Has anyone else noticed that I get strange comments on occasion from really weird people.  Click on their comments sometime and you’ll see what I mean.

It was nice to visit with Dad and Serra for a few hours yesterday.  For those who don’t know what I’m talking about.  They flew up here to Vegas to pick up 2 coaches that some costumers were through with.  They drove them back to S. CA a few hours later.  We drove a lot and had an interesting  time finding the Alamo, but ended up waiting for the Italians for 2 hours anyway.  Serra~V~ slept and drooled through it all. 

The bald spot is expanding all around the head.  She still looks good from the front.

It’s getting harder to tell who this kid looks like as she gets fatter and fatter.  (in reality that should make it easier  )   Brian pulled out the measuring tape yesterday as curiosity got the best of him and if our calculations are correct she is 26.5 inches long.  That is at least 6 inches from when she was born 3 1/2 months ago.  That is a lot of growing (and on a liquid diet at that)  She is also somewhere around 16 pounds and is getting really heavy.  She is mostly into 6-9 month clothes.  This picture was taken yesterday.  I put my stumpy foot in there for size comparison.  The outfit is one she wore at a few days old with the legs and arms rolled up.  Now we have to put socks on to make it look like a complete outfit.

We had a nice relaxing weekend and now Brian is back to work and I am back to our regular schedule.  This consists of feeding baby at 7 am and going back to sleep until 8 or 9.  Then baby sleeps till 11 am or so while I get up and get a few things done around the house and spend some time on the computer.  (Basically anything that is difficult to do with a baby in the lap)  Then I get the baby up and she has breakfast #2, a bath, and a bit of playtime.  She usually goes back to sleep within 2  hours and I use this time to work on projects.  This month it is the Christmas stockings.  They will most likely take till Christmas with a break for Halloween costumes.  Then we have lunch and if there are errands to run that is usually when we do them.  Sometimes we squeeze lunch with dad in or pictures at the studio.  Then it is time to go home and start on dinner.  This usually takes a while because young Serra likes attention later in the day a little more than usual.  M-W-F evenings Brian usually stays home and relaxes.  T-H he plays basketball.  As you can see we have gotten into a bit of a routine and are quite content.  We like a little change now and then and so we are planning a few trips at the end of the month.

Plans as we see them now are as follows:  Pam and Serra will go to CA either the 21st or 22nd.  And spend a few days with the clan and visitors Julie and Jared.  She will most likely return home Sunday evening the 25th.  Then all of us will most likely leave early on the 27th for Utah.  We would like to spend the latter part of the day in Provo visiting with Gees and Browers.  On the 28th we will most likely stop by and see Valencias and Tracies new baby on our way to Logan.  Then depending on Grandma and Julies schedules we will spend some time in Bear Lake and some in Logan.  We really just want to kick back for a few days and there will be enough siblings up there to spend time with and keep us occupied.  We don’t want to interrupt any schedules so don’t feel as if we must be entertained.  We have missed Logan and are looking forward to piddling about a bit.  We will most likely return to Vegas on the 3rd which is the day after Labor day. 

We will cement our itinerary after I spend a little time checking other peoples plans.  It will be so nice to spend this time as a family.  We have not had this opportunity yet. 

Here is our little Serra with Aunt Holly:  As you can see she (Serra~V~) is just as chubby as ever.

It is the weekend and Brain has been home.  I rarely get time on the computer when he is home.  It is still rather early for Brian though as he likes to sleep in on Sundays.  So I will take this opportunity while Baby and Daddy sleep. 

BARGAIN ~ Some of you may recall back in November our upstairs master bathroom blew up.  That is to say, sprung a leak and made a huge mess.  It destroyed the vanity and wall in the bathroom, (and the plumber destroyed the mirror getting to the leak) then proceeded to the kitchen downstairs creating havoc on the ceiling.  We of course noticed the problem on a Friday evening, compounding the problem.  It is difficult to get a plumber through the home warranty service on the weekend.  Anyway, we ended up getting a bit of insurance money to fix it and have yet to do so.  (It was determined that $15,000 is what it would cost to have all the  mold removed and that claim was of course denied.  It was not the harmful kind and so we decided not to put up the money for such a job.  I don’t feel badly for that decision) The company did pay for the cost to repair the bathroom and kitchen though, and luckily for us Brian has those skills and so we intended on doing it ourselves.  Unluckily, Brian gets one day off a week after working upwards of 60 hours and is usually so exhausted that the last thing he wants to tackle is a construction project.  So there our bathroom sits.

I visited Home Depot back in December and found a vanity that would work quite well.  For all the pieces we needed it was around $750.  I set aside that money and have been waiting for Brian to get the energy to tackle this.  Saturday was the day.  Brian has done nearly all the prep work over the past few months and we got a 10% off offer from Home Depot and so we decided now was the time.  To our horror, as we looked over the vanities, it became clear that they had discontinued the ones I looked as months ago and the ones they had now would not work.  We have a double sink and so cannot have drawers on the side.  That is all they carry now.  GREAT!  Brian was a bit on edge realizing this was not going to be as easy as picking up the darn thing and getting home.  As we were on our way out the door, with my keen eyes, I spotted a vanity in the clearance area.  Could it be?  It could!  They were clearing out all the old floor models and happened to have the very one I had looked at way back when.  And what do you know?  It was 40% off.  So instead of spending the expected $750 +, we used our discount and only spent $300.  Yeah!  Extra money!  Hee Hee

WHAT A BARGAIN!

We were quite pleased with ourselves and were even able to fit it into our 4-Runner to take it home.  Now we just need to find a way to get it upstairs.  I am not strong enough.  Right after that we headed over to Brian’s folks to see the Wisconsin sister, Holly, who is visiting from way out there.  Brian has been looking forward to this first day of football so stayed home with Dwaine to watch it.  Pam who is not so keen on football and has not been looking forward to yet another season went with the girls (and Dave, Amy Jo’s friend)  to see Signs.  A strange movie that is a faith promoting/alien thriller.  So it has been a pretty good weekend, so far. 

Last night we went to Brian’s basketball game and watched small and not so small men bounce off Brian.  He plants himself right under the basket and opposing team members literally bounce off him.  It amuses me.  We got in a little late and Serra wouldn’t settle down.  She actually started throwing fits.  This was in the bedroom as I was trying to settle her down.  Brian came in and took her into the computer room and as she started wailing I heard him say sternly to her, “That’s enough!  We don’t need to have anymore of this.”  She stopped crying instantly and closed her eyes.  She was asleep before he made it back to the bedroom.  What an obedient little miss.  She won’t do that for me though.  Maybe I don’t have a stern enough voice. 

Today I went to Nellis Air Force Base.  My friends husband is in the military and so she can grocery shop there.  They had some good bargains.  It’s the first time I have been to the base.  They have stores like Walmart too.  Too bad I don’t have a pass all the time. 

Did anyone notice a few days ago, a few strange people left messages on my site.  I don’t know who they are.  Not much to say as I have just been home doing laundry and fun stuff like that.  We will go and visit Brian at work today.  I think he likes it when we come.  We are hoping for no rude folks this time.

I am thinking we will be hitting the northern regions of Utah the last week in August.  I only need Brian to nail it down with work.  All the Automall stores are closing down that week and reopening a super Enterprise in the same area September 1st.  Out of several managers and assistants in the Automall where he works he has been guaranteed an assistant position.  He doesn’t have to interview, whereas, everyone else does.  There will be at least 2 managers and 3-4 assistants.  He dislikes his job, but this will take a lot of the pressure off.  We don’t know what the hour situation will be like and it will most likely be chaos the first few weeks so we need to get our trip in before that all takes place.  Brian is still interested in finding gainful employment elsewhere whether here or in CA, so if anyone hears of anything good, let us know.