Pumpkin Patch.

If you go to the pumpkin patch on Halloween while everyone is in school

there are no lines and no crowds

and you get to ride on the train, just you and momma.

Thanks Grandma Terri for the train ride and pumpkin pictures!

stay tuned for our costumes! *hint* Teddy might be heard saying "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of allllll ages!"

10 months of Theodore.

Today I am too slothful to put up a picture of anything. Imagine that here in place of this writing is a picture of some really nifty craft I made, or my cute guys wrestling, or me in a sloth costume being slothful and eating early halloween candy while sitting on a pile of clean laundry I don't want to fold...

Whewww! I have a night off! Actually I've had a week off from rehearsal and I think most of the time I've just been decompressing. After moving into our apartment, lots of family festivities, an intense tech week, opening weekend, and Theo's adjusting to a new room in a new place, I've been exhausted beyond belief. It's been nice to have a few days to hibernate and do the 2 billion things I never have a chance to do. We still don't have anything hanging on our walls... it'll happen!

The show is going so well and you should come see it! I make about a hundred costume changes in under a minute. It's magical and fast paced and fun.

Theodore is 10 months old... almost 11 months actually. He has become a babbling conversationalist. He says bye bye, hi, something that sounds like mom, yaya for Dadda, and a kind of gasp thing that means woof woof. He's started mimicking our intonations like a parrot too. It's so exciting to watch him learn. His eyes are still blue and his peachy hair fuzz is growing in blonde. He walks around furniture, waves, dances (like a baby tribesman), shrieks, kisses with an open mouth, wrestles, occasionally bites.................. eats food like a MAN, loves his giraffe lovie and his white silky blankie, cracks up laughing, wiggles, smiles, plays shy, and turns pages while I read. He also knows how to play with cars and make little car sounds. He's quite the boy. 

Time is really charging forward and my tiny noodle is growing up before my eyes! These past two months have been so jam packed sometimes I don't know what day it is, but as the show goes on, I want to take a little more of the time I have to...

Take pictures (on a real camera! not my phone!)

Kiss my guys

Blog and record our family adventures

Plot a killer family halloween costume

Get this house in order

Cook yummy things and eat them

Go on a date or two

PS! TOMORROW IS MY LITTLE SISTER IN LAWS WEDDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

it's crispy.

                            My sweet Teddy captured by Lenny!

                                                                                                                                     

 We are moving. I haven't addressed this fact because I was in denial. 

We had a very special and busy month filled with rehearsal, work, teaching, school, and most importantly the wedding of my very dear cousin (post to come). Although I am over the moon excited about our new place I could not wrap my brain around packing with Theo in toe while balancing it all with a nutty rehearsal schedule. Blogging was obviously kicked to the bottom of the totem pole and that is OK in my book.

Now that it's the night before move-in I'm excited. There's some sort of connection between fall and change. The leaves, the air, the rhythm of life all become crispy and electric. Phil says he forgets every year how much I love the fall.  I think all women I know love it (why is that??!). Whatever it is exactly that makes us all so giddy this season I don't know. I do know I want to bask in all of it's carmel, cider, and crunchy leaf pile goodness. I feel cozy and excited to settle into a new nest...like a momma squirrel. So here's to exciting changes, busy days, and a whole lot of new-apartment-DIY-extravaganzas coming your way!

ps. apartment deets: we're still in the same ward just a slightly bigger place with a washer/dryer, dishwasher, and pool. Remember when I handwashed 3,000 dishes? Yep, that happened. 

pps. Joseph is going fantastically and you should come see it!

ppps. Teddy is 10mo. old. WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT??!! 

vamping about camping and my highlights.

This past weekend we joined my mom's extended family for FAMILY CAMP 2012 our annual weekend of eating in nature and family time. We enjoyed the flavors of fresh pie, steak on the grill, pancakes, dutch oven cobbler, homemade ice cream, and applesauce... and we swam and played too! This year we brought a bevy of floatation devices and enjoyed lazily rolling through the current of the Russian River. We skipped rocks, laughed our way through the hayride, and enjoyed the ridiculously absurd things kids say between the ages of 5 and 10. Teddy was a very good camper too! I wish I had his disposition.

Family camp always marks for me the change between summer and fall. This week Phil went back to school for his last year of law school. (Every time I say "last year of law school" an actual choir of angels descends in sparkly glowing outfits with tambourines singing a gospel rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus.) This fall is going to be a fun filled, busy, exciting time for us.

Here are my 5 highlights as of late:

1. Phil has two teeny tiny semesters left before he is (as he says) a Doctor but not the kind that helps people. He has worked so very hard and the light is there at the end of the tunnel.

2. I will be joining the cast of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat performing this Oct/Nov. at the Lescher Center for the Arts! I will be singing, dancing, and carrying on as one of the wives of Joseph's brothers.

3. Phil has loved his summer experience working for a firm here in Walnut Creek. They are keeping him on two days a week this semester and that is the most fabulous news. We are grateful.

4. Theodore is turning 1 at the end of November! Where has the time gone?? Where?! We are in love with him. He crawls, pulls himself up, grows gigantic top teeth, sprouts blonde hair, says hi, waves, claps, and just recently developed a knack for screaming at the top of his lungs for fun.

5. This fall I have not one but two weddings special to my heart: in September my cousin Kristen and in October my SIL Camille! I love weddings and parties. Both weddings are sure to be events to remember and loads of fun!

and now without further ado... pictures from camp 2012!

 

our guest of honor stuck in a floaty. 

 Theodore trying to eat rocks. They look so much like grapes.

 lazy river with Auntie T and C.

candy and toppings for homemade ice cream by the river. 

 beach beauties.

 Bea's french braid.

 Lyla's cheeks.

 Teddy in big boy shoes.

 serious Theodore.

waiting in line for the hayride.

 sideways but necessary picture of bundled bea.

 Uncle Mark and Teddy.

 goat rock beach.

 our clan.

wherein the loser wins.

So... a few weeks ago we had our FINAL Biggest Loser Weigh in. 

Nervously I stepped onto the cold scale. The little computer inside began to calculate my girth and then quickly spit a number onto the screen. 

I screamed.

It was a scream of glee. 

For the first time ever since I found out mr. T was in my tummy I saw my numbers on that screen. And so I thought... maybe I have this in the bag....

And I was right.

Cha-ching! $$$$$$ (please read dollar signs while humming ABBA's "Money Money Money")

I won! I'm a loser! I lose!! hoorah!

So what did I learn and what worked for me?

1. Balance in all things. I was most successful when every once in a while I let myself have a treat or take a day off from exercise.

2. Fill your tummy with healthy things. There was a time when I NEVER would have been caught dead ordering a salad. I'm more of a meat and potatoes girl (read as burger and fries). I learned to eat filling healthy foods including healthy fats. Yogurt, granola, black beans, avocado, blackberries, quinoa, turkey, broccoli, leafy greens, and eggs, were some of my go to foods.

3. Run!!!! I was convinced I could only run one block before passing out. My whole life. CONVINCED. I started running with friends from church a few times a week, 45 min. per run.

4. Going to my happy place. Dance, Pilates, and Yoga are exercise that make me happy. I have fun and feel accomplished. I'm excited to participate. Physical activities you love are easier to incorporate into your daily life.

5. Cheap calorie burn. We live right by the ironhorse trail and I love to take walks with Phil and Theodore after he gets home from work. I also went to my local library and checked out some work out videos. I found cross training to be best. I also tried disco-dance-cardio and it was totally comical. Thanks government funded community resources. 

6. Apps. There are so many apps now to help you do anything your heart desires. I used "my fitness pal" to log my food and exercise. I told it my goals and it gave me a framework. 

Of course losing weight is a different game than maintaining weight. I've had a few more chocolate based nommies since the competition came to a close. With that in mind I hope some of my newly obtained habits will stay with me for the long haul.

Oh and what did I do with my prize money? GIRL..... I spent it on clothes of course.

So now for the fun part. Below are pictures of me in the Mecca that is COSTCO modeling with roughly 50 lbs. (my baby weight... or was it 60? I stopped checking...) 50 lbs of potatoes, 50 lbs of pork, 50 lbs of soy sauce. You get the idea.

 PORK by the POUND.

 Don't look to closely at the dark circles under my eyes. No makeup. 

It was a costco day not prom.

 spuds.

 roast sucklin potatoes. (Caption dedicated to Randi)

 Soy sauce, including the bucket under my bum.

 Kikoman model.

And most fittingly me and a bunch of actual fat.

sandy eggo.

Part Un: Wedding Bells

We went to San Diego for our dear friend Stephen's wedding. Teddy rode on a plane. It made him at first angry and then very sleepy. We planned both flights to be during bed time so after a little fighting he was out like a light. Of course the fighting was loud and raucous and we had that parenting moment where you feel pity for all traveling mothers and fathers everywhere whose children are screaming.

We used priceline for the hotel and I think I'm hooked. Oh the deals the deals people of America! Teddy slept in a pack-and-play and loved the hotel. There were so many new things to look at and he had both parents in close proximity at all times. He likes to keep a hawk-eye on us.

The wedding was on a friday and PG was a handsome groomsman. The weather was one hundred percent perfect that day. The couple was married at the beautiful San Diego Temple. It is so pretty and spindly. It looks like it must be the Snow Queen's house. I didn't find her though... She would melt in San Diego.

We saw so many people we love and got to catch up on all that is new in our lives. The older you get the less you see all of your pals and the sweeter it is when you do. Theodore met his friend Holden for the first time ever! Holden's dad Dallin went to seminary with Phil and me through high school, performed in plays with both of us, and grew up alongside us. How cool to see our babies meet! They loved each other. Teddy had never payed so much attention to any other baby. He patted his head gently and touched his cheek. It was so special.

We are so happy for Stevo who did so well for himself and married a beautiful talented lady. We can't wait to get to know her better and officially welcome her into "the wives club" (that is: the wives of Phil's friends). It's a great club. There are only a few spots left. Auditions welcome.

 I scrolled passed this picture about 300 times on my computer before I realized Elliott was behind us... then I died laughing.

 The Wives Club: Jennica, Aubrey, Victoria, and now Annabel!

 Being a wife is sooooooooo glamorous.

 Anabel and Stephen.

 Holden and Teddy's first introduction.

 When did they become Daddies??! Teddy loves Holden.

The Mommas. Doesn't Sam look amazing? Holden is only 3 mo. old here!

Part Deux: Zoooooooo


On Saturday SIL Val and Alina drove down from LA and met us at the San Diego Safari Park. Val  is two years older than Phil and he tells me often how he couldn't have survived growing up without Val to play with. They're best buds.


Phil and I love a good zoo. (It was our 3rd zoo visit this summer and it did not disappoint!) The highlight was a tram ride through a giant valley where the animals roam at will uncaged. The park has great success with births in captivity so there were lots of baby elephants and giraffes. They also had an incredible bird show where hawks and condors flew right over your head. I held Teddy tight! It was awesome and I am nerdy. We're so glad Val and Alina drove alllllllll the way from LA (and tried to sabotage my Biggest Loser progress with cake balls... didn't work bwahaha!) because driving anywhere in California is a nightmare and we had a blast!


Final Report: The trip was a huge success. We felt like real grownups riding on the plane with tiny T and renting a car for the very first time. We loved celebrating, zooing, and enjoying a little weekend away.

 at the amazing Safari Park. Theodore loves Auntie Val!

 On the Safari Tram.

Oh did I mention Val's teacher friend also came to the park with her 8 mo. old son who Teddy really wanted to kiss?

4th.

Sun, stripes, and swimming. The fourth of July is the peak of summer. We spent our morning at our hometown parade. It was nostalgic and fun but also left a little to be desired this year... read more about it  on my SIL Lenore's blog here. We did spice it up a bit with one of my most favorite traditions. We take pictures with as many costumed people as possible. There were some good photo ops. I especially liked "green bug man." What was he selling? No clue. Was his costume in any way related to the 4th of July? Absolutely not. Did he bounce on his tippy toes as he walked? Why yes he did.

After the parade we had naps then swimming, eating, and baseball. Teddy was a trooper on his first Fourth. I think he liked all of the action. He was born into the right family. We like to party. 

Oh and one of the perks of marrying local... we spent our 4th of July with my fam, Phil's fam, AND my brother in laws fam! What a little mafia we have going on here.

 With an American eagle. Is that guy in the back his body guard?

 Only you can prevent forest fires.

 The Chinese dragon is a highlight every year.

 In America it's OK to be weird. Go green bug guy!

Theodore (named after President and Rough Rider Teddy Roosevelt) was born patriotic.

 patriotic smoooooooooooooch

 Charlotte and Tara. Who is related to who? It's a big jumble of family.

 showing some WOMAN power with Rosie the Riveter

with some cool Indian dancers