It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

I still need to blog about leaving LA and the move to Orange County, but I've sort of been avoiding it. Still sort of bummed out about it. Today helped though. I remembered what I love most about Orange County...the beach! Today was a perfect sunny, beach day and you know Bennett and I had to take advantage of it. I really miss my friends and favorite running trail back in the Valley, but a beautiful day in the sun has proven restorative values. I might not be ready to blog about LA, but I can certainly blog about today :)

Bennett loved the tram (choo! choo!) ride down to the beach.

Momma didn't want to fill up 2 of his 3 buckets with water (because I'm a big meanie) so Bennett bravely marched down to the water himself. I say "bravely" because Bennett is terrified of the ocean. When a big wave approached he ran back to me and I took pity on him and filled them up...

...Whatever buys me enough time to read a magazine :)

I love that kids can just run up to one another, share a couple toys and spend the rest of the day playing together. 

Hulk baby INSISTED on carrying his toys and his buckets by himself. Look at those guns!

 I wish I could bottle days like this and save it for a rainy one!

Buggaboo Update

Since we're moving we had Bennett's 2 year check up a little early. He's turning into a real moose!

Height: 36 in (95%)

Weight: 31.5 lb (90%)

Head: 49.5 cm (75%)

Bennett continues to grow and change on a daily basis (when will they stop that already?!). A few weeks ago I was actually starting to get a little worried because Bennett at almost 22 months was still only saying around 20 words. Kids have some sort of sixth sense, the minute you say something about them to someone, good or bad, they will immediately prove you wrong. They just can't resist making you look like a fool. Sure enough, the day after I talked to my mom about his lack of speech, he picked up about 10 new words. Within a couple weeks he was up to around 100 new words and is starting to put them together. He even told us his first joke. 

It goes like this. At random times in the day, when he's eating breakfast or getting ready for a nap, he'll exclaim, "Out. Costco. Dog!" We tell him no, of course it's not time for a Costco hotdog. He then smirks at us and giggles. This joke is funny enough to tell us several times a day.

Let's see...other fun things. He still refuses to call trucks, trucks. He can say it, but he insists on calling them, "jooosh" (the sound a truck engine makes). Cars are cars, trains are choo choos, but trucks are jooosh. Bennett just figured out how to throw the basketball into his hoop, not just dunk it. He still loves to show us his belly and often does it when he's in trouble or Mark and I aren't paying attention to him. He uses it as an enticement to come and play with him, like, "hey Mom, put your computer away and come tickle my belly, it'll be fun!"

Bennett will repeat almost anything you say to him. We're working on "U! S! A!" in preparation for the summer Olympics, Chris taught him "Ur-ray-ni-um" last week. I'm not really sure why...maybe we need a mad scientist in the family (I'm more the benevolent kind)? On Mother's Day Mark got him to say, "Happy Mama Day". So sweet ;) \

Most things he says pretty well, but sometimes he gets a wire crossed. Vitamins for example are "meh-lons". We taught him I love you and it goes something like this. Say I. I.Love. Agga. You. You! Ask him to say it quickly though, all together and he says I looo. The L gets in there when he combines love and you, but when we do it word by word, no matter how many times we go over it, love = agga.

Bennett usually gets up early and asks us for "egg!" and "toast!". He would live on peas and eggs and toast if you let him. Bribery works incredibly well on him and he insists on wearing his cool shoes. Today he threw a fit when I tried to put a different pair of shoes on him. He screeches the most horrifying high pitched sound a lot, which makes my ears bleed. I'm hoping it's a very short phase because there's not enough advil in the world for me to deal with it for long. He just went through a growth spurt so he's been particularly clumsy and keeps running into things with his head. I'm quickly learning that having a giant 2 year old is not always a good thing. He kicks, hits, rams, pummels and bludgeons me and Mark on a daily basis. It's not fun.

I think that's pretty much all our little bug (or buggaboo or boogadaloo or buggityboo) has been up to. Let's do some pictures!

Bennett and his buddy Jack having a play date. These little buddies are going to miss one another in nursery :(

After Mark finished finals the weather cooperated and we got to go spend a perfect day at Zuma. Mark is in possession of the strawberries in this picture. Bennett loves strawberries (bey-yies) like nobody's business. He insisted on stealing my chair so he could adequately feast on the berries...

...He also finagled the container of berries away from Mark so he could have them all for himself. Not too surprising, Mark is a total pushover.

Following Daddy to the water to get more water.

 Bennett is really starting to mimic everything we do. I'm sometimes surprised by his astute observations. After seeing Mark spackle a couple holes, he went and dug out the closest looking toy he could find in his toy bin and started following Mark around spackling the wall too.

Bennett is still every bit his mother's son. He's very serious about his observation of the world.

He's also his father's son. Just look at that cheesy face and those dimples. I love watching him experience something with pure joy. We adults can't do that, our joy is always at least a little muddled by our cares and problems. Not a problem for this guy. I smelled the flowers, they smell nice, life is perfect. That's all there is to it. Hold onto that my sweet little bug! Childhood is fleeting.

Graduation: The After Party

Since everyone came into town for the whole weekend after graduation on Friday we figured, why not party down in Orange County together? So after eating a delicious lunch at C & O in Marina Del Rey (if you've never been there and had the garlic knots, go now. Yum.), we drove 4 different cars down to Newport. I won a lifetime's supply of brownie points by taking the cranky, screamy baby alone in my car. I still have a headache.

Bennett felt much less cranky after getting back to his favorite pal. Bubbles and grandpa make everything better.

I failed to take many pictures of the weekend, but Saturday morning I got to go on a fabulous run. Why was it fabulous? Because: beach, cool ocean breeze, no jogging stroller and knowing a Pacific Whey custard pastry was waiting at the end of it. Last time we went on vacation Mark forgot underwear. This time he realized he forgot his wallet after ordering breakfast (thanks for treating, Chris). I'm just hoping he doesn't forget Bennett or I next time.

Again it was not terribly warm swimming weather for us spoiled California brats, but we went in anyway. It's too much fun playing in the pool with Bennett to wuss out! Here's the gang relaxing after our swim.

We went to church by the temple on Sunday so I brought my camera to get some new family photos. This kid loves his grandparents :)

Families can be together for ever...can't stop singing the song in my head when I look at these pictures!

If you're going to awkwardly pose in front of the temple with your significant other, might as well do it right. Presenting: Every prom photo ever.

I took this photo thinking I'd update our blog cover photo, but I'm not crazy about it. We're all a bunch of Squinty McGees.

 

Sigh...just looking at these pictures makes me sad, since it's the last family fun time we're going to have for two months. Mark is now studying for the bar and hating life, I'm packing up our house and hating life and Bennett is mad at both of us. Sigh. So excited for August!

Graduation Day

It was a beautiful day down in Malibu on Friday, May 18th, 2012. Why do I know this? Because I was down there, watching my amazing husband graduate from law school! Pepperdine campus is gorgeous, nestled on a hill with nothing but the Pacific Coast Highway between it and the ocean. Mark's graduation was on the front lawn of the campus overlooking the water. Not too shabby, huh?

 

Mark's new dean, 10th circuit court judge, Deanell Reece Tacha (the students call her Dean Dean, how great is that?) presenting Mark with his diploma.

He dun grad-jee-ated!

Pepperdine does something kind of different and cool, each student is hooded (gets that fancy scarf) by a loved one that sits behind them during the ceremony. Since I got to hood Mark and sit in the middle of the ceremony with him and the other graduates, Bennett got to sit with his grandparents, so I could enjoy the ceremony. Thanks guys!

 

After the ceremony we went and took lots of pictures. All of us ladies brought big floppy hats to protect us from the sun. I think Debi and I need to hit the Kentucky Derby, because we make these hats look goooooood.

Alicia's daughter Natasha found Bennett and Keira running around and decided they seemed like more fun than all of us silly adults. I love having Keira around, she loves Bennett and Bennett loves her. As I'm writing this blog Bennett siddled up next to me, saw the picture and shouted "Keeya!"

Alicia, Mark and I (What? It's not fair that they're the only ones who get to wear a silly hat.)

Mark and his proud parents. Mark is the youngest, so this is their 12th graduation ceremony. 4 high school graduations, 4 BYU bachelor's degree graduations, 1 MBA and 3 Juris Doctorate ceremonies. They should probably write a book about raising motivated children.

Proud wife moment.

The gang (minus the kids who were running amok in the background and Dave who scheduled a golf trip to Cancun the same weekend...don't think he's ever going to hear the end of that one!)

Congratulations again, Mark. Couldn't be more proud of you and all the blood, sweat, tears and braincells you sacrificed to get here!

San Diego Girls II

 The previous post was getting a little lengthy so I thought I'd chop it in two.

 Remember how I mentioned we'd forgotten sunscreen? Kendra found an awesome way to deal.

After the beach we headed to the Corvette Diner for dinner. It's a 50's theme restaurant where the waiters wear giant wigs and sing and dance. The milk shakes were pretty fabulous too! Andrea's friend and her daughter joined us...

It was great to have a kid with us because it gave us a legit excuse to have our waitress give us crazy straw hair!

You wish you looked this awesome.

 I really don't think we could have crammed more into Friday...we were pretty spent after the diner so I think we just headed back to Andrea's to lay around in our pjs and chill. Saturday morning we were going to go to this big famous swap meet, but we ended up scrapping it so we would have time to shop a little at the HUGE outdoor mall were Andrea was working at the Apple Store. We had lunch with her (no pictures because apparently it's a huge no no to take pictures in her Apple gear), then shopped some more, then got Pinkberry! Mmmmm.

We did not plan these outfits. Sometimes you all just feel like dressing (and posing) like Malibu Barbie :)

 

I had to get back to LA after the mall so I missed out on hanging out at Dev's that night :( It was a quick, but super fun girls' weekend. Not sure when the next one will be with all the little babies that are soon to show up!

San Diego Girls I

April was another busy month. After we got back from partying in Utah, Mark had to start studying for finals and writing final papers. Mark is seriously the best husband ever. He was scheduled to finish all his finals on May 4th, which was the same day that girl's weekend was scheduled to start in San Diego. I really wasn't going to go, it didn't seem like a good wife move to just peace out and leave a very frazzled Mark alone with Bennett all weekend. Mark insisted that he was really happy to have Bennett all to himself and convinced me that I should go, so I did!

It's funny how parenthood changes your perspective. Before, I would have dreaded driving for 2 hours alone in the car, but now, 2 two hours alone in the car, not having to worry about anyone else's needs is kind of refreshing. I met up with Dev, Kendra and Des at the Carlsbad Outlets to kick off our trip, because of course, first things first, we need to shop! Did I mention that all three them are pregnant? Yep, we hit up Motherhood for like, 2 hours. Since this is Desiree's first go around (twins!), she needed lots of clothes.

Modeling the fake baby bump, isn't she cute?! :)

After we shopped a little bit more (Carlsbad Outlets are lame, btw), we headed to some hole in the wall Thai restaurant the Jensen's love for dinner. We all got the all you can eat option which helps explain the piles of food in front of us. It was delicious. Oh man, do I love good Thai food!

After stuffing ourselves, we headed to Andrea's house, who so graciously let us crash there for the weekend. I brought Deveney and Kendra their baby gifts (and Laura too, who had to cancel coming last minute) and since I didn't want Desiree (who didn't know what she was having yet) and Andrea to feel left out, I brought them some little gifts too. Yay presents!

Earrings for Andrea, blue zebra sleep sack for Dev, bobby pins for Des and purple striped sleep sack for Kendra :)

 

Friday morning we went to the San Diego Temple together for a session. I usually go to the temple with Mark, but it was a fun change of pace to go with my girlfriends. I hadn't been back to the San Diego temple since taking out my endowment there before I got married. It is so beautiful and unique! I barely remembered anything about it with everything else going on that day, so it was like seeing it all for the first time!

Temple!

Deveney and I had a fashion mind meld going all weekend. We were twinners pretty much all weekend! Both of us modeling our new shoes :) Love that Dev is rocking 5 inch platforms at 8 months pregnant. My kind of woman!

After the temple we all headed to the beach. It wasn't supposed to be super warm that weekend, but it turned into the perfect beach day. See how happy we are to be at the beach? (You know what's funnier than jumping photos? Pregnant jumping photos.)

Weeeeee!

The first time I met Dev, Andrea and Desiree was on a six person bicycle. They were living together at the time in the same complex as Chris Jensen and Mark. The girls came down to Andrea's for a weekend, so Mark and I came down from Orange County to hang out with them and Chris. Less than 6 months later Mark and I were married and so were Chris and Dev. Maybe six person bicycles are good luck? Even if they're not, they sure are a ton of fun! There really wasn't enough room for all 6 of us so we took turns riding on the front kiddy basket. Dev's turn was particularly hilarious. We got some very strange looks as we went careening down the boardwalk!

So many wonderful things in one picture :)

Ain't No Party...

...like a Tarzana Ward party! We've had a couple great parties lately. Our Relief Society birthday party this year was a sorority party celebrating the sisterhood of Relief Society. It was cheesy goodness on so many levels. We decorated it with purple and gold and greek columns and a big sparkly Lamda Delta Sigma (LDS...get it?).

Since we were going Greek, Mark, Ben and Brandon agreed to be our studly pizza servers and wear togas to boot. They are such good sports (although secretly, or not so secretly in Brandon's case, I think they enjoyed it).

While everyone ate their pizza a few of us did some silly skits about the dos and don'ts of Visiting Teaching. I do not love doing improv, but I have to admit, the skits were pretty darn funny! Don't: Drop in on your sister at 11:45 pm the last day of the month!

Katy was a woman who just went into a labor and I'm a clueless visiting teacher just "popping by" with my dog that she's allergic to (hint: that's a don't!).

A few weeks later the youth had a fund raiser where they put on a talent show. We have some seriously talented youth. The girls all sang beautifully (and well beyond their years!). Jenna Cowley even performed a song she wrote herself. The boys performed the history of dance, a silly mash up of all sorts of iconic dances like Saturday Night Fever and Baby Got Back. It was hilarious!


Mark and I went to our finally testimony meeting in the Tarzana Ward today and it really sunk in that we're leaving and all the wonderful friends we're going to be leaving...it's going to be a tough day when we pack up and leave, but at least we'll have lots of memories!