I would first like to apologize for not posting any updates of our little girl for a long time. She is getting so big, so fast and I have not posted anything so that everyone out there can watch her grow too. This is bad because Cynthia and I have a lot of family that do not get to see her very often. I hope that everyone did not stop checking out this blog for updates. I promise to create entries more often than I am now. You're probably saying, 'Gee, you're gonna do an entry more than once every two to three months???' Well, it is a New Year's resolution I plan on sticking to.

We had a great holiday season this year starting with Halloween at Calico Ghost town. For Thanksgiving we had the opportunity to go to Marque and Sarah's house where we got to spend the week at their Cabin in Timber Lakes outside of Heber City Utah. We stayed home for the Christmas season so we could both spend time with our families close by us. Then to round out our holiday season we spent New Year's at Jim and Samantha's to help Hailey celebrate her birthday.

I am going to do a series of entries to document each of the holidays, one at a time. Otherwise this entry will be more of a novel. So, check back every couple of days for an update. I am going to start with Halloween:

We started the Halloween celebrations at Bates Nut Farm, which is a big family farm in the hills of north San Diego County. They have a permanant store where they sell, get this, nuts and other items like candy, crafty things and homemade fudge. Every year this farm transforms into a sort of fall festival where they mow their corn field into a maze, have horse drawn hay rides around the farm for the kids, small carnival rides and games, farm animals on display and a huge pumpkin patch. This is the main reason we go there. They have the best looking pumpkins for jack-o-lanterns. They also have a scare crow making contest, which we will participate in next year. We picked out a couple pumpkins, enjoyed the 85 degree weather and enjoyed some kettle corn. Grace had a great ride in either the stroller or the Baby Bjorn (baby backpack) on my chest. We thought we covered her completely with the sun block, but she still got a little red. Our first lesson in a baby's sensitive skin.


She found it . . . The perfect jr. sized pumpkin!!!

Grace is searching for the perfect pumpkin.

I guess Grace was not in the mood for modeling her Halloween costumes.

I suppose it could have been the 85 degree weather.

Bate's Nut Farm has a huge collection of giant pumpkins, but they were kind

of small this year. Most years they have pumpkins big enough they could be

carved out and turned into a crib for Grace.

We had a very busy October, and it wasn't just Halloween celebration. We had a trip to Knott's Berry Farm, which for the record is way better than Disneyland, for Madyson's birthday celebration, had a birthday party for Mom and made good use of our trailer by going to Carlsbad State Beach and Calico. We did not have a free weekend all month, but that was just fine with us. We got to relax on our camping trips.

Grace was checking out the waves before she hit the water. Just trying to find a

good point to paddle out.

I have such a beautiful wife, don't I? She is such a fun girl up for anything.

Even an upside down roller coaster. By the way, Sunday morning is a great

time to go to Knott's. Not a single line in the whole park.

Well, there is more for our October, but I'm getting frustrated with this program and loading pictures. I'm going to start a new entry with pictures of Grace in all her costumes and Halloween gear. Bye for now.

I don't mean to brag. . .

I have the cutest baby in the world!!! Sorry all you other parents. So if you don't want to hear me brag about my baby you should close this...I mean, it's just so difficult to take this baby in public because I always get stopped by people saying how cute she is. Strangers even ask to hold her. I don't get how people ask that when they don't even know the family. Anyway, I digress. Our babysitter, who's been watching babies for 16 years, says she's the most advanced baby too. Of course, I'm not biased or anything. She is starting to get teeth, so she had a rough night last night, but she's still a very happy baby. The following video will prove it.

Playing catch up...

Cynthia started back to work on Friday and Grace went to the babysitter for the first time today. Cynthia told me the teacher aides might be the biggest trouble makers this school year, ha ha. Our babysitter came very highly recommended to us from a couple good parents, so we are happy to have her. Of course, best case scenario would be mommy taking care of her, but bills will not allow it just yet. We're working on it.

We are sad that summer has ended. We had a great time this summer with all of our family trips in our new trailer. We purchased the trailer before Grace was born because Cynthia and I are both travelers, but we were realistic in the fact that big exotic vacations probably won't happen as often as before we were plus 1. We didn't want our travelling experiences to stop so we thought a trailer was a great idea. Cynthia and I have always loved the outdoors and we now know Grace loves it too. Most of the mornings when Grace wakes up she is as mellow as can be, but she seems to get bored just laying on the bed or in her swing. When she starts to get a little fussy when the boredom sinks in and all we need to do is open the windows for her and she looks at the trees and birds flying around for a while (until her hunger or sleepiness overpowers the view).

Our trailer sat in storage until after Grace was born, but not long after she was born. Grace was camping less than one month. She loved it! I think this child will love the outdoors as much as her mom and dad. The puppy, Virgil, loves camping as well; although he did get some ticks while he was camping. (Side bar: We are waiting for blood test results to come back to see if Virgil has a tick-born disease from said ticks.) Our trips consisted of Father's Day at Lake Skinner with Jim, Samantha, Hailey, Madison, Scott Helbing, Kathy Helbing and their kids Max, Lauren and Brooklyn (hope I spelled those right). We had a great time although no one caught a fish. Next trip was to Vail Lake with Cheryl, Tami, Randy, Ashtyn and Gavin Winchell. Again we had great time. The weekend after Vail was Pismo Beach with just the three of us. We met our friends Sam and Jeanette there and introduced Grace to my Aunt Kathy. Next we went on a week long trip to Shaver Lake in the mountains outside of Fresno. I never knew there were mountains out there. This was a trip Cynthia and her family did just about every year growing up. Her family always went up with the Lindalls, who used to be their neighbors in Chino. We thought it would be fun to have a reunion trip with the them so we were met by David and Nancy Lindall, Lisa Lindall, now Lisa Jaroslow, her husband Keith and their three boys, Cheryl, Tami and the kids and Bob Allen spent most of the week with us. We had a great time and missed having Tina and Christopher, Randy, Janice, Bryan and all the kids. Next time. Well, enough blabbering and parenthesis usage. . . here are the pics:

This is Grace's favorite place and therefore Virgil's favorite place.

Virgil is a good protector of the baby and always looks out for her.

Sunset at Pismo Beach. It was a little colder than I thought

it would be on July 31st, but beautiful none the less.

And these two beauties made it even better.

(meaning Cynthia and Grace)

"I am one cool chick."

This is Grace's first time in the pool and she loved it!!

She and her cousin Leah will love swimming together

When they get older.

I'm a model. You know what I mean?. . .

She took a dip in her froggy floaty at the pool in Vail Lake.

Other than the kids around her splashing, she loved it.

Although the shirt says, "Daddy makes me smile"; this

was Uncle Randy making her smile.

A little tummy time. Or face time. This was over a month

ago and now she is pulling her knees it and her hands under her.

She will be crawling in no time.

We spent the day with Aunt Kathy while we were in Pismo Beach.

Aunt Kathy pretended to be afraid of holding her for a whole 3

seconds. She just couldn't resist her grand-niece for too long.

We went 4-wheelin' on the sand at Pismo Dunes with her jogging

stroller. Odd thing is the rough rides in her stroller and the next

day in my truck quickly put her to sleep each time.

We are getting pool ideas at the Hearst Castle. Is 1.2 million

dollars too much to pay for a pool without a waterslide???

Sam was teaching Grace how to do eskimo kisses. Don't mean

to brag, but she picked it up pretty quick. Yes I know Sam did all the work.

Mommy and baby at Shaver Lake. This was a great way

to spend our ONE YEAR anniversary, camping with the family.

Virgil hated the ducks at Shaver Lake. I think the ducks knew he

didn't like swimming because they stayed just beyond the area he

could touch ground. They were mocking him.

In Grace's defense. . . The water was a little on the cold side.

Grace says, "Someday I'm gonna ride this thing on the water."

The Jaroslow family and Gavin enjoying the hot rod boat we got before

our trip to Shaver Lake. With the trolling motor on the back

we reached speeds of 5 knots.

What can I say besides our little girl is so cute.

Our boy, Virgil, suprised us at Shaver Lake. We thought he

didn't like the water. He was a little apprehensive when he

couldn't touch ground, but he got his tennis ball.

Good evening everyone, or what ever time it is for you. I've been meaning to get on the computer and add some pictures, but time flies by. Our little girl turned 7 weeks today and boy is she getting bigger. I'm sure she is in the 10 pound range now and doing great. She can hold her head up with no problem and sleeping great (knock on wood). Well, it is time for bed so I'm going to add some pics and videos and hit the sac. Enjoy.

If it were a Diet Coke I'd say she was taking after Dad.

This is our great protector. Every day before I leave for work I tell

him to protect Mom and Grace, the house and to kill anyone who

tries to intrude. You can see he has his Army to help him out.

We were getting our hand imprints with Precious Prints by Barbara.

She was a super nice lady and in a later post I will tell about a great

story we heard from her. You can probably tell by the redness in

Grace's face that she was not fond of this.

Mom changing Grace on her lap in the backseat of the car. Already a Pro.

Perhaps Marque can teach me how to rotate pictures once they are downloaded.

She was 11 days old in this picture, but it was too cute not to put in.

This is her two days ago. I can't watch her talk and smile enough. I came home for lunch the other day and almost didn't go back to work because she was doing this.

Well, I'm off to bed. I'll add a lot more later!

The Brief Story of Us

Well it all starts back in 2nd grade,,,oh wait, I said this was brief. Cynthia and I met while we were working at Petsmart in Chino. Yes, we went to school together at Don Lugo, but she was too cool to talk to me (just kidding). We got to know each other very well while we were supposed to be working and we each developed a respect for the other person. By respect, I mean I had a crush on her, but she had a boyfriend at the time. I was either the good guy or a chicken, depending on who you talk to, and I never asked her out or even made mention I liked her. So after a couple years, Cynthia got smart and left Petsmart and I stayed there for another 5 years.



Flash forward 13 years . . . I'm working as a traffic cop in Chino when I pull over someone who recognized me, but I didn't recognize. Sorry Michelle. Michelle told Cynthia I was around and according to her, was excited to find out about me. Meanwhile, my Mom and brother, Jim, convinced me to join the masses and make a Facebook account. I did the bare minimum to get an account and pretty much nothing more. Two days later, Cynthia asks to be my friend. And the rest is history . . . which I'm going to tell you.



I was suprised to see she was single because she and her previously mentioned boyfriend won "Most likely to get married" or something like that. She though I moved to Utah, got married and had a couple kids. Don't know where she got that from??? Anyway, we went on our first date on February 5th, which I refuse to call a date even though we never dated anyone else since then. It was our "catch up date." But, yes I did pay. Our 1st official date was two days later and our 2nd date was two days after that. About 3 days later I received a phone call from Cynthia asking if I wanted to go to San Francisco with her that very weekend. I love travelling and I was digging Cynthia, so I went. We had a great time. We learned a lot about each other because we both had the opinion to lay everything on the table and take me or leave me. Obviously we took.



The unorthodox relationship timeline continued. We went on several vacations and trips together with several different people and everyone of our respective friends said the same thing, "You guys are perfect for each other." We went through the state and national parks with my brother Marque and Sarah in April of 2009. Marque went so far as to predict we were going to get married and we had only been dating for 2 months.



One day in June 2009 I was doing homework when I took a break and started looking at houses on the internet. I did this periodically to see if the dream house pop up. Cynthia asked me if I wanted to take a longer break and go drive around neighborhood in the Eastvale, or unincorporated Corona area. We drove around for about an hour grabbing flyers and looking at houses with for sale signs in the yards. My intention was to buy a foreclosed or short sale house. We came across a house that we both immediately recognized as our dream house. In fact, that night, Cynthia found an artists rendering of that model house and saved it as our background on her computer. That was a Tuesday, I think. On Saturday we spoke to the realtor in the NEW home model and put down a down payment for the house. The house was already built so it had a move in date three weeks later.



I already knew I wanted to marry Cynthia, but I didn't want to move into a house, un-wed. I don't think it was a big suprise to Cynthia that I was planning to marry her, but I tried to make how I asked her a suprise. One summer day, I took Cynthia down to Temecula and suprised her with a hot air balloon ride. I thought I was going to be creative and have a big sign come down from a neighboring balloon asking if she would marry me. Turns out I wasn't that creative. The company I booked with had an engagement package. We went up in the balloon and the chase car followed us until the right time. The pilot lowered the balloon and the driver of the chase vehicle held up a sign that said, "Cynthia, will you marry me." Guess what? . . . She said, "yes".

We landed in an empty field and had some snacks while the pilot and the chase truck driver packed up the balloon. We were shuttled back to Wilson Creek Winery and walked into the garden area where we were met by both of our families. That was incredible. The support from our families early on a Saturday morning meant a lot to both of us. We ate some snacks, talked then did some wine tasting. It was an incredible day.

A few years prior, I met a fantastic couple through a buddy from work; Ken and Tina Pratt. I don't talk to the buddy who introduced me to them, but I made some life long friends. I can not say enough about these two people. They are the nicest, smartest, most loyal and most humble people I have ever met. From day one they have exemplified friendship. They offered for us to have the wedding in the backyard of their beautiful house overlooking the Temecula Valley. It was an offer we couldn't pass up. Once the plan was set, Kenny, began work in his backyard. He turned his backyard into one of those yards you see in Home and Garden. It was gorgeous. He made every plan and design around how it would look for my wedding. Cynthia and I can not thank them enough for all the time, work and money they put into making our wedding perfect. He might not have been able to complete the backyard on our short timeline if it weren't for the help of Jim, Samantha, Hailey and Madyson. My mom was even out there a couple times digging in the flower beds. We have such incredible friends and families.

In 2-3 months time we got engaged, bought a house, got married and got pregnant. Yes, I know. We figured we would get all of the really stressful things a couple goes through out of the way in the beginning. Thank you for visiting and check up periodically for updates on our little angel, Grace.

(I will return to this post and add photos, but I wanted to get this one posted. I started in on June 5th or something.)

Welcome

We would like to welcome everyone to our blog. I would like to thank my brother, Marque for setting up this webpage for us. We wanted to create this page for those who want to watch Grace grow up, but do not have the opportunity to see her often enough. Marque has a blog for his family and that is exactly what it did for me; it helped me to know my neice Leah better. Leah has developed much more of a personality over the last few months since I last saw her and his blog helped all of us family in California keep track of it. I hope this blog works as well for you as Marque's did for me. I'll warn you now,,, I probably won't post as often as Marque does (for those of you who read it), but I'll keep the updates coming.

The photos of Grace, Cynthia and I from the previous posts were taken by Marque. He is a talented guy. I know you all will think Grace and Cynthia are as cute as I think they are. Thanks again Marque.

Ohana Means Family

GRACE!!!!!!!!