Home again, home again, jiggity jog

I don't know about you, but that little nursery rhyme kind of freaks me out.

Anyway, we are. Home again, that is. We LOVED our time in California. It was a really good summer for us in so many ways. We loved seeing Justin more, we loved the summer of fresh fruit gluttony, we loved the runner-friendly town we lived in, and we loved that Henry seems to be on the upswing of his 18 month funk we call his life. Now we are back in Texas, and although it is a little warm, we couldn't be more pleased to be home, going back to school (Justin and Andrew) and back with all the wonderful friends we have here.

  On our way back to Tejas, we spent some time in Utah. It was super fun. For more comprehensive pictures, you can look at Katie's blog. Hopefully the speedo pictures don't make you feel uncomfortable. Or hopefully they do? :)



Girl cousins. I think it's been more than 20 years since we have been together with everyone. It was way fun.



Grandma and Grandpa



Andrew and some of HIS girl cousins. He loved all the attention. He was totally in demand to fulfill all prince/daddy/garbage man duties in the many games of pretend.



SoCal4evr

In July, we went to Southern California. I love it there and wish we could live there. Maybe someday. But for now...some pictures to tide us over.

No, it's not Disneyland. It's the SD Zoo. One of my favorite places. We saw a cheetah on a leash, just taking a walk with a zookeeper...that was really cool. After that, Andrew said, "I want a cheetah for a pet." Sure thing, kiddo. We also got an amazing view of the polar bear swimming (and a 50-year-old woman laughing at the polar bear like she was on some kind of narcotic) and an up close view of the lions taking a nap.



Team Mom! We even have matching shirts. So nerdy, but we really didn't plan it. I wish people would mistake us as twins, but we don't really look alike. :)

 

At President and Sister Clark's house. They were super generous and great hosts. And they have a zipline in their backyard. Pretty fantastic.





Building a castle. The boys LOVE the beach.



And Henry loves the camera. Remember when we thought he was going to be a toothless wonder? This summer has been fruitful for his mouth.



Until next time, my friends.

And I don't like how this is becoming a tradition in my posts, but all the things I DIDN'T take pictures of:

• Fun barbecue at Pres. and Sis. Clark's house with them reminiscing about their mission...including some awesome pictures of Justin wearing a little boy's shirt...wow.
• Hanging with the Dockendorfs and the Clarks. Such cool people.
• Seeing Hna. Pidwerbecki and new husband and eating an omelet the size of my second child.
• The boys and I driving for 9 hours and everyone still staying relatively happy!! (it really was a miracle)
• Chatting with Camille ALL DAY LONG. We should really live by each other. :)
• Pointing out every road that I've ever traveled with Molly and her family to Justin, who sincerely tried to look interested.
• Getting sunburned on one arm because we were stuck in L.A. traffic for two hours.

The 'Mento

We live near Sacramento. And I'm glad. There are many good things about Sacramento.

1. The train museum. Henry was FA-REEAKING out of his mind the whole time. He loved it.

 2. River Cats games. They have a really pretty field (didn't watch much of the game, but the field was nice. :)

 3. Living by cousins. SO many girls and they are so nice to my boys. These are some fun ladies.

 4. This river. Did you know that a whale and her calf swam the wrong way and got stuck here? Pretty cool, if I do say so myself. And the whale lived, if you were wondering.

 5. Living here with this guy. I kind of have a crush on him.

6. Living by Uncle Mark. He is a riot. Andrew loves his uncles. Now if they could all just live in one place...

Mark showing Andrew how to beat Angry Birds.

Pretty Jenny. And Charlotte, wrapped in swaddling clothes.

So, we like it here. We are still wondering where the wind will blow us in December, but enjoying the present.

29 only comes once in a lifetime.

If you're reading this blog (unless you're a creeper who has never met me ever), you know that my birthday is my ABSOLUTE favorite day of the year. I know, I'm super self-centered, but I love my birthday. I was born on a perfect day, right by a holiday, in the summer. Vacations, beach, swimming, barbecues, all things that happen (or should) on my birthday.

Every year, I expect to be treated like I was as a kid...The whole day revolves around me, I don't have to do my chores, and I get to choose all meals and my mom makes them for me. And I should get a bike or something. And eat Ding Dongs. No crying kids, no laundry, no cooking, no cleaning.

And every year, that doesn't happen. It's not my husband's fault. But, that doesn't stop me from blaming him for not having the best day of my life on July 5th each year.

Enter Grumpy Megan, stage left....

Poor Justin, worked on my birthday and came home to me folding laundry, fuming (figurative smoke coming from my ears). To tell me that we're going on a fun getaway over the weekend and that Mark and Jenny are going to take the boys.

Exit Grumpy Megan, enter Guilty Megan.

 So, we stayed in Folsom, went to this beautiful place (it is so nice living closer to a temple...like, SO nice)

 Went to a fun little Italian restaurant that reminded me SOO much of a place I went to with my dad in Argentina...

 Went to a late movie (can't remember the last time I saw a movie STARTING at 10 PM...) and we were the only ones in the theater. We saw Midnight in Paris which I would TOTALLY recommend.

Went on a walk by this really beautiful river and talked, uninterrupted, for about four hours...Wow.

And came home to happy kids who loved playing with their cousins and their Uncle Mark and Aunt Jenny.

It was awesome. A good way to start out 29. And, rest assured, I did also receive flowers to make up for the lack of birthday worship. Poor Justin...He didn't have any idea what he was getting into. Bless his heart. :)

**Shout out to Mark and Jenny who really made it possible. I love living by them. More to come on them later.

June/July documentation

 For the Cars 2 premiere, we knew we had to do something special. So, we made Andrew earn it. A little hard work never hurt anyone. Andrew's form of hard work is going to bed. It is like the worst possible thing I could ever ask him to do...So we bribed him. He made it. Then he started being a stinkpot about going to bed that very night. Watch for the July installment of the bribe/goal chart.

 This was our 4th of July breakfast. We didn't feel like paying 6 bones for a disgusting chuckwagon breakfast, so we made our own. With green eggs, because that's totally patriotic. (Andrew's fave book right now is Green Eggs and Ham.)

 We went to the park on the 4th and played Go Fish. It was blazing hot.

Then, we went to Jenny's parents' house for a little pool party. Because it was hot. They have awesome dogs. Henry was pleased.

Birthday post coming next...Get excited. (Ugh, this post is SO boring...)

Why being me is kind of awesome.

JUST FOUND THIS SAVED POST...I didn't post it because I hate, double hate, loathe entirely how I look in these pictures, but I'm totally posting it anyway. Two reasons:

1. I haven't updated for a month...And it's time...And this one is already done.
2. It is awesome being me. I have a pretty good life.

I'm so popular with the boys...Finally.

I'm really smart because I can count past 20.

Even though I have frizzball hair, Andrew still tells me I look beautiful.

California and Justin's birthday

So far so good in the California department. It's super pretty here, we love our little (not actually little...We have a Costco 5 minutes away...My Texas friends can probably hear my joyous shouts from here) town, and it is really amazing how 10 months of Justin being gone basically all the time has helped us be really grateful for him. (sap, stop dripping from my fingers...it's making the keyboard sticky)

Henry is really, REALLY glad that Grandma and Grandpa let him borrow their train set. This kid is in LOVE.

Opening birthday presents...Andrew and Henry got to pick out one (dollar) present each. Thus, the lacing beads and water guns. Indian givers? I think so. (Sorry, after typing that, I thought, that's probably not PC. But, I don't know how else to describe their gift giving.) 

We have an awesome lake about 3 miles from our house. We went and saw the fish (maybe tadpoles, I don't know...) and geese and ducks today. The boys want to run there every day. I think we might.

At the incredible farmer's market our town has every week. We found paella and neopolitanas de chocolate. Happy birthday to Justin! The boys ate two pints of strawberries in like an hour. 

See? We're all so happy.