Totaled

So, I just got the dreaded call from our insurance company letting me know that our car is considered totaled. I honestly feel like crying. That car has so many memories attached to it. It was my first new car. Picked out especially by me. I chose the colors I wanted and got all the options that I wanted. It was blue and beautiful. It was the car that would bring a newborn Dillon home from the hospital. I remember riding in the backseat with him and trying to convince Jason that his choice of music (Korn) wasn't fit for his little ears.

Even though my perfect car was no longer driven as my primary car, I still loved driving it. It was just four thousand miles short of hitting one hundred thousand miles. Jason kept joking that he was going to pull over at the milestone and jump just like they used to in the old Toyota commercials.

The guy at the body shop called earlier today to ask a few questions and the first thing he asked me was if everyone in the car was okay. When I told him yes, he was surprised. I am so thankful that we are all okay and that God was watching over us. It could have been way worse. We were lucky and after all - the car can be replaced and we can't.

Happy Birthday Jason!

Today was Jason's birthday and to celebrate we went out for Mexican food. He thought it was going to just be the three of us, but I surprised him by inviting Derek and the kids and David and Kara! He was so surprised when we got to the restaurant and they were there. Too bad he wasn't as surprised by his gift...

He had mentioned that he needed a new wallet, so that is what I decided to get him (exciting, I know). Dillon was with me and insisted on getting him a brown wallet and I figured that Jason would like it since Dillon picked it out. I also got him a few gift cards and slipped them into the wallet before I wrapped it up. All day Dillon was so excited to give his Daddy his present that the minute Jason walked in the door Dillon handed him his cards and present and said "Open your cards and your present. It's a wallet and it brown. Open your wallet, Daddy!" It was cute!

I also tried to surprise him with a cake, but that failed too! I made sure that I had cleaned up every single piece of anything that I had used to make the cake with, did all the dishes, wiped down the counters, stashed the cake away in a cabinet, only to have my attempts at a surprise foiled by Jason... and Dillon. Jason was home for less than five. FIVE. minutes when he says "I smell cake. Dillon, did Mommy make a cake?" "Yeah, my Mommy make a cake for you and it has a guitar on it!" Thanks little big mouth!

Dinner was a lot of fun and delicious. The waiter found out that it was Jason's birthday (no one told him - he saw presents) and at the end of dinner, they surprised him with a sundae and stuck a big sombrero and his head, shoved a spoon in his mouth and sang him a birthday song. It was pretty funny and he was a good sport. When we were getting ready to leave the restaurant, Jason left the hat on the table and the waiter placed it back on his head and told him that it was his to keep. Just what we need - a big huge sombrero! At least Dillon will have fun playing with it.

Cypress 5k 2009

This morning Jason and his friend/boss Larry ran a 5k. It's the second one they've done this month and they both managed to shave over a minute off of their times. Since this one was pretty close to home, Dillon, Jordan and I woke up super early and went down to cheer them on and take some pictures. It was hot and humid and there is no way I would have run under those circumstances (not that I would run under any circumstances ha ha). Way to go guys!

a cute spectator:

Larry running (#732):

Jason running (#869):

The boys after the race:

Solana Beach

Nothing better than walking barefoot, hand-in-hand with my sweetie along a near-empty beach

Del Mar Fair and Kelly Clarkson!

Way back in March, Jason and I discovered that Kelly Clarkson was touring and we were excited to see that she was playing semi-close. She was playing the Del Mar fair which is about two hours away. Upon our discovery, we quickly hopped onto the Ticketmaster website and scored ourselves tickets in the eleventh row! It just sucked that we had to wait so long to see her.

Our tickets included parking (and we got to park like twenty feet from the front gate of the fair),fair admission and dinner. The dinner was delicious. There were several choices but we both picked the fillet with asparagus and blue mashed potatoes. We were a little weirded out by the fact that the potatoes were blue, but they were so, so good.

After dinner, I went to snap a few pictures only to discover that the batteries in my camera had died. I was bummed because I wanted to take pictures at the concert. So, I dragged Jason all over the fair on a hunt for batteries. I finally found some - just in time for the concert. As we were walking into the show, we saw the sign... No cameras! Seriously? Yup, there were actually two signs. I looked at Jason and he said just wait and see if other people were taking pictures. And were they? You bet they were. Everyone had cameras and everyone was using them and nobody said anything. Hooray!

Kelly is really wonderful in concert. She has an amazing voice and is so down to earth. During one of the songs she stumbled over the words and she just laughed at herself after the song. She said "well, at least you guys know that I'm not lip syncing." A few songs later her mic pack fell out of her back pocket and she blamed it on her "big butt" - her words not mine!

After the concert Jas and I walked around the fair for a bit and went for a ride on the sky way. We saw a teenage get his foot run over by a security guard in a golf cart and saw all kinds of strange fair food, including but not limited to chocolate covered bacon, mac and cheese on a stick and zucchini weenies. The most intriguing of them all were the zucchini weenies - hallowed out zucchinis with a hot dog inside battered and then deep fried. We didn't eat any of these strange foods, but we did share a giant cream puff that had chocolate whipped cream inside. Yummy!

Number Seven

One adorable little munchkin
Two places that we have called home
Three new cars that we have purchased
Four years as a home maker
Five states that we have traveled to together
Six years working side by side in a small office
Seven years of marital bliss

Happy Anniversary!

Date Day

While we were up at my mom's, Jason and I got not just a Date Night, but a Date Day, too! It's been so long since we have done anything just the two of us. It's always the three of us, so it was amazing to be able to spend the day with my husband. We went to Starbucks and sat at a little table inside while drinking our beverages (as opposed to just zipping through the drive-thru as we normally do) and we did some shopping. For our evening, we had planned on going bowling and then out for sushi. We headed to the bowling alley and we're totally bummed - they were closed for Labor Day - on SUNDAY! So, we sat in the car deciding what we were going to do with ourselves. Bishop is such a small town that going bowling was really our only option. That's it, nothing else to do. And to top it off, the restaurant didn't open for two more hours. So on the spur of the moment, we decided to make the forty mile trek up to Mammoth. We drove along cranking the Octane channel on Sirius and talking and not being interrupted every five seconds by a cute little boy asking us cute little questions (mommy, where are we? daddy, you heard that? where are the cows at?...).

I guess that I should mention that Mammoth is pretty small, too, and there really isn't much to do there either. There are a few shops and outlet stores and some restaurants, but, we had also gone up there the day before too and had exhausted all the shopping options. So, we ended up going to a Mexican Cantina for some drinks and then out for Sushi. After dinner we (well, actually, I, since I was driving the car) decided to go for a drive. I just started driving and pretty soon we were going up a big mountain with some breathtaking views and then we ended up at the lakes. It was cold and windy and we were so not dressed for it, but we had to get out of the car more than once to take in God's amazing work. We were the only ones with out jackets and Jason was wearing shorts. But it was worth it! Great Day!

our drinks

our sushi

the view from our table

the dead lake

(the trees have died from the carbon monoxide in the air caused by volcanoes. there are warnings not to stay there too long)

God's Amazing Views (and some of me and Jason)

I've learned how to take half way decent self portraits...

Jason's has not.