Glory Days

Love These Girls!


This past weekend I had a girls weekend reunion with my roommates and best friends from college. It was so fun. I hosted it here in California. The girls flew in from all over the country on Thursday night. We stayed at my parents house for the weekend since they were out of town. My sweet husband worked from home on Friday and stayed with Athen all day Friday and Saturday so the girls and I could enjoy the days around the bay area. On Friday we went to Santa Cruz. We stopped by the Samba Cafe for some fresh acai bowls (one of my favorite places in SC). The girls loved them, who wouldn't. Then we headed to downtown Santa Cruz to do some shopping. We went to Bunny's and the hat store. We all purchased a few new things.








We then headed to the boardwalk to the beach. We shopped around on the boardwalk to buy gifts for the kids. Everyone has 4 kids except Shari who has 3 and me who obviously only has 1 so far. We ate deli sandwiches, cookies, candy, crackers and veggies on the beach. Back in the days we use to sit around eating together all the time. Seventeen years later it was as if no time had passed at all.





We then headed over to Capitola and walked around town, shopped around and ate kebobs and pizza. We then headed home. By the time we got home my little one was asleep so sad. We made some fondue, sat around and talked for hours, ate a coldstone ice cream cake to celebrate Brooke's 35th birthday and then relaxed in the hot tub. We stayed up into the wee hours of the night telling stories of our college days.




Saturday morning we got up and had cottage cheese pancakes with strawberries and bacon and then headed into the city. We started off in China town where we shopped around for Chinese trinkets for the kids, Chinese purses, chopsticks and other China town trinkets. We then headed over to the wharf and had some fish and chips by the water. We then walked up to Ghiradeli square and checked out the chocolate store as well as Kara's cupcakes. We had the banana caramel (which was my favorite), Meyer lemon, and chocolate chocolate. They were all delicious. We then headed over to Market street to do some shopping. We hit the mall, anthro, gap, the gigantic forever 21 and some others. I got some new shoes, some shirts and a hair accessory. We then headed over to North Beach to my favorite Indian hole in the wall - Naan N Curry. We had a delicious meal and then headed back home. Again when I returned home my little one was already in bed. As fun as the day was, I was missing my little mister. The second he woke up, I went running into the room to see him and give him a little snack.









Again we spent the night talking and talking like we use to many years ago. Nothing had changed between us all except that we all had husbands and children and a lot of our conversations were centered around them.

Sunday morning the fun ended at 4:00am when we got up to make our first trip to the airport. Soon enough everyone was gone and the reunion was over. Over until 2012 when we will all meet again in Scottsdale Arizona for round two.

I feel blessed for many reasons, one I have a great husband who made all this possible and supported every second of it. He is wonderful and I am so glad he is all mine! Two, I feel so blessed to have all these girls in my life. I have know Toni for 23 years now and I have known Brooke, Shari and Heather for 18 years now. I feel lucky to have such great life long friends in my life.

Mother's Day

What a wonderful day! I have been waiting for many years for this day to come. My first mother's day, and now that it is here it has been as wonderful as I hoped it would be. It has been an emotional day for me (which many days are these days). I woke up and was able to provide some service to a mother to be in our ward. Then as I walked into church this morning one of my young women put a candy lay (sp) around my neck which put a big smile on my face for several reasons (1 I'm a mom now. 2. I love candy. 3. Someone thought of me). Then some of my favorite girls ever, gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a homemade mother's day card which was the best ever. I almost wanted to cry. Then we got a red box of homemade chocolates from the ward as we were leaving sacrament. Then I got to go to relief society with all the girls and we had a mother's day brunch and lesson. Rick took care of Athen the whole time.

I got a nice card from my mother and some homemade chocolate reeses peanut butter cup brownies, lots of nice text messages, flowers and a card from my dad as well as a BBQ dinner. Rick got me a baby sign language book which I have been wanting for a while as well as something monogrammed - of course. I think my favorite thing was my mother's day card from Rick. I love, love, love the cards Rick gives me. He always finds the best cards and writes the best words. They make me cry every time. I have been saving all of the amazing cards Rick has given me over the last few years and I have a big stack of wonderful cards with love letters inside. I have a big ribbon tide around my cards that I keep in my treasure chest. It reminds me of the olden days. I am going to keep on collecting all the love letters Rick gives me over the years for my children and grand children to read.

The best part of the day was spending time with my wonderful son and my amazing husband and knowing that I am now a mother. I am so thankful for Athen and the sweet boy he is. I'm thankful that I get to spend my days with him. I love all the moments we share together each day. I love looking into his beautiful eyes as I am feeding him before bed time. I love listening to the sweet sound of his laugh and his cooing. I love playing games with him, singing to him, reading to him and walking with him each day. I am thankful for a healthy happy boy who is such a blessing in my life.

To My Mom,

I am so thankful for you and for all your love and support. You are a wonderful mother and have taught me by example how to be a good mother myself. I am thankful for all the time we are able to spend together during the week. I am thankful for your kindness and for always being there for me through out my life. Thank you for teaching me how to make the right decisions in life and how to be happy and love the Lord. Thanks for teaching me the Gospel and being a good example to me. You are my best friend and I love you to pieces. Happy Mother's Day.

your loving daughter Corene

To My Newest Mom,

I am so thankful for you and the wonderful mom you are and have been to my wonderful husband. He adores you and so do I. Thank you for teaching him how to love. He is a wonderful husband and father and is such a selfless person who is always thinking of others. I have loved the time we have been able to spend together making jewelery, shopping, touring around California, and making Drushal/Bingham rolls with my mom. Thanks for excepting me into your family. I love being a Bingham. Happy Mother's Day. I love you to pieces.

your loving daughter Corene

What a wonderful day. I couldn't ask for anything better in life than this. I am a lucky girl and feel very blessed! Happy Mother's Day to all! Life is Good.

Chompers In

Yeah that's right Athen's got chompers. He woke up yesterday on his 5 month birthday at 6:00am and wouldn't go back to bed. By early morning when it was nap time he wouldn't go down. I thought he was so tired that he couldn't fall asleep. He had a few little naps here and there but nothing good. Yesterday afternoon while changing his diaper on the changing table I noticed a little white on his gums. I put my finger inside and sure enough I could feel his first tooth. I looked again and there it was. I was pretty excited. His first tooth on his 5th month birthday.

I called Rick at the office to see what time he would be home. He said I have a lot to catch up on, I will be late. I told him dinner was ready for him when he got home. I then told him the exciting news and he said he would pack up and come home. He wanted to see Athen's tooth before he went to bed. I guess that is what it takes to get my husband home from work earlier than usual.

The poor little man, he has had a hard few days. The oral gel doesn't seem to really work and we can't give him baby Tylenol since they just recalled it. Anyone have any suggestions to help him feel a little better and sleep???

This morning again he woke up early and his morning nap was only an hour long. I have been pretty excited about his tooth so I took another peek today and sure enough chomper number 2 is in and I can see the third one but it hasn't broken through yet. That is right his two front teeth made there day view. I'm such a proud mother.

Day to Day

So what have Athen and I been doing day to day lately? Let's see... Athen is 5 months old today. He rolled over for the first time on Sunday. He rolled over 3 times in a row in his crib while Rick was in the bathroom. Rick came running in to see but he was all done by the time he got there. He hasn't rolled over since. He is still a pretty happy baby. Every now and then he has his days. He has recently learned how to screech or fake cry even if he isn't hungry or wet, but for the most part he is still a delight. He loves to cruise around the loft in his walker. Luckily he has a ton of space to do that. He also likes his big plastic toy thingy that he can move up and down and spin around in with all the toys surrounding him. He had a week there where he would wake up in the middle of the night several times screeching and not wanting to go back to sleep. The Mickey was a love/hate toy during that time. We have since then taken away the Mickey for sleeping and given him a silky blanket to snuggle up to instead. It works but not as well as the Mickey. This past week sleep has been back to normal and he has been enjoying the night.



We just got a play and pack for Athen so he can start to get used to it before we travel with it this summer. He takes his naps in it over by the bathroom where it is darker and a little less noisy (since it isn't by the large window).

On Friday, I made a cake for a friend in the ward who just got married the weekend before. They didn't really have a chance to celebrate so I thought I would make them a little wedding cake. It was a red velvet cake with a cream cheese frosting and fondant. I wish I could have gotten a picture of the inside. It think it turned out cute and I was happy with how the shape of the cake turned out.





This last weekend we went to Palo Alto for a BBQ/party for our friends who are moving. It was fun to see a bunch of our old friends and their babies, but sad to see friends go.

I tried a new recipe the other day for dinner. It was a pasta with a cheesy cream sauce with ham, bacon, chicken, asparagus and fresh tomatoes on top. I made a roux first and then added some cream, milk, broth, cheddar and parmesan cheese (It was definately much lighter than my normal cream sauce, but still good). I then sliced up some ham and added some brown sugar to a pan and sauted it with some shallots until a little caramelized (it was very good and added a nice sweetness to the dish). I added the sauce to the pasta and topped with chicken, bacon, ham, asparagus and some fresh tomatoes. Everything was hot except the fresh tomatoes which were cold. They added a nice lightness to the dish. It was very colorful, had lots of different textures and flavors. Rick liked it.

I wanted to make some homemade poppyseed and sesame seed rolls this morning while Athen is napping but I used my last egg last night. Maybe I will pick up some eggs at the store on our walk/run this afternoon. For dinner tonight I am trying another new recipe. It has crispy red potatoes sliced, with shredded chicken, bacon and cheese. It looks delicious. This recipe and the one above is from justgetoffyourbuttandbake.com.

Next week I am hosting a girl reunion for the weekend with my best friends and roommates from college. I can't wait. It is going to be fun. We haven't seen each other since my wedding weekend. We are going to go to the beach and the city, hot tub, stay up late in our jams and eat fondue and talk about the glory days! Can't wait!