the house...

in its 3.5 weeks post move-in form for those who have been asking for photos. taking the decorations out of the boxes is as far as we've made it and it's really hard to take photos of a room but here they are nonetheless:

front of the house:
(sorry i was too lazy to shut the garage door)
we're the dead center house of a cul-de-sac.
potted lemon trees will go on either side of the big
front window and more box woods around the front.
all the rose bushes are coming out!

DOWNSTAIRS
sitting/music room:
(off entry)

the fairygod sister is currently moving into her new home
so we will be inheriting furniture that's not moving with her
for this room.

kitchen:

dining room:

also inheriting a new dining table
(those of you who have had the misfortune of sitting in these cursed chairs will be happy to hear)

family room:

which may or may not house a flatscreen tv someday.
jury is still out on that one.

guest bedroom:
(aka grandma kippy's room)

bathroom:

UPSTAIRS
bathroom:

playroom:

beckam & asher's room:

hallway office?:

master bedroom:

master bath:

my favorite!

master closet:

around the corner:

i can finally see my clothes!!

this was the view from the master bedroom for a few weeks, while the water holding area had water:
and this is the view to the left.
it's our neighbors backyard but it's still our view!
behind the wall you can see a grassy area, which is an empty lot that will never be developed and is completely enclosed by a privacy fence. so despite the vast space in our backyard, guess where the boys choose to spend much of their time? over the wall, digging for treasures, of course!!

holy 472 photos

so i finally got my camera and the down(up?)loading cable together in the same place and had 472 photos to down(up?)load!! they include many important and fun blog-worthy events, including jaden's pirate birthday party, our trip to legoland, christmas and beckams preschool christmas program, jaden's baptism, our fabuloso trip to NYC, beckam's 5th birthday party and some of the house. for now, i'm just going to post a few i took around the house today. there will be many more to come... in the backyard:






and my fairy god sister shelli has been up to her fun old tricks again. while jaden was at school today, she worked her magic in his room. he was SO excited and thrilled w/ the results as was i. they're at target as i type getting a few more finishing touches (i.e. lamp and chair) but i think it's perfect. the photos are a little washed out because of all the sunlight in the room but you get the idea:
and she does this all in the middle of trying to finish her own house, which she's hoping to start moving into this weekend.
A-M-A-Z-I-N-G she is!!

oh and...

when i came home yesterday from a full day of errands, kip announced, "i'm just cooking away in your kitchen and i love it!" she had a pot of hamburger stew on and the dough for rolls were rising!! everyone who sees my kitchen is so happy for me and comments that it's as big as all the kitchens i've ever had combined, which isn't saying too much if you've ever seen any of our kitchens. they've all been about the same tiny size. "two-butt kitchens" as my mother liked to call them! then darron, sandee and family arrive with all the fixins for chocolate chip cookies that she promptly began baking!! how could life get any better than that?! well my sisters and i are starting a dinner co-op this week, too, which is pretty exciting as well. you know since we all live within 5 blocks of each other. i will cook dinner 2 nights a week and then we'll be fed 3 nights a week! can't wait to see how it works out!!

real quick...

it's late and i still need to do stuff before 9am church tomorrow but i just wanted to post a quick little update since it's been so long!

we're in our new home--hooray!! we moved in wed. and we loVe, LoVe, LOVE it!! it's so perfect for our family right now. i will post pictures soon but am sad that i didn't take before pictures. we bought a foreclosure so we had to repaint, recarpet and we chose to replace the linoleum in the bathrooms with travertine that my dad had in excess and replace light fixtures throughout. it really feels like a new home now. and i'm so excited that we're starting to get visitors in our home again!! kip came yesterday, my sweet friend ixchelle from davis is coming tomorrow, my dear jodi is coming in a few weeks followed by my sunshine from monterey. we love having visitors (dyers?!!). my kids are starting to fit right in here. today we looked out in the backyard and saw jaden riding his quad in his wife beater and shooting his bb gun! i'll have to post that picture. and now just a quick rundown of a few things i've enjoyed about having our home and our location:

*the day after we moved in, we were just about to sit down for dinner, when my sister and my niece showed up and joined us. then 10 min. later my other sister knocked on the door with two of her boys (ages 9 and 11). they ran here from their house! my brother-in-law followed shortly after.

*my two oldest nephews play together on their varsity basketball team and are rockstars!! our family looks forward to their games on friday nights.

*after dropping jaden off at the bus last week, i passed two of my nephews waiting for the same bus to come pick them up for school and got to see their their older brother standing by to make sure they got on safely.

*micah's started playing on an outdoor soccer league. they play at a park a few blocks away from our house. when we got to the park tonight we ran into my nephew, who was there shooting hoops along with about 10 other old friends who all play in the league!!

*i live about 2 miles from a trader joes and a brand new beautiful super target (with a full grocery store).

*the chase bank a mile from my house has a drive-up atm with a touchscreen and you don't have to fill out an envelope to make a deposit!!

just to name a few...

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!

since i didn't have enough going on

with a move in a week from today, we decided to throw jaden a surprise birthday party tomorrow. the kids will already have been fed pizza at the primary program rehearsal so then we're going to kidnap a few of them and turn them into pirates...
rumor has it, there's some buried treasure somewhere around these parts so we're going to make em' find it:
then we'll feed em' some cake and send em' home w/ their booty!

a few more of the a-dults:

jaime, i was a witch

micah as mr. darcy/joseph smith

we went to a costume party, too where i was a witch and micah was my broom.

but remember, no camera.