Life is Good

We had a wonderful weekend this weekend, nothing special just time together as a family. Friday night Athen and I headed over to Gram's house to visit and play. I then left Athen to play and I picked Rick up from the Dublin Bart station. The night was ours. We both needed an escape together. Rick has been working long hours and often misses Athen at night time before he goes down for bed. 

We decided to do some shopping so we headed to Babies R Us, if you can believe this is what we decided to do on our date night. We bought Athen some sun glasses for all the summer time fun we are going to have together(I damaged my eyes from the sun and will some day have to have surgery on them I am sure, so I don't want my little man to damage his). We also bought him some teething toys. I'm not sure if he is starting to teeth or not but he does suck on anything and everything and is constantly drooling. His shirt is soaking wet by mid day. He doesn't really have age appropriate toys that he can suck on and play with so we bought a few. He has had a few fussy days here and there so we are wondering if he is starting to teeth or maybe he is still too young and has just had a bad day or a soar tummy. 

After shopping for about an hour I called home to see how Athen went down for Grams. He usually goes right down for us with out a noise. Grams said he cried a little so she picked him up and has been cuddling with him on the bed ever since. I guess he can be spoiled by his grams every now and then. I'm pretty sure it was more that my mom wanted to cuddle with him and hold him than Athen not wanting to go to bed. 

We then headed down to Main St. downtown for a late night dinner. We went to Strizzy's. It was good. We ordered Italian Nachos as an appetizer. It was delicious. It was fried lasagna noodles (fresh, raw lasagna noodles deep fried and made to look like a tortilla chip, tasted like one too), with cream sauce, parm cheese, fresh tomatoes, artichoke hearts, a few different kinds of olives and jalapenos. It was very creative and good. We then had some Chicken Cajun risotto with mushrooms. It was good but a little on the vinegary side rather than rich and creamy like Rick's risotto (by far the best in the world).  

On Saturday morning our little man had slept through the night (Yeah). Rick got up early to play around with his kites while Athen and I slept in until 9:00. We then headed over to Donut Star down the street from our warehouse. It is a donut and a fast food Chinese restaurant all in one. Only in Oakland can you find that. The donuts are actually very tasty. It was fun and something we thought would be fun to do with our kids in years to come - Saturday morning donut runs that is.

We then headed to West Oakland to the kite swap. Rick loaded up the Subaru with a bunch of kites, kite gear and surfboard in hopes that he can get rid of some of his gear and get some new stuff (he has 10 kites now, way too many! In fact if anyone is interested in an old kite to use the material to make recycled grocery shopping bags let us know, we would be happy to give one up) Unfortunately the kite swap wasn't what he had hoped it to be. However, it was right across the street from some of our favorite girls. We walked over and took them down the streets for donuts. Yes that is right donuts two times for us on Saturday morning. This donut place was called Donut All Star, not only did it have donuts and Chinese food but it also served burgers, fries and breakfast - eggs and pancakes. 

Saturday afternoon was a beautiful day so we decided to put Athen in the Bob and go for a family walk down to the beach. The beach is a few miles from our house. We started our walk at 7-11 with some slurpees (banana and blackberry lime mixed, it was the perfect mix) then headed over the Park St. bridge to down town. We walked in a few stores and browsed around. We picked up my favorite Easter treat at Walgreens, checked out some books at Borders and finally reached the beach. We walked along the jogging path and then started back home. On the way home we stopped at the local bakery for some treats. Rick got a Portuguese donut and I got a macaroon. Our walk was probably pretty close to 6 miles and was very enjoyable. We have been enjoying a lot of walks together lately. 

We got home, gave Athen a bath, prepared for early morning church, put the little man to bed and then played a game together. Sunday morning we got up bright and early to get ready for ward council at 7:45. We had to wake Athen up to feed him, dress him and head out. After church we had linger longer and a baptism that Rick had to go to, so we were pretty much at church from 7:45 until almost 3:00pm. Needless to say, Athen didn't get much of a nap. Straight from church we headed over to Livermore for a big family BBQ. Some relatives were in town so we all got together. It was fun but the poor little man was so tired. So tired he could not get himself to sleep. 

Sunday night we got home and put the little man to bed. He had been crying and was fussy from lack of sleep but the second we put him in his crib he was silent and quietly put himself to sleep. What a good little man he his. Again he slept through the night (10-12 hour nights) for the fourth night in a row. 

After the little man was down it was time to relax and enjoy the rest of the evening. I opened my computer and continued to read NieNie Dialogues which I discovered a few days ago. This girl is amazing and inspiring. As I laid in bed crying and reading her story it made me think of how wonderful my life is and how lucky I am. I am constantly thinking about how lucky I am and how wonder life is but this just brought tears to my eyes. I shared some of her story with Rick which started our pillow talk. I love having pillow talk with Rick. He is such a wonderful husband and I love him to pieces. Our pillow talk last night taught me a few new things about him and about our relationship and marriage. He is a wonderful man and I love him to pieces. 

I woke up this morning to my husband getting dressed in the bathroom, then giving me a kiss on the forehead and saying our morning prayers together. Once again, I was happy that my little man had been sleeping since the night before. I quickly fell back asleep only to wake up a few hours later to a happy baby playing, cooing and laughing in his bed. I look over at my 30 foot window next to my bed and I see a gray sky, the leaves on the trees slowly moving back and forth and a slight mist of rain. As my little man naps next to me on my bed (for almost 3 hours) I lay cuddled up in my King size bed on this cold lazy morning reading NieNie's story. A young mother who has the perfect life and children, someone who is happy as can be and then one day her life changes. I think about my life. I am as happy as can be and am living that perfect life (that see once had) with my little family. I couldn't ask for anything more (ok, well maybe a house). It is inspiring to see that she takes her accident or her trial in life and turns it in to a different life that is still happy and good. She has inspired me not necessarily to think about all that I have and how luck I am because I feel that I do that often but to write it down. She is a good example of someone who loves the small and simple pleasures in life. 

I feel like I have been one to love the small and simple pleasures in life. My dad taught me that growing up. My dad is a pretty simple guy, not flashy at all, enjoys the experiences in life much more than the possessions life has to offer. We spent a lot of our weekends growing up doing something fun together usually out doors, and where ever we were at or what ever we were doing my dad would always say "If I were a millionaire, this is exactly where I would be and exactly what I would be doing." Meaning there is nothing better in life than looking up at all the stars in the big black sky in Sierra mountains, or laying in the hot sun on the beach or hiking in the mountains picking huckleberries. Money can't buy those experiences. 

In my single days, my friends and I would have a different theme each year. A theme that we liked to live by to remind us that life is good (even though we weren't married with children yet) and enjoy it. One year our theme was "If I was a millionaire....." That year we lived life to the fullest and enjoyed every minute of the simple things life had to offer. Every where we went we would say "If I was a millionaire... and we would think about all that we were blessed with.

As I lay cozied up in my big, soft, king size bed I think about all the small and simple things I am thankful for and the list goes on and on. I am thankful for all the moments I have with Rick and Athen. 

Athen :

Watching Athen sleep. He is just so precious.

Athen's hair on the back of his head (the little he has left that hasn't been rubbed off) sometimes gets fuzzy and sticks straight out. I love it. It is so cute. 

When I wake up in the morning to a happy boy making sweet noises in his crib. 

When I say "Athen, I love you. Mama loves you." and he gets a big smile on his face.

When we lay on the floor together and read stories.

When he is done eating in the evening and it's fat dog time, he just lays there in my lap in the rocking chair and I sing him church hymns. Not only does it help me learn the words to the songs but he gets to hear his mother's voice (which not many people get to do) and the wonderful words in each song. His big eyes just stare into mine like his is trying to tell me that he loves me. 

When I take long hot showers each day and I peak my head out and see Athen sitting in his bouncer chair with a big smile on his face.

When I feed him and he stares into my eyes.

Playing with him for hours and hours every day.

Rick:

Cuddling up to him each night and falling asleep in his arms.

Pillow talk.

All of the romantic moments we share together. I love that he is so romantic and always doing nice and thoughtful things.

Listening to him speak, giving a lesson and sharing his testimony. His words are always so powerful, uplifting and filled with the spirit.

Watching him feed Athen at night, or watching him sit next to Athen's crib and stare at him or listening to him sing to Athen. Watching Rick with Athen is always a precious moment. 

Saying I love you. Rick tells me he loves me every day and more. 

I love the sound of crashing waves on the shore, birds chirping in the morning time, the sun light coming through my window in the morning, getting into a warm car after church, the lights of a city, the smell of fresh air in the mountains, the light of the full moon reflecting off the lake, white snow covering tree branches, the feel of water on my body, nature and many many more things. My little man is starting to wake up so I must end this post now.

If you actually finished reading this very long post, I would love to know what you love and what you are thankful for.