Today marks the 9th birthday of our amazing little man! It’s hard for Jessica and me to comprehend that our youngest is just a year away from hitting double digits. Nevertheless, we couldn’t be more thrilled or proud of how things have unfolded. Enzo and his sisters are doing wonderfully, and everyone is thriving down here in the desert. Sometimes I still have to pinch myself just to believe it’s all real.
Although Enzo’s real birthday is today, we decided to have his party yesterday. In the past, we hosted his birthday parties at our house, but this year we opted for a fun morning at an indoor trampoline park with his friends. They enjoyed jumping, laser tag, pizza, and bundt cakes. The night before the party, the kids participated in a four-square tournament at school and then Enzo and Elise each had a friend over for a sleepover. After yesterday’s party, everyone was exhausted and looking forward to a peaceful evening at home.
Enzo started his day by unwrapping gifts and catching up with family over the phone. His presents included a mix of toys, a generous amount of Robux for his beloved Roblox game, tasty snacks, and new clothes. To continue our tradition of attending sporting events on his birthday, this year Enzo and I will be heading to the Celebrity Flag Football game just before the Superbowl, maintaining the excitement from last year’s UNLV basketball game outing. Overall, it was a joyful start to Enzo’s special day!
Enzo absolutely loves sushi, so I’m happy to be able to prepare it for him tonight as part of his birthday celebration. Jessica and I recently took our first sushi-making class, and we had an amazing time. We were taught how to create spicy tuna rolls, California rolls, and vegetable hand rolls. Following the class, the girls and I went on a shopping spree at a Japanese market and gathered all the essential ingredients for making sushi at home. Since then, we’ve indulged in homemade sushi multiple times, and it’s safe to say that we’ve improved with each attempt.
Lately, I’ve been immersing myself in YouTube tutorials to pick up some new sushi-making techniques. However, the best part of this culinary adventure has been sharing it with Jessica. She’s always been my biggest cheerleader in the kitchen, but there’s something extra special about tackling sushi as a team. It takes time and effort, but the satisfaction of working side by side on a new culinary endeavor and then savoring the results together brings me true happiness.
The kids are just as delighted as we are about it. In our family, there are only so many foods that everyone enjoys equally, and sushi is definitely one of them. The kids particularly love California rolls and fried shrimp rolls, while Jessica and I prefer tuna and salmon, but it’s all delicious. We’re thrilled to prepare all of those dishes and then gather for a family meal that we know will be enjoyed by everyone.
I believe that’s all for now. I wanted to dedicate this post entirely to Enzo’s special day. There’s a lot to look forward to, and I’m confident there will be plenty of updates next month. But for now, I’ll conclude by sharing that everyone is doing wonderfully. The kids are thriving at school and growing up quickly, Jessica and I are doing well at work, and we’re keeping busy with activities that make us happy. Here are some recent photos. Happy birthday, buddy!
Enzo and his buddies at his birthday partyOur first time making sushi at homeHomemade sushi, volume two!Fried shrimp rolls – homemade sushi volume three!Happy 9th birthday Enzo!!!
An update on Enzo’s 8th birthday, including his party at home, then our big night out at the UNLV basketball game.
Yesterday the awesome Mr. Enzo turned eight years old! Normally I like to write a family blog post on the day of our kids’ birthdays, but this time it wasn’t possible due to the big night out Enzo and I had on his birthday evening. Since his birthday fell on a Saturday this year, we were able to have his party at home on the day of his actual birthday. It was a bit chaotic, as many of his friends from school were able to attend, but he had a great time.
Earlier that morning, he opened presents from family, and that’s when I finally broke the news to him that we would be attending the UNLV basketball game later that night. Over the past few months, Enzo has grown a love for the game of basketball, and he regularly asks me if someday I could take him to a game. Once I saw that UNLV was playing a home game versus their rival, the University of Nevada Reno, on the night of his birthday, I splurged a bit by purchasing great seats for the game. I originally thought they were in the third row because our tickets say Row C, but it was more like midway up in the first level. The seats were still excellent, though.
Enzo with his new basketball and UNLV t-shirt from Uncle Jim and Aunt Brenda
I’ve only been to one other college basketball game in my life, which was when Jessica and I went to a San Diego State game many years ago featuring a young Kawaii Leonard, who would later become a huge NBA star. When I broke the news to Enzo, he gave me the biggest hug and wouldn’t let go. You can see it in the video I made for his birthday. I was a little surprised at just how happy he was about it, and I got a little choked up by his response.
We arrived an hour before gametime so we could take our time walking around the Thomas & Mack Center and check everything out. We watched the teams during shoot around and went down to the court level to take a few photos. The atmosphere during the game was electric. Between the fans, UNLV students, the band, the cheerleaders, and the halftime entertainment, there was never a dull moment.
It was a back-and-forth game, but UNLV ultimately won by 6 points. We were cheering as loud as we could, and consequently, my voice is pretty hoarse today. Jessica made Enzo a sign that said “It’s my birthday” on one side and “Go Rebels” on the other. Enzo was really hoping to get on the jumbotron, and as fate would have it, we ended up on it four times throughout the game! All the people around us knew it was his birthday due to his sign, so every time the camera would start showing people in the crowd, everyone around us would point at Enzo, who was usually up dancing and waving his sign around.
There were so many people wishing him a happy birthday as they walked by, and the cutest part was that he kept count of them. By the time we left, his count had reach 20 people. As we walked back to the car he told me this was his best birthday yet. Nothing could have brought me more joy.
As far as his birthday party goes, it was a great day. As usual, Jessica deserves a ton of credit for making it happen. She always comes up with great ideas for activities, and she got a cake with his face printed on it, which was a request by Enzo. We had a piñata outside, but Enzo didn’t want to wear a blindfold, so it didn’t last long enough for each kid to have a turn hitting it. They all got plenty of candy though, so I don’t think any of them were too upset. We also set up a little photo studio in the house and had all kinds of masks for the kids to wear in their pictures.
There were more kids at the party than we were expecting, and it was getting a little crazy having all of them inside our house at the same time, so after everyone finished their cake Jessica took them to the park by our neighborhood to let them burn off energy. I’m not nearly as good as Jessica when it comes to dealing with other people’s kids, but I always love chatting with the parents. You always get to meet such friendly new people, so it really was a great day.
This is the most personalized birthday cake I’ve ever seen!
Since Enzo and I were going to the game, Ava and Elise ended up going home with Nana for a sleepover. This meant Jessica had the place to herself for the evening. I felt bad about that and would have gladly gotten her a ticket to the basketball game, but I didn’t know then that the girls would end up at Nana’s house. It’s all good, though; she worked so hard to make the house look perfect and deserved a nice quiet night with zero responsibilities.
Overall it was a great day for Enzo. I remember being about the same age when my dad took me to my first basketball game. We went to see the Super Sonics play, and I loved every minute of it. I also remember after the game, we were walking back to our car, and my dad tripped on one of those concrete bumpers they put in parking spaces to keep you from pulling too far forward. He slammed his shoulder into the bumper of another car ahead of us and really hurt himself. At that time, we lived about 30 minutes south of Seattle, and he had to drive us home in a lot of pain. It wasn’t the greatest way to end the evening, but here we are about 35 years later, and I still remember it like it was yesterday.
Obviously, it was very special for me to be able to come full circle and have the same type of experience with Enzo. Luckily this particular evening didn’t result in any injuries, but you never know with our family. I’ll never forget spending the night of my 42nd birthday with Enzo at the emergency room, getting stitches in his forehead after he tripped and fell head-first during our pool party.
Before I move on, I just want to say how much I love my son and how proud Jessica and I are of him. Like his sisters, he’s an amazing kid whom I couldn’t imagine life without. Although we try not to focus too much on grades and test scores, I’m very proud to say that Enzo recently scored in the 98th percentile nationally in math. He’s literally in the top 2% in the United States for math at his age! Regardless of that, he’s just an awesome kid, and I couldn’t be luckier as a father to call him my son.
Other Family Updates
January has been a good month for us. While we had a great time during the holiday break, everyone was ready to return to their routine and see their friends again at school. Ava and Elise have been staying busy with various school activities; they continue to enjoy participating in the school choir, and they’re excited to get back into “Girls on the Run,” which is a running program held by the school for girls only. Elise did it earlier in the school year and loved it, so now Ava will join her for the Spring session.
Speaking of Spring, softball season is coming soon, and Ava plans to play again this year. She really enjoyed it last year, and we all like hanging out at the ballpark during that time of year because the weather is so perfect here. We’re also going to get Enzo back into swimming lessons soon. Even though he loves shooting hoops at home (we recently set up a hoop in the backyard), he says he doesn’t want to play on a team and would rather focus on swimming as his main sport. I’m all for it and love taking him to the pool, so hopefully, it won’t be too long before he’s ready for his first swimming team. I’m also going to encourage him to try diving, but we’ll see how it turns out.
In addition to running, Elise is really interested in trying out boxing, so we’re going to look for a gym for her. Las Vegas is known as the fight capital of the world, so we should be able to find something. We have gloves here at home, and I often hold pads for her to hit. She’s very strong, and I honestly think boxing would be great for her self-confidence.
Before Winter comes to a close, we’re hoping to do a day of skiing/snowboarding/inner-tubing up at the Brian Head ski resort in Utah. It’s only about three hours from the house, so we could do a day trip with no problem. It sounds like Uncle Brad is going to join us since he used to be a ski and snowboard instructor. I love the idea of exposing the kids to winter sports, even though we live in the desert 😉
We’re also planning our first family trip to the Grand Canyon for this year’s Spring Break. Once again, it’s only a few hours from the house, and the kids are now old enough to appreciate it, so there’s no reason not to go. Neither Jessica nor I have ever been there, so we’re looking forward to it. One of the things I loved about moving to Nevada was that it opened up so many new possibilities for road trips. There are plenty of places in this great country of ours that I’ve still never gotten to see, so we’re not wasting time checking them off our bucket list.
A Visit from Grandma and Grandpa Rudd
Last weekend we were fortunate enough to get to spend a bunch of time with Grandma and Grandpa Rudd, who were out visiting from Iowa. Rick had a work conference in Las Vegas, so they decided to come a few days early and spend the weekend with us. We went bowling one day, then Rick and I assembled the basketball hoop the next day. They took the kids out shopping and Enzo got a new pair of Nike’s that have become his new favorite sneaks.
We’re always thankful when family comes to visit, and luckily, it won’t be long before we get our next visit. My cousin Kristy and her husband Gilberto are coming to Vegas next weekend in celebration of his birthday. Jessica and I are really excited to take them to a fancy vegetarian restaurant called Saffron. We ate there last year for our anniversary and loved it so much that we made a Vegas Showbiz video about it. It’s one of those places where the food looks like art, the ambiance is beautiful, and the service is top-notch. It’s going to be a great weekend.
Wrapping Up
As always, I couldn’t be more thankful for the lives we have created. I know we’ve worked hard for it, but that doesn’t always guarantee anything. Jessica and I sometimes have to pinch ourselves because we can’t believe how everything has turned out. Ultimately though, you could take away the house, the cars, and all the experiences, and I know that we would still be very happy because we have each other. Nothing is more important to us than our family, and it’s days like this that keep everything in perspective. Happy 8th birthday Enzo. We love you so much!!!
Today our amazing little boy turns 5 years old! I know I say something similar to this on each of the kids birthdays, and I hate to sound like a broken record, but I just cannot believe he’s already 5! I also can’t believe our youngest child is now 5. I know it’s super cliche, and I say it every time, but time is flying at a relentless pace and the older I get the faster it seems to go. Overall he’s doing great with all of his activities and school, while also enjoying his final year at home before entering school full time as a Kindergartner in the Fall. He loves monster trucks, racecars, video games, bike racing, listening to music, dancing, and getting out on the ice to play hockey.
To everyone who got him a present or wished him a happy birthday, thank you all so much. Some of the highlights this year included various cars and monster trucks, a red leather jacket, and his very own Nintendo Switch! We got our first Nintendo Switch about a month ago for Christmas and we all love it, but it’s probably safe to say that Enzo loves it the most, so it felt appropriate for him to have his own.
Although today is Enzo’s actual birthday, we primarily celebrated on Sunday by going to an Everett Silvertips hockey game, which they won 4-1 over the Spokane Chiefs. We were joined by Kristy, Beto, and Madi, plus our good friends the Palmers and the Browns. They were supposed to announce Enzo’s name during the second period, and I had my phone out filming when they started calling out the birthdays, but for some reason Enzo got skipped. Obviously he didn’t know the difference but we were a bit bummed and confused. Either way it was still a really fun evening, then afterwards we went out for dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant. Much like his first birthday, after dinner they brought out the sombrero and sang to him before enjoying a bowl of fried ice cream.
It was a very hockey-filled weekend which began with Ava’s practice on Friday night. Then on Saturday morning Enzo had his final class from his first Hockey 1 session that he began a couple months ago. He made great progress during this time and after the final class I told him he certainly didn’t have to stick with hockey, but he could if he wanted to. His response was “Daddy, I want to keep playing hockey until I’m good.” So, on that note, we’ll be signing up for another session in the spring.
Saturday afternoon Ava had practice and a game, which she played very well in, then Saturday night we met up with a few other families for the University of Washington’s hockey game against Oregon. Sunday afternoon Ava had a special practice in preparation for the Wickfest tournament we’ll be attending this weekend, then Sunday evening was the Silvertips game. So yeah, lots of hockey this weekend!
In addition to Sunday’s birthday celebration, we were joined this evening for dinner at home with Auntie Dana. She wasn’t able to make it to the game but wanted to see Enzo, so it worked out perfectly. I figured it would make sense for us to have Cioppino (our dad’s specialty) for dinner, and luckily my favorite grocery store Central Market sells a really good Cioppino base, which makes it quick and easy to prepare. We’ve been getting to see Dana a lot more frequently over the past couple months and that’s been really nice, so we appreciate her coming over.
As briefly mentioned already, we’ll be up in the Vancouver area this weekend for the Wickfest tournament, which is an all-female hockey tournament put on by Canadian Olympian and recent Hall of Famer Hayley Wickenheiser. It’s a very popular tournament and is so tough to get into that our 8U team was the only team from the entire Washington Wild organization to actually get in! We’ll be attending the “Let’s Glow Girls” opening party on Thursday night, which will be filled with food, music, neon lights, and lots of glow sticks. In addition to playing 4 games throughout the weekend, there will be all kinds of events going on for the kids to participate in, plus we always enjoy hanging out at the hotel and going swimming with the team.
In addition to all this hockey with Ava and Enzo, Elise has recently joined a Lego club at school and is enjoying that. She’s looking forward to trying a Jiu Jitsu class soon, as are the other two, after we get back from Canada, and I also just found a kids cooking school in Bothell called Frog Legs that we’re interested in checking out. She went really out of her way to make Enzo the sweetest birthday card, Pikachu ears, and gift basket (full of his own toys that she found around the house), then was the first one downstairs this morning wishing him a happy birthday. Overall she’s doing great and looking forward to a weekend in Canada. I have to give Elise credit because she’s so good at going with the flow and having fun with whatever we’re doing, but at the same time I want to make sure she gets to go and do things that specifically cater to her interests. So far she’s loving the legos, so hopefully we can ‘build’ from that… (get it – build??)
Earlier this month we made our annual trip to see the monster trucks at Monster Jam in Tacoma. Our next door neighbor Jim came along with us and everyone had a good time. It’s just loud mindless entertainment but I enjoy this new tradition we’ve made and look forward to doing it again next year. Then the very next day we received about 7 or 8 inches of snow, which was enough to cause the kids to miss 3 consecutive days of school. They basically spent all day everyday outside sledding, building a snowman (whom they call Bob every year), and dumping snow down each other’s backs. It didn’t take long to warm up and all get rained away, but they enjoyed it while it lasted.
I hate to mention a somber topic in this post, but I have to admit I’ve been pretty shook up over the past couple days due to the death of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna in that helicopter crash. I always looked up to Kobe and his death has been really bothering me. The fact that they and other families were going to their daughter’s basketball game hits close to home. I can’t help but make a connection with Ava and I regularly going to hockey practices/games together. Obviously we’re not traveling by helicopter, but anything can happen, and their deaths were a sad reminder that you can’t take anything for granted. It was all over the TV during our dinner on Sunday night, so we used it to have a good family conversation about life, love, and appreciating every day we have together because you never know what may happen next.
Considering how fast the kids are growing, I’ve recently taken up another creative hobby – photography. It’s not something that I’ll ever dive as deeply into as I have with guitar, but it’s another form of creative expression, and I love capturing all these special moments with our family and friends. I’ve been watching videos on YouTube to learn the basics and look forward to getting lots of shots this weekend in Canada.
The other big thing going on in my world has been based around transitioning into a new role on my team at work as the lead engineer working on experimentation, analytics, and personalization of the azure.com site. It’s the same team I’ve always been on (hard to believe my 5 year anniversary is only about a month away) but I’m now working with a relatively new group within the team to gather data and deliver more personalized experiences for our users. It’s a huge opportunity for me and should become a turning point in my career, so I’m very excited.
Jessica has been staying very busy tutoring the girls and things are going so well. They’ve been at it for about 6 weeks now and the progress speaks for itself. Ava and Elise are both on the cusp of finishing level 2 of the Barton system and it’s so cool to see them getting excited about reading! Not surprisingly their teachers at school are noticing a difference as well. Overall I just have to give Jessica so much credit and respect for taking this on. Her dedication has been amazing and we’re already starting to see it pay off. She’s a natural teacher too, so we have already decided to have Enzo go through the course when the time comes. Who knows, tutoring may even be a potential career for Jessica at some point in the future, but she’s not worrying about that for now. It’s all about our kids at this point, and I just can’t thank her enough for all the dedication and effort she continues to put in. The kids will thank her someday as well, but for now seeing them learn, and enjoy it along the way, is all the thanks she needs.
Before I go I just want to once again wish Enzo the happiest of birthdays. I still remember my fifth birthday and I hope he always remembers his. I couldn’t be more lucky to call him my son. Happy birthday buddy – we love you more than you’ll ever know.
Elise attempting to blow bubble gum Sporting his new red leather jacket. Happy birthday Enzo!
