More Decorating

So we figured out how to make a blog into a "Team Blog" and added me, so that I could update the page. We went to the Home Depot last night and picked up a Christmas tree (yep Kelsey got her way and we got a real tree). We didn't have any lights to put on it so we couldn't decorate it  until today. Kelsey went to her parents and got a couple strands of lights, and some more ornaments. It finally got decorated and we put presents under it. We also got the rest of the decorations up around the new apartment, along with some of the pictures. Here are some pictures so far:

  

With the flash you can't tell that the lights are on, so we took one without the flash.

If you look close there are 14 snowmen in this picture.

Moving Update

We are now in the new place.  Friday night, Liz, my parents and siblings came over to help load cars.  We loaded my mom's Ford Explorer and my Jeep Cherokee with boxes, Dad's van had the bed and more boxes, and Trek's truck held the rest of the big furniture perfectly.  We drove up to Fremont only hitting a little traffic.  By the time the pizza was delivered we had about everything unloaded and we ate around boxes.  We started unpacking and by the time the boys left there were only a few boxes left.  

Saturday, the cable guy came (late of course) so we have internet and TV again (we upgraded to the next cable packages so we have DVR now.  It's so great!)  We finished unpacking all the boxes and started organizing everything so we can find what we need.  I think we're about there but no decorations or pictures are up.  The place is very cream colored.  The walls are cream, the carpet and the coach are the same cream colors, and all our furniture is brown.  My red kitchen decor helps add color to the place but I can't wait to put up the pictures and Christmas decorations to give it some character.  I think we've decided to get a real tree.  Home Depot is just down the street.  

Well, that's all for now.  Thanks to everyone who helped us move.  We appreciate you all so much.

P.S.  If anyone knows of anyone who's getting rid of a coffee table or end tables let me know.

7 and 8 (a tag)

I was tagged by Laurie to fill in the following:

7 Things I Do:
-work
-clean
-visit my family
-read
-sleep
-cook
-scrapbook

7 Things I Can't Do:
-hold a grudge
-have a messy house (if I can help it)
-watch TV all day long

-go without a stereo
-fall asleep with the TV on
-find jeans that fit
-make decisions 

7 Things I Always Say:
-I'm sorry for your lose
-Take care
-What?
-Are you serious?
-Whatever

-I'm cold
-Love you

7 Things I always Eat
-Life cereal
-PB&J sandwiches
-bagel bites
-honey sandwiches
-pasta
-rice a roni
-chips

8 TV Shows I like to watch:
* House
*NCIS
*CSI
*Home Improvement
*Full House
*What Not to Wear
*Numbers
*Myth Busters

8 Restaurants Where I Like to Eat:
*Goodies
*Outback
*El Burro
*Jack-In-the-Box
*Denny's
*Taco Bell
*Marie Calenders 
*my mom's house (it's not a restaurant but it's the best food anywhere)

8 Things That Happened Today:
*filled out my time card
*went to Safeway
*went to Jamba Juice
*drove a lot in the rain
*listen to the radio
*cleaned the apartment
*found the missing remote
*posted this

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To:
*Jody getting home tomorrow
*seeing Kyle and Suzanne at Christmas

*Sam's family Christmas party
*Christmas Eve at my parents'

*finishing getting the new place unpacked, organized and decorated
*New Year's Eve party
*Kyle and Suzanne having a baby next summer
*getting a new car someday

I tag Brandon, Carl, Rachael Maxwell, and Suzanne

Moving

Sam and I are moving to Fremont, about five minutes form his work.  We're upgrading to a one bedroom!  I am so excited to have a private bedroom.  The kitchen even has four walls and the bathroom has drawers!  It has so much closet space I don't know what I'll put in them but I'm sure they'll fill up fast.  

I ran out of boxes so I thought I'd post the pictures of the progress we've made in packing so far.  I went to the Cake Works last night after work and picked up these boxes.  Most of them smell like chocolate or gingerbread so now our house smells a little like Christmas!  Today I have the day of so I'm cleaning, packing what I can and wrapping the breakable items.  We have our work cut out for us.

Holidays

Sorry I'm a little behind on the blogging.  Here's an update:

Thanksgiving was so fun.  My parents and siblings went to Kyle and Suzanne's in Las Vegas.  Sam and I stayed in California to have dinner with Sam's family at Matt and Heathers.  While I missed spending time with my family and seeing my long lost brother and sister-in-law, we had a blast with the Seenos and extended family.  We had a yummy dinner and tasty desserts.  Then a bunch of us played one of our favorite games, Loaded Questions.  We had a blast.  I'm so thankful for great family, new and old.

  

Saturday, Sam and I went out to buy Christmas decorations.  This being our first Christmas we didn't have any decorations.  Without spending too much money, we bought all kinds of different snowmen and Sam picked out a perfect nativity.  Now, hidden around our apartment are 13 little snowmen!  We are still debating what to do about a tree.  Any suggestions?  I know I've already said this, but I am so excited for Christmas.

      

Christmas is Coming

I came home from work today, and Sam was sitting on the couch watching TV on the computer and playing a video game on the TV, the same spot he had been in all day.  So I watched an episode of House with him then made him go shopping with me.  And we got all of our Christmas gifts... except for each others and Sam's dad (any ideas, PLEASE!).  It feels so good to have it done and I am so excited about all the cool stuff we got people, I kind of wish we could just keep it but we don't have room for that much stuff.  I decided to wait until after Thanksgiving to get decorations so we don't have to find room to store it and so we don't just skip over Thanksgiving (well, we did pick up some stockings).  But I've decided to decorate with snowmen.  It doesn't snow here in San Jose but I love cute little snowmen.  Snow is too cold but snowmen are so cute and happy.  

Today's weather was also am indication of the coming holiday.  It was very overcast and even sprinkled a little.  The Christmas season is just so happy and cheerful.  I am excited for Thanksgiving (I am thankful for so much) but I'm really excited for the entire Christmas season.  

Sam's Birthday

Yesturday was also my Sam's birthday. On Friday, his students threw him a surprise party. They even brought him a cake. That night, we went out with a few other couples from church who were having birthdays this month (one had the same exact birthday as Sam). We went to Buca de Bepo in the Prunyard. Sence we live so close, Sam and I just walked over. I can't believe what great weather we're having, we didn't even need our jackets! Dinner was so much fun. We had 10 people in our group, so we ordered four big meals and ate family style. It was great to share good food and good company.

Saturday night Sam convinced me to give him one of his presents a couple hours early. He doesn't like surprises and he's not real big on birthdays but I wanted to save the presents for his actual birthday. So i just wrapped his smaller gift real fast and gave it to him. It was a calender with inspirational sports messages. I think he likes it but it's kind of hard to tell with Sam.

Sunday morning we had to be at church early for the primary program but I let him sleep in before waking him and giving him his other gift: a new game from Target. Again, I can only really guess he likes it, though it was on his list I finally drug out of him last week. After church, we went by his Aunt and Uncle's place. They weren't there but we hung out with his cousin Chris and Ooed and Aaed at their new 67 inch HD TV.

Then we went home so I could make his cake. His favorite cake is German Chocolate but we were going over to my parents house so I know most people wouldn't like that. So I did a regular chocolate cake. Half had German Chocolate icing, the rest had regular white frosting. It turned out pretty good. I just need to figure out how to not burn the bottom and sides of cakes. For some reason I have a problem with that.

After a great dinner, cake and ice cream with my family, we played Monopoly with my siblings. I was about to go bankrupt so I merged with Brandon. Sam had to murge with Trek, and Brandon and I finally murged with them so we could try to take out Rachel. Sam and I had to go before it ended so I hope everything ended well. It was, I think, the best game of Monopoly I've ever played. It was really fun anyway!

So I hope Sam had a great day yesturday. I know I had fun trying to make sure he had a good time. Thanks to Mom for making the yummy dinner and everyone who shared the day with us.

Primary Program

Yesturday was the ward primary program in sacrament meeting. This was Sam and my first program as teachers so we got to sit on the stand to tell the kids when it was their turn to go up. We teach some of the older kids so they mostly all knew when it was their turn, so it was a pretty easy job.

The theme for primary this year was "I am a Child of God." The songs and speaking parts went very well and were a bit moving. The kids did a wonderful job and behaved great. My favorite part was when they sang "I Love to See the Temple." It was so touching to hear little children sing their testimonies of eternal families. I have to admit I was fighting back tears. My other favorite part was when the sunbeams sang at the top of their lungs, even when they didn't know the words! They are so cute and did their absolute best. I am so proud of all of the kids and am thankful that I was able to be a part of it.

Disneyland and California Adventure

This past weekend, Matt, Heather, Sam and I drove down to southern California for a little vacation.  We stayed at the Hotel Menage and had three-day passes to Disneyland and California adventure.  We had a blast spending time together, riding all the rides and seeing all the sites.  My favorite rides were Soaring Over California and the new Toy Story ride in California Adventure but my favorite roller coaster was Space Mountain in Disneyland.  Sam and I also loved the Animation Workshop that taught us how to draw classic Disney characters.  We drew Dopey, Winnie the Pooh, and Donald Duck.  The fireworks show was really neat.  I loved how coordinated the music and fireworks were.  It was a fantastic weekend all the way around.  I'm so glad we went.

For more pictures check out my Facebook.

  

My New Friend

This is my new favorite funeral story:

Today I was co-directing a funeral in the Chapel of Roses at Oak Hill Funeral Home.  We got there early and had everything set up early so we were just hanging out in the music room in the back of the chapel.  For those of you who have never been in the Roses it is very beautiful. On the front wall there is an amazing water fall and if you haven't noticed there are two fake ducks living there :)  On the two side walls there are stone planters with live plants.  While we're siting back in the music room,  I looked over and saw a lizard sitting on a folding chair next to the planter!  He was about six inches long and just hanging out there like he belonged siting in that chair.  I kept thinking that I wish I had a camera.  After a while he jumped down and crawled into the sun.  

After taking care of things to get the service started, I went back to see if he was still there but he was gone.  Then, about half way through the service, I saw him siting on the chair again.  This time, he jumped down and started coming into the music room.  When he saw me, he just stopped and stared at me for a minute, than ran into the planter.

I don't know if I'll ever see this lizard again.  But at least I know that it's not a ghost making those plants move! 

Changing Weather

Work has been pretty busy lately but it has been a great reminder that it is fall.  Last week I did two services in which I drove the flower fan.  Both times they gave me the biggest van they own but only had three flowers.  Driving a vehicle that big can be a challenge but it's kind of fun, I'm getting the hang of it.  

Also on both services it was cold and wet!  I had to go back and forth across the very wet grass to place the flowers by the gravesite.  I did remember to wear my new rain coat but I hadn't gotten any new shoes.  My little black flats were soaked through after carrying the first flower across the lawn.  By the end I thought my feet were going to freeze off.  

I had a great weekend full of Halloween fun and my nephew Andrew's first birthday party.  It was great to spend some relaxing time with Sam's family.  Then on Sunday, we didn't have to teach primary because we're practicing for the primary sacrament meeting program in a few weeks.  It's so cute to see the little kids say their lines and sing with all they have in them, even when they don't know the words!

Then it was back to work.  This week it hasn't rained but has been very windy and cold.  After standing through terrible wind at Oak Hill Memorial Park yesterday, I went out and bought some boots.  The tag said that they had a -10 degree thermal rating  but didn't say anything about rain or wet grass so I'll have to wait for it to rain again to see if they were a smart investment.  They will definitely keep my feet warm!

Cooking

So I'm starting to get the hang of cooking!

Friday night we had the missionaries over for dinner.  I made chicken and rice and I only had to call my mom for instructions three or so times.  I thought it tasted good but that thought was confirmed when one of the elders said that it was good and that chicken and rice was his favorite.  So I guess I did a pretty good job!

Then, last night we had my parents and siblings over for Dad's birthday.  I marinated some chicken that morning and Sam grilled it after church, mom brought a couple salads.  I also made the cake, and it actually tasted good.  My oven was just a little small for both 9 inch pans to fit in so I guess one must have been a bit slanted so when it came out, one side was a lot thinner than the other.  I had them bring over a table and we set up outside on the patio because our apartment won't seat seven people.  But the weather was good and the company was great.  I think everyone had a good time and plenty of good food.

  

Friday Night

After taking my brother shopping yesturday afternoon, Sam and I went to the church for a chillie and pie backing contest and trunk-or-treat. We had a lot of good food and fun looking at all the kids (and many adults) in their costumes. It was a great activity with prizes, a kids carnival, and lots of food.

Then, we went with a few other couples to a corn maze and haunted house down in Gilroy. The maze was a little to easy to find our way through, but we had fun trying to get lost. The haunted house, though, was not a dissapointment. I'm not a big fan of being scared but I'll try just about anything so, holding Sam's hand, I went along. It was scarry, and a lot longer than we were expecting, and way worth it. As we walked through, there were people dressed up in deadly costumes shouting, screaming, banging things agenst fences, or just following us, creeping us out. Some of the guys we were with had fun adding to the affects. But we made it through to the end with no major harm done, Sam's hand might be a little sore though. We all had a lot of fun. I would recomend it to anyone looking for a little Halloween adventure!

Important People

So here are some pictures of the most important people in my life (notice that there are a few of my husband).

    

 

    

  

My Story

My husband tells me that everyone has  a story.  I'd like to tell you mine.  Sorry if you get bored.  

I was born and raised in San Jose, CA.  My parents did an amazing job of raising five kids; I'm number four.  I have three older brothers and a younger sister.  We're all pretty close though we definitely have our differences.  As we were growing we were taught of the gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the knowledge it gives us, undoubtably, blesses all of our lives so much.  

While attending my local singles ward, the Washington Square Branch, I met a man named Sam Seeno.  At first I thought he was weird.  He hung out with the same people I did but always stayed in the back and never talked much, but he was always there.  One Saturday night during midterms, Sam was looking for something to do but most everyone was studying for tests.  I had plans to chaperone my sister's youth dance.  When Sam called, looking for something to do, I told him he could join me.  So we spent the night talking and really getting to know each other.  This night eventually led to officially dating.

Being a fan of airplanes,  I go flying any chance I get.  Sam has a family friends who built his own plane and had taken us flying before.  So one afternoon Sam and I drove to the little airport in Livermore to meet Rob to take us flying again.  When Sam brought along a video camera, and Rob had a friend and a bigger plane waiting for us, I should have known what was coming.  So right when we were over the Golden Gate Bridge, Rob aimed the camera at us, Sam pulled out a ring and asked me to marry him!  I was so happy and excited that all I could say was "Yep!"

  

After a three month engagement we were married in the Sacramento Temple July 18, 2008.  Almost two months latter, on September 24, I turned 20.  Now, three months after our wedding, we are just about settled in and getting used to the married life.  

So that's my life so far.  It's been an interesting 20 years but I wouldn't trade a day.  I hope to have a few more good stories in my future so please keep visiting to follow along!