Daddy

When Daddy comes home is everyone's favorite time of day. Especially for Mommy, but it has been so fun to watch Darren interact with our babies. I think they are awfully tired of me by the end of the day.

I love this picture of Darren and Lily. It is a bit grainy but I love the subjects. Lily looks like she is telling Darren about her long day of naps, diaper changes, feedings and walks. She has it pretty good.

This picture is not clear and dark and grainy because Hanky is usually not happy and still at the same time (and Mommy had a really dark room, high ISO, low shutter speed and a moving target - we did our best). But I am using it to illustrate his exhilaration when Daddy plays with him.

Then when I want to get a picture of them together, he throws attitude like this: "I guess I'll tolerate him holding me."

Here Darren is entertaining the babies while I try to get smiles from them. He is my best helper because they will always give him their undivided attention.

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I am serious when I say that everyone in our little family is happier when Daddy is home. We love you Daddy!

Memorial Day 2009

We had a lovely weekend. Most of it was spent at the AVP tournament watching Casey and Ty rock the AVP - they placed 5th on Sunday morning and we couldn't be more proud of them. 

Sunday night - we (me, Sara, Corey, Baker, Darren, Jenny, Lexi, Casey) had a pasta party to prepare for our half marathon. A pasta party and sugar cookies - thank you Jenny!

Memorial Day morning we got up at 5:30am (on a holiday I might add), and prepared for our race. It was. So. Much. Fun. I saw my cousin Tiffany Brown at the race - we have cousin's everywhere! I found out from her Facebook status that she was running a half marathon in CA over the weekend, and it was the same race - what are the odds? Probably high - there are a lot of us :) It was so fun to see her and all of her cute friends. Thanks Facebook for the connection!

I didn't have a great time, so that won't be posted, but I will post Darren's. He did the half marathon in 1:35. He is so awesome. He was aiming for his previous time of 1:28, but maybe next time? 

After the race, we went to a ward picnic and then to Terminator Salvation - which I really liked.  But I like Christian Bale and the Terminator movies - so it was a great combination.  By about 7pm, the early morning was starting to catch up with me, so I was out by 9pm. Sad but true. 

Today I am a little sore (not bad) but glad we did the race.

Here is a picture of me and my cousin Tiffany - I stole it from Facebook. Luckily she is more organized than me and was taking pictures - I had no photographic proof I was even in the race! Thanks for the picture Tiffany!

To our Half Marathoners - Darren Harris, Corey Cooper, Baker Morphy, Adam Koch, Tiffany Brown and Co., Me, and Sara Spilsbury - thanks everyone for such a fun race - it was a great Memorial Day!

Week in Review

This week was a long one. Good but long. Darren and I had a lot of work and combined that with a lot of family in town too. It was so much fun, but I was in a hurry on Thursday when I went out to my car and found a flat.

I had a choice. I could call the roadside assistance that work provides us but they were out for about an hour. So I decided it might be quicker to change the tire and drive it to a tire store. 

Luckily I know how to change a tire. It was a bit of a hassle to empty my trunk of all work items to get the spare tire. But I was well into the process when Darren showed up to finish up the job. 

This is Darren helping me not get my suit dirty.  My hero. 

Birthday Wrap Up

This birthday was great - turning 31 was better than turning 30. But it started out a little sad because the morning of my birthday, Darren had to leave on a business trip. No bueno. But I figured it would be okay, I was headed to Disneyland to meet my friend Sara for lunch and my $69 merchandise card (if you are a season pass holder and don't want a free ticket, they give you a gift card). 

I was rushing because I was short on time and I was on the phone with Sara walking through the entrance to Disneyland, scanning the crowd. She told me she was standing to the left and I saw this:

Darren standing there with a giant lollipop. Turns out he wasn't leaving until Saturday but had packed a suitcase and told me that he was leaving for a few weeks.  I was so surprised!!!!

So we spent some time at Disneyland - Space Mountain and then we headed over to the California Screaming and Soaring Over California. It was so much fun - there was hardly any  wait and it was such a fun way to spend my lunchtime! I also spent my merch. credit on 4 dvd's - apparently you can't buy churros with the gift card. 

Then that night, I had a quiet little dinner and Sprinkles cupcakes (thanks Nan!). 

Perfect Day. 

Day 5 - Nov. 15, 2008

Our last day was perfect. It rained a little bit but we were able to relax, take a walk along the beach. One of the coolest parts of the walk were when we saw a HUGE sea turtle in the waves. It was a stormy morning and the waves were huge. This was over by the cliffs on the south end of the Shipwreck Beach. With each wave that came in, I just expected this turtle to be thrown onto the rocks. But each time the wave crashed, you would see the turtle swimming in place, as if the waves hardly affected it at all. Just amazing.

We spent the last part of the day exploring the west shore and eating at our favorite pizza place, Brick Oven Pizza.

Then we went as far west as the paved road allowed and found ourselves on a dirt road for almost 5 miles to reach Polihale State Park - a beach that the concierge told us that she would help to. There are not a lot of tourists. It was a gorgeous beach, the waves were huge (would never get in that water) but the beach never seemed to end. And seemed completely empty. We loved the rainbow and the light.

Darren at the beach

Can you see the rainbow in the background?

Nikki at the beach - sooo windy.

On our way back to the hotel, it really started to rain. Hard hard hard. Maybe it wasn't such a bad time to leave. I actually felt a little bit sad about the people unloading their luggage to this kind of weather at the hotel. 

At the airport, relaxed, tan-ner (for us) and tired, we were glad we got the chance for a little adventure. As we sat in the plastic lounge chairs, we started planning our next adventure.

The End. 

Day 4 - Nov. 14, 2008

This is the day we woke up at the crack of dawn on vacation to drive to the north shore of Kauai. We headed to Ke'e Beach - which is literally the end of the road on Kauai. From there we hiked the Kalalau Trail to the Hanakoa Fall. It was amazing. We didn't have rain (like we did last time) and we made great time on our hike. 

We even got in the water at the falls - which might have been the coldest water in the world. That waterfall might be coming out of a glacier. 

I was a wimp and was in the water for about 2 seconds. 

While Darren preferred to frolic. 

We were sad to have the hike end. I would like to think I was mostly sad because I was pretty tired by the end of the 7 mile hike through humidity. Luckily Darren was a gentleman and offered to carry the back pack. I needed all of the help I could with my balance (which has ever been good). 

Darren being a gentleman with the backpack. 

Our hike could not have finished at a better time - we were climbing into our car when it started to rain! The north typically has a lot of rain, while the south shore is a little sunnier.  Po'ipu was a little overcast, but no rain - we were lucky. 

We soaked in the hot tub for our sore muscles. And to remove some of that red dirt.

But we had to hurry, we had reservations at the Beach House for sunset. Unfortunately though - since it was overcast, there wasn't much of a sunset. However, it was still delicious. It was a little sad though, it was our last night on the island. 

Outside of the Beach House restaurant and our kind of sunset. 

Day 3 - Nov. 14, 2008

This was designated as a strict beach day. Which my really non-tan skin needed. We headed to Kiahuna Beach in front of the Sheraton Hotel. Not a lot of rocks, waves were not as crazy - so I felt a little more safe in the water. 

Beautiful beach, right? 

This a cliff we climbed up outside of the Hyatt - on Shipwreck Beach (the name alone makes me nervous in that water). You can see the Hyatt in the background.

We later were sitting on the beach when Darren fell asleep on the beach. I did what any loving wife would do in that situation. I 

buried him in the sand and took pictures. 

 

That night we were all set to go to the new James Bond movie but it was a tiny theater, the only seats were in the front - so we went to bed early for our hike the next morning. We had to get all of the rest we could. 

Day 1 - Nov. 12, 2008

Ahhh, we are back. From Hawaii where we just spent 5 very relaxing days. Lovely. I am going to post a little bit of what we did every day. WARNING - there will be a lot of pictures. 

Day 1 - we flew into O'ahu. I have never been to O'ahu before, so we starting things right by stopping at Costco first thing and picked up a few provisions and headed to the North Shore to stay here:

Turtle Bay - What a dump. Okay, just kidding. It was beautiful, we had a great view from our room. Our first day we spent the morning exploring. 

Me on a hammock with really really white skin - I had not been in the sun - YET. 

Darren in the beach cottage area- everything was so green! 

We were lucky to meet up with Clark and Kathleen - they were staying at the same hotel. 

And the famous Matsumoto's Shave Ice. Wonderful. Worth a flight. It's a bold statement, and I stand behind it. 

Day 1 was actually really long, so this will be done in 2 posts. 

Birthday Boy

Here he is in all of his glory. 

Today is Darren's birthday. I felt a little bit of pressure because last year we were here:

No, that is not the zoo. We were in Kenya on safari in the Mara. Last year all Darren wanted for his birthday was to see a leopard. 

Needless to say, a trip to Africa was hard to follow but I think I was able to make a big impression with a little crepe paper, a custom birthday hat and a birthday banner:

This is how our day went. Woke up and made Darren oatmeal pancakes with buttermilk syrup. We did a little church service by knocking on doors for Proposition 8. Then we were destroyed in a tennis game by Casey and Lexi.  Our beating was followed by lunch at Fiesta Grill. Then we settled down and watched the BYU game and finally dinner at Houstons. (Which has the best ribs and hamburgers I have ever tasted!!! Two words - California Burger.)

All in all the perfect day spent doing things that Darren loves. And because he is 31 this year, I will list 31 things that I love about Darren.

1) How sweet he is

2) He is a great cook

3) He is a great example

4) He will watch chick flicks with me (sometimes without me, he watched Enchanted when I wasn't around).

5) I love his sense of style

6) I love his spiritual side

7) I appreciate how hard he works at EVERYTHING

8) I love that he helps out around the house

9) I love how smart he is

10) His tie collection (it is truly amazing)

11) How I can laugh with him all the time.

12) How hard he tries to do what is right

13) How he loves to travel

14) I love how shamelessly he likes me to scratch his back

15) I love how he never gets angry (at least at me)

16) I love how he loves to travel so much he is always planning trips

17) I love how much he loves wearing free t-shirts

18) I love how supportive he is

19) I love that he is the person I want to talk to the most

20)I love that he is obsessed with college football and basketball

21) I love that he is a great athlete (sometimes I don't like the fact that he runs a lot faster than me though)

22) I love how he is always wanting to surprise me. 

23) I love how much he wants to cuddle with me

24) I love his family

25) I love that he loves my family

26) I love his example

27) I love how he helps me simplify things

28) I love how generous he is with everyone

29) I love how willingly he does his callings at church

30) I love how he is a night owl.

31) I love him and am so grateful to spend my life with him. 

I love you Darren!

C-town

Do you know what I like about Chicago? There are too many things to list. It is a big city but not too big. I feel that I could comfortably walk to anything in town. (Did not feel that way in New York). It is clean. And is a beautiful. Darren and I did a whirlwind trip. Complete with art museums, food, friends, Cubs game and shopping.

We were staying two blocks from Michigan Avenue - the Magnificent Mile. Take it from this shopper, it really is magnificent. You name it, they had a store for it. Our first stop in Chicago was at Portillo's. For a Hot Beef Italian Sandwich and hot dog. Which was so filling, we couldn't even eat dinner.
Next we just walked around and shopped. And saw the Silver Bean in Millenium Park. We next had dinner with the Lippencotts. And by had dinner, we watched them eat because we were still full from our afternoon snack. :) Even though we didn't eat, we did have a great time visiting them and their new baby.

Darren in front of the giant silver bean. And our bean reflection.

About 11pm and our appetites returned. Luckily for us, Grand Lux Cafe was around the corner and still open! So like responsible adults who watch what we eat, we helped ourselves to beignets and molten chocolate cake. DELICIOUS!!!

Saturday morning was just as fun. We visited the Art Institute of Chicago, I saw the building from Adventures in Babysitting, and we went to a Cubs Game! I have been to a lot of sporting events, but this was a BLAST! These fans take it seriously, despite how freezing it was. :)

We did the American Gothic pose:

And had a Ferris Bueller's moment - does anyone remember this moment from the movie?:
And I took a picture of the building in Adventures in Babysitting (sad but could not resist):
Our Wrigley Field moment - in the shade was the only moment we were cold in Chicago:
Afterwards, we of course had some more food when we had a stuffed pizza at Giordanos and more beignets at the Grand Lux Cafe. Then we spent more glorious time shopping...Ahhhh - what a great trip. Shopping, friends and food. How can anyone not like Chicago?
This is a picture of another late night trip to the Grand Lux Cafe - ahhhh. I can't wait to go back!

Happy Belated Easter

So this is a few weeks late but I believe it is still post-worthy. We had our first Easter together. Complete with a puffed pancake and a super clean house and an Easter basket filled with our favorite goodies. There might have even been an Easter dress for me to wear somewhere in there.

So the basket is not really an Easter basket but I loved it and it was on sale at Marshalls for $10. It looks just perfect for a picnic.

Disneyland Pass

I think as residents of Southern California, we have an obligation to visit the happiest place on earth. Often. As annual pass holders, we try to sneak away often to visit a ride or two and then maybe get some dessert at The Jazz Kitchen on our way out. The secret? Only go for an hour or two in the wintertime and park in Downtown Disney. The Annual Pass? One of the best investments we have made.

Here is a picture of us in front of It's A Small World After All.

I miss....

My husband.
He's only gone for 3 more days....

Slowing Down

I finally feel as though things are settling. In the past year a few things have happened. Here is a small example:

- Was the Relief Society President
- Had a few roommate changes
- Had a few work changes
- Started dating, got engaged and married Darren
- Went to fabulous Africa
- Planned a wedding for a bazillion people (I think that is the unit of measurement for the Brown family + the Harris family)
- Left singles ward
- Went to Kauai for my honeymoon for a much needed rest
- Joined a family ward
- Got a stake calling with my HUSBAND (love that term) for the Spanish Branch
- Currently attempting to learn Spanish

Wow. I got tired just typing that! I dont' know if my life will slow down or just stay in a fast forward speed, but we are having fun. I will write a post about the wedding soon. I need to put it in writing - I am one lucky girl...