Colby and Sarah Homec

Latest News

2012-02-10T07:58:00.000-08:00

Yep, we're doing it again! We're expecting baby #2 on August 14th! We are so excited!

5-Year Anniversary

2012-02-08T19:57:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Colby and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary! I can't believe it's been 5 years, it's gone by so fast! We celebrated by taking a trip to Portland, Oregon! We dropped Owen off at my parent's house on our way out of town, and I don't think he missed us at all. My mom kept him really busy baking, and doing some raking and digging in the garden. He also got spray the hose and help Grampa wash the cars!

It was so nice to have a few days together. We spent our time shopping and eating mostly! Colby had done some research and found an authentic Croatian restaurant in Portland, so this was our first stop when we pulled into town. It was seriously amazing! I wasn't very hungry because we had been snacking and eating the whole way down to Portland, but don't worry, I was still able to eat an entire meal. We actually ordered 3 entrees and shared them, and they were all delicious!

Colby's Chivapa... not quite sure what that is, but he LOVED it!

Sarma - best I've ever had!

I also ordered a gyro, but we didn't get a picture of that. We stayed at The Benson Hotel in downtown Portland, it was an older hotel that was really nice! We shopped on 23rd Street and celebrated our anniversary with pizza from Escape From NY Pizza. It was a famous place that serves NY style pizza that was so good!

We walked around the Pearl District, and went to Powell's bookstore and spent a few hours there. I was in heaven, it is a HUGE bookstore that takes up one entire square city block, and has every book imaginable! Of course we also went to VooDoo Donuts and enjoyed several different kinds, including chocolate rice crispy, bubble gum, and tang (like the drink).

We came home Sunday afternoon very well rested. It was so nice to be able to get away and celebrate!

Crazy Last Few Weeks

2012-02-03T20:11:00.000-08:00

We have had a crazy last few weeks! It all started 2 1/2 weeks ago when we headed down to Palm Desert for MLK weekend. I was so excited to go back to the desert and see our family and friends, and I was so ready to get out of Washington for a few days! We left on a Thursday morning and stayed until Monday night. We stayed with Brooke and Tyson and had so much fun! We enjoyed spending time with our family and friends and letting Owen play with his cousins. It was so fun to see him play and try to keep up with the bigger kids! He was fighting a pretty bad cold when we got there, but he didn't let that stop him. He ran around outside (and inside) with Sawyer and Mags and tried hard to be big like them! Every night he was soooo tired from playing so hard! Here were some of the highlights from our trip:

At the airport, I let Owen run wild to try to get all his energy out before we got on the plane.

Eating a Swiss Donut with his cousins...

Owen and Mags took turns pushing each other around in Mags' baby strollers

Played A LOT in the backyard with Sawyer and Mags

Best picture I could get of Owen and Jacob... at dinner at The Slice

We came home on Monday night to snow in Seattle! Such a huge weather difference from the desert! When we woke up Wednesday morning, there was 7 or 8 inches of snow on the ground! Colby and I both called our offices and told them we weren't coming in. There was so much snow, and I was really worried about driving in it. I really didn't want to get stuck on the freeway or at the office! It continued to snow, and then it melted and froze over for the next several days! We actually couldn't leave our house from Tuesday night until Friday afternoon! It was so crazy, I was shocked at how much snow we had, and how bad the storm was!

Our power went out Friday morning because some branches fell on the power lines near our house. We ate breakfast in bed on Friday morning and set up the portable DVD player for Owen to try to keep him occupied.

At first it was kinda fun to light the candles and be cozy at home, but by Friday afternoon, it was so cold in our house that we knew we couldn't stay. Colby and I packed up the car and headed down to my parent's house. They were out of town in Mexico but there was still power at their house. It was nice to have somewhere to go where there was electricity and cable!

Of course, during the time we were stuck at home, Owen developed a rash and had the hand-foot-and mouth disease. Luckily we were snowed in and couldn't go anywhere anyways, but he was nice enough to share it with the other kid at the babysitter's when he was there before the snow storm, so we ended up keeping Owen home for a week and a half! So basically, Colby and I didn't work for almost 2 weeks because of the snow and Owen's sickness! It was so nice to stay home but by the end of the two weeks, we were all a little stir crazy!

Holiday Season 2011

2012-01-05T20:55:00.000-08:00

We made it through the holidays! Christmas is something I look forward to all year long, but I must admit, I am always so glad (and just a little sad) when it is over. It was especially fun this year though with Owen. He is still way too young to understand anything about Christmas, but we did make some attempts. We saw Santa twice this year, and Owen didn't like him either time. The first attempt looked something like this:

Meaning, I had to bribe Owen to sit on the rocking horse, and then crawl quickly out of the picture so the photographer could try to get one without him screaming. The second attempt was with Cousin Wesley, who slept through Santa. Owen screamed again. Only the candy cane at the end made either trip worth it. (I'm going to try to remember to scan this picture and post it, it's pretty funny!)

Christmas was spent at my parent's house with my family. Both of my sisters came back into town, and it was so fun to spend time all together. We didn't do much, but we did manage to get some cute pictures of the kids...

For New Years, we went to dinner with my parents and Molly at The Lobster Shop. It was so nice to be back in Washington to participate in that family tradition! We had an early dinner, and were home by 9pm. I think I was asleep by 10:00. I know, I'm a party pooper.

Happy 2012!

2011-12-22T09:15:00.000-08:00

I must admit, I am addicted to Pinterest. I LOVE that website! All day, everyday, I like to look at Pinterest. I keep seeing blogs where people are posting all of the crafts that they are doing off of Pinterest, but I haven't caught onto that yet. However, I have been busy baking and cooking recipes from Pinterest! Here are a few that I have tried...

Both times when I made the cookies and the s'more bars, Colby told me I had hit a home run! Yay! Happy Husband = Good Recipes!

For some reason, everytime I make dinner rolls and cinnamon rolls, they always turn out dry and/or overcooked. Somehow these miraculously turned out perfectly! They were cooked perfectly and melted in my mouth!

This picture looks terrible, but it is chicken enchiladas. There is a recipe on Pinterest that is supposed to be the best chicken enchiladas and I have to admit they were pretty good. Colby said he couldn't tell the difference between my old recipe and this new one. I took that as a compliment!

The other thing I made off of Pinterest that I forgot to take a picture of is the goat cheese and chicken macaroni with rosemary. It was SOOOOO good! I am so sad not to have a picture, but the recipe is on Pinterest if anyone is looking...

Anyone else have favorite recipes from Pinterest??

Zoolights

2011-12-20T08:54:00.000-08:00

As usual, I am a bit late in posting this but we went to Zoolights a few weeks ago! The Point Defiance Zoo transforms itself into an awesome holiday destination. We went with Mel, Jake and Paige Hanes and it was so much fun! It was freezing cold so we layered on the coats, hats and scarves, grabbed some hot chocolate, and went out for some holiday fun!

I was surprised at how much Owen liked it and how much of it he was able to be out of the stroller and walking around for. He loved the lights, and the petting zoo!

Owen also got to ride his first merry-go-round! He LOVED it! He kept yelling "Yay!" during the whole ride!

Unbelievable

2011-12-19T20:54:00.000-08:00

I still can't believe that in one short year we have gone from this...

to this...

Still one of my favorite sights.... xoxo

Party for Owen

2011-12-14T21:52:00.000-08:00

We had a birthday party on Sunday for Owen. We had it at my parent's house and we invited a few friends over for dinner. The theme for Owen's party was blue stripes and blue balloons. I tried not to go overboard because it was just his first birthday, but I had to indulge myself in the decorations a little bit...

We had hamburgers and the kids played "Pin the String on the Balloon." It was pretty funny to watch a bunch of toddlers try to tape the strings onto the balloons...

Then we had cupcakes and blew out the candles. Of course, Owen had no idea we were singing for him, but all of the other kids were excited to blow out the candles!

We gave Owen his own cupcake and I was surprised at how he hesitated to eat it. He liked the frosting, but he didn't like it all over his fingers...

Then we opened presents. Owen was excited about all of his new toys! My parents got Owen a wagon, and when he saw that, he dropped everything and ran over and climbed in! We bundled all the kids up and took them for a ride around the cul-de-sac outside.

This is my favorite picture, all the kids with their party hats on!

Logan Knowles, Owen, Paige Hanes, Jaeda Lindstrom

Happy Birthday Owen!

First Birthday

2011-12-09T17:27:00.000-08:00

Today Owen turns 1! I can't believe how fast this year has flown by. How is he already a year old? I've spent a lot of the day looking back at pictures from the past year, here are a few of my favorites...

We are so blessed to have this little guy as a part of our family! He has brought so much joy and happiness into our home! We love you Owen!

Dinner Time

2011-12-02T18:17:00.000-08:00

I like to think that dinner time at our house always looks like this....

or even like this...

But I think it usually looks something like this.....

I guess we need to work on our table manners!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-28T20:03:00.000-08:00

This year for Thanksgiving we spent the holiday with my family. We went to my parent's house and celebrated with 25 aunts, uncles, and cousins. My cousin Seth and his wife Lindsey and their girls came up from Portland with some friends of theirs too. I love this time of year, it is so nice to be able to reflect on all of the things we are so thankful for, and also to spend time with family.

This is the only picture I got of Thanksgiving, Owen sat down and looked at books while we were all eating dinner so I grabbed my phone and took this picture.

We also decorated for Christmas this weekend, it was so fun to put up the tree! We were the first house on our block to put up our Christmas lights!

I LOVE this picture of Owen, especially his little legs!

Owen also helped me wrap presents, somehow he figured out that if he yelled into the wrapping paper roll it would magnify his voice to be even louder! He spent the rest of the night carrying the roll of wrapping paper around the house talking into it!

It was so nice to have a long relaxing weekend and focus on all of our blessings. We have so much to be grateful for!

Our Family

2011-11-22T20:48:00.000-08:00

We had some family pictures taken recently and I thought I would post a few of my favorites...

Owen was so excited by the ducks, he kept saying "Yay! Yay" every time the ducks would come over to eat some of his puff cereal! It was so sweet to hear his joyful little squeals!

We took the pictures at Point Defiance Park, it has a great duck pond and also a stretch by the water. The weather was perfect and Owen was so excited by the ducks and the leaves that for a few minutes we had a perfectly happy baby too! All in all, a huge success!

First Steps

2011-11-16T20:00:00.000-08:00

Last week Owen took his first steps! It was so cute to see him trying to walk, it took him so much concentration and he kept his hands up for balance...

It's amazing the progress he's made in just a week, he's already much more confident and steady on his feet. I love it!

Mr Marker Face

2011-11-03T19:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday while I was at work, I got a text with this picture...

Owen's babysitter, Jaime, sent me this text. Turns out when she left the room, her son Logan, who is two, and Owen got into the markers and drew all over eachother's faces! When she came back, Logan said, "Look mama, marker faces!" I laughed so hard when I saw this picture, I can't believe Owen is doing this already!

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T21:02:00.000-07:00

This year was Owen's first Halloween! We went to Trunk-or-Treat on Saturday and let Owen do some trick-or-treating. He was actually really overwhelmed with all of the activities and kids running around. Owen dressed as a penguin this year!

Such a cute little guy!

Date Night

2011-10-28T20:50:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had date night at home. Oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies and the season premier of Gold Rush! It was perfect!

Happy Craigslisting!

2011-10-25T21:19:00.000-07:00

I can tell that Owen has been bored with the toys at our house and I have REALLY been wanting to get Owen an activity table. The thing is, they are kind-of expensive and I'm sure, like everything else, he is only going to like it for a few months. Basically, it's hard to justify... One of the perks of living in Seattle, vs living in the desert, is craigslist actually has a baby section with good baby toys. Since the desert is such a retirement community, the selection of used baby items was always pretty thin. So I went on craigslist and found an activity table for sale, and the mommy selling it was also selling this cool tower toy with a dancing bear! (Nothing I would normally buy but who can resist a good deal?!!) So my dad and I went and picked up the new toys to surprise Owen!

The funny thing is, Owen is way more interested in pushing the table around the house than actually standing and playing with the toys! Such a boy!

Weekend Travels

2011-10-23T20:35:00.000-07:00

Last week Colby had to go to California for some training for work and then he went to the desert to see his family, so I was home alone with Owen. I decided I didn't want to spend the weekend at home by myself, so Owen and I went to my parent's house. This is one of the many perks of living so close to my parents, and I am so glad we went, we had a great time! Owen got to spend time Grandpa and Grandma and I got to spend time relaxing with my parents. My mom has been collecting children's books and she read them to Owen, we taught Owen to go down the stairs, and Owen played with all of Grama's toys, which was great, because I think he is bored of the toys we have at home!

We came back to our house this afternoon, and Owen stayed busy helping me unpack our suitcase and rediscovering his toy baskets!

Newest Pictures of Owen

2011-10-19T20:47:00.000-07:00

I was playing around on Photoshop tonight and I thought I would post some updated pictures of Owen. He's getting so big, I can't believe it!

I just love this little guy!

Uh-Oh!

2011-10-04T08:30:00.000-07:00

This is Owen's favorite word, he says it all the time. So when he found the roll of toilet paper I kept telling him "Uh-oh" and hoping that he would think that he shouldn't be playing with it. No such luck, he LOVES the toilet paper roll! I ripped the piece off that he had unrolled and I thought that he would just play with that piece, but no, he reached up and kept unrolling....

Looks like we are going to be keeping our bathroom door shut at all times!

Visitors

2011-10-03T20:28:00.000-07:00

LeeAnn and Charles came to visit! It was such fun to have visitors in town and to be able to show off our new life in Seattle! It was fun to see them playing with Owen too,
We went out to eat and enjoyed some fresh seafood, went for walks, Colby and Charles went golfing, and went to the top of the Space Needle. We also went to Pikes Place Market and enjoyed some nice Seattle weather!

Thanks for the nice weekend, we are looking forward to having you back again soon!

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-18T19:35:00.000-07:00

Late posting, as usual, but we did have a really great Labor Day weekend. We headed out to Long Beach, Washington to enjoy the coast! It was about a 3 hour drive, and it was beautiful. When we got to Long Beach, the weather was sunny and warm, which was such a pleasant surprise for the Washington coast! We pulled into town, had lunch, and then went straight to the beach. The Washington coast is mostly sandy, and you can drive your car out onto the actual sand. We didn't do that, because we were afraid our car might get stuck. We spread out a blanket on the sand and Owen crawled around on the blanket. It was so cute, he kept putting his hand in the sand, and then pulling back because he wasn't sure what to think about the sand!

The next day, we drove up the penninsula and went to an old town called Oysteville. Oysterville used to be one of the top oyster farms in the world back in the 1800's, but the Japanese oyster farms dried up most of their business. The whole town has about 15 houses and one store, and the whole town is registered as National Historic Sites. Colby was in heaven, he ordered half a dozen fresh raw oysters and ate them on the deck of the fish store. I wanted to see the old church, built in the late 1800's so we stopped there too.

After Oysterville, we stopped by by the cranberry bogs and took a very short walking tour and learned how cranberries are grown and harvested. It was actually pretty cool!

We also went for a hike at Cape Disappointment. Cape Disappointment is the point on the Washington side of the Columbia River, where the Columbia River comes into the Pacific Ocean. It is known to be one of the most dangerous river mouth's. It used to be a military base, and there are still ruins of the bunkers that were used. There is also a lighthouse on the point that we hiked to...

We had such a great time on our trip we hope to make this an annual tradition!

Mount Rainier

2011-08-29T13:10:00.000-07:00

This weekend we got out to enjoy the beautiful weather and went up to Mount Rainier. Mt Rainier is the second largest mountain in the United States, and it is only a two hour drive from our house! We went on a mile and a half hike and enjoyed the views of the peak and the glaciers, and then went around to the other side of the mountain and found a river for Colby to fish.

It was crazy because the it was at least 70 degrees out but there was still snow on the path. It felt wierd to be wearing shorts and t-shirts but still be in the snow. Owen got to feel snow for the first time and threw his first snowball!

Colby and I both enjoyed it so much, we agreed that this is going to be an annual trip for us!

Last Weekend

2011-08-28T08:21:00.000-07:00

We have been really busy since we've arrived in Washington, but we have had several really fun weekends that I don't want to forget!

Last weekend, Colby found a new donut spot, that of course, serves specialty donuts! It is in Lake Tapps, which is about 30 minutes from our house. They had the most beautiful display of donuts, and of course, they were to die for! We got an Almond Joy donut, maple with bacon, maple with toffee, chocolate peanut butter cup cake donut, and the Lake Tapps Shark Attack with fresh blueberry frosting. Like I said, they were amazing!

After that, we decided to enjoy the amazing weather so we headed out to Aunt Terri's beach house near Rocky Bay. I felt so bad, I must have fed Owen some bad food because he spent the afternoon throwing up! Yikes! We still managed to enjoy the afternoon, my dad took Colby and I for a boat ride and my mom and I took turns holding Owen out on the deck while he napped so we could at least enjoy the view!

Sunday, we went down to my parents' house to enjoy a nice Sunday afternoon with my family. Jamie and Baby Wesley were in town, and we all met down at Point Defiance park to go for a walk along the water. Then we headed back to my parent's house for dinner on the deck. Owen had a great time crawling around the deck and banging on the glass!

Owen and Baby Wesley have matching pj's so we tried to get pictures of the two boys together. Owen was only partially cooperative, but he did try to hold Baby Wesley's hand, which was pretty cute! Baby Wesley is so tiny, he makes Owen look HUGE!

I am so excited for these boys to get bigger so they can play together!

Just like his daddy...

2011-08-15T21:05:00.000-07:00

Owen has recently discovered the fridge, and I guess the Monster's are just at his level. We'll have to move those...

Getting Settled

2011-08-07T20:19:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we moved into a new house! We found a house to rent in south Seattle and it is just great! It is definitely much smaller than our house in California, but it is a cozy 3 bedroom, 1 bath rambler. The landlords have completely remodeled the house, and we are the first to live in it after all of their work. I was so happy to find a nice clean house, especially one that has nice flooring and a garage. I just didn't want Owen scooting around on dirty carpet and I also wanted to have a garage with all of the rain we will be living in!

I feel so lucky to be living in a nice house in the beautiful northwest!

The Stairs

2011-07-29T15:49:00.000-07:00

We have been at my parent's house for 2 weeks now and ever since we got here, Owen has been eying the stairs. He has been pulling himself up and playing on the bottom stair, but I really didn't worry about it because I didn't think he would be able to climb the stairs for several more months. So yesterday when I was blogging, I looked up just in time to see him putting his little leg up on the bottom stair and pull himself up! Of course I ran over to him to grab him, and he just looked at me, smiled, and kept climbing! I got to him before he got higher than the second stair, but I was sure it was just a fluke... Until today, we were playing and he crawled over to the stairs again, and made it up to the third stair! I guess this means it's time for a gate!

Practically Local

2011-07-28T10:19:00.000-07:00

This last weekend we went up to Seattle and spent the day at Green Lake. It was a beautiful day and Green Lake is a really cute and fun area of Seattle. Although Green Lake is in the middle of the city, not too many people who live outside of Seattle know about it, mostly just the local people who live near the lake. It is a small lake that is 3 miles all the way around and there are bike and walking paths all the way around the lake and no motor boats are allowed on the lake. It seemed like everyone was out enjoying the weather! We got a little lost on the way up there, but managed to find Kidd Valley for some burgers and fries before we made it to the lake. We took Owen in the stroller and brought a blanket and cookies.

We totally felt like local Seattlites!

He's Here!

2011-07-19T10:54:00.000-07:00

Owen has a new baby cousin! My sister, Jamie, had a beautiful baby boy yesterday morning at 1:30AM! He is 8lb 13 oz, just like Owen was, but he is a bit taller than Owen was, at 21.5 inches! Welcome Baby Wesley, we are so excited to meet you!

We Made It!

2011-07-18T22:12:00.000-07:00

We made it to Washington! We left Thursday night and drove to Sacramento, which was about 7 hours away. Then Friday, we drove the remainder of the way, which took us about 13 hours, including all of our stops. Owen was such an angel, he is such a good traveler! He just napped, played, and watched Baby Einsteins in the back the whole drive. He barely peeped, and had no melt-downs! He is such a good baby!

We got to my parent's house late on Friday night, and when we woke up on Saturday, we had a warm Washington welcome:

Luckily, the clouds parted for a few hours and we were able to go to Vashon Island for the Strawberry festival. Owen took his first ferry ride! It has been a bit of an adjustment for Colby and I, but Owen has made himself right at home at Grampa and Grama's!

Moving Day

2011-07-14T09:25:00.000-07:00

Yes, you read that right, we are moving. We just moved into our house 10 months ago, and we are moving again. This time to Seattle. Colby is transferring with Merrill Lynch to work in the Federal Way office and I am transferring with Morgan Stanley.

We are so sad to leave the desert, it has been such a great place for us to live, but we are also excited to be starting a new phase of life! We will definitely miss our friends and family that we are leaving behind, but we will be back to visit often!

Not Interested

2011-07-07T18:11:00.000-07:00

In any of his other toys, just interested in my measuring spoons!

Owen's Favorite Things

2011-06-28T20:26:00.000-07:00

Owen is now 6 1/2 months old! I can't believe how fast it has gone, he is getting so big! He is such a busy boy, crawling all over the place and getting into everything! Here are some pictures of his favorite things right now...

I love this little boy!

Shower for Baby Stum

2011-06-16T21:10:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we had a baby shower for my sister Jamie! She is due in about 6 weeks and is having a boy, so I am so excited for Owen to have another cousin so close to his age! Colby and Owen and I went out to Orange County on Friday night for the weekend. We had the shower at Jamie's friend Jylare's house in Huntington Beach.

She got some really great stuff for the baby and is all ready for him to come! Can't wait to meet Baby Stum!

Hawaii

2011-06-15T21:30:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to post this for the past several weeks but we went to Hawaii! We went to the Big Island of Hawaii for a whole week! It was so great to get out of town and take a vacation, it was definitely needed. We stayed on the Kona side of the Island, which was kinda weird at first because of all of the black lava rock everywhere. We stayed at the beautiful Mauna Lani resort. It was so awesome, this was the view from our room:

Yeah, like I said, awesome! The grounds were so beautiful, every morning we would wake up and go for a walk around the resort to go get breakfast.

We didn't do much we mostly spent the week relaxing on the beach. Owen was a great traveler, he did really good on the plane flying over to Hawaii and enjoyed playing in our room and at the beach. He also enjoyed swimming and sitting by the pool with Grama and Grampa!

One of the highlights of our trip was eating at the Canoe House for dinner one night. We sent Owen to dinner with my parents so Colby and I could enjoy a dinner by ourselves! It was so nice to be able to have a nice romantic meal together!

The other highlight was going zip lining! We went on the longest zip line on any of the islands, there were nine lines that we went zipping on. The longest line was a half a mile long and we went 45 MPH! It was such a rush!

We enjoyed this trip so much, hopefully we can make this a tradition!

First Mothers Day

2011-05-08T19:24:00.000-07:00

Today was my first Mothers Day and it was great! It is so special to have a day to celebrate all of the mothers and women in our lives and it was especially special this year to celebrate because I am finally a mother too! Colby went out of his way to make it extra special for me, he started out the day by taking care of Owen when he woke up at 5AM (yikes!!) and letting me sleep in. Then Colby continued making my day even better by making a three course breakfast in bed! He started off by making a fruit and yogurt parfait

This was followed by Eggs Florentine with lobster

and we ended with french toast with homemade raspberry sauce and nutella! Yum!

My sister Jamie was in town visiting for the weekend because her husband is away on a business trip so she came and got in bed with me and Colby served two mommies in bed this morning!

I was definitely spoiled today! I feel so lucky to be a mother and to have such a wonderful little family!

Easter...A Bit Late

2011-04-30T16:44:00.000-07:00

This year for Easter we went to Arizona and spent the holiday weekend with Colby's mom and her husband, Charles. Colby and I both had Friday off so we had an extra day to spend with them. We spent lots of time shopping and eating out while we were there. Colby has been watching the food network and found us a great breakfast hotspot in Scottsdale called Over Easy, so we went and tried their famous Waffle Dogs, ie: sausage in deep fried batter. They were so good!

When we were out at dinner on Saturday night, Owen tried his first lemon and LOVED it! Every time I would try to take it away from him he would scream and reach for it!

Lee Ann also got Owen an Easter Basket so Colby and I enjoyed eating all of his candy. Owen just liked to crinkle the wrappers because he liked the sound the wrappers make!

We tried to take an Easter Family Photo but Owen wasn't cooperating very well! Oh well, maybe next year!

My Birthday

2011-04-28T18:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my birthday and we celebrated with a trip to El Gallito for the best nachos especial and chimichangas in town! Our friends Paul and Ainsley and Colby's brother Jace joined us...

After that we went home and had some yummy lemon cupcakes made by Brooke!

Thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes!

A Trip to the Hospital

2011-04-17T21:22:00.001-07:00

Owen has had a cold for almost a week, and it has progressively moved from his nose down into his throat and lungs. I thought he was getting better, but this weekend he gave us quite the scare. Last night he woke up several times crying and so I fed him around 2:30AM. While I was feeding him, he kept coughing this terrible deep, raspy cough. It was so sad because every time Owen would cough his face would screw up and he would cry like he was in so much pain. I woke Colby up and we decided to go to the emergency room. I was afraid Owen's cold had turned into pneumonia and Colby was afraid Owen had whooping cough so we decided to take him in. Owen fell asleep while we were driving, but of course, he woke up the second we walked into the emergency room. He had a bottle and then was up looking around and cooing. By the time we went back to see the doctor, that little stinker was playing with his binkie and had found his feet.

He charmed the nurses with his smile and was laughing and letting the doctor tickle him! I couldn't believe it! He was so distressed when we were at home, I was just sure the doctor and nurses were wondering why we brought him in at all! I felt like such a first-time parent! The doctor did diagnose him with croup and said he should be better in a few days. Luckily, with croup, it means the infection hasn't moved to his lungs, but instead is in the top part of his throat. She also said that quite often the cool night air helps clear it up (which would explain the improvement he had made on the drive to the hospital.) She gave Owen a dose of steroids to help bring down the inflamation in his throat. It was a funny though, she gave the steroid to Owen in the liquid form and I guess it must have tasted icky because he kept screwing up his face when she gave him the drops. All day today when he has put anything in his mouth, Owen has been screwing up his face like he expects it to taste icky like the drops! Anyways, we were out of the hospital and home again by 5:30AM.

Colby and I were so relieved that it wasn't more serious, we celebrated by stopping by Swiss Donuts on the way home.

Full of Bull

2011-04-10T10:10:00.000-07:00

This weekend Colby played in a softball tournament with his coworkers from Merrill Lynch. They formed a team called Full of Bull and have been practicing for the last several weeks. The tournament was out in West Covina, which is about an hour and a half away, and all of the teams were from Bank of America from all over Southern California. Owen and I went along to watch and hang out with the other wives and babies. Colby mostly played outfield and he hit two triples!

Rolling Over

2011-04-06T06:19:00.000-07:00

He starts here....

And then here....

And he did it!!!

I am afraid to put Owen anywhere but the floor now because he is rolling over all the time! It is so cute to see him flip over. So far, he can only roll onto his tummy, he is trying to roll back onto his back but hasn't figured out how to yet...

Weekend Travels

2011-03-29T09:41:00.000-07:00

This little guy and I flew to Seattle last weekend to visit my parents. It was my first time flying with Owen, and I was doing it without Colby so I was really nervous. But Owen did great! He didn't fuss too much on the plane, and loved to be in the front pack looking around at everything! We got to Grama and Grampa's and they spoiled him rotton!

My mom spent the entire weekend playing with Owen on his new playmat, in the bumbo, and in the Johnny-Jump-Up, which Owen absolutely loved!

My parents still live in the same house and same ward I grew up in, so it was really fun to see some of my old friends and show off the baby! Thanks for the fun weekend, it was nice to be able to come up and visit!

Scoot Scoot

2011-03-23T08:33:00.000-07:00

The other day, I set Owen under his play mat so he could play and I could get some chores done around my house. When I came around the corner, I couldn't believe that Owen was way over here...

Owen had scooted about 3 feet away from under his mat! He has started digging in with his heels and pushing with his hips and scooting himself around. I am so surprised how mobile Owen is at such a young age!

Owen's Nursery

2011-03-19T09:43:00.000-07:00

I have been really slow to post pictures of Owen's nursery because I'm not quite done with it yet. I need a trip to Ikea to get some picture frames and a clock, but I'm not sure when that will be... Owen is starting to roll and scoot around in the crib so I am going to take the bumpers off, and Colby wants to get a mobile for the crib, which I think will be great, but is kinda ugly. So I wanted to get the pictures up before we make all the changes...

My mom and I sewed all of the bedding and the drapes, the crib is from Pottery Barn, the rocker is from Target, and the dresser is one I found on Craigslist and painted to match. I think the nursery is turning out so cute, it is my favorite room in the house!

Owen's Newest Tricks

2011-03-15T16:00:00.000-07:00

Owen is officially three months old now! I can't believe it, it seems to have gone by so fast. We went to the doctor yesterday and he has actually lost half a pound, but grown an inch. So now he is tall and skinny, and the doctor told me to feed him more!

He is learning to hold his own bottle

He loves the Bumbo

And the front pack! He helped me clean the house and do some baking yesterday...

Poor Baby....

2011-03-10T15:52:00.000-08:00

Owen was so tired, he fell asleep in the bath last night...

He was so cute we couldn't resist taking a picture! :)

A Visit From Mel

2011-03-09T09:25:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, my friend Melanie and her daughter, Paige, came into town to visit from Rexburg. Mel and I went to high school together, and then went to BYU together and lived together our entire time at BYU. We realized we haven't spent much time together since we graduated, almost 6 years ago, so it was so much fun to have them out for a weekend!
We went to the street fair in Palm Springs,

Played in the backyard,

Went to the Greek Festival, where Colby found some Greek donuts

and Mel and I had some baklava (my favorite!!)

and played at the park

It was so fun to spend the weekend together, hopefully we can do it again soon!

A Weekend With Grandma

2011-02-18T17:58:00.000-08:00

My mom came into town last weekend to spend some time with little Mr. O. Within the first few minutes of her arrival, she had Owen undressed and redressed in a new outfit she brought him, and she had him laughing, and smiling. It was cute to see how much she loves being with Owen, and cute how much he already loves her! We got out the Bumbo and tried putting Owen in it for a few minutes, and suprisingly, he did pretty well! He is still a bit floppy, but he lasted about 10 minutes at a time...

My mom and I did a few projects, we sewed some drapes for my guest room, and we finished painting and touching up one of the bathrooms. We even hung the pictures in the bathroom, and also in Owen's room (pictures of that to come...). But the biggest treat for me was that she babysat Owen so Colby and I could go out on a date! We went to Cuistot on Friday night and celebrated our Anniversary/Valentines Day/Our new house/our new baby/Colby's new(ish) job/ Colby passing all tests, etc... One big celebration!!! It was such a treat to go out to a nice dinner without the baby and to be able to just focus on my husband. I realize now how important date nights are!

Thanks mom for the nice weekend, we can't wait to have you back again!

Update on Owen

2011-02-15T19:14:00.000-08:00

Owen had his 2-Month appointment at the doctor yesterday. I can't believe he is already 2 months old, it doesn't seem like it has been that long since we were just leaving the hospital and bringing him home... I was so happy the doctor was so pleased with his growth and development. We have a VERY big boy, he is weighing in at 14.9 pounds, which means he is in the 94th percentile for his weight, and is 24.5 inches long, which means he is in the 89th percentile for his height! I'm not sure how I got such a big baby, but I am just so happy that he is healthy! It seems Owen has found his voice, he is making lots of baby noises when he plays, he can hold his head up when he has his tummy time, and he is so smiley!!!

I love this baby boy!!!

Love My Boys

2011-02-14T19:56:00.000-08:00

This year I have an additional Valentine...

Here are both my boys, my loves...

To my old Valentine, and my new Valentine, you make my life complete, I can't imagine what life would be like without either one of you! I love you both! xoxo

Happy Anniversary

2011-02-03T09:30:00.000-08:00

Today Colby and I have been married for 4 years! It feels like it has gone so fast but like we have been together so long at the same time. I've been thinking about these last four years we've spent as a married couple, they have been great, not always easy, but they have been some of the best years of my life! I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband who loves me like he does, and who I love so much too. Here's to many more years to come!!

Weekend Events

2011-02-02T14:26:00.000-08:00

This last weekend was a busy weekend for the Homec Family, we had Colby's brother Jace returning home from his mission in Mexico, and Baby Owen's blessing in church.

Jace served in the Tuxtula mission, which is in the very south of Mexico on the border of Guatamala. All of Colby's family came into town to celebrate his homecoming!

On Sunday, when Jace gave his homecoming talk, we also blessed Baby Owen. It was nice because all of Colby's brothers were there to participate, and my parents and aunt and uncle came into town also. Owen is the first grandchild on my side, so it was really special to have my parents here to bless our baby. Owen was great, he didn't fuss at all through the blessing. Colby gave a beautiful blessing on our baby, and now he is official!

Not Sure How This Happened....

2011-01-27T15:21:00.000-08:00

So I was all set to blog about how we have finally reached the coveted 6-week mark with Baby Owen, and how we are finally getting into a routine, and I am finally getting more sleep, Owen is only waking up two times a night, blah, blah, blah... But this morning, I went into Owen's room and found this on the wall....

Yep, that's right, it's poop smeared on the wall. Since my baby is only 6 weeks old and completely incapable of smearing poop on the wall himself, I can only conclude that somehow I must have brushed a dirty diaper against the wall in the middle of the night?? Not exactly sure how this happened, but I guess I am still exhausted...

Here's some updated pictures of our little monster...

Another New Arrival

2011-01-12T15:13:00.000-08:00

No, I am not pregnant again, thankfully, however, we are so excited that Baby Owen will soon have another new cousin! My sister Jamie is pregnant, and is due July 21st! Congrats to her, we can't wait to find out what she are having!!!

Thoughts on Motherhood

2011-01-07T15:23:00.000-08:00

Owen was 4 weeks yesterday and all day I couldn't help but think about how much my life has changed in the last month. Motherhood has been so much more difficult, yet so much more rewarding than I thought it ever could be. Four weeks is not a long time, however, it seems like we have had him forever!

From the first time I saw Owen, I have been so in love with him. He is so beautiful and perfect, if I could freeze him just the way he is right now, I would. As I have spent time with him, I have loved getting to know him and learning his little personality. I can already tell that he has my impatience, but at the same time, he has Colby's calmness.

Nothing could have prepared me for the toll that the sleepless nights have had on me. I knew babies were up a lot at night, I just had no idea how exhausting that would be. My cousin described it best when he said, "The level of exhaustion with a newborn is incredible." I couldn't have said it better myself. Owen is up at least 3 times a night right now, and I feel like a walking zombie most days. The first few nights I was up with him, I resented it; I missed my sleep. But now, I can't say I love being up and down all night, but I feel like it is a really special time; time that I have just with my baby, only him and I. Nothing can distract me from him in the middle of the night, no laundry, no phone calls, no bathrooms to clean. I find myself looking forward to those quiet moments that I have to just stare at my beautiful baby and enjoying the time I have to be alone with him. Even though I am exhausted, I'm not sure I would change it...

When I look at Owen, I see perfection. I love the little noises he makes, the squeaks, the grunts, and even the hungry screams. I love looking at him when he is sleeping, he is so peaceful and sweet. I love seeing him in the bath, that is when he is most content. I especially love putting him in bed with us in the mornings, he is just so snugly and cuddly. The thing I love the most is that he is starting to smile when he sees Colby and I. That has been the most rewarding and made all of the hard times worth it for me! Owen is truly a miracle, and even though he's only been with us a short time, I can't imagine my life without him.

Newborn Pictures

2011-01-02T12:11:00.000-08:00

I am really late in posting these too but we did have newborn pictures of Owen taken when he was 5 days old and I love them too much not to post them. My friend Ainsley took the pictures and they turned out beautifully!!!

This one is my very favorite...

It's funny, Owen is only 3 weeks old but I already feel like he is so much bigger already. He has already gained almost 3 pounds since we came home from the hospital!

Christmas 2010

2011-01-01T10:49:00.000-08:00

I know I am a little late posting about our Christmas, but this year it was an especially good one! My entire family came to town to stay with us in our new house. It was so fun to be able to host Christmas and show off our new baby! Owen was especially spoiled, he is the first grandchild on my side of the family, and the first boy. Needless to say, everyone showered him with lots of attention and love!

We also had a birthday party for Molly...

and went out to Orange County for Aunt Carolyn's Christmas party.

and had our first family photo with our new addition!

Other than that, we mostly just stayed home and enjoyed each other's company. All in all, I would say it was a wonderful Christmas this year!

My New Favorite Thing

2010-12-16T08:06:00.000-08:00

My new favorite thing is to wake up in the morning and see this...

Here are a few more pictures of Owen from the last few days...

Welcome Baby Owen!

2010-12-10T12:58:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we welcomed Baby Owen into our family! The day began when I went to the doctor yesterday morning for a check up and the doctor was concerned that I hadn't progressed dilating in the last few days. Then, when the doctor put me on the monitor to check the baby's heart rate, every time I had a contraction, the baby's heart rate would drop, which signaled that there was some fetal distress. So, Dr. Jacome sent us straight to the hospital to be induced. My mom and I went to the hospital and I got started on the medication, and Colby came from work and met us.

The medication was supposed to be given every 4 hours and was supposed to make me dilate and efface so they could give me the pitocin. However, after 4 hours of waiting, I had not progressed at all, and the baby's heart rate continued to drop with each contraction I had. Our nurse was concerned and she called my doctor, who immediately said he was going to come to the hospital and we would do a C-Section. It was a bit weird because we waited around all day for the medication to work, and then within about 20 minutes, I was dressed, numbed, and ready for surgery. I was so nervous to have the C-Section, mostly because I didn't really know what to expect. Having a C-Section was one of the scariest, and craziest things I have ever done! I could hear what was going on, and smell the tool the doctor was using to cut me, but I couldn't feel anything because of the epidural. The absolute scariest part was when they were pulling the baby out of me - Colby was right at my head talking to me and trying to calm me down, but it was so weird to feel the baby come out because I could feel the pressure and the suction of my body trying to keep the baby in, and the doctor trying to pull the baby out. Dr. Jacome did a fabulous job with the C-Section, he was finished with the entire procedure in 14 minutes! I heard the baby crying and Colby went to cut the cord before they brought him over to me.

He is the most beautiful boy I have ever seen! I am so in love with him! Owen Colby Homec is 8 lb 13 oz and is 20 inches long, born at 6:08pm on December 9, 2010.

Still Waiting...

2010-12-07T22:07:00.000-08:00

Still waiting for the baby to come....

Today I tried this

and this

I also walked almost 3 miles, and sat in a hot bath for over an hour....

So far, no baby. Maybe he'll come tomorrow....

One Last Time

2010-12-04T20:40:00.000-08:00

Tonight Colby and I had our date night one last time without a baby or a babysitter to worry about. We went to our favorite mexican restaurant, El Gallito, and enjoyed nachos especial and a chimichanga.

The baby could come anytime now, and it is starting to sink in how much our lives are going to change. I guess next time we go to El Gallito we will have a baby to bring along!

Due Date

2010-11-30T08:05:00.000-08:00

Today is my official due date. But... we went to the doctor yesterday, and he said we are at least a week away still! I can't believe it... Not dialated at all and just having minor and very inconsistent contractions. Such a bummer, I am so anxious to have this baby!

At first I was so disappointed at the news, but I actually think it will be nice to have one more week to prepare. I made my list of things to do this week:

Finish nursery
Grocery shopping
Ironing
Wax eyebrows
Finish Christmas shopping
Sewing projects for the baby
Organize our home office
Buy paint for the bathroom and guest bedroom
Read parenting books

Phew! I guess I will have a busy week before the baby comes!

My parents came to town for Thanksgiving and my mom was just going to stay until the baby came. Change of plans: she is going home today and coming back next week! I'll be glad to have her back after the baby comes!

Remembering...

2010-11-28T20:42:00.000-08:00

I am almost 40 weeks pregnant and I realized that I haven't posted many pictures of my growing belly. I can't believe how much my belly has grown! I was looking at pictures and it was so fun to see all of the changes...

This was when I was 18 weeks along when we were in Washington, and I remember feeling so HUGE!

This was when I was about 22 weeks along, when I look at this now, I think I just looked chubby, not really pregnant!

24 weeks...

29 weeks...

34 weeks...

39 weeks...

My official due date is Tuesday, November 30th. I think the thing that surprised me the most about pregnancy is how much I have enjoyed it. It has been so fun to anticipate the baby and to get to know him as he has grown and developed! Of course there have been a lot of times when I have been uncomfortable, haven't felt well, haven't slept well, etc... but overall, it has been such a cool experience! It has so cool to feel the baby growing inside of me. I am so anxious for him to come out so we can meet him!

Funcle Colby

2010-11-21T22:08:00.000-08:00

Get it?? Colby is the Fun-Uncle!

I guess one of the perks of all of the items I have been ordering for the baby is the boxes. Colby and our nephew, Sawyer, built this awesome fort with all of the boxes. They have been playing with it for the last 2 days!

Oh the things that entertain kids (and Colby)....

Time to Start Sewing...

2010-11-02T19:48:00.000-07:00

We're getting closer to the baby's due date, and I guess it is time to start sewing the baby bedding!

More pictures of the nursery to come...

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-24T21:24:00.000-07:00

We went to a Halloween party last night and I am starting to feel in the mood for Fall. Due to lack of time and creativity, Colby and I dressed up as painters.... Our costumes weren't too original, but they were oftly fitting, since we have been doing a lot of painting lately!

Baby Shower!

2010-10-22T16:28:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, Brooke threw me a baby shower! My mom and my sister Jamie came for the shower, and so did Aunt Sandy and Grama Huish! It was so fun to get together with all of my family and friends and celebrate the baby! The theme of the shower was "B" for boy, so everything at the shower began with the letter "B." Brooke made two fabulous salads and several bar cookies, all beginning with the letter "B" and had lots of blue decorations.

The baby got so many nice gifts and we feel so grateful and so much more prepared for the baby to come!

We Moved!

2010-10-19T17:46:00.000-07:00

Colby and I bought a new house! We actually moved about 2 weeks ago, but I am a bit slow at posting our updates... We rented this awesome U-Haul truck, which we thought was going to be way to big to fit all of our furniture, and as it turns out, we barely fit everything in! We had great help, the Elders Quorum from the old ward helped us move out, and the Elders Quorum of the new ward helped us move in.

Our new house is only about 15 minutes from our old house but we are in a new ward and a new neighborhood. In the last 2 weeks, we have been really busy unpacking, painting, and getting settled. It has been alot of work, but we are so excited to finally be in our new place!!

Labor Day Weekend

2010-09-08T21:19:00.000-07:00

For Labor Day weekend, Colby and I took a road trip up to northern California to visit Trent, Audry and the kids. We had a blast! The drive took us about 8 hours, and we drove up Friday night after work. On Saturday, we all went down to Monterey and went to lunch at Bubba Gumps before going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The aquarium was awesome, we saw some really cool exhibits! Our favorite was the jelly fish exhibit and the seahorse exhibit.
Colby was in heaven, he loves everything aquatic! Then on Sunday, we went into San Francisco to one of Trent and Audry's favorite pizza places, Tony's Pizza in Washington Square. It was this really authentic Italian place that served really great meatballs and amazing pizza! We enjoyed eating before we headed across the Golden Gate Bridge and over to Sausalito. We spent the afternoon shopping and enjoying the great weather!
It seemed like the weekend went too fast, we were sad to come home! Thanks for having us Trent and Audry, we can't wait to come back and visit again!

Colby's Birthday

2010-08-30T19:57:00.000-07:00

I am so late in posting this, but last week Colby turned 30!!! We had two parties to celebrate. On Colby's actual birthday we went to one of his favorite restaurants, El Campanario, on Indio Blvd with several friends. We all enjoyed fabulous mexican food and chocolate/peanut butter cupcakes!
Then last week, we went to Gary & Raquel's to have a family birthday party! We had a great dinner catered by Las Casualas and Colby's favorite chocolate cake!

Happy Birthday!

I can't believe I forgot!

2010-07-15T20:08:00.000-07:00

Is it true that pregnancy makes you stupid?? I swear, this kid is taking all my brain cells, I am so forgetful these days! I can't believe I forgot my favorite holiday! Bastille Day, which is France's independence day, was yesterday! Bastille Day is my favorite holiday because every year, I make a traditional French meal of french onion soup, seafood, french cheese, and of course dessert. Colby and I have a feast! I was so sad when I realized I missed it, so tonight, I made homemade eclairs and Colby and I celebrated one day late...

The eclairs still tasted awesome, even though they were one day late!

Now that we know...

2010-07-08T21:19:00.000-07:00

I know I am really really slow to post our most exciting update, but we are pregnant! I have been waiting to post anything until we found out what we are having (our intention was to go find out the gender a few weeks ago). Colby & I went to the doctor for an ultrasound on Thursday and when we saw this picture, there was no question what we are having...
It's a boy! Our little guy was so active, he was moving all over the place! Of course, in this picture, he is laying on his back with his legs and everything else straight up in the air!

I am 19 weeks and I feel like I am really starting to show. Baby Homec is due November 30th... Can't wait to meet him!

4th of July Weekend

2010-07-06T21:00:00.000-07:00

We spent the 4th of July weekend in Seattle with my family. It seems like we were just up there visiting, but we were having a family reunion with Grama Jan so we went up to join the fun! Recently, Grama Jan has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, so it was nice to be able to see her one last time in her healthy, happy state. We spent Saturday at the beach house enjoying the cool weather, boating, and barbecuing.
Sunday, everyone came over to my parent's house for dinner and stories from Grama Jan...
Although it was so sad to know that this is probably the last time I will see Grama Jan in this life, it is so comforting to know that I am part of an eternal family and we will one day be together again.

Home Alone

2010-07-01T21:10:00.001-07:00

So, Colby has been out of town all week. At first, I was excited to have a few days to myself to do all of the things on my to-do list that I never seem to get around to doing. However, that quickly changed when I realized this was waiting for me....
Yes, this is my overflowing ironing basket. Uugh. Why doesn't your husband wear wrinkle-free dress shirts, you ask?? He does. It's just that I am too lazy to actually hang up all of the dress shirts when they come out of the dryer so they just pile up and wait for me to iron them. (The rule at our house is that I only iron once a month.) And yes, it did take me all week to get through the pile... Nice week to myself.

Catching Up...

2010-05-27T19:05:00.000-07:00

I have been out of the blogging world for at least a month! I didn't realize how long it had been until I realized all of the things we have done in the past month. It seems that we have been out of town almost every weekend...

It started with Molly's graduation from BYU and a trip to Utah. It is so weird that she is done with college and we don't have anyone in Utah anymore...

Then we spent two weekends at the beach, one in San Diego with my parents and one at the beach house in Dana Point to celebrate Nate's graduation from grad school at USC!

Then we headed to San Diego and had met up with my friend Bonnie and her cute family!

Then, Colby and I went to Seattle for almost a week! We decided to take our summer vacation early and went to visit my parents. We spent the week eating, relaxing, catching up with friends, and seeing the beauties of Washington!

After all this traveling, I think we'll stay home for a little while...

Easter Weekend

2010-04-04T20:36:00.001-07:00

This year for Easter Weekend my sister Jamie and her husband Nate came out to the desert to visit us! It was fun to have them in town and to be able to spend some time with them. The highlight of our weekend was on Saturday when the four of us went for a hike at the Painted Canyon. We hiked through narrow passageways that are all different levels and have different colors of rocks.

The rest of our weekend was spent relaxing, golfing for the boys and shopping for the girls and eating! Hopefully having Jamie & Nate to visit will become an Easter tradition!

HGTV where are you??

2010-04-01T18:18:00.000-07:00

Does this picture make you want to cry?

How about this one??

Yes, this is our bathroom, it has been under construction for the last 7 weeks. (Yes you read that correctly, 7 WEEKS!!) Colby and I had this bright idea that we could remodel our bathroom ourselves (and with a lot of help from our friend Nate). Obviously it is a much bigger job than we expected, we have a professional coming to finish the job tomorrow! All I can say is, FINALLY!!!

Bad Religion

2010-03-21T21:50:00.001-07:00

This last week, Colby & I went to a concert! I was trying to be a super-cool wife and I got Colby tickets to see his favorite band, Bad Religion, at the House of Blues at Downtown Disney in Anaheim. The concert was on Wednesday night so we headed out to Downtown Disney and had dinner before the concert. We ate at the Rainforest Cafe (I was not impressed) and then walked around the shops while we waited for the concert to start.

I had never heard any of Bad Religion's music before and I'm not sure I'll be going to another one of their concerts. I am more of a Celine Dion girl! The House of Blues was packed with a sold-out show and there was a giant mosh-pit in front with people crowd surfing and moshing.

Not really my scene but Colby LOVED it!!! Basically, I don't think I'm cool enough for Bad Religion, next time Colby can have it as a boys trip!

Off to the Fair

2010-02-18T20:59:00.001-08:00

Colby I skipped out on work early today and headed to the fair! This is the last weekend that The International Date Festival will be in town so we headed over to Indio to enjoy carnival food & rides. We started out with the ostridge races which were so random and funny! The poor birds were so confused that they had to pull kids out of the audience to chase the birds across the finish line!

Don't worry, we found the mini donuts so Colby was happy!

We rode the ferris wheel and enjoyed the view of the beautiful Coachella Valley!

We'll definitely be back next year!

Anniversary #3

2010-02-06T12:54:00.000-08:00

Colby & I celebrated our 3rd anniversary this week! I can't believe it has been 3 years already, the time has just flown by! We celebrated this year with a trip to Los Angeles. We started by having dinner at The Melting Pot in Pasadena. It is this awesome restaurant that serves fondue. The menu starts with a cheese fondue that you dip bread, pretzels, vegetables and fruit into, followed by a salad, and then the main course of lobster tail, filet mignon, chicken, and NY strip steak to dip into the fondue pot. Lastly, the dessert, is awesome! We picked a s'more fondue that was amazing!
We spent the night in Pasadena and the next day we went to Universal Studios! I haven't been to Universal Studios in at least 15 years and neither had Colby. We rode a few rides, saw a few shows, took the studio tour, and finished off with dinner at Bubba Gumps on Universal City Walk. It was so nice to have a few days out of town to relax and celebrate our special occasion!

Christmas in the Northwest

2010-01-06T17:51:00.000-08:00

This year for Christmas we went to Washington. It was the first time since Colby and I have been married that we spent Christmas with my family! We were only there for 3 days, but our trip was great! Both of my sisters and my brother-in-law were there too. My parents were so excited to have everyone home for the holidays!

More pictures to come...

Our First House

2009-12-23T17:34:00.000-08:00

I was a little sad this year as I realized that this is our third Christmas together and Colby and I still do not have any Christmas traditions. We thought long and hard about the traditions we would like to create for our family and this year, we decorated our first annual gingerbread house! I made the gingerbread from scratch with a recipe that my grandma used to use and Colby cut out all of the pieces.

We had so much fun putting it together and adding the candy...

Our Thanksgiving

2009-12-06T17:10:00.000-08:00

This year for Thanksgiving my family came to town. My parents came from Seattle and my sister came from Utah. We had a great time! Thanksgiving morning began with my parents and Colby and I running a 5K run to benefit Martha's Kitchen.

Next was my favorite part of Thanksgiving, looking through the newspaper ads to see what is going to be on sale and maping out our route for Black Friday!

We spent a few hours relaxing in the sun while the turkey cooked and after dinner, we went down to the Marriott Desert Springs to ride the gondolas before going to see The Blind Side with Sandra Bullock. Seriously the best movie ever!

Friday went down to Palm Springs and rode the tram. The view from the top is spectacular! You can see the entire valley, it looks so peaceful up there!

Halloween... A Little Late

2009-11-10T16:25:00.001-08:00

Halloween is actually my least favorite holiday so I was suprised when we had such a great Halloween this year. We got dressed up for 3 parties: two friend parties and one with the youth in the ward. Colby and I went as Sandy and Danny from Grease.

Me with Brooke who is dressed as a Pregnant Brittany Spears

On the actual day of Halloween we went trick-or-treating with Brooke, Tyson and Sawyer, who was dressed as Harry Potter! Sawyer was so cute and so brave to go up to all of the doors and ask for candy!

Vote for Homec Jewelers

2009-10-05T20:49:00.001-07:00

Quickbooks is having a drawing for a $1000 grant for small businesses. I nominated Homec Jewelers to receive this grant. If you click the link below, it will take you to the website where you can nominate Homec Jewelers also. The more nominations we get, the more chances we have to get the grant!

Homec Jewelers
78075 Main Street #103
La Quinta, CA 92253

I just nominated my favorite local business to win a $1000 Intuit Growth Grant. You can nominate yours too

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New York City

2009-09-19T11:17:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Colby and I went to New York City! Colby has been there many times but it was my first time to the big city, and it was awesome! I was so amazed by how much there is to do and see. We left Palm Desert on Wednesday morning and stayed in NYC until Sunday afternoon. Get ready for a long post, here is a recap of how we spent our days:

Day One, Thursday: We woke up early and hopped on the subway to Doughnut Plant. (For those of you who don't know, Colby is a "doughnut connoisseur." We watched a show on the Food Network featuring doughnuts, and of course, there were only 3 places on that show that Colby hasn't been to: one in NYC and the other two are in Seattle, which of course we are planning on going to when we are there next...) So we went to the Doughnut Plant and they had the most AMAZING doughnuts either of us have ever had! Colby got in line three times and spent close to $35 to try all of their flavors! There is a link to their website here. Anyone going to NYC anytime soon should definately put this on the to-do list. Can't say enough great things about it. After we were stuffed with doughnuts, we headed over to the Financial District. We spent a few hours walking around Wall Street, went down to Battery Park, saw Ground Zero, had a great lunch at Baluchi's and then went to the New York Stock Exchange for a private tour! It was so cool to be down on the floor of the exchange, especially since they have closed it off to visitors since the September 11th attacks. We got to see all of the traders and learn about what goes on there. CNBC, Fox News, and CNN all broadcast from the NYSE too so we got to see where they film and learn about what the reporters do on a daily basis as well. This was definately a highlight of our trip! After we left the NYSE, we caught a ferry to the Statue of Liberty. This was one of my favorite things we did. It was so neat to go out to Liberty Island and learn about the Statue and what she symbolizes to our country. We stopped at Ellis Island and found some Homec's names on the wall... Couldn't find any Huish's though... We had dinner in Chinatown, but it wasn't that great... After dinner, we went and saw Wicked on Broadway! It was such an awesome show, both Colby and I enjoyed it so much more than either of us thought!

Day Two, Friday: We were so jet-lagged and exhausted from Thursday that we slept in until 9:30AM! It felt so good to rest after our busy day on Thursday! When we finally got up and out, it was pouring rain. I bought an umbrella and we walked up to Rockafeller Center and found a Magnolias. We treated ourselves to cupcakes and then went to Dean & Deluca. Colby found that Doughnut Plant also serves their doughnuts at Dean & Deluca so he had more doughnuts while I sipped my tea. We walked over to 5th Avenue and shopped. We stopped at St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was so beautiful! Since it was September 11th, they were holding mass in rememberance of the victims, which I thought was pretty cool. Since it was raining so hard, Colby and I decided that it was a good day to see the museums. We headed over to the Upper East Side. On our way to the Met, we stopped at a Papaya King for a hotdog and papaya juice before heading to another great restaurant, The Ethopian. This was a recommendation from a friend who just moved from NYC and it was awesome! It is this great little restaurant that obviously serves Ethopian food and you eat it with your hands, no silverware. Colby ordered some beef dish and I ordered a vegetitarian dish. She brought out a plate covered with tef (it looked like a crepe) and then served our food on the tef. Colby and I both agreed that this was such a fun experience, really cool to try ethnic food in a very different way! Onto the Met to see their exhibits. They had a great Vermeer exhibit (Dutch painter from the 17th century) when we were there, featuring "The Milkmaid." I loved it. After a few hours at the Met, we caught the subway over to the MOMA. This is the modern art museum and it is free on Friday nights. Colby and I both were glad we went but happy we didn't pay for it. I just don't appreciate modern art as much as other types... We left the MOMA and headed over to Katz Deli for a famous pastrami sandwich. It was everything everyone said it would be! We loved it!

Day Three, Saturday: Woke up to more drizzley rain but we decided to go over to the Empire State Building. Suprisingly, there were no lines to get up to the top so we got up pretty quickly. The view of the city was amazing from the top, it was so cool to see everything from so high up. It was a great way to get a better perspective of the city. We headed over to Soho for lunch and found the famous pizza place, Lombardis. Once again, this was everything it was said to be! The pizza was awesome! We ordered one pizza, half white pizza and half original and added spinach and garlic. Yum! Definatley my favorite pizza of the trip! After lunch, we walked through Soho over to Little Italy where they were having a street fair. Colby couldn't resist trying a deep fried twinkie, which was actually better than I thought it would be. We had canolis from Ferraras, which were awesome, and then shopped around Soho and Canal Street. We went back over by our hotel for dinner and found Little Brazil. Colby found a great Brazilian restaurant for dinner, Ipanema. We had an authentic Brazilian dinner and celebrated Colby's birthday (a little late).

Day Four, Sunday: We got up and headed over to Central Park. It finally stopped raining and was a really great sunny day. We spent the morning walking around Central Park and enjoying the day. After Central Park, we stopped at Crumbs and got cupcakes for breakfast. After finishing our cupcakes, we headed back to the hotel to get our bags and go to the airport.

We had such a great trip, I am already excited to go back!

Cruisin' to Mexico

2009-09-06T14:59:00.000-07:00

I know I am a bit late with this post, but Colby and I went on our first cruise a few weeks ago! Neither of us had ever been on a cruise before and this was a great way to go on vacation. We went with my parents, my 2 sisters and my brother-in-law. It was such a fun way to spend time together and get some relaxation time! The ship left out of Long Beach and we stopped at three ports, Puerto Vallerta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas. There were too many pictures to post individually so I did slideshows of each port.

We spent the first 2 days sailing. Most of these days were filled with sunbathing, reading, and eating...

After sailing for 2 days, our first stop was Puerto Vallerta. We had a great time shopping and then sneaking into The Westin to use their pool and have a nice lunch...

Next stop was Mazatlan. We bought a day pass to a nice resort and used their pool and had all the food and drinks we wanted! They had this awesome pool with waterfalls to jump off of and a waterslide to slide down...

Last stop was Cabo San Lucas. This was my favorite port. The beaches were great, the town was really nice and we were able to go snorkeling and see some awesome fish!

All too soon it was over! It was great spending time together as a family!

Happy Birthday to Colby!

2009-08-25T21:50:00.001-07:00

Colby turned 29 today!

Happy Birthday honey, here's to another great year!

Weekend Update

2009-08-03T22:03:00.000-07:00

Colby has been in Wyoming since last Wednesday. He has been at his dad's ranch fishing, hiking, and enjoying some time with his brothers. He comes home tomorrow afternoon and will have been gone for almost a week. This is the first time that we have been apart for this long, and I was a little bit sad about it. So I decided to have a little fun of my own this weekend... I started the weekend by driving to Uncle Court and Aunt Sandy's house on Friday night. I met Brooke at the Irvine Spectrum for dinner and shopping. After spending the night and having some much needed catch-up time with Brooke, I left her parents house on Saturday morning and headed over to my friend/former roommate, Lisa's bridal shower.

It was so fun to see her and catch up with Lisa and our other old roommate, Amber! Both Lisa and Amber are engaged, so it was really fun to hear all about their wedding plans and their new lives! I am so excited for both of them!

After leaving Lisa's shower, I headed up to Hermosa Beach to spend some time with my sister, Jamie. We enjoyed some time relaxing before heading up to the Getty Museum. It is this awesome museum in LA that overlooks the city. The museum has some amazing artwork, mostly paintings and sculpture. My favorite were obviously the French artists such Monet, Van Gaugh, Fragonard, Pissaro, Poussin, just to name a few...

Now for the big surprise! After work this afternoon, I cut my hair! I cut 10 inches off, which was enough to donate to Locks for Love.

I was so sick of my long hair that I decided to try it short for a while. Colby is going to come home and see a new me!

Bastille Day

2009-07-14T19:04:00.000-07:00

Today Colby and I had our second annual Bastille Day celebration. For those of you who don't know, I did a semester in Paris when I was in college so now I use Bastille Day as an excuse to make my favorite yummy French food! In 1789, the Frenchies rebelled against their government and they destroyed the prison (the Bastille) by taking it down brick by brick which began the French Revolution. Today there is a statue at the Place de la Bastille to commemorate the events that took place there.

Ok, enough with the history, onto the food! I always make a traditional French meal, which means a 4-course dinner!

We started with baked brie

Then we moved onto the second course of soup a l'oignon,
aka French Onion Soup

Next, the main course, which consisted of salmon, potatoes, onions, and freshly chopped dill

And we finished it off with a Tart au Citron (lemon tart)

Last year was our first year celebrating Bastille Day and I think Colby was a little unsure of what to expect. But we had so much fun last year, we decided to make it a tradition and celebrate every year!

4th of July

2009-07-09T20:12:00.001-07:00

This year we celebrated the 4th of July in LA with my sister and brother-in-law! It was so nice to get out of the desert heat (about 110 degrees!!!) and be near the beach. We headed out of town on Friday night and met Jamie & Nate for some ice cream at a creamery in Manhattan Beach. Saturday morning, we woke up and headed to the nearest doughnut shop (Colby's favorite!!) Then we headed down to the beach and enjoyed the afternoon in the sun!

Saturday evening we went down to the pier in Hermosa Beach for dinner. As you can see in the picture behind us, there was a HUGE crowd of people partying on the pier. The crowd was so unbelievably massive that I had to take a picture!

We finally found an overcrowded bar that served pizza. After elbowing our way to the front of the line to place our order, we headed out to the sand with a extra large pizza and lots of blankets to sit and watch the fireworks.

Sunday it was back to the desert and the unbearable heat... Boo! I love the 4th of July and am always sad when it is over. Can't wait for next year!!!

Moving...

2009-06-08T20:26:00.001-07:00

This last weekend my sister and brother-in-law moved to LA! My parents flew to Utah and helped Jamie and Nate drive the moving truck and their cars down to California. Colby and I met them at the new apartment in Hermosa Beach on Saturday afternoon. We helped them unload the moving truck and get settled...

Sunday we were so exhausted from all the moving that we spent the day on the beach enjoying the sunshine! We ended the weekend with serious sunburns and a great dinner at the Cheesecake Factory!

We missed Molly this weekend but we are soooo excited to have Jamie and Nate so much closer to us!

Vegas Baby!

2009-06-04T19:04:00.000-07:00

We just got back from our first annual trip to Las Vegas! Colby and Tyson had a jewelry show to go to so Brooke and I tagged along and enjoyed 3 days of relaxing in the sun! We left Palm Desert early on Sunday morning and arrived in Las Vegas about 10AM. Here are some highlights of the trip...

Dinner at my favorite restaurant, Cafe Rio!

Shopping at Ceasar's Palace

Serendipity opened on the Strip so we went to enjoy a frozen hot chocolate and deep fried oreos

We spent some time at the pool...

And went back to Serendipity for a second round of deep fried oreos!

We came home Tuesday evening exhausted but happy! Can't wait to do it again next year!!!

Kitchen Cabinets

2009-05-30T07:46:00.000-07:00

Finally my kitchen cabinets are repainted! We have been in our condo for 2 1/2 years and I have hated the kitchen cabinets since the day we moved in. Finally, over Memorial Weekend, I decided to do something about it. Colby helped me take all of the doors off of the cabinets and we went to Home Depot and picked up all of the supplies. Colby had to work all weekend which was perfect because he doesn't like to help with my projects anyways. I spent the whole weekend painting and touching up the cabinets. They look awesome! It was soooo much more work than I thought it would be and, for once, I was happy to have a tiny kitchen!

Most of you who have seen my kitchen are probably thinking that it looks exactly the same since I painted the cabinets white again, but I promise the fresh coat of paint looks amazing!

Month of Travels

2009-05-25T20:00:00.001-07:00

So I didn't realize that it has been almost a month since I've blogged. I hate getting so far behind. We've had a crazy busy month, mostly because I have been traveling almost every weekend. The last weekend in April, I went up to my parent's house in Seattle for my cousin Kendall's wedding. Both of my sisters were there which made it so fun to for all my family to be together! Jamie and I left our husband's at home so it was a girls weekend with my parents! Of course my parents were so excited to have their three girls home and they spoiled us rotten!

Then two weeks later, my cousin Johanna got married in San Diego. The entire Huish clan flew into town for this party. It was so fun to spend time together as an extended family and enjoy each other's company.

The weekend following Johanna's wedding, I went to Utah to spend the weekend with my girlfriends! Five of us girlfriends rented a condo in Ogden, Utah and spent the weekend catching up! We had so much fun just laughing and talking and reminding each other of the crazy things we used to do!

These are girls that I grew up with and we went to college together and I have missed them so much since we have all gotten married and moved apart! It was great to be able to catch up and see what everyone is doing with their lives. We had so much fun on our trip we have decided to try to make it an annual thing!

Accidents Happen...

2009-05-02T09:25:00.000-07:00

So I joined a book club and our first meeting was Thursday night. This is the first book club I have been a part of and I was so excited to go to our first meeting! Unfortunately when I was on my way to book club, there was a minor accident... Some lady was changing lanes and somehow didn't see my car! She bumped right into me! Of course she was driving a truck and there was no damage done to her truck, but my poor car looks like this:

Luckily no one was hurt in the accident but now I have to deal with the hassle of insurance companies, rental cars, and a trip to the auto body shop. What a pain!

Hiking Murray Canyon

2009-04-10T20:40:00.000-07:00

So yesterday Colby and I went on a hike with some friends of ours, Paul & Ainsley Anderson. The stock market was closed for Good Friday so Colby took the day off too so we could spend it together. We went to one of the Indian canyons in Palm Springs. The hike is great, it is 4 miles round trip and there is a trail that follows a river all the way up the canyon. At the end of this canyon are several waterfalls that cascade down the mountain into pools of water. Who would have thought there is such a thing in the desert??!! You can't go up past the first waterfall because it is blocked off but Colby and Paul didn't let that stop them. They took off their shoes and scaled the face of the rocks to have a better look at the falls...

Ainsley and I waited below...

It was a nice way to spend out day off-- nice to spend the day outside and nice to spend the day with friends!

An Unwelcome Guest...

2009-04-09T16:53:00.000-07:00

So today at work, I was in my boss Mark's office and noticed a rather large bug crawling up my other boss Shad's window next to the door to his office. Upon closer examination, I saw this:

He doesn't look very big in this picture, but he was actually HUGE! This is a date roach and they fly! Finding him in our office made me really miss the Merrill Lynch office where we moved from. When we moved to Morgan Stanley, we moved to a much better firm, but a much worse facility... As I looked around the Morgan Stanley office, I realized this little cockroach really fit in with our "classy" office that has the electrical cords taped to the walls and the carpet duck-taped to the floor. Alas, the poor roachie did not make it out of the office alive; the guys chased it around for a half hour before spraying it to death with Lysol...

Weekend Visitors

2009-03-30T17:36:00.000-07:00

This week my sister and brother-in-law were in town! Jamie and Nate drove down from Utah on Wednesday, so on Thursday, I met Jamie in LA and spent the day with her. Friday afternoon, Jamie and Nate drove out to Palm Desert and spent the weekend with Colby and I. Unfortunately, they didn't leave LA until 3pm and it took them 4 hours to get to our house! Yikes! We met them at our favorite restaurant, El Gallito, and had dinner with Brooke, Tyson and Sawyer.

On Saturday, Colby took the day off and we gave them the grand tour of the desert! The weather was great (85 degrees!!) so we spent some time at the pool before going down to Homec Jewelers to show off our store. Then we spent a few hours walking through the shops on El Paseo before going home for a BBQ. We finished off the night with our favorite dessert, chocolate chip skookies!

Palm Springs Street Fair

2009-03-27T17:00:00.000-07:00

Last night we went to the Palm Springs Street Fair! Every Thursday night they close down the main street in Palm Springs and there are tons of vendors that set up booths selling all kinds of things. We never make it down to Palm Springs, and rarely go out on week nights, so it was fun to do something different.

We started the night by eating flaffels at the greek stand...

and walked around to look at the street vendors...

and ended the night with a tasty treat from CactusBerry!