For a few days on our trip we stayed with my brother Jake and his wife Amy.  They live in Studio City in the hills above LA and have a really awesome house that I love.  My budding photographer came out and I took some really great shots. These are all straight out of the camera and have had no editing done to them.

I want to frame this picture for my bathroom or something:

Requisite Lucy pictures:

I love all the details in their house:

(I’m so mad this didn’t turn out):

Super Why!

DOF!

And later that day, after meeting Lynn, I snapped this picture out of the sunroof just for fun!

That’s the Hollywood sign

Monday: Grilled Lamb Kabobs (for Shaun and Lu), Roasted Garbanzos (for me), Rice, Okra

Tuesday: Roasted Chicken (S & L), BBQ Tofu (for me), Roasted Potatoes, Kale Chips, and Green Beans

Wednesday: BBQ Chicken Pizza (S & L), GF Veggie Pizza (for me)

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Camping!

Today I’m thankful for BIRTHDAYS!  I love, love, love birthdays.  Every birthday should be celebrated and I love helping people celebrate theirs.  One of the reasons we went to visit my ‘rents was because it was my Mom’s birthday and she wanted to go to Disneyland.  Go to Disneyland we did!

We started on my Mom’s favorite ride, the Carousel!

I hate that this one is blurry

Cousin Luke got in on the action too.  As did Mimi (my Mom) but all of my pictures of her did not turn out.

Next up was Dumbo!

Lu waiting to get on (one of my favorite pictures from the trip):

Luke and Papa were behind us:

Lu loved it!

Next up was my Mom’s other favorite ride “Small World”.  My Mom and Lu putting a penny in the water:

Then we went to Toontown to meet Mickey and Minnie!

I will spare you the pictures of Minnie since Lu got sunscreen in her eyes moments before meeting her and was in tears

Lu also REALLY wanted to drive a car!

Then it was the train all the way around the park!

Last was the Jungle Cruise but I didn’t get any pictures of that unfortunately.

Before leaving the park, Lu got a balloon, ears, and ice cream! She was a happy girl!

And TIRED girl!

Luke had a blast too.  He and Papa went on some of the more age appropriate rides and then when Papa needed a rest, his Mom (Aunt Sheri) went on others.  He had quite the day and got to do basically all he wanted to do.  Something that the youngest of 3 boys doesn’t get to do very often!

Luke and Sheri:

Mimi, Luke, and Papa:

I think Lucy has had it:

Love this picture though:

These too:

It was a blast!  Happy birthday Mom/Mimi!

The weekend before Lucy and I left for California we went on our first Idaho camping trip.  We went about 67 miles away but it took a good 3 hours to get there because 50 miles of that looked like this:

Dirt road!!!

On the way up we saw a heard of deer!

Shaun thinks that big one is an elk.  I have no clue.

Our camp site was right by the river and incredibly remote.  We saw 4 other cars on the main road all weekend!

On Saturday we went on a beautiful hike.  I was 100% sure that I would die on the drive to get to the hike but thankfully we didn’t.  That road was scary!!!

I did get some beautiful pictures of flowers!

There was still a lot of snow!

The river was the focal point of our trip!

Doesn’t Lucy look jazzed?!?!?!  (she had just woken up from a nap)

The whole family

Sawtooth hiking!

Awesome sights!

River crossings!

Our destination was a big, beautiful meadow.

Lucy loves camping!

Mommy loves camp cooking-cobbler!!!

Men playing dominoes.  Aren’t they manly?

Lucy and one of her favorites-Miss Sarah!

Lucy got over her fear of dogs this trip (there were 5!).  It was great.  Here she is hand feeding Mateo:

Her first s’more!

It was an awesome trip!  Numerous times while we were in CA, Lu asked to go camping-she loved it.  We’re off for another one in a few weeks!!!

Tomorrow? Disneyland!

I was in the Los Angeles area for almost 2 weeks visiting family.  I had little to no internet access.  Talk about isolation!!!  Ha!

I have TONS of pictures to share but for now I’ll just post pictures of my first salad from my garden.  I’m eating it right now and it is divine!

Lettuce in the garden:

Harvested:

So yummy!

Today (and everyday) I’m thankful for dogwood trees! I had never experienced them until I moved to Boise and I’ve gotta tell you that they are the prettiest tree I’ve ever seen. In the Spring they EXPLODE with little delicate flowers.  They can be white or pink. I particularly LOVE the pink ones.

Here’s some pictures I took of the one in our front yard this weekend.

I got my hair cut today:

I’m working on growing it out to this:

[source]

I wonder how long it will take?

A few months ago I sent Shaun some links to camera bags that I’d like for Mother’s Day.  Last week, he emailed me saying that they were out of stock and asked if I wanted anything else.  I told him that I really, truly don’t want anything other than a day with Shaun and Lu, some Lucy artwork, and to not cook.  Yesterday I got all of that and more.  Best Mother’s Day ever!

First, I got to sleep in and then we went to a few local nurseries to get supplies for the garden.  After that we went to 13th Street Pub and Grill for a yummy lunch including a free mimosa and yummy bloody mary.  We then had a (much needed) family nap followed by an afternoon in the garden.  The night ended with a dinner out at the Ram.  We were supposed to go to our friend’s house for Friend Dinner but they had to cancel.  I told Shaun that we could just have leftovers but he said absolutely not and that we were going out.  Okay then!  It really was a nice family day AND my husband built me a trellis for me peas!

Evidently I had a hard time with the focus yesterday

Look at that hand made trellis!

I also got some garden markers:

And Lettuce!

Last weekend we went to a native plant sale and Shaun terraced an area in the backyard for it.  Here’s our native plant garden

And the reason my day was so wonderful!

I’m thankful for Lu’s School.  Lucy learns so much and is so happy to see her friends every day. It really is awesome.

How did a whole week go by?  Oh right, I’ve been insanely busy and haven’t had time for much of anything.  Sorry about that.

This week I’m thankful for child wonderment. Easter was SO FUN this year because Lu was SO excited about the Easter Bunny.  She just thought he was the coolest!  It was incredibly fun to experience the holiday through Lu’s eyes.  I LOVE that she’s getting to an age where everything is fun and exciting and new.  It’s awesome!

Both Lu and Tessa really wanted to SEE the Easter Bunny, but sadly, this was as close as they got:

My Mom made them princess bunnies that they can dress up-SO CUTE!

Our friend Rebecca came over for the egg hunt and brought these cute little paper mache eggs that she and her son Ollie made and filled with candy.

It was egg hunt time!

Found some!

Lu was very particular about the type of eggs she wanted. “Where are the small pink eggs Mama?”

“There’s one!”

“You mean, these things have treats?!?!?!”

“Lu-Smile!” “CHEESE!”

Look at the loot!

“mmmm…Candy bracelet!”

Two Cousins…and Ollie!

We’re in trouble with these two.

I love these two:

Trouble!

And I came home to kale sprouts!