4/30/09...lunch & dinner w/Richeys

Today I met Amanda at Mariners after her Bible study to have the kids play on the playground. Andrew was able to join us for lunch there. While walking back to our cars, Andrew spotted some rubber duckies that someone had left behind in the baptismal pool and thought it would be fun for the girls to race the duckies down the stream. The girls had fun and L even stepped into the stream before Andrew grabbed her. :) That night, I made dinner at their house. The girls played with chalk again and I got to see Andrew again before he took off for class. Mom wasn't feeling well so she missed dinner but Jeffra was able to join us later to hang out. :) We were also able to get a pic since I didn't like how the Saturday night ones turned out. :)

4/29/09...CA Trip Day 8...park & dinner

This morning Amanda was working so L & I got out to do some errands & play at the park before naptime, but I left my camera at home so I could just have fun w/L. Then my mom's bf Arnoldo showed up during L's nap and before mom got home so we chitchatted for a little bit before mom got home and we all had dinner together.

4/28/09...CA Trip Day 7...

This morning Amanda met me at the park by mom's house so the girls could play. It was a cooler day so we had to bundle up Camdyn who sat on a blanket on the grass and took in all the action. Amanda & I tried to chat in between pushing the girls on the swings or running after them or breaking up the fights over the crayons (L LOVES to draw). That night I cooked A&A dinner at their house. It was nice to catch up w/Andrew more and just hang out although at one point at dinner we were talking over the kids who were very loud! Above is a slide show of the pics from today.

Monday, 4/27/09...CA Day 6...

This morning Amanda had to work so I met Andrew at the park w/the girls to have some bro-in-law bonding time but I must say that is difficult to do running after two toddlers and entertaining a 10 month old. Thankfully there wasn't too much of the hugging to strangle stuff, although Cadence did throw sand on L and dump of bucket of sand on L (L got a bath when we got back!). And Andrew saved L from jumping off the high part of the playground while I was holding Camdyn.

After L's nap, mom & I took L over to South Coast Plaza for her first carousel ride. She rode the horse for the first half and then wanted off, so I had to hold her until the ride stopped. She seemed more enthusiastic about the horses and zebras than she did the actual ride. After the mall, we headed over to the park to get all of her energy out before bed time. Mom thought it was too cold so she stayed in the car for most of it...I explained that we're used to the cold! L rode the swings again (she really likes them now!) and the slides too. I even got mom to get a shot of L and me. :)

Here's the pics from today:

sneak peek from today

Sunday, 4/26/09...CA Trip Day 5...

This morning I hung out w/my friend Dana. We went to Balboa Pier and walked about halfway to Newport Pier and back, and then up the Pier to Ruby's for a shake. Yum! Then we went to the park at the base of the pier. I love it! L can go on the slides or the swings and I get an ocean view!

After L's nap, D's grandma Noah (GG Noah) came over for the evening. We hung out and she got to see L. She even watched her for a bit while I went to grab takeout at one of my favs, Pick Up Stix. Yum!

Here's some of today's highlights:

4/25/09...CA Trio Day 4...park & dinner

Today we went to A's house to meet up w/her & the kids. We went to a park near her. The girls took over this poor little boy's t-ball set. L kept making off with the balls & Cadence kept taking the bat and hitting the balls off the stand. Then mom & I had A & her two girls and Jeffra and Phyllis over for dinner. It was nice to see Jeffra again & catch up w/Phyllis again. Above are photos from today.

Friday, 4/24/09...CA Trip Day 3...

This morning Amanda & her girls met L and me at the beach. L & I had walked up and down the pier before Amanda arrived. Then the girls played like crazy people. L was wild...running all over the place and Cadence running around following her. Amanda said it was nice to finally have it not be her daughter that was the crazy one. I think that Cadence has a way of bringing out the abundance of energy in L! L was in heaven b/c Balboa Pier is in the flight path of John Wayne so there were planes flying over every couple minutes, plus there were two helicopters circling overhead the whole time, which I discovered later were for the boat race. I saw when we got there that there were a bunch of boats out by the jetty. Well after Amanda left, L & I went down the pier again to get some better pics and they were having announcements over the speaker at the end of the pier about the start of a race. It was the start of the 62nd Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race. L liked looking at all the sailboats ("boats!").

Tonight, Amanda & Andrew had his parents, his sister & family, my mom, and us all over for dinner so I could catch up w/Bonita & Alicia. It was a lot of fun, but entirely too short!

Here's a slideshow of today's highlights:

4/23/09...CA Trip Day 2...

This morning we joined Amanda at church and the girls played on the playground together & chased each other around. On the way to Mariners, L had been saying "more cow, more cow" and I had explained to her that this was CA and at least in these parts, there were no cows. Then we get to church and Chick-Fil-A was there (lunching a conference) with two giant inflatable cows. L was in high heaven. She ran across the very large grass area to get to those two cows. Then some of the workers gave her a little stuffed "eat mor chick'n" chick-fil-a cow. Anyhow, needless to say, the girls had a good time & then we went our separate ways for naptime.

After L's nap, my great aunt & uncle (Nana's twin brother) came down from Westlake to visit. It was really cute watching Leon make L giggle. :) They took us out to my all time fav Maggianos. It's always interesting taking L there b/c they seem to take just too long for L's attention span. She let out some screams that silenced the restaurant...yes, i am now that parent. :( After I put L to bed, we were able to visit much better w/Leon & Ida.

Here's pics from the day:

4/22/09...CA Trip Day 1...

Today L & I went out to Santa Ana to go out to lunch w/some friends who happen to be my old bosses from Legal Aid. We went to the park to eat lunch since L could run around and give us a chance to catch up. They really enjoyed seeing L and we enjoyed our time together, although it was too short!

After L's nap, Amanda came by w/her two kids, C1 & C2. L & C1 kept giving each other hugs. It was really cute. C1 calls L what sounds like "L-E." C2's grown so much and just keeps getting cuter. She's such an agreeable baby.

Here's some pics from today's activities:

catch up

So I haven't blogged in a little while b/c we got a big storm last Friday w/about 8 inches of heavy, wet snow...which is great...except that it messed w/our internet & although I could check email, our connection was too slow for uploading pics SO no blog updates. I did go to RMNP on Sunday (D babysat) and filled a 4GB card (661 pics) so once I get back home and can go through them, hopefully I'll have at least one good pic to show for it.

Anyhow, now I'm in CA w/no pics from last week since I had to leave the laptop at home since D needed it for his thesis work. Hopefully he's going to be very productive and gets lots of school work, thesis work, and work work done while we're gone! I made it here safe and it's HOT. It's supposed to cool off a bit and be nice tomorrow, but right now it's making for HOT sleeping and anyone who knows me knows I can't sleep unless it's COLD. L was pretty great on the plane, considering she missed her nap and woke up at 6:30am. I'm REALLY hoping/praying she sleeps until 8am CA time. If she wakes up at 6:30am CO time (5:30am CA time), I'm going to be one REALLY unhappy mommy.

Anyhow, looking forward to catching up w/old friends tomorrow so I'm off to bed to try to get some sleep!

my cutie

I think it's funny that L is insisting that "L-dee working." Tuesday she said "daddy working" and then promptly said "L-dee working." I keep telling her that daddy is at work but she is not, but she is quite insistant that "L-dee working" :)

This week so far...

This weeks been pretty low key so far. D, L and I went for a walk up on the bluffs Monday night and I took some pics. :)



"cleaning" the floor


she loves making this face now when the camera goes off.




family shot at the bluffs overlooking Boulder. i'm bummed this shot has those spots, especially since I had the hood on.

IF THE SLIDESHOWS DON'T APPEAR, CLICK ON "VIEW ALL IMAGES" TO SEE THE SLIDESHOW.

Tuesday we missed Bible study b/c L slept in until 9am (when the study starts)...she's been waking up SO early (6 something) the last couple weeks, I wasn't going to mess w/trying to get her back to a normal hour. L & I took a trek into Boulder to visit D at work and drop off leftover cake that I didn't want to eat any more of. I took some pics of Boulder w/my P&S on the home.

Today I took a few shots of L on her horse, using bins from her organizer as stepstools, and drawing at the kitchen table.

updated blog

I've been updating the blog with stuff from last week so keep checking back and scrolling down to see if anything's new since you last checked.

4/12/09...Resurrection Sunday (aka Easter)

This morning we went to church for the Easter service and L made her second appearance in the 2yr old class (even though she's not two until june, but she's getting way too old for the nursery). We had fun talking with friends and I got to take some pics of some friends.

Then we headed down to the aquarium in Denver to meet D's aunt & uncle and cousin & family for brunch. L liked watching all the fish while we ate, plus she ate a ton of food. Then we stayed way past nap time to tour the aquarium with everyone. A big thanks to uncle Dale & aunt Candy for treating us to brunch & the aquarium.

Here are some pics from today, including some from tonight of L playing w/her new windup helicopter from aunt candy and L watching herself in the mirror, giggling, and singing/signing "itsy bitsy spider":

Quick Photo Shoot...The Mayernicks...

Here's some of the highlights from some quick pics I took of our friends the Mayernicks after church today.

4/11/09...Egg Hunt, bday party...long day!

Today was a VERY long day. We started by attending an Egg Hunt (I hate calling them Easter egg hunts since it has nothing to do w/Christ's Resurrection) put on by Christchurch (Pastor Scott Kelly used to be a pastor at our church). L had a blast. She had no problem knowing what she was supposed to do and wasn't very happy when she had to stop b/c she had reached her egg quota. After the hunt, Pastor Scott did the Resurrection eggs...each egg has a little toy in it that goes with the story of Christ's death and resurrection. My mom always did that with us so that was nice to have that piece of tradition incorporated into our day.

Here's a slideshow of the pics from the egg hunt:

After L's nap, we hosted a 2nd bday party for D's cousin Lisa's son Matthew. We had a ton of fun and the kids ran around outside after dinner. It ended w/a massive fight complete with yelling (& I wasn't yelling...impressive, i know) b/c Lisa's husband wouldn't let anyone take any pictures of his family if he wasn't in them. You can guess what I thought about that! Anyhow, I did manage to get a few that I wasn't apparently supposed to have, but there is no cousins pic b/c of said fight, nor is there a large group shot, nor is there a cousins & cousins' kids shot. boo! boo! boo!

Here's a slideshow of party pics: