Christmas in Mississippi

We packed and went off to De Soto County, Mississippi for Christmas last week. Alan's whole family met there at his sister's ranch for the holiday. They have 17 acres to their property so there was always something to do. Whether it be riding the ATV, fishing, giving kids pony rides, shooting, paddle boating in the pond and for the kids swinging on the swings. We didn't go out much except to eat and go to the store but always seemed to stay busy. Caitlin, Noah's cousin, was so excited to spend the week with him. She had been talking about it all year and was by his side pretty much the whole time. Here are some pictures from the trip.

Saying, "hi" to the horses. This one is very muddy from the rain.

Saying, "hi" to Beau their 18 month golden retriever

Eating out- Yum, yum Corky's

Getting ready for another plane ride.

Gitte 'up

Paddleboating in the pond/lake

Caitlin caught a fish. Many fish were caught during the trip.

Family pictures

Bath times- Caitlin was such a helper
Nana and the grandkids

Caitlin and her new pony for Christmas

Had to take this picture- we just couldn't resist.

Noah loved riding the ATV. He found it very relaxing with the wind in his hair.

Caitlin and Noah taking a pony ride

Noah opening his Christmas present from Caitlin

Noah loves to get in a swing

A little Christmas breakfast

Video of Noah and Caitlin on the pony

Halloween, Milestones and Moving

Yes, I know it's been a while since my last update. We've been running around like crazy and I'm sooo not motivated to update when I don't get any comments :)

In the past three weeks we found out we were moving and moved when we weren't really planning on it. We listed our townhome for rent months ago on Craigslist to see if there would be any interest. We never heard anything so we decided to be content with where we were living. The reason why we listed it was because with family coming around more often now we need a third bedroom. The location isn't the best for either of our jobs and we didn't have a yard. So we listed it and heard nothing. We kind of put it out of our minds until one day a couple wanted to come see it. We didn't think much of that since we've tried to sell the townhome before and people would come and go and we'd hear nothing.

The day after the couple saw the townhome they told us they wanted to rent it and if possible move within 2 weeks. We had only talked about where we would like to move too but hadn't looked for anything seriously because we didn't have any interest until now.

That day ( Saturday) I got on Craigslist and started looking for rental listings in the area and price we wanted. We didn't want to purchase something that fast and regret it later so renting seems like the best option right now. There were a few listings in the area but one stood out. I thought it would probably already be taken so I didn't want to get my hopes up. Because it was a Saturday when I was looking I didn't expect to hear back from the mangement company until Monday. Sure enough the managment company got back to us Monday and Noah and I were able to go look at the property. It had just been listed and I was the first one to inquire about it.

The property was vacant and ready to be moved into. I took some pictures for Alan so he could see when he got home from work. There's a huge park right across the street. It has a nice size yard, 2 car garage, 3 rooms and is much closer to work for the both of us. It seems perfect for us. We were expecting a door to close at anytime because all seemed to go too smoothly.

No doors closed so we kept on proceeding. That Thursday we were signing a lease agreement- less than a week from when the renters came to look at our townhome.

Everything happened so fast that my mind is still spinning. Alan's parents had previously planned a trip to come see us that next week so they were able to help us pack, take care of Noah and move. They were so helpful and I can't imagine us moving without them.

The home is much older than our 2005 townhome but we'll adjust. We've been able to go on lots of walks and runs already and Noah's even gotten to swing at the park.

Below are a few pictures of the last 3 weeks

Noah was not into Halloween at first but then he perked up later. We went to our church's, Fall Festival. Noah and his buddy, Malachi ( who was a corn) got some pictures together but Noah went crazy trying to eat and attack Malachi. We were laughing hard.

Malachi thinking, "why is this crazy kid on me."


Peek- a- boo, I see you


Noah learned how to crawl and pull himself up just a few days before we moved. It changes our whole home dynamic now.


Amongst the hustle and bustle of moving on Saturday, I spotted Noah's first two teeth- FINALLY! We were wondering when they would pop up. He's been a nightmare since, but I love him just the same.

Noah loves the outdoors and can't wait to get out


In front of our new home

A Bunch of Busy Bees

I have been wanting to put up a new post for weeks now but haven't found the time too. Much has been going on so here is a long blog with lots of pictures. I'll keep the words to a minimum so you're not reading a book.

Alan turned 30 this past Tuesday!!!

We celebrated with Baja Fresh take out after he got home from work and some creme brulee I made for dessert. The birthday celebrations change when you have kids. However, some friends invited us to go with them to the Dodger game Wednesday so that was a much more fun thing to do for his birthday. Alan loves baseball so he enjoyed it even though they lost miserably.

Home-made Dodgers hat or Dork hat. Lots of laughs!
The Dodger game with friends, Paul and Karen

LA sunset at Dodger Stadium

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Pumpkin Day

Last Friday we had our first Pumpkin Day. We took Noah to the local pumpkin farm and did everything pumpkin. Here's some fun pictures of the day. I didn't put a picture of the carved pumpkin up and figured you probably don't really care to see it, although it was pretty cool since it was the new kind of carving where you don't have to open up the pumpkin. Alan carved an owl.

Kiss squish

Walking in the scarecrow and sunflower maze. The sunflowers are SO tall.

Mama, I picked a flower for you! Alan's teaching him early.

All snuggly in the stroller- Noah got his own pumpkin to take home.

Checking out the farm animals

Got to get a picture here

I want to eat it!

Our favorite picture

Can you find Noah?
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Mission Bay

Almost 2 weeks ago we took a little family vacation to Mission Bay. It was a lot of fun and Noah was awesome. We stayed at the Catamaran. Our room was right on the bay so we could get to the jogging/walking path from just outside the sliding glass doors. The beach was right by the hotel too so we did lots of walking and being outside. We never used our car when we were there because everything was in walking distance. Here's a few pictures from the trip.

My mom came down for a few hours to hang out with Noah so Alan and I took advantage and went kayaking.

There were parrots at the hotel that made LOTS of noise. Noah wasn't too interested in them because they didn't have fur.

Ready for the pool

Sunset on the beach

Sometimes we'd feed Noah his babyfood on the patio outside but this day we just had the door open and were feeding him inside. The ducks were always begging for food that they even came in our room once.

6 + months

Noah has reached 6 months, actually he's now closer to 7 months than 6 but we went and got pictures taken to remember the age. He has been so much fun these past few weeks!! I'm really liking this age the best so far. He has been scooting and rolling around the floor but not crawling yet. He loves to play in his crib so I let him. A few times Alan or I have gotten him up from his nap and he'll look back with a face of: I'm not done playing in there, can I go back? We'll put him facing one way and when we get him up from his nap he's usually turned around on the other end on his stomach playing with his stuffed animals.

It's much easier to take Noah out and about because he can go in his umbrella stroller now and we have enough time to go do something before he needs another nap.

Noah has developed a high pitched scream that can just about drive me crazy. We called it the puppy dog scream because he sounds like a puppy dog getting squished. It's just him exploring his voice but I can't wait for this sound to pass.

Here's our smiling rolliepollie.

Morro Bay

Labor Day weekend we rented a house on the beach in Morro Bay with all of Sarah's siblings and families. There were 10 of us total. We had a great time. The house was beautiful and fit all of us in it. It had a great backyard and the house was across the street from the sand dunes that lead down to the beach. It was so nice to get away from the heat in Santa Clarita. We watched the fog come in and go throughout the day. Something you never get in Santa Clarita. I love it when the weather changes throughout the day, especially fog. There is something about fog I just love. That could be a whole another blog in itself. Maybe my next one- my love for fog.

Some of the activities that went on during the weekend were: Bocci ball, flying kites, playing the Wii, surfing, running to the rock and back, going into SLO, reading, cooking lots of Mexican food, eating salt water taffy, cousin's playing, bad coffee (we could never figure out the coffee maker- it looked fancy but couldn't produce good coffee), trips to Spensers grocery store, walking the wharf, early morning strolling the kids in the strollers so they wouldn't wake up the others, cookies, home grown tomatoes, and much more.

We had a great time and hope to do it again. Here are some of the pictures. You'll notice that whenever Alan, Noah and I go on vacation it always ends up being to the beach. I guess we just love to beach.

Just before the sand dunes and bird reserve.

The sisters (Renae, Lisa, Me, Ruth)

Playing Bocci Ball

Flying Kites

There were massive jellyfish everywhere.

Noah and Jack playing. Jack liked the pet Noah's head.

Noah sleeping in the stoller while we ate lunch on the wharf. He had his first cold so he didn't feel his best all weekend.