I think I'm in love

Maybe this was one of our best Valentine's Days. Maybe It was fabulous because of what happened last year, which was NOTHING. Not one thing. Not even a card! I thought for sure it would be yet another bust due to the overwhelming amounts of work Evan needed to do. But thinking about the holiday made me a little sad and at times resentful, so I mentioned it to Evan, not knowing if I'd regret doing so, for the sake of a really genuine Evan and whatever that brought to me. I didn't want him to do something just because I mentioned it, or because he felt he HAD to- but really? Aren't we in love? At least do SOMETHING! Anyway....He did say that he couldn't win. Don't get me wrong, he does show affection, and is always good for mother's day, and anniversaries and such. It just happened to be a sore spot from last year.
I woke up to a note that asked me to meet him for lunch that day, and he arranged for Mary to watch the kids. It was wonderful.
I showed up to the restaurant to see this:

Inside was this:

Soooo yummy!
He also gave me a new one of these:

It's a new Sansa Clip, an MP3 player. My last one broke and I've missed it terribly.
He totally redeemed himself this year. Whether I said something or not, he really did it right this year.
I love him a lot. He is perfect for me.
At the end of the day, I gave him this:

I make him a card every V-Day. The inside isn't pictured, but I think it's the best one yet.

California Lovin'

I absolutely love it here. For all who don't know, we moved to California! Yeah! No! Just kidding. Evan's work has a project in which they're teaming up with a company out here, and they needed Evan and his Utah co-worker, Matt, to come out here for a month to work with them, and light a little fire under them. The thought of leaving home to come out for a month was a little sobering, but after thinking about it, I'd rather be here with him, than home without him. All our food and gas and expenses are paid for, it's warmer, plus we're here with Matt and his wife, Mary, and their 1 yr old daughter, Izzy. The company is great!

We left Jan 31st and drove out over 2 days. It was fun having another family to travel with. The boys did great, as we've now come to expect. (I don't know where their good travel abilities come from.)

Here's the view of the backseat!

Did I mention we're in San Luis Obispo? We love, love, love it here! I could live here, it's so beautiful-and it sounds like I just might be here awhile!

Here's us at the beach:

We went to the old train depot in town. Porter was in heaven:

Evan's sister Terri flew in for the weekend to get away from the snow. She's the favorite aunt, and thus, the kids had an awesome time. We drove the 3 1/2 hours down to Disneyland to celebrate my birthday, and see some friends.
We got there late, and crashed with Brent and Linnae, who graciously put us up in 3 different rooms of the house. The next morning it was Disney time! I was so excited, it was hard to contain myself as we walked into the park. Porter was in heaven.

 Here's Porter with Kirsi:

His favorite ride was the cars:

Or maybe "it's a small world"

Or maybe meeting Mickey Mouse:

Mostly we liked being having Terri along

We've had a great time being able to play, and discard all sorts of housekeeping responsibilities, and being able to play with the kids, and go wherever we want, whenever we want.

Here's some pics of us playing:

 Matt and Mary

Henry is such a good sport. This is basically how he spends most mornings out and about. He's clearly not sad about it:

6 months

Henry,

You have added a measure of joy to my life that I treasure. You are always happy to see me, and I cherish your cuddly side. You are a good sleeper, and you surprise us some nights by not needing us at all. You are becoming more aware of your world, and especially that of your brother's. You stare at him constantly, and he'll sometimes involve you in play. You LOVE food. I've never seen a baby scarf it all down, or put it away quite like you do. You explore everything, and it goes straight to your mouth. You love to be held, but only when I'm not doing something that takes me away from your attention. You are very strong, but won't roll over anymore. You still hate being on your tummy, but we still keep trying.

You kick all the time, especially when you're excited. You are loving the walker more and more, but would still rather be held.

You fall asleep often in your car seat, but almost never in our arms. We've accustomed you to sleeping by yourself lying down, so you won't give in when we coax you at church.

Your squeals and noises keep us happy, and we enjoy watching you learn. Your personality has been interesting to figure out, and we are so pleased with your mellow charm.

You sit up on your own now, and you're starting to engage yourself more in play and exploration with new toys. It's fun to watch.

You laugh a lot at our expressions, and you seem to have a grasp of what's coming up next. (We love schedules!)

Letting you cry has been the key to many naptimes, and we're grateful you put yourself to sleep at night, so we don't have to hear you cry then.

You are on formula now full-time, and watch us like a hawk when we get bottles ready.

You've been easy and fun. We love having you with us and look forward to your sweet laid-back character to continue teaching us.

WE LOVE YOU!

online scrapbooking

I'm so excited! Look what came in the mail a few weeks ago. I spent a month working on this "scrap" book of Porter's first year. I have always wanted to keep a memory book for my children, but I have no time for cutting and pasting.

I decided on a 12x12, cause that's the size I would do if I kept a scrap book. I loved this project, and hope to do one for every year of their lives. I did keep a journal for Porter, so I have a lot of the details and dates of things, which I included in the book.

He doesn't get it yet, and i don't let him look at it unsupervised, but I flatter myself that he'll appreciate it one day...

As promised!

Here's my house. We've been here for 8 months, but it seems we've always lived here. We're a far cry from getting it all decorated and fitted to us, but we'll get there.

Sorry the video quality is so poor- we had to make it fit in blogger somehow...

And as for the mess in the master bdrm... we just finished hosting play group when I filmed this. I didn't take the time to pick up the mess. Enjoy!

Craft day

Tea and I decided to make a V-Day craft this month. I stumbled across these cute XO XO frames here and decided to try them out.

We bought some Stik 'n Seal at HD
I spray-painted my frames from the Dollar Store
The frames, and thus paper is only 5x7 size.
Unlike the originals, we wanted to have some color to ours, so we picked up bigger rocks. These are Tea's. These are mine

How cute. It only took us about an hour.

My Collection

Since my wedding four years ago I've had a serious lust for anything pampered chef. I have to admit, one of my secret desires is too have one of everything-I know, I know...kind of shallow. Going to a party is like poison on my pocketbook, but the good thing is...Evan kinda crushes on 'em too!