Happiest Place on Earth

For Ethan's birthday Shawn's parents wanted to take Ethan to Disneyland. He had never been...I know I am a sucky parent. But we had such a great time! The weather was perfect. It was super crowded, not an original idea for spring break, I guess. But we were able to go on all the rides that we wanted: Indiana Jones, the Jungle Cruise, on which we decided that that is Terry's next job, he would be perfect. We also went on the buzz lightyear ride, space mountain ??? and all the other good one's. We shared ice cream, and cotton candy! You see Candy and Terry are so smart we drove the RV down, so that we could get a parking spot up close, and then take rests. The fire work show was amazing. I think this was Ethan's best Birthday ever! Thanks, we love you two. I am certain that I have the best in laws ever. -I mean it, I am not trying to brown nose!

Teaser Pictures

These are teaser pictures because it was dark out, and they aren't great pictures. But it gives you an idea of the finished yard. Obviously there is still some left to do. Tomorrow he is going to finish the walk way. They started to put rocks in today. Which reminds me of a funny story. (not ha ha, more like sob, sob) Shawn thought he would save himself 100 bucks and go find river rock himself out in the desert. Well long story short he got stuck. I tried to pull him out, but my car isn't big enough, so he calls his brother; Chalon gets stuck, then Jo gets called and has to come out and save everyone. Not so funny tonight, but maybe in the morning. I should have gotten a pic of that, his car was stuck all the way up to the bed of the truck, like it was litterally sitting on the dirt, with the back wheels burried. Only Shawn could keep my life this...umm...interesting, painful, adventurous? Take your pick. Goodnight everyone!

Luvy Weekend

To my delighted surprise Luvy called on Thursday and said she missed us and couldn't wait until Memorial weekend to see us and that she was on her way. So spontaneous Mom, go crazy. I love it. It was nice becuase it was last minute enough that I had a good excuse for the house being a mess...okay not a good excuse. But she loves me anyway. We had such a great time. They brought BeccaBoo and Xander Man. On Friday Daryl thought it would be fun to go with me to take Payson to therapy, my Friday ritual. While Payson was at therapy we went to Chick Fil La, to let the kids play. Then we picked up Payson and went to Whole Foods, to try all the tasters! Of course Hayden and Xander insisted on pushing their own mini carts, you know the ones that have tall poles with flags that say shopper in training. It must have been pretty funny to see this huge crowd of people trying all the food, two wild kids sprinting in front of us making zoom sounds. I only hid my face a few times, and said I am not with those people. But it was great. Overall we had a kick back weekend, my Mom let me sleep in, glorious, thank you! And we went for a walk, Daryl went to work with Shawn, then came home and worked on the boat! Thank you, thank you! The kids had a blast. Xander and Hayden had fun locking themselves in the bedroom, and dumping out all the boxes of toys, just to watch me pick it all up and do it again. I think they enjoyed that. And look Xander does dishes. He was so cute, I love my Xander Man. Look at him he was so happy to help out, Xander you are welcome back anytime!! I can't wait for Memorial Weekend guys!

Doorstep Surprises

So last Monday I come home to find several brown boxes on my doorstep. What was inside these boxes you ask?? (sorry for the repeat story for most of you) The day before this man named Al stops by our house. He explains to us that he and his wife were going to buy our house, that they had picked everything out. But at the last minute they backed out, for what ever reason?? Who knows. But they had already paid for custom blinds, and they'd been delivered to them. He wanted to sell them to us for a smok'in deal. Shawn said ok we will talk about it, and get back to you. The next day, Monday, he and his wife come by, this time she is in charge. She comes right in my house, and starts to explain the situation, again. She says they will take whatever we have to offer. She then takes me outside to their truck and pulls one out to show me, putting her hand out to it like Vanna White (is that her name?) pulling on the strings, and the husband then pulls out the receipt to show me that they paid $2600 for them and again they will take whatever I have, a few hundred dollars, whatever. I kept telling them that we were saving for the landscaping, we don't have extra money, we weren't planning on buying blinds for awhile. (I'd rather be totally exposed to the world and have my yard done, then have some privacy.) I suggested that they try another house, after all this a track, plenty more houses just like mine. She then tells me that they thought about giving them to Salvation Army or something, but they would be worthless to them because they are custom, now she just wants to give them to me. But I told her I need to talk to my husband, that's very generous, but I am not sure how I feel about it. So then they leave, the husband is not happy. And I come home a couple hours later to find that they had left all of them on my doorstep. Weird part is that they left the receipt at the neighbors house, as if that was the most valuable thing? So what do I do...I feel totally sick, if you know me I have major guilt about everything. I mean I don't have the money to give them, I don't even love them, and would definitely not have picked them out myself. But on the other hand I do need blinds. So was this a gift or a manipulated gift, still hoping for money? A week later they haven't stopped by again to ask for money. So maybe it was just a generous gift. How crazy is that? I've never been given a $2600 gift by a complete stranger before. What would you do? What is the right thing to do? It's taken me a week (okay two weeks) to feel comfortable enough to put them up. I just wanted to see what they look like. It's so dark in my house now, Shawn loves it, he keeps closing all the blinds. And I keep following behind him opening them up, I love the sunshine. However, I am grateful, it is great to close the blinds at night so everyone can't peek in and snoop.

Dirt and celebrity citings

We have been in our house for three months and it is time to get started on our landscaping. The HOA gives three months for the front yard, and six months for the backyard. Our name is already on their black list so we need to get started before the fines start to pile up. Shawn was out starting on the path when one of the landscapers was driving by. He stopped because apparantly he thought Shawn was doing it wrong. So long story short we are going to let this guy do our front yard, maybe our backyard if he's lucky (which he must get lucky all the time...he has 9 kids, his poor wife).
I am not sure if you can tell by the painted lines in the dirt that we are going to have a path come down from the walkway, which will be stepped, and in pavers, with a pillar on either side with a pot on top with flowers. Then in front of the two windows we will have a half circle raised planter, with a tree and flowers. And a river bed on the side. And another planter down in front of that. And another planter on the other side of the driveway, leaving room for the RV gate. And more pavers down either side of the driveway to make it wider. And blah blah blah. Any questions? Any suggestions? Does anyone have a favorite plant or flower? Speak now or forever hold your peace. The backyard is a whole other story, or blog. One thing at a time.
While I was at Moon Valley nursery scoping out the different possibilities, guess who else was there. You'd never guess. It was Alice Cooper. I am not sure what I found more surprising, running into him, or that he picks out his own trees. Wierd. He was talking to the guy about havalinas. He looked very nice, he was wearing nice plaid pants and a white collared shirt, looked kind of "golfish" but he pulled it off. His wife looked at my kids in the double stroller and said that they had it easy to be pushed around. I said that in minute we were going to trade, and Hayden would push me around. She gave me a polite smile and walked off to find Cooper. I am such a dork.

My Dream Home

Is this what you imagined my dream home to be? I have always had a love affair with this house. My house. It is in Old Town Temecula, right next to Rosa's Cantina. It's just this tiny yellow house, that must be ancient. But I love it. Maybe that's why I love it, because of all the stories that it must hold. I can remember going inside once with my Mom when it was a boutique of some sort, at the time I didn't fully appreciate it, the creaks in every step, and the tiny rooms. I was so excited when we were in California a couple of weeks ago, when I saw that it was for sale. But then my sister pointed out that you can't live in it, it has to be another store?? I wonder if a Bed and Breakfast would count? I am sure it would get a ton of business, it's close enough to all the wineries, and Old Town is historical, and beautiful in itself. Old Town has an amazing farmers market every Saturday, and often they put on a little cowboy show, with a little mock fight with guns, they hold a classic car show there every year. I love old town, it is so quaint, and familiar, it holds so many of my memories, it feels like home. Shawn said no, he said "isn't three houses enough?"...No, it's not. Someday little yellow house you will be mine, and I will take care of you forever.