Read Randomness

Catching Up

noreply@blogger.com (Juliette) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 03:58:00 +0000

Its been so long since I've posted a blog, I kinda forget how to do it.

Its been a month since I last blogged and here are a few reasons why this is:

April started with an incredible retreat for the women of the Stirring. It had been probably about a good ten years since I'd been on a women's retreat so I was really looking forward to it. I had a great time getting to know people better, seeing breakthrough in peoples lives and having some breakthrough of my own. I already can't wait till our next retreat so that I can look back on this one and see how much I've grown.
On the day I left for the retreat Ruby officially started walking. I called it official when she took 27 steps all on her own. Now her favorite thing to do is walk laps around the house. She's just so adorable and proud of herself.
We thought about buying a house and then said "what, we're crazy!" :) With our dear friends the Borgics finding a great house to buy we caught the bug and thought we might be able to get a great deal ourselves. We'll there are certainly great deals to be had but the Lord definitely confirmed to us that now is not our time. So three weeks of house hunting ended where it always does - with us happy and content to be in our little place paying sweet cheap rent and waiting on God.
We paid off our student loan! Hallelujah! Instead of buying a house God revealed a different path which led to us paying our student loan off leaving only our truck payment which should be paid off in 6-7 months, a year ahead of schedule! Then we can really start saving for that down payment for the perfect house God is saving for us. At this point I'd like to give a shout out to Brett and Emily Faulknor for hosting the Financial Peace class that we went to that helped us get out act together and find peace with living within our means.
I like reading the Bible. Sounds like a "duh" statement for a Christian right? Um, not for this one. I've known the Lord my whole life and have never really enjoyed reading the Bible. It was never alive to me. But a change has taken place over the past few months which leaves me desiring to read the word for no other reason than to know God more. I always felt that i had to read the Bible out of obedience which made it such a chore. Then I realized that God does not want my obedience as much as he wants my heart. So now whenever I feel overwhelmed with reading the Bible to where I'm rushing through to the end of the chapter just so I can say I finished it - I stop. What's the use in reading it if I'm not giving it a chance to go deep and change me? Now I'm reading through Genesis just going "oh, so this is God's story... this is why we're here..." I'm loving it!
Along with reading the Bible I've also been reading he Harry Potter series for the third time. Gotta get ready for the sixth movie coming out in July. Man, I love those books!

Well, that's a little taste of what's been going on the past few weeks. Life is good - but that just means I may be a little too busy to blog about it :) We'll see how long it takes till my next blog...

An Overnight Date!

noreply@blogger.com (Juliette) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0000

I have to say that ever since Ruby was born I've been counting down to an overnight date. I didn't know when it would happen but just the thought of it kept me going during those first few months of long nights and no sleep. It took a little longer than I expected but finally, after a year and one month, we got to take that overnight date!

If you recall from my Valentine's Day post Nathan had surprised me with a night at the O'Brien Mountain Inn but we were unable to go because I-5 was closed due to the bad weather. Greg and Teresa at the Inn were kind enough to let us reschedule.

Our night was just amazing. It started with a dinner at Jacks which I had been craving for a long time. Then we went out to the Inn to meet Teresa, the owner, who shared with us that she was upgrading our reservation to the Petite Suite just because she wanted to bless us. As soon as we got in our room a lightening and thunder storm started up and it rained and hailed on and off for a few hours. When Teresa said that she wanted to bless us I don't know if she realized how real that became for me. Everything about the night, from the beautiful room, to the incredible weather, to the fireplace and homemade chocolates made me feel so taken care of by God. It's weird to think that things like that can do that but I really felt a sense of God's provision down deep which is very timely for some things that we are going through.

It was so lovely to get to sleep straight through the night without worrying about being woken by Ruby or one of our cats (who frequently jump on me or wake me with some annoying gesture during the night). The breakfast that was delivered to our room was amazing and the presentation was beautiful.

As we were leaving we chatted with Greg and Teresa and two of their beautiful girls (they have seven kids!). They are some of the nicest people we've ever met and it was obvious that the special ingredient in their business was the Holy Spirit as they clearly have a radiant love for the Lord.

Nathan and I really got a chance to connect and just be with each other. I realized that I always knew how important that was but I didn't realize just HOW important until we got away.

So thank you babe for planning this - I can't wait to do it again! And thank you Beth at Public Health (Nathan's work) for giving Nathan your gift certificate to the Inn so we could be able to do this! Thank you mom and dad for watching Ruby overnight so we could get away! And thank you Greg and Teresa for creating such an amazing atmosphere and for blessing us the way you did!

Incredible

noreply@blogger.com (Juliette) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 05:32:00 +0000

Nathan's brother Nick drew this last week. He's in Iraq with the army and has both incredible talent and a lot of time on his hands. I love this drawing Nick - I think you captured Ruby perfectly! I can't wait till you can see her again in real life - she needs to see her Uncle Nick!!!

A Great Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Juliette) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 05:41:00 +0000

We had a wonderful weekend and I'm just now getting around to writing about it. The weather was beautiful. I got to take a nap each day. We took an amazing family walk over to check out Rivercrest park. I got to read outside in the sun. We went to a fun dinner for the Redding Rancheria Community Fund on Saturday night that we got to dressed up for and my wonderful mom watched Ruby. And we topped it off with church which was great and Ruby cried a little bit less than she normally does in the nursery (those nursery workers are the best!)

Here's some pics of our fun time.

Nathan said I looked like his hot 1950s housewife in my dress and the apron I was wearing while feeding Ruby her dinner (I didn't want to get anything on my dress!)

We stayed at the dinner way later then we intended because we were trying to win a spot in the trivia contest which had hundreds of dollars as the prize. We didn't get in the trivia contest but I did win our tables centerpiece (lame!).

Just a cute picture of Ruby - she is always so excited to see any of her grandparents. It makes it much easier to leave her knowing she probably would rather be with them anyway! :)

My Ruby

noreply@blogger.com (Juliette) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 17:29:00 +0000

I just wanted to share some of the adorable pictures my friend Bethany took of Ruby recently. She got a new camera and was playing around and I am just so lucky that she decided to do this when Ruby was around. Thanks Bethany!!!

Here's Ruby and her best bud Madison, Bethany's daughter.

Birthcoach

noreply@blogger.com (Juliette) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 20:52:00 +0000

I had the pleasure and privilege of being Anna's birthcoach. It was a new experience for me but I loved every minute of it. It was an interesting life lesson to have Matt and Anna believe in me, that I could coach Anna to her goal of a medication-free water birth, when I didn't even have the confidence in myself. Their belief in me, combined with AMAZING training from my mother-in-law who is an incredible doula (certified birthcoach and childbirth educator), and lots of prayer gave me assurance that I could do it.

I prayed for it to be a spiritual experience for all of us and it absolutely was. I know angels were in the room when Malea was born, rejoicing in the birth of this future history maker. I also don't think it was coincidence that I had a word spoken over me just hours before going to the hospital. A friend and mentor had prayed that she saw me coming into my motherhood in the Lord - that I would be a spiritual mother to many out there. I have never thought of myself as a mother; I mean I am a mom to Ruby, but I don't think "mother" when I think of myself. So this word was new to me, but it felt right. I reflected on this on my way to the hospital, where I was about to coach a dear friend through the physical process of becoming a mother herself. I love it when God gives us a tangible example of what He is doing in the spiritual realm.

Anna did an incredible job - she is really a model for labor where you stay in control and relax though the pain. I decided that I'd love to coach another birth at some point in my life (maybe Anna's next baby - ha ha Anna!) but the key to it all was that Anna really listened to me and did what I told her to. When I said relax your legs, she relaxed them, when I said breathe, she did, when I told her to stay in control and not to panic, she focused and let her body do the work to get Malea out. It was beautiful and several times I teared up over what I was witnessing - the sacrifice Anna was going through to let Malea come into this world. Think about it; it's an incredible picture for our lives.

Thank you Anna and Matt for letting me be a part of one of the most precious days of your lives. It has now become one of my most special days and I will treasure it forever.

Redbox VS. DVDPlay

noreply@blogger.com (Juliette) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 01:00:00 +0000

Have any of you ever rented a movie from one of those red kiosks in the grocery store? It's a great deal if you want to see a new release and you know you'll watch it that night - you rent it for a dollar plus tax. You give your credit card info and if you don't return it the next day they charge you a dollar a day till you return it. We've done it several times and have always been good about returning them the next day - or so we thought.

About a month ago I went to return a movie we got at safeway at the kiosk in Raleys and discovered that it wouldn't accept it because the kiosk in Raleys was a different company - so I had to return it at Safeway. Up till that point we had been under the impression that all the red kiosks were the same company - and it tells you that you can return the movie to any kiosk. Well, that incident started me worrying because I was pretty sure that Nathan had successfully returned a movie we got at Safeway at Raleys a few weeks before that.

It turns out that I was right. I got an email from DVDPlay saying that we were being charged $25.99 for WallE because we never returned it. Except we had returned it the day after - only to a Redbox machine. Dumb. I don't know how Nathan made the machine take the DVDplay movie but he did.

So I called DVDplay trying to get them to reduce our charge in light of our stupidity but they said they couldn't do that. If we were able to get the movie back from Redbox, we could return it to DVDplay for a half reimbursement. I laughed and said "yeah right" - how were we supposed to get the movie back. But I had to try anyway. So I called Redbox and gave them all the info and was told I'd hear back within 7-10 days if they found it. About two and half weeks later, after I had given up all hope of getting WallE back, I got a call from the local Redbox lady. She said that she was sure she had a DVDplay WallE lying around somewhere and she'd be happy to leave it for me at Raleys! So last week I went and collected the darn movie that caused us so much problems.

Since we liked WallE we decided to keep it rather than go through the hassle of getting half of our money back. So we officially bought a used movie for $27! Isn't that outrageous!? Oh well, lesson learned. And hopefully you can learn from it too - pay attention to the name on the red movie renting kiosks!

Valentines Day

noreply@blogger.com (Juliette) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 18:38:00 +0000

I haven't felt like writing in a while but I really wanted to share how sweet my husband is and how he surprised me for Valentines Day. So here I go...

On the morning of Valentines day I woke up to my daughter babbling loudly in her crib. I brought her back to bed with us and handed Nathan a card - we agreed to only get each other cards this time. In reply he said, "I didn't get you card but tonight Ruby will be spending the night with my parents and we are spending the night at the Obrien Mountain Inn." WHAT!!! I was so excited. Nathan has never surprised me with something like that before. Apparently he's been planning it since Christmas when he got a reimbursement check from his work. I was blown away and touched because while getting to spend the night away from my daughter at a bed and breakfast was great, the fact that Nathan took the time to plan it and surprise me was the real treat.

To top it off he told me his parents expected us up there around noon so we could go to a movie and dinner before heading up to the B&B. So I packed Ruby up, dropped her off and we went and saw Push. It was really good! Then we ran a few errands, which is always lovely with out a child, and we went to Olive Garden for dinner.

After dinner we headed up I-5 and slowly became worried about the weather. It was raining all day and I heard the freeway had been closed the night before. We turned our radio to AM 1600 and heard that all vehicles had to get off at the Fawndale exit - which is about 5 miles before Obrien. As we approached Fawndale we saw cars whizzing past the exit and cars that stopped. We thought we'd be law abiding citizens and stop and find out what the deal was. We found out that there were a few big accidents and they had to close the freeway from Redding to Yreka for at least a while. But he said to check back because since we didn't have to go far, they might let us though. We decided to try again and be non-law abiding citizens and just drive through the stop and see how far we could make it, but by the time we turned around they had set the cones up. We tried again and again over the next two hours during which we were interview by Ch 7 news and thus were on the 11:00 news. Finally we had a guy that would let us through if we had chains and had been to the B&B before - we had to be honest and say no on both accounts. So, we gave up and came home.

Still we had a great night at home and the in-laws dropped Ruby off the next morning. We made it through our first night without her :)

And, we have something great to look foward to because we rescheduled our night at Obrien for March - so I'd say that it all worked out perfect!

I am blessed to have such a great husband. This is a Valentines Day that I will always remember.

Birthday Girl

noreply@blogger.com (Juliette) — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 04:52:00 +0000

We celebrated Ruby's birthday with a little party at my inlaws house. It was a great time and I want to say thank you to all who were there that made Ruby's first birthday celebration so special! Here are some of my favorite pics (oh and for the life of me I could not fix the alignment of them so they look a little funny):

Here's Ruby's current favorite funny face-

This is the adorable birthday hat that Mike and Kerry got for Ruby. She wouldn't keep it on but it will be a keepsake for years to come.

Here Ruby is checking out the beautiful quilt my mom made for her - she loves it and so do I!

In these next few pics Ruby is hangin with the boys. Alani (who is 6) was the only other little girl at the party. Ruby will definitely have her pic of the boys :)

Here's Ruby with Noah and Gavin...

Here she is with Wyatt...

and here is she is Daniel :)

Her first taste of cake - I think the flame intimidated her a bit.

Isn't she precious?

Here's most of the ladies that joined us. Thanks for being there! Hugs!!!

Ruby's a Year Old!

noreply@blogger.com (Juliette) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 04:39:00 +0000

I can't believe it. Where did the last year go? One year ago at this very moment I was in the tub at St. E's pushing with all my might to get all 7lbs and 20" of Ruby out of me. It was a long an exhausting labor (20 hours) but absolutely worth every second of it. I am still so proud of my birthing experience (which every mom should be), but I know I could not have done it without the support of my birthing posse :) That would be my mother-in-law and doula extraordinaire Renee, my amazing mom, my friends Tricia and Angelina and of course, my incredible husband. Each played a unique role in Ruby's birth and I know the only reason I was able to stay so strong and not give in to the pain was because of their presence and words.

Here is the amazing crew (minus Angelina who was taking the pic) helping me through a contraction-

After several hours of hard labor I finally was dialated enough to get into the tub - I loved it (however I was also extremely delirious by exhaustion and in the la la land I created to let me escape from the pain)-

At 9:20 pm on February 9, 2008 she arrived. Here's the grandparents getting their first good look at her (this is probably one of my favorite pics of all time!)-

We sure were (and still are!) proud parents-

Ruby, you have filled our lives with more love than we ever expected. Every moment of pain, every sleepless night, every ounce of drool and spit-up on my clothing is worth it because I get to have you. I get to see your beautiful smile every day, see you try new things all the time, comfort you when don't succeed, cuddle with you when you're sleepy. Mommy and daddy love you so much and we can't imagine our lives without you! I can't wait to see what this next year brings!

PS - I thought about sharing photos from Ruby's first year, but through this blog you've already seen many of them. I'll post birthday party pics soon!

Help With Food

noreply@blogger.com (Juliette) — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Ruby's a little on the late side for transitioning from baby food to finger food. She just loves her pureed stuff. But I have been painstakingly working on the transition for about a month now. For a couple weeks the only thing she'd eat by herself was bananas and crackers. But now she's ventured into a handful of other things: kiwi, prunes, pears, pasta (sometimes), cheese sticks, zucchini and yams (sometimes). So I need advice. What else should I try. Obviously it needs to be something she can eat easily without too many teeth. Any ideas?

Oh and any advice on transitioning to a sippy cup will be helpful too! I've kind of given up on that for now.

New Teeth

noreply@blogger.com (Juliette) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 17:53:00 +0000

Ruby has only had her bottom two baby teeth for a while now and I was starting to get worried that that was all she was going to get. It really worried me after Rosetta shared about meeting a women in Target whose daughter was three and only had those two little teeth. I panicked when I heard that thinking, "dear God no; I cannot spoon feed this child for the rest of her life."

So apparently God heard that little prayer because Ruby is currently getting four teeth on top and I can see that she's working on two more on the bottom. While this is wonderful news it also makes for some sleepless nights which are even harder when I have to work the next day. Ahhh, the joys of being a mom :)

Trader Joe's Favorites

noreply@blogger.com (Juliette) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 18:54:00 +0000

Nathan and I took a trip to Chico on Sunday. We just needed a day out of Redding. We went to Toys R Us to get Ruby's birthday present and show her the insane Elmo aisle (she loves Elmo!) and we did a little clearance shopping at the mall. I remember back in the day when we had to go to Chico to go to the "cool" mall. Now Redding's mall is pretty much just as good except Chico's has Gap and Hollister.

When we were trying to decide where to go on our day trip my one criteria was to go somewhere with a Trader Joe's. So of course our last stop in Chico was TJ's. I have a few things I get there everytime I go but often I'm just stunned by how good everything looks and left wondering what I'm missing out on. So, I thought I'd enlist your guy's help. What are your Trader Joe's must haves? When our store opens up in Redding, what should I go get?

Some of my favorites are the Curry Simmer Sauce, Soy Sauce Multi Seed Rice Crackers and the many flavors of hummus. I also just tried a lemon artichoke pesto and it was awesome!

So help me out guys - what are your TJ favorites?

The Chase is On

noreply@blogger.com (Juliette) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 05:46:00 +0000

I don't have any cute photos to show but I wanted to share about the Read family favorite pasttime. Ruby has discovered the fun of chasing after us, but more than that, us chasing after her. She shrieks with delight when we hide from her and then pop out on our hands and knees and chase after her. She ends up laughing so hard that she just stops and lets us catch her. It's adorable, it's precious, it's wonderful memories that I hope I never forget.

Saying Goodbye... Finding Margin

noreply@blogger.com (Juliette) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 05:11:00 +0000

Tomorrow is my last board meeting for Girls Incorporated of the Northern Sacramento Valley and it definitely will be a bitter sweet day. I have been involved with Girls Inc. for four years now, first on the steering committee and then on the Board. At times it has been a second job for me(all volunteer of course) between board work, committee work, conferences, presentations and the like. For all of you out there who have been involved with creating an organization from the ground up, you know how much work it can be. But I love the organization and the mission so the hours spent were definitely worth it.

The past year on the board has been interesting for me. It started with a four month leave of absence after I had Ruby and then the past eight months of getting back into the swing of things and really trying to figure out how much I can honestly handle with being the wife, mother, employee and friend that I want to be. Somewhere in the last part of those eight months I started to realize that I am definitely not SuperWoman (you know, able to be and do all things) nor do I want to be. I am in a phase and stage in life when things must give and unfortunately the bulk of my community service is that thing for me. But it is with a heavy heart.
A great consolation to me was that overwhelming response of warmth and understanding I received when I made this announcement to the GI Board. I received comments of "I'm so glad you figured this out at your age", "family comes first", and "between husband, career, and kids you can choose two things and do them well - you're making the right decision." What a relief to have a Board of friends who back me up and support my choice.
So tomorrow night I'll probably share a tear or two and yet I know that I will always be supportive of the organization and in fact, I'm staying on the Fund Development Committee through May to see us through an event. But I am also grateful for the margin that I am gaining in my life - we'll see what God does with it.

Oh, and if any of this has perked your interest in Girls Inc., we are always looking for committed volunteers for the Board, committees and our programs. Visit the website for more info: http://www.girlsincnsv.org/.

Ruby and I at a Girls Inc. Event in November

Oh Ruby...

noreply@blogger.com (Juliette) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 04:57:00 +0000

At home Ruby's best friend is Zori, our little white kitty. She follows her everywhere around the house. It's really cute except when I leave her alone for a minute and turn around to find this-

Zori always plays in the basil pot (hence no leaves on the basil plant) so Ruby followed suit. She never puts things in her mouth so I was shocked to find that she had chowed down on some dirt. She went right into the bath which probably feels like a reward to her because she loves the bath. So I shouldn't have been surprised to find the same exact situation the following day. Lets just say our poor little basil plant has been banished from the house for now.

Remembering MLK

noreply@blogger.com (Juliette) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 04:46:00 +0000

This is for all you Liberty Alums out there.
I drove by Liberty (my old high school) today and saw a full parking lot. I recalled how we never got Martin Luther King Jr. day off and how we always speculated the reason why. Of course there were accusations of prejudice but I'm sure we all knew that it was really so that we could get out of school the last week in May instead of the first week in June like everyone else. Back then I felt it was a shame not to recognize Dr. MLK for his accomplishments - so what if we had to stay in school one more day. And nine years later I still feel that way. No, I didn't do anything grand to recognize MLK today - but I did remember him and I did tell Ruby about him, and I will continue to. It is important to have days to honor those who have gone before us and sacrificed so much. And yet I know how tempting it is to have a day off and just vege - not thinking about the reason why you get to chill an extra day. But I hope you took a moment to remember, and if you didn't, do it now; it's not too late.

The Award Season is Upon Us

noreply@blogger.com (Juliette) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 05:19:00 +0000

I love awards shows! I know some people can't stand these type of shows but they just energize me. I've already watched the People's Choice Awards, the Critics Choice Awards and as I write this I am watching the Golden Globes (my fav of all!). I'm not sure what it is about these shows but I think it has something to do with the fact that I live in Redding and therefore have not heard of half of the movies that are up for awards. They don't come to our little Cinemark theaters and this plight has only recently gotten a little better since Prime Eleven shows atypical movies once in a while. Although now that we have Ruby I probably wouldn't get to see these movies even if they came to our theaters. Anyway, when I watch the award shows I start making a mental list of all the movies I must now see. This year some of those movies are Slumdog Millionaire, The John Adams miniseries, Doubt, Rachel Getting Married and maybe the Reader.

I love the acceptance speeches. The tears, the nerves, the rambling, the bold political statements - it's all great! My favorite so far was Anne Hathaway's at the Critic Choice Awards - she tied with Meryl Streep for best Actress. She was adorable, stunned and totally gracious - exactly the type of person who should win that award. And my second favorite (maybe because he's giving it right now) is Tracy Morgan's for 30 Rock on the Globes- hilarious!

Anyway, if you're not a fan of the award shows - don't knock um - at least not to my face. I need to go now so I can enjoy the rest of the Globes in peace.

Settlers

noreply@blogger.com (Juliette) — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 05:44:00 +0000

Settlers of Catan is a great game. Nine years ago when Nathan's family was introduced to the game no one else had heard of it. We've done our fair share of introducing people to the game but now we are coming across people who have actually played it before. This is great because it takes a long time to explain how to play. I know there are people out there who aren't big fans of the game (Billy) but I'm sure there are people out there who'd like to play. So, if you are one of those people, let me know because I want to set up a Settlers game night (just for you Heather!).

Here's a recent game night with Matt and Tricia and James and Christie - I didn't win :(

Here's Matt messing around with his settlement pieces, he still won the game despite all his shenanigans.

How does she sleep like that?

noreply@blogger.com (Juliette) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 05:31:00 +0000

Its hard to see in this picture but Ruby is not sleeping on her side here. A second before I took this picture she had both of her legs straight out in front of her and her upper body was flopped over her legs - and she was sleeping. She shifted slightly when I took this picture but her left leg is still directly under her - her foot is touching her hand. She sleeps like this all the time. She is so much like her Uncle Alex it is crazy - but I bet you don't sleep like this anymore do you Alex?

My 2009 Goals

noreply@blogger.com (Juliette) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 15:00:00 +0000

I've been thinking about my goals for the 2009 year. I've never been big on resolutions but for some reason this year they are piling up in my head. Here's what I have so far:

-to spend at least one night away from my little Ruby. Heaven knows I love her and I love to wake up to her cute little voice but I'd also love to just wake up and cuddle with my husband in bed like I used to.

-to be a little more mindful of my health and wellness. I've noticed that I tend to get consumed in taking care of my baby and my husband and I forget to do a few key things for myself. I'm hopping back on the vitamins, eating well and back on the exercise train - I want my dancers tummy back!

-to be debt free by the end of 2009 - there is strong possibility that we can do it. We just have the school loans and the truck to pay off - we can do it!

- to be a little more green. We do what we can but I know we can do more. My first course of action is to get the reusable grocery bags. This has repercussions in our house because we use the paper bags for a recyclables container and we use the plastic bags for lunch bags. This means that we also need to get a reusable recycling container and lunch bags - so its a little bit of an investment. All that to say - we're becoming more green one step at a time.

That's it for now - check in with me and see how I'm doing. I know the accountability will help.

Clean Teeth

noreply@blogger.com (Juliette) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 04:42:00 +0000

That's what I got for Christmas. Well, sort of. Nathan got me a Soniccare Toothbrush. I love it. We normally make lists to help each other out but this wasn't on my list. It was a total surprise and what was even better is that I've remarked a number of times how I wanted one of these. So it means he listened - amazing :) My teeth feel so clean and my dentist will be very happy. Now maybe my teeth won't fall out (one of my reoccurring nightmares) - hooray!

On top of that Christmas was wonderful! Here's a few pics to show you how great Christmas was :)

She really wanted her presents!

I got a bread maker for Christmas too! This was our yummy breakfast of fresh baked bread with Georgia Peach Preserves! Delicious!

Ruby was tired but we had a great Christmas eve at Nathan's family's house.

Opening presents Christmas morning.

On Christmas morning we watched me on the news at my mom's house (it was from the 23rd but I hadn't seen it yet). Ruby was confused why mommy was on tv and sitting on the couch behind her.

A Mostly Miserable Vacation

noreply@blogger.com (Juliette) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:59:00 +0000

Its been a while since I've blogged mostly because we were on a little trip down to Southern California and then we were recovering from this trip. It turned out to be a pretty miserable trip because both Ruby and I got very sick. Yet there were a few highlights like seeing family, visiting with our dear friends Brett and Emily, getting to see a Chargers game and that one hour and half that I felt great, got to sit outside on a sunny balcony reading and taking a nap.

Here's a little photo journey of our mostly miserable vacation:

Ruby's first plane ride - she did great! Not a second of crying!

Here are my nieces and nephew Kelsey, Anthony and Anaya opening early Christmas gifts

Ruby's first visit with Santa, she wasn't too happy

Auntie Raquel (my sis) with Ruby - you can tell Ruby doesn't feel too good here

The San Diego Chargers vs. Oakland Raiders Game. It was so fun but Ruby and I felt sooo sick! Later this night Ruby came down with an over 103 degree fever and woke up screaming every hour of the night. But at least the Chargers won the game!

Ruby's introduction to her great grandpa - she wasn't too sure about him at first but ended warming up to him and loving him!

Nathan got a hair cut from his Uncle Smokey in his uncle's shop in Del Mar - for old times sake.

Ruby loved Sasa - Nathan's Aunt Lisa.

We only got to the beach once, at night. But I was grateful for even that because at this point we were feeling pretty terrible. Here we are with our friends Brett and Emily enjoying a nighttime walk on the Point Loma dog beach. We had a great time visiting our friends!

While we didn't get a chance to go to Disneyland. Our hotel on the last night was super close to Downtown Disney so we ate dinner there and took a stroll through the Disney Store. So, of course, we had to get Ruby her first Minnie Mouse. She loves her!

Thanksgiving

noreply@blogger.com (Juliette) — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 17:24:00 +0000

We had a wonderful time visiting my sister Tatsia and brother-in-law Mark for thanksgiving at their new home in Sun River, Oregon. Here are some highlights:

We played a lot of Wii

I made some mashed potatoesHere's the three cooks (my mom, my sister and me!)

Ruby wasn't a big fan of the animatronic Santa Just Cute!

We hung with Jason and Hannibal

Auntie Tatsia read Ruby a book
Isn't she precious?

There wasn't much snow but we went up to the mountain and found some!
The date stamp on these photos is wrong - anyone know how to take it off?

Thanksgiving was wonderful - can't wait till next year!

Twilight

noreply@blogger.com (Juliette) — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 17:15:00 +0000

I'm finally getting around to posting my thoughts on our crazy midnight movie going madness that was Twilight. I had a great time but I think what made it so great was the sheer craziness of attending a midnight showing of a teeny-bopper movie with about twenty friends. While the screaming and giggling from the preteens at various points during the movie was annoying, it also made the fact that I was at a midnight showing real. Twilight itself was cute but I definitely need to see it again as I kind of feel like it was all a dream.

The worst part of it all was that while I got home around 2:30am from the movie, I didn't fall asleep until 6:00 am and only for a half hour. I've never suffered from insomnia but the little taste I've been getting of it lately has not been fun. But, I bet that won't stop me from going to the next midnight showing when New Moon comes out.