5.31.2007

Memorial Weekend

We had such a nice Memorial Day weekend. We spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Lake Havasu at my Aunt & Uncle's house and had a BBQ on Monday with Jason's brother and sister-in-law.

It was tons of fun visiting with my Aunt, Uncle, Nana and cousins. Dillon had a blast playing in the pool - he is such a little fish! Jason spent a lot of time with my cousin at and in the lake, riding their jet skis. I spent my time floating around the pool and in the house where it was nice and cool thanks to the air conditioner.

It was a mostly problem free long weekend... The only problem was that it wasn't long enough!


5.24.2007

On The Road Again

As we are preparing for our first river / Havasu trip of the year, I decided that I would post a short story I wrote last year after our first trip out... And even though I have called it a story - sadly, it's not fiction. I pray for safe trips this year and that we will have better luck on our journeys this summer.

So we set out on our first trip as a family – me, Jason & little Dillon… Everything was going great – Jason got off work an hour and a half earlier than planned & Dillon took a nice long nap so I could finish packing. All was right with the world.

We got in the car and hopped onto the always traffic filled 57 freeway. Amazing luck – NO traffic. We were breezing along. We transitioned onto the 60, still smooth sailing. We made it to the 15 in record time… I should have known something would go wrong.

And wrong it went…

As we were making our way through the Cajon pass I remembered what I hadn’t paid attention to as I was watching my daily addiction, my ABC soaps: The warning from the National Weather Service of thunderstorms. No big deal Jason says as I bring it up. It’s not going to rain. The sky is growing blacker by the minute. I tell him we should pull over to the shoulder and bring the suitcases into the already full truck. He still doesn’t believe me when I tell him it’s going to rain.

Then I see it – a huge bolt of lightning. He doesn’t see it – you’re crazy he says. Pull over! I tell him. No need he says. Another warning rips through the sky – he sees it this time! So I’m not crazy after all… I’m looking at my sweet baby boy sleeping peacefully in his carseat next to me and Jason says: “It’s not raining enough for me to pull over.” What?!? It’s raining!! I hadn’t even noticed. I snap my head up and there on the windshield are little drops of water. No big deal I think. Wrong again…

We drive along a few more miles and all of the sudden the sky opens up and the heavens pour down upon us. The dust from the open fields is blowing everywhere. I can hardly see and the traffic almost stops. It’s couldn’t get much worse, right? It could. Now it’s hailing – huge pieces of ice are falling at us! “I’m not getting out now,” Jason says. Duh, I think, as I see our luggage getting a shower. Then I notice that my suitcase isn’t even zipped all the way. Great.

The storm finally clears and we are zooming along again. We stop at the Carl’s Jr. in Barstow to grab a quick dinner. Jas runs in and I stay in the car with Dilly. Oh no – more lightning. The skies around are black. Jason comes back with the food and warnings of flash floods. Lovely, I think to myself. We get back on the freeway and head towards the 40 and our destination: Lake Havasu. The people said the storm was moving in from where we came from. We pray that we can outrun it and not get stuck in any of the flash floods. We get on the 40 and magically the black foreboding sky clears up and turns into beautiful, cloudless blue skies.

We cruise along the 40 and can’t believe how many highway patrol cars we see. There is usually only 1, maybe 2 tops. No biggie: we have our radar detector. Along we go, no more rain, no more hail. Our “landmarks” that we are getting close start appearing… the sign for “Las Vegas / Searchlight.” Yeah! The sign for “Old River Road” “Needles – 8 miles” Wahoo were almost there – only about 30 more minutes! Once again, I should have known something would go wrong.

NO!! Jason yells. “What” I question him. The Jet Ski trailer has a flat he informs me. “We have a spare, right?” I ask. “Yes, we do (yippie), but it’s locked on and I don’t have the keys (noooooo).” So we pull over and Jason gets out to survey the damage. It’s 102 degrees and were stranded. Would be so bad it we didn’t have a 3 month old with us. I start praying. Please, God, send us help. I’m crying. I’m frustrated. Dillon wakes up. I play with him, making funny faces at him and he laughs at me. His first real laugh. I can’t believe it. He chooses the best possible time for his first laugh. I stop crying and he starts. We’ve been sitting there for forever… Ok, so it’s only been 15 or so minutes. I take him out of his carseat. He stops crying.

Finally, I see a CHP car coming – Help is coming! Nope, he drives on by! Aren’t they out there to help? Guess not, they just want to give tickets and get the money, I decide. Here comes a Sheriff car. There goes the Sheriff car. I’m praying again.

Jason comes back to the car and tells me that help is on the way. My cousins are coming to save him and my Aunt is coming to rescue Dillon from the heat. I should point out that I’m not really burning up. I’m running the air and draining what little gas we have. After all, were only 7 miles from “civilization” so we won’t run out of gas.

I see a second CHP car coming, I don’t even hold my breath thinking he will stop. He doesn’t disappoint and keeps on driving by. Oh well, at least help is coming, even though it will take them at least 30-40 minutes to arrive. I look up and gaze out the window. I see Help!!! I pull open the back window and yell to Jason. God has sent us an angel. Our angel came in the form of a balding, overweight man wearing the pants required of plumbers. But he was an angel never the less. This man was pulling a trailer with more trailers on it. He came up and offered Jason a spare tire. Jas tells the angel that we have a spare but no tools to pry off the locks. The man goes to his car and returns with tools… Hallelujah, were saved. Jason and the man work in the blistering heat to get the spare off and they do. Now they just have to get the flat off. No such luck. We have now been stranded on the side of the road for 90 long minutes. I see a car drive by on the other side of the Highway. It stops and pulls onto the dirt between the roads. It’s my aunt. The boys aren’t far behind and they arrive with what was at the moment was God’s best gift to man – Power Tools!!

I load a now screaming, mad baby into my aunt’s car and thank God for sending us help. By the time Dillon & I leave the side of the road with my aunt, our 4 heroes, sent from God, have got the flat off and almost fixed.

We all arrive at my aunt & uncle’s house safe and sound. Jason tells us all that he offered the man some money for his time and that the man wouldn’t accept any. The man said he was just glad that Jason’s wife and little baby were safe. I think that he really must have been an angel sent by God…

After a nice weekend, we headed home. I was a little apprehensive, wondering what was in store for our trip home. But, Got smiled upon us and it was a boring, uneventful trip. Amen to that.

5.23.2007

Too Cute

I had a few miscellaneous pictures on my camera that I thought were cute, so I decided to share them...










The last two are of Dillon "scrapbooking" with mommy and the one before it was Dillon watching the Ducks game with Daddy.

5.21.2007

Big Boy Bath

Sunday, Dillon took his very first bath in the big tub. He absolutely loved it! As soon as I put him in it, he started splashing, kicking his feet, and smiling. He loves playing with his bath toys - so much that he often smuggles them out of the bathroom. He was so excited to be able to have bunches of toys in the big tub with him... We even brought out some new toys that were too big for the baby tub. He really enjoyed playing with the rubber ducks and thought it was so funny sticking the ducky's head in his mouth.

5.20.2007

Dillon's First Date

On Friday, Dillon had his first date. We went out with a friend and some of his friends and one of them brought along their 8 month old little girl. The two of them were so cute together! They talked and smiled. Dillon kept trying to take off her headband and stole her cookie more than once - but at least he did offer her some of his crackers in return. He was more interested in her toys than his and she was after his as well. It was really cool to see the two of them interacting with each other. (I'm totally disappointed that I didn't have my camera with me - I took this one picture on my phone.)

5.14.2007

Sprinkles!

Last week Jason & I were watching "Throwdown with Bobby Flay" on food network. The challenge was cupcakes. We got to talking about the famous cupcake place in Beverly Hills, Sprinkles. Tons of celebrities go there and even Oprah had brought them in for her audience one day. We said that since Jason is in LA a bunch for work, he should go there and get us some cupcakes. Well, today was the day. He had an appointment three miles from Sprinkles. I was so excited! I usually don't like when he has to go to LA because, well, it's just so dang far and there is soooo much traffic. But today, I was totally happy. I was going to get to be like the rich and famous. So, after his appointment, he headed to Beverly Hills. He called me and asked me how badly I wanted the cupcakes. He had been circling around for fifteen minutes looking for a place to park. Apparently, it's smack dab in the middle of Beverly Hills, about two blocks from Rodeo Drive, and to top it off, it was lunch time. I told him that I really wanted them, but that he didn't have to go - there would be other times. He was getting grumpy at the lack of places to park and that there were parking structures but you had to pay. So, I was fully expecting him to come home empty handed, without the lemon and dark chocolate cupcakes that I had ordered. Well, Jason came home bearing the much hyped cupcakes. We opened the box and peered in... They even looked yummy. I decided to eat my lemon one and he started with his dark chocolate one (he's such a copy cat). He took a bit first. I tried my. Oh. My. Gosh!! They were so good. They lived up to their reputation. They were like a bit of Heaven. The lemon one was the most moist cake I have ever had in my life. And the chocolate one was so decadent. Dillon even got a few bites and seemed to like them (not a big surprise, since he eats everything) Oh, and he ended up paying to park in a structure and walking a few blocks. The parking was sooo expensive - he said it was a quarter - hahaha! I really hope he'll be back in LA soon - I need a sprinkles fix!

5.13.2007

Mother's Day

My day started out pretty crappy. I woke up to find my new Coach bag sitting in a pool of water. The kitty had knocked over a cup of water that was sitting near my bag overnight and my bag soaked it up like a sponge. The whole outside was sopping wet and even some of the things inside were wet too. Next I went to get dressed and the shirt I had packed to wear had two spots on the front and my pants were unbelievably wrinkled. I was ready to throw in the towel, pack it up and cry.

To cheer me up, Jason let me open the presents that "Dillon" had picked out for his mommy. I got a lot of nice gifts including "The Night at the Museum" DVD (I love Ben Stiller and this movie cracks me up!) and a bottle of the perfume that I have been wanting. It did make me feel a little better. But I felt much better after a little "retail therapy" with my partners in crime. We went to Old Navy where I bought myself a spot and wrinkle free outfit. After changing in the car, we went to Target to pick up a few odds and ends. I got myself a dish scrubber that was in the shape of a monkey (and on sale for 89 cents) and a few other things. The cherry on top of the "therapy" session was going to Starbucks for a Dulce de Leche Frappuccino.

We went back to the house and spent most of the rest of the day hanging out by the pool. We had some delicious snacks and a yummy dinner and then relaxed in the jacuzzi. It was so nice. All in all, the day turned out good. I hope every one had a very Happy Mother's Day!





5.06.2007

How To Fondue Like A Slagle

Last weekend Jason went out of town, so Dillon and I spent the weekend with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. Susan has been wanting to try fondue, so it was the perfect opportunity to share with them. So here is how to fondue like a Slagle...
  1. Buy way too much meat
  2. Make too many yummy sauces
  3. Be careful not to burn your mouth on the fondue forks - it really hurts!
  4. Kick back and have fun while having dinner.
  5. Clean up and put away all the leftovers - there is always tons

And there you have it - The five basic steps to fondue like a Slagle.

5.05.2007

Wait, What?!?

So yesterday Dillon & I were at the hospital with my sister-in-law, Susan (nothing serious - just a doctor's appointment). While we were there, I needed to use the restroom. The door to the little girl's room said that there was a baby changing station inside. Good to know, I thought. Then I saw the sign over the changing table that made me almost pee my pants...
Baby Changing Station
Max. Weight Limit
250 pounds
What kinds of babies is Kaiser expecting to be using this changing table?? (and where's the camera when I need it?)

5.03.2007

Idol Review

Last night's Idol wasn't too bad. I was sad and a little surprised to see Phil go home, but I fully expected that Chris would be sent packing. My prediction was that it would be Lakisha and Chris, so I was half right. It's going to be hard now, because the final four are all really good.
Here are some of my random thoughts on this weeks show:
  • The Ford music video was really creepy. I didn't really like it and was a tad freaked out by it.
  • I'm not reall sure if I like Blake's new hair - I hope it's just temperary - he looks better blonde.
  • Robbin Thicke is very strange - looking and sounding. I had never really seen him or heard him. I kept waiting for his voice to get lower - it was unnaturally high. And he looks so much like his dad - just a strange verison of him

5.01.2007

Life With My One Year Old

Can I say that I just love life with a one year old? I have always wanted a baby - a newborn if you will - but I never gave much thought to having a toddler or -gasp- an older kid. But one is so fun! One year olds can do so much more than the itty-bitty babies can. They can say Mama (or in Dillon's case: Mom) and Dada and know what they mean. And Dillon gives the best kisses - albeit a little wet and sloppy - but they completely melt your heart. He will crawl up to me and hug me, he can tell me when he wants more Cheerios, and gets so excited by praise that he starts clapping and screeching with joy. He loves to clap - I sing him the "Wheel's on the Bus" song but change the words to "the Dillons on the bus go clap, clap, clap" and he claps along right on cue. I love seeing him grow and learn. I love seeing the excitement in his eyes when he accomplishes a new or hard task. I love his sense of wonder when he sees or hears new things. I love how happy he gets when he gets to go outside. I love when he shares his Cheerios (or pretends to but pops them into his mouth at the last second). I love one!