It has been a long time. I will update with the bigger events by month so that it is a little easier for me. Then I am going to try to do this more...I know, another promise, hopefully I will be able to live up to my word on this. I don't have pictures from the first part because they are all on the other computer-sorry.

August: the 1st weekend in August, Matt's family (mom, dad, sister and her 3 kids-Nicholas, Idalia and Alyssa) all drove up to Sacramento for Matt's cousin's wedding. They were married at the beautiful Lyon's Gate hotel. We all shared a 4 bedroom bunk house, which was the most amazing house. The hotel used to be for the air force or something along that line and most of the rooms at the hotel were for the people in the academy (if that's what it is called). The rooms (which we stayed in a few years ago to watch them get their black belts and celebrate with them after their accomplishments) were for 2 people to bunk in and they were pretty small, but very nostalgic. This house we were in was where the captain and his family lived and were huge and just amazing. The wedding was very nice, outside in the garden and the reception was just amazing. Did I mention that this was my first same sex wedding? Yea, and it was one of the coolest ones I have been to. Everything was unique and they did a great job. Congrats Laura, Rica and their two children, Jacob and Reyna.

Sept: (9/10) Matt and I celebrated our 4th anniversary and had a nice dinner (just the 2 of us) at Claim Jumper. It was nice to not have to worry about Katie for a few hours. (9/20) Matt's birthday. We went to Kubuki with my parents and had a great dinner. We also went (different night) to dinner with his parents and again, had a wonderful time.

October: 10/10 - 10/17) We went on a 7 day Mexican Riviera Cruise, stopping in Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas. We brought Katie, who was amazing by the way. And Matt's friend Wally went as well. Katie and I hung out in the kiddy area for a while and Matt and I would switch off during nap time. The entire cruise was a great experience and we were so happy that Katie was such a good girl. We rented a jeep and went to the jungle in Puerto Vallarta (it had a car seat!) it was very difficult to watch Katie where we were because there was a stream/river running through it and I didn't want her to fall in. Wally did the canopy tour and said that it was fun. It was kind of expensive, so Matt and I passed on it. Mazatlan was really nice. Matt and I went to a time share thing and got a taxi ride to the hotel/beach for all of us. It took about an hour or so, but they comped us $90 US to eat at their restaurant, which included beer and alcohol. All Katie really wanted was a cake, so we got her a cup cake and she was happy. We then hung out in the pool and then played on the beach a little. The water was warm, but not very clean. In Cabo, it was hotter and more humid than we expected. The ship has a tender and we had to take it to the land. We hung out on the beach the entire time there and Katie was just so happy. The water was perfect. On the walk back to the cruise ship, Katie said "I had so much fun at the beach daddy!". I think she just wanted to play in the sand, and she finally was able to for a few hours. The dinners each night were splendid and amazingly Katie behaved the majority of the time. Our waiter Vicente and assistant waitress Natalia were so accommodating. I know most of the time (at finer restaurants especially) toddlers are some what of a burden. They make messes, don't finish all their food, are loud and wiggly. I can't even tell you how many people came up to us and wanted to know our secret on "keeping a almost-two-year-old" still for dinner. Our secret? Matt's i-phone. We uploaded some Dora and Mickey movies to it and she would play with it before and after dinner. It was simply amazing. Her bed time changed from 8:30pm to about 11pm each night and that was fine with us. At home, she adjusted back to her regular time with no problem-thank God.

(10/17) As we returned home from the cruise we were scheduled to do a walk (Light the Night) for Nicole's daughter Allison. We met our friends at Bridgeport Park and hung out and then did the walk. Upon returning back to the start/finish line, we received news that Allison had lost her battle with cancer. I truly believe that with all the support and prayers for her that night, she was free and ready to be an angel. God sure has a good one!

10/26 Katie turned 2. We had a small (my parents, Melanie and Daniel and Matt's parents, Karena and Andy and Nicholas, Idalia and Alyssa) party for her. She absolutely LOVED the attention. One thing I can say is that she was loving it up as everyone sang Happy Birthday to her. More than the presents and almost as much as the cup cakes. She looked at each person in the eye as they were singing to her and smiled. It was amazing how much it meant to her. She was given so many gifts (or presents as she would say) and was so happy for them all.

10/31 Halloween, we went to the mall and Katie was dressed up like a lady bug. She originally wanted to be Batgirl (is she my child or what???) but then was 'scared' of her costume. Thank goodness I got a pic of her the one time she would wear it. I took it back and found this lady bug dress and wings at my moms (thank Melanie). We then went to dinner at La Cocina and then to a few houses by my mom and dads house. She was really alert with the scary part of Halloween and there were a few things she would not go near.

November (11/4) We celebrated Matt's dad's birthday with him and Matt's mom, dinner was so nice as always. Katie was not really being cooperative at California Pizza Kitchen, but we dealt with her.

(11/20ish) we went to Cindy's 30th Birthday party sans Katie. It was so nice to go out and be an adult and not worry about her. She stayed with my mom and dad.

Thanksgiving was at my mom and dad's house. My cousins Amber and her girls came and Katie had so much fun with them. My mom got a huge playhouse for them to decorate and play with, it kept them busy for a long time.

December (12/5) My birthday we went to City Walk for dinner with Andrew, Claudia, Sal, Cindy, Melanie, Alex, Dan, and his friend Wally, later with my cousin Robyn and Jarrod. It was so much fun. We had dinner at a brew house (even though I don't like beer) and danced, hung out at Howl at the Moon. It was a great evening with great friends and family.

(12/25) Christmas was a little disappointing. Katie and I were kind of sick or had really bad allergies. Either way, we made sure the Kleenex company did well in this economy with our never ceasing running noses. We missed going to Matt's family because we didn't want to get anyone else sick and also because they all had the stomach flu. Katie and Matt missed Christmas Eve at my grandpa's because Katie was really bad that night. Christmas Day, she was feeling better, but still not 100%. We opened presents in the morning and after one present, she was done. Not herself, kind of sad. I am glad I didn't go all out, I would have been so sad....My parents and Melanie and Dan came over and we had a nice brunch and opened their gifts.

12/31 I won 4 tickets to Disneyland or California Adventure. We chose Cali Adv because 1. it was not so busy 2. We had more fun there previously and 3. Matt's parents hadn't been there before. Good choice, as Disneyland was sold out (though our tickets guaranteed us admission if we wanted). We wandered around and watched the Pixar Parade and the Electrical Parade, which were Katie's favorite things. She was so excited as all the character walked down and danced and did their little things. We were home by 11:30 and in bed in time to watch the ball drop in New York.

January (1/2) We took Katie to the snow for the first time. If we knew what a hard time it was to get there, we may not have even attempted to go. The road to the top of Big Bear was backed up before the climb. We were not about to sit in that traffic with Katie for however long it ended up taking. We turned around and were debating on going to Mt. Baldy or Lake Arrowhead. We chose Lake Arrowhead, and there was no snow. We then took the rim of the world road 26 miles to Big Bear to find that there was absolutely no parking anywhere and the Adventure Passes that we needed were sold out everywhere. After driving aimlessly for about 45 minutes we found a parking lot where someone was leaving and parked there. We walked to some field where 200 (maybe I am exaggerating a little, or not) other people were sledding and playing and played/sledded for about an hour. We then decided to get something to eat, Jack-in-the-Box was closest and everyone in Big Bear was there trying to eat too. There was standing room only, I don't think you could even move in there....pass. We ended up at some grill named Blondie's and after about a 30 minute wait were seated and had linner or dunch what ever you want to call it. We took the back way home (Thank God) and all in all, had a fantastic day.