Davis County Sheriff's Mounted Posse Junior Queen Contest

This was the year to enter the Davis County Sheriff's Mounted Posse Junior Queen Contest. No pesky horses to get in the way. Check out the video. Made me laugh until I cried. Honestly.

golfing girl

Pa Paul took the morning off of work so he and Ella could see the wildlife at Jeremy and hit a few balls.

Sighted: 6 goslings, 1 daddy duck sitting on the eggs and 1 mommy duck eating seeds. When asked how she knew the duck on the eggs was the dad Ella was slightly incredulous. "Because the mommy was getting seeds." Of course.

ella in the city

east coast trip, as seen from the iphone, part 3

the launch of bijou (tay's remote controlled sailboat). it was pretty great. but next time we'll make sure we know which frequency we are on before we set sail so we don't look foolish.

thank heavens for the iphone. camera, map and entertainment. 

cupcake cart. yum.

east coast trip, as seen from the iphone, part 2

jamie and i braved the rain with the three girls

dinner in harlem at society

east coast trip, as seen from the iphone, part 1

i gained super-mama status by taking the red-eye with two kids

we visited the farm where gabe has his gardening class

thayer and i caught the late show. you can't see it, but her phone says 11:51. 

thanks to chris for watching the kids

Sunday afternoon

On Monday morning Ella told our nanny "On Sundays we can't do the things we really want to do." Should I be proud or a little sad?

good eats=good day in san francisco

Ryan and I went to San Francisco this weekend for a quick trip. The weather was great, the company was good (we went with Doug and Janet, Ryan's parents) and the food...oh the food. Almost enough to make us pack up and move.

On Saturday we went on a run to Coit Tower. About halfway up I remembered that I hadn't run for a while (Anna's three months and I didn't run while pregnant. You do the math.) and probably shouldn't have tackled it. But it was fun despite the pain. And I burned enough calories (in my head at least) to thoroughly enjoy the gluttony I had planned for the rest of the day.

After finishing our run we went straight to Bloem 'n Sugar and had one of these:

An authentic Belgian Waffle. Mine also had blueberries, raspberries and...strawberry ice cream. Yeah, really good breakfast food. Ryan ate two. 

Then we rented a car and drove on over to Sausalito and ate lunch at a delicious Italian restaurant. Ryan and I shared a Margherita Pizza and a salad. It was delicious.

Next we headed out of town to Muir Woods. Here Janet found her true calling: nature walking. She had hurt her foot the day before but she blissfully limped along oohing and awing over the Giant Sequoias. Or was it the Coast Redwood? I can never keep them straight. Either way, they were tall and beautiful.

I told Ryan we were taking at least one picture on the trip. This is it.

We left the woods (Janet has already planned her return trip) and headed to Nappa Valley. Unfortunately it was the Saturday before the busiest restaurant day of the year and we didn't have reservations. So we couldn't go where we really wanted. But we made do. Indulge me (as if you haven't already) ; here is our appetizer and dessert.

Potato Dumplin’ Bruleé 

sky hill farms goat cheese, roasted apples, confit meyer 

lemon, creek side ramps, smoked almonds, local raw honey

Lemon Thyme Crème Brulee 

chilled huckleberry stew, little lemon scones, sweet cream

The rest of the meal was good, but the beginning and end were phenomenal. Perhaps the best I've ever had.

A pretty great day, start to finish. Thanks Doug for leading these folks for the past year so we could make it happen.

The pumping every three hours and spilling milk all over myself in the dark car wasn't super, but you can't have it all, right? 

Ella and Anna