Grandma's Funeral

We had a nice 3 days in Philadelphia. We spent time with family and mourned the loss of our grandma.


And it's hard to leave Philly without eating a cheesesteak or a soft pretzel or a hoagie. We managed to eat all three! Here's a picture of us at world famous Genos.

We're Off......

We are off this week to Philadelphia for my grandma's funeral. Here is a picture we took on our last trip in November. I'm grateful she was able to meet Isaac!


We will miss her!

Happy Birthday Carrie!!

We enjoyed this homemade Coconut Cake in celebration of Carrie's Birthday!!

Kelly & Cassi's Wedding

This past weekend we went to New Mexico for Kelly & Cassi's wedding. They were married in the Albuquerque Temple.

It was a quick trip. We left on Friday afternoon and returned on Sunday afternoon.

They are a great couple! Kelly graduated from the Air Force Academy and is now an officer in the Air Force. Cassi is graduating this Spring from BYU. They are both from Las Cruces, New Mexico. They will live in Utah, where Kelly is currently assigned.

Isaac was well behaved the entire trip! He was adored by grandparents, cousins, and aunts and uncles.

And our dog sitter couldn't take care of Cracker at the last minute- so he got to come too!

Floored

Our latest home improvement project: hardwood floors! We had this done two weeks ago and we absolutely love our new floor. With a dog and a baby, the carpet wasn't staying very clean. We thought the hardwood would add a nice touch to the living room and dining room area. We are very happy with the results.

enter

Before:

Dining Room

Entry

Living Room

After:

Dining Room

(We still need an area rug for under the table. And eventually we will get a new table and chairs that match the room better.)

Entry

Here you can see more detail of what the wood looks like.

And you can see Cracker lounging in the sun.

Greetings from South Beach

I am in Miami this weekend for the South Beach Food & Wine Festival for work. (My company is a sponsor of the event.) It's been a fun weekend. The weather is warm, the beach is beautiful and there's been plenty of great food and lots of celebrities. All the stars of the Food Network are here. I've seen most of them. Here's a pic with myself, my co-worker Naddia, Giada, and Giada's husband.

Giada was very nice. I met her twice- once on the plane and once at the hotel.

FHE with Mitt

This morning we found out that Mitt Romney would be making a last minute stop here in California tonight. We were excited to go see him! We invited a few friends to join us and we headed up to the Sky Harbor at the Long Beach airport.

This was my first political rally and it was fun to be there with all of the other Mitt Romney fans. Isaac had a great time too. He is always so happy when there is lots of noise and commotion.

Everyone remember to go vote tomorrow!

5 Months Old

Here is Isaac at 5 Months....for more pictures- see his blog

Goodbye Saturn...

Way back in February of 2006 we bought a new car. Charlie commutes an hour each way to work and it was time for an upgrade in transportation. He got an Acura TSX complete with leather seats, navigation, etc. It is a great car and has actually now become my car (or the family car). I was driving a 2-door Honda Accord which wasn't very practical for loading a car seat in and out. So now Charlie drives the Honda and I have the Acura.

The Saturn

We had planned to trade in Charlie's old car, but as it turns out, the Acura folks weren't too crazy about our Saturn and gave us a ridiculously low trade in offer. We decided to hang onto the car and sell it ourselves. Easier said then done. The Saturn was a nice car. It was a 2002 and fully upgraded. It was clean, ran well, and looked nice. But no one in Orange County wanted a used Saturn. It was listed on Auto Trader for over a year and we never received a single phone call. Same story with Craigslist. CarMax gave us the same low offer that the Acura dealership had made. Finally we took it to the Irvine Car Fair, and after about three months and a few price reductions... the Saturn is sold!!! So 22 months later, we sold the car for about half of it's Blue Book value. And we were both a little sad to see it go.

Hello...

Now what to do with that extra cash? We had been making plans for months of what we would buy when the Saturn finally sold. First on my list was the bed frame that goes with our bedroom furniture set . It just happened to be on sale last week, and now it just happens to be sitting in our bedroom!


Charlie had been wanting a new refridgerator. Our kitchen has new stainless steel appliances, except for the fridge. We have an old beige monster that the previous owner left for us. But not for long, because our new fridge will be delivered at the end of this month!

Cayucos

We had a nice relaxing trip to the Central Coast for New Years. We left on Saturday morning and stopped along the way in Solvang, which is a cute little Dutch town. It is full of shops and bakeries and tourists! We were surpised at how crowded it was. Cracker was the hit of the town. We must have heard at least 30 comments about our cute "weiner dog" as we were walking around town. We bought some pastries, fudge, and fresh pretzels with cheese. Yum!

Charlie & Cracker in Solvang

Isaac in Solvang

Cayucos is a small beach town about 5 miles north of Morro Bay. We chose it because of their dog friendly hotels. We've taken him with us to hotels before (Shhh! Don't tell anyone!), but we always had to sneak him in a bag and we could never leave and go to dinner or anything because someone might discover him while we were out. Anyway, this place was full of dog lovers (even crazier than we are) and they welcomed Cracker with open arms. When we checked in they gave him a nice cozy blanket and a treat. The room was even equipped with a doggie peep hole. I felt a little slighted that there was no special welcome treat for the rest of us.

Cracker's previous hotel experiences

Cracker at the dog hotel in Cayucos

It was a pretty low key trip. One day we drove further up north and saw the elephant seals. These things were enormous! They can weigh up to two tons. At first we didn't realize how many there were and just thought there was a lot of big rocks out on the beach. But the beach was covered with huge lazy seals. We only saw one or two of them actually move the whole time we were there. I think they have a hard time getting around because they are just so big.

Charlie, Isaac & the Elephant Seals

Carrie, Cracker, Isaac & the Elephant Seals

We walked around town and got ice cream one afternoon. We also walked down to the beach a few times and let Cracker run around in the sand. It was very windy though and Isaac didn't like that too much.

Charlie & Cracker on the beach

On New Years Eve we went down to the beach and watched the sun set. We had planned on going to a little diner in town for dinner, but it was closed so we ended up driving through Taco Bell instead. Cracker was out by 8:00, Isaac finally went to sleep around 10:00, and Charlie & I lasted till about 11:30. Close enough, right?

Carrie & Isaac on the beach

Sunset on New Years Eve

Happy New Year!

New Years

It has become our tradition to go somewhere for New Years.

For New Years 2006, we went to San Francisco.

For New Years 2007, we went to New York City and spent the night in Times Square (not recommended)

For New Years 2008, we are packing up the car, and taking Isaac and Cracker to Cayucos- a small beach town on the Central Coast of California.

Happy New Year!

A Merry Christmas

Our little family had a very nice Christmas this year. We enjoyed celebrating the holiday season all month long. The first of December we brought out the decorations and got our Christmas tree. We had our third annual Wood Family Christmas party, and as part of that tradition we adopted a family and collected gifts for them. We spent another night baking treats and the next night delivering them to our friends and neighbors.

We decided to stay in CA for Christmas this year and so we spent a lot of time with my family. We got together three nights in a row with different relatives. It was good to see everyone but got to be a little too much time driving and out late away from home (past Isaac's bed time). Next year we are looking forward to having a little more quiet time at home!

Christmas morning with Isaac was fun. He is too little to have any clue what is going on, but it was still fun to open presents with him. He was not in need of much, but did get a few books, clothes, and toys. His big gift was a play gym from Grandma & Grandpa.

And of course, Santa filled Cracker's stocking too.

It is always a little sad when Christmas is over. Tomorrow we are taking down the tree and the lights and all of the decorations. But we still have the New Year to look forward to. We have a little trip planned this weekend to the Central Coast. I am looking forward to a fun and relaxing weekend with my boys.