Sunday, November 9, 2008

Walk for Hope

This Sunday was the annual City of Hope Walk for Hope to support breast cancer and Ben, Riley, and I joined the other thousands of walkers/runners to support the cause. What is interesting about this event is that three years ago I walked this walk with Sylvia and her friend and had a long discussion about all of my miscarriages. It was this friend that told me about her story and how she went to see an accupuncturist when she was having similar problems. She sent me the name of her accupuncturist, I made an appointment, and saw him throughout my pregnancy and one year later we were at the same walk walking with Riley. We still have no idea why this last pregnancy worked and the many others didn't but the only thing we really did differently was the accupuncture sessions. This is Riley's second walk and he had a blast. He loves to break out in dance when he hears music and he had a great time dancing in the street at the walk. We tried to get a video of him but everytime he saw us try to take a video he would stop and run over to try to grab the video...thus no video.
I have no idea what is going on......

Dancing with mommy before the walk

Walking to the Start line

Riley and his medal


Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Halloween 2008

Our cute kangaroo........


Saturday, October 25, 2008

Pumpkin Patch Time!

We took Riley to his first pumpkin patch today to pick out a pumpkin for Halloween. We went to Mr. Bones Pumpkin Patch in West Hollywood. It's the popular pumpkin patch around here but I must say I was a little disappointed. It just didn't live up to my expectations of what a pumpkin patch should be, of course I may be a little jaded since when I was young every year my parents would take my sisters and I to the huge pumpkin patch in Half Moon Bay. The place was huge...there were pony rides, a train, a huge halloween gift shop/gallery and so many pumpkins it took forever just to walk around the place. In comparison, Mr. Bones was much smaller (of course that is to be expected since it was smack dab in the middle of West Hollywood on some prime real estate!). And because so many stars frequent this pumpkin patch you actually have to pay an entrance fee into the patch; however, if you buy a pumpkin you can use the fee amount towards the cost of the pumpkin. In the end we had a great time and bought three little pumpkins!
A quick ride on their "pony"
Checking out the pumpkins with mommy and daddy
A ride in the cart

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Our Return to San Luis Obispo

This past weekend was the annual NICU reunion at the hospital where Riley was born. Since we weren't sure when we would be able to make it back for another one of these we decided to go this year. Dan, Leah, and Gabe joined us for the fun-filled weekend. We arrived in SLO on Friday afternoon. On Saturday, we woke up bright and early, went over to Pismo beach for some yummy cinnamon rolls and then headed over to the beach for some sand time. We then went back to the hotel, cleaned off the kids, and then headed over to the park for the reunion. We weren't sure what to expect but there were a lot more people than what we were expecting. We had a nice lunch, played a little, watched Leah fly a kite, had a wrestling match and then called it a day. Since the hotel we were staying at had a manager's special happy hour from 5:30 to 7:30 pm where the guys could get all the free beer they could drink we decided to go to an early dinner so we would be back in time to partake in the happy hour. We headed to McClintock's and had some great steaks. Then it was back to the hotel for some happy hour. On Sunday, we woke up, had some breakfast, then packed up the cars and checked out of the hotel. We then headed over to Morro Bay for some more fun at the beach and then a yummy lunch of fish and chips and clam chowder. After lunch, we headed back to the cars, said our good-byes and then headed back home. We really had a great time and loved being able to spend the weekend with the Aramigans. It was like the good ol' days when Leah and I were roommates and we were all always at the apartment together, well except now there was Gabe and Riley. Even though we are leaving for Houston we will definately have to find ways to do this more often. Click here for pictures of the trip. Below is a clip of some of the wrestling that was taking place at the reunion!

Sunday, September 14, 2008

An Update

It's been awhile since we've last posted a blog entry and we thought it was time to do a little catching up. Here's a little of what we've been up to since the last blog entry.....

Tahoe or Bust.......
After stopping off in Stockton for Suzy's baby shower (since that time, Dre and Suzy have welcomed in their new little boy - Langdon), we headed up to Lake Tahoe for a family vacation with all of my family. We were celebrating my grandparents' 80th birthdays (their 80th birthdays were actually last year but because of Riley's early arrival we had to postpone that trip). We rented a large cabin in South Lake Tahoe and hung out for 3 nights. We had a great time and Riley was once again the center of attention. We found this great cabin online called Echo Creek Mountain Ranch and it was the perfect size for our family. Here are some pictures from our trip to Tahoe.

It's official....
We're moving to Houston, Texas. Yes even after Hurricane Ike! After spending the better half of this year interviewing far and wide, Ben has decided that Baylor Medical School is the place for him. We'll be packing up and heading out to Texas at the end of this year and Ben will start his academic position at the beginning of January. I still can't believe that this point in our lives is finally happening.......I thought Ben was never going to finish school! It's definately bittersweet. We're both really happy about the opportunity at Baylor but it will be a new experience for both of us moving out of California and leaving all of our family and friends. We've started the process of getting things ready here for the big move. I'm going to take a couple of months off when we first move to Texas and get us all settled before looking for a new job.

Thank you...
to Cindy for coming down for a week to help us with Riley and getting things ready to get our house on the market. Ben finally had eye surgery to correct his strabismus and we were lucky enough that his surgery coincided with Cindy's visit. The day of Ben's surgery was horrible and if Cindy wasn't here I'm not sure what we would have done. I woke up the day of Ben's surgery incrediably ill and had a fever and all the symptoms of the flu. Ben's surgery ended up running late and I had to wait over 4 hours until he was discharged. I don't even want to imagine what it would have been like sitting in the waiting room and the recovery room with Riley for 4 hours. Ben was a trooper and even though he was still seeing double he wanted to take advantage of having Cindy here so they painted the garage, painted all of the closet doors, and did touch up painting in all of the rooms. They got a lot of work done that week.

Labor Day....
Jamie came for a visit over Labor Day weekend and we had a great picnic at Griffith Park. Riley had a blast eating the turkey out of my sandwhich and playing with the cooler. Quentin and DiDi were also in town that weekend and they came over for a visit and brought along their little dog, Mushu. Riley was very intrigued by Mushu. We of course went to shabu shabu and ate like pigs! We had a great time and loved seeing everyone.

Riley at the park

Vist with Quentin, DiDi, and Mushu

LA County Fair....

We had to be out of our house today because people were coming by to look at the house so we decided to head over to the LA County Fair. Riley had a great time eating, watching people, looking at the animals, and riding the tram back to our car. Ben and I couldn't believe how expensive everything was and couldn't imagine what it would cost to take a family of four to the fair (especially when the kids want to play all of the games and go on all of the rides). Here's a breakdown of what we spent.......

Parking ($10) + Tickets ($34) + Coke ($5) + Beer ($9) + Sausage ($9) + Coke ($5) + Chips ($8) + Ice Cream Bar ($4) + Water ($3.50) = 4 hours of fun ($87.50)

Sunday, August 10, 2008

We're in trouble now.....

When we were at my parents' house last weekend Riley discovered the stairs and after a few attempts figured out how to climb them. He made it all the way up to the top of the entire flight of stairs. We are in so much trouble now!





Yeah for me!!!

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Babies, Babies, and More Babies

Something was going on 7 to 9 months ago because it seems like everyone we know is expecting. Lets's see if I can do this in order....there's Scott and Barbara (they just welcomed their little girl to the world), Dre and Suzy, Allan and Yolanda, Whit and Joyce, and Jethro and Michelle.

Two Saturdays ago we drove up to Fremont to go to a baby shower for our friends, Joyce and Whit. We had a great time seeing everyone and it was fun to watch Riley interact with all of the other little kids there.

Last Saturday on our way to Lake Tahoe, we stopped in Stockton to go to Suzy's baby shower. Riley had lots of fun playing with cousin Zen.

Here are some pictures of the showers.

The expecting couple - Whit and Joyce
Paper plates make great toys!
Gabe destroying Ben
Starting young.....
A picture of Leah and Gabe (we think this would be perfect for a photo you find in picture frames when you first buy them)
Aaah, what a cute family!
The girls and their boys after breakfast
Riley having a wild time on the new toy my parents bought him (the kid is spoiled!)
Zen and Riley - too cute!

Monday, July 14, 2008

A Wedding and a Swim Lesson

This past Sunday we went to a wedding of some friends of ours. The wedding was beautiful and we had a great time hanging out with our friends. The mother of the groom is a good friend of mine and I offered to make the wedding cake. I made marble cupcakes (groom liked chocolate and bride liked vanilla) with cream cheese frosting and made some chocolate butterflies for decorations. Here are some pictures of my adorable Riley in his Hawaiian shirt!
Riley and daddy; Riley trying to steal Damian's bracelet; Riley and Katie playing a game with sugar packets

Wedding cupcakes


Today was the first day of Daddy and Riley swim lessons at CalTech. Riley loves the water so we thought he would love going to swim lessons. He had a great time splashing around, playing with his toys, and "surfing" on his kickboard! Daddy had just as much fun!



Wednesday, July 9, 2008

A Year Ago Today...

...our beautiful little boy was born. What a difference a year has made. We celebrated his special day with some friends at Chuck E. Cheese. He was once again spoiled!

Riley when he was first born. It's amazing how much he has changed.
Meeting Chuck E. Cheese, waiting for everyone, getting a hug from mom, joining Bob the Builder on his tractor



Katie and Riley enjoying some pizza, Riley's lion cupcakes, Happy Birthday to Riley
Daddy and Riley playing, Katie going up the jungle gym, Charlene and Katie in the tubes
Charlene climbing through the tubes, Kat and Riley, Caroline and Riley
Riley having some cupcake, Yum Yum, Relaxing with Laura
Ready to go home