Well Traveled Toddler

*WARNING:  Super long, verbose post, with lots of toddler photos*
I'm trying to get all caught up (so we can go through another blog post drought... lol.. just kidding)

I can't keep pants on this kid! LOL!  He loves wearing hats.  But pants?  Forget it...lol! 

Maybe he just likes showing off those cute cloth diapers ;)

Also, let me just say, God bless snaps!  He can't take his diaper off!  (& he's tried!)

In April, David & I took the opportunity to visit my family & friends in California.  It was right in the heat of tax season, so Jamin had the opportunity to work overtime AND get some uninterrupted sleep. ;)  He's such a hard-working man & I can't say enough just how grateful I am to be his wife.  He's so dedicated & loving & just wonderful.  I just want the world to know how awesome he is & how much I appreciate him.  xoxoxo

But this post isn't all about Jamin ;)  It's all about David... as usual!  LOL!

 David, on the way to the airport.. he was excited about going in an airplane (or maybe just seeing them)

 

David & I flew down on a Thursday & stayed with Debbie for 10 days.  Her parents came up from Southern California to visit for most of the time we were there, which was a lot of fun!  
There was a lot of visiting & enjoying the nice weather (mixed with the rain I brought from WA), cooking & laughing at David being his cute little self.

 David is 'roaring' with his tiger mask from the Elephant Bar restaurant (with Dad & Aaron)

I met up with my dad & brother a couple times & that was nice to visit & catch up.  Dad & Lisa gave David another stuffed animal & book.  It's the orange guy from Dr. Seuss' Foot Book.  I called Jamin that night & asked what we should call it... Marvin is now one of David's favorite stuffed animals.  ;)  All of David's stuffed animals (except one that my friend Ashley gave us when they visited us in the hospital when David was born) are either from my Dad or Jamin's Dad.  It's cute.  He likes to cuddle with them when he sleeps

David, another goober pic of myself & my brother, Aaron

I was fortunate to be able to visit many friends (love you guys!), but there never is enough time to do all the visiting I'd like, so I'll have to plan to visit more friends next time I go down ;) 

 We took 3 pictures & one of us has a goofy face in each one!

The last Friday we were there, Debbie & I ventured into Old Sacramento (can I just say I LOVE GPS?!  umm yeah) to visit the California State Railroad Museum.  What a HUGE hit!  When you walk in, there's a lot of displays with plaques talking about the timelessness of trains, etc. (we were there for a 2 year old.. we didn't read the plaques in detail)  The first display case we came across, David ran right up to it & exclaimed with great delight, "Trains! Trains!" 

Clearly, David was not there for the photo op

 

The main floor has several steam engines as well as other rail cars that you can walk through.  Every time you turn around there's another train... and David continuing to exclaim, "train! train!"  Upstairs, there were displays of miniature toy & collectible trains & a Thomas the Tank Engine play area.  We certainly had a lot of fun & I look forward to visiting the RR Museum on our next visit.  We didn't leave without first stopping at the gift shop & picking up a new Thomas book for David to enjoy on the ride home.  After we stopped for corn dogs, of course. ;)

 
That night, Debbie & Jim had a BBQ with a bunch of friends & neighbors.  We made fresh lemonade & enjoyed some yummy food.  David had a lot of fun with any guys he was around.  David especially loved playing with Elaine's (Debbie's longtime best friend) two boys (tween & teen). 

 He seriously ate at least 3 pieces of watermelon.. where is he putting it all?

 

Another fun thing about our trip is that I got Debbie & Jim set up with a web cam & a microphone so we can Skype!  We Skyped with Jamin just about every night.  And every time we Skyped with Jamin, David requested that Daddy read a book.. most of the time it was "Stinky Face, please" ... one of our favorite books is "I Love You, Stinky Face" ... if you haven't heard of it, you have to check it out... super cute & perfect for boys! ;)  We have yet to get on Skype again, just with busy schedules & all; but I really look forward to video chatting.  We enjoy phone calls, but it's so much better for Grandma & Grandpa to actually see David & he can see them as we talk.  Isn't technology wonderful?!  If you have Skype, let us know!  We'd love to do video chats with you!

The flight home was David's TENTH airplane ride!  Can you believe it!  I didn't take my first flight til I was almost a teenager!  He's a great traveler.  It's most likely the last time he flies for free, since airlines want you to pay for tickets as soon as little ones turn two.  We were fortunate & had pretty empty flights, so David had his car seat on the first flight.  However, after lugging his huge carseat, my purse, his diaper bag & David through the airport, I decided to nix the car seat on the plane & he sat on my lap (which is where he wanted to be anyway).  I expected him to nap on the flight home, but he was enthralled with looking out the window & telling me, "I fly on a airplane," as he saw the wing out our window.  He was happy to see Daddy & promptly fell asleep as soon as we were in the car... clutching Marvin, of course ;)

Play Date in March

Here are some pictures from when we met up with a bunch of friends @ Esther Short Park in downtown Vancouver (March 19th)  I had more pictures of our other little friends, but I'm apparently a lousy photographer.  :(  I'll work on that.  It doesn't help that more than half of my photos are taken on my iphone.  hehe

This is Emery, my friend Mel's adorable daughter.  She just turned one last month.  

David & she had fun with these musical tubes.

This was the first time I got David to go down the slide on his own.  The spiral slide is fast, but he loved it!

 He kept asking to go on the swing & then once he was on & I pushed him gently, he would want off.  Then a minute later, he'd ask to go back on the swings again.  Maybe it's just a motion that takes time to get used to?  He loved his infant swing, so I dunno. 

Anyway, we had a bunch of fun & are looking forward to the next time we can meet up for a park play date!

Easter

Here are some photos from Easter Weekend.  [how stinkin' cute is he in that tie?!  He asks to wear a tie.. just like "Daddy's ties"]
Our friends, the Fishers, invited David & I (since Jamin had to work) for a little Easter brunch with their family & a couple other friends.  Natalie made a yummy french toast casserole (have I told you how much I LOVE french toast?  ask my husband... before David was born, we'd make lots of late night trips to Shari's just for french toast).  She also prepared a special Easter lesson for the kids before they did a little hunt for eggs.  The hunt was amusing as was the kids' discovery of not only raisins & cheerios, but some candy inside the eggs.  David caught on to that one really quickly.

We dyed eggs the next day, in-between conference sessions.  I really enjoyed having conference over Easter weekend.  This holiday really is about the Savior & what he did for us & being immersed in talks from our General Authorities really helped to keep the Spirit throughout the weekend. :)

Eww Yucky Gross, Mom

While David was napping, I started mixing up dough for sugar cookies for Easter.  This was a day or so after switching his bed up to a toddler bed, so when he woke up he heard me & scampered down the stairs.  Assuming his usual position as Assistant Baker, he was sitting on top of the counter.  Right when I set him there, he plunged his hand into the dry mixture bowl that contained flour, salt & baking soda (or powder, can't remember) & stuck it in his mouth.  He realized pretty quickly that this mixture didn't taste anything like the yummy baked goods he's helped me make in the past.  After he spat out the cloud of flour mixture, he exclaimed, "Eww yucky gross, Mom!" ... Yeah, dude!  I guess you won't be trying that one again anytime soon! lol!

Fun in the Park

Last Friday, David & I were invited to go to the zoo with Ashley & Tyson.  It was the first sunny day in a long run of grey, rainy days.  Apparently every other person in the greater Portland Metro area had the exact same idea.  The parking lot was a zoo in & of itself!  There were absolutely no available spots with long trains of vehicles trailing around the pavement.  We decided to change plans & took the boys to Washington Park to play.  It was pretty busy there as well, but since there's a huge play area we had a lot of fun.  This is a snapshot of David perched atop a cement elephant that's in the sandbox.  We didn't last very long in the sandbox before it was flying in the air.  So we decided to end our sunny outing by walking around the Portland Rose Garden.  It's a beautiful area & I'm sure it will be amazing once those tight buds show off their beautiful blooms.  They're probably blooming now with our recent sunshine, so maybe we'll plan another trip soon.

Still Here

I promise we haven't fallen off the face of the Earth.. I've just been extremely neglectful of my blog.  For that, I'm so sorry!  It's been more challenging to keep up with things since I really try to avoid being on the computer when David is up & about.  It doesn't always happen, but you know life moves on.  Our office is the most kid un-friendly room in our house - or rather, parent un-friendly since David likes to drag out all sorts of things & make messes (think paperwork, electronics, all of our grown-up [ie. we don't want them shredded] books, etc.)  We're hoping to get a laptop down the road & that will hopefully magically transform me into a frequent & fantastic blogger... we shall see!   
We've just been enjoying living life these past couple of months.  I'm working on some blog posts to update everyone (including quilts!).  So in the meantime, enjoy these facebook status updates from the past couple months:

28.Feb:  Jamin drew the Olympics symbol on David's magnadoodle during church, to which David exclaimed "boobies!" nice & loud... omg... LOL

13.March:  Leah has machine quilted 3 quilts so far (2 sm baby quilts & a crib sized quilt)... Now I'm gonna start quilting the last one (lap quilt - almost twin size)... This is great practice w/ free-motion on the machine :)

19.March:  Leah is headed to the park to play on this beautiful almost-Spring day! :)


30.March:  Leah is enjoying a fun mid-week date night w/ my honey @ the John Mayer concert!

8.April:  Leah is happy to finally be on the plane w/ the toddler... Even happier that he has his own seat!

9.April:  Leah was told "bless you, mama" by my almost 2 yr old when I sneezed (without prompting!) ... I melted!

16.April:  Leah is headed to the California State Railroad Museum :)

16.April:  Leah is enjoying some delicious homemade lemonade @ a backyard BBQ ... Pure happiness

17.April:  Leah David & I are getting ready to take his TENTH airplane flight

18.April:  Leah loves to hear her almost 2-year old say smoke detector... hehe

22.April:  Leah is so very grateful for our ever mindful Heavenly Father

24.April: Leah had more fun than I expected @ our ward spaghetti dinner & auction fundraiser for the youth :)

25.April:  Leah is looking forward to Stake Conference this weekend!  Lots of changes in store!!

28.April:  Leah ran away to the circus w/ my mom

 3.May:  Leah just locked my keys in the car... With David strapped in his carseat

..............................................................
FYI, David is safe & was just singing away as we waited for the tow truck to open the car (which was a surprisingly short wait!).  I'm looking forward to 'talking' to you guys again soon!  Feel free to leave comments... I love comments ;) 
HUGS

Digging in the Dirt

David & I have been spending the better part of these recent unseasonably warm, sunny days digging in the dirt... it has been so much fun!
Our friends, Natalie, her husband, Cy & daughter, Tatym (who is a day younger than David) are living in an old farm house (built in 1908, on 5 acres) while the owners, an older couple, are gone for a year on a mission for our church. They have 4 ducks & the sweetest St. Bernard. Neighbors on 2 sides of the property have cows, with more down the country road & a few horses along the way as well. Because Natalie is expecting a baby boy in late June, she has recruited me to co-garden a vegetable garden. We'll put in the work together & reap the rewards together. I'm really looking forward to yummy sun-kissed veggies!First of all, we have no clue what we're doing & we're probably in way over our heads. But we're just marching forward with plans & advice from a few people - eager for advice from everyone else who's successfully grown veggies in our area. We started with seeds in the greenhouse & feel like new parents all over again seeing our seeds sprout up through the soil! We have life in our greenhouse!! We've been weeding & working the dirt, getting ready to move stuff from the greenhouse out to our little field or raised beds. The couple who own the home have previously grown veggies & there are a few berries that have been around a while. There's rhubarb, strawberries, raspberries & blueberries.
Here are the veggies we're growing or plan to grow:
tomatoes, tomatillos, onions (yellow & green), jalapenos, bell peppers (red & green), sweet peas, sugar peas, string beans, variety of green leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, spinach, cabbage, broccoli, celery, cucumber, carrots, zucchini, potatoes, pumpkin (Cinderella variety), corn, sunflowers (because they're pretty), cilantro, basil, thyme, parsley & chives.
Yes, we are crazy... but this is so much fun!
While Natalie & I are digging in the dirt, Tatym & David take advantage of all of the room to run & play. They wander through the orchard, chase the ducks, play in puddles, stop & point at airplanes passing by, climb dirt mountains & moo at the cows on the other side of the fence. I love it!

I've been taking advantage of all the sunny days by working outside... but I promise to get a picture of my January quilts up here soon.. we're expecting sun on Sunday! (perfect, huh) :D