A Couple of Cormanys

Bundles of Furry Joy...

2010-05-02T15:06:00.000-07:00

This weekend Kyle and I went up to my mom's for an early Mother's day visit. When we were there we got to meet the neighbor's new batch of kitties!! If you know me, you know I was in hog heaven and had to be dragged away from the box of squirmy love. I nearly stuck one in my purse, but Kyle convinced me to leave them with their mama a little longer. Luckily, my mom gets to take one home with her!! Below is my mom's new love Beau (That's what I named him, I think that could change when she gets him home). He is a super cuddly, mellow, boy kitty and he stole my heart!!
This adorable little girl already has a home picked out otherwise she would have been mom's first choice. She was a little sweetie!
Here is mom-cat checking to see if Beau is alright after I walked too far away from the kitten box for her comfort.
Below are too little furry buddies that I could have just taken home right then and there! The little orange buddy is a boy kitty that I named Stanley. He was full of spunk. The grey girly reminded me so much of Lady when we first got her. Grey kitties are so pretty!!
Here's me and little Beau just bonding and snuggling. He just wanted to cuddle and cuddle. Such a cuddle bug!
This feisty little girl kept trying to climb up to my shoulders. Brave little one!

Meet your new PRL TA...

2010-05-02T15:00:00.000-07:00

Kyle!!

Kyle found our that he got the Teaching Assistantship at the Product Realization Lab at Stanford. This is the same lab that he spent so much time in this winter making his various inventions. Here he is looking happy and relieved. This TA position means that his tuition at Stanford is covered, which is super duper awesome!!

DNA party time in S8...

2010-05-02T14:56:00.000-07:00

My students are wrapping up their unit on DNA and genetics and we decorated up the room with their DNA projects and had ourselves a little DNA celebration Watson and Crick style :)

Visits from Dear friends and Peacocks...

2010-05-02T14:44:00.000-07:00

Later in March one of my favorite people came to SLO for her birthday. Brie and Jason made the trek all the way from Texas to visit and hang out for her special weekend. We got to play sand volleyball at Pismo and go wine tasting in Avila. I did not manage to take any pictures of my special visitors, but I sure did get some pics of the peacocks at the winery.They have the birds just wandering around the property and perching on the owner's house. I've never seen a peacock up close before and they are super pretty and LOUD! Needless to say, after we had done a bit of wine tasting the peacocks were getting pretty annoyed by us ;)

It's OFFICIALLY a girl!!

2010-05-02T14:31:00.000-07:00

When I went up to visit my family in March we got the exciting confirmation that Brett and Jill's baby is in fact, a girl!! My mom could not be more excited to finally get her granddaughter and Kyle and I are super stoked to have a niece!

My first present to baby Carlyn was a pink blanket. I've been dying to make one since my brothers started having kids and I finally get to make as many ruffly, girly, soft and cuddly blankets as I want!

Catching up...

2010-05-02T14:22:00.000-07:00

It seems like its been ages since I've had time to get on here and update! A lot has been going on in our neck of the woods. Lets start with a trip to Tahoe in March for Erin's birthday and a farewell trip for my brothers. Ryan is off to Spain now and Brett is in Texas for basic training.

Below is Brady sporting some pretty rad beanie hair as we wait to find the perfect sledding hill. The weather was sunny and amazing and just perfect for a family day. Here is Cole standing on the "Olympic podium". I asked him what place he wanted to be and he said "third!". So here is our proud third place olympic sledder. Here is mom, Jill, and Brady on the shuttle to the park.

Our Wedding Website

2010-04-11T19:17:00.000-07:00

TheKnot

Kyle and I have been working hard to tie together as many of the details of our wedding as possible the past month. Check out our *work in progress* website for the big event. Also, expect your invitations in the mail any time now!

90 Days to go :)

Date night...

2010-03-08T21:40:00.000-08:00

This Saturday Kyle and I decided to have a date night. Since we've been so busy lately it has been tough to get in some quality time. Luckily, this quarter at Stanford is drawing to a close and our schedules will become a bit more manageable. Kyle's project is coming along nicely and he's getting ready to present his design on the 15th. I'll definitely get some pictures of his progress up soon.

Save Our Schools

2010-03-02T19:54:00.000-08:00

http://www.standupforschools.org/

For anyone that is currently in school (preschool through college).

This Thursday, March 4 is "Start the day for Students". Wear black that day to let California know that we don't want any more cuts to Education. These cuts to education are not the way to improve things in California.

If you're not in school, but you've ever had a teacher that influenced your life, do it for them. Do it for your kids that will soon be going to school. Do it.

The Big Project...

2010-02-18T16:36:00.001-08:00

Kyle's big project for this quarter is a hand held volleyball pump. It doesn't look like much here because it is just a tube of plastic. But Kyle has been working hard to design and use all these fancy machines (you'll have to ask him what they're all called, though I'm pretty sure he's been throwing around the term 'lathe' quite a bit lately). At this point he has a working prototype and it looks pretty cool! I'll definitely post his final project when its all finished.

Hoping for a girl...

2010-02-18T16:26:00.000-08:00

That's right folks! I'm making a baby girl blankie. Of course, we haven't heard if Jill is having a boy or girl yet, but I'm taking things into my own hands (literally). I am going to start her collection of pink now so Jill can just deal with it! If in March we find out that I'm getting another nephew I guess this little thing will just have to go in the hope chest along with Sarrah's little girl blanket. (Sarrah, could you seriously get started on that for me please? I'm going to run out of room.)

Chopping Onions...

2010-02-18T16:13:00.000-08:00

... makes Kyle's eyes water. This one was particularly strong so being the engineer he is, he grabbed his snowboarding goggles. Normally I just stick my head in the freezer until I feel like I can chop again. Don't ask where I heard that, but I swear it works!

While Kyle and his mom slaved away in the kitchen my mom and I worked on creating a mess, I mean the guestbook for the wedding. Bella was lending a helping paw here and mom was explaining that kitties don't belong on the table.

The season for Love...

2010-02-16T13:46:00.000-08:00

is upon us!!

This Valentine's weekend Kyle and I introduced our two favorites to each other. Our moms. On Saturday I took the moms to Ano Nuevo to see the elephant seals. This is the prime time to visit if you want to see some serious fights over territory (because mating season starts around Valentine's day every year). We got to hike around and see some fat babies called "weaners" because they are being weaned right about now. The big boys definitely put on a show, chasing each other and fighting and snorting. Sadly I left my camera home so I didn't get any pictures or videos this time.

That night we had a massive slumber party with the moms plus Corey, Rhiannon, and Brock. Our apartment has never seen so much action! Kyle and I loved having people come visit though and we had fun hanging out with the family in our neck of the woods for the weekend!

On Sunday the moms and I got to do some fun wedding planning stuff. Kris volunteered to make desserts for the wedding so we decided against the traditional cake thing (yay!!) and we are going to do more yummy options like apple and strawberry pies, chocolate covered strawberries, and fruit tarts. Way better than cake if you ask me! While Kris and Kyle cooked up all the yummy farmer's market finds from that day, my mom and I started working on the guest book for the wedding. We're both super excited about this thing and we're putting a lot of work into it. I'll definitely post pictures as it gets closer to being finished so you all can start counting the seconds until you get to add your messages to it. You won't want to be left out of all the fun!

Yesterday, Kyle and I had a day off together for the first time in months. We enjoyed a sunny brunch outside at a yummy and fun new cafe and then spent most of the day putting together our new filing cabinet. It was so nice to actually spend time with each other that we didn't mind all the work! We both decided that we are pretty lucky to have each other as Valentines's :)

Five more months until...

2010-02-07T13:14:00.000-08:00

Kyle and I will be married and relaxing here! Kyle just booked our honeymoon to Fiji! I am so excited I can hardly stand it! We are so looking forward to seeing our close friends and family in one place this July. We have such a fun weekend planned for you all, and we are so excited to share our special day with our favorite people!

A Tail of Two Sisters...

2010-01-26T21:35:00.000-08:00

Lady and Bella, the two furry sisters lived in a tall tower.
Bella, the black kitten, loves her big sister Lady and tries to get her to play all day long.
Lady, the Grey Goddess, likes to lounge at the top of the tower.

Of course, Bella does her fair share of lounging.
This year the two kitty sisters made a new years resolution to share more and be nicer to each other. Here they are sipping their "Cat-sip" kitty milk from their Christmas stockings.
They even share their favorite shoe-lace toy. They've come a long way!

Cheer throughout the year...

2010-01-26T21:20:00.000-08:00

My spirits needed a little lifting after a rough Tuesday, so I thought I'd go back through my holiday photos and I found this. Gotta love the dancing kitten elves!

Sixteen...

2010-01-12T18:03:00.000-08:00

...is the number of addresses I've had in the last 10 years. Last night I got to thinking about how weird it will be for Kyle and I to live in the same apartment for another year and I realized that the reason is because I haven't lived anywhere for longer than a year in over a decade. With this realization, I decided to finally unpack the rest of my stuff. Yes, I have kept some of my belongings boxed up because it has been much easier to keep them boxed than to unpack them and repack to move again and again. It will be nice to see my old pictures and books again :)

Does this mean I'm settling down?

A little Reflection on 2009...

2010-01-10T13:42:00.000-08:00

Last year when I started this blog, Kyle and I were hoping to keep our families up to date with some of our life events, both big and small. I recently spent some time going back and looking at all the changes this year has brought and realized just how amazingly awesome last year was. I also realized that this blog has been a source of enjoyment to us both and in a way has served as a scrapbook of our lives.

We have come a long way in a year that's for sure! Last year at this time we were wondering where Kyle would go for school, if I would still have a job in the fall, where we would live for the rest of the year, how will we go about planning our upcoming wedding, if we should adopt another kitty, what would our new nephew be like, etc.

Now, Kyle is going to Stanford, I'm still working, we have a cute apartment in a good neighborhood, we have a pretty good handle on the wedding planning, a new kitty, and a beautiful and funny nephew, Brock. We definitely consider ourselves to be very fortunate.

2010 is sure to have more excitement in store for us and probably some difficulties too. Probably most exciting for us will be in July when we finally tie the knot! (As of today we have 6 months to go!) We are anxious to meet our next addition to the family when Brett and Jill have their new baby sometime in August. We will watch my best friend since elementary school marry the love of her life in September. We will be missing Ryan when he moves to Spain in March. We will begin a new lifestyle when Kyle takes leave from work to go back to school full time in September. We greet this year full of anticipation and new years resolutions to live healthily and responsibly. We can't wait to watch these expected events take place and enjoy the unexpected surprises to come our way. We are thankful to our amazing friends and family that support us, encourage us, and love us along the way. We wish everyone a wonderful 2010!

Happy New Year!!

A Cormany Christmas

2009-12-25T15:12:00.001-08:00

Kyle and I celebrated our first Cormany Christmas together this year. Last night we started off the celebration with all the cousins and grandparents by having a huge dinner and white elephant exchange. Kyle got a hand powered radio/flashlight/cell phone charger/toaster/satelite dish toy that he spent the entire night playing with. It was the perfect toy for a boy like Kyle :)

Auntie and Brock watching the big boys play basketball.

Auntie and Brock talking to Grandma Cormany.

The Cormany clan sitting down to dinner.

Last night Santa brought lots of presents for all the nephews and kitties. Lady and Bella got a nice breakfast of flaked salmon for being such nice girls this year. Kirk cooked us an awesome breakfast and then the present opening began!

Jesse, Kirk, Kyle, and Corey getting ready for breakfast.

The boys making the celebration a little bit more interesting...

The girls know how to party too :)

The result?

Boys having a little too much fun with my hot chocolate frother...

Brodie and Brock got lots of cute baby things and had fun unwrapping. Brock also had his first taste of rice cereal today. He was so confused and kept trying to suck on the spoon. He wasn't quite sure that the stuff on the spoon was food and after all the fuss he ended up eating from a bottle anyway. I'm sure he'll figure it out soon and be an eating machine!

Kyle and I got utterly spoiled by the Cormany bunch and we are now set to ride bikes and play guitars well into 2010. The boys are now all off taking a post present nap and Rhiannon is a busy little elf in the kitchen making shepard's pie for dinner. Brock is enjoying the blankie I made him in the living room. He's getting to have such a cute personality, cutie pants!

Kyle and Kirk all tuckered out.

Brock hangin on his Clifford blankie.

It was a fun Christmas morning with new traditions and awesome family. We missed all the Peterson bunch today, but can't wait to see everyone next week!

Merry Christmas!!

O' Christmas Tree!!!

2009-11-28T12:59:00.001-08:00

Kyle and I got our first Christmas Tree this year!

We finally get to use the ornaments that Kyle's grandparents gave us for Christmas a couple years ago! We are excited to start building up a collection of Christmas ornaments for our little family, and these are the perfect ones to start it off!

The kitties are very interested in this new toy. Since we got a living Christmas tree, they love to dig in the dirt (since they never get to do that in the house). They also like to chew on the needlesand bat at the ornaments. So far nobody has tried to climb the tree, but I'm sure it will happen! We're hoping that they don't pick on the tree too much so it will stay beautiful to put on our balcony. We hope it does well enough in a pot so we can keep it and plant it somewhere special!This is Bella's first Christmas so she is very excited about all the new decorations I've put up around the house. We decorated her stocking and hung it next to Lady's so we can fill it with kitty treats on Christmas eve. We are going to get her a kitty bed for Christmas so she stops stealing Lady's. Lady is asking for a kitty condo for christmas. We'll see if Kyle has time to put one together (cross your fingers!)
Since we don't have a chimney for Santa to fly down, we figure he'll come in through the window. We hung the stockings next to the tree so he'll see them when he puts the presents there ;)
We're really excited about the holidays this year and we can't wait to see family and friends! Let the holidays begin!

Thankful

2009-11-28T12:49:00.000-08:00

This year Kyle and I stayed home and enjoyed the holiday with each other. Kyle went out for a bike ride during the day and I surprised him with Thanksgiving dinner that evening. It was really nice to enjoy a nice dinner at home and relax together. We had quite the feast for two people, which means tons of leftovers!

This has been an awesome year for us and we are so happy to have time off to think about all the good stuff and forget about the day to day stress. We're thankful to have each other and our cute little apartment for the kitties to roam around in. We are thankful for all our family and friends. We missed hanging out with everyone this year! We love you all and hope you had a great holiday weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving!

You might be a cat lady if...

2009-11-22T16:22:00.000-08:00

...Your co-workers make you a "litter box" cake for your birthday. Yes, this disgusting looking creation is actually made of cake (and tootsie rolls). Believe it or not it tasted delicious!!

You might be a cat lady if...... most of your birthday presents have a cat theme. (and you love it!)
Check out this mirror that Kyle's mom made for me.

Each little square is handmade with a cute design and she put Lady and Bella on each of the corners.

This year my birthday was a little rough because I am still getting over the flu. We postponed my birthday dinner until Saturday and Kyle took me out to one of our favorite restaurants, Flemings. It was sooo delicious! Even though I was sick, it was still a good birthday because of all my awesome family and friends that sent messages and called to wish me a great day. Thanks for all the sweet words guys. I love you all!These are my beautiful roses that Kyle brought me. Sweetie :)

When I got home from work I had these waiting by the door. Thanks Ry and Erin! Awesome surprise :)

Unexpected Visitors!

2009-11-08T15:18:00.000-08:00

This weekend Rhiannon and Corey came up to the bay to help Corey's sister move in to her new place in Palo Alto. Since they were in town we went and had dinner at Tracy and Nolan's new place. We didn't know they were coming so it was an unexpected and pleasant surprise to get to see them and the little "Brockstar". He is 3 months old now and even cuter than ever!

Here is Lady sniffing at the baby. She is very confused.

He was really worn out on Saturday night from all the excitement, but he was still a trooper and let me play with him a bit! Everybody stayed at our place last night and the kitties had a fun time investigating all the baby equipment. Bella kept wanting to snuggle up to Brock in his little basinet, so we kept the kitties locked up tight for the evening!

What's up in S-8 this year?

2009-11-08T15:10:00.000-08:00

On our way back down from Sacramento, Kyle and I brought our fish tank back home from its extended stay at Ryan and Erin's house. We decided to put it in my classroom since there's no space for it in our apartment (much to the disappointment of the kitties!)

I was surprised how excited my students were to have a new addition to the classroom! It has now become a competition amongst my classes as to who gets to name the fishies. I told each class that they could name one if everyone had their homework in on time (a challenge for my freshmen). I said this jokingly thinking that they could care less about naming some fish, but apparently they feel that they will become famous if they get to name the most fish or something because it has become quite the motivation for them! So far we have two fish that are due to be named (we have to have a class vote before the final name is chosen). This is very serious stuff! So far we have the two tetras that Ry and Erin bought and I added two dalmation mollies, and some red and black platys. I love having mollies and platys because they have live babies. My students are really excited about this as well and keep asking if they can take the babies home (I don't have the heart to tell them that I only bought females).

While I had my camera at school I thought I'd take some pics of my setup this year...

Here are a couple of my students working on their "Seasons" experiment. We are studying Ecology and climate right now. (They're testing to see how the temperature at the equator and the poles of the planet changes as you change the tilt of the Earth's axis by shining a heat lamp on a globe with thermometers placed in several places on "Earth")

Halloween!

2009-11-08T14:44:00.000-08:00

This Halloween Kyle and I went to go visit the nephews up north. It was the first time I got to go trick or treating with any of my nephews on Halloween since it fell on a Saturday this year! Kyle and I joined in the festivities by dressing up as a slutty sorority girl (Kyle) and a Spanish Señorita (me).

Kyle's costume was so ridiculous, especially when he carried around a basket to collect candy and a beer as he trick or treated with my nephews. When we were in the grocery store picking up some rum for Ryan's spiked spiced apple cider, everyone was either horrified by the sight of my cross-dressing fiance or dying of laughter. Some of the Bel Air workers were taking photos of kids in their costumes and they snapped one of my mom the pumpkin and Kyle to hang on the wall. I'm so glad my family has a sense of humor!

The little ones were adorable in their costumes. Hayden was a little clown just like his dad was when he was his age. Brady was a little cowboy, Cole was a pirate, and Isaiah was the grim reaper. Mom made Brady and Hayden's costumes and they were so adorable. There really is something special about a homemade Halloween costume. One of my favorite things about growing up was picking my costume and showing it off once my mom finished making it. I'm sure all the little guys love having something made especially for them.

Tucker even got a little doggy version of Hayden's costume (though he ate the pom-pom off the top of his hat as soon as he was left unattended). After the trick-or-treating we all relaxed in the front yard and ate and talked with all the neighbors. We were all so glad to have Ryan safe and sound back from Afghanistan (and making us yummy food) again! Perfect Halloween if you ask me!

Candice and Able's Wedding

2009-11-08T14:10:00.000-08:00

Kyle and I joined his family in Nipomo at his cousin Candice's wedding on October 17th. It was a sweet ceremony and everything was so beautiful. Check out that view over the valley and off to the ocean! We were also lucky enough to catch an awesome sunset - one of the prettiest I've seen since we were in Hawaii!

The Newest Nephew!!

2009-10-22T21:32:00.000-07:00

Kyle and I finally got to hang out with Brock, the newest little man in the family. He is such a chill baby! He is so cuddly and cute! He doesn't mind having Auntie hold him and snuggle him and he even gave me a smile! Brock is 2 months old now and starting to get all cute and chubby. We only got a few pics of him this time, but I'm sure there will be many more to come:)Here is Brock hangin out with Uncle Kyle. He makes the cutest little grumpy man faces :)

This is his little "sup" face. I can tell he's going to be such a cool little guy!

Below is a video of me feeding Brock a little snack. That's right folks, we actually have photographic evidence of me having a small maternal moment, haha.

Helpful Kitten

2009-10-22T21:07:00.000-07:00

Bella and Lady continue to pretend not to love each other, but every once in a while I catch them being cute and snuggly with each other. Bella is probably the more lovey of the sisters (for those of you familiar with Lady's tough love, you know this to be true). Bella has earned the nickname "Bat-Cat" at home partially because of her bat-like appearance, and partly because she is always being so "helpful" around the house much like a pint sized super hero kitten. Below, Bella is helping to grade lab reports. She carefully points out errors for me to mark...

... or is she playing with one of Kyle's earplugs that she likes to steal out of his ears in the mornings? Hard to tell...

... or was she creating a diversion for Lady to steal a sip of milk from my glass?

Either way she helped Lady clean off the extra milk from her whiskers.

Such a sweet helpful kitten:)

Its the Pumpkin time of year!

2009-10-22T20:50:00.001-07:00

Fall!! One of my favorite times of year:) Unfortunately, Kyle and I have been far too busy to do any real pumpkin patch hunting, but I did get a good punkin at Trader Joe's the other day. The girls thought it was a very interesting new toy for a bit. I bet they'll be even more interested when we carve the big fella.

Oh What a Month...

2009-10-02T18:46:00.001-07:00

So my goal of updating the blog at least once a month fell a little short this month... But for those of you out there that still like to check in I'll catch you up.

I started out the month with a visit up to Sac to go wedding dress shopping with Lindsey. The trip was a success and she's got her dress all ordered up! It is beautiful and it makes her look so amazing. I of course cried. I didn't even cry when I picked out my own dress, but as soon as Lindsey puts on a veil I am a complete mess.

When I was there I got to babysit the nephews with my mom, and man are they stinkin adorable!
Here is Hayden taking a little swim with Grammie. He and Isaiah were all about the water that night since it had been a typical billion degree day in Sac.

Isaiah was happy to show of his mad somersaulting skills now that he doesn't have a cast on. Hayden on the other hand was all about the kicking.

As for the rest of the month its pretty much been work work work for Kyle and I. Kyle finally started school, so he is getting a taste of what grad school is all about plus balancing his career with homework and lecture schedules. I am taking on some new responsibilities at work this year developing curriculum for our target populations and collaborating with other sheltered bio teachers in the district.

We did take some time out to go to a Giants game when they played the Dodgers. It was Kyle's first major league game and it was a perfect day. The weather was awesome, the Giants won, and it was free hat day!

Here's the gang at the game. Note Dara, the lone Dodger fan in the group. Kyle and I played along and wore our free Giants hats even though we're not really loyal to either team.
The only thing I really cared about was eating some classic ball park food. I disgusted Natalie and Greg by ordering up some yummy nachos with that bright yellow fake cheese. To be honest I have been craving them ever since I saw pics of my nephew Hayden covered in the stuff. Don't ask why, but that fake cheese is sooo yummy! Even Kyle had some :)

The City That Never Sleeps

2009-08-30T20:12:00.001-07:00

Bright eyed and bushy tailed! Ready to hit the city after a day of relaxing in Long Island. Kyle and I get a taste of public transit in NY. We got a pretty sweet view of the Manhattan skyline on the train ride. We stopped at Penn Station right next to Madison Square Garden, Home of the Knicks! We had lunch from a nearby deli right on the steps. After that, we just took the subway to random parts of the city to get a little taste of New York

If I had to pick a favorite part, I would have to say Central Park. I could walk around that place for an entire day and not get tired of it. Here I am picking Hans Christian Anderson's nose. Classy. They have a reading hour here during the week. How awesome is that!

"Lovers"
Kyle and I hanging out in an amphitheater in Central Park. Just before this we watched some street performers do some pretty sweet break dancing.

Kyle, Me, and Matt walking through Central Park. We were overlooking a huge open grassy field filled with sunbathers. It was a quiet zone so most people were napping or eating picnics. If not for the skyscrapers jutting above the trees you would think you were not even in the city.

This is a Police Station! I could spend a few years here just taking pictures of all the amazing buildings. For anyone that loves architecture NY is awesome!

Sooo many people! If not for the few extra million people, I could so live in NY. the whole place is just packed.

After a long day and a few miles of walking, We headed back to LI on the train. Kyle was feeling a little silly...

Why would anyone in their right mind be licking that disgusting beard? Kyle and his friends have a special bond lets just say that.

Like I said, special bond. Here is Kyle and Matt sharing a drunken moment in the middle of the night while playing an extremely silly game of HORSE and running through the sprinklers. I guess it really is the city that never sleeps.

We had so much fun and we could have really used a few more days/weeks/months there. Thanks Matt for being our tour guide and letting us stay. We will definitely be back!

Dolphins at Half Moon Bay

2009-08-10T21:37:00.000-07:00

Today I went to Half Moon Bay with Natalie to escape the heat. It was a whopping 98 degrees here in Palo Alto today (I know you poor NorCal people deal with that all the time, I'll stop whining).

When we got there it was pretty foggy, but we did catch a glimpse of some awesome marine life! We saw seals and a whole pod of dolphins. I'm not sure what kind they were, but they were playing and eating and hanging out right by the shore the entire time we were there. It was a pretty amazing sight!

I got a couple videos of them, but I posted the shorter one. Enjoy!

Out to the Seashore

2009-08-05T19:45:00.000-07:00

We stopped at a nice vista on our way to MacKerricher State Park to catch a peek of the beautiful view and to ease our tummies from the winding road trip.

At the visitor's center we stopped to take a look at the whale skeleton. Here's Hayden next to the whale's humerus.

We looked at all the whale's "arm" bones and Isaiah showed us where he broke his radius and ulna. We also saw where Ry broke his scapula.

These are the remnants of the whales "leg" bones. Since they no longer have a function, they're called vestigial structures.

The Peterson's on their way out to the tide pools.

It was tough to get too many pictures of the critters in the tide pools, but I got a few that turned out. The green looking blobs are sea anenomes that are closed up to keep from drying out. The shells belong to the hermit crabs that stole them from snails. We saw the crabs fighting over bigger shells that they wanted to move into and teeny tiny crabs the size of an ant running around all the kelp and trying not to get eaten by the big guys.

Here you can barely sea a purpley sea star clinging to the rock.

After the tidepools we went out to Glass Beach. I remembered going here in junior high and the beach was all colored glass that was left from when the area was used as a dump. There was still a little bit of glass, but it was mostly just a bunch of of metal and junk...

You can see old pieces of cars and who knows what else. The water here is all discolored from the metals dissolving and leaching into the ocean.
So sad...

It was kind of a sad way to end the trip. I hate when you have a memory of a place and then you go back to find that it wasn't like you thought it was originally. At least I can use this to show my students and help them learn to respect the planet.

More Camping...

2009-08-05T19:24:00.000-07:00

We didn't take many photos of camping except of Hayden, so as we were cleaning up Kyle took some shots of the site. Here's Bill and Ryan doing a final sweep to make sure we didn't leave anything...

I'm helping out a lot by practicing balance beam on a fallen tree...

Poor Tucker was the only one that didn't get to shower at the campsite.

Isaiah has Ryan's luck when it comes to injuring himself. He had to deal with a broken arm the entire time and try to do the impossible for a 10 year old while camping - keep his cast clean and dry.

Erin's Worst Nightmare...

2009-08-05T19:00:00.001-07:00

Dirty BABY!! AAAAAHHHH!

Hayden had such a blast during our camping trip rolling in the dirt, eating the dirt, and throwing the dirt. Perhaps his favorite thing of all was S'more time! He was a little hesitant at first, but when he got a taste of all that sugar...

He was all smiles! Then he was so hyper that he kept the entire campground entertained with his baby jabbering all night.

Here's Hayden and all his dirty baby glory hanging out by Isaiah's tent.

He is so cute when he plays Peek-A-Boo!

Here's the poor guy right before I smacked him in the face to kill those two mosquitos feasting on his forehead. Poor thing had bites all over his face no matter how much we sprayed him. Bugs must love Dirty Baby!

After a day of letting him get as dirty as he could, Erin just couldn't take it anymore and we had to give him a bath in one of our camping boxes. He was having a blast splashing anyone that came near his impromtu bathtub. What a cute lil nephew I have!

Disc Golf in SLO

2009-07-30T15:21:00.001-07:00

Kyle and I headed down to SLO for a nice relaxing weekend to hang out with Rhiannon and Corey before Brock makes his big appearance. When we were there we went out to Sinsheimer Park to play some disc golf.

Its too bad we didn't get any pictures of me playing, because I have such "creative" form. In fact, at the first hole I had such a powerful follow through that I fell off the platform and landed right on my back. Kyle was pretty impressed.

Here's a shot of the 8th hole with Bishop's Peak in the background. Despite my creative form I actually ended up kicking Kyle's butt on a few of the holes. If only I could do that in real golf!

Beautiful SLO at sunset. I hope someday we can move back here!

YeeHaw!! Howdy from Texas Ya'll!

2009-07-22T14:10:00.000-07:00

Cowgirl Jessica here, saying hi from the Stockyards in Fort Worth Texas! I'm out here visiting the southern belle, Brie and enjoying some of the hot Texas summer!

Looks like we got here just in time to see some Texas Longhorns being driven down East Exchange Avenue. This is part of the daily cattle drive through this historic part of the city.

After this we'll be sure to grab some awesome Texas BBQ and check out all the shopping! (This is me after all!)

One year to go!

2009-07-15T16:42:00.000-07:00

One year to go until Kyle and I officially become the Cormany Couple!

Kyle, Mom, and I went down to SLO for the weekend to see family and enjoy the beautiful weather.

Kyle was such a good sport listening to my mom and I talk wedding all weekend as we measured the yard, and shopped for my dress, and picked out plants for centerpieces, etc... He was even a good enough sport to pose for some pictures.

I can't lie, the first time I set foot in this yard (after dating Kyle for only a week) I knew I wanted to get married on these steps. And in one year from now, we'll be back here saying our vows! I'm so thankful that Kirk and Candace are letting us get married at their beautiful home. I feel like our day will be so much more special because we are sharing it with them.

Lost in the Woods

2009-07-15T14:00:00.000-07:00

Natalie and I decided to beat the heat and head out for a nice hike through some redwoods. We packed snacks, highlighted a map of our trails, and donned our most comfy shoes for a nice afternoon trek. All was going nicely except none of the trails seemed to make much sense when we looked at our map and it was taking us much longer to find our destination (a field filled with ladybugs) than we expected.

Just when we were thinking we were lost we saw a sign!

Hmm... The Iverson trail. One of the trails we were looking for, but the sign was on the ground and there was no way to tell which direction to take. So we chose to keep on trekkin...
And then we saw this!

All the signs had been pulled out! No wonder we were lost.

We came to a creek and decided to cross because it looked promising on the other side and we didn't want to backtrack all the way to the beginning. After I saw Natalie get her shoes all wet by stepping on some wobbly rocks I decided to take the fallen log across. Looks like I still have some gymnast in me!

Once we climbed the bank of the creek and got to the main road we saw the backs of a whole bunch of signs.

These would have been helpful! Apparently we had missed a turn and ended up on a trail that was no longer open. Yikes! Well, we did find our field eventually, but there were no ladybugs. However, we did find some liverworts (a non-vascular plant that is similar to a moss). Yeah, we're cool science teachers, haha. Well, it was a pretty fun hike even though we got lost in the woods for a bit!

Sisterly Love

2009-06-30T12:34:00.000-07:00

Lady and Bella are slowly getting used to each other. Bella wants to do everything that Lady does, and Lady is having to get used to sharing all of her toys. As you can see below, it doesn't always go well for Bella.

"Hi Lady! Whatcha doin?"

"I'm scratching on my scratcher. You can't play!"

"RRrrrarr! Hisssss! Get away from my scratcher Bella!"

Every once in a while we'll catch Lady being a good sister by sharing her bed. Here is Bella doing her best sleepy Lady impression.

Here are our two beauties taking a little cat nap. At least they can both agree that sleeping for most of the day is the way to go! Gotta love being a cat!

FREEDOM!!

2009-06-17T09:26:00.000-07:00

Kind of...

I don't think that it has quite set in yet that I'm on summer break. That could be partially because Kyle has been keeping me insanely busy, or that Lindsey has seriously kicked my butt into wedding planning mode, or the fact that I still have work to do for school.

Either way, my first weekend of "freedom" started off with crashing a birthday party of complete strangers. Very unKyle-like, but it turned out to be a fun time between the undergrad type drinking games and the bounce house in the backyard. It was fun to meet young people in our area and just hang out for a change. Saturday Kyle decided that we should beet the drinking blues by having brunch in downtown Menlo Park and then catching a movie. We went to see Star Trek, which I had my doubts about, but it was actually really good. We finished up the weekend by going car shopping for me. I drove a couple and decided to rule out a Corolla as an option and consider the Lexus IS 250. We also saw the Camaro that Kyle wants to get, and I was pretty impressed!

On Monday, Linds got here for some serious wedding planning. She pulls out her super organized binders- one for my wedding and one for hers and I'm already overwhelmed. She is one heck of a maid of honor though, so she helped me figure out some issues and gave me some assignments to get done by the end of the month. On Tuesday, after we had established that Lady can't handle company and Lindsey really does in fact HATE cats we went dress shopping. This time Linds got to join in the fun and she found a few really beautiful ones. I found one that I'm really excited about, but we'll have to see if it passes the mom inspection first!

Yeah, summer break is great...

Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas!

2009-06-17T09:10:00.000-07:00

This year's Vegas trip was a complete blast. I got to room with Brie and Erin, the two Vegas trip newbies. It was so much fun to hang out with the girls and have no responsibility whatsoever. We spent pretty much all our time downtown this year since we were having too much fun to make it down to the strip. Among the highlights for me were watching mom scream at the cab driver that he was a huge A-hole, watching the almost brawl in the hot tub, and cracking up with the girls as we danced on the bar at Gold Diggers.

As always though it was fun to see all the ladies together and hear their stories from the year and check out the shoes from this year's theme: Ugly Shoes.

Maybe next year I'll be able to keep up with all the "mommies gone wild" and actually stay up past 2!

One Week To Go!!

2009-06-08T13:17:00.000-07:00

This is the last week of school!!! I think I finally started to realize it when my students started asking me to sign their yearbooks today. Weird! I totally remember how exciting the last week of school was and how it seemed like finals were far less important than making sure every single friend had signed "Have a good summer!" in my yearbook.

I had to say goodbye to my seniors today because they're off to graduation practice (and their adult lives!). It was really hard to see them go! I think I might be feeling just a little sentimental since this is my first year, but these kids have been my life for the last 10 months and it will be weird to not see them every day. Don't worry about me though, I'm sure 2 months off will cure that in no time! So, here's to the class of 2009, and my first year as a teacher. By the way, I totally bought a yearbook, haha!

Weekend at Grammie's!

2009-05-25T20:02:00.000-07:00

After sending Lindsey and Bobby off to the Caribbean, Kyle and I headed up to Lincoln to visit with the family. Kyle and the nephews made good use of mom's pool and the rest of us enjoyed the sun and the food!

Brady is a daredevil in the pool and loved jumping right in. He was shivering with cold, but he kept asking Kyle to catch him. He is still figuring out the whole counting thing and and kept me and Jill cracking up when he would count down "two...two....two..."

Zaya showed Cole how to warm up on the cement before going back into the water.

Here's Kyle and Zaya getting ready for the Badminton tournament. It was quite the event with Ryan trying not to re-injure his ribs and the mandatory "tennis noises" with each hit.

I think Ryan and Erin ended up being the champions, broken bones and all!

After all the playing in the sun it was BBQ time! Ryan and mom cooked up some pretty amazing dinner, then Jill showed her board game prowess and dominated Kyle, Erin, and I in Sorry!

And another one gone...

2009-05-25T19:50:00.000-07:00

This Thursday I got a pix message from Linds...."I'm engaged!" was all it said, with a picture of her brand new stone! After she and Bobby finished dinner Linds called to tell me the whole story and ask if I would be her maid of honor. Woohoo! I am so excited! We've always talked about this "grown up" stuff and it seems so cool that we get to plan our weddings together. We're going to start by going wedding dress shopping together in Vegas!!

Here's the new Grad (she just finished her Master's at Sac State) and me celebrating all her accomplishments and her engagement!

Lindsey and Bobby getting ready to go on their cruise!

The Brides to be!!

Boys and their Toys

2009-05-17T09:00:00.001-07:00

On our recent SLO trip, Kyle and Corey got plenty of time to go do boy stuff like surf and ride bikes. Corey took this picture of Kyle going off a jump when they were riding up near Cuesta Ridge. It's hard to see, but he's actually airborne. What he didn't take a picture of is the fact that Kyle ate dirt when he crash landed. He was fine, just a little scratched up. According to Kyle, the most important thing is that the bike is unharmed. Oy!

Happy Birthday Lady

2009-05-10T16:10:00.000-07:00

Lady came into the world two years ago on Mother's Day. She was teeny and helpless and her mom didn't know how to care for her.

When she was 4 weeks old she came to live with Kyle and I and we fed her from a bottle until she learned how to eat.

We have loved her like our own for two years now and watched her grow into the beautiful kitty she is now.

For her birthday we got her a kitty scratcher to replace the one that got broken in the move. Here she is showing her appreciation...

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T15:44:00.000-07:00

The perfect way to celebrate Mother's Day is to adopt! A kitten that is! Kyle and I have been looking to adopt a sister for Lady for a little while now and this weekend we got to go meet Bella, our new addition. She is a beautiful little black kitty with a spunky attitude and TONS of energy. She was found inside a Nike shoe box with the lid shut and brought to a foster home where she has been able to grow and play with some other foster kitties. Little Bella is only 5 weeks old so we can't take her home for another 3 weeks. Hopefully Lady will adjust well to being a big sister and teach Bella the ropes. Here are some pics of our new baby girl!Bella playing with Kyle at the foster house.

Engagement Pics!

2009-04-28T16:20:00.000-07:00

Hi all!

While Kyle and I were in Maui we had our engagement pictures taken. If you didn't get the email invite to view them let me know and I'll forward it to you. We need to pick 50 of our favorites (those are the ones we get the negatives for). Let us know which ones you like and we'll try to get those ones. I promise I will eventually post the dolphin and whale vids from the trip. I'm trying to edit them down. They are currently about 10 minutes long!

Much love!

Jess and Kyle

Last day in paradise

2009-04-16T22:54:00.000-07:00

On Thursday we had to say goodbye to Maui. We spent the last day hanging around Kaanapali picnicing, playing frisbee, and relaxing at the beach.

Since our flight didn't leave until almost 11 pm we took our time getting to the airport. We stopped at a local beach to watch the sun go down one last time. It was pretty cloudy, but it was still warm enough to play in the water a bit. Afterwards, I asked Kyle to carry me back to the car because I didn't want to get sandy feet.

Unfortunately, when we got to the parking lot, our rental car was not there. We had left all our luggage, Kyle's wallet, and our plane tickets in the car so we were pretty worried. We searched the whole lot (which was fairly empty) and pressed the panic button on the keys. No sound. A couple near us noticed our frantic faces and tried to help us look again. Still no luck. So, we called 911 to tell them that our car must have been stolen.

Just as we were walking toward the highway to check out the adjacent lot, a sudden sinking feeling crept into my stomach. "Hey Kyle," I asked. "Are you sure we drove to this beach?" He stops dead in his tracks (still on the phone with 911 mind you). "Uh, hang on. There's a possibility that the car is at our hotel." Off he runs to confirm that, yes indeed, we had left our car safely at the hotel right next to the beach where we walked to watch the sunset.

Feeling silly and more than just a little bit embarrassed, we apologized to the 911 operator and headed off to the airport. Since we still had some time to kill we stopped for some ice cream cones and noticed an arcade nearby. We spent our last little bit of cash on a ski ball tournament. I dominated of course and we cashed in our tickets for a bouncy ball and a GIANT deck of cards. Money and time well spent if you ask me.

False alarm 911 calls aside, Maui was a blast. It gave us a chance to spend some quality time together and get out of the bay on a real vacation. It was definitely the best "engagement-moon" I could ever ask for!

Boat trip to Lanai

2009-04-15T18:39:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday Kyle and I went on a snorkeling trip to Lanai to hopefully see some whales and dolphins. Here's what we saw...

Beach Day!

2009-04-14T18:17:00.000-07:00

Kyle and I spent a good portion of our time in Maui just being beach bums. Here are some pics of us just goofing around. Here's Kyle doing his best "Baywatch" run. This is me surfing back to shore in my tube with my snorkel mask on. Classy. Here we are giving our best model faces. This one is "Blue Steel". Here I am trying my best to entice some whales to show up. I really want to see one!After all that we worked up quite an appetite. We tried out a restaurant called Kimo's. It was soo yummy and we had an awesome view of the harbor.

We caught the sunset on our way home. Definitely a beautiful day in paradise!

Maui No Ka Oi

2009-04-14T17:52:00.000-07:00

On Monday, Kyle and I tested out our new snorkeling equipment at Honolua Bay. We got to see lots of reef and cool fish. I spotted an octopus, a needlefish, some butterfly fish, and some tuna. Kyle saw some puffer fish, and other tropical fish that I couldn't recognize. We both saw the Humuhumunukunukuapua'a fish several times (Hawaii's state fish). I totally recognized it from when I was a kid and my dad taught me how to say it when we went to Maui.

After snorkeling we drove down to Charley Young Beach and met up with a photographer to get our engagement pictures taken. (We'll have them up on a website in a few weeks for your viewing pleasure). Neither of us has had professional pictures taken before so it was kind of fun. Hopefully we got some really good sunset pictures!

On our way to Lahaina to pick up a frisbee for Kyle (it wouldn't be right if he couldn't play frisbee on the beach!) we saw this lady riding with her dog on her moped. We thought it was so hilarious we had to share.

Easter Luau

2009-04-12T13:39:00.000-07:00

We winded down our first day in Maui with an Easter Luau called The Feast at Lele. At this luau they served food from four polynesian areas - Hawaii, New Zealand, Tahiti, and Samoa. Each course was followed by a dance from that region and a little bit of history about each place. Foodies beware - delicious details to follow...

The first course was from Hawaii and it was swordfish, asparagus and hearts of palm, and of course kalu'a pork - pork roasted in an underground imu. I could have stopped eating right then, it was so delicious.

Next up, from New Zealand, was a duck salad, roasted mushrooms and sweet potatoes, and kuku patties which were scallops, shrimp, and salmon all together with a corn relish and somewhat resembled a crab cake. Yum-my.

From Tahiti we were treated with Fafa which is steamed chicken wrapped in taro leaf with some more delicious scallops. I think the Tahitian dancers were Kyle's favorite. Maybe you can see why!

The Samoan feast included Supasui, which is grilled teriyaki steak and shrimp and avocado with lilikoi. I was so stuffed by this point that I couldn't even finish my dessert! We left very full and very sleepy, but Kyle wasn't too tired to get a picture with the "coconut girls" as he called them.

Lahaina and the Banyan Tree

2009-04-12T12:56:00.000-07:00

After taking in all the sun that our snow white complexions would allow us in one day (I know- it is ridiculously sad how pale we are) we headed down to Lahaina to do some good old fashioned tourism.

Along the way we came across this awesome tree called a Banyan tree. It was planted in 1873 and the original tree has branched out and sent roots down to the ground that have grown into what almost look like new tree trunks. It is difficult to describe, but pretty awesome to see.
This looks like a separate group of trees, but it is actually where the original tree has sent down roots into the ground to create a new trunk. This is one of the largest Banyan trees in the world and covers about 2/3 of an acre.

Aloha Maui!

2009-04-12T12:23:00.000-07:00

Kyle and I are off on our first real vacation together! We have been telling everyone that we're "engagement-mooning" when they ask if it is our honeymoon. (It seems like they aren't satisfied when we tell them we're just taking a much needed break from work!)
This was Kyle's first time flying over the ocean, so he was pretty excited. He got plenty of pictures of the clouds and the ocean, which is pretty much all there is to see when you fly over the Pacific. When we arrived it was just before sunset which would have been perfect except we missed it because we were inside taking care of rental car stuff (Doh!).
The next morning was our first real glimpse of Maui. Our first stop? Safeway of course. (This is Kyle we're talking about.) After making sure we had enough grub to keep Kyle satisfied for the week we took our first walk down to the beach...

Dropping off the "kid"

2009-04-12T10:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we said a nearly tearful goodbye to Lady as we dropped her off at the kitten-sitter. Natalie and Greg are watching her while we are in Hawaii (Thank you guys!).

"Why can't I go to Hawaii too? Don't make me go the the kitten-sitter!"

At first she was a little hesitant, but once she was in the house she got comfortable right away. She started by jumping into Natalie's easter basket and getting up on their kitchen counter. Once Kyle had finished unloading all her stuff (you know, the litter box, the ergonomic food dish, the watering fountain, the kitten tent, the kitten bed, and the snuggle blanket, plus her scratching post and all her toys) we had to head off and pack our stuff!

Off we go!

Another one bites the dust

2009-04-05T14:36:00.000-07:00

Our friend Crista got married this weekend in Walnut Creek. Kyle got to see all his good friends from High School. It was quite the Anderson High reunion. Here's me and Matt and the "Bridesman" Robert.

Here's all the crazy Anderson kids and the beautiful and (buff) bride, Crista.

The world famous Richard Horner getting a lift from the guys. He later treated us to an acoustic performance with his guitar at Casa de Jorgenson.
Me and Kyle partying the night away.

Ultimate Wednesdays

2009-04-05T14:02:00.000-07:00

Kyle finally talked me into joining the weekly ultimate frisbee game he has with his coworkers. I can't believe how much fun I ended up having, and how sore I was the next day!
Here's Coach Kyle telling all us newbies the rules. The first game was a huge confusing mess and our team lost miserably. The next game we "reorganized" the teams. I think this was Kyle's way of trading me!

Aloha!

2009-03-22T22:23:00.000-07:00

Big News!!

Kyle and I are going to Maui!!

We're taking off during my spring break and we're going to soak up the sun. I'm so excited I can't stand it!

Aloha!

Trippin on Catnip

2009-03-16T19:43:00.001-07:00

Lady got a care package today from Grandma Cormany with a homemade catnip toy! Here she is just moments after opening it...

Just afterward she ran immediately to her food bowl and chowed down.

Coincidence?

Kitty Dentist

2009-03-16T11:19:00.001-07:00

Lady had her first trip to the kitty dentist on Thursday. She now has beautiful kitty teeth, but they had to shave her arm for the IV which did not make her very happy. The good news is that her blood tests (the real reason for the visit) all came back normal. I guess maybe she really does just have kitten acid reflux.

Here is Lady recuperating at home with her little yellow bandage. She seems to be back to her old ways now; tearing around the house and investigating everything. Other than being a little bit more snuggly and a little less furry on one arm, she is as good as new!

Almost finished moving!

2009-03-09T12:34:00.000-07:00

Kyle and I are finally almost all settled into the new place! Last weekend we finished cleaning out the old apartment and turning in our keys. I am so glad I never have to go back to that place again! The new place is starting to come together as well. Here's Lady overseeing the progress from her kitten house.

Here is the "dry bar" that I love. We'll have to have a housewarming party soon so we can put it to good use!
The living room as viewed from the couch. Yes that is FRIENDS on the TV there, haha. The blue is the color Kyle and I chose to paint the living room. It was a compromise of the color I wanted (lighter and more green) and the color Kyle wanted (deep blue). I am starting to like it actually. It is called Pleasant View. Perfect for a little love nest:)

Lady is loving it, so we know we chose well. Her new favorite place to hang out is the back of our new couch (Ryan's beloved old couch). I remember that Cappy liked to lay there as well, so maybe its just a cat thing. Kyle already has a favorite seat on the couch and go figure, that Lady's favorite spot is on his headrest. She is such a Daddy's girl!
Moving is hard work guys!

Ano Nuevo

2009-02-19T13:52:00.000-08:00

Today I went with Natalie and Greg to Ano Nuevo to go see the elephant seals hanging out. They are so HUGE! We saw them from the top of a nice sand dune, and we got to walk down really close to them. One of the ginormous guy seals was laying right in our path and started to wake up as we were passing. I was pretty nervous because he started puffing up his nose. He was not happy about being disturbed from his nap! Here are some pics...

These guys are so loud! I tried to get a shot of the boys fighting over the girls, but they weren't cooperating. They were more interested in wooing the ladies like the fella above. The boys are the huge ones with the big "elephant" noses. The girls are all laying around in the harems just trying not to get squished! The babies sound kind of like chimps and the adults make a grunting noise. The boys make a loud snort noise when they get mad and want to challenge another male. In this video, the male is trying to sneak up to a group of females, but on the other side he was getting warned to stay away by a bigger seal.

Moving!

2009-02-08T12:02:00.000-08:00

Since Kyle got into Stanford and we are outgrowing our studio we have been hoping to find a new place in Palo Alto. Yesterday we searched all over Craigslist and then went driving around the neighborhoods we like. We found one that we liked but decided to see what else we could find that compared. After searching all day we went back to the first place and decided to get it since it was a freaking deal. Lucky for us that we went back when we did, because there was another couple that were out looking at it when we showed up that were wanting the place too. Phew!

The place is pretty rad! It was just remodeled and has all new appliances (I'll take pictures next time we go). It has a cute little bar that will be a good place for me to display all my cute glasses that have been in boxes for about 2 years! The complex itself is sweet too. It has 5 swimming pools (1 heated), 3 tennis courts, a day spa, a sauna, a gym, a movie theater, a billiards room, and a continental breakfast every sunday - all included in rent. Best yet, it is right across the street from Stanford!! Kyle will literally be able to roll out of bed and ride his bike to class. For me, it is easy access to 280 for work, and it is close enough to my coworkers that I'll be able to carpool. Plus, it is walking distance to Stanford shopping center!

We are moving next weekend, so it will be a busy week. We are so freaking excited to live in a nice place for once! We can finally eat our dinner at our table, have a bedroom door that we can close, and actually cook in our kitchen since it will be big enough to use! Even better, we can actually have people come over and I can walk around my neighborhood without fearing for my life! Woohoo!

Wedding dress highlights

2009-01-26T19:29:00.000-08:00

Sarrah was smart enough to take tons of pictures of the dresses I tried on Saturday. (all 18 million of them) There were a few that I liked, but I'm not sure I found "the one" yet. I guess that just means more shopping! Here are the highlights...

This one is Sarrah and Janette's favorite.

Wedding update #1 (of many to come I'm sure)

2009-01-23T21:07:00.000-08:00

The wedding madness begins! Tomorrow I am going wedding dress shopping with Sarrah!! I am really excited and nervous. I have spent a long time wanting to be engaged, but now that I am it feels very strange to be able to buy a bride magazine and seriously plan out the big day. I have absolutely no idea what I want, and I think tomorrow will be a good day to just get the first trial over with. I am still in shock a little that this is all happening, so tomorrow might bring a dose of reality too.

I feel kind of bad because I always pictured going dress shopping with my mom there, but I'm sure we'll have plenty of opportunities to go together. She sounded pretty bummed that I was leaving her behind on the phone, but I'm sure it will work out better this way. I'll probably have a better idea of what I like and dislike after this, and Sarrah is really creative and sees things that I would never in a million years see if not for her. I know she'll be there for me when I break down into tears (because we all know I will, haha). And she'll be there to laugh at all the ridiculous dresses with me too. It will definitely be an adventure!

I'm excited that Kyle is actually throwing in his two cents on some of the planning stuff also. Of course his main concern is what we're going to be eating. No surprise to anyone who knows him, haha. Hopefully I'll get some good pictures of tomorrow so he can weigh in on the dress decision as well even though it will not be quite as important as the appetizers for him :)

Kyle got in to Stanford!

2009-01-18T10:20:00.000-08:00

This Friday Kyle got a call from a professor at Stanford telling him that he'd been accepted! We were so excited, since Stanford is his first choice. They also said that he was among their top applicants which means he has a really good chance for some funding from the university. He gets to go tour around the campus and meet professors in February, so he'll hopefully find an interesting research project that he wants to help out with.

To celebrate I took Kyle out to a fancy dinner at the Stanford shopping center. We got all dressed up and had a nice date night. The restaurant gave Kyle some chocolate covered strawberries as a congratulatory gift. I'm so excited to start looking for a new place to live in Palo Alto!

Tahoe 2009

2009-01-09T20:43:00.000-08:00

Each year Kyle and I join Rhiannon and Corey + friends in Tahoe for New Years. This year we rented a smaller cabin than normal and got good and cozy. It was the first year we had a little baby at the cabin (Tracy and Nolan had their son Jax this year), and the second year in a row to have a preggers (Last year Tracy, this year Rhiannon). Everyone brings their animals and we all just have a good ole time relaxing and playing.

There was plenty of snow this year, so we went skiing and sledding. The sledding trip was lots of fun. Kyle and Corey found some snowball makers in the shed of the cabin so we ended up having a massive snowball fight. Jax didn't like the snow very much and despite their best efforts Tracy and Nolan couldn't get him to smile while going down the hill in the sled.

Of course no trip to Nevada would be complete without setting foot in a casino. Our Christmas present from Kirk and Candace was some gambling money to play with for fun. I ended up losing all of mine, but winning $50 back playing blackjack. Kyle came out even and Corey and Kirk were the lucky ones coming out ahead. Next year I intend to win big!!

Happy 2009!

2009-01-04T17:25:00.000-08:00

Home Sweet Home!

Kyle and I just got back from our crazy travels all over Northern California. We went to Plumas Lake for Christmas, then Redding for another Christmas, then Tahoe for New Years. We managed to see almost all of our siblings and parents during the week and a half, which is quite a feat for us since they are so spread out. Lady tagged along (of course) and got to hang out with her long lost boyfriend Tucker for a few days.

We're excited for all the changes that this year will bring. We just got engaged and are slowly planning our wedding for July 2010. Kyle just finished applying for grad school and he will find out whether he got in to Stanford (our top choice) sometime around April. Around that same time I will find out whether I get signed for another year at my current job, then we will be looking for a new place to live. We're hoping to move to a little bit bigger place (one bedroom would be nice!) closer to Stanford.

I hope everyone had a safe and fun Christmas and New Years. Here's to a wonderful 2009!