Mechams Visit: Lily's Early Birthday

Lily turns 1 on November 9th but since my parents were here we decided to have an early birithday party.

She loved ripping the paper but then realized it was "legal" so she lost interest quickly.

Grandpa & Grandma Mecham brought her shoes, books and music cds. She loved the books and shook her booty to the music.

She got blocks and other toys from Mommy & Daddy.

She was a huge fan of her chocolate cake. She had to have 2 baths to get it all out of her hair.

Harvest Festival

Our ward had the annual Chili Contest/Trunk-or-Treat/Halloween party. It was great food and great company. Our friends from our old apartment complex in Folsom came with us. They were street signs & cones. Lily was a Sunflower (ha ha) and I was a Sunflower farmer. Since Lily loves candy she completely loved trunk-or-treating.

Mechams Visit: Prop 8 Rally

Many of you are familiar with Proposition 8 that California is voting for on November 4th. The idea of Prop 8 not passing is scary! With only a week left to go there was a rally at the Capitol.

Lots of people came. There were many different kinds of people. All different ages. It was very touching to be united in something that we all felt so strongly about.

We found our friends The Bradys (Michelle had a very important phone call she had to take). Brooke rode the train with our family but was a social butterfly. She knew a ton of people in the crowd.

There were a lot of signs like the one listed above. There were also signs that said things like: "Who stole my sign?", "One Man One Woman."

My dad really got into it. It was hard not to. A very emotional experience.

Mechams Visit: Pumpkin Patch

We had a blast at the pumpkin patch. My parents got a lot of pix of this...we didn't. But we had a great photo session with the girl! We enjoyed a scare crow contest, hay ride and a little museum on old farming equipment.

Lake Tahoe: Vikingsholm

On the shore of Emerald Bay is a mansion called Vikingsholm. It was built in 1928 by a Scandinavian woman. I have never seen anything like it! We couldn't go inside the home as it was closed for the season but we were able to walk all around it....

The inner courtyard to the home.

The house faced the bay. A lot of the windows were stained glass. There were a lot of big doors that were opened in the day to let air circulate through.

Lily loved walking with Grandma on the beach.

The island with the little building on it. This was used for tea parties that the home owner had a couple of times a summer.

To get to the home you have to go straight down for 1 mile. Then, obviously, you have to go straight up on the way back. Lily loved to be on Grandpa's shoulders. She held her arms out most of the way back to the car.

I can't wait until spring time! I am excited to see the inside of Vikingsholm.

Mechams Visit: Lake Tahoe

My parents came to see us. They got here Friday evening. Saturday morning my parents wanted to go to Lake Tahoe. Since we hadn't ever been there we were very excited to go.

We went to Emerald Bay (I think that's what it's called?). The fall colors were beautiful! We went on a trail that looped us around to see lots of fun things:

Beautiful scenery....

Later we drove up to the top of Emerald Bay. The view was amazing!

Lily didn't want to leave this bench. For some reason she loved it.

We saw a whole bunch of salmon who were spawning. They turn red right before they die. I've never seen anything like it. Thousands and thousands of fish!

One of my favorite parts of Lake Tahoe was going underground to see the stream underneath the ground. It was amazing.

**These pictures are not in the best order but you get the idea...

One Afternoon We Came Home....

And found this:

What the heck?

It took us a second to realize that our neighbor was painting her house and they put the plastic over our car to protect it from flecks.

Salmon Festival

Every year Rancho Cordova has a Salmon Festival in the fish hatchery. We've wanted to go every month but something always comes up. This time we made it.

There were so many fish. We found out later that they were Rainbow fish, not Salmon.

A guy had fish food and was feeding the fish. They were going crazy! Lily was enthralled.

There were some Salmon in the American River but not a lot.

It was fun!

Tagged Again!

I've never been tagged before but then of late I've been tagged twice! I feel VERY cool! This time I was tagged by my cousin Amber. My favorite number is 5 because that's how big our family is probably going to be. So here are 5 things for each category:

5 T.V. Shows i love to watch
1. Bones
2. NCIS
3. Chuck
4. CSI: NY
5. Criminal Minds

5 things that happened yesterday
1. i took a nap
2. visited the Footes
3. looked for jobs
4. ate rice cakes
5. didn't go in to work

5 favorite places to eat
1. Outback (gluten free menu)
2. Spaghetti Factory (gluten free noodles)
3. Beach Hut Deli
4. Denny's
5. IHOP

5 things i look forward to
1. financial stability
2. new carpet
3. a bike trailer
4. thick green grass in my yard
5. the Primary program being done

5 things on my wish list
1. money
2. a job for Dan
3. new caret and wood floor
4. baseboards
5. something other than white walls

5 people i tag
1. Angela Ringlein
2. Leslie McPhie
3. Heidi Condie

Quirks

Marlaina Moon tagged me name some of my quirks. I'm not much into the whole tagging thing but since i love Marlaina I'm going to do it.

1) I have to have the toilet paper coming from underneath. It drives me crazy if it goes over the top!

2) Any word with an "ing" ending I say with a hard G. so "running" is said "runningah."

3) My desk at work has to be clean and organized at all times. If it's not I go completely crazy. My car is completely trashed and it doesn't bother me a bit.

4) I pick at my toenails when I'm talking to people on the phone. My pinky toenail comes completely off if it gets long enough.

5) I hate to vaccuum so I make my hubby do it.

6) I have a hard time putting brown & black or navy blue and black together. Even if it looks cute the thought of putting the colors together makes me cringe!

Okay y'all, it's your turn! To the following, you are TAGGED!

1-Sara Doutre
2-Kim Pueblo
3-Jamey McClellan
4-Becky Brinkerhoff
5-Ellie Zimmermann
6-Brooke Stephens

RULES:
-Link the person who tagged you
-List 6 of your quirks
-Tag 6 other bloggers by linking them
-List the rules on your blog

Thank You, National Museum Day!

So the last weekend in September was National Museum Day/Weekend. We were able to go to the Sacramento Zoo for free! We all agreed that the Anteater was our favorite animal. I also loved the giraffe. Lily loved the little birds splashing in the pond and the flamingos.

Welcome to the Zoo!

Lily felt really cool in the dump truck.

Our little butterfly.

Sitting on the hippo.

Brooke & Jan think orangutangs are so awkward!

Lily riding an ostrich

Can we protest the protesters?

About a year ago we found that we could save quite a bit of money by going to the Grocery Outlet (If you are in Rancho Cordova it is on the corner of Folsom & Zinfandel, I suggest you go and support them and save some cash). A few months ago protesters started marching in front of the store saying that we should not be shopping there and gave some reasons that turned out to be inconsiquential or falsehoods.

Today I went to grocery outlet and one of the ladies was videoing the comings and goings. when I came out i told the lady that she did not have the authorization to use my image for any purpose. then she said "why would I want to use your ugly face". I responded saying "you need to go back to highschool and get your diploma". After i got home I called the police and made a complaint against them and their videoing. They said that there wasn't much they could do about it. they would go watch them but that was really all they could do.

So can we protest the protesters?