Great Day

Today is truly a great day. 1 year ago, our precious daughter was born. We thank God everyday for bringing her into our lives. She's truly the greatest gift anyone could ever ask for. Mariah we love you very much and are looking forward to many more fun years and birthdays!

As everyone knows, it's also election day. That's important as well and if you know me, I love politics, but won't get into that at this moment. Because, even more important than following every twist and turn of the election is the fact that it's raining today! San Diego may have the most perfect weather in the nation, but that also makes it the most boring weather. I watch the weather every morning to see if it will be 70 and sunny or 78 and sunny knowing that the answer really won't make a difference in what I choose to wear that day. However, last night and today we finally received something different...RAIN! I miss the weather in ND (spring, summer, and fall...not winter) where you could start a round of golf at 11 am when it's sunny and 70 and by the end of the round it could be sleeting with a 45 mph wind. Great stuff.

For today, Kelli and I are extremely happy that it's peacefully raining giving us a little variety. But most of all, we are beside ourselves with joy that 1 year ago, our beautiful daughter was born. Mariah, you've impacted our lives more than you'll ever know...thank you God for giving us such a perfect gift.

The Beginning of Mariah's Fall

Well, we created a blog. It's obviously the cool thing to do, but probably so last year :)

Kelli and I often discuss how much we love San Diego, but how much we also miss our family. So, I'm using this blog to hopefully bridge the distance between us all. I've finally started making videos to send back home and they're getting to be too large to send via email. Therefore, sharing videos will be one of the main purposes of this blog. I'm hoping that it will also improve my lack of extemporaneous writing skills.

Most of all, we want our family and friends to be a part of Mariah's life. You've influenced us both greatly and we can only hope that she has the same great childhood surrounded by family and friends.

I've included a video of our trip to the Pumpkin Patch and Mariah's first Halloween. The Pumpkin Patch is located outside San Diego in the hills/desert. Unfortunately, it was 95 degrees that day, not exactly the fall, Pumpkin Patch weather one would hope for. Mariah can't say no, so she wore her long sleeve Halloween shirt. At the farm, there were tons of pumpkins, obviously, and some carnival games for the kids. It was mostly a photo op for both us and our neighbors. The girls got tired after only a few hours, so we packed up and headed back toward the coast where it was much cooler.

The other half of the video is Mariah's first Halloween. Kelli took her to a shopping center where you can donate canned goods and in return some of the stores gave away candy. This seemed to work out better as Mariah wouldn't really understand the "Trick or Treating" concept. She had more fun playing with the fountain because her mean parents won't give her the candy. Poor deprived child.

Hopefully this proves to be a good medium for communication and keeping everyone caught up on what's happening with Mariah and Nala.

Take Care -