iHappy

Ok...so I couldn't wait....what else is new.

Well, I was originally going to wait and see what everyone thought of it before I had made my purchase, but as the release date got closer and closer...I started salivating more and more. I still upheld the fact that I was not going to wait in any lines and that I would check the Apple Store online to see if I can just purchase and have it shipped via next-day. So...6pm rolled around on Fri. and I went online to purchase it...and DOH! it says 'ships in 2 - 4 weeks'. I was quite upset. Now I thought I would have to wait even LONGER. So I called the local Apple store wondering if they had any left in stock...they said, yes. In way as if it were like "Of course we do...hahaha...there's thousands here!!" So i trekked over to the mall around 8:30pm, arrived at the apple store and saw there was a bit of a line to get it. So i hopped in line and with in minutes they let us in the store and I was in and out of there quicker than I have ever been in an apple store before.

This was all made just a bit easier because Kevin Riepl Music, Inc. purchased one for each of it's employees....ok well just me really.

Black: Conservative Media

when you can't control the views, knowledge and opinions of the public on wikipedia.com what do you do?
Why of course!...You create your own site.... conservapedia.com

Testing a Video Post

Is Quinton an Atlanta Braves fan?

For a few days now Quinton has been doing the Atlanta Braves "chopping" motion accompanied by the appropriate "ohhhh ohhh ohhh ohh." We hope he's not an Atlanta Braves fan....well, things could be worse...he could be a Red Sox fan! LOL!!

Our first playdate!!!

If you didn't know already, I joined a "moms of multiples club." .... Anywhoo, today was our first playdate!!!! Me, Kaeden & Quinton met up with 2 other moms of twins. One set was twin girls and the other set were boy/girl twins. We all met at Lake Balboa Park and had a blast! The sun was shining and there was a cool summer breeze. We're looking forward to our next playdate! I might try this other playgroup but I think they meet when Kaeden & Quinton are sleeping.

mmmm cookies

there is nothing like eating walnut chocolate chip cookies at night.

kids are sleeping so i dashed to ralph's to buy soymilk, cookies, sweet potato chips, and vanilla cream soda. kev preheated and put them in the oven. after a very long 11 minutes kev decided they weren't done yet so they're back in the oven. they smell good. i bet they taste good too. i want a cookie right now.

Decline of Society

Just another nail in the coffin of society's social interactivity. Another device to help people become more isolated from human contact. ...to provide people with the means to constantly bug and contact you... to minimize the excuses for not being reachable...and the best yet device to help further along the Colony Collapse Disorder of bees.

Gah, who am I kidding...i'll damn sher be gettin one!

My Boys!

Baby Portraits

We received our online proofs yesterday of the portraits we had taken by Chris Marconi, while visiting NJ.
WOW they came out great! As you can see when you visit the portrait site, he does really great work.


If you would like to check them out and possibly place an order...

go to
Marconi Photography
click links, then your portraits

user: riepl
pw: 5846

you're so cute you little widget

Posting this one from a widget on my  mac.
Just trying it out to see how it works!



i have become the uber geek with too much time on my hands....i need to work!!!

they're not so WISE after all!

**not my actual x-ray

"oh boy those MUST come out!" says the dentist!! An extremely nice dentist she is i might add...but hearing those words out of any dentist, nice or grumpy....is not fun. I will not lie, i haven't been to the dentist in quite some time...maybe about eight years.
I take great care of my teeth and I have always been told by my dentists (when i did go) that i had really healthy teeth. So my approach was, if it aint broke don't fix it. I had a dentist visit prior to our trip to NJ. The cleaning and check up went great. Dr. Lilly, our dentist, was extremely impressed with the state of my teeth being that I hadn't seen a dentist in SOO long. She said it looked like I go every six months. SEE!!! all you nay sayers!!! ;-) Flossing and brushing to a point where it could be seen as OCD, pays off :-). However the downfall of that visit was when she saw the x-rays. BAD WISDOM TEETH...BAD!!! bottom two were impacted and needed to come out, causing her to want to remove even the perfect top ones in case problems arose with them growing more into the bottom area where the bottoms were after removal...so...ALL had to come out.
This is what i had to look forward too when returning from NJ. oh JOY!
3 and a half hours i was in that chair....i think i might have gotten around 15 to 20 anesthetic shots. I told them to keep going with them, i dont care if my entire head goes numb...i didn't want to feel a thing!!!!...little did i remember that she wanted to fill 4 minor cavities that developed over this long period of anti dentitism in my life. Ahh the smell of shaved teeth is like napalm in the morning! after about 1 or 2 hrs...the surgeon was now able to remove the 'wisdom' teeth. Top ones came out with out any problems...i actually didn't even know he removed them when he did. being that the bottoms were impacted under the gum, he needed to first make an incision and then cut the teeth in half in order to remove them. the bottom left one put up a bit of a fight, which in turn started me on a downward spiral of almost passing out. With one more to go...and knowing what was in store...i started getting a bit queezy and light headed...the surgeon said that sometimes the anesthetic can get to the blood stream quick and cause this, along with palpatations, queeziness, and chest pain (just what i want to hear with my BP and arrhythmia). oh and it had nothing to do with my envisioning what they were doing inside my mouth with a mini dremmel, a metal hook and a mini shoe horn. not to mention a suction hose that kept falling to the back of my throat making me gag constantly. well, during my very manly moment i felt my pulse slow down to what I thnk was about 30bpm...white face and all, they had to invert the chair to get blood circulating to the head....since nothing seemed to be working, sweats coming on strongly, they had to get out the good boy oxygen tank...AHH now that's what I need! sure enough with in a few minutes...i was back up on the horse ready for more prodding, digging, chiseling, and pulling.
last one came out easier than the 3rd. Whew...i was done!!! I received all my meds a prescription for Tylenol w/ Codine and I was on my way. Recovery has been good...little swelling, hardly any pain...no more bleeding...and i get to lay in bed for a few days while mommy takes care of the three boys :-)

the day of the dad

Father's day was our first full day back from our trip.
We got up and went to breakfast at good ol' Jerry's Famous Deli. Ya can't go wrong with a breakfast at Jerry's.
The rest of the day was rather relaxing...the boys were on their best behavior...THANKS GUYS.
and mommy did all the picture taking that day. ( i wasn't allowed to )

A Room at the Clerk-Inn

our last 4 days in NJ were spent at my sister's house in monroe, nj. I am really glad tracy and I made a decision to stay there with them. It was long over due. we haven't seen them in a year and a half. TOO DAMN LONG. We were able to see our 11 month old nephew aidan for the first time, and they were able to see (in person) their nephews for the first time! And most important, the 4 boys, Dylan, Aidan, Kaeden and Quinton, were all able to spend time together. It was great to see dylan (3) interact with our boys...you can tell he loves them very much...and is and will be an awesome big brother to aidan.
That wednesday, lauren & dave hosted our own cousin get together. jaime, craig & jack and tracey came up from south jersey for the evening. Again, another fun night of food and drinks. It was really great to see them all and see jaime and craig's son, Jackson for the first time. what a rip he is!!!
The evening consisted of many a kids screaming, hot dogs, burgers, and beer. Hanging out now that we have kids takes on an all new meaning. Being responsible comes to mind....meh maybe not.
Thursday we went to get portraits done of the four of us by Chris Marconi at Marconi Photography. Chris was our photographer for our wedding and does AWESOME work. I can't rave enough about his vision and eye for capturing life. Stop by his site,


That evening lauren, dave, tracy and myself were able to get away once again, with my parents baby sitting all the boys. We went to dinner at the Harvest Moon Brew Pub in New Brunswick. The four of us have not been out together alone in a very LONG time. It was indeed one of the best nights we had in NJ this trip, even if it was only for a few hours.


That Friday we had another small gathering at lauren's. They were kind enough to let me invite our friends, glenn, jenn and their two kids, Emily and Brenden. It was really great to see them again...we thought we were going to run out of time this visit to not meet up with them...but we managed to get it in, and fun was had by all. Watching the mets/yankees game with a mix of fandom. Even though we do not to get to see them often, every time we hook up with glenn & jenn, it's like we never miss a beat...just like with family. Great and dear friends. Again celebrating with beer and pizza!! My parents were there all day, and uncle rob, phil, angela and grandma stopped by as well.
the last day (saturday) we all went back to hang out at my parents for the day and had lunch and said our goodbyes...which weren't as tearful as I thought would be...I think mainly because we are having them come visit us in LA within months of each other. So it was more like...see you soon, rather than good bye...which made it easy on everyone. Thanks to everyone who put us up for the two weeks we were home...as crazy as it was at times with the boys...it was an awesome trip. Thanks to grandpa for picking us up and driving us back to the airport where he helped us in all the way up to security. grandma would of come too, but with all our luggage there was sadly not enough room in the car. Our trip ended on a great note, the flight back was half empty, we practically had the entire back half of the plane to ourselves!!! allowing us to bring both car seats on the plan and taking up each of our own rows. A much more comfortable way to fly. even though it happens once in a blue moon according to the flight attendants, who I must say were extremely jolly, i am sure due to the fact they had little to no responsibilities on the flight.

Full gallery of our stay at my sister and dave's:

NO WHITECASTLE ALLOWED!!

Saturday after the wedding...tracy's brother jim was kind enough to host a family bbq. family consisting of sarno's and chlebicki's.
Every once and while tracy's family tries to get all the cousins together for a hang out. A lot of times it doesn't pan out due to conflicting schedules and out of state relatives. Seeing that everyone was in town for the wedding, it made it easier to get together. Much thanks to Jim & Sharon for hosting and providing the food and drinks. food..GOOD, alcohol...GOOD, family....GOOD, Whitecastle...BAD!!! (not to mention disrespectful)

the day couldn't have been better. Always love going back east for the good ol' Yuengling Lager...not obtainable out here on the west coast, sadly....but we do have our FAT TIRE!

The sunday morning after, we left for a 3 hr drive to northern PA, where we spent 3 days up at tracy's parents (grandma & grandpa sarno). Never seems to be anything but very relaxing up there in the back woods. The cool crisp air, thunderstorms, coyotes in the distance...however the boys did have other ideas on that whole relaxing bit :-). Tracy and I were able to get away again. Her parents watched the boys for an evening letting us escape to a quiet dinner at the Inn at Starlight Lake

Pictures of our saturday at jim and sharons, and our few days up in PA:

Christie Wedding...not for the weak...

...or for those who have 4 month old twins
Well going to weddings is A LOT different now. especially being in them. Although, it was an excellent time, even with the limo driver getting lost in between pictures and cocktail hour, causing the entire bridal party, bride and groom, to miss the cocktail hour....aside from that...it was a blast.
Being that we were staying at my parents, they were kind enough to watch the boys for the day. Since that was the case...tracy and I were able to indulge in a few libations. Well mostly me, as tracy is breast feeding and only had one beer...pumped & dumped :-) The drinking started early in the day with the grooms men....however Jimmy da groom, refrained from doing so...showing MUCH MUCH will power and restraint. Some of which i have never seen before from him!

~UGH...i seem to get into the a bit of doing a sort of play by play in these posts...i must STOP!~

Well..the rest of the wedding went great...it was a lot of fun, except for me coming down with a severe headache during the reception....possibly due to not getting any sleep that week and 'a more than my usual' amount of beer and johnny blue.
At the top of the last hour of the night, i conked out in the bridal suite...only to be woken up by tracy, RAVING about this wonderful viennese dessert spread...i took one look at it, turned around and headed back to the suite. I was at the mercy of the pain. Like i said...the wedding was a lot of fun, but seems to take more of a toll on the body when you are a new parent.
Tracy and I are very grateful that we were asked to be a part of Jimmy and Cassie's big day!! We had a blast!!!!

Gallery of Rehearsal Dinner:

At the Riepl house

**NOTE** as you may be able to tell already...this blog basically consists of me rambling on...a lot of times in run on sentences and fragments...i dont care :-) so don't try and correct me or my spelling.

Well, our first weeks stay in nj was at my parents house...or should i say grandma & grandpa riepls..hehe.
It was great staying there, but it took about 2 nights for the boys to get adjusted to the new sleeping time and room they were in. So needless to say the first night was complete HELL. Once they got adjusted...things went smoothly.

Being that tracy and I were in her cousin jimmy's wedding, we had to make our rounds the first day to make sure her dress and my tux fit properly. afterwards we stopped at GG's so Kaeden and Quinton can hang out with their great grandmother. I got a couple of really nice pics of grandma holding the boys.

The wednesday of our first week there. Our good friends Jeff & Liz came up for a visit at my parents. Sadly they were only able to hang with Kaeden for the night, as quinton was out for the count...sound asleep, only to be awoke once for a diaper change.
It was great to see jeff & liz...we always like getting together with them and we are grateful for them taking the drive up to see us and the boys that night. I am sure if it wasn't for our lack of sleep and teir drive home...we could of spent hours on end talking!
Below is the gallery of the days we stayed at my parents. feel free to click on any of the images and it will bring you to the full size gallery.

NJ Visit

Well, our 2 week trip back to New Jersey was very successful and exciting, to say the least. It was actually a lot of fun seeing EVERYONE again. We have not been home to NJ in a year and a half. It's so difficult calling NJ home these days, being that we have started a family now out here in LA and this is the boys' HOME. But i suppose there will ALWAYS be a part of us that calls NJ home because, of course all of our families and friends that live there still, but also all of our memories of growing up.

The flight back to Jersey, was the good ol' red eye. Being greeted by an unfriendly gate agent at our continental flgiht's gate, we were unabe to secure one more seat on the plane to garauntee an extra seat to bring on the 2nd car seat, so both boys can sleep comfortably for the 5hr flight. Being that we ALREADY new the flght was not packed, especially in the back of the plane where we were sitting...the gate agent seemed to not want to be bothered with helping us out. Starting out with a "please make this quick I am very very busy' type of comment. So we were stuck with the 3 seats we purchased...Quinton had the car seat and was out the entire flight. Kaeden on the other hand had to sleep on my or tracy's chest the whole flight. Seeing that he got pretty cranky every hour almost, I can only assume his brother was a tad more comfortable than he.

We landed on time and every thing seemed fine, we met my dad at baggage claim, who was estatic to see the boys and we proceeded to retrieve our luggage. Two of our three bags arrived. The third and important bag with tracy's breast pump and few other baby items, was missing...no where to be found. Needless to say, it wasn't the best way to start a 2 week trip away from home. tracy filed a missing bag complaint and continental said it would immediately begin to be tracked. So, fingers crossed, we left to head to my parents house in cliffwood beach, a 35min drive in which quinton decided to get hungry and proceeded to scream the entire way down the nj turnpike, rt9 and 35. After unloading all our luggage minus one, an hour later we checked the status of the bag on continental's site. It was found, saying it was 'delayed' and being delivered to my parents house that afternoon. We actually thought the bag was a gonner. All in all the visit was under way... tbc

First Post

This is only a test to check the workings of our new blog. I figured this would be a nice way to keep people updated on the status of our lives here in LA. Also people will be able to find out the going's on of our twin boys Kaeden & Quinton.