The. Wait.

Waiting. for. Breaking Dawn. Who knew I'd love reading about vampire hotties? While the suspense builds, check out the quote of the day at Stephanie Meyer's site!

Conservation Gardens

We love to wander the Conservation Gardens.

Time for Some Campaignin'

Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today!

It is My Wonderful Life

Despite the PeaPod learning to reach down into her ripe, full diaper and promptly "decorating" her surroundings (me included), I realized while she was napping (LOL) that life is bumpy, twisty and crazy but those little moments each day (like how she kept coming up to me today with a book in hand thrusting it in my hands saying, "boo" and turning around to sit in my lap) make the Mommy ride worth it.
digiscrap supplies from: Natural Beauty by Kristin Cronin-Barrow, Bloom & Grow MEGA Kit by Zoe Pearn

Little Sits in Little

Tribute to the Brown Eyed Girl

Haystacks Baby!

We resurrected an old family fav of the ILs:

Haystacks!

On a bed of wild rice,
sprinkle to taste layers of the following:

shredded grilled chicken
pineapple chunks
minced celery
crunchy asian noodles
cream of chicken soup

Hooray for the Red Panda!

I'm so excited to hear from National Geographic News that my favorite animal (and a very endangered one), the red panda, is having breeding success!
pics from: The Red Panda Network , Chicks who Click and wikimedia

A Ode to Etsy

I preface this by saying the obvious: I am not a poet.

Dearest Esty,
How I love to browse thy shops:
The colors, the inspiration,
the graphic tee tops.
A print from Nut and Bee,
or by John W. Golden.
These earrings, this hat,
I could go broke on this or that!
So I will keeping looking, wishing and shop flitting
and thinking of taking up knitting...

Cousins make a Splash

My Peapod loves having her cousins to look up to (literally and figuratively)! We had a blast - or a splash if you will - on Saturday night while babysitting them. It didn't feel like sitting at all since we had so much fun running through the sprinklers and playing on the swingset. Afterward, we corralled them inside and had all three of them rinse off and warm up (let's be honest, those girls don't have any insulation at all!) in a huge bubblebath!

Anniemal's at the Zoo

Story Time

Heat Sink

Wordy

I must thank Frolic for introducing me to many a beautiful thing and most recently to Wordle. Although I am not an eloquent speaker, I love words. I am happy to dedicate a few hours of my life (which were previously and mistakenly labeled under "Time to Sleep"} to watching words organize themselves into a beautiful array.

Hanging Out

Tucker is very perceptive about when we are preparing to leave the house. He just assumes that he is going too. He sits by the door leading to the garage, looking up at it and says, "Well Mom, where are we going this time?" And if he is not invited out the excursion, then he literally pouts at home (which is more often than not in the summertime due to the heat). If we do allow him to come, we open the door and he then proceeds jauntily to the car door. Then we open the car door and he makes a mad leap into the car (his legs are really, really short). Tucker finds the driver's seat the best place for someone with his...hmmm, how do I put it...leadership abilities. He loves sticking his head out the window and just "hanging out" in the neighborhood. He really is a quite a good driver as long as he doesn't spot a cat.

Mom is Serious

This look says, "Mom is serious about the word No."

Family Reunion

Summer means it is family reunion time! Camp fires, extended family and fun with my paternal grandmother's family! See the slide show on the right side of the blog.

Together Forever

My sister's recently officially adopted kids were sealed (Which means they can now be together forever beyond the bounds of death. Learn more about it here.) in the LDS Salt Lake Temple! There are no words for how momentous this culminating event was and yet at the same time so simple and beautiful. They are such a gorgeous family!

A Week

This week's synopsis:
Sunday: celebrated Father's Day...was that just a week ago???
Monday: called pedatrician since the Pea's habits and moods were drastically changed (sleeping 4 more nap hours and very grumpy or tired most of the time) Told to wait and see if it is a growth spurt.
FHE with friends: Milo and Co. (see his adorable cuteness above) Grillin' and swinging with their super cute fam.
Tuesday: Went to work only to run home after phone call from Nana and baby screaming background...what was wrong? What could she have swallowed? She started throwing up...please not a AAA battery and other misc items...oh, yeah some lime green marble sized plastic balls of unknown origin. She's going to be "one of those who give you a run for your money" according to the doc.
Wednesday: green plastic balls recovered from the diaper - whew! Back to normal habits.
Visit with sis who flew in from D.C. for funeral of her awesome 92 yr. old grandmother-in-law (see obit. here)
Thursday: Went to work (no panicked phone calls from Nana)
Friday: Enjoyed last day borrowing family's Tahoe with its DVD player in the back playing Finding Nemo the only movie that the Pea will watch for more than 10 minutes and only then if tied into car seat. Bought awesome $2 beach mat with sis at IKEA - turned it into two table runners with a seam ripper (that's $1 per table runner!)
Saturday: Family Camp Out Reunion