Kirk & Valerie Stolworthy

Sesame Street Presents The Body

2009-06-04T21:23:00.000-07:00

In the beginning of April, which I know was long ago, some of us took our kids to the Sesame Street exhibit on the body. I think the parents expected more, but the kids had a great time!

Milana with her pals Claire and Chase.

Grocery shopping, if only she could really run to the supermarket for me!

The organ organ! It taught about the different organs of the body.

Her favorite part was this obstable course.

Getting tired out so that she would nap well for me!

Although the exhibit was smaller than I thought, she still had a great time and we would do it again.

Milana's 2nd Birthday!

2009-05-14T22:33:00.000-07:00

For those who know her actual birthday know I am way behind on this post. The nausea and fatigue has put blogging on an even farther burner! Her stats were height 36" (95th percentile)and 27 lbs (50th percentile). We had a birthday party that I tried to keep small, but with all the family around plus a few close friends made it hard to do. She had a great time and it was worth the work.

"Helping" with her cupcakes.

Hogging the bubble maker.

Enjoying a plate solely of fruit, her favorite!

We had a sweet dance party inside so that the Easter eggs could be hidden. I figured that since it was a few weeks before Easter (March 29) we could pull that off as the game/activity.

Kids looking for the eggs.

Milana getting a little help from my cousin, Barbara.

The impromptu game of spin the kids on the towel!

Opening one of her favorite gifts. She loves wearing that Dora night

gown, thinks it nice enough to wear out.

Milana is as sassy as always, but also really sweet. She is really starting to make a distinction between English and Portuguese. She'll say something in one language and if she thinks you didn't get it she'll repeat it in the other language. For now she speaks mostly in Portuguese and I hope it stays like that. She can count to at least 10 in both, and is getting close to knowing the alphabet in both as well. Her sentences a lot of the time includes both as well. It's pretty cute! It will be fun to see how she does with the new baby. Hopefully Milana will teach her to speak Portuguese as well.

Sorry about the formatting, it wouldn't behave and I'm too tired to keep trying!

So You May Have Heard...

2009-04-29T20:26:00.000-07:00

...we're having another baby. I am actually already 19 weeks, just been too tired and sick to mass notify! This time around I am less nauseous, but still not enjoying the being pregnant experience. We found out that we are having another girl! It's what I wanted, and I hope that it will be something that Milana will appreciate having. I've tried explaining to Milana what is happening, and she's been to a couple of doctor's appointments, but she either doesn't get it or doesn't care!

Here is the new girl practicing her defensive moves for when Milana attacks her!

Blog As Needed

2009-02-19T21:56:00.000-08:00

It's not as though I mean not to post, but it just doesn't seem necessary when you feel that not much is happening. And then I look at my camera and realize how much has passed...and how much longer Milana's hair has grown.

Kirk took Milana on a daddy-daughter date back in November to Sesame Street Live. And Milana had a fantastic time, so I heard.

Here she is at the show, her first concert. I have been meaning to post this video for sometime. It's one of my favorite Milana clips of all time! Watch how she tries to sing along and holds the notes. So funny!

Milana enjoying a beautiful fall day, I wish we had some of the warmth back. It's been freezing (aka 55 degrees)

At the Griffith Park Festival of Lights in December.

Playing with bff Chase at the Mommy and Me class holiday party.

Tickling Chase, Milana likes to tickle others...so fun!

Christmas morning in her new playhouse. She closed it up and played in it all day, inviting full grown people to play inside with her. Tight squeeze!

That is not a doll she is holding, but her new cousin Truman.

Milana can't wait for Truman to visit again, she talks about holding him on her lap and hugging and kissing him.

Enjoying other people's gifts!

Christmas in Camarillo, so proud of her tree treat.

Playing with frienemy, Claire. Milana has become really bossy, Claire doesn't always love it!

Here are some family photos taken by Ashley at the end of December. I think they turned out fantastic, despite Milana's constant meltdown!

Enjoying Noah's Ark exhibit at the Skirball Museum with gal pals!

This is how we roll in L.A. or at the Museum of Air and Space.

Chase and Milana at the Getty Center. Not as toddler friendly as we imagined! This photo was taken in the kid friendly room at the museum, the whole place was the size of my living room and the rest of the museum is HUGE!

Nice view at the museum, trust me, the photo doesn't do it justice!

There you have it! That should do it for the next for the next three months, just kidding...I hope!

Halloween Festivities

2008-11-10T20:02:00.000-08:00

Another trip to a pumpkin patch, but this time with bff cousin Kelsey. They kept holding hands, way cute.

Kirk with his last minute, impromptu costume. Don't ask me...

Milana in her crazy, but cute costume. She was a Halloween doll, at least that is what we came up with for the funky costume.

It was warm enough for ice cream. LOVE California.

Kirk's work puts on a Halloween Party, and this was part of the petting zoo. A zebra! Yes, we did get to touch it.

Milana trick-or-treating with boyfriend Chase. They also kept holding hands.

Milana feeding the horses at the pumpkin patch.
I kept praying that they wouldn't eat her fingers.

With a young chicken at the work party.
She is always excited to play with animals.

Milana was so excited this Halloween, that the next day she wanted to go again. We walked a bit down the street, but had to explain that we would not be asking anyone for more candy. She was really sad about it!

Pumpkin Pickin'

2008-10-23T14:19:00.000-07:00

Last week Milana and I accompanied our Mommy and Me class to Lombarbi Ranch for pumpkin fun. It was quite the drive and it was really warm, but we had a great time.

Milana getting lost in the hay maze.

Gearing up for the the train ride with bff Chase.
It was a long, slow ride through a dense sunflower patch. Milana was excited and kept saying "choo choo."

A little hesitant a first at the petting zoo.

Then it was game on. She kept putting her hand against the animals' mouths. She had nothing to feed them, so they kept turning away.

By far her favorite part of the trip was the petting zoo. She had to say "hi" to each one, and when we left she had to say "bye" to each one. We were the last ones to leave the pen. Here are a few videos of her efforts to bond with the animals.

I am warning her to NOT pull on the tail.

Sheer excitement!

Herding the goats. She did this quite a few times.

After lunch we went to check out the other animals. Since she had touch the animals at the petting zoo she thought she could touch the others as well.
Milana kept wanting to stick her hand in the pen and cages!

To finish the trip we went in search of the perfect pumpkin.

Showing off the picked pumpkins. Tired and hot, but left happy.

Oktoberfeast

2008-10-02T19:27:00.000-07:00

That's right...Oktoberfeast! I finally got enough death threats to actually post. In all honesty I am not the most consistent blogger, but we did move (still not totally unpacked), Kirk is actually home in the evenings now, and I still have not found my camera cable. Kirk remembered that my parents also have a Canon camera and that their cable might work, which it did, allowing me to get all the photos uploaded last week. So scroll down if you wish to find out what we have been up to these last few (hardly) weeks!

18 Months!

2008-10-02T19:26:00.001-07:00

Milana turned 18 months on Monday. It seems like she has been 18 months for a while since she already has gone to nursery and I have been telling everybody that she was, for rounding up purposes. She is now 34.25 in tall (97th percentile) and 23.5 lbs (45th percentile). She is really active and loving that she has her own backyard which really saves me most days. She understands a lot of Portuguese, but not so much English. That doesn't stop her from watching Sesame Street and her beloved Elmo. I tried to find Elmo dvds in Portuguese, but haven't been able to. She talks a LOT, but only makes a little sense. I guess she understands herself and that is all she cares about. Here are some photos of her I took last week in a skirt that my mom made. She is trying to get these sold and wanted to send pictures to potential buyers. Milana loved wearing the skirt and was sad to let go. Without any help from me (since it's not really my thing) she has become really girly!

Cancun and Beyond

2008-10-02T19:25:00.000-07:00

We went to Cancun in mid-August and had an amazing time. The only thing/person missing was my sister, Stefanie. The hotel had the biggest pool in Mexico. It actually does hold some kind of title, like biggest, continuous pool in the world or something or other. What I thought was so cool about it was the fact that it had some really shallow areas where Milana could run around. What we did not enjoy was the fact the the water was too warm, and you didn't feel much relief from the sun.

Milana having fun in the pool.

Beach in Cancun where the water was shallow and refreshing!

We got a chance to see Chitzen Itza. Although it was miserably hot, it was completely worth it!

The path was too gravelly for Princess Milana's stroller/car seat. Best craig's list purchase ever!

Milana wanting to get a feel of the land for herself, a.k.a. refusing to sit in her stroller.

We took the short ferry ride to Cozumel and rented unsafe bugs. Sarah sat in the front in order to use the only seat belt in the two rentals. Being pregnant and driving in Mexico was reason enough to get shotgun!

Having lunch at the beach excuses Milana from being semi-naked in a restaurant. Plus, I can't say no to her when she hands out those duck-y kisses.

Another shallow and mild beach for us. When you have a pregnant woman and a toddler this is the best location. The guys soon got bored and we moved to a beach with big, strong waves.

We went to Tulum another day and enjoyed another great archeological site along with the awesome beach backdrop.

As we were walking up to the site we passed this ambulance and Jason joked that it was there for him. It turned out that it really was. Tulum was really rocky and we came in flip-flops to enjoy the beach. Jason ended up cutting his toe on a rock and requested medical attention.

Long discussion about jumping off. It was higher than it looks in the photo. They all eventually jumped.

We went to an eco-park called Xcaret. Touristy and expensive, but fun. Milana is now obsessed with fish.

Trying to make new friends. There where iguanas all over the place, the hotel included. We have tons of pictures of them, thanks to Kirk!

A cold treat to cool off. We practically lived in our swimsuits that week!

Mayan? Pre-Mayan? We thought the costume was cool. Very Lamanite! Sorry about the bad picture. We had to be quick, there was a line and we were also in a hurry to get to the big show.

Here is the big show. The first half was really cool and historical. The second half was contemporary Mexican songs. Not really my thing.

So right after we got back from Mexico we found a place to live. That meant that we had to move in two weeks and had nothing ready. Not to mention that the new place needed much work that the owner was not interested in doing. We decided that having a backyard was worth the hassle of fixing things up ourselves. We are still in the process of making things nicer.

We put Milana to work. She likes helping, even though it's not that helpful!

Even with all of the work and unpacking to do, we took a Saturday off to spend at the beach.

Milana wanted a different view of the ocean and kept doing this. I know she looks ghetto, but it was the end of the day and she had heavily soiled the two swim diapers I packed.

Some guy fishing nearby caught this shark. Milana, the fish lover, took this opportunity to get very close.

As Promised

2008-08-04T20:44:00.000-07:00

Photos from our new camera. The camera is a regular digital one, no SLR this time, but it's still 100 times better than the last one.

We went to the park a week ago and had a picnic, then Milana enjoyed the playground. We found a really great park not too far from us just as we are getting ready to leave the area!

This was the first time she really enjoyed the swing.

Check out her teeth. She just started getting her second top tooth this week at 16 months old.

Who graffitis inside a slide? Ghetto!

Milana and bff cousin Kelsey getting a ride in Camarillo.

Sporting my heels Sunday morning.
She was doing REALLY well in them!

Where's Val-do?

2008-07-29T15:47:00.000-07:00

Some have speculated that I have disappeared, but really I have just been distracted. Some people are upset that I haven't posted. Most are upset that I haven't looked at their posts! Sorry all around. The main, although not the only, reason I haven't posted would have to be that Kirk is actually home in the evenings now. He started his new job and things are going well enough that we are moving closer to it. We gave our 38 day notice (required) and are looking for a new place. We have to be out by the end of August and that is another reason I haven't posted. I am always checking craig's list for new listings. Kirk wastes close to two hours a day commuting, and although typical for the area, we have no reason to have Kirk keep doing that. We are worried about finding a place in time and all of the stuff we'll have to move!

We also went to Newport Beach at the beginning of the month, my brother came home from his mission, and it was my birthday! Here are the last few photos I took with my old camera. I got a new one for my birthday and I'll post photos from that one soon. Promise!

It was an atypical July day at the beach in socal, overcast! Hence the sweater.

Jason at the airport.

Instant connection. Milana adores him.

The beach overcast again!

Being mean to Milana!

We went to Castaic Lake and Milana HATED her vest!

New bff!

Having fun with sidewalk paint and chalk.

Making sure that Chase is also having fun.

15 Months!

2008-06-30T20:31:00.000-07:00

Milana turned 15 months yesterday which meant a trip to the doctor. She was happy when we got there, she was checking out the fish tank, but as soon as we were taken into the exam room she started crying. She recognized the place right away and was so sad. Oh well, what could I do? She is now 32 inches (90th) and 21.4 lbs (40th), still has a tiny head! She has started saying "look" and "mommy" (she used to say mom and still does for me, but mommy seems to be what she calls every other adult!). She also says "Elmo" 50 times a day and sometimes hands me the remote to let me know that she wants to watch it. I don't know how this began and I hardly have her watch Sesame Street, but I am guessing that most kids go through this mania and it has become a rite of passage!

She loves giving kisses...

...ruining plants, busted!...

...feeding flowers to herself and to her giraffe, here she was saying "ahh"...

... now force feeding the giraffe...

...and being super cute!

Twirling Skills

2008-06-22T21:41:00.000-07:00

Twirling your pacifier is a sign that you spend way too much time with it. I don't know when Milana acquired this skill, but I only noticed it this past week. Very funny, hope you enjoy her quirkiness!

The OC

2008-06-16T20:28:00.000-07:00

I bet in Orange County nobody's car stereo gets stolen overnight while their car is parked in a gated, "secure" garage. Too bad this is not the OC and Kirk stereo did get stolen a week and a half ago. He has a really long commute to work and has been doing it with no music. Lucky for us our car is parked in front of the security camera, but I am sure that nothing while come of that. We think that the camera probably doesn't even work. Ahh the ghetto! We are so glad that we pay so much in rent to get robbed! Moving on...to the OC.

Two Saturdays ago (06/07) Ernst & Young's company picnic was at Disneyland and we decided that since admission, parking, and lunch was free that we would brave it with an unaware one year old. We had fun hanging out with the Andersons. As Laura mentioned, we waited 45 mins to go on lame "Finding Nemo" ride. While Chase napped sweetly for Matt, Milana ran Kirk ragged that entire time. I waited in line as Kirk ran after Milana around the area near the ride. These kids had no idea what was going on, they were just happy being out of the house. We could have been at a regular park for all they cared. We did scare the kids a little by going on "Pirates of the Caribbean." We had forgotten how dark and creepy it can be to kids, not including a couple good size drops! Oh well, no permanent damage done.

Coinciding nicely with Disneyland was the opportunity that I had to rent out a "villa" in Newport Coast that week for pennies on the dollar. So the night before Disney, Kirk and I check into our room and I got to stay until the following Friday. Whereas Kirk headed home after Disneyland and proceeded to have a really long week at work.

So Laura stayed with me the first half, and Candace joined for the second. And although it was overcast for most of the week, we managed to squeeze in some beach time!

Milana was really scared of Mickey. He wasn't a real human or animal and that is all she knows!

The kids loved the "Jungle Cruise," and thought that the animals were real. Classic rookie mistake!

What's New and Happening!

2008-06-03T19:45:00.000-07:00

We are pleased to finally announce that Kirk got a new job!! Starting mid-July he'll be working for Nestle. We have know for a while, but he wanted to give his formal resignation to Ernst & Young before saying anything. Hopefully this new job will give him some more time at home with us.

Here are a few pictures of what we have been up to lately. Oh yeah, tooth update that I keeping forgetting. Right before leaving for Brazil, Milana's right bottom tooth started coming out and has barely moved up much since then. After we returned from our trip the left one decided to also appear. Really though, they are hardly noticeable. She is now 14 months old and only has the very tips of only two teeth sticking out. I find it hilarious!

Milana has started with the girliness. Carrying bags, putting on bracelets & necklaces.

Kirk got the Friday before Memorial Day off as well as that Monday. He actually did zero work for four days in a row. I think the last time that happened was in August when we went to Los Cabos! We went to the L.A. Zoo on Friday morning and to a ward ho-down that evening. The rest of the weekend we spent eating too much!

Milana reading up on the animals.

At this point she was only interested in watching the other kids running around.

Kirk got us some cotton candy which was a small miracle seeing as that thing was huge and pricey. Milana, of course, wanted it all, we ended up tossing most of it away. No one deserves that much sugar!

Ward members were encouraged to dress up for the ho-down. So one hour before it started we ran to Salvation Army and got this amazingly hideous outfit. When we were at the register the lady said about the boots, "Oh, these are really cute!"

Here is a picture of our return trip to Noah's Ark. Do you see any other kids in the shot? That's because they ALL managed to stay seated for the storyteller except for Milana. She was dancing, walking around, and saying hi to everyone. I tried to keep her on my lap , but she kept screaming when I did that and I didn't see the harm in letting her be herself in this situation!

Milana recreating the Garden of Eden in my parents' backyard. The day was warm and I have never thought to let her do it before. She absolutely loved it and peed on the stone in the first five seconds. I have to say though, that her delicate skin did not really enjoy the grass!

I forgot to jot down Milana's new words for record keeping (i.e. bragging) purposes: ball-bola, water-agua, and baby-bebe; all in Portuguese, of course. Also when I was reading a magazine, she said bye-bye to it so that I would put it away and pay attention to her. I thought that was so cute. She now gives closed mouth kisses and I am grateful to not have drool on my face anymore.

Noah's Ark

2008-05-28T14:35:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago as a ward get together we went to the Skirball Cultural Center to check out the Noah's Ark exhibit. Someone was not able to come at the last minute, so with the extra tickets we invited Candace and Lizette Barton. We had so much fun that we are going back tomorrow!

Milana's new thing is hugging. She loves group hugs even more!

That's NOT the entire ark! That's just a little play area.

Milana loved putting things in the kangaroo's pouch and taking it out.

Candace's definition of babysitting, a.k.a. caging!

Brazil 2008!

2008-05-19T15:35:00.001-07:00

WOW! That was one crazy, tiring trip! We left on May 1st and returned on May 13th, but you loose 2 days traveling. The trip takes forever because it's hard to find an airline that flies to northeast Brazil. We also used Delta buddy passes through my sister-in-law, which saves a lot of cash but you fly stand-by and have to connect on the U.S. east coast. So we flew L.A. to NYC (5.5 hrs), NYC to Sao Paulo (9.5-10 hrs), Sao Paulo to Recife (3-3.5 hrs), total time traveling with wait time in airports 30 hrs! A couple days later we drove the 2 hrs north to Joao Pessoa where the rest of the family, including my grandma lives. I was exhausted, but getting to see everyone and play at the beach made it all worthwhile.

Second night in Recife partying up with friends and family at a friend's apartment.

My cousins, Raisa and Kenia. Kenia surprised me by getting time off work to be in town when I was!

Milana getting down.

This was at the apartment we rented in Joao Pessoa.
Milana enjoying the good food.

Here are my feet covered in mosquito bites. No one else got bit the entire trip. This ALWAYS happens to me. Apparently I am a delicacy!

The tide was really low this particular afternoon and Milana just had the best time.
The view from the apartment we rented, we were on the 10th floor.

My mom, my grandma (86 yrs old!), Milana and I.

Although the trip was awesome, it's good to be back in my own place. I wouldn't mind if my place was in Brazil, but that is not likely to happen! Maybe with the economic up turn they are having, and the down turn we are experiencing here, who knows?

UPDATE: Some of you are interested to know how Milana did on the fights. On the way down she was full of energy and said hi to everyone within earshot! The longer flight was overnight and so she slept for half of it. On the way back she was so tired from all the partying that she slept a lot. Except for the JFK to LAX leg she was up for most of it. Two interesting things followed. First, we had the aisle seat and the center seat was empty. The window seat was occupied by a nice teen girl who did her homework most of the way and was patient with Milana. But a woman two rows in front and across the aisle CONSTANTLY was looking back at us. If Milana laugh, this woman looked, if Milana cried a little this woman stared! I, of course, stared back. I wanted to yell, "See something you like? Can I help you? Do you think I like flying alone with my active 1 yr old?" But I would appear to be the rude one, so I let it go. Second thing was that after we got home and I bathe and fed Milana, I put her to sleep at 3 pm, and she didn't wake up until 7 am the following morning. That's 16 straight hours! She went right back to her schedule the next day. Mi-ra-cle!

Happy Birthday Kirk!

2008-04-30T22:45:00.000-07:00

Today is Kirk's 29th birthday. So how did we celebrate? We did nothing! Actually we went out to dinner as a family. Since Milana and I are leaving tomorrow for Brazil, we decided to spend that time together. Below is a picture of Kirk and Milana sharing a pina colada, and then Milana getting tipsy. Happy birthday Kirk! Thank you so much for all that you do for us.

I also added a couple of pictures from the last two weeks. Milana found a small twig and loved waving it around. It reminded me of Harry Potter. Kirk thought it would be funny to enhance the photo and since it's his birthday, I let him. Expeli-nap-us!

Here is Milana and her boyfriend Chase at the Kuhn home. Chase wanted to push that doll stroller and Milana wanted to sit in it. Add those together and you get Chase pushing Milana. They loved it!Well, I got to go and try to lighten my luggage. It exceeds the weight limit... Tchau!

So You Say It's Your Birthday

2008-04-14T20:31:00.000-07:00

I know I am way late. This is not regular slacking, though. I leave for Brazil in 17 days and there is still a ton of stuff to finish for the trip (i.e. visas, passports, flights, etc). Plus Milana's party overwhelmed me and I didn't want to think about it for a while. With just the immediate family and a couple of friends we managed to have way too many people there. It turned into a production when it really shouldn't have. And everything kept going wrong that day! Thanks karma, I guess I had it coming for not posting enough. Besides not being showered as people showed up, forgetting clothes for myself (the party was at my parents'), and losing Milana's outfit, the party was great. Milana seemed to have fun and enjoyed all the attention. Here are some highlights...

Here is Milana with my sister, Stefanie.
I heard that Milana ate her weight in food that day.
Thanks Stefanie, for making sure that Milana was also cleaned up after that feast!

Milana looking very satisfied after her meal.

Her cute flower cake which only looked as good because of Amy, thanks for saving us on that one!

Enjoying her birthday cupcake. She was very dainty, so I won't include the footage, not exciting.

Here is the outfit that I meant for her to wear that day, but just couldn't find. Oh well, here it is.

I tooke Milana to her appointment the following Monday, so here are the stats: 19 lbs 3 oz (25th), 30 in (80th), 16.75 in head circ (3rd). So, still tall and skinny with a tiny head! She is also talking some, she says "Au Au" for dog, no, oohhh (said this every time we opened a gift at her party), uh oh, bye, papa (for Kirk), and mama or babu (for me). She loves dancing and sassing me.
In short, she's great!

Catch Up

2008-03-26T20:12:00.000-07:00

I know I am a big slacker. It has come to my attention that I have been so bad at not only updating, but also checking other blogs. Sorry! In my defense things have been crazy these last two weeks. Two Thursdays ago I took Milana to the doctor. She had another double ear infection with double pink eyes this time. Great.
We were set to leave on Saturday to spend a week in SLC to visit my sister, my brother, and his wife. So as is customary now with Milana, she gets an ear infection before we have to fly out of state. She wasn't sleeping, so neither was I! That carried over into our stay in Utah. We were staying at my sister's tiny house and she needs to wake at 4:45 a.m. to take the trax to work which starts at 6:00 (side note: she has no car and is the merchandiser for the new Urban Outfitters at the Gateway). In order to let Stefanie get as much sleep possible I would let Milana sleep with me at the slightest peep. I couldn't hide from Milana anyway because her pack n play was in the room with me. Once she stood up it was all over!

Being in Utah reminded me how much I dislike the cold. And Milana hated her coat and hat. So glad I don't have to deal with it in SoCal.

Here is Milana enjoying her first taste of Jamba Juice on a hot Saturday. This was the weekend before we left for Utah. She throughly enjoyed her sip, I was enjoying the heat!

This was on Easter. I really need to start figuring out her hair. It's just so hard to do hers when i don't even brush mine!

11 Months!

2008-03-11T10:57:00.000-07:00

Milana Turned 11 months at the end of February and is walking like crazy. Actually, it's more like running. She is very sassy, but is also very sweet. She'll now cuddle with us for a whole 2 seconds! She is obsessed with animals and gets hysterical when she sees any dogs. Too bad for her that her parents are not willing to give her a puppy for her birthday.

Tooth update: zero!

They Shouldn't Be Alive!

2008-02-12T23:02:00.000-08:00

Has anyone ever seen this Discovery Channel show? It is really good, should definitely catch it although I don't think they air anymore! But I 'm not here to discuss the show, I am here to talk about two recent events where the main characters narrowly escape death. So dramatic, I know...

Is that Fergie on my phone? I must of gotten it mixed up with Kirk's.

The first account is about my beloved cell phone. The phone is not extraordinary, but I really enjoy having it. And up until a month ago, before we got a land line, it was my only means of contacting the outside world. Last Thursday night I was hanging out alone, as usual, drinking a cup of water, when a ghost swooped through and dropped my phone into my cup! Really, I accidentally knocked it in and it was the dumbest thing ever. I pulled it out right away, disassembled it and dried the phone with a paper towel. I put the battery back and tried turning it on right away, which after some google-ing by Kirk revealed that that was not smart. He figured I probably fried my phone when I did that. But I was more hopeful and let it dry for a few days. Tada! My phone still works! If I had dropped in juice, this probably wouldn't have such a happy ending.

Asashoryu shout out to the Harpers! This was awesome live.
(image from with-malice.com)

Last night, actually early this morning, Kirk got into an altercation with a drunk guy. We park our cars in an underground, gated garage. This normally seems safe enough in keeping cars out, but not people. The building we live in has a strong policy against you letting strangers in and you can be fined $100 for it. So Kirk is getting home from work at midnight, when he pulls up to the gate and sees some guy hiding to the side waiting for it to open. The guy, of course, gets in. How can Kirk stop him from inside the car? The short, extremely drunk guy in a white "wife beater" and jeans comes up to Kirk as Kirk is telling him to get out. Drunk guy claims that it's too cold outside (we have been having 80° weather for the last few days, making it a warm night). The guy gets close and takes a swing at Kirk, being so short, the guy almost weakly hits Kirk in the crotch. He misses and Kirk grabs the guy's arms and pushes him into our neighbor's car (no damage was done!). The guy fumbles and Kirk calls the police. Finally he starts making his way to the exit, reaches into his pocket and asks Kirk to come open the door for him. No way is Kirk getting close to this weirdo and the guy leaves the garage but hangs around outside the gate. The police told Kirk to just get inside. We have no idea what happened. Did the police actually show up? Probably not. We live within the boundaries for the worst gang in the west side of the San Fernando Valley, the police were probably busy with something more pressing! Why do we live in the ghetto?! I don't know, but it makes for great stories... By the way, I loved the extremely generic outfit this guy was wearing. The police were thinking, "Yes, white wife beater and jeans really helps to narrow it down!"

10 Months!

2008-01-29T20:00:00.000-08:00

Milana turned 10 months today. Wow, I am actually on time. Milana has started walking. She has been taking a few of steps for a couple of weeks now, but this last weekend she has really taken off. NO!!! I'm joking...sorta. It is pretty cute to watch and she is very proud of herself. I will have to get it on video soon.

Milana loves playing with her cell phone, and a lot of times when I say hello she'll put her hand up to her ear. She can kind of do the hand motions for patty cake and loves to dance and sing. She is a big ham and is always trying to get attention. Also I swear that she is saying "bye bye" when she waves. If she is not actually saying it, then it sounds really close to it. Best of all , she hasn't had a runny nose in a while. Woohooo! An interesting note though is that she still has no teeth, but whatever, her gummy smile is cute.

9 Months!

2008-01-14T21:00:00.000-08:00

I am late getting this out, but I figure that no one is dying to know! Milana turned 9 months on the 29th of December. Here are the latest stats! Height 28.5 inches (85%), and weight 16lbs 15oz. (15%). Her head in finally in the 5th percentile! Yeah! She had been going away from the curve with her tiny cranium, but she is headed back and is doing well. I am so glad because I don't know what the solution would be in correcting a mini noggin!

She has been keeping me pretty busy! She no longer will let me feed her! It all started with a conversation I had with Laura, I now blame this all on her. Because our kids are only 4 weeks apart we discuss our game plans a lot with each other. I was wondering if she had introduced meats to her son. She said that she had and that got me thinking that I really needed to start. I don't really eat meat. Chicken breast sometimes and hot dogs on occasion and that's it. Not to push my semi vegetarian ways on my child so early I got her chicken and vegetable baby food. Milana hated it. I tried again the next day and no luck. So I wanted to know if she didn't like that particular presentation of chicken or if she was against chicken all together. There was cooked chicken in the fridge, so I broke it into pieces and Milana went crazy. She just absolutely loved it. I figured I would add corn and peaches, and call it a meal. WELL...next time to feed her came around. I began feeding her the baby food and she wasn't into it. She kept resisting and I kept pushing it. A couple days later she completely refused any baby food, even her favorites! Now she will only eat if she can feed herself! This presents a new challenge because I hadn't really thought about making the transition so soon. So now to figure out new stuff to give her.

Other new things for Milana is standing without support and pointing. She loves pointing at everything! The picture below she is standing on her own, but I was afraid of her falling and hitting her head on glass or tile. She also learned how to climb on the fireplace and over the ottoman that I used to barricade her in the living room with. Her other favorite pass time is sanding things down on the fireplace brick. My new cell phone got a face lift thanks to Milana. It now has scratches all over the front. She is also...wait for it....sick...again. I know! Nice. But she is super fun and it makes up for everything else!

Spoke Too Soon...

2008-01-07T15:23:00.001-08:00

After the last post Milana got sick again! She woke up on Monday (12/17) after her nap with weird, red splotches on the arms and face. I freaked out, of course! Called on some friends and drove her over to someone's house for them to look it over. Thanks to Melissa, Holly, and Mandy... you made the situation worse! Just kidding! When I got there it looked worse and we were all freaking out a little. Holly told me it looked like the hives.

Not those guys, but these:

The camera flash washed it out a bit, but it was a lot redder in person. So I called the doctor and they told me to give Benadryl and it pretty much went away after that. So then Milana decided that she had to come up with something else to keep us on our toes! She started crying a lot in the middle of the night on Tuesday, ... and Wednesday. I figured that the ear infection was back. Great! I took her to the doctor and they said she just had a viral infection, the post-nasal drip was probably keeping her awake at night and that the hives were most likely a manifestation of the infection. She had a runny nose from that for 2 weeks. Laura once told me that kids get 8-10 colds per year, is that right? I hope Milana takes a break from being sick for a while.

After that the holidays started picking up! We went to Camarillo on the 22nd to celebrate Christmas with the Stolworthys. My brother and wife, and my sister were in town for Christmas and that was awesome. We had a lot of fun going to Wicked on the 26th. It was such a fun show. Here is my youngest brother, Andrew, bowling at Lucky Strike Hollywood on the 27th. Good form! Ha!

Kirk and I were also able to go out on New Year's Eve and party with friends. On New Year's Day we got to catch up with the Bartons and Jenkins. As you can see the girls loved seeing each other!Now that the holidays are behide us I am hoping to be able to post more often, it will be my new year's resolution. Yeah Right! You Wish!... And actually so do I...

Chaos Resolved!

2007-12-12T10:05:00.000-08:00

WOW! The last week and a half have been crazy! I feel like I have barely slept any of it. I last posted on Saturday afternoon, that night was the beginning of it all. Milana woke up several times that night, but would go back to sleep if I gave her the pacifier which she can usually find herself at night. Not having slept well, we decided that I would stay home from church. Milana had a clear, runny nose and a low grade fever. I thought she was teething. She was happy throughout the day and took her naps as usual. Sunday night was worst! She cried louder and harder, so I was up with her alot. But the next day she was fine again. Just a runny nose and fever. By Monday night she would only sleep at night if we were holding her, she would start crying as soon as we laid her down. Tuesday we had plans to go to the Camarillo library with her Grandma Lorrie, Aunt Amy and her kids. Milana was happy at the library and was doing fine, but her nose started running green and I started to suspect that it could be an ear infection.

Here is Milana taking the library very seriously. She has made an excellent selection, "Vampire Hound."

We had a trip planned for Texas and we were leaving on Thursday morning. I decided to take her to the pediatrician just to rule out the infection because we would be flying. When I arrived at the office the doctor told me it was probably just a cold. The conversation went as followed:

Me: She is having a REALLY hard time at night and nothing seems to be working.

Dr: It's probably a cold. Lets look inside the ear just in case. Oh! It's infected. So is the other one. The left ear is worst than the right. But don't worry, it's not that bad and she should be fine to fly.

Me (sarcastically): GREAT!!

So Milana started on amoxicillin right away and she slept better that night and really well the next night. So we left for Texas on Thursday morning and had a great time! We went to see our good friends Jimmy and Carol Santiago. Jimmy was in the same stake as Kirk growing up and we all became good friends after we got married. Here are pictures from our trip.

In a really fancy Houston mall that had an ice rink and stores I'll never afford to shop in!

Carol and I having a very stimulating conversation outside the Houston temple.

This is Jimmy and Carol! They got married the same time we did, but in Houston. They are expecting a baby boy on Valentine's Day.

This was close to the temple and Jimmy had been wanting to try it out. It sells "bobas" which are frozen Philippino drinks with chewy, tapioca balls in them. Check them out here.

We got back on Monday afternoon, raced to our apartment, grabbed a few things, and headed for Granada Hills (20 mins away) to stay at my parents house. They are in Brazil, again, and my 15 year old brother is in need of supervision and rides. My parents won't be back until the 17th. Until then I have the "pleasure" of taking my brother to SEMINARY at 6:00 a.m.! And we are still struggling to give Milana her medicine twice a day which she fights us on every time, Saturday will be the last day and I couldn't be happier.

On a similar note, but on a different infection, Kirk has been taking antibiotics for two weeks now. When he first got sick, he was really wiped out and was in bed with fever and chills for a couple of days. He is doing great now and only needs to fininsh his pills. 'Tis the Season!

8 Months!

2007-12-01T14:37:00.000-08:00

Milana turned 8 months old on Thursday. She has no teeth yet, but through some tough investigation (she never lets me look) it appears as though they might come in soon. That might explain her extra sass! She is crawling around pretty fast and is now looking for a rematch against Lizette. Milana has started walking along furniture a little, so I have been forced to tie weights on her so she won't learn how to walk soon. Here are a few pictures from earlier in the week. She is not standing on her own, simply leaning on the door and pumpkin!

Let's Hug it Out!

2007-11-07T19:49:00.000-08:00

Have any of you heard about this? Or am I the only one not in the loop? A 13 year old girl got two days of detention for hugging friends on campus! Megan, from Mascoutah, Ill., was giving some friends a quick good-bye hug which was in violation of the school's policy against public display of affection. What? Things have really changed from when I was in junior high! Oh, the things that went on in my public, LAUSD education!! According to the article, her mom states that "the embraces weren't even real hugs — just an arm around the shoulder and slight squeeze." The school policy states that "displays of affection should not occur on the school campus at any time. It is in poor taste, reflects poor judgment, and brings discredit to the school and to the persons involved." I didn't realize until now that perhaps holding Kirk's hand in public reflects "poor judgment." I am so embarrassed in my horrible past behavior!

You can read more about it here. You should check out the video for it as well, the anchor is just as ridiculous as the story!

Happy November!

2007-11-01T15:49:00.001-07:00

With a change in month came a change in blog. Finally, I know. I was starting to receive death threats and some were saying that they were going to just remove my link from their blog. Well now you can all stop crying because I'm about to blow your minds with a flood of news. Not really, but here are a few things that have happened in the last month.

Sitting Up
(10/06)
Milana learned how to sit up, which was great. She seemed to be enjoying it and I didn't mind it.

Crawling
(10/07-08)
So the very next night she started crawling! She had been pre-crawling for a few weeks and I thought that she could stay that way for as long as she wanted, no pressure from me. That next day she really got the hang of it, and now she is out of control! In the video she looks like she is going for the book, which is very scholarly of her. But it is later revealed that she is a t.v. junkie!

Pulling Up
(10/10)
A while ago I posted about how Milana liked pushing down the bumper and I decided to lower the crib before she learned to pull up. That was a good idea because she learned to pull herself up to her knees. I thought she would be satisfied in doing just this.

I should have known better that things would escalate soon because she liked standing up. Here she is watching her bathtub fill up and then enjoying her bath. She has always liked bathing, but now she takes it to a splashing frenzy, which is very cute!

(10/15)
The moment came when she learned to stand up! So devious! We lowered her crib all the way which will give me peace of mind until she decides to climb out.

Clapping
(10/19)
Another fun thing that she now does that I absolutely don't mind.

That's it for her new tricks. I hope that she is as exhausted as I am and decides to take a break and not do anything crazy like walking. Some other fun things lately...

Melissa's in-laws rented a house in Carpinteria, and we got to come along. You can check out photos on Laura's and Melissa's blog, but I will add just this one a Milana yelling for an umbrella and a cold drink. Man, she is bossy!
(10/25)
And here are pictures from Halloween. The weather was great and it was nice to just enjoy that with friends and family. That awesome gypsy costume that I am wearing was made by my mom the day before Halloween. We ran to the swap meet, bought some junk, and presto! Cool costume! And Kirk is suppose to be Chuck, from the Nerd Herd, a new show on NBC.

7 Months!

2007-11-01T15:37:00.001-07:00

Milana turned 7 months on Monday and here she is looking so cute in her Halloween costume that my mom put together for her.

Flashback Friday: Lisa Frank

2007-10-05T11:33:00.000-07:00

I know, what a miracle! I'm actually doing a Flashback Friday post AND it has nothing to do with Milana! So, here we go...I was at Costco this past week and was walking down the aisle with the computer paper and the like, when out of the corner of my eye I spotted Lisa Frank! For those of you who don't know what I am talking about, you must have lived in a sticker-free world while in elementary/junior high school. Lisa Frank has stickers, notepads, backpacks, etc. Apparently they haven't changed much in the last 15 years. Looking at their stuff must be what a crazy acid trip must be like, all of those vivid, neon colors! They do now have Bratz-like illustrated characters so that they could be with the times, but they are still subscribing to the belief that the brighter the better!

If you have some time you must check out their character page! I haven't read through all of them, but here are a few favorites. Please read them throughly!

So, concerning the dolphin sisters...first off, SUPER CHEESY! Which is fine, because it brings me lots of joy. Second, I have an issue with Aqua, the oldest sister. How can she enjoy reading under water? Do her books not get wet. And on becoming a marine biologist...come on! Does she really think that she'll be able to study sharks in an unbiased manner? They are not going to work well together!

Next...This is really one of their characters. Note how much she really is like me!
For those of you who haven't seen me lately, I am totally a size 12 in GIRLS! Please don't doubt that! I completely love faux fur, ask anyone who has seen my closet. Perhaps the only truly eerie thing is that I really dislike meat. So, to Lisa Frank's Valerie, call me, I'd love to do lunch together!

And for everybody else out there, please choose your favorite character and post it. I would love to see your picks!

Harvard Man, Sort Of...

2007-10-02T12:55:00.000-07:00

Kirk had the opportunity to see friends in Boston this past weekend while in Rhode Island for work. These are friends from BYU that are currently attending Harvard MBA program and Kirk got to go to a couple of classes.

Rick, Kirk, and Scott.

There you go, 3 posts in one day. So for those of you that complain that I don't post frequently enough, ZIP THE LIP!!

6 Months!

2007-10-02T12:43:00.000-07:00

Milana turned 6 months on Saturday and we celebrate by going to Providence, RI and Boston, MA. Actually Kirk went without us! So Milana and I got to go to the Primary Program Rehearsal and battle the fever that she got from her shots on Friday, fabulous times! She is now a whole 14 lbs 11 oz (25th percentile, still...) and 26.75 inches (85th percentile). So she is getting taller, but not any heavier, and her tiny head is still less than 5th percentile.

Planning something sinister!

Playing the "Who? Me? Never!" card.

Punk Rock

2007-10-02T12:35:00.000-07:00

Milana has a mohawk and my sister Stefanie and I decided to do it up. Here she is last week being a punk!

Yum...Runny Rice Cereal!

2007-09-24T17:20:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I had been putting this off for a while, but we finally started solids this past Saturday. Here is Milana enjoying her first taste of rice cereal. It got everywhere since we made it really runny and that was no surprise. At first she wasn't too sure about it, but then she started getting into it. She got to hold her own spoon while I fed her and she seemed to think that was cool. I'm not too sure what I'm supposed to do, but we have an appointment with the pediatrician on Friday and I'll have him explain to me how to feed a baby!

Jail Break

2007-09-18T09:51:00.000-07:00

This is what I found Milana doing this morning instead of her nap. So last post I was thinking of lowering her mattress. I figured it could wait a little longer until she started pulling herself up. She'll pull down the bumper so she can look around, which I think that's totally fine, but the top of the crib side was only 2 inches higher and it wouldn't be long before she could reach it. This last weekend Kirk was kind enough to lower the mattress and now if I look at the monitor and she is not in the frame, I don't automatically assume that she has jumped out of her crib.

Naps Are For Babies!

2007-09-06T17:54:00.000-07:00

Milana has been impossible today! She has been horrible about napping and is driving me crazy. I put in her crib this afternoon and she was fine at first then started to cry. This is her usual routine and eventually she calms down and goes to sleep. So she started playing in her crib, then cried some, and then she was quiet. I have a video monitor in her crib, but she has started playing with it and kicking it, so most of the time it's angled so I can't see her. When she became quiet I decided to see if she was asleep and to fix the monitor camera so that it was angled correctly. Lo and behold I find that she has turned on her mobile and was just hanging out watching it!

The picture is not the greatest. I was trying to take it quickly so that I could get out of there before she got too upset that I wasn't picking her up. Note the camera to the left of the mobile. She kicks it and grabs it constantly, so we're going to have to find a new place for it. I love having the video monitor, but every once in a while the images captured freak me out. Sometimes Milana moves out of the frame and it looks like she is not in the crib anymore. And one time in the middle of the night she was crying and I went to check the monitor and her face was right in the camera, so it looked like she was staring at me through the monitor. Kind of creepy at 3:30 in the morning. I have been thinking about lowering the crib mattress, but it's a lot of work, so I'll wait until it's really necessary.

Conan O' Brien - Kid Nation

2007-09-05T18:41:00.001-07:00

A while back Cristin commented on a new CBS show called "Kid Nation." The premise sounds ridiculous and last week I saw this on Conan O'Brien and thought it was hilarious!

5 Months!

2007-09-03T11:35:00.000-07:00

Milana turned 5 months old last Wednesday. She's sassier than ever and won't stop rolling over. Now I need to remember to be careful where I place her so she won't roll off. I guess no more putting her on the top shelf of the book case!

She's looking toward the future. Such a staring off pose, you're not a supermodel, baby!

I thinks see looks so cute in this photo, almost like a cartoon character.

Flashback Friday: Murder Mystery

2007-08-31T20:22:00.000-07:00

Last year Kirk and I hosted a murder mystery party for my birthday. I had a lot of fun. Here are some pictures from the party. I realize now that the people in these photos have not seen these until now. So enjoy!

Here are some of the guys trying to find the killer. Sorry, I know that the group pictures don't include everyone!

The girls socializing.
Erik's character was killed, so sad!

I wanted to point out how little Luke and Claire are in this photo!
Here is my awesome hairdo that a young adult from our stake fixed up. The party was 1940s theme.

Even though this wasn't that long ago, I bring it up because I've been thinking about doing another party. I had fun seeing everyone and we don't all get together that often. I want to know what you guys think, both from the people who were there and those who want to come if we do this. And I don't want to hear how nerdy you think this is, I enjoyed myself!

Los Cabos

2007-08-27T17:30:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures of our trip to San Jose del Cabo, which is about 30 miles from Cabo San Lucas and sits on the Sea of Cortez. We were there from Saturday, Aug 18 to Saturday, Aug 25. We were nowhere near the hurricane and had great weather the entire week. This was my first time in Mexico and Milana's first trip. She did really well on the plane, but picked up a few bad habits from being spoiled all week. So now I get to spend this week breaking her new habits and wishing that Kirk was still on vacation!

Here is Milana lounging under the umbrella at Medano Beach in Cabo San Lucas.

This is her "Yeah, so what?" face.

Kirk and I got a chance to ride on the wave runner together and here we are enjoying the beach afterwards. Please ignore the rat's nest that is my hair, although it looks like this most of the time.

Another sassy shot, there were many!

We left Milana sleeping in the car with my dad while we ran into a few shops. When we got back she was claiming that she was about to leave without us!

Here she is yelling at us to get in the car already! She thought she was SO cool driving her rental minivan.
Kirk, my brother Andrew, and I took an ATV tour of the desert and Migrino Beach north of Cabo San Lucas. Andrew is not old enough to drive one, so he rode with Kirk most of the way.
An action shot of Andrew and me.
Kirk, Andrew, and my dad went fishing off of Palmilla Beach.
They caught a lot of fish.
They said the every time they cast a line in they would hook a fish after a few minutes.

I hate fish. At least its all in my parent's freezer. Here is only 2/3 of what they caught!

So there you have it. We had a great time, and if the pictures from my dad's camera are any good I'll post those too.

I've Got Nothing...

2007-08-25T20:39:00.000-07:00

...but love for for you, baby! We have been really busy and just returned a few hours ago from our trip to Mexico. Just wanted to let everyone know where we've been and I'll post pictures soon.

Flashback (Payback) Friday: Valerie

2007-08-10T18:56:00.000-07:00

Ha! Two can play this dig up old pictures game. Here is Valerie learning to pole dance in Brazil. They don't waste any time down there. Apparently they don't waste any fabric scraps either. Hot stuff!

Flashback Friday: Kirk

2007-08-03T14:09:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of Kirk as a boy. I don't know what he was up to, if it was this one isolated incident or if he is the reason why I can't find my clothes sometimes! All I know is that he decided to make himself very well endowed. Somebody should have told him that his outfit was hideous...stripes and plaid? Really now!

4 Months!

2007-07-30T19:55:00.000-07:00

Milana turned 4 months yesterday. Here she is looking cute and lounging in the grass. She had her doctor's visit about 10 days ago. She was 12 lbs 11oz (30th percentile!) and 24.5 in tall (50th percentile). I bet she probably weighs close to 13 lbs now, which I don't think changes any percentile brackets. She sometimes stares us down while we are eating, but I'm going to hold off on solids because I don't need that kind of trouble.

P.S. She was really jealous of Lizette's party and is sad her parents aren't rich enough to buy her such nice jewelry!

Flashback Friday: Harry Potter

2007-07-27T14:17:00.000-07:00

Last night at precisely 11:15 p.m. I finished the last Harry Potter book. I know how some of you feel about Harry, Hermione, and Ron. You don't really care, but I loved them. I got the book from Kirk on my birthday, but didn't get a chance to read it until Monday. By Thursday I was done with the book. Kirk kept telling me to slow down and that way I would enjoy it longer. He has never read a novel and doesn't understand that once you start a good book you can't put it down. So now a moment of silence for the boy wizard that has occupied so much of my time these last 10 years. I'll miss you Harry!

Now I can finally get back to blogging!

Flashback Friday: Baptism

2007-07-20T11:55:00.000-07:00

I decided to go with this photo which was taken 18 years ago tomorrow. Also because it was already scanned and on the computer. I was baptized on my birthday and I don't remeber much about it. Good thing there is a photo of it! I looked up which day of the week it was and found out that it was a Friday. My dad always tried to get us baptized on our birthdays. I don't know why, maybe some weird letter of the law thing?

So here is my family on Friday, July 21, 1989. Back when Dariel and Jason still had hair! I'm sure my mom will be thrilled to see this photo posted, good thing I don't live at home anymore or I might get grounded. I guess because it was Friday my brothers didn't feel the need to dress in church clothes, or maybe that's just the way baptisms went down in Brazil.

While looking for this photo I found the following picture.

That's the piece of paper that I gave Kirk with my numbers. How funny that it was scanned and saved for posterity (aka blog).

New Idea

2007-07-19T14:28:00.000-07:00

I was inspired by Cristin's photo and was thinking of doing something called Flashback Friday. Every Friday I would post an old photo, funny or not, and just talk about it...reminisce. I was wondering what you guys thought of it and what you think should be the most recent a photo can be displayed. For example, photos must be a least -- (?) -- years old. It could also be fun if others wanted to post their own old photos in their blogs. I am sure you can find a lot of material to write about!

How We Met

2007-07-16T22:27:00.000-07:00

I am finally getting to Jamie's request. Here it is folks...

I will begin my story at my birth...just kidding! I don't think there is much to my story unlike some of yours (all those of you who met pre-missions). It all began on Monday, May 21, 2001 (I don't have that good of a memory, I am looking at a calendar from that year). I had been attending Moorpark College, a junior college 20 minutes from home, for the last two years. Moorpark was the school that no one from my high school would be attending, that is why I chose it. I needed to meet new people. In the past two years whenever a new semester started I would look around the class at the students to see who I would be friends. By the way, none of the friends I made in class did I ever hang out with outside of class, I had weekend friends for that. And none of the friends I made were LDS. I would attend institute classes in the middle of the day, so there would only be two or three other students in there and I never talked to them. I don't know why. Candace was in one of my institute classes, but we didn't become friends until years later. Back to the point...I had applied to BYU and would be starting classes there in the fall, but I decided to take Physical Science that summer to get it out of the way. It was an accelerated course, meaning for smart people. Really it meant 8 a.m. to noon, Monday thru Thursday for 4 weeks.

So that first day I looked around and noticed something very odd. The class of 30 students was all girls except for two guys, Kirk and this 17 year old high school nerd (I later got to know him a bit and he was nice, I wonder if he remembers us?) who ended up sitting together. I thought that Kirk was cute and I liked making friends with guys, so I decided he would be my target. The classroom was set up with tables that sat two. The next day I sat near where Kirk had sat the day before. I figured he would probably choose a seat close by. He ended up right in front of me, not next to me but close enough. (He later said that he noticed me the first day, but didn't sit next to me because he didn't want to ditch the boy friend he made!). At some point during the class the students were talking about the assignment to each other, all of the class work was "group" work so you could talk to everybody else about the assignment. I was eavesdropping on Kirk's conversation with the girl sitting in front of him. I didn't catch the beginning, but it was something like this:

Kirk: Yeah, I'm transferring to BYU, and school gets out in the end of April, so they've been in vacation for a while now.

Lame Girl: Oh, really? Are you mormon?

Kirk: Yeah, I am.

Lame Girl: Why haven't you served one of those mission things?

Kirk: I have. I went to Brazil and have been back for almost a year already.

Lame Girl: You don't look old enough to...

Ok, this is where I cut in. Our conversation goes something like:

Me: Excuse me, did you say you went to Brazil? I grew up in Brazil, my mother is Brazilian and I'm also transferring to BYU in the fall.

Kirk: Oh really, that's cool.

We then start talking about where we had been in Brazil in Portuguese and Kirk never turned back around to finish his conversation with the other girl, she eventually turned forward and moved on. Ha ha, I won! (I usually made the first move when it came to guys. Hello! I had to ask someone to go to my prom with me.)

For the rest of the week we would talk in class and during our breaks. Kirk would wait after class with me until the kid from my ward, who I was giving rides to, would get out of class. Those first few days Kirk thought that this kid might be my boyfriend. His name was Marco and he needed a ride to school because he had no car (and I think no driver's license yet) because he was only 16 years old! I was almost 20 at the time. I don't know what Kirk was thinking! Kirk, for that first week, also didn't know I was LDS, even though I was going to BYU. He later said that he thought that because he had never seen me at any institute classes or activities and that lots of non LDS international students went to BYU. But my question is, how many of those students go to Moorpark first? Such a nerd! He realized I was LDS at the end of that week when he walked me (and Marco) to my car and asked me for my number and I wrote it down on a piece of a sacrament meeting program that I had in my car.

Kirk thought he was pretty smooth when asking for my number. He said that he needed it to check on me during the weekend to see if I had figured out the answer to a question that was going to be on our test the next week. Marco thought it was pretty amusing! So I gave my number to Kirk, and he called over the weekend. I had been out with friends and when I got home I was told that Kirk called and left a message. I don't know why he didn't call my cell phone, but whatever. I called him back and he invited me to go to a Dodger game on Monday (Memorial Day), but I already had plans. Denied! We continued to hang out in class and started getting together outside of class with friends. The last day of class was to be Thurs, June 14th, during that last week he asked what I was doing on the 15th. I had loose plans to go to Las Vegas with some flaky friends (Chris & Kaleo, for those of you who know them, very flaky). Kirk said that if that happened to fall through then maybe we could go out together. He kind of made it sound like there would be other people going...at least that's how I remember it. By the way, when Kirk asked me out for the 15th I suspected that he did so because if the date went horribly wrong we wouldn't have to see each other in class every day. He later confirmed my suspicions!

So on Friday, June 15th, 2001, Kirk and I went on our first date. He picked me up and took me to a Brazilian restaurant in West Hollywood during Gay Pride Week! West Hollywood is a hot spot for the young and gay. Was he trying to tell me something? Just kidding. Dinner was nice and afterwards we went back to my parents house to way until I thought it was late enough to go to the singles' dance. As some of you know, we never went to a dance before 10 p.m. That's when things got started! So we went and danced and hung out with friends. I think after that dance some of his friends from Camarillo came over. I'm not too sure if that was the night that they came. (I remember though that Tyler Barton was one of them, man I thought he was such a nerd. Just kidding Candace, he was actually really cool...back then. Zing!).

That following Saturday/Sunday Kirk asked if I wanted to come over to his house on Monday for a car washing party. I hate washing my car, but I liked Kirk, so I went. The party consisted of me watching Kirk wash my car. There was no one else there! Tricked AGAIN!

That's the story. I don't remember when our first kiss was, but I do remember how it happened. We had gone out several times (like 5 times after our first date) and still no kiss. I think it happened after we had a bonfire with friends at the beach and we went back to his house. My friends were in my car and Kirk and I were loading some stuff into my trunk and he gave me this quick, awkward peck. He's going to kill me if he reads this! I remembered thinking "Did he mean to kiss me?" and "It's about time!" (Kirk later told me that he took so long to kiss me because he wasn't sure if he wanted to start things with me just yet. I lived 45 minutes away and he figured that we could maybe start dating when we got up to Provo in two months so that he wouldn't have to drive so much. As if I'd still be available then!...I probably would, but that's beside the point, that just goes to show you how Kirk is, he sometimes thinks of the more logical approach to things.)

Well, that's all for now. Here is a picture of us out for my birthday. We had been dating for about a month.

Wait a Cell Phone Minute!

2007-07-09T12:32:00.000-07:00

I would like to first say that I love cell phones. The idea of being able to get a hold of someone when they are away from home is great. (Although getting a hold of some of you on your cell phones is nearly impossible, please keep your phones charged and near you...Melissa!) Now for the real complaint. Kirk and I share a family plan on Verizon and a lot of people we know are in our network, but most months we come VERY close to going over our minutes. We hate when that happens. So I'm always keeping track of our minutes since I'm the one that uses the most time. Ok, so here is the official complaint: I hate that the provider rounds up to the next minute! For example, if I used 5 mins and 31 secs it rounds it up to 6 mins. I am always excited when after a conversation with someone not in my network I look at my phone and it says that the call was 4:59. Yes! I just made it, I made the most of that minute. I get really annoyed when I look at my phone and it reads 5:03. Nooooo! There goes almost an entire minute, what a waste. In conclusion, you all need to switch to Verizon!

The End
?

P.S. I generally hate it when there is a question mark after "The End."

Summer Fun

2007-07-07T19:39:00.000-07:00

Milana, my cousin Barbara, and I went swimming at the apartment complex pool. The weather was great and the water was perfect. The best was the fact that none one was at the pool. We had it all to ourselves. Here is Milana having fun in her cute swimsuit and glasses. Don't worry, I got her a hat it just hasn't arrived yet, she was only out for 30 minutes.

Fishing...I Hate Fish

2007-07-04T13:27:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Kirk went deep sea fishing with his brothers. He had to get up at 4 a.m. to get out to Channel Islands and didn't return to shore until 4 p.m. That doesn't sound like fun. Plus he got really sunned burned. The worst part is that he actually caught some fish and a big squid and brought it home. I despise sea food, which is strange since I grew up in a coastal city where people love sea food. Needless to say, our apartment stunk! I am just grateful that he had the stuff cleaned on the boat rather than cleaning it at home like he threatened to do.

3 months!

2007-07-04T00:16:00.000-07:00

Here is Milana looking so cute at 3 months on June 29th (last Friday). She is pretty sassy and sometimes gives me a lot of attitude. On this day she was in a pensive mood. Hard to believe at such a young age but it's true. Interesting side note: I'm the oldest in my family and I was only 3 months old when my mom got pregnant with the next kid. My brother Dariel ruined my first birthday by being born just 4 days after it. He was 9 days late and could have been born on my birthday. In order for me to continue this family tradition I would have to get pregnant now. Not going to happen! I couldn't imagine what that would be like, and have nightmares about it happening!

Lazy Daze (or Days)

2007-06-27T14:52:00.000-07:00

So summertime is a care free time. You think of the poolside and lounging around. So why is it that when we have time to lay back nothing good is on tv? All of my shows are on hiatus. Except SYTYCD. Which is all that really takes me through the summer. I refuse to watch the other summer shows that are running. Mostly because I don't know what they are and I fear the unknown. Or because they are Age of Love level of trash. I guess its good that nothing is on, it means that I might actually get myself outside and enjoy some fresh air.

Blogs...It's About Time.

2007-06-23T22:31:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it has been more than a month and I have added nothing. I read everyone else's blogs, although I leave no comments. I blame it on writer's block. Really, I am just not making time for it. Or better explained, Milana is not giving me any time for it. Well now I am determined to play catch up.

The Birth
Milana Kay Stolworthy was born on March 29, 2007. She was 6 lbs 8 oz and 20 in. I started going into labor at 12:30 am and she was born at 11:42 am. So the whole process went rather quickly and smoothly.

Week One
Here she is after the first week. We were trying to get a photo for the birth announcements and decided to go with this one.

Month One
This is just what she looked like after the first month.

Month Two
She smiles so easily sometimes, although it's almost impossible to catch it on camera. As soon as the camera is in front of her she gets distrated and stops smiling. My dad took this picture while she was looking at me.

At her two month appointment she was 22.25 in (50th percentile) & 10.1 oz (25th percentile). So she is a pretty small baby, which makes it hard to figure out what size clothes to get her. But I don't have to worry too much about that because I hardly ever go shopping.

The Cool Kids

2007-05-16T17:18:00.000-07:00

We had a baby...and apparently you have to start a blog when you have a kid. At least that is what the cool kids are doing. Since I have never been cool, I'm not too sure what I'm supposed to do. And for anyone that thinks that I will be posting very frequently please leave this blog. You obviously don't know me and shouldn't be here. For those that haven't left, you know that I will try to post every so often, but I make no promises!