I don't do New Year resolutions.......

...but this year it kind of seems like I do.  I've always been resistant to make resolutions. Maybe because no one ever seems to finish them. So I've never made them. This year tho I've just happened to start things around that time of year. So does that count??

For example - I've started blogging again. I actually started doing it again because I recently read Heaven is Here by Stephanie Nielson. You know - the survivor of a plane crash. Anyway - loved the book and I know she is a blogger so I logged onto hers and started reading it. Which then led me to go back and check on mine. Then I started reading thru and was so happy reading and seeing my family grow. So I decided to start it up again.

Second - Sam asked me a few weeks ago if I would try something with him.  I was hesitant to even ask what is was. Then totally against it once he told me his plan. A month of no dairy, no flour, and no sugar. No sugar!!  Ahhh.  I thought it was a good idea for him but not for ME! haha. But after I thought about it and thought about it I decided that I would give it a try. I need to be a lot better at being aware of what I am putting in my body. This is helping with that. We also started taking fish oil. It is helping both of our eczema and my skin all around. Well I actually I am not sure if its the fish oil, the no sugar, the no diary or no flour that is making the difference. But something is doing something. Plus I've already lost 4 pounds, which was not really my goal but still is fine. So at the end of the month we can add things back in and see what effects it has and if we need to keep it eliminated or not. We can also have treats every once in a while after our month is up. Before I had at least one treat every single day. Treats were pretty much my main food source. So I thought this was going to be extremely hard but so far it really isn't too bad. It's far from over so we'll see if I still feel like that down the road.


I have been finding that eating things without a bun is super messy! A bun does so much

Third - I've started going on bike rides every week with my friend Carley. We've had some interest from other friends in joining us so we might become a bike gang pretty soon. We started by just biking around our neighborhood loop which is around 5 miles. Then jumped right into a 23 mile ride that goes from our house out to Newport Beach around the back bay. It's a beautiful ride and I am really enjoying it.

So I guess - Happy New Year

here we go....

 I realize I haven't blogged for a long time. I actually have avoided it for quite some time because of the guilt I felt for neglecting it. Before we moved from Oregon I didn't want to blog until I knew where we were going and what job Sam would be doing. Then once Sam did get a job I was so overwhelmed with getting the house ready to be sold, packing, plus since Sam moved a couple months before we did, I was a single mom. I stayed behind so the kids could finish the school year. Now we have been living in Irvine, CA - Orange County- for a little over a year and a half. I was a little nervous to move to "LA" -- but I was so pleasantly surprised. I love it here. The people are so, so nice. I knew the weather would be great and it has not disappointed. The traffic really isn't that bad. I just avoid the freeways during rush hour and always try to avoid LA - the real LA - which we don't live in. We live in Orange County which I have concluded is a whole different world.
Its overwhelming to try to cover everything thats happened in the last year and half - 2 years since I've blogged. So I decided I just will do some quick overall highlights of what we've been unto here and then start fresh.
When I did finally log back on - I started reading my blog - all of our old posts and looked at all the pictures. I loved it and was so grateful I had done it.  My memory is terrible and seems to only be getting worse so the more I can document the happier I will be in the future. I don't want to forget these awesome years. They have already gone by sooooooo fast.  Fresh start. Here we go.

We've done a lot of this...............

And this..............

                           

And this..... 64 trips in a year to be exact

We've had 2 Halloweens here so far...............

 We've done 2 commercials. Kind of by accident - still fun. 

 Gwenny girl got baptized................

 Our beloved Peazy Lou passed away at the age of 12. Still hurts..........

 And we had our very first Christmas on our own, no family. It was different but we tried to make it special. 

 There are so many more things that happened - like birthdays, teeth lost, making friends, school, gymnastics and more. One of my favorite things about living here is that even tho we aren't lucky enough to live next to family anymore, we DO live 13 miles from Disneyland and THAT means we get lots and lots of visitors.  We've had a pretty steady stream of family and friends come visit the whole time we've been here. And that makes me feel more connected which I'm so grateful for.

I am also grateful to be so close to the beach - it is my happy place. How could it not be. Beautiful.