ANOTHER FAMILY PIC

We take Nixon almost everywhere. He is like a little celebrity. Everybody gets so excited when they see him and they all say, " OMG! He is so cute!" He loves the attention.

SILLY GIRLS

Friday night we were able to babysit our nieces, Brooklynn and Maylee. Ashley and Paul had a work Christmas party they wanted to attend so we took the girls for the evening. Brooklynn had a pre-school Christmas program that we went to and watched her perform some Christmas carols with her classmates. It was really cute. Brooklynn's request for dinner was hamburger and french fries so we took the girls to In-N-Out. They were were a lot of fun. Maylee likes to dip her finger in the ketchup and lick it off, and just suck the ketchup off the fries. Brooklynn wanted a strawberry shake and she shared it with everyone. It gave Maylee a brain freeze. We got them some hats and took this silly picture outside before we left.
After dinner we took them to see some Christmas lights in Temecula. The street is Bainbridge ct,  off Winchester and Willow. If you haven't been there you gotta go this week. It is pretty amazing. Every house is loaded with lights and they have music playing that the lights coordinate with. You can get out and walk around or stay in your car and tune your radio to a station that has the music playing. The girls loved the lights and were little troopers. It was pretty cold and windy that night but I think they really liked the lights. We always enjoy spending time with our cute and adorable nieces. We have 3 right now, but by next year we could have 5. Both of our sisters are pregnant, Ashley knowing she is having another girl and the verdict is still out for Lauren. Either way we are excited for them and can't wait for next year! This is one of the houses that we saw the other night.

QUICK FAMILY PICTURE

OUR NEW RIDE

Shortly after Brooke and I got married I sold my Acura Integra, which was an awesome car and I miss it, but since then I have been driving my dad's old civic aka the "Silver Bullet" until Brooke and I were ready to buy a new car. It has taken us awhile to be ready to buy a new car because we wanted to avoid having two car payments. Well, the Silver Bullet took a turn for the worse last week and might have to be put down which left me without a car. It was time to buy a new car. The timing was okay because we only have one more car payment on the Scion Xa. We are very excited about that!
We have been looking at cars for awhile and test drove a few cars recently, knowing that the one car we had would be paid off soon. We went back and forth with looking at small SUV's or a sedan. I would have like to get a ForeRunner or something like that to be able to take to the snow, put snowboards and bikes on etc. The price on those is just too much for us right now and not practical with gas prices. We decided to go with a sedan. A nice family car and it gives us a lot more room than the Scion. We really liked the Acura's and pretty much narrowed our search down between the TSX and TL. A few nights after the Civic died we drove out to Riverside to look at the  Acura dealership because online it looked like they had the largest selection of certified pre-owned TSX's. Lucky for us a few hours before we got there someone turned in their lease and we ended up getting the deal we wanted on it and bought the car that night. It all worked out and was good timing. We are really happy with the car and it came with pretty much everything we were looking for. The title of this post should say..." Brooke's New Ride" because it is her car, but she lets me drive every once in awhile.

TRIP TO THE EMERGENCY PET CLINIC

Sunday afternoon we went over to a friends house to BBQ for dinner and of course we brought little Nixon. My buddy hadn't seen Nixon yet and wanted to hold him. When Nixon meets new people he gets really excited and when you are holding him he gets really squirmy and wants to lick your whole face, which makes it hard to hold him. Well, Nixon was just out of control and just too excited and got away from my buddy and fell on the ground and hit his head pretty good. He seemed okay and normal, wanting to run around and play. About 20 minutes later he wasn't himself. He became very sleepy and lethargic and then threw up. Soon as he threw up I was thinking that he had a concussion from hitting his head. We became pretty concerned and wondered if we should get him checked out. Then he threw up again. I got on the phone and made a call to the Emergency Pet Clinic in Temecula and the said to definitely bring him in. While I was on the phone, Nixon threw up two more times. I then rushed home got my wallet and we took off to the see the vet. They checked him out as soon as we got there and his vitals were normal and they said that he was stable, but we still knew he wasn't feeling or acting right. After meeting with the Vet and going over options we decided that we wanted to keep him there for further monitoring so they could give him and IV and some medication to help prevent any swelling in the brain and alleviate any pain he might be having. By the time we had left the pet clinic Nixon had thrown up 9 times. Poor guy. We left the clinic around 6:30 last night hoping everything would be okay and that in the morning we would be able to pick him up. It was really weird to be home and not have Nixon running around, jumping on the couch, biting Brooke's feet and we missed him. We were about to go to bed and decided to call the clinic at about 9:30 to check on him to see how he was doing. The vet told us that he was doing wonderful and that we could come pick him up in 30 minutes if we wanted. We put on our shoes and were out the door to bring him home. All the nurses loved Nixon and were having a great time playing with him. He was back to normal, running around licking your face and wanting to play. The extra fluids and medication helped. When we got home he wanted to play and eat like nothing ever happened. He is a tough little guy. Brooke said he takes after me, referring to the concussion. I thought it was pretty funny. He is home now and doing just fine, but gave us a little scare. Thanks to all our family and friends that kept him in their thoughts and prayers.

STOP GROWING PLEASE

Nixon is getting so big already. The picture in the previous post is a picture taken maybe about a week after we brought him home. This picture was taken today. We are hoping that he doesn't get too big when he is fully grown and stays short and stalky. We like having a little pup and don't want him to grow up like most parents.

NIXON'S FAVORITES

We have had Nixon for a little over a month now. I think he has almost doubled in size since the day we brought him home. He is a little over 3 months old now and into everything. He has to sniff and lick everything. I think he has tried to chew on every pillow, chair,  shoe and everything else he can reach. Fortunately he hasn't destroyed or ruined anything. (Knock on wood) Nixon does have a few favorite things that he loves to do.

-Scratch at the cupboard where we keep his food. He would constantly eat if we allowed him to. We are already down to feeding him from 3 times a day to twice a day
-Try and reach the toilet paper in the bathroom. He has unraveled one roll already
-Loves to jump into the laundry basket
- He loves to play and run laps around our little place. He has a little hiding spot under a chest in our living room. Not sure how much longer he we be able to fit underneath it
- Loves to jump onto the dish washer when we are loading dishes
-He really likes to fetch and bring you back his toy
-He loves car rides already, even though he usually ends up falling asleep in the car
-He now knows what the leash means, and loves to go on little walks
-Nixon is great with other little dogs and just wants to run around and play

 He is definitely a mamma's boy. If Brooke is home he has to know where she is at all times, and follows her around every where she goes. We don't know why and we can't get him to stop but he constantly has to be nipping and biting at Brooke's ankles. He doesn't do it to me, just Brooke. He really hasn't learned what the word, "NO!" means. Hopefully soon.

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS

Brooke wanted to get an early start on decorating for Christmas, so we have had our Christmas tree up for a few weeks now. We decided that we didn't want to mess with watering the tree constantly and cleaning up pine needles with Nixon running around all the time so we found a sweet deal for a fake tree at Big Lots on Black Friday. I hung a lot of the bulbs and Brooke hung most of the ornaments. I think the tree looks great. We are still looking for something to put on the top of the tree. If anyone knows of a place to look for tree toppers, preferably a star or an angel let us know. We bought a punch of pine cones that smell really good to place around our place to make up for the non-smell of a fake tree. I love the smell of Christmas trees and didn't want to miss out on that.                               

This isn't our first Christmas together since we have been married but our first Christmas in our own place. We are really excited to start a few of our own traditions during the Holidays. Brooke loves to be creative and make things her own. We love Christmas and can't wait to spend more time with family and friends over the holidays.

ITS BEEN AWHILE!

The other day my Mom asked me why I only update my own personal blog....Didn't have an answer. It's tough enough just to keep one blog updated. To find the time a couple of weeks and sit down, write out a blog post and upload pictures takes planning and dedication. We will try and keep this one updated with news, ideas, family events etc.... There is always a lot going on around this time of year and everyone is super busy, but there is a lot of time spent with family and lots of pictures that will need to be posted.

Just a quick update with what Brooke and I have been up to lately.

-Brooke is working two jobs. She is still helping my dad in the office during the mornings 4 days a week,  then takes off to Anne Sullivan Preschool where she teaches the 4 year olds from 12:30-5:30 Monday through Friday. She loves working at the Pre School. She comes home everyday with a new story to tell me about what the kids learned that day, or some funny story about something that happened at school with the kids. She has been at the preschool since September and absolutely loves it.
-Brooke also stays busy in her free time doing hair.
-Brooke is also very busy with the Young Women in our ward as the 2nd councilor in the YW presidency. She works a lot with the Beehives, planning activities and lessons as well as attending mutual.

-Most of you know we have a new addition to our family, Nixon. We got a little pug puppy about a month ago. We love him to pieces. He is definitely a handful at times and a lot of work but sooooo much fun. He has done great with the house training and learning a few commands. He struggles with learning "NO!" He thinks we are playing when we are trying to let him know what he is doing is bad. Not sure how to fix it, but he has an obession with biting at Brooke's feet and ankles. The moment she walks in the door he runs straight for her shoes and feet. Hopefully in a few weeks we will be able to get him into some training sessions after he has all his shots.

-I am staying busy with work. I am still working with a property management company for bank repos. I maintain the exterior of the properties. Right now I hate leaves with a passion. I am constantly raking and bagging leaves this time of year.
-I just recently got a coaching job. I am coaching the freshman baseball team at Murrieta Mesa. I have been out to the field a few times to throw the ball with the boys and hit in the cages. We will start a more regular practice after the Christmas break. I am really excited for this opportunity.
-I am finishing up my last class this semester at Mt. San Jacinto for my Associates Degree in Physical Science. I have applied to San Marcos to finish my Bachelors Degre starting in the fall of 2012.
-I love my calling in our ward as the Step-Up cordinator. I work with the Priests that are seniors and preparing to serve missions along with their fathers. We meet every week for an hour, studying Preach My Gospel  and help the YM learn scriptures, share experiences and develope their teaching skills. It is a great calling and love it.
-I get to throw in a little softball now and then as well. I play on a tournament team and just recently won a tournament in Murrieta. I am heading to Palm Springs next weekend to play in a Toys for Tots tournament. I really enjoy playing softball.

-Its really nice to have all our family so close to us. We were able to spend Thanksgiving Day with Brooke's family and then have dessert that night with mine. We are so blessed to have wonderful families and so many opportunities to share holidays and special events with them. We can't get enough of our little nieces. Jayden, Brooklynn and Maylee always make us smile.

There is my quick little update. Hopefully we can stay on top updating this blog.... New Years Resolution...maybe.

CHRISTMAS PICTURES

 Last week we took some photos for our Christmas Card that we will be sending out this week to family and friends. We had planned to take pictures for Lauren, Brooke's sister, so we decided that we would do ours at the same time. We went down to Old Town Temecula and found a few good spots to snag a few pictures. It worked out really well and we got some good pictures. It had been awhile since Brooke and I had taken some pictures together. Usually we take the tripod, set that up and use the timer to take our photos but it was nice to have Lauren there to snap some shots. It was fun trying to get Jayden to smile for their family photo. Of course we brought Nixon so he was a big distraction for Jayden. She loves to play with "Nixie." That is how Jayden pronounces his name.  Anyways... for our friends and family, hopefully we will get our Christmas card out in the mail this week.