Crafty Give-Away!

I'm finally getting around to my two year bloggiversary giveaway! And in honor of the revitilization of my crafting space I am trying to finish by fall, I think I will do a fall theme basket, but I'm going to leave the contents a little open so I can tailor it to whoever wins--I do a lot of kid crafts, but if you don't have kids, I will come up with other things to go in. It will probably include cards of some type, some crafting supplies and project idea, recipes, and maybe some other type of goodies. And if you are one of my few readers from down under, I'll make it a spring basket instead so you don't have to wait 6 months to enjoy :)

So leave a comment on this post, and if there is something specific you'd like to see, then mention that in your comment, especially if you are a reader I don't know all that well, and I will try to include it if you win. Otherwise, just tell me what type of fun things you've been making or doing lately. I'm always looking for new ideas.

The comments will be open until Monday, August 3rd at 10 p.m. EDT.

Since We've Been Home

It's been a week now, and I still feel like we're recovering. The first 3 weeks of July were jam-packed with fun and travel and summery activities, so we were due up for a lazy week. The first couple days home, we literally just sat around the house, doing pretty much nothing. A little playing, a little reading. I did run to the grocery store the second night so we'd have some milk and produce, but we really just sat around the house most of that time.

Since then, we've still been staying home a lot, but I got bit by a productivity bug, so I did some laundry, got all our trip stuff put away, painted a room, cleaned out a couple closets (and found out that we have mice while doing so--Daddy-o caught a huge one yesterday, so we're hoping that was it--and the picture above: that would be the kids mouse catching outfits). In a couple weeks, I should have some pictures of our new craft/art room, although I think I also want to do some built-ins in that room, which won't be happening quite that fast. There will always be more home improvement projects--we think of them much faster than we save the money to make them a reality.

In all my reading I've done, I finished a couple great books. First, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer. I can't remember who recommended this, or where I heard about it, but I loved it, and its a pretty light read, for being about the recovery from WWII. And Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell. This is the second book of his that I've read and I've found both of them very interesting. This one looks at what distiguishes the great successes from the mediocre and failures--and its curious to see how much of it seems to be chance.

In "Baby" news, Bugaboo is still taking a long time to go to sleep at night, although the last couple nights, he finally hasn't cried himself to sleep, but he's woken up in the middle of the night to do some screaming instead. It's been a nightmare, probably compounded by the 3 hour time difference (and since they were going to bed so late in CA, its more like we're recovering from Hawaii time.) I think that if we'd realized how long he was going to take to get over it, we would have just bought him a new pacifier on the way home from the airport. Definitely wasn't the best timing. At least naps are going pretty well, and he has to get over it eventually, right?

Finally, just a couple funny things that Bugaboo has said--he's at that age where we're just cracking up all the time with the things that come out of his mouth. Like when Daddy-o was trying to get him to go to sleep the other night, "I have to get out of this house!" Or when Bean was saying she wanted to visit her friend, Aidan, to show him her new stuffed dalmation, and Bugaboo, who'd been eating a fudgescicle and was a complete chocolatey mess, grins at us and says, "I want to show Aidan my messy hands!" And then there's he's very firm, usually accompanied by some hitting, "You aren't listening to my words!" (At least he's starting to get the concept.)

Another Year Older

I have had a great birthday this year, and luckily haven't quite hit the age yet where I dread being another year older. I think that age is getting closer--I'm a little shocked at how fast 40 is creeping up on me, but 40 is the new 30, right? And do still have a few years.

Since Sundays tend to be full of church meetings and responsibilities, we went for a little family fun Saturday. We drove up to Lake Norman, the huge man-made lake north of Charlotte, which we'd heard a lot about and had yet to see, other than the part you pass over on the freeway. It's beautiful up there, and looks like there is some nice (mostly flat) hiking and biking trails. And the lake would be a lot of fun if we had a boat. It was so much warmer than Huntington Lake, but a lot murkier, too, which makes me less excited about wading and swimming. I just like to be able to see where I'm walking. But the kids had a great time swimming around and we had fun making a sandcastle and various rivers and pools. We're going to have to go back one day for some hiking and maybe rent a canoe.

This morning, Daddy-o made me breakfast in bed--he is so good about this and makes the best omelets, even while dealing with fussy kids. And then the kids piled in bed with me with all the presents. They were way too excited to wait. In fact, Bugaboo started opening his before I'd even finished eating. They picked out their own gifts for me this year, and you can tell that they know I love sugar--they got me sour patch kids and dark chocolate truffles, and Bugaboo also picked out a sunflower wall plaque--yellow, of course.

While the kids indulged my sweet tooth, my other family members are helping me to get healthier, in all types of ways. I can now learn about the food chain and our "national eating disorder", improve my strategic thinking (and when I actually get this present, I will have to post a picture because my brother is making me a chess set, and the sample piece he sent looks beautiful), be well hydrated while I run without having to hold a waterbottle in my hands (which I hate, so I usually just don't drink anything the whole time), I get to pick out some new music for my iPod, and I can now listen to my iPod around the house without using the earbuds. I feel very spoiled right now.

And then there was dessert--Daddy-o made an absolutely incredible cheesecake. Seriously, when the recipe calls for 2.5 pounds of cream cheese, you have to expect some rich, creamy goodness, and this did not dissappoint. I had to have two (smallish) rounds. Actually, that was mostly because Bugaboo had to go to bed early, so we did "cake" with a candle with him, and then we'd invited our neighbor to come over later for dessert, so we all had to have seconds when she came, of course.

If Bugaboo Had More Hair

More Adventures in The Bay Area

I love all the open spaces in the Bay Area. That is probably one of my favorite things about this part of CA--sure, its crowded, has horrible traffic, and is really expensive, but there were probably hundreds of hiking trails within a half hour of the house I grew up in, including right in my backyard.We took a little walk in one of the redwood forests in the Oakland hills. There are 4 different State Parks that all connect in this area. I went running around Lake Chabot Saturday morning (ran 7.5 miles!), and then we stopped by Redwood Regional Park that evening. It was beautiful and there are a few great views of the Bay as you walk. Bugaboo didn't like it so much--he kept saying it was "scary". We'll have to try hiking earlier in the day next time we're going into a thick forest.And then, we got back into our lovely rental car and started down the hill. . . when the car shut off. I'm known for putting off filling my gas tank as long as possible. I figure if I can push it a couple extra days, that means one less trip to the gas station each month. And our warning light comes on several gallons before the tank is empty. But this car--I guess not so much. We'd probably gone about 25 miles since the light came on and that was 1 mile to far. Thank goodness we have AAA and there was a gas station with a tow truck just a few miles away, so we only had to wait about 30 minutes. But in that 30 minutes, both kids had to pee at the side of the road, and then Bean needed to poop, which we told her she just had to wait because there was no way I was letting her do that on the side of the road.Once we'd filled up the car, and emptied out Bean, we went to the Oakland Temple for the LDS Church. This is the temple that I grew up going to each Christmas to see the lights, and many summers to see the temple pagent (which I was so sad to hear has been indefinately suspended--I was hoping we'd get to see it on this trip since it usually about this time of year). This was also the first temple both Daddy-o and I attended as adults when we could actually go inside and participate.This temple has such beautiful grounds, and great views from up on top. We got to watch the end of the sunset and then on the way back, we got ice cream at Loard's, which probably has some of the best peanut butter fudge ice cream ever. I remember many trips there when I'd be home from college with some of my high school friends, and the ice cream did not dissappoint (I just wish that Stacy, Danna, and Janet could have come, too.)

On Sunday, we went to church at my old church. I'll admit, a huge reason why I always make sure I go when I'm visiting out there is so I can see all the people who have been around since I was a little kid. It probably would have been much easier on my tired family to stay at the hotel and just get packed up and ready to go. And Bugaboo didn't have a great morning. I had to take him out of the meeting several times, the last one as he wailed, "My love the hotel!" over and over. But it was nice to be able to say hi to everyone.

After church, we did head back to the hotel for some lunch and to finish packing. And then we loaded up the car and drove out to Half Moon Bay. Bugaboo fell asleep, which was good for all of us. Bean didn't, which was bad for all of us. But it was a pretty drive and then we got to at least see the ocean. It feels weird to go to CA and not spend a day at the beach, but we just didn't have much extra time this trip, and its not like when we go to San Diego and the coast is right there.

And finally, I got to have one more Facebook reunion. Lindsay and I were friends all through college and the lost touch after her wedding, about 8 years ago, so I was excited when she found me last year. She and her husband made us a great dinner and dessert, we got caught up, and our kids had a fantastic time playing with her two boys.

And for once, our kids weren't the only loud ones there. Her boys can hold their own with our two.

And of course, we made a big mess again. We can't go anywhere without making a big mess. When we were staying in Daddy-o's cousins house in Fresno, we actually took pictures of the kids rooms to document where all the toys came from so we could try to put it back together when we left.

On our way there, we realized we were in the same neighborhood where our friend from San Diego, Kelly, lives, so we stopped by her house on our way to the airport and got to have one of the fastest visits ever, but it was good to see her, even if only for a few minutes. I love how I have friends from all the stages of my life who live around the Bay--gives me plenty of reasons to visit, even if all my family has left.

HHS Playgroup

Facebook has been a great tool for me in the last couple years as I've found friends who I thought I'd never see or hear from again. Friends from collage, and high school and even before. There are some friends who I've stayed in touch with over the years through the occasional email and Christmas cards, and even a few who I've managed to see on some of our trips back, but there are an awful lot of people who I spent a lot of time with and haven't seen in over a decade.

So this trip home was the Facebook reunion tour. On Saturday, we met up with a group of high school friends at East Avenue Park. 8 HHS grads, 3 spouses, and 13 kids. It was so fun to see everyone again, and funny because everyone pretty much looks the same, yet we have all these little people running around now. The kids got along really well and in between chasing them around, we got a chance to catch up a little.

Meeting New Babies

After 4 days camping, we said goodbye to the family and headed out to the Bay Area. First stop in Hayward (well, not really. Actual first stop, since it was almost 8 p.m. Thursday night when we got into town, was our hotel where we did a bunch of laundry and all got to take baths and showers. And then got to sleep in a bed, in a warm enough room. But our first fun stop)--going to see these two "new" babies, who are already over 9 months old. G & V are adorable and we're so glad we finally got to see them in person. (And it was great to see their mom, S., and big sister, too :) We're just sorry we missed Dad. S and I have known each other since 4th grade, which is starting to seem like a VERY long time ago.And the three older kids had a great time--absolutely trashing C's room. They even got ahold of some crayons and drew on a few things that weren't paper. Bean incriminated herself in that act by writing her first and last name several times on the toys--guess when you only know so many words, you tend to sign everything you can.

They also put together this great costume for Bugaboo--which was the point that S. realized they were now unloading the closet. Nothing like making a really big mess to make yourself a welcome visitor in people's homes!

Baby No More

Back to that trauma we had before our long night of travel--Bugaboo did the unthinkable and accidentally dropped Baby in the toilet. A very dirty, gross airport toilet, about 10 minutes before we boarded the flight. I was pretty terrified for what that was going to mean, but he did incredibly well. He cried for about 10 minutes when we were an hour from Cinncinati, and that was really pretty much it. He slept most of the flights and since we'd already been planning on speeding the end of Baby once we got home, we just bit the bullet and said we're done.

He fought naptime yesterday, and didn't go to bed until 11 last night, an hour and a half after I'd put him in bed, but considering the time change and the crazy night's sleep before, I think that we would have had some issues anyway.

So, last night, we took him to Toys 'R Us and let him pick out a toy to trade his soiled Baby for (yes, Daddy-o actually rescued the pacifier from the toilet, but it was just too gross to clean and let him use it again.) Bugaboo is now the proud owner of a Leak Less trailer (which is yellow, of course) and Lightening McQueen. And today, it only took him 5 minutes to go down for his nap, so I think its all going to work out. He did tell me at naptime today, "My wish I had another baby," but he loves his new cars and has slept with them clutched in his hands his last two sleeps.

And I'm even doing okay with all of it, too.

Home, Sweet Home

We're back. It was so nice to walk into our own house yesterday after 9 hours of traveling, even if it did have that empty house smell after being closed up for 11 days. But our garden was waiting to be picked, and I couldn't wait to get into my own bed last night.

For everyone who's been wondering, the red-eye flight went pretty well, especially considering we had some last minute complications (more on that later). We were all really tired yesterday, and I prefer flying during the day, but we saved over $300 doing it this way, and that's a whole other plane ticket for the next trip (Mom, I think that we owe you a visit next--we'll start saving up!) I can't say I wouldn't do it again if the price is right.

I'll go back and fill in all the pictures from the last week of our trip if our computer will keep cooperating--its getting pretty tempermental lately.

Camping at Huntington Lake

We spent a few days in the Sierras camping with Daddy-o's family--Grandma and Grandpa, 5 of the 8 kids, 2 spouses, 3 grandkids, and 4 friends of the family.

It was a week of delicious food, good family time, campfires, playing, fishing, and amazingly, sleeping in (at least a couple hours past the sunrise, which I was not expecting because of the kids)!

Fishing

A big part of the camping trip was the fishing. Grandpa has a boat and LOVES to fish. Most of the trips out were adults only, but Grandpa wanted to pass on the hobby to his grandkids and he was excited to take the kids out on their own little fishing excursion. The kids were pretty excited about it, too, and Grandma and Grandpa had even gotten them their own little fishing poles.

So they started off with some power bait and a mentor for each of them . . .

(I'm not sure how I ended up fishing with Bean, since the last time I remember fishing, I was almost small enough to need one of these miniature poles.)

But, as we expected, that didn't last long and pretty soon, this is what the adults were doing:

While the kids did this:

We didn't catch any fish, but there were a few fun moments on the boat that afternoon.

And after that, we just fished from the shore with the kids where they could come and go as their 2 minute attention spans required. Bean and Bugaboo each got to reel in a fish that night, although Bean was quick to point out that Grandpa had caught the fish, not her, and it wasn't her pole either. Bugaboo did end up catching on one his pole the next day, and Bean's pole caught one when it was cast off the end of the boat. So, all in all, it was a pretty sucessful fishing venture.

Camping Fun

These two little rugrats loved camping. Bugaboo did ask several times a day to go to the tent, but that's just his personality. He asks to go inside the house a lot when we're playing in the yard, too. And the tent was pretty cool, in their mind. What's better than wall-to-wall sleeping bags, pillows, and blankets?

But when we could get him out of the tent, the had a great time. Grandma, being prepared as grandma's seem to be, brought supplies for a nature craft, and Jenga. And they had a cousin to play with and aunts and uncles to entertain.

Of course, there was the lake. Huntington Lake is at about 7000 feet and its big, so its a very cold lake, but the kids didn't mind wading, and a couple of the adults even braved the cold on the third day (the campground didn't have showers, so I'll admit that the desire to be a little clean was part of what got me in.)