Bank of American Award Ceremony

Today was the awards ceremony for the $200,000 Bank of America award. The event was held in the Diamond Club at Angels Stadium, and we were able to bring 20 people. It was such a great event.

This is Natalie Lohrenz the Director of Counseling. She has been working at CCCS-OC for ten years. She is the other grant writer and mainly does the big federal grants. I focus on private foundations. About two years ago her husband (a pilot) bought a crop dusting business in Wyoming and they were moving. Jim (our boss) was too afraid to let her quit since she is so amazing. So she actually works from Wyoming and flys in once a month to attend meetings.

Since I wrote the Grant I gave the acceptance speech.

The award is beautiful and is made out of marble, granite and some other type of rough stone. It weight about 15 pounds.

OF COURSE, I couldn't resist taking this picture!

I am such a DORK!

The check is somehow more cool than the trophy :)

Such a Cute Outfit!

Such a Cute Outfit!

5 Things about Savannah

1. She likes to twirl the hair above her right ear around her finger.

2. She light to wag her finger instead of wave (too much Colbert Report).

3. She likes to have long, deep conversations with Lily, even though Lily hates her guts.

4. She likes to make extremely high pitch screams ONLY in restaurants.

5. Savannah can look through her toy box and will always pick out the book.

The FLU!

It's been a couple years since I really had a horrible flu... and oh was it horrible. From Friday night until about 5 pm today I have felt awful. I slept most of Friday night on the floor, unable to move. Saturday was mostly a blur, but at least I was in a bed most of the day. I remember thinking, "I should go to the hospital, but I am too sick to leave the house." This got me thinking even more during my dehydrated rant, "What do people do when they are too sick to take themselves to the hospital?" During a phone call with my cousin Mark, I mentioned this thought and he replied, "Kel- that's when you call a paramedic". Not that I was sick enough to call a paramedic, but, "Duh!" Next time I am so dehydrated that I can't critically think I will call Mark, after all, he is a rocket scientist!

Last Friday morning, Brian and I took Savannah to her wellness check-up as well as a check-up for her ear infection. She passed everything with flying colors, except that she actually lost one pound. The doctor said that she could have lost weight because babies at her age (10 months) are so active and crawl around everywhere. That's a good theory, BUT Savannah isn't crawling yet. The doctor looked a little puzzled and then said, "Well, that's common for a baby with her mass." Now, of course with a mommy with a history of child obesity I had a look of panic on my face. Not even a year old and we are already having these types of conversations with our pediatrician. Memories of Choc Hospital's child weight loss program, "Is that a good choice" was rushing back to me. He explained that, "Savannah is very proportional, but she is overall a large child." So, we kind of backed off of trying to get her to crawl and just figured it would happen when her body mass would allow her to.

OF COURSE, the moment she really started crawling was Saturday when I was the most sick. Here is a quick video.

Joe came to Visit

Our Friend Joe came down from Seattle to visit us and go the the University of Washington vs. UCLA game. It was bummer since UW lost by 1 point. They still seemed like they had a good time. My Uncle Larry, an alumni, also went with them.

We had such a great time hanging out! He took some great pictures of Savannah.

She said it!

Savannah said, "Mama!"

She hasn't stopped saying it all night. It is such a sweet sound. Ever since she learned how to wave last week she waves at everything- people, dogs, her toys and the TV. It was so cute this last weekend when she was sick and crying Aron waved to her and she stopped crying, smiles and waved back. Oooooo I just love her.

I am so surprised she is starting to form words, but still surprised she is not crawling yet. She kind of crawled at Aron's house, but nothing since then. I am pretty sure she is going to walk first. She is able to stand holding furniture and can almost pull herself up from on furniture. Today she also was able to sit up from a laying down position.

It's like a milestone explosion!

Happy Halloween!

On Friday night Aron, Brian's brother in Vegas, has a big Halloween party. There were 40-50 people and we had such a fun time eating and dancing. Everyone came in costume. I was Minnie Mouse, Aron was a cop, Savannah was a Lady Bug and Brian, well, he made a bold choice...

My shoes were my favorite part of my costume.

Aron has a movie room set up in his loft. He made it the kids room and put on Shrek. Savannah watched intensely. Aron put on her favorite movie (the My Baby Can Read DVD) on the big projector tonight (Halloween) and she was so happy.

Savannah has been very sick, but is doing much better today. This picture shows Savannah's red little sick face. Although she was not feeling well she still would manage to wave and smile.

Brian did wear this costume ALL night. It got a little weird when he would sit on the leather couches or forget he was in a speedo and cross his legs.

I made a new treat. These are white chocolate cover marshmallow mummies. I also made my cookies and were a big hit.

Another really cool thing about Aron's project is that it is not just set up for movies. We can watch TV or play video games. I played guitar hero, and did pretty bad. Brian took a quick video of my poor performance. It is just cool to see the game on that huge screen.

Lots of Things!

A couple weeks ago it rained all day. It was the day we had fun activities planned at the library so we had to pull out the rain coat! Isn't it so cute on her?

We had our company picnic two weeks ago, and Natalie (Director of Counseling) lives in Wyoming (long story) and flys in to Orange County for our big in-service each month. Since her kids weren't here to come to the picnic she played with Savannah and I. Natalie and I dominated the egg/spoon race and the three legged race!

Every October at my work's monthly in-service we dress up. I was a go-go girl- bump it and all! This was a thrown together costume from a couple years ago since the one I ordered didn't come in yet. Brian had to work later than usual so Savannah came to work with me. My boss is so cool about her coming in. He says that as long as he gets to hold her she can stay.

One night Savannah was extremely interesting in our mouths. We kept trying to keep her hand out, but finally Brian gave in and used it as a 'teachable moment'. I know it is gross, but she was SO interested. Future dentist?

We went to a huge pumpkin patch in Irvine. Although Savannah was too small to really enjoy the corn maze, the petting zoo and search for a pumpkin she really like looking at all of the stuff. I didn't realize the potential nightmare potential some of their props were. You can see in Savannah's face that she was concerned about the man with a pumpkin head.

My cousin turned me on to Mum Mums. She loves them and they are totally organic. Thanks for the tip Lisa.

For the past 3 years I have made Rice Crispy Frankensteins. In addition to making that treat this year I made tombstone. They are Twinkies coated with white chocolate with black food coloring. I have no idea if they are actually good since I never tried one.

Last thing...

Savannah has a new trick.

A Priceless Gift

Our friends from church (the Brady's) are the most artistically talented people I know. They generously did a 'photo shoot' for Savannah in her Halloween costume and did amazing things with the pictures on Photo Shop. I cannot express my overwhelming gratitude for their gift. The pictures beautifully captured Savannah's sweet spirit. I will cherish these photos forever.

Thank you Jill and Kenny.

(The other side of the camera... Mommy trying to make Savannah smile)

Busy Weekend!

HOMECOMING WEEKEND

This weekend was Homecoming Weekend for Chapman. Saturday was full of events. Brian, Savannah and I ran a 5k early in the morning, then I taught a personal finance seminar at a Relief Society meeting while Brian helped some friends move, I checked on some new employees at their seminar in Irvine, picked up my Mom from the airport, went to the Homecoming football game, and had a very late date night with Brian at the movies. Emily (I was going to describe her as the blond one, but just had a realization that almost of my friends are blond) was so awesome and gave up her Saturday night to watch Savannah.

It's a little hard to notice, but Brian shaved off his goatee. It wasn't on purpose, but more of an accident with he beard trimmer. The attachment fall off and he took out a big chunk. He has a goatee forever, and it's funny because the part of his face where the hair was is super white. It's been a couple days and I am still not used to him without facial hair. Sometimes I look at him and think who are you?

I love decorating for the holidays. Since decorations are always so expensive before each holiday I buy new decorations on sale right after each holiday. It is so much fun to open my holiday storage boxes the next year to find all kinds of new fun decorations for the house. It's like shopping all over again!

Another VERY cute picture of Savannah. This is the dress she wore to church today. She is looking like such a little girl. Since I tend to dress Savannah in PINK all of the time, I forget how good she looks in blue. (Side note- Hemangioma has shrunk considerably this week!)

$200,000

All I can say is...

$200,000

I write grants for work all the time. I have received many grants before (typically up to $30,000), but never as big as the one I just got! I wrote a grant for Bank of America's Neighborhood Excellence program. They only give two $200,000 grants for the entire county of Orange. Out of hundreds of grant applicants I got one of them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is HUGE not only for work, but for my vitae. As a professor you need write grants all the time. The monies received from grants is what allows professors to conduct research.

B of A is also hosting a party at the Diamond Club at Angels Stadium for the two organizations that received the grant.

It is also pretty cool since I get a bonus on the grant! So Long Car Payment!!!!!

Goodbye Lily

(picture taken of Lily when she was 8-weeks old during her first night with me)

It has been getting extremely difficult to care for Lily when Brian and I both work, go to school and take care of Savannah. We decided, after many Lily No-Nos, we just couldn't keep Lily any longer. The other day I packed up all of her toys, food, medications and costumes and gave Lily to a very caring family. I know they will take very good care of her and give her the space and attention she needs. I thought I would be very upset if the day ever came when Lily was gone, but, surprisingly, it is not as bad as I thought. Maybe it is because I gave her to my Mom and Dad. So, I will see Lily all the time and once we have a bigger home Lily will once again be sleeping on our bed. My Mom of course is on a mission to 'fix' Lily. Before they even made it home to Palm Springs my Mom took her to the doggy salon for a bath, nail trim and ear cleaning. She hired a trainer to teach her not to jump up or lick faces anymore. After that she had a doctor's appointment to deal with her allergies and ear infections. She weighed in at 46 lbs.-which is a record for Lily. Keep in mind that Lily was eating as much as my Mom's dog Chance (a 10 lb dog). The Vet cut her food intake even lower to 1/2 of weight management dry food twice a day and put her on a 8-times a day walking schedule, which includes a treadmill. If she doesn't loose a significant amount of weight in the next month her thyroid will be checked and doggie weight loss pills will be prescribe. Oh, leave it to my Mom to fix everything that is wrong with my dog!

So, I don't really think of this as goodbye Lily, but more of, "We'll see you at your extreme makeover reveal!" Thanks for taking on this huge challenge Mom and Dad. I can't believe you said YES.

Lily at 6 Lbs.

Lily at 46 Lbs.

She needs to drop about 20 lbs. Let's see if she can do it! We believe in you Lily!