Ode to Escape

So for the past two weeks, the car that I usually drive, the Escape, has been non-drivable. All of a sudden it stopped working. Luckily, Tyler has been riding his bike to work, so I was able to drive his car, which is a 98 Toyota Corolla. I don't mind driving it, the only problem with the car is that it doesn't have power steering. Tyler says there is a hole in the power steering hose which he wrapped with some stuff, but the stuff melted and it still leaks. I hate having to turn the car from a stopped position. My arms are so SORE. Finally, about a week ago, Tyler figured out what was wrong with the car. The alternator was not working. For a new one it was $500 and for a used one it was $160. Luck was on our side again and we were able to get one for $100 through a friend. Friday night Tyler was able to pick it up. HE worked on it until midnight on Friday. He couldn't work on it on Saturday because he was going sailing and snorkeling for the whole day. He couldn't get the belt on without another set of hands to help. So yesterday, Tyler's friend, Spencer, came over for lunch and helped put on the belt. I was able to drive my car. I honestly forgot how easy it was to turn the car with power steering. It was honestly AMAZING. I am also grateful for such an awesome husband who knows how to do almost everything. I know that we would be paying at least $500-$1000 if we had to take it to the auto shop. Thanks Tyler!

The things I do to make dinner ready

Almost everyday at the same time, when I am trying to get dinner ready. Lizette is at my feet in between the counter and me pushing for me to hold her so she can see what is happening. But it is really hard to hold the baby and cook dinner. And when I use the gate to keep her out of the kitchen, she will cry and cry.

So yesterday, I was trying to make dinner, and she was at my legs wanting me to pick her up. I picked up up and put her in her baby exercise saucer (we still have it out to protect her from turning on the heater) and turned on Sesame Street. She was HAPPY for at least 30 minutes. And not to mention, that I was happy to make dinner without a screaming baby. It was definitely a win-win-win conflict resolution. (Thank you, The Office)

Getting ready for Spaghetti

These pictures make me laugh

Fiesta

So this weekend was the Fiesta that our town holds every year. We decided to take Lizette again. Last year, she wanted to go on the Merry-Go-Round and the Tilt-a-World but she wasn't able to go on either. This year she was able to go on the Merry-Go-Round, which she thought was alright, but they still wouldn't let her go on the Tilt-A-World. It was fun to compare pictures from exactly a year ago, and to see how much she has changed. She is definitely much more active than last year. (I love the picture of her in front of the Tilt-A-World, she looks so sad.) The funny thing is that Tyler hasn't changed at all. Even his clothes are the same.

We have become those People.

I know it has been FOREVER since I last updated the blog. I have just had a lot on my plate, and a HORRIBLE month. I don't know where to begin on the list of all of my woes, and I almost don't want to. So to make a long story short, I have to start at the beginning.

About two years ago, when Tyler and I first moved into our small rental, we talked of how MOST people (including the previous tenants) collected so much junk when they moved into the house, and we vowed that we would never let that happen to us.

Fast Forward two years later. WE ARE WORST THAN WHAT WE VOWED THAT WE WOULD NEVER BECOME, because of our "problems" this month, we are trying to make some fast money. We have resorted to taking things that people are throwing away to try to sell for CASH. And since our place is so small, we end up putting it in the front yard, not that we look ghetto enough in our house.. SO, I had this brilliant plan to get two refrigerators that were working and sell them to Southern California Edison, for fifty dollars each. Then we got a washing machine for free that we are trying to sell. I don't mind doing all of this, I just had to put everything in the front yard, luckily all our miscellaneous items were only there for about a week, but I felt shame every time I pulled into our driveway. All I would say is $100, $100, $100. I think I mostly felt bad for our neighbors.

Tyler says that the video he did with the Dirty Dog Cooker 2000 was a joke about white trash people. Now he is sad, because evidently he was making fun of us. We actually went straight past white trash to hillbilly hell. Where's the next stop, nobody knows.

Every Letter Makes A Sound

So Lizette got a new "toy" a couple of weeks ago it is a Hook on Phonics toy it has every letter of the alphabet, it also has a Letter reader tells children the letter name and sound it makes, and another button sings the the alphabet song. Okay, I really got it so I could distract her while I am making dinner, and it is educational so it is a win, win. I am actually quite pleased with this purchase. I love that it is teaching the alphabet and the different sounds that the letters make. Even though I do hear the alphabet song about 100 times a day, but so far I don't mind. Lizette loves to dance and twirl to the alphabet song, it is really cute. Maybe I will hate this after a couple more months, but as of today I love it.

Camping & Sleepovers

So this past week, Tyler, Lizette, and I went camping with the Bartons at Carpinteria. We were gone from Tuesday to Thursday. We go camping at least ever summer, and we love it, but the only think I have to say is that camping is so much more exhausting with a toddler. She is always running somewhere and getting into trouble. But she was really good at sleeping through the night, even with the train track close by. I can honestly say that I didn't hear the train once at night, maybe because we were running after a toddler the whole day. Lizette loved camping, and of course, she LOVED the beach. She wanted to be in the ocean the whole time and when she wasn't in the ocean she was crawling and laying in the sand. I can't honestly say that I have been so sandy in YEARS. By Thursday, we were so exhausted. I am just happy that Tyler, Lizette or I didn't get sunburned. I was putting sunscreen on about every hour and a half. The last thing I wanted was a sunburned baby.


















































Then on Saturday Chloe came over for a sleepover. They played all day together, and by played I really mean fight over every toy in the house. Then we went over to the Talley's home to celebrate Spencer's birthday. They had tons of fun running around and playing in the sprinklers. Then after that it was bedtime. HORRAY. Chloe slept in our bedroom in the pack and play. She woke up about 6:00 am. We were so tired, we just put her in bed with us and hoped that she would go back to sleep and that is exactly what she did, until 8:30 when Lizette and I woke her up. We had her until 1:00 on Sunday. I am so happy that she was able to come over and spend some time with us. I really want Lizette to get to know her cousins. I really love that I was able to know my cousins that live around us really well, and I want that for Lizette.

NEWPORT

So last week my friend Valerie called and asked if I wanted to go to Newport during the week. Her parents had a time share and it was going to expire, so for a small fee to transfer it she was going to use it at the Newport Beach Marriott. Of course, I said yes. Lizette and I left on Monday to go to Newport. Monday, after nap time we went to the pool. Valerie's friend, Laura was there with her son, Chase, who was born three weeks before Lizette, and Valerie and her daughter Milana, who was born two days after Lizette. So it was fun that all the kids were really close in age. After swimming we went back to the room, had dinner, and gave the kids all a bath and got ready for bed. Laura and Chase left to go back home.



























The rest of the week it was pretty overcast, but we went swimming everyday, went to the park a couple of times, and went to the mall. Wednesday was the only really sunny day, and we hiked the mile to the beach. Lizette and Milana had a great time. Lizette wouldn't stay put, so I just walked with her up and down the beach, she especially loved the rocks were there were crabs and shells Lizette and Milana got along for the most part, I just need to work on the whole sharing concept with Lizette. Milana is so cute and wanted to give kisses and hugs to Lizette. But Lizette has to be in the mood to give and receive kisses and hugs. Thursday after dinner and bath, Lizette and I left to come back home. Lizette and Milana were finally getting use to each other, they shared some celery then it was off to go back home. We had lots of fun. I am so happy that Valerie invited us to hang out with them for a week. Now we are going to Carpinteria for the next couple of days to go camping with the Bartons. We are all very excited, we love the beach and camping.

Swimming

My Aunt Gayle and Uncle Peter had the family over to their house for a get together. They just refinished their pool, so we were allowed to go swimming, unfortunately, they couldn't heat it up yet. So Tyler took Lizette in the spa, because it was warm, with all the bodies in it. Tyler would dunk Lizette in the water and she LOVED it. Her little feet where kicking so hard with excitement. She then wanted to stand on the seat herself. It was the funniest thing, she was trying to dunk her own head under water. She only went as far as her nose, but it was pretty funny. I love that she isn't afraid of the water, but that means that we have to watch her even closer around water. Tyler also took her down the slide. She was great. She didn't cry, she whined a little bit because she was wasn't expecting it. Tyler was great. She didn't go under water at all when they went down the slide, because he was holding her above his head. By the end of the day, Lizette was done. She was dead asleep by the time we buckled her in her car seat.

Breakfast with Daddy

Every morning when Tyler wakes up Lizette to have breakfast with him before he heads off to work. Lizette gets so excited when she see the bowl of cereal. As soon as prayer is done she points at the bowl. She gets a big mouth full and is already egger for the next bite. She is so cute. If we don't put the box of cereal away she will point at the box and say numm-numm. And yes her favorite cereal is the same as her Daddy, Frosted Mini Wheat, Big Bite. She is getting way to smart for her own good..

POOR BABY

Today Lizette was so sick. It just hurts my little heart. She has NEVER been sick like today. She threw up 6 times, and it was not pretty. She just wanted to be held, the whole morning. So sad. Then after a little nap in the afternoon, she woke up SCREAMING. And there was nothing I could do for her, she didn't want anything to drink or eat, she didn't want me to hold her or not to hold her, she didn't know what she wanted. After about two hours of non-stop crying, which has NEVER happened before, I took her to the doctor. And as soon as we walked inside the doctor's office she stopped crying. The doctor said that she has the flu, and was getting her molars. Once we came home she ate some dinner, and kept it down. But getting her to go to sleep without a bottle (doctor said no protein or dairy) was a little challenging. Hopefully she will feel better tomorrow. It makes me so sad to see her so sick, but Tyler likes it because she is so cuddly when she is sick.

WICKED

So Saturday Tyler and I had a big date. For my birthday (which was in March), Tyler got me tickets to see Wicked and said that we were going to make a day out of it. So finally the weekend of our big date came. I have been dreaming about seeing it for years, so it was very very exciting for me. So Saturday we woke up early and dropped Lizette off at Tyler's sister, Christy's house and went to the temple. After the temple, we drove to the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles. We got to the theater about an hour and a half before the play began, so we decided to park and go and get something to eat for lunch. We walked up Hollywood Blvd, in search for something to eat (I was not smart. I was wearing my nice heels, my feet were KILLING me!!) So finally we decided to eat at Sharky's which was only a couple of blocks away from the Theater.

While Tyler and I were eating some guy came in wearing the WORST outfit ever. We kept on talking about how we wanted to take a picture of the guys outfit and I told Tyler I brought our camera and we can pretend to take pictures of each other, but we would be taking pictures of the guy. We were laughing SO HARD. The guys shirt was SOOO tight, and his short were tight AND short, but the best part was the shoes. They were laced up moon boot sneakers. I wonder if he could tell we were taking pictures of him, but who cares. By the way, we took more pictures of this guy than the rest of our whole date.





















After our lovely lunch we were off to the Pantages Theater. After we got our seats, which were really good. We sat on the main floor about half way up from the stage in the middle. After waiting so long to see Wicked, it was everything and more than I thought it was going to be. During intermission Tyler bought me a shirt, and Lizette a onesie that says, Green Babies Rule, and it says Wicked on her bottom. When Wicked was over and we were walking back to our car, I asked Tyler when are we going to go and see it again. He said soon. Tyler really liked it as well. I don't want Tyler to get mad at this comment, but he likes musicals. So I wasn't surprise that he liked it just as much as I did.














(Just a little back story: Last week was the worst week. Lizette was teething and not sleeping like she usually does. Then I lost my wallet on Wednesday at someone's house while I was visiting teaching, thank you Lizette. Wednesday night someone from the bishopric called at 9:30pm asking us to give a talk on Sunday. I am HORRIBLE at giving talks, and it has only been less than 7 months since the last time we gave talks.)

But while we were at Wicked, someone called and said that she found my wallet at there house. HORRAY. Once we picked up Lizette, we went home and ate dinner, and packed up the car to drive the Tehacipi, for Charlie's baby blessing. Tyler had to bring his giant wreath that he made for Christmas, more to come on that later....GHETTO, I know. The best part is that we drove to Erik and Cristin's church with the wreath on our car.