Thursday, December 30, 2010

Christmas in Nor Cal

Critter and I trekked it up to Nor Cal the Monday before Christmas to spend some extra time with my family. I was a little apprehensive because lately he has been very clingy, especially around "new" people. My family is not new to him by any means but I was thinking it would take him a day or two to warm up. Wrong. Thankfully and joyfully very wrong.

Critter went immediately to his Nani from the car seat and proceeded to give hugs all around to Grandpa and Aunt Kelly. It was wonderful and special as was the rest of our time with them.

For the most part, we laid low only getting out to run errands or go to the park between naps. Grandpa, Tim, and Uncle Ryan did take Critter on an adventure to Train Town one day. It was good to be with family and watch Critter play, interact and enjoy his Kimmel side.

Christmas Day was a blast. Critter was pretty good at tearing wrapping paper, clapping and screaming in excitement as gifts were opened or when he deemed it necessary to liven up the party. Grandpa and Nani surprised him with his first laptop. That's right, fifteen month olds with laptops! It works on the alphabet and phonetics, but Critters favorite setting is music and sounds. My extended family came over for dinner and an epic white elephant gift exchange in the late afternoon. My Nana (Critter's great-Nana) gifted him a very cool quad bike. Jude immediately got on it, pushed the button and rode into the sunset (actually, it was down the hall in my parents house).

The days following Christmas were spent wedding dress shopping for my sister, Kristy. Karl proposed to her on Tuesday, the 21st, up at Kimmel Vineyards on a swing (he built from a tree he cut down at the ranch earlier in the fall) that he hung from an oak tree lit up by white Christmas lights. To put it nicely, he rocked the proposal and we are excited for what lies ahead of both of them. To the point: Kristy found her dress! It is gorgeous and I can't wait to post pictures come June. Happy wedding planning.

Because I am terrible at choosing just a few photos, here's a slideshow and a couple movies of our week.





Sunday, December 19, 2010

My amazing wife of 6 years

Wow,
6 years ago Jill and I were just about to start our journey together as husband and wife. We had dated for 3 1/2 years before I had finally gotten my act together and asked her to marry me.
A short 4 months later we were at the chapel of camp san luis about to say I do. The day was december 19th 2004, a mere 2 days away from the official beginning of winter. Unlike today, which is a wonderful day to stay inside and cuddle up next to a fire in order to stay out of the rain, 6 years ago there was not a rain cloud to be seen. It was a very crisp fall day which allowed us to take pictures outside.

I remember how surreal it was when the music (played by family and friends) started and the doors at the back of the chapel opened to the most beautiful woman in the world, my wife to be! The music was an instrumental I had heard on a surf movie (Fernie Apodaca and others from the Shelter soundtrack for those who care). Every time I hear it my mind and emotions go right back to that day with me standing as my beautiful bride walked down that aisle. Our ceremony was traditional, with the exception of the 500 carat diamond paperweight that I tried to pass off as Jill's wedding ring.

After the ceremony we took more pictures before heading over to the officer's club where the reception was just starting. We had soooo much fun at our reception.... so much that some might have even thought we were either crazy or drunk. The funny thing is I don't think Jill drank anything, and I only had a glass of wine. Our family and friends danced, laughed, danced, and ate our way through the evening with us. I love that we had sooo much fun dancing out our own wedding. We both look back to that day and are continually blown away by how blessed we were to have such a celebration to kick of our marriage. Our families and friends did so much to make that day special for us. Jill had put so much work into making sure that everything was not put off to the last minute, which allowed us both to truly enjoy that day. For all of you who know Jill, you know she is able to get things done. This is something that amazes me and I hope will rub off on me more and more!

Since that day years have come and gone, with a cat, a dog, a house, a kid joining our ranks. As I think about those six years I am overwhelmed with how lucky I am to have my best friend in the world as my wife. She puts up with me and my many quirks and dysfunctional ways in a loving way that I don't deserve. How she is still able to laugh at my attempts at humor is something that astounds me. Memories of camping next to trains, living next to trains, moving out to a vineyard where the trains followed us... Hmmm, I have never thought about this train theme in our lives. Anyways, that will be another discussion at some point. Back to my wife. We had the absolute best time in the world travelling for 2 months around the south pacific. Paradise living in Huahine, rainy day hikes in Moorea, minivan touring in New Zealand, hotel hopping in Vanuatu, and returning to my childhood home in Papua New Guinea all were made special because I was able to be with Jill.

The end of that trip marked the point at which we started adding to our family. Our son came in September of 2009 to deprive Jill from sleep for 8 months. He is soooo extremely lucky to have her as a mother. There have been many hard things about having a son but Jill has continually impressed me with her ability to love him through all of the sleepless nights, diaper rashes, and tantrums (both his and mine). Now I have the privilege of seeing his face light up at the sight of his mom. She is so fun, loving, caring, and wise with how she interacts with him. He knows he his loved beyond his imagination by his mom and that is such a gift to me.
So how do you truly let your wife of 6 years how thankful, grateful, and in love with her you are? I don't know. I do know that no matter what I do it will never really match how amazing she is.
I can say that it has been such a great journey thus far. Jill has been and continues to be the love of my life, my best friend, the mother of my children, my confidant, my better half, and I want you all to know how lucky and blessed I am!!!




Saturday, December 18, 2010

Puddles of Fun

Today we decided to have a little adventure down to the park in the rain. Kona desperately needed some outside time and the Kid doesn't seem to mind the rain. This first clip is our crazy one being restless in the house before we decided to get out.






Hope all of you with little ones are managing to stay sane in the rain. Raise your hand if you just had the words "insane in the brain" scream out at you from inside your head. Now raise your hand if you actually raised your hand.... you see what I did there?

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

I Get What I Pay For

I'm sitting in a quiet house. Jude is sound asleep and Tim is playing a rare game of night soccer with his city league team. The Christmas decorations are up, which at our house means a lot of garland and white lights.

I realized this year, as I ran like an excited schoolgirl to the mailbox, that one of my favorite things about the Christmas season is receiving Christmas cards and letters. I love seeing pictures of friends and family. I love hearing about their year and what they have been up to. We hang the cards and photos from ribbons in our dining room and I look at them multiple times a day. In fact, I often leave them up long after all the other decorations have been boxed up and stored.

On the other hand sending out the Whitacre Christmas card is not nearly as exciting as receiving. But don't get me wrong, I know it is part of the deal so I do it. Sometimes I enjoy it because we have a lot to say or I really like the picture we chose. This year...not so much.

When I started looking into buying photo cards, things began to add up. It looked like on average it was going to cost somewhere between $100 - $150 to print and send cards. To some this might not seem like much. To me, this sounds like much more than I would like to spend. So what did a thrifty, frugal, downright cheapster like me do? I tried to make my own. Normally, this isn't such a bad  idea. I've done it in the past and they have turned out decent. Perhaps they don't look like I ordered them from Papyrus or my local stationary store, but they work.

I sent my files to print on Sunday night and picked them up on Monday. When I opened the envelope my heart sank. Yes, I do realize that children are starving in Africa and in the larger perspective of things this doesn't matter, but my heart still sank. The photos and text are grainy, pixelated and muddled. I brought them home and was embarrassed to show my hubby. After looking at them, he suggested that next year I have him do a double check on file size, etc before I submit anything - duly noted.

I considered scrapping the whole idea and not wasting more money on stamps. But alas, I have attempted to set my pride aside and am sending them out tomorrow as is. What is done is done. I guess in the end, I did save money, but I also got what I paid for. I would say that I've learned my lesson, but I haven't really. I will try again to save money next year, but will at least bring in the brains of the operation before pressing submit.