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!

My Favorite Time of the Year!

It is my FAVORITE time of the year. September has over and October, November and December are HERE. I love these three months. I love decorating for Halloween, putting up harvest decorations for Thanksgiving and CHRISTMAS decorations! This year feels even more special since I get to experience it with Savannah. At the start of the 'season' I always make homemade soup chicken noddle soup with lots of veges. I also made an apple cobbler too!

Savannah and I went to the library today from toddler reading time. I just had to take a picture of her in her car seat because (a) this car seat is amazing and so much easier to put Savannah in, (b) hair bows look so cute on her and (c) that face is precious!

Savannah likes to sit up front near the teacher. Savannah is very conscious about being a good pupil.

Savannah was raising her hand to answer questions.

Ok... maybe more like swinging her arms around trying to clap.

Savannah's crib was lowered and it has totally freaked her out. Now that she can flip over so easily she gets a little crazy in the crib. Today during her nap she somehow ended up like this...

On a side note... I was having a horrible day. I got into the office and had a message from the receptionist that a delivery was waiting for me up front. I was so surprised to find this- FLOWERS! Of course the receptionist ask who they were from. I thought it must be Brian. When I opened the card that first thing I saw was it was from MY BOSS!. I turned bright red, but the receptionist was still looking at me waiting for me to answer her question. I looked back at the card and read the message. "Thanks for making COA happen!". COA was that horrible accreditation project I have been killing myself to complete. It was so nice that he sent me flowers in appreciation, but I have to admit I was a little shell shocked when I saw Jim's name! It definitely made my day (and my office) a little brighter.

Savannah?

While lying in bed last night I was reading articles for my literature review. After a while my eyes started to bug me so I stopped reading to take off my glasses and rub my eyes. I was looking around the room (with blurry vision) and thought I saw my baby's eyes looking at me. I put on my glasses and saw two little eyes starring at me though her crib. Savannah had flipped over and was on her hand and knees just starring and smiling. When Savannah wakes up she usually doesn't make any noise. We typically just hear her legs hitting the mattress. So, I pulled her out of the crib and we had 20 minute play time until she started to rub her eyes. I always thought that rubbing eyes as an indication of sleepiness was from cartoons, but Savannah really does rub her eyes with her two little fists every night.

Here is a series of photos during the 20 minutes before she fell back to sleep.