We're still here...really

I know...it's been so long since I've blogged. Life is good, busy, fun, and always exciting. I've been putting off blogging because I have so many photos to sort through and organize. Then I realized that doesn't matter. So here I am. Blogging.

We love our new neighborhood. There are many kids for our girls to play with. It's a quiet and safe area. We're right next to a little tiny park appropriately named "Bunny Park" with many little bunnies visiting in the evening. The neighbors like to walk their dogs to this park and sometimes the kids come there to play. It's just grass and a couple benches, but it's a nice little park.

This summer has had many fun adventures. First was our first trade show. Mark & I went to Las Vegas in June to show our pendant line. It was for wholesale accounts only, to the trade. The other vendors were also showing their hand crafted items. I was really impressed with the integrity and beauty of the other products being shown. We were blessed with many new wholesale accounts around the country. The week we returned, we moved.


Moving is always an adventure. The last move seemed so much easier than this one. Probably since we had to get everything in one trip...made it seem harder. (But we really made it in two trips.) Now we are settling in nicely. Things are unpacked and we've been rearranging until it feels more like home. It's getting there. The nice part is that there's a loft for the studio so we aren't set up in the living room like before. The girls had their own rooms, but missed each other at night, so are back to sharing a room. This made space for a play room across the hall from their room. The guest room downstairs is great for extra storage from the studio. My favorite part of the house is the view from the back yard. In stead of looking at a tan brick wall, we have a view of the hills of Carlsbad and San Marcos. It was great on the 4th of July. We sat on the deck off the master to watch the fireworks. My second favorite part of the house is opening the windows for a nice afternoon breeze. I LOVE that! ♥


Haven's school is very close. I believe it takes about 3 minutes to get there. Her class is small with about 20 kids. She's so excited to start first grade on Monday. Next to her school is the community swimming pool. We had swimming lessons this summer from a great new friend. The girls learned a lot and had tons of fun. Next to the pool and the school is the Peacock Park (officially called Leo Carrillo Ranch). Leo Carrillo is an old movie star (side kick of the Cisco Kid) who lived here in the early 1900's. We've gone there many times to see all the peacocks that live there - must be about 80 of them.

Sienna is excited to start preschool next week. There is a lady in the ward who has taught preschool in her home for 15 years, taught K & 1st grade for about 10 years as well. She'll go there 3 days a week in the morning.

Mark & I have been busy with HomeStudio. We are so amazed at how this business keeps growing. We've sold over 30,000 pendants in the past year. One of our newest accounts is in Downtown Disney! Gotta love that! This summer we have been just swamped with orders. Thankfully we have had some of the girls in the ward come help us package so we could get caught up. Two have gone off to school for the year. We have one sweet girl who will stay on with us this year for an internship.

We have had some fun summer trips. For Haven's birthday we went to Sea World. It had been years since either Mark or I had been. Boy that was fun. We've explored different beaches and driven through lots of different areas around here to learn more about the area. We've found many of the great shopping areas and some good restaurants. Last week we celebrated the end of summer at Disneyland. We took my mom who hadn't been since the 80's.

It's nice living closer to some of our family. We've been able to visit with cousins we haven't seen in years. It was nice having Grandma & Grandpa come visit from Oregon. Two of Mark's sisters were able to visit with us as well as some of the cousins.

Our new ward is great. We are meeting a lot of new, super nice people. This is the place we are meant to be right now. We're looking forward to starting a new phase of our life here.