New Beds

So, we got a new twin bed for Buddha on Freecycle, which meant that we could build the toddler bed back into a crib for Bugga and start using our pack 'n' play just for traveling again. And that's just what we did. Well, the next morning after creating our new sleeping arrangements, this is what I walked in to find. Buddha had climbed into the crib with Bugga via the bumper (which has since been removed). He said, "I just flipped in, Mommy." They were having a ball in there together. I almost didn't want to remove the bumper, but I knew it would be a safety hazard to allow Buddha to jump in there any time he wants. He can get a bit over-affectionate with Bugga at times and likes to lie on top of him. :) I've also had to hang the blind pull/string up on the valence rod in order to keep it away from Bugga's curious fingers (and mouth as you can see in one picture). It's nice to have the twin bed for Buddha since we can lie on it with him now and read books - something I fondly remember doing with my dad many times when I was little. I love these boys and hope they grow up to be great friends!

Disneyland

We went to Disneyland on Tuesday to get our passes and hang out for a few hours. It ended up being a HOT day! We were dying when we finally arrived in the park from the parking lot, so we sat under the bridge at California Adventures for 1/2 hour. Then we went to "It's a Small World" since we knew it was long, slow, and, most importantly, air conditioned. :) The boys did great. We took lots of breaks to sit in the shade and drink water. I kept sprinkling water all over the boys to keep them cool. Bugga was soaked by the end of the day, but I think he loved it. We spent most of the day sitting in the shade, people-watching, knowing we could come back in a month or so when it cools down. The Chief took Buddha on a few rides. We were really proud of him because he kept asking to go on rides. He wasn't afraid at all. He even went on a pretty big roller coaster with The Chief. He looked a little worried the whole time, but he didn't cry and he said he liked it. I think his favorite, though, were the various stationary "cars" they had around the park that Buddha just had to drive. He hated giving up the wheel for another kid to hop on for a picture. He would stand nearby so as to pop right back on when they were finished. :) It was a fun day despite the heat and I'm sure we'll end up at Disneyland again some time soon. Hopefully on a cooler day when I can get better pictures. I wasn't too motivated to whip out the camera. Oh, and the crown picture has a cute story. Buddha picked a whale to ride on the carousel and before the lady started it, she placed a crown on Buddha's head then spoke into the PA saying, "Ladies and gentleman, we have a very special guest with us today. His name is Prince Buddha." Yeah, he was beaming when he got off of that ride. :)

We Love Our Backyard!

Thanks to Craigslist and Freecycle, we've managed to turn our yard into a really kid-friendly climbing, sliding, playing haven. We had a blast out there the other day as you can see in the pictures. :) It was kind of an impromptu excursion out-of-doors, which is why Bugga doesn't have a swim diaper on. Buddha's swim diaper came later, out of necessity. Enjoy!

I filled the ducky with water and a second later, Buddha had submerged himself, shirt and all. It was a hot day and I guess the poor kid just needed to cool down...quickly! :)

The Little People are swimming with Buddha.

Bugga wanted to get in on the water action, too.

Buddha kicked that beach ball at the climbing cube over and over and over again. He's got an awesome kicking leg, but my favorite is the helpful tongue sticking out. :) He's just like his mom - when I'm concentrating on something, my tongue is often hanging out, as if that will help me catch some inspiration.


Catching flies.


This is why they make swim diapers. :) The poor kid is carrying around 20lbs of water on his rear. :)


Such a cute little man! Such a joy!

Did You Know?

So, I learned something new the other day that is still surprising me today for two reasons. First, I've discovered I'm quite ignorant. Second, I just can't believe this...it blows my mind! Did all of you out there know that Tijuana is Mexico's sixth largest city? And that Tijuana is, in fact, larger than San Diego???!!! I'm still reeling from that discovery. Well, I say discovery, but really The Chief had to educate me. :) It just goes to show how much our very self-centered little lives are dictated by our own preconceptions, misconceptions, and delusions. I remember Tijuana as a dusty little town full of dirty little booths filled with tourist-attracting junk. :) Of course, the last time I was there was before I graduated from Primary, I think. :) So, my brain is now struggling to change this extremely ignorant misconception and I thought I would plague everyone else with this struggle, too. Of course, my assumption that you are all as ignorant as I am is probably a grave misconception in itself. Man, that line of thought could drag me in circles. Cheers!

Sea World

We took the boys to Sea World this past week and got our membership passes. It was nice because we went in the late afternoon, caught one show, saw the shark exhibit, and headed to the play area. Buddha is tall enough now to do some of the bigger kid activities. He and I waited in line together. In one play area, the swinging bags, he had so much fun he didn't want to come out when the lady blew the whistle to indicate their two minutes was up. She went through rounding up the six kids allowed in and Buddha just shied away. I asked her if she wanted me to go get him and she said that was fine. I was so afraid he was going to take off running away from me through these huge swinging punching bags and I'd look goofy tearing around after him, but in the end he let me pick him up and started to cry that he wanted to get back in line and do it again. We convinced him to stand in line for a different activity instead and before too long he was bouncing around in this humongous bouncy area with five other kids while I waited on the sidelines praying that he would be obedient to the "man in the orange shirt" when he said it was time to come out. He was and I was proud (and relieved). :) These pictures are of the boys enjoying "down" time in the toddler foam pit. Bugga just sat right where he is in the pictures the whole time, checking everybody out. Buddha, however, was running around all over the place, enamored with watching his little feet as he cruised. You can see how that would pose a problem. There were more than a few collisions before he retired to the side to practice his mega-jumping where he made his daddy proud with his skills. :) We also made an excursion to the zoo this week and forgot to take any pictures. But we got our zoo memberships which ended up being $30 cheaper than we expected! They include entrance into the Wild Animal Park, too, with free parking. We're quite excited about that since we don't live so far from the Wild Animal Park as we did last summer. Coming up this week, we have a trip to Disneyland in the planning where we'll get our Southern California Resident passes. The Chief starts work on Thursday, so we're trying to get as much crammed into our remaining leisure time as possible. Oh, and I got my California driver's license (and the picture's not too bad, amazingly). :) I now have licenses from Chile, Utah, and California. And the latter will probably be the last until we serve missions when we're older. :) Pretty crazy!

Oh Brother! :)

Brothers...

...read books together...

...wrestle together...

...hug and love each other...

...and wear each other out (hallelujah!). :)

Nine Months

These are pictures of Bugga and Buddha at around nine months old. Both are such smiley, happy boys. We are so lucky!

Arizona Vacation

Last week we got to head down to Arizona to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa Bagel and the other various Bagel family members that live down there. :) We didn't take tons of pictures, but we did get some cute ones. The day before we left, Aunt Susan came down to take care of the boys for us while The Chief and I went on a date. We went to see the new Harry Potter movie (which we really enjoyed) and then on to dinner at a nice sushi restaurant. It was a great date! The next day we were excited to drive down to Arizona. We've really been looking forward to getting here to San Diego, and believe it or not, one of the reasons is because we would no longer have that dreaded, hated, terrible, awful, boring, never-ending, 12-hour drive from Orem to Phoenix! Now our drive is only 5 and 1/2 hours! It's a huge improvement and we look forward to seeing The Chief's parents more often now. We're also hoping that Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Ween and Aunt Toradol will be more willing to visit us now that we live so much closer (hint, hint guys). :) Arizona was fun, but hot (duh). We went swimming a couple of times, but mostly the boys and I just stayed inside and played. The Chief golfed all three days we were there. He was in heaven. On Saturday we swam with Aunt Ween and Uncle Jake and their kids, Bunt and Sissy. We also got to play in their Splash Pad, which is something that everyone should have in their backyards! The Splash Pad is made by Splash Zone, a company started by Jake and his buddy. They are extremely popular now and in great demand. Just click on the name and you can check out their website for more details and pictures. The Chief and I will definitely be getting one of these installed when we own our own home here in San Diego. It's ingenious and versatile and much more safe than a pool (no worries about drowning)! Anyway, Buddha had a great time on the Splash Pad, as you can see in the pictures. Bugga didn't really know what to make of it, but he kept trying to catch the water when it would shoot out nearby him. :) After swimming, The Chief and I got to go to another movie on a double date with Jake and Ween. Wow, two in one week! It's a record for us! :) We had a great time in Arizona, but it was nice to come home to San Diego. We still aren't completely settled in our home here. Everything is unpacked, but there's still odds and ends here and there that I would like to finish before The Chief starts work next week. The verdict? Nice getaway, always love to see family, great to be home and feeling productive again.

Around the House and Town

Mommy and the boys hanging out.

Buddha loves Bugga!

Buddha giving Bugga kisses. Awwww!

Buddha made himself quite comfortable at the bank when we went to open a new checking account.

Uuuu, yeah, we took a little too long running errands. :)

Buddha's favorite place in our house. He stands here and watches cars driving by, neighbors doing chores outside, and the garbage truck when it picks up our garbage.

Bugga's favorite place in our house...anywhere he can get food. :)

He is one cool dude!

What a cutie...if I do say so myself. :)

Another long ride in the car. :)

30 Years Old!

Daddy, we love you soooooo much....a lot!

Hope you have a great birthday!

Love,
Mama, Buddha, and Bugga

The Never-Ending Journey...Has Finally Ended.

Okay, so, I don't even know where to start. I'm sitting here in our new house, enjoying the cool night air carrying ocean breezes as well as marine layer. It's gorgeous here! I have missed San Diego. It's a relief to finally be here. The last couple of days in Utah were a mad scramble to tie up loose ends with utilities, packing, condo, etc. It took my in-laws, Grandma and Grandpa Bagel, coming to the rescue to get everything under control and moving in the right direction. I totally thought I was on top of things when I started packing weeks in advance of our move. I thought most everything we had was in boxes when a bunch of wonderful men (you know who you are, and thank you!) came to help get the huge furniture to the big moving truck. But when I got home from the airport with Grandma and Grandpa Bagel, I was greeted with rooms full of odds and ends and knick knacks. It was ridiculous. And there I was telling Grandma and Grandpa Bagel how proud of us they would be for getting most everything done. :) Can you say embarrassing?! But, they were wonderful, as usual. They rolled up their sleeves and took control of the situation. I just wanted to sit down and give up. It was so overwhelming considering everything I had already done! And this is just the packing that we're talking about. Don't forget that we had to clean everything still. Luckily, Bugga took care of that for us as you can see in these pictures. :) And the Merry Maids were called upon to take care of anything Bugga missed.



So, with the help of Grandma Bagel's incredible spacial relation skills, we got everything packed up snugly in the Penske truck, handed the keys over to Uncle Bob and Aunt Brenda who will be managing our condo rental for us (thank you, thank you, thank you!), and left for California on August 1st. The Chief and Buddha were in the Penske truck; Bugga, Grandma Bagel, and me in the Element; and Grandpa Bagel in the Civic. We decided a while ago that we would break up our trip into two segments for the boys' sake. The first leg ended in Primm, Nevada, and oh boy am I glad that we decided to take our journey in two parts. We left our home later than we would have liked, and after about one mile, The Chief phoned from the truck to let us know the surprising and frustrating news that the truck had a governor on it at 65 MPH! I wanted to cry. We knew then and there that it was going to be a LLLOOONNNGGG trip! And we were right. We left Utah at 5:15pm MST and arrived in Primm at 12:45am PST. That's 8 and 1/2 hours of driving that normally takes us between 5 and 6 hours! It was insane. Buddha did great. He took naps every now and then. He loved riding in the yellow Penske truck with Daddy and had been talking about it every day for weeks before our departure. Bugga was a different story. He did well for the most part, but he got fed up with being in his car seat for so long. He cried off and on. A couple of times we had to just sit and listen to him scream until he fell asleep. It was rough and we're glad it's over. After spending the night in Primm, we took off the next morning bright and early, drove 5 hours, and pulled up in front of our new home.



And so, that brings us to...well, here. :) We love it! Travis and Trina and kids were so wonderful to come down from Orange County to help us move in (and boy were they a HUGE help!). We're especially grateful since it was Jessy's birthday (Happy Birthday, Jessy!) and seriously, who wants to spend their birthday helping someone else move in?! We appreciate your sacrifice, Jessy! :) Our home is so cute and so much more spacious than our former home. We have a lovely backyard and an awesome 2-car garage. We did have one little scare (well, it was big until it was resolved). When we got here and set about exploring our surroundings, we quickly discovered that there was no washer and dryer. I about had a heart attack. I was sure the Craigslist ad had said there was a washer and dryer included, but, alas, they were no where to be found. So, I called our landlord and got no answer. I remembered she was on vacation, but felt that this was urgent enough to impose. I called her again the next day and she answered (thank goodness). She apologized and said that she had forgotten that she allowed the previous tenants to sell the washer and dryer on Craigslist and get them out of the way because they had their own. She told us to just look on Craigslist and try to find a washer and dryer for $400 or under and she would reimburse us when she got back. Thankfully, we still had the Penske truck with us. The Chief found a washer and dryer being sold by a guy who was selling all his worldly possessions in order to stay alive in San Diego (poor guy...but good for us). He was selling a three-year-old Frigidaire set that was in great condition for only $350. The Chief picked it up and he, Grandma Bagel, and Grandpa Bagel hooked them up and they are now working wonderfully. HALLELUJAH! :) Our landlord, Vicki, came by the other day to check out a cracked tile and a gouged wall...moving damages from the previous tenants. They really weren't bad and we told her they didn't bother us at all, so she's going to give them their full deposit back. She said she doesn't like to keep any part of anyone's deposit (sounds good to me). :) She promptly handed me a check for $350 without even asking to see the ad or the washer and dryer. She is awesome. We love Vicki! She told us to do whatever we wanted with the house. She wants us to feel like it's our own home. We kept asking her if we could do this or that and she finally, very adamantly, ensured us that we could do whatever we want. She said we could paint a Sesame Street mural for all she cares (I told her I cared). :) She really is awesome. She didn't even require a credit check from us. We know the Lord led us to Vicki. She's amazing. We're so blessed. We love our house, we love our location, we're thrilled to be here, and everything really is falling into place. Hindsight is absolutely 20/20, I know, but looking back I can't help but feel like I wasted so much time and energy stressing out about finding a place to live, when I should have been more trusting and had more faith in the Lord. He calmly prompted The Chief that morning to check Craigslist before starting his studies for the day. The Chief found the ad with Vicki's home and I called and caught her before all the hundreds of other calls she got that day. She liked us from the start, said she felt good about us, promised us the house without a credit check, and started turning away other callers...and I could go on and on and on. We truly are blessed. Oh, and we went to our new ward on Sunday and it's equally as awesome as everything else in our new life. :) The only other Mormon at The Chief's law firm also just happens to be in our ward. How's that for a small world?! Well folks, I'm sure there's much, much more that I'm leaving out. Right now we're just trying to get all our new loose ends taken care of. We got the cars registered today and The Chief took the written exam to get his California driver's license. It's my turn tomorrow if I can find our official marriage certificate for proof that I am who I say I am. On Friday we have fumigators coming to spray for spiders (I hate spiders). We still need to set up a bank account with WaMu and unpack our last few boxes. And all that other boring stuff. After that, we'll get down to vacationing while we still have The Chief and while The Chief still has no duties. He'll start work at the end of August. I can't wait to post some pictures of all the fun we're going to have! :) As you can see, I didn't get too many pictures during the move...it was just too crazy. I'll also be posting pictures of our new house, inside and out, once I get all the finishing touches taken care of. I can't wait to show off my mother-in-law's decorating genius to you all! Thanks for reading this lovely novel I've just written. I'll try to keep it shorter in the future. Huge, huge, huge thanks to all who helped us through this summer with prayers and physical labor and babysitting (that's you, Amy). You are all wonderful and we've felt you pulling for us. And a special thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Bagel for carrying us through crunch time and beyond. You two work harder than 20 men combined. It never ceases to amaze me how much you can do in so little time! And you just keep going, and going, and going.... I hope you're resting well now. We can't wait to see you next week! The End.