D-Fense! D-Fense!

So last night I think I found something good to post. Sadly we are no longer contenders in Fantasy Football or the annual College Football Pick Em'. I will say that us Walker's and McGowan's put up one heck of a fight.

In the College Football Pick em' I was in 1st place for 5 out of 15 weeks. Unfortunately I wasn't in first when it mattered and finished the year in 10th place. My sister had a great run at the end and finished in 5th! Doug wasn't too far behind and ended the year in the top 15.

Then last night was the first week in Fantasy Football Playoffs. Doug was in 2nd place this season going into the semi finals. He was up against the so called "Champions" managed by Trey. The ribbing started earlier in the week with Pam leaving us messages cheering for her husbands team. Doug and Trey were both pumped up for this game. It came down to the wire with the last area of scoring for Doug was with the Giants Defense. Going into the game the score was 96-95 (Champions).

Zach wanted to get in on the action so we took this picture and sent it to those crazed Champions Fans.

Despite our best efforts, can't say that for the Giants, we lost by 1!!!

Y'all better watch out next year. We are ready for our come backs.

Motivation

As you can tell from my lack of posting I am in search of some serious motivation. New Year's Resolutions, wellI can think of one!

Looking for more energy and inspiration to continue blogging.

Halloween

Zach dressed up as a turtle for Halloween this year. We don't typically get very many trick or treaters at our house, in the three years we have lived here we have had ZERO, yet all of the Halloween candy still disapeared!

So despite the lack of neighborhood activity we still took Zach to visit our next door neighbors for a "Trick or Treat" and then headed over to Doug's coworkers house to see the festivities over there.

To our surprise there were thousands of people out in her neighborhood. There were kids, adults, pets, etc. Many of the neighbors had haunted houses, live bands, fire eaters, and lots of great costumes. As Doug was discussing this with his coworker on Monday, she said the cops were called. Doug said yea I thought they would need to come over with all those people and chaos, she replied, oh no, they were there to direct traffic!

It was by far our best Halloween out here!

An October Walk

Zach and I went on a walk today. This wasn't a walk with Zachary in the stroller but one with Zachary doing the walking. We put on a pair of Zach's new shoes and started walking. We walked hand in hand to the neighborhood playground then headed towards the pool area.




As we started back towards the house Zach simply stopped walking, turned towards me, put both hands in air, refusing to take another step on his own, but instead wanted to be carried the rest of the way. This was fine with me. As much as I admire his growing independence and new abilities, I am not ready to give up my little baby boy just yet.

Start! Ventura Heart Walk

Only 18 more days until the big Start! Ventura County Heart Walk!

www.venturaheartwalk.org

I have a ways to go to hit the event goal. Personally I will be happy if we hit $105,000 (an increase over the prior year).

If you are looking for something to do on October 18, please join us!

The Start! Heart Walk is a wonderful way for individuals, friends, families, companies and employees to team up with the American Heart/Stroke Association’s fight against heart disease and stroke.

Join us and 500 of our closest friends as we take our hearts for a 5K walk on Saturday, October 18, 2008 at the Simi Valley Town Center.

Since 1924 the American Heart Association has helped protect people of all ages and ethnicities from the ravages of heart disease and stroke. These diseases, the Nation's No.1 and No.3 killers, claim more than 910,000 American lives a year. The association invested more than $543 million in fiscal year 2005-06 for research, professional and public education, and advocacy so people across America can live stronger, longer lives.

Thanks to all our walkers, donors and volunteers who have accepted the challenge to help fight heart disease and stroke. We cannot achieve our mission without each one of you!Welcome to the Heart Walk Web site! Thanks for participating and donating online. All the tools you need to join the Heart Walk are right here!

In honor of the last day of the month!

One of my favorite songs:

TEETH!

I stole this from www.babyblogaddict.com, and thought it was good to see. I knew baby teeth came in pairs and they had an order but I can't say I knew the specific order.

Here is what I just learned below:

First of all the teeth appear in pairs. Pair numbered 1-1 comes first, then the pair numbered 2-2 and so on. There is also a time frame for teeth: the first four pairs erupt in the first year, pairs 5 and 6 from 12 to 18 months, pairs 7 and 8 from 18 to 24 months, and pairs 9 and 10 after the baby is two-years-old.




Zach has big beautiful teeth. Yet as we progress with new pairs the teething process seems to get worse and worse. Zach suffers from a low grade fever (99-101), finicky meal times, fussyness and overall uneasienes. At least now I know what teeth to expect next.

Kiss the Cook!

I love to cook and never mind making dinner or doing the grocery shopping. It's funny, but besides trying out new foods and browsing different isles, another reason I love to grocery shop is because you can get so much stuff for (relatively) little money. This definately helps with my (mostly) dormant compulsive shopping habit.

During our four year courtship (yes, we are still courting) Doug has slowly moved closer and closer to the kitchen to the point where at least once a week he makes dinner on his own and many other nights he helps me. Often (get ready for this one) he helps me with the dishes too!

We make a good team in the kitchen and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE cooking (and eating) together!

One of the things I look forward to most is living closer to family and friends one day allowing us to make dinners or have parties where we can put our cooking an baking skills to work. Our current critic seems pretty happy currently, as you can see below.

SNL is funny again.

I fully support everyone having their own personal opinion on all political fronts. I may choose to have mental jaw dropping moments, laugh later that night or sit in wonder how certain people have certain opinions about any topic or specific candidate, but mostly I am just happy that people are passionate about something, anything. And I just pray that each of these people who are so vocal with their opinions are actually registered to vote and will exercise their right to do so (or do I???).



With that in mind, I do love these parodies on Sarah Palin on SNL. I especially love the end when "Katie" tells "Sarah" she becomes increasingly adorable when cornered. I literally laughed out loud. SNL is always funniest during a presidential election year.



And from the week before:

New blog coming soon

I have been a bad blogger again. Blogs on the way.

Meet little Frankie

Here is our little "Frankenstein" (aka Frankie) the newest person to join the evolved of the upright.

My mom is in California!

I am so excited to have my mom in California. I am looking forward to some fun posts this week. Dori was in town this weekend, we picked my mom up on Saturday, ate dinner in Malibu, and laughed as Zach laughed the rest of the weekend.

He is super excited to have a new audience this week.

YEA!

Labor Day Weekend 2008

We had a great weekend for Labor Day 2008!


Saturday we celebrated Doug's birthday with a cookie cake and lots of fun presents. Doug hit the big 29 this Saturday and started the year off with a great workout and plan for a healthy year. I definately feel Doug and I are starting to grow together with age in the most wonderful of ways. We met when we were 24 years old (granted, Doug was close to 25) but to think we are now heading into a new decade is pretty exciting for us. We love you and hope you had a wonderful 29th Birthday.

After our morning we continued our celebration and drove down to Orange County to meet Dom and his new fiancee Kassie in Laguna Beach. It was pretty crowded down there with Art Fest, but still beautiful and fun to walk around. We had dinner at a great little Sushi place in town, then headed over to Anaheim where we were going to spend the night and prepare for a busy Sunday.

Family Photo taken in Laguna Beach, CA

Sunday morning we woke up early and drove over to DISNEYLAND! Doug and I had only been here briefly before so we were all excited. Though I think Kassie's son Jackson was most excited. He plays ToonTown on the computer and was very familiar with the homes of Goofy and Minnie Mouse so to see them in real life was pretty exciting.

Jackson "Jax", Kassie and Dom (Jax wasn't a fan of photos)

Zach enjoyed the day too. We went on a Jungle Cruise, Disney Train, Pirates of the Carribbean, the Haunted Mansion and the Dumbo Ride. He was smiling and taking the day in. Doug and I were able to ride a few "bigger kid" (taller than 40 inches) rides. Disney has a great "baby swap" trick for parents with little ones. Everyone waits in line and the person who stays back with the baby grabs a ticket from the attendant. Then you go to the ride exit, wait for your friends/family to finish and you go to the front of the line and ride without having to wait. This is a wonderful, not often talked about Disney trick!

Here is a video of us on the Dumbo Ride "the Disney proclaimed 8th wonder of the world"

A scene from the Haunted Mansion (Zachary has two hand on the lap bar at all times)

We came home Sunday night and had a pretty rough ride as Zach was having some stomach issues. But we made it and Zachary was doing VERY WELL today. He is growing and learning so much now. He is starting his sign language, gives kisses on command and is so darn lovable.

An exhausted "Goose" taking a mid day nap

While we were doing Wii Fit tonight, Zach was using my push up planks as tunnels and then laying under me. Fun for him, bad for me as I couldn't just collapse!

A picture of our happy boy

We hope you all had as wonderful a weekend as we did.

PS. For a gratuitous laugh, one of my favorite public place activities is people watching. Can you spot the Britney Spears crop top fan in the photo below?

Happy Birthday Doug!

Happy Birthday Doug! We love you!

Love Ally and Zach

We're Going to Disneyland!

I will be posting some pictures this week. We are heading to Orange County this weekend and will be stopping by the Magic Kingdom on Sunday.

Have a wonderful Labor Day Holiday Weekend!

Torneo Bocce

(delayed post from earlier in August)

Torneo Bocce

August 2008
Hermosa Beach, CA

For the second year in a row we attended the Bocce Torneo in Hermosa Beach, CA. We were invited to this beach event by the Kartalis Family. Last year Doug and Luke were both rookies to the game but due to their unquestionable athletic abilities they quickly figured things out and finished with a 2nd place performance.

Doug is demonstrating the Back in Effect signature wrist flip underhand lob.

(Luke is in orange, Jason in the Don Mattingly jersey)

We had high expectations for the "Back 'n Effect Team" this year. I was invited to play this year too and of course with my own athletic prowess had high expectations as well. My partner and I took the reigning champions to 9-10 finish, but unfortunately couldn't pull it out. The Back N Effect Team also ended their run sooner than expected. Even without the win (and cash prize) we had a good time.

Team Uncle Rico; me and my partner Rebo

Zach loved the beach (as usual). And really loved his new "shark" tent. This was the purchase of the year, as it kept him out of the sun, entertained and it only cost $12 at Target!

The Shark Tent!

For those of you who aren't as familiar with Bocce here is a video of the Back N Effect Team in Action. For those of you who go to beach often, BUY A BOCCE SET! It is a great beach activity. I played often in college and is a fun way to spend a day at the beach.

Zachary also tried to take off for the ocean through out the day. He still isn't a big fan of waves, but I predict that will chage as he gets older.

Countdown to Heart Walk

I am very quickly approaching Heart Walk Season. What at one time felt like months away is now only a matter of weeks. As part of the Tri-Counties (Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo), we have four walks to prepare. I am personally running the Start! Ventura Heart Walk. The event is on October 18, 2008.

The event goal is $180,000. I don't know if I am going to get there, but I am going to do everything in my power to get close.

Here's to raising money in the fight against heart disease and stroke.

Below is my personal fundraising page:

http://heartwalk.kintera.org/venturacountyca/walker08

Here is the Event Page:
www.venturaheartwalk.org

Thank you Doug!

Doug did the dishes tonight and I love him for it.

Thank you honey! I love you.

Where did my baby go?

I don't know if it was the haircut or something else but all of a sudden Zachary went from being my baby boy to my little boy. Instead of banging blocks together for the heck of it, he bangs them together for the sound and because that is part of the game. I am proud of him for his ability to learn and interact yet part of me misses the baby qualities he used to have.

So, this is where I need to start appreciating every moment a little more than I already do! Sometimes I think I have a time machine stuck on fast forward sitting in front of me in the shape of my son!

Zach's 1st Official Haircut

This is Zachary's beach look

Zachary had his first official hair cut this morning. We didn't intend to cut his hair but after a few weeks of his "disheveled" look. I thought it might be time to even things out. he did pretty well with the process. The distraction tools and hair dryer on cold blast kept him entertained and less interested in what those sharp scissors were doing.



"What do you think you are going to do with those things?"



"Are you sure you still wanna go through with this?"

He may alternate with short and shaggy hair but lucky for him he looks good with most styles. Below is the final product.

TA-DA! Here is the final product!

Bye, Bye Bottles and Formula!

We have used our last canister of Enfamil Lipil Formula. Thankfully it has been an easy transition to milk. While I know our monthly formula costs (roughly $65.00 per month) will now be transferred to something else, I am excited that my Costco bill won't automatically start at $65.00 on each visit. I prefer to gradually build up on my shopping totals!

We have also transistioned away from bottles to Straw cups. We are going to be donating all of our bottles for another family to use, if you know anyone who might need them, please don't hesitate to let me know. I am thrilled to get some counter space back. We tried the sippy cups but Zach wasn't crazy about them (accept for throwing, dropping or chewing them). He his a boy of discerning taste and prefers his liquid in a straw!

I think it's gentic.

Everytime I run the vacuum Zachary breaks down in tears. For weeks I have assumed that it must be the noise, but then today as I started to think about it and decided that is must be a male genetic trait.

Speaking of vacuum's we are in need of a new one. I am thinking about buying the Dyson, but would love to hear your opinion if you have one you really like. Feel free to email me suggestions as well.

The Kartalis baby bump!

Dori is now 22 weeks pregnant and finally starting to have a bump! They just found out they are having a little boy. We are very excited for Zachary to have a new buddy.

Look Mom, a new room to mess up!

Zachary has discovered the kitchen cabinets and all the fun gear kept inside. Interestingly, the other man in the house still hasn't located the pots and pans "hidden" inside the cabinets.

SeaWorld (part 1)

We had three treats this weekend.
1. Aunt Erin (Rin) came to visit us and spend some time with Zachary.
2. We were able to visit Luke and Dori in San Diego (and got to see Dori's growing baby bump!)
3. We all went to Sea World as a belated birthday treat for Zach.

I am working on adding some more Sea World pictures and stories but I hope this is a good start.








(Don't forget about me behind the camera!)











Shamu Splash! But don't worry you won't need a $6.00 poncho if you are sitting in the 13th row. If don't believe me and still want to get one, you can borrow ours!






Meet Penny and Pete. Pete isn't so sure about all this as he has never seen a penguin in sunglasses.

SeaWorld Seal Show

Please be warned. There is a seal in this video that is a little funny looking, some may even call him names. It's what on the inside that counts, all the blubber on the inside that counts!

And yes, Zach's shirt says "Accountants Rock" (thanks Erin).

Gone Fishin'

In the official prize fishing contest held at the Sea World, San Diego this weekend we had a clear winner.

Please look below at our top three finalists. I should also note that "If Erin wasn't playing, Luke would have won."














Luke, Erin and Doug

Bahl, Bahl, Ball!

While Zachary has been a little chatterbox for a while he is starting to vocalize in a language we all understand. He has said mama, dada and some other words but hasn't necesarily associated them with me and Doug. The word he does associate with an object is BALL!

BALL!

Mmmmm.....Ball.

BALL!

Rock our world! EARTHQUAKE!

California has many great benefits to offer it's residents. And since we have lived here for three years I guess we can finally say "We are officially Californians", at least by address! With that being said we can now check earthquake off of our new resident Welcome to the State list~ check please!

While this was technically the third earthquake I have felt, today was the only one that felt more than a building "settling".

I was in downtown Los Angeles today for a work training, Doug was in Oxnard working and Zachary was in Ventura (completely oblivious to anything going on). I always said the last place I wanted to be in an earthquake was at the Los Angeles AHA office and especially not in the basement conference rooms. When I moved offices to Ventura County, I thought, whew, bypassed that one. So I am now in LA maybe 5 times a year.

Where was I today, hmmmmm.............. Downtown LA, in our old brick building, flanked by highrises and (wait for it, wait for it) in the basement! Someone told that not only did I face my biggest LA fear, but I survived it (thrived it, if I may). So, yea me!

Back to the big shake. It happened close to noon (PST) the building vibrated (like a jackknife!) for about 4-6 seconds, then a big shake, some big time sways, more violent shaking, lights now moving big time overhead, another sway and then some light vibrations (In Oxnard I heard there may have been a tumble by someone's boss, who may or may not have been wearing a hard hat and carrying a flashlight at the time). The whole episode lasted about 20-25 seconds, which I am told is a fairly long quake for a 5.8 measurement. Overall it wasn't all that bad of an experience, more unsettling that anything else and long enough where there was some concern that this was maybe going to be bigger than anyone wanted. But thankfully for all involved it wasn't.

So we did it. We survived.

FYI, I have also learned to take cnn.com and other news sites with a grain of salt. I went to cnn.com and saw the big red banner "BREAKING NEWS: LA rattled with EARTHQUAKE". Then a story below, "LA hit by EARTHQUAKE". It seemed pretty dramatic considerring what it was and I think may have caused friends and family not in LA some unneccesary worry or concern. But we thank you and love you for your concern just the same.

Where have you been?

visited 37 states (74%)

Here is my US map, I thought I was doing better than this. I have only counted states that I have been in for more than a drive through. Doug's map is coming up next.


visited 39 states (78%)<

Doug's trek across America is above

Zach's count is up to 5 (Cali, Texas, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey). He has been to Mexico too!

Happy Birthday Zachary!

Zachary is officially one year old today. WOW! I can't help but thing about where we were one year ago today! At 4:16 pm Zachary came into this world and our lives have, thankfully, been changed for the better ever since.

Zach has had a few birthday celebrations over the last couple weeks. Since we don't live close to our friends and family we were able to have a some parties during our recent trip to Houston/Austin. This allowed us to not only stretch out the celebration but also include all of those we love and those who love Zach too.

Zach is very thankful to have everyone of our friends and family members in his life. It is because of them that Zach is the best dressed little boy EVER!

Here are some pictures and videos of his "first" cake tastes. He was so funny with his cake. He didn't know what to do with it at first, then as soon as he got that first taste it was all over. We couldn't pry his cake filled hands away from his mouth.

Sadly, I think his predilection for cake may be hereditary. He doesn't stand a chance against cake having Doug and I as his parents.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

For his actual birthday celebration we will have a nice dinner either here or out and then Zach may even get to have a special cake treat. Then we are on a cake fast until his 2nd birthday (yea, right!). I made a very special treat for Zach today, Monkey cupcakes and Bear cupcakes. Given the fact that we live just outside of LA (and that his friends are still one year or younger) I am certain his classmates are on very special diets (i.e. organic, liquids, no sugar, no carbs, vegan). So I made some of the cupcake treats for him, his teachers, and of course, us! For his buds I bought organic fruit and toddler treats (i.e. puffs!).

MONKEY AND BEAR CUPCAKES, OH MY!

"You can call me Al"

This is a blast from the past, but one of my all time favorite music videos and songs. I actually remember living on Brook Ave (1980-1988) watching this on the television. Some memories last forever. I think it stuck because of my name and my parents always calling me Al.

Love Paul Simon and Chevy Chase.
You can call me Al




Seriously, doesn't this at the very least make you smile. It cracks me up.

I love the facial expressions of Chevy Chase. and when he drops the water in the bango holder like it is a table. and the dancing...................hahahahahahaha.

They just don't make music like they used to, ha!

Zachary's new PRESENT!

Zachary has a big birthday coming up. The big 1! He has already received a new present from Aunt Kelly that he LOVES.

He loves the new Bulldozer too. What a great age when not only the gift is appreciated but so is the box it came in.