Get ready to melt

Even I have replayed this about 65 times since I filmed it last night. She is such a hoot!

Why does daddy call me Scare Hair???

California Dreamin...

I got an email from Chico this week and somehow he still hasn't processed the fact that we are in California (I'm glad that he is so focused on the missionary work). But for anyone else who feels like they don't have a grasp on our lives here is a mega post on a few Cali highlights. You should know that in general our days are exceedingly repetative - Ryan lives in a groundhog day of door-to-door sales, hopefully starting his days with early morning surfing and ending them with cuddle time with me and Bel & my days melt away in the three hour cycle that is Bel's eat, poo, play, sleep schedule - I love being her mom! - on the days that we get to defy the schedule we've spiced up life with the following activities...

There is the greatest little golf course out here... although we do have to hide Bel since technically infants are not allowed on the course.

Trips to the beach of course, where Ryan and I usually play catch for a bit (with a baseball, not Bel... just to clarify)

One weekend we went to the Strawberry Festival - this was completely motivated by my desrie to eat all things strawberry - which we did...... Strawberry Pizza (wow somebody scored in the handsome husband department!)

... and chocolate covered strawberries and strawberry smoothies

As an added bonus - the Budweiser Clydesdales were also there (not trying to draw an unflattering comparison here). Those horses are so enormous and gorgeous. They are beauties! (that was for you Wil) We really love life here.

the fruits of others' labors

i try to go to the farmer's market every saturday and it is such a treat. it's one of those cultural experiences that is so good for your 5 senses. people are bustling, you can smell fresh flowers and produce and lard-free tamales, there is live music and it's outside where the sun just beats down on me as i carry bel in her carseat and a diaper bag that gets progressively heavier as i fill it with carrots and tomatoes, etc. every week when i get home i think my purchases are so beautiful that i take a photo.

i bought these items on my birthday and when i tried to pay for my flowers, the sweet latin guy selling them wouldn't take my money "te regalo, te regalo" he said to me as he waved me away. it was one of the many highlights of my birthday.everyone needs to try roasting their aspargus (or broccolli is equally amazing or (almost) any veggie that happens to be in your crisper). spread on a cookie sheet, coat with olive oil/cooking spray, sprinkle with salt, pepper (and i like to add some shaker parmesan) cook in the oven at 400ish for about 10-15 minutes. wow

biggest bang for the buck - actually this was only 50 cents - a pincushion something or other
and yes- it is all incredibly delicious

Big News...

Belén rolled over!!

She went from back to belly all by herself, with no parental coaxing or physical contact. Once she was on her belly she got her knees up under her body and was ready to take off. Alas upper body strength has never been a forte from her mother (or any of her relatives, sorry guys) so let's hope her dad's genes kick in to get her mobile. Only her lucky dad got to witness the action, but who better to watch? She has been twisting onto her belly for a couple weeks but hasn't been able to get the mass weight of her head off the ground...until Saturday night. Wahoo!!

welcome to our dandelion wine...

so why our dandelion wine? well i do love that book, but more than any single chapter i love the title and the idea of dandelion wine as an analogy for life. everyone is familiar with the wine analogy... you harvest the fruit, squeeze the juice out of it and then, you keep it - remembering and revisiting and tasting it over and over and over and, of course, it just gets better with time. But dandelion wine is special because it's not made from a sweet fruit - it comes from something common and not sweet, something tough and resilient and often unwanted...
the dandelion - akin to our own daily lives that often seem to us common and not sweet and tough. But when you harvest those resilient, unwanted dandelions/days, squeeze out the sweet parts and keep them - you'll find you have something worth revisiting again and again and again.

So feel free to revisit our dandelion wine and taste of the sweet parts of our days.