It's starting to look like Halloween...

Patrick has been helping me in the garden, getting nice and dirty in the process.

I finally started getting holiday decorations. I figured that Patrick is now able to enjoy it, so I might as well start. Here's the first attempt at looking Halloweeny.


I also picked up a cute little sign for the front door and planted a few sweet potato vines in the urn. There are 2 shades of green and then two deep purple plants planted in there. Very fall-looking even though it's still over 100 degrees these days.


We stopped by the mall rides on our way out of Costco yesterday. Patrick thought it was pretty fun. He is looking so big!


So far we've had a low key weekend with Sean getting sick (poor baby!) and needing to study for midterms soon. Yuck! Also, if you didn't know about the knee update, he got a second opinion. While there are still things to be checked on, he is probably going to have to have surgery on his miniscus and ACL. The doctor experience was a heckuva lot better this time around. Thanks Dr. Chick!

I wanted to mention a few great flicks I've seen on Netflix. The Up Series was just awesome. It's a project of an English documentary maker where he's followed a handful of children (now adults) throughout their lives every seven years starting at age seven. This started in the sixties and there are still more movies planned. It think the next is for 2010 or so and the children will now be in their sixties. You have to check it out - it's really amazing to watch. Also, Outsourced is great. It was entertaining but really was pertinent for these times.

Check out this incredible photographers blog from San Francisco. There are the most incredible pictures of their kids on there. Just beautiful. I would love to learn to take pictures like this. I know there is a lot of photoshopping going on and I think I love that. It makes them all look so fantastical.

The Second San Diego Trip

We had a great weekend driving over Friday to meet my parents at Campland on the Bay in "the Prowler" which is their 5th wheel travel trailer. We had surf and turf bbq'd at the campsite and then went to bed pretty early since we were sleeping in the upstairs part of the camper and had to be locked in with the baby so that he wouldn't crawl out in the middle of the night.

We took our time in the morning Saturday with breakfast and even let Patrick take a little nap that morning before we ate at Point Loma Seafoods for lunch and then headed to the World Famous San Diego Zoo. The zoo was perfect, we rode all the rides (the tram and the skyway) to view the animals - it was more fun and was easier on Sean's knee. Then we walked around the children's zoo with Patrick in Grandpa's baby backpack.


After the zoo we headed back to the camper and washed the little guy in the shower/bath.

Then Sunday we went to the La Jolla Shores Beach. I think this is the best baby beach. There are great bathrooms and lots of sand and low key waves. It was overcast and even a little chilly! Wow - that's a new feeling!

Then just before we left on Monday we went to Seaport Village for a carousel ride. We happened to run into my mom's childhood friend (who also lives in Phoenix) at the same restaurant! What a small world. We had a great time and look forward to the next trip!

Ladybug cowboy

Actin' cool at the car dealership

Don't worry, pics and post from San Diego are coming soon...

Right now, as im typing, Patrick is practicing saying "truck" and "car."

Thank goodness for waiting room coffee and the creamer pods.

Bed head from the leg to Gila Bend

Splash pad fun!

New Layout

So I have been fussing around with a new layout. I was ready for a new one. Sean thinks differently. However, our little boy is getting bigger and the header deserves a new picture, so here it is. I don't know exactly how to "pimp" my blog so I'm just working with the easy stuff for now.

Girls' Day and Night

Saturday night we had what we hope to be is a monthly girls' night out. We started this whole thang at Tapino in Scottsdale. It's a tapas restaurant that sources their ingredients locally (yay!).

We all had fun trying new things. Liz (pictured above with me) tried beets for the first time and boy were they good. They were from Kelly's farm Desert Roots (she gets some of her stuff from Frank at Crooked Sky). I got to have my carpaccio which was so good. They also brought out lobster hot dogs (they weren't my fave), crusted goat cheese (awesome), pork empanadas, short ribs (yum), fried okra with harissa (yum but cut weird - the long way, not crosswise - not the best for okra though it was tender), Beth and I had watermelon mojitos, some of the other ladies got wine and we finished dinner with a fancy fruit salad, homemade smores and drumsticks, spoons of creme brulee and strawberry doughnuts.

How bad can that be?

But before we made it to Tapino we celebrated Mike and Suzanne's daughter's first birthday with some Sprinkles Cupcakes. Happy First Cate!

The vegetable/herb garden

So here's what it looks like now. Only 3 of these pots are from the
original seeds I planted. I think it was just too hot for them all to
have survived.

The ones that survived were the tomatoes, mesclun mix
and a parsley. Determined to have some plants, I went out and got
basil, thyme, walla walla onions, chives, eggplant, butternut squash,
sage, mint, oregano, margoram, parsley and catnip.

We shall see what I can keep alive. I've been watering everyday and will have Katy come by to water while we're in San Diego again this weekend.

Chillin' outside in our jammies

So we only kept the window open for 5 minutes but decided to go
outside and enjoy the weather and check out my herb/veg garden. That
picture is coming next.

Horray for 80 degree rain!

Halloween costume idea from Babystyle

Relaxing in the dogbed

I'm attempting to post more often using the email post feature of the
blog using my phone. It might get me posting more often...let's hope!