In Between Houses

In between living at the Stockdale house and our new house we found ourselves temporarily at Tim and Brenda's.

During that time we got to spend lots of time with Tim, Brenda and most importantly little Jesse.

The kids really got to know their cousin Jesse and were pretty much inseparable the entire time.

 

The swing got a lot of attention and eventually turned into an everyday occurrence.

 

 We even got to spend a day in Fresno with Brenda's family!

We did a lot more stuff while we were there but unfortunately I hardly took any pictures...  All in all we had a good time staying with them and it was a great transition between free rent and our new house.  I'm glad we got that opportunity to get to know Tim's family better and that the cousins were able to spend so much quality time together.  Jesse is such a sweet and adorable boy and it was fun getting to help take care of him during that time.

HDM Hit 500 Fans!

Our 2 Year Stay at Grandma's House

In September we came to the conclusion that our stay at Grandma's house must finally come to an end.  After 2 seemingly short years living there it was very sad to leave but we'll always remember the good times we had there.  Our family sure did a lot of growing up in that little yellow mobile home and we truly enjoyed out time there.


A few of the things I'll miss:
The apricot tree in the backyard.  Mmm... I can almost taste the apricots just thinking about them.  And not only was the fruit the most delicious you'll ever taste but the blossoms were so beautiful.  I could always admire them out my kitchen window.


The swimming pool.  Never in my whole life have I ever had a swimming pool IN my back yard until we moved here.  It's such a good feeling, especially living in the heat of Bakersfield, to know that at ANY time the kids and I could jump in the nice cold pool.


Free rent.  During our stay we lived super cheap and put almost everything back into the business.  It's because of this amazing blessing that HDM is the successful company that it is today.  We couldn't have done it otherwise.

My morning run.  There was never a lack of new places to go running.  The almond orchards across the field were always my favorite especially when they were in full bloom.  And not that I've gone running in a while but it's just not the same in the city.

Living so close to family.  I always loved living so close to Andrew's mom, dad and grandma.  I feel like during that time we formed a special bond with them and I'll always have a greater love and respect for them now.  It was also nice to always know that any time I needed a friend there was someone less than a football field away that would be there for me.  I loved getting to spend time with them and with Grandma Bailey and getting to know them better.  Grandma Bailey is such a remarkable lady and I love hearing her stories.  I'm especially grateful that the kids got to spend so much time with them and I even miss the times when the kids would suddenly go missing and I always knew right where to find them ;)

There are a few things I certainly won't miss about living there; the musty mobile home smell, the mice coming in from the field, the family of opossums living under the house, the 20 minute drive out of town, the constant weeds and of course running face to face with the occasional skunk however all together our stay there was amazing and such a huge blessing for our family.  I hope Andrew's parents and grandma know what a huge help it was for us and how much we truly appreciate and love them.  

HDM Magic Mountain Trip

Andrew decided it would be a good idea to have a "team building day" so we took the HDM crew to Magic Mountain!  Meet the team...

Kim (the Editor)

Josh (the Visual Effects Guy) and Me
and of course Andrew is behind the camera

We may have gotten a little wet...  Turns out 4 people on the Log Jammer is not the best idea :)

Evelyn Starts School

August 23rd, 2010~

The day before Evelyn started preschool I took her to the store to buy some supplies.  We got her a few new outfits along with her very first backpack.  She picked the Elmo one out all by herself.  She couldn't get over all the neat little pockets and places to put her things!  That night her new teacher, Laurel, came over and brought her a few things for class.  She was super excited, the first thing she did was find a place in her backpack for everything.

My baby boy turned 3!

August 21st, 2010~

Preston is getting to be such a big boy and I love him so much.  For his birthday we went to Tehachapi and my parents had already planned out this fun little trip to the park with lunch and cake included.  My parents are seriously the best!  My sister and her family, my Grandparents and my brother Scott were in town for a couple days so it was the perfect time to get together.

Preston getting ready to blow out the candles on his birthday cake made special for him by his Grandma.  She even let him lick the chocolate frosting off the spatula after she frosted it!

 The kids hadn't seen each other in a couple months 

so it was a very happy reunion for them.  

Joshua (6), Evelyn (4), Eliza (4), Lilly (10 months),
Aubrey (3) and Preston (Just turned 3).

 

Evelyn with her cousin Eliza.

 

 Preston even got a special birthday hug from his cousin Aubrey.  It was so sweet to watch these two bond that day.  They played with each other the entire day... swinging on the swings and going down the slide together :)

 

Me with the birthday boy!