New Purses!!!!

Here are some of the new purses I made. They are great gifts for the holidays. The pricing ranges from $30-$35. If you're interested please let me know. If you live in San Diego, I'll be coming home on Thanksgiving weekend. I can bring it then. If you live somewhere else I am happy to ship it to you. Shipping usually costs about $6. Thanks and enjoy!

Halloween Night

Joe and I were invited to a murder mystery dinner party on Halloween night. It was lots of fun! We have finally made some friends!!!! Yay for us :) Everyone who went to the party were young married couples from our ward. They were so nice and we had a great time. It was nice to hang out with some people our age (don't worry Trina and Kristan, we still love you).

The theme was a pirate murder mystery. We all dressed up and acted like a character the whole night. We had to find out clues and make alliances with each other and try to find out who killed "Merciless Morgan." We were all suspects, but needed to find the true killer...

"One-Eyed Wanda" & "Commodore Clearing"

"Merciless Morgan" & "The Galley Wench"

"Thumbless Jack" & "Mad Rose"

"Seaman Sam" & "Brethless Betty"

Trunk or Treat!

The Bug Family

On Thursday, October 30th, our ward had their annual "Trunk or Treat" night. I guess it wasn't really trunk or treat because it was held inside the church, not outside with people's cars. I guess last year was really cold so they changed it. Good thing because that night was freezing!!! They did a great job with it. There was a cupcake walk, a pumpkin toss, pumpkin bowling, and much more. Of course, we were the best dressed. Everyone loved our costumes! We had lots of fun. Here are some pictures of that night.

The Butterfly & The Preying Mantis

The Bumble Bee, The Lightning Bug, and The Ladybug

The Puggle Bee

8 Reasons we know we're not in San Diego anymore!

Since we've moved, I have noticed that the east coast is very different from the west coast. Here are 8 reasons we know that we're not in San Diego anymore...

1. The Atlantic Ocean.

It is so wierd to see the sun set away from the ocean. Also, the Atlantic Ocean has NO waves (we think it is so funny when we see people with surf boards).

2. Lays Chips.

In San Diego, my favorite chips are Flaming Hot Lays. THEY DO NOT SELL FLAMING HOT LAYS HERE!!! Instead, they have flavors like Crab Spice Lays. Gross!!!

3. Spiders.

Everyone knows that I hate spiders. In San Diego we had spiders like Daddy Long Legs, but in Virginia, it seems like they have the biggest ones! This spider was found in our backyard. It was enormous.

4. PungoPizza.

I lovvvvveeeeeeee pizza. Pungo Pizza is a great little family restaurant that it about 10 min. from our house. "Pungo" usually refers toan area that it out in the middle of no where a.k.a. "the sticks."

5. D.C. Temple.

The San Diego Temple will always be my favorite. For now, the D.C. Temple has been our closest temple. It too is very beautiful. Joe and I were able to visit it in September

6. Missy Eliott's House.

Yup, this is one of Missy Eliott's house. It is just down the main street from us (about 3 min. away). We pass by it almost everyday. It is ginormous! They just completed it a couple of months ago and I don't think she has moved in yet. I keep you posted if I see her.

7. Gas Prices.

Growing up in California, I have always been used to high gas prices. It seemed like we were always paying a ton more than everyone else. Gas is soooooooo much cheaper here. I didn't really noticed until I went to San Diego a couple of weeks ago and everyone was excited that gas was $2.99. I was like "dang, that's expensive!" I guess I've become accustomed to our lower gas prices over here. Haha...

8. Fall.

Fall is my favorite time of year. I really start to get excited for all the holidays. In San Diego, we only have one season (74 degrees, sunny, with some clouds). I am actually very excited for experiencing all four seasons. Just in the past week, the leaves have already started to change color. It is soooooooo beautiful! The cold is also starting to set in. Tonight is supposed to get down to 37 degrees. My days of wearing flip flops all day is coming to an end. I think I need to buy real shoes now :(

Home Sweet Home...

Well its been 4 months since Joe and I moved to Virginia Beach. We are loving this beautiful city. Though we love and miss San Diego, we are finally getting used to calling Virginia Beach home. Here are some pictures of where we live and our wonderful family.

Me & Joe and our home

Katrina (Joe's mom) and Kristan (Joe's aunt)

Erin (Joe's cousin) and our dogs Willie and Kishi (doesn't she look like a fox!)

Our Honeymoon

After the wedding, Joe and I went on a fabulous honeymoon to Cancun, Mexico. It was incredible. I have never seen beaches sooooo beautiful! We stayed in a great hotel called Fiesta Americana Condesa. It was a beachfront hotel with awesome views. We loved it! Only, we hardly stayed in Cancun at all. I'm so glad we rented a car because we were able to leave Cancun and visit other surrounding towns and beaches. The day after we got there we went to a town called Puerto Morelos (only a 30 min. drive). It was a typical Mexican little town. It wasn't a touristy place so the beach was practically empty. We loved it here. We ended up coming back to this town 3 more times. We also liked going to this small loncheria. Do you know how hard it is to find tacos in Cancun? We finally found some in this little restaurant. It was cheap and good! Our kind of place :) We even found some missionaries at a ice cream shop.

The only tour we took was one to the ancient Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza. It was a 3 hour bus drive. It was really neat. We had a great tour guide who taught us a lot of things about the Mayan people (a lot of it I don't even remember, ask Joe). On our way to the ruins, we stopped a saw a cenote. A cenote is an underground lake or river. It was incredible! We could have gone swimming in it but we were only there for 45 min. and we didn't want to go to Chichen Itza all wet. Chichen Itza was amazing!!! The Mayan people were highly advanced in mathematics and astronomy. You can definitely tell by the architecture.

Our favorite beach we visited was definitely Akumal. It was breathtaking. The water was clear and calm. It was also the best snorkeling we did the whole week. In a one hour, we saw 4 sea turtles, a bat ray, a shark (one that doesn't bite), and a ton of fish. We also ended up coming back to this beach a few more times. We absolutely loved it!

We were able to go to an island called Isla Mujeres, only a 30 min. ferry ride from Cancun. The funnest part of the day was when we rented a scooter and drove around the entire island. It was so much fun!!! It was neat to see the town outside of all the tourism (it looked a lot like Tijuana). We also spent the day at a great beach called Playa Norte.

The day before we left we drove to Tulum (another ancient ruins). These ruins were neat because they were right on cliffs over looking the water. We had fun exploring the ancient town.

We had an incredible time in Cancun and can't wait to visit again!

Our Wedding

On June 21, 2008, Joe and I were sealed in the San Diego Temple. It was the perfect day! I have waited 25 years for my dream wedding, and it finally came. It was everything I had hoped it would be. My mom did awesome in putting it all together. She definitely should be a wedding planner. My whole family was great! They all pitched in and gave me the perfect wedding. I am so blessed to have such a great family.

The reception was sooooooooooo fun! My dad and sister even surprised me when he started playing the trumpet while Jackie sang "Solamente Una Vez." It was beautiful. He never plays for us, so it was very special.

One of my favorite parts of the reception was the family dance. Of course, my aunt Mary had mentioned to me a week before the wedding about maybe doing a fun family dance for the wedding. And of course, I said no. I finally gave in and Jackie whipped up a fun, easy dance that we all can do (my mom finally had her "Music Machine" moment). Noah and Nana had solos in the dance and at the end, we had a soul train. It was awesome!!! I can't believe everyone in my family agreed to be in it (especially Uncle Joe). I think everyone enjoyed it.

It was great to see all are close family members and friends there. We are so lucky to have great people in our lives that love and support us.