Took the kids to Huntington Beach yesterday with a friend of mine and her kiddos. We had a great time! Grant LOVED the water and cried the entire way back to the car. Katie made sand angels! It was a good 80 degrees out and the beach was pretty much deserted on a Tuesday winter’s afternoon. Great for us!

Here is my 2008 book list.  I favored Nicholas Sparks, Anne Tyler and the Left Behind series.  I’ve already started the 2009 list.  We’ll see how I do this year with three kids.

Kingsolver – The Poisonwood Bible – 1/08

Giordano – I Love You Like a Tomato – 1/08 (Apparently first in a series of three.)

Binchy – London Transports – 1/08

Tyler – Patchwork Planet – 2/08

Tyler – Back When We Were Grownups – 2/08

Pezzelli – Every Sunday – 2/08

Kay – Half Price Living – 2/08

Fowler – The Jane Austen Book Club – 3/08

Tyler – Breathing Lessons – 3/08

Rice – The Edge of Winter – 3/08

Hegi – Floating in My Mother’s Palm – 3/08

Hoffman – The Ice Queen – 3/08

Lockwood – Dixieland Sushi – 3/08 (SO funny!)

Oates – We Were the Mulvanneys – 4/08

Mason – In Country – 4/08

Kingsbury – A Time to Dance – 5/08 ( I loved this… Christian Lit is growing on me!)

Harris – Five Quarters of the Orange – 5/08

The Color Purple – 5/08

Dessen – This Lullaby – 5/08

Rubio – Icy Sparks – 6/08

Keyes – Sushi for Beginners – 6/08

Green – Babyville – 6/08

Binchy – This Year It Will Be Different – 6/08

Morrison – The Bluest Eye – 07/08

Frank – Sullivan’s Island -07/08

Patchett – Bel Canto – 08/08

Empire Falls – 08/08

Allison – Bastard Out of Carolina – 8/08

Wiggs – Snowfall at Willow Lake – 8/08

Karon – Mitford Series #5

Arnold – Pieces of my Sister’s Life – 9/08

Tyler – Ladder of Years – 9/08

Sparks – The Rescue – 9/08

Sleeping Arrangements – Started reading, but quit halfway through. Didn’t like it at all.

Sparks – The Guardian – 9/08

Sparks – Nights in Rodanthe – 09/08

Sparks – The Wedding – 09/08

Sparks – True Believer-09/08

LaHaye/Jenkins – Left Behind Series (1-9) – 10/08

Rice – What Matters Most – 10/08

Binchy – Firefly Summer – 11/08

HA… not many books in Nov/Dec… we got digital TV!

We updated our phone/internet service to include digital TV. In the last two weeks, I’ve been catching up on some shows that I could previously only watch while on vacation in a hotel room. (Andrew and I were like crack whores when we would have a night of cable tv… oh Discovery Channel, how we love you!)

Anyway, now I get to see some ‘new to me’ shows and I have to admit my new crush. 

Mike Rowe is my boyfriend

Last week (Wednesday), we bought a pumpkin from Fresh and Easy.  It is a new store out where I live and since they are building one right around the corner from my house, I thought I’d try one of the other locations and see how I liked it.  It was REALLY nice inside and the prices seemed pretty good.  The pumpkins were only $3 for any size, so we got a medium/large one and set off to Grandpa’s house to carve it.  This is what we came up with…

BEFORE

On Monday we went back to Grandpa’s house and this is what we found…

You bet your sweet bippy we went back to the store and showed them the photo and got my $3 back.  Didn’t give me much confidence in a store with a name such as theirs.  I will say the manager was very nice and suggested we send a comment to their corporate website, which is on my to do list.  I’ll probably still shop there once my location opens, but I might be a little leary about the fruits and veggies.

The whole family went up to Oak Glen to the apple orchards yesterday for a bit of fun.  We had apple donuts and a picnic next to the raspberry fields.  Then we mosy-d on down to the pumpkin farm and took advantage of the photo opportunities.  Good times, let me tell ya.

And, yes it’s been 16 days since my last blog.  I’ve found the wonders of Facebook and have been hopelessy addicted.

Fall is here and we have a lot planned for this month… each weekend holds something new!

• Book Festival
• Family Festival in my hometown and having a Class of 92 meetup there.
• Trip to Oak Glen to go apple/raspberry picking, then down to the pumpkin patch with my hubby, kids, parents, niece and nephews.
• Husband’s 40th Birthday Party
• Halloween

We don’t usually have so much activity in one month.  I’ll be taking advantage of naptime whenever I can!

Here is a collage from our trip to Oak Glen two years ago.

My husband just published his first book through Blurb about his adventures working at Disneyland.  You can preview the book and if you’re so inclined, it is available for purchase.  Through 9/30/08, shipping is free (up to $10) with this code: shipforfree

Funny Things Happen When You Work For A Mouse

My mom took me to see Wicked last night!  We had a blast. 

Last night, we dropped the kids off at grandpa’s house and went to Lucille’s Smokehouse for dinner.  All I have to say is YUM!  Andrew had his favorite… ribs!  I had my tri-tip and was in heaven.  Then we walked over to the theater and saw Tropic Thunder.  A little over the top, but very funny. 

And I have one question… what idiot parents thought it was a great idea to bring their 4 & 5 year old to see this movie?  Oh, that’s right, the people sitting next to us.  It’s totally rated R, with so much foul language and blood & guts.  I just don’t get some people.