Busy, Busy, Busy

First off, I'd just like to explain why my posts are always sooooo long. It just seems like the beginning and the very end of summer are the busiest. I've been on the internet looking for a place of our own to live and other furniture that we'd need when we move out. Also, Jonathan's been teething and more vocal about his needs, which may I say, can get very obnoxious. But I love him and I want to make sure his owies are taken care of.

Moving on, I want to take you back, oh, a week ago? Yeah, let's say that it was a week ago.

August 17th: Daddy and Jonathan enjoying one of the last naps in the middle of the day for who knows how long.

Last Thursday, we decided to go check out Downtown Disney. It was chilly and we forgot to bring Jonathan's jacket, so we put him in a burrito in his Nemo blankie. He had to have at least one limb outside to flop around. I love the lone foot sticking out.

Wednesday, August 19th: Our good friends the Jenks' invited us out to Bolsa Chica Beach for a bonfire. We got there right before sunset. It was Jonathan's second trip to the beach. He LOVED it and was impossible to keep him still. We ate s'mores and if I hadn't filled up on our turkey dogs, I would've eaten more than the amazing 3 I managed to stuff in my face!

Here's the whole group minus me: Lars and Jonnie with the Jenks and the Larsens. Both Tiffany and Kellie are expecting. I felt left out for a little bit, but Tiff is ready for delivery any day now and I remember that feeling.

Kellie looked SO funny and adorable all bundled up. Lame little me- I've only been to one other bonfire and it was two years ago, so I didn't bring a jacket or a another blanket or socks for either Jonathan or I. It only takes one mistake. I'm SO packing more warm stuffs for our ward bonfire tomorrow if we go. Lars was wonderful and gave me his leather jacket to wear and Jonathan was too wiggly to hold still, so I used his Nemo blankie on my feet. (Notice Brett's lovely foot also in the picture.)

On Friday night, it was the High Priests activity night. We did karaoke. Here's Lars and Chet Douglass singing "Rollin' On the River". It was a WILD night! There were only a few people there, so we got really loud and laughed until our sides hurt.

Lisa Mushet, Mary Puppe, and I singing, ummm, I can't remember. =}

Lars and I weren't going to go to karaoke, but we felt we needed to participate in ward activities since we've been so bad in the past. (I blame our memories and lack of cell phones with alarm reminders). After I got home (which BTW, was far too late to even think about starting this kind of thing), I washed and hand-dipped around 200 strawberries for Lars' cousin's baby shower the next morning. The chocolate turned out the perfect consistency and I was soooo worried about it. I'd never used that brand of dipping chocolate before. I was also a Nazi about how dry the strawberries had to be before I'd dip them. If water gets into your dipping chocolate, it makes it lumpy and it won't coat the berry correctly or even stick.

I double-dipped around 50 of them. Some were milk chocolate-over-white and the others were white-over-milk. The ones pictured tasted better, although the plain white chocolate ones tasted best. I was also worried about how the dried chocolate would taste because the raw chocolate was AWFUL and tasted like chalk. Most gourmet dipping chocolate tastes rich and sickeningly sweet, which is the only kind I've used. (But who has money for that?)

This was the cake. I've never seen anything like it before. The FROSTING had a pearlescent glaze to it, abso-friggen-lutely amazing. And the inside was even better- 3 layers of cake with a real fruit filling in the first layer and a vanilla pudding layer in the second. I would've eaten more, but I totally pigged out on guacamole and my strawberries! I love the little Mexican markets around here. They make the BEST cakes EVER!!

Larry Sr. with his favorite little person at the baby shower. I think they look alike a little bit.

The beautiful expectant mother, Yanela with her mother, Nellie.

One of the five 2 foot (in diameter) platters of strawberries we crammed into the fridge the night before.

Over-tired, but happy with Daddy. Jonathan's been going to sleep for a late afternoon nap and sleeping around 12 hours at night since the shower. He didn't take his early evening nap because there was far too many distractions. Finally, I fed him at 7 and he literally dropped to sleep. Nothing, not even a Harley motorcycle going down the street, could wake him, even though we tried repeatedly so he'd go to sleep later. (Which of course we didn't need to worry about.)

And there you have it a great little week of fun, friends, and sugar. =D