Our Vacation in Denver

***Be ready for a LONG post and lots of pictures***
We had a wonderful time on our 4 day trip to Denver. We did a lot and got to see a good bit of the city as well. It's funny, we were warned about the traffic in Denver by many people. We drove on the freeways many different times of the day including rush hour. After living in the LA area for 7 years, Denver traffic was a joke. It was almost always going 35 or faster. Here's a few bullets of what we did/saw while we were there.

*Stayed in a nice hotel for free (we used hotel points)
*Saw MANY of the same restaurants that we had in CA and greatly miss :) I was very happy about this. They didn't have Golden Spoon or Stonefire but had most everything I enjoy.
*Took Taeya to the indoor pool and hottub.
*Drove around looking at different areas of Denver.
*Phil dropped off his resume at a company he's interested in working at and ended up in an interview that lasted a good hour to hour and a half! He said it was the best interview he's ever had. They have an opening for an estimator right now but are already flying someone up from Phoenix to interview so there's a slim chance he's get this position. However, it looks like within a few months they will most likely have a position and they're very interested in Phil. The regional manager is a Christian as well.
*Went looking at homes North of Denver. It was awesome to be starting the homebuying process knowing that there are nice houses WITHIN our price range. We are very hopeful! If we end up moving there, we are planning on trying to get into a house immediately versus renting and then buying. It'll be tough as far as starting a new job, moving and closing on a house but doable.
*We ate at Cheesecake Factory and Macaroni Grill using gift cards I received from my students while I was teaching. Nice to be able to eat out and not have to pay. :)
*On Saturday night, Phil wanted to see a movie and we either had to skip dinner or go to a show starting at 10:15. We decided to go to the late show as Taeya would sleep through it since it was past her bedtime. I was a bit worried about the sound though as I ALWAYS feel like it's way too loud. So, we brought a pair of Phil's orange earplugs for her to wear. She did great and slept through the whole movie. *Okay, this one will take awhile...Ate at a restaurant called Rodizios. It's a Brazilian Restaurant that is quite an experience. Here's how it works: You pay a flat fee (pretty expensive) and you have unlimited trips to the salad bar. On your table you have this little wooden tower with one end painted green, one end red and the middle yellow. The colors of the Brazilian flag yes? Anyways, you start off with the red end up while you're eating your salads, when you're ready for meat, you flip the wooden piece over and have the green side up. Men with meat on skewers come to your table, offer you a different type of meat and if you say "yes" they cut a small portion off for you. When you need a break (and you DEFINITELY need breaks) you flip your wooden piece back over. There were 16 different types of meat and I think Phil and I tried ALL of them! We both tried things we'd never eaten before. At the salad bar the only thing really unusal was hard boiled quail eggs. I went to the bathroom and when I returned, Phil had 2 on his plate, one for each of us. He ate the whole thing and I watched him then ate half of mine. They were very strong flavored and pretty earthy. Neither of us really liked them. When the meat was coming around we wanted to test everything...I'll see what I can remember.
*Chicken (Yummy!)
*Brazilian pork roast
*A few different types of steak (some were super flavorful)
*Lamb (neither of us liked it)
*Buffalo (didn't care for it either)
*Boar ribs (very salty and tough)
*At one point, the server brought something on a skewer and Phil said "yes" before he heard what it was. It was CHICKEN HEARTS! He was given 4 of them (they're small) and he ate two and then gave me two to eat. I managed to eat one and couldn't eat the other. I did take a picture for my readers though.
*Two different types of sausage. One was super yummy.
*Ham and pineapple
I don't remember any others although there may have been more. It was a fun experience and Phil and I are glad we did it. If you're not a carnivour like Phil and I, you can opt just for the salad bar. Out bill definitely made up for our gift card meals as we paid what we would normally pay eating out about 3 times. We would only go again on a special occasion but were glad we went and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I left full but not overly stuffed which was good. You can definitely eat yourself sick at a restuarant like that.
*We ended our trip with a trip to the convention center to see a car show for Phil. Phil had fun looking at cars and I enjoyed all the people who oowed and aawed at Taeya. :)
*Taeya was a WONDERFUL baby on the entire trip. I think she started feeling better than she was the past few weeks. For the most part, she was happy everywhere we went and did great on both long drives.
*That's pretty much it...I'm sure I'm missing a few things but this post is long enough. Time for pictures. Sorry I'm not putting them with captions and such... They're pretty self-explanitory with what I've written above.
*I did forget one place we went. Phil and I are kids at heart so we decided to go to the Denver Children's Museum. We like hands-on things and thought it would be a fun place to go. We were expecting something like an exploratorium with science type things. Instead, we found a place suitable for 4-7 year olds to play dress-up. They had a fire-engine, a vet clinic, grocery store, nature area (complete with worm costumes that we tried on), sports corner, paint place, theater/dance area and alphabet wall. It was much smaller than we expected and since we are a bit big for dress-up, we just took a few pics, got a feel for the place and left. Hey, at least we know what it's like now.
*Oh, and I was fighting pluracy again. It wasn't as bad as the week after I had Taeya but it definitely affected my breathing and comfort on our trip. I'm feeling better all around. Sinus infection is gone and pluracy feels better too.

Three Months Today!

Happy 3 months Taeya! Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures today. I was too sick and by the time I was feeling better towards the evening, she was too grumpy (I think she's not feeling well either). :( I did go to the doctor today and he gave me some antibiotics for my sinus infection. They've already begun to work.
I'll be taking lots of pictures on our trip to Denver. I think that I'm fully packed. Boy you've got to pack a lot with a baby. I know we're going to have a fun time though. Just praying that the Lord would direct our steps if this is where He wants us to be and if not, that He would make that clear as well.
My mom has finally got her blog up and running. Only took about a year. *wink wink* Be sure to check it out as she has lots of new posts.
On another exciting note, my wonderful sister, Sarah, got a great surprise for Easter. She found out she's expecting! She had a creative way of sharing the news wiht all the friends and family who were over for Easter dinner. You'll have to read the story on her blog though. Off to bed!

Lots of Easter Pictures

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The past week or so I've feel like I've been hitting a wall. I think I'm fighting a sinus infection with a sore throat and some dizziness. On Easter, I was super tired and barely able to stay awake during the service. Taeya wore a beautiful dress that was a gift from our friends, Keith & Jennifer L. Since it was chilly out, she wore a little knit bonnet that my mom gave to her. I think one of my mom's friends made it. She looked adorable. We enjoyed celebrating our Lord's Resurrection. It amazes me that God gave His only Son for ME and the rest of mankind. In front of us in church there were some inmates from a nearbye prison. One of the men in our church ministers there and every now and then some of the men get to come to church. They enjoyed seeing Taeya and many of them asked how old she was. I asked one of them who kept looking at her if he'd like to hold her. It was neat to see how refreshing a baby was to the men.
We went to a friend's house for Easter dinner. While there, Ellie was very proud that she got to hold Taeya (she's 2). Taeya went Easter egg hunting with the other kids but she didn't keep any. She also had her first opportunity hanging out in a baby playcenter. She was so cute and happy in it. The pictures at the end are of Taeya snuggling with her new lambie from her great grandparents in FL. She really seems to like it. She sucks on it if she's able to and she hugged it a long time today. It was so sweet.
Other than that, I'm just trying to get healthy again and prepare for Denver

Our Coming Getaway

Phil and I really haven't ever taken a vacation since we've been married other than our honeymoon. We've had many snowboarding trips but not too much else. We've decided that this coming weekend (starting Thursday) would be the perfect time to take a trip to Denver. This trip will actually serve a few purposes.
Although we only moved to our current location one year ago, we're finding the cost of living too expensive especially with adding a baby and less income. Where we are now, it would be nearly impossible to purchase a house, something we really would like to do in the near future. Sooooooo, we're looking elsewhere. Since the Eastern slope of CO is much more affordable, we are seriously considering moving there (we have a few other locations in mind as well). So, on our trip this week, we're going to try to schedule some job interviews for Phil, meet with a realtor and just generally look at the area and see if it's a place that we'd like to live. Ultimately, we want to be wherever the Lord wants us to be. Whether that's in CO or elsewhere, we really don't know. We're going to wait for Him to open the doors and go where He leads us.
While we're in Denver, we also want to have some fun. I'm going to get online today and do a bit of research of places we can visit. Does anyone out there have any suggestions for us? Wherever we go, we need to be able to take Taeya...obviously and it can't be super expensive. Although I don't mind spending some money on entertainment, we don't have a lot to splurge with. So, any cool things to see or do in or around Denver, please let me know!

Time for a Post

Sleeping on Mommy





Well, as Steph reminded me, it's been quite awhile since I posted. Life has definitely been busy. Since having Taeya, I've been cooking and cleaning much more than I did when I was pregnant and working full time. I'm still working quite a bit juggling 3 different jobs. I haven't been taking as many pictures lately. I did try one of Taeya's 3 month dresses on her to see if it would fit and took some pictures. The dress is still a bit big, she was a bit cranky and I didn't get any really great pictures. I didn't have a lot of time so the background is a bit sloppy and I didn't get many great shots. Oh well, we'll try again on a better day.
Ever since she got her shots last week, she hasn't seemed like herself fully. She'll be pretty happy like she normally is and all of a sudden she starts screaming her head off like she's hurt. This happens when she's by herself, with me, nursing etc. I hope she feels better soon. One new things she's been doing is sucking on her hands all of the time. She doesn't usually get her fingers in her mouth but you turn your back and often hear this sucking noise and she has half her fist in her mouth and she's sucking for all she's worth. Yesterday, she tried to do both fists at once. It was really cute. Oh, and when she's in a happy mood, she's smiling and laughing SO MUCH. It's adorable. I love my baby girl!

Another of her famous tongue photos. We see that tongue a lot!



Is it just me or am I seeing some blonde highlights in her hair? I notice it more in pictures than in person. Am I imagining it?