Sundance or Bust

We'll be back!

Everyone loves a vacation recap, right?

Mike had business meetings in California this week.

In the city of Orange, no less.
(That's where I grew up.)
So we loaded the kids in the car and headed on over.

We stayed at the Hyatt Orange County and were the only people in the whole hotel not going to Disneyland.

checking out the view from our room

Of course we did the requisite things, like:

dip our toes in the freezing Pacific

eat at Ruby's
drive around the Circle
see the house I grew up in
and spend time at Grammy and Grampy's

We had two perfectly lovely afternoons at their house.

The end.

What a guy.

He builds patios, installs sprinklers, holds babies, cooks dinner, shops for groceries, runs a business, plays games, makes us laugh, and generally just takes really good care of us.

I totally lucked out when I married Mike.

Happy birthday, honey.

My Best Baby and My To-do's

playing peek-a-boo with the curtains in Mabel's room

Don't get me wrong, my first two babies were good,
but Stella is by far my best baby.

She is our happiness machine.

She takes two 2-3 hour naps a day and wakes up talking to herself in her crib.
I didn't know babies really did that!

Have I told you lately how much I love having a baby in our house?
Nothing is sweeter or brings more joy.

I know you are totally wondering what we are up to today, so here is my to-do list:

~wait for Mike's birthday present from my parents to be delivered
[it's a shipment of chocolate covered strawberries that will not survive a wait on my porch in the heat and humidity (it's monsoon-y here)]

~borrow books from the library for Mabel to read on our upcoming drive to california

~send Samantha to the doll hospital
(her arm fell off)

~plan my sharing time lesson for Sunday

~make this cake for Mike's big day tomorrow


Now, who was your best baby and what are you doing today?
I really want to know!

Ah, Young Love

Mike turns 29 on Saturday.
That means that it will have been ten years since this picture was taken at his missionary open house.
I can't believe it.

We were so little.
But very much in love.

(Thanks for being there with me and manning the camera, Mrs. Dub.)

We're sweaty.

Look what Mike did today.
He built a patio!

(And almost died of heat stroke in the process. Well, not really, but he did get super hot and dizzy. Don't ask me why we waited until July to do this.)

Doesn't Oliver look thrilled?

At least someone in our family has cleavage.

Have a happy weekend.
If you need us, we'll be out back.

Speaking of Mabel's artwork...

Like most kids, Mabel can't stand to throw anything away. (Even trash.)
So she had accumulated quite a mountainous pile of paper under her bed-
completed drawings, drawings she was "still working on", mess-ups, plain paper, etc.
We had to do something.
It was getting ridiculous.
I think it might have even been a fire hazard.

My mother-in-law had the brilliant idea to put her pictures in a notebook.
So we sorted. And sorted.
We picked her favorite drawings from last year and filled up a fat three ring binder.

She requested that the rest be recycled.
(She is such a 21st century kid.)

the cover page
It says:

"Pictures from when I was 5.
Mabel's
Pictures from the past"

Clever, huh.

Mabel is destined for great things.

I was hurrying through the kitchen today when I came upon this picture on the table. I just had to stop and snap a photo. Now, I know all mothers think their children are talented, but seriously, isn't this a sweet little drawing?