February + Northern CA time

Brady and I try to keep a weekly date set aside with no excuses.  

He works so much it can sometimes be impossible, but we do what we can.  

We really like this place called Daisy Mint in Pasadena.
Such good thai food.  For a while there, we would get it once a week to go or to stay.

Since I'm gluten-free completely, I tried my hand at doughnuts made with really nice gf flour.

Let's just say they look 100x better than they tasted.  You never know what you will get when trying to change the ingredients to gluten free.  It can be better than non-gluten free or way worse.

On another date we got dinner and then walked 

around Pasadena Plaza at some antique stores. 

Since we weren't going to be with Jackson for Valentines Day this year, I got all of his little buds to write something to Jackson and then I wrote them all out on hearts, so he could receive a heart-attack.

It was such a tender time since it has been a year since he moved up north.  Not a day goes by when I think of what the judge said that day and how she so easily uprooted a six-year-old to a place he only visited and out of a place he grew up.

We then surprised him and drove up to Folsom to have him for the weekend. He was so so happy and didn't leave my side all weekend.

We took him to the sky zone place in Sacramento where he jumped for hours.

Then we drove to Folsom lake which was completely dry so we could walk out pretty far.

After we packed in some batting cages and arcade.

We dropped him off, which is always not easy. He has me sit next to him whenever we drive to the airport or when we are dropping him off.

three day weekend!

On the Friday before the three day weekend, I met up with my good friend Sara with Illume Gowns who made my wedding dress.  The dress I wore was on the front cover of the Utah Bride magazine so we celebrated at one of our favorite restaurants near the fabric district.  Its only 5-10 minutes from me and 30 minutes from her in Sunset Beach.  We had lunch, caught up and celebrated the fact that she was about to have a baby! 

As much as I miss living in suburbia Orange County, I do however find peeks of excitement living in LA.  It's dirty, but then you come across moody days that call for days in blankets and Seinfeld. Right near the Farmer's Market I just stopped to stare at how pretty LA can be.

I picked up Jackson and we had a fun night out on the town, coming back to fall right asleep.  When I went into his room to give him kisses and make sure he's alive, I couldn't resist a picture.

We went down to my parent's house, Jackson played with his friends and then at night we started watching a movie together and I came into the family room to find Brady and my dad asleep with Jackson wide awake in the middle.

Jackson loves his doggy Charlee.

We went down the street to Salt Creek to have a family picnic.

We came back and made a fort to sleep in.  He loves being back in Mimi's house.

We went to Disneyland with Brady.

It was such a treat because he doesn't want to get passes anymore so we used the other pass from Florida to go with Brady.  We didn't have the entire day since Jackson had to fly back, but we had most of the day to do rides and fun things with Jack.

turtles go for walks

Our YW went to LA Live with us and we skated around the Christmas tree.  Most of the girls had never ice skated before so by the time we all were done, they were just getting the hang of it.  I love our girls.  It was a lot of fun to hang out with them.

We got to talk to Jackson on the computer - loving his moose jams!

Brady wrote a book inspired by Jackson.  He saw how we would talk about his day and he would tell me what he wish he was doing which entailed something crazy like fly to the moon or catch a huge "sumo" wave so Brady's book talks about a boy talking about his day with his mom and day dreams off to somewhere else.  Its all written and illustrated by Brade.  It came in the mail, so Brady read it to him over the computer.

Jackers came into town and took over my phone.

We took the turtles for a walk after we had popsicles by the bushes.

Right before leaving, Jackson asked me to take a picture of him with his USC hat.  

He loves red.