Sneak Peak

To Get Away from it All

On Sunday, Scott, William, & I drove down to Monterey to stay with my parents at their beach house for a few days.

Yesterday morning, we went to First Awakenings - the best restaurant for breakfast ever (actually, Mama's in San Fran is also a favorite)! The portions are huge (honestly, they're too big), & the food is incredible - we always get an egg/potato skillet & wheatberry pancakes.

Will riding the tractor:

Later on in the day, we took a walk on the beach just down the street from my parents' place. It was a beautiful day, albeit a little cold.

I swear, I'm only ever in the pictures if I take the picture myself, or hand the camera over to Scott & remind him that I'm part of the family too (he's not a single dad!).

Playing with the kelp:

Back home for a break:

Will has the most squishable, kissable cheeks - I just love them.

Finally, last evening, we went for a drive around Carmel to look at the beautiful houses there. This particular house had such an interesting roof - it's all wavy - & the brick on the outside was crooked & so different.

A drive-by picture of the beach (which is why the picture is so blurry):

Home from the drive: Will standing up by himself - he actually stood there for quite a long time:

It was so good to travel to Monterey for the few days that we could. We had such a great time & loved spending time away from it all - one last hurrah before Scott starts school (in just over a week).

Visitors, Bowling, & New Toys

This weekend, Scott's sister (Karen) & her friend (Sarge), came to visit. It was so wonderful to see Karen again, as always, & it was great meeting Sarge. Unfortunately our niece, Kayla, couldn't make it for the trip. She did, however, send a present for Will - a 3-in-1 sports toy - baseball, basketball, & football.

Will chasing after the balls - one of the balls went under the chair, & he's trying really hard to find it.

We went bowling w/ Karen & Sarge. Everyone was really good - I by far came in last, but still enjoyed the game. Will enjoyed playing with Scott's ear.

Karen & Sarge w/ William

Scott bowled a strike while holding William - it was quite impressive (this is just a reenactment ;)

William fell asleep on the way home: when he turned his head to the side, it looked like he had a mini 'Flock of Seagulls' hairdo.

Playing with his new toy & loving it.

Mark & Joy also sent a toy golden retriever to Will since he loves dogs so much. I love watching him fall on it & give it a hug (kind of like cuddling with a pillow). (He's scratching the dog's nose in the picture.)

My Sink Threw Up

Today, I decided to semi-clean out my fridge by getting rid of some expired food. I started the line up, & put one thing after the other down the disposal. When I got to my last item, I noticed that the other side of the sink was starting to back up w/ spaghetti bits. The next thing I knew, there was a gush under the sink. I opened the cupboard doors, & spaghetti sauce & water rushed out & covered my feet, & everything under the sink

My sink threw up:

It really did look like projectile vomit, & it smelled like it too.

Well of course William was very interested in what was going on, so he started crawling over to play in the mess. I picked him up & sprinted down the street (running barefoot on hot asphalt while holding a baby is not the most pleasant thing, but then again, neither is spaghetti spewed under my sink). When my neighbor, Kris, answered the door, I told her that my under-sink had exploded & asked if she could take Will. She probably thought I was crazy. I then ran back home to take care of the mess (my thoughts while running home: 'Wow, running feels great! It's been a really long time since I've run - I feel like I could go forever.' - That's right, no thought of the mess inside, just feelings of freedom & feeling like an athlete). When I got in the kitchen, I thought, 'nothing's going to get worse if I run upstairs to get my camera for pictures - I need proof to show Scott how disgusting this is . . . & I could use an update on the blog').

After I cleared everything out, I started to wipe the water (& other remnants) into a tupperware - this may sound very gross, but when the water/spaghetti sauce mixture fell into the tupperware, it sounded like throwing up (I'm really glad I'm not pregnant because I would have lost my stomach. It was really disgusting).

I was very inspired to take care of all this mess by myself (I was feeling quite independent) after reading THIS blog , so I got buckets from the garage & prepared to take the pipes apart under the sink. Of course as soon as I tried turning one of the "bolts" (that's what I'm calling them), it wouldn't budge. So I was off (running barefoot again - it felt so good!) to the neighbors to get the man of the house's help. Aaron came over with some buckets & tools & helped me flush out the pipes & emptied all of the mess into the toilet since we couldn't empty it into the sink. After everything was put back together, I finished cleaning up, & I now have the privilege of having a very clean & organized cupboard under my sink. Happy Day!

New Moon Trailer #2

I continue to stay true to my nerd self - & I'm okay with that. 

New Brighton Camping Trip - what a blast

We just got back from our 1st annual camping trip w/ some friends:

Day 1 Camping Trip

Setting up camp:

I was so excited to be camping (since this was the first time Scott & I had ever been together) that I stole the rake from Scott, so I could prep the spot for our tent.

Will playing in the tent - the setup was super comfy (notice Will's sleeper in the background - He did such a great job sleeping our first night of camping. He went down without any problems & woke up in the morning with his face pressed against the mesh while smiling at & talking to Scott & me):

My mom gave Will a skull & crossbones tat the night before (we call it his mini tramp stamp):

Snuggled up with daddy:

Josh entertaining Jaxon & Carson:

Tiffani planned the entire trip (reservations, food, activities). She did such an amazing job, as she always does at everything. The first night, we had Costa Vida salads - Ben & Scott were on dish duty:

S'mores anyone?

Tiffani:

Josh:

Reiko eating her very first S'more:

Leslie, Hilary, & me (w/ Will, of course):

This was the little pyro - Curtis loved burning anything & everything - he finally confessed to his dad that he would rather be a firefighter (like Scott) than a cop (like his dad, Ben) - low blow Curtis ;) Actually, Scott put Curtis up to telling his dad that - as of now, he is still undecided on career:

The gals: Hilary, Tiffani, Leslie, me, Reiko, Catharine:

Day 2 of camping

For breakfast, Tiffani planned banana chocolate chip pancakes. They were absolutely amazing. Scott took over making the pancakes at the end to give Tiffani a break. You know when you hand pancake batter over to a couple of guys (Scott & Ben), things like this are bound to happen: 2 HUGE pancakes w/ chocolate chip nipples: "breast"fast anyone?

Andrew eating the massive cakes:

Will & Caylee getting to know each other:

Tiffani & Carson:

Catharine & Jaxon:

Brian w/ Caden & Josh w/ Jaxon:

For our second day camping, half the group decided to go to Roaring Camp for a train ride while the rest of us stayed at camp to let the kids nap

Andrew, Tiffani & Carson on the train - Carson loved the train whistle:

Hilary, Brennan, Brian & Caden:

Ben & Sara - she's such a cutie:

Ben & Leslie w/ Curtis, Ethan, & Sara:

We met up with everyone at a really good pizza place in Santa Cruz called Pizza My Heart. While enjoying our food, Josh had the privilege of having a random guy off the street come up to him & start talking about cilantro (he happened to have a little bunch of it in his hands at the moment - the guy was obviously crazy, but we had three CHP officers on hand, so I felt pretty safe ;)

After lunch, a bunch of us went to Marianne's for ice cream. My favorite ice cream (out of the two that I tried) was the Horchata - William seemed to enjoy it too:

Reiko & Brad w/ Caylee:

After ice cream, we headed over to the Boardwalk. I love spraying suntan lotion in Will's hair b/c it makes for the best wispy Mohawk:

Josh, Catharine, & Jaxon:

I love the ocean - it's so calming & beautiful (minus the sand, I'm not a huge fan of it - it runs along the same line as chalk, flour, & velvet for me - none of which I care for too much - icky)

On the dragon ride:

Will's first time on a bigger-kid-ish ride (minus Disneyland) - when the ride started, it spun faster than I expected, causing William to slide into me & practically end up lying down on his side. He was so little sitting next to me. It probably would have been better just to hold him in my lap:

As many know, Will LOVES the water. He could care less about the ride, he just wanted to play in the water that was on the outside of the ride:

Brad was one of Scott's best men at our wedding - they're great friends, & I'm so glad that we had the chance to meet up with him & his family for this trip:

Reiko & Brennan - he was always stuffing his mouth so full of food. Poor kid couldn't even chew the hot dog, & Leslie had to pull some of it out, so he wouldn't choke:

Hanging out after eating dinner (75 cent hot dogs). Usually I would love hot dogs, but these definitely didn't settle well with me. On the drive home last night, I got car sick & got to have seconds on dinner in a gas station parking lot - not the best feeling when it comes out the nose (is that too graphic?):

Carson "making friends" with some random girl on a ride - I assume that Tiffani was trying to get his attention, & the girl in front just decided to make Carson look at the camera while posing for the picture herself . . . awesome:

Curtis & Ethan enjoying the rides - I love how psyched Curtis looks:

The end of the day & our 1st annual camping trip with our 9th ward group of friends (even though only one of the couples actually still lives in that ward):

It was a blast guys, & I'm already so excited for next year!