Cienna is 2!

It's unbelievable how time flies!  Cienna is Two years old.  The holidays were especially good to us.  We got to spend lots of time with the entire family.  We also got to see some good friends who were around.  It was amazing watching Cienna truly interact and play with everyone.  Taking some time off of work we headed to Santa Rosa for Christmas where we finally got to share our exciting news of an addition to our family coming in early June!  Cienna is already extremely excited for her little SISTER to arrive!

Throughout the rest of January working our way to the big birthday we fit in some playdates, silly antics, began the makings of a chocolate oatmeal stout (which Cherie won't get to enjoy for a while), and a visit from the Kyles.  Cienna and mommy made trial peanut butter mini cupcakes with peanut butter frosting to share with friends at "school", which worked out well so more will be made for the Birthday party coming on Saturday.

Click the picture below to see the rest of the pictures from last month!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/nZ8nh6GXkLQ8XV2x9

Cienna is 23 Months!

We started the month off with a quiet Thanksgiving dinner with just the 3 of us.  Cherie and Cienna made a wonderful dinner and pumpkin pie.

The next weekend we were glad to see lots of our family when we flew up to the bay area for Uncle RJ and Auntie Megan's baby shower.  We got to stay with them at their beautiful new home.  It was great to be able to spend some time with them and help get ready for, and enjoy a couple parties.  Our soon to be new niece is going to be lucky to be surrounded with so much love.

We were also invited to a Christmas party at the Geithman's with homemade everything to eat and great company including many kiddo's to keep us all entertained!

Cienna had her first trip to the snow for a day with less than ideal weather but we all had fun anyway!  We met Uncle Joe at the mountain for a wet and cold day of Boarding/Skiing and play time in the lodge.

After a smooth drive to Northern California we have just began our week vacation with family and friends and look forward to the rest with details and pictures for next month!

Click the picture below to see the rest of the pictures from last month!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/L136Y8jEWAWUesem7 

Cienna is 22 Months!

We started the 22nd month with a quick trip down to San Diego to meet up with some good friends and help celebrate their new baby girl to be.  Little Whalen should be coming sometime around Christmas day!  The next week we spent preparing for Halloween, with costume making and pumpkin carving.  For Halloween, Uncle Joe came up and we all went down to our old stomp'n ground on 2nd street where we got to trick-or-treet at all the shops and check out lots of costumes!  Even the dogs were in costumes for the annual doggie costume parade.  Later that night we came home in time to visit the neighbors and hand out candy to all the other trick-or-treeters.

Towards the end of the month Daddy went to help Uncle B finally move into a fantastic place of his very own.  Congratulations Uncle B!  We also had a very nice visit with Grandad Rolland who flew down to see us for the holiday's.

Click on the album below to check out the pictures of the month!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/vVpMTK3CDYEZcPUx5

Cienna is 21 Months!

Another action packed month!  Cienna has enjoyed riding her "hog" that Grammy and Grandpa sent.  Can't quite reach the pettles, but man can she scoot along using her feet!  We helped celebrate Stephanie's birthday at their house complete with bouncy for the kids.  It's amazing how parenthood has changed our adult birthday parties.

Nana and Poppa came to visit and we started the weekend off with a "fry" party.  They brought their deep fat fryer down and we pretty much fryed everything that wasn't screwed down.  Veggies, fish, shrimp, onions, sweet potatoes, to name a few.  The next weekend we all packed up the bus and headed down to San Diego and stayed at the Los Coches RV resort that Shannon's parents own.  We stayed in the windmill house while the folks stayed in the bus just across the path.  What a beautiful place.  George and Shannon made their world famous chile rellenos and enchiladas.  We played horseshoes and picked up some burgers from "Hodads" that poppa was dying to try ever since he heard about it on the Food Network.  The next weekend we layed low, carved some pumpkins and tried to stay healthy.

Click on the album below.  Enjoy the photos!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/D4gvDn8U54eyDNEn8

Cienna is 20 Months!

It seemed like this month was full of parties. Starting with a fantastic flight right into Santa Rosa for a visit with family and friends, to a Laua party at the Ferrario's, then a housewarming party with the Chavez's, and finally off to Carlsbad beach for camping.

While up north, we enjoyed visiting with Grammy, Grandpa, Nana, Poppa, The Paynes and celebrating Linda Fountaine's 60th birthday party complete with a "60's" theme. We also found time to hang out with all of Cherie's friends and family.

We celebrated Jeff's 40th birthday party Laua style complete with smoked pig and Hula dancers.

Eric and Kristin, soccer buddies of ours, bought a new house and threw a housewarming party where we had a great time swimming, drinking, and watching soccer.

We ended the month with a trip to Carlsbad State beach for a camping trip with the Bakx family, Netter family, and Uncle Joe. There we enjoyed swimming, playing in the sand, boogie boarding, surfing, washers, and playing with all the kids.

We also had some visitors stop by the house this month. The Dunbars took a night out of there busy Disneyland adventures to come over for dinner and let the kids play. The Ordonez's for an impromtu night of fun. Also, Cherie enjoyed watching Kai for a day while his mommy and daddy were away.

Enjoy the photos.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/rX7kp19L8zpzQeyF8

Cienna is 19 Months

Good Times at home, a great road tripping family vacation, and more party time filled up the last month! We are lucky to keep such good contact with our close friends with fun-filled play-dates. But our biggest adventure this month was our big family vacation of the summer.

We started our road trip (which Cienna did amazing for) with a stop in Rocklin at the Wagner's where we got to meet Luke and Brady for the first time, spend some more time with Jessica, and help celebrate with Maisie and Bill. Of course seeing Abbey and Shaun was the highlight along with the eggs benedict!

We then headed more north to Collins Lake for four nights of exciting Rydman family time full of lake side camping, swimming, hiking, fishing, and ice cream to go along with our smores pizza! Cienna loved every minute hanging out with Poppa, Nana, Auntie Dana and Uncle Mike, and of course cousins Ashley and Eric. We also got a visit from Auntie Erin, and Cousins Alex and Cameron. We survived the camping trip with no cut's and bruises until the last day when Cienna took a spill (you'll see the cut on her head in the pictures) but she handled like a trooper.

We then headed more north to good ol' Chico. The evening we arrived was spent at Sierra Nevada Brewing Company where we met with Great Auntie Lynn and Uncle Jay, the whole Kyle family, and the Cusick family for a great dinner (you'll see that Cienna had spaghetti) and beer including the famous 16 flavor taster set. We got some more one on one time with Kari, Addi, and Landen the next morning before our next stop in Merced.

Why Merced... you ask. Well it's almost half way, and why not. We found a terrific BBQ restaurant which was also a micro brew and tree house with bull riding and games all in one. The next morning we also found a local zoo and neighborhood park which started the day full of activity to tide us over for the rest of the drive home. (again, wasn't expecting such an easy drive with a 1 1/2 year old).

We got home and all helped unpack. Uncle Joe was in the neighborhood after a big day on an outrigger so he stopped by for a relaxing evening. Then, the next day we headed an hour and a half south/east to Temecula for the Jarmila and Justin's baby shower. We were glad to see them after too long.

The next party was to celebrate Uncle RJ and Brandon's/Chad's birthday. RJ wasn't there but we celebrated never the less with a trip to Santa Monica and InfraRed BBQ'd burgers and dogs.

Also along the journey of last month our motherboard on our home computer finally laid to rest after 8 great years, which is why we may be a couple days late with the blog.

Enjoy the pictures (there are a lot!)

https://photos.app.goo.gl/KDxYaL87WA8S7LEB8

Cienna is 1 1/2 Years Old!

Along with many love filled memories of Brodie throughout the last month and every month to come, we started it with celebrating our 6th wedding anniversary which we finally settled on buying a fire pit. We also took Cienna to the beach for the first time! She loved the never ending sand box and had a love hate relationship with the waves. We also went to the Nature Center that weekend which is a fantastic get-a-way only 2 miles from our house which has wilderness hikes and an animal awareness center.

The next celebration came with a party before the bang (fireworks show at the vets stadium) with play time in the pool and a great BBQ at the neighbors! Then we had an incredible visit with Grammy and Grandpa which included a trip to San Diego (staying at Uncle Joe's... more pool time!) and a soccer Tourney for Mommy which she played for 2 teams and won both Leagues, thanks to our routing section!! Both Cienna and Uncle Joe got some guitar lessons from Grammy and Cienna got her first taste of Tapioca pudding followed by a major swing session from Grandpa Kim!

This month included a successful/event full night of fixing/repairing the washing machine and Cienna's first bandaid from a scraped toe! We have also had continued success in the garden with flourishing tomatoes, broccoli, peppers, squash, our first onion, (surprising) artichoke, and upcoming garlic and butternut. I see tomato soup and marinara sauce in the future! We've had some successful Honey Wheat and Pale Ale homebrews, as well as some fantastic pickled eggs happening too!!!!

Enjoy the photos!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/yw2sSXnjaPxmRzir7