MIA

Yes, I have been completely missing in action... Life right now just feels too out of control to even think about sitting down and catching up on all the blog posts I want to do. Add to that the wonderful fact that I spilled hot chocolate on my computer (which has all our pictures on it of course), and you might understand why this blog is pretty much stagnant as of late. Trouble not your hearts, though... the pictures are not lost. My hard drive is fine--we just need to get it out of the non-functioning laptop and hooked up to this laptop.

I have footage of some exciting happenings at our house that I will post just as soon as I find time to get it off of our camera. So... stay tuned. (But don't hold your breath.... I don't want anyone passing out on my account!)

La Jolla, CA

Sam had a business trip in La Jolla, CA and this time I GOT TO GO WITH HIM!!!! We took Brinley along with us, and Levi stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Thurgood. Levi had a good time, except that he got really sick. I felt so bad not being there to take care of my little boy, but if mom's not available, who better than Grandma to care for you? Thanks Mom for taking such great care of my little boy!

This was Brinley's first trip ever on an airplane. She did a really great job! Especially since we had to be at the airport at 4:30am and that caused her to be wide awake for quite a while.

Our first stop when we landed in San Diego was the San Diego Temple. It was so beautiful.

Check out this awesome vegetation!

Sam's conference was at a really nice resort-type hotel. It seriously took about 10 minutes to walk from the front desk to our room. However, the pool was right next to our room, so we had no complaints there. I really tried to make this a very relaxing vacation. Brinley and I played and lounged around the pool, I watched movies while Brinley napped, and we went for a couple of strolls. I also got a chance to meet a lot of people that Sam works with and to put faces with names, which is always nice. Sam and I went out to a yummy Mexican place called Fred's. If you are ever in San Diego you should check it out.

After Sam finished his conference, we decided to walk down to the beach. The hotel gave us a map telling how to get down to the beach, but it was a ways away. A guy from Sam's conference told us a closer way to get down to the beach, so we went that way. Here is what we climbed down to get there:

Easier my foot!

We pretended like Sam made this for me:

Okay, but that treacherous descent wasn't even the worst part. As we start walking towards the shoreline, Sam says, "Hey, I think that guy's naked." Yep. And so was that guy, and that guy, and that guy. We found out later that it was a gay nude beach. Sam thought it was hilarious... I thought it was disgusting. We walked out in the water away from people until we moved far enough down the beach to be at the spot where the hotel had recommended we come down. All I can say is "EEEWWWW!"

Sam, me and sleeping Brinley in the water.
The water was SOOOOOOOOOOOOO nice! We overheard some girls giggling about it being cold. We were like "What are you talking about????!!!!" Of course, we had just been swimming at the Oregon Coast...

The courtyard of our super nice hotel--La Estancia La Jolla.

Bye-bye California. Hopefully we'll be back soon!

Camping... of sorts...

My kids are so lucky to have such a fun dad. One day I came downstairs to discover this:


We hadn't had the chance to go camping yet, and summer was almost over, so Sam took matters into his own hands. He and Levi had a couple of camp-outs (hmm... camp-ins?) and watched some movies from inside their cozy tent. I joined them from the movies, but my comfy bed was much more tempting than the hard floor. :-)

My favorite toy is a dishwasher!

We have a climber on our hands! Brinley loves to climb in the dishwasher. She has been climbing into the dishwasher since she was barely able to crawl. Unfortunately, the pictures I took of her the first time she climbed in were lost due to the faulty memory stick. Grrrr! Now Brinley is way beyond just climbing into the dishwasher. First she started pulling herself up to standing using the top rack, then she started pushing and pulling the trays (??? what do you call those things??) in and out. Now she is on to pulling on the dishes out of the dishwasher. So adorable, yet such a handful! I absolutely love watching my kids learn and discover new things, even if it creates a mess in the process. It is like watching a little miracle happen every day.... sometimes several times a day.

Say "Ahhhhh!"

This summer, Levi had his first trip to the dentist. He was so cute, walking so confidently down the hallway... however, once we got to the chair that all changed. As you can see from the pictures, it was not a joyous experience. Levi was anything but cooperative, which is weird because he has always been so good at the doctor's. I ended up tickling him to try and get him to laugh and open his mouth, but instead he just cried. Either way, his mouth opened up a little. The only thing the dentist did was sit about 4 feet away and try to count Levi's teeth as I tortured him, then told me that in 6 months Levi would do much better and would recognize the office and dentist. My comment to Sam about the experience: "I'm so glad we didn't have to pay for that."

Fair Fun!

We made another trip to the Benton Franklin County Fair this year. Levi wasn't quite as ecstatic about the animals as he was last year, but he still liked them a lot! Brinley wasn't incredibly interested--she's still a bit too young--although she did like the bunnies. The highlight was watching Motocross, or as Levi puts it "Bik-ee! High!" I like to call it "Holy craziness!" Another favorite at the fair this year for Levi was the rubber ducks floating in the hot tub. It was hard to pull him away from that booth! I personally liked the library booth where both Levi and Brinley got a free book.
Like this last picture here? Levi took it of Sam and I. A little blurry, but at least it is aimed well. :D

p.s. I live with a bunch of clowns. It's great!