AHHHHHHHH!!!!!

LIfe is hard sometimes. Doesn't it always seem like when life throws you a curve ball about 10 others seem to come at you from other directions all at the same time? I'm sitting in Santa Rosa in what will be mine and Louis's bedroom come next week and I'm tired and sad. My grandpa is sick and in the hospital and its been a very stressful week. He was admitted 11 days ago with a serious infection in his gallbladder and he isn't srong enough to survive a surgery where they would remove it. And so the doctor's are trying to treat the infection with antibiotics. It's unknown if this will work. We got the call yesterday am from my aunt saying we didn't have much time and we needed to come be with Grandpa. My mom and I and my dad rushed to get there ( my mom was at my house helping me pack and my dad was in PA for work). we got my mom on the first flight out and I met my dad at 8 pm in SFo so he didn't have to drive alone. We went right to the hospital. Grandpa was sleeping but the nurse woke him and we got a minute or two with him seeing us and saying a few mumbles before going to sleep.I knew one day in the near future we would come face to face with grandpa maybe reaching the end of his life, but you just never know when. For us, it is happening the week that we are packing our entire house and planning on moving. Oh and I am 2 weeks into another new job. I left Luci and Louis (its hard being away from them)to rush to see grandpa and I am so glad I did. I had some wonderful moments with grandpa today. In fact once he woke up and was coherint and joking he probably spoke more than he has in a long time! Nana is such the chatterbox that he usually sits silently and listens and smiles.

I am getting into bed and then tomorrow Mom and I are going back to pack the house and jump in the moving truck and drive back to Santa Rosa next week. Somewhere in all this, I will be saying goodbye to the friends I have made over the past 10 years.

Like I said, sometime life it tough. But in the end, we will be starting a new life as a family and that can only mean good things to come.

A new year.... again

So it seems that every year around January or February I have a renewed interest in blogging. You will notice my last post in Jan 2008... here we are in Jan 2011 and I'm ready to blog again. The sad part is, the last three years have been incredibly eventful and I didn't write about them at all. Maybe a short paragraph to get you up to speed:
2008- Got married
2009- Had a beautiful baby girl
2010- Went back to work; Louis had spine surgery; Bought a house... in Colorado

So, as you can see, we still have some exciting times ahead that should make for some good material. As I prepare to leave Southern California- trading my ocean views for snowy (sometimes) mountain views, I have waves of sadness mixed with the waves of happiness. I have had a wonderful 10 years here and it is hard to believe how much has happened in this past decade.

I've always had a bit of an adventure streak in me so here we go again... off to explore new pastures. We look at it this way, by leaving california we will be able to save so much more money then we can living in CA that we can visit the beach several times a year... So anything that enables me to vacation more I'm totally up for. Colorado here we come!

A New Year

So here we are heading into March which means Ironman is around the corner! Louis is in his final prep mode with just 7 weeks away to the big day. In January, Louis and I went to Santa Rosa to tour potential wedding sites and had a great action packed weekend with the folks. Now who could have known that the worst storm of the year would hit the night I was supposed to fly up. We had a great time, selected our site and thus I've been planning the wedding. I also just got back running again after a long drawn out sinus infection and bronchitis. I am happy to report I have taken on a new marathon training program. I'm looking foward to a busy, fun filled year. We will have lots to photograph and share this year. Here are some of the latest photos....

Christmas in Santa Rosa

Louis I and spent the holiday up north in freezing Santa Rosa. It was a great holiday! Louis proposed on Christmas Eve! You'll see our first photo as officially betrothed on the deck of my folks house. My dad got a new bike, my mom made beautiful necklaces for all the ladies in the family complete with pearls from our Great Grandma's set of pearls... what a sentimental holiday. 2008 will be very busy!

more lobster

Lobster Obsession

Louis has a new hobby.... Lobster diving. Or Hoop diving as they call it. Here are some pictures from the innaugural session on a fabulous boat provided by our friends Dave and Lisa.

Firestorm 2007

As you have no doubtedly seen, the entire southland is up in flames right now. Thank God we've had minimal structural damage in the OC, but SD'ers haven't been as lucky. Here are some pics on my drive to work today. My office is in Irvine and the fire raged directly upon the hillsides above our newest apartment community Orchard Hills and our newest residential community Portola Place... its not looking good.