6 Years

On August 10 we celebrated our 6 year anniversary. Well I wouldn't really call it celebrated, our whole household was sick so we were unable to do anything but take care of each other.

A lot of people don't know that David and I were high school sweethearts having met at the Skate Station roller skating rink in Anaheim, CA. We broke up shortly after I began my senior year, but it sure wasn't for lack of trying to stay together on David's part. He was persistent but it just wasn't meant to be our time.

Thirteen years later I got a strange email from an address I didn't recognize. I opened it up and to my surprise it was from David. We emailed back and forth for awhile but I found he was married with kids and being respectful I didn't want to be the cause of any family problems so I told him to stay in touch. Six months or so later I got another email saying they had split and he moved out. We stayed in touch until one day he sent another email and said something to the effect that he gets bord and wanted to know if I wanted to do something.

A few more emails and we decided to go eat and to a movie. We went to the Cheesecake factory in Irvine(CA) and the check came and we kept talking. Well David reached for his card and paid for dinner and then we went dutch for the movie. I wasn't expecting him to pay for dinner as I had money to pay for my half. After the movie we went to our old favorite place Laguna Beach to walk around. I was so nervous as I didn't know if this was a date we were on our just a couple of old friends out for a night. We went out the next day also and it was history from then on.

I found out a few months later that actually he was expecting me to pay for dinner since I was the one who suggested dinner. We laugh about it now but I guess it made a big mess for David's finances for a few weeks. After a little time I finally got to meed David's girls. I first met Kayla, she was 4 at the time, we met at Santiago Park at the zoo. She was so cute wearing her little sun dress and sandals holding David's hand. We walked the zoo and Kayla sat on David's shoulders. A few days later I met Becca, she was only about 5 or 6 months old. I was already attached to them, they were so cute.

We dated for almost 3 years, talking about one day getting married. We were going to dinner for my birthday and I was not really having a good day and David had it all planned out to propose at dinner but instead David dropped to one knee in the front yard and asked me to marry him. We had a quick engagement as we had decided to move to Illinois to be closer to the kids and I felt it would be best to be married before we moved. We had a beautiful wedding in Las Vegas with about 40 friends and family around us. On a side note that would be one of the last couple of times I got to see my dad. He died almost 3 months later. But I am very happy that he was there an walked me down the isle.

I look back and If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing. David has been my soul mate and my best friend. Things have never been easy for us but we have always made it through any obstacle that has come our way. We have a beautiful daughter together and two other beautiful girls that we share. I don't think I could ask for anything else, well, except to maybe win the lottery.

I love you David with all of my heart and soul. I am looking forward to many more years together. Picture below is me about 8 1/2 months pregnant.

September 11th

Not only is September 11th a memorial date for all Americans but it also is for David and I. You see that is the day we rolled into Illinois to make it our new home 6 years ago. It was very hard leaving all of our friends and family but we knew we would be closer to Kayla and Becca and be able to be a part of their life more then when we lived in California.

Our trip out started with a comical camping trip in Malibu Beach where we had our first un-escorted by my parents camping trip with the "Shaggin Wagon" (having trouble posting a picture of it so it will follow later). What is the "Shaggin Wagon" you ask, well it's a 1979 camping trailer that has all the 70's colors, orange and browns. We got it from my parents when they got a new trailer, hey can't beat free. It was a very heavy trailer and of course not many update amenities. The fridge quit working about a week before we were leaving, it had no airconditionining and was very hard to tow.

When we got to Leo Carrilo State beach we had trouble backing it in and you know how people always want to tell you what to do, well there were several friends trying to assist us in parking the beast. After awhile it got to be pretty funny but got it parked finally and enjoyed our weekend with everybody.

We got a late start on the road, stopped off in Corona for gas and some snacks then off we went. We stopped for the night at the KOA campground in Needles, CA with a pull thru spot as all of our other spots were to avoid backing up. Next day we planned to see my step mom in New Mexico so we stopped off and had dinner with her and her mom. After we left we needed more dry ice for the fridge so we stopped, man o man what a mistake that was. The lock on the trailer door decided to break, luckily we got an auto club membership before we left so we called AAA and they sent a locksmith but only after waiting over an hour and a half if I remember right. You are probably asking yourself why is she telling me all of this???? Well to tell you about the locksmith, hahaha, he was a funny guy. He walked up he was pretty fat, wearing loafers with what looked like white socks that got washed with something red, now picture this, woman's maternity pants, yes you read it right. David and I looked at each other and tried not to laugh along with his thick glasses and REALLY greasy hair. After another hour and a half the lock was finally replaced after messing up the door pretty good. We didn't get to far before it was dark so we stopped for the night in New Mexico.

We planned on taking our time and stopping and several well known tourist spots, we got to see the Cadillac cars in the ground, the T-Pee hotel off route 66 and we wanted to see several other places as well as my grandparents in Oklahoma but then the movers called and said they would be there ahead of schedule so we had to cut our trip short and just drive. Our trip was a little rough with no air in the trailer and it seemed every place we stopped for the night was near the highway or railroad tracks so we got little to no sleep most of our trip except the last night. We ended up in another KOA campground in Springfield IL in middle of a corn field way off the road. We joke about it, calling it the KKK campground because it was pitch black when we got there and it was really far off the road. We finally got a little sleep there as it was quiet and it finally cooled off.

We were excited to see our house we would be renting, you see we rented it sight unseen. David's mom and step dad checked out the house for us so we trusted them and rented the house. We had no clue how to get to the house so Joe met us at Gurnee Mills mall parking lot for an escorted drive to the house. It seemed like we drove forever until we pulled up in front of the house. We finally pulled up and with Joe's assistance backed up the trailer (backing up the trailer was an issue for us) into the driveway. We got out and David and I looked at each other in disbelief when we saw the house. It was perfect! We were so glad to be there and finally off the road. We checked out the house and unloaded the trailer and went right to bed I think as the movers would be there bright and early the next day and stayed in that rental house for almost a year when we found a house for sale in the same neighborhood. We listed the California house and put an offer to the seller on the house and bought it as soon as the CA house sold and it's been history ever since.

We were very happy to be closer to the girls and we knew we made the right choice to move to Illinois.

Wet and warm summer

It has been a lazy, wet, and warm summer this year. Lazy and wet speak for themselves but the wet part has nothing to do with rain. It turns out Jenna just loves the water.

Almost every day she asks for "water...water" meaning the pool. It is a small plastic blue pool but she loves it. In fact, a couple weekends ago, we even got her older sisters Kayla and Becca in there with her. They had fun with Jenna in there. It was a little cramped but they still had fun.

We also have been working on important lessons this week. Teaching Jenna to say "DENIED" and of course everyones favorite "foreign kid" statement of "GOOD DAY". Now, we have worked on more important lessons like eating Oreo cookies correctly and winking.
Mostly we have played outside this summer. Playing with our neighbors kids and neices and nephews that have come to visit. It seems like this summer has gone by way too fast. As you can see, we had Sable out there with us, keeping the world safe.
Jenna sure loves her Sable (Yeah, that WAS my dog, but I think Jenna is taking that over too!

4th of July

What a great weekend we had except that Kayla and Becca were not able to be with us, they were spending the weekend with their Grandparents in the U.P (that's Upper Peninsula of Michigan for your foreigners).

Our friends Jeremy, Georgia (pictured to right with David)and kids, Chase and Jade came from PA for a visit. This is the first time we have seen them in about 4 or 5 years I think. They were the first of our friends to leave us, lol, and move away. Anyway we started out our our holiday weekend by going to a parade in Antioch. It was the usual parade with kids, animals, tractors and politicians but we all seemed to have a good time. After the parade we took Jeremy & Georgia to one of our favorite hot dog places, Scott Dogs for lunch while we were trying to figure out what to do for the day. Somehow we got on the subject of fishing so we ended up going to Lake Julian.
Lake Julian is a stocked fishing spot where you can either fish in the Trout pond or the stocked larger pond. Usually at the Trout pond you are almost guaranteed to catch a fish which is exactly what the kids did, they caught several Trout and really enjoyed it. It was pretty funny and I'll get grief for telling about it but I have to share a funny story. Jeremy was doing something to Jade's fishing pole when all of the sudden I head a "Plop" sound, I looked and Jade's pole went into the lake, the funniest part is there was a fish on the end of the line. Jeremy moved fast and was able to get the pole out of the water and even managed to bring in the fish. David and Chase took the fish into the office to have them weighed and cleaned and Chase was fascinated with the cleaning process of the fish. I think the guy that was cleaning the fish had fun talking to Chase and he gave Chase part of the fish, the head and guts. Chase being himself took the fish head out to show his mom and that's the funny part, he started chasing her around the parking lot with this fish head is has hand. After all the fish were cleaned and paid for we headed home to have some dinner and wait until dark to have our fireworks show.


The next day we went to brave the crowds at the Taste of Chicago and man it was crowded. We had a great time at the taste and promised the kids we would let them play in the fountain in Millennium park afterwards. The kids all had a great time playing in the water. After we left the taste we saved room for a yummy dinner at Famous Dave's Bar-B-Q. I think Jeremy was so stuffed he couldn't move .

We had a great weekend and it was really nice to see our old friends again.

Truly inspirational night

Saturday June 22, 2008 Missy and I went to the NPC Junior National Bodybuilding championships. This is a catapult to the NPC USA, which can propel you to professional bodybuilding status. What a very cool thing to attend for me. Missy and the girls gave me tickets for fathers day. It was very exciting for me. I was able to meet some of the professionals I read about everyday in the magazines like Desmond Miller to the right. Look at that guys ARMS!! OH MY GOSH!
I also was able to meet my mentor and trainer Dave Palumbo. Dave has been instrumental in helping me not only lose over 60 pounds in the last year, but also in teaching me tons about nutrition and exercise and getting to know my body. This guy is known as the "GURU" in the industry. Mr. Palumbo's advice is cutting edge and goes against mainstream information at times but after losing over 60 pounds, I would have to say he knows what the heck he is doing! Mr. Palumbo paid me the greatest compliment when meeting me by saying "I didn't even recognize you your face has thinned out so much and you look so much thinner". I send Mr. Palumbo pictures of me every week so it's not like he doesn't see me, just never in person. What an awesome honor to have met him personally.

I was also able to see Don Long (http://www.bodybuilders.com/long.htm), Dexter Jackson (http://www.dexterjacksonshredded.com/), Evan Centopani (http://evancentopani.com/), Bob Cicherillo (http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bobc.htm), Trey Brewer (http://www.treybrewer.com/), and Marcus Haley (http://www.marcushaley.com/). What a treat that was for me to see all of these guys. Marcus Haley was chowing down when we got to him of course. I mean really, what else would you expect from a bodybuilder?

It was amazing to me to watch all of these people, even the crowd, and the size of the people there. It was awe inspiring how hard they must work knowing how hard I have worked over the last year. It is funny, just the day before, I saw someone I hadn't seen in a long time and he said I looked like a monster because of my size....funny how small I looked even compared to the people in the crowd...heck, even the women in the crowd!I must say though, I could never have made it even this far without the support of my loving wife and daughters. They have encouraged me from day one to stay on course and keep on keeping on, even through rough times and injuries. They have been my inspiration through this. It has been an even higher honor to see my brother start working out again, and being able to help a few people get their motivation up to get going on their nutrition and excercise as well. This is a long life we get to have, being in shape and staying in shape will make it that much better on us.

Summer starts with Great America

Kayla and Becca are out of school now for the summer and they start out the summer with us for 2 weeks. Since David and I are both working we reached out to friends and family to aid with daycare. The first day they spent it with Kelly and Olivia who take care of Jenna, they played with the Olivia and Jenna and I'm sure they were a big help to Kelly as she wasn't feeling very well. Tuesday the girls were going with our friend and neighbor Yvette and her kids, Sammy & Susie to Great America. I got a call early that morning from Kelly that she still wasn't feeling good so I called in to stay home with Jenna while Kayla and Becca went to Great America, after talking it over with David we decided that Jenna and I would go too.

I have been to Great America before but in California, not here though. The kids all had a good time and it seemed that Jenna had a great time also considering she didn't nap until almost the end of the day. I can't get over how darring Kayla is though, she likes the big coasters. The picture of her pointing up is her pointing to her favorite one, I can't remember what the name of it is though. Nobody would go on it with her so Yvette put on a brave face and went with her, it was pretty funny talking to her on her cell while she was waiting in line, the closer she got the more she didn't want to go. Yvette was a trooper and afterwards she even admitted that it wasn't so bad. Susie wanted to go on the tallest drop (at least it's called something like that) so Kayla went on it with her, they are the two left seats. I was freaked out just watching them go on it. The sit in a seat that raises them all the way to the top and then drops the seat, no way, nah ahh, heck no, would I EVER go on it.



Jenna got to go on the Wiggle balloon ride with her big sister and had a lot of fun.

Kissing a Frog

For Memorial day we went over the Gebis's house for a bar-b-q. After everybody ate we went to the front so the kids could play and the adults could play bags. Bill and David were playing bags and then Bill took a break then came back with a little frog. He took turns putting it in his kids hands and then Jenna's. She was not happy at all as you can see but I had to take her picture even though she as screaming.

Mother's Day

David asked me what I wanted to do for Mother's day and I had been thinking how nice it would be to go to brunch, so brunch it was. I checked around and the best place sounded like Illinois State Beach Resort. David's mom had been there before and said it was a nice place overlooking Lake Michigan.

The night before we went to a concert for Tantric, one of our favorite bands. I was able to win tickets on 95.1 WIIL ROCK radio so it was nice to not pay for concert tickets. We ended up having a Very late night, not getting home until 2:30 so getting up early was a little difficult.

We picked up David's mom on the way and headed for the resort. We got there a little early so Jenna and I enjoyed the view of the beach and the lake until our table was ready. We were luck enough to have a great big table all to ourselves and we were greated by the hostess with a red rose.

What a great spread they had, fruits, desert, carving station and even shrimp and oysters (yuck). We pigged out on everything, it was so yummy. I think Jenna ate a couple pounds of strawberries all by herself.

I don't think I could of asked for a better Mother's Day, well except for having Kayla and Becca at brunch with us.

Bubbles

Our little one has discovered bubbles, it is so cute to watch her. She even had a little fit because she wanted bubbles and we had to get ready to leave, terrible two's are starting already, haha. We have to keep the bubbles hidden or she asks for them all the time if they are seen.