The Roundy's Come to Visit

A couple of weeks ago, my brother and his family came to the Bay Area to visit. Caitlin's sister lives a few minutes south of us, so they were able to see lots of family. It was great to have room in the inn :) It was always hard when we lived in the apartment and having family feel so crowded and uncomfortable.

Reagan and Emma had such a good time together. They played dolls and princess for about 4 days straight. My brother even commented to me when they arrived back home that they really didn't see Emma the entire trip. Reagan had a day or two of withdrawals after they left, but we have just 3 weeks till we head out to Utah, so she is counting down to that!
We spent a day in downtown San Francisco, walking Fisherman's Wharf, eating Ghirardelli's brownie sundae and my favorite, clam chowder with bread bowl. I am craving it just thinking about it. I might have to convince Matt we need to have lunch at Boudin's in Walnut Creek soon.

Landen and Caitlin in front of Coit Tower.

The girls overlooking the water with Alcatraz in the background.

Landen and I.

Eating a brownie sundae and chocolate shake. It was way too much sugar and chocolate for our entire group to consume, even with Caitlin preggers.

The kids in front of the water at Ghirardelli Square. I think right after I took this shot, I had to toss my camera aside and book it to grab Nolan just before he entered the water with his shoes on.

We went to Baker Beach, staying south to avoid the nudies under the bridge. Still had some great shots, though. It was a perfectly clear day.

A few hours after we layed our sod, we took off south to a carnival for the kids. They ate caramel apples and got their faces painted.

We had lunch with Caitlin's sister and her girls at San Francisco Creamery in Walnut Creek. This was my first time there, which is unfortunate. It was delicious. I am finding all sorts of gems in WC these days.

We ordered way too much ice cream and took it home.

It was such a fun time with the Roundy's and we sure loved hosting family and friends. Come out and visit! Love to ALL!

Sod and Jack in Berkeley

We have grass!!!!! I love it. Our sod arrived before the sun last Saturday, around 6:30am. By 9am, we had a crowdful of friends and family helping us out and less than 2 hours later, all our grass had been rolled out. I can't stop looking at it. I pray for it everyday and so does Reagan ("Please help our grass to grow," she says). I have nightmares of waking up to it being torn apart by raccoons or turning brown and dying on us. But we couldn't be more pleased with how it looks.

As you can see from the pics, we still have some small things to take care of (permanent edging, walkway and patios, bushes and shrubs), but the hardest part is over!

Earlier this month, we went to a Jack Johnson concert in Berkeley with friends. Speaking of grass, we were probably (along with the other 3 couples) the only ones in the entire theater not smoking it. Seats were uncomfortable, but the music was out of this world. I could listen to his songs all day and night. Matt mentioned that it isn't too often that you go to a concert where everyone is drunk and high and hear the performer talk and sing about how much he loves his wife and kids. It was awesome. Such a refresher.

Ending this post with sweet Reagan and her going to bed with her baby and a letter to grandma that she insisted stay above her head. She is such a loving kid.

September Happenings.

Despite the funk of my last post, I didn't spent my entire month of September feeling guilty :) Thank you all for your kind comments, whether posted here or on facebook. We have actually had a really great start to fall, obviously its been a better month for us than BYU Football.


Reagan and I got to have a "girls night out" and see Beauty and the Beast in theaters. It is being re-released and a few theaters played it prior to the release. It was a singalong, so the entire theater got to sing. I did sing and felt so bad for those in earshot. I just don't sing and those in attendance now know why.

Reagan got dressed as Belle and I dressed in my dress up clothes. My dress up clothes consist of something other than jeans and a t-shirt.

Reagan and Addie on their way--two beautiful Belle's.

Before the movie, we met some other Belle's at Buckhorn Grill in Walnut Creek. Wow, good tri-tip sandwiches.

My kids do funny things all the time and I always think that I need to write them down or I forget. Well, I do remember two funny things that happened yesterday. When I was at the grocery store buying two items, so totalled 5 dollars, Nolan kept reaching for the card swiping machine. He finally grabbed it just as it asked me if I would like to donate to breast cancer research. (If you shop Safeway, you know what I am talking about). He pressed YES before I could swap his hand away. Then in a flash he pressed the $40 dollar amount. Now, don't get me wrong, I am not a complete scrooge, I am all about donating here and there to fund cancer research, but not today and not 40 dollars. I had to politely tell the lady to redo, much to my embarassment, but she seemed very understanding.

Now for Reagan. She went to play at her friends house yesterday and before I took her we had lunch. Of course she didn't eat and I warned her that she better not ask for food at her friends. Well about an hour and a half later, the mom calls me and asks if it is okay if Reagan has some grapes. Apparently, when snack time came, Reagan told her she wasn't allowed to eat at her house. I have never had Reagan take me so literally before. I was proud of her, but also explained that while it is rude to demand food at friends, if they offer, she can accept:)

I really do love these two!
My college roommate Stacy that lives north of here came down for a couple of days to see us!! She left her extremely busy husband at home, but brought her adorable 18 month old Gavin. We had a great time. We walked around Walnut Creek, bought cupcakes at Frosting, had Reagan spill them in H&M and ate chinese food. It was great to see her and her son! We need to head up there sometime.

Reagan started ballet, I know I already posted that, but here she is striking a pose in her clothes. She told me last week that she was done. This surprised me because she likes girly dancing stuff and two of her friends are in the class. I finally was able to talk out of her that she hates stretching they do. I will have to talk with teach tomorrow, I think! Speaking of the teacher, she ironically grew up in Kaysville and is a Davis Dart. How funny is that?

Matt celebrated his 32nd birthday on September 19th. It was a Sunday, so we didn't party too hard, but we did have a nice steak dinner with all his favorite things and a rockin cake. He unwrapped a few presents and got to eat off the Special plate. Happy Birthday Matt!

Matt laughing at the card that Reagan got him. (The monkey is picking his nose and the inside says "I couldn't have picked a better dad!"

The steak was seriously seriously good. I am so proud of us for bbqing it ourselves :)

Now onto house stuff in September. In case you have been living in a hole for 5 months, you must already know that our yard is all dirt--front and back! This is what the back looked like when we moved in.
Pretty? Yes, definitely. Peaceful? Yes, if you are in your 80's. But not functional at all for our kids. So we tore it out, ALL of it! It sat as dirt all summer and that dirt turned into a concrete that we probably could have cooked an egg on.

We spent several days watering it and then Matt tilled the heck out of it.
Well the day after we tilled, the weather forecasted a weeklong 100 degree streak. Fearing our precious fine moist dirt would turn to concrete again, we covered it in black landscaping plastic. It worked! When we uncovered it several days later, another snake/overgrown worm (YUUUUCKKK!) and a toad were living underneath it.
Last Friday we had 12 cubic yards of black humus (aka soil amendments) delivered to our front driveway. The kids were in awe. Don't let the number 12 fool you--that was so much freakin dirt I am still picking it out of my ears and nose. I swept it out of our house several times a day. I am sick of it. It smells like a farm though, and oddly enough I like it!
Reagan and Nolan sat watching this.

We spread it out, tilled it back in and here is now how the back sits.
Up next is trenching, sprinkler installation and then eventually sod. Wish us luck!

Remember the pantry in our kitchen eating area? This was what it looked like when we move in (minus the food). It was gross. I hate that sticky paper stuff. Please don't ever use it. They need to go out of business for the hell they put me through. Every single board in every single cupboard was covered in it. We actually ended up tearing the entire thing out eventually.

Before we put the bifold doors back on, this is how it looks now. Matt did the shelves all by himself. Can we say Matt-the toolman-Rasmussen?

Oh and our hall bathroom got a facelift. Here is is before:
And here it is now. The color of the pic looks funny because it was at night, but the color is a beach green. I love it. I have decided that wallpaper manufacturers need to also go out of business.

Before: (LOOOOOOVE the dolphin border....)
After:

And in closing, just to get in the fall swing of things, we made apple pie yesterday for fhe. It was good and pretty much the only thing I have consumed in the last 12 hours. Bad Lacy. LOVE YOU ALL!!