Tervis Tumblers

When I was in Tennessee, Jessie had these air insulated cups called Tervis Tumblers. They were seriously cool, so of course I had to buy some. You can get them personalized, with a special decoration, or plain. I thought I'd pick out a special design for each person in my house. We've tried to do special cups for everyone to reduce wasteful washing. It hasn't been completely successful (mostly cause my dad won't stick to the program).


Well I ordered them while in TN and got them a few days after I got home. I got an orange hibiscus for me, a colorful butterfly for my mom, a mahi mahi for my dad and the Florida Gater mascot/picture for Jonas (his dad loves that team and Jonas knows it. I couldn't find anything that Jonas would like more...so I ate my pride for the happiness of my boy). The cups are really cute and have lids for straws or drinking from directly. But the greatest thing about them is that you can have a cup FULL of ice water and no condensation forms. Great for the car or wooden furniture.

BTW, my dad won't use his...he says it's TOO big. Whatever! I took mine to work...maybe I'll just steal his back and use it around the house.

There were a few sights that sold these cups and they were cheaper to not get them from Tervis directly. You'll have to Google it yourself.

Scriptural Footwear

Last week, Jonas and I were at the mall. We wandered into the Nine West store...mmm....shoes...**drueling** I was trying on a pair of cute little turquoise flats when Jonas said, "Mom, Nephi shoes!!!" They were on the other side of the store and so I hadn't even noticed them. He was so right. What a smart boy. I had to take a picture right then and there. Don't you love camera phones!?!

At least I know that he is picking up something from the BOM DVDs my mom bought. Ha ha.

The many uses of toothpaste...

What is cars toothpaste used for??? Washing your car, of course!!!

What four year old boys do when left to their own devices...

A Tennessee Christmas

On Christmas day, Jonas and I flew to Nashville, TN to see my cousin Jessie, her husband Donald, and their daughter Ellie.

I grew up with Jessie. She lived in Long Beach, but when we were teenagers she moved to TN. Now we are all grown up with kiddies of our own. She’s got a little boy on the way too. This will be my fourth time visiting her there, but this was Jonas’ first. We had a blast! When I think back to what we did it is hard to think of anything that others might think were significant. We enjoyed them though.

This is the first time their family met Jonas. Ellie and Jonas love each other and fought like real family (Just like Jessie and I when we were younger).

We spent time together at home:

And fun times out:

We found some fun places to go with our kids. Here is our group (minus Donald) in Downtown Nashville:
We looked down at the river with LP Field (where the Titans play) on the other side:

We went to see the Christmas Lights at the Opry Land Hotel:

We saw some famous Nashville musical sights (Saw: as in drove by. LOL!):

Some of my other favorite Tennessee sights:

We ate some great food (and made some too):

Jessie asked me to bring some California oranges because she can only get ones from Florida and she swears that they aren’t as good. I thought it was a pregnancy thing…but then we tested it! We had two types of Florida oranges, an organic orange (we don’t know where it came from), and one of the California oranges I brought with me.

OKAY, JESSIE!!! You aren’t crazy. The Florida ones didn’t compare to the Cali one (and it wasn’t even a great one). Does that look like a happy pregnant woman or what?!? Also, did I mention we did the test twice? LOL!

I got to know Jessie’s friends from church on girls’ night. What a great group she has. They are fun, smart women that put Christ first and love their families. I’m so happy that Jessie found them and that they are such a support to her. I know that now I have friends there too! Miss ya’ll!

My favorite thing we did in Tennessee was go to the grocery store. Yup, I said it. But you don’t understand how great Publix is!!! It was clean, huge, had a giant selection of unique foods, and everyone was friendly. Kids can get free cookies at the bakery. They have someone showing how to prepare a recipe there with all the ingredients in the display. They had Monday one cent items. It was like a mix between a huge regular grocery store, a Whole Foods, a Trader Joes, and even had an item that I have to go the the Carniceria to get. Pavilions is nice, but Publix is better. Can you tell I’m impressed? Now how can I get one in California?
I LOVE IT!!!
http://www.publix.com/

I love Tennessee and I love Jessie! I don’t think I can say how much I miss being there. Now our kids love each other too. I promise to see them more than every five years.

John Legend

Tonight (1/13/09) Jen and I went to see John Legend. The concert was at the Gibson Amphitheatre (Universal Studios). It was a booty-shakin' great time. Ok...our booties never left our chairs thanks to being in the second row of the mezzanine and the people in front of us being melo or gone most of the time, but we had a great time, bobbed our heads, shoulders and shook our booties within the confines of our comfy chairs. He was such a great performer and the opening act was Estelle (she sings "American Boy"). Here's a little clip of one of their duets:


I didn't get any great pics of the night, but my hair looked great. I tried to capture it, but alas, not much luck...Here's my attempt:

Naples with the munchkins

My friend Lorie, who I've known since elementry school, still lives around the corner and we still get together when we can. She has a son who is a little over a year older than Jonas (although he is much shorter). He is a bright, quick witted, cutie-pie. Jonas and him love to hang out. Jonas used to call him shup-pop (Joseph) which is how he used to say shup-pop (Sponge Bob). Joseph didn't think it was so funny that I'd call him Sponge Bob. But then again, he'd refer to Jonas as "Her" because his hair was slightly long.

Anyway...we decided to take our munchkins to Naples (a fancy neighborhood in Long Beach that has canals running throughout) to see the Christmas lights. I didn't get any pics with Lorie or with us all included...maybe next time. We're supposed to do a snow day in a few weeks. It was fun and I'm sure we'll do it again.

LA Temple Christmas Lights

I was looking forward to being able to go up to LA to see the temple lights this year. My friend Jennifer (not LDS) also has fond memories of the temple grounds and so we made plans to go the day before Christmas Eve. I had these two weeks off of work and she actually had a day off. Web also had two weeks off and decided to come along and spend the day with the girls (and Jonas). We hit up Walmart for Jen's last minute shopping, ordered a pie for Christmas Eve, checked out DSW (I LOVE DSW!!!), and caught up with Brent & Karina for dinner at the Elephant bar. We had a great meal with great company, and Karina decided to tag along as well. Good thing she did because she is the one who took all of the pictures you now see. She is a great (and patient) photographer. We had a great time and there weren't hardly any people there. I was surprised. What a great night of shananagans on the Temple grounds.