No More Rat

I woke at 3 AM to a loud snap from the kitchen. We got the culprit. No more little droppings in our house. Woo hoo!

Introducing Brian Miller, Future DDS

This week began Brian's dental school orientation at USC. So far he has learned about his schedule for the year (we get breaks in December, April and August), financial aid (how we will be in debt till we retire, hee hee), and was CPR certified today. He also got to buy some of his drills and tools and carve a tooth (which he was really excited about). I'm so proud and excited that he is starting his last few years of school. And now he's actually doing stuff related to his future job.

Financial aid is an interesting topic right now. Since it didn't work out with the Navy for a 4-year scholarship (budget cuts, remember?), we are considering a 3-yr scholarship with the Air Force. So they will pay for the next 3 years after his first year. We're not sure if it will be worth it now since the first year is the most expensive year. But we'll keep you posted on what we're going to do.

Christie and Steve Visit

This past weekend Steve and Christie came to visit from Utah. While here, we went to a Dodgers game and saw Manny Ramirez (Brian's BFF).

Then we went to Disneyland for a few days, which was so fun! It's great to have Steve to go on all the big rides with. But tragically, they lost their camera somewhere between the Monster's Inc ride and the Muppets 3D show. Hopefully they can find it! Because of that we have limited pictures of all the fiasco. They are now in San Diego celebrating their 2 year anniversary and will be back this weekend round 2 of Disneyland.

A RAT in the kitchen!

I woke up this morning to find a RAT in my kitchen! It was scurrying along the baseboards. I was so scared, I jumped up on the couch to hide! I called the manager around 7 and she let me and Mariah come to her apartment till Mariah was put down for her nap. Then a pest control man named Steve came and set up a few traps. He said that there weren't really any signs of rats so this hopefully is an isolated incidence. He set a few rat traps so hopefully it will be caught in the next few days. I will keep you posted for what happens.

My Visit with Tanya

I wanted to write a little about my visit in Oregon with Tanya and her new baby boy Jarell. I really had a great time with them, there was a lot of sister bonding time.

I love my sisters! They are all so amazing. Tanya went through so much these first weeks, she is such a trooper. And Tina was a great help too, she practically took care of Mekhi and her own daughter by herself. How do either of them find the energy?

Jarell is such a sweetheart. He loves to cuddle! And his cry (more like a shrill) is so cute. I got to take care of him a few times by myself when Tanya was trying to catch up on her much needed sleep. It was such a great experience.

I am definitely starting to want another baby. They come so cute and little! But then again, you get absolutely NO sleep! I feel like I'm still catching up on sleep from when Mariah was so little. Then to do it all over again and have Mariah too...how does ANYONE have more than one baby??

Props to you moms of more than one child!

Mariah is 11 months old

Mariah turned 11 months this past week. She's almost a year old! We weighed her this morning and she is 16.2 pounds. She has 6 teeth growing in and is walking with help (soon to be on her own). She is getting so big so fast! When I came back from Oregon, I couldn't believe how much she had grown since I was gone. I hadn't seen her in a whole week (which was much harder on me than her). She had a lot of fun with dad when I was gone. They went to a Dodger's game and the beach. Here is a video of her crawling up on the couch, a new trick she learned just this week.

Introducing Jarell Michael Bergen

Welcome to the world, Jarell Michael Bergen (pronouced jah-RELLE), son of Shawn and Tanya Bergen. He was born in Albany, OR, early on Monday morning, August 10, 2009 (a month early) via c-section. He weighed 6 pounds, 7 ounces and measured 19 3/4 inches long.

Apparently he looks a lot like Mekhi used to as a newborn (I have compared pictures). And Jarell is already getting a personality: he loves snugging but does NOT like diaper changes. He also has a great appetite.

Both baby and mom are doing great; they are both getting used to life together. I'm in Oregon to spend time with them both for a week. It's been really fun helping Tanya and to spend time with family. This weekend we are going to have lots of visitors at Tanya's house so everyone can meet Jarell. It will be lots of fun!

Tanya had her baby!

He wasn't supposed to be here for another month, but baby boy Jarell decided to come early. He was born via c-section around 7 am, weighing 6 lb, 7oz and measuring 19 3/4 inches long. Welcome to the world! I will try to get pictures up as soon as I can. Both mom and baby are doing fine.

Veronica's Movie Review: G.I. Joe

Brian and I just saw G.I. Joe yesterday. It was pretty good. Channing Tatum was gorgeous as usual, I love seeing him in uniform. And I'm sure Brian liked all the stuff blowing up, since that made up about 75% of the movie. It was better than I thought it would be and the plot twist was kind of cool at the end. The whistling guy was pretty creepy though. All in all, it was a good excuse to get out of the house and eat lots of popcorn.

Boston Vacation 2009 Revisited Part 3: New England Aquarium and USS Constitution

One of our trips was in the Boston Harbor where we got to tour the USS Constitution, the oldest commissioned warship afloat. We also went to the New England Aquarium.

This is the USS Constitution, still owned and operated by the US Navy. On the day we toured, it was FREEZING! The people stationed on this ship (yes people are still assigned to it) said that they mostly just paint, but every once and a while they can take her out to open sea. The lower decks are very short, and I felt bad for Steve because he was a little uncomfortable down there.

Mariah LOVES aquariums. She had so much fun pointing at all the fish. She was really taken with the jelly fish.

This is Brian and me riding the sea turtles.

Mariah is already starting to use manipulation. At the gift shop of the aquarium, we gave her this turtle to play with to keep her entertained while we looked around. But as soon as she held it, she was in love. She literally adored this little stuffed animal, giving it hugs and smiling. And then Grandma gave in and bought it for her.

Boston Vacation 2009 Revisited Part 2: Boston Freedom Trail

The Freedom Trail tours you around Boston to all the historical sites that helped found our nation, which include the Boston Common, the State House, Granary Burying Ground, King's Chapel, Benjamin Franklin statue, site of the Boston Massacre, Faneuil Hall, Paul Revere House, Bunker Hill, and the USS Constitution. Here are a few pictures from the trail.

The Paul Revere Statue outside the Old North Church. The church is the oldest standing buiding in Boston. It is the home of the famous lanterns that helped in the American Revolution from the poem Paul Revere's ride by Henry Longfellow (and from the movie National Treasure) that says "one if by land, two if by sea."

This is inside Faneuil Hall, where the Boston Tea Party was planned, among many other events.

One of the many grave stones we saw at Granary Burying Ground. Apparently at they ran out room often so they would just bury over older graves, as more than 8,000 people were buried here, but only about 2,300 graves stones exist. The victims of the Boston Massacre were buried here, among many others.

Brian and me outside the State house. Sadly it was closed the day we were there.

This is how Mariah cruised around Boston, stunna shades and all.

This is the Old State House, where the Declaration of Independencewas read from its balcony.

Brian, me, and Steve inside the church pew that used to belong to Theodore Roosevelt.

Boston has so much history! The Freedom Trail was amazing to walk. If you would like more information on it, here is the official website: www.freedomtrail.org

Boston Vacation 2009 Revisited Part 1: Plymouth Plantation and Mayflower

I decided to write about our Boston vacation more since I haven't really blogged about it yet. We went the last weekend in May to the first weekend of June. It was so fun! We went to NYC and toured around Boston. Here is one of our day trips: going to Plymouth Plantation and the Mayflower II.

Here is the famous Plymouth rock. I always thought it was a huge monument. But in actuality it's about a yard, maybe two across. Supposedly you used to be able to stand on it a long time ago, but I guess that's changed because now it's in a fenced area.

Here is Mayflower II, the exact replica of the original Mayflower, that was built in the 1950s. People actually sailed across the Atlantic on this thing in 1957 as they would have in the 17th century. It was fun to go on this ship and see how the pilgrims got to America (lots of stew and beer).

Here we are in the harbor. There were lots of cute Cape Cod style homes and shops around. It was a really cool area to visit to see all of the rich history.

This is me with a real live Native American. We are at Plymouth Plantation where they hired real Native Americans, not actors, to tell us about the culture of the Natives that were so unfortunate as to live is the area when all the Europeans arrived. This particular man wore only a mohawk and a loin cloth. That's why this picture is only from the waist up (and why I look so comfortable next to him). The Native Americans shared stories of their culture and traditions mixed in with stories of all the trouble that the white man brought.

Here is Steve and me inside a winter dwelling. Families lived in these together. But apparently they used to do most of their living outside and this was mostly for storage and sleeping.

Here is a reconstructed model of what Plymouth would have looked like in its day. When you go you can walk around and talk with characters (these guys are actors) and they talk in older English about their daily lives.

Here I am sipping ale in one of the houses. The artifacts in these homes were very cool.

This was one of the actors in costume. This guy really knew how to talk! We couldn't get away from him.

Brian and I are shooting off the cannons to fight all the pirates.

Plymouth was very cool. Lots of history.

Mariah Update

I just wanted to give a little update on what Mariah is up to now that she is 10 1/2 months old.

Physical changes: 5 teeth, hair growing more

New developments: She crawls and can stand/walk if holding on to something, mimics everything, including singing, whistling, humming, yelling, imitates movements like bouncing and clapping.

Favorite toy: Kobe Bryant Beanie Baby bear (guess who gave it to her!)

Favorite song: B-I-N-G-O (she will clap or dance if you sing it)

Favorite game: Peek-A-Boo (she will cover herself now)

Favorite pastime: Getting into EVERYTHING!

Here is a video of her getting caught knocking down a bunch of books. Notice how she doesn't care that she's getting in trouble.

Trip to Hollywood

For a day trip we went to Hollywood, hoping to see some stars.

We went to Grauman's Chinese Theatre and walked around that area. There were so many people! This theatre has a great lookout to see the Hollywood sign.

We saw a few wax figures, I mean celebrities (shown here are Snoop Dog and Samuel L. Jackson). Marilyn Monroe was there as well but she was too busy to take a picture with us.

We took pictures of the Hollywood stars and handprints of all our favorite celebrities (shown are actors from Harry Potter and Michael Jackson, both very important). There was a big crowd around Michael's star, trying to get a picture of it. And people left all sorts of things there too (we saw flowers and a ring and letters).

We also saw a bunch of people dressed in costume (ranged from Superman to Elmo to a drag queen angel) with whom to take your picture for $1. Beware: these people might seem kinda cool and fun at first and you might want to give them a hug, but remember this isn't Disneyland. These people are bums in costume.

We also noticed quite a few celebrity scientology churches. It's all the rage in Hollywood if you didn't know. We should have gone inside to see if we could find any movie stars.

All in all, it was a very fun trip. Hollywood is a really cool city. It makes you feel almost famous going to visit.

Scott Parks Comes to Visit

Last week Brian's friend Scott came to visit for the weekend. It was a lot of fun seeing him. We went to Disneyland and California Adventure for a few days and then to Venice Beach. It was so hot at Disneyland! So we kept going on Splash Mountain to stay cool. We also utilized Disneyland's Rider Switch pass where one person waits in line and then rides and then the other person who was waiting with the baby (up to two people can use the pass) doesn't have to wait in line again to ride. Between that and Fast Passes, we saved a lot of time not waiting in lines!

This is Brian and Scott on the Columbia at Disneyland.

Scott is waiting with Mariah for the Fantasmic show. It would have been really cool if we could have seen the show better. But of course, there are always tons of people there.

Unsanitary, I know. Mariah is sampling Excalibur before we go on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

Brian took Mariah out into the ocean. She likes the sand and water now. Maybe because beaches in California are actually warm?

All in all, it was a really fun weekend. Scott is so awesome too, he made it even funner. Thanks for visiting Scott.