The gender party

Along with family we had our good friends Jen and Dave Costillo and Victor and Christine Chen with their little daughter Selah.











Jen is just a few weeks a head of Lina in her pregnancy.



















Our wonderful Robin Harvey not only made a wonderful cake for us, but was able to keep the gender a secret for almost two weeks.
















The big moment!

Summer Road Trip!!!

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Summer Road Trip!!!

After several summers of hiking the John Muir Trail, we decided to switch things up a bit and meandered up to Washington along the beautiful, Oregon Coast. We packed up all the essentials including, yes, lemon drops. Peg Monley has influenced the road trips. Each time she would take us as kids over to Iowa, she made sure to have presents waiting for us to open each day of the trek and always had a stash of lemon drops. My road trips are never complete without them.

Our first stop was Indian Scotty Campground and Kidder Creek. I was thrilled to be able show Mark where I spent three of my summers working. It is an incredible place, nestled in the beautiful Scott Valley.

This is a well known jumping rock at Clear Creek. Usually not super crowded, we just happened to go when there was another youth group already there.

Here I am "rafting" down the Klammath River.

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After Kidder we headed to the coast where we spent our first night at Del Norte Campgrounds in the middle of the Redwoods. Then it was off to Oregon. We traveled up the 101 for three days and were blown away by the scenery. It seemed that at every curve in the highway, there was another vista and turn out for cars. The highway itself was lined with trees and if it wasn't foggy the views of the coast were amazing. We loved the drive and the pace of the trip.

Celebrations!

It seems lately we have been waiting until several big things pile up before we tell people about it but at least we are trying to keep ya'll posted. So the exciting things for the past few months are.....

We've MOVED!!!

Thanks to the bunches of folks who helped us paint and move, we are almost completely settled into our new home in Yorba Linda. WE LOVE IT!!! We look at on our balcony and see hills, hear birds and have tons of walking and biking trails around us. Such a change from our "quaint" home in Anaheim. It's a great 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo with a garage just perfect to fit all our camping equipment and hopefully a car:). We would love to have you visit. Our guestroom is lonely and waiting for some folks to enjoy it.

The kitchen before...

after

This is our lovely painted living room. I truly got a kick out of the names for these paints. I am standing in front of a "cup of cocoa". Our house is the most inviting because of its names. You walk into a "cup of cocoa" and are quickly invited into the "quiet veranda" of our kitchen.



Another great thing we have been able to celebrate in the past months is Mark turning 40!

We celebrated this milestone with a day of his favorites. Friends and family members showed up unannounced through out the day which made for some fun surprises. I am so thankful for my wonderful husband (who by the way happens to be the teacher of the year at his school). He is such a thoughtful, caring and considerate man. I am so blessed to have him in my life.

Each activity was introduced by a card. Here we are holding up the first one. Can you tell it was early in the morning?

The day was filled with breakfast, biking, golfing, a picnic, wine tasting and a great celebration BBQ to end it all. It was a great day!

The last part of 2009...we're getting caught up!

We are finally getting around to posting again. A lot of festivities have passed so please enjoy the highlights.

Thanksgiving....
We spent Thanksgiving with the Monleys. We started the celebration with a 10k run to feed the hungry. It was great to have so many Monley siblings and cousins representing. We were soon back to Woodland to spend a little time with the Monley's for the annual Christmas Caroling and an early Christmas. Bill was able to join us for our Christmas. It was fun to have him. Here's Finn enjoying his gift from Uncle Josh.
Selah is showing off her mom's new hat. It is fun watching our nephews and nieces grow up and enjoy opening gifts more and more each year. After a few days in Woodland we were off to Berkeley to celebrate with the Bornsteins. We congregated at the Peytons, awaiting the arrival of baby Peyton. We unfortunately didn't get to meet him then, but Benjamin Peyton has now entered the world and is healthy:). He was born on January 1. Joe and Krista were generous in finding us a place to stay while we were there. We stayed at the Freel's house and dogsat their dog, Moonunit. It was a fun time for Mark and I as we walked her around Berkeley frequenting all the local Peet's coffees. Moonie was quite a puller. Reading a book with Riley.Mark and Bernice by the Berkeley Marina.

We celebrated NYE (as apparently it is called now:)) with some friends and lasted until about 10:30. We decided to ring in the last of the new year at home with a good bottle of wine. January first we headed out to Anza Borrego to enjoy some outdoor goodness.

On our way home we took the hidden desert tour and ended up at the Salton Sea, a new experience for both of us. It was an interesting place, stinky with lots of dead fish skeletons, but worth the little tour. Here is Mark on the salty beach.

Mark got a digital camera book for Christmas and has been practicing his photography. I think he has taken some great ones so I've posted them. The first is from Anza Borrego and the last few from the Salton Sea.