Venice Beach - What a Trip!

Yesterday, we took our first trip to the beach. We decided to go to Venice beach. I have to say it was so nice to go to a real beach after the rocky, gritty, bacteria-infested beaches in Ohio. No offense to anyone in Ohio! We had a lot of fun. I only got a few pics before my batteries died. (That always happens to me - when will I learn to take along extra batteries?!) Anyway, after playing in the sand we decided to walk along the sidewalk where they have shops and stuff. It was really a trip! First we see this person selling "medical" marijuana. She was just yelling it out "get some medical marijuana, just up here on the 2nd floor!" It was crazy. Then Jimmy had to go to the bathroom, so we go and there is a line with this woman standing in front of one of the bathrooms. She said that someone had left some exposed syringes in the bathroom and she sent her son to go get the police to take care of it. So maybe Venice Beach isn't the best place to take the kids, but it was an interesting experience and it was fun to watch all of the crazy people. We saw clowns, rappers, wine-o's, numerous people with pink hair, a man and his stuffed dog painted gold, tourists, hobos, hippies, oh, and one other person with a baby in a stroller. I think next time we will try a more family friendly beach.

Home is where the "new furniture" is

After living with hand me down furniture for the last 6 years, I'm so excited to get new furniture of my own. I know it is kind of backwards that I was able to get new furniture as soon as Jim went back to school, but I think he feels kind of bad about bringing me to this crazy city and he wants to make my stay here a little more bearable and comfortable. It was so much fun putting it all together and decorating. Finally, after watching all of those fun shows on HGTV, I actually got to do it myself!

I know our TV looks really puny with this stand, but maybe one day we will get a nice flat screen plasma TV to fill it in, but for now we are happy with the way it is. I'm just happy to have an entertainment center that doesn't have broken doors and a cardboard back that is hanging from a nail.

This is our new dining room table with the leaf expanded. We usually keep it folded up because there is plenty of room for just our family. This is a pub style table and I love it!

The boys even got a new bunk bed.

They are having tons of fun building forts in it!

Never Say Never

If there is one lesson that I have learned lately it is to be careful of what you say that you will never do, because, inevitably, you will probably end up eating your words and doing exactly the thing that you said that you will never do. Lets take Jim for example. When he was in high school he said that he would never go to college. Now, here is he with 2 masters degrees. But that's not enough. He has to go all the way for the PhD. Not only that, but he said that he would never have anything to do with computers. Now his computer is like air, food, and water to him. He can't function or survive without it.

That's not all. He also said that he would never serve a mission in the Philly area. He wasn't actually in Philadelphia during his mission, however, he was right across the river in Jersey serving in Camden, which is the ghetto of Philly and was recently named America's most dangerous city.

It doesn't end there. When Jim was working on his undergrad in Chemical Engineering there were a couple of companies who were recruiting and really wanted Jim to interview with them. As soon as he found out that they were based out of the Bay Area he wouldn't even give them the time of day. Instead of getting a job he went on to get his MBA and his first job was, you guessed it, right in the heart of silicon valley. Not only that it was a consulting job, which is another thing Jim said that he would never do for a living.

Now this is where I come in. I always said that I would never live in California. When we were living in the Bay Area I really liked it, however, I told Jim that I would never want to live in southern California. I mean really it's like a different country down there, right! Especially Los Angeles!!! At the time I said it I just knew that one day we would end up here because that is just the way it works with us. But I said it anyway, because that is sincerely how I felt and I really couldn't deny it. Jim has pretty much been planning on going back to school to get a PhD ever since we were married, and he has been looking at lots of different schools for the last 4 years trying to decide where he would want to go. I remember a specific conversation with him about 3 years ago when he was telling me about this awesome professor that he met from UCLA and the amazing work he has done. I knew right then and there that this is where we would be. Don't get me wrong - I am starting to like it. It is a lot different than what I am used to but there are a lot of perks to living here so I really can't complain. I just think that it is ironic that our life has played out like this so far. Looking back I really wouldn't change anything. Every place that we have been has been filled with amazing friends and awesome experiences. I know that the Lord is truly guiding our lives and He sees the bigger picture and knows what is best for us. He just has a funny sense of humor and really likes to put me in places outside of my comfort zone. It is really interesting too because everywhere that we have gone we have prayed about and have received very strong feelings that we were supposed to be in that particular place. I am grateful that he is blessing us with opportunities that are great for our family. It just makes me wonder - where will we end up after this??? I have a few ideas. All I have to do is think of the place that I would never want to go and that is probably where we will be in the next 4-6 years!

Jimmy's First Day of Kindergarten

Okay, I know I am really late getting this post up since Jimmy actually started school over a week ago, but better late than never. He is loving kindergarten! He didn't even seem nervous on the first day at all. I thought he would be a little bit nervous but he was excited and ready to go. Other kids in the class were having a hard time leaving their moms but Jimmy didn't care at all. Which kind of made me sad but kind of made me glad too for his sake. Notice the nice buzz hair cut. The day before school started, while Jim and I were unpacking boxes, Jimmy decided to sneak away to our bathroom and cut his hair. He was due for a haircut but come on! When I asked him why he did it he said that the hair was tickling his ears so I felt really bad after that. I meant to give him a hair cut before we left Ohio but we were so busy that it just didn't happen. Anyways, it's done now. He looks like he belongs in the military. At least it will grow back!

Fun Times with Family

We had an exciting journey on our way to California. We stopped in Montana to visit with my parents for a few days. The boys loved their hot tub! It was lots of fun and very relaxing after a 36 hour drive from Cleveland. From there we drove to Utah and stayed for a week. Jimmy, Ben, and Luke had the best time playing with their cousins. I wish we could have stayed longer. It makes me sad that they don't get to play with them very often. Derek and Jim took them to ride horses and they had a blast. Luke turned one and we had a little party for him too. It was a fun-filled, exciting week for all. I also want to say thank you to Craig and Sandy for letting us stay with them. They arrived home from a 9 month stay in Jerusalem just 2 days before we showed up and there were 14 people total staying in their house during that week so thank you for putting up with us. We loved every minute of it. I'm not sure if you can say the same but hopefully you enjoyed having us around a little bit. I'm sure your house is a lot more calm and quiet now that we are not there!

We are now at our new home in Los Angeles, California trying to get settled. Living in the city is taking some getting used to but every day it gets easier. There are people and traffic everywhere but no place to park! It's just different than I'm used to. I really hope I can adjust since we are stuck here for the next 5 years. On the positive side, the weather is perfect and the beach and anything else you want to do is within minutes. There is never a dull moment. I'm sure we will have lots of fun times while we are here :)

Tagged!

It was kind of hard to think of random things about me but it was kind of fun, so here we go.


1. I have a serious phobia of mice. It didn't help that we caught like 30 of them in our condo in Ohio. Hopefully we don't have the same problem in California. I don't know what it is about the furry little critters but it just makes me shiver to think about them.


2. When I graduated from high school I got to tour Europe for a month. Thanks mom and dad for spoiling me.

3. When I lived in Tennessee I lived down the street from Reba McEntire. I never saw her but I saw her horses a lot.


4. I am a tosser. I can't stand clutter. It gives me anxiety.


5. When I was a little girl, I used to think that if you drove far enough in any direction you would be able to touch the sky.


6. I am surrounded by big headed boys. My 5 year old thinks that he is always right and when my husband was 5 he told his kindergarten teacher that he is smarter than God. At least he doesn't think it now or else we would be in trouble.

I tag Bonnie Clark, Sarah Jackson, and Shannon Pickett.

Califoria Here We Come!

Last Saturday we said goodbye to Ohio and began our journey west toward Los Angeles. We began our trip at 8:00 am Saturday morning and arrived in Billings, Montana around 5:00 pm on Sunday afternoon to spend a few days visiting with Grandma and Grandpa Garfield. The trip took about a total of 36 hours. Yes, we are a little bit crazy to attempt such a thing with 3 kids but now that it is over I am glad that we did it that way because it meant that we arrived in Montana sooner and had more time to spend with Grandma and Grandpa. Now we are here in Montana safe and sound. The kids did remarkably well on the trip considering that they had to sit in the van that long. We played a lot of I spy games, watched a lot of movies, and saw tons of corn fields and big red barns. We were able to stop off and see Shawn, Byrdie, and Myleigh in Milwaukee (Shawn is Jim's brother). We stayed there for a few hours. They were so nice to feed us dinner and let us stay for a while. The kids had a blast playing in their yard and it was a nice break for them. In the middle of the night we stopped at a rest stop and slept for a few hours too. I felt so bad for making the kids do that but we all survived and are now catching up on lost sleep.

We're off to a good start

Still happy. . .

. . . but not for long!

playing at Shawn and Byrdie's

The best investment we ever made!!

Tomorrow we will be driving to Utah and will be staying there for a week, then we are off to our new home in Los Angeles, California. It is still hard for me to believe that we are actually going to be living in LA. It will be an exciting adventure for our family.