Myka the Ladybug

So I found this costume about a month ago…Myka was not interested at all, so I put it in the closet hoping she would wear it for some pictures on Halloween.

When I pulled it out on Saturday, she had to put it on instantly, and wore it for the better part of the next 5 hours. I had to take the body part off of her to drive over to Nana’s, but she left the head piece on the whole way…so everytime I looked in the review mirror I saw these red little antennae sticking straight up!

She was pretty stinking cute, and got lots of attention as she would show up at people’s door and say “more”!

and as a special halloween treat, Matt called at 6pm and said work let him go early, so we picked him up so he could go trick or treating too!

Myka’s Uncle Matt and trick or treating accomplice

and grandpa had to work late, so we made a quick stop to show off our cuteness

then we went home and Myka crashed…Matt and I watched the original Night of the Living Dead and ate her candy.

We did decide that holidays are WAY more fun when you get to watch your kid enjoy it too!

birds

So since Myka hasn’t had her own room until a few months ago, I never had the opportunity to decorate her nursery…so it’s been really fun to think about what kind of things Myka likes now, and what she might want in her room…

and then the other day it hit me, birds! she truly goes crazy whenever she sees a bird, and I remembered seeing this post awhile ago on designmom. so I found some pretty paper at target and got to working…and by the end of the afternoon Myka had birds in her room.

every couple of hours she runs into her room (I think to see if they’re still there) and yells BIRD! It’s been so entertaining.

and of course Myka had to keep one that I wasn’t allowed to hang up, she took it on our walk yesterday. she’s so cute!

somedays I really wish we were in Colorado

cause who doesn’t want to be snowed in with a good book, warm socks and some chai?

photo taken by Matt’s mom of her front yard yesterday. I think there is even more snow now.

U2

Yay! Matt and I had a great time at our first U2 concert for sure! It was a whirlwind trip…spent time with some great friends…and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! The music, the stage, the lights…it was all something to behold…and well worth the 5 months we waited since we bought our tickets!

the crowds trying to get in…big time Rose Bowl FAIL on lack of organization…

we made it in!

watching the masses ascend:

our way too excited faces!

Even the Black Eyed Peas put on a pretty good show…of course the highlight for Matt was Slash showing up to do Sweet Child of Mine. He was pretty stoked (you can kinda see him here on the screen)

and they finally arrive!

crazy moving stage

All in all…great time! and if you feel so inclined…the show was actually broadcasted live on UTube…and you can still watch it here…the encores were definitely the highlight for me.

18 (almost 19) months and counting…

height (not sure, we have a check up scheduled for Nov 4)

weight around 23lbs

favorite foods: grapes, raisins and tortillas

favorite toys: her baby dolls, blocks, necklaces and animals

eyes: blue

hair: blonde

favorite activity: going for walks – she loves to explore and dancing

favorite song: the wheels on the bus

Myka, you have a full mouth of teeth, you LOVE trying to repeat everything we say, and if there is a bird or balloon in sight, you will find it!

and here are some pics from your first trip to the pumpkin patch yesterday…we had a lot of fun!

just a cute new pic

Yosemite

So the inlaws were in town…we had a great visit, but the highlight was our trip to Yosemite. We left early Friday morning, had a great hike to see the Mariposa Sequoia trees (although it ended up being an almost 2 mile hike up the mountain, so we were really glad to catch the tram down the mountain)…then headed into Yosemite valley to do some more exploring…

the weather was perfect, the sights were unbelievable and the company fantastic!

and I learned a few things…

1. Myka gets car sick… but never once complained, she just let us clean her up and go on with the day.

2. I’m not sure I would really be able to climb halfdome, I’m now a little intimidated.

and 3. I will NEVER rock climb El Capitan and sleep in a sling hanging from the side of a rock 2000 feet in the air. those people are crazy!

4. I can’t wait to go back next summer and take our bikes!

Farmer’s Market

I don’t know why we don’t go more often…but we had such a good time last night at the Clovis Farmer’s Market.

We not only got some very yummy fruits and veggies, but Myka loved it…the band…the dancing…the people…the balloon (I don’t think anything makes Myka as happy as a balloon does right now)! Can’t wait to plan my menu this week…stay tuned for some good recipes!

Sweet Potato Salad

I got this recipe from my mom…who got it from Real Simple…it’s so good, I think we’ll be eating every week for awhile! (and I think my mom in law will love it too, so enjoy Becky!)

Ingredients

• 2 sweet potatoes (about 1 pound), peeled and cut into thin wedges
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1 bunch spinach, thick stems removed (about 4 cups)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Directions

1. Heat oven to 425° F.
2. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss the potatoes, onion, 2 tablespoons of oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Roast until tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
3. In a large bowl, toss the warm potato mixture with the spinach, lime juice, and 1/4 teaspoon salt.

so easy and so good! enjoy!

the book list

I stole this from Jenn at Wuthering Iris…

the BBC believes most people
will have only read 6
of theses 100 books.

I highlighted the books I have read…and am looking forward to reading more!

1 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen

2 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien

3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series – JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcot
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
14 Othello – William Shakespeare
15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch – George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind – Marg aret Mitchel
22 The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
34 Emma-Jane Austen
35 Persuasion – Jane Austen
36 The Stranger – Albert Camus
37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hossein
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres.
39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
41 Animal Farm – George Orwel
42 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50 Atonement – Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel
52 Dune – Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night – Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72 Dracula – Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses – James Joyce
76 The Inferno – Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal – Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession – AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple – Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web – EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94 Watership Down – Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

#36 was already on my soon to read list, so I think that will be next!