welcome to random city, USA.

M has some work down South this weekend, so we loaded up our little tin-can of a corolla (whom we lovingly refer to as the Swan- mostly for irony's sake anymore) and were off on yet another road trip this morning before 6 am. that picture above is of the lovely sunrise coming over the hills. i love watching the sunrise...maybe even more than watching the sunset. so much hope and renewal. new beginnings. a fresh start.

i admit that i totally love this stage of life that allows me to ditch all responsibilities and obligations at the drop of a hat, while the rest of the world is meeting teachers for the first time, whipping out the new school clothes and fresh kicks, packing lunches, and reestablishing a functional routine. don't get me wrong, i love a good routine. in fact i attribute some of my recent funkiness to be because of the constant chaos and lack of routine that the summer brings. i'm looking forward to settling back into normal life and for things to be a little less hectic.

regardless, like i mentioned in my last post, i am chaos these days. hectic is my middle name. how can you not be with a 10 month old who wants to be walking (and who has taken her first step!), and a three year old who thinks it's hilarious to dump a cup of rice all over the floor? multiple times? even when you ask her to stop?

hence. (what a weird word. hence. rhymes with pence. both make me feel like i'm living in a Jane Austen book. which is pretty cool i guess - i love Jane. i loooovvee Mr Darcy. but then again, who doesn't?).

anyways. what was i saying? oh yeah, that i live in a hectic tornado mess- hence i have a hectic tornado mess of pictures from my phone to share. and while my hectic-tornado-creators are strapped down in one place for several hours, i finally have a minute to document the mess to prove that life has been actually happening. in short, welcome to random city, USA.


one of Alice's favorite things to do is hang out by me while i'm working in the kitchen, especially when i'm either A) cooking (because that usually means i'm slipping her bites of strawberries or bread or rice or whatever i'm whippin' up) or B) putting away the dishwasher (because that means she gets to dump out all the silverware and Tupperware to her hearts content).


she's so funny. her favorite thing is to take things out- more like throw things out; clothes out of drawers, toys out of boxes, food off of her tray, DVD's out of the rack, and of course the aforementioned utensils out of the dishwasher. she makes me laugh all the time.


have i told you that me and a group of friends are running the Napa Valley Ragnar next month?i'm excited. we've been training and running our little tushies off, which has been fun and hard. our runs often end at a park so the kiddies can play after- so i have like a gazillion park pictures.


Alice and i love to swing.


Ellie puts up with it. but not for long because she gets bored. and is a little scared of the swings. she's my cautious girl.


Alice, on the other hand, will crawl all over the park- even through the yucky bark. she is my little adventurer.


one of our recent addictions is coconut water. so refreshing and super delicious. last weekend, M found me some real coconuts (does that sound suggestive and awkward to anyone else??). we chilled 'em real good.


sipped on some delicious fresh coco water.


and ate some of the coco meat. which admittedly was slightly disappointing. all-in-all though, it was fun. and transported us from our little bubble to a Mexican paradise for like five seconds. it was an epic five seconds.


M and i are proud to say we are still going strong with P90x. it's been hard. really hard. there have been plenty of moments that i have either wanted to stay in bed or wanted to puke my guts out because Ab Ripper x is just too freakin' intense- but we've seen some awesome results, and it's actually been really fun to do together. so what does that picture of Ellie have to do with our crazy work-out antics? well, one of the challenges of working out in the morning is that one or both of the girls almost always end up hanging out with us during the end of our workout. yesterday was an extra special morning where Ellie came out during our warm up. awesome. after all the stretches, a few jump squats, and several lunges...Ellie got bored and sat down for a morning read. it was pretty adorable. especially since she was decked out in her frilly skirt. at 6 am.


i think i shared this picture of Ellie on Facebook- but another morning last week she came out at 7 am holding this pink dress and the most awesome bed-head ever. some people may criticize letting my 3 year old dress up all day every day. but with joy like that smeared across her face, i don't care what the naysayers say.


last weekend my childhood friends Brooke and Courtney came to the bay area and met me for lunch. they came down to Walnut Creek, a drive that usually takes me about 15 minutes. well a miscommunication, a train ride, a missed transfer, and three hours later, i met up with them...long story short: i'm a dork. it is always so rejuvenating to be with friends you grew up with. because they know you and understand life in a way that not just anyone does. they were friends with you through your awkward brace-face stages, your giddy-boy-crazy phases, and your silly-teenage drama. they know your mom and dad and sister and brother. they just get you. that's how it was to see Brooke. we talked and talked. we ate and ate. we shopped and shopped. we laughed and laughed. it felt like she brought a piece of home to me. thanks for making time in your busy/short lil getaway for lil ole me, gals. i'm lucky.


getting out is good for the mama. and good for the fam too. because after i've been out for a while and experience what it feels like to be a normal human without peach juice in my hair or nothing but wipes in my purse, i start to miss them. and they even start to miss me! bonus! this picture is taken from my car when i got home from my gals outing- they were so excited to see me. it made me get a little glimpse of what M gets to feel every day when he gets home from work. lucky guy.


i made my first cheesecake for a party last night. it was one of the proudest moments of my life. i really don't think i've ever made anything so delicious.


Ellie dressed up as a pirate for the cutest pirate birthday ever. she's so funny.


Alice is a heart breaker. look at that curl!


both girls are obsessed with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse right now. cute. slightly annoying.


last week i went with the youth to do baptisms for the dead at the Oakland temple. i hadn't been to the Oakland temple's baptistry since i came out to meet M's family for the first time while we were dating. in fact, it was in that little special room that i had the warm feeling come over me- the one where i knew i was with my future family. and future hubby. we hadn't even said i love you yet. or had the "m" word convo yet. but i knew. so as i sat there with those cute youth, i had a flood of memories come over me- sweet ones that made me smile and remember those warm twitterpated fuzzies.

and i think that's all for now. because M is starting to get annoyed that i'm like a fourteen-year-old texter instead of keeping him company on this lovely drive. and Alice needs a peach or banana or something in her mouth so she'll stop crying. and Ellie needs a drink. hectic duty calls. and i love it.

xoxo