Just a little update!

What happened to the last 5 months? I know mine have flown by! We had a wonderful holiday season filled with Josh being off of school, hanging out with family, and when it was all said and done, I started a new job. When we first moved to California, I had the luxury of being a stay at home mom for 3 months, and I loved it! It was so fun being able to stay home, play all day with my kids, keep a decently clean home, and do the things that most moms who stay home with their kids get to do.  The first of the year I started a new job, working in a local ER. The company I work for seems to take care of their PA's on several levels, and I'm really enjoying my work. Josh and I have worked out a schedule where we don't have to rely on others to take care of our children. He goes to school during the day, and I work in the ER at nights and on weekends. We only see each other for moments here and there but our children are well cared for and we are accomplishing what we intended. It works for us and we will continue our crazy schedule for as long as we have to!

Hmm...there's so much I could say but I have uploaded too many pictures so I will let them tell the story of our life these past 5 months!

                                                     Kate with Josh's birthday balloons!

Both kids love to play outdoors so take advantage often!

                                       Katelynn gets in to EVERYTHING these days, such an explorer!

Jackson turned 3!! I attempted a dinosaur cake, then got sick the day I was supposed to finish it. So sad. But Jackson loved his cake anyway and didn't seem to care or notice that it was unfinished.

Most of the rest of the pictures are actually from Christmas. My family came to Cali for the holiday and then we were so lucky to get to spend some time with my Dad's family as well! A mini reunion really and it was a blast!

 Eating breakfast on the beach and then taking a long walk on the beach. Beautiful days!

 My grandpa playing with Kate, such precious moments for me! And my cousin Ryan too!

                                 Surfing and playing in the sand the day before Christmas Eve!

 The VanWoerkom family minus my cousin Sara who was serving a mission at the time

 Jackson took the stockings down and then hung them back up at least twice a day!

 Aunt Nina reading Jackson books, and Katelynn loved crawling all over the presents!

 Christmas morning...Santa brought Jackson Buzz Lightyear, which he still treasures. And you should see Kate on this motorcycle rocker these days. She rocks and rocks then stands up on the seat...hilarious!

Katelynn was 9 months in February. These are a few of her pics. She is truly a doll. She is sweet, stubborn, full of charm and spunk. Her fluffy hair says it all! We love this little lady!

And the main point of this post, is that we are alive and well! We hope all our friends out there are as well!

Halloween and things...

The pictures in this post are not in order at all! I tried but oh well! We had a fantastic month of October and Halloween! Although Josh has been extremely busy with school, we were still able to go to Santa Rosa for a quick weekend to celebrate Paula's birthday and see our cousins that we hadn't seen for awhile. Jackson of course loved it and I wish we lived closer to his cousins. He is still talking about playing with them. We also went to the pumpkin patch, the ward Halloween party and then trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. It was so fun to watch Jackson this year get so excited about the candy! He is growing so fast, such the little boy! Now for the pictures!!

 Jackson of course wanted to be a dinosaur (he's obsessed with them). In this picture he is trying to catch crickets! Always on the hunt for a bug!

 Katelynn was our little butterfly...she celebrated zonked out on the floor! I did wake her up since she had to come around the neighborhood with me to take Jackson trick-or-treating.

 Although Jackson doesn't look thrilled (he hardly ever will smile for me in a picture), he was so excited!

 In front of the "Halloween" house a couple houses down from us. We tried to take him by it daily to prepare him. He did just fine!

This picture is far away, but it's an action shot and if you look closely you can see the excitement on his face! Love it!

The gang at the pumpkin patch

Josh and his sister Arianne

All the cousins (and Jackson being a dinosaur)

Josh had to go to a thing in San Diego for his school. He got to work with athletes with prosthetics. It was actually a really cool experience and we will be going again next year!

Katelynn  tried to eat the grass

The same weekend we went to Newport to attend the blessing of our good friends, the Recalde's baby boy

We took Jackson to the pumpkin patch that is close to our home

Always loves the petting zoo

 On our way up north we stopped in to say hello to my grandparents and also my aunt and uncle

 Although Katelynn is crying in this picture, I think it is sweet of her and her aunt Arianne

 Didn't realize these were rotated until now, oh well! :)

 More pics from the pumpkin patch with cousins

 Our ward Halloween party

 We carved our pumpkin on the back porch. Jackson was so proud of the finished product!

He wouldn't help me clean out the pumpkin. I made him touch the gooey insides and he gagged to the point I thought he would seriously throw up!!