Movies & Dinner

Billy & I have enjoyed our mini anniversary vacation. Today we woke up at 11 am, ordered room service for breakfast, went to the movies to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and had a wonderful dinner at Fogo de Chao - a Brazilian restaurant. And I was even able to drag Billy to TWO scrapbook stores :)

The movie was really good and sad at the same time. Brad Pitt is as cute as they get!! And the Brazilian restaurant was awesome and yummy! They had the most delicious different types of steak, salad bar, mashed potatoes, sweet bananas, cheese bread, and polenta (sort of like deep fried cornbread). And they also gave us a free cake for our anniversary.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Today was our 6th wedding anniversary and, thanks to our wonderful parents, we were able to take a mini-vacation to Dallas. We drove yesterday from Houston and checked in a gorgeous Hilton hotel :) I got a great deal at priceline.com thanks to the suggestion of my neighbor Jenny. We are staying on the 15th floor and have a king size bed with super soft sheets! Gotta love it!!

Anyways, this morning we slept in until 10 am and then drove an hour to the Texas Conference office to interview with them. After that, we went to Macaroni Grill for dinner and a movie. We watched Marley and Me. Oh my gosh! It was such a sweet movie!!! I read the book 2 or 3 years ago and thought it was awesome. Of course I cried and laughed just like when I was reading the book. We also commented afterwards how funny it was to hear half of the theater sniffing in the sad parts.

Anyways, it's almost midnight so I better go to sleep. Gotta love being able to sleep in and not having to wake up to a baby crying and pulling your hair! ;) ***I still love you Bella***

Merry Christmas to All!!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! We've been having a good time in Houston despite my brother being sick and Bella not sleeping too good. We opened presents this morning and Bella played Santa :) Then, Billy, my brother and I went to the movies to see Yes Man. It was hilarious! Then came home and had a wonderful lunch - turkey included!!! YUM!! And then we watched more movies with the new Blu-Ray DVD player my dad got for Christmas. Band of Brothers, which we gave him for Christmas too, and The Contractor.

Tomorrow we are picking up Billy's mom from the airport and he'll be preaching at one of the churches on Sabbath. More updates later :)

Safe in Houston!

We made it safe and sound to Houston after our plane from Denver was delayed about 2 hrs. Bella slept the last 10 minutes of the 1st flight and then slept for about 2 hrs in the airport. And then she didnt sleep AT ALL on the 2nd flight and she actually didnt fall asleep until about 2:30 am Houston time. TERRIBLE!!!! Of course she was up by 7:30 (CA time), which is her usual wake up time. Crazy girl!!! Now, it's 10:30 pm and Billy is still trying to make her fall sleep. My mom tried, my dad tried, I tried... no use! *sigh* Hopefully she'll adjust soon to this time.

She did do really well in both flights. She played around going from one chair to the next. Opening and closing the window and saying "WOW" when she opened it. It was so cute :) And while we were waiting at the Denver airport, she walked around for about an hour. She loved going on the electric walkways nonstop!

We also went shopping all day today to an outlet mall and I got some jeans and shirts!! Of course I got 10 times more clothes for Bella! LOL And we finally finished decorating the Christmas tree. Bella helped by passing the ornaments to my dad after I had put the little hook. It was so stinking cute and funny! I'll have to post a picture later.

Getting ready for vacation!

We are 80% packed, Mocha is staying at the Scales house while we are in Houston, Yami is picking up our mail, and God will keep our house safe! We are driving to Fresno tomorrow morning and flying at 2 pm. We have a stop at Denver and I'm praying that we have good weather so the flight is not delay.

We are really excited about our trip and can't wait for Bella to see all her grandparents again. It's been 6 months already! We are also going to Dallas to celebrate our 6th anniversary! And thanks to my amazing shopping skills we are staying at the Hilton Dallas Lincoln Center (a 4-star gorgeous hotel) for $60/night :)

I posted a ton of pictures on Facebook if you want to see.

Bella's growing

Billy took Isabella to the doctor yesterday while I was working for a check-up. She doesn't have an ear infection anymore. So that's great news! They also measured her and weighed her. She's in the 30th percentile on both - 31 inches long and 24 lbs. She's growing consistently and even had a little grow spurt :) Because she's had a fever on and off for the past 10 days we decided not to give her any vaccines this time, but wait until we are back from Houston.

Now we are packing and getting everything ready for our trip on Monday! We are excited to see our parents, my brother and for Bella to spend time with her grandparents again after 6 long months!

And now I leave you with a cute episode that occurred this morning at our breakfast table. We were getting ready to pray for our meal and usually Billy and I hold hands and kiss after saying Amen. Well, Bella always wants to get a kiss from each of us too. But lately she's been wanting to hold hands with us too. So this morning she extends her hand so I can hold hers and when she goes to extend her other hand so Daddy can hold it, she realizes she's holding her toothbrush. Don't ask, she's been obsessed with brushing her teeth lately. Anyways, without thinking it twice, she puts the toothbrush in her mouth and bites it, and then extends her other hand so Daddy can hold it. It was so cute!! Both of us just started laughing and she started laughing too.

A Family Dance :)

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

First Ear Infection

We took Bella to the pediatrician this morning and she has an ear infection from the cough/congestion. It's her 1st ear infection, which is strange since she's had so many colds. So, our little one is on antibiotics for the ear infection, Zyrtec and Singulair for the asthma/allergies, Tylenol and Motrin for the fever, and I have another prescription on hand in case her ear starts dripping guck! That's life right now...

We can stop the nebulizer for now, which is a blessing because Isabella hates it more and more everyday! As soon as she sees the ducky face mask she shakes her head and says no. Poor thing! She's only 18 months and has had so many illnesses and complications and tests...

So, please continue praying for Bella that she can feel better soon and for all of us to keep our sanity!

Happy 18th Month Birthday to Bella!

Isabella is 18 months today. She weights about 24 lbs now and it's growing more and more everyday. She's been eating really good, loves to "read" her books out loud, is getting better at coloring and using the crayons, loves to watch Little People and Baby Einstein DVDs, and is developing a little personality of her own.

We also went to the allergist today and did her skin test for allergies. She did so good through out the testing. She got poked 20 times and didn't even cry. They are "little" pokes in sets of 5 so it wasnt' too bad. And then we had to wait 15 minutes for the skin/body to react. It turns out she's allergic to cats and cockroaches. I can understand cats, even though she has been exposed to them only once. But cockroaches?? The doctor said it doesn't mean we have them at home but that maybe she has had some airborne contact in other houses or stores. He also said she might be allergic to peanuts and tuna so we are doing a blood test to get more accurate results. So for now we'll continue giving her the Zyrtec and the nebulizer is kinda optional. I just hope she continues to get better and sleep well!

Two days in a row!

LOL... I know, when it rains, it pours! So, here I am again... :)

We are taking Isabella to the allergist on Friday to have her tested. She's been on the nebulizer for over 3 weeks and on the Zyrtec (allergy meds) for well over a month. Maybe 2. Yiaks! I just hate seeing her sick. She's been feeling a lot better but she HATES the nebulizer. It's like an infant torture method. She cries and screams and kicks and pulls her hair and screams some more THE WHOLE 10 MINUTES we give her the treatment. Poor baby. We have tried everything under the sun. Put on a video, give her a toy, sing to her, hold her in different ways, etc, etc... nothing works! Anyways, hopefully this Friday the doctor will give us some good news.

Mocha has also been somewhat tortured. We decided to put her outside to see if it would help Bella's allergies. Well, she's been spoiled for almost 4 years and it's been rough on her! :( Hopefully the allergist diagnostic will also be good news for our little puppy :)

Vacation and Updates

We decided to visit So Cal for Thanksgiving since our families live so far away and we are going for Christmas. We drove down Tuesday night and came back home last night. We drove at night so she could sleep in the car. We tried to keep her schedule somewhat the same (naps, feedings, etc) and she did really good. Our friends just loved her and Bella was so comfortable hanging out with them. We went to the beach in Malibu, Hollywood and all around LA. It was a lot of fun, even thought I didnt get to go shopping a lot for Black Friday... but I did get Bella a Christmas present! :) It was a great trip overall. We got to see lots of friends - Claudia & Mike Benggon, Eddie Vargas, Samuel Rodriguez, Ada Garcia, among others. And we got to meet some new faces too :) We didn't have turkey for Thanksgiving (which I had been craving) since most of our friends are vegetarians. Instead I bought a roasted chicken from Costco :) hahaha But it was great being able to hang out with people our same age and to do some sightseeing around LA.

Isabella will be 18 months in 3 days and we are enjoying her more than ever! She's such a happy baby now. She's a talker like her daddy and loves to pretend she's reading a book. I also got her some Little People DVDs and she's loving those! She is so cute and funny and I just love her to pieces! :)

Family Christmas Pictures

We went to JCP to take our Christmas pictures and Bella was NOT in a good mood... :(

Still sick...

Well, Bella's been sick for weeks and was getting better with the Zyrtec but now she's getting worst. She coughs and coughs and coughs. Poor little thing. Last night we were driving back from Mariposa church and she coughed the WHOLE HOUR drive :( We just dont know what to do. She was coughing just at night but now she coughs during the day too. And she wakes herself up at night because she just coughs, coughs, coughs... And last night she woke up at 3:30 and couldnt stop coughing. So I was up with her for about 30 minutes trying to help her go back to sleep. We gave her another medicine for cough suppressant but it doesnt seem to help much :( ugh ... and her appetite is way down too.

Anyways, if you are still with me, please keep Bella in your prayers. I just want her to feel better and be healthy!

And here's a picture of her :) Our little cutie :)

Celebration Dance

President-Elect Barack Obama

What a historic day it is today! Overcoming slavery, racism, social injustices and prejudices, the people have elected the first African-American man to become President of the United States and it's truly overwhelming.

He's a terrific speaker and his speech tonight was amazing. Reaching out to democrats, republicans and independents alike. Remembering his grandmother who died a day before the election and never saw her grandson become President. His speech was so inspiring and thoughtful. I really believe and pray that he'll be a great president and guide this country to prosper and serve its people and the rest of the world.

Election Day!

November 4 is finally here and I'm anxiously waiting for the polls to start reporting. I had 2 nightmares last night that McCain had won. Ironically enough, I just hope my dreams don't come true! LOL

Billy voted this morning before going to his meeting at the Conference office and had to wait for almost 1 hour. But he didn't care.

American Prayer video

Just a few days before the election and I'm dying for Obama to get elected president!! Here's a cool video I found online. Enjoy!

My Little Fairy Princess

I took Bella to JCP for their Fairy Event and spent an arm and a leg buying pictures. But they were worth every penny cause they came out super super cute!!! :) These are a few of them. I hope you enjoy them!

Awesome Video by Obama

Videos of Bella

Here are some videos of Bella. First saying "Papa", clapping, and pointing at her nose. Then, tickling daddy and pretending he's a horsey! :)



ETA: Sorry the second video is not uploading... will try later.

Pumpkin Patch!!

Here are some pictures from our trip to the pumpkin patch. We got 2 pumpkins and a hay bail. Bella loved walking around the pumpkins, sunflowers, and even tried to pick up every pumpkin she saw! Enjoy them!! :)

Ultrasonic Ringtones

You are about 20 years old

The teen repellent will no longer foil you, but you can still hear some pretty high tones. The highest pitched ultrasonic mosquito ringtone that I can hear is 16.7kHz

Find out which ultrasonic ringtones you can hear!

Being sick sucks!

Bella and I have been sick for the last few days and so we've been pretty miserable... Billy was really busy this weekend with the end of the first evangelistic meetings at the Merced Church in almost 20 years. I believe over 40 people got baptized and more are studying and making decisions. So, we are very excited.

But that meant I was with Bella Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, almost all day. It was *rough*!!! She cried and whined and cried some more. Runny nose, coughing, cranky, and wanting to be held ALL THE TIME!!! Anyways, glad that's over!!

And the good news is we are both feeling better today!! :)

VP Debate and my "analysis"

Billy and I have been very interested in politics this year with the Presidential election approaching in just a month. I won't be able to vote because I'm not a citizen yet, but how I wish I had done my papers so I could vote for Obama/Biden!

Anyways, I found this article in yahoo and wanted to post a comment by somebody that really summarizes my feelings:

"I found her folksy talk insulting and inappropriate for someone running for the vice presidency," said Quigley. "While Biden didn't sweep the floor with Palin as I had anticipated, I feel like that was more a function of him toning it down to avoid being perceived as a Washington bully. He refuted her non-answers of the questions with facts, and carried himself in a much more executive manner."

I also posted a comment on Anderson Cooper blog. Here's what I wrote:

First of all, I want to say that the comments by the media/analysts that she exceeded the expectations for the debate are ludicrous. So, everybody expected her to sound like Miss North Carolina AGAIN, but instead she sounded somewhat intelligent - emphasis on *somewhat.* You still would have to ignore (or double check) the misleading facts she mentioned about Obama/Biden’s plans (ie. taxes) and the exaggerations on McCain’s plans.

Second, I wanted to throw up every time she winked or used her “folksy” tone when answering a question. Not to mention the fact that she said “I may not answer the questions that either the moderator or you want to hear.” IT’S A DEBATE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!! If you want to answer your own questions have a monologue!!!

She sounds so stupid and uneducated, especially in the interviews with K. Couric. People in other countries are laughing at the U.S and feeling sorry for us with the possibility of this woman becoming VP, or even worse, President. I already told my husband that if McCain dies and she becomes President, I’m packing my bags and moving to another country! Just freaking scary!!

**Praying for Obama/Biden to win**

Bella's 15 month pictures

Soooo, we were supposed to take pictures of Bella at 12 months.... but that never happened and we procrastinated until she was 15 months... I know, I know... bad parents :( But we finally did it and here are some of them!!! Enjoy! Isn't she just absolutely gorgeous?!? :) She still has curly hair and we just adore her to pieces!!

I got my Shutterfly album!!

I got my 8x8 free photobook from Shutterfly and WOW!! I'm totally impressed with them. Billy was *suggesting* I switch to doing JUST those Is he mad?? What would I do with all my supplies?? And I wouldnt have an excuse to go shopping to Ms and Js and the LSS Plus I'd be kicked out of SHA (Scrapbooking Hoarders Anonymous) LOL LOL LOL

More blog candy!!!

Check these out...

http://a-scrapaddict.blogspot.com/2008/09/30-000-hits-blog-rak.html

Blog Candy!! :)

Just wanted to share with you some websites I found that have "blog candy" :) Enjoy!!

http://chrissyd723.blogspot.com/2008/09/blog-candy-40000-hits.html

http://dancerriley.blogspot.com/

http://angelosity.blogspot.com/

Photobook - A Year In Review

I made another photobook at Shutterfly. This one is 8x8 and it's A Year in Review.

Click here to view this photo book.

Hurricane Ike - Update

I was finally able to talk to my mom again. They still have no power and their refrigerator is not cold anymore. And since they didn't listen to me and bought a bunch of vegetables, fruits and frozen food, they are now wondering what to do... uhmmm... LISTEN TO ME NEXT TIME!!!!! Anyways, I'm glad they are ok. She said there are lots of trees down but since their neighborhood is fairly new, the trees are still pretty small - which was a blessing! So, no major damage and they are just waiting for the electricity to come back! No work or school for a few days probably. I think they got really scared with the high winds and rain, so they might need a few days to calm down! ;)

My first photobook!

I did my first photobook in Shutterfly and I just got it in the mail yesterday. It came out awesome!!! You can see it here:

Click here to view this photo book.

VOTE FOR BELLA!!!

I entered Bella on the American Baby Cover Contest. All you have to do it clink on this link -- PLEASE VOTE -- and click on "rate this" (stars) AND "recommend" each picture. You can also leave a comment! The best part, you can do it EVERY DAY!!! :) Thanks!! :)

Here's one of the pictures I posted there:

We also went to the doctor on the 5th for her 15 month check-up. She is:

29 in - 25th percentile

22 lbs - 30th percentile

47 in head

My little petite chiquita linda! :)

Blog Challenge from CFH

Let's show our soldiers that we care for them and are thankful for their sacrifice! Here's the blog challenge from Cards For Heroes - TANKS challenge

Waiting for Gustav...

We are watching and praying for our families that live in Louisiana and Mississippi. The hurricane has decreased to category 3 but it's going straight to New Orleans. Billy's dad and mom are not evacuating and he's a little upset and frustrated because of that.

Enjoying the Coast

Billy, Bella, and I decided to take a mini-vacation with some friends and visit the Monterey Peninsula. We are staying in Hofsas House - a beautiful pink and black hotel in Carmel-by-the-sea :)This morning we went walking around downtown and were amazed once more at how artsy these towns are. My dad would have loved some of the galleries we saw with gorgeous paintings and sculptures.
This afternoon we are driving along the coast to Big Sur. Here's a preview of what we'll see:
Big Sur Coast
Bixby Bridge
I'll post more pictures of us later :)

Happy 30th Birthday B!!!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband!!! :) Hope you have many many more! We had a party last night and here are some pictures. Enjoy!!
Bella helping Daddy open presents
Showing some of his presents...
Thinking of a wish or wish LIST!
Blowing the candles

I hope all your dreams come true, Babe! ;) Love you forever!! XOXO

Scrapbook Expo Classes

Here are some pictures of the projects we did in the 2 classes I took.

"Clearly Beautiful" by Life's Journeys Scrapbooking
"A Taste of Scraptique" by Scraptique Inc - 3 double page layouts. They gave us everything and most of the things were pre-cut so it was pretty easy to put together. They also have a monthly club that I was tempted to join but still thinking about it...