Josh's Most Recent Pieces

Both inspired by World of Warcraft. Josh was recently told he needed to draw something other than blood and guts. (Of course, there is never any blood or guts in his pictures.) He explained that he drew good vs. evil. So, if all these pictures creep you out and make you worry about my husband's view on the world, they shouldn't. He may not draw puppy dogs and fields of flowers, but he still tries to show the good in the world, even if it's through a fantasy/sci fi lens.

I've always marveled at how my husband can make scary things look so beautiful. In a world where so much grotesque art is shoved down our throats, I think it's nice. To appreciate these more, you need to click on them and make them bigger. The detail in the second picture is especially outstanding.

Random Cuteness and a Pretty Picture

One of the things I love about Sacramento -- leaves actually change color here. Isn't that beautiful? (This is from the grounds at the Sacramento Temple.)

Josh likes to take the kids to the temple grounds sometimes and just let them hang out. The temple is not too far from Alek's school and it's just pretty there and there is a huge open area where they can just walk around. This picture is from their most recent trip. Katie and Alek are such hams.

Charlie's hair is naturally curly, for now. His hair started doing this swoopy thing on the sides after it was washed. It doesn't really do it now that it's a little longer, so I'm glad we managed to capture it on film. It was a simple thing that just made Josh and me laugh and laugh.

Charlie is great at making a mess out of himself when he eats. He rubs food into his eyes and hair and all over his chest. This is a picture from when we ate stuffed shells.

Charlie in his bat jammies. These are the same bat jammies Alek wore when he was little. Charlie was very proud of himself for climbing up on the desk and then managing to clear off a space to turn around and sit down. He used to just get stuck up there on all fours.

Katie's Birthday

I've finally decided to live up to my word and post some family updates, but they won't be in chronological order, just to make things extra confusing for you.

Katie celebrated her 3rd birthday on November 3rd. We decided just to have a small party at home. Mommy likes avoiding the stress of big parties, especially during her busiest time at work. Not to mention the fact that our house is not really big enough to entertain more than a couple of people at a time.

Looking through the selection, I realized I didn't really get good pictures of Katie's birthday. But I got some good video, so I'm posting one of those. And I hope you all enjoy it. You would not believe how long it took to upload this 48 second video.

Katie is delightful. She is funny, sweet, expressive, and energetic. We all love the fun she brings into our home. It's been fun watching her grow and change and turn into a little girl.

Christmas Spirit at Work

I swear I am going to post some family pictures soon.

First, I need to write about how I work at the best place in the world. We have so much fun here. Today, we had an ugly holiday sweater party at work. We had hot cocoa and treats and there were prizes awarded for the most creative/tackiest ensembles.

My department won best overall department spirit, my manager won the overall award (the So Jolly, It's Time 2 Party award), and I won the JeanneMarie award (JeanneMarie is a lady I work with who wears tacky holiday sweaters without any prompting. She has a good sense of humor, thankfully.) for the best use of natural assets. I realize that sounds bad, but hopefully this picture will explain it.

It was a lot of fun. So many people went all out and there were some truly hideous sweaters out there. I don't think I deserved to win at all, but it was nice to win anyway. I couldn't have done it without my friend, Farrah, who found a holiday sweatshirt for me last night without me even asking her to. She's so awesome.

Mostly, I just can't express how grateful I am to work where I do. It's hard to be away from my kids all day, but since staying home is not currently an option, I feel really blessed to work at such a wonderful place and with such amazing, generous, fun people. This past year has been especially enjoyable, and there is an off chance I might actually miss this place when I'm on maternity leave in the spring.

My department (minus one)

Group Photo