Trip to the Grove!

On Friday night we went to an LA shopping hotspot the Grove to see some California snow and Christmas show. Somehow we only managed to see some shops, as the snow was not on display nor was the Rockette-esq Christmas show. There was a Christmas Tree, flying reindeer and a minature version, Bellagio inspired water and light display that Zachary seemed to love.

Mimi and Mike were also flying into town tonight! Zachary will be more than loved this weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving!

So we are a few days behind in updating this, but Thanksgiving is more than just one day, or at least it should be. And doesn't that sound like a good excuse for my lack of posting!

Mr. Turkey!

What a year to be thankful! We have been blessed every year but this year was especially wonderful.

Why you ask?

Well for this little guy of course!

Zachary is the most amazing addition to our lives and we are thankful everyday that he is healthy and for all the joy he brings us. I am also incredibly thankful to have Doug as my husband. He not only makes me laugh everyday, he also makes me feel loved and appreciated.

I am thankful for my mom, dad, Erin, Mary, Mike, Kelly and Thomas. I truly believe Doug and I have a huge support network that could work miracles (if we needed them, and thankfully(!) we haven't had to call in for any of them!).

Despite being so far away our family is there for us at any given time. And we love and appreciate that.

I am thankful for all of our extended family. We wish we saw you more. Please know we think of you often and love you very much.

We are thankful for our friends who make us laugh, smile and feel special. Thank you all for your friendship, you make our lives more complete.

And we are Thankful we got to spend Thanksgiving with Michele! It was an extra special Thanksgiving having her visit with us. Love you so much!

And of course we are thankful for our health, happiness and all the other gifts we have received from God.

And we are thankful for the Internet, digital cameras and videos! So we can share the simplest of moments like this for you and for our own memories.

Thank you for all of you. We love you and are thankful for you everyday.

Happy Birthday Kelly!

Happy Birthday Kelly. I can't believe we missed your birthday celebration too! Please know we were thinking about you and sending happy thoughts and well wishes your way (along with about 10 birthday cards!).

We look forward to celebrating on our Holiday trip home.

We love you.

Happy Birthday Thomas

Sorry we missed the celebration. We love you and miss you.

New Day, New Hike

Yes Zachary, you have a question?

When are we going hiking again you ask?

How about today!

Today we met good friends Luck and Doris (aka Luke and Dori) in Malibu to check out a new beach hike at Point Dume and Zuma Beach. It was a beautiful day and moderate Hike. One of the most difficult parts was dealing with the sand, it's always more difficult to walk in sand. Sand and an incline, a much harder mix.

We also got Zach to check out the ocean. He seemed to enjoy it too. I think there will be many beach trips in our future. I also think it was sensory overload between the hike, beach and other sights (as you will soon see) as he slept from 5:30 pm on. It may be a long night for me.

We saw a few things today that were of interest. First a few mountain climbers traversing a flat wall of the mountain, two weddings being set up along the beach..............

Amazing views,

a woman preparing for a "ritual" along the water (we didn't ask for details),

Doug almost falling off the cliff,

and the highlight of the boys day...........

a bikini shoot.

Though the best part of it all is, of course, having time together.

Make sure you look at the sky tomorrow night. The Leonid meteor shower will be seen. We are hoping it will be clear in Ventura for us to see it.

Zachary's First Fever (BOO)

He isn't feeling so hot today. Actually to be truthful, he is feeling extremely hot, Zach has a slight fever. Here is what he is doing now, sleeping next to me on the couch.

He is still having periods of playfulness and is eating well, so the Doctor isn't too concerned (yes, we called on a Saturday and I don't feel bad at all about it). We are keeping a close eye on him. Keep him in your thoughts and we will keep you posted.

Zachary's grown up look

I thought this was a cute picture of Zachary dressed up for school (aka Daycare) this week. He has officially made it a week there and has had nothing but rave reviews from his teachers. He has kept his pleasant demeanor, still eats a ton (even the professionals are amazed) and smiles like crazy. And he is sleeping through the night! YIPPEE!! Daycare seems to wear him out.


I am back at work too, also getting rave reviews (ha!). I am now working as a Sr. Business Development Director for the American Heart Association. Basically I am running four Heart Walks in Camarillo, Santa Maria, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo, CA, with a staff of 3 people. It should be fun. I only have to find $600,000 in Sponsorship/Partnerships by June 30. If you know anyone let me know!

Hiking in Malibu Canyon

We are very lucky to live in Southern California. We have an incredible climate with Oceans, Lakes, Mountains, deserts etc. and lots of things to do in those places, if we choose to take advantage of them. While Doug and I do stay pretty busy we kept talking about doing more. Do we go Ocean or Lake Kayaking? Sailing? Surfing? Hiking?

Can you guess which one we choose to attempt first?

HIKING! and we even took Zach. Hiking seems like a cool thing we can do to workout together and as a family. We really want to do active things with Zach as he gets older, showing him how important it is to be fit and healthy, hopefully we can keep it up!

We went to Malibu Canyon State Park and took a trail to the old MASH site (as in where the show MASH was filmed). It was a lot of fun, we loaded Zachary into his Baby Bjorn (world's greatest invention) and took off for the hills. I think we did a good job our first time out. It wasn't a super hard hike (with the exception of one monster hill), but we did a 3 hour jaunt. Unfortunately, we somehow missed the actual MASH site, (I think I made Doug turn around 5 minutes before we got there). But we did hike. And Zachary LOVED it! He was looking around at everything all wide eyed, it was fun to watch him.

And in case you are wondering Hiking is a lot like walking, just off the beaten path on rougher terrain, that actually does make a difference on your body the next day! We probably could have taken a better bag (not our typical diaper bag) but it worked just the same!

Our goal is to keep checking out different trails. Feel free to join us!

Here are some photos..............

We came back and watched South Carolina Football, despite Zachary's best efforts they weren't able to pull off the win against Arkansas. Hopefully it will be better against Florida next week.