i'm back in the game larry

zee chamberlains {whenever there is a goodbye, we always take a group shot. the group is going to be 1 more strong in about 3 weeks. wo-hoo!}
eating crab
eli & dahl

yes, they are standing on a hovercraft
finished up!

transition area for the race
newport temple
carter, audrey & eli
the kids and the temple
the day before the race
swimming gang
chicken fight
dave & lisa {13 years of marriage and the big 3 5 for lisa}
holy crap, she is wearing a disney princess crown

i'm back.

back in action. yes, we are home from california. i think i was there 23 days.

it was a hot, busy, stressful, fun time. we looked at, give or take, 57,000 houses, ate out 99.9% of the time, filled the rental car up a few dozen times, nursed ida every other minute, slept when we could and had fun with family and friends.

the last half of the trip was a 180 degree turn from the first half.

main reason: we were all healthy and we started looking in a new area for homes.

while we were there we celebrated lisa's birthday and dave and lisa's anniversary. we got to cheer on all the guys who ran the triathlon at Camp Pendleton {very, very exciting}. we ate at a crab shack {mmmmmm}. we put a few offers on homes. we visited the newport temple. eli swam several times.

we have decided to look exclusively in ladera ranch for homes. it is a suburb of mission viejo and about 10 miles from laguna beach. it will be really good there. we are waiting to hear back on a few houses, so the next few weeks will be interesting.

back to reality. the last few days i have paid bills, finished a quilt, started another, worked on immigration paperwork, took ida to the ER where they diagnosed her with FPIES. {right before we moved i introduced rice cereal to ida. she ate it, seemed fine, took a nap and then began to violently vomit milk and mucus. it was so out of the ordinary that i actually called 911. they came and checked her out and after a few hours she seemed to be fine. i haven't fed her rice cereal since then, being a bit gun shy after her reaction the last time, but since it was a month and a half a go i thought that we'd give it another try. so, tuesday night when we got home from california i gave her some cereal (about 1 tsp in all), she nursed and then went down for the night. about 2 hours later from out of her sleep she started projectile vomiting. the same reaction as the time before. this went on for about an hour. she was pale and lethargic so my mum and i took her down to the childrens for them to check her out. bottom line: she has food protein induced enterocolitis syndrome. we are getting in with an allergy specialist and see what we will be dealing with over the next 3 years as they say they typically grow out of it by then {crossed fingers}. until then we will have to be psycho nazi about everything she puts in her mouth because the result is so, so terrible and quite dangerous}.

would like to thank all those who put us up, fed us, played with us and showed us some california hospitality - you know who you are. i noticed our goodbyes weren't as sad this time {i usually shed a few tears}. i guess it was because we knew we would see all of you again sooner than later. thanks again.