I can’t believe that I haven’t been home on a weekend in 5 weeks.  Even though it was all fun stuff (vacation, camping, etc.), I cannot tell you how nice it was to have a weekend at home with nothing big on the agenda.

Friday night we had a BBQ at Megan and Luke’s for Megan’s Mom’s birthday.  It was HOT that night but we still had a blast.

Playing Frisbee!

You can see Lu’s new haircut in these pictures:

There were flowers from Megan’s garden that I arranged. Arranging flowers is not my strong suit but I thought these turned out really nicely.

We had a HUGE salmon!

Everybody enjoying the feast!

Porter’s Gramma and Lucy hanging out:

Fireworks!

And Lu’s reaction!

Porter’s initial reaction:

Lucy continued to love them:

Porter, not so much:

Then we had musical entertainment!

And then last but not least, “cake” for the birthday girl.  Megan got this recipe out Sunset and it was for grilled strawberries and angel food cake.  It was apparently delicious.

On Saturday, Lu and I went to the Farmer’s Market with Lissa and Tessa, then the park and then out to lunch with Shaun at the Crow’s Inn.  He was on the way back from an epic mountain bike ride and liked the restaurant so much that he called us to join him for lunch.  I’m glad we did (but I didn’t get pictures).

On Sunday I attacked the garden or as Shaun lovingly called it, “Chelsea’s Jungle”:

Most of that is weeds!

In the middle of weeding, I took a break to get some pictures of Lu.  She picked out her entire outfit.

It was finally done!

It looks so much better, don’t you think?

Lu and I harvested some veggies-the garden is about to EXPLODE!

Lu LOVED everything that we picked:

Then, later, to beat the 100 degree heat, Daddy and Lu ran through the sprinklers!

What a FUN weekend AT HOME!!!!

Today I’m thankful for courage to do what my heart tells me is right.

More on this tomorrow

I’m thankful for this:

(That is not a double stroller-ha!)

(Lucy decided that clothes were overrated when we met up with Josh and Parish)

WONDERFUL FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!!!!

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

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!

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 am so glad that it’s Friday.  I am ready for the weekend!  We’ve actively been potty training Lu since Saturday and I started off with the 3 Day Potty Training plan.  The plan recommends NO diapers at all from the time you start.  None at naptime, none at night-NO DIAPERS.  Lucy has actually done great with that and we’ve only had 1 accident at night.  Other than that she has woken up in the morning and from naps dry.  HOWEVER, she has started waking up once per night and I have to go down to help her with the potty or just help her fall back asleep.  On Wednesday night she was up for an hour and a half.  This Mama of a 2 and a half year old is not used to nighttime wake up calls!  She’s been sleeping soundly through the night since she was about 10 months old so this is quite a change for me and I am T.I.R.E.D!

I said that we started with the 3 Day Potty Training plan but I’ve had to modify it quite a bit for Lu.  Part of the plan entails asking them if they are dry and to let you know if they have to go once every 15 minutes or so (for the first few days).  It was causing poor Lu a lot of stress (even though it is all positive reinforcement, absolutely NO negativity at all) and she was holding her pee for absurd amounts of time-18 hours from Saturday to Sunday! As soon as I gave her some space and let her tell me when she had to go potty, we’ve had a much better go of it.  She’s still has about 1 accident a day but I think that’s just fine!  She’ll  learn!

I have also started giving her the choice of wearing a diaper or not before bed.  I ask her if she wants a diaper or underwear and if she says diaper, I put one on her. She is still waking up dry but I think she likes the security of having a diaper on and I really don’t think it’s bad if she wears one at night.

I can’t believe my baby is potty training!  It seems like just yesterday she was born!  Yet here she is potty training, talking in full sentences, running, and jumping.  Time seriously flies!

Today I’m thankful that I didn’t kill my family last night.  I was cleaning up the kitchen and had gotten a shipment of Shaklee products in the mail.  I was very excited to see how they worked-sadly, I wasn’t wowed but I’m going to keep using them and see if I change my mind. 

So there I was scrubbing away and I accidentally turned on one of the burners on the stove.  I turned it right off and thought nothing of it.  I finished around 8:15 and sat down to watch the wonderful Lynn Chen in The People I’ve Slept With.  Shaun was at volleyball and when he came home he said that it smelled funny.  I didn’t notice anything and finished watching the movie (very funny btw). After it was over ~10:15, I got up to get ready for bed and I just smelled the heavy, awful smell of natural gas.  I knew instantly that it was the stove and sure enough, the burner that I thought I had turned off was actually on and pouring gas into the house.

I freaked out! I opened all the windows and doors (even though it was in the low 30’s last night) and was sure that I had killed our bird.  Birds are really sensitive to gases and can drop dead really easily when exposed.  Thankfully (?) natural gas is heavier than air and I had the birdie out on top of her cage last night so she was probably above the gas.  BUT! since natural gas is heavier than air, I started worrying about Lu sleeping downstairs.  I didn’t know what to do so I made Shaun sleep with all our windows open.  It was seriously cold but I was sure that I had killed everyone in my house.

This morning we woke up to a very cold but gas free house with all members of our family alive.  Thank goodness!!!!

Today I’m thankful for my CAMERA!! I’ve been having so much fun with it! Today I wasn’t feeling well AT ALL but I had solo Lu duty after work because Shaun had volleyball.  Rather than sit inside and watch Super Why! I decided to let Lu play outside while I snapped some pictures.

I wish this was in focus but I still love it!

Model Lu!

What does it all mean?!?!

Airplane!

 

Hey Mama!

I did take some non Lu shots:

Dang Power Lines!

Spring is coming!!!!!!!!!!!

All pictures were done in M! Yay me!