My "Candid" Neighbor

I have a very nice and friendly neighbor who also has a very alarming behavior. Every single time I see her and talk to her, she whips out her camera and takes a picture of Jake. I am not exaggerating...every single time. I haven't had that many encounters with her...I've probably only talked to her 5 or 6 times over the 2 years we've lived here. It might be important at this point to mention that she is Japanese, and so I probably shouldn't be too alarmed by it. But it still weirds me out. What is she doing with these pictures? Does she actually upload them on her computer? Does she get them printed at Costco and then take them home to scrapbook with? Does she have a blog where she posts them to show her friends back in Japan? I want you to have the visual so here is what a few of the encounters have looked like:

Encounter #1: Jake's Blessing Day
After Jake was blessed, we had friends and family over to our place for a luncheon. She was walking by and saw the party, and came in to say hello. This was esentially my first time talking to her. I was holding Jake and said hi to her and the next thing I know, she takes out her camera and takes a couple photos. She didn't ask. She just took them. And then she left.

Encounter #2: Jake at 4 mos. old
Jake and I were sitting out on the lawn in front of my apt. He was in his Bumbo seat. She was walking to her car with her daughter. She saw us and said hi and then told her daughter to go stand next to Jake...and she took a picture. And then they got in their car and left.

Encounter #4: Last night
We ordered some Girl Scout cookies from her daughter who was fundraising, and together they came over to give us our cookies. I answered the door and was making small talk. Things were going fine. Her hand didn't seem to be reaching for a camera. And then Jake came up behind me and stood in the doorway. And I knew, it was only a matter of time. And sure enough, not even 5 seconds later, she told her daughter to bend down next to Jake and snapped a picture.

Now these are a few of the examples. A couple of the times she has gotten me in the picture...now that was awkward. Do I smile? I didn't ask to be in a picture. And she didn't ask me, or give me any warning. In fact, this picture is being taken against my will. I am being held hostage in this picture. I'm sure the look on my face is of someone thinking those things. But mostly it is just Jake by himself, or Jake with her daughter. And that bothers me more. Why is a random person wanting photos of my baby? I've spent a lot of time thinking and wondering what she does with these pictures she takes. I feel absolutely no need to take pictures of children that we have no relationship with. But maybe it's normal. Maybe I'm the weird one. Maybe she's offended I don't constantly take pictures of her daughter. Maybe that's what I'll start doing and she'll get a taste of her own medicine. Every time I see them going outside to their car, I'll run out their with my SLR and just start snapping away like I'm paparazzi. If you have any better ideas on how to make the insanity stop, let me know.

Our Halloween

Here are some pics from all the Halloween related stuff we did in the last couple weeks. First, I had my 3rd annual Halloween craft party (somehow it turned into an annual thing I do now:) It was some very good girl/craft time.

Then Marc and I got annual Disneyland passes! Yay! I am so excited to have them again. The last time we had annual passes was when we were dating.

We of course did some pumpkin carving...Jake liked doing the part I hate the most...scraping out the pumpkin.

Here are our jack-o-lanterns. In case you can't tell, Jake's on the right is a little basketball...it wasn't too lit up in this picture. And the reason we made his a basketball was because...

he was a basketball player for Halloween...for the Utah Jazz of course (to make his dad proud). This of course caused some controversy, being that we are only 20 min. from the Staples Center (sorry Lakers). Getting this costume together was no easy task. I bought the jersey online...and of course the perfectionist in me had to get him matching shorts for the uniform. But you can't buy it in toddler sizes. I ended up going to the fabric district in downtown and eventually finding matching fabric to the jersey. At that point I thought I would try to sew the shorts which I always said I was opposed to doing because it would (and has) ended up in a total disaster...let's just say, sewing is not one of my talents. But thankfully, our family friend Suzanne came over following a begging phonecall from me...and made the shorts. Thank you so much Suzanne! And I will boast that I then sewed on the light blue stripes on the jersey and shorts...and did the Jazz iron-on on the shorts. It's sad that I feel proud of myself for sewing some straight lines...but it all turned out great. He was a little stud.

This picture is to show the tatoo I put on him to complete the look...I chose one that is a heart with MOM on it. Hey, if you're gonna give your baby a tatoo, at least make it sentimental.

Marc and I were referees. Marc pointed out how it was symbolic since as parents, we are also referees of Jake's life. How insightful:)

By the way, did I mention why I chose to make him a basketball player? I was debating between other cute costume ideas for a long time...not so sure I wanted to do basketball. But Jake LOVES basketball. He's always talking about it, always has to be holding a ball, and loves to shoot hoops. One morning in October I went into his room to get him up. He sleepily opened his eyes and looked up at me and said "basketball." I thought, wow if basketball is literally the first thing on his mind when he wakes up...then I'd better go with that as his costume.

This is at our ward trunk or treat by the way.

Here's Jake's best little friends: Brody, Lauren and Emily

The Friday before Halloween we had a party with some friends. We did a video scavenger hunt all related to Halloween things. It was pretty dang funny. I apparently deeply embarassed some of my friends on my team at In N Out where we had to stand in the middle of the restaurant and sing Monster Mash.

On the actual Halloween night, we went to Whittier and trick or treated at Grandma and Grandpa's

And then over to Aunt Trina and Uncle Gene's

And then we went around my Aunt's neighborhood and did some more trick or treating. He started to catch on that if he stuck out his bucket, people were putting candy in it. And he was all about it...all business. It was pretty fun for me as a mom to watch.
After that we drove to our friend's house for a party. I had given him a chocolate candy and then hadn't looked back at him for 10 minutes. And then when I turned around I saw this...ahhh, isn't that what Halloween is all about?

Brad Paisley Concert

A couple weeks ago Marc and I went to the Brad Paisley concert in Bakersfield. This concert had been a long time coming, since Marc surprised me with tickets to the concert back on Mother's Day! So I was very excited. He had joined the fan club to buy the tickets, which they don't tell you your seats...so when we arrived we had no idea where we'd be sitting. But they ushered us to our seats right next to the runway that comes out from the mainstage and only 6 rows back from the mainstage...it was awesome, and so fun to watch him jam on his guitar so upclose.

The opener was Dierks Bentley, which I now understand why girls are all in love with him. He is a cutie.
This shows how we were right next to the runway...I could have tripped him if I wanted to...but I decided to refrain from doing that:)

Here's a cool shot of him and the band playing on his song Water
I was so happy to be at his show in Bakersfield, because Brad got a lot of help in his career from Buck Owens, who I used to work for at his restaurant The Crystal Palace. Brad started the show with a medley of Buck songs (which I know all the words to after hearing them a million times every weekend night). And then at the end of the show Brad brought Dierks out and told him that he had talked to Buck the day he died and Buck was wanting to meet Dierks who he was very impressed by. Brad gave Dierks one of the last infamous Buck red white and blue guitars. So Dierks jammed with Brad again on the red white and blue guitar. And Brad ended the show with a Buck song. It was just really fun for me to be there for that since Buck and his music was a part of my life too that I have such fond memories of.

And then...I made it up onto the big screen! I already had my camera out taking pictures when I saw myself on the big screen, and I actually caught a picture of it. So there was my 15 minutes (or more like 5 seconds) of fame:)

The many faces of Jake

People tell me Jake is so full of expression with all the faces he makes. I don't really know any different since he's my only child...but he sure does go through a wide range of expressions in any given day. Here's some of them:

This is his latest expression...he will just randomly look at you and scowl. He's not really upset, he'll laugh right after doing it. He just keeps working on perfecting the scowl for when he really needs it I guess.

Being silly

"Huh?" He says "huh?" to almost everything we say to him.

Jake when he's not happy

Jake happy and laughing This is the face he makes when you say, "Jake can you smile?"
Silly yelling and playing
Zoning when he's tired...or maybe just completely utterly bored
This his pucker up for a kiss faceThis is contentment...he's got his favorite things: his banky, something small to hold in his hands (in this case it's the lens cap to the camera...but it can be anything like chapstick or one of my rubber stamps), and he's sitting on his couch
"Deer caught in the headlights" look I get most times when I try to take a picture of him...but still cute
Very happy

My favorite look (I need to get a better picture capturing this look)...it's the "I don't understand what just happened/betrayal/I think that hurt" look. He does this look when he trips and falls, if I take something from him, if I accidentally bump him in any way, or if something sort of slightly hurt him. It's so funny to me.

Men!!!

Tonight I seriously thought I must be living in a sitcom with my husband. I can't even begin to understand what was going on in his head with this. Here is what happened:

I'd been cleaning the house in the evening. I had rented a chick flick, Nights in Rodanthe, and was looking forward to sitting down and watching it. It was about 9:00. Marc said he'd watch it with me and I wanted to start watching it before it got too late. I went in the kitchen looking for some dessert item to eat. Marc saw me open the freezer. Here are direct quotes from our conversation:

Marc: Are you looking for ice cream?
Me: Yeah, but we don't have any except for chocolate (which I don't care for).
Marc: Why don't you go to the store and get some?
Me: No, its ok. I'll eat something else. I don't want to go to the store right now.
Marc: (Trying to coax me) Babe, you know you want ice cream right now.
Me: No I really don't care. I'll eat something else. I just want to sit down and watch the movie.
Marc: (He got up and grabbed a coupon). Look, you can even use the rewards money from
Ralphs. You'll be getting it for free. You know you want to go get it.
Me: I really don't care about ice cream. I'm tired, I just want to sit down.
Marc: Cmon babe...just go. You know you want it.
Me: It sounds like you really want it. We have chocolate ice cream. Why don't you just have that?
Marc: You can't just have chocolate by itself...you have to have chocolate with another flavor. Cmon babe, just go to the store real fast and get some.
Me: I seriously don't feel like going. (about a 2 minute pause with him making pleading eyes at
me) Ok, I will go to the store for you. I wouldn't be going if it were just for me. But I'll go for
you.

So I went to the store since he made such a big deal about it and obviously was really wanting some ice cream and just trying to act like I really wanted it too. He really wanted Peanut Butter Madness and so I got that and another flavor. By the time I got back home it was an hour later (because of course you end up doing other shopping even though I was only going for ice cream). I dished myself some ice cream and went and sat down and put the movie in. Suddenly, I smelled toast being made and he comes in the room and sits down with 2 pieces of toast. Here is the dialogue continued:

Me: (Very confused) Why are you eating toast? You're going to have ice cream right?
Marc: (As if absolutely nothing weird is going on) No
Me: (Completely speechless with my jaw hanging open)
Marc: (Genuinely wondering what is wrong with me) What?
Me: (Still completely speechless with my jaw hanging open)
Marc: (nervous laughter cuz he's starting to catch on he might be doing something that is upsetting me)
Me: I'm in complete shock right now. You've got to be kidding me.
Marc: (Still looking genuinely confused) Are you upset?
Me: I don't even know what to say to you. How after all of that, is it that you aren't eating ice cream? I went to the store for you.
Marc: You did? I thought you wanted it.

Ok, seriously, were we even having the same conversation? Are we on completely different planets?? This went on for another 10 minutes before I finally said I didn't care how full he was from the toast...he is eating ice cream. I went and got him some and made him eat it. And then he looked at the clock and goes, "Isn't it a little late to be starting the movie?"

Rach and Lu

Rach and I met over 10 years ago (seriously??) as little college freshmen in the dorms. We immediately bonded over clothes, food, and LOTS of laughing...and not much has changed. Back then we knew one day we'd be married off with kids...

...and now we can hardly believe that we are fully in "momhood." (Of course back then we thought our children would be the offspring of Justin Timberlake and Nick Lachey...so not everything has gone according to plan)

Jake and I headed up to Vegas the other week to spend a few days with her and her cute girls Anna and Paige while Mike studied day and night for his first boards exam in dental school. We quickly saw that every day in Vegas is filled with water activities, being that it was 118 degrees...but who is really counting over 110? Here's our cute kids at a little water park one afternoon

Rach kept warning me that Paige was not your typical baby where peek-a-boo and tickling claim an easy laugh. I had to up the anty with my humor with this one. This girl wanted real humor, with wit. It worked...Paige and I totally bonded...so now I'm off to audition at the comedy club after working my material on her all week

Ok, we may have made it seem like this was just a trip for fun. But Rachel and I have a bigger plan. The true mission for our coming together in Vegas was to begin fostering a future marriage between either Jake and Anna (we are not opposed to older women...Rach and Mike are living proof of that)...pictured here enjoying a static-filled trampoline experience

...or between Jake and Paige, who clearly in this picture would be the aggressor in this relationship. You can see that Jake is deep in thought over the tough decision ahead of him with such cute girls.
Ok, if Jake and Paige are going to work out, I think they need to try a little harder on putting their best faces forward in front of each other
Me and the kiddos

On our last day there we headed to Cafe Rio for lunch, and couldn't pass up on a good picture opp...

Rach and I are always picture obsessed...trying to get just one where we think we both look good...one day that will happen

We gave up and went for silly faces

the whole gang

Here we are, two 29 year olds who still act like we are 18. I'll bet that will still be true when we are 40, 50, and even 90 years old! That's what I love about you Rach...things will never change. We will always have a blast being the girly girls that we are--make-up, clothes, tv shows, dances, car dancing, "what-if's," celebrity gossip, bleaching our hair, 7-11 stops, boys, pop and country, ...and someone who is there for me when I need her. I love you!! Thanks for letting Jake and I crash in on you guys for the week!

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I stopped by my friend Brittany's house too before I left Vegas. Brittany and I go way back to high school. When I think of Brittany, I think of sore cheek muscles (in my face) because I was constantly laughing with Britt. (If you haven't noticed from what I said about me and Rach, laughing is pretty much my favorite activity). I was so glad I got a chance to see her and her family and her house before we left.

Of course we are trying to get a picture of ourselves we actually like (another common denominator with me and my friends)...it's kind of ironic I'm ending up posting the "ugly laughing face" picture. (Although believe me, it could be worse...we've had some pretty good laughing faces in our day with red faces and flared nostrils)

We calmed down and tried again...