heres to wishing...

that this rocker wasnt $845.00...

and that this one wasnt $760.00...

guess i will have to keep looking...

pictures via emeco and/or allmodern

ps... i love the below too...


via furnishingcn

queen califias magical circle garden...

i love this place and wish it was my backyard...

i dont know... im guessing he was hiding...

his first attempt at a jumping picture... he thought it was SO funny and didnt stop laughing for awhile...

again... dont know...

but loved this place...

february 22nd 2011

hamburgers and picnics...

today i had my 20 week ultrasound and we found out it is a hamburger...

those are the words of my doctor... i would never called 'it' a hamburger...

[smile]

so we are so beyond excited to be having a girl...

most that know me know that i said i wanted all boys and i didnt want to ever have to deal with the drama of a girl... brent WANTED a little girl!

plus... i already have everything boy... 

but when my doctor told me at 14 weeks that if she had to guess (from ultrasound pictures) she said, and i quote, "i would guess a hamburger... no hotdogs here"...

after that i tried really hard to not think about what she had said... even though at that appointment brent was the one to ask, "so... are the legs open enough to tell"???

slowly but surely i have been thinking more and more about how fun it would be to have a girl... let me tell you... crew-cuts for girls alone would make anyone want a girl...

but in all sincerity... this is how i feel today and i want to remember for always...

i feel so honored to be trusted with a little heavenly angel girl... i am beyond words of how excited i am and how lucky i feel to be able to be a mother to another wonderful child... i cannot wait to meet her...  i know that i love her sincerely so much already... it is crazy the strong bond i felt while lying on the ultrasound table and hearing the technician tell us that it is a girl... at first i was just in shock of finally knowing... then i knew that she will be such a dear and wonderful addition to our family... i tried hard to not let one tear out... but it didnt work and i have had a hard time the rest of the day keeping my eyes completely dry when i think of this moment -- its like i already know her... that we are going to share such a great bond and love... it is a true blessing... my Father in Heaven loves me so much...   in these moments we thought of a name and are now in love with the name :: eliot mae martindale

also loved:

 when we asked jones if he would like to have a baby sister... he immediately said... 

'yeah!!! and i can share my tools and tool box with her... and my trains.. and helicopter and airplane... yeah!!!!'

and brent said... 

'are you ready for this drama??'

[BIG smile]

after the longest ultrasound of my life was over... knowing that it was a girl and she was healthy and strong and perfect... still due july 9th... we went to the lake and had ourselves a celebratory picnic...

and then fed the ducks...

or at least tried... they wouldnt come very close...

february 23rd 2011

our stay-cation...

we didnt plan a va-cation for presidents day weekend... so we had ourselves a great stay-cation...

dont make fun... after you read about all our fun you are gonna wish you came with us...

 

we saw gnomeo and juliet... which was super cute... i love shakespeare and i loved that they made it fun for kids... 

but... 

spoiler alert...

at the end when one is led to believe that gnomeo and juliet are dead, like in real shakespeare, jones was practically in tears... asking every second where they were and if they were ok... his face was SO sad... luckily they survive and then he was ok... i have never seen him that worried...  he is so tender hearted...

 

we stayed the night in a hotel in la jolla...

and jones thought he was the king...

he had his own bed... and owned it...

we went swimming... twice...

he took three baths...

he ran around naked, drew pictures on the hotel paper, watched tv, ate oreos and strawberries for breakfast...

 then we all went to la jolla cove...

i love it there... so beautiful...

in the distance... childrens beach...

however the beach is no longer used by children... but seals... those arent rocks...

loved this quote in the wall...

and loved that we got to try smashburger... i love boneless buffalo wings... they had a chicken sandwich that was exactly that... chicken, sauce, blue cheese and some other yumm stuff on a bun... not a fan of brents lime malt... but did like the rosemary smashburger fries...

then played frisbee...

then base (little) ball...

then base (BIG) ball...

 one of my favorite moments... when some little spanish speaking girls came up to him and said... podemos jugar???  he was so sweet and shared so well... but the best part... as they played frisbee together... he would call them by the color of their shirts... thus...

"hey, blue one... get it... over there"

or

"the purple one is fast!!"

or

"careful not to hit the birds..."

random... he was so worried about hitting the birds...

then some trick frisbee...

and a perfect end to a perfect day... some sprinkles cupcakes...

i finally got to go to the la jolla store and see the end of the line... we still waited for the twenty people in front of us... but at least the line wasnt out the door, around the corner and longer than the eye could see...

new favorite... coconut... YUM!!!

february 19th, 20th, 21st 2011

on valentines day...

on valentines day we went to 1000 steps beach... so i took 1000 step pictures...

just kidding... but i did take a few...

and there arent really 1000 steps... i wonder who named it that...

but even though there arent 1000... it feels like that many when you have to go back up...  good thing the place is awesome and since it is hard to find we practically had the beach to ourselves and loved every second...

about half way down we found a "crocodile"...

i love the day of love...

and who would have thought that gummy popcorn would actually be good...

feb 14th 2011

february... happy valentines...

i love february...

i love that i dont have to have an excuse to love february... it is the month of love... and i am spending the full month with fun little ideas...

first i just had to have myself some chocolate cake... and who can make a whole cake and not invite some peps over... 

dear hollobaughs : thanks for helping me have my chocolate cake and eat it too!!!

[ps... brent & justin this FOOD picture is for you!!!]

happy february day...

feb 1st

... i found a valentine mailbox from targets dollar spot and decided that instead of having one valentine present for jones on one valentine day... i would hide it each day and have a special surprise waiting in it for the whole week up until and on valentines day...

our first day of this fun...

mater teeth... 

it is a sucker that while in your mouth you have mater teeth...

since he is obsessed with car toons mater i knew he would LOVE it...

smile

"dad gum"

"dokey dokey"

and then of course he had to ask for candles on his cupcake i made...

[he is getting really excited for his birthday...]

so we sang "happy valentines week to you" and he blew out his candle...

feb 7th

the other days... 

one valentine card made by mom

one bag of caramel suckers to share with friends

one sachet of chocolate coins

one tub of moon sand

one box of gummy popcorn

one valentine love note

one miniature bottle of martinellis
&
one package of trader joes valentine gummies

and of course to the love of my life...

happy valentines day brent!!!

love you!!!

xoxoxo

...happy valentines...

happy love month!!!

i wanna try this...

thanks to lovely christina i want to try this...

who doesnt love microwave popcorn... yum... and here is a recipe for do-it-yourself at home micro popcorn with instructions from christina herself...

"1/3 cup popcorn kernals

a little bit of olive oil

salt

Add all of the ingredients to the bag. Fold over the paper bag twice. Place upright in microwave. Every microwave is different but my popcorn is done in 2 minutes 22 seconds..or something like that."

and these...

owl stuffies from hammer & thread...

i love owls... and these are so cute... maybe i will make them someday... go here to see how...

and this...

tea party toadstool from tao of craft...

go here to see how to make this perfectly cute toadstool...

january 2011...

we tried swamis... a few times... and love it!!!

jan 10th

i love these kids together... 

they have so much fun...

they are more like brothers and sister than cousins...

cheese...

jan 20th

accompanying owen and drew to their first day at disneyland was so fun!!!

jones actually ran to hug winnie the pooh... luckily shauna had her camera ready... it was something i definitely was not expecting... he usually runs from the characters...

then he bounced with tigger...

we all enjoyed a treat of our choice...

climbed the honey pots...

and ended the day with a dance-off in california adventures elecTRONica party...

the kids went crazy and danced forever...

i loved that they had to dance on top of this taxi cab...

and as always... cant wait to go again...

jan 21st

we have been wanting to take jones on the coaster or in his words "the train" for a long time...

we finally had a perfect chance to do it...

the mormon battalion in san diego planned a whole day of festivities to any who wanted to join in the fun...

nicer than i thought it would be...

it was so funny... because jones all of the sudden was like, "hey mom, the conductor"... i was a little confused and thought about it for a second... over the loud speaker they had announced "tickets, tickets please!"... just like on dinosaur train... so when the conductor came down the isle to count our tickets i knew what he was talking about...  i cant believe how much he pays attention sometimes...

chillin and eating bunnies snacks...

playing ipods...

then we got there and started the second part of our fun day...

first... my favorite... woofums... 

the woofum stick... it is a dowel connected to a long stick or metal rod...

next you spread biscuit dough around the wooden dowel and roast just like roasting marshmallows... then you can add jelly, jam, fruit and many many more delicious ideas...

next... you "woof - um"...

if that didnt make sense... go here...

here is a cooked woofum...

and this is how you "woof - um"...

drew was a great model and did this amazing pose!!!

then we helped with the laundry...

we panned for gold...

we made some bricks...

then some rope...

yeah rope...

and finally... played with some pioneer toys...

when we got home i made some "mud", "dirt" and "worms" for us to eat...

jones was really not wanting to touch it at first thinking that i really had put mud and dirt in a dish with gummy worms on top...

after eating some myself he finally trusted me and then loved it...

jan 29th