Pumpkin Guts

We finally were able to carve pumpkins last night. We were supposed to last weekend but I got sick. So on Saturday we went to the pumpkin patch and picked out our victims. The pickings were slim though. Doug found a really good one but it was heavy so he left it on a haystack while I looked for mine and it got taken. So he had to find one again.

We called our friends Kaity and James who were gonna carve pumpkins with us last weekend too. They hadn't carved theirs yet so they came over.

Before their demise

Us gutting the pumpkins. Kaity doesn't like to do it, so she had James do it for her. We saved the seeds and hopefully will be able to roast them tomorrow night. Yum!

Kaity and James with their pumpkin creations

All of us with our pumpkins

Lights on

Lights off

Now hopefully they'll last till Friday. We're looking forward to passing out candy to trick or treaters and watching movies. Aaaand....It'll be Doug's birthday!

Caramel Apples and Sick Days

The Caramel Apple Experiment

So Last week Chelle and I wanted to get in the Fall mood by making some Caramel apples. We tried using the old fashion cubed Caramel and the tiny ball sized Caramel on five apples each. We were afraid that the old fashion would be too hard or the tiny ball sized ones wouldn't work. So we tried both.

Before



Rochelle Dipping an Apple


Stirring the Caramel



After! Bam. They looked great



A few days before that we made some awesome halloweeny treats. Its all about the pumpkin bread and cookies and the Coco Pebbles rice crispy treats.

Sick Days....:^(

Last Saturday Rochelle wasn't feeling well at all. At first look it either looked like a flu or just really bad dehydration. We ended up not eating any of the apples because I didn't want to enjoy the experience with out her. It wasn't till later on this week when she went to the Doc's because her symptoms hadn't gone down. Ends up she had a stomach virus which would last till at least the end of the week. Unfortunately we missed a wedding and a Hume Trip. But it was ok because we can see Hume again. Plus side-we did get to visit her Uncle Keith while he was in town. Pray that Chelle feels better soon and that she is able to keep up on the missed school work. As for plans for the wedding nothing new yet. We'll keep you posted as soon as something pops up.

God Bless and take care.

Doug

Welcome baby!

On October 6, 2008 at 11:53 pm Reagan Warner Wolfe Giardiello was born. I, Rochelle, am an aunt! My sister went into labor around 5:30 that evening and had him six hours later. It was a fast labor, but it wasn't an easy labor. Doug and I got the call from Reagan's daddy, Joe, around 8:30 that night saying that it was time and that they'd meet us at the hospital. We had been at our ballroom dance class and I had left my phone at home on accident, so I didn't get the message till 10:30. So we quickly got ready to go and headed for the hospital. When we got there and went to the labor/delivery area they said that Devonna hadn't come in yet. That worried us a bit, especially neither she nor Joe answered their phones (Not that I blame them, I mean, she was in labor!) She had decided a while ago that she wanted to labor at home and then during a transition drive to the hospital. The problem was that she never really transitioned. I guess her doula had been worried that first she would have him at home, and then in the car, and then in the parking lot. Doug and I, meanwhile, waited in the waiting room, watching ESPN since we couldn't change the channel. We waited for about an hour and then called Joe again to see where they were. When Joe picked up the phone and we asked where they were he said, "Yeah...he was just born." Devonna had him 8 minutes after she arrived at the hospital! Completely natural too! After a little bit we got to go in and see Devonna and baby. He's a snuggler. Devonna was super tired though so we didn't stay for too long. We visited her twice while she was in the hospital and then they went home. I went to visit them yesterday and took a few pictures. He's so cute. You can just stare at him for hours...

He changes position a lot in his sleep!

Hi Reagan!

Stretch!

Half a smile

More smiles

Aunt Rochelle!

He does stuff like this in his sleep all the time. So adorable!

It's finally Autumn!!!

So with Fall being our favorite time of year we were excited that it's finally October. The Fall decorations have gone up around the house and we even decorated the dog, Edelwesis.

See?

She didn't like it much, but she was rewarded with a pig ear afterwards. We had fun though. The paint will come off her fur within the next few days.

Earlier in the day we took her to the park. It had drizzled a bit all throughout the morning, so the slide was a little slick. Usually she'll just try to walk down it, but she couldn't really do that this time...

We're Engaged!

So last Saturday I had lunch with a friend, Jenn, from high school. She had moved away to go to college, but she came back into town for the weekend, so she invited me to go to lunch with her at Red Robin. I had also met up with another friend that was in town for breakfast that morning, and was gonna be able to see yet another mutual friend of doug and mine's from Hume (Megan) that afternoon. And I wasn't feeling well. I've been sick lately, and my stomach was giving me problems. I almost canceled on Jenn. Good thing I didn't.

We're sitting there eating lunch and all of a sudden our waiter walks up, asks, "Is your name Rochelle?" And then gives me this:

It was a giant poster size card. On the inside there was a message from Doug pretty much saying that I was going on a scavenger hunt and to bring Jenn along. Right then everything clicked into place for me. Jenn. Megan. And other clues that I had noticed that week. I knew what was coming.
Also on the inside of the card was a clue for the next place. There were some blanks and some clues for those blanks and also a polaroid picture taped in flipped over. I pulled it off and figured out the next place to go:

Century 16 Movie Theatres. So we left for the movie theatre.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town...

From the movie theatre I got another poster card with another clue and another picture. As we were pulling out of the parking lot and trying to make a left turn, a car got into a turn lane to make a U turn. I thought, "That looks like Jay's car" (I knew that he and Doug were "hanging out" today) Sure enough as he made the U-turn I saw that "Joshua Wilderness Institute" Decal on the back of his car.

The next clue brought us to our friend's beach house that her family owns. We've spent many days hanging out there and enjoying the beach.

Jenn found the next card, which directed us to Corrales, the only place that I like Mexican food and one of Ventura's food gems that I introduced Doug to

All the time I was looking for people that I might know that were watching us. I knew Jenn was in on it even though she kept denying it. And I knew that Jay was in on it, and Megan too. But who else? The next clue took us to the supposed location for a new Wood Ranch. The closest one to us is in Camarillo and that's where Doug and I had had our "UnValentine's" date. At first I couldn't figure out the picture, but had figured out the place from the clues and thought, "No way am I driving out to Camarillo!" But then I saw the Macy's sign in the background and figured out that it was the old run down Fresh Choice.

We found that card taped to the sign and found that the next clue was Ventura High School where Doug and I had gone to listen to some singers for our music class last spring. So back in the car we went.

The last card directed us to the cross up on the hill downtown. The ACLU had tried to tear it down a couple of years ago, but a church bought the property, so now they can't touch it.

As we pulled into the parking lot I saw Doug's truck there and knew I had come to the end of the hunt. He didn't seem to realize I was there yet as I walked up. He was talking to some people nearby. But Megan was there with him and taking pictures.

Me coming from the parking lot down to the cross

I walked up behind Doug and touched his back to get his attention. He gave me a hug and then told me that he loved me. He made a small speech but neither one of us can remember exactly what he said because both of us were so nervous (Jay had bet Doug $10 that he would throw up.)

Then he got down on one knee and asked me if I would marry him.

I said yes!

While we were still up at the cross Devonna called me so I got to share the good news with her first (besides all of the people that already knew that had helped Doug out)

I was then told that people were at the house waiting for us. So we went back to my house

Proud dad

Happy mom


Pretty much everyone that had helped out

The ring. Saphires and a diamond. I need to get it resized though cause my fingers were smaller than even I knew!



So there you have it. That's the story.

BUBBLES!!!

So Walgreens is having their end of summer sale where all of their summer stuff is 75% off. Beach balls, nerf guns, pool mats, a bunch of stuff all in an aisle. We found bubbles and decided we wanted to see if Edelweiss likes them or not. Plus we're just big kids on the inside so we wanted to play with them too (and they're cherry scented!) So today we took her out back to try them out.

She wasn't so sure at first. She just kinda ran away from them and we had to keep calling her back. I think she was nervous being out in the back also cause of the pool, and Doug constantly teases her with the pool.

There were a couple of times where she kinda bit at them but otherwise she wasn't that interested still. She just didn't get how fun they could be. Finally at the very end she started playing a bit...

Doug here: Ok so Friday's destination was Hurricane Harbor. Since we have coupon books from our Magic Mountain season passes so we thought we should use the "Free Hurricane Harbor pass" before summer ended. We had a blast there however the adventure wasn't just merely being there. It was the process of getting there that made the day a true adventure.

Lets quentin tarantino this:

Lets go back, lets go back to the beginning

It all pretty much started about 8 O'clock when I awoke and left early to go to Rochelle's house to make her breakfast in bed. I like to half surprise her with those kinds of mornings. Anyways, I cooked her breakfast, and everything seemed fine. Until Chelle asked if I remembered my coupon book. I didn't. So I drove back to my place and tore my room apart for about 20 mins or so trying to find it. Since my move I have yet to find anything I want to. Well since I couldn't find it, I had to bite the bullet and pay the 15 bucks it would cost me to get in. Well since we were on my way and I forgot my sunglasses at a friend's house the previous week we had to stop by a Von's on the way to pick me up a pair of sunglasses that looked at least decent. After that we made it to Valencia and decided to park down the hill from Six Flags to save us 15 dollars for not parking in their parking lot. We did. and walked a good mile or so to Six Flags up hill to the entrance gate just to realize we forgot Rochelle's Coupon book in the car. So we had to walk back. Fortunately we hitched a ride down, got the book, and walked all the way back to six flags. Finally making it to our destination, much, much later than we meant to.



Like my new shades?

I hope all is well with you and talk to you soon.

Reading time

Last night we finally finished the 5th Harry Potter book. We've been working on that one for a few months. Since last December or so we started on the series. I'd read them a few times before but Doug never had. I'll read aloud to him, and in return we're supposed to read Lord of the Rings next. It's a fun activity for both of us though. I don't think many couples read aloud to each other. I'm hoping to get us through the 6th book in time for the movie to come out, but I'm not sure how it'll go with our busy fall schedule. Last night we set up some blankets on the front balcony and Edelweiss joined us to listen too. Now on to the next book!