Firsts

First day back to school! (Yes, our school district is crazy.) First day of kindergarten. First day at a new school. Let's hope the teacher survives---we have a heat advisory going into effect in a few hours that will be in place until Friday evening. Oh the joys of Southern California in August!

Monterey Day 1

When we arrived in Monterey we checked into our hotel and then drove out to an area along the coast called Sunset Drive to enjoy the play of the disappearing light on the waves. Then we went to a restaurant that we had read a lot about, called Passionfish (www.passionfish.com). We had an absolutely wonderful dinner. The perfect ending to a day with a rocky start!

Murphys Law, Part 3

Oh Mr. Murphy, you are a funny one. *Insert dry sarcastic laugh here.* About 20 minutes outside of Bakersfield Nathan popped a few Skittles into his mouth because his blood sugar was starting to dip. As he chewed he let out an exclamation of surprise and stuck his finger in his mouth. When I asked him what was wrong, he explained that a big piece of one of his molars had just broken off. I took a look and sure enough, the inner half of one of his molars was now gone, exposing the slick silver of a filling.

I called my mom who then called my uncle who lives in Bakersfield and he gave her the number of a dentist to call. Of course, thank you Mr. Murphy, none of the dentists were in because it was Friday. But the office gave us another office to try, which luckily had an available opening . . . In two hours. So we ate some lunch and did some exciting shopping in a local Walgreens and then proceeded to the dentist office where we arrived 45 minutes early. 2 hours and lots of novocaine later, we exited with a patched up Nathan and got back on the road.

As it currently stands, we've been on our way for six hours. We should only have 30 minutes to go, but instead have four more hours. What's that Murphy? Knock on wood.

Murphys Law, Part 2

This morning as we hit the road, headed for Monterey, we were blessed with lovely cool temperatures and a bit of a marine layer that slowly burned off as we moved northward. We saw some gorgeous wild flowers and green craggy hills along the road, and then traffic started to slow. Slower and slower we moved until we were at a complete standstill.

After 20 minutes or so we began seeing people getting out of their cars and milling about the expanse of the 4-lane highway. We watched in amusement as a van full of teenagers played a raucous round of Chinese fire drill. A man walked up to see what was going on and came back to report that an SUV had blown a tire and flipped. There was an ambulance, fire truck, and multiple police cars attending the scene and completely blocking the road.

The accident was only about 50 feet ahead of us on the road. Old Man Murphy was toying with us.

After enjoying the fresh air, things finally cleared up enough to start letting cars through, and an hour later we were on our way...or so we thought... Yes Old Man Murphy, we hear you.

Murphys Law, Part 1

Aaah, the old adage, "Anything that can go wrong will." Yesterday Nathan and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary. Actually, Nathan had a horrible crazy work day, so we just went out to dinner. Today, however, we packed up the car (leaving the girls to play with my parents, wahoo!) and hit the road headed for Monterey, California.

We should have known we might meeting old Murphy on this trip, as he began sending us hints yesterday evening.

Nate took his Honda in because the brakes have been sounding really bad and he wanted to get them fixed before we drove the car up north. The mechanic quickly discovered that all four tires were bald to the thread due to a part that was broken on the control arm that holds the wheels in place, causing the wheels to sit down farther than they should. In short, the car needs some major repairs and wouldn't be done in time for us to make the trip, so we were going to have to take my van. Thank you Mr. Murphy. I know you're giggling about that one as we suffer through filling up the van with gas.

Then last night after I returned from driving the girls out to Redlands to drop them off at my parents' house, I realized that I still had their car seats in my car. Doh! Yep Mr. Murphy, I can here you guffawing. We remedied my mental mishap by meeting my dad half way and handing the car seats over.

Oh, but Old Man Murphy wasn't done with us . . . .

Princesses and Towers

I have a lamp on my nightstand that has a base shaped like the Eiffel tower. Ella was just asking me what it was and I was explaining that it's a really big tower in France. She responded: "I want to go there!!! Because princesses go to towers!" Yup.

Happy Happy Pi(e) Day

This morning I whipped up a crustless coconut pie for us to eat for dessert in celebration of Pi(e) Day.

I tucked it away in the kitchen where it cooled and stayed safely, waiting for us to partake.

At least I thought it was safe. That's what I get for thinking. I just went upstairs to put some laundry away and came downstairs to find a very different situation.

The leprechauns obviously made an early visit. Happy Pi(e) day to me.

Horrible Blogger Update

Hi. Yeah, I know...uh, it's been awhile. So how about a visual update?

Bug-errific

Singing the ABCs: "A, B, C, D, E, F, G, . . . L, M, N, No Pee!"

Ella was being silly and talking like a baby:
Me: Are you a baby?
Ella: I not a baby, I Ella!!

Squirrel Logic

"Mommy, you're big, so you know everything."

Me: Savannah, if you want to help me cook, you have to put your clothes back on.
Savannah: Why?
Me: Because.
Savannah: But then my clothes will be dirty!

TWO YEARS OLD!!!

Holy Guacamole!  How is it possible that 2 years have already passed since this day in 2009?  Ella is two years old today and a bundle of joy. 

Bug, the nickname that stuck within a couple of days of her birth, is still the perfect name.  From day one she has been our little cuddle bug.  This morning when she woke up, I pulled her into bed with me for some birthday cuddling. She rested her head on my shoulder and then suddenly popped her head up and looked at me and said, "Mommy give Ella good cuddles, huh?!?" 

Ella may come in a small package, but she has a HUGE personality.  If you ask her what her favorite color is, she will quickly tell you "Gween!"  The other day I took her to the grocery store while Savannah was in preschool.  As we were walking down one of the aisles, she began to belt out "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" at the top of her lungs.  I heard more than a few snickers from other shoppers from around the store.

Last night when I picked her up from a friends house after a Young Women's activity, she was in the process of trying to get my friend's dog to stay still because she was determined that she was going to ride him.  Life is never boring when Ella is around.  I am definitely looking forward to seeing her grow.  I expect that we have many fun days ahead!  Happy 2nd birthday little Bug!  We love you!

Persimmon picking is good for the soul.

Ella has a horrible cold.  She coughs so hard that she throws up, her nose is constantly running, and she isn't sleeping.  Needless to say, it's been a tiring week.  Yesterday was a very warm day and so I ended up taking the girls to a friend's house in Costa Mesa.  They have a large backyard filled with fruit trees, herbs, and veggies galore.  Plus, they have 2 wonderful gentle dogs that love little kids.  I figured the fresh air would do her good, there wouldn't be any little kids around for her to get sick, and if she threw up, we'd be outside.  It was definitely what the doctor ordered, both for my mental state and for Ella.  Persimmons are in season and my friend's trees are drooping from the weight of all of the fruit, so we relieved them of a big bag.  I see persimmon orange marmalade, persimmon muffins, and persimmon candy in our future!

Hutchings' Halloween 2010

Saturday night was our ward's Trunk-or-Treat.  Nate and I had forgotten to think about our own costumes, so we threw them together...

Yesterday both of the girls were quite grumpy.  Ella has a bad cold, so she has a legitimate excuse.  Savvy's excuse is . . . that she's almost four?

After a bit of candy acquiring, they perked up.  I may be biased, but I'm pretty sure that Savvy makes a pretty cute black cat and Ella makes an adorable monkey.