Six

You know how in your high school yearbook they have all those categories like "Cutest Couple" and "Best Smile" and Most Likely to Succeed?" If they'd had a category in my yearbook for "Most Likely to Get Married in a Cemetery" I probably would have won. Yeah, I was kind of goth like that. I eventually outgrew my goth phase (but not the music), and then....I went and got married in a cemetery!

It's true. Six years ago today Nathan and I got married in the SkyRose Chapel at Rose Hills (I don't have any pictures downloaded, but check out the slide show here, it's incredible). Our pictures were taken that day in the El Portal de la Paz mausoleum, and it was all so beautiful, even though some might think it's kind of morbid.

Tonight we went to Third Street in Santa Monica for our traditional anniversary celebration. First we went to the Miramar Hotel to have our picture taken in front of the bench where we got engaged. The Miramar is also where we spent our wedding night. Then we went to Trastavere for dinner, the same place we had dinner after our wedding. After dinner we walked up to Old Navy so I could get some flip flops and a sweater (it got cold!) and Nathan got a long-sleeved shirt as well. Outside Old Navy I promptly traded my three inch heels for the flip flops and threw the heels away - there was no way they were ever going to be comfortable again, and they were old anyway. Feeling better and warmer, we stopped at Starbucks for drinks, walked down to the pier, listened to a guitarist for a while, then headed home.

We had a great anniversary. Nathan, thank you so much for six joyful, fun, interesting, growing, trying (a little), contented, hysterical years of marriage. You are the best husband I ever could have hoped for, more than I ever imagined, and I thank God for knowing exactly what I needed and then sending me you. I have loved being married to you and I'm looking forward to many, many more years together. I love you!

Easily distracted by shiny objects and stuff

I think this is what all of my progress reports from grade school probably said. Yes, your daughter is a straight A student and she always seems to be able to come up with the right answer. However, to get her to pay attention in class we have to tie her arms and legs to her desk, put blinders on her, duct tape her mouth closed, and hire Mary Lou Retton to teach. Otherwise, she's talking to everyone (and everything?) in sight. I can't even count the number of times my collective teachers moved me to different table groups to get me to SHUT UP, already!

So I got distracted by a couple of things a couple weeks ago: the Olympics and an evil empire called Facebook. Which is why I haven't been blogging much. Don't worry: the Olympics only have a few days left, and I'm starting to lose interest in Facebook, since my flair board is totally full and I can't add anything else. So, soon I'll be back to my regular amount of slacking, instead of the increased amount of slacking. Until then.... go USA!

Vindicated

The Cure has three singles in the top ten on Billboard this week. THREE! Who says their day is past?

Fair enough for another year

On Thursday afternoon we set out for our annual trip to the Orange County Fair. Judah was so excited, he'd been talking about going on the Ferris wheel practically since last summer. And from the moment we set foot inside the fair he almost never stopped asking if it was time to go on the Ferris wheel. Now? Can we do it now? How about now? So funny. But we wanted to wait for Jeff and Heather before we went on it, so we did a bunch of other stuff first. Judah spotted these tractors and spent some time playing around on them.
He didn't necessarily want to sit on the back of this oil drum steer, but we talked him into it and he stayed there just long enough to have his picture taken.
I loved that the theme of the fair this year was cheese, because I'm a big fan of cheese. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough specialty cheese food around for my taste. Remember the year the theme was avocados and it seemed like every food booth had a different way of preparing avocados? Not so with the cheese. The only special thing I saw was funnel cake with cream cheese frosting, and I didn't notice that until (sadly) after we ordered our funnel cake with powdered sugar. My favorite thing about the fair is always the food, and this year I indulged in funnel cake, cheesecake on a stick, french fries, and a half pound hot dog that was SO good! It was even better because we got to watch a team of Peking acrobats while we ate.
Micah spent most of the day in his stroller, kicking back with his thumb in his mouth, taking it all in. I felt bad for him, just sitting there, but it didn't seem to bother him. He got out to enjoy this car for a while, until Judah came over and demanded to drive.
Judah was fascinated by all the snakes in the reptile area. They were some of the biggest snakes I've ever seen. We wanted to have his picture taken with the albino python, but they were charging $8.50 so we skipped it.

Micah loved waiting in line for the Ferris wheel......
and that's the first place we went after we met up with Jeff and Heather. Aren't they cute? :)
Finally, the Ferris wheel! Judah loved it. He's so brave, he stands up on the seats the whole time and watches all that's going on below us. From the top he spotted a roller coaster he said he'd want to go on. When the ride ended we headed for the roller coaster, only to find that Judah's not quite tall enough yet.
So we found one that was more his speed. We were betting he would bail when he was supposed to get on, but he didn't! And then he laughed all through the ride.
Judah met up with a clown who had his favorite thing: bubbles! We spent a while watching Jude chase the bubbles, then went and found the segmented bowl that Ken entered in the wood turning competition. It won first place! And a bunch of other stuff. After that we picked up our dinner, sat and ate while the acrobats bent themselves into unnatural shapes, then headed out while Judah waved goodbye to the Ferris wheel until next year.