Greatest Fear

So the results show that the greatest percentage of your fears were about rejection. That one was mine. No one said public speaking which is supposed to be really high up there on the stress list, but I guess most of you are professional Mormons. The runner-up to rejection was death. I respect your fear, but let me give you my thoughts on that. Once you're dead, you don't have to fear the rest: spiders, rejection, heights, all of that. So death should be the end of all fear and I like that. Here's to overcoming our fears so we can embrace life more fully!

Don't forget to vote on the next poll!

In the Doghouse

So here's Superstar in the doghouse. He just loves to play with Baldo in the backyard. He runs around and digs in the dirt and jumps on the trampoline with Baldo and then yesterday climbed right in his doghouse. At first I was like, eeeeww! But then I just grabbed the camera and took his picture. Good memories.

So last night we had the second missionary discussion with Luke's friend and it was awesome! I got to share on faith and hopefully something I said will help him. He's getting baptized! So exciting. :)

Where's Malldo?

Last night was our youth night and we played Where's Malldo? I was so excited! I'd been waiting to play this for years! So what you do is have people dress up in disguise and the youth have to try and find them in the mall. Super fun!!! It was hard to find them! There were some really good disguises and then some people who looked like themselves but didn't prove very easy to find for the youth. It was funny to watch them. I made lots of goodies. Zucchini bread, peanut butter cookies, peanut butter and cream cheese swirl brownies.

So I've been kind of in a funk this week and haven't posted, but today I posted 6 times, so that should make up for it!

TAG!

I've been hit! So fun!

The ABC’s of ME!
A- Attached or single: Attached
B- Best Friend: My husband
C- Cake or Pie: Pie! We didn't even have wedding cake, just 50 pies. Go Pie Month!!!
D- Day of choice: Saturday
E- Essential Item: lip gloss
F- Favorite Color: aqua, yellow
G- Gummi Bears or Worms: bears, worms are creepy.
H- Hometown: Not sure, but I was born in Loma Linda.
I- Indulgence(s): none, I'm cheap!
J- January or July: January, it's Superstar's birthday! And being hot makes me one grouchy Mama!
K- Kids: one little superstar!
L- Life is Incomplete Without: family and friends
M- Marriage Date: Feb. 5, 2000
N- Number of Siblings: who can really say.
O- Oranges or Apples: oranges, but only the really good ones.
P- Phobias or Fears: small spaces or being trapped
Q- Quote(s): Mama, I love you.
R- Reason To Smile: somebody loves me!
S- Season: Spring!
T- Tag Three +: Cherish, Lindsay, Ronda
U- Unknown Fact About Me: I'll do almost anything for free food.
V- Vegetarian or Meat Eater: MEAT
W- Worst Habit: Being lazy.
X- X-Rays or Ultrasounds: ultrasounds, so fun!!!
Y- Your Favorite Food: corn on the cob at the beach!
Z- Zodiac: Pisces

Buzzzzzzzzzz

So Superstar's hair was getting out of control and I felt poor so I decided to cut it myself. Well, I used to be able to do a good job. Maybe I just thought it looked good until I started taking him to the barber shop and now I just can't go back to my home chop chops. So he ended up with the buzz to cover up my creative errors we'll call them. I never wanted to do this to my baby. He looks like some skinhead cancer patient. I am getting used to it, but I prefer him with some hair.

So Tuesday night was really awesome. Luke was a super missionary and invited his friend from work to our ward open house a few weeks ago. I got to go to Luke's house and sit in on the first missionary discussion. It was cool. I made enchiladas and rice for dinner and we all ate and then had the lesson with the sister missionaries. It was so great to be able to participate in that. I told Luke that I'll just keep feeding his friend, since apparently that's the only missionary work I'm doing right now. Tonight is another discussion and the sisters asked me to be prepared to talk about what faith means to me. Daddy's been out of town this week, so Diva has been nice and watched Superstar during the discussions. That's her missionary work. Go Diva!

Party all the time

Sunday was super busy!!! Daddy's nephew was blessed and we had to bring potato salad for 20 people to the luncheon afterwards. Here's Jeremy holding his new baby cousin. Then we had to hop down to San Diego to the launch party for my brother-in-law's new car. It's so amazing, he invented this diesel-electric car that gets over 200 miles to the gallon. It's been fun watching the process, from the beginning in his garage to the start of the company, to that day when it was revealed to the world. Anyway, it's really cool, you can check it out on the website: http://www.aptera.com/
Here's me with my cute niece in her new beautiful pink dress for the party. She took out her headband, but she still looks so pretty! She remembered me and wanted me to carry her all around, so of course I loved that!

Beach Birthday

Saturday was Diva's big beach birthday bash. The sky was so beautiful and clear from the rain. You could see Catalina and the lights of Long Beach really clearly, and the moon and the residual clouds and the sunset were gorgeous! It was so fun to hang out with Luke's family. They are so nice! Superstar and I love to be at the beach! OOOH and there was corn on the cob cooked in salt water with melted butter. It's absolutely my favorite beach food! I ate like 4 ears of corn. I was a corn piggy. :) Daddy couldn't come because he went to Wicked with his mom! She was going to take me, but I didn't want to miss Diva's party. Both great things, I was torn! But I really wanted Daddy to be able to go because I got to go to Phantom and he didn't, so he deserved it. Then his mom took him out to dinner at Lucille's. So jealous!!! But I had beach corn and great memories, so I'm happy. :)

Here's our awesome bonfire. Luke said it was a termite-infested balcony from his work, and his brother's fiancee swore she saw a big ugly worm crawl out of a hole in the wood in the fire. Creepy! His brother knocked the corn butter can into the fire, and so I used it for a marshmallow cooker and it worked awesome. It cooked the marshmallows so fast! Luke called it the marshmallow microwave. They had really cool kites too and Superstar had so much fun trying to fly them.

Slumber Party

So here's Diva with her birthday quilt I made for her. She loved it, which is good! I'm always afraid I'm going to make one for someone and they're not going to like it and I'll be really disappointed. So anyway, the slumber party was kind of boring for me. The highlights were the great pizza and the awesome rain! Here's the girls all wrapped up marveling at the rain. It's been a long time, okay? Rain here in Southern California is nothing short of the eighth wonder of the world. So the weather man came through for me. Better late than never, right? I love this picture of the rain, it looks like some fiery meteor crashing through space. It's my own ode to Star Wars with special rain effects. So anyway, the girls just watched TV all night so I got bored and organized their kitchen pantry while Luke and Daddy were playing racquetball. Luke got mad at me, but I told him he should be grateful and just say thank you. I cleaned out all expired food and organized the spices and breakfast foods and all their different oils. It was fun! The girls were wimps and in bed before 12:30. The next morning I woke up early and hung up a big birthday sign with glittery silver letters that Diva had been hinting about everytime we went to Joanns. Then I cleaned up the ants who had taken a liking to our leftover hot wings. Luke, Daddy & Superstar came back over from our house and we ate pancakes and bacon. YUM!

Sunny Days

Okay, so here's my cute boy playing outside in the water in the SUNSHINE! Where's this great record-breaking storm? Why do I watch the weather? I was so excited for the rain; storms are my favorite! I am so disappointed. I had great plans for this day. I was going to stay inside and finish Diva's quilt for her birthday tomorrow, and drink hot chocolate and open the window and smell the rain and be all cozy. Now, it's just another day. Except tonight is Diva's slumber party and Luke and I are trading places tonight so I get to chaperone! I'm so excited!!!! I think it will be so much fun! I was kind of surprised that he didn't want to be there, since he and his daughter are so close, but I guess it is a girl thing. So yay for me! Luke is going to come have a guys slumber party with Daddy and Superstar, whatever that means. :) So the poll results are...you like your neck/shoulders rubbed the best! Hands and back tied for 2nd place. I was the only one who voted for head. That's my favorite part of getting my hair cut. The shampoo and head massage. At the Paul Mitchell School where I go in Costa Mesa, they give a really good head massage, it's so awesome! And the winner of the gumball contest is CORY! Final gumball count: 669. Can you believe it? Congratulations and I'll bring your cookies on Sunday!

International Talk Like a Pirate Day

So I thought my little pirate boy who never minds dressing up in his pirate costume would love to pose for a picture today, but the closest I could get was him saying AAAAARRGH in his pirate bath. I found this really cute pirate set at a toy store when I was visiting my sister in San Diego. He loves it. Now it's not a choice between a bath and a shower, it's a pirate bath!

Last night was really fun. We were supposed to go to the dog beach after dinner, but Luke's friend came to dinner too and so the missionaries stopped by and set up an appointment to teach him on Friday. He came to our ward's missionary open house a couple of weeks ago and felt the Spirit, so we were excited to see him again. He's really nice. So I guess missionary work is more important than the dog beach, but you know it's my favorite day of the week, so I couldn't help being a little disappointed. Hey, I'm not that holy yet! So I compromised and took Diva out for a spin and blasted Mika in the big bad truck.

Gumball Contest!

So Daddy's friend from work gave him all these gumballs, like what are we supposed to do with them? It's like a lifetime supply for me since I like my gum in a slightly smaller form. So I'm super excited! I want to have a gumball contest and everyone guess how many gumballs are in this container and whoever is closest gets a batch of their favorite cookies baked by me, dessert lover extraordinaire! Just post a comment with your best guess, and I'll let you know who won next week! Have fun! And BTW, this contest is open to family and friends only. I'm not shipping cookies all over to random people who might stumble upon my beautiful blog. :-)

Morning Walk

This morning we went to walk Baldo the Wonderdog and before I knew it Superstar had taken the leash and put it around his wrist just like he sees me do and was ready to go. He did a great job, and Baldo really respected him and responded to his commands. I was impressed with both of them, and it was so darn cute I took tons of pictures! Doesn't Superstar look so happy!?

I had my camera with me because I
wanted to take a picture of this tree that I'm trying to figure out what it is.

I think it might be a braided ficus, anybody know? I was reading on the internet and it was giving instructions on how to braid the trunk when the branches are young and supple. I think it looks so cool. This one's branches have kind of welded together, I like it when the branches kind of interweave but stay more separate. I want to try it!

Happy Meals

Yesterday we had so many friends come over. So fun! First Superstar's friend came over with Happy Meals which made everyone, well, happy. It's so fun to watch him interact with other kids and the things he says to them. Then Daddy's friend came for dinner. We haven't seen her in a few years. She's quite the world traveler. Anytime she's got a few days off she takes off across the world somewhere. She just got home from Honduras and is thinking about going back next week to dive some more. So spontaneous! If I went to Honduras or anywhere, I'd probably plan it for months! I told her to live it up while she's still single. You go girl! Luke came for dinner too and then he and Daddy went to play racquetball. I got to drive Luke's bad boy truck back to his house. It was so fun! I didn't want to forget how to drive a stick, and since it's been almost 5 years since I became a lazy mama automatic driver, I thought I should brush up on my stick skills. I forgot how much I like it! We were waiting to turn though and Superstar tried to shift which freaked me out, but luckily we were stopped and nothing happened. Plus I'd never driven a 4 wheel drive before so I tried to shift the wrong stick and ended up in neutral for a while. I figured it out, but Daddy and Luke were laughing at me.

Tile that!

So Luke came over today to help us finish up our bathroom tile project. So nice! It's almost done and it's looking so much better. Of course Luke and Diva's bathroom is way nicer but he gutted his totally first, so maybe later on we can do that and start from scratch. I had to take Superstar over to their house for a bath since ours was under construction. I fell in love with the tool belt, I thought it was so cute, and Luke thought I needed my picture taken so here I am. Daddy barbecued and then we had a fire and ate smores. It was a really nice day for me with my family and friends. Thanks for all your help Luke! You're a real buddy!

Happy Happy Park Days

Yesterday was the mom's group at Atlantis Park, or "the dragon slide park" as it's officially known at our house. Superstar wanted to climb this tree, so I boosted him up. Then I decided I wanted to climb it too, so after several unsuccessful tries which ended up in me swinging upside down from a branch. Finally I got up there so we had to have a picture. I was so sappy; I still have sap on my feet which is a mystery since my bare feet never touched the tree now that I think about it. Yep, it's confirmed, I'm a sappy girl. ;) Then last night we went to Disneyland with Luke and Diva. Luke's favorite missionary companion was in town with his family, and they invited us to go too so we went for a couple of hours. It was fun, and I could see why he was the favorite companion. And his wife was cute and sassy so I liked her too. We rode on Star Tours and the ride shut down right when the spiny icy things come at you so we sat in there for a while and made friends with the other passengers. I kept thinking this would be an awful place to die, all sealed up and stuck in our seatbelts. Daddy was on the other side of the ride in another row, due to those annoying Disney employees. The intercom kept going back and forth on whether we were staying in the ride or getting off. Finally they opened the doors and took us to another space shuttle. This time I stretched the seatbelt over my knee so if we got stuck again I could get out. But it went smoothly that time so it was all good.

Girly Fun

Look how cute my niece is! I had her today so my bro-in-law could go shoot guns with his friend. She was so cuddly and I got to do her hair and tie a bow in it and get my girly fix, so that was fun. She even wanted to stay with me when her daddy came to get her. I love it when kids like me! It doesn't happen very often. Maybe because most kids I just tolerate. There's only a few I really like. Is that terrible?

So the chocolate chip cookies won by a landslide. Hope you like the new poll!

Tree Hugger

So I really wanted to be Wonderwoman for Halloween, but all the costumes look like I should be working on a street corner so that's just not going to work for me. But last night I was with the Young Women learning how to make orange rolls and delivering them and one of the Young Women was talking about being a tree for Halloween and then we started talking about someone needed to be the tree hugger. Well that just sounded about perfect for me. I mean really, if I can't be Wonderwoman, then a tree hugger is the next best thing, right? ;) So I went to this cool T-shirt website that Daddy's friend told him about and I had so much fun making up designs! They had so many cool fonts, and I loved this Asian one. This design is Daddy's favorite, so I'm going to order it and wear it with some other funky hippy stuff and run around on Halloween saying, "Peace man," and "Make love, not war." Oh and I can have peace signs painted on my cheeks. This is getting better all the time.

Sunday Dinner

So Sunday we went to Luke and Diva's for Korean BBQ. I was so excited because Daddy had been bragging about how good it was for a while. Of course I packed a PB sandwich for Superstar who is not the most adventurous with food. Then he just played in the dirt anyway and I had to run home and get him clean clothes; he was so filthy! Well the BBQ was so delicious! I just wanted to eat and eat! I even tried kimchi. I always like to try everything once and give it a fair chance because it bugs me when people say they don't like something they've never even tried. Hello! So anyway, I didn't like it, but I tried it. And we had the best watermelon ever. Then we played ping pong and I kept hitting the ball over the fence in the yard of their really nice neighbor, but I felt bad because we kept going over to get the balls. She was really sweet about it. I was actually better than I thought I would be, but still not really good at all. It was super fun though. Then Luke made us peanut butter cookies, yum!, and we played karaoke on their Playstation. I had no idea there was like skill involved and stuff. Next time I'll be better; I've been practicing so look out. :) Then we went for a little walk on the sidewalk by the beach. Thanks for having us guys, that was really fun!

Dog Beach

So these are our friends I've been talking about in the last couple of posts. They are so high maintenance; they demanded their own code names. So from here on out they'll be Luke Skywalker Esquire and Diva. And of course you already know Baldo the Wonderdog. So Tuesday is Dog Beach Day and Luke and Diva came for dinner and then we played a little baseball in the backyard and headed for the dog beach. It's my new favorite day. Hello, walking dogs and the beach and my family and friends, how much better could it get?! So fun.

Look-a-likes

Baldo the Wonderdog

This is our new friend Baldo. Our friends have been gracious enough to let Superstar and I walk him. I love to walk dogs and needed a little extra exercise and Baldo needed walking, so it's a perfect match! I'm so happy! The neighbors stared at us like they'd never seen a dog walked before. So I just waved and smiled and enjoyed it.

Last Day

We have been having so much fun with our friend from church. Yesterday was our last day with her before she went back to school. She has been really fun for Superstar and for me since I have to borrow girls to get my girly fix with hair and nails and shoes and shopping and all that. We went to Disneyland and to her ice skating lesson and to her grandma's house. It was a great day. Long, but happy.

Growing up

My superstar is getting so old! He asked me for a sandwich and I didn't get it for him quick enough so he made his own. I came into the kitchen and there he was with the 2 pieces of bread a little crooked but together with peanut butter, just like he likes it! I was so proud I had to take his picture, of course. On Sunday he wanted spiky hair like always but he didn't wait for me. He went in the bathroom and wet his hair down and got the gel out the medicine cabinet and put it on his hair and spiked it and then sprayed it with hair spray. I couldn't believe it! I helped him shape it a little, but man oh man he is growing up.

Labor Day

So we are certifiably crazy, but we had so much fun at Disneyland on Monday even though it was 108 degrees! I have never had so much fun in such high temperatures. Usually I get very grouchy, but we had good friends and Dole Whip and apparently that's what I need for a good time! We had ice fights which was fun but left us wet in some unusual places. There's a certain ATM machine in Disneyland that got the worst of it, but I have terrible aim and it was irresistible to attack a stationary target! Mama's sister and her family were there too so we met up with them for a few rides. We were excited to get to see the fireworks too, since that was the last weekday night they would be showing before the early fall hours start. It was a good show, and I can never resist taking fireworks pictures. They're so cool!