Happy 4th

Oh my. Three blog posts in one week. You'd think the world was coming to an end. (Well, according to the Mayans, it IS coming to an end this December. I suppose I'd better start making peace with all of my enemies.)

Anyway, since the world is still here, and America still exists, I'm blogging about our country's holiday, the 4th of July.

(Warning: cuteness overload.)


On the morning of the 4th, our neighborhood had a bike parade and breakfast, so the girls decorated their bikes/scooter and then patriotically paraded around the park. (Try saying that 10 times fast.)

What did you say? You think they are so cute that you want close-ups of each of them? Ok, if you insist.

Oh my gosh, I might die from cuteness overload.

Here- I'll give you a break from the "awww" and give you a little "haha."

Ashlee's husband says you're welcome for the comic relief.

Kennedy saw her shadow and thought she looked like the Statue of Liberty ("Liverty," as she calls it).  She totally did.

We saw my shadow and thought I looked like a man. Sick. Maybe I should lay off the bicep curls.

Ok, now that you've had a short break from the adorable girls, I'll show you more pictures of them.

And finally, to end the day, we went to the park, painted our faces, and saw the fireworks. Of course. Since that's what you do on the 4th of July.

Seriously! They are all so cute.

(Don't say I didn't warn you.)

Happy fourth of July, everyone!

Vegas fun

Casey's sister, who lives in Vegas, just had a baby. Since it's not TOO long of a drive, we decided to take a weekend and go see the new arrival.

World, I present to you: Julietta Ayn Grégoire.  
(World: "Awww")

Kennedy, who doesn't normally care much for babies, was obsessed.
"Mom! Look at Julietta!" "Mom! She's SO cute!!" "Mom- she just opened her eyes!" "Mom- she just moved her hand!" "Mom! Her fingers are so tiny!!" "Mom- she just farted!"

There really are few things as precious as holding a newborn.
(p.s. Kennedy's face totally makes this picture.)

After we had smothered little Julietta a bit too much, we decided to get out of the house and see the town. (And made sure to tell Kennedy to close her eyes while walking along the strip.)

At one of the casinos, there is a huge aquarium/tank, where they have a mermaid come out and say hi to the kids (and to creepy old men).

There are little huka air ports all over the tank, so that when she needs air she can get some. It was actually pretty cool.

Kennedy loved it.  :)

We also spent some quality time at the swimming pool. There isn't much else to do when it's 110 degrees outside.

The other guy pictured awkwardly in this photo (waiting to catch Kennedy in case she falls) is the proud new father, Alex. (He is also the sous chef for that one cool restaurant I wrote about forever ago (here).)

Viva Las Vegas!

Mi jardín

That's "my garden," for you non-spanish speakers, out there.

I gave you a little taste (well, I was the only one who literally had a taste) of my garden the other day.  Now I will show you more pictures.

June 8, 2012: Here I am, squatting in my garden. (Squatting is such an unattractive word. Crouching, perhaps...?)

Please take notice of the absence of weeds. Get a good look, because it doesn't last.

July 23, 2012:

Es mi jardín!  It's amazing what a little sunshine and water can do, eh?

And because I know you have nothing better to do with your time than read about my vegetable (and fruit) garden, I will now tell you about each of the plants.

This is the cantaloupe, or so I am told. I see cute, happy, little yellow flowers all over, but no fruit. Yet. 

Here we have cucumber. My favorite. Why is it my favorite? You might think it's because of the flavor. You would be wrong.

It's because the baby cucumbers are SO CUTE!!  I don't think I've ever had such adoration for a vegetable, before. Isn't it darling, though? It's a sweet little spikey baby cucumber with a bright yellow flower on top. I think I'm going to name him. Hidalgo? Drexler? Larry? I'll work on that.

Corn. Who knew it could have bright pink hair? Not me.

(Pay no attention to the weeds. Maybe If we ignore them long enough, they'll just go away.)

And if all goes as planned, this green pepper will be red in a few weeks! Oh yum.

Last but not least, we can't forget the zukes. It's almost time for my delicious zucchini bread! (Don't say "eeew" until you've tried mine. With chocolate chips. And a whole lot of butter. Because butter makes the world go 'round.)

(Oh, and because you asked, I also have lots of tomatoes, squash, green peppers and basil. Ok fine. You didn't ask. I just wanted to over-share.)

Yellow goodness

My first veggie of the year! I am so excited!

A few thousand words

I'm doing my random thoughts a little differently this time. Today it will be in the form of random pictures.  Since they say a picture is worth a thousand words, here are 9,000 words for you (plus a few more that I added in for clarification).

My garden (which I will blog about later because my mother told me that I simply must), has some basil in it. Lots of basil. So I got creative (i.e. I spent some quality time on Pinterest) and found something to do with that basil. I made my own pesto pizza. This was GOOOOOD. Holy mother of all that is amazing. This pizza was wise-man-gift-worthy, know what I'm sayin'? It was THAT good.

Here is a view from the building where I work. So pretty. Did I mention that it is 102 degrees outside? Good thing I have air conditioning.  

This makes me laugh.

They (the city people) are tearing our downtown...down. They're re-vamping. I hope they put in a new mall! 
Oh wait. They already did that. Maybe they'll put in a water park so I can go on my lunch break.

Hey look! Boxes in the back of my car! Why? Because I love to play with them, of course.
When I finally get sick of them, I'm giving them to Ashlee because SHE BOUGHT A HOUSE (and needs to pack)! You go, girl.

Kennedy sometimes makes beautiful pictures for me to hang on my wall at work. This is a picture of me. She wanted to make sure everyone at my work knew how old she was when she drew it, in case they were wondering. She certainly wouldn't want them thinking she was 7.

Here are the flowers I keep at work. Aren't they beautiful?
Yes they're fake. Don't judge me.

I painted my toenails all festive-like for the 4th of July. I'm so festive. Like.

This is sitting on my desk. Staring at me. Waiting for me. Laughing at me. Because I have to go through that whole stack of paper over the next few days. And its only job is to be looked at.

(I can't help but imagine how much fun it would be to throw all of those papers off the top of my building and watch them slowly float to the ground... )

Lagoony

Hey! Guess what! I have a few moments to spare. So I'm blogging, as promised.

Last week I took Kennedy to Lagoon for her first time.

Even though it took about an hour of cajoling for her to finally agree to try even a tiny roller coaster, we had a great time. Luckily, after realizing that the rides weren't going to induce vomiting, she wanted to go on every one of them.  Five times. 

It was super fun going with just the two of us. Although trying to keep up with a little 8 year old ball of energy made me realize that I am no longer in my early twenties. That sucks.

 Oh well. Lucky for me, you're only as old as you act. . .Or something.

Summer stuff

Hello my blog-reading friends.

I'm not going to make excuses, anymore. I have come to terms with the fact I suck at blogging regularly.  I'm sure it's partly due to the fact that I spend 7+ hours each day at work in front of a computer, so spending MORE time in front of a computer when I get home to update a blog doesn't sound too appealing to me. It could also be partly due to the fact that I have so many other things going on in my life (I refer you back to my previous post regarding work, play, house, etc.), I barely feel like I have time to breathe. Thus, my blogging gets neglected. Sure, I could sacrifice sleep. But then I'd get all grouchy and I'd just sit and complain all day and my blog would become a rant-fest. We don't want that.  Instead, when I freaking feel like it get a few spare moments, I will grace you with my presence here on my blog and post about the happenings in my life and the thoughts in my head. I do not guarantee that they will be in any particular or sensible order.

So here you go.

This is what I've been up to so far this summer.

Created some fun stuff with Legos.

Went to the park and played.

Went to Lagoon with my BOYFRIEND for his work party.

Yep folks. That's right. I'd like you to meet Casey. My boyfriend. Isn't he cute? Yes. Yes he is.

(If you're wondering why we were so scared, I don't have an explanation. But I can say that I love the fact that he will pull goofy faces with me, even though if we look stupid.)

Next, we took Kennedy to the Utah Art's Festival. Huzzah!

Kennedy was so excited to get her face painted.

And then we took cute pictures of ourselves. Because we're so cute.

Yes. That's right. I said cute.

And finally, we went camping. But I only have pictures of the fishing. Sometimes I have so much fun I forget to take pictures.

Instead of looking at the camera like I told him to, Casey is pretending to be concentrating on reeling in a huge fish.  Oh well. I guess I can't expect him to ALWAYS do what I tell him to.

This is Ben. (Hi Ben!) He's the only one who caught a fish. Later, back at camp, he stuff it full of as much butter as was physically possible, and then added a bit of lemon, dill and S&P. It didn't even taste like fish. It was delicious!

And I may not have caught a single fish, but at least I know how to pose while holding a fishing pole.

Hope you're all enjoying your summer!  :)