Rubber

Isaiah has an obsession with rubbing little moles or zits while he sucks his bottom lip. It's his version of sucking his thumb and having a lovey. I have a little mole on my cheek and Omar has one near his eye. Think you don't have any on your face? Make friends with Isaiah and hold him for a while. He'll find it. And he gets really mad if you don't let him touch it. He's getting better about stopping when you tell him it hurts (which it does after a while) unless he's too tired to be reasonable. Such a funny little baby.

Cat in the Hat Pancakes

Pancakes is the one dish that everyone at my house will for sure be happy to eat. So we eat them a lot. I've found a recipe I really like (see below). But my pancakes are never round, never even a recognizable shape. As Omar was doing dishes I was making pancakes, and getting really frustrated. He just laughed at me and said they are just "cat in the hat pancakes." I act mad, but I really like that he laughs at me like I'm cute.

But why is it that everything I do turns out cat in the hat and everything he does turns out perfectly?

I made him finish making the pancakes.

Best Pancake Recipe

from recipezaar

• 1 egg


• 3/4 cup milk


• 2 tablespoons margarine, melted


• 1 cup flour


• 1 tablespoon sugar


• 3 teaspoons baking powder


• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

• Beat egg until fluffy.


• Add milk and melted margarine.


• Add dry ingredients and mix well.


• Heat a heavy griddle or fry pan which is greased with a little butter on a paper towel.


• The pan is hot enough when a drop of water breaks into several smaller balls which 'dance' around the pan.


• Pour a small amount of batter (approx 1/4 cup) into pan and tip to spread out or spread with spoon.


• When bubbles appear on surface and begin to break, turn over and cook the other side.

Gone Again

Our Relief Society took a trip to the temple this Friday. Since we were going to L.A. anyway, we thought it would be fun to make a little trip of it and visit some family. Omar and I decided to go down the night before and stay in the temple apartments so we wouldn't have to leave so early in the morning to make the appointment.

The boys weren't feeling well on Thursday when it was time to leave, but we decided to go anyway. We got stuck in traffic, took a crazy detour through Bel Air, and finally got to the temple apartments pretty late at night. They boys thought it was so cool, and even Omar slept well there, which is rare for him out of his own bed.

I got up early and went to the temple for the 6:30 endowment session. It was so peaceful and wonderful. I felt so happy just walking up the steps to the temple, and enjoyed all of my time there. At 9:30 the sisters from my ward got there and we did baptisms. I had a name from my Grandma's side of the family that I had brought, and it was a very cool experience. We went to initiatories after that and I got to do that work for Emma (my great-great-something grandma), too. It was a wonderful time in the temple.

I got back just in time to help the boys check out of the apartment at 11 and then we walked around the temple and enjoyed the grounds for a while. It is just such a peaceful feeling there.

After that we went for a drive, we thought to Hollywood, but missed a turn and ended up in Beverly Hills. Which was interesting, too. Then we drove to San Juan Capistrano to Fernando's house and got ready for the beach. We had tons of fun at Laguna Beach, and everyone was exhausted by the time we showered and ate and got ready for bed.

Today we had planned on going to visit my Aunt Ann. Helaman has been asking to see his cousins forever. But after all the fun yesterday, it was just too much for my sick boys. Isaiah was up all night coughing, and no one was very happy today, so we decided to just come home. We went out to a delicious lunch with Fernando at Olive Garden and then drove and drove home.

I think we are going to be staying home for a little while now. Helaman starts school next week, and Omar, the homebody, should get to choose to stay home sometimes. We've had a lot of fun in all of our crazy travels this summer. We are so blessed to have so much family close enough to visit, and to live in such a beautiful state. We also feel blessed to be where we are, and are looking forward to some relaxing time to just enjoy it for a while.


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Smokers? No!

Our recent trip to Gridley was to pick up this truck we bought from a friend there. As Helaman was exploring the new truck he came a cross the cigarette lighter and asked Omar what it was for. When Omar explained it to him, he told his dad that they had better throw it away so no could smoke with it. (He is really grossed out by smoking.)

He's been listening to us discuss if we are going to keep this truck or sell it for the last few days. Yesterday he told Omar that we can't sell the truck because "then some bad person might buy it, and use it to smoke." I guess that settles that. :)

And then July

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July was filled with days spent at the pool and nights spent outside with daddy "working" on his motorcycle. It doesn't get cool until late at night, so the boys were up late every night playing out side once the sun went down, and then they would sleep in every morning until it was time to leave for the pool. I even got a few mornings to myself until Isaiah realized I wasn't sleeping in, too. We didn't do very much work, we mostly played all day every day and every night.

It was a fun and relaxing summer month.

But it was exciting too. At the beginning of the month, Llael came down for the fourth of July. We played in Ridgecrest and then went to spend the actual 4th in L.A. With lots of swimming, beaches, and fireworks, we had a great time.

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At the end of the month we had another exciting adventure. Isaiah, Helaman, and I rode the train to Sacramento to stay in Gridley for a week. We left on Sunday night, and Omar joined us on Thursday night. We had lots of fun, but even in a week, it felt like we could never see everyone. There are just too many people to love in Gridley!

(Note: If you want to get more juicy, or boring, details, you can click on any of the thumbnails in these posts.)

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June birthday trip to Gridley

My mom called about a week before my birthday (I am 30 now, how weird is that?) and offered to pay for us to drive up, get us a hotel for Friday night, and watch the kids for two days as a birthday present. So, of course, we did.

We left after work on Thursday and got there for cake late that night. Friday morning Omar and I got up and got ready, then went to Sacramento to go to the temple and have some fun. When we got to the temple, we found out Omar's temple recommend had expired the month before! Luckily, and miraculously, our bishop was home and we made it in without even being late. Our bishop is never home, and we're never on time! The temple was wonderful from beginning to end, and it was a great start to the weekend.

After the temple we went and checked into our hotel and then went to play in old-town Sacramento. We always have lots of fun together when we have time play. I am so lucky to have married my best friend. After that we went and had dinner at the Chevy's by the river and then went to the mall to find some shoes that we didn't find.

We went back to our hotel and found a Wal-mart with a redbox and rented a movie and bought popcorn and candy. Then we went back to the hotel and swam and then attempted to watch Benjamin Button, but neither of us had the patience for it. And then the most amazing thing happened, we slept the whole night, alone! The whole night and alone are both a big deal at our house.

The next morning we woke up late, had lunch at Taco Bell, and spent the rest of the weekend with our families, running back to Ridgecrest on Sunday. Our trips are always so fast! But it was lots of fun. Thanks mom!

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June

June was when things really got crazy. I was in a stake band for the 4th of July and had practices once a week for that so Omar got to spend more alone time with the boys. Then we also started swim lessons for both boys and then we would stay at the pool and do lap swim and play with our friends and in the pool. We had so much fun with our Ridgecrest friends at the pool this summer. It's been a busy crazy fun time!

We also did lots of playing with our friends Ryan and Ashley. The have moved to Washington now, and we miss them, but June was lots of fun, with exciting trips to John's Pizza in Bakersfield and Lake Isabella, barbecues, and outings.

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Also in May

Some other things I don't want to forget from May:

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May trip to Gridley

We've made a lot fast trips to Gridley this Summer. We've enjoyed spending this time with our family, even if it is always just a fast weekend.

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Mt. Whitney

I'm way behind blogging about our adventures this summer. We've been doing and going and having a lot of fun I don't want to forget. So for the sake of posterity (and avoiding cleaning the bathrooms) I'm going back to May and catching up, starting with our trip to Mt. Whitney on May 15th.

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