two

the last summer brouhaha-at-the-cabin gang
spencer's baptism {lovin' spencer's 2 thumbs up}
ida & c.j. dipping tootsies
ida & i at the lake

wow. 2:57 am.

can. not. sleep.

this week we discovered that ida has a tooth coming through on the bottom. today i looked and she actually has broken 2 tiny, sharp teeth. oh, idy.

in the morning {which is fast approaching} eli will begin grade 2. this summer has felt very short and kind of weird. tonight he asked me if people were nice on the first day of school. i made him look at his new indoor shoes really hard so that he would remember which ones were his. i even wrote his name in big, bold letters inside, just in case he forgot. i sure hope he can get that button on his stiff, new jeans open when he needs to hit the bathroom. his size in jeans these days doesn't come with an easy open clasp. i was hard pressed to find velcro shoes in his size as well.

the dude is too big for his age.

i finished quilt #2 yesterday. it was my quilt-along quilt. it sat around here for awhile and yesterday i finally bound it. the binding made ALL the difference in the world. it was blah and untamed, but now with that little black finished edge, it looks framed and brought together. isn't that how things are sometimes. the tiniest thing changes everything.

tomorrow i change the way i will eat for 60 days. i will report my findings at the end of that period. cheer me on please.

3:39.... i'm out.

check

swam in the lake today.  the smell of that lake water reminds me so much of younger years.

i really love windermere/invermere.  hopefully we will always be able to come here and spend time. especially in the summer.  

thanks mum and dad for providing a place for all of us to make lovely memories with the kids.

last kick at the cat

we are going to my mum & dads cabin this weekend. it is always a nice excursion. it will be the first time we have been there all summer as we have been busy with other "stuff" {see past posts}.

eli starts grade 2 next week and that is very exciting to me.

this time of year always feels like january to me. like a new beginning. i like getting in a routine again. it is fun to see eli take off to school. it makes me want to get organized, file stuff, work on unfinished projects {sewing/quilts}. i need to catch up writing in my personal journal {which i do keep quite regular}. i need to weed out clothes that ida has outgrown?!?! she is growing up so fast, right under my nose. i love her so.

i need to buy a house.

i watched a documentary on annie leibovitz and it made me want to take really good pictures. i saw julie & julia and it made me want to cook, cook, cook.

at the cabin i want to swim in the lake and relax/cleanse in the hot springs. i think it will help me begin this new school year and "in-between" phase of our life.

i'm back in the game larry

zee chamberlains {whenever there is a goodbye, we always take a group shot. the group is going to be 1 more strong in about 3 weeks. wo-hoo!}
eating crab
eli & dahl

yes, they are standing on a hovercraft
finished up!

transition area for the race
newport temple
carter, audrey & eli
the kids and the temple
the day before the race
swimming gang
chicken fight
dave & lisa {13 years of marriage and the big 3 5 for lisa}
holy crap, she is wearing a disney princess crown

i'm back.

back in action. yes, we are home from california. i think i was there 23 days.

it was a hot, busy, stressful, fun time. we looked at, give or take, 57,000 houses, ate out 99.9% of the time, filled the rental car up a few dozen times, nursed ida every other minute, slept when we could and had fun with family and friends.

the last half of the trip was a 180 degree turn from the first half.

main reason: we were all healthy and we started looking in a new area for homes.

while we were there we celebrated lisa's birthday and dave and lisa's anniversary. we got to cheer on all the guys who ran the triathlon at Camp Pendleton {very, very exciting}. we ate at a crab shack {mmmmmm}. we put a few offers on homes. we visited the newport temple. eli swam several times.

we have decided to look exclusively in ladera ranch for homes. it is a suburb of mission viejo and about 10 miles from laguna beach. it will be really good there. we are waiting to hear back on a few houses, so the next few weeks will be interesting.

back to reality. the last few days i have paid bills, finished a quilt, started another, worked on immigration paperwork, took ida to the ER where they diagnosed her with FPIES. {right before we moved i introduced rice cereal to ida. she ate it, seemed fine, took a nap and then began to violently vomit milk and mucus. it was so out of the ordinary that i actually called 911. they came and checked her out and after a few hours she seemed to be fine. i haven't fed her rice cereal since then, being a bit gun shy after her reaction the last time, but since it was a month and a half a go i thought that we'd give it another try. so, tuesday night when we got home from california i gave her some cereal (about 1 tsp in all), she nursed and then went down for the night. about 2 hours later from out of her sleep she started projectile vomiting. the same reaction as the time before. this went on for about an hour. she was pale and lethargic so my mum and i took her down to the childrens for them to check her out. bottom line: she has food protein induced enterocolitis syndrome. we are getting in with an allergy specialist and see what we will be dealing with over the next 3 years as they say they typically grow out of it by then {crossed fingers}. until then we will have to be psycho nazi about everything she puts in her mouth because the result is so, so terrible and quite dangerous}.

would like to thank all those who put us up, fed us, played with us and showed us some california hospitality - you know who you are. i noticed our goodbyes weren't as sad this time {i usually shed a few tears}. i guess it was because we knew we would see all of you again sooner than later. thanks again.