T-Mac and the Boogers

Violet turned 10 months yesterday.  I can’t believe how close we are getting to the year mark… she just isn’t a little baby anymore (totally sinking in with all the baby Dean time).  She is getting more vocal, even though it is just sounds, she will say “mamamamama” and “mmmm” as well as sit in her seat and holler.  She is a funny girl.  I am learning, and have to remember, how much more “demure” and understated she is than her big sister.  She doesn’t get as worked up over things, she still doesn’t smile a lot or laugh, but she warms up to people faster than Sophie did, and she is just so content to sit in a room with you playing with the vertical blinds.

Her hair has gotten so red this summer, it makes me happy, expecially because a nice tan came with it, she has a great combination of the red hair and olive skin.  She has 5 teeth now, and she likes showing off her “teethies” and will open up if you ask to see them.  She can stand by herself (but can’t get there without the help of a couch or friend) for a goodly amount of time, depending on how excited she gets.  She loves standing and trying to walk to Jeff or I.  She can take 2 decent steps, anything past that is just “falling with style!”  She will just stand there and wave at you if you are lucky.

Her pincer grasp is finally functional.  She can put Cheerios in her mouth with zero problem and will sit happily at the dinner table with the help of a baggie of cereal.  She is also exploring so much more, she will venture off to see what is around the corner if you aren’t watching her too closely, and she loves pulling my Ziploc baggies out of their box… the other day she poured out some oats… life is getting more interesting!

For the stat book: She is 21 pounds, wish I could tell you how long, but I have learned that my measurements (or maybe the nurses measurements who I compare mine to) aren’t super accurate, and they get worse the more wiggly and mobile she gets.

We love our Vi-Vi!

Filed under: Violet on July 24th, 2010 | 2 Comments »

We drove down to LA for one of Jeff’s 9-80 days off… it was one of the only times we could see that we would be able to meet Baby Dean before his blessing weekend.  So we tripped down to visit Sean, Rachel, Dean, as well as Andy and Daisy.  It was a fun quick trip.  We wish we could have stayed longer.  Fridaywe headed over to see the baby.  The girls were nice to him (for the most part, Vi, at one part tried to attack him!) and he is a cutie-patootey!

Then we headed over to Mother’s Beach, which is a nice little cove with basically no waves.  It was cool.  The girls had a good time, and it was Vi’s first time touching sand where she could have a reaction!

That night we started our weekend of eating by heading over to C and O Cucina.  It was delicious.  They had these garlic bread balls that were divine, and my Gorgonzola pasta with eggplant and roasted red peppers… oh my goodness.  So delicious.  I didn’t have my camera… but trust me… so good!

The next morning we got a reservation at our favorite brunch spot in Hollywood… The Griddle.  I have talked about it before, so I made sure to bring my camera… because what good is it for me to say that we had banana pancakes with caramel, streusel, walnuts and whipped cream, buttermilk pancakes with baked cinnamon apples and lemon pancakes with raspberries… if I can’t show you what we ate?!?!  Also, what is it with the boys in our life and crazy picture faces?  Also, Violet looks ticked off, but she loved the pancakes, and was looking at me like that cause I was interrupting her eating.  Every time she took a bite she said “mmmmm.”

That night we headed to the Pasadena Pops with Andy and Daisy.  It was good, they did a Lion King song, and Hoedown from Rodeo.  I was happy, Jeff was ok, and Sophie danced up a storm.

Before we left we tried to get a picture of the 3 grandkids… .it sort of worked, but it was hard to keep Sophie smiling and stop Vi from touching Dean.  We tried!

Filed under: My crazy life, Sophie, Violet on July 21st, 2010 | 4 Comments »

My fabulous new sister in law has a little video clip up on Mormon.org!  If you would like to learn more about Daisy and her conversion story click here.  We love Daisy (and I find her so brave to take a camera crew everywhere with her… even the gym… I would have been laughing the whole time!).

PS: Mormon.org is a great website if you have questions about what Mormons believe and don’t want to have to ask someone about it!

Filed under: Odds N' Ends on July 18th, 2010 | 6 Comments »

This is my final (promise) post for Utah.  I thought I would just put a couple things in that didn’t quite match up with the other posts. 

Violet had a 3rd eye for a little bit of time… inside joke, so funny, and she kept making good faces while it was on!

The girls and the happy couple, all rested from Hawaii!

My favorite treat from the open house… ate WAY TOO many of these… they are fruit tarts, with custard and chocolate… so, so delicious. 

I thought I would end this mass of posts with an addition to the Chinese stereotype… Chinese folks with cameras.  The vacation was spent with my family… which includes some fabulous Chinese people and there were more than enough cameras at all times… here are a few of the shots of others taking pictures (there is even one of me, it wouldn’t be fair if there wasn’t!)

That is all to my recap of Utah… it was a good trip (even Jeff agreed it was a lot of fun… and it pains him to admit when Utah is fun, he would rather it be boring!)… with lots of good family and fun and fruit tarts!  Hope we can get all of the Lo family together again sooner rather than later.  7 years is just too long!

Filed under: My crazy life, Odds N' Ends on July 12th, 2010 | 2 Comments »

Tuesday was spent at the Discovery Gateway children’s museum.  It was like a larger Habitot.  Kinda cool, boring for adults (wish they wouldn’t charge full price for adults), but Sophie loved it.  We started with some music, played in the full play house, complete with kitchen, ironing board and mini furniture and played fire fighter.

Then we went to the grocery store.  The store was complete with a dairy section, bakery, deli and produce section, as well as multiple cash registers that allowed your to make announcements “Clean up Aisle 3!”

The we drove on over to the farm section, where we picked apples, potatoes, onions, lettuce, carrots… and then drove them in the tractor past the rock wall and full size horse (this was a fun preschool age museum!  SO much for Sophie to do.)

Then we went to go play in the small kid section and water section.

Then we went to our class.  We learned about flowers and gardens.  Then made lollipop flowers!  Sophie couldn’t wait to eat hers… but had a surprisingly good time coloring it as well.

In addition to all of this we made parachutes to fly in the wind tunnel.  Sophie also got to “drive” a fully size Life Flight Helicopter.  The girls were exhasted by the end of our time there.  It was a lot of fun, and I would recommend it to those who have kids between 3-8 ish.  Upstairs were more bigger kid activities, they looked like fun, just too much for Soph.

Filed under: My crazy life, Odds N' Ends on July 12th, 2010 | No Comments »

I am finally an AUNT!!!!  Yeah for me!  But even more so, yea for Rachel and Sean for having cutie patootey Dean Gerald!  7 lbs 12 oz, 21 in long… can’t wait to meet him!  Congrats to the happy family!

Filed under: Odds N' Ends on July 12th, 2010 | No Comments »

Sunday was a great day at church, visited with a couple people I hadn’t seen yet, and I do love testimony meeting on holidays, especially on the 4th.  There are such great patriotic undertones.  We then headed to the SL cemetery.  This fall will be 10 years since my uncle passed away, and as some of the family aren’t nearby often, we all went to visit.  (Side poll: Is it unusual for you or your family to visit the cemetery?  I enjoy cemeteries, regardless of if I know someone there or not, but Jeff thinks it is a little morbid.  Thoughts?) 

Later that evening we went to eat with the crowd.  We had Buca de Beppo.  Yummy.  Especially because I have been off carbs for a while, carb loading is such a (sickeningly) great treat!

Relaxing Sunday with good company, and more fireworks!

Monday, the boys played tennis, and then most of us went to dim sum before Edmond and Anna had to catch their flight.  Yummy food, and Violet slept the whole time, which was nice, I could eat and visit.  Then we all headed up to Park City for zip lines and Alpine Slides.  Jeff took Sophie down, she liked it so much they went a second time, and didn’t use breaks the whole time!  She liked going “super fast.”

Going up the lift:

After the ride:

The zip line:

Violet getting into trouble while waiting:

Hanging out in Park City:

Then we ate some delicious pizza for dinner:

Are you bored of this yet?  Maybe, but I am not done!  Promise getting there!

Filed under: My crazy life, Odds N' Ends on July 12th, 2010 | 1 Comment »

We celebrated the 4th of July on Saturday the 3rd… We started with my home wards Pancake Breakfast.  Can I say that Gary’s addition of sausage gravy to his hashbrowns was the best ever?!?!?  In addition Uncle Sparky continued his tradition of giving kids poppers for cleaning off their plates.  Sophie thoroughly enjoyed “making people dance” by throwing poppers at their feet.

Then we packed up and headed up Millcreek Canyon for a BBQ.  It was a perfect day up the canyon, not cold, no big breeze, and the sun was shining.  Gorgeous.  While the fire was getting going an activity was started.

This is a soda can… obviously.  It was stuck on a rock at one point, and so Jeff and Sophie tried to hit it with a rock.  When it came loose the key was to hit the moving target.  It started with 2 people trying to hit the can:

But then everyone thought it looked like good fun:

There was a point where at least 10+ people were trying to hit this can.  Ah, the simple pleasures.  But then it was time to eat.  My mom’s family is not a burger/hot dog kinda family… they do these BBQ’s the hardcore Chinese way.  We had pork chops, steak, chicken wings, sweet potatoes, grilled corn, avocado salsa… and hotdogs for the kiddies!  It was delicious.

I had some great shots of Jeff eating his steak sandwich, as well as other folks eating, but I thought that might just be mean, oh well, here is the least embarassing sandwich photo!

 My favorite of the night (besides the chocolate cherry dutch oven cake) was a steak sandwich with jalepenos and avocado salsa… yummy!

A few of the folks having a good time.

We then headed back to “town” and lit some fireworks.  My Uncle “Sparky” got us some fabulous fireworks.  I am only posting a couple pics for this day, but know that we did fireworks almost every night we were there…

The “4th” of July is a lot of fun in Utah.  (PS throughout these posts I have started snaking pictures from my aunt and uncle’s Facebook albums, as well as using a few of my Dad’s pics… so thanks to everyone!)

Filed under: My crazy life, Odds N' Ends on July 11th, 2010 | No Comments »

As I was getting the pictures ready for what I thought would be one longer post, I realized that this reallly was more of a 2-3 post recap.  So I will just start at the beginning, and see how much I get through. 

After the initial plane issues, Utah was great.  It was so nice to see most everyone and I have realized the upside to my brother getting married is that I got to see everyone at his reception, but I had time to visit with them, unlike at my wedding where I just had to shuffle through the lines!  So nice.  After I get some prints of the wedding and reception I will post more, but for now, I just have a few.  When we arrived Thursday we got to eat Cafe Rio… yummy!  Someone needs to open one in Walnut Creek… I miss it so much!  Then we got ready for the open house.  It was at a local golf course and some friends of my mom’s decorated.  It looked so nice.

We tried to get family pictures, but we got a late start, so we only got one sort of decent one on my camera.

The night was long, but it was fun, Daisy looked gorgeous, and the girls looked cute in their new dresses.

Friday we had a fantabulous bowling tournament.  I didn’t win, though I did redeem myself the second game.  It was a fun afternoon!

Sophie bowled quite well, with a little help from OGO.  Violet got in quite a bit of trouble trying to take the bowling balls off the return rack.

That night we had fireworks.  They were pretty calm the first night, nothing too big, and nothing too crazy, but Sophie enjoyed a lot of them, and she has seemingly gotten over her fear of fireworks (mind you, we spend the whole time labeling the colors of the fireworks with Disney names.  IE Green: Peter Pan, Pink: Sleeping Beauty…etc).   I didn’t take many pictures of fireworks, but I got a couple of the impressive ones we did the next few nights.  We had a goodly number of fireworks (what happens when your uncle Sparky is a vendor) and you have 4 teenage cousins who insist on doing lots of fun, crazy things.  Man, I feel old, my cousin Aaron was 13 years old last time I saw him.  He is now 20  and finished with his freshman year of college… OLD!

More of Utah to come.  But it is hot and I think I will go swimming first!

Filed under: My crazy life, Odds N' Ends on July 9th, 2010 | 1 Comment »

Ladies and gentlemen… there were 2 options for what I was to do tonight.  The first (my preferred and planned option) was to fly to Utah, see my parents, my brother and new sister in law, and start my vacation.  This was the option I had been talking to Sophie about for quite a few days… she and I were prepared.  The second option was go to girl’s night and watch the newest Twilight movie.  This was a good second option, I mean if you aren’t going on vacation you should have a good night with the girls… seeing a cheesy girly movie that your husband will never see with you.

Instead… this was my night.  My in-laws came to take us to the airport at 5:15.  We arrived at 6:20ish.  Saw our flight was delayed until 8:50 (it was supposed to take off at 7:40).  So while we were in line to check bags and confirm the late departure we called the in-laws back, saying, “Let’s go to dinner instead of sitting in the terminal.”  We checked bags, were told the flight had definitely been delayed until 8:50, and went to the nearby Panda Express.  I know that people without children would wonder why we wouldn’t just stay and eat airport food, but see, a 3 year old and 9 month old get easily bored in the airport, and we thought the grandparent distraction would be a good plan… right?  Right, agree with me?

So, we went, ate and then walked around the ghetto Walmart (Oakland Walmart is even more ghetto than a regular Walmart…).  We arrived back at the airport at 7:50… when our original flight was to be finished boarding and taking off (but we all know we would have been sitting on the runway for another 20 minutes).  Looked at the departure board and saw (where we expected to see delayed: 8:50) DEPARTED… that is right.  Somehow while we killed time and let the 3 year old run around, getting out the wiggles, our flight magically arrived, boarded, loaded bags and flew off… 10 minutes late, and 50 minutes earlier than we had been told.  I don’t need comments about how it is all “Subject to Change” we understand that, but when has a plane that was supposed to be an hour late leave right on time?  Mind you, if we hadn’t left for dinner we would still be sitting there 3 hours later wondering why they won’t just fly in already…  In addition, Sophie had cried the first time we left for dinner, she was so mad we weren’t going to Grandma’s house, on the plane, like we had talked about.  Can you imagine the tears when we had to explain that we weren’t flying anywhere tonight?  Then, the tears that occurred when I told her Pig was on the plane, and wouldn’t be here for bedtime?

Arggggg… so instead of the 2 possible options listed above, I am here in my family room, mildly fuming (the ColdStone on the way home helped ease the fury) watching SYTYCD… which is fabulous, but not the same.  I will have to wait until 12 hours later to actually see my family (and later to see my Dad), and at least a week later to see the girly movie I mentioned above…  To add to the aggravation… the Pig is now in Utah, as is Vi’s lovey, both their blankets, all our toiletries (glasses, contact solution and such), the cute clothes I was going to put me and my kids in to see the family we haven’t seen in 7 years (meaning some of them have never met either of my kids) and, well, all my energy… it is sapped, and must be in those bags, because I haven’t noticed it since the plane actually departed, without me on it.  Now we get to arise at 4:30ish to make an early flight and try to salvage the day ahead of us…

Rant Over.

Filed under: My crazy life on June 30th, 2010 | 5 Comments »