My Family

My Family

Monday, December 12, 2011

Monterrey and Carmel






The Beach! My favorite place to go in the world. And now I have been to what I believe could be the most beautiful beach, for sure the prettiest I have seen. We met my cousin Diane in Monterrey (where she lives). The kids loved hanging out with Diane and her dog, Lola! She was our tour guide for the day. We walked on the Wharf, had lunch, watched the Sea lions, walked by the water. It was my first time to see real starfish in the ocean. Beauiful, orange starfish stuck to things on the side of the pier. Awesome!!
We had a wonderful lunch and then we took the 16 mile drive along the Coastline. If you haven't heard of this drive it's just beautiful scenery, houses, beaches the entire way. We made multiple stops looking out at at the beaches. There is a really cool Pebble Beach that I really would love to go see again. Then we went to Carmel and played on the beach there. The beach is dog friendly and there were dogs running around everywhere. So next time I think our girls will make the trip! They will LOVE it. We were going to try some family pictures but the sun was going down and they didn't really turn out.

Redwood Forest






We planned a big trip to the Redwood Forest! We have talked about doing this since before we left Birmingham. We went to a forest that is near us not to the one that is quite a ways away. We plan on going to that in the future maybe for a weekend. I want to see the tree that people can actually drive through. There is a train around the park that we went to, but part of the park was actually closed because of a wind storm they had had recently. I can't even begin to tell you how beautiful the forest was. We really could have spent the entire day there. Our pictures just do not do it justice. The trees are huge and beautiful. As we were hiking through this lady on a white horse came galloping through, I loved it. So my word to describe this place would have to be, Magical!

San Fransisco






One place I had been looking forward to seeing was San Fransisco. We saved it for when Mom came because I knew she would enjoy it as well. Clay had been several times for work but had not seen all of the fun attractions there.
We first went to see the Golden Gate Bridge, it was amazing!! If you know me very well you know I hate driving over bridges, especially over water. So I wouldn't let Clay actually drive over it but there was a great Look out place for us. Clay jogged out to the middle of the bridge by himself to get the view from there.
I had never heard of Lumbard street, but now I have and now I have seen it. A cute, really windy street. We went to the Wharf after that and walked around and had lunch. Wonderful views of sailboats, water, and ofcourse the sea lions all over the place. I LOVED it there. I actually don't think I have been anywhere yet that I haven't liked, other than the apartment we lived in when we first got here! :)
We had lunch at Bubba Gump's, really fun place!! There was a magic show, that the kids loved, Cenley clapped the whole time. Mom and I bought some yummy chocolate. I think everyone really enjoyed it and I look forward to going back.

Mom's Visit




Well, it has been a long time since I have written a blog. I keep saying I am going to catch up and something else comes up. I am not even sure where I should start. We have been doing a lot lately enjoying what California has to offer us. The weather is wonderful. Most days are in the 60's so it's perfect for us to get out. We did learn just because it's warm where we live doesn't mean it's not cooler other places. Mom came and stayed a couple of weeks and we went to San Fransisco. That place is cold and Windy!! Lesson learned.
So, Mom came a few days before Thanksgiving and we were all really happy to have her. I really enjoyed the company. So Clay and I tried to plan quite a few things to do while she was here. We showed her some of San Jose, San Fransisco, Saratoga (my favorite town), ofcourse Los Gatos, (where Clay works) Carmel, Redwood Forest.
We did lots of cooking for a Thanksgiving feast first, Mom, Cenley and I had a girls only shopping trip, which was a blast. Then after Thanksgiving we went on our Adventures! :)

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Cohen


Oh my little Cohen how we Love you! Cohen is the most loving, cuddly, sweet little boy. Full of quirks, and hard to figure out, which makes him that much more loveable. Most people don't know how much we have struggled and still do with communicating with Cohen. It causes things to be really hard because he gets really frustrated and breaks down and has temper tantrums because we can't understand him. We have worked with him a Lot, with sign language and ways to communicate. He has improved so much I am so happy to say!!
In just the past few weeks Cohen has been repeating lots of words and phrases and doing his animal sounds. He's actually a really funny little guy. Today Cohen was saying some of his numbers letters and repeating all of his colors! Wow!! Seriously a lot of improvement lately. So, he was taking in everything just not able to verbalize it.

We so love our little man, and I just had to write a special blog for him today just to say how proud I am of him!!!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Halloween






We chose not to go trick- or- treating this year in the neighborhood because we don't know the neighbors yet. Our church had trunk-or-treating (which ended up being like a Fall Festival) so we went to that. Clay came home early from work and I had all of the kids dressed and ready to go! Cooper was Spiderman, Cohen a monkey, and Cenley was a kitten! Obviously didn't go together, but they were cute :).
Cooper had a blast playing all of the games, Cohen loved grabbing the candy and eating it immediately! There was also a pony ride and Cooper did that! Here are a few pictures of the cuties!

Park






There are beautiful parks everywhere here in CA. They make up for the lack of yards with parks basically on every corner. There is an amazing park we have discovered just a few blocks away from here. It's in Almaden where Cooper goes to preschool. So we have been there twice for picnics, walks, and fun! I want to go by myself soon just to photograph the trees, lake and birds. But, here are some of the kiddos.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Life






Life is beginning to have a bit of a routine for us! I am learning the immediate area for the most part. Of course with the help of my handy GPS. Cooper is now in his second week of preschool, which he is really enjoying. We attended Church, where Cooper's preschool is this past Sunday and really enjoyed it. I am excited that there is a MOPS group there, Women's Bible studies, and seems to be a good Children's program.
I still plan on joining the YMCA and getting involved with that. Cooper is ready to start Soccer and t-ball again. So, these are a few pictures we have taken as of lately from around the house.

Pumpkin Patch






We were finally able to take the kids to do something fun this past weekend. There is a Pumpkin Patch really close to our house so we thought that would be fun! The view was just amazing, we could see the foothills behind the farm and it was absolutely beautiful!
There was a petting zoo, pony rides, hayride, train ride, plenty to keep the kids busy.
Everyone had a really fun time!

Friday, October 7, 2011

Cenley is 1






It's hard to believe I have had my 3rd and final 1st birthday with my baby! The firsts are so exciting, it just does not get old. All 3 are so different and each moment is so special! We were in the apartment for Cenley's birthday and also in the process of moving into our new house. Everything was so rushed but we still had a little party for Cenley. We had a quick dinner and cake! The good thing is baby's don't get the rushed part :).
We weren't surprised when Cenley dove right into her cupcake and devoured it! She got a new Leap Frog train for her b-day and Loves it! And the other kids like it too which makes it really hard. All 3 have a lot to learn when it comes to sharing :(.
As for the new things Cenley is doing and learning...well, a lot! Girls really do pick up on things faster than boys in my opinion. I think she actually has more words than Cohen. In fact I am pretty positive she does :). She repeats most words we say.
She says: bye bye, Da DA, Mama, frog, dog, turtle, Here you go, cookie, hair, and I am sure there are more that I am leaving out. Cenley is sweet, sassy, loving, fun and growing up to be a wonderful little girl. We all love her very much!

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Finally

Today is the day! The Big Orange truck is at our house with our stuff :). We told Cooper but he doesn't even show excitement. Why? Because I think he has to believe it when he sees it. We have told him for weeks we will have our stuff soon so he doesn't know what to think. Actually..I think I do too.
So we are at the apartment, hopefully for the last full day. We are actually trapped because Cohen has the stomach bug. So no park today means very very Wild kids. Ughhh...
So in the past month I have had strep throat, which Clay has now. The dogs had stomach bug, then Cooper, now Cohen and a little bit with Cenley. We have celebrated 2 birthdays and we have Survived it all. Yay us! Life is about to really begin for us here in California.
Thanks for all of the prayer and support!! We love and miss you all.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Jesus and Java

Started a new blog if any of my many many followers are interested! :)

www.jesusandjava.blogspot.com

Friday, September 16, 2011

Cara's rants

So I have no one to talk to and all the kids are asleep (which is nice), so I am just gonna spill it all on this here blog. :) California is beautiful, even more so than I expected and we haven't even seen the beaches yet. The people are so friendly..I am actually quite surprised with how sweet and caring all of the people around here are, especially being in the city. I had a sweet lady already invite us to dinner and to come over to play. How nice is that?
Clay is Loving his job, which I am so so happy about. I told him he better like it :). I am so proud of him and how well he is taking care of us in so many ways! I know it is stressful for him to have to up root his family and move us cross country and try to make us all happy and get his job done.
So with that said..I am going CRAZY! We have a nice apartment but it's hard for 3 kids and 2 dogs to be in an apartment all day long. Switch can barely walk..and I have learned I can only take the dogs out when I have Clay's help. So they can't potty until Clay gets home. And then we have to take Switch on the elevator because of her hip. The kids are missing home, missing their toys and so am I!!
We found a house we thought was perfect, but it obviously wasn't meant to be. The owners of the house chose another family because of our dogs. :( I had already mentally moved in. So, we have this apartment until the end of the month and are still trying to find a place to live.
Hopefully, this weekend we will have a chance to look for houses and have LOTS of Fun! I am hoping to check out the beach, the mall and some fun stuff for the boys. We will see.
So...I know this is a pretty boring post but I just needed to get that out. Thanks for listening (reading). :)

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Bearizona






When we arrived in Arizona I kept seeing this sign for a place called Bearizona! I immediately wanted to go because I have always wanted to go to a place where you could drive through and see animals close up. It's like a zoo but better :). Clay was so agreeable to anything we wanted to do..just wanted us to all be Happy and enjoy the very long drive.
So we fit this place in on the day we saw the Grand Canyon. This place did not disappoint! We were told the animals would come up to your window and check out your vehicle. But, because we had the dogs in the van the Animal Keepers said they Bears would probably stay away.
We saw wolves, sheep, bison, bears. So COOL!!! One of the wolves slowly got up from his nap, stretched and came over to our van. Straight to our cargo thing on the back and was trying to tear into it so we had to get out of there. :)
After the drive through part there was a nice sized part to walk through. Really pretty and well kept. We saw bear cubs, a fox, baby bison, petting zoo and many more things. The kids had a perfect place to run around and get more energy out!

Monday, September 12, 2011

Arizona






What did we see in Arizona??? Hmmmm...Just the GRAND CANYON. Clay says he needs to create a new Bucket List because he is marking a lot of things off lately. We had to pack a lot in all in a day. We woke up and got going quickly on this day because we wanted to go to see the Grand Canyon and Bearizona! We had planned on taking a train around the Grand Canyon but it was an all day trip and we just didn't have the time. So we drove to a look out point and checked it out at a Great look out point. Amazing isn't a good enough word to describe it. It was absolutely gorgeous. If I wasn't so stressed about one of the kids or dogs falling off the edge I could have stayed there all day long. We kind of took turns at some points where one of us could hold the dogs and kids and the other could check out the canyon a little better. Clay and I would love to come back here and do the horseback tour. How cool would that be!