california, here we come

...right back where we started from. Well, at least I did. And when I say "started," I mean from age one, since I was actually born in Boston.

Anyhoo, we are off on a little family vacation. We are going to hang with some of our good friends, James and Melissa, go to Disneyland, Coronado Island and Sea World.

So, we will be taking a bit of a blog break. We promise lots of pictures when we return.

Beth, I will be calling you, I want to see you!

happy, happy day

We finally got a double jogging stroller. I LOVE IT.

And this is just a little bonus for me.

yummy

Nezzie loves to lick the brownie bowl and spoon.

pink moon

night drive

i'll take one of each...

I was just browsing online and wishing for a few things.
Like this Stila lipgloss that I LOVE, in banana flavor

I'll take a pair of these MBT shoes that I learned about from Brooke, in a size 10 (they are only $250)

and it would be fun to bake with Nigella's measuring cups

I would get Dave this t-shirt

I would love to redecorate Inez's room using this bedding from The Land of Nod

and I want to dress the girls in matching dresses, like this one from Oilily

Is there something that you want?

happy birthday charles!

Today Charles turns FIVE!! He is the first child of my brother Joe and his wife Liz.

Charles is one of the brightest five-year-olds ever, as evidenced by this clip from Christmas of 2005. Let me just preface this clip with the fact that Joe and Liz didn't make him memorize this, he picked it up on his own.


He is such a good brother, so sweet and also very obedient. We love our little nephew/cousin and can't wait to see him in about a month! You can read more about Charles and his family on their blog.

;( :)

Dave and I were reading the scriptures the other night (because we are SO righteous) and we read the following passage (Mark 6:14):

"And king Herod heard of him;(for his name was spread abroad:) and he said, That John the Baptist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him."

We both had a laugh (you havin' a laff?) because our brains automatically converted the passage's punctuation into emoticons. Then we tried to figure out what the first one means. Winking AND frowning at the same time? What would that even mean?

Then we decided that we have been on the computer way too much recently and that we are both going to hell. ;(

crazy bees

Well, I admit I have been very neglectful of our dear little blog. I have about a million posts that are saved as drafts because I haven't had time to finish and post them. Life is just too busy right now. I feel like I have crazy bees in my head. I have a list of 29 things to do and we are leaving next Thursday to go out of town.

By the way, the marathon long list does not include anything I need to do to get us ready to leave for our vacation. Don't you feel sorry for me?

regina spektor

Her music is in my head and I can't get it out.

happy birthday james!

James Mallea was born today in 1979 (on Heather's b-day, see previous post) in Orange, California. As the sixth of seven children, James certainly knew how to get attention (it is taking a lot of will power to refrain from posting a picture of James from when he was about six, wearing a wire hanger on his head and a plastic grocery bag on his shoulders that, I believe, he was going to use as a parachute).

Towering over the rest of us at 6'6", James is a passionate Angels fan, as well as baseball in general (I think Field of Dreams is one of his favorite movies). He hates clowns. We used to tease him about clowns until we realized that it's a true hatred of them. I think his first girlfriend was named Bianca Swan (I can still tease him about that though). Dave and I lived with him and Natalie for about a month while we were in between houses and it was so fun, at least for Dave and me. We watched Paradise Hotel together—a true bonding experience, and he and Dave would sometimes stay up until three in the morning playing PlayStation (while Natalie and I sewed). I believe it was around this time that "bird heroine" came about (which is not a real drug for those of you that have NO idea what I'm talking about). Ah, the memories.

After graduating from BYU in 2005 James moved his family all the way to the East Coast, which is WAY too far in my opinion. He now works for Pulte Homes and will go back to school for a business degree. He and his wife Natalie (who was my visiting teacher in my singles ward) have two darling girls, Sammie, who will be three next month, and Lexi who is almost eight months old.

I am so glad that James is my bro and will always be my little bro no matter how tall, old and wise he becomes! I love you Chauchiebolo!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Click here to read more about James and his girls.

happy birthday heather!

Heather Jo was born today... a few years ago, in Bellflower, California. She is the third of seven children and a very fun big sis. I still remember sitting in the back of the car and squealing from pure excitement after it was announced by our parents that we would be going to watch the Disneyland fireworks*! This may be one of the reasons as to why Heather is a big Disney fan today, and being raised in Anaheim, only three miles from the Happiest Place on Earth, it's really no surprise. I still remember dancing with her and our brother Joe at Videopolis (wow, that name just sounds TOTALLY 80s).

As a younger sister, I was always envious of her great curly hair, smooth skin, and trendy clothes. We shared a room for a long time and she loved scaring me about the "deep end" of the bed, which was just a big crack between our bed and the wall. She is very wise and has great inner strength. I would say she's one of the "steel magnolias" in my life, even though we aren't from the South. She has a great family. Her fifteen year old son, Payne, is Autistic and our whole famiy has been blessed to have him in our lives. He is followed by Mallea (13), Josie (8) and Campbell (5). Heather is married to Graigg, who dotes on her and buys her Tiffany jewelry. They live in Missouri, which is WAY too far, in my opinion!

I am so glad that she's my sistah. I love you Headie!! HAPPY B-DAY!! To read more about her, check out Heather's blog.


*This will probably age me (as if the Videopolis comment didn't enough), but when we lived in Anaheim, we could see the fireworks from our backyard. Sometimes we would drive to the top of Wagner hill and watch them with anyone else who had stopped. But the best was when my parents were really feeling nice (this is where the squeals came in) and we would drive over to Disneyland and park in the back lot, which is now where ToonTown in located. This was by far the best seat in the house, except for probably the best seat in the house INSIDE the park.

"wuke" and "mez"

Here are a bunch of pictures of Nezzie and Luke that Brooke took. These kids are two very rambunctious three-year-olds.

a beautiful thing

As I drove over point of the mountain into SLC, my eyes spied something WONDERFUL. What has been gray concrete for the past year or so is now a gorgeous blue and yellow building.

After the announcement a year and a half ago, they are getting ready to open their beautiful doors on May 23rd. Blue and yellow have never looked so good.

before and after

This is my little baby burrito before her nap,

and here she is after. I have no idea how she got her pants off.