My little girl loves to see everything that’s going on. So, today when I had to go shopping I knew I couldn’t keep her in her infant carrier without a lot of crying.
I decided we would see if she was big enough for the shopping cart…covered by her Sprout Shell of course.
It was a success!

what age did your kids start siting in the shopping cart? She’s almost 6 1/2 months.
We’d love to see any pics of tour little ones using their Sprout Shells too!

Mom, Tracy, Auntie Pat

Chezney, Mom, Britton

Mom, Kaia, Tracy

We had a fun night with some great food, and a really great waiter. That’s always nice to have!

Happy Birthday Nana. I miss you and love you!

Amanda and me amidst all of our chaos. Thanks for everything.

Michelle, fellow preggo, and distant relative of Mark’s–you’re great. So glad we got to be friends.

Our way too cool for words friends Adam and Erin–you guys rock! Thanks for the boxes too!

Aw, Paige and Mav. What will we do without you?!?!? Our lives will never be the same. Thank heavens for Skype.

And all of our other friends whom we didn’t get pictures with or get to say goodbye too…we love you and miss you and hope to see you soon!

This will soon be our home. I know, kind of crazy. After 5 years for me, and 7 for Mark, we’re leaving Los Angeles and moving to the wide open spaces =) ha. Kidding. Kind of. It’s a little scary, and a little bit stressful (especially right now, hello!) And A LOT sad.

But from what we hear it’s a beautiful city, we’ll love it there and it has horrible winters. So, two out of three isn’t bad. We will be able to afford a house sometime in the near future, and there are parks/open spaces about every 5 blocks or so–at least that’s what it looks like on Google Maps and Google Earth, so there will be somewhere for the kids to play. I’ll most likely have a washer and dryer, and definitely a dishwasher too. These are all things I’m looking forward to.

Leaving will be hard too. I know this city, I have dear friends and family here–finally. Though, I expect to be back on a regular basis for Britton’s job commitments.

Mark is excited about his new job. Maybe he’ll post about it on his site. I’ll remind him. It will be positive for him, and his career, and that’s always a good thing. Especially these days.

We’ll be sure to keep you posted as things get closer. In the mean time, I’m going to get as much fun LA stuff done as I can in the next 2 weeks!

All last week we had family visiting. Mother’s Day morning my mom came up for brunch, which was delicious! Then stayed for church. Then Mark’s mom flew in from DC that night and had dinner with us. She stayed until Tuesday afternoon before going to a work meeting in San Diego. We had lots of fun showing her our typical routine. She enjoyed watching Brit at swimming lessons, and took some pictures. Maybe I’ll get them one day.

Then on Wednesday my dad came down from Utah for a quick visit. We had lots of fun going to the park, checking out Manhattan Beach (it was FREEZING that day) and taking walks.

Brit was so excited he got to play with his sand toys.

Taking a trip to the cold water.

Dig, dig, dig.

Britton got a lot of energy out this week. He ran around a lot and kept us entertained.

Then, both Mark and my dad left SUPER early Saturday morning. Dad back to Utah, Mark to San Fran for his beloved Music Hack Day. He made something pretty cool to use with Last.fm that he can share on his blog…since I’m sure I won’t do it justice.

It was nice having everyone here. Hope to see you again soon!

He was excited for his “Day-Day” and we had a good time.

Wasn’t super into breakfast, but he did enjoy opening his presents.

He actually ripped off the wrapping paper this time. Apparently he really is growing up.

Had to put on his new shoes right away.

Pulled his presents out of the bag and read what they were. I was a little bummed though, because we got him the Tag junior books to go with his Tag reader, but it looks like he already knows everything in the books (shapes and ABCs.) They say they’re for ages 2-4, so I figured they’d be a little more interesting. Oh well.

Then we went to lunch with Daddy at Corner Bakery. He loved his fruit and the chips.

We got him a bubble gun….

It was a very big hit. All night “bubbles, more bubbles!”

He played with Play-doh

raced cars with his new friend Jake

And they watched Fox and the Hound. He got to run around, eat pizza and read stories. I think he had a pretty fun day.

This morning we had his check up.

Weight: 22.6 lbs 2nd percentile!!

Height: 33.75 in. 35th percentile

Head: 18.5 in. very small. His head has only grown 4 inches since he was born.

Favorite food: Depends on the day. Likes eggs, yogurt, cheese, cereal, fruit and PB & honey. Everything else falls in and out of favor on a daily basis.

Favorite things: Cars, bubbles, stories, his sign language dvds, Daddy, music, Snuggabip (snuggie and binky)

He loves to be thrown in the air, twisted around, climb on people…especially when they’re doing Downward dog or the plank (Yoga, people)

Britton talks all the time, repeats what we say and now says “thankyoucelcom” getting both niceties out of the way at once.

Love you baby angel!

I have managed to download a few for this post….but the ones that actually mean something never got taken at all.

Like? Well, my awesome friend Kristie came for a visit last week from North Carolina. It’s been 7 months since I’ve seen her (blasted Christmas snow storm in the East) so we we’re super excited for her to come. It was a great visit…though too short of course. My hair fabulous, we’re well-fed and I’ve had a few good laughs. But, did I get a picture with her? No. There are plenty of Britton on her phone because he somehow figured out her phone had a camera and every time he saw it he insisted on a picture. But, us? No.  Boo!!!

Valentine’s Day? Surely. Nope. Brit loved the truck he picked out at the store. Mark liked his candies and present, but no, I didn’t document any of the sweetness.

But, here’s Brit with his ever-present need for pictures:

He now likes to “sleep” on the couch. He’ll pull a pillow up and say “bed. Ni night” It lasts about 10 seconds, then he’s done.

Still quite the game player. He is really good at them too…I’m amazed at the puzzles he does and the word games he has figured out.

So…that’s it for us until I get my act together and start documenting our lives again.

Luckily, we traveled down to Williamsburg for the weekend before it all started, so we missed out on most of it. It was just getting dark when we arrived at the Historic Powhatan Plantation. At the end of a long drive, the big red brick Colonial house greets visitors with bright candles in the windows. Fife and drum players stood on the steps playing tunes. Ah, Colonial Christmas.

In our “arrival papers” we got a brochure for “Christmas Town” at Busch Gardens. With nothing else to do that night, we headed over. It had started to snow lightly, but wasn’t too bad yet. Just as we got there we received some really bad news. Our friends Kristie and Jared were supposed to meet us in Williamsburg for the weekend (it’s halfway between NC and DC, hence the trip) but because of work obligations they had to be SURE to get back for, and an unpredictable storm coming in, they couldn’t come. After that setback, we were determined to lift our spirits even more at Christmas Town.

I’ve never been to Busch Gardens in the summer, but in the winter the ride entrances are closed off and the path to the different country themed “villages” are pretty definite. There were different scenes in each one, like a Penguin house that told you about penguins, and then had some real live ones on loan from the zoo. And a giant snowman. Brit wasn’t too sure about that one.

We saw Santa in his workshop, and Brit and Mark got a nice picture with him. Where are the pictures you ask? On a camera we don’t have. I forgot mine in the car, so Mark’s mom took them all. Maybe I’ll get them one day and you can see them on smugmug. There was a nice indoor place to eat, and a couple of different groups played songs and sang. The whole place, with its European village theme, had just a great Christmas feeling about it. It was just what I needed to get into the holiday spirit.

We took the train all around the park, and Brit liked that a little bit. But, since he was in the middle of the seat, he couldn’t see much.

It was starting to snow more and more by this point…wetter snow. And it was cold. My feet were frozen in my boots (some boots huh?) and we were getting soaked. It was time to head back. By now there was a lot of snow…like a couple of inches on the car. Oh yay!

It continued through the night and into the next day. Up in DC they got 18 inches! That’s pretty unheard of, all in one storm. I’m glad we were farther south and east since we got about 3-4 inches total.

The next day was pretty uneventful…if you don’t count the HOURS we spent in the Time Share’s sales office. We agreed to the talk, even though we own, to get the $100 card. Because of some miscommunication that resulted from our last stay in Scottsdale, they thought they didn’t have much to tell us, so at the END of our 90 minutes, I questioned something they had just breezed over and they found out that we hadn’t been told what we were supposed to have been and then it launched a whole other long time with paperwork and such. Man! Then, Mark’s mom had a little question about transferring her week to points and that resulted in another 2 hours.

FINALLY we made it out and by this time it was beyond Brit’s nap time. For dinner we ate at one of those restaurants that has been in a small town for more than 50 years. It was quaint and the food was passable. But, it was all decorated and had a nice homey feel.

Sunday dawned bright and clear. The roads had been paved and we headed to Colonial Williamsburg to check it out in the wintertime. So adorable. I just love it. But, the wind picked up and it was super cold…so back to the car and on our way home we went. I can hardly wait to go back, because as we left I discovered several more houses and streets I didn’t know existed. I thought it was just 1 street…but no. There are lots. Huh.

It was a nice little getaway and I’m glad we went, even if things didn’t go entirely according to plan. And, the best part of all was missing the blizzard of 2009

They were even good waiting while the Mommies went on a few rides.

I really liked all of the Christmas decorations they had up. It adds a nice excitement to the park.

Santa was waiting in his cabin–like, a real one–to greet people. He was very nice, but Britton wanted nothing to do with him. I barely got him to face forward for the picture. Maybe next year?

Mav doesn’t like frosting…it’s Brit’s favorite. I love how alike they are.

He spreads it on, then eats it. At least it’s not straight from the bowl.

Yum! He had a big glob right on his cheek, but it fell off JUST as I was taking the picture! =(

But, he was happy with it any way.