About Me

My photo
Phoenix, Arizona
Growing up my initials were OP, which was pretty cool in the 80's, right? Then I got married and my initials got updated to match our very texting obsessed era that we now live in (and shake our heads at)...OMG. For those who are texting illiterate, I'll spell it out..."Oh, My God!". I pity the girl whose initials are W.T.F. (I won't spell that one out. You can Google it or email me for an explaination on that one!)

1.03.2012

October, November, December 2011

October: Little trip to Apple Hill. This is how it's done. I'm not ashamed. :)

My sister and niece looking way cooler than me.

Who doesn't love Luke?

November: You never know when a little drive on your day off is going to result in one of the sweetest memories and photos of your life. Ruthie's first experience with snow. She kept saying it was bubbles. :)

December:
Christmas is always better with a baby and a grandpa. Everyone came over to our house to open presents. It was a sweet time.
That sums up my first year being in California and loving life with all this crazy family!
Ready to go stay up until 3am at my brother's house to ring in the new year.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I can't imagine 2012 being better than 2011 but I guess I'll give it a try.

July, August, September 2011

July: She still will not say my name but has been saying "uncle" for months.

Ruth is walking and running FREE!

August: I took the girls to the Jelly Belly Factory. It was so fun! I LOVE hanging out with these girls!

September: Ruthie comes over to play one day a week on my day off. She loves her Uncle Brian and Aunt Faith. She keeps us busy. I find taking her shopping and letting her play in the bathtub are less aerobic activites for me.
For my birthday we went to the Redwoods near Eureka, Ca. It's 300 miles away from home but so worth the trip. It was beyond my expectations. There's so much to explore. Can't wait to go back.


April, May, June 2011


April: Took my sister to the beach for the first time in her life.

May: Enjoyed beautiful weather and my beautiful family. Sister-in-law, Liliya and my nieces Anna and Ruth.
Celebrating my brother's birthday. We are getting OLD. This is a blurry cell phone pic but I love it because it expresses everything....how cute and busy Ruth is and how much I adore her.
June: Was a big month with Ruth's 1st birthday and my sister's 22nd birthday.
We went to the most beautiful beach for Faith's bday. Bodega Bay. Camped in our 18ft camper for a couple nights. Very special few days. Brian came home with near 3rd degree sunburn on this legs and feet. No one else burned. I didn't even get a tan! It was so weird. And sad. He was pretty sick.

My mom gave me an awesome super short hair cut when she came out for Ruth's 1st birthday. They grow so much in a year! She was loads of fun at her party. This one is feisty!

January, February, March 2011




We moved to California December 2010 and moved into our new home February 2011.
Here's a few pics to highlight some of my favorite moments.

January: Was an exciting month as new California residents we had two reasons to visit San Francisco. Dressed up for a holiday party with my dad's work. In a great dress I got at Macy's for about $11 with a purple flower that I made. I love how Brian looks all in black.


Here we are after roaming around the streets of downtown. Feeling very hip :)


My sister moved in with us as we now had a home with some extra room.




February: photo of us on our 3rd anniversary. We went to Napa for the day. So nice being an hour away from wine country. Below photo is baby Ruth, being cute and practicing the art of
standing.






March: My favorite flowers given by my favorite man.

And we got a new dog. Samson. Got him off craigslist. Never did that before. He's super-duper sweet but has obviously not been treated kindly. I've wanted to give him away so many times but have learned patience and time can work out alot of issues. We love him, but not his nervous energy.

1.02.2011

My laptop background photo right now


Seriously, how pretty are these girls!?

Sweetness came over today...

Delilah and Ruthie became fast friends. Almost too close. We had to keep them apart for awhile. Delilah just wants to be in Ruthie's lap....she has no clue what damage can be done by 6month old baby hands. I'm sure she will experience it soon enough, but for today anyway, she was safe.
Uncle Brian got on the floor to play. It must have been Ruthie's irresistible smile.
She is way too cute.

1.01.2011

Let's review

I've been MIA on my blog for quite awhile.
So much has been going on. Sometimes it's hard to write about stuff in the midst of the whirlwind when you don't have much perspective on it.
But it's January 1 and I feel the need to review the recent past events before I can move on the blog about the present and the future. I know in 5 or 10 yrs, I'll be so tickled to have this blog to jog my memory.


Nancy passed on to her new life and body. It's been 2 months and it still feels unreal that she's not here with us.



I got to see all my dad's siblings together.


October 2010 was a bittersweet month.

Brian and Ruthie finally got to meet. We can tell she really likes him. :)






I returned to Sacramento for job interviews in November.



I got a job with Sutter Hospice in Roseville. And 3 weeks later I loaded my car with my clothes and moved to California!


It's a 12 hr drive with some interesting scenery.






Fall is wonderful in Sacramento! I don't have pictures of the rain, but there has been PLENTY of it. My new wiper blades have been used and the old tires are hanging in there. Can't wait to get rid of this Corolla for something more fun. But we are in the middle of buying a house so that is on hold for now.

If you don't live in Cali, you might find this a bit odd. You can't eat in peace anywhere. I guess they don't believe in "ignorance is bliss".









While Brian finished some things in Phoenix, I was hanging out with these guys.


I started learning Ukranian from Liliya, my sister-in-law and Anna, my niece.
I can say potato, i love you, slipper, beautiful little thing (that's for the baby), that's good, sour cream. But Liliya requests I speak Spanish to the baby. :)







Christmas brought us all together. Mom made a tasty Christmas breakfast feast of amazing bacon, a potato dish that was SO good, and a baked apple toast sweet thing AND fresh fruit/yogurt parfait. Wish I got a picture of it all.

It was a Christmas of FIRSTS. Ruth's first Christmas and for me, the first time I've shared it all together with my dad, brother and husband. I will always cherish this memory. The guys get along so easily. I look forward to making many more memories with us all together like this.

We had lots of presents. It was a joy for me to be able to spoil my family this year. Thank you, God for this new job!

Liliya surprised Luke with a new Droid. She's such a good wife. I gave my husband a warm hat to protect his shiney shaved head from the California cold and rain. Don't feel bad for him, he already had a Droid. :) He also got his first piece of clothing from Aeropostal from the Parks family. He's all kinds of California cool now!



Ruthie LOVES to have you pretend you are sneezing. Dad got some great video of her laughing her head off on Christmas at the Dwyre's house. Sue cooked us an amazing filet mignon roast. Dinner was amazing and we laughed so much. Kay, Leanna and Noah were there to enjoy what Noah called his "smallest Christmas gathering". To which Brian and I countered that it was our "biggest family Christmas gathering". The contrast amuses me.



Thank you for sweet memories.





My job has been going well. I started Dec. 6. I've been in training mode. Learning their computer charting, meeting new people everyday. Learning the ropes of admitting people on to hospice service and caring for them in their homes. I love the 8 hr work days and wearing "real" clothes. Presently we chart on smart phones so when I'm off work and go to text on my phone, I realize how much I'm on the phone! All the time! It's kind of fun. I love technology.




Brian and I have been staying with my dad during the housing wait. It's been really great. I had to wait to be 35 yrs old before ever living with my dad, but the wait has been worth it. We get along so great and it's been a huge positive bonding experience for us all. He even enjoys Delilah and she REALLY enjoys him.




Sometimes on Monday night we go to Luke & Liliya's for dinner since that's the night Luke has off work. I try to visit them every couple of days. The baby grows so fast! In December she has started rolling, sitting up like a pro, and got 2 bottom teeth. She loves to yell and stand and bang. She's super active and cute and fun!




As of today, January 1, we have not officially closed on the Stroud Ct. house. We are not sure if the sale will still go through since the deadline for our special Homepath deal was Dec.31. We love that house but don't mind giving it up and starting over. Brian and I love to plan and dream and research so house hunting is fun for us. The loan and technical part is not fun! This was my first time going through that and now I know what people are talking about! And in this complex economic time we are in, buying a home is even more complicated.



That about sums it up! What a year!

New RN, new baby, new friends, new job, new city, new home....new amazing life!


Same husband!

Happy New Year, Everyone !