Rocktober

The month of October certainly did rock our world! A lot of amazing things came our way. To launch October we celebrated with watching General Conference. We heard a lot of wonderful messages from our Prophet and Apostles. This was Elijah's second General Conference and he seemed to pay attention whenever he wasn't busy playing with a toy. A funny story: whenever we put EJ down for a nap we sign "Redeemer of Israel" and "Families can be together forever"... we've been doing this since he was a few weeks old. He's gotten so used to feeling sleepy and soothed after these hymns that when they sang Redeemer of Israel during conference he started yawning and acting tired. It was so cute and funny.

My mom would be so proud of us for introducing rice and beans to Joaquin. This month he has gotten addicted to his black beans! One night we didn't serve him any beans and he refused to eat and was extra fussy. Once we brought out the homemade beans he started squealing and showing excitement over the magical fruit. As you can see here, he gets it all over the place!

Elijah's always willing and ready to help with the laundry. He got a kick out of getting to help fold clothes while BEING inside the dryer... after all, every little person needs a picture inside the dryer :)

For the record, Joaquin HATES things on his head!!! We had to get his Halloween costume weeks in advance in order to TRY and get him used to wearing his ewok headpiece. Each time we'd put his ears on he would cry or claw at his head until he managed to take off the bothersome object! Here he is actually keeping it on (he took it off right after we took this picture).

He's just our cutie pie!

He has his mom's taste buds and enjoyment for tart fruits. This was his first apple and he LOVED it! (It helps that he has 8 teeth)

 For some reason, Joaquin loves his bedroom window. He's always playing in the curtains and looking outside at squirrels, birds, passing cars, and random neighbors... but he gets the most excited when he spots Mom or Dad coming home from work!

He likes playing peek-a-boo and learning how to be gentle with Eeyore.

Getting ready for fall with his spiffy Gap Jean Jacket.

 

We think that he will have a love for playing music. He seems to really enjoy all instruments, but more specifically the guitar. We ofter try to hide it around the house and he'll always find it and start crying if we take it away. It's really cute (though sometimes annoying). More recently, he has started to strum more gently. 

 "Namaste"

Tania made Joaquin his very first scarf. He looks so European!

Two of the biggest blessings we've received this year have both come this month. The first involves the selling and purchasing of cars. Last year we bought a 2005 Mazda 3 which we thought would be a great investment. After having it for a few weeks we realized that it had serious problems and had been in a car accident previous to our owning it. It ran well, but we decided to get rid of it as soon as we could. This month we were finally able to sell it... wahhoo! Big relief. And now, after saving and searching we present to you our new Honda Insight!!! Oh yay-ya, it's a hybrid and gets killer gas mileage!

And now for the MOST EXCITING NEWS OF THE YEAR (drum role please):

After a lengthy hiring process of multiple phone interviews, in person interviews and finally "The Gauntlet interview" at the CA studio, I was given a job.  I'm starting off as a contract technical artist at a local game studio here in Austin called Certain Affinity. On my first day of work, which was October 24th, many people took the time to introduce themselves to me and congratulate me on joining the CA team.  When I got there I was glad to see some familiar faces from my previous employment at SOE.  I enjoy my work environment because it is close knit and personable, it allows me to get to know a lot of different people. There are no cubicles, or offices, it's just one big room where everyone works, this is known as "the Pit". I find it interesting that the the owner has a normal job and works out in the pit with everyone else, he's not intimidating or above everyone else, he's just like one of the guys.  I am not allowed to post or give any information about my current (Halo 4) project, but lets just say that I get to build and test prototypes for the game to work out any hurdles before they decide to implement them into the game. We're really blessed for me to have this job and I am just loving everyday.