One of the Big Kids

Holden is now a year and a half old. This is a big deal because it means that he gets to go to the nursery class at church, and I get to stop spending my Sunday chasing him up and down the halls. I got him a new outfit for his debut Sunday.Seriously, I know everyone says this about their kids, but I can't believe he is getting so old! Nursery is for kids who run around like crazy (oh wait, he does that) and kids who can talk (oh wait, does that too) and just big kids in general. I guess he's a big kid now. But not too big. He had his checkup last week and he was 32.5 inches (55th percentile) and 26 lbs 5 ounces (55th percentile). Also, his head is in the 55th percentile (I know, I don't believe it either, look at that noggin!). You can't get much more average sized than that.

Best Of: San Diego!

I know, I know. Other people's vacation photos are pretty much the least exciting thing ever. But I figured anything was better than the picture of my feet that has been front and center on this blog for the last week. Plus, although you may THINK I posted every single picture I took on our vacation, you'd be wrong. I promise, only the best of the best made the cut (hence the name "best of").

1. Gigantic pancakes at my new favorite restaurant, Hash House A Go-Go. Below you see Reo's bacon pancake, which was delightful even to a non bacon lover like myself, but my Strawberry Frosted Flake pancake was delish as well...Do other people take pictures of their food, or is that just something we do in my family? No matter, it was GOOD!

2. Touring the Whaley House in Old Town San Diego. It is rumored to be one of the most Haunted Houses in AMERICA. Plus, Holden didn't like it one bit, so I am pretty sure his tender child spirit was drawing out all sorts of ghosties.

There's one!

Oh, wait. False alarm. That's just Holden being mad at me because I was trying to make he and Reo pose like the creepers in the portrait behind him.

3. Discovering that Holden, like his parents, LOVES the beach. That kid could have filled his bucket with sand all day...

until he discovered the ocean (which I swore none of us would step foot in due to the fact that is is April and that water is COLD!). Poor kid was dragged kicking, screaming and shivering away from the water.

4. Spending a day with the animals of the San Diego Zoo, where Holden learned all sorts of new words like Go-weela, Cwoc-dile, and "Oooh, I touch it!" (thankfully we did the petting zoo last, or he would have been right in that panda habitat trying to make a new friend.)

5. Realizing that children are more of a novelty in San Diego than in Utah. I mean, I will be the first to tell you that I think my kid is pretty much the most adorable thing ever, but you would have thought he was an Olson twin the way people were fawning all over him. But seriously, what's not to love?

Fool Me Twice, Shame On Me...

Back in our young and carefree days, Reo and I planned a trip to Hawaii. Before our trip, I decided to get a pedicure. I decided to go to the place owned by a cute little Vietnamese couple that I used to frequent to get my nails done in my even younger and carefree-er days. I picked my nail polish color, settled into my pedicure chair and, despite a significant language barrier, started to have a pretty nice conversation with the woman who had the unfortunate job of touching my feet for the next hour. The subject of my upcoming vacation came up, and the woman excitedly asked if I would like a palm tree painted on my big toe. I thought, "why not, my toes could use a little pizazz!", so I agreed. She carefully painted a palm tree on one big toe. And then the other one. I was thinking "wow, this is pretty intense nail art, but I think I like it," and prepared for my top coat. Then I noticed that she was not done. She proceeded to paint a little sun on each toe. And then some sandy beach along the bottom. And THEN, as I stared down in horror, she painted two birds on each toe. Yep, you are envisioning it correctly, I had an entire nature scene painted on my big toenails. I am both shy and non-confrontational, plus the woman looked super proud of her artwork, so I thanked her, paid, and went on my merry way. (I still had fun on my vacation by the way, despite the fact that my feet looked like the cover of a National Geographic magazine).

Now, I have had several pedicures since then. Often they have offered to add some sort of artwork, which I have vehemently declined. Today, I decided to cash in a present from the Easter Bunny and get a pedicure for our upcoming vacation (getting a little deja vu?) I went to a different place this time, picked out my nail polish color, and settled into my pedicure chair. As the pedicure progressed, the woman asked if I would like a flower. Before I knew what was happening, I had agreed! I meekly added, "maybe just a little one?" After my initial panic attack due to pedicure related flashbacks, I talked myself down. This was a different person, a different place, and a different year (heck, a different decade!) Plus, this sweet woman had spared no luxury, even whipping out the champion of loofahs to scrape off some of my dead winter skin. She wouldn't let me down! And she didn't...At first. At first I started out with an itty bitty white flower, just like we agreed. Then, she started to make little white lines across the other side of my toes (stems perhaps? I am still not quite clear.) Then, out came the silver glitter, you know, for accent purposes. By now I am sitting there in such shock that I barely noticed when she added a little jewel to the center of each flower. That's right, my toes were officially Be-Dazzled.

By the time I left, my feet looked like this...

By the way, the Barbie Jeep pink nail polish was not part of the tragedy, I actually picked that AND like it, so don't judge. Seriously, I should no longer be allowed into a nail salon unsupervised.

Eww. Just, Eww.

Congratulations, KFC, your new "Double Down" sandwich shocks me. And I just ate 4 semi-stale marshmallow Peeps and a half eaten package of fruit snacks in one sitting.

But good news for all you health nuts out there...You can get it with grilled chicken instead.

Best Of: Easter 2010

1. Super awesome easter basket courtesy of Mr. Easter Bunny, who is desperately hoping that Toy Story can help us move past the "all The Incredibles, all the time" phase we have been in.

2. Holden discovering the gluttonous joy that is a Cadbury Cream Egg first thing in the morning (don't worry, he wasn't allowed to finish it).

3. The excitement of participating in one's very first Easter Egg hunt.

4. The excitement of finishing the Easter Egg hunt, roughly four hours later, because the only participant needed to open and inspect each egg he found before putting it in his basket.

5. Trying to complete the world's most impossible Easter Egg shaped puzzle. You will notice I am not in this photo. I worked on that thing forever and only put 3 pieces together. Even our affectionately dubbed Puzzle Rainman Cami couldn't get it done before the night was over.

Lucky Number Seven

Seven years ago today Reo and I got married. We took a (rare) picture together to celebrate. You can tell it is rare because I haven't mastered the skill of self portrait taking. What do you think? A little different from ourselves 7 years ago?

And just to add to the "awwwwwwwwww, how cute" factor, here is us about 10 years ago.

P.S. Please pardon the very poor picture quality. I was much too lazy to scan old photos, so I took a picture of a picture. I know, right? If technology was dead (were dead?) it would roll over in its grave because of me.

P.P.S. I was feeling pretty vain due to all the pictures of me in this post, so check out this awesome kid. How jealous are you of his eyelashes? Seriously, I want to rip them off of his face and attach them to mine. In the least violent way possible, of course.

P.P.P.S. At what point do I start getting judged when I post pictures of my kid with a pacifier in his mouth?