Then and Now

I can't get over how fast Ella is changing! Here is a picture of her back in September right before her first birthday.


Here she is wearing the same outfit except this time she paired it with a matching bracelet, her fashion sense is already very developed =)

Fernando Ortega

We went and saw Fernando Ortega Sunday night in Cincinnati with our church. He is one of my favorite artists and his music has been such a blessing to me. He actually provided most of the music for our wedding ceremony and he has sung Ella to sleep many nights so his music of course holds a special place in my heart. He is an amazing pianist and he has an AMAZING voice! If you are unfamiliar with his music go check him out!

I forgot my camera so the only picture I was able to get was with my cell phone and I'm not even in it, it's Kym, Kurt and Kylee. It's also horrible quality but oh well, it's my only memento of the evening =)

The end to a busy week

Last night we celebrated the end of a busy work week for Paul. He has been speaking for the last four days at the Honda plant in Marysville to about 50 people. He has been working super hard all week and has been really looking forward to Friday. He is working on a big project with Honda so it's a pretty important deal! They even flew people in from Canada and Mexico to attend the summit. I'm of course very proud of my hard working smart husband =)
We went out to celebrate at Red Lobster last night and enjoyed a delicious meal. It was fun to be able to relax and enjoy time together. Afterwards we went to Big Lots to look at beds for Ella. I had seen one there a long time ago that I really liked and I wanted to see if they still had it. I know, what a fun way to celebrate ;)

Ella loves it when I dress us alike


Ella's very serious when she's eating



Ella likes this bed

ABC's

Ella loves to sing her ABC's. She always sings "Q!" it's so so cute!

For Sale

It's official, our condo is on the market! Now we are beginning a journey into unknown territory. We are selling it for a considerable less amount then what we paid since the market has gone down so much. We are doing what they call a "short sale" meaning the mortgage company has agreed to take less than we owe for it. Unfortunately, with us not living in it we are losing too much money every month with a mortgage, home owners association fees, special assessment fees that the home owners association keeps charging us, and then our rent and utilities here in Ohio. The tenants that currently live in it have expressed some interest in purchasing it so we are really hoping they decide to since then we wouldn't have to worry about getting it cleaned up after they move. We just pray that it wouldn't be on the market too long and that the mortgage company would be quick to respond to any offers that may come in. It's so discouraging to watch the news and everything is about recessions, record high gas prices, foreclosures, and the housing crisis. It's even scarier when we know we are directly affected by all of it. Knowing God is sovereign and in control of it all is our biggest comfort right now. We know that He will work all of this out for His glory and that we just have to continue to pray and seek Him. This has been a huge life lesson for us and I'm glad it happened to us now and not later in life. We just got done reading a great book by Dave Ramsey called "Total Money Makeover" which I wish we would have read years ago! It's really helped motivate us to be in a better place financially. Our pastor actually has couples that he is doing premarital counseling with read the book which I think is soooo smart! If you know anybody getting married buy them this book =) So keep us in your prayers as we are going to have a crazy time ahead of us and pray that God would give us wisdom as we are dealing with a lot of major stuff that we are unfamiliar with! Even though it's easy to get discouraged in times like this we are so thankful for the blessings God has given us! We have a roof over our head, Paul has a GREAT job, we have food in our cupboards (if Goldfish crackers count) we have a beautiful healthy little girl, and a healthy very active baby in my belly =) God is good!

Fun at the Park

I took Ella for a walk down to the park today. She had fun playing on the swings and running around. She even was able to go down the slide by herself! We didn't stay too long because it was very crowded and some kids were trying to steal her pink car so we decided to head back home =)

Spring is here!

I'm back after a week break from the blogging world.
Today was a beautiful, perfect day! The temperature was 68 degrees and the sun was shining. It felt a lot like being back in Santa Maria. It's amazing how the weather changes the whole mood of the town. It felt like a parade was going on outside our house today with all the people out and the motorcycles everywhere. We live across the street from an ice cream store so that is always packed when the weather gets nicer. I remembered today why I liked Ohio and why we moved here =)
We took Ella outside today in her little car to let her enjoy the sunshine. She was able to wear her new styling sunglasses and looked super cute! Later we went out to my sisters house to go on a bike ride. I was able to borrow Cindy's bike and go too which was really fun. I haven't been on a bike ride in years! Ella loved being on the back of Daddy's bike and I had fun riding along side her. We had some good BBQ over at Dennis and Cindy's house (Kurt's parents) and had fun playing outside Kym and Kurt's farm. It was such a fun day, and it feels so great to finally be done with winter!

I do have to make a note about the sad news we got this weekend that Skybus airlines is done. Skybus offered cheap non stop flights to Burbank out of Columbus which enabled us to visit California a lot this year. It also made it possible for our parents to come visit us too. With the news that they were ceasing flights came the reality that trips to California will also be ceasing for us. I'm glad we were able to visit California a couple weeks ago and that I was able to fly Skybus one last time. I'm grateful for the 10 months we had with them and the many great times with family we have had because of their low priced tickets. We still have Southwest airlines so hopefully they don't fold in the next few weeks =)






Ella's new best friend Jewel




Ella and Daddy riding together to Dennis and Cindy's (I didn't have a bike yet so I drove)