It's always fun when grandma comes

I love fall! The weather is finally starting to cool off and the days are getting shorter. This is my favorite time of year.

What a busy weekend and week we've had!

Mommy was able to celebrate her 21st (yeah, right!) birthday with her mom who flew in last Thursday night for a quick weekend visit. They spent all day Friday shopping sans Big Guy. It was the first time they were able to spend some alone time together since Big Guy's birth!

Big Guy was so excited to see his "me-maw" and he loved bossing her around. He was constantly telling her to "come here" or "sit down". Too funny! He knows that he's got her just where he wants her and that she'll do what he says. Needless to say, he went through a bit of an adjustment period after she left realizing that mommy and daddy don't play that game.

After attending a friend's baby's baptism Saturday morning, we spent the rest of the day at the zoo with niece Brittany and nephew Erik in tow. Big Guy loved all the animals, and enjoyed growling at them. He ADORES his cousin Brittany and loved the attention he got from her and memaw.

We were all very sad to see memaw leave on Sunday afternoon, especially not knowing when we'll get to see her or grandpa again. It was a great birthday gift though to be with mom.

Mommy got a little sick and had to spend Tuesday morning at the hospital undergoing some REALLY YUCKY tests. The tests were no fun, but looks like everything is ok or manageable, which is good news.

Daddy has been busy working on completing the construction of the patio cover. Given its size, it's quite an undertaking. We'll both be relieved when it's finished. He's been able to get in some golf in-between home projects and has been enjoying playing with his new set of clubs he received from his VERY generous wife. ;)

We've finished the planning for Big Guy's birthday party. His party will be held at a local jump house. Big Guy is really into Curious George right now, so we chose that for his theme. Let's be honest, Big Guy wouldn't have know the difference, so mommy actually got to choose the theme. It is in keeping with what he'll be dressed as for Halloween - a monkey! We ordered an adorable monkey costume that should be arriving any day now. We'll try to post photos of it.

Nothing too excited planned for this weekend - but that's ok. We've had a lot going on and it will be nice to get some things done around the house and catch up with friends.

Hope everyone is well - God bless us everyone!

Long Overdue Update

I was so busy last week, that I had no opportunity to post an update, and found myself ever-so-busy this week too, but thought I had better squeeze in a moment to add something about what we've been up to.

The weekend after we returned from our trip to Dallas, we were able to attend our beautiful niece's (Sonia) engagement party. She's marrying a wonderful guy named Jeff next June. It was a beautiful party and we couldn't be more happy for her. It really makes us feel old to realize that she's not a little girl anymore, but in fact a grown woman who will soon have a family of her own. It was great to see some of Daddy's family who were there to support her - Big Guy is lucky to have so many aunts and uncles on his daddy's side of the family.

This past week was a really difficult one for us. Big Guy graduated to the 2 year old class at daycare, and has suddenly had a really hard time with the transition. Like most toddlers, he doesn't deal well with an interruption in his routine. It was especially hard on me since I drop him off at school each morning. He would cling to me and start crying before we even left the house and all the way there he would cry and say over and over "Mama, no". He was biting the other kids at school, we think because he felt out of sorts. One day he bit one little boy, the next day he bit two kids, and then Friday he bit 4 children. The Director ended up calling me and we had to make arrangements to have him picked up early. It was HORRIBLE. I felt terrible that I couldn't stay with him, and wanted to quit my job. Fortunately, this week, he seems to be adjusting to the change and today and yesterday there were no tears about school and no biting incidents. It's funny that none of the pregnancy books or toddler books I read discussed this - maybe I'll have to write my own book for working moms someday! Anyway, we're happy to have our sweet boy back and we're happy that he is feeling better about school.

Elk Grove held a rummage sale last Saturday, so we rented a space with one of our friends and spent the day trying to push our junk off on other people. We ended up doing really well, and couldn't believe the items that people wanted to buy. It was a real education! Our house feels cleaned out and organized, and we think we're done with garage sales until our kids are grown and we need to off-load their stuff. It's a lot of work to peddle your stuff!

We're excited that Mommy's mom is coming to visit this weekend. We've been anxiously awaiting her visit and when we told Big Guy that grandma was coming to see him Thursday night, he clapped. It was so cute! He LOVES his grandma - I think he knows that she's crazy for him too!

Look for next week's update to include the fun stuff we did with Grandma. Take care!

Wild Wild West

We had a great time in Dallas this past weekend visiting Mommy's best friend (Jennifer) and her family. We had never been there before and were anxious to see Jennifer's new home.

We arrived on Friday evening (about 5:00 p.m.) and returned home on Monday evening around 7:00 p.m. We had a lot of fun catching up with our friends and were able to do a lot of fun things in Dallas. They took us to see Dealey Plaza on Saturday morning, the site of Kennedy's assassination. It was very moving to be able to stand near the "grassy knoll" and imagine what it must have been like to be an on-looker. There are two "Xs" (x marks the spot?) painted on the street showing the location the vehicle was at for each shot. Kind of morbid, but fascinating at the same time. We TOTALLY believe the conspiracy theory, and were excited that we got to see the wooden fence behind the grassy knoll, which is the site of the supposed second shooter. It was neat to see the book depository also. Our moods were definitely somber considering that we were standing in the exact spot that our nation's president was killed.

For lunch on Saturday we ate at Antares, the rotating restaurant at the top of the downtown Hyatt. Besides yummy food, we were able to see the entire city of Dallas (the restaurant makes a complete revolution every 55 minutes). We were both impressed with the cleanliness of the City.

Later that day we went to see the Dallas temple. It was beautiful, and we took some photos with our families to remember the occasion.

Mommy and Jennifer were able to attend church together on Sunday. It was fun to be together and worship together.

Big Guy had a GREAT time playing with Jennifer and Joe's kids (Emily and Nolan). He fell in love with Emily, and was constantly trying to tackle her and hug her! He followed her around everywhere she went and did everything she asked him to. It was so cute! Nolan was a little jealous of Gabriel, since he wasn't the youngest in the crowd any more. He's a sweet boy, and we loved seeing both of the kids.

The only disappointing thing about our trip was that I didn't hear very many "y'all"s and only saw one person in a cowboy hat! I had assumed that everyone's accents would be rich Texas accents and almost everyone would wear boots and hats...how Californian of me! :) I also didn't care much for the fire ants - I never got bit, but was terrified of them.

We don't plan any additional travel this year (it was our last "free" flight with Big Guy, as he turns 2 next month), so we'll stick close to home the rest of the year. It was a fun trip, but it's always good to get home. California is definitely where our hearts are.

On a different note, Big Guy graduated to the 2-year old class at daycare today - he seemed just fine with the transition, but mommy had a hard time driving away knowing that he was in the "big kid class". Our baby boy is growing up!

State Fair

We had the opportunity to go to the State Fair this past Saturday. It was a lot of fun. We spent all day there and Big Guy really enjoyed seeing the animals and LOVED the petting zoo. He hugged every animal that he could, and sometimes ended up body slamming the poor things. One billy goat didn't want to be hugged, and started running away. Big guy held on tight and was dragged a few feet. Didn't even faze him. He's a real animal lover. Everyone in the petting zoo thought that he was so adorable to love all the animals so much - I just kept thinking that he needed a serious bath when he got home. Daddy took a great picture with his phone - I'll try to get it uploaded on this site soon.

Big guy also got to ride a few kiddie rides. He looks so serious when he's on the rides, but when they're over, he asks for "mo" (more). He even rode a little roller coaster and wasn't scared at all. Maybe that should worry us - he might end up being a little dare-devil! :)

We took Daddy's mom and cousin with us. They really enjoy going to the fair and it was nice to have company. Daddy's mom took a nasty spill hitting her head while we were there, so it was a scary moment, but she's ok. Fortunately the fire department was nearby and helped her get up.

We pulled out our garden this past week, except for the tomatoes. It was pretty much done giving vegetables, and it had served us well. It gave bags and bags full of cucumbers, zucchini and yellow squash. The cantalope never made it. Just when they would start looking ripe, they'd split open. It was really disappointing. Next year we'll stick with veggies - no fruit!

We're off to Dallas this weekend to visit friends. It will be Big Guy's longest airplane ride yet, so we're hoping it goes off without a hitch.

Hope everyone is well and happy - we'll write more after our trip.

First weekly update

We've had a fun week...

We went to the new temple open house last night. The temple is beautiful and serene. We were able to bring our good friends, Hugo and Jeanette with us. Big guy and their son love to be together, and they had fun giggling in the car on the trip up to Folsom and back. Daddy and Hugo are certain that their sons will wind up lifetime friends like they are.

The weather last evening was perfect - it cooled off by the time the sun had set. Our tour began at 7:45 and it was so neat to see the beautiful colors of the sunset reflected in the clouds above the statue of Moroni.

I was able to work up at the temple site cleaning the week before last, and so I had been able to see the outside of the temple already, but I was anxious to get to see the interior. As I've heard about other temples, it was stunning. The craftsmanship is extraordinary. I could really understand why members of the church love to go the temple and surround themselves in such beauty.

Big Guy behaved pretty well on the tour - but he's getting so independent that he wants to walk everywhere, so there were a few difficult times when he started to throw fits, but overall, he was a very good boy. We are really blessed to have such an easy-going little guy.

Big Guy is saying three new words this week: stuck, necklace and hush-up (he hears me say this to Sadie all the time). We never know what he'll say next. It's a lot of fun for us to see him learn new things. Our baby is now a little boy!

Our unwelcome skunk guest showed up again in our backyard last night. Fortunately, Sadie has learned to stay nose-to-nose with the skunk instead of facing it's backside. After being sprayed twice, I think she's caught on. Daddy was able to throw a baseball at the skunk and chase it out of the yard, but we need to work on a permanent solution to keeping the skunk away. Even though I'm an animal lover, I have to admit that I can see no reason why skunks were created!

We have a fun weekend planned. I'll write about our weekend plans next week - you'll have to stay tuned! :)

The launch of Espinoza family blog!

I thought I would start a blog mostly to satisfy my grandma, who always reminds me how she receives the cutest newsletter from my cousin Amber about her growing family. As a working outside the home mom, there's NO WAY I have time to do something like that, but I can do a weekly blog! :)

My goal is to post a weekly updates on the happenings of our family. Since most of our relatives (on my side) live far away, we hope this will be a good way to keep in touch and make us feel connected.

Please check back weekly to find out what we've been up to.