March Madness

I love March.

When I was growing up, it meant the snow almost gone.  50 and 60 degree days happened slightly more often than 10 and 20 degree days.  Softball season began.  The magical St. George tournament took place.  Leprachauns took over the school.  And my birthday would top it all off.

This year, it has been one never-ending party.  We have not had many days to ourselves this month, hence the lack in blogging, answering phone calls, and if you were to come to my house right now, a complete lack in cleaning.

Besides the following posts, we have been to parks, Disneyland (trying to use our passes as much as possible ... they expire on Tuesday!  Tragic.), shopping (I love tax returns so much), hanging out at a fancy schmancy hotel on the beach with Aunt Ceely and the big award-winning Uncle Ryan (while of course shopping at Ross and eating at the Cheesecake Factory), and celebrating all the March birthdays in Mark's class (I think there's at least six or seven, mostly the same week as mine) at Joe's All You Can Eat Sushi!


The owner brought everyone outside to take a picture in front of the sign.  There were a LOT of people there.



Do you see that?  A BUCKET of beer.  Practically a cauldron.  I guess I haven't been to many alcohol-ridden parties, because that was incredible.

 

My tasty rainbow sushi (possibly my new favorite roll), birthday beer (which everyone else enjoyed) and the most darling couple ever, Jeff and Laura.


We now have two weeks to ourselves .... I'm not even sure where to start on all my home duties.  But of course it has all been more than worth it, and I cannot wait to get my family here in April.  In the meantime I suppose I will clean a little here, cook a little there, watch a few more netflix, and slowly and surely have my bracket annihilated by the NCAA tournament.  I need a new strategy.  "Tougher sounding names" and "places I'd like to visit" are not working out for me.

Downtown Friends

Best friends.

 These two are partners for everything at school.  We love Ryan Comeau. 

He invited us to a little shindig at their place, and as we were already close by with our wonderful Persian restaurant, we just couldn't miss out.  It was incredible.

Ryan and Erin are newlyweds, and their parents bought them a studio apartment in downtown ... right across from the Staples Center.  It was enormous and gorgeous, and a man opened the front door for us!  We had to sign in, and I quickly transformed into the most star-struck, annoying tourist ever.  I hope I didn't weird the Comeaus out too much ... it was just too fun.

Part of the front lobby:

 Inside, I discovered the picture frame that Comeau got for Christmas!  Pahahaha I love it.

 So beautiful!  They told us their next door neighbor was .... hm.  I can't remember his name.  But he plays for the Lakers.

 They had candles everywhere, and Mac loved to blow them out.  At least he wasn't knocking them over.

Yes, there was a substantial amount of alcohol around, and here it appears that Mac may have gotten into something he shouldn't have .....

 Joking.  Everyone there was so super sweet with him, and of course he ate up the attention.

Ryan gave us a grand tour, telling us that "Inception" had been filmed in their building, the Grammy's after party was held here, and also that they have a helicoptor pad.  Good grief!

That waaay out there is the Staples Center.  To the right a bit, there were all sorts of search lights flashing ... in celebration of the Oscars!  I desperately wanted to go for a long walk and see if I could bump in to anyone, but as it was already 9:30 and Mac was becoming quite loopy, we headed home.

Such a fun night!  Comeau's, if you'll only invite us again, next time I will act more like a normal human being and less like a crazed tourist.  Thank you for the lovely evening.

We Love Persians

This beautiful Armenian woman here was one of my doula clients.  Look at that gorgeous boy!  He is adorable and sweet as can be ... and he and his mom had a beautiful, smooth birth.  I am so very honored to have taken part in it.

Her husband's family owns a restaurant.  It started as a little sandwich shop, and then grew and grew until they bought out six or so stores around them and became a gourmet Persian restaurant!  The place is so nice, you can see where they expanded; the outdoor part of the restaurant is the alley between the two buildings they bought out.  It was so fun to hear the family describe to us how they got started and built up into something that has won awards and draws in all sorts of people.  Her husband said:  "This is what I eat every day.  We just make food that we would eat, and people appreciate a good meal."  Amen!

We did not quite know what to expect, however.  All we had been told was that Persian food consists of grilling and hummus.  The first thing they brought out was this:

 Followed by this:

 I asked what to do with it, and the owner said he likes to see what people come up with.  "There's no right way to do it," he said. 

We decided to look for hints, and spied on people sitting around us.  We settled with rolling the herbs, onions, and raddish in the bread, and then dipping it in the hummus (the yellow stuff), the greek yogurt (with shallots ... it was such a great flavor!), and the eggplant ... salsa?  I'm not sure what you would call that.  I loved to mix the eggplant with the yogurt.  So very good!  And the salad was amazing.  All it had on it was oil and lemon; all the flavor came from the olives and feta.  Delicious!

I forgot to take a picture of the entree when it first came out.  But this is what it looked like after I was bloated beyond reason.  Picture at least twice the amount of food on there. 

 Mark got the Chicken Koobideh and I got the Beef Soltani.  We split and shared, and absolutely loved it.  Very simple, very fresh, and very delicious.  Also, a massive amount.  (We just finished it for lunch today, I was sad to see it go.)

We polished off our meal with this fantastic little dessert.  Simple ice cream sandwich, right?  Wrong!  This is Rosewater ice cream. I have no idea how they make it, we were just told they use rose water.  And it really tastes like you're munching on a sugary rose.  It was very a very unique, fun treat.

So next time you visit us, or if ever you are in Glendale, check out Raffi's Place.  It is delicious and the owners are incredible, good people.  You will love it.  (Especially you, Chris Gunn!  Come try it.)

Goodbye, Disneyland. Hello Knott's.

The days seem to be tumbling over themselves to get to the end ... our Disneyland passes expire in a couple weeks!  Yes I am in mourning, but I take comfort in knowing that we really truly have experienced and enjoyed everything possible in that magical park.

Why don't we just renew?  Well of course, it all comes down to money.  $600 is a serious chunk of cash, and we weren't quite as willing to delve into our tax refund this year as all the expenses of moving are sitting pretty in the forefront of our minds.

But ... we are not completely lost! 

Turns out all our friends do Knott's Berry Farm passes, and as that park is closer, less crowded, and costs $120 for our entire family to go for a year, we decided we would be idiots not to do it.

When Mark and I went for the first time however, we were a bit mopey.  It was Valentine's weekend and there was far too much teenage intimacy going on.  Also drugs.  I was mildly more scared for my life than I have been the entire time we've been in California. 

I think the real problem was that we were just missing our Disneyland still.

However, the other day I went with friends early in the day with a whole lot of children, and it was so fun.



His first ride by himself!  He was a little nervous as I walked away, but once it got going he seemed to really like it.





Hey hotties.



I love Seth's eyes.



Although nothing will ever measure up to Disneyland for me, I was really impressed with Knotts.  No lines, and a huge "Camp Snoopy" overloaded with fun little rides Mac really enjoys.  I am excited to spend our last year going here with friends!

Flying

Parker (an in-law of my in-law) came and visited for a few days.  He may be one of Mac's new favorites.

Pockets

Mac recently discovered his pockets.  Very cool.

I think I need to start being substantially more observant while doing laundry ... who knows what crummy gooey goodness will end up in those things.

Mac & Zack

There must be something about their names rhyming ... I'm not sure.

Ever since I met Mark's family, I have heard story after story about what a funny kid Zack was.  He had stick piles, funny eyes, and organized toys.

Chris has pictures of Zack lining up all of his toy cars in order from most favorite to least favorite.  He remembered and accounted for each stick he had collected over the span of his little life.  Zack is now an accountant.

Just this past week, I have noticed Mac beginning to do some organizing of his own.

 After Mac plays with his cars for a while, he puts one on each race track, and lines up the rest.

 The balls are possibly his most frustrating task.  He wants them to be touching, but when lining them up they often roll away.  Pushing them up against the wall is his solution.

He definitely did not get this trait from me.  Organizing has been something I have really had to work on.  But wherever it came from, I think this is one of my favorite hobbies of my little man ... hopefully it sticks around a while; I could always use some more help around the house.

A Favorite

There aren't many thing better for this one year old than a nice, sturdy fort.  Mac is lucky to have a dad who feels the same.

Love Day '11

Ah, Valentine's Day.  Day of love.  Day to prove your love.  The designated day of the year to "wow" your sweetheart. 

My wonderful husband views it as "forced love day", and therefore "meaningless, hollow, nonsense love day".  

But, as he married a woman who greatly enjoys a healthy portion of nonesense, and even at times appreciates that in her, he must take a part in this wonderful day.  And dare I say, he does quite well.  I will not go into too many details, as I might embarass his manliness and decrease the likelihood of his continuing those flowers, treats, errands, kisses, and ooey gooey love letters which I love so very very much.

However, I must brag without restraint about one thing: he took me to prom!

Our ward put on a little prom the Friday before Valentine's day, and although beforehand Mark made it very clear to me that this might possibly be his most embarrassing night in years, we had a lot of fun. 

We took some classy prom pictures on the stage.

 The longest married couple was crowned King and Queen of our lovely prom.

After dinner, we (meaning me and the girls) danced the macarana, Cotton Eye'd Joe, the bunny dance, and attempted to follow a couple new weird ones.  Mark ventured out to the floor for the nice, slow, boat-rocking songs ... and then retreated quickly afterwards.  A few people warned each other that a Bible could most definitely not fit, but no one listened.  We also got to watch people swing dance, which was entertaining, to say the least.

 I adore these people.  Friends make everything more fun.  There were a lot of jokes going around about prom night ... maybe if you call me I'll tell you a few.

The rest of the weekend included massages, movies, Knott's Berry Farm, and lots of food.

Specifically, our love dinner was an attempted Martha Stewart recipe:  Filet Mingon!  Turns out, I can be a decent cook when I need to be.

Thank you, sweetheart. I love you, and not just on Valentine's Day. 

Another Logan Trip

A few weeks ago Mom called and said, "Your dad has been talking to pictures of Mac on the computer a lot lately.  I think you'd better come."

They gave me one of their free frequent flier miles tickets, and so immediately after dropping Jamie off at her airport I bundled up Mac and followed her north.

Mac growled at the airplanes, wanted to jump on the seats as we were taking off, and rubbed his nose all over the window.

But, we made it.  And Mom had pulled out my old crib and set it up in Jake's room.  Thanks, Jake.  Bet your room in Spain isn't near as awesome as this one!

 Mac still ate three egs every morning, among many other things.  Don't worry, he loved every bite.  He just doesn't like smiling first thing in the morning.

 We spent Super Bowl Sunday with the Gunns, and experienced a massive ball war.  Mac ran around like a madman, waving his arms and tossing balls, and miraculously was probably the only child to not get beaned in the face.  (Rachelle, it was beyond worth missing my Sunday dinner.  Thanks for having us!)

 This Aunt Rachel was also a gem.  We ate school lunch with her once and Mac wooed every girl in her class with his "Moo"s and "Rawr"s and clucking.  He also showed off his racing skills; running full speed into the waiting arms of at least eight little girls.  I think he is trouble already.

 I got to finish a book!  Practically all in one day. 

 And boy did we dance.  The Wii was a hit.

 The trip home turned out to be a long one.  A cancelled flight sent us to Gateway ... thank you Mom!  Mac loved this magnetic pipe wall.

 And he loved the construction zone.  Turns out an hour is not enough time to spend there, though.  Next time we'll go all day!

 And then we waited at the airport for Mark to get off school and come pick us up.  I had calculated we would be waiting about 3 hours, but Mark came striding in like the hero he was after only two!

 Thank heavens.  I was really getting tired of chasing him away from escalators, doors, other people's luggage, and that luggage merry-go-round thing.  I'm pretty sure I had about 8 different people tell me to be careful.  Ugh.

Even after a 12 hour trip home (I might as well just drive; same amount of time!), I would do it again.  Having your mama take care of you must be one of the top three best trips a person can ever take.  Thank you, thank you, wonderful family!