iPhone Photo Dump

Time for a purging of my phone's blurry pictures.  Does my life revolve around my boys or does my life revolve around my boys?  Speaking of my 2-almost-3 boys, it occurred to me the other day that I am going to be very outnumbered over here.  I'll be living with 3 other people and not a one of them is going to be a girl.  As much as I am looking forward to having another squishy boy, I quickly whipped into the phase of "DON'T FORGET, I MAY LOVE YOU A LOT BUT I'M STILL A GIRL", and attempting to preclude myself from becoming a tenant in a world of excessive boogers/toots/bathroom-and-bodily-waste TMI.  Some mothers of plural boys have told me it's not possible.  I'm still going to try.

Strawberries before bed on his favorite destination of late: a countertop.  Dad, the fun one, had to stop letting Jude up there because it was very frustrating for the small boy when Mom, the rude one, wouldn't ever let him up there during the day.

One of my favorite people of all time, Alyson Allen (or I guess her last name is Pete now), is in San Clemente for a little while so we went to see them.  Her son Maddox is a few months younger than Jude and they are SO SIMILAR!  Jude has a few guy friends but none of them are as...hmmm....in love with growling, throwing things, scavenging, making a louder noise than the noise your buddy made last, etc.  I just need Aly's husband to get a job in the area so they can be terrors together ALL THE TIME.  Jude loved it and so did I.

Finding new seats in the house.  I closed the cupboard door and he thought it was hilarious and horrible, all rolled into one.  Crazy times.

While doing some home improvement projects in our room I needed Jude to stay still and happy.  For about 15 minutes he sat in all his glory on our bed, flanked by fruit snacks, milk, toys, and Tangled on the iPad.  He got bored with his lot and curious about our room and then it was over, but I do appreciate the time I got. 

Finding places to hide.  My mom was over last week and he deposited himself under this chair again, and waited patiently with a silly grin for us to notice him "hiding".  When my mom spotted him he dissolved into hysterical giggles.  Be still my heart!

Let the domesticity warsh over you.  My friend and I made 21 jars of raspberry jam a couple of weeks ago, and I'm hooked (I just need my own set of canning tools and then I will wipe CA clean of all fruit).

He's coming to get me!

He loves to look at this book, point at all the dogs (and cats) and say, "Dog!  Woowoo!"

Swim diaper head.  I am SO DONE with the pool until next year.  I've overdosed in the most extensive way.

Dad had to work late so we met up for dinner.  They gave us a free sourdough in the shape of a turtle.  It was rock hard and inedible at that point in the day (hence the freebie?), but Jeff turned it into a toy that had Jude laughing his head off.  

Being nutso at the doctor's office.  Nutso.

I found this $50 mirror at Target on clearance for $12.  Now it's a chalkboard.

"Fall Mix" is a McOmber thing that has spread its sugary roots to the homes of many cousins.  Just 2 ingredients, a million tastebud explosions.  This will sit on my counter (requiring many refills) until Thanksgiving Day. 

Trying Acai bowls; "Woot woot!" goes the Jude Monster.

You know how you always envision yourself standing at your child's bedside, watching them sweetly dream?  I almost never get to do this, because Jude is a very light sleeper. (This is actually causing some anxiety on my part for Baby #2's arrival; will the 4 or 5am feedings wake up Jude and decide 9 hours of sleep is sufficient and he's ready to start the day??)  Anyway, sometimes it works out, and is he not the cutest sleeper??

Continued craziness at the doctor's office (same appt as above).  He's giving me a hyper-charm face in hopes I'll give him the fruit snacks.

German pancake for breakfast.  My boys gobble it up.

2 thumbs up!  

Jude's first carousel ride -- am I rude for waiting this long to expose him to this childhood delight?  See the thrill written across his flushed face?

Pants and shirts are overrated, hats are not.

Pushing buttons is fun to do, fun to do, to do, to do....
I love that he's small enough to sit in the center console.   

Jeff was planting a box hedge in 100 degree heat and Jude needed to be a part of the splendor.  I lathered Jude up with sunscreen, gave him some fluids, and they sweat buckets together.  

Christy Moe's wedding; Jude has lovergirls there.

Thanks for the offer to FULL FILL my cleaning needs!  (Found on my doorstep this morn.)

While at the LDS Women's Conference broadcast on Saturday (such a treat with my mom and Sarah), Jude and Jeff had "Boys' Club".  I get this picture texted to me during the broadcast.  Uh-oh, someone got to go shopping with Dad.  It's maybe the sweetest thing because Jeff, who is a natural saver, can hardly help himself when he sees anything his little boy might like to play with or look cute in.  Too bad it was sized 3T and won't fit him for eons.  But the whole scenario was a big dollop of swoon.

Things I'm Loving Lately

1. The Californians skits on SNL: Jeff and I can not stop watching them over and over and laughing our heads off.  Sometimes I talk to Jeff like Kristen Wigg's character.  What will we do without her?? Is she "off" SNL now???

2. Satellite Radio: With my car came a free 3 month trial of XM radio.  I am almost planning my errands around Dr. Laura's 11:00 a.m. show.  Mostly I love hearing her destroy her devout followers. I enjoy the dead silence after she pulverizes someone with a simple "Should you send your grandchildren birthday presents even though your daughter won't talk to you??  For goodness sake YES!  Sending birthday gifts is a nice thing to do!!  Why wouldn't you??" I also appreciate her traditional views and "No whining" attitude.

I also was listening to the Oprah radio channel the other day (it replays popular episodes) and found myself roped into an interview with an Indiana woman whose ex-abusive-husband tried to kill her, and nearly succeeded, and the officer who found her.  It was a very heroic and compelling story and just wrapping up when I returned home.  I had to know about the ex-husband's comeuppance.  At the time I was in the middle of refinishing a dresser in the garage, so I opened up all the car windows, cranked the volume, opened the garage door, and worked on the dresser a bit while I listened.  Unfortunately the officer went on and on about how to get out of an abusive relationship before depositing the story's final nugget.  I'm so glad all of our neighbors are at work all day or they'd probably assume Jeff beats me and that's why I was listening so faithfully.

3. This picture:

It popped up in my inbox the other day and I laughed big time.  Oh, engaged people.

4. This:

Actually, just kidding.  That's gross.  What is he, 60??  But I texted this screen shot to Jeff because when www.people.com deals with french no-lebrity news, he must be informed.  And I always love texting Jeff.

5. IKEA: We got 4 dining chairs and 2 barstools last Saturday for an Ikea price, and when Jude beats them to a pulp I won't pull my hair out.

6. I finally painted the back of the glass kitchen cabinets and am 150% pleased with the result.  It took very little time and $15 for the paint.  I just wanted the ceramics to not be lost in there.  Done and done.

BEFORE

AFTER

7. This is the dresser I refinished while listening to Oprah:  

Darn it, no "before" picture.  It had been the lightest wood with ghastly handles.  These handles aren't amazing either but the holes weren't spaced in a standard fashion and these fit.  "Anthro" is just not going into the budget for this.  It's going into Jude's room once we get the energy to haul it upstairs.  I have decided I'm not crafty but I love refinishing furniture and painting large surfaces :).  So if I ever have a daughter I'll have to buy her headbands but her furniture will be enhanced and fancified by moi. 

Lately

- Cooking.  I have said before it has taken me a while to find my culinary footing, but I am getting there.  When HRH Gwyneth said "cooking is the sincerest expression of love", it actually, I have to admit, struck a chord.  If I look at it purely as something I am doing to say those 3 winning words to my husband, it makes it much easier.  And from there it has, at times, even been enjoyable.  Usually that's when I try something tricky and it turns out the first time, or when I find a recipe with an ingredient list mostly to completely full of items I already have in the house. 

- Running.  Or is it more accurate to say jogging?  Whichever it is, I do it 6 days a week.  There are times in my past where I ranranran to lose weight but to no avail; I remained as a swarthy cherub a la Sistine Chapel.  So I resented the running and dropped it.  There have also been times where the efforts were fruitful, and not withstanding the large troughs of food I gobbled, the running whittled my waist.  This time it's been sort of in the middle.  I think it's a little bit runn(jogg)ing, a little bit not eating donuts and nachos.  

ANYWAY, another bonus and motivating element is that Jude loves being outside, watching the scenery, drooling to excess, and usually I can run the distance I wish before he starts saying in a slightly distraught voice, "Momomomomomomomomomomom...."

- I have returned to the land of iPhone.  I Face-Time-ed with Elizabeth yesterday morning while we fed our babies bottles. It was awesome and I remembered she naturally looks perfectly coiffed at 6:30 in the morning.

There's more, but it's 10:30 and my brain starts to shut down about now.  That means blogging does too.

The Picture in Parting -- oh yes, lately we also go on at least one walk a day.

Law Widow Resources

When I'm a Law Widow at night, I

1. Watch an episode of this for the millionth time (a period piece, a great media trial for Jeff to endure),

2. Watch THIS for the millionth time (a SNL sketch that creeps Jeff out but always makes me laugh my head off). You'll have to watch it on Sarah's blog because it wasn't embedding on mine.

And a picture in parting:

Matters That Lead

** Intermission from Wedding Picture blogging and a precursor to the snarky, snobby blog post I've had on my mind for an important nothing:

Today we drove down the 405 and said, "Today is the first Saturday in a month we have been headed toward Irvine, NOT going to work!"

We went to Leading Matters, a Stanford Alumni fest. You know the kind I mean. ALL. DAY. We saw some familiar faces, ate some tasties, and heard some speeches, shook some hands and smiled and chortled endlessly. While Jeff has been to a dozen of these it was my first one and I have to say, I honestly enjoyed myself! The fact that the food was amazing and kept right on coming had nothing to do with it. Cross my cold, cold heart.

Look reeeally hard to note the Stanford logo on the cupcakes of intellectualism!

I'm keeping the name tags I'm holding in the above placed photo so I can one day say to Jeff through my dentures, depends, and hair dye (oh wait, I already have to dye my hair because I have noticeable grays. Thanks mom), "Remimber whayn you 'n I wint to Leading Matters as newlwayds and you were so charming???" For some reason I imagine I'll have a southern accent when I'm a senior. Don't you??

Yesterday I

- worked
- went to lunch with Jeff's charming aunt, uncle, and cousins at the Pei Wei with the tres impressive soda machine that offers seemingly endless soda and juice options. It's like a liquid dispensing smart phone.
- hauled the spectacularly arranged bridal bouquets and boutteniers to the Newport temple to be pinned and handed to these stunners as they greeted their first bit of fresh air as an eternally linked pair









Then I worked a bit more, sprinted to the grocery store, then Jeffrey and I sprinted to the lovely wedding reception.

Gold dipped fringe benefit of a wedding: seeing friends you might not see otherwise. This reunion with dancing fiends Brad and Lacey Arave led to an after party at the Nicklecade. So what if the words "Meredith Eaton" and "nickel nickel" have never been uttered within an hour of each other! It was really fun! K fine I'll prove it.









Jeff is a pro skater in attorney clothing.

To rap it all up with awesomeness: slept in till 11 am. I am ready to start the week anew.

-- Post From My iPhone

What We Be Doin

Griffith Observatory. Safest place to spend an earthquake.

Would you care for some smog?

-- Post From My iPhone

Hello, boys.

Now I must fish out my knitting needles from some cranny at mother Meri and Jimmy Eato's.

-- Post From My iPhone

I just love Conference Weekend, don't you?

*** I haven't gone to spookism. Just a preview of Santa Barbara Labor Day Pictures that I finally got around to uploading. ***

The very same.

When I was a freshman in high school they in the drama and choral departments dared to pull off Fiddler on the Roof. Elizabeth smacked herself the role of the eldest daughter and so we ended up watching the VHS about 20 times a week to GET INTO IT. Then when E had gotten her mimicking down to a T, we lent the videos to a girl named Christina Rivera, an extra, and we never saw them again. Movie thief.

Anyway, tonight's performance at the OCPAC was sallied forth by none other than Topol. This was actually pretty cool for me. He's still got it.



That's all.

Saturdee

Already this past month I've spent more time outdoors than I did in the whole of 2008.  

Yesterday we went kayaking through the Newport "Channel" and had a whopping good time.  I'm always glad when someone pushes me to just get out off my bottom and do these things, because they're always more enjoyable in execution than they seemed in theory.  I only wish we had some pictures, but alas.  

Then I ran some Saturday errands that had been thrust to the back-burner for quite some time.  It felt good to get some things out of the way, because the horrible truth of it is at the end of a long weekday, the idea of going somewhere, parking my car, going in, doing whatever needs to be done, and then walking out, digging around in my purse for my keys, and then covering nearly every inch of the parking lot trying to remember where the      I parked, is not always something dreamy enough to actually make it happen.  Again, when it does it's never as bad in execution as it had been in theory.  But anyway I got some things done while I had some spring to my Saturday step.  Done and done.

We saw Harry Pottah with some friends.  I am most pleased to say I give this one 2 thumbs up. I hear the 5th was good, but mine eyes have never beheld it.  The others were very fohgettable. Good job, guys.  You've hit your stride.

tuesdee

today i

*ate too much crap.  even now i am still stuffing my face.

*worked till 6.  wooooo big guns!

*stayed up too late to sync and register my iphone which was pointless since i'm getting the new one in a few days.

*met my mom for lunch.

*passed the evening with a familiar face.

*watched mona lisa smile from 11:30 to 11:40 pm.  i have no good excuse for that one, either.

*thought about how awesome it is to get friday off.

what did YOU do today?

The Vill

Yesterday I went to the Getty Villa with some of my peeps. The Fun-O-Meter was off the charts.