Blake the Champ

Yet another addition to the list of blogs. I created a blog for Blake, which he, mom and myself will be adding posts to. Mostly about his wrestling season, but I'm sure other things will make it on there too. There is a link to the right, along with the rest of the friends and family links.

Drummer Show

Last night Mom, Dad, Mickayla, Will and I went out to downtown Bellevue to see the drummer show that they do on Bellevue Way. It was pretty cool. Mickayla and Will even got to drum on the big drums.

Botanical Garden

After seeing the drummer show we went up to the Botanical Gardens to look at the lights that they have during Christmas time. The lights were amazing.

Elder Risenmay

Please note, I have added a link to a blog that I created for Reed. I'll be posting his weekly letters on there, along with any pictures that he sends us. Most of you already get his e-mails, but just incase anyone else is interested in reading them you can send them to elderrisenmay.blogspot.com

Blake vs some Roosevelt guy

This is a video of Blakes match on Dec 11th against some Roosevelt guy. The guy was really strong, and we were a little bit worried when we saw him, but Blake calmed our fears pretty quickly by pinning the guy in 43 seconds using the fireman carry. That's our boy!

Will's photo Shoot

Will loves to have pictures taken of him when he has a towel around his waist after a bath. I think he thinks that he's cool or something. Below is a video of one of his little after bath time photo shoots. ... silly kid. (warning: there is a little bit of naked baby butt shown in this video.)

Cutest UPS man ever!

First off, Will's costume was a big hit. I bought it on some costume website. I was searching for toddler costumes and all I could find was furry animal costumes, but Will doesn't really like to have hoods on, so I didn't know if those would go over very well. Then I came across the UPS man costume. I thought it was so cute that I just had to get it. I told my UPS man at work and he was so excited. He brought me UPS pens and sticky notes for will to use with his costume. I think he was excited because it's a pretty big compliment that some kid would like to dress up as you for Halloween. (I dont think any little girls ever decide to dress up like an Executive Assistant.) Will's Halloween was very fun filled. He got dressed up in the afternoon. I never expected him to agree to wear the hat, but Uncle Blake told him how cool it was and took him into the bathroom to look at it in the mirror, and then he didn't want to take it off. Dad took Will and Mickayla (AKA Hannah Montana, the singer) down to meet up with Rod at the Halloween party at the Microsoft XBox campus. They trick or treated there and also made some Halloween crafts. Then when they were done there I meet them back at Mom and Dad's and we went up to the ward Trunk or treat. (We were sure to empty Will's bucket before going to the trunk or treat so that he was sure to get lots of candy.) Then we walked back to Mom and Dad's and trick or treated on the way.

Will thought the whole thing was great. I'm sure he thinks we should go knock on peoples doors more often in order to get candy. We found out that he knows how to open up candy wrappers, because for the rest of the night he sat on the floor with candy all around him, opening and eating his candy. Unfortunately there is still a lot of candy left... and I dont think Will will be the one eating all of it.

Pumpkin Carving

The Sunday before Halloween we all got together at Mom and Dad's to carve pumpkins. For some reason there was a pair of goggles in the bag of Pumpkin carving tools. We convinced Will that he should wear them. He looked pretty ridiculous, but as always, was still very cute. (You'll notice in the second picture that he obviously had some sort of red juice with his dinner.)

Mommy and Will

Candice took some pictures of Will and I in Mom and Dad's backyard the other day. Will was not in the most photogenic moods, but they were still cute.

The Pink Ladies

Mickayla has started her soccer season. She's really excited about it and reminds us every time we see her when her next soccer game is. Her first game was this past weekend. I wasn't able to attend but Rod went. He said that at some point in the game she was playing defender. The ball was on the other side of the field when she noticed that Rod was there. She started waiving to him and then was throwing herself on the ground and acting weird... completely oblivious that the ball was now coming her way. They yelled at her to pay attention and she finally noticed right before the ball got to her.

Mom sent us Mickayla's schedule so that we could come to any of her games that worked with our schedule. I laughed as I read through the names of the teams, which were obviously chosen by the kids. We have Mickayla's team, who is the Pink Ladies. The other teams are: The Pink Panthers, The Seahorses, The Angels, The Pixies, The Mambas, The Pink Bunnies and the Dolphins. lol. I think probably half of the teams have pink jerseys. Should be a fun soccer season. :)

Science Center

On Labor Day we decided to take Will and Mickayla to go to the Science Center. I was pleasantly surprised that Will had a lot of fun looking and playing with all of the things there. I thought he'd be a little too young but he loved it. He was amazed by the dinosaur bones. Mickayla said that her favorite part was touching the things in the tide pool. (I don't know who taught her to smile like that, maybe Reed?) They both also really liked walking through the butterfly room.

I swear I dont beat my child

This picture is sad but it makes me laugh. It looks like we beat Will, but I swear we don't. The cuts by his nose are from falling at Mom and Dad's house on the brick patio outside. The next evening he got a bruise on his forehead while playing with a toy truck (apparently it somehow attacked him) and then the next day, right before he went back to Brett he was running around our apartment and fell right onto the coffee table and got a cut/bruise under his eye. hopefully CPS wont come after me. Someone please tell me this is normal for children.... Rod says he's amazed the kid is so smart after hitting his head so many times.

Potty time

Will has found a fascination with the potty. At first he just wanted to watch us. (Which both Rod and I felt a little weird about, but tried to realize it's only natural.) Then we asked him if he'd like to try to go potty. We helped him up on the toilet and he concentrated really hard and got a drop or two out. So we decided to get him his very own potty seat. We're not really potty training him but we're letting him get the idea of going potty on the toilet. I can't believe that he's already doing thing since he's not even two yet. Just a few days ago he actually full on went pee in the toilet! It's amazing the things that become exciting when you are a parent.

Repeat stage

Will has gotten to the dangerous, yet fun stage of repeating everything we say. The other day we were at Mom and Dad's house and we would ask William where his foot was. He would show us and then walk around the room showing where everyones feet were. Then nose, then arm.... and so forth. Reed decided to ask him, "Where's Mommy's bum bum?" He didn't know what a "bum bum" was, but apparently he thought it was a funny word because he yelled "BUM BUM!" We all of course busted out laughing. He waited until we stopped laughing and then yelled it again. We laughed again and this went on and on for quite a few minutes. I have since taught him where his bum bum is.

Also, the other day we were driving home and I was teasing Rod about something. As Rod was getting Will out of his car seat he said in a silly voice, "Will is your Mommy a Poopy Head?" Will then mimicked "Poopy head." I didn't want to laugh, but it was just too funny. We haven't encouraged that one though. :)

William Shaving

As I've told you before, William loves to do everything that Rod does. The other day Will went in the bathroom while Rod was shaving. He said "up please" and Rod put him on the counter. He watched intently as Rod continued to shave his face. So when Rod was done he decided to lather him up. He then took a toothbrush and used the back of it to "shave" Will's face. Will thought that it was the coolest thing ever.

San Fransisco

A few weekends ago Rod and I were lucky enough to slip away from our normal day to day lives and fly down to San Francisco. We hung out with some of his friends from college and went around with Keith to many of the wonderful attractions in the San Fran area. It was a quick, but much needed get away for me.

Keith took us out to a beautiful beach, which at first we could not see because of all of the fog. But as the fog lifted we were amazed at the beauty.

As we drove down around the beach we saw a little bit of wild life. Soon after passing by some Great Blue Herons Rod stated, "Hey look, those are some weird looking birds" as he pointed out to a group of something in the water. Then he followed it with, "Wait, those are sea lions!" Turns out there was a Harbor Seal pupping area. We thought it was pretty funny that the Harbor Seals could be mistaken for birds.

Unfortunately for me I only had a few days to spend with Rod down in California because on Saturday he departed on a week long backpacking trip with his friends. Rod had hardly ever been camping before, so I was a little worried. But I was hoping that his friends would watch out for him. He some how survived and came home in one piece, even though he had a bit of a run in with a bear (he'll have to tell you himself sometime.)

In my time between Rod leaving for his hiking trip and me flying home Keith was kind enough to show me around a bit more of San Francisco. My favorite part of course was going shopping down town. Everything was beautiful and large scale. He was kind enough to be patient with me as I spent probably about an hour in H&M (my new favorite store, we totally need one in Seattle.) Below is a picture of me at Weisfield Mall. I'm down at the bottom with 2 of Keith's friends, he stayed at the top to take the picture.

I had a wonderful time in San Francisco. I wish that I would have been able to see Ann for longer. I had breakfast with her when I first got there, but then she left for Asia. I was also lucky enough to have lunch with LaDawn right before I flew out as she was in for her Job interview. I miss my sisters.

Thank you Keith for being such a wonderful tour guide. :)

New Car

This last Saturday I bought my first car that has only me on the title! It's a 2006 Saab 9-3. (Ann, aren't you proud that I bought a Swedish car?) I love it. It only has 17000 miles on it and has all of the fun options that I wanted. It was a really good buy too. You guys will have to see it when you are in town. Here is a picture of it from the listing on line, but I dont think it's the best angle. I've had a lot of fun driving it around. Although it does have a turbo engine, which is fun, but is dangerous with my love for speed. :)

Marathon

So I did a crazy thing. I signed up to run the Seattle Marathon in November. I'll probably die doing it, but at least I've got more than 6 months to train for it. I decided to do it because I wanted to find a hobby and set a goal of something for me to work toward. I'm excited for it, but I'm also kinda thinking that I am crazy. I printed off a training schedule. The schedule is for the 19 weeks leading up to the marathon. It's crazy how much you're supposed to be running. Running will have to become my life. So anyway, wish me luck, and encourage me along the way because I'm gonna need it.

My Boys

This picture is of Will and Rod playing outside my friend Antonella's house. Rod is so amazing with Will. Sometimes I think Will likes Rod more than me. The other day Rod came with me to pick up Will from Mom and Dad's house. When I walked in he just kinda stood there. But when he saw Rod he got all excited and wanted Rod to pick him up. I think he likes Rod because he's more fun. Rod picked him up and took him outside and carried him around the yard and deck and Will seemed so happy. I love seeing my boys together!

Mama and Papa Gonzalez

Last weekend Rod's parents came up to visit from Vancouver, WA. We had a lot of fun. On Saturday we went out of Pikes Place Market. We had lunch at a cute and very yummy restaurant out there and then did a little shopping. Rod and his dad spent quite a while in an Italian grocery store there. It kinda reminded me of something Keith would do. After we came back from Seattle we hung out at my apartment and taught Rod's parents how to play Rummy. On Sunday the 4 of us and Will went up to Snoqualmie Falls. It was beautiful up there but the falls were so big that you couldn't look at it much without getting soaked. It was a wonderful weekend with wonderful people. I love them!

New Job

I just accepted a new job yesterday. I will be working as an Administrative Assistant for Primus International. They are an aerospace product provider for planes and military equipment. They are located in Bellevue. I'm starting on the 21st. I'm have mixed emotions about the whole thing. I am so excited for this new opportunity. Yet at the same time I hate to leave the gym because I feel like it's my family there. I've made so many friends in both the employees and the members. All in all I am just very excited and grateful for this new opportunity. It will be nice to work for a company that values their employees.