picking a restaurant

Tomorrow night my mom is coming over to babysit so we can go out to dinner. I'm SUPER excited! Since we rarely go out to dinner, much thought needs to go into where we will go. This is NOT the time to try out a new place, in my opinion. Basically I go by a few criteria when I'm making suggestions to Chris:

*Location: Cheesecake Factory would probably be first on our list since it is our favorite, but the closest one is 40 minutes away. Not ideal.
*Bread before the meal: This is pretty key, however I'm willing to forgo it if the restaurant is very tasty, like Claim Jumpers. But somewhere like Macaroni Grill really shoots up in the rankings because of their bread.
*Quantity: I'm all about leftovers and feel there is not much to look forward to afterward unless I'm taking home a styrofoam container.
*Quality: I have to REALLY like the food. This isn't too difficult as there are plenty of places that I feel strongly about.
*Atmosphere: We had thought about Gourmet Pizza , but for some reason, it just seems too casual. I would like to be waited on. And Red Robin is good, but we have been in and out of there in 30 minutes (because they are just that quick with their service). I want to enjoy the whole experience, so I doubt that will be in the running.

When Chris and I first got married, he made fun of my family because we LOVE to analyze where we are going to eat (mainly when we are on vacation). I'm going to call Chris out on that because I think he has actually grown to like the process too. So, all this to say we aren't yet sure where we are going, but wherever it is, much thought will have gone into it!!!

new toys

Last Father's Day (08), I gave Chris a gift card to Apple to get an iPhone. Unfortunately we didn't receive the best service out here so he begrudgingly had to take it back. This year he tried again and was excited to finally have it work. He has been playing with it quite a bit and I must admit, I think it will come in very handy on road trips when I want to check email or check where the nearest Starbucks is. Here he is downloading different applications, or "apps", as true Mac users call them. He looks quite sleepy here as this was during our early morning I blogged about yesterday. :)



Our second, and most exciting (to me anyway) toy we got this weekend was this AMAZING play set. Yesterday morning my mom called and said she was at a yard sale and saw this set on sale. After texting me a picture, I said, "Get it! Get it!". How could you pass this up for only $80??? Cam was very excited as they were assembling it. He was climbing all over it as each piece went up. I'm so thankful to have it as I have wanted one for a long time. Thanks soooo much, mom!!!



And here is another "toy" of Cam's...

7:15

Chris just asked me, "I wonder what other parents are doing right now? (sigh)". The reason he asked this is because this morning, all before 7:15, we had:

*Swept and mopped the kitchen floor, Chris's office, and the bathroom
*Dusted/cleaned all kitchen chairs
*Scrubbed and cleaned the stove top
*Fed Cam breakfast
*Made and ate breakfast ourselves
*Wiped down blinds in our living room
*Checked email
*Played outside in the backyard with Cam

Do I say this to brag? Heck no. Don't you think I'd rather be in bed right now?? Keep in mind this IS a Saturday! But Cam wouldn't have it any other way. :)

mini reunion

Several weeks back I got together with a couple of friends from college. We got to thinking how fun it would be to get several of us together who graduated around the same time. Last night we met at one of our houses and had such a nice time! We all brought either an appetizer or dessert and talked and talked. At one point, we all sat around and each took a turn updating everyone on our lives since Biola. It was a lot of fun and I'd like to not only do it again, but add more and more girls each time!

worth it

A few days ago a guy came by offering us free installation on an alarm system for our house. We need only pay the monthly $40 maintenance fee. I agree that it seems like a good deal, and believed him when he said it was a very discounted monthly rate. However the fact remains, no matter how discounted $40 is, it is still an extra $40! So we passed. Just like I have passed on clothing that was super on sale. It may be a great sale, but it is still money out of my pocket.

Today at Costco, however, I did spend a little extra. Normally, I pay $2.99 for a small bag of spinach at the grocery store. This bag at Costco however, was only 50 cents more...and look how huge it is (2.5 lbs. to be exact)! So will I actually eat all of this? I might not (however I will sure try), but I do think getting about 2x the spinach was worth the extra 50 cents!!

happy father's day!

We celebrated today with my mom and dad over a scrumptious lunch. Menu:

*Steak
*Broccoli Salad--my mom makes this so tasty and it is really the only way Chris likes broccoli
*Bread
*Grean Beans
*German Chocolate Cake and Ice Cream--I made this and wrote "#1 Dads" in melted chocolate on top. I made sure to cut my piece to include the most lettering!

Why do I tell you our menu? Because I'm always interested in what other people serve, so I assume there is at least one person out there who is the same way!





What a fun day, but yes, Kendall, I'm pooped too!

random pics

I don't have much to blog about, so I thought I would just post some random pics from the past.

I'm so excited for the beginning of the Holiday season, kicked off with Halloween. I honestly don't mind that Holiday stuff starts popping up in stores in August! This was taken two Halloween's ago.


I can tell Kendall is the type that likes to face forward (when I'm holding her). She is too wobbly still for me to put her in the Bjorn, but I'm excited for her to get bigger as I loved carrying Cam around in it.


I've never been a huge steak fan. I just don't think most have a ton of flavor. So when Chris and I go to a steakhouse, I usually order a salad and a baked potato. Chris and I have been to Ruth's Chris very few times as it is very pricey. The past couple of times I just ordered a potato. Yes, I felt a little tacky, but I wasn't going to plunk down $30 on a piece of meat just so I wouldn't feel awkward ordering!


This was taken several years ago when my sister and her family were visiting. This is Savannah, her oldest daughter (she now has three girls). I just think it is such a sweet picture. :)

addicted

I'm back on my hot chocolate kick. I didn't much feel like it for most of my pregnancy, but I'm back. I really need to give myself a limit, however, as I just finished my 5th cup today. I'm really into Trader Joes "Sipping Chocolate". Very rich (add a few marshmellows and it's downright heavenly). I justify it in that I make it with milk each time and it really is the only time I drink milk. But still, 5 cups Kelly??

weekend getaway

This past weekend we headed up north for a visit to my in-laws. Cam had a BLAST the entire time. He ran himself ragged all around their property playing with the dogs, pulling his wagon, running around (making his grandma probably regret inviting us as she must have been exhausted following him around and keeping him in check!!). We enjoyed amazing food the entire weekend. Debbie always tries new, rich, chocolate recipes when I'm there. She hit a home run this time with my new favorite, "Chocolate Mess". It is made in the crock pot and is not for the, "this is too rich, I can only have one bite" wimpy folk. This is for hard core chocolate lovers. Yum. Email me if you think you can handle the recipe. :)

Chris and his dad got to play some golf and we also got two great visits in, one with his grandparents, and one with Matt and Jana, some dear friends we don't get to see near enough. It was such a nice and relaxing weekend and it was hard to leave and get back to our usual home routine. :)

More and more alert :)


Kendall with grandma




Jana and I with our girls

the sprinkles were calling

This morning we got all bundled up for a walk to Staters. They have tri-tip roast on sale and I wanted to stock up for crock pot shredded beef. Since both of us are home every day for lunch, I run out of things to cook and these make great sandwiches. It was cold and drizzly this morning, but the kiddos were nice and warm and I have a great rain cover on the stroller.

Anyway, we started off with Cam eating a healthy banana and sippy of milk.



When we got to the store, this tasty looking donut just called Cam's name. It had the cutest sprinkles on it and I just couldn't resist. Normally I don't give in as donuts aren't exactly on the list of good foods for your kids...but...



p.s. This pic is unrelated to anything, but Kendall is getting more and more chunky and cute, so I couldn't resist!

disneyland

Today we went to Disneyland for the first time as a family. It was a lot of fun, despite the crowds. I dropped Cam and Chris off in the morning and went to have coffee with Ana, Wendy, and her mom across the way at Gardenwalk. It was fun to see Wendy as it has been a long time since she moved to Oregon.



I then met Chris and Cam and we spent the rest of the time in CA Adventure. We got on some pretty good rides, except we were bummed to not get to Soaring Over California. Even after getting a fast pass, the line was still a little long. Maybe next time!

toys r us

In the grand scheme of life, this is so not a big deal. And I'm really not complaining (I have to say that b/c the sermon today was about not grumbling!), but can I just say that Toys R Us/Babies R Us annoy me? First off, I don't like the barrage of questions that hit me when I check out:

*Are you part of our rewards program?
*I'm assuming your kiddos are part of Jeffrey's Birthday club?
*Did you know we sell a protection plan for these trains? (why wouldn't I spend almost a third the cost of a Thomas the Train just so I could take it back if it got scratched!??)
*Do you have triple A batteries at home?

No kidding. Those were the questions all as I was checking out.

Secondly, I bought something with a $25 gift card that was $30, so I gave them the additional $5 in cash. When I needed to return it, they refused to give me my $5, and instead attached it to the gift card because they, "couldn't split a refund". Is that legal??

1 month

*Wow. I can't believe it has already been 4 weeks since Kendall was born! Last night my mom gave us a night away from the "fussies" and we went out to dinner. It was VERY nice as good conversation time has decreased over the past few weeks due to no longer having our free evenings once Cam is in bed. Thanks mom!



*Yesterday morning we had Cam's IEP (meeting to discuss what services they'll offer to him) for our school district. Once he turns 3, we will start working with them as opposed to the county. I won't bore you with all the details (as the meeting was almost 2 hours), but I'll just say that it went great and we both left super encouraged. It looks like Cam will attend their preschool as opposed to the one I previously chose (so much for all that research!). We both feel really good about the decision and are also happy that it is 5 minutes away as opposed to 20!

*It has been very weird weather lately and I'm hoping the weekend doesn't hold rain for us. Maybe if we took Cam's approach from yesterday and said, "turn rain off!", that might work. :)

bed time buddies

When I was a kid, I simply wanted my "gaggy" (blanket) in bed with me. Cam's night time buddies have evolved from one stuffed animal to: Two trains (must be red and yellow), pretend corn, sippy, Lightning McQueen, sheep, bear, two fish (must be specific ones), and a book. Doesn't look very cozy to me, but for now I don't mind as rolling over a train or toy corn never seems to wake him up!