Farmers Market

On Friday Caitlyn and I drove downtown to meet Quinn for lunch (5 minutes to downtown when there's no traffic!!). He said there's a farmers market at a little plaza area downtown every Friday so we decided to go check it out. It was so fun! It was the kind of farmers market I was thinking the one we went to Thursday night at The Grove would be. In retrospect I think that one is a bit of a tourist trap. Anyway, the one on Friday had lots of little tent booths set up selling all kinds of fresh produce and hand-crafted jewelry and cool clothes...and lots of different kinds of food to eat! We walked all the way around before I decided on Greek food (I miss the Gyros we ate a lot while we were in Oxford and Germany).
One of the people at the booth was so nice. I must have looked distressed trying to decide between a Gyro or a platter because he came around the front and said, "I help you!" He recommended a platter because it's more food than just a Gyro. But then I couldn't decide between the veggie platter or the lamb kabob platter -- the veggie platter had lots of cool looking things on it, but I really love lamb kabob. He solved my problem by announcing that I would get the veggie platter AND lamb kabob for just price of the lamb kabob platter! So he made me a veggie platter and then piled lamb on it...and then threw on a couple of pitas! So nice!!

This picture is after I had already eaten half the food!It was so, so, so delicious! And it was only $9 -- much better than the $12.50 for a little Gyro at the other farmers market. It lasted me 3 meals!
Caitlyn had steamed broccoli and a variety of babyfood. Quinny had a PB and Honey sandwich on homemade wheatbread, watermelon, and mozz cheese slices. We never eat out, but when I do I always feel sad that Quinn can't eat with me. I told him I'm going to keep perfecting and expanding my corn-free culinary skills so he won't ever have to feel left out. He's such a champ! If I had his food allergy I'm sure I would feel sorry for myself all the time, but he is always so good-natured about being so limited. Man, I love that boy!

I'm so glad when daddy comes home!

One of my favorite times of day is when Quinn gets home from work. He always knocks because we keep the door locked of course and I have the only house key. So when I hear him knock I always say, "Caitlyn, Daddy's home!!" A couple of weeks ago she started getting really excited when I say it. She crawled over to the door as fast as she could go, crawled up to Quinn and put her hand on his leg, like a native-baby-greeting of sorts. Now when he gets home if he doesn't pick her up immediately she gets that sad bottom lip and doggy-pant cry and kicks or crawls or whatever it takes to reach him. Once he picks her up, he gets a big, tight, Caitlyn hug like the one in the picture. Now she has started patting our backs when she hugs us, the way we pat hers. :)
Her most exciting recent (as of yesterday) development is that when I say, "Caitlyn, Daddy's home!" she says, "Dadda!"

Pinks

Tonight we went to the L.A. Farmers Market. We got some yummy fruit and veggies at killer prices. I had planned to get something yummy to eat there, but seriously? I couldn't bring myself to pay $12.50 for a Gyro, or $15 for sushi, etc. But on the way there we'd driven past this hotdog joint called "Pinks" that started out as a little hotdog stand in 1939 and kept adding wings to the house, so to speak, until now it's this super hoppin' place. They even have to have a parking guy and the line was enormous. So we stopped there on the way home.
I got the "Today Show Dog." Two dogs, onions, chili, cheese, and guacamole. (I know.) Hey, if you're gonna live in Hollywood for a summer you might as well go all out, ya know? The funnest part of Pinks is that the walls are plastered with autographed pictures of stars. Seriously, I think just about every famous person I can think of was on the wall. Simon, Ellen, Celine, Pink...Lionel Richie...

Jogging with Jane

This is my jogging buddy, Jane. Isn't she so adorable?? I just love her, she is beautiful inside and out and I'm so sad we're leaving in 2 weeks and I won't have her as a jogging buddy anymore. This is us at the Relief Society activity last night which one of our other friends, Holly, organized and did a fantastic job. Here are the cute and delicious refreshments she put together.

Oh, and maybe you were wondering about that cute flower in Jane's hair? She made it! Holly taught us how to make them at our playgroup on Tuesday. (We all have babies around the same age.)

Memorial Day Weekend

This Memorial Day Weekend was really, really fun! We haven’t had such a fun-filled holiday in a loooong time because we’ve either been too busy or too tired or couldn’t think of anything remarkable to do. But we've come to the realization that if we wait for a time when we're not tired and conditions are perfect before we do anything we're going to spend our whole lives sitting at home! I wish I'd taken more pictures of the things we did, but I've posted some that we did take.

Friday evening when Quinn got home from work we drove down the street to Thai Town. That’s right, we live about a half a mile from Thai Town! How cool is that? We went to a Thai supermarket and had a great time reading the labels of cans and bottles and finding new things that Quinn can eat! For example, we discovered that he should be able to eat Korean Bullgoggi Sauce! (I have a ribeye marinating this very minute to put on the grill for dinner tonight!) It was fun to practice speaking Thai and all the ladies came over to smile at Caitlyn and tell me I must teach her to speak Thai.

Saturday morning we got up and went to the beach in Santa Monica, about 20 minutes away in good traffic. It was beautiful! Warm day, blue sky, and cool ocean breeze. We took a long walk on the paved beach trail with the jogging stroller. Quinn took Caitlyn for her first barefoot walk in the sand. She was a little scared of the waves, though.






We came home and cleaned the house spotless and then headed down town for the evening. We stopped at Quinn’s work and he showed us his office at the Court. Then we walked around Little Tokyo and it was Quinn’s turn to practice his Japanese.

Saturday night, my dear friends from Thailand (now living in Utah), the Chaichana family, arrived! We discovered they were going to be in California for a vacation so we asked them to come stay with us for a couple of nights while they were here. It was so fun to see them! I wish I had gotten a picture but I forgot! Ice just finished serving a mission in Santa Rosa, California – crazy! When I first met their family he was only 9 years old! Sunday morning we had crepes for breakfast and then went to Church where Quinn gave a wonderful talk in Sacrament Meeting on the restoration of the priesthood.

For dinner, we made Thai food. Yum Woon Sen, Stir-fried vegetables, Thai omelet, and Basil fried rice. Yummmmm! Ma Aw also brought us a box of juicy, ripe mangos from Thai Town that are as yummy as the ones in Thailand! Quinn and I have been devouring them – there are only two left and I guarantee they’ll be gone by the end of the night. 
Then we all just visited and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Caitlyn LOVED having visitors and making new friends. She loved following the two adorable little girls, Jezra (7) and Elianna (4) around. She was so excited she kept crawling back and forth and up and down the room as fast she could go with a big smile on her face!

Monday the Chaichana family left very early. We headed down to Newport Beach and walked around the South Coast Plaza, or “Fashion Island”. It’s a super high-end out-door mall. We definitely didn’t buy anything, but it was fun to walk around and look at the shops and the fountains. There was a “pond” with enormous fish in it and Caitlyn loved watching them.

On our way home we stopped in Huntington Beach to see Nana and Papa and hang out for a while at their community celebration at the pool, which is always fun.

I’m so happy we had a chance to get out and explore together and see some of the sights while we’re living here!

Caitlyn’s Chores

Caitlyn is our funny little sweetheart. Already diligent about housework, she has selected several chores that she makes sure to do several times a day. 1) Pull all the recycling items out of the recycling bag. Spread around kitchen floor as much as possible, and stop to hold something interesting up to show Mom occasionally. 2) Pull the dish towel off the oven rack. 3) Crawl down the hall at full speed, break suddenly to flip the doorstop and make it go “Boooinngg!”, then continue crawling down the hall at full speed.








Later on in the day: 1) Crawl back to the kitchen, discover that Mom has put recycling items back in bag, pull out and spread around again. 2) Notice that the dishtowel is back on the oven rack, pull down to proper location on floor. (Sheesh! I just finish my chores, and here comes Mom behind me to mess everything up! Nothing ever stays done with Mom around!) 3) Crawl back down hall to see if I can break my previous record for speed, break suddenly to flip the doorstop . . . maybe give it one more flip, then continue crawling down hall in pursuit of new record for speed.

Yep, that’s our girl! We sure do love her!

Farm Fresh to You

So my friend Jane that I run with told me about this service in California called “Farm Fresh to You” where they deliver fresh fruits and vegetables straight from the farm to your door! I thought it sounded fun so we decided to try it. On a Tuesday morning, we woke up to find this box on our doorstep.


Inside were all these beautiful fresh fruits and vegetables, plus more in the box that I didn’t want to bother getting out for the picture.


It’s been really fun! I plan our week’s menu around the fruits and vegetables scheduled for the next delivery. Since Quinn has a food allergy that requires us to cook everything from scratch anyway, this has been a really fun way to try new vegetable dishes and get a lot of great variety in our meals (instead of falling into the habit of cooking the same five meals over and over again!). We’ve tried a couple of recipes that did not make the favorites list (like a cabbage casserole) and some that did (like orange-butter herb beets and a carrot, celery, zucchini stir fry). Plus we just discovered a yogurt at Costco (thanks again to Jane) that works for Quinn so I’m going to try making a strawberry frozen yogurt! Wahoo!!