Way Up in the Sky

There's been a lot happening in the sky around here in the last couple of weeks.

On my way to work one morning, I was taken back by the beautiful sunrise that was hiding behind some clouds. I was annoyed that I had my camera with me the day before but had taken it into the house (for safe keeping). Surprisingly, my little phone did a decent job.

Then last week, The Lime and I were outside, while he enjoyed his popsicle, and I noticed the sky changing. I quickly ran inside to get the camera and by the time I was back outside, it had drastically changed. The colors were richer and more vibrant and we "oohed" and "ahhed" while I clicked away.

Last night, while I was making dinner, we heard a jet fly over our house. About ten minutes later, we heard it again. This time, we ran outside to see it and discovered there were two jets. Although they were far away, they sounded like they were in our backyard...so loud! The Lime and I watched them over and over again as they prepared to do a flyover for the Raiders opening game.

Eleven years ago, things in the sky changed. After September 11, when I saw a plane, I would mentally prepare myself for it to crash. Our old house was below the final descent for the Oakland airport so we had planes over us all the time. Paranoia struck and I was convinced we'd have a plane hit our home. I still have dreams (nightmares?) of horrific terrorist lead plane crashes in our area.

My thoughts and prayers are turned to those who were in the sky that day and lost their lives, as well as their families, and those that had to witness it firsthand. I hope the last are able to look up once in a while, and find something beautiful.

The 3-Day

I always know the seasons are changing when the Susan G. Komen 3-Day comes around. It's hard to believe that the Avon walk was two months ago and in two days, the 3-day will be over, too!

My sister has worked her bum off this year to reach (and surpass) her goal of raising $2300. The walk is worth it in the first place, but when you really have to earn your money, it makes it that much sweeter.

My parents joined The Lime and I as we traveled across the bay to cheer Kari, Lori, and Cathy on.

The Lime decided to start the festivities early on and draw on his face with markers, about two minutes before we were ready to walk out the door. He was p.r.e.t.t.y. proud of himself.

The weather could not have been more perfect! The sky was crystal clear and the sun was just warm enough but not hot where it could interfere with the walkers' experience.

As we drove to meet my parents, we had to pass my sister's house. The Lime had a hard time understanding why we were driving by and not stopping. He kept asking where Auntie was and I had to remind him we were going to cheer her on as she walked. We tried practicing, "Go Auntie! Go!" but he got a little shy in front of the other ladies.

We spent a few minutes taking lots of pictures with everyone before Kari, Lori, and Cathy went to enjoy their lunch and complete the remaining 8 miles of the day.

On our way out of the area, we stopped off for lunch. Except that The Lime hardly ate his but he did take a good picture of Omi. I probably shouldn't let him touch our camera and he might be the reason why I've been getting error messages on it. But he loves doing it and he is pretty proud of himself when he does. So as long as he continues to take cute pictures, I don't think I'll stop him.

I'm so proud of Kari and can't wait to hear how the rest of her weekend (40 more miles!) went!

Getting It Together

I've been a procrastinator my entire life.

While still in school, I had assignments that I had known about for weeks, sometimes months.  But when would I start working on them?  The day before they were due.

I have wedding cake consultations months in advance and always think, "It might be smart of me to start some of the components now."  But do I?  Nope.  I literally work up until the last second before I have to absolutely leave the house to deliver it.

So it isn't a surprise that I am just now finishing some things around the house.  Some things that I've wanted to do since we moved in (6 years ago).

When I started Culinary School, I was given a crazy amount of cooking utensils, including a knife set.  While in school, I always kept them in my knife case.  But that wasn't so handy to keep in my kitchen.  Then we get married and added LaVor's knives to the mix, yet we still didn't have a "home" for them.  Finally, just before our wedding anniversary last month, my mom called me and announced she had found a knife block for us.  I'm so happy to have them in one place and not laying out on our (extra large) window sill in the kitchen!

Only downside is that there's only one slot for a Chef's knife but we have two.  Whomp whomp whomp!

The Lime will be turning three in 5 months.  Therefore, it has taken me that amount of time to finally put something on his wall.  I see the cutest nurseries on Pinterest and blogs and think, "Am I depriving my child?!"  So I'm taking baby steps and have finally arranged something so he doesn't just have to stare at white walls anymore.

I'm anxious to see what else I can get done in the next 3-6 years!

Pre-Labor Day Festivities

For the last couple years, my family has gone up to Old Sacramento on the Saturday before Labor Day, to enjoy Gold Rush Days. After we saw everything, multiple times, we decided to switch it up this year.

Half of the gang went river rafting and the other half went to Chalk It Up! in Downtown Sacramento.

The weather was perfect and a nice difference from previous visits where more time was spent sitting down, cooling off, rather than enjoying the sites.

There were people doing amazing work with chalk and pastels, all over the place. Our little Picasos did a great job adding some confetti and streamers to our birthday picture.

The drawing lasted maybe ten minutes and then it was off to the crowded playground.

Some kids were rockin' killer mullets. Those same kids were rude and didn't know how to take turns. When I told The Lime that we don't play with kids like that and we needed to find another activity, the mullet boy ran off.

We waited at the table while the Dads got lunch from the food trucks.

We were relieved to see Grandma at my Uncle's house, since she had been in the hospital just that morning. Good thing she doesn't look at this blog and won't have to see this picture.

Claire was the best and played with the kiddos the entire night.

The Lime and LaVor went for a swim which was mostly just The Lime jumping in, climbing out, jumping in, climbing out.

Then we had dinner and waited too long to have dessert. Everyone split as my sister and I were bringing everything to the table. You snooze, you lose, I suppose?

It was great to be able to see my sister's new place, Aunts, Uncles, Grandma, and some family that I haven't seen in maybe...twenty years!

Playing Telephone

We were out a couple of weeks ago, when we saw someone we knew. After a few minutes of conversation, the person said, "So I heard that _________."

I hate that phrase!

What irked me about this situation was that the above mentioned person heard something from someone, who heard it from someone, who heard it from someone. Call it paranoia if you want, but I hate knowing that our business has gone through three people and then returned to us.

I was talking with another friend, after the previous incident, and she happened to say (without knowing about the situation), "I hope you know that when you tell me something, I don't go around blabbing it to everyone I know. Whether it's big or small news, private or not, you can trust me."

I appreciated this but also realized how naive I was to think that everyone automatically had this mentality!

I've found myself in situations where someone has shared someone else's business with me. When or if the original source decides they want to tell me their news, although it's deceiving, I act like it's the first time I've heard it. (In my defense, my mother has given me permission to lie in certain situations. I find this to be one of those times.)

So despite living near vineyards, I don't like hearing things through the grapevine.

Where We're At

I realize I stopped doing the monthly updates on The Lime. Not much was changing month to month like it was in the beginning. But now that a couple of months have passed, I have enough to write about.

This kid is funny, as we discovered early on. He makes funny noises, faces, his body language is funny. He's been shrugging his shoulders a lot lately, which always gets LaVor and I.

He is a wild one but has surprised us recently with his behavior. We had a late dinner with some friends last week and we were nervous as to how he'd be. Especially since the last time we went to this restaurant (Christmas Eve), he was awful. But that was also eight months ago. He was a doll and even fell asleep on the way home, which is a rarity.

He was also a trooper during the eight hours of garage sale browsing we participated in over the weekend. Don't ask me when was the last time he fell asleep in his stroller. Maybe it was the constant motion that got him this time? Or the slight breeze combined with the warmth of the sun?

He always wants to hide, asks "Why?" about EVERYTHING, loves to wear his cowboy hat and carry his keys everywhere we go, is quite the little helper, gets told he's loved non-stop, knows all the Princesses, is talking more and more, loves going to Nursery, remembers everything, knows which direction people live in, pays attention to little details (like LaVor), has to drive by LaVor's old work each time we get on the freeway and sings our little jingle of "Daddy's old work!", asks where the pumpkins are when we pass the patch, knows that pumpkins need sunshine and water to grow, loves to listen to John Michael Montgomery on the iPad because it's "Daddy's favorite song".

I am probably cursing myself, but two is an awesome age!

Kennedy Park

I have a couple memories from my childhood that include Kennedy Park.

The earliest being the trip I made there with my friends, for a combination slumber/birthday party. The night before we went to the park, we spent the night at the birthday girl's house, except there was hardly any sleeping. We stayed up most of the night, playing, being loud, and eating Cheerios at about 3 a.m.. Our spoons hitting the bowls must have been too loud because I remember her
Mom coming downstairs and telling us we HAD to go to bed. A couple hours later, we were up and on our way to the park, where I got a huge Pixy Stix. It was blue and I think I ate most of it while we were at the park. I remember being dropped off at home, the mom telling my mom how little sleep I got, and feeling like a train had hit me. I haven't touched a Pixy Stix since.

Next memory was when my sister's best friend and her family took the both of us. We fed the annoying goats at the petting zoo and rode the train. I remember sitting on the train, facing people in the car we were in. There was a little girl who was sitting on her dad's lap and his arm had caught the bottom of her shirt, lifting it up slightly. I.will.never.forget what I saw next...the girl's belly button resembled a finger coming out of her stomach. Now, when I was pregnant with The Lime, my belly button popped out a little bit. But this poor girl had way bigger issues (I'm sitting here, trying not to throw up as I write this). I haven't been on the train since.

My most recent memory was during high school. An older girl from the Stake was moving away and so my friends and I set up a date with her. We went to Wendy's, down the street from the park, and got Frosties and fries. We took them to the park and chatted in the sun, while sitting on the tops of picnic tables. I haven't seen the girl since.

To get out of the house on Thursdays and release some energy, the kiddos and I visit local parks. Because the Zucchini Festival took place last weekend, Kennedy Park was free for us to enjoy today.

There were no Pixy Stixs or train rides or goats we wanted to pet. But there was kid falling, swing pushing, bars swinging, and people watching (I think I want to get into Tai Chi).

And a post-park trip to Target to top it all off.