I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home

Okay, okay, I know it's a work in progress, but I thought it would be fun to see Max's song in the beginning stages. He definitely has "clap your hands," "give him what?" and "a great big kiss" down, and I thought he knew "shout for joy" and "pat his cheeks" but our excuse is going to be the camera distracting him. Max loves watching this video over and over again. He thinks the baby is pretty silly. Oh, and our other major disclaimers about this video are 1) Sorry Max looks like a rag-muffin, he didn't have his bath yet; and 2) Sorry my singing voice stinks; oh, and 3) I tickle his leg when I say "knee"--that's why it's so annoying.

Conservatory of Flowers

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Today we went to the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. Usually I try not to venture into the park without Blake since it's inevitable I WILL get lost, but for a play date, you bet I'll risk it. Plus, the Conservatory is on the edge of the park, so I felt fairly safe with being able to get in AND out. The Conservatory is a beautiful white building filled with different tropical plants. They are divided into five sections: lowlands, highlands, aquatic, potted, and special exhibit plants. Max had two favorites--potted and aquatic. Potted because there was lots of fruit on the trees that he could try to grab, and aquatic, well, because of all the aqua. I thought for sure he was going to walk right into to the water. In the Conservatory, no strollers and no touching were allowed; so, we actually spent most of our time on the large grassy area in front of the conservatory. The kids were in heaven with endless space to run around. They even made a lot of friends with the tour groups visiting the park. Max was lucky enough to have his picture taken with one of the tourists. He is definitely a San Francisco landmark!

These Is My Words

Tonight was Book Club! "These Is My Words" by Nancy E. Turner. We picked this book back in November and are finally getting together to talk about it. We wanted to give everyone enough time to read it since it is phenomenal. It is about a woman living in the Arizona Territories in the late 1800's ; about her hardships living on the frontier and about her powerful, enduring love. (Yes, I got some of those descriptive words off the back of the book!) For me the first 75 pages or so were kind of slow, but then, all of the sudden, it picked up and I couldn't put it down. So, I highly recommend it, but don't get discouraged if you don't like it at first. It is now one of my favorites. And of course, it is always fun to get together with friends and food. Max even got to join us since Blake had a meeting to go to. So he was happy when he found out Sam's dad also had a meeting and she would come to book club too. It was an all-around book club success!

President's Day FHE!

Since Blake no longer gets ALL the important holidays off work (sometimes I miss student-life), he made our family home evening tonight extra special. The night started off with dinner at our favorite SF taqueria--Gordo's. This is the first time that Max has actually appreciated the to-die-for carnitas. He had his own fork and was digging into my burrito like it was his own. Good thing I got the SUPER burrito. Afterwards we came home and had a quick lesson about God's creations, then the real fun came. At Thanksgiving, Blake was lucky enough to pick the surprise gift out of the pile of presents from his parents. It was penguin bowling. Today we decided to try it out. Max loved it. Rolling the ball only lasted so long until he realized he could just walk over and knock them down with his hand. Much more efficient. But he always carried the ball around to make sure neither Blake nor I had a chance to knock them over until he had finished his turn. Smart and efficient!

FRIENDS!

From the title of this post you may think this is another typical Addi entry about her playgroup friends and another outing to the park. Nope. Not even close. I thought I'd make Blake feel like part of our blogging family and devote an entire entry to him. This past week Blake's friend, Bradley was in town from Mississippi. Most of our families know Bradley. Or at least, know of Bradley. Bradley is the person we owe for showing us the Ethiopian restaurant. We will forever be in his debt. And for those of you who don't know Bradley, well, you are missing out. Bradley was ASDA's President when Blake was Vice-President along with fellow VP Ryan. The three of them spent so much time together during that year, there's no way they could not be friends. I don't even know what story to share, and more than that, I don't know what story Blake would want me to share, so maybe I'll just leave it at that (and that in more than one city Blake and Bradley were mistaken for a couple :)). Blake took me and Max with him to Baltimore for their last meeting. It was fun to see everything the three of them had accomplished during that year. And if anyone wants to try another of the cultural diversities in San Francisco, just let Blake know--he'll take you for some Ethiopian Cuisine!

How Do I Love Blake, Let Me Count the Ways!

Right now I love Blake because he just sat through two and a half hours of Legally Blonde the Musical with me! I wanted to get tickets to it once I knew Geri and Cindy would be here to babysit for us, but Blake told me if we went, it would be his worst Valentine's EVER! I was so surprised when he sent me to pick up the tickets this afternoon, and now we both agree that this was our BEST Valentine's ever. Our tickets were on the third row in the center. The best I've ever had. We were right in the middle of the action. Elle Woods actually spit on us during one of the numbers. No joke. I can't even say my favorite part. I loved it all. And I know Blake loved it too because he kept smirking and rolling his eyes. In Blake language that equals funny. I love my husband more than anything.

And, of course, another reason I love Blake is because he gave me Max. I tried to take a picture of my little Valentine holding a cute heart sign today, but he would not cooperate. This was the best I could get. I think he must be boycotting V-Day or something because he did the same thing during pictures at Natalie and Sammy's party this morning. Silly guy. He did have a good time, though--promise Nat & Sam. He told me he had fun making his Valentine bag and delivering his love letters. Maybe he just didn't get as many kisses as he thought he would. I may have to go wake him up right now and fix that! Happy Valentine's Day!

Carmel by the Sea

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Today Geri and Cindy had the good idea of going south on the peninsula to Carmel. We even gave Blake enough advance warning that he was able to clear his schedule and come with us. And it was lucky for all of us Blake came. Blake is the official San Francisco Bay Area tour guide. He loves it. If I would have been the one driving we would have went the fastest way on the busiest interestate, ended at our destination, executed the planned events, then turned around and headed home. Not Blake. He gave them their money's worth. A simple trip to Carmel started out with a stop at the Santa Cruz boardwalk. Unfortunately, the rides were closed for the winter so we made our way over to the arcade where Max played some Bust-a-Move (yes, family, when Tony comes home he will be a DDR and Bust CHAMP!), Blake had a chili-cheese dog, and we all had Estrella give us our fortunes. Crazy enough, Estrella predicted that Friday the 13th is a very bad day for me. Eeek. After Santa Cruz we continued south to Monterey's Cannery Row. We walked around and grabbed a bite to eat. When our stomachs were stuffed full we started the highlight of the trip, the 17-mile drive. Beautiful. The water was such a deep blue and the waves were crashing so high. And not only did we have the natural beauty to look at, but also the amazing houses. We had to stop multiple times to get the information sheets on the houses for sale. We ended up in Carmel where we walked around and looked at the shops. Everyone fell in love with Carmel as we drove through town looking at the shops, houses, and perfect views. Well, except me. Again, that's why I'm glad Blake came along. He took us on a real-estate tour of Carmel until we were so lost we finally asked two women walking along the side of the road how to get out of town. The weather was so nice the entire day, perfect for getting out of the city. Thanks Geri and Cindy for the good idea! We can't wait to rent our beach house (we found the perfect one by the way) and spend some more time exploring Carmel.

Weekend-O-Fun

Our weekend was action-packed! It all started with Family Game Night at the school on Friday. I love that Blake is faculty so we can still be a part of the school. I never realized how much fun being a super-senior could be! Max was in heaven with the popcorn, ice cream, and animal cookies. Plus, he had his dad all to himself. Blake was a hit with the kids, like usual. They were climbing all over him. I wish I could of got a good picture, but I missed the moment, so you'll have to take my word for it. I had a lot of fun talking with all the wives. Most of the girls that I talked to are third-year wives and will be leaving in June. Luckily I found out some of them have blogs, so it will be a fun way to keep in touch. After the party Max walked the entire way home. Well, most of the way. Just as we were about the cross the last street, his little feet went too fast for his body and he had a pretty bad fall. He hardly cried, but ended up with a big goose egg on his forehead. The picture doesn't do it justice, but you can still see the red circle. At least he has a big smile.

On Saturday, we picked up Geri and Cindy from the airport. They are staying the entire week to play with us. The playing started out with a trip to Ikea. And since that basically took the whole day we dropped them off at their hotel and picked them up a few hours later for some dinner. Today we had more fun playing with them. Max always surprises me how well he does when visitors come to our house. He walked right to them and spent so much time showing how funny he can act--and how funny he can make them act. We can't wait for the rest of the week after this fun weekend!

Pajama Party Take 2

Since it's raining and pouring in San Francisco and I can't take Max to the park, or even get to our car parked three blocks away to go anywhere for that matter, Max and I invited our friends over for another pajama party this morning. The food was nothing to get excited about--just German pancakes and a fruit salad, but we still had a lot of fun. Oh wait, there was some food to get excited about. My yummy, yummy, yummy peach jam was a huge hit! Thanks Mom! I can't get enough of these girls and their darling kids and we're glad they haven't had enough of us either! Or maybe they're not telling us something. Then, while I was cleaning up after our party Max was helping me and found the camera. Being the artistic genius he his, he decided to take a self portrait. What a handsome guy!

We Love Our Friends!

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We didn't realize how much we needed our friends until we got home from our fun weekend and spent Monday and Tuesday without playing with anyone. And after a weekend full of people, Max was going crazy with just his mom. Or maybe his mom was going crazy with just him. Either way, playgroup this morning was much welcomed; even though Max decided to sleep the day away and I had to wake him up at 9:45 to only be a little late for our 10:00 date. During playgroup we talked about how lucky we are to have each other and how awful it's going to be when (or in my case, "if") we move away and have to start from scratch, trying to find a group as fun as this one. But, as tends to happen when you have 7 little kids in a little San Francisco apartment, that conversation didn't last long and we quickly turned to the more captivating subject of blogging. The conversation must have been very inspiring since Michelle and Natalie both went home and started their own blogs! Just one more way to keep in touch with our friends, plus now I have two more links under blogs I read! By the way, I love the picture below. The three kids on the right are looking to the right, and the three on the left are looking to the left. There must have been two very interesting things going on!

Arizona Family Fun!

We were so lucky to get to see all of Blake's family this weekend. Well, at least everyone who could come without breaking any major mission rules! Max and I even got to spend a couple extra days playing with Nanny before everyone else showed up. He really liked having more than 2 rooms to walk around in and loved going outside. That kid really needs a backyard. And he only pulled all the wipes out once and only broke one of Nanny's bowls. Must be some sort of record. Blake was also in heaven with so much to do and so many people to do it with. He went quad riding, played tennis, Scattegories, and Horse, wrestled with the little boys, and watched the Super Bowl on a non-fuzzy TV. I was in heaven too since Nanny watched Max every day so I could take a nap. Max especially loves his cousins and he had so much fun with ALL of them this weekend. He watched Caden score 10 points in his basketball game, pretended to punch Jace and laughed at him take the impact, sang church and Lion King songs with Ruby, tossed a ball over the tennis net with Crew, and played on the toys at the mall with Chloe. We are so excited to see everyone so many more times this year since there are going to be tons of fun family events--Lake Powell, 2 new babies, 2 missionary homecomings, and 1 baptism. And those are only the ones we know about. We can always expect a few surprises as well!