Spring

 

"Thy mercies are new every morning, great is Thy faithfulness."

Lamentations 3:23

California and the Triestmans

 

Eric and I flew out to California to visit Dan and Priscilla and company. We had such a nice time. One of the best vacations I have ever taken. At the time they were in Riverside, California, which was soo beautiful with flowers everywhere and 85 degrees the whole weekend.

There was also a two hour time change which made waking up awesome. The first morning we were there.. we took the kids and walked down to the donut shop and two equally awesome things happened;

First the lady behind the donut counter was just as bad at counting as I am and accidentally gave us 14 donuts instead of 12... why we were getting 12 donuts for 4 adults and 3 itty bitty children in the first place??

Second, as I was eyeing up the donuts, suddenly I heard Bobby behind me sneeze and then start crying hysterically, I turned around and he was standing there looking as devastated as 3 year old can muster, covered in snot, and for some odd reason his pants were no longer buttoned and threatening to fall down. Apparently it was an epic sneeze.

What an awesome kid.

Later we went to a beautiful beach where I decided to go boogie boarding with Dan. The waves were big and crazy and I amazingly managed to collect around 20 lbs of sand in a swimsuit that is much smaller than anything my mother would approve of while the waves kicked my butt every time I made any attempt to do any boogie boarding. Some cool surfer dude walked up to me and was like "first time?" and I was like "Nah.. I'm pretty used to kickin' it on Cedar Island Lake..."

The kids had a great time tiptoeing towards the water and then as soon as the waves got within 10 feet, they would run away with bloodcurdling screams and collapse safely on the sand by their Uncle Eric.. I guess they're more used to kickin' it on Cedar Island too..

 

Starfish as big as my head.

D and P.... feel free to bring this kid back to me anytime!

Teamwork.

My beautiful big sister.

Later we went out for fish tacos.. and then grabbed some gelato.. can a day get any better?

 

Too tired after a long day at the beach to walk.

We went to an citrus national park the next day.

My favorite little orange thief.. eating the fruit was strictly prohibited, Hadassah had a new half-way peeled orange every time I turned around. I may or may not have eaten 25 to 30 kumquats, heaven in a fruit.

 

We went to the famous Casey's Cupcakes and met the Easter bunny..

  and ate the best cupcakes ever.

 

We visited Southern California wine country the next day, and spent some time playing in a park.

Apparently this is what the cool kids were doing....

And just to make his Auntie's day Rocky took his first steps walking from me to Priscilla! What a sweetie!

Pretty proud after his first steps!!

And our last view as we left...

When I was hugging Hadassah good bye before we left and tears were streaming down my face Hadassah said " Don't cry Stephie! Sometimes I miss Grandma and then I cry too!!"

Anyone have an extra pair of tickets to California lying around???

Dark and Murderous Secrets

 

There is nothing I love more than a good murder mystery. Nothing is more wonderful to me than a hint of arsenic in the afternoon tea. I first discovered Agatha Christie in 7th grade and I read every single Christie book in the library. My mom banned me from reading them for a couple months, fearing her friends and family would mysteriously start popping off with no explanation. I was like "really mom?? You are going to keep me from reading??"

Eric graciously let's me pick up a few Agatha Christie novels each time we happen upon a used book store. I have started to notice a theme.. it seems that each time there is an especially exciting game on TV,  suddenly we have to make a stop at the bookstore. I guess the three to four hours of dead silence seems like a pretty tempting payout! Eric is a very clever man.

Block Girls Weekend

 

In the beginning of April, all the Block girl cousins and cousin-in-laws got together for a girls weekend.

We had a wonderful time!

It took us a couple of tries to get this picture in our super cool matching t-shirts, setting up all of our cameras on automatic timers (who knew?? And I'm married to an engineer!).

 

Apparently speed or timing isn't one of the wonderfully pregnant Sarah's many attributes, but it sure is funny!

Since we are all super mature the back of our t-shirts says:

Rumor has it we all missed that day in church about pride going before destruction and haughtiness before a fall.

Oops!

We had pizza and a wild game of Pictionary on Friday night, poor Jill O. got stuck with the losers who couldn't draw.. or guess for that matter!

On Saturday we all went out to the Albertville Outlets and shopped until all of us but Sarah dropped.

Afterwards we got all dolled up and went out for dinner and a hilarious comedy show.

 

One side of the table..

The weirdos on the other side of the table..

Doing their best to appear normal..if you only knew..

 

Apparently Anna had something a little more interesting to drink than the rest of us!

We had a wonderful weekend.. but it just wasn't complete without Marsena, Sember, Annie, Jill M., Alyssa, Lisa, Kris, Lacey, and Priscilla and soon Deanna!

Next year!

L-O-V-E

 

I feel as if there is a possibility I am using this word loosely..

 

You know you're getting old when you find yourself fawning over cleaning supplies hoping someone will buy you an early Christmas present.

My wish was granted.

Swiffer Sweeper Vac is one of the best things that has ever happened to me (Eric, please don't take this personally). I despise sweeping my expanse of wood floors because it takes an eternity and I never seem to get all the dirt, but the Sweeper Vac, recently gifted to me by my thoughtful mother, has changed my life.

I think I need to get out more.

Temptation

The AARP is after me like no other.

Almost every day I get a new letter in the mail asking me to join.

I'm so popular.

Pretty soon I think I might cave, have you seen the free tote bag they are offering if you sign up? And all those discounts??

I can't hold out much longer!

London Bridges.. and more.

 

This really is the "London's bridges falling down" of the children's song!

I have decided to blog about our trip, already two months ago, starting from the end and going backwards!

While in England, we stayed in a beautiful town outside of London called Abingdon with Eric's kinda-sorta Aunt and her family, more about that later. While there, Eric's "Uncle" Dan took us out to London and brought us on a wonderful tour.

Here are a few pictures.

Big Ben

The beautiful Westminster Abbey where Prince William and the future Princess Kate will be getting married. It was impossible in such a crowded city to get a full shot of Westminster Abbey due to it's immense size, this picture does it no justice.

The Princess Di memorial walk.

 

At the time Princess Di died, I was only 9 and wasn't completely sure what the significance was. I do however remember this lady who was living with my family at the time sitting in her room with Priscilla listening to Elton John's A Candle in the Wind on repeat and using up kleenex after kleenex after kleenex! Oh the drama!!

In front of the Queen's Palace.. as close as we could get to it! She was home, she had her flag was up just like the royalty back in the 1700's to show their subjects they were home, and they were bringing in Christmas trees to decorate, which was pretty fun to watch!

 

Posing with a guard, yep it's true, they don't smile!

Last but not least, we saw this lady on the London Underground. What do you think her favorite color is? Yea, real mature, I know. Eric was aghast at my less than sneaky picture taking..

We have a ton more pictures of London, but I thought I would quit while I was ahead!