For Your Viewing Pleasure...

...I bring you... Plig Alana.

Didn't you always think it was polyg?
Well, not according to Grandma Jenny's book and I consider her The Expert. So plig it is.

This two-year-old photo crossed my path today and cheered me up.

Andrea's friend was going on a pioneer trek and I had instructions to find some plig wear from our D.I. Pickins were slim and this teal number was all I came up with. I shipped it off to California but not without first posing complete with infant and hair.

In a world of alternative lifestyles, polygamy is starting to look less and less weird to me. Really. It's not the world's worst idea.

Don't you wish your third wife was hot like me?
Don't you wish your third wife was a freak like me?

Williams - The Entertainers

We finally had company this last week. Erin and Kyle came to visit us and we had so much fun with them. I was sad to see them leave. We went boating, shooting, played games, visited Tillamook Cheese Factory and Oceanside Beach at the coast, and went to the zoo. I am exhausted. Here are some pics of our fun:

Don't Erin and Kyle look good with three kiddos! What does the future hold????

Sage - Trying out the double ski's

Herb and Sage. Her ski's fell off right after this and she ends up placing her feet on Herb's ski's and riding his from that point on.

Kyle - the flagger

Sweet Nora, driving the boat!

Erin and Sage

Kyle and Herbie

Nora's napping corner

Nora, what big hands you have!

Erin and Kyle, Thanks for all your help with mom and the kids. We love you!

Prima Ballerina Haggis Joe

^releve

^saute

^pirouette

^passe

^shake your biscuits

Anika starts ballet class next Wednesday with Miss Sheila. She is so excited and has been practicing all her moves.

Yes, Haggis Joe is one of her nick names in my family. Long story.

I'm really surprised with the new Anika these days. She toured her preschool and met her teacher and is very eager to start. She's equally eager about ballet class and I can't figure out where my shy little girl has gone.

I took her to see Cats and Dogs in 3D today. Man! I hate, loathe 3D! But Anika was entertainment enough. She gets the kiddie pack of popcorn and proceeds to lick each piece and discard it to the drink space in the cardboard, occasionally sipping her root beer or leaning over to give me kisses.

Her 3D glasses kept sliding down but hearing "Oh gweat, my gwasses are swipping!" made me smile.

Tostadas Get Toasted

On Tuesday I almost burnt the house down. I had put oil on the stove to heat up and then sat down at the computer. Anika was playing hide and seek so Brandon went downstairs to get her. When he came back up he yelled, "Alana!"

I would give anything to have a still shot of what he saw... my poor posture dumbly bent over the computer while the kitchen is on fire just out of my sight. Duh.

He said, "What do we do?" and my mind went blank. I knew water was a no-go. I knew I could smother it with flour but in such a panic failed to remember where the flour was (right by the stove!). Duh. Luckily we own a fire extinguisher, two of them, one on each level of the house. So Brandino pulled the pin and blasted it. Initially, the force of the extinguisher just blew the hot oil everywhere which continued to burn but one more blow and it was out.

I keep thinking about it, wondering if I should have tried smothering it with a lid first bur Brandon and I agree, neither of us would have dared reach in the fire to put a lid on it so I suppose we did the right thing but what a mess! The entire house was coated with oil and black smoke and worst of all the dry chemical from the extinguisher. It found every nook and cranny. I dared Brandon to use the toaster for the first time... Who will eat the first mono ammonium phosphate toast?

After about five hours and six magic erasers the worst was cleaned up. We have to order some new stove parts that melted but it could have been much worse.

I'm going to blame this one on pregnant brain.

San Clemente

Thanks to my rich sugar daddy, Cara, we got to stay a week at the beach again this year. She rented the same beach house and it felt like home when we got there. I uploaded all these photos in random order.

My Mom would kill me if she knew I posted a photo of her in her swim suit but I couldn't resist showing her off. Can you even believe this woman is 70 years old?!?! I, myself, do not believe it. Especially when she gets a tan... wow, she is one hot senior citizen! Still no gray hair... just the few on her crown she makes me pluck, ewww.

Here is our awesome house. I could not get used to the fact we could go outside any time of day. A constant 70 degrees is welcome after a July holed up in my desert cave.

Ocean view, glass deck, all white. The house is all white from top to bottom. How do these people dare rent their house all summer?

I grew up watching the Amtrak cruise past the beach all day, waving to the passengers. But it never occurred to me we could ride it. I took Anika for a 20 minute train ride down to Oceanside and she absolutely loved it. She still has her ticket stub and looks at it all the time.

The entire week was paradise. It's just not the beach unless it's the family plot. I felt Gaga (my Grandma) smiling down on us.

I came upon Cara and Anika in my room listening to Cara's ipod. It looked so much like a Pink Victoria's Secret photo shoot that I couldn't resist a photo. Cara and Anika had matching anklets and relaxed while talking about Cara's boyfriend. They are both such teenagers.

And last but not least, the mini van! Where has this thing been all my life? We were able to fit three adults in the third row when we had to go somewhere together. I can't tell you how easy traveling was in that thing and can safely say I will be a mini van driver for life. It's like a plane and I kept thinking someone was about to serve gingerale.

It's mildly good to be home. Difficult, though, to be back to the frying heat and nothing to do. I need to seriously consider somewhere with four seasons. In Lake Arrowhead we had a great winter with snow, long falls and springs, summer with a high of 85 and the lake. We were also
1 1/2 hours from the beach. Janna and Mike are planning on moving to the beach next summer. Cara's in Newport, Jake at UCI, Andrea and Ian in Lake Arrowhead. Help! Will my Mom leave me too? What would I do? I really don't want to move to California. I like it here and the summer would be bearable if I had a yard with grass and trees, shade. I still want to move to the boonies. Escalante?

Brandon, Anika and I are going back to California in a month or so to Cara's house. She's 5 minutes from the beach in Newport but we're still going to drive the 40 minutes to San Clemente each day because like I said, it's jut not the beach unless it's our beach.

Annie and Nicole here

We are alive and beginning to surface. No matter how much I love staying holed up in the annex with Annie, I have to go back to work on Monday (less than 2 weeks after my C-section) so I need to get a jump on things.
Speaking of "things"- things are great! super great! Annie is a dream, nursing is a breeze (no seriously-I'm so lucky), and I didn't have to deal with an opesiotamy (spelling?) !! The hospital was like a spa only better because they keep you hopped up on drugs. Now that we are home, I am having a blast trying to believe little HQ is really a girl! We are head over heels in love with her. She never cries, has tons of black hair, and is so alert.
Pictures to come. Thank you cards to come (someday)... but for now, I am going to finish reading Behind the Iron Curtain, an illustrated Stallin history children's book to Annie.