I can't suck in any longer!

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Coming October 13, 2007

Treasure Island

Today we went to Treasure Island! Not Pleasure Island like on Pinocchio, but Treasure Island like the book or Las Vegas casino. Except this Treasure Island is located in the middle of the bay, connecting the Oakland and SF sides of the Bay Bridge. It was Max's first and my second time visiting the island. My first time was about 1 month after we moved here, and we were actually trying to get to Palo Alto. I know, a little off course, but come on--we were new to the area. Treasure Island has BEAUTIFUL views of the city and lots of grassy areas for the kids to run around. It's so much fun to get out and enjoy all this area has to offer. And I'm so happy I have friends who plan activites so I do get out and enjoy!
Photos courtesy of my Life By the Bay friend and her fabulous camera!

40 Games in 40 Nights

Blake and I (but mostly Blake) always go through cable withdrawal this time of year. During the rest of the year we're able to make up for not having cable with finding shows on the select non-fuzzy channels, DVDs of our favorite TV shows, and actually reading books. But when the NBA Playoffs roll around there's nothing to compare. Last night we gave in and did what we had to do to get a dose of the NBA. Luckily, our team, the Golden State Warriors were playing. Even though we both have them losing in the first round we felt like we needed to do something to support our Bay Area teams. We started out eating dinner at California Pizza Kitchen (thanks Andy and Bri for the gift certificate), specifically requesting a table next to the bar's TV. After our dinner was gone, we moved up to the dental school. Talk about luxury viewing. Theater seating and a big screen. You can't beat it. Even Max had plenty of room to run around and kept us entertained during commercials. Unfortunately (but fortunately for our brackets) the Warriors ended up losing. Final score: Warriors 99, Mavs 112.

Happy Birthday Blythe and Beth!

Today is Blythe and Beth's GOLDEN BIRTHDAY! And since I owe starting the BamSanFran blog to them, I had to do a post dedicated just to them. We have high hopes of both or either of them moving to San Francisco to be close to us. So don't disappoint us guys! I spent some time going through pictures and this is what I came up with. Beth came in May 2004 and Blythe in May 2005. Can you tell they're twins...or maybe that we do the exact same thing with everyone who comes to visit...
VIRTUAL BOWLING--they both did pretty good, but I'm pretty sure I won!

THE DENTAL SCHOOL--good form, plus they got an excellent tooth souvenir.

LEGION OF HONOR--they're both VERY intelligent.

BAKER BEACH--and both VERY strong.

And if you're lucky and come on the right weekend, you get to run Bay to Breakers. So they're both very athletic as well. Some of those hills sure are killer! Right Blythe? Right Beth? RIGHT BLAKE! :)

Happy birthday guys! We wish we could spend your golden day with you! We love you!

Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day everyone! We did our best to help celebrate this weekend dedicated to Mother Earth in the beautiful Bay Area. Festivities started Friday with a trip with our friends to Muir Woods. The weather was perfect for walking through the shaded grove and looking at the giant redwoods; and of course for pushing your own stroller, trying to climb through the fence, and eating other people's crackers. That's what Max did. Max also had a landmark first on the trip up north. The road to get there is very windy, and, well, Max got a little car sick--His first time throwing up. Yuck.

Blake, on the other hand, WISHES he would have observed Earth Day on Friday. Usually he rides his bike to work, but on Friday he was running a little late and ended up taking the car. On his way home he rear-ended a fellow commuter on the Bay Bridge. Just a little fender bender, but the other driver had been in an accident the day before and was a little shaken up. He did take us to Cheesecake Factory for dinner and A&W for root beer freezes for dessert so I think he must have been a little shaken up as well. Blake? Spend money? I know, hopefully it's not a seirous head injury. But everything's mostly been taken care of already and I'm just glad it wasn't another accident like this--
Today was so beautiful we had to celebrate at the beach. The tide was coming up so high that we had some close calls getting a little wet. Max did his part to pick up every little piece of garbage he could find. Then he separated them into recyclables and our job there was done.

Nasty Habits

It's so much fun for me to watch Max explore and learn. He is always doing something new and I am always curious where he learned how to do a lot of things. There are the obvious, good-mannered, wholesome things that I've taught him, the crazy, wild, and loud things that Blake has taught him, and the things he's cleverly taught himself. And then, as we decided in our playgroup, there's the things he must have learned in nursery. It's the only explanation. That's what nursery is--a group of 1 1/2 - 3 year olds teaching each other everything their parents don't what them to know, with toys, treats, and a short lesson thrown in there as well. Obviously I don't care enough to have Max STOP going to nursery--that would be worse than a million nasty habits. So, this is Max's latest. Silly guy.

Happy Birthday Tony!

I have to give a quick birthday shout-out to one of my missionaries. Tony is the big 2-1 today. Hooray! But really, what does 21 get you while you're on your mission? I guess in Tony's case, it gets you only 2 1/2 weeks away from coming home. We can't wait. It's so weird that Tony has never met Max. But despite Uncle Andy's persuasive "best uncle" tactics, I think Max and Tony are going to be very good friends. They love all the same things--DDR, hoops, nachos, etc. Plus, word on the street is they both have really big bellies. Happy Birthday Tony!

Sausalito

Blake had a professor in one of his business classes who said (or said something close to), "If it were as easy as buying low and selling high, we'd all be living on houseboats in Sausalito." We didn't realize how right he was until we moved out here. However, we would be living in one of the big houses on the hill, not a houseboat. Blake got off early from work today and took us up to Sausalito. Our favorite ice cream place is up there and the weather was perfect for it. We get banana ice cream with caramel swirls and chocolate chunks in a chocolate dipped waffle cone. Yum. We took our ice cream down along the water, spread out our blanket, and enjoyed some beautiful sunshine.

HAPPY EASTER!

Our Easter festivities started Saturday night with egg decorating. We only boiled 6 eggs and that ended up being just about right. Max wasn't very interested. At first he liked coloring on the eggs with crayons, but then he wanted to hold them himself. Luckily we only had one casualty, which really wasn't that much of a casualty since then we got to eat it. Once we started dipping though, he had enough and went to play with his toys. So Blake and I finished up--some of our best work, I think.

Sunday morning Max woke up to a basket from the Easter Bunny! He was so excited that the Bunny remembered him. So, thank you to all you bunnies out there! He even got a little book to help teach him what Easter is really about. He enjoyed looking at the pages while he ate a few M&Ms. I think he's learning. And then, to top off the Easter experience, he was a pretty good boy at church. We ended up taking him into nursery for the last hour and then he was REALLY good. We're slowly transitioning. Only two months to go!
After church we had some of our San Francisco family over to help us celebrate Easter. Blake went and got chairs and 2 big tables from the church. We pushed the two tables together to form one big banquet table. I still don't know (and don't know if I WANT to know) how he got the tables from the church to our house, but I love when everyone can sit down and eat together. And eat we did! The food was so good--ham, funeral potatoes, rolls, fresh fruit, fluffy fruit, salad, deviled eggs, brownies, and home-made ice cream (mint flavored with crushed thin mint girl scout cookies). Everyone left with a full belly.
However, the food was not the biggest hit of our party. The biggest crowd pleaser was definitely the Nintendo. The little kids LOVED playing Duck Hunt. By the end they were pretty good. Max loves watching the big kids play. He was glued to their sides the entire time. But not only did the little kids like to play, so did the big kids. Their game of choice was Dr. Mario. Blake did an excellent job of defending our family's good name in the Nintendo world. I am a very proud wife!

And, like all good holidays, we had some other fun/interesting side stories, but I think I'll save those for another day. We are so grateful for our Savior, for his death and resurrection, and for the sacrifice he made for us. Happy Easter!

Boring Week?

Despite what you may assume from my lack of blog posts, our week actually wasn't that boring. The problem is I just don't have any good pictures to prove it. I have pictures, mind you. Just no good pictures. So, I figure, if I lump the entire week of bad pictures together that will make good pictures! And good pictures equal good post, right? So, without further ado...

Okay, okay. After that big disclaimer about our week not being boring, of course Monday comes first. While Monday may seem boring, it was actually full of accomplishment. Monday was family tax day! While Max was sitting in his high chair, eating lunch, and watching one of his movies, I worked on our taxes (and finished I might add). But when I finally took a break and looked over at him, this is what I saw. Poor guy. I don't see tax accounting in his future...

Tuesday took us to the East Bay. It's not very often that we get across the Bay Bridge, so when we do, we take advantage of significant East Bay landmarks, like Walmart! But the best part about this trip was having lunch with Blake. We went to Nation's, home of the Giant Hamburger. Ahhhh, my mouth waters just thinking about it. Zoom in on the picutre. Can you see my hamburger in the bottom right corner, oozing with ketchup and mayonnaise? YUM! While we were waiting for our food, Max got a little impatient in our booth. He stood up on the bench and leaned over to the lady sitting right behind me and said, "Mo, mo, mo." She very nicely gave him one of her french fries, and then he kept going back and asking her for "mo" instead of eating his own. Silly guy.

Wednesday for playgroup we decided to go to free day at the California Academy of Sciences. I haven't been to the Academy in its temporary location on Howard Street. I've only been when it was in the Golden Gate Park and that was almost 4 years ago when Caden and Jace lived here, so we didn't know what to expect. Basically there were a lot of fish tanks. Max was interested at the first couple, but then was more interested in eating his popcorn. They did have a fun play area with puzzles, books, and different activities that Max liked. Well, he mostly just liked walking up and down the stairs they had. He enjoys the simple things. Afterwards we ate lunch at Buckhorn Grill. So good (my mouth is starting to water again) and only one lady complained that the kids were too loud. Success! And by the way, this is my favorite picture of Caden at the Academy 4 years ago. He liked the phone better than the displays. But why the grouchy face?

Thursday is the one day I don't have pictures for, but it was probably our most exciting. Well, if you base exciting off of food, which I do! I won't waste time on details, but let's just say Max and I ate food from Pasta Pomodoro, Kara's Cupcakes, and North Beach Pizza all on Thursday. Max was having such a fun day he woke up early from his nap, stayed up past his bed time, and slept very, very soundly that night once he did get into his bed!

Today we went to an Easter Egg Hunt in the Presidio. Before we went Max and I practiced picking up the eggs all over the house and putting them in his basket so he'd know what to do. However, I forgot about the candy factor. Once Max grabbed an egg, he was too preoccupied opening and eating what was in that egg to go get another. Poor guy ended up with only 4 eggs. I don't think he was too disappointed, though. He had so much chocolate running down his face that maybe it was a good thing he only got 4 eggs. I think he'll be a pro for Sunday, especially since he'll only have his dad to compete with!

Conference Weekend

I love conference weekend! And I especially loved THIS conference weekend. I thought Saturday was phenomenal. I loved all the talks Saturday morning and I learned so much about the Tabernacle Saturday afternoon. Sunday for me is just full of tradition. I love making a big, fancy breakfast and watching Sunday morning, doing something fun between sessions and then finishing with the afternoon session. This was the first time in 4 1/2 years we've done that. I love the internet. Instead of going to the church, we were able to enjoy the talks from the comfort of our own home with a big plate of food on our laps. I felt like I was home in Utah. Thank you www.byu.tv! Max had a much more enjoyable conference weekend, too. Instead of trying to wrestle him down in a bench at the church, he was free to roam about the house as he liked. It was fun to see him come over and watch every time there was a song or he heard a new voice.

In between sessions today we drove down to the Marina and went rollerblading. I love rollerblading down there--it's VERY flat, and Max and Blake like trying to hit all the pigeons. The only thing that would have made the day better is an April Fool's joke. I totally forgot to short sheet our bed. There's still time...