Daddy is Home...

...and everything is right again. We picked The Chief up at the airport this morning and, though we contemplated celebrating right away by going out for lunch, we ended up driving straight home. The Chief promptly fell asleep, as did Bugga. Buddha and I watched the Rachael Ray talk show until the boys woke up. Then we all headed to The Bombay House for Indian cuisine. I was so excited! The Chief and his buddies had gone out for Indian food last night to celebrate their completion of the Bar. I was jealous. So, this was a treat for me. And, as a bonus, we discovered that Bugga has quite the international palate. :) He loved the Vegetable Samosa, the Chicken Coconut Kurma, the Naan bread, and, of course, the Mango Lassi. Pretty impressive for an eight-month-old, huh? Buddha's always been a picky eater (he only ate plain Basmati Rice, Naan, and Mango Lassi), so I'm eager to offer Bugga a wide variety of foods at a young age to hopefully avoid that drama. So, back to our celebration.... :) I didn't have a bib for Bugga, so he got really messy, but I think he had a great time. After that, our celebration pretty much ended. We went to the car wash and did a little shopping at Albertson's before heading home to take on the bed time routine. But, even though the celebration was short, I was on a high all night just having The Chief home and helping out with all the boring, mundane, normal, every-day activities. I don't know how single moms do it, but I have a lot more respect for them now. Welcome home, Papa. We missed you! Oh, and for all those who wanted to know, The Chief says there's no way to know how he did on the exam until the results are given in November, but he says he'd be shocked if he didn't pass. That's good news to me! :)

Daddy taking over the bed time routine. (Hallelujah!)

Our little Bugga Man.

Signs of a good eater. :)

Relief

Well, he's all finished and I get to pick him up from the airport tomorrow morning! Woo hoo! The Chief called me tonight to let me know that he was finished. And his computer, though it did freak out again, survived well enough to finish out the exam as well. He and his friends went to eat Indian food and are now treating themselves to a movie. All I can say is, it'd better not be Harry Potter! We're supposed to see that together. :) Ah, what a relief to have that behind us. Now we can focus on packing and getting to California where we'll unpack in a flash and take the rest of August to vacation and enjoy some much-needed and much-deserved family time. :) Thanks to everyone who helped carry us through this stressful time (that's pretty much all of you). And a special thanks to you, Judy and Don, for letting the boys and me crash at your house the other day for an entire afternoon! You were great to indulge my need for adult conversation and a hearty meal...it was much appreciated. Oh, and I think Buddha fell in love with Uncle Don again, following him all around the house while he vacuumed. :) Bless you.

The Bar

HAPPY PIONEER DAY (for you fellow Utahns)

and

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM AND UNKEY DINO!!

(23rd and 24th)

Well, The Chief left on Sunday afternoon to Ontario, California to take the California Bar Exam. The exam began today and after finishing day one, he's feeling pretty good. He had an extremely stressful few minutes when his computer wouldn't work after their break today, but he managed to get it up and running before the exam started up again. Tomorrow is the multiple choice part of the three-day exam and he's excited for it since he's always done well on the multiple choice sections of his practice exams. Thursday is the final day and it consists of more essays. We hope that you will all remember The Chief and his computer in your prayers. :) We want him to pass this on the first go round so that we don't ever have to go through such an intense "preparation" stage again!

Back here on the home front we're just packing away and trying to squeeze in last-minute get-togethers with friends and family. Right about now I'm thanking my lucky stars that I had the inspiration and foresight (or that the Man Upstairs did, I should say) to start packing here and there a few weeks ago. That decision has made the whole packing and moving process a lot less daunting. But, there's still lots to do. I can't believe how much stuff we have been able to squish into our little three bedroom condo here! Well, we're a growing family. :) We are moving next week on Wednesday, August 1st, and I think that Buddha is most excited for his truck ride with Daddy! :) Thanks to everyone who has helped out and offered to help out. You're generosity and kindness has been much appreciated. Enjoy the pictures!

Ha! Look what I can do now.

Uh oh, I've been caught red-handed.

I'd better hide under here....

Nah! It's more fun to pilfer from Mommy's diaper bag.

Christmas in July!

This is a little Santa outfit that Buddha wore when he was a year old two Christmases ago.

Another little car addict. :)

Bugga can pull himself up on the couch now...

...much to Buddha's chagrin. You'd never guess it because I'm such a great photographer (ha ha), but Buddha is actually having a royal melt-down in these pictures because Bugga is moving his line-up of cars. :)

But at least they look like they're playing together happily.

Oh look! I can pull myself up on the table, too!

Bugga is so pleased with himself and his new-found ability to stand just about anywhere!

Check out my car!

Oooo...check out my muscles, too! :)

Life Without The Chief

Well, this is what happens when The Chief's not around to entertain me. :) I take out my restlessness on my boys. Now, as a result, they are hairless. :) Just kidding. They were getting pretty scraggly hair (I think I made up that word), so I buzzed them again. Now we are truly ready for California!

I think I scared Bugga with all the noise I was making to get their attention. :)

Look at those puppy dog eyes! :)

What a goober!

This is Buddha's pouty face. He's gotten quite good at it. :)

Bugga Update

Okay, I know I talk a lot about Bugga, but it seems like his growth and accomplishments are happening so fast! Just yesterday I walked in to greet the boys in the morning and came face to face with this scene...

Needless to say, I was a bit surprised! There was Bugga, standing up in his crib and I'm thinking, "When did he learn to do this?!" I guess it is a skill he mastered just yesterday, and now he won't stop doing it. It's funny, though, because to get down, he simply lets go and falls like a felled tree. :)

He was so proud of himself!

And I couldn't believe how long he stayed up there. I kept thinking he'd get tired, but he never did fall or get down before I took him out (I got tired of waiting for him to tire). :)

Buddha loves playing with Bugga...to the point where it has become problematic in their night time routine! I put two tired boys down tonight at just after 8:00pm, and I could still hear Buddha jumping around and Bugga giggling at 9:30pm! Oh well, just so long as they stay in their bedroom, right? :)

So, the other thing I was going to mention is that Bugga is now 21lbs! He is eight months old today and he's 21lbs already! He doesn't look that big, but I think it's because he's tall. I definitely feel that 21lbs when I try to lug him around on my hip! What a chunk!

Funny Funny

The other day, Buddha was playing around in Bugga's bouncy chair, having an imaginary conversation. I randomly decided to tune into his conversation and heard him saying, "it's ww dot come SLASH!" (ww.com/) I was laughing so hard! I guess it's just evidence of how much I've been on the computer lately trying to find us a place to live. :)

We're Not Homeless Anymore!

We finally found a place to live and boy was it a miracle! All the credit goes to divine intervention for this one. And, of course, to our wonderful friends, Jacoby and Heather, who were willing to check the place out for us during a viewing. Thanks sooooooooo much guys! The Chief went to school this morning really early (earlier than he normally does on Saturdays). When he got there and opened up his computer to start studying, he felt like he should check rentals first. That's when he found this Craigslist ad...the only new one when he put in our desired area and hit search. It had been posted last night at like 1:00AM. So, he shot me an email and told me to call the numbers...QUICK. You have to understand. It's been so cutthroat ever since we started looking for a home to rent. Every single one we're interested in and ask for more information on, gets stolen right out from under us...usually only half a day or less after it's been posted! It's been quite ridiculous, frustrating, disheartening, depressing, etc. So, I didn't get my hopes up for this one. I did call both numbers twice, leaving two messages with each. And I emailed the email address twice as well. I finally got a hold of the owner and property manager, Vicki, and we hit it off. She said she liked talking with me and wanted to give us the place, she just wanted us to see it first (or our friends) just to make sure we liked it. Throughout the course of the day, we corresponded back and forth to set everything up. She let me know a couple of times that she was receiving hundreds of phone calls for the property. She even told me that one lady who called her said, "I'm standing outside of your home. I want to rent it." I think it spooked and astounded Vicki. I kept expressing our almost certain desire to rent the place and she kept reassuring me that she really liked us, had a good feeling about us, and would give us the place after the viewing. So, Jacoby and Heather showed up at three and called me on Vicki's cell phone to give me a blow by blow run down on the place. I said, "We'll take it."

(Aside) The house is in a quaint area just a little bit northeast of downtown San Diego. We're close to Torrey Pines Beach and, of course, the Torrey Pines golf course which The Chief will be able to golf at a discount because we'll be San Diego residents. It's also located within the award-winning Poway Unified School District, which has the top-rated public schools in all of California. We hope to end up in this area long term when we can afford to buy.

So, back to my story. :) Later, Vicki sent us pictures of the interior of the home that she had taken during the viewing. We love it! It's even better than its description. Vicki kept telling me, "Now, it's older, but it's clean." Well, I was expecting something really outdated and run down...but clean. Not so! Check out the pictures to see our new place. We are proud renters once again. :) Hopefully some day, in the not-too-distant future, we'll be able to be proud owners again. We've thoroughly enjoyed our little condo here in Utah. We'll miss it. But now that the hunt for a home is over, I am REALLY excited to get to California. HERE WE COME, SAN DIEGO! :) We hope you'll all come visit. We've got plenty of room for guests!

P.S. These pictures are in no particular order. Oh, and the current renters were caught unaware...that's why it's kind of a mess with stuff all over the place. We didn't mind one bit. :) I forgot to add the details. The house is 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, just over 1400 sqft. It has everything we HAD (wink wink) to have like washer/dryer, A/C, backyard, and 2 car garage. And it has more space (if only a little) than our condo here. So, yeah, we're pretty darn stoked!

This is the picture that was in the Craigslist ad The Chief found this morning. I think the house is so cute and charming. And I especially love the bougainvillea creeping onto the roof.

Here's the dining room, looking into the kitchen, with Jacoby wandering around...probably talking to me on the cell phone. Bet you didn't know Vicki got a picture of you, Jacoby! Now you've made it onto the Bagel Blog. You're famous! :)

Entry

French doors from kitchen to back patio area

Guest bathroom

Kitchen

Nice gas stove (The Chief is really happy about this)

Living/Family room

Master bedroom

Patio area

Backyard

Boys and Brothers

This is Bugga's latest accomplishment. He climbs up on the treadmill...

...and works his way to the end...

...and sits there slobbering all over our treadmill while he tries to figure out how to get down. :)

I was back in the bedroom probably trying to find us a place to live on Craigslist. I decided to check on the boys and came out to find this. Somehow Bugga had climbed into the box of cars and Buddha had decided to join him. These are for you, Lisa I., though I'm a big fan of sibling pictures, too. :)

Looks like fun to me! :)

Buddha watching Saturday morning cartoons while I got us a

home to live in.

Buddha's Alphabet

Buddha loves the alphabet. The other day, The Chief opened up a "paint" program on his computer and Buddha dictated letters while The Chief drew them. This is what showed up in my email inbox shortly thereafter. A gift for Mommy. The Chief's pretty talented with that finger pad on his laptop, wouldn't you say?! My alphabet wouldn't be legible if I couldn't use a mouse. :) What fun!

It Has Begun....

Well, really it began last week, but since it began, I haven't had much time to update our blog. This is what takes up pretty much every day, all day long right now. Since The Chief is studying for the bar more than full time, packing our entire house is my responsibility. Actually, I don't feel that stressed about it. I'm more stressed about finding a place to live in San Diego than I am about packing up our whole home. I've just been taking it one day at a time, slowly packing up things that we can live without for a few weeks. I just hope that we are able to find something that we can move into in the beginning of August, so that it really is only a couple of weeks that we have to go without certain items.

On the house-hunting front, things are pretty much frustrating. It would seem that San Diego is really cutthroat during the summer. We applied for one house already, but someone else beat us to it. We talked to the owners of another house, but it seems that another applicant has already expressed a desire to sign a 3-year lease! We didn't like the house enough to sign a 3-year lease. And, tonight, I've just found another house that, for us, is worth a 3-year lease. It's in our desired area and it's big enough that we would have some room to grow and expand our little family without having to move. We have an acquaintance in San Diego who is willing to view the inside of the home for us, but that's only if they'll schedule a viewing when she's available. Pray for us. We don't know why we weren't chosen for the other house we liked, though we assume it's because we have kids. The Chief and I both have excellent credit, and he will have a stable income when starts his job as an attorney with his law firm in downtown San Diego. We're responsible, clean, and dependable. It's just hard to get that across on a two-page application where all they ask for is your social security number, date of birth, and credit card information (for a credit check). Like I said, it's frustrating. But, we have faith. We'll end up where we need to be. It's simple really...just nerve-wracking in the mean time. :)


This is hard for me. I am such a cleaning, tidying, and organizing fanatic, that I can't stand living in this chaos. Oh well, I will keep breathing deeply and reminding myself that it's just for a little while. :)

Our Little AE Models

In all of our packing, we've "unearthed" some long-forgotten items. These are two baseball caps that I used to wear. I didn't even remember that I owned them. Buddha found the red one and wore it until his head got too hot. I plopped the blue one on Bugga to get some cute pictures of the boys. Buddha wasn't being too cooperative with the camera, that's why there aren't so many of him. :) But Bugga is a natural! Our little American Eagle models. What cuties!