Busy Summer!

Time flies when you're having fun - or in our case, travelling! This summer has found Matt and I going all over the place, as well as bringing two new members into our little family.

In June, Matt and I adopted a little Pomeranian/Chihuahua mix.  He's as cute as a button and his name is Guinness.  Matt rescued him off of a busy four lane street we live next to, after nearly running him over.  He brought the little guy home, and we began the process to locate an owner.  Things looked bleak, as he had no license, we didn't see posters, and had no luck with the pound.  He didn't look in great shape either, his fur was dirty and matted, he wasn't fixed, he was skinny and had this odd bump on his side.  We think he might have been abused, but anyway, he's got a loving home now! This picture on the left is after his first trip to the groomers!

Our second new addition is our growing baby! I'm about 9-1/2 weeks along now, so the baby's about the size of a quarter.  We are so excited to prepare to be parents!  We're moving this September to a two bedroom place, and I can't lie, I am VERY excited to start planning the baby's room!  He/She is due March 17th (St. Patrick's Day), so we definitely have plenty of time, but we just want to move before the holidays.  We also already have names picked.  If it's a boy, he will be Roy Matthew Ott, and if it's a girl, she will be Emily Candace Ott.

Midway through July we flew to Stockholm, Sweden, and then London.  We had this trip planned before we knew about the baby, otherwise we might have postponed it.  Travelling pregnant is really not that great, but thankfully I only felt queasy and never got sick.

Harbor in Stockholm, Sweden

Sweden was really amazing, the city we stayed in was very cute and the buildings were all old.  We went to a couple museums, ate out at some of the local restaurants, and walked everywhere!  Probably our favorite site there, was the Vasa Museum, where we saw a Swedish Viking ship that was hundreds of years old.  It had sunk on its maiden voyage, and 333 years later it was recovered and restored!

Vasa Museum

In front of Sweden's Royal Palace

After 3 days we took a plane to London, and spent another 3 days there.  We both enjoyed London a bit more, as we were more familiar with some of the famous sites to see.  We took the Tube everywhere (their name for the Metro), saw Big Ben, Parliament, Buckingham Palace, London Bridge and more!  Overall it was a once in a lifetime experience and we are so happy we were able to go!

Big Ben & Parliament

In front of Buckingham Palace

The beginning of August found Matt and I then travelling to Michigan to spend the weekend with his Aunt and Uncle.  It was my first time getting to meet them in person, and we really enjoyed our stay! The weather was really neat, and I got to see fireflies!  Les and Jackie showed us around their town, and gave us so much family history we had no idea about! For instance, Matthew has some Jewish heritage! And I saw old pictures of his grandma and grandpa (his father's parents), and now know exactly where he got his eyes, chin and eyebrows from!

Anyway, things are slowly winding down, and we're looking forward to settling into our new place and looking forward to all the wonderful times ahead! (oh yea, and today marks my 25th birthday!)

Catching Up & Lessons Learned

Well it has been a while since our last post. Life sure has a way of coming at you fast!

March was another busy month for us. We hosted a fondue night at our apartment, and let me tell you... it was so good! I have a new found appreciation for dipping food in melted cheese.

Left to Right: Camille, Brendan, Tony, Matt, Joe & Kristen

We also had been invited to Vegas with friends to welcome one friend back from Iraq, wish another farewell as he moved to Iowa, and to see a few friends we don't see very often.

Matt, Joe, Me, Nick, Bryan, Stephen, Rachel, Heather & Arakel

April was a blur! We encountered quite a number of trials, managed to pull through, but got sick in the process. However, we did enjoy celebrating both my mom and sister's birthdays, as well as going to the Grand Prix in Long Beach with a couple friends.

We took away a couple important lessons from the month of April:

1) Never overbook yourself, always set aside days to rest, unwind, and take care of yourself.

2) Set boundaries with people that are not healthy for you, or your marriage.

Annual Cabin Trip #3

If you have ever seen the movie, The Bucket List, you might have found it to be a sad story. On the other hand, it has a very good point... you only live once, so why not have a list of things to accomplish before kicking the bucket?

Four of our close friends from college (Tony, Kristen, Amanda & Michael) started such a Bucket List with Matt and me. One of the items, was to have an annual cabin snow trip. Our first trip was in 2009. We spent two nights in Big Bear, along with another couple. 2010, we found ourselves flying to a family friend's cabin in Tahoe, located at the Northstar Resort, for the Superbowl weekend. Needless to say, it was an amazing trip, and the six of us decided to make Tahoe our main cabin trip location!

This past weekend was our 3rd annual trip, and it was by far, the most spoiling cabin vacation yet! Kristen and Tony found round-trip plane tickets to Tahoe that were only $275 for two people! Tony's brother lent us a free parking pass at LAX (which would have been $60 for 3 nights). Amanda was able to get a coupon for a free weekend stay at Northstar, as well as free ski lift tickets!

The perks were endless on this trip. Aside from our cabin and lift tickets being free, there was a snowboard demo happening that weekend, so the boys got free board rentals! The girls and I also managed to get free snowmobile rides, and gondola tickets to ride up to the ski resort. It was all too good to be true, and we were certain something was going to go wrong with all the good luck... well, we missed a free 30 minute concert by James Blunt. haha. Ridiculous!!!

The cabin itself was absolutely amazing. It was a 2-story, 2 bedroom, 1 bath, cabin condo, with a spectacular view! The weather was gorgeous, and the snow was great. Our first night there we stocked up on groceries, and unpacked in the cabin.



(the ski resort makes the best Bloody Mary's!).


The second day (Saturday), the boys woke up early to hit the slopes. The girls and I relaxed in the cabin for a while before hitching a gondola ride up to the ski resort. We got a table inside, overlooking the slopes, where we were able to watch for the guys, and enjoy some hot drinks.

After a full day, the six of us decided to have a progressive dinner of sorts. Our first stop was at Oliver's for wine, fondue and cheese. Stop #2 was TC's Pub for a beer, hot wings and mozzarella sticks, and our final destination was The Chocolate Bar for dessert fondue, truffles, and chocolate martini's. We ended the night lounging by one of the resort fire pits, before heading back to the cabin to watch a movie in our PJ's.



Amanda, Kristen and me on the gondola

Beautiful pink sunset over Oliver's

The third day (Sunday), the boys were up early on the mountain again. The girls and I checked out a few of the surrounding areas, and were able to take a gondola straight up to the top of the mountain!

By 2pm we headed back and got food ready for the Superbowl. After the game (which we were all happy the Packers won!), we headed down to the resort village to have smores and hot coco by one of the fire pits. We wrapped up the night having steaks and watching a movie back at the cabin.

Our final day (Monday), the boys hit the slopes one last time while the girls and I browsed the village. We all met up later for gelato - despite how cold it was - and then headed to the airport for our flight home.

Overall, it was the best cabin trip yet! While I usually love getting a day of snowboarding in, it was incredibly relaxing to hang with the girls and let the boys use the free lift tickets. Definitely my favorite Bucket List item so far! We all see this trip continuing, even something we can enjoy with kids later!

A New Year!

January has been nothing short of wonderful! After enjoying a full season of festive holiday decor, Matt and I got started on our spring cleaning. I had no idea how much stuff we could hide in our little one bedroom apartment! It was amazing! We took a full carload to Goodwill. I can't help but remember the faces of the people there, as each bag of donations kept coming out of my little Saturn! It reminded me of Mary Poppin's bag that had no limit to what it was able to hold! Overall, this was such a great way to freshly start the new year!

Speaking of the new year, one of my resolutions has been to transfer all of my family's home videos to DVD. Knowing that VHS tapes deteriorate over time really concerned me. Luckily, my grandparents have a VHS to DVD converter. Matt and I spent a full weekend visiting with my grandparents, and watching old home videos as they were recorded. It was so fun seeing how young everyone was! My most cherished video we recorded was of my dad when he was a baby in 1959. This video had been transferred before from film reels to VHS tape, with music added (the original didn't have sound). I kept thinking how priceless this video was, and how Matt's and my future children will get to see videos of when their grandparents were growing up! I have one more video like this to transfer still, of when my mom was a baby. Overall, it was a wonderful way to spend time with my grandparents, and I believe we got through one third of the videos so far!

On a different note, I just started a new job! My dad's company, Bernards Builders, was in need of an Interim Executive Assistant to fill in while their main assistant is on maternity leave. So far... I love it!!! The drive isn't too bad, I drive about 35 miles to Ontario. In a month, I will be transferred to Bernard's Brea job site to fill in for another employee for 3 months. After that, and God willing, I'm hoping that an opportunity arises for me to stay. :-)

We are still waiting to hear if someone has been hired for the Monterey job that Matt interviewed for last month. Our friends, who know one of the employees there, have said that the position still isn't filled yet, and that there is still a possibility Matt could receive a call. Matt and I both are not getting our hopes up, but we are told that they are known for taking a long time. It took them a month after Matt applied to set up an interview.

Other than that, I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying your New Year as well!

Love,
Candace

Holidays

A pastor once told Matt and me that one of the best things we could do as a couple, is to pre-plan our holidays. By doing this, we ease the stress on ourselves and avoid overbooking. Last year was a little short of a fiasco for us, but this year we really tried making an attempt to pre-plan our holiday season - success!

Last year we tried to make it to 3 consecutive Thanksgivings, all in different areas of California. San Diego one night, Glendora the next, and Porterville last. Needless to say... Matt and I were pretty stretched thin by the end of it all.

Thanksgiving this year was calm, relaxing, and so enjoyable! We spent Thanksgiving day with my side of the family in Glendora, and the following day drove to Porterville to spend another Thanksgiving with Matt's Aunt and Uncle. They were very gracious and let us stay the night and relax the entire next day. This made for a very relaxed holiday weekend.

Christmas Eve Matt and I spent a relaxing day together. Later in the day we picked up Matt's brother Dave, and his girlfriend Lauren, for a Christmas Eve dinner. Usually, this day would have been spent visiting Matt's grandma in San Diego, but due to a broken hip, she didn't want visitors and needed to rest. The four of us had a good time, and afterward, Matt and I went to the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service at the church we were married in. We spent the night at my parent's house, and the whole next day we celebrated Christmas with my side of the family.

There are still kinks to work out for next year's holidays... but I must say that it has made such a difference to pre-plan where we go, and settle on it. Trying to make it to everything, and squeeze it all in 2-3 days, is just too much!

As for New Years, we spent a fun night at a friend's party. It was probably my favorite New Year's yet - hopefully a good sign for the year to come!

Anyway, hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season as well!

Love,
Candace