Family Reunion :o)

It's been ages since my family all got together. The last time was when I was pregnant with Alerina. So . . . . . of course, we HAD to take an updated family picture when we all got together couple of weeks ago! It's amazing to see how the kids have grown!

Year - 2006:

Year - 2008:

Our New Home . . . .

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!

We got to Cedar Rapids on the Thursday, January 3. My parents got to Cedar Rapids on Friday, January 4 at 3 o' clock. By the time they got to the apartment we were renting it was 3:30. We had an appointment to see a house at 4:00 so we rushed them to come with us to see the house. When we got to the house, my parent wondered why we wanted to see the house that was already sold. Well, we told them we wanted them to see the layout of the house. After an hour of walking around in the house, we finally told them our news . . . Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! It was us who bought the house!!! My parents had a no clue . . . even after an hour of chit-chatting with the agent . . . they still had no clue . . . they thought we were just trying to get informations and prices. They were shocked beyond shocked!!! Anyways, on January 7, we closed escrow on our very own house!!! It was an unbelievable day as we signed papers and got the key to the house!!!

The next day (Jan. 8) was an exciting/busy day because the movers came with our stuff that morning and that night we got to unpack stuff and slept in our house for the very first time.

Back to the Surprise . . . . . . . . still at this point no one knew we bought a house. On January 9, my sister and her boyfriend came to visit us and they found out as they were brought to a new house rather than an apartment. That night, my brother and his family came and again they found out then. It was exciting surprising them with our little surprise :o) - hee . . . hee . . . hee!

Anyways, it all started back in October when we visited Iowa, we looked at houses and fell in love with this particular house. In November, we made an offer and our offer was accepted. We were way beyond EXCITED!!!!! We wanted to spread the news but felt we should wait till we closed escrow to spread the good news.

To me, our house is our DREAM HOME! It's what I've always wanted in a home and more. It's a brand new house, it has 4 bedrooms, 3 1/2 bath, a den/scrapbook room, a stainless steel kitchen with an island, a deck outside the kitchen, a walkout basement, my very own walk-in closet, a beautiful view all around the house, a 3 car garage, a kid's toy pantry, a 800 square foot of storage room/game room and just tons and tons of space. It's in newly developed quiet neighborhood and throughout the house, there are big, big windows where you can look out and enjoy the view! Let's just say . . . . I LOVE IT!!!!

Hi there! First time blogger here. I never felt the need to blog till recently. I moved to Iowa from sunny California just under a month ago. My husband, my kids, and I moved here because of my husband's job.

Let's back up a little and let you know a little about myself before all of this . . . . . I was born in Germany but grew up in good ol' L.A. I went to elementary school, junior high, high school, and even college in the valley. I lived in the valley for 25 years of my life!!! I know the area, the roads, and the surroundings in the back of my head.

My husband and I were married back in 2003 and living with my mom and sister. We had our first son in 2004. Went to Ohio to visit my brother's family in 2005 and fell in love with the lifestyle they had. It was very, very different than L.A.'s lifestyle. Back in Ohio it was a family-oriented community . . . you felt safe to have your kid's out and about playing in the front yard . . . the people was genuinely nice . . . it was a slower pace of life . . . you get to focus on what's important in life, which to us was our son. After that trip, my husband and I knew that was the "perfect" lifestyle we wanted.

In 2006 my daughter was born. 3 years gone by since we've been married and still living with my mom and sister and still dreaming of that "perfect" lifestyle. While I was on maternity-leave with my daughter, I received news that my department was closing so . . . . I was laid-off from my job and my husband and I decided to use the opportunity for me to stay-at-home with the kids. In the summer of 2007, my husband came home from work and ask me what I thought of Iowa? Well, to be honest . . . I don't think of the state Iowa. I don't lose sleep over it and I really don't think of it. Let's just say after that question, I did think of it because my husband had an opportunity to transfer job there. The thought of moving to a state that we've never been to was beyond scary and crazy I thought. I did my research and was open-minded that it would be a great move for us, raise our family there, a slower-pace of lifestyle (crossing my fingers at that time!) . . . . just what we've always wanted. In October of 2007, the whole family visited Iowa for the very first time. We there for only 5 whole days and we fell in love with the place. It was like Ohio but quieter and much, much slooooooooooooooooower!!!

In the beginning of 2008, we left good ol' fast-paced, overly-crowded, always traffic, sunny-warm L.A. to start our new life in quiet, slower-paced, family-oriented, five-season Iowa.

At the present moment, we are playing indoors. Actually we are mostly indoors since we've moved here because it is COLD-COLD-COLD outside. It is heavily snowing at the moment with a temperature of 11 degrees out. See what I mean by . . . . . COLD-COLD-COLD!!!!

With being indoors alot, I'm hoping to get alot of unpacking done, catch up on my scrapbooking and maybe crochet here and there . . . but with the kid's it's sort of tough . . . . my days are pack with their daily routine schedule so hopefully when I get a moment or two in between of their naps :o) . . . . . I will blog some more . . . till then!