A Night at the Spectrum

Upon Katie's request, I was told that I need to update my blog! I am still new here and was under the impression that I was posting blogs enough, but I guess not? Here are some photos of the other night when the Asays (Joe and Britt) and the Johnsons (Tim and Niccole) and we went up to the Irvine Spectrum for a night of fun! We checked out the usual places, Nordstroms, Anthropologie, Apple, H&M, and Barnes and Noble. Kirk was in the market for some work boots so that he wouldn't keep getting hounded at work for wearing skate shoes, and he found them! They also happen to be the boots the Special Forces use- fire proof, waterproof and bullet proof. Thank goodness because I am sure he is going to need those features in a pair of boots on a day to day schedule! Whew!

The Shoppers: Me, Kirk, Britt, Joe, and Timmy..

And the non-shopper: Niccole! (But it doesn't always happen that way, right Niccole:)

Joe was having so much fun shopping for baby stuff with Britt that I just had to capture his exuberant, jolly self! He looks like a tourist or personal assistant of some sort, huh?

I have really long arms and was able to get all six of us in the picture! Yeah for friends, love you guys!!

Happy 1st Birthday little Moo Moo!!

As a proud parent, I am so happy to announce that little Moo has just completed her first year! Her birthday is January 24th and it's just crazy to me how fast they grow;) I must say that Moo has proven to be such a good dog and companion and I am so glad that she is apart of our family! So this is where Kirk and I are different. I am one of those people that think dogs are almost as important as humans, and Kirk thinks I am nuts. Of course this all changes (from what I hear) when we start having kids. Pets become 2nd priority to children (no duh), but until then, is it so bad if I treat Moo like a little daughter of mine? I think not!This is Moo with her party hat on. She really enjoys different outfits and jackets and apparently head gear too! You might be noticing the unsightly underbite that she has developed over the last several months, but at least her teeth are still a pearly white! Kirk and I agree that orthodontic work for her would be a little over board, so sorry Moo, the underbite stays.

Because we have recently moved back to California, Moo had to leave some of her greatest friends behind; Hollywood, Braxton and Buzz- just know that Moo misses you greatly! For her birthday we went to the down park here in San Clemente, and pretty much the only other friend that came was my parents' dog Kloe who is sweet and happy, but just a little on the slow side. We love Kloe though because she loves Moo! They had a fun day today and we're excited to spend many more birthdays together!
(For those of you that don't have dogs you totally love, you can throw up now)

Ode to Vegas!

So this last weekend Kirk and I made the trek back out to Vegas to take care of some business and check in on our house. Everything was fine there, but we realized how much we missed it there! Kim and Nate cooked us a super yummy meal, we did breakfast with our fun neighbors Kate and Patrick, and got to do shopping and lunches with Nicole and Kristin! It was fun being back in our ward and seeing old friends too! Just wish there was some way to have the best of both worlds! I win the ugly face contest because Nicole is just too pretty! Ugh! I hate having such beautiful friends;) Us dining out in Vegas where we ate the yummiest butternut squash ravioli with duck and salmon and ahi tartare.

This is an oldie pic of Kim and Nate because I forgot to take one when we were with them this weekend. New additions: Little Ireland is here now, and Kim has a shorter haircut- both really cute! Two of our most FAVORITE people in Vegas by far! We love them so much that we are working on how we can get them to move to California and live on the same street as us. So far Kim is in and Ireland just smiled at me, so I take that as a yes, we are still working on Nate..

Checking out the new Palazzo in Vegas. I look like a lumberjack, but whatever, it was cold! Must say it is beautiful there, but they need to work on posting some directions or signs because we were lost upstairs in this place for like 45 minutes! Both in shoes that were not comfortable! Nicole and I mentioned that it's a good thing that we like each other so much or else it wouldn't have been fun!

So, apparently this girl does NOT know her designers. Upon arriving at the Palazzo, we decided to window shop and just see what cute (and obviously overpriced) merchandise we could find. I have been in the market for a new brown bag, so we went into a store that we thought was Jimmy Choo. We spent quite a while looking and trying on purses and gagging on the prices. I told Nicole, "that's what is costs to own a Jimmy Choo" and probably said that at least a handful of times before one of the associates corrects me and says, "Um, we are NOT Jimmy Choo!" I suppose she was trying to be nice, but it was just so funny because we weren't even talking to her! We were in the Anya something-er-other store next door.. I dunno, I guess I saw the price tags and just figured it was Jimmy Choo. Note to self: all shops where you can't pronounce their name are all too expensive for me!

kirk's new job

My new job is wonderful. I am in training to be a project manager for R M Dalton. They are a great company with a lot of real smart, on the ball people working for them...sometimes I wonder what I am doing there! I am learning tons and having a blast. We are working on an awesome project right now in Norco. I am in charge of RFI's, saftey meeting submitals, product submitals, job timeline management, site maintanence, problem solving, general management and the general new guy making all sorts of fun new guy mistakes! My boss is a patient man, but I do try to work hard for the guy. I try showing up earlier than my boss, but he spies on me and is always on site 5 minutes before I show up. My boss is super cool, smart and has a big heart. I am lucky to have such an awesome mentor. I am stoked on this job. I wake up at 5:00am and I am on site at 5:50am and I am headed home at 3:30pm. I wish there was 2 of me so I could get more work done in one day. Life is a blast with tons to learn and make us better. I am working hard at becoming a great project manager for RMD someday.

Big shout out to my awesome, hot, wonderful, cheerful wife who wakes up with me and makes me egg sandwiches every morning to eat on my drive to work. She is the most amazing person. She does it because she loves me. I told her not to worry about it, but she is in the kitchen every morning cooking for me when its still dark outside. I am the luckiest guy in the world. She does all these sweet things for me. It truly blows me away. Gosh I love her.

The Schilling's slide show!

Our Special Day!

January 5th was a very special day for Kirk and me, in fact, it was a very special day for our whole families! Although it was rainy and stormy (we seem to be a magnet for that sort of weather) we were still able to overcome the opposition and get sealed in the Newport Beach Temple! It was so touching to see how many of our friends and families came for the event from Northern California, Utah, and Wyoming! Thank you to everyone that were able to support us, it was one of the happiest days of our lives! Kirk and I couldn't be more in love and this just helps us seal the deal so that we get to be together forever! Our sealer in the session was a good family friend of my parents, however, it's going to be the new running joke that my name is hereby pronounced: Chel-see-a (a as in umbrella, get that?) Everything he said was very heart felt and sweet, but Kirk and I couldn't help but smirk after he had said my name wrong for the 20th time:) Eh, that's a minor detail. What counts is that we made it there! Afterwards, Kirk's dad was gracious enough to host this amazing luncheon at the Huntington Beach Hilton where we enjoyed a huge room to ourselves to visit and mingle with our family and friends. Our nephew Bentley showed us how to go out in style and after our long day, many of us followed his lead and napped ourselves. The picture with the view was taken from our room at the Hilton where Kirk's dad hooked us up for our "second honeymoon" as many are calling it. What an amazing weekend! Life is good, life is very good!

Fun for the Holidays!

So here are some pictures to sum up what we have been up to this holiday season! Fun times with friends, family and enjoying some perfect weather and places! Christmas was pretty standard this year; a morning of unwrapping presents and a big breakfast, followed by the guys going to play golf behind my parents house. The golf course is closed that day, so I got to take Moo and my parents' dog Kloe out on the course too! Moo doesn't quite understand the game of golf very well and decided to make it more challenging for everyone by picking the ball up and moving it where she wanted. This was her first Christmas though, so I think she was just really excited!
We've been able to spend some extra time with our friends Joe and Brittany, and Timmy and Niccole. They are so fun do stuff with and it's really nice to have great friends that we also go to church with! Kirk is stoked to have Timmy to surf with, and once Joe gets his knee surgery here soon, I'm sure he'll want to go out with the boys.
For New Year's Kirk and I drove up to Santa Barbara with Tim and Niccole to enjoy the beautiful scenery, amazing shopping and great surf. The weather was great, the shopping super fun, but the surf was not so wonderful. I felt bad because the swells have not been in Kirk's favor lately, and I really wanted him to get some good surf before he started up work. So, rather than spending hours in the water, which was too cold anyway, we all rented a 4 person bike and cruised around the boardwalk finishing the night with awesome sushi and tepan cooking, not forgetting about our Martinelli's on (or around) the stroke of midnight. It's been fun all around and we're really excited about being back in Southern California:)