We are moving...

Well, it is official, we are moving to Mexico. Not New Mexico, Mexico Mexico. Check in our archive for a post titled, "Ever been here?" to read more about Saltillo, the city where we will be spending the next 3 years. La-Z-Boy is building a plant in Saltillo and Tyler accepted an offer to move there and be the Controller. The plant will not be open until January 2009, but we will probably move down in August so that the kids can start the school year with everyone else. We are very excited about this opportunity, but know it will be very hard to move away from our family and friends.

For those of you that don't know, Tyler is the controller here at the La-Z-Boy plant in Redlands. The new plant in Mexico is almost 3 times the size of the Redlands plant. Right now Tyler has 3 employees in his accounting department, in Mexico, he will be over about 10 employees and he will report directly to the corporate controller (same guy he reports to now). The plant in Saltillo will be roughly 750,000 sq. feet under roof. Tyler was hand picked to be on the team that put this whole project together. He has dedicated hours and hours of time to this project on top of his regular responsibilites over the last 8 months. I am so proud of him and so grateful for having a husband who is motivated, ambitious, and dedicated to providing for his family.

Tyler's first order of business... buy a new car. Here it is, an Infiniti G35 in slate blue.

Next item of business, Lizzy's new car!!! I keep asking when that is coming, and all he says is "Soon, honey, soon."

Straight out of a movie...

So, we rarely take all four kids with us when we go out to dinner, but we decided to this last week. Now, imagine the restaurant is totally packed & we are in the middle of eating our dinner & no, we aren't sitting in a kind of private booth, but at a big round table in the center of all the booths. Carter stands up on his high chair and with a smile on his face proudly announces to everyone, "I have a penis!" I turn and look at him and can't help but smile back as I reply, "Yes, you do." He then turns to his Dad, while still standing and proudly tells him, "I have a penis!" By then I was standing up and urging Carter to sit back down. He repeated his little statement a couple more times, and then went right back to eating his dinner. We all just laughed and Carter grinned from ear to ear. He was just so proud of himself.

If you have never potty trained a boy, let me tell you, the move from wearing a diaper to being free as a bird in underwear, is just that, totally freeing. Carter's new found anatomy is now a daily topic at our house--oh the fun of potty training!

Good ol' Southern California Weather

We were lucky enough to spend last Saturday at Grandma Linda's-- pool side with the BBQ. It was in the low 90's and a totally gorgeous day. Our kids are part fish, so they had a blast swimming the day away. Chloe, not only has glowing skin which tans, tans, and tans, I also think she has gills. She didn't mind the freezing cold water of the pool and even jumped off the diving board a time or two. Logan and Carter, on the other hand, prefer the warmer waters of the hot tub. Logan spent the day fine tuning his swimming skills, (and for all you Napoleon Dynamite fans out there, we all know that girls like boyfriends that have skills). He wore his arm floaties only part of the day and I am sure in a couple weeks, he will be swimming completely sans floaties, just like an olympic champion. Carter, our natural born athlete, suprised us all last summer when at 18 months he jumped in with only arm floaties. He had great balance & was able to keep his chin above the water. This swimming season will be no different and I wouldnt be surprised if by the end of the summer he is swimming sans floaties as well. And I dont know about your kids, but mine will do anything for an otter pop!!!

Kids say the darndest things!

The other morning, Logan walks into the bathroom while I am getting ready & asks what the weather for the day is. I tell him I don't know and he says he will go look. He runs to the window, pulls back the curtains and the blinds and replies, "I think it is going to be medium today!" He then runs out and comes back a few minutes later wearing jeans and a short sleeve shirt. With a very satisfied look on his face, he says, "See, I got my medium clothes on."

Ever Been Here?

The company Tyler works for is opening it's first international facility in 2009. Tyler has been working on the team of people behind this decision. He started this project last August with the promise that it would be a lot of traveling for only 6-8 weeks. Here it is 6-8 months later and finally the plant was announced. Tyler and I & Luke went down to see the city where the project Tyler has worked fiercly on for the last 8 months will be located, Saltillo, Mexico. Saltillo is the capital city in the state of Coahuila (Co-ah-we-la). It is nestled in the mountains of Coahuila and in the historic downtown stands a cathedral that is 400 years old. Inside are 2 altars made of silver, hand made by the indians that once inhabited Saltillo. These altars have been on several exhibitions, including one in New York City, and now sit behind glass in the Cathedral. The first picture is of one of the altars. The next two pictures are of the intricate details on the outside of the cathedral.

This picture was taken in front of the Saltillo, Casino, which is across the street from the Cathedral. It is no longer a casino, but a ladies club. And they do play poker in the evenings, but no bets are taken! It was beautiful inside and we just loved the entrance.

This is back at the Cathedral. These are the main doors into the Cathedral. Nowadays they only open a small door which you can kind of see the outline of right behind me in the picture. Once inside you can see the enormous hinges that once allowed the doors to open all the way.

This picture was taken from across the street. The cathedral is shaped liked a cross, but unless you have an aerial photo taken it is hard to see. On the left side of this photo, you can see the entrance to a small chapel that is attached to the cathedral. And if you are wondering, they still hold services here.