We're Still Here!

Whoops, it's been a while since I've posted on here! Life has been very busy.

Even though our kids aren't in school yet, we are involved in several activities during the school year that keep us running, such as Little Lights (a pre-school program at our church that Brynn and I attend together), Bible study, Cubbies (the youngest group in AWANA), and MOPS, as well as church on Sundays. Phew. We are busy!

A couple weeks ago the girls and I went hiking at the Biggest Loser ranch in Calabasas with some of our neighborhood friends. I had no idea it was so close to us...only about a 30 minute drive. Since the season had just finished filming, we were allowed to tour the inside of the gym! Here are some pics:

This is the scale they use for the weigh-ins each week:

A view of the ranch from the top of where we hiked:

The outside of the gym:

We've done other fun things too. I'll work on catching up on my blogging over the next few weeks!

Daddy Dolls

The "Daddy Dolls" are here! Yesterday, a package was waiting for us in the mailbox. Upon opening it, I found two of Carl's face staring up at me :) They were wrapped nicely. Brynn could hardly wait for hers to be opened. On the bottom of each doll is written, "Daddy loves you." Each doll has a different colored backing so we can tell which one belongs to who.

A Happy 28th

Well, Friday was my 28th birthday. Yes, for five more months Carl can say I am a year in numbers older than he is, which is much more fun for him than it is for me :)

I felt sad to celebrate my birthday with Carl far away, but I didn't celebrate it without him. He surprised me with this beautiful bouquet of flowers, which he made sure had stargazer lilies in it reminiscent of those in my wedding bouquet:

(Those are Brynn's little hands reaching for the flowers).

On Wednesday night I got brave and made a beer can chicken for the first time. It turned out to be very yummy:

(I think it looks pretty funny sitting on the grill like that).

On Thursday to use the leftover chicken, I made this home-made BBQ chicken pizza with cilantro and Gouda cheese:

On my birthday, my sister Laura, who is living with us, wouldn't let me cook, clean, etc. She and her friend Christy made this delicious carrot cake (my favorite):

Since my sister let me do whatever I wanted on my birthday, I headed down to Ventura in the afternoon to take advantage of Petunia Picklebottom's (who's headquarters is in Ventura) end of season clearance sale. I snagged this new diaper bag and love it:

My sister surprised me with these fabulous red TOMS shoes. I haven't taken them off much since getting them :)

We finished off the evening by watching "Enchanted" (also from my sister) with the girls and eating Baja Fresh for dinner (since I wasn't allowed to cook). I even got to sit out on my balcony and read a book uninterrupted. After dinner, Laura gave the girls baths and put them to bed for me (have I mentioned that she is an AMAZING sister)?!

I'm still sad that Carl wasn't here to celebrate with me, but all of my wonderful family and friends made this day very special and I'm so thankful to all of you for your love and support!

Catching Up...

It's been busy here at the Davis household!

Brynn started gymnastics and loves it:

Kit is getting so big! At her one year doctors appointment, she was 90% for height and 75% for weight:

This great bench was just waiting to be purchased for our front porch at a yard sale around the corner:

I'm really enjoying using the grill. I made these grilled peaches the other night for dessert, topped with a home-made blackberry sauce and Trader Joe's vanilla icecream:

We've sent Carl two boxes so far. He just received the first one and while the bars I baked were intact, they were all over the inside of the box. Apparently the mail process getting out to the carrier is much more rough than it is otherwise. Guess I'll have to super seal everything from now on!

These Kids Make Me Laugh

Yesterday Brynn said some really funny things:

We were in the kitchen. I don't remember what it was, but I said something to her and she replied, "are you serious?"

At lunch, she smashed her fig flat. I picked it up and asked her to eat it. She said "no." So I took a bite. She yelled, "No! There's a girl in there!" I kept taking bites. She yelled louder, "No! There's a girl in there!" I finished the fig down to the stem; she look defeated and said, "you ate Thumbelina."

Up in her room last night she said, "Daddy's on the big boat." I replied, "yes, he is!" She said, "and he has a big airplane." I replied, "yes, he does!" She said, "and the LION and GIRAFFES!" I said, "oh, is Daddy on Noah's Ark?" :)

Here's Brynn on the rower. We start 'em young on Crossfit:

Kit's getting so big:

Brynn is a little mommy:

Sweet girl:

Good Grillin'

I've finally done it. This temporarily single mother of two has conquered the man's oven...on Sunday night, August 7, 2011 I made dinner on the grill! Thanks to a briefing on the procedure by Carl before he left and some helpful hints from my Father-in-law, Mac, the food was edible...even tasty!

Here's proof!

Grilled zucchini, yellow squash and bell peppers:

Grilled chicken thighs, seasoned with Penzey's Galena Street Rub and a little BBQ sauce:

I admit, it wasn't as good as when Carl cooks, but it wasn't terrible either :)

Surviving Saturday

The morning began with blueberry chocolate chip pancakes, topped with Nutella and sliced bananas. After stuffing ourselves with those wonderful little discs of yummy goodness, we headed out to the Camarillo Farmers Market. The morning was cool and overcast, a nice change from the predictable constant sunny skies to which we're accustomed. After perusing all the varieties of local fruits and veggies, we decided on some orange beets. Those will be boiled, then peeled, cooled, and sliced to be eaten plain or on salads.

This is our typical Saturday routine, except this time Carl was missing :( I ate an extra pancake for him.

After the kiddos took their naps and my sister and I ran errands, we headed to the pool. We splashed around for a while, then marched back to the house. I made a pizza using a new recipe Carl had suggested for the crust. It turned out great.