some character! I will be visiting that thrift store again! Anyways....I will be posting pics soon of a finished nursery! I hope...:0

Monkey

2011-01-17T17:15:00.001-08:00

110117-150431.jpg, originally uploaded by OwenA6.

Monkey loves to play and is willing to get on Megan's nerves in order to get a reaction from her. He's very serious about having fun and playing around.

Alissa's Wedding, Sacramento and Reno!

2011-01-01T22:18:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone! Back from a fun week in Sacramento and Reno. Alissa's married and it was so great to see so much of her and the rest of my family. So happy for Alissa and excited for this new stage in her life! Here are some photos from the week! Enjoy!

Alissa's Shower in Truckee...Sooo fun!

The Temple

The Reception

Christmas Presents!

2010-12-25T21:33:00.000-08:00

Connor and Dad got a clock made out of an old vinyl records. Dad's was actually a record from Harry Belafonte (who dad loves.)

Katherine got some headbands.

Mom got a fabric bead necklace with two interchangeable pin fabric flowers.

I promised to post pics of the Christmas presents Owen and I made for the family. Here they are!

Thanksgiving Pics!

2010-12-19T20:38:00.001-08:00

We took these family pics when we were with Owen's Family over Thanksgiving break. We went down to Long Beach to take them and it was a beautiful day. here are some of my favs!

New House!!

2010-12-19T20:05:00.000-08:00

OK, Owen and I moved into a new house three weeks ago! We love it! And Monkey LOVE the backyard. I promised I would post pictures so here they are!

Here is the house from the street. It's definitely got character. ;)

Here is a pic of our new backyard. Monkey loves it.

Monkey sleeping. He is hiding his nose bc it was so cold in the house before we lit the pilot light.

Bad Monkey. He's sorry.

This is Owen's new Man Cave. He Loves it.

Guest bedroom/ craft room. This room is my lady cave. ;)

This will be the baby's room. Not much done to it yet.

Here's our living room. In the middle of wrapping presents so it's a little messy.

Our bedroom. Pretend the curtains are brown.

Our bathroom. The only one. It's a bit small.

This is our new dining area! So nice to finally have a table to eat on!

The Kitchen area. Small but functional.

We are so happy to be moved in. Thanks to both our families, we got all moved in so fast and it started feeling like home right away. We love it and we are so grateful to all those who helped and supported us throughout the move. We love you all! Anyone who wants to come visit us, we have an actually bed for you now! Just give us a ring!

It's a Boy!

2010-11-04T17:52:00.000-07:00

It's a boy!! Owen and I are of course thrilled he is healthy. He has been kicking me the last two days like "Hello! I am in here!" We had quite a lovely day, there was definitely tears and some fast driving involved. The doctor's office had me drink 32 oz of water one hour before my appt. For those of you who know me, you know my bladder capacity is somewhat lacking. So of course by the time I left work and picked up Owen, I was already dying, but the doctor's office is about twenty minutes away from where we live. So it was a painful painful bumpy ride to the office. I seriously don't know how I made it without peeing myself. I was in so much pain I was cry-laughing and of course Owen was laughing hysterically AND cracking jokes even though I told him it hurt more to laugh. He said, as I was balling, "You have so much pee it's coming out your eyes." Normally this would be one of those not funny jokes that he tells, but since I was hysterical it made me lose it. I was making the most unattractive noises and could barely see. Owen said he was trying not to watch my driving. I could not even stand upright when I finally got out of the car, so I hobbled into the office and raced up to the check in nurse and said, " I'm sorry but I can't hold it any longer." Mascara dripping and flushed red she saw I meant business so she got the technician and they said I could empty it a little so I raced to the bathroom and immediately felt better. I was embarrassed that just having to pee really bad reduced me to tears and cripple me. I hope this isn't a precedent for how I'll react to labor and delivery. Anyways...after that the appointment went well. Owen parked the car and then found us. He was very interested in the whole ultra-sound and when she announced "You're having a son!" His face lit up and he just looked so happy. Afterward we went to lunch to celebrate at Pampas Argentine Grill. Then I went back to work and....well let's face it...TOLD EVERYONE!!! I'm sure that was annoying to people but I was just so excited I couldn't help it. I also called family and friends and I am just feeling so blessed right now. We have such wonderful friends and family and I am so blessed to have the opportunity to be pregnant. Thank you all so much for caring about our little family. We both love you and are so grateful for all of you!

Lookin Pregnant...

2010-10-31T18:51:00.000-07:00

Hey again. I thought since we had the camera out I would post this pic too due to some of your requests. Owen had to take like 100 pics just to get this one where I thought I looked ok. Anyways...Thursday is the day we find out if it's a boy or a girl so I will be updating again soon!

HALLOWEEN!!!

2010-10-30T19:26:00.000-07:00

This year Owen and I really got into Halloween. It was fun to be so festive and enjoy the season. Here are some highlights!

I carved a little monster in my pumpkin. I think it turned out well.

Here is a better picture of it.

Monkey looking on. He was very interested in the whole process.

Owen starting to carve his pumpkin.

His turned out really good. See of you can guess what it is!

Some Halloween goodies I made for work. They are veggie eyeballs and in the center are some carrot witch fingers. They were delicious.

Costumes!!

Cruella DeVille, Cruella DeVille, If she doesn't scare you, no evil thing will...

Run Pongo! She's after you!!(Monkey absolutely HATED being sprayed with the spray paint. He is sulking in this pic.)

We went to our Ward Trunk or Treat. Owen went as Waldo. People were shouting "Hey Waldo, I found you!" The kids loved him, but as soon as they saw me they ran away...hehe.

Monkey's full costume..

Cruella is trying to trick Pongo into going with her! Hehe....

Obviously I had a lot of fun with this costume. Both Owen's and My costumes hearkened back to our childhoods and it was fun to reminisce. We had a lot of fun at the Trunk or Treat. There was a chili cook off and everyone's costumes were so fun, especially the family who dressed up like the characters in UP the movie. The dad was the grandpa, the mom was the bird and that was incredible, the son was the boy scout and the baby was the dog. It was too cute. Wish I snapped a pic. Also Owen's and my favorite was a boy dressed like Ang from The Last Airbender. He even had a shaved head with the blue arrow and everything! Well now Halloween is over and we can get ready for Thanksgiving!! Yay! Hope you all have a Happy Halloween!

We're having a baby!!

2010-10-24T19:45:00.000-07:00

Yes! I am so totally excited to announce Owen and I are expecting a baby!! I am 17 weeks along today! We find out in two weeks what it is but so far all is well and everything is healthy. I have been VERY sick and so lacking in my posting responsibilities but here are some ultrasounds! These were taken at 11 weeks five days, so I can't wait to see what it will look like in two weeks from now! Will post more later!!

Our baby! Ugh! I am so excited!

A little butt shot! So totally adorable!

Look at that profile!

We are also hopefully moving into a house soon! So nice to have more space. More updates will follow, but we are seriously already looking forward to the Holidays!! It's Fall!! My favorite time of year! Ok, promise to update in two weeks!

Eagle Scouts and MBA's

2010-06-18T19:11:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends and Family!!

This is my sweet brother Connor and below is his description of his eagle scout project. I am so proud of him and what a wonderful young man he is developing into. This is a great project for Connor because he has always had such a tender heart and has always been very willing to help those in need. I am looking forward to donating to his eagle scout project fund and I hope that if you can, you all will too! Love you all!!

Dear Friends & Family

My name is Connor McCombs, I am 15 years old. I think my father may have told you about my Eagle Scout project. I have completed all of my scouting requirements earning all necessary merit badges. The final step in my goal to achieve Eagle is to complete a significant project. The project I have chosen is the construction of a Bocce Ball court at the Westview Day Care facility in Santa Ana. This particular facility caters to extremely mentally and physically handicapped individuals and provides them with daycare, education and recreation opportunities during the day. I chose this center because I feel very lucky to have a healthy, strong body and mind and want to help those who are less fortunate.

This is what the yard looks like now. These individuals have very limited range of motion or mobility in their bodies.

This Bocce Ball court relocation project will:
1. Beautify a portion of their limited outdoor recreation area. We will be trimming overgrown trees and grading out the uneven paths that their wheel chairs roll over. This will give them more open space and easier access to this portion of the yard.
2. Reconstruct and relocate the Bocce Ball sport court to regulations size and standards for residents recreation and Special Olympics training. This court allows the residents the opportunity to roll the balls and use their limited mobility. They love to see the balls roll and to know that they threw them. It gives them a sense of accomplishment and control even for a short time. This facility also serves as a regional Special Olympics training center and the court must be built to exact standards. As you can see from the photo Bocce Ball is very popular and is the one Special Olympic sport that most competitors can play at some level. We witnessed very severely handicapped people playing and it was very rewarding to see their joy.
I am excited about this project. I have had to choose the project, get it approved from the BSA (which I have already done), plan the work, buy the materials and I can use only donated money and labor to accomplish the plan. I will also have to learn new skills such as using a transit to level out the court and provide drainage. You are my father’s friends. He told me that many of you volunteered to help. I am very grateful for your help. Please donate what you can so that I can complete this work and help these handicapped people. I estimate that I will need a total of $900. At the end of the project if there is any money left over I will donate it to the center for the continuing support and care of these good people. Upon completion I will send you photos of our work with the residents using the court and enjoying our service as made possible by your contributions as well as a financial accounting providing stewardship for the funds that you are entrusting to me. We are trying to completed this work within a few weeks. If you wish to help please mail your check to me at my home.

Thank you very much.

If you want to donate please let me know and I will provide the address for you to send your checks.

On a completely separate note, Owen graduated from MBA school on Sunday, June 13th. It was a lovely ceremony and Owen looked so prestigious in his robes and grad cap. I am so proud of him and so is his family! This is us before the ceremony.

So Proud of my man!!

Happy graduate walking down the aisle! Barely got the shot!

All decked out in his robes...looking so collegiate!

The cheerleaders!!

After the ceremony, we all went to PF Chang's for dinner and had a greta time talking and hanging out. Such a lovely day! Thanks Owen for all your long hard work! You did it!!

Neckties and Necklaces...

2010-05-31T00:02:00.000-07:00

Ok...I know it's been a while since I have updated this so in short this has been what is going on with us....Owens graduates in 3 weeks!! So exciting! I am so proud of him for working soo hard on his education. He has been interviewing and still in the process of securing a job, but his prospects look great and we are very optimistic! I am still working at the credit company which is getting old, but it pays the bills! I am planning on subbing in the fall if all works out!

I have also been dabbling in fabric flowers in the form of headbands and necklaces. The pictures above is of some of the headbands and necklaces I have made and I am soo happy with hoe they turned out! Thanks to Karina for being my beautiful model!! I have also been fortunate enough to sell some of my headbands around the office and to close friends! It is so exciting! I've never been craftsy or artsy so this is a new endeavor completely. Anyways...I am still in the process of deciding whether it would be lucrative or not to try and sell them on Etsy, but even if not, it has been so much fun!!

Kathy's Bridal Shower!

2010-04-12T20:46:00.001-07:00

Kathy's Bridal Shower was a HUGE SUCCESS!! It could not have gone better. I want to thank my wonderful sisters-in-law, Karen Bush and Julie Tucker, for all their help and hard work. Also I need to thank my cousin-in-law, Stephanie Ghiya, for bringing her culinary expertise and helping me fix the menu and even baking some winning cupcakes and scones! The menu ended up being absolutely perfect! Also, I must thank Laurie West, my dear mother-in-law for letting us use her lovely backyard for the shower. My mother also deserves credit for letting me borrow the hardware (platters and beverage dispensers). And lastly, Katherine, thanks for taking all the pictures!! Without all these people the shower would not have been such a success. Thank you! Here are some pictures! Enjoy!!

Julie and I discussing some seriously important last minute details. Hehe...

This is the wreath I made after seeing a picture from the Martha Stewart website. It turned out better than I expected!!

As the guests entered, they were instructed to take a bracelet for the shower game. They weren't allowed to say the words wedding or Jeff (the groom to be) and if you did, you had to give up your bracelet to the person who caught you. It was Julie's idea and it was a total hit!

Karen borrowed these lanterns from her mother-in-law and they added so much charm and beauty to the backyard! But then again so does the new pool!!

The lemonade and water were dospensed in the containers I borrowed from my mother, and they looked beautiful outside!

These are the pineapple cupcakes. I loved Staphanie's idea of putting a heart cutout of pineapple on the top. It really brought the theme colors front and center!

Karen and I looking over our handiwork in the kitchen! She looked gorgeous as always!

Kathy the beautiful bride-to-be sitting on her throne.

Presents!!

Karen put together these lovely centerpieces...

Lovely bride-to-be talking to her guests...

Onto the Presents!! Such a cute gift given by a friend of the family, bells engraved with Kathy and Jeff's names, because Kathy's new last name will be Bell. So tender....
WOOO HOOO!! ;)

The mother of the bride having a blast!!

These were the giveaway bags that we gave out at the end of the shower. They are filled filled with purple popcorn (JUlie's fabulous doing) and the tag was also made by Julie! They turned out so cute!!

Rolled Roses....My new obsession.

2010-03-07T09:49:00.000-08:00

I have just learned how to make rolled roses! They are so beautiful! I have been admiring these at Anthropologie and on Etsy for a while but I wanted to make them for myself bc they are way too expensive to buy, so I tried it and I think my first attempt was pretty good!! I used on old scarf that I never wear and it worked out really well. I am so excited bc I have always wanted to be a more crafty person, and now I am learning! I plan on making a lot more!

HIllary's Missionary Farewell.....

2010-03-07T09:39:00.000-08:00

Well...since we last wrote, all of us have gotten sick. I was able to lose that last five pounds and reach my goal of 10 lbs because I got the stomach flu and couldn't eat anything for a week except noodle soup and crackers. I am planning on keeping it off though. Owen has been extremely busy with school and job hunting. Owen and I got to go up last weekend and go through the temple with Hillary to get out her endowments. It was such a great experience being there with my parents, Hillary, and Owen. It was really fun being with Hillary on her first time through and I was so grateful she had invited us. She went through the LA temple, which we were late to bc my dad had to take a short cut and there was traffic. It was a beautiful day. When we got to the temple finally, Hill and my mom went in and Owen and I took a walk around the grounds. I was invited to hear the temple matron's speech so I went in a bit early. It was a beautiful speech and I was so touched to be included. There was another sister missionary in our session going through for her endowment and she was going to the marshall islands. She said that on one island when the tide goes out you can walk to the next island! Crazy! The session was amazing and I had never been to the LA temple and that was really awesome. After the session we took some pictures and then we went to eat at Junior's. A traditional Jewish deli that my parents would always go to after they did a session in the LA temple. That was a new experience for me food wise, but the coolest part was that we actually met Junior! He was walking around greeting all the customers! It was awesome! After lunch, we were all incredibly full, and we had to drive home with my dad who's driving is less than comfortable for the full tummy, plus we hit pretty bad traffic. We spent the rest of the weekend playing with Hillary and the other guests who came down to see her off. Especially my cousin Alyssa whom we all love to death! We played nertz and had so much fun!! On Saturday morning we all found out about the horrible earthquake in Chile and Hillary's insight was so clear. She said that now she understood why she had to wait so long to enter the mission field. She was called in October 2009, and she entered March 3. My mom also threw a bridal shower for an old family friend and it was good to see old friends. Sunday Hillary agve her farewell talk and it was really good, and then we all headed back to my parent's and had a luncheon with all the people who came to see Hillary. Owen and I gave Hillary a pillow case that all the family signed with loving comments and words of encouragement. She loved it.

The entire weekend was one of the best Owen and I have ever had with my family and it was well worth working ten hour days for a week in order to go. Unfortunately, I played so hard that I got sick again and had to go to the doctor's Monday. She told me that I really needed to rest bc I was exhausted. But it was well worth it to be with Hillary for her last weekend before she left on her mission. My mother got sick over the weekend too and so did poor Owen. He had already fended off two weeks of me throwing up and sneezing all over the place, only to fall victim on one of his most important weeks ever. Luckily the worst of it passed and he was able to polish off his obligations with the same finesse and professionalism he always does. He is amazing as most of you already know.

We have been so blessed with such a wonderful family and friends! I am so happy for Hillary and I am so excited to hear more about her mission. I know she will be a great missionary. Well I'll keep you posted on any more goings on!

20 lbs of cabbage soup and 5 lbs of Megan later....

2010-02-07T22:12:00.000-08:00

Ok people, just to catch you up on the last couple of weeks. I did the cabbage soup diet and I am actually surprised at how well it worked!! The worst days were the veggie days and then the brown rice day. Best day was bananas and milk day!! I was never hungry and I found I actually liked having the guidelines so I wasn't just eating everything in sight. I actually lost 10 pounds at the end of last week, but I figured about five of that was water. So I am happy that I have kept the other weight off! I am now a bit more of a fan of veggies than I was, I don't crave sweets or bread as much either. So really, I took a lot away from the diet. I will probably do it again. If anyone is interested in this, let me know. The actual cabbage soup was really good. I would totally eat that for dinner even if I wasn't on the diet. So now I feel lighter and that always helps motivate me to work out and eat healthier. My new year plans are seeming to work out. I'm losing weight and getting in better shape, and my arms are getting much better thanks to physical therapy and being careful. However, I had a small relapse last week....and by small I mean last week was spent in EXCRUCIATING PAIN!! I was called to nursery and the week before I went in, I had no pain in my arms at all (which hasn't happened for almost a year now) and so when I had my first nursery day I carried this one screaming kid for about an hour. STUPID!! The next week my arms were literally screaming in pain! So today I was much more careful. I am still in a bit of pain but it seems to be going down again. I have a small issue with my insurance company so I have had a small break from physical therapy and won't go again for another week or so. So I am continuing with the exercises she gave me and hoping that if I am careful and diligent all will work out like it's supposed to.

I am so glad Owen is finally back from his two weeks of vacations and job hunts. It was a long time and I missed him. Monkey is as crazy as ever and he especially liked going to doggy day camp at Petsmart. Owen and I were really impressed with Petsmart Pets Hotel Doggy Day Camp. $15 for all day care! I dropped him off at 7:30. He got to play all day and takes a couple naps. They took him potty and even gave him a report card at the end of the day so I would know how he was! They will even feed him! And one night, I went to the movies after work with a friend of mine and went to pick monkey up at 8:45pm! On top of all that, Monkey would play so hard that when he got home he would just pass out and sleep the whole night through! Usually he has all sorts of energy, so after a long day at work it was really nice not to have to worry about taking him on a walk. It was such a nice service to have and it made it easier for me to be home alone with monkey and work full-time. So now that Owen is home that means no more doggy day camp for monkey. But we both missed Owen very much and I'm really glad that he is back. Owen is super busy with school and I am so proud of him. He has surfing class too this semester and it seems to be something he looks forward to and enjoys. I'm glad he has a class he can look forward to that is just fun and not stressful.

Well that about wraps it up for us here. I am planning on doing a book blog I think. I have read so many I think it would be fun. I just wish I could do more from my phone so I could do it at work when I'm bored. Anyways...I will work on that and keep you posted.

Conquering rainbows....

2010-01-13T21:20:00.000-08:00

Owen and I had the best weekend on record in a long time and we really had a chance to relax and enjoy ourselves. Friday night we went to a sushi restaurant near our house and it was cheap and delicious! Sooo fun to get out with each other and just hang out. Saturday we went to the Rainbow outlet in San Clemente which is about a forty minute drive north. We were given the task of trying to get my cousins old broken pair replaced under their warranty that is somewhat vague. If something goes wrong they might replace them with another pair, however this has always been rumored and I never really knew all the terms and conditions of this task. So when I went up to the front to ask about it she said it wasn't possible one because the strap was broken, and two bc the bottom layer had worn thin at the top of the sandal thus breaking the warranty. Well she said she would check anyways and miracle of miracles I got my cousin a new pair for free! Then i found out that the only reason it was accepted as because the stitching on the straps was undone. So later when Owen and I were looking at his old pair and discussing which ones he should get we noticed his pair had the same problem and so he went and checked with the front and they gave him a replacement pair too!! Only thing was Owen wore those sandals there so when they said we need to take the other pair, they literally took the shoes from his feet!! She softened the blow by telling him they would go to shoe the shoeless so he softened and gave them up. So then the only pair we really had to pay for were mine! Very very cool and rather rare!! Then we ate at Del Taco, which is delicious...nothing screams CALIFORNIA like rainbow sandals and Del Taco! After that we came home and vegged. We played with Monkey and just spent the rest of the weekend enjoying each others company. It was hard going back to work after such a nice weekend. I also had my first physical therapy session on Monday morning and it went very well. My therapist's name is Eden and she is very nice. I am hopeful that this process won't be too long, but I already feel better and stronger after doing the exercises she gave me diligently. I do them every time i go to the bathroom at work. I think it might look weird to other people but hey...I have to do it! Also in aside news....My BF from Irvine had her first baby boy today! I am really excited to meet him. His name is Bradley and I hear that mother and baby are both doing well.

2010!!!

2010-01-01T10:09:00.000-08:00

Ok people.....I have to say that 2009 was probably the worst year ever! I lost my job, injured myself, the economy melt down and stupid anti-american obama as president. I have to say that I am confident that 2010 will be a much better year and I have some happy things to report which will ensure this year is going to be better than last year....I have finally secured through my new insurance which was donated generously by the Elizabeth McCombs Wellness-for-her-children foundation, I am finally going to physical therapy to take care of my poor old lady body. Owen says I was put together with old lady parts and wrapped in a hot young girls skin....such a romantic, no? hehe. well That is one good thing, the other is that my insurance covers my old doctor which eliminates a lot of potential problems. Also, just little side happy things, the west family is putting in a pool!! So visiting them any other time than winter will be much less HoT! Also I have made a resolution to lose weight and get in decent shape before my 24th birthday. I should feel and look like I am 24 not 65! Also, owen will be graduating from MBA school in June and hopefully will have secured a job he likes by then. We will be on our way up! Very exciting stuff! I am so grateful to everyone who was supportive of owen and I this year and all the help we have been given throughout our marriage. We are sincerely looking forward to this year, the end of one episode, and the beginning of another. Thanks you all for Christmas!! It was so fun! Welcome 2010!! Be good to us!!

Long Time No Write

2009-09-13T23:05:00.000-07:00

Ok so it has been a very long time since I have updated our blog and I am sorry about it. Since lastposting we have had a lot of fun. We got a new puppy this summer. His name is Monkey and he is so much fun. Owen and I both love him. We have spent a lot of time with family and friends. Megan finished her first year as a teacher at Crawford High School and Owen finished his first year of his MBA program with top grades. We are so looking forward to Christmas and Thanksgiving this year. I have been on the job hunt for a while now and will post my findings as soon as there are some I have read some books this summer which were all very good. Some re-reads and some new. One I would highly recommend would be Catching Fire, the sequel to The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Very good!! Very action adventure! Well that is about all so far. I hurt my shoulder earlier this summer and I am so happy to say that it feels much better and I am confident I will fully recover sometime hopefully soon. Oh and I have to say one of the best ways to welcome fall is to get a Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino at Starbucks. Get it cream base if you don't want it to have coffee in it, but this little drink is just absolutely the most delicious blend of all the flavors of fall. It must be tried!!Happy Fall everyone!!

Thanksgiving pic

2009-02-04T14:05:00.000-08:00

told you i might add some.

Update time. (=bored at school)

2009-02-04T13:54:00.000-08:00

Wow, its been forever since we updated this!! Ok so here's one paragraph to update everyone:
Thanksgiving was great fun at the west house and it had been forever that we had been with the whole West family. Christmas was fun at the McCombs' new house. Good health. I recently f=got a job doing part time marketing consulting for a new video game publisher. And Megan is the hot young teacher at her high school.

ok, now that thats done i should probably add some pictures. ok ok ok, dont pressure me. I'll add them. maybe today. maybe not.

NEW JOB!!

2008-10-14T18:17:00.000-07:00

Well hello everyone! This is a picture of my classroom at Crawford High School where I work everyday teaching 9th graders all the way through 12th! I am struggling a bit, but there are times when it feels very rewarding. I can't believe I am only 22 and already I have a career! Never in my wildest dreams did I think of this happening so soon for me. Anyways...I have really diverse students: Vietnamese, Cambodian, Somalian, Kenyan, Hispanic and even Burmese! Crazy! All here in San Diego! I know that only by the grace of God was I able to get this job, and I am very grateful for it! GO COLTS!!

2008-08-31T08:33:00.000-07:00

We just got back from our big summer trip to Israel and Egypt. We went with Megan's family and we had a great time. Israel was really religious and Egypt was really hot. I'm sure we will post more pictures with some of our experiences in the next few days, but we haven't unpacked yet and we have a busy week while we move into our new apartment in San Diego.

EARTHQUAKE!!

2008-07-29T15:28:00.000-07:00

Today around 11:30 here in Chino there was a 5.8 magnitude earthquake!! It lasted for a really long time and was pretty scary! Thankfully no one is hurt and no major damage has been reported in either the West or McCombs family. There have already been like 10 aftershocks! Pretty exciting stuff!! Welcome back to California!!

West Family Reunion

2008-07-28T20:26:00.001-07:00

Well, this last week we went to the West Family reunion in Marina del Rey. It was such a blast!! We went to a taping of the tonight show where Kathy and Megan were brave enough to perform their talents in front of the entire studio audience before the show started and both received some major Tonight Show swag! We went to a film show at Kathy's singles ward which showed some short films of serious professionality. There was even a short old-school performance of Batman and Kathy was the best Robin ever! Danny, Karen, Owen, and I went to Disneyland and rocked it out! We got on a ton of rides really early and hit all the major ones on a summer day! As evident in the pictures above Danny still gets scared on Haunted Mansion ;) The rest of the time we spent swimming and playing games. It was a blast! A big THANK YOU TO THE WEST PARENTALS!! (and all else in attendance).

hi from redlands

2008-07-14T09:22:00.000-07:00

So megan and I moved our stuff (whats not in storage) to redlands over the weekend. Megan's family is in the middle of a big move and my parents are leaving and need house sitters, so it worked out great. My sisters are coming down soon for our family reunion so we are looking forward to that. We had Brooke and Mike Dunn over for dinner and games and even though Brooke was the overall winner of our games we enjoyed having them over. Although she did sabatoge some of the other players by not being truthful about the rules.
-owen

4th of July Weekend!!

2008-07-07T13:05:00.000-07:00

This weekend was such a blast. On Thursday I took my "Mexico cousin" Steven and my siblings, Katherine and Connor, to Disneyland all day and we had a blast, but I was really tired the next day. We rode all the majorly cool big kid rides and we even got to ride the new Toy Story Midway Mania ride in California Adventure! It got four big thumbs up from all of us. On Friday, Owen and I met up with his parents and some extended family in Long Beach and went to dinner at BJ's. Then we walked down to the beach to watch the fireworks. There were some really crazy people lighting fireworks directly over our heads the whole time, which caused everyone a little anxiety. The firework show that we watched was AMAZING!! After the beach we all went back to the hotel and fell asleep. The next day Owen, his parents and I went out on the sail boat for a while and went and saw the sea lions. It was really a nice day and the breeze was so calming. Then we spent some time just lounging on the beach with his cousin Stephanie and her son. I didn't get sunburnt at all except for my part in my hair! You just don't think about putting sunblock in your hair! So painful! Overall, it was a great weekend. It was really fun to see Owen's family, most of which I have never met even though we have been married for a year! It was quite the weekend and it wasn't long enough!

I PASSED!!!

2008-07-02T16:09:00.000-07:00

Alright everyone...I have some major happy news! I passed the CBEST!! It is a California skills test that if passed qualifies you to teach. I was really worried about it and I studied really hard! I am really proud of myself! And SO RELIEVED!!

Movie Critique...

2008-07-01T08:21:00.000-07:00

Last night the McCombs fam took us to go see WALL-E and everyone felt differently about it.

Megan says: "I thought WALL-E was pretty cute. It was no Finding Nemo or Toy Story, but I thought it was funny and sweet. I especially liked the humor and love story between WALL-E and Eve. Overall I would have to say that I'm not sure it was worth seeing in the theaters but definitely worth seeing!"

Owen says: ok well i think in this case you have to treat the story differently than the treatment. At its heart the story is a sci-fi love story which I thought was very well thought out and a great premise. I think the treatment was excelent; the animation was stunning, I liked how they did the voices (or lack of). I was afraid of it being to environmental preachy but it wasn't preachy and I think they pulled it off well. I mean who doesnt want to watch a movie about r2d2 saving the world and finding love? (if you said to yourself "i dont" this movie is prob not for you.)

Wedding!

2008-06-28T14:57:00.000-07:00

Megan and I are at a family friend's wedding today. Here's a picture
of my parents right before the ceremony started.

Graduation Day

2008-06-24T14:05:00.000-07:00

Ok so I graduated in April and it was a bittersweet moment because I was so happy to be done with homework, but so sad to be done with my student teaching. I knew I would miss my students terribly from my concluding semester in Terreton, Idaho. However, I was incredibly proud of myself to have graduated in exactly four years! My sweet and beautiful sister Hillary, and cousin Allissa came along with my entire family and Grandma and Grandpa Manning. It was a little stressful for Owen and I however, because we wanted to spend time with the family but we had to be completely moved out of our apartment the night of graduation. It was a long day!

Wedding Pictures!

2008-06-24T13:38:00.001-07:00

I thought that since this is a new blog we should probably start out with our wedding. Even though we were married over a year ago, anyone new to our blog might appreciate a few pics as introduction! Owen and I were married on April 6th, 2007 in the Newport Beach temple in California. It was the most beautiful wonderful day of my life. The wedding receptions were perfect and we had a blast celebrating our special day with family and friends.

Work Time!

2008-06-23T15:19:00.000-07:00

Megan and I have good summer jobs we enjoy. We work with megan's dad in chino. It's a million times better than our jobs in Wisconsin (not even counting the death threats from co-workers). This is the view from my desk. They offered me an office overlooking the plaza and more money but I declined for this view. If you look closely you can see that she is reading our first blog post.

-owen

Splash Mountain!

2008-06-22T10:32:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Adam and Karina we got fast passes to Splash Mountain. Megan forgot that she is afraid of heights and that the person in the front gets soaked.
Is it mean of me to laugh as megan screamed on our way down?
-Owen

I would have to say yes.

-Megs