Halloween! SLC 09

We went to Salt Lake again for Halloween. While I'm no Utah fan (sorry family), I love going up there to visit my sister Kasie and her family (we've made a tradition of doing this since Parker was 2). Parker was an evil guy with red eyes (don't even ask), London was a geisha (dressing up a child as an Asian prostitute is only bad if you actually put them to work) and I dressed up for the first time in years. I was a witch, which interestingly, everyone agreed was very appropriate (especially my loving and long-suffering husband). We had lots of fun and actually got to trick-or-treat for over an hour (the last several years there's been sleet, snow and rain; why don't I love Utah you ask? The weather is only one of the reasons).

San Francisco! Oct 09

Scott ran his 3rd Rock & Roll event, this year, in San Francisco in October (one of my very favorite cities in the US but it was Scott's first time). We made it a mini-vacation WITHOUT THE KIDS!! That's the best part. No kids for four days!! Scott ran a great race, although he didn't come in first so that was a big let down. I keep waiting for him to win and collect the prize money. I'm going to keep hounding him until he does. If I need to send him to Kenya to do it, then so be it.

So let me tell you about a couple of fun memories from the trip:

We stayed about 45 miles south of SF (in San Jose, didn't know that when I booked the hotel). To get to SF we took the train. Unbeknownst to us, the Saturday we were there was also the day of the world-famous Love Fest. Imagine Mardi Gras with fewer clothes (yes, it's possible), more alcohol, more feather boas, more drugs and more, uhem, questionable behavior. It was our great pleasure to ride the train with hundreds (standing room only) of 16-25 year-olds who were already buzzed by 10:00 am. True story: people were smoking weed ON THE TRAIN. The smell was so powerful I seriously thought that Scott and I were going to get high just by the second hand smoke. The hour long train ride took almost 3 hours and I've never wanted to physically harm so many people in such a short amount of time.

Next story (and this is seriously condensed): On Sunday, we missed the last train back to San Jose, had to get a hotel room at the Palace Hotel (no luggage, no contact solution, no nothing but the clothes on our backs!) which looks EXACTLY like the Overlook Hotel from the Shining and all I heard all night was "It's Tony. Redrum! Redrum! Want to play with us?" AHHHHHHGGGGG! (see picture above) We were so exhausted and aggrevated by the events of the evening (how is it that we got the two cabbies in SF who had justed started their jobs and had NO IDEA how to get to the train station?! One of them actually asked us (after we told him where we needed to go) "How to you get there?" I don't know genius! We're the tourists, not the freaking cabby! I seriously thought Scott was going to have an aneurysm. Usually I'm the one who completely loses my stuff in these types of situations but Scott definitely took the lead this time. Ay caramba.

Best Husband Ever!

Ok. Here's the deal: my biggest pet peeve about blogs is that anyone, and everyone (it seems), can use them as a tool to talk about how great they are, what wonderful things they accomplish, how amazing their life is, how much they've been blessed, etc. Most blogs that I've read seem to completely sugarcoat real life and make even the most mundane everyday events seem full of purpose; ugh. It's like Tracy Flick from Election (must see movie, IMHO). That being said...I have the most amazing husband. Yesterday he surprised me by taking the day off of work and pulled a Mr. Mom (sans the formidable "jaws"). He made a reservation for me to get a massage at my favorite day spa with my awesome friend Elisa, and gave me the entire day to have a relaxing lunch and time to shop afterwords. I came home completely relaxed and even more in love with the man of my dreams (I know that sounds so cheesy but it's so true).

I dated a lot of frogs to finally get my Prince Charming. Scott's not perfect and, as anyone who knows me can testify, neither am I. However, we're perfect for each other. It's so weird but in almost every way, it seems like we were made for each other. Don't get me wrong, we're not very similar at all, in fact, we're about as different as night and day. We have very few things in common and we're constantly challenging one another. But that's why it works. I can't imagine my life without him and I respect him more than anyone I've ever met. I can only hope that Parker becomes a man like him and that London is blessed to find a man that is.

Birthdays!

Parker and London each had birthday parties in August. Parker went bowling with way too many boys. It was a lot of fun (for him) but I'm really looking forward to not having huge birthday parties every year. Not only is it expensive, but I seriously have no patience in these sorts of situations; I get major anxiety and stressed out. All in the name of fun, for the kids of course. That makes me a good mom. Poor London though. Her little party was kind of thrown together at the last minute (but she'll never know that, unless she reads this). I bought some tiaras, for the girls, and Parker ended up wearing one all night. What a weirdo. I bought London a five dollar doll (and she's really ugly) from Scott and me. I guarantee she'll have better parties in the years to come, but let's get real, the first one doesn't really count. Does that make me a bad mom?

Seattle! Aug 09

This picture pretty much says it all. I also felt like that by the end of the trip.

Seattle! Aug 09

I'm so behind on this. We went on a family vacation to Seattle in August and had a blast. On a side note, if I wasn't already using an iron-clad form of birth control, then going on vacation with a one-year old would be all the birth control I needed. Holy cow. Scott and I think it's important to travel with our kids (most of the time) and give them fun travel memories; but for the love of all that's good and holy, we deserve some kind of medal after this trip.

This is our Ghetto AC (patent pending of course). Poor little London was roasting like a little pork loin every time she was strapped in for a ride. Thanks to Scott's invention-inity (meaning: to have an affection for looking outside of the box to solve everyday problems), he created Ghetto AC. London now rides in style and is cooler (in every way) than every other baby in the desert.