You'll just have to take my word for it.

Today I went out to Malibu with Rachel and Emily, two new friends with cute kiddos. We had a super fun time at Zuma Beach. But of course I took my small (and less prone to sand damage) camera, which was completely out of battery juice. Great. So please imagine a really sunny photo with smiling, sandy kids and breaking waves in the background. THIS time I brought like half our closets to make sure I was prepared for all weather conditions. But I have happily glowing shoulders as a result of a beautifully balmy day. Maya stayed shaded under an umbrella, and really was a dream baby. Finn FREAKED out at first. I had Maya, and the plethora of gear we brought, in my arms, trekking out through the sand to our spot of choice, so I couldn't grab Finn. He stood as still as a stubborn mule and screamed "MAMA, YELP ME!!!!!!" Over and over. It drew a small crowd over by the sidewalk. I assured them all I didn't just leave my small son 20 feet behind me by accident. I did it on purpose, of course! I kept an eye on him, walking backwards the whole way, until I could dump my stuff on the ground, hand Maya over to Emily, and go back for screaming Finn, who refused to be put down in the unshaded sand or cool water for the first 90% of the beach trip. He finally warmed up (I made him go out in the breaking waves with me), and played in the sand with the kids happily while we were packing up camp to go home. Of course. But next time he will be a little better with the idea of the beach, so we'll keep getting him used to it until he's surfing with the rest of 'em! Maya will be a pro by the time she's 2. Finn talked about his beach trip the rest of the day, so I know it ended on a good note for him, and I was so happy that we were able to go!

We kept an eye out for Barbie, but I didn't see her today. She must have been waiting for a less busy day to work on her tan... ;)

Tomorrow we are heading to the Farmer's Market (yessssss!), and then hanging out with Greg and Katia (maybe?). Katia is Greg's fiancée (Greg is my brother, in case you are new to this blog). Finn has a crush on Katia. He croons her name melodically. And sometimes yells is excitedly while running at break-neck speed through the house. It's so cute to see.

Happy weekend!

My cereal bowl runneth over

Almost every morning I wander into the kitchen to find an empty, clean bowl with a spoon resting in it, on the counter. It's Wes's leftover evidence that he ate breakfast earlier in the morning. Other wives might think, "Why did he forget to put his bowl and spoon away again??" But I think he leaves it out for me. I like to look at it as a little gesture of kindness on Wes's part—no matter how conscious, or otherwise, it happens to be. It feels like a little love note: "I hope you got a few extra hours of sleep since you were up with Maya last night. Have a nice breakfast!" Silly, I know, but I smile just the same while I eat my Honey Bunches of Oats.

A little birdie told me...

Coming August 2009:
Banners By Lyndsay has beautified...

(click logo to visit site)

A Blessed Day!

For various scheduling reasons, we weren't able to bless Maya in Mesa. So today was the big day! In our church, we don't baptize babies (that happens at age 8). But fathers do give their babies special blessings when they are infants. It was so sacred to me to hear Wes bless Maya with personal promises for her future. My favorite part was when he said she will be a woman among women, and that the world needs her womanhood. I thought that was so sweet. Maya is already so beautiful and feminine. I have no doubt that she will be a wonderful woman, wife, and mother one day. The world will feel her presence. She is a special spirit.

Our family after church.

Beautiful, blessed baby.

Smiles and sweet details.

Finn replacing my lens cap, and Maya asking for "just one second" to fix her bonnet.

Grandma Johnson made it for the blessing day.

Wishing everyone a Happy Sunday!

Tippy and Linny

Tiffany is Wes's sister. She is also one of my very best friends. I have missed her a lot, and we've only been gone 2 weeks. She is here this weekend along with Wes's Mom, and I am so happy to have them!

Tiff calls me Linny, I call her Tippy. We have our own language. Even though Tiff was insisting that she hadn't found time to apply makeup during their long drive out here, I was insisting on taking some photos—especially in this great light! So here we are, mostly au natural.


Things I will miss most about having Tiff so close:
• Peppermint Tea with late night movies.
• Best shoulder massages ever.
• Random and perfectly quoted movie lines.
• A good dose of literary banter and recommendations.
• Tiffany's ability to be so in tune with the cosmos/nauture/womanhood in general.
• How wonderful she is with Finn and Maya (not to mention Tiffany's baby pictures look more like Maya than my own—ha!).
• HER COOKING PROWESS.
• Music mixes.
• Dream sharing and interpretation.
• Having such a kindred spirit just 5 miles away. Thank goodness for my iPhone!

Around The House

Well, we did it. We are entirely moved in. And it was the most grueling 2 weeks of of my life (packing/moving/unpacking), apart from maybe my graduate thesis. I even managed to pull off one of my rare ocular migraines yesterday that only come around when things are at a stress-peak. Not a bad kind of stress, but the kind that leaves my body begging for a day lounging around in bed (sorry, body, no can do). Moving from a 2300 sq. ft. home to a 1400 sq. ft. home is challenging, to say the least! Especially with kiddos and all they bring with them. We were totally spoiled in our Mesa house. And I was totally aware of it. I was reveling in space. And now I find myself reminded of my apartment living days. I am not complaining in the least! I am simply adjusting. I find myself saying everyday to myself, "A place for everything, and everything in its place." Actually, we didn't live in space-luxury until our home in Mesa. So I am well-equipped to live in a well-organized smaller abode—one with a spot for every needful thing. True, we have been tripping over those many needful things since arriving in Burbank. But we're settling in!

(Somewhere during this whole process I found myself thinking—a few times—that the Native Americans really had the right idea...)

Today I have been contemplating interior design/decorating. We bought new curtains for this home, and some simple shelving for the TV. But aside from that, we decorated this space with items from our old space. Why would we need to buy anything new? I think it's always fun to revisit all of my sentimental treasures and lovely living things anew in a fresh space. I was wondering what my aesthetic would be classified as. Certainly Modern with some Vintage (vintage for sentimental sake, not vintage for vintage sake, in and of itself). And I settled on the fact that my color palette is decidedly full spectrum! Lots of primaries and bold colors—red, blue, yellow, green—in their full vibrant glory. And with so much light in this new house, it makes for very cheery living!

I do still have my closet to deal with (yikes), so if you will excuse me, I am off to re-evaluate the issue of my wardrobe, armed with guidelines provided expertly by my dear friend Reachel over at Cardigan Empire.

Here's a little peek of what can be found Around The House:

Piers, presents, and patches (of baldness, that is)

Today we went to Santa Monica Pier. Here's my internal monologue this morning:

"Well, it's been close to 100 degrees here the past few days, and Finn almost burned at the Zoo, and we are going to be walking along the pier...no jeans for me, I'll go with a skirt...I won't pack Maya's pants, but put her in a cute beachy outfit, and Finn needs some shorts and sunscreen...should I wear this nice lightweight skirt because it's so thin and breezy? Is it a problem that it's black? Too hot? Hmmm...can't forget the stroller, I wonder if there will be swimmers and what we'll have for lunch..."

Are any Californians laughing sardonically yet?

OK. I have clearly never been to Santa Monica Pier. It was FREEZING. Overcast. Windy. 65 degrees tops (there was wind chill too, I tell you!). Maya took one desperate look at me, and I ducked quickly into a tourist shop to buy her the very snuggly sweatsuit you see pictured below (only available in size 12 months—ha!):
Finn didn't complain, though he sported goosebumps the entire time. In fact, he LOVED the pier! With one arm I desperately tried to keep my skirt from blowing up Marilyn Monroe style every 30 seconds, while holding Maya in the other arm (the angle in the photo makes the skirt look long, but it's knee-length, and Wes eventually tied knots in the sides to add some weight and keep it more securly against me). And oh yeah, did I mention we forgot the stroller? Well, we did. 3 inhaled hot dogs later, a quick jaunt down to the end of the pier, and I was ready to head back to the car. It was SO obvious who the tourists were, because we were the nut jobs wearing beach clothes instead of jeans and hoodies. Clearly this former Texan is using Texas beaches for all beach referencing. I have a thing or two to learn about Cali beaches. Next time I'll check the weather in Santa Monica, not just Burbank. But can you blame me? I've only been here 9 days. When I lived in Mesa, if the weather was 106, it was 106 in Mesa, Tempe, Phoenix, Gilbert, Scottsdale...you get the idea. So I just need to change the dial in my head from Sonoran reality to Californian reality.

We took a drive through Beverly Hills, across Rodeo Drive (where I couldn't resist a bad joke in a Texas accent about looking out for all the livestock on RO-deo Drive), along Hollywood Boulevard (Kodak Theater flanked by sex shop, shoe shop, sex shop, shoe shop), past the beautiful LDS Temple, then home again to Burbank. And waiting for me on my doorstep was the most delicious present! My good blog friend, Christy (found HERE), gifted me a fantastic box of goodies from California's Wine Country that arrived just in time to satisfy a much-needed cookie fix (I mentioned cookies repeatedly on the way home, ask Wes). I was laughing, though, because in the past two weeks I kept getting cryptic food messges from Christy asking things like, "Are there any food allergies in your family? I need your phone number. I can't remember—does everyone in yor family eat meat?" So I was half expecting a magic casserole to show up through the mail slot in my door (yes, we get our mail through a slot in our front door—very cottage-y). The box was overflowing with nutty fruity things, and cheesy crunchy things, and savory mustardy things, and general deliciousness in beautiful little boxes all begging me to open every one. Wes came in and out of the kitchen with remarks like, "It looks like Christmas in here!" and "It could be dangerous having all of this around..." (through a mouthful of Danish buttercookies). I love having blog friends. I do, I do! They are so good to me.

On a totally separate note, Maya is...there's no better way to say this...balding. She has a rather prominant bald spot on the back of her head that is so attractive for darling baby girls to have this season. I am trying to encourage regrowth and stop the hairloss by keeping her on satin surfaces. That will help reduce the breakage caused by sleeping in her crib on regular ol' sheets. I found and ordered this product, and quite like it: Baby Walton. It comes with a satin hair protector for the crib and carseat. One tip! If you are expecting a baby and want to protect their hair, think about having a little satin square put in the carseat cover where their head will rest (especially if you are ordering a custom cover). My friend recently asked the lady who was sewing her carseat cover to do this, and I thought it was a great idea!

Hope everyone's week is off to a good start. The rest of my week includes glamorous things like laundry and unpacking those last packing box stragglers.

Making up for lost time and a tutorial

I wasn't really using my nice camera during the whole packing and moving process, so I need to make up for lost time! Maya is growing every day, and I thought we needed to have a little photoshoot. Such a sweet girl!


Want to post your images larger like the ones above? Here's how:
1. Upload the photo you would like to post. (I select "Center" under Layout, and "Large" under Image Size.)
2. From your Posting window, select the "Edit HTML" tab. Find your width and height (highlighted in purple below) and delete it (including the semi-colon but not the quote marks).
3. Then find the setting that says "s400" and change it to "s640."
4. Click back on the "Compose" tab and you'll see your photo is larger!

Sweet Evening Air

My Mom said she pictures me in our front yard, on a blanket with Maya, computer in my lap, and Finn at play. And here I am—blogging in the sweet evening air. One thing we are not accustomed to is having a grassy front yard with wonderful weather to enjoy! So we are taking advantage of it...and all of the photo ops it has to offer.

Songbird

SO, I make up a lot of spontaneous little ditties on the spot for Finn and Maya. Most are silly and fleeting, and I usually don't remember them. But occasionally a few stick (often in Wes's head, which he complains about, but I think he secretly loves it). Since I wouldn't be caught dead posting recordings of myself singing them, I am just going to post the lyrics for posterity's sake. That way Maya and Finn will always remember, and never be able to fully escape, the full force of my songbird abilities. :)

Springtime Song for Maya
You're like a little blossom
blooming in the spring,
look at all the joy you bring.

You're like a little flower
growing up so tall,
even though right now you're small.

Even though
you're oh so tiny
in this great big world,
Don't you know
out of all the many
you're my very favorite little baby girl!

You're like a little rosebud
smiling in the sun,
Maya you're the sweetest one.


Little Miss
Little Miss Piccadilly,
Little Miss Piccolo,
When you fuss it's oh so silly,
no more crying,
no, no, no.

Little Maya you're so pretty,
with a voice just like a flute.
When you smile it makes me giddy,
Little Maya you're so cute!

Finn's Sleepy Song (this has endured since the days of his infancy, with lyrics adjusting for his age)
Little Finn,
Little Finn,
It's time to sleep again.
Close your eyes,
rest your head,
now it's time to go to bed.
We'll say goodnight,
and you'll sleep tight—
it's time to sleep again.

The Happs

Want the 411 on some more of our new happenings? Hop on over to Wes's blog to read a bit more, HERE. (Basically I'm too tired to recap exactly what he wrote—and he always writes better than I do.)

Sniper Safari

This is Finn making a gun from one of the myriad little things he finds daily with which to make a gun. I have tried to ban guns from the house. I have tried turning his attention to sweet, passive activities. I have tried telling him pointing small make-believe "guns" at people is not very nice at all. To no avail. He is a boy, and this boy will make toy guns out of anything, like crackers, pens, and even small plastic nozzles for inflating exercise balls (pictured above). My mom tells the story of one of my little playmates when I was a small tyke. David's mother was a total pacifist, and their family didn't even own a TV. One day David picked up a stick in our yard and said, "Bang!" So there you go—it's ingrained from birth, I say!)

To diffuse the rampant sniper-ing, we decided it was time to go to the Zoo for the year memberships I was requesting:
Safari Finn asked for "Yions and Gigers". We delivered!

Slow going!

Well, we're in beautiful Burnank! We have a house full of boxes and no Internet. So this current view from my snuggly bed (Audrey in bubble wrap, Finn's TV stolen for OUR bedroom) will have to do for a few days. I'm telling you--this place is going to feel like a mansion once the boxes are gone! (OK, maybe a cottagy mansion...) I'm starting to feel a bit claustrophobic.

Funniest thing I've heard all week...

While playing at the cousins' house:

Finn: "Mamamamamamamama!!!!"

Me: "Yes, angel?"

My niece, Maggie: "Angel?"

Me: "Yes, I call Finn 'angel' sometimes."

Maggie: "He sure is a LOUD angel!"

:)

Please excuse me for a bit...

Seeing as it's packing and moving mayhem around here, I thought it befitting to take a little break for a week-ish. I'll be back and blogging from beautiful Burbank! Until then, wish me luck (jeesh, I'll need it)!
But you can catch small updates as I Tweet in my sidebar over yonder...