Loved It!

Dave and I LOVED this movie! Not only was the short animated film before this movie my favorite OF ALL TIME, but "Up" was amazing! Take your kids! Caution: it was a little scary for Lils and E and they didn't get some of it, but Dave and I were teary-eyed and laughing and loving every minute. We are raving about this movie- so in order to have a "real" review, keep in mind that Dave and I are "Disney-babies" who tend to get emotional when you mention Tinkerbell, Disney fireworks, parades, or dancing hippos.... Take. Your. Family.

Our town is Awesome

We have some friends who are considering moving to our neck of the woods, so I thought I would include Dave's "Objective" review below:

"Lenore told me that there may be an opportunity here for you guys, so I thought I would give an objective review of the city to help you make an informed decision.

To do so however, I knew that I needed some time to think. So I filled up my water bottle with pure Alaskan Himalayan Mountain water (Our city pays Alaska to pipe in water from the Himalayas, so the water can flow down two awesome mountain ranges for uber-purity and clarity, all at no cost to us of course.) I made my way out into the 72 degree fresh morning air, and inhaled deeply. The air instantly cleansed my lungs and oxygenated every cell in my body instantaneously. I have almost come to take the fresh Tahoe air for granted; nearly forgetting about the perfect jet stream above our town that pulls air from 1000 feet above lake Tahoe, speeds it up to nearly the speed of light as it makes a 12 minute trip to the sun and back (for ultimate purification), and then slows perfectly to a pillow-like breeze. The air chimes off of the aveoli of my lungs. As I exhaled, 20 of my bestest friends flocked to share their good tidings and great joys. We all live so close to each other, a product of perfect city planning. We walked the 7 feet to the nearest massage/sports/bakery/health/in-n-out burger, of which there are 10 of in our amazing city. Truly these places just make you feel extreme happiness, second only to the temple that is 5 minutes away.

Then I realized something was missing, that this joy could not be shared by Lenore and I alone. Surely this pseudo Heaven could not be enjoyed without the couple nearest and dearest to our hearts. Can you hear that? No, that is not the sound of angel wings in the soft evening breeze, or the sound of the cutest koala cub in the world...that, my friends, is our town calling. Will you answer?

Here are some pictures from the area, that I took with a $5 key chain camera during my walk:

Baby Rose is 1!

How was your Memorial Day? We spent the day playing with family at the traveling carnival that came in to town for the weekend! Carnies, cotton candy, and the "Tornado"! What more do you need?! It was a small little carnival with just the right amount of rides and no lines! There were people there, but it was basically just our family in the bumper cars, "Tornado" (*puke*), and the "Red Baron"... so when we were done or sick or tired we would say "STOP THE RIDE PLEASE!!!!!"




After the carnival, we came home and cousins all played in the pond and hot tub until it was burger time. Then we celebrated baby Rose's 1st birthday. I made her a cute little lady bug cake. Let me tell you, if I had to choose only one cake to be the last cake of my life- that would be it! The "perfectly chocolate" cake from the back of the Hershey's Cocoa box, the "perfectly chocolate" frosting in the middle and then homemade butter cream frosting on top! YUM!

Anyways, I was thinking about a year ago. What a time that was! Dave had just graduated from his MBA, we had Rose, and then a week later, went up to my parent's in VA while Dave and his Dad and bro drove across the country. Wow. I am very glad we are here, settled, and happy! But I do look back on our days in Carolina with love and great memories! I miss everyone there and the beautiful green of Carolina.... anyways.... I sure do love this sweet little baby Rose. She is just smiley and happy and crawly and fat! I love her so much! She is always kicking around, putting stuff in her mouth (mostly rocks), splashing in her little bay pool outside, grabbing on things and pulling up to a stand, dancing, and scrunching her hands. She loves to wave and smile at people. She is just a joy to us!

Sunday walk

We have the most beautiful trails where we live. About every Sunday we've been here, we've made a point of walking along the trails with the kids. It sure is beautiful!

Summertime

I took the kids out to the "water park" yesterday. They had so much fun! It feels good to be in the heat of the summer again. Rose loved the water spraying out of the ground and was so brave to crawl to it and stick her face in it over and over. I was surprised! Lils and Easton never wanted to leave (as you can see). I brought the kids home, dried them off and put on their dry clothes and all they wanted to do was lay on the couch and watch cartoons. They were exhausted! When Dave got home, he scooped up each of the kids and just smelled them! He said that warm, sunscreen, cholrine and babies is his favorite smell in the whole world! Takes you back to days on the lake, beach or playing on the "slip-n-slide" as a child. I am so happy I get to give my kids a happy, care-free childhood. I love summer!

The Finished Result!

Painting bigtime...

I am painting a 18 X 8 backdrop for my friend's ballet recital (that's in 2 weeks) The canvas is HUGE!!!!! It takes up her entire garage wall. It's actually fabric that she's fastening to PVC pipes for the recital. I told her I could do it for her, not realizing that it was going to be SO BIG! So we are trading for Lily to get free ballet lessons! Woo hoo! This has been fun, I never thought I could do something like this. This is with about 9 hrs of work, I have a long way to go, but here it is so far! There will be a castle in the upper left area too. I'lll be sure to post the final painting next week when I finish.

Red-heads?

Who knew that Dave and I would have red-headed children? We don't have any red-headed siblings or cousins or second cousins or grandparents... Where did this come from? I remember hearing somewhere that 5 generations from now, there will be no red-heads left because it is a recessive gene. It has re-surfaced with our kids, at least. The only red-headed person we know in our genealogy is on Dave's side- He is a descendant of King Henry II, King of England. He had red hair, a quick temper, and was very athletic. (I'm sure there have been a few since :) His youngest son (also Dave's great-great-something grandfather) was King John-the enemy of Robin Hood! (Wikipedia "King Henry II" or "John Lackland") So the attitude's and red hair are in there somewhere. I just thought it was an interesting story. Their hair isn't crazy red, though- just enough so's you'd notice it!