Weeding and Reading

This weekend was spent doing something I love and something I loathe!

I have NEVER enjoyed weeding. In fact, growing up my mom would have 'weeding parties' - actually, she still does - I hated weeding parties. There is nothing party-like about weeding!! She would make us all go outside - front yard one day and backyard the next - and we would have a minimum 30 weeds to pull. I know, not much, but believe me I counted them. The whole idea of having to weed was tolerable if I could have a 'finish line' - whether it be pulling 30 weeds, or just weeding for 30 minutes. As long as I served my time, I was free to go! So this weekend I weeded our backyard. I still didn't like it, but it was in desperate need of some TLC. It's over for now, and Sean is stuck with the clean-up. My weeding is in one big pile, so he's in charge of removing it and getting any little spots I missed.

Now, on to what I LOVE. I used to read like crazy when I was younger. All the time - especially in middle school - I had more time then. Over the years the amount of time I spend reading has dwindled to almost nothing. I haven't even read the final Harry Potter book - in fact, book #6 was the last novel I completed, and that was before Ethan was born. Well, yesterday I started something new. I am now 7 or 8 chapters into Twilight. I'm not addicted yet, but I think I'll make the time to finish it by the end of the week - especially with the 3-day weekend. I'm actually just really excited to be reading again. It's been so long. Sean reads quite regularly - probably a novel every week or two, but I always let household and motherly duties take priority. I spent a lot of time with Ethan yesterday and today, so judging by the scattered toys, dining table covered in the Sunday paper and dirty dishes in the sink, I think today's chores were slightly neglected!

It Happened Again.

Yep. I cut my hair... again... even shorter... and I love it! So I really liked the new style I got back in March, but it grew out fairly quickly and I found myself resorting to a ponytail within 2 months. And I really didn't like how it grew out - I decided I need some layers in front to frame my face. I'm really loving the back this time - I don't struggle as much to get it straight. It was also my first cut where she used a razor to texturize! And as always, I've got to have the blond highlights - it's summer after all!!

So... what do you think?

Pictures and Video Added!!

Ok, if you read my last post then you know that I was having trouble downloading pictures on to our laptop (still am), but I got them on CD and just added to our Father's Day blog below - the video too! I'm sure you were all saving your comments until I got the pictures added, so now you can comment away!! :) Hope you enjoy the photo additions.

Family Fun for a Fabulous Father's Day weekend!

NOTE: I wrote this post over a week ago - on the 16th, but originally I was refusing to post until I could add pictures. Well... clearly that still hasn't happened. Our computer is being a pain and not acknowledging the camera, so I can't download any pictures and I haven't made it to Wal-Mart to put them on CD. So here we are. I'm posting it 'bare' - I will add pictures to this same post later - so check back!! For now, enjoy just the written word from our fun father's day. Oh. And yes, I am back-dating it because it would've been posted last week. So there!

First of all, I want to say "Happy Father's Day!" (again) to my very loving husband - he is a wonderful 'da-da' to Ethan. We are both so blessed to have him in our lives.
What a fun and interesting weekend we had! Last weekend we spent most of Saturday FINALLY getting our own bedroom completely clean and super organized. It's now been a week and it still looks just as good. Yay for us! Saturday is typically our main cleaning day. We are super-busy during the week, so we tend to keep the house just picked-up and save the hard-core cleaning (other than the kitchen) for the weekend. Well, this Saturday we found ourselves with a clean house: floors vacuumed, dusting done, kitchen clean and dining room, living room, bathroom and our bedroom all picked up, with Ethan down for his first nap. Sean and I sat down on the couch, looked at each other and realized.... we were bored! "Now what?" we thought. So we did something we only occasionally get to do on a Sunday afternoon. We took a nap! It was great! After Ethan woke up, we had lunch and headed to a new park a couple of miles away. It was a little disappointing - not as toddler-friendly as we were hoping. Ethan did thoroughly enjoy the toddler swing and large sandbox, though.

We didn't stick around as long as we thought we would. The park was in a new housing area, so we decided to take a tour of the model home that was open for showing that day. Of course, they had their largest home on display, but it was gorgeous! Three large bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, plus a spacious kitchen open to the dining and living rooms. There was also a laundry room and den. Made me wish we had the money right now to own a home!

After a stop at 7-11 for some much-needed slurpees and then a quick trip through the car wash for a much-needed cleaning, we headed home so E could go down for nap #2 and hopefully lose some of his crankiness! While he was down we got invited over to Melissa and Zack's for dinner. We haven't seen them since each of our boys' 1st birthday parties - their 1-year old, Perrin is a few weeks older than E, so we gladly accepted. We had some delicious stromboli and fresh cantalope and then played a round of Nintendo Wii bowling. A very fun evening!

Now on to Sunday... It got off to a rocky start. Despite being out past his bedtime, E was up by 7am - a good hour or two before he should have. He was only up for about 45 minutes before we decided we try putting him back down because we could tell he was still really tired. He went back down without much of a fuss and slept (thankfully!) for another 2 hours or so. This threw off our whole morning, though, because Sean and I went back to bed! It was rushed, but we managed to get in a french toast father's day breakfast before rushing to get ready and heading off to church.

Apparently the extra sleep did not do Ethan much good. What a crab! He was a handful almost the entire 3 hours of church!! He would do ok when it was just me and him - one-on-one, but he didn't want anything to do with sitting still on someone's lap or playing quietly. We made it through most of sacrament ok, but it was a struggle. Sunday school we usually let him play in the empty YW room or we wander the halls to keep him entertained and get out some energy before the 3rd hour. The 3rd hour started ok - we made it through the opening (prayer, song, announcements, etc.) but actual classtime was a nightmare!! Luckily I don't teach anymore because I had to take him out a couple of times - the last time we just went outside and spent the rest of church taking a walk around the building and observing the plants, etc. He calmed down quite a bit but overall it wore me out!

There's more - sorry this will be pretty long! After church, our good friend Katie Blair came over for lunch and to show us her Brazil pictures! She just got home from her mission, and we were anxious to see and talk with her. It was great to catch up! After she went home to her family, and Ethan woke up from his nap, we gathered up all the bread we had in the house and headed to Alton Baker to feed the ducks!

It was a great family activity and Ethan did a good job throwing the bread chunks into the water for the ducks and the geese. We only got a few cries when one of the geese nipped his finger while eating a piece of bread and when we had to leave. The video is more for the grandparents/aunts & uncles, but feel free to watch. E kept eating the bread chunks that were intended for the ducks!

We then headed over to the Grandparents Graham (g-ma Mary and g-pa Ken) for a very quick Father's day visit and finally to my parents' house for a late dinner and to wish my dad a happy father's day. We had our ups and downs, but we're putting it down as an overall good weekend. Sorry it's so long, but hope you enjoy the pictures (that are coming - check back soon)!

PS: A shout-out to all of the fathers in our lives: My Dad (Grandpa Greg), Sean's Dad (Papa Loren), Grandpa Chuck, Grandpa Ken, Grand-dad Stockett and Sean's brothers, Ryan and (new daddy) Todd. Also, to all of our friends that are fathers... Happy Father's Day!!

Now You'll Know MY ABC's!

I tagged myself after reading this on Emily's blog - I thought it would be fun to post something different.

A-Attached or Single?- Attached. Married almost 3 years.

B-Best Friend?- Besides Sean... my cuz Niki, childhood friend Jenny, high school/college friend Kate and singles ward buddy (she helped me keep my sanity) Katie.

C-Cake or Pie?- Usually cake - unless it's one of my grandma Sandy's pies.

D-Day of Choice?- Saturday. No work (usually)!!

E-Essential Item?- That's tough. It depends on the situation. Computer/internet is a must for keeping in touch with family, but our digital camera is very important too. And when it comes to TV, I don't think Sean and I could live wiithout our DVR!! Then again, if you're talking something like beauty products I'd go with mascara and lip gloss. See?? It depends.

F- Favorite color?- Definitely blue. But I also love green and pink.

G-Gummy Bears or Worms?- Depends on my mood, but I usually gotta go with the bears.

H-Hometown?-Springfield, OR

I-Favorite Indulgence?- Brownies!! Or really well made chocolate chip cookies. No nuts, please!

J-January or July?- July - but not the REALLY hot days.

K-Kids?- Ethan - 14 months. Eventually, we'd like to have 2 or 3 more.

L-Life isn't complete without?- What's with these vague questions?? Emotionally speaking, I'd have to go with family on this one.

M-Marriage Date?- July 9, 2005 in the Los Angeles LDS temple.

N-Number of brothers and sisters? 2 younger sisters.

O-Oranges or Apples?- Apples. But I prefer orange juice to apple juice. Weird, huh?

P-Phobia and Fears? SPIDERS!! I've gotten a little better since Ethan was born, but not by much!

Q-Quote?- Hmm... Top three: 1. "Never allow anyone to intimidate you." 2. "There is so much good in the worst of us and so much bad in the best of us that it behooves any of us to speak ill about the rest of us." 3. "There is nothing stronger than the heart of a volunteer." - Pearl Harbor movie

R-Reason to smile?- My guys - Sean and Ethan. They can always bring a smile to my face! :)

S-Season of choice?- Late Spring and early Fall in Oregon. That's when the weather is usually the nicest. Not too hot, but not too cold.

T-Tag ten people?- I don't know if I have 10 bloggers that would respond!! How about: Stephanie Graham (even though I think she was tagged on Em's blog), Christine (because she doesn't blog enough), Christi Gross, Rachel Eastin and Todd or Muffy (or both!).

U-Unknown fact about me?- This is random, but I can't stand rice or corn used as a 'condiment' - i.e. in burritos, soups, etc. It makes me gag!

V-Vegetable?- Broccoli or carrots - preferrably raw and with ranch dip.

W-Worst habit?- Time management - I often try to do more than I realistically have time for. Which also means I'm often a couple minutes late!

X-eXercise of choice?- Kickboxing, swimming, volleyball and weight-lifting.

Y-Your favorite food?- How about favorites foodS? Pot roast (especially Lynnie's!), Hawaiian pizza, turkey sandwiches, baked spaghetti, homemade mac and cheese, french toast and Sean's cheesy, spicy bean dip. I like variety!!

Z-Zodiac Sign?- Gemini

As Promised... Beach Pictures!

Ahh... An afternoon at the beach. :) Memorial day (Monday) while we were still in SoCal, we took a short drive on PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) and stopped at a real California beach in Malibu. The weather wasn't the greatest, but it was still fun just to be there and play in the sand and the ocean and breathe in that salty sea air. We love the beach... but not the sand-covered car afterwards!! So enjoy the pictures... and tell me what you think. My personal favorites are the first one (not to toot my own horn, but I love that I got the colorful beach umbrella on one side of Ethan and the bright blue ocean on the other) and our family picture.

Sean taking a stroll on the beach.

Auntie Cassie and Ethan playing in the sand.

Ethan's first dip into the ocean. He wasn't too sure about the 1st cold wave that washed up over his toes, but he got used to it pretty quickly and had a great time as we tried to 'outrun' the waves!

Cute Cassie :) - we missed Alysha, though! :(

Some father and son bonding. Digging in the sand...

... playing in the sun (even though this was a posed picture!)...

... and quiet reflection.

A mommy moment! Always with the tickles. :-D

I couldn't resist this one... Cassie's advertisement for Wheat Thins. Nothing like product placement!

Our new family picture - Cassie got this in one shot!

Time to go... "I dug in the sand. I splashed in the water. And now I've got my stick. Let's go home."