Merry Christmas!

Yesterday we had a great time spending christmas eve with Melissa and a few of our friends. This morning everyone went to families houses, we dropped Melissa back off at home, and our turkey is in the oven. The candles are lit, the rain is coming down, and house is all warm and toasty. We're about to snuggle together and watch a movie as smell of dinner drives us crazy :-)

Merry Christmas to anyone reading this blog and we hope your holidays were as blessed as ours.

The Adoption Wait!

How do we express what great parents we’ll be to an expectant mother, who is probably so overwhelmed deciding an adoption plan, but having to choose from multiple profiles, an adoptive couple for her child?

How do you truly get to know and trust a couple by looking at four pages of paragraphs and pictures?

In addition to the four page profile brochure we did for the adoption agency we felt a mother who was trying to choose an adoptive couple, would want to know more about who we honestly were on a regular basis. This is why we started blogging. Just a piece of us, but the real us!


We have been waiting to adopt for over a year now and the wait is not getting any easier. Last year when we started the adoption process, we got so excited and said to each other "this time next year, we'll have a little one during the holidays". Well, the holidays are here, but no little one. As Christmas is nearing we talked again last night about our wait and that comment we made a year ago about the holidays. We held onto each other’s hands, took a big sigh and said …..“this time next year, we’ll have a little one for the holidays”. What else can we do but be patient and wait?

PRE-CHRISTMAS FUN

We went to church last night and on the pamphlet they hand out before service they were asking for people to make home-made cookies for Christmas Services. I tried to make it super special for Tom and I by ...making home-made rolled suigar cookies that we can decorate and also made a big breakfast when we got up this morning! I invited Melissa and my sisters family to come help decorate, but the weather is horrible today so they were not able to come. Tom and I had a blast decorating the cookies and we can't wait to see the little kids picking out their cookie out and running around church eating them. Merry Christmas!

Ho Ho Ho!

Last night my sister and her family came over and we went to church together. Jaz. my niece, had so much fun playing and worshiping with the other children. Afterwards we all went to dinner and then went back to our house where we all played Kinect 360. They loved it so much my brother-in-law said he was going to put one on lay-away the next day. Such a great family game!!
This morning, Tom and I did a few chores around the house. By noon the day was ours! We jumped on our motorcycle and off we went! First we had a wonderful lunch and then headed towards the coast. We stopped by a small town called San Carlos and did a little shopping. While we were there, we saw Santa. Yes, we took our picture with him (see pic) , I couldn't resist. We then went to a motorcycle riders favorite "Skyline Blvd". We always heard people talking about this road and recently saw it on a TV program. We had to see it ourselves. It was amazingly breath taking! Today was chilly, foggy, with periods of sun. The road was twisty and had many pine trees lining the road. All I smelled was pine as rays of sun beamed through the trees. Words can not express the beauty of this road.
We finally made it to a popular "Skyline Blvd" destination called Alice's Restaurant. We stopped in and had some hot chocolate to warm us up and then headed back home. It was a long day, but worth the trip! I am looking forward to driving this road again during all the different seasons, to see the magnificent changes.

Coastal Beaches of Northern California

We went to some of our favorite beaches with a friend on Sunday we started in Half Moon bay hung out for a while and drove north stopping at several favorite spots along the way up the coast to San Francisco. Although I did not bring my surf board, we stopped at Pelican Bay , which is my favorite surf spot . There were plenty of surfers and lots of spectators. I am really looking forward to teach our children to surf, and bogie board. I hope they will enjoy it as much as I do. When finished our day at Northern tip of Ocean Beach in SF. It could not have been a more perfect weather day for beaches.

Goodbye Summer......Hello Winter!!

It has once again been a fun, yet busy summer. We took a road trip or two together to our favorite coastal beaches (Monterey, Carmel, Pacifica, Half Moon Bay, SF), Labor Day we camped for a week at Pismo Beach, we went to San Francisco's Fleet Week to see the Blue Angels, we had our annual BBQ with friends and family, and went crazy decorating the house for Halloween !

This past weekend we made our way to South Lake Tahoe. There was a winter storm that brought in 1 -2 feet of snow. The drive was beautiful! The Inn we stayed at was adorable and words can not express the amazing feeling of waking up to everything covered in snow and watching the snow flakes fall as we cuddled in bed together. On the way home we stopped to build a snowman.

This week is Thanksgiving and we will be driving to my parents house (1 hr) to spend a few days with family. Last night I bought a Gingerbread House to build with our niece while the Turkey is cooking...mmmm...mmm!

This month also brought some difficult feelings as we approached our one year mark since starting our adoption process. We are still anxious to be united with our little one, and the wait has not gotten any easier! We have so much love to offer a child and everytime we visit these wonderful places and the fun we have while there, we both always mention to each other that "we can't wait to do this as a family" .....................

Shari Wanted a new pink quad but the only pink quads available were little kid sized 100 to 200 CC 4 stroke. So we went to a dealership bought the biggest badest quad they had in White. It is a Polaris Outlaw with a KTM 525 moter. We then removed the stock "skelteton gun slinger" graphics and replaced it with a pink butterflies graphic. We then had the hubs and springs powder coated pink to match.

SEVEN LITTLE DUCKS

Here's a pic of all seven ducklings. Even though there mother was not so lucky, I'm glad they will be happy in their new home and not squished on the road.

PETS AND ANIMALS ARE THE BEST

Today we've been working on our rental house and hung out a with one of our good friends. We took a break, had some lunch, and then went to the VA with Klaus and Simon for Pet Therapy (it was Simons first day) . When we were done we took Simon home (he's old and needs his rest) then went to our friends house so Klaus could play with his puppy. We then all went back to the rental house where our other friend showed up with a box of seven little ducklings he had just rescued from the highway on his way over. They were soooooo CUTE!!! Klaus liked them too! Our friends neighbor already has ducks and a pond so he will bring them to them. Happy ending to a good day!

Cleaning out the Closet

While getting rid of some old clothing I put a long sleeve dress shirt on Marsha our 8 year old Great Dane. She seemed to like it. I expected her to freak out and jump around but she calmly walked around the house for about a half an hour wearing the shirt
I look forward to doing silly stuff like this with our kids some day.

Hoping For A Relaxing Weekend

Entered by Shari:

Worked all day, took the dog for his shots, and just now finished cleaning up the house. Now I'm waiting for the groomer to show up to clip the pooches and call it a night.
Parents, sister, niece etc.. are coming for dinner to celebrate Mothers Day- a day early tomorrow. I still have to shop in the morning, pick up a few movies, and do a little cooking. Then it's feet up and spend some time witht he family.

Hmmmm! Faster or More Fun

By Shari:

Sunday I picked up Melissa . She is going to stay the week with us during her first week of Vocational School. We planned on going to church for a concert once I picked her up, but when I started to get on the freeway;we got a flat tire !! I wanted to call AAA, but Melissa thought "it would be faster if her and I changed the tire ourselves" ??? Not sure if an hour counts as "faster" ha... ha..... ha...!!! Needless to say we missed the concert but we had a lot of laughs trying to get the tire changed.

Tonight I am going to make fudge for the first time for the girls at work. We are celebrating Nurses Week tomorrow. Hope it turns out.

Another Busy Weekend

Entered by Shari:

Yesterday I went to our friend, Michaela's, baby shower -her babies due next month. That was right before going to see Gallagher with Tom and some other friends.

Today after church, Tom went home and I met Michaela at a cooking class to watch a demonstration on "how to make baby food at home". The class was fun and I learned a few new things. It was aslo just nice having some girl time too! After the class I went home to do some chores around the house while Tom went to work on one of the other houses. Michaela's husband, Paul, also went to give Tom a hand. Guys need "guy time" too!

I cleaned up a little , did some laundry, and just finished planting some strawberries. I bought a Topsy Turvvy (the thing holding the strawberries) because the one I bought for my tomatoes, the plant is doing very well. I tried planting strawberries last year and didn't get a single berry! We'll see if this works.............(stay tuned)!!

Too much fun

By Tom

Yesterday after a long hard but productive day of renovating a rental house Shari and I met up with some friends at Tommy T's to see Gallagher the politically incorrect and extremely messy comedian. We sat in the front and didn't buy the plastic ponchos offered at the door. Our friends sat in the back and sides of the stage and bought plastic, apparently they are afraid of food. It was funny watching everyone sitting around us up front freaking out and putting on the ponchos and plastic as soon as he got in to the messy part of his act. He then convinced everyone to put the plastic down then flung a bottle of strawberry syrup over the unprotected audience. That sticky pink syrup got everywhere. An older guy sitting across from me freaked out when a glob landed on his pink shirt that he took off an hid under his plastic for the rest of the night. The one thing Shari hates in this world is mushrooms. Gallagher made a concocsion made mostly of canned mushroom soup and a huge glob of it landed on the table right in front of Shari I laughed so hard, I have tears in my eyes thinking about it right now. I'm glad it didn't land on her it was funnier to see the large pile of the thing she can't stand sitting their on the plastic covered table. We got out of there without getting too messy. We were going to get a burger with our friends at our favorite restaurant "the Ale House" afterwards but ended up going home instead. I guess I didn't realize how much food I caught until I went to put my seatbelt on. I don't mind cleaning stains out of the seats and doors of my truck but I should probably try and avoid getting cream cheese up in the retracing seat belt. I took my shirt off and threw it in the back of the truck. Once home we jumped in the TV hot tub and ordered a pizza. Where we got sucked in to watching an "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" marathon.

What a fun Saturday.

Lifebook (ok ONE more)

FAMILY & KIDS

Lifebook Pics

OUTDOORS PAGES

(THERES MORE PAGES BUT THIS CAN CONSUME THE ENTIRE BLOG)

Lifebook Pics

Our Doggies

Lifebook Pics

Our Wedding & Us Pics

Lifebook Pictures

Promise Letter & Where We're From!

Busy... (cont') Lifebook

It took all week but we made a "Lifebook" to give to our potential adopted babies birthmother. It was very fun making it and turned out soooo cute! We almost wanted to make a duplicate copy so we'd have one to keep for the baby. We hope our birthmother enjoys the book and when we send her letters and pics , she can add them to the book too!

Busy...(continued again)

Entered by Shari:

It was Administartive Professionals Day this week. Cooworkers surprised me with flowers. I also finished my Business Writing class yesterday that I was taking in Palo Alto. NO MORE commuting for me! I love working 6 miles from work.

Busy....(continued)

Entered by Shari:

I've been going to cake classes still and we've been learning to make flowers. The last class is next week and we'll be adding our flowers to the last cake (stay tuned for photo)

Busy...Busy.....Busy..

Entered by Shari:

(See my version picture) of our riding day that Tom Blogged about on 4/14 it was MUDDY!)

Okay! There's been a lot going on so we haven't had much time to blog so I'm going to post a couple mini blogs so I can attach a pic to each one. (haven't figured out if you can attach more that one per blog, but I don"t think I can)

After almost nine LONG years with the same company, Tom made a BOLD career move and started a new job on Monday (yeah)!! He was working silly hours where he was traveling all night long and at times, felt like I never saw him. Now he has to commute BUT, he gets off work at 2:30pm in the afternoon and he really seems to be enjoying his new job and coworkers. He even gets home before me. It could not have come at a better time since everything we do has the adoption in mind. It will be SWEET to have a stay-at-home mom AND dad home by 3:30pm !

Camping with ATC's

Shari got a new bike this year and we just got it past the break in period, completed it's first maintaince and are now ready to ride full throttle. So we went to one of our favorite OHV parks Hollister Hills. The forecast was for some showers but it rained hard most of the time. We caught a little break in the rain and made a nice camp fire but spent most of the time snuggling in the camper. The dogs had fun. The next day we drove home and went riding at our local park Carnegie SVRA. It was a Tuesday the rain had stopped. We had the entire park to ourselves. No dust and not too much mud. We rode for over 3 hours straight and are feeling it today. As I write Shari is at her cake decorating class squeezing a piping bad with her sour muscles. I prefer riding a bike over a quad because they don't beat you up as much but I didn't have a chance to fix the front breaks on my YZ so I rode the Yamaha Warrior and Shari was on her new Polaris Outlaw 525. She let me take it for a few laps around the track and that thing is silly fast. With the brand new hole shot tires on it was sure footed too.

Now that we finally had a chance to ride it to our potential (not the bikes potential it had a lot of untapped performance to spar). We can now make the obvious suspension and gearing changes. We will start by lowering the springs and taking a tooth out of the front sprocket. After that I'll consider revaluing the shocks for a smoother ride. I don't think Shari will be going big on any jumps so the stiff sock set up can be softened with no fear of bottoming out. The more important thing to Shari is removing the stock gunfighter graphics and putting on some pink flames to match her helmet.

TGIF!!

ENTERED BY SHARI:

Thank goodness for Fridays! Feels like the weeks are getting longer now that the weather is so nice. After work Tom and I went to a friends house to see their new puppy. So cute! Then we all went to dinner. We are home now getting things ready for the weekend. We will probably settle in early so we have energy for the weeekend. Plus it look sas if there will be a large garage sale next door (YES!!) so I will be making my way over that way before all the early birds. I took some much needed vacation days on Monday and Tuesday so Im in NO hurry to do anything!

Can't Wait Until "My Day In Court"

Entered By Tom,

Today for work I had to go to court to process some papers, while waiting in line for about 30 minutes I had plenty of time to people watch. A guy in dirty construction boots and a dress shirt was loosing it at the divorce window apparently frustrated by the paper work he was trying to file. He was the only one at that window and returned 3 times while I was their after making corrections. I think the clerk was borderline about to have him thrown out. The good looking young, couple could be heard filling out a restraining order at an island station next to where I was standing in line. The guy was wearing dark sun glasses. It's anyone's assumption as to who they where filing against or what happened, I was making up stories in my head about him getting punched in the face over his girl. An extremely over weight security guard used his key to come in from the emergency exit doors and then obnoxiously said hi to some of the lady clerks who where trying to help people. He asked about how so and so was doing and tried to carry on a conversation oblivious to the fact that everyone seemed annoyed by him especially the people at the windows who where trying to file things.

The Superior/Civil/Small claim window I was at is also the adoption window. I look forward to the day I get the go to that window to file for our adoption. It's got to be the most positive happy thing that ever happens in that court house.

APRIL FOOLS DAY!

Entered by Shari: Today was April Fools Day. This year was like every other year, where one of us thought we out smarted the other with the better prank! When I came home from work I presented Tom with an actual "reckless driving & speeding" ticket that I had Police officer friend write me. He wrote it as if it were real. At the top I had him write Fool for the officers name hoping Tom wouldn't notice. I had Tom going for a long time. After answering his 20 questions I finally broke down and told him to read the officers name (Fool)! He laughed and told me "good one"!

When I went to the kitchen to make dinner, everytime I opened a door; a bunch of little helium balloons came floating out at me. There were balloons floating from the fridge, every cabinet, and even the dishwasher. I guess there are more hidden around the house, so I better stay on my toes so I'm not shocked everytime I open something.

Very fun ,but I think I won!!

Rolling Green Hills

Entered by Tom: Today before Taking the Dog to pet therapy Shari and I took a little drive up in the hills in front of our house. We were looking for a little winery but never found it. We ended up on a private road and got to see our house from the vineyards that surround our Neighborhood. Now I'm home looking at he hills from the house.

Course 1 Complete

Entered by Shari :
Ta Da!!!
I finished course one of the cake decorating class. Now onto course two in a couple weeks.

Love the SPRING!!

Entered by Shari:
I can't believe I was stuck in indoors all day!! I LOVE California in the Spring. It was in the 70's today. I just got home from work, fed the dogs, popped dinner in the oven, and am ready to sit and relax while I water my plants we put in this past weekend and play with the dogs. I still have laundry to do but it is going to have to wait until tomorrow! I rented a movie and plan on hitting the sack early. Will be traveling to Palo Alto for work tomorrow and have to get up extra early. PLUS my coffee brewer stopped working so I have to make a pitstop to Starbucks in the morning lol...lol..

By Tom
Today Shari and I took Klaus to the VA hospital for Pet Therapy. We have been doing this with him for about 6 months now. Normally we go from room to room on the hospice floor of the hospital and ask each patient if they want to pet the dog. Today was a perfect weather day, sun was shining and the temperature was about 70 degrees so we started on the outdoor area of the 2nd floor. The first vet we ran in to was sitting in a non motorized wheelchair and told us he was depressed. He then gave the dog a few pats on the head. We then moved on to the rest of the patients out on the deck giving everyone who wanted to, a chance petting Klaus.
Then on the way back in to the building to visit patient rooms we ran in to the first patient who mentioned he was depressed. Just for laughs I gave him the leash to hold as Klaus guided him down the hallway scooting himself with his feet in his wheelchair. Klaus slowly paced himself in front as if he knew soeone impaired was walking him. The two of them navigated down the long hallway just past a nurses station where Klaus approached another man in a wheelchair who instinctively started petting the dog.
Their was a bunch of commotion from the nurses station and they explained to me that the man petting the dog is terminally ill and cognitively impaired and normally can not do things like that. They said he is not capable of answering questions or communicating simple things. So if we had approached him and asked if he wanted to pet the dog he would not have been capable of answering us.
After giving him a good long turn with Klaus we moved on to each room of the floor. Every time we passed the so called "cognitively impaired" guy in the hallway we gave him a another turn petting Klaus. I think he got to pet him 4 times total.
It was a rewarding pet therapy day for all. At a different nurses station we let the staff give Klaus several dog treats. Then this evening when we where home with all 3 dogs, Shari offered each dog a small milk bone and Klaus didn't want his. I think he had gotten a few too many treats today. We can't call him spoiled because he did earn them.

FIRST CAKE

Entered by Shari:
Decorated my first cake yesterday (see pic). Such a fun class. Tom and the girls at work enjoyed eating it. It has been a long week and I am already looking forward to the weekend. I just got home from work and just finished washing all the dogs so we can scratch that weekend chore OFF our list. Yeah!! Tom and I will be going to our monthly adoption support group at the adoption agency soon as he gets home from work. It is very reassuring to hear the success stories, actually see their babies, and hear how things are going with the birthmothers. Tomorrows another day

Chinese Theatre

Walk of the Stars and Chinese Theatre (where the movie stars put their hands/feet in the cement)

Academy Awards

Red Carpet Kodak Theatre

Us in Hollywood

Project Cuddle Pics

Shari and John Stamos

Project Cuddle

Entered by Tom

Shari and I took Friday and Monday off from work and drove to Long Beach for the weekend to attend a benefit/fundraiser dinner for an organization called Project Cuddle. (www.projectcuddle.com).

On the way there we stopped in Hollywood . I was able to find a great parking spot on Hollywood Blvd. near the Chinese Theater. This was Friday and the Academy awards where on Sunday so the area was all crazy with hundreds of security guards guarding statues on the red carpet from the thousands of tourists. We took some pictures, had lunch at Pig Whistle then checked into our hotel in Long Beach .

The next day at the event we bid on some games, toys and jewelry in the silent auction then went to the ball room for dinner. John Stamos almost brought everyone to tears talking about some mothers who had recently abandoned their babies in dumpsters and parks. Then things turned more positive with a few success stories. Some friends of ours who recently adopted with help from Project Cuddle were called on stage and had a chance to share their story.

The live auction followed and over 10 k was raised in less than 20min. I don't know the total that the event brought in but it was definitely a fun and successful event. After a few hours of dancing we took a cab back to our hotel but not before meeting several great people who are also passionate about the work that Project Cuddle is doing.

Day 1 Cake Class

Entered by Shari:
I had so much fund last night at the cake decorating class. I can't believe how many details go into decorating a cake. I feel I learned a lot already and haven't even squeezed a drop of frosting lol.... It was a little more than I wanted to spend on supplies but I'm sure I will use them for a long time to come (ie: kids cakes). It was really fun having a couple friends there to take the class too! I'm gonna have to bring a camera next week!

We have a really busy schedule starting tomorrow and will have to Blog some more on Sunday or Monday. As we probably won't have time before then.

Church and the Olympics

Entered by Tom:
Yesterday at church, Pastor Steve spoke again about Corner Stones involvement with the county foster care system, and their new program that will help any pregnant woman that is contemplating abortion, by offering them a free ultrasound. It really hit home with us considering we are trying so desperately to complete our family through adoption. What an awesome program! We are looking into getting more involved on how we can help.

After church we went to Costco because we were having some friends over to watch the Olympic hockey game. We had a lot of laughs, good food, and fun. It got a little rowdy as USA scored us into overtime and then lost to Canada. It was also great being able to hang with old friends and catching up on everything that's going on with each other. Looking forward to the warmer days so we can fire up the BBQ again.

Is Saturday Over Already?

Entered by Shari:
I can't believe the weekend is almost over already! Tom got up early this morning to go buy us doughnuts and coffee which really started our morning off nice!! (Thanks Honey!!). Today was all about getting caught up on lots of little chores around the house that we haven't gotten to since our trip back from Mexico and about getting our taxes ready(yuck). I really wanted to get my veggie garden ready for spring today but looks like it going to have to wait since it has been raining off and on all day. I managed to sign up for a cake decorating class online that is being taught at our local craft store (I've always wanted to learn). Now I'm ready to call it a day and go relax in my tidy clean house.