Fire Season

So my Dad always says to people that complain we have so seasons here, that we do have seasons: fire season and flood season. I just can't believe that they're saying this is worse than the fires three years ago. I thought at that time it couldn't possibly be any worse. I remember it went on for weeks and every channel on TV was fire coverage. My sister in San Diego thought she might have to come up with her family to stay with us, but so far they're okay, just really smoky and close to the evacuation areas. It's really incredible how the weather can change so quickly and dramatically. I just went and bought some new jeans in preparation for the cooler days and nights, and now it's almost 90 degrees! The wind reminds me of being in Oklahoma. I'm jealous of the people who have good wind hair, which basically means no hair at all. So here's our tarp in the backyard. We came home and found it toppled. Daddy wanted to put it back up, but I said, why? It will just blow down again. So Superstar and I took pictures of it. He loves to take pictures with my camera. Yesterday I downloaded my pictures and found 104 pictures on there, few of them being mine. There were lots of pictures of a green balloon and self-portraits of Superstar, and his trains. It's cute. I'm hoping he'll get a kid camera for Christmas, but we'll see. Here's some of his best work. Abstract, but fun.

Softball Champions!

Daddy's team won!!! This week was the play-offs for Daddy's softball team on the Naval base where he works. I like to go watch because it makes Daddy happy and the other guys too since I used to work with them and they laugh at my bench coaching. Run run run now stop stop! It's fun. So Daddy played the first game and they won, which put them into the championship game. In between we had a bbq. I brought brownies with M&Ms. Tasty enough, but I don't think I'll waste the candy on the brownies again. I'll save them for the rice krispie treats. So they won and it was so fun! Superstar got tired at the end and fell asleep; it was after 9 and like 56 degrees outside.

Here's their cute team with the trophy.

Daddy's Birthdays!

Last night we celebrated Daddy and Luke's birthdays, since they're born a week apart, well, and a few years. We had Korean BBQ, thanks to Luke, and I made 2 cheesecakes, one with strawberries and one with raspberries. So yummy!!!! The best part is that there's leftovers, so we get to have this yumminess again on Sunday!!! What could be better? I gave Daddy the leaning tower of presents, sorry no picture, but it was stuff for his new bike and for his racquetball adventures. I made Luke a Star Wars quilt, which he thought was pretty cool. Diva got a little grumpy, so Luke tried to cheer her up with his never-should-happen-again but funny combover. Really, you men out there, take a hint! It's really better to be bald. Just do it!

Animal Planet

Superstar loves animals! I'm so happy about this. I get so impatient with children who are afraid of animals. I always wanted Superstar to be tender-hearted towards God's creatures and have tried to help him feel comfortable around them since he was very small.

Favorite Holiday

So you love Christmas, really, few don't! Halloween and Thanksgiving were a tie, with one vote apiece. I love Thanksgiving. I love Christmas, but the older I get, the more thankful I become and the more I see the need for us all to develop an attitude of gratitude so we can be happy and spread joy to all around us. People who don't count their blessings are miserable human beings. Plus, Thanksgiving is hands down the best meal of the entire year! There's no other meal I crave all year long and can eat the leftovers for as long as they last. And it's a certified pie holiday, so who wouldn't love that!

Catch-up

So much to catch-up on! I'm tempted to just skip to today, but there's so many cute pictures that I can't resist! So here's Diva and Superstar at USA Skates. We went to get Diva's ice skates sharpened. It was an expensive store, but it had some fun stuff. I called Daddy and told him maybe we couldn't afford for Superstar to be an ice skater. My niece came to wreak havoc on our house a couple of times this week. She's fun to have because she really loves me right now, but my house is definitely not baby-proof anymore. How does that happen? I always thought once you baby-proofed your house it just kind of stayed that way, but boy was I wrong!

Last week we had a tragedy in our ward; our bishop's daughter was killed. It was hard to take, but I can't imagine having to do it without the strength and comfort the gospel provides. Without the knowledge of our Savior and the love of our Heavenly Father and his wonderful plan of happiness for us, I think I'd be in the loony bin. I am so grateful for loving parents who taught me the plan. We were able to take the Young Women to the temple that week and it was so great to feel the comfort of the Spirit there for all of us.

Bush People

Bad Bad Blogger! So Sorry, I've been a major slacker. 2 weekends ago we had General Conference and we watched it at Luke and Diva's house which was relaxing since Superstar was the only kid there and he's so quiet by himself. Luke has done such a good job with the front yard that it inspired me to do some front yardwork of our own. It was Columbus Day the day after, so Daddy was off work and helped me chop chop some overgrown bushes, trees, plants, what were these people thinking? Whoever had the house before us went hog wild with the plants and they're planted on top of each other everywhere with so order whatsoever. Daddy has wanted to rip them out for a LONG time, but I'm always so reluctant to kill something that's actually green and surviving. But Luke's yard inspired me, thanks Luke! Anyway, Daddy borrowed Luke's chainsaw and took down the bush that they planted our mailbox in the middle of and some other stuff. Luke only let us borrow it on condition that I could not touch it since apparently I'm a "delicate flower." Whatever!!! How sexist is that?! But whatever, it's kind of cute they want to protect me from the big bad chainsaw. ;) I had to settle for doing battle with the clippers, which was kind of therapeutic, actually. I was so filthy from literally climbing under bushes, ripping stuff out that I had to include this picture of Superstar and I post-shower all clean and cheeky!

You feel loved...

So the majority of you feel loved most by Acts of Service. There was a tie between words of affirmation and quality time. Interestingly enough, no one voted for physical touch. Just in case you're unfamiliar with this concept, I got it from the book The Five Love Languages. I have a sister and a sister-in-law who are really into it and I have to say that when you love people in their love language it's much more effective. I'm kind of a mix. I love people to do things for me, so I think sometimes that's how I show love for people is by acts of service. But I've learned that some people just don't appreciate that, so I have to learn to love them some other way. It's funny too because I would never say my love language is physical touch, but I love being hugged, so maybe that tells me something. I also love the words of affirmation, because if someone tells me something nice about myself, I light up like a Christmas tree and glow all day, basking in the compliment. So anyway, have fun trying to figure out the love languages of yourself and your loved ones.

Monday Rally Go Angels!

Last night we went to the Angels Rally at the stadium. Daddy likes to go because it's all free. I like to go because of the parachuters and the fireworks. The rest of the stuff in the middle is kind of boring, but we took Luke with us and he said it was more fun than sitting at home. Superstar was kind of bored and there was this little baby in front of us that was exasperating her mother. She wanted me to hold her, I could tell, but David said that would be weird, so I didn't ask. Sometimes I get a little too excited and Daddy has to reign me in and tell me to chill. Of course sometimes he's a little too chill and he needs to pump it up!!!

Ice Skating

So Saturday was Superstar's first time on the ice. He'd been wanting to go ever since we first went and picked up Diva from her ice skating practice. So we signed him up with a class from the city to see if he likes it before we invest too much into it. So he loved it! He wasn't exactly a natural; he was very cautious and didn't want to let go of Daddy, (I was so disappointed I forgot my socks and couldn't skate with them!) but he never wanted to get off the ice and keeps asking when we're going back.
Of course, Superstar was disappointed because Diva wasn't there. She and Luke were at the ward campout, which we were sad to miss, but didn't want to miss Superstar's first lesson. He just asked me again if we can go ice skating tomorrow with Diva, and last night he asked where his skates were. If this keeps up I'm seeing ice skates in the future for his birthday. I picked up a brochure for the birthday party package they have at the ice rink, but it's only for 10 kids, including Superstar, and with all the nieces and nephews, it will be hard to invite hardly anyone else, so we'll have to see about that. The real drama of the day was that my camera died, so Grandma came to my rescue with batteries. Then the flash was acting up and I couldn't get any pictures, so Grandma went and got her camera and I took a few pictures, but then her memory card was full. I got a few, so I was okay. I had to have pictures of my baby's first time on the ice!