happy happy new year

and happy 10 year anniversary to us!!

this year micah got me a house!! our 1st house. appropriate, i think.
seriously, our offer was accepted yesterday.
10 years with my soul-mate. what more could a girl ask for?!
i'm thankful everday for you micah!!

we plan to ring in the new year with our family tonight.
the boys are so excited!

we'll be celebrating next week in NYC!!
we are so excited!

here is the 2009 family wrap-up:

when it comes up that we recently moved from monterey, we often are met with hesitant congratulations, if not apologies. but we’ve been very pleasantly pleased with our move. we've had the opportunity to live in some beautiful and wonderful places and feel that we’ve learned, grown and gained something valuable from each place, hopefully changing us for the better in different ways, but bakersfield is home. there are a lot of people that we like here and not only do they like us but they love our kids, too. our kids are in love with all of their grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins and for that reason, there is no place we’d rather be.

micah is loving his job. he likes working for a firm that does all areas of law with the exception of criminal defense and family law. he’s specializing in litigation and employment law but is branching out in other areas like property and real estate, too.

jaden is 8 and will soon be baptized and starting cub scouts, which he’s super excited about. he loves the cats he inherited since we moved to papa’s house and is so attentive and sweet to them. he spent birthday money on air soft guns and gear and also enjoys skateboarding. he’s adjusting well to a new school and classroom. but will moving schools yet again once we close on the house, which he's excited about because he'll go to school w/ my two nephews!!

beckam is 4 “and ½ and ¾”. he turns 5 in january. he’s started half-day preschool five days a week since we moved, which his mom was not quite ready for but it’s what worked out and he’s happy. he loves to play with toys and has such an imagination! he’s really tall, and has an appetite to match his size. one day he begged for sushi for lunch and was so careful not to eat them all so he’d have some left as his treat for our movie night.

asher is 2 and is kind of lost without his playmate in the mornings. he’s taken to some not-so-pleasant survival skills as the 3^rd child in a house with two rowdy brothers such as pushing and kicking to greet people, along with biting, spitting and hair pulling when things don’t go his way. but he’s just as sweet and friendly as he is feisty and gives hugs and kisses out liberally. he keeps us laughing with all the cute things he says: “asher, you’re so cute!” “no I’m not.” and “asher, are you mommy’s boy.” “no. I mimi’s (or papa john’s) boy.” he calls mimi and papa at least once a day but usually more.

we realize bakersfield is not monterey but it is still home of Rivers End Rafting, owned by micah’s brother darron, and a trip down the kern river is an adventure waiting for you!! so come see us this summer!

oh and i love this one...

explains why asher was held most of the time

to avoid just being a blur in our photos

family photos 2009-the unedited version

thank you melissa!!
we had so much fun and you did a great job
(especially considering who you had to work with)
we love you and love the time we spent together!