Dad's 60th

My dad had his 60th birthday over Labor Day weekend, so we used it as an excuse to celebrate a little more than usual and have a reunion. We headed up to Red Moose Lodge in Eden, Utah. It is only a short drive--maybe 45 minutes--from home, so we didn't feel like we were traveling too far for an overnighter. Everyone divided up the food for the trip and we set out on Sunday. The weather was looking threatening, but it cleared up and actually turned out really warm.After checking in, we went swimming right away. We had the whole thing to ourselves, it was pretty sweet. Max is such a crazy kid, he makes us laugh and is SUCH a little Loren.

Mom and Dad watched and held my kids while we swam. Nolan seems to really like the water so far. Reagan likes the water, but only from the steps. She doesn't venture out past that.

Grandpa with Alyssa and Ashlee in front of the lodge.

Kelly and Nolan watching everyone swim. I love this photo. It was such a chill time, just relaxing and playing with the family. Such a rare occasion, too, to have everyone together.

In the water, we were old school and played Marco Polo and also played some volleyball with a rope as a makeshift net. Loren and Matt tried to get all Focker on us and spike the ball as hard as they could. A more slightly embarassing moment was when had swim races. Loni, Lindsey and I raced and 8 months pregnant Lindsey beat both of us.

After the swim, we bbq'd and ate, had cake, the kids played, the adults relaxed. Kelly's dad Dennis and his wife Ann joined us for the day.

I made dad's cake, it read "Happy Birthday Dad, Grandpa, Al." I thought it turned out nice. We sang, he opened a few gifts, then we did the Roundy tradition of saying what we like about the birthday person. This took a while, but it was fun to hear what everyone said. When my turn came, I told of how my dad made his kids and family a priority over everything. He never missed my soccer or softball games growing up, he never missed a recital, he was there for literally everything. At one point in his life, he even closed down one of his dry cleaners because it kept him away from home too much. I appreciate that. Extra money will never replace the time you have with your children and I sure love that he knew that. This is one of the many things that drew me to Matt--I saw this characteristic in him.

Katey, who is an amazing photographer, took some darling pics of my kids. Thanks KT! One day I will own an SLR like yours and you can show me how it is done:)

This is what Matt did during the afternoon:

After dinner, we headed around to theback of the lodge where they have horseshoes, a volleyball court and firepits. There were crickets EVERYWHERE, yuck!! I even stepped on one, it got wedged between my feet and the sandal. I wanted to barf.Prego Lindsey. She is now a mommy.

Emma and Reagan chilling by the campfire.

We also did dutch oven cobblers, a peach one and a blueberry one. We had ice cream with it as well. It tasted like heaven, my only regret was not having more. Here is my dad, undoubtedly telling a story or something,Reagan and I.

The next morning, after a not-so-great nights sleep, thanks to everyone being awake from Nolan, we had breakfast at the lodge, then headed over to Huntsville to a park. This was one of the coolest and biggest and shadiest parks I have ever been to. There was a sand volleyball court there and lots of grass, places to sit. We spent all day here.

Autumn the gymnast.

Here are more KT pics of my kids.
Fried chicken for lunch. This pic is funny--what the heck is Landen doing--stealing my moms food? Nah, he is maybe giving her some chicken.

Lance, our own secret agent, swat team man.

After Huntsville, we were all tired, worn out and beat from the sun. We relaxed at my parents and roasted smores. Loni taught me how to roast a Starburst. Try it, its good.

Good memores--this is what life is made of. I always treasure these times with my family. Till next time--2 years I guess when my mom turns 60!!

TGIT

Thank Goodness It's Thursday!

I know that I have blogged before about how nothing breaks my day on Thursdays. The Office is on, nada can go wrong. I thought the season premiere last week was really good...except Stanley's affair???...For a split second I thought that I was watching Desperate Housewives or something, but I guess it only shows that Stanley can be a big jerk. Great cold open! I did love, too, how Michael made up all these "rumors" that actually were true. Andy was really hilarious, not knowing whether he was gay or not. That is just like him, I love direction the writers have taken his character. He is one of the ones that makes me crack up each and every week. They need someone like that now, because as much as I love me some JAM with my toast, Pam and Jim will quickly burn out and become a little stale. That is a lose-lose sitch for the writers: if JAM hadn't gotten together, the fans would riot. In fact, the guy last season at Pam's art school that she was becoming friends with was supposed to be a wedge between her and Jim. But after his first episode debut, the online fandom exploded and the writers quickly changed his "professing his love" speech to her into one of "stay in New York and pursue your dreams" (remember that?) So they had no choice but to write them as living happily ever after. But now we will become bored. So I guess what I am saying is that while we can oohh and aahh over how cute JAM is together and what a nice happy family they will be, we need some good Office angst and we will probably find that in the form of Andy, Angela, Dwight, Kelly, Ryan and maybe some of Erin, the new receptionist.

I totally have missed the first 2 Biggest Loser episodes, we will see if I watch it this season. I probably will, even though it takes a big committment--I mean, 2 hour episodes, COME ON!! But since NCIS is available with Comcast On Demand, I just watch that one on Wednesday mornings, freeing up a time slot for TBL. Speaking of NCIS, what a premiere that was?? Totally threw me through a loop, although I still have many unanswered questions. How did Ziva get on that ship? Did I miss that part? I didn't expect her to come home so soon, the writers are claiming she is a changed woman now. How so? Is she more rough around the edges? Or will she finally acknowledge that she totally has a thing for Tony. We will see. But I sure love Gibbs. When he sniped a bullet through that terrorist, I couldn't help but cheer.

To put me in a good mood even more, I am an aunt again!! My sister Lindsey had her first baby last night. Jane Louise Wright was born 6 lbs 4 oz (I think, correct me if I am wrong), 21 inches. Maybe she will be tall and skinny, mom and dad are. As much as I love living out here on the coast, there are times where I would give my right leg to be "home" with family. Yesterday was one of them. I phone stalked my mom and Lindsey all day to get her progression (she was induced) and I just plain wanted to know what was going on every minute. They were kind enough to oblige and I spoke with my mom just minutes after Jane arrived safe and sound. I could hear her little cry in the background and as I was on the phone, my mom would say, "okay, they are wiping her face off...they are suctioning out her mouth...she is laying on Lindsey's belly..." I wanted to cry and even more, I wanted to be a 6th year student at Hogwarts and apparate to the hospital in SLC. I am so glad that they are safe and sound and all is well. I am sure Lindsey will be posting pics and an account soon on her blog.

Love to you all...and Happy Thursday!

For the Love of September

Well, its finally here!! That month we love so much, September. What a great time of year this is, fall is such a breath of fresh air. It has been an eventful one so far, but lets back up for a minute and take a look at some of August's good moments in our family.



We hit up the Antioch Water Park, such a fun place this is! We had a good time with some other families there. Reagan was no surprise and didn't go near the slides, even the baby one she could go on. Maybe next year. This was especially a good day for me because Matt stayed home with Nolan and it was just me and Reagan. Ahhh, the freedom!! I couldn't believe how easy it was with just one and not a baby either.

An inpromptu dance party in our living room. Here is Reagan doing the robot.

Matt doing his thang.

and another thang.

Nolan and I just stared at them in disbelief.
Reagan got all sandy and dirty at Hogback Island.

She chased Daniel begging for his Sunchips. She's totally crushin.

Matt tried his hand at whatever this thing is...a slolam water ski or something? I don't know, but he got it, that guy!

He impressed us all with his water-skiing skills, even though it had been 10 years!

We took a trip to Contra Loma, another water favorite. Sadly and ironically, most water places are closed now and its supposed to be in the 100's this week!

One night we retreated out and hit up the Lafayette Reservoir. In the almost 5 years here, this was our first time! It was a beautiful place, very scenic and loved by many I could tell.

Photo op with the kids in front of the water and lighthouse.

The 3 mile trail around was much longer, windier and steeper than I ever imagined. I guess I shoulda worn better shoes. And Reagan rode her bike about 1/30th of the way.

Good thing we have that SUV of a stroller. Going up one of the last hills, we had both kids and the diaper bag and Reagan's bike piled up on top. Matt decides to run as fast as he can up the hill. He made it look so easy. I tried going up, but almost went backwards. All the other people around laughed at us and our plight. Good times.

Three little ducks went out to play...
I guess onto September. This is what we have been up to. Falling asleep in random places. I hopped on the treadmill one morning, just minutes after Nolan woke up. My running and the noise of the treadmill put him back to sleep in the most peculiar of positions. I just might be doing this tonight because he has had a hard time sleeping the last couple of days. I think it possibly might be an ear infection? I swear, most of the time they don't, but then sometimes they do. He doesn't feel good, I can tell. Anywho...

the little dude pulled himself to standing ALL on his own!! This is currently his favorite spot to pull himself up. He likes to play with the video game controllers. We also started him on the sippy cup, mostly he just chews on it for now!! But I really don't want to break a bottle habit, so hopefully he gets it before he turns 1!Whats up with this scaly friend?? He was hanging out on our deck, right in the chair Matt was about to sit in. Yikes!! I have been very anal since then about keeping our sliding glass door closed. I do not want to share my bed with him.

Well, that is about it. I need to post some pics of our trip to Utah, it was a really fun time!! Family, be on the lookout!

Monterey/Big Sur: one last family hurrah!!

We had been contemplating a family vacay south of here to Monterey for quite some time, anxious to see the famous aquarium, but held off for a while. But when we got the call with Matt's job offer, we decided to take the plunge and a few days later, we were off to Monterey. It was fun to splurge a little after cutting back for a few months. We made a deliberate stop in Gilroy to shop in the outlets, thanks for the tip, Laura! They were by far the best outlets I have ever been. And I have been to many :) They had a Billabong store, SO COOL! We had lunch at In-N-Out next door, another nice bonus to the outlets. By the way, if anyone needs directions from East Bay to Gilroy, don't get them from mapquest. They gave us the farm tour of Gilroy, taking us through cow farms and everything. We got a good laugh out of that. It was an extra 15 minutes or so, but on the positive side, we did see scenic chicken coups and horse pastures.

We arrived at our hotel in downtown Monterey, Portola Hotel and Spa. It was beautiful and overlooked the Marina. We threw out luggage down and headed out on the coastal jogging path that lead to the aqarium. What a beautiful day it was and it felt nice to stroll down by the water.

We have hummmed and haawwed since we moved here 5 years ago whether to pay the 30 dollars it cost to get into the aquarium. I am not exactly a fish lover and Matt is an accountant, so would we get the bang for our buck? Turns out we did. We bought 2-day passes, so that we could go Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. It was worth it, the fish and tanks were amazing. I have never seen so many species so up close.

Even Nolan was amazed!

This seahorse wins the award for "Sharpest Beak." I decided I want to be a seahorse in the next life, the dudes are the ones who get pregnant and birth babies!

"Strangest Thing" award. Seriously, after staring for 5 minutes, I still did not figure out WHAT this is! Something that has to do with garbage.

"Prettiest"

The next two are a tie for "FREAKIEST!!!" I hate snakes and fish scare me, so hands down, this eel below (whose face slightly resembles Chucky the killer doll) and the sand snakes win this prize. I seriously got the chills looking in their tanks. Good thing Nolan was in riding in the baby bjorn to protect me.

"Celebrity look-alike."

"Smelliest." Seriously, the penguin exhibit REEKED! You could smell it before you got there. This was also Reagan's favorite exhibit. Ever since we brought out the Curious George book where he saves the penguin, she has been fond of them.

"UGLIEST." This crab got beat with the ugly stick, that is all I'm gonna say.

"Most Memorable." Throughout the entire 2 days there, all anyone could say to us was, "Have you seen our Great White Shark?" We were like yeah, we did, who gives? I mean, EVERYONE who worked there was going bananas over this thing. We would be in the sea otters or something and we would ask about the diet of the female sea otter and the worker would say, "We give her fish...but have you seen our great white shark over in outer bay???"

Well, we finally found out that this little gal was brought in the day before we got there. So she was like a newbie newbie. Everyone was worried about her well-being. She was being monitored very closely to make sure she adjusted well (she was) and it was just plain a big deal.

So I guess it was really cool to see this great white. She was actually much smaller than some of the other sharks, but hey, I saw JAWS, I am no fool.

Reagan was tickled to get a little wave from the scuba guy cleaning out the tank. Another fun one: this tunnel flushed water over you every 30 seconds or so, it felt like a wave crashing over your head.

Closing time at the aquarium meant finding some food. We are limited in our fish tastes, we mainly keep it to clam chowder and Rubios fish tacos, with an ocasional tuna fish sandwich thrown in there. But I mean, we were in Monterey, I can get a hamburger in Concord, you know? We settled on Bubba Gumps Shrimp Co and you know, for a chain restaurant, it was pretty dang good!!

Matt and I loved our soup (clam chowder) and salad, but Reagan's boat won us over.

We perused Cannery Row a bit, stopping in Candy Land for some over-priced sugar. It was such a fun, lax atmosphere. The weather was beautiful, people were just strolling along, stopping to chat and gaze at the water. We sat on a bench for a while as I nursed Nolan and watched people. There was a guy playing music and singing covers of all sorts of songs. He was really good. I will always remember him singing "Tuesday Afternoon" by the Moody Blues. That song forever ties me to that evening in Monterey.

The view of the marina from the back of our hotel, on the bike path. That is fishermans wharf in the background.

The next day, after the aquarium and lunch, we headed down south for a vehicular excursion. We took the 1 down through Big Sur, stopping at scenic places and enjoying the view. We had a few destinations.

Below is beautiful coastline just past Carmel.

Just us in the pic above because our sweet chillen were doing this:

Destination #1 was Historic Bixby Bridge. Very very cool.

Destination #2 was McWay Falls, just opposite of Julia Pfeiffer State Beach. We parked on the side of the road and took the 7 minute hike down to the overlook. The waterfall drops right onto the beach. Pictures don't do it justice, it was breathtaking.

Oh, my Reggies was so tired and thirsty at this point. But she was a real trooper.

After destination #2, we hopped in the car and headed home. We were all exhausted (the kids didn't sleep real well the night before) and it was a long, traffic-y drive home. We all collapsed and slept rather well that night.

I will always remember this family vacation. It was a special time, the first real vacation we have taken as a family of 4. I felt like, in a funny way, all four of us bonded. The kids have had a special love for each other since then and it was nice to enjoy some time together before Matt heads back to work.