First thing's first

I have been a real slacker as far as keeping up with all our activities and blogging about them. I feel like we are always going somewhere and doing something fun but I rarely sit down to write about it. So I'll start out with Independence Day. We were a little bummed when we realized we wouldn't be able to see the Washington D.C. fireworks (we've heard they are amazing) but were so excited to show Sadie some fireworks on the water this year.
Last year we watched them from a distance because I was worried about her little ears. This year was AWESOME. We met our friends the Hymas' and watched the show down at Seaport Village. If I had known how cool this firework show was going to be I would have flown from D.C. to see it!! (Not really but I had to exaggerate for effect.) We were taken away at how close they were and seeing the reflection of them on the water was even cooler. Sadie was really excited at first as we explained the "big flowers" and "fire" that was going to be in the air.


Waiting for the show and being creative to pass the time.

Carousel at Seaport village. Another great way to pass the time while we waited for them to start. I think this is a great place to watch fireworks because there so much entertainment.

However, once they started she of course (our timid little Sadie) was a little uneasy. She couldn't believe her eyes but kept saying "scary Mommy, I wanna go, let's go Mommy, I want the car..." I wasn't about to leave when we sat around for a good hour and a half waiting for them to start. I covered her ears and that helped a little. Watching Gracie enjoy them warmed her up a bit. I love how Grace calls Sadie "Sadie Lady." She's always called her that. All in all, it was great catching up with the Hymas' and the coolest part was that not only was there a firework show right in front of us, but we could see all the other shows down the beach at Coronado, Mission Beach, Pacific Beach and Lo Jolla, AND they were all in sync. Fireworks everywhere!!! Sadie is still talking about them.

The gift that is still giving

My friend Brandi gave this dress to Sadie before she was even born back when she and some other girls threw me a baby shower. Two years later Sadie can finally wear it. It just goes to show that sometimes it's better to give something that the baby can wear later (or much later in Sadie's case) because the gift lasts longer and there is WAY more anticipation involved. Thanks again Brandi!!

Heat Wave

I know we have no room to complain but lately it's been a little warm. All we have to do is go closer to the beach to feel a cool breeze but sometimes we're just too lazy so we go to the pool or cool off with other methods. Sadie's little pool is awesome. I bought it at Walmart (shhhh....don't tell my writing 2010 professor) for $2 and we take it down to the beach with us. It makes cleaning the sand off of feet and toys much easier.

I wanna hold you Mommy

Lately Sadie has been even more clingy than usual. Those of you who know her also know she's a Momma's girl and likes to stay very close to me. Now if she's in a tired mood she'll ask to "hold me", "I wanna hold you mommy", or "holdie Mommy holdie" over and over again. This especially happens while I'm driving. To console her I let her hold my hand. It's pretty ridiculous and it's going to stop soon but we thought this picture was pretty funny.

Like a deer in headlights!!

What do you look like upon awakening?

No bats in these caves!!

Ok, we have WAY too much time on our hands.

Running with scissors

Back in the day I had similar hair to Sadie's. One day I found some scissors and chopped off the front half of my cute little bob. I've always had a fetish for cutting hair. I went on to cut my little sister Jane's hair about 12 years later and again, cut those bangs WAY too short. I got in a lot of trouble for both incidences. So twenty some odd years later my haircutting dreams have come true. I have a little doll whose hair I can cut whenever I want. Many of you know that when Sadie was born she looked like this:
With all the rubbing of her head as she slept..most of her hair fell out and she looked like an old man gone wrong. We decided to buzz it and ended up with this:

Ahhh, much better. Little did we know that her hair wouldn't grow back for a VERY long time. Everyone was pretty shocked when we came back to San Diego to see Sadie with hair!!! It's still not growing in all the right places so we tame her mullet while we let the front grow in. I think my skills have improved since my tragic haircuts of the past (sorry Jane). Doesn't it look cute? Of course we had to turn on a movie to get her to sit still.





Do you think she's starting to look more like me or is she still "Chase in a dress."

Pacific Paradise!!

We finally made it to San Diego. We've actually been here about a month but I'm "finally" writing about all we've been up to. We know we're only here for the summer so every minute is spent doing something fun...not blogging I'm afraid. I've got a lot of catching up to do. I have to say, I don't think we've wasted one second here. When I got off the plane I nearly burst I was so excited to be back to the place I've called "home" the last three years. I waited until I got into the car (so I wouldn't make a scene) before I screamed..."I LOVE IT HERE." The weather has been awesome....kind of like heaven...mid 70's. We go swimming nearly every day, walks every night to see the bunnies and lizards on the trail, and scooter rides with Sadie. It's already been such a great summer. We don't want it to end. Here's what we've been up to for the past month..

THE BEACH











Tootsie the Scooter
Ok, so let me explain. Normally putting Sadie on a scooter would scare me to death but we tried going really slow around the side walk and she loved it!! She's asks to go on a "scoooer ride" every time she sees it. Once we get going she squeals with delight and sings her "scooter song." It's fun adjusting the mirror to her face so I can see her grinning from ear to ear.




SAN DIEGO ZOO
Sadie wouldn't touch the big bronze gorilla until I sat on it first. Once she saw me do it, she sat right on top and gave him hugs and kisses. She hugs and kisses everything these days. Whenever I discipline her she says "big hugs mommy...sorry mommy." Or if she rides any ride she gets off, and gives the big piece of metal a hug and a kiss. Too bad we can't put anti-bacterial hand gel in her mouth.

This peacock nearly landed on my head before it swooped down to show off a little. Sadie couldn't believe her eyes.







Sadie's boyfriends

Sadie's little men. She missed them these last 9 months. Peterson and Tanner. Of course they're watching Nemo which explains them all sitting so still for a photo.






SEA WORLD

We bought sea world passes the week we got here because we knew we'd want to get our money's worth from a year pass that we'll only be using for three months. I hate wasting anything so we've gone like two or three times a week and have the place pretty much memorized by now.
Touching "Mr. Ray"
We found Nemo at Sea World!!
Elmo airplanes. Who needs Disneyland. They even have a "tea cup ride" replica that made me want to puke. WARNING...do not go on that ride if you have the choice.

Hanging out with the Dargers....Sniff Sniff..they've already left for New York. We are going to miss them.
Waiting for a dolphin to come say hello.
Again...no expression. Do you think she's having fun?

Sadie is OBSESSED with Shamu these days. She calls him "Shampoo." It really is pretty incredible. I get all misty when they play the cheesy music and Shamu jumps in the air. Sadie of course has no expression. Chase pointed out that I'm like that when I watch movies. I don't normally laugh out loud if something is funny so maybe Sadie is just happy and laughing inside when she looks like this.


La Jolla Shores
There are actual seals sun bathing and swimming in this bay. SO COOL!! Of course you can get much closer to them at Sea World but it's great seeing them in their natural habitat.



$3.00 cookie. We pretty much paid for the frosting. Sadie saw it in the window and had to have it. Probably the nastiest cookie I've ever had. Where's a Backer's Bakery when you need one. Oh well. At least it looked like Nemo. All in all, a great day seeing puppies, seals, laying in the sun and perusing shops. I LOVE SAN DIEGO!!!!

Estamos en camino!!!

On our way to San Diego we stopped in Utah for a few weeks to have some Utah lovin' and see some peeps. My parents were in Europe the majority of the time so we chaperoned Jane during her last few weeks of her Sophomore year. We had so much fun hanging out with her. We were there for her first date and barely missed seeing her picked up for Senior Prom. Chase was the "father figure" when her date came to get her. It was hilarious. He was "supposed" to give the kid a hard time, but was totally "Chaselike" and told him to have fun with Jane. I wonder what he'll be like when Sadie's fist date comes to get her. Here are some pics of Utah. Even though I had a NASTY cold while I was there, it's always fun to be in our home town.



Sadie looking at the airplanes in D.C. She loves traveling. I'll have you know that she didn't move a muscle the entire flight. I limit television for many reasons but one of the best reasons is because when she does get to watch a movie, she's totally into it. A lady sitting next to me on the plane leaned over to me and said.."I have never seen anything like that. What toddler sits still for a four hour flight?" It was a very proud moment. When the DVD battery died she got a little hyper but hey...I'm not complaining. I read my book the whole flight. It was wonderful!!!
Feeding the ducks at Garden Park Ward. So here's a funny story. There was a mother duck with about 8 little ducklings getting out of the water when a big male Mallard duck swooped down and started attacking her. Her little ducklings were wailing (if ducks can wail...but they were upset) and as she tried to get away from this brute I ran to grab a stick and proceeded to whack the guy as hard as I could. As Sadie was watching me she kept saying "be nice ducky, be nice." The mother duck got away and her little ones raced after her into a bush. All that after I fed that nasty little duck a whole bag of cheerios. He's not getting one more morsel from me. The hardest part was trying to explain to Sadie that we don't hit after she had just witnessed me brutally whacking a duck. Hey, I had to do something. Children were involved.
I met up with my good friend Jill at our favorite hires Restaurant. Sadie and Isabella had fun fighting over markers and other toys but got along just as we were about to leave. I love Jill. It was so good to hang out with her, even if it was for a short time.
I love my grandma. She came down from Logan to see Jane's dance concert and I invited her to go to the zoo with Sadie and me. (To all you D.C. people, you can get into Hogle Zoo and many other zoo's across the nation if you are a member of the national zoo. Pretty cool!!) I could seriously hang out with her all day. We had a grand time.
I also got together with one of my other really good friends, Leslie and her daughter Lucy. I am so lucky to have so many fun people to hang out with when I go to Utah. Lucy is hilarious (just like her mom) and she and Sadie got a long great. They ran around picking dandelions and sharing cheerios.

Sadie's first ice cream cone. I know she's a little old but believe me, I've tried to give her one before and she didn't want it. This time she was in heaven. Emigration market has good soft serve ice cream and you serve it yourself. My favorite!!
We went back to the zoo with Chase just so we could ride "Thomas" the train (Sadie's new obsession... literally).