Homecoming Dance

Two weeks ago, my brother went to the Homcoming Dance with a very nice girl named Cheryl. My mom was out of town, so I was lucky enough to take pictures!

Here is Tyler and Cheryl. Don't they look adorable together! I love the way her dress matches his tie. It was perfect!
Here is Tyler the stud. He looked so handsome all dressed up. Definitely the best looking guy out the bunch.
Here is Tyler, Cheryl, Tyler's friend Jerica and her date (sorry, I can't remember his name!) They all match so nicely, don't they?
Here is Tyler and Cheryl with two of their friends that weren't going to the dance. They were wishing they were the lucky ones that got to go with Tyler!
Here is everyone in the group. They took a RV to the dance, had dinner at Ruby's, and they went bowling afterwards. I know that Tyler had an amazing time!

Great Picture

Well, things are starting to settle down all around Southern California, thankfully. The fires are still raging here in Orange County, but the firefighters are doing an amazing job of keeping it away from homes. Hopefully things will keep improving. I wanted to share this awesome picture with everyone. I don't know if everyone that is outside of California have been able to see all of the amazing pictures that we have seen. This is a satellite image of the coast of California and it shows all of the smoke that is coming from all these different fires. It has traveled hundreds of miles out into the ocean! I just think this is an amazing picture and it just shows how serious these fires are and it seems like the entire southland is on fire! Unfortunately, we hear that the winds are changing and all of that smoke is going to travel back to us and onto Arizona! We just can't wait to breathe some fresh air!

Santiago Fires

Wow, so it has been a very interesting weekend! On Sunday, Travis and I went over to my parents house for our usual Sunday dinner, we stayed til about 8:30 and proceeded to drive home. We get on the freeway and we take the bypass that goes to our apartment, look to our right and see an incredible wildfire that is awfully close to homes right on the edge of Irvine, about two miles from where we live. It was the most amazing sight I have ever seen and we had no idea that this was going on. So, what did we do? We drove as close as we could get to the fires, naturally! :) We got down to Irvine Blvd which was the border of where they were letting people go and parked on the side of the road and watched the fire blaze for a little while. It was dark, so we had no idea how close it was to homes and how bad it was, but the ash was overwhelming and we finally had to get out of there. Here are a couple of pictures from our experience:

This was the best my camera could do which, of course, is awful and does it no justice whatsoever.

This is a picture we found on the internet which is the exact spot where we parked on the side of the road to see the fire. Isn't it amazing!?

This is the next morning. Travis and I both had work off so we slept in and then came outside to this. Our apartment building looks like it is on fire but it isn't. I love this picture because it shows the blue sky and the gross clouds of smoke that seemed to consume us!

This is a field that is right near our building. This is the air that we had to breath all day today.

If you haven't heard, Southern California is almost completely on fire. There are more than 12 fires going on at one time and Gov. Shwazzenager declared a state of emergency. We are luckily safe and don't have to worry about losing our homes but some people are not so lucky. In San Diego over 500 homes have been destroyed and even our friend Dan and Liz had to evacuated their home. Our prayers go out to all those who are homeless or who are in danger of losing their homes.

Visiting with Baby Ethan

On Tuesday, my good friend Brandi gave birth to her second son, Ethan and we were lucky enough to go visit her and meet him for the first time. I love holding newborn babies, especially ones as cute as little Ethan. Here are some pictures from that day:

Here is Travis holding Ethan. He was just so adorable, just sleeping like an angel!
Here I am holding Ethan. I wanted to take him home with me! :)
Here is Travis holding Brandi's other son Hunter. Hunter already loves his new little brother!
Here is my other good friend Emily holding Ethan. She just became a first time auntie herself!

New Babies!

October has been the month of new babies! Here are some pictures of some adorable new babies that were born just within the last week:

Meet Ethan Joseph Najm, born October 16, 2007 at 2:52 am. He weighed 7 lbs. 14 oz and was 20 inches long. Isn't he just precious?!

Ethan is my friends Brandi and Nadim's second little boy. Here is Brandi with their other son Hunter. Such a cute little family!

Meet Royal Adam Linthorst, born October 8, 2007 at 6:37 pm. He weighed 7 lbs. 14 oz and was 21.5 inches long. He is such a little cutie!

Royal is my friends Erin and Dave's first son. Here is Erin and Royal. Congratulations!

Meet Lydia Alice Hopper born October 12 at 3:30 am. She weighed 7 lbs. 7 oz and was 19 inches long. She is just a little angel!

This is my friend Emily's older sister Lauren and her husband Brad's first child. Now Emily is an Auntie Em! Here is Lauren and baby Lydia. What a cute little family! Congratulations!

Payton's Party

Well, we thought we lost our camera there for a while so we haven't had anything interesting to post. It is much better with pictures.

Anyways, a few weeks ago we traveled to Arizona with my family to stay with my sister for my niece Payton's 3rd birthday party. Here are some adorable pictures:

Here is the birthday girl in her cute party dress. The party had a fun beach theme so the kids all went swimming (I played lifeguard) and Payton even hula danced for us!

I can't resist taking a picture with the birthday girl!

My sisters spent hours perfecting the perfect flower cake! Payton couldn't wait to dig right in!

Owen and Tyler showing off their mohawks!

The flower pinata was a big hit! There was so much candy in it, that it was very hard to break open. It took several grown men to finally break it.

Payton and her two friends showing us all their candy in their goody bags.

Happy Birthday Payton!

After an exhausting party, Payton relaxed in her Disney Princess lounge chair! What a princess!

GUSTER!

Tyler and I went to see Guster this last Saturday night! It was absolutely amazing and we had the best time together. Travis was chaperoning a dance and I thought it would be fun to take Tyler to his first Guster concert as an early birthday present. We were right up close to the stage and it was everything we could have asked for. They definitely rocked the house!

Here are the members of the band performing. I don't know their names but they are so good! The one on the left is the lead singer and he plays the guitar. He has such a great and unique voice! The one of the right plays the bongos and the drums. He is the one that makes seeing this band live totally worth it! He is amazing!













Here are the other two members of the band. The one on the left is their newest member who is so much fun to watch play the guitar. He really gets into it! The one on the right is another lead singer who mostly sings lead on their old stuff. He is awesome also!