Something To Be Happy About

I can't believe that I would ever see gas as cheap as $1.99 per gallon ever again. I really wonder how much more gas prices will decrease...but this is great news! Now if we could just get other national affairs in order, we would be set! I admire President Bush for having the courage to continue to the end, to fulfil his presidential obligation, having to face opposition everyday because I know it would be very challenging. President Bush, because so many people like to blame you for the turmoil of this country, I will pay you all my respects for the gas prices.

Save BB

My dog is on a food strike. (No kidding!) Where is Cesar Millan, dog whisperer, when I need him?
Unknown to us, BB has been allergic to her regular dog food, resulting in terrible itching. I discovered this haphazardly at PetsMart the other day and decided that BB might benefit from going vegan. Poor BB, she is the only vegetarian in the house (or she would be if she ate anything)!
Every time I take BB to the vet, he tells her to go on a diet. So, this isn't a total crisis. But in the end, BB is going to have to decide: scratch herself to death or die of starvation? Not that I blame her -- I might consider a food strike if I had to go vegan, too. But BB's days of Benedryl and steroids are over. I know it's gross, BB, just eat it anyway. There's more to life than food. Like pretending you're a cat and sleeping all day wherever you want. Isn't that worth living? Take a little bite ...

Puerto Penasco, Mexico

Fun+Relaxing+No worries=Vacation! That is what we did!

Kalia and Quincy

Ty and Matt

We traveled all this way to have the beach in our own backyard and what does Ty want to do? What he does best at home ... swim in the pool at the resort. Maybe next year he'll be ready to ride the banana boat!

Kalia, doing what she does best: having fun!

Ty and Susie

Susie loved hanging out at the beach, especially since she received royal treatment from the locals (getting her hair braided, eating tacos, and shopping!).

Ty

We were so happy to have Cousin Quincy party with us. If you asked her how much fun we all had, I'm sure she would say, "Tons!"
Happy Ty

Susie with her 2 BFF's-- Even on vacation, they're inseparable!

Princess Kalia
How would it be to have your hair done everyday by someone?
Wonderful!

Cousin Quincy

Tim with his daughter Ally

We couldn't have had as much fun without the Murphy's. (Is the condo reserved for next year?)

Poor Ty-Ty

I refused to make Ty vanilla pudding, so he took matters into his own hands. Rather than adding milk to the mix, he decided to pour the powder in a bowl and cook it in the microwave. Can you guess what happened next? Yep-- he burned his little finger. I think the hurt subsided just enough for him to fall asleep.

Sweet and Innocent

I pulled my iron and ironing board out to iron yesterday. Since I knew I would have a few more items of laundry to iron today, I decided I would leave it out. Ty noticed the iron and asked me if it was hot. I replied, "No." He looked at the iron again, hesitating to touch, but very curious, then again he raised the question to me, "Is the iron hot?" By this time, I turned to him to see why he wasn't touching the iron. I finally approached the iron to show him that it wasn't hot. I told him that I'm touching it ... he still was reluctant, but decided, if my mom is really touching it then it must be ok!


A little lesson in life of how precious children are.

Vancouver, BC, Canada

Even though I was born in Seattle, Washington, I spent most of my childhood life in the outskirts of Ogden, Utah. I have several aunts, uncles, and countless cousins who reside all over Washington state. My late grandma, grandpa, aunt, uncle and cousins also live outside of Portland, Oregon. Growing up our summer vacation would often take us to Oregon to visit my relatives and along our travels included passing along the Columbia river. I knew that on the east side of the river is Washington. I have always wanted to see what Seattle would look like as my parents moved me away when I was of one year of age, and since, I have never been back.

Upon arrival to Vancouver BC, Canada, I knew that this is what Seattle must feel like; cool crisp air (which I tolerated very well considering I'm always cold), beautiful evergreens, a duplicate of the Space Needle (just like the one in Seattle except with better views--I've been told), and the endless harbor.

We visited Capilano Suspension Bridge. I have never seen anything like this. Capilano Suspension Bridge is breathtakingly suspended 450 feet across and 230 feet above Capilano River. But crossing the bridge wasn’t the only excitement. We crossed over to towering evergreens, cedar-scented rainforest air, serene trails - a series of suspended footbridges that offered a close encounter with the very heart of the rainforest and stunning views. Definately worth seeing!

From my hotel I would capture the airplanes take-off and land.

They would take tourists to Vancouver Island.

In a Vancouver tourism brochure, I came across this advertisement for "Belguim Fritz." Ever since Matt served his mission in France, he has never stopped talking about these European French Fries. I had to go check them out to see for myself if they would live up to all the hype he has talked about for so long...Let's just say...I won't respond!

Out front the Westin Hotel, we were waiting for our rental car!

I think I finally got a feel of Seattle in Vancouver!

The Big Day

Even though my house is for sale and I would like it to be the the big "house" day, that's not what I am referring to! My Husband is moving office space today. A few years ago, Matt started his own company and we have been greatly anticipating the growth. The amount of business he is receiving is finally starting to pour in and we are very excited! He started out in a 1000 sq. ft. office space with one employee (and, no, I was not the one employee). Two years later and we're up to six employees.

Today is a beautiful day. Now if only my house would sell, then it would be a perfect day. Know anyone who would like to buy a house? (hint, hint, wink, wink)

Out of Africa

Matt decided that we needed to escape over Labor day weekend to visit "Out Of Africa" and I couldn't have agreed more. We drove to Camp Verde, AZ, which is two hours north of Mesa.


Kalia, Susie & Ty
Susie hand fed this giraffe.

Ty thought it was the coolest thing ever to feed a camel!

I never thought I would take a picture of my daughter petting a snake (an anaconda no less) -- or that I would be in the cage taking the picture (eek!).

Oooh, I hate snakes! They're just so creepy, crawling, slithery ... and yuck!

I am so glad we left town. We had a great time! I wonder where we'll go next year ...

Jimmy Johns

Matt and I were on a road trip many years back. We were heading from Salt Lake City to San Diego when we needed to gas our car in St. George, UT. Right next to the gas station is this sandwich shop called Jimmy John's. Ever since this trip, Matt has been hooked on the Garganchuan, which is a loaded meat-lover's sandwich. Since then, the few road trips we have taken from Arizona to Salt Lake haven't led us through St. George, and Matt has missed his little sandwich shop.


However, the other day, Matt left on a business trip to RTP, South Carolina and discovered another ... Jimmy John's. Could it be?! What are the chances that he would fly across the whole country -- only to find himself running into this little sandwich shop he's loved so much? Well, as they say at Disneyland, dreams come true, and Matt's proof. I think he'll be back since it's easier to catch a flight to the east coast than it is to take a Jimmy John's road trip to St. George.
PS: I wonder if they deliver overnight packages to Phoenix. Now, wouldn't that be a dream to dream?!

Constance Virginia Fordyce

My grandma passed away August 9th, ten days before my 31st birthday. I will always remember this birthday because of her. My Grandma was a beautiful, immaculate person. She married my grandpa right before he was sent off to WWII for nearly 4 years. She waited for him -- not knowing how they'd rekindle their relationship. Shortly after his return, they started their family by having my mom. Three years later my aunt arrived.

My grandma loved clothes. Her clothes were perfect -- washed and ironed according to label directions. Her nails were always polished and to complete her look, she finished herself with jewelry.

My Grandma loved to work in the yard. In her old home in Lincoln city, Oregon, she lived on Devil's Lake. She and my grandpa took evening strolls on their paddle boat to watch the beautiful sunset. She had a love for animals. When a stray cat came along, she rushed it in to the vet to have it "fixed," then she would take care of it -- or them (she had several, but they all lived outside) -- for as long as they came around, which was forever since she diligently fed them every day. She also had ducks; every morning she walked down to the lake (20 ft. from her back porch) to feed them, too!


I remember vacationing many times in the summer at Grandma's house. When I was little, I was raised on the outskirts of Ogden. To drive from Ogden to Lincoln City takes about 14 hours. I did not look forward to the roadtrips to my grandma's, but once we arrived, my grandma and grandpa would be waiting for my family and me to pull into their driveway. She always had oatmeal cookies in the cookie jar and hot soup on the stove.


My grandma never aged ... The day she died, she looked exactly as I remembered her. She was 100% Italian! She was very petite with olive skin, and she was beautiful. In the last year of her life, she became very sick and when I would call her to talk with her I would never know how sick she would be. She always had a bubbly, happy voice and was upbeat, even if she was in pain. She died so suddenly, but I was very relieved that she didn't have to suffer. I love her and miss her so much, but I know she is in a happy place and I will see her again.

Chaos at the Baker's

It feels good to have the kids back in school and on a normal schedule. I thought once the kids started school, I would have so much time for ... well, anything! But that's not the case. I suppose I plan to squeeze more things into my time since I assume I'll have so much more of it. That makes it all complicated.


In an effort to reduce the chaos, I decided the easiest way to keep up with life is to stay home. You wouldn't think something so simple would be so hard, but when I'm running kids around and creating chaos for myself, unexpected things arise and it's easy to get behind at home. So this fall, here's to being a home-body!

August 2008

August 2008

3rd: Kalia's 11th Birthday

4th: The 1st day of school

11th: Clint's birthday

19th: Shari's Birthday

20th: Susie goes to Utah

24th: Mom's birthday

26th: Susie comes home

27th: Tom's birthday

My New Playlist

So what do you think of my new music? It's too good to be true. I never thought it could be so easy and free! My friend Tiffany has been nagging me to post music on my blog for sometime. I decided to take the initiative and put my actions to work. Did I pass the test? I love my new playlist! I feel like a kid in a candy shop...Now, I can open my blog and listen to my favorite new music, which is completely different from my itunes!

P.S. It's the simple things in life that bring much hapiness and I am happy!

T.P.

The other night, Kalia and Susie were invited to play night games with the neighbors. By 10:30 p.m., the kids seemed to be wearing down from a long evening of running and playing, and I would have thought that they would have been ready to call it a night, but I couldn't have been more wrong. Their long night was just beginning.

The kids were trying to convince my friend and me to take them toilet papering. I had never been toilet papering with my girls before (Kalia's 3rd time, Susie's 1st). I know what you're thinking, I'm 30 years old and I am such an old dud! But the kids won; they got their way and actually, I might go again! I had a fun time. It brought me back to my childhood years!

I remember one time I went toilet papering, I think I was 14 or 15 years old when my Young Women leader Karen took my friends and me toilet papering to this lady's house (named Cassie. It was 12 :30 a.m. when we arrived to do the job. We had 30 single rolls of TP and we were wrapping every bush, throwing the TP in the trees ... this job was the best in history, well, not really, but it seemed so at the time.:) While I was wrapping TP around a bush, I was right by the house and above me was a window. I looked up at the window just to see if anyone was looking and there was someone -- it was Cassie's husband. It freaked me out so bad, that I ran to the car yelling at the same time, "We are so dead!"

Cassie and my Young women leader were BFF's. Cassie knew that we were having great fun at the expense of her house!

Here was the 1st house we did:

HMMM...I wonder whose house this is? I swear I didn't do it...I was just the driver!

This was the 2nd house:

Three homes in one night...we couldn't exactly do a whole lot of damage!

Picture Perfect

Whenever I call Kalia my "big girl," she corrects me by saying that she is my "older girl." Maybe one day I'll get it right. I am amazed that she will be turning 11 years old in a couple of weeks. Did you know that when she is 20 years old, I will be 40?! (The benefit of having a child at 19.)

Yesterday, I took Kalia in to get her pictures taken (she's not getting any younger, you know). And honestly, I don't know who had a better time at Kiddie Kandids -- Kalia or me. Perhaps it was just flattery, but the photographer said to me, "Are you her sister?" I replied, "No, I'm her mom!" (But sheesh, thanks for the compliment.)

Here are the results:

Boston Highlights

Matt and I flew to Boston on Friday, June 22. When I was 11 years old, I had a 3-hour layover in Logan airport. Since that time, I have dreamed of returning to gain a full picture of Boston, and my dream finally came true!

We took the metro, which is something we never do back home.
We also took our friends along with us. Here we are in Arlington, Massachusetts (a suburb of Boston) sitting on the front porch of Aaron's great (x8) Grandpa's house. Aaron's relative was famous or something, so we took a tour of his house and Alisa found a receipt therein that had the last name of one of her ancestors on it. Could it be??? Aaron and Alisa cousins?! I don't know for sure, but whatever conclusion you draw, you didn't hear it from me.

I was thinking ... who cares if they're cousins? I mean, they look so happy, don't they? Let's just pretend the whole receipt problem didn't even exist. Then life could go back to normal. Well, as normal as it can get when you're married to your cousin. OK, enough poking fun. I'll just finish with this: you know they're not cousins because their kids are so cute!
Speaking of happy couples, here's the other one from our group. Don't they look like newly-weds? (Or maybe even fiances.)
Then there's us, and unfortunately, we don't much resemble newlyweds anymore. However, twelve years later and we're still just as happy as Day 1.
Enough mushiness. Onto the sights! We stopped by Harvard University, and I am sad to report that while the campus was quite enchanting, the surrounding area was somewhat of a dumping ground.
Did you ever see Schindler's List? Well, I did (forgive me of my sin). This monument was erected in commemoration of the Jews who lost their lives to Hitler. Even though this tribute is right in the middle of Boston, it still felt sacred. (Note: Matt's not trying to pat his head and rub his tummy at the same time, it was raining!)

Last, but certainly not least, we found the Boston temple.

And it was oh-so-beautiful!
We were hoping to run into our pal Mitt -- he lives just three minutes away. Notwithstanding, it was a fabulous trip!