.:: The Rupps ::.

A Garden Party for Lucy

2011-04-22T17:05:00.001-07:00

Lucy is ONE! This past year has gone by so fast. We love our little girl! Gregg has been working diligently on the back yard for the past few months in preparation for the big party. The grass was in a few weeks before and everything turned out beautiful. Lucy had a blast eating her cake (lemon cake w/ strawberry lavender frosting) and feeding it to everyone around her (so glad she already knows how to share). We had almost all our family from both sides with us to celebrate. It was a great day!

Our Little Pumpkin

2010-11-01T22:35:00.001-07:00

Halloween 2010 - We went to the pumpkin patch, carved pumpkins, & dressed up just like we do every year but this year was a little more exciting now that we have a little one to share it with! Lucy was so much fun! We just love her to pieces.

Lucy at the Beach

2010-07-28T11:07:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we took a quick trip out to Laguna Beach to visit friends and family. On Saturday we went to San Ofre beach down in San Clemente to go surfing and hang out like old times. Lucy loved the beach, but hated putting on sunscreen. After the beach we stopped by Pedro's Tacos and then hung out down town Laguna later that night. We sure miss the beach but it is fun to visit.

Been busy

2010-06-14T12:24:00.000-07:00

Lucy has been keeping us busy. She is growing so fast. She's 8 weeks already! She is such a happy baby. She's smiling and talking and very alert. We just love her :)

5/11

5/20

5/25

5/31

6/1

6/3

6/8

6/11

Meet Lucy Lee

2010-05-10T22:47:00.001-07:00

The Baby & The Belly

2009-12-11T16:24:00.000-08:00

So the belly is growing :) I'm 22 weeks now. We had a dr. apt this past Tuesday and got to see our little girl. She is perfect :) Tiny fingers & tiny toes and a cute little button nose :) I can't wait to meet her!

7 weeks

10 weeks

13 weeks

16 weeks

17 weeks

18 weeks

20 weeks

Oct & Nov = Moving & Thanksgiving

2009-12-11T16:09:00.000-08:00

MOVING:

October 31 - Halloween - we moved from Laguna Beach to Mesa AZ - my parents came to help - and boy did we need it. They were awesome :)

When we got AZ my niece & nephew were so excited to see us - they were ready to go trick-or-treating!

THANKSGIVING:

We spent Thanksgiving this year in UT with Gregg's family. We had so much fun hanging out -cooking - cutting down X-mas trees, & celebrating Gregg's 33rd b-day

Its a....

2009-11-01T21:28:00.000-08:00

GIRL!!

First comes love..Then comes marriage...

2009-10-17T20:58:00.000-07:00

Then comes the baby.... :) That's right! We're having a BABY! I'm 14 along weeks now, due April 15th (yep, that's tax day... Gregg thinks it's funny because i like to plan everything!). We couldn't be more excited. I had mentally prepared for a few bouts of morning sickness and an occasional throw up. Fortunately i've only been extremely tired, and HUNGRY. Good thing Gregg will eat anything, because I'm too tired to cook anything that takes more than 10 minutes.

I can't believe how much I sleep! I take naps in my car at work during my lunch break, and wake up so hungry I snack all afternoon. I get so tired at night that my usual "stay up late until the work's done" mantra was out the window a long time ago.

I'm not showing too much yet & so far I've only gained 2 lbs. We've had ultrasounds at every appointment and have heard our babies heart beat 3 different times. It still feels surreal for Gregg, but he's not the one gaining the weight. Of course both our families are very excited for us, and we feel so blessed to have their love and support.

Gregg wants a girl, but I'll be happy with a healthy baby. Let's all pray the baby doesn't have Gregg's big head for my sake... and the babies, of course. More to come...

We're Moving

2009-10-03T16:06:00.000-07:00

Ok so the rumors are true. We are moving away from this beautiful place. We've called Laguna Beach home since we got married 2 1/2 years ago. We have loved every second here and will miss it so much. We are moving to Arizona at the end of October. Gregg's company has opened up a new sales area in Phoenix and has asked Gregg to run it. We are excited for the change and look forward to the opportunity we will have to live closer to my family. We're not sure exactly where we will be living yet but my brother Matthew has been kind enough to let us crash at his new house for a bit while we figure it all out. So we'll keep you all posted.

Girls Weekend

2009-07-24T00:59:00.001-07:00

The week after 4th of July my mom and my 2 sisters and my niece & nephew drove out from Arizona for a Girl's weekend. It was so fun to be all together again. Its been a long time since we've been able to have all 4 of us together at the same time. We had a BLAST! We went to the beach, the Laguna Sawdust Festival, The Long Beach Aquarium, shopping down town Laguna, we got our eyebrows threaded, painted our toes & nails at midnight, made homemade pizza & pasta and just had the best time. My mom & my sisters are my best friends I miss them so much! (I only had my camera for 1/2 the time. You can see more pics of the girls weekend on my sister's blog Frost Family)

Marissa & Owen eating sprinkles

Gregg teaching Marissa how to skateboard

Mom, Owen, & Mel walking down town

Marissa & Owen at Huntington Beach (Owen's first time seeing the ocean)

Mel & Owen

Mom & Owen

Hagin out at Fisherman's Cove in Laguna Beach

My crazy sisters! I just love them! (Mo & Mel)

It was an adventure walking down to the Sawdust Festival

Marissa getting a Butterfly tattoo

We all got toe rings. This is one of my favorite summer traditions, it was fun to share this with my girls!

Guess what Gregg did while the girls played...

4th of July & Family

2009-07-24T00:45:00.001-07:00

For the 4th we spent the weekend with Gregg's family. His mom & sister Robyn and her cute little family drove down from Utah to spend the week with us. We had so much fun!

Brandon, Robyn & baby Navi

Navi's first time @ the Beach!

Isn't she so darling!

We had a BBQ at our place in Laguna before going to the fireworks show down town.

Cherry cobbler for dessert- YUM!

The Rupp Gang

Mom, Gregg, & Robyn

Our weekend in Tahoe

2009-06-21T22:11:00.000-07:00

Gregg and I just got home from a fabulous 4 days in Lake Tahoe. Our good friend Sarah was getting married in Reno and she planned a wonderful fun filled weekend for us all. We stayed in Tahoe just at the border of California & Nevada.

Our hotel was NASTY. We found this little place for $24 a night - I know, I know...what can we expect for $24??...Well let me just say we got what we paid for...

I expected things to be pretty sketchy so I brought our own sheets

Yes the bathroom is pink...Pepto Pink!

"The Bride Ride" - on Friday morning Sarah set up a mountain bike ride at the Flume Trail. It was 14 miles - 5 of which were up hill and pure hell. I thought my lungs were going to explode...the hardest thing I've ever done.

Once we made it up hill things got much better - the view was awesome.

Half way though the ride we came across a rope swing - all the guys went for a ride.

Me & the bride Sarah

After I was able to catch my breath I started having so much fun!

Gregg showing off his sweet moves

On Saturday morning we drove to the Reno temple for the wedding. It was so wonderful!

The beautiful couple - Sarah & Jared Swanson

After the wedding Gregg & I spent the afternoon in Reno

We ate lunch at this yummy pizza place...Gregg was enjoying the fresh grated Parmesan cheese

After lunch I took a nap in the car and Gregg went fishing

Saturday night was the reception. It was held at the National Automobile Museum in down town Reno. For so many reasons this was by far one of the most enjoyable receptions we've been to.

Galaxy Game

2009-06-13T18:54:00.001-07:00

The other night Gregg and I got to see a Galaxy soccer game. He was super excited because the were playing against a Costa Rican team Herediano Futbol Club (Gregg served his mission in Costa Rica). We had a fun time!

My 2 Favorite Kids

2009-06-13T18:46:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Gregg and I went to Arizona for the weekend. This is my niece & nephew, my two favorite kids ever! I miss them so much!

Marissa is 4

Owen is 17 months & Gregg is 32 :)

Memorial Day Backpacking Trip #2

2009-05-26T21:01:00.000-07:00

This last weekend Gregg and I went on our 2nd annual Memorial Day backpacking trip. We took off on Friday after work and drove 4 hours up to Lone Pine, the town at the base of the Sierra's where we were going to be hiking for the weekend. We stayed the night in a small motel down town. It was a historic motel and there were no bathrooms in the room - just a sink...after we checked in we went to this really cool little diner for some cherry & peach pie - it was so yummy!

On Saturday morning we set off for our weekend adventure.

Yes - there were bears and it freaked me out!

The first day we hiked about 6 miles through the Cotton Wood Lakes Basin to Cotton Wood Lake #5.

For dinner the first night we made homemade chicken & dumpling soup and banana pudding for dessert - super yummy!

Our camp site was at the edge of the lake and surrounded by beautiful snow topped peaks - it was an amazing view! The first night was a little rough though - we didn't sleep very well. We think it had to do with the elevation- we were at 11,000 feet.

The second day we hiked another 4 miles to our next camp site. The hike was beautiful. We went through rock fields, forest, and meadows, the trail hadn't been opened yet so for part of the way we were making our own trail - it was fun climbing over all the big rocks and finding our own way around.

Our second campsite was up on a ledge looking over this meadow just at the base of this mountain. We could hear the creek running and had another amazing view of the snowy mountains.

After we set up camp we went exploring - we walked around looking at all the fish in the streams and then decided to follow the stream up the side of one of the mountains to see if we could find where it was coming from - we climbed up pretty far but never found the source - but we did find a beautiful area where the stream ran through a green meadow - it looked like a fairytale.

For dinner the second night we had a mountain man freeze dried meal but we made apple dumplings for dessert - it was really really good - I was impressed with our outdoor culinary skills!

This is the bear canister that we had to pack every night - we had to put all our food and toiletries in it so that the bears wouldn't be able to find anything in our tent they'd want to eat. It really freaked me out to think that there would be bears even close to our tent - so I was very diligent when it came to this chore!

We were able to have a fire the 2nd night - It was a little windy but it lifted our spirits and gave us something else to do for a few hours.

On Monday we packed up and hiked the last 3 miles out. We had a great time and we enjoyed the time we got to spend together.

In all I think we hiked just about 15 miles. Next year we'll do it all over again :)

6 Month Project

2009-05-26T20:57:00.000-07:00

For Gregg's 32nd birthday back in November I got him this print of a painting we found in down town Laguna. I asked my dad to make me a frame for it and he did...we brought it home an it sat on my floor unfinished for the last 6 months - finally I decided it was time to finish this project, so I painted and sanded and then we hung it - It turned out exactly how I'd pictured it :) Thanks dad!

My mechanic

2009-05-26T20:55:00.000-07:00

So i found myself a new mechanic :)...

Cinco de Mayo

2009-05-26T20:51:00.001-07:00

For Cinco de Mayo we had some friends over for a dinner party. We made chicken & carne asada tacos, rice, and lots of toppings. After dinner we watched American Idol and had tres leches for dessert. It was really fun.

We've been busy

2009-04-23T22:51:00.000-07:00

March Weekend #1

We went camping with friends Jeff & Mary up near Ortega Highway, in the De Anza wilderness. It was really fun. We camped on Friday night made cobbler in the dutch oven and then went hiking on Saturday. Gregg got this sweet camping stove for Christmas and i had fun using it to make sausage and pancakes for breakfast.

March Weekend #2

Gregg and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary on March 17th. We spent the weekend before our anniversary in Carmel, CA. We stayed in the cutest hotel called the Normandy Inn.

We ate our 1st dinner at the yummiest Thai restaurant. We found it a few years ago on our way home from our San Francisco trip.

The next day we spent a lot of time walking up and down the quaint little streets and going into all the cute little shops.

Then we went to my FAVORITE cheese shop where i spent a fortune on cheese.

Then we went to the beach. Carmel has the most amazing white sand beach - it is usually windy but so beautiful.

We had dinner the 2nd night and the really unique restaurant called Casanova. They serve a 3 course meal that was super yummy and wonderful desserts (Gregg had a cold and couldn't taste much so he wasn't super impressed, but i thought it was great).

The next morning we woke up early and hit the road. We drove home on Highway 1. It was so beautiful driving down the coast. We stopped to take lots of pictures.

We saw whales - it was so neat!

We took a little detour and went on a small hike to this waterfall in Big Sur. It is coming right out of the mountain down to the beach - so rad.

Gregg and I just love spending time together. The last 2 years have flown by but they have been the best 2 years ever!

March Weekend #3 - We took a break and stayed home

March Weekend #4

The last weekend in March we drove out to Arizona. Gregg went camping with my dad and his scouts to a place in Northern Arizona called Horton Springs.

Gregg and Dad making chicken and dumplings for dinner - Gregg said that it was the best thing he'd ever made - he is still talking about it and its been 4 weeks since then.

Dad made pineapple upside down cake in his mess kit - how awesome is that!

New favorite camping treat - marshmallows and chocolate stuffed in a banana and then roasted over the hot coals. You have to try this!

While we were in AZ we celebrated my sister Melanie's birthday and my grandpa's birthday. They have the same birthday, April 4th.

My nephew Owen found his belly button

April Weekend #1

We spent general conference weekend in San Diego visiting our friends Dave & Stephanie. We went out to Coronado Island and walked around. Its a pretty neat place. We got ice cream for dessert at this place with a cow in the front.

April Weekend #2

My brother Matthew came to visit us for Easter weekend. I took the day off on Thursday and we spent some nice brother sister time together hanging out down town. On Friday night we went out to dinner with our friend Kristal. We went to this place in South Laguna called Tabu Grill. Super pricey but very yummy. After dinner we went to our favorite beach, Table Rock, and had s'mores. It was a cold night but the moon was out so it was really pretty.

On the way down to the beach we saw this HUGE spider - so scary!!

For Easter I made dinner for the 3 of us. Matthew doesn't like ham so i made salmon instead.

I made this homemade lemon blueberry poppy seed cake for dessert.

April Weekend #3

Just this past weekend Gregg hiked Mt. Whitney with some buddies. It was a 22 mile hike that they started at 3 am on Saturday morning. The summit was at 14,800 feet or something crazy like that. All the guys said that this was the hardest thing they have EVER done. Gregg forgot his sun glasses so not only did his face get sunburned, so did his eye balls - it was very painful but Gregg just says "lesson learned, I'm ready to do it again." I think he's crazy but that's just one of the million reasons why i love him.

April Weekend #4

I'm not exactly sure what we are doing this weekend but i think we need a vacation from all this fun we've been having. To be continued.....

BIG 4

2009-03-02T23:44:00.000-08:00

This weekend my little niece had her 4th birthday party. We had the party at a park in my sister's neighborhood. Marissa wanted to have a butterfly party, so my talented sister Melanie made all the decorations and the cake look like butterflies. Everything was super cute! Marissa is such a special little girl. She brings such joy to my life and all those who are blessed to know her.

Owen and I are getting to be good buddies - he has such a cute little personality and I just can't help but kiss those little cheeks every chance I get!

Going down the slide by himself - Owen is getting so big and not to mention-fearless.

I can be a princess too. Marissa was nice enough to share her crown with me for a minute.

Gregg and I bought Marissa a new Barbie movie "Mermadia". She loves her Barbie movies.

Pretty Peacock Princess

Gregg's Adventures

2009-03-02T21:28:00.000-08:00

Gregg has been a busy guy lately. He's been getting to know the outdoors every chance he can get. Two weekends ago he went snow camping with his buddy Jeff and his scout troop. This was the first snow camping trip he actually did on purpose. If you remember our backpacking trip last year-the snow was a surprise(at least it was to me). He had a blast and was so proud that all his gear worked like it was suppose to. This last weekend Gregg went hiking at Fish Creek with my dad and his scouts. They went on a day hike down the creek, climbing over boulders and playing splash wars with the boys. Gregg loves any chance he gets to use all the sweet gear he's picked up over the last 2 years we've been married. He's totally geeked out on REI, but that's just another reason I love him so much :)

FISH CREEK

SNOW CAMPING

4 Month Post

2009-02-08T21:06:00.000-08:00

OK so we've obviously gone a very long time without updates so here is a massive post of the last 4 months to catch y'all up on what's been going on with the Rupps.

NOVEMBER

We spent Thanksgiving in Arizona with my family

Gregg & My dad went Fishing

Gregg celebrated his 32nd Birthday in AZ. I bought him a print of his favorite painting from one of our local galleries.

We got a flat tire on our way back to CA - so much fun :) We were in the middle of nowhere and had to get a used tire from the local tire repair shop - Billy Joe's tire repair - it was quite the adventure!

DECEMBER

I spent 2 solid days baking cookies for our friends & neighbors

I ran out of room to put them when they were done so I had to use our bedroom floor

We spent the first 1/2 of X-mas week in AZ

Mustache Bash 2008

Disneyland @ Christmas - my favorite!

Petty Family annual "Christmas Eats & Games"

Every year my family gets together and we have "eats" - tons of yummy food and then "games". We play two games every year. My favorite is the wrapping game - my mom wraps a gift card a million times and then we roll a pair of dice, whoever gets doubles gets to put on the gloves and start unwrapping until the next person rolls doubles - it goes until the gift card is unwrapped - my mom won this year much to Monica's dismay.

We spent the second 1/2 half of Christmas week in Utah with Gregg's mom and all his siblings and their families. We had so much fun playing in the snow and being together. It was my first white Christmas - it was magical.

We went Sledding

On Christmas Eve night it snowed over 2 feet

Christmas morning Nerf fight tradition

Gregg's new beanie

On Christmas day Gregg went skiing with his brother Chris

I stayed at the house and ate snow while the kids played outside

We made snow angles and played together

Monett & JoAnn started this crazy puzzle and worked on it for days - they were never able to finish because they bought it at a thrift store and it was missing a few pieces. So they burned it.

Coke & Mentos - very cool!

Christmas dinner

My favorite gift from Gregg was the cookbook he made me out of all my hundreds of loose recipes I had shoved in a binder - he organized them and taped them into a really cute book. He's so thoughtful, one of the many reasons I love him so much!

The elk across the street one morning

We went skiing at Sundance - Gregg taught me and his neice & nephew.

JANUARY 2009

We spent the day at Disneyland.

Gregg got a new sleeping bag - this makes number 4 (I think this has become a little more than a hobby - obsession I think describes it better)

We went to the US vs Sweden soccer game with some friends

FEBRUARY

Today we spent a lazy Sunday at the beach. The tide was extremely low today so we walked out on the rocks and found some cool creatures. Then we enjoyed the beautiful sunset.

Montana Trip

2009-01-29T23:11:00.000-08:00

Although its been a few months, i wanted to put up a few pics from a fishing/friendly visit the great state of Montana. I don't recall every going to Montana in our many extensive childhood cross country-month long-tent trailer- camping trips... and with the famed fishing and beauty that graces the state, needless to say i was excited. I did lots and lots of homework before going. Homework about the fishing that is. Below are some of the more choice photos taken. Oh yeah, i went to visit my friend Craig. I hadn't seen him in a few years so apart from the fishing, and the scenery, and the traffic free roads, it was nice to see Craig too.

Family Pics for Xmas

2008-12-02T23:25:00.001-08:00

Gregg and I went to Utah last month to visit his sister Robyn who just had her first baby (so cute, her name is Navi, pics to come soon). While we were there we had Robyn's sister-in-law Courtney take some pictures for us, she is a very talented photographer - we are going to use one of them for our Christmas card this year but she took lots of cute ones so thought I would share. More posts to come soon I promise! but its almost midnight and I can't find where Gregg put the camera so maybe tomorrow I'll be able to get the pictures of our new niece and also the pictures of our Thanksgiving trip to Arizona.

Family Campout

2008-09-30T20:53:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we went camping with my family in northern Arizona. We has so much fun. We just hung out and enjoyed each others company for 3 whole days. We had the most amazing food too! Dad cooked all the meals in his dutch ovens & cast iron skillets. We even had cobbler w/home made ice cream and giant marshmallows for s'mores. We went on lots of walks and took plenty of naps. We played horseshoes and card games and sat around the campfire. It was very relaxing and just so nice to be together.

All Ready To GO!

Settin up Camp

Grandpa Marissa & Owen

Me & Mom

My 2 Favorite Kids!

"Mustaches-just like Grandpa"

Matthew & Marissa

Taking a little nap

Owen walking w/ Matthew

Dutch Oven Cookin! SO YUMMY!!

Eating Stew

Making Ice Cream in zip lock Bags - it really works!!

Cobbler

Giant Marshmallow

Catalina Island

2008-09-07T15:42:00.000-07:00

Every summer my company has a picnic to get all the families together, but this year they decided to forgo the picnic for a trip to Catalina instead. We took the fairy over at 7am from Dana Point, way too early if you ask me, it was cold and windy on the boat as you can see, but it was so much fun. We went kayaking for the first time and Gregg did a little cliff diving. Then we had lunch at a really yummy seafood restaurant. We took a little nap on the beach and then went exploring a bit in the neighborhood up from town - sweet houses! We had dinner at Chinese restaurant where Gregg impressed the waitstaff with his Chinese skills and then took a walk on the pier. While we were on the pier we saw a huge marlin that had just been caught - it was 138lbs. We got home around 8:30 and we were in bed by 10 - earliest i think EVER since we've been married, but that didn't stop us from sleeping in until 9am - just in time for church.

Labor Day Weekend

2008-09-07T15:17:00.000-07:00

Its unlike us to stay in town for a holiday weekend but we decided we didn't want to fight traffic in and out of Laguna for Labor Day so we stayed close by. On Saturday we went with some friends up to the local mountains up past Azusa. Gregg went fishing and caught some real "big" fish. After fishing we cooked for our friends in Gregg's dutch ovens. We had chicken and our favorite cheesy potatoes then we had some s'mores for dessert. Our, or should i say Gregg's, new favorite way to eat s'mores is with Reeses peanut butter cups - nasty if you ask me but he loves them!

2008-08-24T19:17:00.000-07:00

OK so after getting flack from almost everyone, I have finally found the time to post on our blog. I can't promise that I will do it often, but i do promise to try.

So since it took me over a year to start I thought I would do a bunch of posts to catch up on what's been going on the last year and a half since we've been married. Enjoy :)

SOME OF OUR FAVORITE THINGS

2008-08-24T19:10:00.001-07:00

SURFING

SKIING

SOCCER GAMES

PICNICS AT THE BEACH

DUTCH OVEN COOKING

FLYFISHING

MAKING PASTA

DISNEYLAND

OUR WEDDING DAY - MARCH 17, 2007

2008-08-24T19:02:00.000-07:00

OUR FIRST APARTMENT - APRIL 2007

2008-08-24T18:57:00.000-07:00

SAN FRANCISCO TRIP - JULY 2007

2008-08-24T18:53:00.000-07:00

SOLVANG TRIP - OCTOBER 2007

2008-08-24T18:51:00.000-07:00

OUR NEW APARTMENT - JANUARY 2008

2008-08-24T18:49:00.000-07:00

VEGAS TRIP - MARCH 2008

2008-08-24T18:48:00.000-07:00

BACKPACKING TRIP - MAY 2008

2008-08-24T18:46:00.001-07:00