One Big Ol' Long Post

Okay, so we were supposed to participate in our neighborhood's community garage sale this weekend. We forgot to go to the bank to have change on hand, plus we just procrastinated and the garage was a huge mess. We decided to just have our own sale this Saturday. So hopefully I can get organized by then. I have a lot of stuff I need to get rid of.

Since we were bummed about missing the garage sale, we decided to pack up and head out to Carlsbad, CA for a quick trip instead.
We saw a lot of trains on the way, and the kids loved it when we got one to blow its whistle for us.
We stayed with my grandparents, who were really nice about the short notice. It was great to visit with family for the weekend. We thought we would go to Legoland or Sea World on Monday, but instead headed home because by that time, I was starting to catch the kids' cold they had the last week. I have a pretty good immune system that fights to the end, but sometimes it eventually is beaten and I get sick after everyone else has gotten better. Here is Eden running around my grandma's backyard.

While we were in California, we drove up to Costa Mesa, where I lived until I was about 10. I hadn't been there since we moved, so this was probably the highlight of the trip for me! I remembered how to get to my old house, and when we drove by, the owner was out putting up Christmas lights. I told him I grew up in that house and asked if I could take a picture. He was very gracious about it and we ended up chatting for a while. He said that the neighborhood is great and everyone is very nice and keeps their homes nice. Here it is, 3112 Taft Way. I have so many memories of this house and neighborhood.
(For my family's info, I think the Statlers still live at the end of the cul de sac, and the Oriental family might still live next door, although he said their last name was Long, not Lee.) He said that he bought the home in 2006, and there was a jungle in the from yard (probably that old tree) and that his friend came over and ripped it out and did new landscaping. But the house looked great. It was a tan color, although I remember it being a pale yellow color. Anyway, it was so great to see the house. Kira, here's the house with the Scotty dog that had rainbow-colored poop.
And my friend, Jessica Harris, lived right down here- I think in that yellow house in the center of the picture.
We also drove by my old elementary school where I went until 3rd grade, Paularino Elementary School. It looked mostly the same. Here is the view we would have while walking to school- the playground.
Here is the kindergarten entrance. I remember walking out to get picked up from school here with my teacher, Mrs. Carlson. We would count by twos, fives, and tens while walking.
We also drove down where our friends, the Cummings, used to live, but I couldn't remember which building it was. I ended up taking a picture anyway. They lived in one of the downstairs apartments and you turned left to get to their front door.
Then we drove down to the Newport Beach Temple. It is really nicely situated and is a beautiful piece of architecture. So lovely.
We cruised Oceanside and Carlsbad beaches a lot, but never got out because it just was so cold. But we had a fun time. We also got to go to lunch with my sister, Michaela, and her boyfriend, Marc. It was fun to see them.
It's nice to be home since I'm not feeling that well though. Today I slept for a while and feel a little better. Eden is happy to be home so she can play with this thing. We've had it forever, but she has been obsessed with this Noah's Ark toy lately.
Before our trip, I put up a few decorations in the house.
We still haven't set up our Christmas tree yet, because I have been doing this:

Let there be COLOR!

I painted the dining room a light green color. At first, it was a poopy green color that looked pretty ugly, so we went back and chose this one. It's much better. I also painted my kitchen chocolate brown. I am still getting used to all of this color. In hindsight, I should have painted the kitchen a lighter shade so it wouldn't blend into the counter tops, but I don't know a lot about decorating, and just about anything looks better than the ugly flat off-white that used to be there. I can always change it someday, but I doubt I will.

So I worked on the dining room today and I'm done besides one more coat around the ceiling. If I can get that done tomorrow during the day, we can put up our tree tomorrow night! Yeah!

As far as the pigeon problem goes, we had a Pulte guy come out this morning to take a look. The outcome was good- he said that they'd send a roofing guy out to fix the roof, a stucco guy out to stucco over the hole, and he also said that someone would be out to clean up the bird dropping mess. Hooray! Pulte pulled through! I can't tell you how happy I am about this. After researching pigeon control a while back, we found out it might cost around $300 just to get rid of the birds, and then we'd have to still get the roof fixed. So that is a huge burden gone.

Before our trip, I was laying on the couch, and Levi came over and threw a Matchbox car at my eye as hard as he could. Of course, it wasn't on purpose, but man, it hurt so bad that I cried. It hit the outside corner of my eye and it left a little scratch that bled for a second. Then it turned into a little purple "black eye," but it was outside of my eye. When we were in California, I noticed that it was turning greenish yellow. I guess that mean it's getting better, but it sure is ugly! You know, this is just an ugly picture anyway...I have puffy raccoon eyes.
In other news, I got some low lights put into my hair that match my roots. My hair is still pretty fried, so I am trying to grow it out. It's in that ugly in between helmet head phase, but I'm trying not to cut it for a while. I might have to later because it's unhealthy. We'll see. I might post pictures soon.

Hope you are all having a great holiday season! Tomorrow we are going to do one of my favorite traditions- packing everyone up to drive around and look at Christmas lights!