Happy Birthday to me

What a fun birthday weekend I had! On Friday I received some very beautiful flowers from Popsi. Lillys are my favorite! On Saturday Bowen arranged for a babysitter then he took me out to dinner and dancing. We went downtown to Voyeur. One of our really good friends, Kari, is the executive chef there and she took real good care of us. The food was amazing! What a fun night!

Us at Voyeur. Not a super good pic, but this was the only one I got before my camera died.

Kari sent out Happy Birthday icecream cones.

Sunday came bright and early. There were a couple birthdays that week in Young Womens so there were lots of treats. Mmmmmm! After church Heidi and Gordon had us over for dinner. Well, she had decorated for a birthday party and it was so cute. What a sweetheart! Gordon cooked up some awesome steaks and we topped off the evening with fruit pizza.

Monday we had a girls night. A bunch of us girls from the ward all met at Basil Thai (YUMMMM!) for dinner. Well, it got out that my birthday was the day before, so everyone pitched in and payed for my dinner. Awww...I have the best friends! We topped off the night with some Yogi Topi and lots of laughs.

I thought about all the celebration and it all involved food. I guess everyone knows me pretty well :) What an awesome birthday!

This is why our kids are going to private Christian schools. Prepare your gag reflexes........ click on this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPMnbyX5C4w

Here is Masons new pet stick bug. It's name is Two because everything is two right now.

Randomness...

#1

About month or two ago Mason and I went to Utah to visit family. Sadly, we left Bowen here. He'd asked me what he was going to do with himself while we were gone. So I left a big long list of "honey-do's" so that he wouldn't get bored. One included staining the fence. Well, he sure did. The first go around he stained it the same color it was, but he didn't like it. So he went and bought redwood stain and painted most of the fence that color. I talked to him after he'd done that and he said he didn't really like it but oh well. (This was on a Saturday night. I had told him just to leave it and we'll deal with it when I get back) The next morning I called him before church. I asked him how his day was going and he said, "Not to good." I asked why and he replied, "I hate the fence! It's bright red" Ohhhhh dear. I didn't know why he'd bought redwood stain, I guess he thought it was going to be a dark red wood. Anyway, he ended up painting that dumb fence one more time. This time white. Now when you walk out there in the middle of the day...lets just say you need to wear some sunglasses! It looks good, but it's just soooo bright! Anyway, here are some pictures of the great adventure.

All finished with coat #1I wouldn't let Mason come in until Bowen had washed him off. Mase wasn't to thrilled about that.

#2

Mason absolutely loves being outside. He would stay out all day if he could. He gets really cuddly right around his nap time. This is where I found him after I'd been calling for him. He was all ready for his nap...outside.

#3

Mason loooooves his daddy! He constantly mimics everything Bowen does. I usually start singing, "I’ve been watching you, dad ain’t that cool?I’m your buckaroo, I want to be like you.And eat all my food and grow as tall as you are.We like fixin’ things and holding momma’s hand Yeah, we’re just alike, hey, ain’t we dad?I want to do everything you do; so I’ve been watching you" That puts a smile on both of their faces. #4 Last Thursday Heidi, Jackie, and I threw a baby shower for our friend Holly. It was jungle themed and it turned out super cute!There was great food, great decorations, great games, and great company! I was surprised we all fit so well in our little house. It was so much fun to visit with all the girls! I think everyone had a splendid time! :)

Holly is in the middle left. What a cute mommy she is!!! The food

#5

Call 911!!!!!!

This past Sunday was just like any other. We went to church, came home, ate some lunch, had a nap, woke up to see our neighbors house on fire.....WAIT....WHAT?.... Oh dear! Call 911! Ya, our neighbors, two doors down, house caught fire. There was billowing black smoke pouring out of the top window when we first saw it. Luckily no one was home, but it was still pretty scary. Thank you San Diego Fire Department for your timely response!

This is after the firefighters had put most of it out, but you can kind of see smoke behind this blue house near the top of the one behind it. It's all put out here, but you can see the charcoaled window in the front.

Mason was fascinated with the fire trucks.

This video is probably one of my favorites. I love my baby soooo much and this just amps up his cuteness! We'd been doing this for a while, so towards the end I think his stomach was starting to hurt from laughing so much.

This video is from when we were on our way to watch C.J.'s football game. Mason has inherited some sweet moves from his parents.

Back to Utah for Shaun's farwell

The weekend of the 12th we headed back to Utah for a very special occasion. My little brother, Shaun, was going on a mission. He is headed to the Mcallen Texas Mission. The talk he gave in church was amazing and even brought me to tears. I'm so proud of my little brother and the decision he's made. What a blessing it will be in his life and the lives of so many others. I've made it a goal to write him at least once a week. Thanks to DearElder.com it makes it super easy to do so (as if it wasn't before...thanks technology). Anyway, tons of family and friends came and it was so good to see everyone! It's always nice to get together with the ones you love and just talk. Shaun reported to the Provo MTC on September 16. Mom said she was bawling and that Dad even shed a tear or two. I think it was then that it really set in he was going to be gone for two whole years! Whoa! Good luck Hobey Chop!!!

Me and my handsome little missionary brother

Ummm.....right

My handsome Bowen

I love my Grandpa Dwayne so much. He is one awesome guy!

Mom, Andi, and Grandma Margaret

Our visit was very relaxing...so needed! We got in super late Thursday night. Everyone was gone for school and work by the time we woke up the next day. My dad came home a little early from work and took Bowen golfing. Thanks dad! You're a gem! That afternoon we headed to South Summit for C.J's football game. I absolutely love going to highschool football games. Not really to watch football, but I guess because of the spirit of it!

It's awesome. C.J. even got a couple of good blocks in. #59 Even though Delta lost it was fun to go. Next time boys!!!

On our way home we stopped at Burger Keen...a fun little burger restaurant in Heber. The food was good, but the best part was all the toy trains they had in there. Mason looooved watching them go around the top of the wall. Each time it would come by he would point and say, "tchain". What a smart little stinker!

Saturday was spent getting ready for the farewell on Sunday. Bowen was able to get a lot of studying in. *Side note* He took a practice test this last Saturday and did pretty good. The test is this Saturday the 26th, cross your fingers and say a little prayer please!!!* That afternoon Bowen, Mason and I went to the City park and played in the creek.

It was so hot so it was nice to put our feet in and cool off a bit.

After, we had to get a shake from Leos. We drove around Delta and I pointed out where all my friends grew up, and the fun memories that were made there. That evening my mom and I went to see Julie & Julia at the movie theater. It was hilarious!!! We laughed the entire time. It's something that I would definitely watch again! What a fun little girls night. Sunday went as I mentioned above. I was still up reading the Sunday Funnies in the paper after almost everyone else had gone to bed that night. Shaun had just gotten home and Jayden (Uncle Lee's grandson) had come upstairs to see what was going on. We just sat around the kitchen table for hours and laughed. Around 2am I decided it was time to go to bed. Early the next morning we packed the car and headed back to the airport. We had a layover in Vegas so Grandma Myrna flew with us to go home. Mason did pretty good. He slept the first half and watched a movie the second. He can hardly watch a movie for 10 minutes at home, but this had his attention the whole hour. Finally we made it. I love living in San Diego!

Everything to me

I love my Bowen!

There's no place like home

We decided last minute to go to the beach this evening. I figure we better take advantage of the warm weather and water while it lasts. I absolutely love living in San Diego. Today, Bowen was telling me a story about when he was out at sea he dreamed of living in a place like this. He'd asked someone that lived here at the time what it was like. The person said, "It's like living in a movie." I agree! I couldn't ask for anything better.

The lighting was soooo perfect I had to take some pictures. Here's just a few of the many.

Labor Day weekend 09'

What a fun weekend! Our day started with calling a tow truck to come and take the Jimmy to the shop. I had replaced the starter, but it still wouldn't start. Sooo we're now waiting for a diagnosis. After that, we put the boards on the car and got it all loaded for the beach, aaaand... it wouldn't start. After some serious prayers and a little luck it did start and we were off. We met up with our good friends, The Galbasinies and the Riches. We had fun surfing and soaking up the sun. The kids had fun playing in the water and eating the sand. I wish I would've taken more pictures but I kind of forgot to. Oh well.

If I get Mase a bucket of water and spread his sand toys out, it'll keep him occupied for quite a while. He's such a busybody!

By midday the babies were exhausted!

I love my precious little boy... ...and my precious big boy!

Tourmaline sunset

That evening we got into the car to head to the Riches for dinner. Aaaand the car wouldn't start. Oh, but that wasn't going to get us down. Dave came and rescued us with a jump and we were off! Kari made an amazing dinner and super yummy frozen yogurt. Thanks KK! As you can imagine, the football game was on. Can I get a BYU!?! That game was amazing. When Dave and Bowen would yell at the TV, Mason would run in the room and just scream back. He didn't know why everyone was yelling but wanted to get involved! After a victorious win this is what Bowen said, "You know the church is true when they [the players] play a game like that." Ha ha! He's so funny! After a fun filled evening we headed home with no car trouble at all.

Then came Sunday.

In our car once more, all ready for church, aaand it wont start. Luckily our sweet neighbor was just pulling up and he gave us a jump.

Fast forward three hours...aaaand our car won't start. Another jump to get us going. On our way this was our conversation. Me, "Honey, can we pleeease just go to Autozone and get a new battery?" Bowen, "Ya, let's go right now!"

I really don't like shopping on Sunday, but this was a must! Too much money later we were all set with a new battery and a smooth starting car.

That evening we had a new couple in our ward, Pete and Maren Leavitt, come over for dinner. They were so sweet and nice. It was good to get to know them a little better. Hopefully they stay in our ward for a while. After they headed home Bowen, Mason, and I topped off the evening with a Redbox movie rental. yesssssss!

This morning we woke up and cleaned the house. One of the many things I love about Bowen is that he's a very clean, organized, everything has it's place kind of guy. Thanks babe! He needed to study for the LSAT so Mason and and I went shopping...well browsing. After a couple hours I picked up Bowen and we headed to a BBQ hosted by some other friends from the ward. We were able to visit for a while, but needed to get back a do a bit of yard work. Well, that didn't happen. We detoured over to SDU and drove around the campus and ended up at the Law building. We walked around, let Mase chase the pigeons, and picked up some information about applying, requirements, loans, all that really important stuff that you don't really want to do but you have to. It's a beautiful campus and I really, really hope Bowen is able to get in there for Law School. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

We topped off the night with a trip back to the beach for a bit of surfing followed by dinner at Hooters. Military Monday with a 20% discount. Mmmm....wings.

I love Labor Day weekend!

Free Tuesday

I recently learned that on Tuesdays you can get into one of the museums at Balboa Park for free. Yesterday it was the Natural History Museum. I'd been wanting to go for quite a while now because they had the Body Worlds exhibit. Usually it's around $20 to get in the Museum and another $25 or so to see Body Worlds. Well, I was a bargain hunter and found some tickets on Craigslist for only 10 bucks! Free entrance and $10 for a ticket...awesome! Heidi came with us and helped with Mason tremendously! We went right during nap time, so he wasn't to happy. But, he had fun running around and touching everything. There was one part of the museum that had snakes and he looooved watching and making ssssssss noises at them. What a fun morning! We're going to try and do the other free Tuesday museums for the rest of the month so anyone is invited to come along!

Inside the "cave"

He was fascinated by this dinosaur. He kept touching it and pointing at its nose.

For the past couple of days there has been this spider in my backyard. He builds a web at night and then when morning comes he undoes it and crawls away and hides. Every time I see it it's twice as big as the night before. I hate spiders, but this is pretty cool. I'm curious to see how big it actually gets.

It's eating a fly