Sacramento or Bust!

After spending three nights in our new home, we headed out of town to a Hyatt in Sacramento for a week. Youth Specialties Convention Season is here! I got to attend the convention as a volunteer while Ian, well, it's his job. Besides a great convention, a few of the highlights included:

1. The view from our room.


2. A great visit with Ian's aunt, uncle, and cousins at their home, also known as the Double Decker Ranch.


3. A visit to the California Capitol Building.


No Governor sightings on this trip, but our attempts took us to his office where we met a security officer who let us know he was out of town.

A fantastic trip, but we are so glad to be back in our home!!

A new home...the adventure begins!

Thanks to so many gracious people, we were able to move our entire apartment into our new home on Saturday. We are seriously so thankful for each person because the move itself only took three and half hours!! I would say that is a record.

We absolutely love the house! Darby still has some getting used to it, but that will come with time.

Although we have only been in the house for three nights, I have already learned a few things about being a new homeowner:

1. There needs to be an understanding with the current tenants.
For the first two days, when I walked into the front door, I also walked through a thick spider web. The spider finally realized that is was the door I preferred to walk through so if it wanted to keep it's masterpieces, it needed find another door.
Also, the Praying Mantis that I have named "Pete" (not Peetie, or Peter, just Pete) likes to be left alone as he perches on our porch light in the mornings.


When taking this picture, he did a hissing/chirp thing that made me believe he wasn't going to move and so I needed to accept that.

2. It's going to take time to get to know each other.
When in a new relationship everything is a new discovery. I have made a few discoveries already. There are switches that when turned on, don't appear to do anything, although they are doing something somewhere. There are creeks under certain stairs and not others. What may appear to be secure, might fall off with the wrong amount of pressure is applied.

As we get to know this house, it will get to know us and we are so excited for it to become a wonderful home. I can already tell it is going to a fantastic adventure!!!

Ian's film project update:

During the last eight months, Ian has successfully completed eight short films. Being that he still has a full time job, a ministry he volunteers for, and a wife, the task of writing, directing, and editing each film has not been an easy one. The experience and process though, has been invaluable to him.

Last week, "The Mystery Box", the first film of the year, was accepted to be screened at the San Diego Film Festival. It will be showing Thursday, September 25th at 5:00pm and Friday, September 26th at 2:30pm. If you are interested in attending either of these showings, $10 tickets can be purchased here beginning September 15th.

Four films remain to be made this year, each of a different genre. To watch for updates of the status of these films check out 12filmsin12months.com.

Home Owners...almost!

To celebrate our anniversary, Ian planned a fun day of visiting the same spots we spent on the day we got engaged. We were going to tour some boats docked downtown and visit some museums at Balboa Park. Dinner at Wahoos Fish Tacos and watching the sunset off the cliffs in La Jolla was also on the schedule.

Plans changed when we decided to put an offer on a house we went to see the night before. An hour after putting in that offer we were accepted to be the proud owners of an amazing house in La Mesa.



This process has been a whirlwind! We are still a little over a month away before we get the keys but in the meantime we are in awe and so incredibly thankful! As we go through this process, we just ask for prayers that everything goes smoothly.

Four Years Ago on a Beautiful Summer's Day...

We got married!!!

So much life has happened during those short four years, and we wouldn't change a minute of it!

The Competition has Begun!

Ever since we got married, Ian and I have had an understanding: working out together is not an option. The primary reason is my competition issues. When we run together, play video games together, or play any game at that matter, I really want to win! This desire sometimes causes tension between us so we just don't. Over the years, I have definitely seen results in the lack of doing anything. For health reasons I have been wanting, no, needing to do SOMETHING.

Well this week we found that something. Wii Fit! The Wii Fit balance board comes with an exercise games such as Yoga, Strength Training, Aerobic, and Balance. The board monitors your weight, BMI, and every movement you make during the exercises. If you complete the exercise correctly, you get more points. The more points you get, more games unlock and you play longer.

Our current morning workout routine: Ian wakes up early and works out. I wake up when he leaves for work and beat his scores. This is what I think is the true meaning of "healthy competition!"

A Day at Paramount

Friday was a fantastic day! To celebrate Ian's birthday season and inspire him for his 12 films project, we took a train to Union Square and then took a cab to the front gates of Paramount Pictures. Our friend Jamie (who was also celebrating a birthday season) took us to meet a friend Brent who works as prop master on the set of "Everyone Hates Chris." He was so gracious to let us intrude on his work day and show us around.

We heard that Paramount was smaller than Warner Brothers Studio, where we had a great experience last year. Could anything be better than getting to go on the Gilmore Girls set? We didn't know what to expect. The experience on Friday though, was by far not a disappointment. Everyone we met on the set was so incredibly kind and welcoming. The first thing we did is get to go a set where they were filming an episode. This filming was not on a live audience studio, so we found a corner on the set and watched on the sidelines. The person who was in charge of sound on the set came up to us and gave us each headsets so we could hear all of the dialogue loud and clear.

An incredible moment for me was realizing who the director was of this episode. Before I knew it, I was just a few feet away from Debbie Allen. If you were a "Fame" fan as I was growing up, you will understand my excitement. Her resume also includes many Broadway Shows and numerous other tv shows. Yes, when she was counting off "5,6, 7, 8.." in her choreographing voice, I was star-struck.

Brent then needed to do a run to the prop house and we got to tag along. It was fantastic! First we had to return a prop gun. The gentleman behind the counter asked if we wanted him to show us around. OF COURSE! We went into the first room where it was filled with hand guns of so many different eras. We held the ones used in Pirates of the Caribbean and then he handed me the one that Angelina Jolie used in Laura Croft. This type of tour is not something I would have expected to be excited about, but it was incredible to see the historical knowledge these people had and dedication they put into safety for the people on movie sets. They even designed guns for movies like Transformers and Star Trek. We then wondered around the warehouse of every prop you could imagine. It was so much fun and we were so thankful for that tour!

The end of the day as Brent took us around the back lot to show us a few more things. We ran into one of the stars from the show, Terry Crews, who plays the dad on the show. His resume includes many movies and tv shows as well. I was so impressed by his kindness. After a long day shooting, he stopped to talked to us for a while, posed for a picture, and was willing to sign an autograph for one of my middle schoolers.



At the end of the day we needed to catch a train back to San Diego. This meant racing to our cab hoping to void some La traffic. We made our train with 12 minutes to spare! It really was an amazing day for us!