Wild Rivers

We spent Labor Day at a water park with our friends, the Heiners. Everyone but Olivia got sunkissed, but we had a really fun time. I'm going to attempt to post my first video, we'll see how it goes!

San Francisco!

So, for our ten year anniversary we decided to get away. Just the two of us for a much needed vacation from jobs, reality and yes even Damen (who we love SO much). My parents were thrilled to come down and watch Damen while we were gone and we are so grateful to them for coming.

We had a great trip!
The drive up wasn't exactly enjoyable, I got car sick halfway there and had to drive, but it was entirely my fault for telling Dustin to stick to back road highways instead of the freeway. We stayed right in Fisherman's Wharf, which was great for entertainment, food, and cable car access. We bought a City Pass that got us access to free cable cars, 3 Museums, the Aquarium of the bay, and Alcatraz. We used all but one of the passes and got to see a TON of neat places. My sister, Kari and her family ended up visiting San Fran at the same time so we caught up with them at Alcatraz and for dinner in China Town. Dustin was investigating online and found out about Fort Point, it's right under the Golden Gate bridge and we went there first.

You can just see the enormous block building right under the bridge. Oh and did I mention that it was foggy and windy and the perfect weather!

This was pretty much Dustin's favorite place, maybe a toss up between Alcatraz.
I got this great picture of the inside corridors.

I didn't take any pictures at the Legion of Honour museum or the Exploratorium, but we were there.
The Aquarium was really neat, there were these long tunnels to walk through and the fish above represented the actual marine life in the bay. This picture of the school of anchovies was great.

We also went to Alcatraz, it was really cool to listen on the audio tour to actual guards and inmates recount life there.



We also ate REALLY well, at Bubba Gumps Shrimp, Hard Rock Cafe, Carpo's, in China Town, Ghiradelli's ice cream, the list goes on. . . I'm working on losing the excess energy I stored while we were there, all 5 lbs of it.

On the drive back we decided to take the PCH all the way down, it was absolutely gorgeous!! The fog rolled in over the ocean like a fluffy white blanket and made for a spectacular view. We literally drove along the cliffs, just hugging the ocean all the way back. It was a perfect end to a great trip!

BE patient

OK, so much has happened in the past two weeks and I'm going crazy trying to keep up! My parents came into town so Dustin and I could go away for five days to San Francisco, we got back last week, hung out with my parents for a few days before they went home, spent all day yesterday at a water park, and I'm babysitting all day today. So, later when kids are asleep, the laundry's done, the missionaries are fed and after mutual, I'll do an update. Just be patient:)

Baby steps

So, last week "Potty Training" was pretty unsuccessful. Damen basically screamed every time we tried to put him on the toilet or tried underwear. So after two days of cleaning up pee/poop we took a break. Today I decided to try some more, Damen was making that "I'm bracing myself for poo!" face and I ran him into the bathroom, told him he'd get a jelly bean if he pooped in the toilet and away he went! Ahhhh success, almost. After that he wouldn't let me put underwear or a diaper on him, which was fine, I've heard great things about potty training that way, until it was time to sit on the toilet again, then the screaming began. Since I can't chase him around all day anticipating bathroom faces, and he wouldn't sit on the toilet without massive drama, I decided to hold off, again, until sometime in the future. . .


I did get a great picture of him sitting "bare back" on his life size stuffed pony. That one's for the scrapbook!

Yes, I took a picture!

Today was a landmark day for us, Damen peed in the toilet!!!
I decided to get serious about this potty training. Damen sat on the toilet for a while, but he just wanted to play with the toilet paper so I took it away. He pined for it and I told him he could have it if he went potty or poop on the toilet. So he got this very concentrated look on his face and went to work! He peed right away and I of course jumped and yelled and ran to get the camera. Afterwards Damen asked for a "wipe" meaning toilet paper and I gladly gave him a square. About an hour later, while I was paying close attention, he pooped in his underwear, oh well, one success at a time:)

Just because

A picture of Damen on his new birthday scooter (thank you Cheesemans). He loves anything with wheels! And a picture of him being silly at the dinner table, we're working on Taking BITES, not shoving the entire thing in his mouth, it's a work in progress. . .

Where's the ketchup?

On Saturday we got Damen's 2 year pictures taken at Sears. To round out the trip we decided to go out to lunch at Rubio's, one of our favorite places. We ordered Damen a quesadilla and as he was eating it he noticed Dustin and I dipping chips in salsa and of course wanted some. We oblige him by getting him his own cup of mild salsa to dip his quesadilla in. After three or four salsa drips down the front of him (wearing a nice "picture" outfit) I swiftly moved the salsa to my plate when he wasn't looking. He noticed it right away, looked all over for a minute then said, "OH NO! at appened? (what happened) Kebup!!(ketchup). His concern was so genuine Dustin and I couldn't help but giggle uncontrollably at Damen's lost ketchup. Thankfully he got over it quickly and continued to eat his quesidilla, minus the "ketchup".