The fire that came too close for comfort...

So on Friday, August 20th, in the late afternoon a fire started in the pasture land behind our neighborhood. At one point in time we were able to see the flames as we stood in our backyard. We were very fortunate that the wind was blowing north rather than east that day and that Roseville Fire Dept responded quickly. It was a very fast moving fire an in an hour had claimed 500 acres. It came up to the street right behind our neighborhood and below are some of the pics of the blackened mess that is there now. Our neighbor took some pics of the actual fire, so when we get those I'll post those as well.

So, other than the fire, work, birthday celebrations (Mark was 28th on the 24th) and Sebastian teething like a mad-man we have just been trying to fit in some sleep. Not very successfully, but at least we have our backyard done now to enjoy.

Hope everyone is doing well!!

Here are the pics:

The neighborhood on the left is ours... those houses are 1 street behind us...

The sea of black that remains...

The fireman were standing on this concrete wall hosing down the roof of this house while putting out the fire below... a little close for comfort...

... The Backyard is 95% done!!!

So, most everyone knows that when we moved into our house all we had for a backyard was a big dirt pile (and a couple weeds) since the house was new construction. Some of our neighbors had the builder landscape their backyard, but we knew that we wanted something a little more to be able to entertain and to be able to add on to it later on. So this summer we tackled the backyard. The original plan was for us to do most of the work ourselves but we were going to start working on it in March. Well... Sebastian had different plans, so we contracted all the this phase out. We had our good friend (and talented landscape designer) Jarrod Zehner (http://www.backyardcustoms.net/) and his crew come transform our backyard. They did an amazing job and it was done in just under 2 weeks. The only item remaining for this Phase of the backyard is to have the patio cover installed - the posts are set, but because of the size of the patio cover, it won't be done being manufactured until early next week. So, in 1 week from today that will be installed and I will post new pictures again. In this phase we brought all of the gas, electric and water back to various spots in the backyard so that in the future we can add a hot tub, outdoor kitchen, fire pit and waterfall. We don't have to do everything, but the groundwork is there. Anyways here are the pics of how it looks now during the day and at night...

Before pic... blah...

After pics during the day... only thing left is the top of the patio cover and the post covers

Nighttime pics... Jarrod did some amazing lighting but these pics just don't do it justice. You'll have to see it in person to really appeciate the lighting!

And we already have flowers... hopefully I can keep them all alive :-)

It's been a while!!! Here is our summer lowdown...

So, it has been a while since the last post, sorry for that! We have been extremely busy these past couple of months! From out of town trips to in town guests and then the doctors trying to figure out some GI issues with Sebastian, we have not had much down time. Here is a quick snippet of our summer:

In the middle of June, we celebrated my Dad's 60th birthday here at the house with some family and friends. The next morning we packed up, along with my parents, and headed down to the bay area to see my Aunt and Uncle. We had a blast, but the little guy had some tummy issues still.

The following Wednesday we were able to get in to see the pediatric GI specialist and she found that Sebastian had a partial bowel obstruction which she was able to immediately take care of, which was great because we were heading out that afternoon to head to Albuquerque, NW for Mark's cousins, Amber, wedding. The main concern with the doctor was that if the obstruction happened again, we would have to look more into the structure and test the nerves in Sebastian's GI tract to make sure everything is working as it should. Well, about 2 weeks after that appointment, things started to get bad again. But at that point in time we couldn't quite tell if it was due to the other trifecta that we had going on with him: he had his 4 month shots, developed an ear infection and started teething... fun times. But we called the doc anyways. They had him in for a barium enema (but they used a substitute for the barium) and xrays. So far they were able to rule out Hirschsprung's which was their primary worry. They found that he has an ileus but they are not too concerned with that at present. Mark takes him in next week for another follow-up since I am going back to work tomorrow! Ahhh!

Anyways, so we went to Albuquerque which was a lot of fun, although it was very windy! The wedding was beautiful and it was great to see everyone again, although nobody seemed interested to see Mark and I, only Sebastian. We know where we stand :-) Then we celebrated the 4th with my cousins and their little ones and had a great BBQ, pool time and our own firework show. Sebastian slept through that. He loves to sleep!

The following weekend, myself, my mom, and Sebastian packed up and headed off to Vegas to see my brother, sister-in-law, Jaime, and my nephew, Allan. It was a great time, but it was HOT down there! We were able to see Jaime's family and had a great time catching up with everyone. Allan is getting so big and is a ball (or Tasmanian devil) of energy.

A week later, Mark's parents came into town to stay a couple weeks and spend some time with Sebastian. While they were here we had work done on our backyard to turn it from a dirt pile to something more than we imagined (it's going to be completed today outside of the cover going on the patio - that happens next week); went to San Francisco, Tahoe and held Sebastian's baptism. It was a great two weeks but it went by all to fast! It was sad to see them leave early this morning.

Tomorrow I head back to work, 5 months went by in a blink of an eye, and we will see how that goes. I have mixed emotions about returning, as most working-moms do, but I am confident that everything will work out as it should. Yesterday, I chopped my hair off. She cut 8 inches off and it is now just above my shoulders, and we brought it back to my "new" natural. Pregnancy my it go darker and redder so, I am just going with it... I'll put up pictures of it soon...

Anyways, here is the part that you are all waiting for... pics...

Sebastian - 3 months old... "Don't look at me when I'm sleeping"

3 months old - playtime

3 1/2 months old - swimming in Albuquerque

Cooper & Amber at their wedding

4 Generation pic - Mark, Sebastian, Ed & Del

Allan playing at a park near our house

Me Sebastian & Cathy at Hard Rock in San Francisco

Golden Gate Bridge

On the way home from San Fran - eating his fist... his favorite "toy"

5 months old - snoozing at Bob & Lori's after taking a swim

Before pic of backyard

Holes dug - setting the posts for the patio cover

Posts set - 3 feet down...

Concrete in...

Palms & trees in...

Next up is all of the plants, lights and grass... more pics to come once that is done :-)