You're Invited--New Years Eve Party @ Our Place

Don't have plans for New Years Eve yet? Or want another fun place to stop by during your new years eve plans?

We've decided to throw a last minute party at our new place!

8:00pm--till whenever!

We'll have game tables (we don't have a couch yet downstairs, so they'll be game tables set up in the family room), the Wii set up down stairs and the Xbox with Rockband set upstairs!

If you can, please bring a dessert or appetizer to share!

Email me if you need directions.

See you there!

Let the unpacking begin!

We finally got everything packed up and moved to the house. I just
wanted to say thank you thank you thank you to my parents for not only
giving us the opportunity but for also helping us pack up and move
eveything. They sjjpwed up at 8 am and worked non-stop for four hours-
my mom also came on Saturday and helped in packing and moving over the
small stuff. And I also wanted to see out a million thanks to my
brother-in-laws who are all STUDS with huge muscles who helped with
all of the moving. They were amazing. Thanks guys!

We are so excited to start the unpacking to make this our home.

Russ makes a run for it

Last week we went to the Mervyns closing sale on Alicia pkwy. While we
found some amazing Christmas gifts, Russ found the "perfect" shop cart
to keep all of his car tools on in the new garage. He hagled the price
down (we knew exactly what to do since we've boughten a lot of store
furniture lately for Russ' store from different stores going out of
business) but right after he paid, the lady told him he couldn't take
it today, but would have to come back in a week for it since they
still needed it before they closed. Knowing that if he did leave it,
it would be sold to someone else and he would end up losing his money
and the cart. So he told the lady he was going to put it back, and
then he made a run for it when her back was turned--when he got it
outside he realized that he didn't have a way to get it home so he
decided to walk the cart a mile to our new house. So here is a
snapshot of russ walking it through our neighborhood at dusk....
Rattling away up the streets. Our new neighbors will probably name him
" cart guy." He says it was totally worth it.

Last day of art class and I missed it!

So today was the last day of my two-block beginning watercolor class that I took at Saddleback college. And I missed it. I ended up having to work late (that's every day this week--I better take a half day on Friday!) and I couldn't find an umbrella... so rather face the embarrassment of being way late and completely soaked... I decided to come home and reflect on the fun I had in my class and the paintings I did. We did about two-dozen paintings during the class--while a lot of my fellow classmates stuck to scenic french landscapes and old barns, I found a love of drawing poppies (no I'm not a druggie) which I recreated off of drawings I found online. Here are a few samples of my work...as you can see I've come a long way... and yet still have a long way to go. I'm having fun and it was all inspired by Russ, who, for our fifth year anniversary bought me an easel and paint set. I'm planning on taking the oil painting class in February--I even asked Santa for all of my painting supplies.

Thanksgiving Pics of the girls

Here's a shot of us at Rachel's birthday dinner with the girls.  I finally got to meet Allyson's new edition, and we had a lot of fun!  Claim Jumper has become a sort of a tradition.... and we sat at the table where someone usually gives the news  that they're pregnant.  Since no one was.... we're wondering if Kristyn might have an announcement soon.  Just kidding.....  Anyway it was a fun night of memories, stories, and updates.

Russ In Seattle--- Um Um Good

Russ is in Seattle this week seeing the family.... here's a shot of him eating his mom's FAMOUS Cinnamon Rolls!  Doesn't he look happy?

Chillin at biglots in between dinner and dessert

Russ Track day more pics

If anyone wants to see more pics of the track day here is the link. I
was in each of the three time segments.

http://caliphotography.exposuremanager.com/g/2_group_d3

Luckily they didnt get the one of when I went off track (only once)

The Evo's first day at the track

So I finally was able to make it out to the track with the evo. It was an open track day so nothing too competitive. I will be making some more track days for practice as I will be entering the RedLIne Time Attack in March which is a race against the clock. I am going to be doing some more modifications to the car  with the sponsors I got so that I will be able to compete, and I need some more practice on the track.  ill keep everyone posted as it gets closer to the competition. Ill have some more pics once I download the pics from the camera.

The snuggle Muffin

Had to take a pic of baxter when he curled up in the warm towels-russ

Memories

During thanksgiving, I helped weed through photos to put into a special digital picture frame for my grandparents. While doing so, I found this cute picture of us at Jeni & Chris' wedding. Look at how happy everyone is! :) And Jeni looks so adorable! I love this shot!

He's lovin' it.

So when you're all out of dog food....

What do you do when you wake up in a rush for work and find out that
you're all out of dog food? This was my solution this
morning............and he loved it. He ate all of the marshamellows
first, just like me!

Not again.

So being pulled over sucks.... Right? How about twice in one week? It
happened to Russ' last week and of course I had to be in the car for
both times! He got out of the first ticket, but the second one he ge
got a fix it ticket for his tint. The cop was nice when I asked him if
I could take a "told you so picture" of Russ. He even turned his
lights back on for me so I could get a better shot. If you can click
on the picture and zoom in on Russ' face.

Baxter-zilla

Attack of Baxter. And he thought Halloween was over.... It's fun
packing up things and finding lost treasures like old dog costumes
that still fit.

Lobster Farming.

Riley brought home the bacon, I mean lobster. He went lobster hunting
in San Diego which consists of a night scuba dive. And voilia fresh
lobster for dinner- which was delicious. Thanks Riley!

So it's official. Rachel is 5' 8".

So a few weeks ago, Rachel had a get together at her house and she
said she didn't know how tall she was. So instead of letting her
continue to guess for the rest of her life, we decided to measure.
And it's official. She is 5'8".

Deb & the Christmas tree

Here's the pic

Debbie Gets Ready for Christmas

It never ceases to amaze me what you can fit inside of a mini. This time is was an entire christmas tree. I was impressed, yet I always have a hard time fitting in????

 

I finally got my own Facebook

So after everyone telling me I needed a Facebook.... I finally took the leap today. With some help from Jeni today (and hopefully some training from Amanda & Kristen) I am on my way to being an official Facebook-er. Russ has had one a for a few years... and we've had the magazine for a while, but this is my first! :) Please add us as friends! :)

The winnings

With the winnings debbie got a shirt and I got an evil robot dog for
Baxter. It barks and walks backwards and forwaards

Debbie wins big

We wentto dave and busters for robs bday and we were playing some
games. Debbie walks up to the mega wheel and wins 1,000 tickets which
was awesome. I later got a smaller jackpot of about 350 tix but debbie
was the big winner. I should take her to the roulette table in vegas
and start winning. It was a fun night

Another girls day shot

Girls day at the spa

So Russ and Chris went to a drift show up in Long Beach today so Jen,
mom, and I decided to relax at Burke Williams! It great!

Need a good book to read?

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book was a fast read that sparked my imagination. I read this book when I was younger and loved it... my friend Valerie gave me it again as a gift and I just read it for the second time and found it even better than the first time I read it! It really made me think about time, space, distance, etc.... the author has a wonderful imagination and I feel lucky to have been able to have been able to share in it. I just ordered three other books from the same author... "A Wind in the Door," "A Swiftly Tilting Planet," and "Many Waters." I can't wait to see what these books have in store for me.


View all my reviews.

Anyone else read this book? What did you think of it?
Any other good books out there that I should check out?

Nothing says it like writing it in the sky

So yesterday (Monday) around 2pm, my boss and I were driving back from looking at some potential properties to move to for our business.... when all of a sudden I noticed in thh sky, plans writing VOTE YES ON PROP 8. Pretty cool.

Voting yeah!

I voted. Have you yet?

More pictures for this weekend with the Taylors!

So we had tons of fun this weekend!  Here are some pics from "CathyVision" (aka Cathy with her iPhone!)

Rip tide again!

Heather, Scott, Russ', cathy, brian and I went to our favorite sushi
place for lunch today!

Yes on Prop 8

Driving around town today we noticed a lot of people with yes signs and a lot of people with no signs.  So to do our part, we drove around  and Scott and I held our yes on prop 8 signs out the window.  On El Toro Road we hit a red light and got next to a whole bunch of NO on 8 people holding signs. So we started chanting "yes on 8" and they started chanting "No on 8". We were yelling back and forth for like two minutes and the light didn't change so we stopped chanting and then they stopped... and then it was really awkward as we sat at the light for about 5 minutes. But overall the sign holding was fun!

Scott gets caught cheating with heather. Jk

Happy Halloween

Taylors In Town

Brian & Cathy are in town this week.... this last weekend we hung out and went to car shows, garage sales, the Spectrum (to see Russ' store), a medieval times party for our church (pictures to be posted soon---they're pretty funny!), and we watched several movies....not to mention we tried out some great restaurants.   Scott comes tomorrow and we're all going to hang out!  Here are some pictures of them with Russ.  We also might have to move this weekend.... uuuuuugggggghhhhhhh.... I didn't realize that all of this was going to happen so fast, and I'm totally stressing.  I'm crossing my fingers that the applicant gets denied and we have to continue to look for someone else.... I just don't want to have to move and get everything together, especially when family is in town. 

Need your advice...

Okay, So I keep getting these dark circles under my eyes... and I've heard that Preperation H works on them... anyone know if this is true? And does anyone know how to get rid of these bags? I'd hate to go to the store, and be embarassed to buy the tube and then not have it work... so I figured asking first would be best....Any advice would be apprecaited!

Debbie is going to start modding her mini

Pictures & Blog Are Up for Our Condo we are trying to rent!

Hey guys! We're looking to rent our condo (we are going to rent out my parents old house) and finally have pictures up!  If you know of anyone interested please let us know... it's amazingly priced, so it'll probably go pretty fast, but it would be way cooler to rent it to someone we know....  we set up a blog with more pictures at: 

http://theserranosandcastle.blogspot.com/ and on craigslist at http://orangecountycraigslist.org/apa/883535696.html

Thanks!

Rob and Big "WHITE"

So last weekend I went to Formula D and when I was there I saw Rob from the show Rob and Big, I really could care less about the whole stars thing but I actually love the show and wanted to be on it, I asked him if he was looking for a new BIG and that I could be BIG WHITE, anyway I was stoked to get a pic

I also was able to ride as a passenger in the corvetted drift car, that was an experience of a lifetime, It was a lot of fun all 30 seconds (kinda reminds me of something else)