The Bueno Life

Penelope Layne Bueno

2011-11-12T17:45:00.000-08:00

Whew! This birth went sooooo much easier and faster than Marli's! I'm so amazed at what my body was able to do. Here's how it all went down:

I had been dilated to about a 3 for a week and I was about 70% effaced at my last appointment. So, I knew that my body was getting ready. Pepper was due on the 9th, and right on time at 1am on Wednesday the 9th, my contractions started. I had gone to sleep at 11pm. So much for getting a good night's rest before labor started! I had been having contractions for the past 3 weeks, but they weren't painful at all, just tightening and some pressure down on my cervix. The one that woke me up at 1am was definitely different! I felt it all in my lower back and I actually had to breathe through it and force myself to think through the pain. They were coming every 10 minutes, so I just went into the living room and started sitting and rolling on my birthing ball and tried to take my mind off of it. At about 3:30, I texted my mother to let her know that the contractions were 10 minutes apart and painful. She didn't respond (of course, it's the middle of the night!). I called her at 4:30 (she gets up at that time anyway to go to the gym...I know, crazy) to let her know that we were heading to the hospital soon. She said she'd meet us there. Ibis called his mom to come stay with Marli and I called the hospital to let them know what was going on. Since they were 8 minutes apart and I was attempting a trial of labor and a VBAC, they said I should definitely come on in.

So, we got to the hospital at about 5:30 and got all checked in. They said I could do 20 minutes on the monitors and 40 minutes off to walk around, use the ball, or hop in the shower to ease the pain. So, we walked around the halls for a bit and then I used the ball for a while. This was such a different experience because with Marli, I never felt a contraction. My water broke 2 weeks early and then nothing happened for 3-4 hours, so they hooked me up to pitocin and then they started. It was so nice to be able to walk around and get into any position I wanted. They couldn't give me pitocin anyway with Penelope because of my previous C-Section scar. Fine by me! My body was doing what it needed to do anyway!

They hooked me back up to check me and make sure Pepper was doing fine. Her heartbeat never dipped or showed any sign of distress throughout the entire thing. Awesome! My blood pressure remained around 120/60 (just like normal!). Things were looking so great! Around 8am, I had a monster contraction and I felt *pop* *pop* and a gush of water. Then, the contractions just started coming like crazy and SUPER strong. Ouch. I remained lying on my side in the bed not hooked up to anything, but not really able to move much due to the pain. My mom was next to me and Ibis was in front of me sitting and holding my head and upper body, as I was practically in his lap. They both were rubbing my back and shoulders and helping me through the pain.

One funny thing that everyone was telling me to do in the weeks leading up to the birth was that I should sing through the contractions. Yeah, right! That is the last thing I'd be able to do. However, I did do my breathing to songs. I could only think of a few and one was the March of the Torreadors from the opera Carmen. I'd also do Somewhere Over the Rainbow and Someone to Watch Over Me. I'd breathe in rhythm to that playing in my head and it helped a bit. lol! Hey, whatever works, right?

I have to say that I had the BEST nurse ever. She really was more like a doula or a midwife. Her name is Betsy and she was helping me through the contractions and had such a soothing voice. My fear was that there would be nurses like last time who would make comments like, "if you don't have to be in pain, then why would you choose this? Just get the epidural." Ugh! I don't like to be pressured or told what to do. It's MY birth plan and I'll stick to it or change it as I see fit without pressure from you! Betsy was actually the opposite of all of them and encouraging me to stick to my plan of all natural. No one even breathed the word epidural. So nice. However, I started to cry out for one and my mom made me look her in the eye when I wasn't having a contraction and tell her that I seriously wanted one. She made me do that about 4 times before she realized I was truly serious. lol!

So, after about 10 hours of labor, Betsy asked that if she checked me and I was far enough along, would it change my mind. I said it wouldn't. Well, I was about 8cm and the baby was totally coming down. Betsy said that before they did an epidural, they'd have to get an entire bag of fluid in me and then the anesthesiologist could do the epidural. So, after another hour into it, I finally got the epidural. However, I was progressed so far and my body was moving pretty quickly, that I could still feel quite a bit of the contractions and all the pressure. But, I was able to relaxed a little bit and allow Pepper to come down and get into position. She was facing sideways, so she wasn't quite in the right position, but by the time I progressed to 10cm, she flipped facedown. At about 1pm (12 hours after labor started) I was ready to push. They had me start pushing and Pepper was bungee jumping up and down. We could see the head and then it would disappear and she kept doing that. lol! Finally, at 1:52, she came all the way out! What a relief! I am so glad that I was able to experience a vaginal birth. What a difference from a c-section. My doctor, Dr. Khan, looked at me and said she was so proud of me and that I did such a good job. She also mentioned that she is very happy that I wanted to do a VBAC and that she knew I could do it. It was so awesome to hear that from her and know that she believed in me and wasn't going into this just to "see" if I could do it, but that she actually "knew" I could. We were able to go home Thursday night. So nice to get home so soon after giving birth. I'm in pain, but it's so worth it and Penelope is just perfect. She's a great little baby and so precious.

A friend from high school on Facebook wrote a cute little poem about Penelope:

Prompt Penelope was always on time,

To be early or late gave a shiver.

And on the ninth of November,

Penelope remembered to remind her mom to deliver!

Thoughts on birthing....

2011-09-26T16:24:00.000-07:00

Marli's birth story wasn't what I would call my ideal plan. I wanted to have a completely natural birth with no epidural and no Pitocin. My water broke two weeks before my duedate, I went to the hospital about an hour and a half later without feeling ANY contractions. Zip. Zero. Zilch. So, they began to give me Pitocin 2.5 hours after my water broke. Ick. Not really what I wanted to have to do to speed things up, but when your water breaks, times a tickin'. My first contraction (of course it was induced so it was worse than a natural one) hit me and it was painful. I stuck it out naturally for 11 hours and then decided at 2am (after finding out I was only at 3cm) that I wanted an epidural. So, I got one and promptly fell asleep. Since many women actually have shorter labors than 11 hours, I felt I did a good job at sticking it out for at least that long!

In the morning, I continued to labor and they kept checking me and my progress was just not coming along. Marli was just too comfy in there. By 2pm the following afternoon, I was FINALLY dilated to 10cm...sort of. There was a bit of an issue with my cervical opening and the nurse had to hold it open slightly while I pushed...interesting. I pushed for 2 hours with absolutely no progress. I was pushing for all I was worth, too! Since it had been 27 hours since my water broke and there was some concern that the baby would have a dry birth (definitely not good!) I was taken in for a c-section. :(

The last thing I wanted to hear was that the baby wasn't going to come out the natural way. I cried and Ibis just held my hand and said that I was doing a good job and it doesn't matter how the baby gets here, just that she gets here healthy. So, off to the operating room I went with Ibis in his oh-so-sexy blue scrubs. At 4:36pm November 6th, Marli Jayne was born at 8lbs 1oz. Completely healthy and with a very cone-shaped head. I was told that she was face up and the cord was wrapped around her neck. So THAT'S why she was being stubborn and not coming out. It made me feel a bit better. Also, because of my condition with Gestational Diabetes, the fact that the doctor let me go so long with the labor (since she could have been a lot bigger) was good, though futile in the end.

Moving on to Penelope. My goal is to try it again. I may seem silly, but I don't like failure. Not that Marli's birth was necessarily a failure. I just want to have that opportunity to put my baby up to my chest and hold her immediately after the birth instead of waiting 3 hours!!! Ridiculous. I had to wait in recovery, then they didn't bring me Marli until 7:30pm. My plan for Pepper is to have another trial of labor and NOT have to have Pitocin and an epidural and a c-section. Why do I want to inflict this kind of torture on my body? Because I'm a woman and that's what my body is meant to do. It will know what to do when the time comes. I also feel a bit more prepared as far as my expectations and how it feels. I'm just praying that I can deliver the way I would like and hoping for the best.

Getting Closer

2011-09-23T10:19:00.000-07:00

I am now almost 34 weeks pregnant with baby #2. This child has nonstop hiccups! So annoying, really, but totally normal evidently. Marli never had them in the womb. Coco tells me that Annya had them every single day when she was in the womb. Ah, well.

I am carrying this baby a bit differently from before. Marli was very much all around and my tummy was round and wide. This baby is sitting right in front and I kinda look like I swallowed a basketball. Every pregnancy is different!

I have been diagnosed once again with Gestational Diabetes. Boo! But, like before, I seem to be losing weight in this last trimester as opposed to gaining it. The baby is gaining, but I'm losing weight all over my body. Sounds good to me! This is because of the strict diet I'm forced to be on. Very little carbs and absolutely NO sweets. :( If you know me, you know that's tricky for me to do. Because I have to hold myself accountable by pricking my finger after every meal and testing my blood sugar, I make sure I'm eating the right things. Also, if you know me, you know I don't like to fail, so I've been pretty good about my diet!

My sweet friend, Jessica, has offered to throw me a baby shower even though this is my second girl. I truly don't need anything other than diapers and wipes and some new bottles, but she insisted, so what can I do? So sweet of her.

Ibis has been working hard as a foreman for the company he's been with for the past couple years. A lot of overtime lately to get this particular jobsite done.

I've been teaching dance, cake decorating and still working my MK biz when I can. Things are good and we're just waiting rather impatiently for Penelope to make her appearance. I'm thinking that she'll be coming out right around Halloween. Spooky!

Somethin's in the Oven!

2011-04-07T09:14:00.000-07:00

And, no, it's not a cake! Well, I hope it's not! We will be welcoming our newest addition to the family this coming November (same due date as Marli's, actually - who could have planned that?!). We're very excited and I'm very sick and tired. But, I am very much looking forward to a new little one to hold and love. Marli and the new wee babe will be exactly 4 years apart, which I believe is perfect for my sanity and those around me. Marli is such a good helper and is always taking care of everyone. :) She'll be a great big sister. I had my first ultrasound last week and the baby is in the right place and heart is beating nice and fast! No gestational diabetes (YAY!) yet for this pregnancy, but they'll check me later on at about 28 weeks where it most likely will show up. :( Stay tuned for more news!

New Year!

2011-02-21T19:57:00.001-08:00

Princess Marli and Princess Mia

So, things have been busy for us this year thus far. I'm teaching tons of dance classes a week in public schools, choreographing for a musical and a show choir, teaching cake classes and I just finished performing in The Gondoliers at Lyric at the Birch in the role of Tessa. Whew! Not to mention, being a wife and mother on top of all that. Somehow, I manage to be home enough so my daughter knows who her mommy is and Ibis knows who his wife is. Ibis is super busy, too, with calling high school basketball games and working full-time, sometimes overtime.

Marli is growing and growing and growing! She loves to talk and is so curious. She loves her "so sunny days" and is just a precious gem. I'm on a waiting list for preschool for her to start in the fall at Sevick Elementary. It's a reverse mainstream program. They are looking for normal-functioning 3 year olds to be examples in classes with children with Autism and other disabilities. Since it's decidedly cheaper and Marli has been around Tristan (her cousin with Autism) for 3 years, I felt it would be a good match for her. We'll see how she does if she's accepted.

I'll be starting Faust in the chorus at San Diego Opera next month and will be choreographing in the summer. I'm also auditioning more and have a big one coming up in March for all the theater companies in San Diego. That should get me lots of work....at least I'm hoping! :)

The Big 3

2010-11-12T08:46:00.001-08:00

We had a busy busy weekend planned for this little girl. We did Disneyland on Friday with Ibis, myself and a friend of mine and didn't get home until almost 1am. Whew! If that wasn't enough, we got up the next day and went to the San Diego Zoo with my mom. She has passes and got us in for free. :) We were there all day and then I came home and made my homemade spaghetti sauce for the party/dinner for Sunday evening with both sides of the family.

Marli had such a blast. We dressed her up as Princess Aurora and we got pictures with Jasmine, Tiana, Belle, Woody and some army guys from Toy Story. I try to get pictures with different characters we've never seen every time we go to Dland. She LOVES Disneyland and can point out anything you ask her to point out on the map. She even knows the place I like to take her for lunch. LOL!

If any of you have ever been to the San Diego Zoo, you would know that it's so incredibly hilly that one can burn a ton of calories just walking around pushing a stroller all day. Oy! I had two days of being on my feet and I was dead by Saturday night!

The Sunday party was great! She got so many presents (mostly clothes and just a few toys) and had so much fun having all the attention on her. I made her cake (Sleeping Beauty) and the whole dinner for about 25 people. We had a pinata that she refused to come outside to hit. However, she insisted that she get her own bag of candy from it. We ended up having the other kids in the family hit the thing and some of us grownups too.

Anyway, she had a very fun weekend and so did Mommy and Daddy. :o)

Gigi's Over

2010-10-23T08:19:00.000-07:00

I had one of the best experiences in being Gigi at Lyric. What a great show it was! I am so grateful for that theater company and their belief in me as an actress/singer/dancer. I wish I could do every show there! The final Saturday performance was magical. I'm not sure why exactly, but there was something about it that just spoke to me and made me truly understand why it is that I perform and why I was given my talents. I'm so happy that that was the performance that they taped. :)

Me during rehearsal...This was a photo taken for the Union Tribune newspaper for an artical that came out the day before the show opened.

Me and Leon Natker, General Director of Lyric at the Birch

Benjamin Robinson (my Gaston)

Leigh Scarritt and Rita Cantos Cartwright in background, me and Ben after ballet number
Me and Leigh Scarritt as my Aunt Alicia
The Night They Invented Champagne! Rita, Benjamin and myself

Happiest Place on Earth

2010-09-15T10:46:00.000-07:00

This year, Ibis and I decided to get annual passes for Disneyland. Let me tell you, we're making the most of them! I bought them in May and I've already been 5 times! I'll be going again tomorrow, too. :) Here are some fun pictures we've taken the past two times we've gone.

Cute pic of Marli with her brand new Minnie Mouse hat.

We had it embroidered with Marli Jayne on it.

This was taken while standing in line for Pirates of the Caribbean.
Marli LOVES The Sword in the Stone. She watches that movie all the time, so it was appropriate to have her try to take the sword out!

Last time we took Marli, she was so scared of all the characters! Finally, this last time she warmed right up to them. She gave them hugs and she was smiling. Much better!

It was the end of the evening and we were getting Marli's hat embroidered over on Main St. Off to the side, kind of out of the way, Minnie, Mickey and Goofy came over, so we got right in and took pictures. Goofy was all silly (of course!) and he wanted to include the janitorial staff members who were standing around there. :)

The Mouse himself!

Waiting in line for Pirates.

A mommy and Marli pose.

I don't know about anyone else, but I've NEVER seen the Fairy Godmother around at Disneyland. I had to get a picture!

I love this statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse. One of my favorite places in the park.

We were first in line over at California Adventure to see Mickey.

She LOVES Disneyland. She gets so excited the whole week before we go.

Of course, we had to get a picture of Cinderella (or C-lella, as Marli says)

Obligatory pic at the entrance.

Cute Words from Moo

2010-09-10T22:57:00.000-07:00

She says:

-bodeddy (spaghetti)
-disland (Disneyland)
-gerplize! (surprise)
-honey bird (hummingbird)

Just needed to write these down before I forget and she gets all big on me and speaks properly! *sniff*

A Novel Idea!

2010-08-02T23:28:00.001-07:00

One thing I've always wanted to do is write a novel. Is it something I've ever gone to school for? No. Is it something I am particularly good at? No. Since I just ended those last two sentences in prepositions, I think I'm well on my way to a bestseller! LOL.

I've been a bookworm my entire life. My mom used to tell me that she'd have to "unlearn me how to read." She and I happen to be grammar freaks...meaning that we notice and call out any typos we find in anything we read. I would have to correct my friends' notes that they'd pass to me in school. It would bother me to no end when they'd misuse the different spellings for "your" and "you're" and especially "to", "too" and "two"! I would read in the bathtub, on the toilet (okay, who doesn't?), in the car, under the covers when my light was supposed to be out, on the couch....you get the idea. My parents would drive me to the library every 3 weeks to check out my books. I'd check out the maximum number, which was 23 books, and return all of them three weeks later, having read all of them. These weren't picture books. They were full-on novels. I rarely would watch tv. I think I'm making up for that now in my adult life. My mom even bought me a light that would go around my neck and flip up to shed light on the book I'd be holding on my lap. That's what I'd use under the covers. Hee hee.

Anyway, I decided to finally jump on it and get crackin' on my novel. I believe I've come up with a fairly good plot that will have some appeal to many different readers. I don't want to reveal too much here. You never know if it ends up being a Harry Potter or Twilight phenomenon! Right. It does have a vampire element and some supernatural super special stuff. Like my alliteration? Check back on my progress through this new journey into the world of writing fiction. I've already written 3 whole pages. Wow.

Florida and Bahamas Vacation!

2010-07-11T19:08:00.000-07:00

Ibis and I were able to get away on a wonderful vacation, just the two of us. In January 2009, I got an email about a free cruise. All I had to do was call them up and pay about $250. That included a 3 day 2 night cruise to the Bahamas from West Palm Beach, Florida. Well, that was too cool, so I did it. Then, they said that if I pay an additional $150, I'd get:

-2 nights in Ft. Lauderdale, FL

-2 nights in Orlando, FL

-a rental car for all 7 days of the vacation

-all food at the hotel (breakfast, lunch, dinner) covered

So, yeah, I decided that for $400, that was a pretty decent deal! It was a headache trying to figure out when we could go. I wanted to do this for Ibis's 30th birthday in April, but life was so busy that we couldn't get away until the end of June into the beginning of July. Well, I needed to book the vacation within 1.5 years of booking, so we barely made it!!!

Here's what we did:

We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale on June 27th in the evening. We checked in and then pretty much just relaxed at the hotel. The following morning, we had to go sit through a timeshare presentation (yes, that's why it was such a cheap trip!). We kept saying "no" to the timeshare people and finally got back our $40 deposit and future vacations out of it (4 days, 3 nights in Puerto Vallarta and 3 days 2 nights in Las Vegas). Then, we decided to go to the beach for the rest of the day. We ate at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. right on the beach and then just laid out and relaxed by dipping in the super warm, clear water.

The following day, we slept in and ate at the hotel. Then, we drove to West Palm Beach, where we boarded our cruise ship, the Bahamas Celebration. We had fun eating and lounging around. I sang karaoke (of course!) that evening and we saw a great show on the ship.

When our ship pulled into the port on Grand Bahama Island, it was soooo hot! The weather is so different out there than in San Diego. It's truly tropical. San Diego is a tropical wannabe desert! We chose to go snorkeling for our excursion. I'd never been and we had to take a boat out about 2 miles or so to the reef. We got in and there were tons of beautiful tropical fish. Black and yellow, black and white and even a baracuda creeping around down on the bottom! I wish I could have gotten pictures of it....maybe next time!

After the snorkeling adventure, we pulled back in and had some lunch at a little dive. I had a club sandwich and Ibis had fish and chips. We had to get some ice cream because it was so darn hot! We walked over to a public beach (at least I think it was a public beach....we didn't get stopped, so it must have been!) and dipped in the water. I, of course, got fried being out in the sun for so long that day in such intense heat. I couldn't even lay out on my towel, so we just swam in the ocean for a couple of hours.

We then went souvenir shopping; got a couple of cute dresses for Marli and myself, a necklace for Mia, an outfit for Ian, and a couple of other things for family members. Then, back to the ship!

We had a wonderful meal that night after we napped on the ship. We saw another show and Dario Gaucho (the performer who used real gaucho stones) called Ibis up on the stage with him. Pretty hilarious! I'll have to figure out how to post the video.

The next day, we disembarked and drove to Orlando, FL. All along Florida's Turnpike, there were billboards exclaiming "Stop Here!" "Get Discounted Theme Park Tickets!". Well, we had to stop! We go into the place after about an hour of seeing these signs all along the road and the lady says that we can get $3 off each of our theme park tickets just for stopping in. This was on Thursday and we had all day Friday to go to a park. We decided to go to Islands of Adventure, the Universal Studios secondary park. Since we live in Southern California, we have Universal Studios, Disneyland, San Diego Zoo, Wild Animal Park, SeaWorld, and so forth. So, we chose to either do Busch Gardens in Tampa, or Islands of Adventure in Orlando because we don't have anything like them really. She then said that we could get $30 off each ticket if we go sit through ANOTHER timeshare presentation on Friday morning at 7:30. We said, no thanks. Then, she said, "you know, I can get them for you for free if you go." So, we said YES! That means that we saved $85 per person just for sitting through another presentation.

On Friday, we girded up our loins and went to the presentation full-on ready to say "no" to this resort ownership opportunity. They lowered the price SOOOO much that we were seriously tempted. We held out, though and in the end did NOT walk away owning a vacation resort. Whew! We did, however, agree that when the time does come to buy at a resort for a timeshare, Orlando would be the place to do it. It is the #1 family vacation destination in the world, due to all the theme parks and beaches close by. That would be good for when we wanted to trade out to go to other resorts. This particular resort was beautiful! This was the 4th one of these things we've done and it was, by far the best one! It was called Mystic Dunes Resort and it had a championship golf course as its main attraction.

That evening, we went to Downtown Disney (which is 10 times bigger than ours here at DLand). We ate at Portobello's Restaurant and had a wonderful meal. We walked around with our ponchos on getting soaking wet and had a great date. They had a million little Disney shops and a very cool art gallery with all kinds of Disney art. That had to be the coolest shop of all. There were a couple of paintings of little children with their Disney stuffed animals and Ibis really, really liked those. I'll have to remember that for a future gift. :)

Moving on to the theme park on Friday. Total blast! We rode on every ride twice practically since it had been pouring the night before and there were very few people in the park. The absolute coolest thing about this trip, in my opinion, was the Harry Potter section of that park. We were there just 2 weeks after it opened! I was so stoked to be there and go on the coolest rides ever. I had a butterbeer (cream soda with a butterscotch topping) in a souvenir mug and walked through Hogwarts Castle and Hogsmeade Village. Super cool.

After we left the park, we went to a Steak n' Shake (Ibis had never been to one) and had burgers, fries and shakes. Yummy! After our tummies were full, we got back to the hotel and flat out CRASHED!

Our flight left on Saturday at 3:45 and we had a layover in Dallas, TX (on purpose!) so that we could go to dinner with Erin, Curtis, Reagan and Ian. This was the first time meeting little Ian and he was such a doll!!!! Reagan is such a big girl now! It was fun being with them and eating yummy bbq.

Of course, all vacations have to end. :( So, we headed back to our busy lives in San Diego on Saturday evening and can't wait to go on another vacation really soon!!!

Here's to Cancun in December!! :)

Gigi

2010-05-28T08:39:00.001-07:00

I got a phone call from Leon Natker at Lyric Opera San Diego, that they are definitely wanting me to be Gigi this fall in Gigi. I'm very excited about this, but a bit nervous about the French accent! I'll need to get on that ASAP! Also, they are doing Gondoliers next February and there is a mezzo role for me in that, as well as Chava in Fiddler on the Roof after Gondoliers. Whew! Busy season, but that means more money! I'm so blessed to have such a supportive family and especially a husband who allows me to be who I am and supports me in all I set my mind to. :)

Leslie Caron as Gigi

Christmas 2009

2010-05-14T12:28:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted a lot of pictures due to not uploading them onto my computer. So, here are some from Christmas:

With Tio David, playing the drums

A "mommy, why are you taking my picture" picture with Daddy.

Christmas in San Diego

Opening gifts...

Superstar!

More pictures to follow of Easter and random stuff. :)

Marli-speak 2

2010-05-07T19:39:00.001-07:00

Marli LOVES to help out whenever I need to get something done. So, she says, "I help it." However, when I need her to clean up her toys or mess, she suddenly doesn't want to "help it." Hmmmm....

She's counting to 15 now very clearly. She counts EVERYTHING! The bubbles at the gym (there are bubbles going up the clear wall in water), the steps leading up to our apartment, her crayons, etc. She sometimes forgets the number 4 and the number 8, but she remembers and then tacks them on at the end. She also loves to sing the ABC's. She's getting it down pretty good now. Repetition is key and there is no lack of repetition with a two-year-old! I think I sang it with her 10 times in a row in the car the other day.

When her little cousin, Mia, is around, watch out! They are the terrible twosome! They were over at Coco's last night and Ibis had fallen asleep on the couch, Geno was busy cleaning something and I was up in Escondido away from the action. Geno found them in Coco's room smearing Vaseline in their hair like shampoo. Thus began the fun rounds of shampooing to try to get that stuff out. After 4-5 shampoos, her hair is still a big greaseball. I did try cornstarch. I left it in her hair for about 2 hours to soak up the grease and then I just shampooed her hair again for the 5th time, I believe. Well, it sort of worked. Not too bad. I think one more round of cornstarch and shampoo might do the trick. I also heard that rubbing an egg in the hair might help......Oh, what fun! LOL!

News, News and More News....

2010-04-29T13:39:00.000-07:00

Well, actually, not too much news. Turns out we can't buy the house we wanted because of a stupid techincality, despite having our offer accepted. Blah! Anyway, the hunt is still on and we're still keeping our fingers crossed that we'll find something soon.

In other news, we were trying for a baby for about a month in January, but then I was offered a lead role in a show at Lyric Opera for the fall (Gigi in Gigi....that would have put me at around 9 months pregnant! Sooo....I did not get pregnant, despite our best efforts, and we stopped trying for the time being. Although, it would have been great news either way. I'm still really, really, really wanting to have another baby asap! Stay tuned, though because we'll be on the baby hunt at the end of the year (probably around September/October) after my show ends.

I also was called back for a couple of leading roles at Starlight Theatre. I haven't auditioned there in quite a few years because of pregnancy and other stuff going on. So, I decided to audition again this year and I was super close to getting the lead in Suds. But, they went with someone else, telling me that I was the second choice. I still have another callback for The Pajama Game this weekend; however, the role is a glorified chorus role. On the plus side, I'd really get to do lots of dancing, which I miss. So, I'm still interested in getting that role and I'll see what happens.

Marli is still as cute as ever. She's talking up a storm and she understands practically everything we say. She knows all her colors and she can even read a tiny bit. She's on her way to learning her alphabet and she knows all her animals, too. She says "bless you" when I sneeze and after I say "bless you" when she sneezes, she says "thank you". Very polite! She's still lovin' the Elmo and Ibis got her a super cute Elmo armchair from the swap meet for $6. Way to go, Daddy! Cute words:

Bula - balloon
Ewata- Elephant
Saraca - Santa Claus (yes, it's almost May and she's still obsessed with the jolly old man)

Overall, she's such a sweetheart and I love being with her! I can't wait to meet my new nephew, Ian. I will definitely get out there soon to Texas to visit with Reagan and Ian. :)

Ibis's job is going well. Looks like he'll be with this company for a long time. Please pray that he does!

I guess that's about it for now....I'm still teaching ballroom dance, cake decorating classes and selling my Mary Kay products. Just keeping super busy, as usual.

Happy Birthday Ian Nathaniel Lynch!

2010-04-26T17:10:00.000-07:00

My sister, Erin, gave birth today to a healthy baby boy! I'm so excited that we have a little boy in our immediate family now. :) He weighed in at 10 lbs even, 20.5 inches at 12:46pm on April 26th, 2010. YAY!

Career Conference 2010

2010-03-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

I went with Margi Eno's unit to Phoenix, AZ for Career Conference this year. It was a blast! Here are some pics:

This was at Margi's timeshare property in Scottsdale after the conference. Lot's of fun by the jacuzzi!

Posing with the gals!

Doin' the Macarena. I know, old school!

(note to self....get out of that red jacket!!!!)

A New Home

2010-03-11T19:50:00.000-08:00

Yep, it's finally happened! Our offer has been accepted by the bank and the owners and we're in the process of starting escrow once our loan approval goes through. It shouldn't be a problem since we were pre-approved last year. They just need to run it again and we're way better off financially now than we were this time last year. Ibis had just been laid off last year. I'm so excited....I can hardly wait to have a place of my own that has 3 beds, 2 baths, a bonus room, backyard, deck and jacuzzi. So much space....... It will be so refreshing to actually have my scrapbooking stuff, cake stuff, Mary Kay stuff and everything else in my life in some semblance of order. I just keep thinking of all the possibilities and I just get so happy to imagine moving day. :) I'm excited that we'll still qualify for the tax credit, too. I'll definitely update once it's definitely official. Any prayers you can spare for our little family would be appreciated!

Marli-speak

2010-01-07T08:54:00.001-08:00

Marli has some super cute words for stuff. She says "keeta" for candy and over Christmas, she was saying "Santaca" for Santa Claus. Most other words she says pretty well. She leaves off some of the consonants sometimes, but mostly, she gets the words down. She also loves to count and she just points to items and says "one, two, one, two, two..." It's pretty cute. :) I'll be able to post some more pics soon once I get my computer back and the disks with everything on them. Then, I'll be able to post Christmas happenings.

Got the Role!

2010-01-04T16:07:00.000-08:00

About a month or so ago, I auditioned for A Little Night Music (Sondheim) at Lyric Opera for the role of Petra. I got it! I'm very excited because it's quite a different role than I'm used to playing. I usually get cast as the young girl who is in love with the leading man....well, not in this show! I'm the saucy maid who tells it like it is and does what she can to get to the top and only wants to have fun. Awesome music in this show and I'm looking forward to beginning rehearsals.

I've also taken on choreographing for my friend, Olivia's, musical up in Carlsbad at the school where I did my student teaching about 6 years ago. They're doing Into the Woods (yet another Sondheim show). I start that this week. :) I choreographed Once on This Island for her a few years ago and I'm excited to work with her again.

I'll also be starting up with Edudance again this semester after a semester of no classes. So, I have a pretty busy schedule to start off the new year! Lots of things to do. :)

New Year's Resolutions

2010-01-03T22:29:00.000-08:00

1. Be better about getting organized.
2. Really get my cake biz off the ground. I already have 2 wedding cakes booked for this summer, a baby shower cake in a couple of weeks and more to come!
3. Update my blogs more.
4. Make more money than last year in all areas of life (ballroom dancing, cake decorating, Mary Kay, performance, etc.)
5. Expand my family (hee hee-no there's nothing to report......yet)
6. Be accountable with my businesses.
7. Find time to scrapbook (naptime should be set aside for that again, ja?)
8. Attend the temple more often (Ibis and I went 9 out of 12 months last year...not bad for quadrupling our efforts). But, I'd like to stick with it and attend at least once a month to truly reach that goal.
9. Be very diligent in my calling as Primary President and get all the knowledge I need of the position so that I can be a great leader to the children in my ward.
10. LOSE 5 MORE POUNDS! Attending the gym is something I've grown to love and I definitely need to keep that up.
11. Hardest one of all.............cut back on the sweets. That should help me to attain number 10, don't ya think?

Well, I'll keep everyone (that would be all 2 of you who probably read this blog!) updated on these as the year goes on. Hey, it's always good to have a goal, right?

POWER ON!

Change is in the Air

2010-01-02T16:44:00.001-08:00

Ever since Ibis and I were married, we've both had callings in our ward filled with a lot of responsibility. He started out as a Sunday School teacher for the teen group and I was a Nursery Leader. After about a year, I was moved into the Primary Presidency as Second Counselor and Ibis was moved into the Elder's Quorum Presidency as a counselor. Well, for the past 2 years or so, I've been there in the Primary and he's been Elder's Quorum President for the past year I believe. Recently, I've been called as the Primary President. I'm a little intimidated, but I know it will be okay since I've been in there and pretty much know everything that goes on in the Primary! I guess my calling in this ward is to stick with the little ones. They're so precious and they truly need the love and support of their leaders at church. We have a few convert children in the preteen classes, which is super important! We also have children whose parents don't come to church but they allow the kids to come. It's a major responsibility for me to be able to keep them coming and raise them in the Gospel. I'm looking forward to this change and I hope I'll be able to live up to the calling!

Family Photo Shoot

2010-01-01T13:17:00.001-08:00

Here they are! Rachel Wattson of Rachel Wattson Photography took our pictures. Her website is www.rachelwattsonphotography.com if you're interested in seeing more of her work. We had a blast! Ibis is such a good daddy!

Of course, my hair is long in these pictures and I just recently chopped it off and donated most of it to Locks of Love. That was the first time I'd been able to do that and I would love to do it again once it grows out again. For now, I have a cute little bob that's shorter in back and longer in front. But, I have no pics yet of it, so stay tuned! Marli had sooo much fun at this shoot because she pretty much got to just run around the playground and Rachel snapped photo after photo of her laughing and playing. Fun day.

Marli's First Wee Wee!

2009-12-30T12:21:00.001-08:00

Okay, so that title isn't true, but she did her very first tinkle on the potty last night before bed! It wasn't just a couple of drops, but a nice amount! I'm so proud of her and kinda sad that she's getting so big. :( But, I'm excited for her to continue potty training so she'll be out of diapers soon! Yay!

We did a family photo shoot earlier this month and I'll be posting those photos soon!

Perform, perform, perform!

2009-10-27T23:04:00.001-07:00

I'm very excited because I have an audition coming up for A Little Night Music with Lyric Opera. I love that company. Great shows and people. I was asked to do Pirates of Penzance in April, so I'm looking forward to that! But, I have a shot at a role in the Sondheim show, too, so I figured, why not give it a shot?

Ibis is working again! Yay! The only downside, is that he works nights from 6pm to 2am. Yikes! I actually love having him home during the day, but I miss him at night. :( But, it's work, right? We have a lot of good prospects on the horizon and MK is doing great! I'm very excited for my business and I have lots to keep me busy.

Marli is going to be a WWE Diva for Halloween. Yeah, not my idea. Ibis thought it would be cute. He bought her a Women's Champion belt for her for Christmas when she was a month old and now he wants to dress her up. It's original, I'll give him that! She'll wear a black leotard with black pants and a sparkly headband and her belt. It'll be super cute. Mia is going to be Tinker Bell and Tristan will be Peter Pan. Cute! Reagan, who gets to spend Halloween with Grandma Mary, will be Minnie Mouse. Adorable! I'll definitely post pics after the fun night. :)

Anything Goes!

2009-10-01T16:05:00.000-07:00

ANYTHING GOES
by Cole Porter
October 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 2009

"Anything Goes" is one of the most frequently requested repeat shows from our past by members of our audiences. One of the first elements of the re-organization of our mission twenty years ago was to set out to examine the “jazz age musicals of the American Musical Theater tradition and "Anything Goes" is at the top of the list of that type of show. Its score is packed with the best of the great Cole Porter’s signature wit and tunefulness, featuring “I Get a Kick Out of You,” “You’re the Top,” “Friendship,” “It’s Delovely” and “Anything Goes.” This show really made Ethel Merman a star and gave Victor Moore, as public enemy 13, a great personal triumph as well. David Brannen will return to direct for us, and he has the style and the dance choreography chops to make a memorable production. J. Sherwood Montgomery will return to play the role of Moonface, the comic character dressed as a clergyman. Come see Jordan Miller as Billy Crocker, Laura Bueno as Hope Harcourt and Debra Wanger as Reno Sweeney. Chris Thompson will join us once again in the role of conductor. The joy of returning to the musical comedy roots of Broadway in the 1930’s is a reminder to all of us that in the great depression people could only stay “holed up” so long. The time came when a night on the town, and a witty, naughty time needed to be had by all.

Ticket prices: $32, $37, $42, $47, $52

Visit www.lyricoperasandiego.org to buy tickets and for more information.

10-Year High School Reunion

2009-08-26T16:18:00.000-07:00

Me with Ryan Montague (our Mr. Park Hill senior year)

I'm wearing 4-inch heels and still barely come up to his shoulder. Sheesh!

Kelly Armstrong, Me, Fred Maidment, Valerie Jones
Me with Kelly Armstrong (have known her since 8th grade!)
We used to hang out every day in the summertime at the pool or each other's house.

Me with Laura Meek Coppess (we used to ride the bus together in 8th grade)

Margaret Keiffer Bailey, Me, Tara Sloan Painter (my church girls!)

Me with Sarah Kinkaide Canovi (we used to hang out in 8th grade, too)

Ryan Pigg and me (good friend from high school and college)

Me and Niki Campbell Bradshaw (we took theater classes together in high school)

Jason Blazer and Me (my Shapoopie partner in Music Man freshman year)

Cari, Me, Jeff, Kaitlyn, and Ashley at the Visitor's Center in Independence, MO

The whole gang, Class of 1999 (a few got cut off on the sides)

Margaret Keiffer Bailey and Me

Me and Tyson Leone

A pic of me before the party

Me and Cari Moegling Maughan (one of my best friends from college days)

Has it been that long, really? I found the perfect outfit at Ross for WAY under my budget. Score! I also got some awesome shoes to go with it. I flew out to KC, MO and stayed with my good friends Cari and Jeff Maughan and their adorable little girls. The reunion was great. I missed everyone and it was a bit sureal to see everyone together and married and having kids and all. But, life goes on, right? I had a blast and I'm so glad I went. The only downside was not having Alice Anne there by my side. :(

Summer

2009-08-02T19:12:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics from my sister's visit a couple of weeks ago. We had lots of fun at the beach and hanging out. It was good to get the girls together since they don't see each other often at all.

At Tyler's Taste of Texas for breakfast. That's my sister and her daughter.

Me and the babies.

Aunt Mimo (my Aunt Esther) with the girls.
Marli and Reagan. Looks like Reagan was cheering Marli on with the bucket full of water. She walked it all the way from the water to the canopy!

Mommy and Marli

Grandma Mary and Moo

Roo and Moo

Reagan

Aunt Erin and Marli

Thinking

2009-07-23T10:12:00.000-07:00

There comes a time in everyone's life when they finally figure things out. For me, I have thought I've done that previously with my business. However, come to find out, I'm definitely not convinced that I was as committed as I could have been. After returning from Dallas last week, I feel that I have a fire lit under me to make my life what I truly want it to be. These are things on which I will not compromise:

-owning a home for my family to live in
-having the monetary security to be comfortable and be able to help those in need or at least to offer to pay for dinner for a group of friends
-having the discipline to focus on my business and what I need to do to get to where I need to be
-being able to take fabulous vacations with my family when I want just because I can
-serving a mission(s) with my husband when we're much older ;)

There are probably many more things that I can't think of at this moment, but I know that when I set my mind to something, I accomplish it. It's not a matter of IF, it's WHEN. I believe that WHEN is NOW. That being said......adieu!

Wheel of Fortune

2009-06-26T17:34:00.001-07:00

Back in October, I was chosen to be on Wheel of Fortune. It was a blast and I only had a week to prepare! I finally found a clip of the December 2, 2008 broadcast online through YouTube. So, here it is!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC_mm9Thn0Q

Enjoy! I start off strong, but it all goes downhill after I guess the letter "H". You'll see what I mean. :o( I had fun, though and left with a little money!

A Legend Dies

2009-06-25T15:50:00.000-07:00

I'm very upset today. Michael Jackson has just passed away. I can't even believe it right now. Very shocking news. I have ALWAYS loved his music, regardless of how he runs his personal life. He was such a talent. As I type this, I'm listening to his music. Funny how in this particular week, the world has lost three huge, iconic figures: Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. What a sad, sad, sad week for the entertainment industry to lose such talents! Rock on Michael!

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-21T19:41:00.000-07:00

We had a very nice day today. After church, we all came home and took naps. I love Sunday afternoons when we can all just snooze away! Then, we went to my parent's house for dinner. I gave Bob some shirts and we had a nice meal. Then, we headed over to the Bueno's house. I'm so grateful for Ibis and for what a loving and involved father he is. I can't wait to have more children because I know he will do everything in his power to show his love and support. I love him so much and I am proud to be his wife and mother to his children.

Update on events

2009-06-12T12:38:00.000-07:00

Ibis lost his job....again. I tell you, this blue-collar trade bidness is driving me crazy! We're looking at other options. He's going to go back to school for either electrical apprenticeship, or he'll complete his associates and work on a bachelors in electrical engineering. I like the sound of that. The only issue is that Ibis isn't a huge fan of school. He's very intelligent, but doesn't do well in a classroom. I'd LOVE to go back to school. I can't believe I just wrote that. Ha ha ha! I would love to go to pastry school eventually to pursue opening a bakery at some point. Not for a while yet, though! So, we're just waiting on a couple of companies to get back to Ibis about starting work again and then we'll be able to decide our next course of action. I mentioned border patrol to him and he's agreeable, but they aren't accepting applications right now.

In other news, I have a couple of cake orders for this summer. A 4th birthday cake for a little girl in a princess theme. That will be fun. Also, my aunt and uncle are renewing their wedding vows and I'm making a two-tiered wedding cake for them with fondant. I'm excited to see how they turn out.

I have submitted an audition cd to LDS Auditions for Mormon Night at Dodgers Stadium in August. I needed to submit a cd of me singing the National Anthem (of course!) and one other song of my choosing. I came down with laryngitis the week before I needed to record my song. Of all the luck! But, because I was in an actual recording studio, there was magic! I was singing a cappella so I'd just sing one line....wait.....sing the next.....drink of water....sing the next, and so on. Then, he just spliced it all together. I tell ya, it was difficult to sing through the laryngitis. When I got to the other song I had to sing, I just used a previously recorded art song in French that I had from college. My voice has definitely matured and developed quite a bit from six years ago, but this cd was just to get a live audition. I put a disclaimer in my package of info to let them know that I was singing with laryngitis and that I'd love to sing live for them. Hope it works! The submission deadline was this Monday, so I had to record when I did.

The contest winner receives: $1500 award for singing the Star Spangled Banner at the game, VIP seating at the game, a chance to audition for Deseret Shadow Mountain Record Label, among other opportunities. So, I'm stoked that I might be able to be chosen for this opportunity. There will be 10 finalists who will also receive awards and will be asked to sing at various engagements throughout the contest period. We'll see how it goes!

Lyric Opera San Diego

2009-06-04T10:00:00.001-07:00

I'm very excited to report that I've gotten one of the leading roles in Anything Goes at Lyric Opera San Diego! This is probably one of my biggest roles professionally. I've had bigger roles in community theater, but not professionally, so I'm very very stoked about this! I get to dance, sing and act. I'm going to be playing Hope Harcourt. She's a young aristocratic American who is engaged to an older English gentleman, whom she can't stand. She falls in love with an American named Billy. One of the songs that I'll be singing in the show is "It's Delovely", which is a very well-known piece. It's all Cole Porter and some of it's pretty tricky music. I'm very excited. It will be performed the first two weeks of October. Check back for updates on tickets and other info!

Fun with Marli

2009-06-03T16:46:00.001-07:00

Marli and I went to the park today and we had a blast splashing in the water and playing on the playground. Here are some pics!

A couple of weeks ago, I had Rene, Geno, Coco, Tristan and Mia come over for an impromptu dinner. I made a roast and it was so big, I thought I'd invite everyone! Well, Mia and Marli both needed a bath, so we stuck them in the tub together and of course, we HAD to take pictures! Here they are!

Both the girls smiling pretty!!!

Crazy hairdos for the both of 'em!

Marli's vocabulary is growing. Here is a list of the words she says now: mama, uh-oh!, fow-ow (flower), efow (elephant), nana (banana and Grandma Coco), shoe, Pooh, waz is? (what's this?)

She really knows and understands us now. We'll tell her to go get something or go do something and she does it. She keeps a lot of stuffed animals in her crib and Ibis and I will ask her to find Tigger, Lambie, Dolly, Monkey, Wiener Dog, etc. and hand it to us and she knows each one of them out of a pile of animals. What else.....she is still afraid of Bebo, Ibis's cousin......I don't know why. She just freaks out when she sees him. :o( He's so nice, too!

Yay for Ibis!

2009-05-18T15:12:00.001-07:00

I'm so happy for Ibis! He's been working a lot lately. Lots of overtime (which is good for our income) with the company he's working for now. We're starting our house hunting this week and we've been pre-approved for a home loan. We're so excited that we'll be able to get out of this apartment this year (hopefully!) and that we'll have more room to add some more little ones. :o)

Speaking of little ones, here are some recent pictures of my Marli Jayne

Marli likes to drink milk and water. That's all I ever give her to drink. I choose to not give her juice, but it's fine if she has some at Grandma's house. She has one bottle of milk and one bottle of water in her hands and she didn't want to put either one of them down!

As you can see, she's by the door. In her right hand, she has my car keys. She put on Ibis' hat and grabbed my keys and started waving "bye bye". Too cute!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Fun at the beach with Daddy

Listenin' to some tunes!

More Cakes from My Classes

2009-05-01T16:13:00.000-07:00

I've been taking the Advanced Cake Decorating Class with Amy Malone and here are the cakes I've decorated during this class:

This cake was a two-toned cake with oriental poppies (made of royal icing) and a ribbon, zig-zag swag border on the sides. Since Ibis's birthday was the day before I made this cake, I chose to make the cake for him. :o)

This cake was made with a stencil and with airbrushing underneath it. The black outlining is done with black piping gel and if you look closely, you will see paw prints on the sides and a dog bone border.

This cake I made outside of class for a competition at church. It needed to be a car-themed cake, so I made two six inch round cakes and cut them in half for the wheels. There was a little extra of those rounds, so that is what made the pieces for the top of the car, which is sitting on a 9x13 inch sheet cake. My first carved-out cake made at home. Hope it does well in the competition! Who knows?

Silly Mami!

2009-05-01T16:00:00.000-07:00

I need to write down some very cute things that Marli does that are just precious and need to get put down somewhere! Yesterday, she grabbed Ibis' ball cap and put it on her head backwards. Then, she grabbed her bee (a talking toy that goes through numbers and sings songs and stuff) and my keys and walked toward the door, ready to leave! So cute.

She is now saying these words: bye bye, uh-oh!, mama, papa, puppy, elfow (elephant), shoe. There are probably more, but I can't think of them right now. She loves peas. I mean, LOVES peas. Can't get enough. She waves bye bye with her palm facing herself as if she were saying goodbye to herself. Very cute. When I grab some Cheerios as a snack for her, she immediately runs over to her little plush box, sits down with it in front of her and waits for me to put her snack inside. She then proceeds to eat her Cheerios and milk.

When Marli is asked to smell a flower, she blows on it as if she was blowing out candles on a cake! Since that's the sound she hears when people sniff, I guess that's how she's figured out how to make the sound.

No more bakery!

2009-04-06T13:24:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, due to the increase in the prices of the ingredients at the bakery, Fernando had to let a few people go. He will be calling me when things turn around though, and he mentioned that he thinks I'm a great decorator and I have a lot of potential. So, it's all good. I'll be taking another one of Amy Malone's classes starting tomorrow, so I'm pumped! :o)

Hallelujah!!!

2009-03-25T20:42:00.001-07:00

Ibis got his job back last week. We're so blessed. We are slowly, but surely working our way into a home. The first task is paying off debt. After he lost his job, I felt that it would never happen since we couldn't make double and triple payments anymore. But, now that I'm working at the bakery, singing with SDO next month, running my MK biz and teaching dance classes and he's working again, we have more than enough to get out of that debt ASAP! I'm so excited and looking forward to the day when we can purchase our very own home!

Marli's 16 Month Stats

2009-03-18T19:49:00.001-07:00

Can she really be that old already? Wow! I couldn't take her to the doctor, but Ibis did and here are her stats:

23 lbs. (right on track for her height)
2 ft. 8 inches (80th percentile for height! Got a tall one!)

She's growing so much and I am wanting another little one soon! No, we're not trying yet, so don't get too excited! LOL!

Scary GI Joes!!

2009-03-17T09:54:00.000-07:00

I have to backtrack a bit to tell you about a funny thing that happened back in December. I never wrote about it, but I was just reminded today and HAD to get it down somewhere! Ibis's grandmother passed away (Alfy's mom) before Christmas, so the whole family went down to Tijuana for the funeral. As most of you know, there is serious trouble in TJ right now with the drug rings and murders and everything. A bit scary. I was very nervous. Well, we were in Coco's big Excursion and as we crossed the border into Mexico, we had to be searched off to the side. Everyone got out, except Marli, because she was strapped into her carseat and it would have been a hassle for such a quick search to get her out for just a minute. The guys searching the car were in full-on battle regalia! They had helmets, guns and bulletproof vests and the whole shebang! Poor little Marli started FREAKING out when they crawled into the car and were checking the upholstery and under the seats all around her. Poor thing thought we left her and were giving her to the GI Joes!!! So, I quickly unbuckled her and got her out of the car to calm her down. Now it's a standing joke that she's afraid of the GI Joes. They scared her so badly! Hey, I'd be scared too if guys with guns slung over their backs and wearing helmets came into my car and I was a little baby. Pretty funny though, at the time. :o)

Some Pro Cakes

2009-03-14T09:33:00.000-07:00

Well, as promised, here are some of the cakes I've done at the bakery this past week.

He likes me!

2009-03-10T22:34:00.001-07:00

So, Fernando, the executive pastry chef at Crumbs of Paris has asked me to come back tomorrow and we'll be discussing pay and schedule. I'm very excited because that means I didn't totally stink last week! He had to fix a few of my cakes because the clients were repeats and they were very picky and know his work. Glad he did, cuz I don't want to be the one to lose the clients!

As for Marli, she gets to spend lots of quality time with Daddy. That's good for him because he is such a good daddy and has soooo much patience for her! I married a very great man. :o) Marli has discovered her fish face and when I do it back to her, she kisses me. Just tonight, I put a goldfish in my lips and she came up and took it with her mouth like a little bird. So cute! I read a story to her tonight (twice-same book) and then she went to sleep after her tooth brushing session. She loves her routine and she knows that after her bath, she puts on her pj's, has a snack and some milk, reads a book with Mommy or Daddy, brushes her teeth and then the lights are out for bedtime. She's so precious! :o)

All dolled up in Mommy's hat, Daddy's watch and with her pacifier that she's actually never really used except as a toy!

She decided that she wanted to do some work like Mommy, so she moves the mouse, then punches the keys, then the mouse again, and so on. Too cute!

Happy Birthday!

2009-03-01T19:27:00.000-08:00

On Friday, we went to my mom's to celebrate her birthday and then today, we went to the Bueno's to celebrate Annya's birthday. I made a cake of course! Here it is:

This was my first attempt at the basketweave technique, and I think it turned out well! I start my new job as a cake decorator at Crumbs of Paris this Tuesday. He's just trying me out for the week until he feels he knows where to start me as a decorator. I'm stoked! Just to be around it and learn from an executive pastry chef is going to be so exciting! I'll definitely be keeping this updated with all my creations! :o)

Also, a lady at church has asked me to do 10 cakes for her son's wedding open house reception here in a couple of weeks. I'm a bit nervous, but she doesn't want anything too fancy, so it should be okay! She also wants a 3-tiered cake on the front table. The 10 cakes will be used as part of the centerpieces. I'm excited to see how I do. I'll be doing them all in white and will be making each one different.

Beginning of a new career perhaps????

2009-02-24T21:26:00.000-08:00

So, I applied for a position as a cake decorator at Crumbs of Paris. That is where my best friend got my baby shower cake and it was delicious and beautiful! I know I don't have a lot of experience, but I do have a little and I'd love to learn and grow in an actual bakery. So, I have an interview on Thursday with the executive pastry chef. I'm excited and a bit nervous, but you never know what you can do unless you just go for it, right?? Here are some pics of some of my cakes:

This one was a cake we made in my beginning cake decorating class.

I made this cake for Tristan's Little League cake auction. It was auctioned off for at least $50 or more.

I made this for some of my consultants who achieved star consultant status one quarter last year.

This was for Alfredo's (Ibis's dad) birthday last year.

Ibis's New Truck

2009-02-23T17:30:00.003-08:00

As promised, here are some pics of Ibis's new truck. Very nice!

Balboa Park

2009-02-21T12:38:00.000-08:00

Marli, Rabeka, Xander and I went to Balboa Park this morning to get some walking in. It was great! Beautiful day down there. We went up and down quite a few hills, so I am feeling the burn. Love it. Also, we saw lots of dogs, plants and just had a fun time walking around in the sunshine. Perfect weather here in San Diego. I'm trying to put Marli down for a nap right now before I take her to Grandma's so that Ibis and I can attend the temple. :o)

Cute little Marli Jayne

2009-02-20T19:19:00.001-08:00

Here are some fun pictures of Marli from the past few months.

We went to the zoo in December with my cousin Anne, her two boys, Ryan and Trevor and my sister, Erin and daughter, Reagan. The next few pictures are from that excursion.

Marli loved the goats! In the petting zoo.....

On Christmas, Reagan and Marli got matching jammies and they had lots of fun together! All bundled up and protected with her sunglasses! Those are actually Tia Annya's glasses, but I think they fit Marli's face, don't you?

Home with Ibis

2009-02-19T08:29:00.000-08:00

Well, it's definitely been different having Ibis home during the day. He's been getting more sleep than he's ever gotten I believe! It's been good, because he gets to watch Marli during the day and spend some good quality time with her. Poor Coco, she's been having withdrawals since Marli isn't going over there as often. LOL! Marli will be with Ibis all day since I have 4 dance classes and then a showcase for one of my schools tonight. Busy dancing day! Gotta get running.... My school that takes most of my time during the week ends today with their showcase, so I'll be running daily next week! I have to, otherwise I will never be able to run that 10K in March. Whew!

Valentine's Day

2009-02-15T12:42:00.001-08:00

Ibis was a sweetheart and made me dinner. He went to his parents' house and used their bbq to grill up some rosemary chicken and then his mom helped him make some small potatoes that were probably some of the best I've had! Then, he gave me my present. A BCBG dress that is black and white and really cute. I wore it to church today along with the boots he bought me for Christmas. He's got good fashion sense! Much better than me, I'd have to say. See, we totally complement each other!

Marli wore her pretty fancy sea-foam green dress (got at Mervyn's for a crazy low price back in December) and some new shoes from Grandma Coco. Very cute! She's sleeping now......I love naptime!!!

Sick of this!

2009-02-14T08:08:00.000-08:00

So, Ibis lost his job this past week.....for the second time in one month! Oy! There's just not enough work for the companies to keep so many employees. It's a little disheartening, but I know that things will turn around. We have some money in the pipes coming to us from taxes, Wheel of Fortune and EduDance. Luckily, I've been busy with that this semester and I'm making enough money to cover our bills for now. Not sure how things might play out in the long term, but for now, we're doing okay. :o)

Here are a couple of pics of Marli. She's just too cute!

This was taken in Tijuana at Ibis's aunt and uncle's home. We were down there for Abuela's funeral service.

This was on our little trip to the zoo in December. She loved the goats!

New Truck!

2009-02-13T17:43:00.001-08:00

Ibis finally had to break down and buy a new truck. Well, it's not a new truck, but a very nice used one! It's a Ford F150 supercrew, dark blue, low miles, and about half what we would have paid for it at a dealership. Great find! Very happy and he's excited about it. Pics to come!

It's About Time!

2009-02-11T16:18:00.000-08:00

Okay, so here is our family blog. The other blogs I have are for my running and another one from Marli's perspective. Soooo.....here is our blog for our family and what's going on in our lives. Feel free to read it and I hope you like it!