Our New TV

Here is a pic of our new but used TV. Chris sold us his 53" projection screen TV. We love it, it makes our living room look alot smaller. Now I don't have a problem seeing the tv from the dining table, usually the dining chairs or cushions from the couch are in the way. Now it doesn't matter because the TV is so big that I can see over it. The TV is as tall as I am. Anyway here are a few pics.

Christmas Eve and Day

Well Christmas Eve turned out well. Bachi came to stay with us from Sunday before Christmas Eve until Thursday. It was nice to have her help for the party. We had one thing go wrong while preparing for the party. She was making yams using the pyrex dish on the stove and it exploded into pieces. It was a good thing that Greg was home to help here because he said that she was so startled when it happened. Brandon and I were out doing errands. I was definetly tired once the night ended. But everyone had a great time and surprisingly in a smaller house it wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be. There was 12 of us (me, Greg, Brandon, my parents, Auntie Gail, Jill, Bachi, Auntie Lorraine and Uncle Ron, and 2 more including Sparkles and Sweets. Our dinner turned out great, we had a 18lb prime rib that was delicious. We had all the fixings to go with it. Jill brought an apple pie and she made a chocolate pudding pie with cool whip and raspberries. They both were a big hit. I made cranberry-orange biscotti that turned out good too. It was more work then I had anticipated but it tasted really good so it was worth it. After dinner we all opened our gifts and everyone got some really nice stuff. Brandon got the Wii from my parents. Greg bought me a TomTom (GPS), I was so EXCITED. The night before I was guessing what my gift was and I thought he got me an alarm clock so that's what I was expecting when I opened it. Greg got alot of really nice shirts and jacket. I got him a few shirts and a ottoman set that he likes.

Christmas Day, we got up early and Greg and Brandon opened up there santa gifts. There was one gift for the 3 of us, which was Wii games so that was cool. Greg got a Peet's gift card and Brandon got some tech decks (mini skateboards), dvd and magic trick stuff. Later that morning I made fried rice. Jill and Chris came over and we had lots of fried rice to eat. It was delicious, especially with the left over prime rib. After that Brandon, Greg, Jill and Chris went to see the "Golden Compass", they said that movie was good but had a terrible ending. They think there going to have a sequel. I stayed home and took Bachi to see a relative. Once they got home they were playing with the pogo stick outside, that was hilarious. After Christmas Day ended I was pretty exhausted by the last few days to prepare for the party and getting things done but it was all worth it.

Halloween

So this year Brandon decided to dress up for Halloween, he was a devil. Sparkles even got scared when she saw him with his mask on. When I dressed up she got scared when I had my witches hat on also. Brandon and I carved our pumpkins and we had a fun time doing it. I carved a dolphin on my pumpkin and Brandon made a funny face. We had about 60 trick-or-treaters this year, I wasn't sure how many we would have since were in a new neighborhood. It was a good thing that I bought enough candy. Brandon passed out candy again this year and he gave the kids candy based on there costume, if they had a good costume he gave them 3-5 pieces of candy if they had an ok costume then he only gave them 2 pieces. The first 2 girls that came were so adorable I think this was there first time, one was Belle from Beauty and the Beast and the other was Ariel from Little Mermaid. They had the full costume which included the wig and makeup. They were only about 3 or 4 years old. They were to shy to say Trick or Treat but they did say thank you. It was so cute. I took down my Halloween decorations today, I was sad since my decorations were really good this year. I put up a few fall decorations, christmas will be exciting I have a few good ideas.

Sunahara Lunch

So last week we had our Sunahara Lunch get together. We all had a good time. I made some spider devil eggs and graveyard pudding. Pics will be posted. Jill made these cool looking bat sandwiches. It was nice to see everyone that was there. We should have these get togethers more often but it's always hard to get everyone together. Some people were dressed in costumes which was cool. After we had lunch we played bingo to win some nice prizes. Everyone that came had to bring a $5 prize. I won some minature carmel apples and cute earrings. See everyone next year.

Kings Fandemonium

Brandon and I went to the Kings Fandemonium last night. We had a good time, Brandon got to take pics with some of the players. I will post them below. I wish I got to meet Kevin Martin, but we couldn't find him on the concourse. We did meet Ron Artest, Brad Miller, Orien Greene, and Kenny Thomas. They were not signing autographs but we were able to take pictures with the players. Overall it was a good show and we had a great time!

Dixon Corn Maze

Brandon and I went to the Dixon Corn Maze yesterday, which was named the Guinness World Recod Dixon Corn Maze. It was 40 acres long, there were alot more people then last year. It took us about 2 hours to get through the entire maze. They had 2 sets of stairs and 2 bridges to get to, we made it to one stairs and both bridges. We were both starving by the time we got out of the maze, at least we took bottled water in so we weren't thirsty. Since I'm not so good when it comes to directions, I actually did pretty good. I got us to the bridge in the circle of the maze and got us out of the maze. So I guess my sense of direction is getting better. They had alot of pumpkins to choose from alot of things for kids to do. We ended up getting 2 big pumpkins and some gords and little pumpkins. If anyone is debating whether to go to the maze, I would recommend it. I wouldn't recommend it thou if you had young kids, like under 7 because they might get bored. Kids in strollers would definetly not be recommended since walking through the maze it's not an even ground which would make it a very bumpy ride in a stroller. But the young kids would definetly like the pumpkin patch and hay ride. We didn't make it on the hay ride, we were to tired. Hope everyone has a good Halloween!

Bowling

Last night at bowling I bowled my first ALL spare game, YEAH! I only get a patch for it, but it's better then nothing. I'm just happy that I was able to get all spares. Overall my series was 551 (186-168-197). My last game I had 6 strikes for the entire game, to bad I had 2 opens. Hopefully I will bowl just as good tomorrow.

First Kings Preseason Game

Brandon and I went to our first preseason game for the Kings, against the Seattle Supersonics! I can't believe the season is back again, time sure flys by fast. I hope we can make it to the playoffs this year, will see! The game last night was good, there wasn't alot of people that showed but that's normal for a preseason game. We changed our season seats this year, we got alot closer and a better view. I took some pics, which will be posted below. You will also see a pic of Brandon wearing his personalized jersey with his favorite number 7. Sase (Greg) and I are going to another preseason game tomorrow vs the Phoenix Suns. This should be a good game, they have a good team this year.

Girls Nite Party

This past Saturday I had a Girls Nite party with some coworkers at work. We had a blast. A few didn't show since they were under the weather, but there will definetly be other parties. During the party we also had my friend Heidi come and give a presentation for "Pure Romance". This was her first show and she did really well. Seems like everyone had a good time, I bought a few new products to try so will see.... Beverly made some good but strong jello shots, I think that's what made everyone a little tipsy. No one got drunk thou. My taco salad which I used Tammie's receipe came out ok considering I bought the dry mix dressing and then when Heidi went to the store to get me the right dressing they only had the Kraft brand. I was suppose to use the Hidden Valley brand, but it turned out ok anyway. All the food turned out good! Thanks to all that came and will have more parties that's for sure.

Finally Moved In

Were finally in! Sorry I haven't been able to post any blogs in a while but we didn't have internet access at our new house until today. We have moved everything into our new house except for a few things that are still at the old house. Our new house is starting to look like home more every day. Our new house is alot smaller then our last one but it feels like home and the neighborhood is alot quieter and the neighbors are so friendly. We have a great landlord, she's so easy to work with. I have a "Girls Nite" party this Saturday so my goal is to have the house ready by then. The last minute touches will be hanging the pictures and putting up my figurines and Kings stuff. I think one of the major parts of the move for me was moving our fish "Lightening". I was so worried that he might not survive the move. He's doing good and I think he likes his new home. The worse part of the move was that I sprained my right foot last Thursday. I was trying to take the short cut and wear flip flops during the move that day since it was a hassle taking my shoes off and on everytime I brought something into the new house. We have light carpet so there is no shoes allowed in the house. I know that I should have worn tennis shoes but I was just being lazy. We have been moving stuff since Sunday so by Thursday I was pretty tired. My mistake that night was putting a heat pad on it instead of ice. The heat made my foot throb even more. I was almost in tears just thinking that it was the sprain getting worse. The thought of having heat on instead of ice didn't even cross my mind until Greg said I should but an ice pack and after that the throbbing stopoped. I slept with a ice pack on for the next few days and also Greg had me roll my foot on a small basketball to work it out and that helped out alot. I almost was at the point of going to the hospital but I didn't want to pay that high copay for them to tell me that it's bruised or sprained and for me to just not walk on it. On Saturday my mom brought me some old crutches that my grandpa had that I used around the house. As of today I can walk on my foot so I'm alot better but I'm still limping. If I put pressure in the wrong place then I get this pain that goes up my leg. I wasn't able to bowl last Friday and possibly not tomorrow but hopefully by this Friday. Will see.

Sparkles and Sweets have done really well in the move. They adjusted to the new home really good. They both have been outside. Sparkles likes that we have a sliding screen door in the kitchen that leads to the backyard, she likes to just lay on the hardwood floor and feel the outside breeze. I like it too. So far since we've lived here we haven't had to run the A/C, thank god it hasn't been to hot. The weather during our entire move was perfect, one day it rained a little but that didn't stop us.

Below are pictures of our new house.

Moving

So we got the keys this morning to our new house. We briefly did a walk thru and I took a bunch of pictures of dings and stuff we saw. Brandon chose his bedroom, it turned out that the 2 smaller bedrooms that he had to choose from were the same size just one would get less sun then the other. He chose the one that would get less sun, since right now his room gets alot of sun and it's so hot in his room. Especially on those 100 degrees weather days. Once we did the walk through we headed back to our current house and loaded up Greg's truck and Highlander to start moving stuff. My mom came about an hour later after we got the keys. She helped us back and unload several loads. She helped me line all the shelves in the house which was a huge help. Thanks Mom!! After that she headed home. Greg and I went to get lunch at Jimboys and then we went to the furniture store to look at dining sets. Alot of the ones they had on the showroom floor were to tall, when I sat in the chairs my feet didn't even touch the ground. We found a couple that we liked, so at least we have an idea of what that store had. I plan to go look at Beck's this week, my mom said that they have a clearance sale. Hopefully will choose something soon so we have a dining table. Right now were using Kristy's patio table. Brandon is still packing, he has so much stuff that it's going to take him a few more days. It's just hard because he has school and he may not have alot of time. So he might have to wait and do more packing on Saturday. I have to work tomorrow so I won't be moving any stuff until Tuesday. But Monday night I can get things ready for Tuesday morning. John and his dad are coming tomorrow night to pick up the pool table. I forgot to take pics of the house before we moved in, I will take pics on Tuesday to show our progress of us moving in. Check back in the next few days to see pics.

In the Bay

Saturday, we went to the bay for the day. We left at 9:30am and headed to El Cerrito. Arrived around 11. Then went to eat lunch at Katana-ya, it's a noodle house. Brandon loves to eat Ramen so Jill recommended that we try there. The food was pretty good. Greg ran into a friend that he grew up with. He always runs into someone that he knows. After that we went to the dollar japanese store got a few things. We went to my hair appt at 1pm. While I was getting my hair re-dyed and cut by Teri, Greg took Brandon to Pinocle rock. Brandon loves rock climbing so he had a great time. I really like my hair color and hair cut, Teri did an excellent job as always. 2 hours later they came back to pick me up and we went to Ikea. We got our rug that we have been looking for and a spatula for my mom. Once we left Ikea we went to the Bone Room, which is a place in Berkeley that sells different types of animal bones and other stuff. Brandon got 3 mexican jumping beans which kept him up last night. ha ha After there we went to pick up Zachary's and we brought it back to Greg's mom and step dad's house. Brandon had a great time there as he loves the outdoors. She has a really nice big yard. Don showed Brandon how to use an Bow and Arrow for the first time, he really liked that as well. I will post the pics. After dinner we drove back to Greg's grandma's house and picked up his truck and we headed back home. Finally got home shortly before 10. We all got ready for bed and prepared for the move the next day......

First Blog

So here is my first blog using "Blogger". I plan on updating this as often as possible and adding photos of things that happen during the day. So please check back as often as possible to see and read about "Life of a Dolphin".