San Fran and Monterey

Last week we took our first vacation of 2012 to San Francisco and Monterrey, CA. We took advantage of every minute and saw quite a few sites, many of which we didn't take pictures of, but we made the most of our time there. Above are the famous "painted ladies" that you see on the TV show Full House. Below is a view near Lombard Street (the really curvy one). We did a lot of walking up some steep hills, our calves and buns were feeling it that night.

Our hotel was right down by Fisherman's Wharf and Ghirardelli Square, we couldn't have asked for better weather either while we were there, especially since it is cold and rainy this week.
We took the Trolley to China town and to Union Square.
There were beautiful views of the bay, the bridges, and Alcatraz almost anywhere you go...even behind a hungry seagull.
We ate bread bowls and sourdough pizza at Boudin's at the wharf, it is a cool place, as you can see they bake all kinds of things. Ellie was really good most of the time, but that cold wind off the bay wasn't always the most inviting. Actually Ellie just wanted more than anything to get out of the stroller and jump into the ocean to swim with the seals.
We stayed in the Argonaut Hotel which was a fun place, our favorite thing was the hot chocolate bar they have every afternoon. Ellie was in her own little world with a cup full of marshmallows in her lap.
Here we are at the bottom of Lombard Street...
...and walking through China Town.

We also spent some time in Golden Gate Park, we loved the Japanese Tea Garden. It just happens to be free on MWF from 9-10am.
We feel very lucky to live so close to such a beautiful place, just a 3 1/2 hour drive.


We were really excited to take Ellie to the zoo, but it was a letdown because she had a meltdown right as we pulled in. All of the big animals were not out in the open, but it is a really cool zoo and fun to walk around and see the animals.

Of course after paying the big admission, all Ellie cared about was playing in the fountain and going for a ride on the train. I can't remember the last time I was in a zoo. On the way down to Monterey we checked out the Stanford campus.Our first day in Monterey we went straight to Dennis the Menace Park. It is worth a stop if you have kids, totally free, and lots of big toys to play on. I almost broke my tailbone going down the slide made of little rollers. Ellie thought it was hilarious so she wanted to keep going down, all I could do was distract her with the other things cause Daddy wasn't going down that slide again.
The Aquarium in Monterey is DEFINITELY worth the money. As soon as we walked in the place Ellie was mesmerized, she had white knuckles while holding on to the edge of the stroller. I could have spent half the day just standing, staring, and looking into the huge tanks.



We all loved the jelly fish, they made it all look really cool with fluorescent lights in a dark hallway. Believe it or not, that is a Sea Horse that looks like a floating plant, craziest living thing I've ever seen.
The lone Cyprus on the 17 mile drive. This is the trademark for the Pebble Beach Golf Resort. There were some HUGE houses along the drive.

The last night we went down to Carmel and played on the beach. The town is really fun with all the little house shops, and there is a perfect view of Pebble Beach Golf Course from the beach.Joni and her pregnant silhouette. I forgot to mention another little girl is on the way, we are very excited.



We ate at some fun restaraunts and made some pretty good memories. Thanks Mom for coming along with us.

Every once in a while I look around at what I have and I can't believe I arrived to where I am today. I was thinking for just a minute today while I was sitting in church how I would love to have a 2 year old that lays quietly on my shoulder and cuddles with me during church like the little girl 3 rows in front of us. But then I look down at the beautiful little 2 year old I have...even as she screams and dumps a bag full of Kix on the ground...and I feel I am one lucky guy.

It surprises me how often I feel like I don't have the answers to the simplest of parenting problems, I may be doing a horrible job, but I love our little family and I wouldn't want it any other way than we have it right now.

Today one of those things happened that I just wish everyone could see. Ellie decided to crawl under the bench and explore at church, she had never done it before so I wanted to see where this one went. When she crawled out of view I fully expected to see her pop up on the next row, but that didn't happen. What proceeded next was a slow moving "wave" like you'd see at a football game, only we were in church and most of the congregation was half asleep. I knew exactly where Ellie was because you could see the same reaction, row by row, of people moving and looking at the surprise crawling between their legs at 100 mph. Someone finally grabbed her 6 rows in front of us, by this time I was laughing so hard I was red in the face. It only made matters worse when everyone decided to pass her back on top of the pews row after row. It was a spectacle made into an even bigger spectacle with our trophy being handed to us after it was all through, with nothing but a huge goofy grin on her face.

So here we are, not knowing what we are doing, with another one on the way. I can't help but think that God has a sense of humor, and that he will happily send us another one just like Ellie...for now all I can say is...I hope so.

We find out on Tuesday the sex of the "thing" that is making Joni eat a jar full of pickles in one sitting. I don't understand how people can wait the whole 9 months before finding out, it really doesn't make sense to me but everyone is different. It's kind of like saying you will wait to open your Christmas presents in July...to each his own.

Bust a Move.

So last week I taught some 8th & 9th graders a few "hip hop zumba" classes. Their PE teacher is always looking for new & fun ways to keep the girls active. She came to the regular Zumba class at the gym to ask the instructor to come teach, but there was a substitute that night... so she asked ME?! Straight away I confessed I'm NO professional at Latin moves, but I was comfortable doing something "hip-hop"-ish. She thought her girls would love that...

So here we are busting some moves :)








The girls were such fun to teach! They were super positive, smiley, and energetic. I forgot how fun it is to be 14. We were dancing on the opposite half of the gym as the boys (there was a curtain divider). At one point I looked out at the girls and about half suddenly stopped dancing, and most were giggling uncontrollably. I turned around to see a group of boys had gathered at the edge of the curtain and were yelling "wooooot" "yeah" and doing their best impression of the moves. All fun and games until the boys' teacher yelled "get back over here, NOW!!". With a look of fear they disappeared in 5 seconds or less.
These are the little things that I forgot about being a teenager.

We had a blast, and if I'm not too swollen too soon I would love to go back!

I tried to enclose a link, but I'm thinking it didn't work? ... But the girls wanted to see their dancing so I posted 2 videos on youtube - feel free to check them out by searching "hip hop zumba CVMS" on the site.

In other news, we finally got Ellie sleeping in a toddler bed! It was easier than I expected once we found out she likes sleeping with all her stuffed friends.
I had a recurrence of "sickness" this week, but I'll live (I think) :)

16 weeks and counting! The wait is on. Happy Monday!

We had some quiet time and some crazy time over the holidays this year, from just the three of us to 8 of us including 5 trips to the airport in 4 days. We enjoy playing guide though so it was fun. Andrea gave me a Michael Jackson sparkly glove for Christmas which I thought was pretty weird (secretly pretty cool too), until I saw that she gave me the MJ dancing video game as well to go with it. So as you can imagine, we did A LOT of dancing.

Joni's 2 MAN cousins were here too, I say "MAN" because I've never seen 2 guys eat so much in my life. I'll never forget the moment I watched Joni's cousin Shon sit at the table with a tub full of cold ham...he proceeded to clean out the entire tub full of cold meat without any sauce, drink, chip, utensil or anything I would consider normal. I couldn't stop staring and I'm sure he was feeling self conscious, but I couldn't help it.

Andrea and Joni were pretty good at the dancing game, I was trying too hard to look like MJ and had a tough time but it was pretty fun, especially once you get to know the routine. The Wii doesn't like "freestyle MJ".

I love the picture below, we had Jed and Shon throw Ellie in the air behind us since she wouldn't hold still. Of course no children were hurt in the making of this picture, but we thought it worked out pretty well...can you find Ellie?
A couple of weekends ago we decided to check out the north side of Lake Tahoe for a change, making a trip up to Truckee. Truckee is a fun little town just off the main highway, it's very close to Donner Pass. It actually reminded me a lot of Estes Park in Colorado.

We bought some fudge, checked out the shops, and ate at a really good burger place we saw on the Food Network.

There were lots of dogs there. Ellie loves dogs but she refuses to touch them, she'll just scream and clap but then turn away when they come near. That makes me miss Dilly sometimes, I don't know if we'll ever be able to get a dog again, for now we like other people's dogs.


I'm not sure why Joni uploaded these pictures. We have a deal going, I will write a blog as long as Joni uploads the pictures. We finally got some rain/snow here. It has been the driest winter here since 1893, I never thought I would say I golfed in January but I just did.


This is the pond next to our house, Ellie loves throwing rocks into it, of course we always worry about it as parents but so far so good.

Joni has been really into her Zumba and spin classes. In fact, someone from her class asked her to teach "hip-hop zumba" for the local middle school kids. So she is working on some routines and putting some music together which she loves doing anyways.

Ellie's favorite phrases for the week are "Wait a minute...", "I go to time out?", and "hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity dog". We are hoping to get her into a toddler bed soon, and we are having NO LUCK with the potty training yet.

I've been playing basketball a couple of times a week, and staying really busy at work. Nothing else really happened that I can think of...oh yeah, I guess I can report that we'll be having baby number 2 in July. We are excited and just hoping for another happy, healthy little one.

The Best Christmas Gift.

Christmas this year was very low key, and very enjoyable! Christmas eve we went to the park to play flag football with some people in our ward. Ellie had a ton of fun playing on the slide and chasing geese, even though it was super cold.






The picture below is one of many to be filed under Ellie's "I don't have time for pictures, I'm too busy exploring" pile.




Christmas Eve night we went to dinner with some of Paul's co-workers/friends at a local steakhouse, then came home and opened Christmas jammies, Christmas story, eggnog, etc...

I didn't remember to take many pictures Christmas morning, but here are a few.








A few weeks ago, I had several unpleasant encounters with strangers that left a bad taste in my mouth. On four separate occasions I was left feeling hurt, sad, and confused as to how people could act so mean. I chalked it up to holiday stress and tried to put it in the back of my brain to be forgotten.

... And then today, my own Christmas miracle happened.

This morning I made the journey over the Carson City Costco with Ellie to stock up on food for company we are having this week. I started feeling really sick in the store, but decided we had come too far to go home now. We got everything on our list and made our way to the loooong checkout lines.
Ellie started getting fidgety and I could tell a melt down was close at hand. Finally, we started checking out and I handed the cashier the credit card Paul had asked me to use. He quickly informed me Costco doesn't accept anything other than American Express.
---Meanwhile, Ellie starts crying----
Okay, not a problem, I opened my wallet to grab my debit card. I looked, and looked... and it is GONE. I'm thinking "okay this IS a problem, but I have to take care of the crisis at hand first".
I told the cashier my debit card was missing and started digging for ANY mode of payment. I found the debit card for the back account we use for the car loan.

---People behind me in line are starting to glare---

I quickly pulled it out, swiped it... only to realize I don't have the pin number memorized (because I NEVER use it)!

---Ellie is now in FULL tantrum mode---

Searching through my wallet I found some Christmas cash, although I knew it wouldn't cover the full amount. At this point, the people behind me in line were rolling their eyes. I turned around to say I was sorry for holding up the line. I handed the money to the cashier and asked him if he would please count it for me while I decided which items to put back. I was about ready to start crying or puking (I would deal with whichever came first).

And then out of the corner of my eye I saw the cashier reach into his pocket. A few seconds later he handed me my receipt and said "Merry Christmas". I was so confused, I didn't know what to say because ALL my items were still in my cart and the total had not changed. Right at that moment, his replacement cashier showed up and he smiled and hurried off towards the break room.

I quickly realized that he had paid for the difference with his own money. After he walked away, I asked the other cashier his name, as I had every intention of getting that money back to him. Ellie and I made our way to the parking lot. As I was loading everything into the Mazda I heard "Excuse me, Miss?" and I turned to see the man who had saved not only my sanity, but my faith in humanity. With a warm smile he simply said "Don't pay it back, pay it forward", then turned and walked away. I yelled "thank you!" after him, but there was no way to express in such small words how much gratitude I really felt.
This cashier at Costco did not know me. He didn't know my hobbies, my religion, my income, my likes or dislikes. What he DID know was that I was a mommy having a very rough morning... and that was all he needed to know.
I'm crying as I type this. Partly because my heart is full from this random and wonderful encounter, and partly because I pray that I will be aware of someone else's need when an opportunity arises for me to pay this debt forward.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

P.S. The story has a double happy ending: I found my debit card when I got home (phew!!)