Sunshine! - Day 2

Day 2 - Saturday
Got more than enough sleep (although Hayden was up quite a bit), but still seemed in a bit of a haze.  Had some breakfast and enjoyed some downtime with the kids.  Then we decided to venture into "town" (Santa Rosa).  Drove around looking for some food and conveniently found ourselves parked right next to Russian River Brewery (Loren has only talked about them for 6 months).  It was such a gorgeous day we actually got to eat outside!  60 degrees and sunny was heaven compared to the 30s we'd been having at home.  We enjoyed a casual lunch (Loren loves the beer, but I wasn't overly impressed with the food) and then caught the last few minutes of Connor's basketball game.

Addie was a little chilly at first, but quickly warmed up.

Eating outside with kids is the best, because they can run a bit more wild and it's not quite as obnoxious. ;)

She's into making faces these days.

And Hayden, as always, is into eating.

This is pretty much standard.  A face, hands, and front covered in food.  In this case, greasy pizza.

After that we hit the park (one of the coolest parks I've seen -- love that place) and the kids finally got some energy out.  Sad that the ponies weren't there though.  :(  They even got to feed the ducks and geese when another mom took some pity on my breadless children.  ;)

I found myself with a monkey on my back for a bit...

Who would want to play on playground equipment when there are sharp rocks to be climbed?

After driving in a circle, we found Whole Foods and grabbed some snacks and beer (of course!) and headed back to the homestead.  Visited with Aunt Lynette and then got to have dinner with Uncle Ron and Aunt Patty, and cousins Liz and Arron, and Peter.  After some delicious chocolate ice cream (Addie's choice) and some downtime enjoying Disney Princess Singalong Songs (my choice -- haha, just kidding) we hit the hay.

California Bound - Day 1

So I attempted to do this same thing with our July trip, and then our computer crashed so I only got halfway through.  I have yet to finish that one, but here goes round two with our California trip.  I can barely find the time to sit down and write at all, so I know there isn't a chance of getting the whole thing done at once.  I also know as a reader you'd get beyond bored with the pics.  ;)  So we'll just do a day at a time...


Day 1 - Friday (12/16)
Day 1 of this trip is always immensely exciting - since it involves a 12+ hour drive through Nevada.  :P  I really can't find a redeeming quality of Nevada - and don't say Vegas, because I'm not overly fond of that place either.  I woke up at 4am to finish packing, loading the car, and just make sure everything was ready.  We were on the road by 5:20am and I took the first leg of the trip (first time ever -- I've finally convinced Loren that I can drive apparently).  I figured I'd only drive maybe an hour or two, but the rest of my party zonked out until right before McDermitt -- and who wants to stop in McDermitt? -- so we pushed through to Winnemucca.  Excellent start to the trip!  (you must remember my last trip to California -- last year when Hayden was 2 weeks old, I was still a hormonal wreck, we had 2 extra people with us, and we were given the worst-ever advice of leaving at night so the kids would sleep - ha!  instead no one slept and we were all exhausted, grumpy, and a bit overly emotional)  We grabbed a bite, let the kids get some energy out, and then hit the road again. They watched some movies (thanks Amy!) and I attempted to get some sleep, but Addie was insistent that I "could nap when we got to California" -- mind you, we discovered that "California" means Great Grandma Dee's house, because after we crossed the border and I told her we were in California, she shouted "No!  This isn't California!"  :)  We were doing so good we even bypassed Reno and hit the mountain.  It was clear and gorgeous!  SO much better than the blizzard we hit 2 years ago when we had to put on chains and drive for what seemed like forever at about 10-20 mph (when Addie was 9 months old and I was still a freaked out new mom).  The kids were ready to get out, so we hit a rest stop after going over the summit.  We explored the woods and ran around a bit, and then headed for Auburn.

There we stopped for some food and ice cream and then loaded up for our last stretch.  Unfortunately we hit late afternoon traffic near Sonoma -- and found our gas light turned on with no gas station in sight and had two kids awake from a nap too early -- wailing for about 20-30 minutes.  Amazingly we made it to a gas station in Sonoma -- I'm positive the poor Sub was running on fumes!  We got out for a minute, and Addie decided she was ready for the last 20 minutes to finally get to "California".  We ended up making it there by about 5:40pm our time, so we made some good time with 2 littles.  :)  We checked in with Grandma and learned that we had the whole downstairs apartment to ourselves, so we settled right in.  Addie was ready to see second cousins Dillon and Conor, so they came to visit for a bit.  With the little sleep I got on the way, I was definitely ready for bed!

PicaBOO!

I don't usually use my blog as a place to complain about businesses, but I often use the Internet for reviews of places and enjoy honesty.  So I just have to give a critique of Picaboo.  You may not have heard of it, but it's an online place to order custom photo gifts such as calendars and books.  They promote frequently on Groupon and it always looks like a fabulous deal (over 50% off).  So I thought I'd take advantage.  Well I've regretted that decision for about the past week.

I've made photo gifts at Shutterfly, Walgreens, Costco, etc.  Most are about the same -- I obviously don't have a favorite.  I expected this to be about the same.  Well I now definitely have a favorite of NOT Picaboo.

First off, you have to download the software on your computer (any you expect to use to work on your project), which includes Adobe Air.  I should have known right there (I hate anything Adobe -- I still use the Reader, but I find their products incredibly bloated and slow, and they have obnoxiously frequent updates that inevitably freeze my computer).  Initially I thought working offline might be nice -- figured it would be faster because there wasn't so much uploading/downloading.  Boy was I wrong!  This is the slowest software I've ever used.  I seriously felt like I was working off a Commodore 64 (a little shout out to an early 90s computer).  Every task takes 10-20 seconds.  It doesn't sound like a lot, but add that up and that's a lot of time.  I actually timed what it took to turn the page on the preview -- 30 seconds!  With a 46 page book that's 23 minutes!  Ridiculous.  Also, since it isn't web-based, you have to save regularly.  And you guessed it -- it takes a good 30+ seconds to save each time.  And with 2 littles around, I save frequently.  You also have to create an account and sync your project if you want to work on it from any other computer.  Outside of the time issue, the backgrounds are vast, but hard to see without individually previewing each one, and not accurate to their titles.  You also can't change your background theme once you've created the book -- just change individual pages.  The photo editor leaves a bit to be desired and you can't zoom in on a photo to edit it -- just try to make a guess what looks good on a 1-inch rendering of the image.  When you flip between pages, you can only select the page number -- no preview of the page or title (again, with 46 pages it's a little difficult to remember which page contains what).

On a good note, the pages are completely customizable (you don't have to stick with the templates provided).  This would be a nice feature if it didn't take an hour to do everything!  Also, I ordered Christmas cards from them (another Groupon -- before I used the software) and I think they came out great.  So, I'm hopeful that the painfully long process will be worth it in the end when I see the final product.

So, although the regular Groupon offerings for Picaboo sound fabulous, I would definitely recommend sticking to places like Shutterfly and just watch for their deals (honestly, I don't think I saved much more by using Picaboo -- I just didn't get a free copy for myself like the other places often do).

Okay, that's my rant for the day.  :P  Good night!

Thanksgiving 2011

Typical Thanksgiving for us this year. :)

Headed out the door with my girl.

Started out a bit different -- loaded up the van and headed towards Rick's to pick up the Subaru (Loren was driving separate so he could run off to the football game) and noticed the power steering problem was getting worse (started Tuesday).  Stopped at the dreaded Mart (Wal) to pick up some fluid and discovered the heater wasn't working either.  Made it to Rick's, Loren popped the hood, and steam billowed out.  Apparently a radiator hose had a hole and was spraying coolant all over the serpentine belt.  Thankfully we had the Subaru right there so we loaded up and headed out -- who wants to deal with car issues on Thanksgiving?  Off to Grandma Dean's we went.

There we found Grandma Dean with Ray, Mom with Kris, Uncle John, Uncle Scott and Aunt Chris, and cousins Steve, April, Sequoia (4), and Miriam (2); Michelle and Harrison (2); and Stephanie and Damian (4).  The most kids we've had at a holiday in a long time!  Ate way too much delicious food and enjoyed catching up.

My super handsome stud muffin.  This was handed down from Becky Brown whose son I believe wore it for a wedding.  We don't really do many weddings and we're heathens that don't go to church, so we don't really have many excuses to dress up the kids.  :)  So why not holidays?

Addie is a another story.  She had a beautiful yellow dress my mom had given her on in the morning, but of course changed her mind by the time we were ready to leave.  So she picked a too big black tee with a too big denim skirt, white tights, new reindeer slippers, and a denim jacket.  ??

Boys will be boys.  And boys will have battle scars.  I swear he's always got a mark on his face.  This, I believe, was Hayden vs. keyboard tray.

He was just too stinkin' cute in this get-up!

Thanksgiving this year happened to also be my mom's birthday.  The girls, of course, had to help her open presents.

Look at those dimples.  :)

A few of the kiddos out playing with Steve.

I mentioned Addie's skirt was too big.  She eventually lost it and just went with tights.  She took a walk like this.  That's my girl.  ;)

Hayden was completely wore out by late afternoon and finally fell asleep in the car. We then ventured back to Rick's to watch some football and finish stuffing ourselves. Both kids were tired and whiny -- Addie said she wanted to go home, so we loaded up and left Loren to enjoy the game in peace. A few minutes down the road Addie started crying that she wanted Daddy. So we ran by the house to pick up pjs and blankies and headed back to Grandpa's for the evening. Once Hayden got some more sleep in the car and we got some medicine for Addie's earache, the two ended up really enjoying themselves. Loren and Ryan yelled at the poor playing 49ers and I just sat back and worked on some knitting. :)

Happy Holidays friends. It's only just begun...

A Typical Sand Outing

Hit up the zoo today. Yes, it's freezing outside. But that was Addie's choice. I tried to talk her into Festival of Trees, but no go (oh well, saved us money). So off to the zoo we went. Surprise, surprise, it was totally dead. But a lot of the animals were out.

They stayed bundled up in the stroller most of the time.  Here we are checking out the meerkats.

And froggies (Addie's favorite!).

My wild-haired little bird.

And super stud muffin.

The standard tiger pic.  :)

Finally got my camera back out after being stuck in the van with dead batteries for months.  My phone has been substituting, but I just don't think the pics are as good.  So now I'm attempting to unload the camera and finally update this blog a bit!  :P

Pics and Thanks and...

... I've been way too neglectful! But I am starting anew. I'm really going to try harder to keep up on this thing! And in usual tradition, I will begin with a pic post. :) I just got our pictures back from Erin Henderson at Sweet Smile Creations, who always does a phenomenal job! I'm guessing those of you with kids can relate -- getting ready for a photo session is stressful. Trying to get out with the kids ready and avoiding a major issue before leaving (about 1 minute before heading out the door we found Hayden eating a fuschia non-washable marker), and then just crossing your fingers that they cooperate enough for at least one decent pic of each. But Erin is a mother herself and very patient and understanding. The only part I hate is having to pick which ones I want printed and then finding space on my walls to display them (because I don't want to take down the ones from last year).

These were taken at the Boise Train Depot. We were originally going to hit Kathryn Albertson's, but apparently everybody else had that idea because I swear all of Boise was there!

Such a boy pic. Love it!

Loren found Addie a grasshopper while we were there.

This is just so Addie.

I didn't want to do family pics this year and Loren refused to be in any, but I did dress the part just in case. Addie refused to let me go at first, so Erin took a few of us to warm up, but then I got off the hook. ;)

Isn't he just such a stud?

I am completely in love with this pic. I currently have a Monet on the wall behind my computer at work, but I'm thinking it needs to be replaced with a canvas print of this. It just melts my heart.

I think this should go on a card.

Addie had gotten school pics taken at daycare -- that didn't turn out overly well. I was going to order some anyway simply to capture the moment, but these are just SO much better!

My little ham. I wasn't actually going to get them new clothes (because they have WAY too many) for this, but I saw this sweater at the mall and just HAD to have it. Then of course Addie needed an outfit to match.

Love this. So creative. And the pink petals match her perfectly. :)

Seriously, what a stud. This pic reminds me of a senior picture, or maybe something in a modeling portfolio. It's totally a "What's up, ladies?" kind of pic.

We kept trying to get the two of them together, but Hayden would always run away. Erin was fast on the trigger to capture this one. I just love Hayden's face. Can you tell how he feels about being hugged by sissy?

This is such a Hayden face.

Alas, we got it! Patience paid off. If I remember right, I'm pretty sure this was the last picture taken. I set Hayden down and ran -- and we finally got a pic of both of them sitting AND looking at the camera! Victory!

I am also attempting to do my month of thanks again. I really love the idea and did it last year on Facebook, but I think I'll do it in blog form this year. I feel as though people are getting sick of my posts on Facebook, so I'm trying to ease off a little. But I will continue to post every pic of my stinkin' cute kids, cuz, well, they're stinkin' cute and I want to show them off. :P I attempted to save all of my posts from last year, but I know I missed some. Here were the ones I saved:

• I'm thankful to be a woman with the superpower of not only growing and birthing two beautiful children, but also providing all the nourishment they need for their first 6m+ of life.
• Today I am thankful for my highly spirited toddler that constantly keeps my on my toes and drives me crazy, makes me laugh, and melts my heart all in a minute's time. And thankful she is currently sleeping. :)
• I'm thankful for my 6am alarm to get ready to go to a job I love, for my wonderfully hot shower, and the fact that I have to choose what I wear and what I eat for breakfast.
• I'm thankful for my ultra-fab mom for raising me to be the woman I am today, that she's only 20min away, and that she's such a wonderful grandma. :)
• I'm thankful for photos, capturing moments in time, sweet memories and my constantly changing babies (and especially thankful for digital cameras so I can ensure I get at least one decent pic!).
• I'm thankful for my wonderful hubby, my best friend that keeps me sane (although I'll admit he may occasionally drive me insane), puts up with me no matter what, and is the best father to our children -- so happy to spend our lives together.
• I'm thankful for my health; my physical and mental wellbeing (I'm only a little crazy!), my freedom from chronic illness and ailments, and the health of my family. :)
• I'm thankful for getting a year older today because it means I got to spend one more year with my wonderful family and friends. :)
• Thankful for my sweet little Bubby who steals my heart every time I look at him.
• I'm thankful for my puppers (although they may bark obnoxiously and are entirely too overzealous at the door) - my welcome home crew, my motivation to get at least a little exercise, my super snugglers, and my examples of true loyalty, forgiveness, and unconditional love.
• I'm thankful for my car payment, gas bill, and mortgage because it means I have safe and reliable transportation for my family and a nice warm place to come home to.
• I'm thankful for my big brother; we're not as close as we were as kids, but every time I do get to hang out with him I wonder why we don't do it more often. Also thankful for my sis-in-law for whisking him away on adventures and keeping him happy.
• I'm thankful for every peaceful moment I have to knit and to Tami for teaching me this wonderful skill. :)
• I'm thankful for having the opportunity to go shopping for our Christmas family tonight. And thankful I rarely have to go to the mall. :)
• I'm thankful for good music, the kind that brings back good memories, that makes you want to sing at the top of your lungs and bust a move no matter how ridiculous you look, be it in the car, in the grocery store, or at home (often prompting a dance-off with the toddler).
• I'm thankful for my super cozy bed and all my super snugglers I get to share it with. That's where I'm headed now!
• I'm thankful for my sense of humor and everyone and everything in this world that makes me laugh. Can't wait for date night with my hubby (I think it's the first since Hayden was born) and Daniel Tosh ♥ tonight!!!
• I'm thankful that I have a box and garbage bag of toys to donate (just skimming the surface - thankful for the declutter, but really that we have enough to give to someone else) and that Addie helped me decide what should go (she was in a very agreeable state today -- even let me throw out all her candy). :)
• I'm thankful for my confidence; that my parents raised me to believe that I could do anything I set my mind to, that my teachers and coworkers always saw my potential (beyond what I saw), and that Loren makes me feel like the most beautiful woman in the world.
• I'm thankful for fitting *snugly* into *some* pre-pregnancy jeans! Chicka-chicka-yea! A little way to go, but thankful for my good genes, that I'm healthy enough to stay active, and that I can breastfeed (shedding pounds is an added bonus!).
• After spending the last hour pretending to be Addie's "baby", I am thankful for being self-sufficient!
• I'm thankful for all the time I get to spend with my babies because I know they grow up too fast.
• I'm thankful for a lazy day spent with my hubby and littles.
• I'm thankful for memories and that the good far outnumber the bad.
• I'm thankful for multiple invitations for the holiday today and am sending lots of love to family and friends that I'm not spending it with. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Looking forward to my guilt-free gorging today...
• Although the system may drive me crazy at times and I by no means think it's perfect, I'm thankful for our health care, that we had a super nice doctor to see for Bubby, and that we have insurance.
• I'm thankful I've had the opportunity to continue my education. Again and again. :) And will be especially thankful when this final proposal is submitted tomorrow... (I'm also thankful I did the rest of education pre-babies because they sure are making it hard to sit down and do this!)

So, my intention is to not repeat anything I said last year. But darn it, I said a lot of good stuff! I had 2 in mind for today and yesterday, and both were taken already. So I will think on it and return... (hopefully sooner than 3 months from now!)

Ramblings

So this isn’t going to be the picture-laden blog I usually do. Partially because I don’t have pics loaded on the laptop to use, partially because I can’t actually load this blog right now because I’m on a plane, and really because it’s not my usual kid-focused blog. :P Just rambling about stuff going on with me. So I’m on a plane back to Boise from San Antonio (well technically this plane only goes to Salt Lake and then I get to enjoy a 3.5 hour layover). Linda and I came down to go to AHIMA’s Assembly on Education (AoE), which is their conference focused on HIM education (yes, there really are other HIM teachers out there – it’s that popular!). ;) It was actually quite great. We of course skipped some sessions (yes, maybe more than we should), but we got some wonderful ideas, had some great conversations, and did some of the ever-so-important networking (seriously, it can’t be underestimated – invaluable!). We got in on Sunday, in the evening. After checking in we explored the Riverwalk. Very neat, but hot as hell (it was around 104 most of the time we were there, and humid! A lot for this little Idaho girl) and busy. We ate at Iron Cactus, a Mexican restaurant and tequila bar (I know my girl Leisa will be incredibly disappointed in me, but no, I didn’t even have a margarita) that was rather delicious. Monday was the first day of sessions and I went to a focus group at lunch. That evening we had a little reception for the convention and had snacks and some drinks (hey, we got 2 free ones, couldn’t pass it up). Tuesday was more sessions, but we decided to skip out just for a bit. We hit the Riverwalk again (it was really the only thing around the hotel to do), took it over to The Alamo, and then checked out La Villita. It was super cute and we ate at a great little café. Wish we’d had a bit more time to spend there, but we had already ditched out for a few hours (and it was getting pretty darn hot), so we headed back. But then I ditched some more to hit the pool. Finished out the day with a session and back to the Riverwalk we went. We ate at County Line, a BBQ restaurant that was also delicious. I decided to forego the alcoholic beverage (although it sounded delicious) for a dessert (more on that later). Had a few more sessions this morning and now here we are. Linda is sleeping next to me and I’m typing away on the laptop. It was nice to get away and I think we got lots of great ideas, but boy am I ready to see my babies!

So, more about this whole dessert thing. Another eventful thing I had this weekend was the Katy Perry concert (yep, I’ll address that in a few…). Well after getting back from vacation, I told Leisa it was time to kick into gear for this concert (yes, it’s a necessity to look hot for a Katy Perry concert). So I said I was going into workout mode for the next 2 weeks and that I would give up sweets, other than a small piece of dark chocolate now and then. Well it turned into a challenge between Leisa, Amy, and I – and included at least 30min every day of exercise and no sweets (and if you know me, you know I’m a sweets gal). I went so far as to say no sugar, but in reality I found that to be nearly impossible (particularly when we had just done a very large grocery shopping trip and I was finding that I couldn’t eat anything in my cupboards). So I just decided no sweets and as little sugar as possible, without having to restock my kitchen. The exercise part wasn’t too bad, although I often found myself realizing I hadn’t done it by 8:30pm and having to take the kids for a walk. Loren helped by encouraging us to go for bike rides. But this sugar thing killed me! I was miserable. I felt sick to my stomach, was super tired, and was just a plain ol’ grouch. I was about to give it up (this was about a week in) until I read online about sugar “withdrawal” – and those were symptoms! I was beginning to think my body really needed that sugar – well it thought it did, but I think I finally passed that point. By the end of the second week I was actually feeling pretty good. Anywho, we all made it through and yes, we did look smoking hot for the concert. And I’m actually not craving sweets anymore. So since Monday the 11th, I hadn’t had any dessert (and I’m a girl who has dessert at least 1-2 times a day). But I think I’m over the cravings now. So my dessert of choice during this trip (since my 2-week challenge was over) was cheesecake – it was rather delicious, but I actually only ate half (granted it was a ginormous piece). So I’m trying out some new eating habits. We’ll see how long it lasts…

Okay, I think my last order of business is Katy Perry. I know, I said no pics, but I forgot about the concert!

Now, I seem to have a thing for wigs. I just find them so fun! And quite a while ago I had found this fabulous shop on Etsy, Miss Violet Lace, with the absolute most gorgeous wigs! I literally want every single one of them. So when I got tickets for Katy Perry, I knew I needed one of these fabulous wigs. But how to choose? Oh man, it took me HOURS and months to pick out what I wanted. And then it was only because I had taken so damn long, I had to pick one that could ship quick. So here is my wig.

I absolutely love it and can’t wait to find more excuses to wear it (although I’ll really only find excuses to buy more). We met up at Ulta in Nampa first and got our make-up done (thank you Stacy Ritter!).

Then headed in to Boise so I could drop my car off. Had intentions of going to dinner, but we are girls after all and of course everything took longer than planned – so we grabbed Jack in the Box (so much for that fabulous diet) and set out for BSU. Parking was quick and easy and they even had a shuttle to the door.

Thank goodness too because not only did I have heels on (and I never wear heels), but I discovered that my fabulous dress had a hiking problem (as in hiking up). Since I had wild hair I wanted a wild outfit, and wanted to step out of my comfort zone a bit (my usual “party” attire is jeans and a tank top) – so why not a skintight teal animal print one-shouldered number?
Made it in before Katy started – grabbed a cotton candy martini (delicious, but I’m not sure there was any alcohol in there), hit the bathroom, and found our seats. She was fantastic!
Actually sounds even better in person, just as gorgeous as she is on TV, super funny, and totally into her fans. And great “presentation”. Totally loved it. My favorite number was the “I Want to See Your Peacock” performance (love the song and the costumes were phenomenal).
Ariel was SO into it. It was so fun to see all the little girls having a blast. My only issue was the girl next to me who I’m not sure moved all night. Really? You get floor seats at Katy Perry and you stand still and blankly stare? Lame! ;) I’m pretty sure I danced enough for both of us (and she got to enjoy an elbow now and then). After the show we dropped Ariel off and went out downtown, but it was kinda boring and well, we’re moms and were kinda exhausted. ;)

The only other thing I was gonna talk about was my bucket list, but I can’t actually access it right now. I can think of at least 7 things I’ve done and can think of a few that definitely aren’t going to happen, but I’m also thinking of some substitution options. More on that later.