Much Needed Girls Weekend

Two weekends ago my friend, Marie, and I decided to take a girls weekend. Ian had gone on a camping and mountain biking excursion to Zion's with his buddies the weekend before, so I felt it was my turn to let loose!

I have to just share a few pictures of our fun weekend. The first night we stayed in a beautiful hotel right, and I mean literally RIGHT on the water in Laguna Beach! We had an awesome dinner and were pampered with massages the next day. After strolling around Laguna for a while, we boarded the ferry for Catalina and off we went.

The ferry ride to Catalina was PURE HELL! I've never been on a bumpier ride, I mean you couldn't even walk without being jostled around. Needless to say, I blew chunks (pleasant) in the bathroom and tried as best as I could to endure the rest of the 1 hour and 15 minute ride!















Once there, we shopped, ate and toured the town. Very quaint - practically everyone there drives golf carts instead of cars. We went up high on the island and saw some amazing views of the Pacific Ocean. And, Murphy's law - I stocked up on Dramamine and wore my sea sick wrist bands for the ride home and it ended up being as smooth as glass. I even took a nap. Oh well, we had a great time!

Kumpins and such

October, as it should be, has been the month of pumpkins (or as Connor says, "kumpins"). We've visited two different pumpkin patches, one of which was on a day that the temperature soared to a hellacious 97 degrees (very unnatural weather for pumpkin picking, I must say)! Connor also helped carve his first jack-o-lantern, which he was very excited about.

We love to visit the management office of our apartment complex, which is decorated to the nines, and a condo just around the corner from us. Connor excitedly points out the "kumpins", skeletons and spiders - he's really into Halloween!



Last week, I took him to pick out his costume. We (mostly I) chose Winnie the Pooh. He absolutely refuses to wear the cute lion costume that Uncle Phil and Aunt Camille bought him. Don't know why. He loved it for about a week, but now just treats it as a stuffed animal, giving it kisses and such. Anyway, he LOVES his Pooh costume! Even lets me put the hood on him! And I must say he makes the cutest Pooh bear. He wore it to his first Halloween party last night and it was a hit. Of course, it's so hot here that we had to unzip the back to give the poor little dude some ventilation, but he loved every minute of it!

I've been tagged!

My friend, Rozemary, tagged me a few weeks ago and I'm just now getting around to it so here goes:

3 Joys: My family, Christmas morning, eating really good dark chocolate.

3 Fears: Someone I love getting sick or dying (morbid, I know), the dark (how old am I?), ET (that movie scared the daylights out of me)!

3 Obsessions/Collections: I used to collect bells. Don't really collect anything anymore, but I'm obsessed with taking pictures of my little guy and learning all I can about being the best mama I can be.

3 Goals: Have another baby soon, run a 10K (pathetic compared to my husband's 50K - he needs to be slapped), become better at Pilates (just started up again last week).

3 Facts about me: I'm extremely accepting of people from all walks of life, I'm shy in big groups, I love my family more than anything in the world!

Fun Labor Day Weekend

We enjoyed a fun Labor Day weekend with my brother, Clark, and his friend, Sarinah, who were visiting from SLC. Connor just adores his "Unc" and can't wait to see his other "Unc", Phil, and Aunt Milla when we go home in a few weeks!

On Sunday, we all piled in the car and headed to La Jolla cove. I packed swim trunks and a towel for Connor, but when we got there I decided to leave them in the car. Connor absolutely HATES the swimming pool in our complex - literally screamed the last time I tried to take him swimming. So, I figured there's no way he'll go near the ocean, right? Boy, was I wrong - he LOVED it! Before we knew it, his shorts were soaking wet and his regular diaper (swim diaper was in the car) had expanded to twice its original size!

We had a great weekend - it was Ian's first full weekend off in three months and we had lots of fun with "Unc"! Can't wait to see the rest of the family in a few weeks!

Connor's Quirks

So, being a first-time mom, I've realized that kids have the funniest quirks. For instance, Connor likes to parade around the house (clumsily, I might add) with mom's dress shoe on one foot and dad's running shoe on the other. Sometimes he tries to put our shoes on while he's wearing his own, which usually results in severe frustration and him chucking the shoe across the room. The kid likes to throw!

Or, he went through a phase of wanting to put things around his neck - we have to really watch him like a hawk! For instance, his blankie, the dishtowel hanging from the kitchen sink, the strap to my heart-rate monitor (for running) and headphones. I love the picture I snapped of him with the headphones - my little DJ!

Just this past week, he's started pulling at the back of his diaper if I don't put his shorts on right away, revealing his cute little butt crack. He hasn't started the dreaded taking-off-the-diaper routine yet, but I'm sure that's just one more little quirk I have to look forward to!

Still, I love my little man, silly quirks and all!

We're orbiting the blogosphere!

After much resistance, I've decided to enter the world of blogging! I've long feared that if I started a blog it would consume me and I'd let the dishes, laundry and my much-needed vegging out in front of the TV fall by the wayside. Since I'm not particularly enamored with my domestic duties (who is?) and, as of late, I haven't had much interest in TV, I'll devote some of my me-time to updating my loved ones of what's happening in our lives.

I'll try not to be too sickeningly over-the-top with news about my little guy, although I can't promise anything - he IS the center of our lives and about the cutest dang thing I've ever laid eyes on (I'm not biased at all, am I?)!

More to come later. Just wanted to get the blog ball rolling for now!