Why Ours is Cuter...

Um, because there's nothing the cats can do that Lucy can't do better. For the record, she walks across the back of the couch too.

Welcome to Our Blog

Our very formal and well-rehearsed welcome video.

Some Funny Disneyland Pics

Well, we've been home from Disneyland for a little over a week, and I'm still going through all of the pictures. Here are a few of my favorites. Enjoy!

Welcome to the Magic Kingdom

We're heading down south today (after we go bowling, eat at John's Incredible Pizza, and visit the Bugseum at Insect Lore in Shafter).

I'll be spending the next three days in sunny Anaheim, CA with Jeff's parents, aunt and uncle, sister and brother-in-law, and niece and nephew. For those of you keeping score, that's an adult to child ratio of 4:1. In honor of our yearly trip to the Disneyland and California Adventure theme parks, I thought we should look back on the highlights from the past few years.

• Two years ago we were all in the elevator at the hotel headed to Disneyland for the day. My mother-in-law, Martha, asked my nephew, "Where are we going, Jason?" "Down."

• When Jason was first learning to read, he read us all the sign posted at the entrance to Disneyland. "Disneyland Whores... Open from nine to midnight" That certainly paints the Disney princesses in a new light.

• Last year Jeff and his brother-in law, Jon learned the awkward truth that when riding the Matterhorn, the only seating options are: straddle or be straddled. Both of them are really eager to ride it again this year.

• Two years ago, no one could figure out why Jason didn't want to go to Star Wars Jedi training. It seemed right up his alley. It took us all day to uncover that the poor kid knew that he would have to "fight" Darth Vader, and he was afraid he would die!

• We were taking the kids to the Star Wars show once, and our brother-in-law, Jon, had on these goofy looking sunglasses. His wife had hounded him all day to take them off and throw them away, but the sunglasses never came off until Darth Vader came out. Apparently Jon didn't want Darth Vader to think he was a nerd! Too late, Jon. Sorry.

• My father-in-law, Gary, told my then five-year-old niece, Josie, that he would buy her something at the princess store in Disneyland. When she entered the shop, she was so overwhelmed with all the toys and costumes that all she could say was, "I need...I need...I need..."

Well, we're hoping for plenty more memorable moments this year.

I'll leave you with a knock-knock joke compliments of my ten-year old nephew, Jason.

Knock Knock

Who's there?

Little old lady

Little old lady who?

I didn't know you could yodel!

Oops

I'm writing today from our brand new HP dv7-3165dx laptop. Our faithful old Dell gave up the ghost last night with a little accidental help from Jeff. So as soon as church was over, we optimistically headed out to Best Buy in search of our newer, better, more Jeff-proof computer.

I have never bought a computer before. Our last one was a gift, and I was just glad to have it. I had no hand in picking it out, and I had no idea what kind of processor it had, how many GBs the hard drive was, or how much RAM it had. I still don't.

Our shopping experience went a little something like this:

Becky: "Okay Jeff, which ones do you like?"

Jeff: "Wow, look how big the screen is on that one. We should get it."

Becky: "Yah, that's cool, but look at that pretty red one over there!"

Jeff: "That computer's too girly. I want a manly computer with lots of Gigabytie stuff."

Thank God for sales people who can point you in the right direction. Now if I could just get Jeff to accidentally break the TV.

Here it goes...

Today is a great day to start a blog.

I'm sitting on my couch drinking coffee with my black lab, Lucy, curled up at my feet snoring and two cats curled up in my lap. Its been an interesting journey for Jeff and me over the past 3+ years. We got married in May of 2006, and I'm proud to say that he has been the most wonderful husband a girl could wish for. We love our little house, our four cats and one dog, our garden, our church, our jobs, all the things that make up life.

Jeff is currently substitute teaching at the jr. high and high school levels. He finished the credential program at Point Loma last summer and now has both history and special ed credentials. Once he passes the CSET test, he'll do six weeks of student teaching and then hopefully score a teaching job.

This is my second year working in the Special Education Department at Ridgeview High School, and I love my job. I help kids with mild-moderate learning disabilities understand math. I can distinctly remember thinking as a kid, "Who would ever want to grow up and teach math?" Turns out it not so bad.

Its drumline season, and this year we're working with Shafter High School on a pirate show. There are 23 kids in the ensemble this year and they are completely pumped up about getting to sword fight and wear eye patches. The first competition was last weekend at Frontier. The kids looked great in their costumes, and were the only group in their division to have their show finished. Go Shafter!

Jeff and I are still actively involved in the worship ministry at Cornerstone Church. We love our music pastor, Paul Cierley. The man is God's gift to music and has breathed some serious life into our church with his mad arranging skills. I can't imagine Heaven being any more fun than Sunday mornings at Cornerstone.

We're still living downtown in the Oleander area, and we love our little house. I finally feel like I've finished it. The walls are various shades of red, gold, and orange. We got new flooring last summer. Between yard sales, hand-me-downs, and craigslist, we're well furnished. We had so many morning glories growing the garden this year that they found their way through the wall at one point, and we had vines in the guest room. Good times.

This coming week, Jeff and I have both forsaken work for a Disneyland vacation with Jeff's family. I can't wait to see my niece and nephew. Josie is six and Jason is ten, and they live four hours north in Santa Clara. We haven't seen them since December when we spent an amazing week skiing and sledding in Sonora with them and their parents. I have been blessed with such great family!

Well, thanks for reading. I'll try and post Disneyland pics when we return!