Good Breakfast Food

A few months ago, while Brian and I celebrated our 10th Anniversary with a Stay-cation, we discovered a couple of delicious breakfast joints here in OC.  I'm a BIG lover of breakfast food.  I could eat it every meal of the day.  And, then again, for dessert.

Anyway, I forgot to get pictures when we went to Stacks in Dana Point.  But, let me tell you. It was good.  Even when Brian made me go for a morning run up-hill from our hotel to get there.  It was worth the run!  They have coconut syrup.  Need I say more?

The second place we discovered is Cinnamon Productions.  They have fresh-squeezed orange juice.  Fresh-squeezed!  Of course I didn't get any pictures the first time here, but, we had to take the Jones' when they were in town, so I have a few pics to share from that trip.  

And, then, there was our most recent trip with a few of Sadie's friends from school.  Only in Southern California, will you find children playing in the splash pad in November!

Labor Day at the Lake

Guess where we spent our holiday? That's right....the lake!  We had some friends come up, we rented a boat (the kids loved it!), BBQ'd and played all day long!  We love this place!!

 Teresa stocked the kids with TONS of snacks for the boat--popcorn, graham crackers, "red" chips (Doritos), "blue" chips (the yucky Doritos), CapriSuns....

Our Trusty Captain! 

Teresa and the tots! 

Brian and I--I think we take a picture like this almost every year!  

It's fun to look back on them over the years!

I'm guessing one of the snacks included chocolate frosting? 

Morgan and her Oreo mustache! 

Yay for Brian--getting Carson to sleep in his stroller for almost an hour!  

Yummy homemade ice cream!  The kids, of course, were too impatient to let it cure (I remember being the same way as a kid), so it was more like soup, but, still delicious!

Thanks for coming up, Vitzians!  We all had a blast!

King of the Beach

So, we have a new love at our house.  It's called Lake Mission Viejo.  We frequent it.  Often.  Like, at least weekly.   And, now that Carson is walking (as of last week, it's official!), we should just go every day.  Only, that might be a little bit too much work to pack a picnic every day.

We've had lots of friends come up to play at the lake.  But, being the super-on-top-of-it mom that I seem to be these days, I haven't taken a single picture.  So, while we were at the lake yesterday with Maryn, my BYU roommate (who also married my 2nd cousin), she took some pictures.  Most of them are posted here, on her blog.  But, I have to share my absolute favorite of Carson (taken by Maryn).

Here's the story behind the picture:

We are playing in the water and everyone is having a great time, when one of the ladies next to us decides to put her child's chair in the water.  Not exactly sure why, because her child never actually sat in it there.  Anyway, Carson notices this lonely chair on the edge of the water and starts walking toward it--very determinedly--to say the least.  I quickly asked the parent if he could play in the chair and she said, "Sure!"  And, by this time, Carson had already climbed in, sat down, and decided he was king of the beach!

Random Snippets from Late

We've been crazy busy around our house!  Brian and I were just talking last night about how we chose a rather hectic time to move.  I don't think we've had an empty weekend since we moved---2 months ago!  So, I'm happy to announce that we have NO PLANS for the next 3 weekends and I'm super stoked!  I can finally finish moving in!

Here are some pictures from the last month or so:

Morgan was bored during nap time one afternoon.  She kept asking me what she could do.  After not liking any of my suggestions, I finally put her to work.  I gave her the spray bottle of vinegar and two rags and told her to clean the floor.  She loved "skating mopping"!

This summer has been all about reading for Morgan.  I have lost track of how many books she's read.  She gets swallowed up by The Magic Tree House series!  I'll ask her to do something and she'll walk through the house, getting the task done, all while reading her book!  I found her sitting on the coffee table one afternoon, reading.  That can't possibly be comfortable, but if you're so caught up in a book, I guess it doesn't matter! (Oh, and Morgan scored with her own private Magic Tree House library!  The primary president in our ward has the entire collection, so we stop by each Sunday after church for a new sampling!  This week she picked 8 because she finished the 4 from last week before Wednesday!)

Carson always loves to share everything....including his pancakes.  Isn't that so sweet???

Somebody has big sisters around!

Don't know what Sadie was so sad about, but it's such a classic Sadie face these days!

We went to see Hunter Hayes (click here if you have no idea who he is!) last Saturday at the lake!  Didn't plan on all wearing our BBQ shirts (and my cowgirl hat), but, we were running late, lost our change of clothes underneath all the recycle bottles in the car, and, well, we had fun and that's what matters!

 Carson is one and walking now, so that means he gets his own chair, right?

Sadie's 4th birthday was a couple weeks ago and all she wanted was a burrito.  Well, there it is....her burrito. (We had cake and presents, too!)

Big boy Carson moved up into his big car seat!  Still has to face back, but there's plenty of entertainment in the back seat, so I don't think he minds! And, for all of you out there that think he's a tank--he's only in the 60th percentile (23 1/2 lbs!)  He's not really that huge!

Boy, Time Flies!!

I can't believe our little guy is already 3 weeks old!!  How easily we forget what life was like before. I can't imagine our life without this precious baby!  

Carson spends most of his time sleeping.  (That is, after all, what newborns do best!)  Aside from his fussy time around dinner (perfect timing, right?), he's mostly tolerant of his big sisters and their never ending affection.  

The girls wanted to watch Carson's "first" (don't tell them it's not really) bath.  Sadie kept saying, "Oh. He's getting cleaned," over and over.

Sadie's turned into our early riser.  While we're usually up before her (Brian at work, me feeding a baby), I usually leave Carson on the bed while I get dressed.  Sadie loves to climb up and cuddle him.  Her favorite is to give him "nose-ies" (i.e. Eskimo kisses).  This morning she said, "Ooh!  His nose is cold, Mom!"

These past several weeks, we've attended Brian's softball games.  His company plays in a city league every summer.  While I can't take credit for the pictures (thanks, Mark!), here's my stud in action!

Here he is waiting for some softball action!

This picture reminds me of my little sisters at my brother's little league games.  They would play in the dirt the whole time, and, every inning (actually half-inning), Debbie Schroeder or my mom would give them each a single M & M (okay, maybe it was a few, but that doesn't sound as good) and back to the dirt they'd go!  I'm sure they came home even more filthy than the players!

We're going on vacation this weekend and then to California after, but the computer won't be coming until September, so be patient and expect lots of posts in a few weeks!