An Outpouring of Blessings!

We are so excited and feel so abundantly blessed! There are so many new changes in our life and we couldn't be more excited and anxious for the future. We have a new place to live, in a new city we have never really visited or been to before, Jay is starting a new job tomorrow and we will be having a new baby at the end of this year. We feel as though the years we have spent working towards Jay getting a full time position with a fire department we would love and would mesh well with our family has finally paid off. We have always wanted to live near the beach and here we are in Aliso Viejo, living in a beautiful apartment complex 10 minutes from Aliso Creek Beach. We have been outside to play, walk, or visit the beach every day almost and feel so blessed!

Before all of these new changes began, I found myself saying "When will it be our turn, when will things work out for us?", I felt like we were working so hard for things and they weren't working out. Finally we see what our Heavenly Father's plan was for us and can't wait to see what he has in store from here.

It will definitely be a change down here and in no way will we be rolling in the doe as some may be thinking with us living in Orange County but we feel as though our dreams have come true (so far). Also this year we will be able to welcome another addition to our family. A second child, which we are ecstatic about! We would love another boy, but would also welcome and love a little girl. We should be able to find out next month for sure.

As we have felt the Lord working in our life and have seen how he helps things fall right into place we feel as though we have to thank those who helped and supported us through our journey to where we are now. Our families have been right by us every step of the way. Both our parents helped us so much through transition periods with being able to stay with them and save money. We felt such an outpouring of love from our families that we feel that a regular thank you is very inadequate and want them to know that we love them and appreciate all that they did for us to help us get here. We also had several friends who supported us and helped us to keep going and to them we also say thank you! We love you all and are so grateful for your support to get us here and through all the new things and changes happening in our life.

In the General Conference Ensign from Elder Russell M. Nelson's talk entitled "Face the Future with Faith" he states...that in the Doctrine & Covenants section 98 the Lord promises that our tearful and heartfelt pleadings are heard..."Your prayers have entered into the ears of the Lord...and are recorded with this seal and testament-the Lord hath sworn and decreed that they shall be granted. Therefore, he giveth this promise unto you, with an immutable covenant that they shall be fulfilled; and things wherewith you have been afflicted shall work together for your good, and to my name's glory, saith the Lord." He goes on to say "The Lord chose His strongest words to reassure us! Seal! Testament! Sworn! Decreed! Immutable covenant! Brothers and sisters, believe Him! God will heed your sincere and heartfelt prayers, and your faith will be strengthened." I know that this quote is what helped me through the tough weeks of waiting to hear about this new job and helped strengthen my faith. I truly know that our Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers, but it is in His time and His wisdom that things our brought to pass. We just need to have faith and trust that as we do what is right He will bless us with those things that we righteously desire, if not in this life in the life to come.

I just want to close by saying that we have had a rough year leading up to this point with so many uncertainties and feeling as though we were always in limbo or so unsure of the future. We feel that all of these new changes are exactly what we needed. We feel like we are able to start new and begin this new chapter of our life refreshed and with strengthened faith in our Father in Heaven. Sorry no pictures this time but will post some soon! Love you all and we will miss our family and friends in Wrightwood and nearby but will definitely so our best to visit often!

A WELL NEEDED UPDATE!!!

Hello Everyone,

I know I am terrible at keeping this thing updated but I am going to try to get better at it! So it has been way too long since my last update. Jay is currently in Paramedic School through Crafton Hills College in Yucaipa. He is working full time and going to school full time so needless to say he is gone quite a bit, Parks and I miss him a lot and I know that Jay misses us too. Parks is growing up way fast. He is saying over 100 words, has almost all his teeth (except of course his 2 year molars and two eye teeth that are working their way in). He makes the funniest faces sometimes and is climbing all over everything. It scares me sometimes! He is very smart, and has a very cute total boy personality! It's amazing how fast time goes, he will be 18 months on the 21st! My family recently moved to Smithfield, Utah and that has been tough but a way good thing for them! I have been able to go up and visit them with Parks twice and once with Jay also. We have missed them very much but know that they are where they need to be right now! We are excited for this next year...hopefully Jay will be able to get hired on as a full time Fireman with benefits and real full time pay soon! (Pray OCFA, SBCO FIRE or SANTA ANA FIRE hire him) Can't wait to see what the future holds for us and hope you enjoy the photos!

From Sept 12, 2010 - March 13, 2011 :)

Catching Up!

Okay, we have had so much going on. Parks is going to be 8 months old on Friday and he is so busy! He crawls all over, pulls himself up on all the furniture and everything else that is sturdy enough for that and is beginning to stand on his own for a few seconds at a time. He is very smart and can definately be a pill at times but is a joy and really is so much fun. When Jay isn't at work he is with us at home and we play with Parks all day. Parks isn't a great nappper as he doesn't want to miss anything going on so at the end of the day Jay and I are exhausted, but it is amazing to see how much he can learn and do in one day. Jay got in to the Paramedic Program at Crafton HIlls College in Yucaipa and we are so we are really excited for that big step towards a full time, with benefits and good pay job for him in the future. He will start August 23rd and will have 3 months of in classroom stuff, then clinicals then field. He will be very busy going to school 4 days a week from 9am to 6 pm and then trying to pick up shifts for work as often as he can. It will be a tough 10 months or so but well worth it since Paramedics make so much more in the long run. Parks and I hang out at home a lot, but try to get out when we can. I have been trying to teach him some new words but so far he has, Hi, Mama, Dada, Papa, No No and then then regular babbling stuff. He is trying to learn up but it comes out pup or bup so we aren't counting that. We are so blessed and are so grateful for our families and how they have helped us and are always supporting us in our decisions and everything we do. Hope everyone has an awesome day and I will try to get some good pictures up soon! For Memorial Day weekend I am having a HUGE gagare sale at our house on Edna Street so come stop by if you are in the area!

Parks almost crawling!

Parks was trying to crawl today, we helped him up onto his hands and knees and then he knew what to do from there. He is working on moving his hands and knees so that he can move forward. I am sure he will have it down pat in a few days or so as he is already so so close. Woo Hoo! Our little man is getting so big and I can't believe it. He has such a cute personality, he can army crawl forward, crawl backward, clap, roll over both directions, sit up on his own, wave both his arms and give kisses. He is so smart and growing so fast. I was going to post a video but it was too big so I need to take a shorter one. I'll post again in a few days. :)

Parks, almost 6 months

Parks is growing and getting big. He loves to eat vegetables and rice cereal. He loves his voice and tells us how he feels about everything. He is almost sitting up on his own and still loves to stand and fidget with the help of his parents. We love our boy and it is exciting to watch him grow up.

4 MONTHS!

Our little guy is now 4 months old. It's amazing how time flies. It makes me so sad how fast he is growing up. He is getting very smart and is beginning to do some new things. I have been showing him the "Your Baby can Read" videos and he can do "arms up". If I say Parks arms up he will put his arms up. He tries so hard. He also is becoming very familiar with the words on the video and gets excited when he knows or recognizes the word. Like "elephant". He loves the elephants on the video. He also has been laughing at more things and he has really found his voice. He really sleeps through the night, 10 hours straight, then he eats and naps for about 2 more hours in the morning. It has been way nice and so Jay and I have decided it is time to move him to his crib. He has been sleeping in a co-sleeper against our bed but now that he doesn't wake up to eat in the middle of the night there is no need for him to be right by me at night. He saw snow for the first time this week and he thinks it is pretty neat, he kept trying to reach out and grab it but I didn't let him it is too cold. Anyway...Jay is moving stations...he will begin working in Mentone (which is right near Redlands) next week and we found out he passed his Fullerton interview so we are just waiting to hopefully hear from them or LA County, we will keep everyone updated as we hear things. It's kind of a big waiting game though. Parks and I love being home together and it is so awesome to see all the new things he is able to do. These are the pictures from today and the snow, his winter snow suit that doesn't quite fit yet and just his cute face. Enjoy the weather!!!! We are!!!!!!

Parks is getting so smart

Parks has been trying to imitate us giving rasberries. He's almost there!