California aftermath.

So we stayed at Wes's parents house in Lehi so our house could air out from the fresh paint smell. On Sunday we did not want to drive down to our church building because we heard that it started at 8am and we couldn't see driving that far since there was a church building across the street from us. But we also did want to go to that ward so we called some friends that live close by that we hadn't seen in a while and went to church with them at 1pm. Much better time for us. Addy, of course was a handful there and had her parents going crazy. We just stayed for the Sacrament meeting and decided to drive to Provo to check on our house. On the way there Wes got a phone call that set the tone for the rest of the week. It was a call from Gresham Savage letting Wes know that he did not get a job offer for the next year. Boo! They gave Wes great reviews but told him that they could not hire everyone at this time of bad economy like they had originally planned. We were very shocked, sad, confused and in a way relieved. We knew that if we got the job offer for sure we would go but we also realized that it would be hard to leave Utah since we have been here for such a long time. We had a wonderful time in Cali, made great friends and finally knew our way around. And after being upset we realized that Heavenly Father has another plan for us and it is up to us to find out what it is and where. SO the rest of the week for Wes was devoted to applying for on campus interviews and making an updated resume. It was Eve's job to keep Addy busy and away from Dada while he was working. It might sound easy but it wasn't.
On Monday Eve was watching an Olympic event that was almost over. We were all in the basement but Wes was way in the back down a long hallway, in a room and working at a desk. Eve and Addy were in the family room and while Eve got lost in the games Addy disappeared. Eve got up from the couch and looked all over for Addy then hurried to look down the hall where she had gone to see her Dada. She crawled all the way down the hall and when she got into the room yelled "Hello"! She is very funny!
That night we went to our friends house for dinner and got to see their new baby.
Tuesday was just a day at home (well not our home but a home). Addy discovered a little rocking chair in the basement and loved rocking in it and holding on to it all the time.
Wednesday we watched Wes's nephews for a few hours in the morning. Addy loved playing with them and tried to keep up with them but they are older than she is so she was always one step behind. Then Wes's sister came to pick up the kids and invited us to go to lunch at Thanksgiving Point. Then we went to the animal farm that was right around the corner. Addy loved it! Wes's favorite part was feeding the alpaca's. Eve's favorite part was feeding the horses and hearing the donkey go crazy. Addy's favorite part was riding a pony (well sitting on the pony for a second and then realizing that it moves and didn't like it anymore). But she pointed at everything and said "k k k". Eve will point at something for Addy to look at and say "look", so we are guessing that she is trying to say look when she is pointing. It was fun. We will go back sometime.
That night Wes played Ultimate Frisbee with some friends and then came home with our friend Travis. We watched some USA beach volleyball girls kick China out the door! Travis is now serving his country in Iraq. We salute him and pray for his safe return.
Thursday morning was devoted to Eve playing Wii boxing and beating the computer in baseball 12-0. But was humbled fast when Wes whopped her a few minutes later. She can't beat him at baseball! Eve also had to fold laundry but didn't get very far because of her helper.
Friday morning we went up to Wes's grandparents house and had lunch. They haven't had to much time with Addy so they got to see her and all of her tricks. She loved them and loved trying to play the piano. Later that day we packed everything up and decided to come home to Provo and get it organized and ready for school to start. That night there was a BBQ with our ward, which was nice because we didn't have any food!
Saturday Wes went with a friend to play Basketball and Eve and Addy went to some yard sales. Then we all met up at home again and headed out to the local farmers market. We had the best tamale and salsa there, it was so good we had to buy some of the salsa to take home. We also bought some fruit and veggies. The rest of the day was unpacking and organizing our house. Oh what fun it was.
Sunday we hurried to get to church on time at 8 and when we got there no one was there and we were confused. We found out it started at 8:30 instead. Oh well at least we were there on time.
This upcoming week is full of adventures as well so stay tuned.

Homecoming

Hello family and friends. It has been nearly two weeks since our last post. Much has happened. The week we left went really fast and really slow. Monday was dancing day. Addy put on her tutu and boogied down. Anytime Addy hears Eve's cell phone ring she puts on a serious face, looks right at Eve and starts to bend her legs, move around and shake her head. She does that most of the time any music is on but it is the funniest when it is with the phone.
By Tuesday we were running out of food and we were living on the nitty gritty. Eve made a spaghetti casserole with ground turkey hoping that it would last maybe the rest of the week so that we wouldn't have to eat out. We decided that it was time for Addy to have her first spaghetti, so Wes cut it up in tiny pieces and gave her a mound of it. It was devoured very soon after by this little hungry beast. Not only did she eat it but she wore it too. Right after, she needed to be wiped down and bathed but we decided to go swimming instead!
Wednesday Eve and Addy went and spent the morning in Irvine with Eve's friend Cory. They hung out and went to lunch at Chipotle. After lunch they went on a walk to a park in hopes that Addy would take a nap, but she fell asleep the minute they got to the front door. The drive back took twice as long as the drive there so, Addy finally got that nap.
That night we went to our favorite frozen yogurt shop, Berry Sweet and enjoyed our last free concert. It was a band called the Red Muffs and they were an acoustic band and played some cover songs and some original stuff too. They have a raffle at the end of each concert and we had never won except for that night we were feeling lucky and then we heard Eve's name called out. We won tickets to the movie theater! Yay! But we were leaving in two day and knew we couldn't use them. Boo! We still have them.

Thursday was Eve and Addy's last Riverside Library story time. Of course it was fun and Addy loved it. Afterwards Eve and Addy met Wes and some associates for some cheap Mexican food. It was a hole in the wall place but the food and the company was good. That night we had to pack the car up and get everything ready for the move back home. We had to do it on Thursday because the apartment complex we were living at were repaving the parking lot near us and we had to park far from our place. And Eve knew that she couldn't pack the car alone.

Friday came and Eve and Addy went out to lunch downtown at a place called Phood on Main. After lunch Addy and Eve went home so Addy could take a nap and Eve could finish cleaning the apartment to pass inspections. Wes was able to leave work early and help Eve with the finishing touches. By 4pm we were on the road home! It was our plan to drive to St. George and spend the night and then have a short day on Saturday driving home. Well, as you know for plans, they don't always work out. We stopped in Primm, Nevada to eat dinner and to stretch our legs. Primm is just over the Nevada border and consists of a couple of gas stations, casinos, and an outlet mall. We wondered around the outlet mall for a little bit and ate some dinner. When we walked back to the car we were devastated to find we had a flat tire. With no service stations around and a trunk full of stuff blocking access to the spare, we resorted to buying a can of flat repair and driving the remaining 40 miles to vegas. We made it safely to vegas, but by the time we arrived it was too late to get the tire fixed. So we had to stay the night in a hotel. The man at the desk tried to get us to pay $120. However, Wes smooth talked him down to $70. Still a rip off, but much better than the original asking price. We got some sleep and Wes took the car to get the tire fixed first thing in the morning. While waiting for the tire to be fixed at the Walmart, Wes wondered around electronics playing the demo video games and watched part of a movie on the big screen tv's. After the car was ready to go, we munched down some free breakfast at the hotel and hit the road. We stopped in St. George to get some lunch (the last In-n-Out for a while) and we were back on the road to get back home. We finally arrived and went straight to Wes's grandma's birthday party. It was fun to see all the family!
Because our house was just painted we decided to stay at Wes's parent's house for the week. Well, this has been a long post, so we'll write some more with the rest of what has happened tomorrow.

The Farmer and the Dell

This week was full of fun things as always, although it started a little later in the week. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we were still trying to get over or nasty cold that we ALL had. Addy and eve did get to sneak out on Tuesday and explore the Moreno Valley mall. It wasn't that great but it did give Addy and Eve a change of scenery and chance to stretch and look at things that we will never buy.
Thursday night we went to the Redlands Farmers Market. Not only did we see every punk rocker in Redlands, but we also saw a fine young man wearing bright pink denim pants....oooooo so tight....and a neon green shirt. This isn't your everyday farmers market. No my friends, this is a full throttle carnival. (Carneys included free of charge). Every Thursday all year long the city of Redlands shuts down a half mile stretch in their old downtown and vendors, farmers, musicians, preachers, salesmen, showmen, ponies, and all varieties of crazies get together for a good old time. We watched a demonstration for a magic towel, we bought some local honey, found a cowgirl hat for Addy, ate some empanadas, and danced along to some fine music. A fine time was had by all.

Friday Eve and Addy met an old friend at the beach in Oceanside. The sand was soft and black and sparkly. The water was shallow and warm. Addy loved this beach. She played and played in the sand and tried to eat it. She grabbed handfuls and shoved them in her mouth. When Eve tried to rinse her off in the water she cried and cried. She still doesn't like ocean water. She likes the sound of the waves though, because every time she falls asleep in Eve's arms. This was no exception.


Saturday we went for our final trip to the beach. We picked up our buddy Carlton and went to Balboa/Newport Beach. We drove and drove until we found what we thought was a great spot for parking. When we walked to the beach we quickly realized why there was parking there - the beach was no good. The beach had a sharp incline and the waves were no good. So we walked and walked and walked until we found a suitable spot on the beach. We played in the water and sand and dug for little sand crabs. We tried to get Addy to play too, but...she just wanted mama and nothing to do with the ocean. After chillin on the beach for a few hours, we walked back down to the Balboa Pier. We ate at a Ruby's Diner that was on the end of the pier. We had strawberry lemonade with big strawberry slices, gigantic hamburgers, onion rings, and endless french fries. It was so tasty and fulfilling after a long day of walking and playing in the hot sun and salty sea. Then we walked all the way back to the car. It was a good thing though, because we were a filled up with tasty food and we had to work it off. After the ride home, we stopped at Carlton's to clean up and play a few races of Mario Kart on the Wii.
Sunday we went to Church and spent the afternoon getting things together for the journey back to Utah. (Even though we don't go back until Friday, we had an apartment inspection scheduled for Monday. So we had to be ready to go.)

Sicknesses, Earthquakes, Pollution, and Common Sense

So, here is part 2 to our post today. This post will cover everything from the most recent week.First off Addy got her two front teeth! She now has 6 teeth all together....she uses them well. Eve came home on Tuesday morning. Wes left work for a few hours to pick up the fam from the airport. On the way home, we stopped at Mi Tortilla for some lunch. While eating fajitas (eve) and burritos (wes) and rice and beans (addy) and quietly catching up on the previous week, the earth started a-rumblin and the walls started a-shakin. The first tremor, we thought it must have been the commuter train that runs right by that area, but when the second, and much stronger, shaking started, we realized that the train wouldn't make the building turn to jello. So Wes and Addy experienced their first earthquake (Eve was in 2 earthquakes in Ohio when she was little.). It was a 5.4, centered about 27 miles away in Chino Hills. No damage here, and it passed quickly. The owner of the Mi Tortilla even yelled out that everyone could have a shot of tequila! After we took him up on it (just kidding), Wes took the fam home and went back to work.
Wednesday was a free concert in the shopping center by our apartment. The band did covers of such hits as "No Woman, No Cry" and "No Diggity". Very classy entertainment. It was fun. After the show, we walked over to BerrySweet, our favorite frozen yogurt spot, and Addy had her very first dairy free frozen yogurt. She loved it. We have the pictures to prove it. She had it all over her face and cried for more.

Thursday was softball night. We had to play the final two innings of the game from the previous week because the lights never turned on. We kept it close in the 6th, but then the DA's exploded in the top of the 7th. They scored 9 runs on some controversial calls that went their way to make the score 15-7. We had to score or we would lose. We rallied and scored 7, but we couldn't get the last run in to tie. So we lost a valiant battle 15-14. That meant we wouldn't get to play in the championship to defend the title from last year. However, we had to stick around because we were scheduled to play for third place later that night. Long story short, we creamed the other team by ten runs. So we took 3rd, not bad. We celebrated at the new pizza place. It was great.

Friday was a long day. Addy had been running a low fever all week and friday she was in a no good terrible bad mood. Eve took her to the doctor, who also happened to be a MORON! That's all we can say about that, without getting too upset. Friday and most of saturday was spent in the apartment, because even though Addy was getting better, Wes and Eve were feeling under the weather. However, we drugged up and dragged ourselves out for Saturday evening. We drove north into the San Bernardino mountains to Lake Arrowhead (grabbing Jamba Juice on the way out of town to enhance our pretending we weren't sick). We ascended the mountains about 4500 feet, and we rose above the pollution in the valley. We could barely see the valley below, but we knew it was down there somewhere. There was another free concert up in the village on the lake, this time a reggae/rock band called Common Sense. It was fun. We listened to the music, went in shops, and walked around the lake. The air was so clean. On the way down, the pollution had magically lifted and we got to see the beautiful lights in the valley below. It was amazing. There is only one weekend left in California...you know it will be a good one!

...because my heart is in ohio...

Sorry for the long delay, Eve was out of town and when she returned the week just flew by. So starting with Monday, July 18, Eve and Addy packed their bags and got ready for their long flight to Ohio. Monday night we were invited over to a ward members house to eat dinner with them and the missionaries. It was yummy. We had BBQ chicken, Italy style salad, European green salad, rolls, watermelon and last but not least the best mint brownies ever. They were chocolaty with creamy mint, mmm mmmm! We told them about the rambunctious baby crawling out of her bed and opening her door to greet us and they offered for us to borrow a port-a-crib. Oh man, our life has changed! Monday night (Addy’s first night in a real bed since we got here) didn’t go so well. She didn’t know what to do. She was up, she was down, and she was all around! Mom and Dad did not get much sleep but we knew that later on it would be worth it.

Eve and Addy had a great day flying. The flight left from Ontario, Ca, at 10:45am, landed in Phoenix, AZ for an hour lay over and then arrived in Columbus, OH, 8:15pm. That is where Grandma and Pa Gaston were waiting to greet them with hugs smiles and Chipotle burritos!

Tuesday Wes took the missionaries out to Quiznos. Eve had volunteered to feed the missionaries any time they didn’t have an appointment. Wouldn’t you know that they would choose to take us up on the offer when it was only Wes in town. So Wes took them out. Both missionaries are close to going home. One was planning on attending Utah Valley University (formerly UVSC), so he asked Wes question after question about starting school and where to live etc.

Wednesday for Eve and Addy was relaxing and recouping from their long travel day. There was sleeping in, playtime with G-ma and G-pa, swimming with Aunt Peaches and just lounging around. G-pa made Addy some special Addy sized pancakes. She loved them and gobbled them all up! They were about the size of a 50 cent piece and as soon as they were laid down by G-pa, Addy had them all smashed into her tiny hands and stuffing them into her mouth. She loves her pancakes! Later that day Addy got the giggles and showed off for everyone. She crawled around, made all of her funny noises, stood up sat down and danced around! Addy almost fell asleep in the pool with Aunt Peaches. She handed Addy to Eve, Addy clamped on and went right to sleep. We all just sat outside on a shaded swing and talked while Addy napped. AHHHH relaxing!!

Wednesday Wes went to the batting cages with people from work. They had to practice for a big semi-finals game versus the District Attorneys scheduled for the next day.

Thursday Eve and Addy went shopping with Grandma to Macy’s and Once Upon A Child. That night we ate Ravioli and watched some TV.

Thursday Wes had the big game versus the DAs. Gresham Savage started off strong, building a quick 6-2 lead heading into the top of the fifth. It was getting dark, and the lights for the field weren’t on yet for some reason. The ump called the league to see about getting some lights and we decided that we could play another inning while we waited. The DA’s scored 4 runs to tie it. We came up to bat and couldn’t score in the dwindling light. The lights still weren’t on at the end of the fifth and the ump called the game at 6-6. Well, we couldn’t just let a semi-final game go undecided. So we scheduled the final two innings for the next week. As everyone was pulling out of the parking lot, the lights finally came on…but we were already on our way! We celebrated not losing by going to a new pizza place. The week before a few people had gotten sick after eating Shakey’s (DUH!). So we tried a new place. It was ten times better! (DUH!) We decided that we would go there from then on.

Friday morning Eve went to the chiropractor (YAY!) and from there G-ma, Eve and Addy walked to Sylvan and on the way stopped at a Hot Wheels Garage sale. We didn’t know that people actually had enough Hot Wheels to have a garage sale for only them so we decided to check it out. So the WHOLE garage was filled with tiny cars they didn’t want anymore. The cars were all still packaged. Needless to say we left pretty soon after we got there. That afternoon Eve’s friend Jenn and her 4 month old baby, Tessa came over to eat lunch and swim. After eating, feeding the babies, getting dressed and sunscreened for the pool 2 hours had past! Once we finally got in the pool the water was a little cold for the babies and they were getting tired so we swam for 10 minutes and got out and the babies fell asleep on us and then we just enjoyed being outside.
That night Eve, Addy and G-ma, G-pa and Aunt Peach went to a family friends house to eat pizza and to watch the movie College Road Trip. We had good food and a good time.

Friday evening was Gresham Savage Race Night. The firm took all the attorneys to Pole Position Raceway for dinner and go-kart racing. These are serious go-karts. It is an indoor track and the kart can go up to 45mph. The group was divided into two groups for qualifying. The qualifying races were 14-lap races, and the racers with the fastest lap times would race against each other in a pole-position 16 lap championship race. Wes placed second in his qualifying race, and third overall. When it came time for the big race, they lined up on the track by position. It was a thrilling and grueling race. We fought for position, rubbing bumpers, and slamming into each other. More than once Wes had to abandon caution and put someone in the wall, including a managing partner in the SB office. Unfortunately though, Wes finished 5th (but he still beat that partner!).

Saturday was a long day for Eve and Addy. It was Alumni weekend for Grove City High School, which means Friday night is meet in the street night and Saturday is softball tournaments. Eve didn’t play but she wanted to see some old friends play. Eve and Addy met up with Jenn and Tessa and headed to the first game. Boy was it humid out! Who would want to stay out in that all day? The first game was lost and then off again to the girls game to see if they could do any better. It was so hot they thought they might be melting so they got some lunch and headed to Sylvan to eat, sit in the AC, feed the babies, and look at the old year books. Eve and Jenn needed to be reminded of some people before they headed off to a class BBQ later that evening. SO at 4pm to 8 pm they went to the BBQ at Gantz park in Grove City. Aunt Peaches came to play with Addy and Addy was so tired they decided to go back to the AC and nap. At the BBQ there were about 40 alumni that came, not too many but enough to be able to catch up with everyone. Eve and Jenn were in charge of it and it felt good to have it happening and almost over! At about 6pm a crazy thunderstorm came through and a lot of people thought they might be stuck at the park all night. It ended about 20 minutes later. Eve thought it was refreshing. That night Addy and Eve watched a movie with G-ma and G-pa and Addy sat in her little high chair and ate and danced the whole time.

On Saturday Wes went with some friends to Huntington Beach for the U.S. Open of Surfing. Not only was there world class competitive surfing, but motor-cross big air, skateboarding, and bmx biking exhibitions. It was a festival of fun in the sun. Wes even got in some wake boarding. To finish off the night, they went to see The Dark Night, a fantastic batman adventure.

Sunday was church in the morning and then family time after that. Addy and Eve were excited to see Grandpa Lee, Aunt Gay and Uncle Mel come for dinner and to show off Addy’s tricks to them. G-pa decided to show Addy how open some hard candy. She was having too much fun and it seemed that she had some practice with this. She grabbed a piece, bit down on one side of wrapper and pulled the other side with her hand and POP out came the candy. She never tasted it but she loved opening and playing with the candy. After play time Aunt, Uncle and Grandpa got ready to go. It was a short visit but it was nice. After they took off, everyone else swam.

Monday morning Eve had to get up really early and check in for her flight the next day. Addy played with G-ma and G-pa all morning. They introduced her to some cows and a horse.

Tuesday, not so bright but early Addy and Eve left Ohio. Addy was so sad to leave that she had a fever of 101 degrees. Even with droopy eyes and a fever the flight went smooth.