Easter. Easter bunny. Easter rabbit. Easter parade

If anyone else understands that title, we need to talk. That line came from a "Thompson movie classic" called Midnight Madness (think a live video game...and Michael J Fox as a tween) If you choose to rent it (most likely on VHS) don't judge. You know you all have "those shows" you grew up on.

We have already had a great Easter weekend...and it's only Sunday morning. We met some friends (and family. Hey Jare. Hey Ry) down at Crissy Fields where we talked about how cute Frankie is, ate some bagels, and snapped a few pics. I may or may not have requested that Jed dresses "as Easterly as possible" so we could get a few Spring pictures. He obliged. Which is #7815 reason why I love him.

He is now in the kitchen slaving over a pancake breakfast. #3588 reason why I love him.

We spent some good quality time this morning watching movies that are Christ centered and encourage you to watch this short message. The real reason we celebrate Easter.



Hope everyone enjoys their Easter Sunday, and ham and cheesy potato dinner tonight.

An Exception for Sam

Fair warning: this post is probably more for me than it is for you. Please forgive indulgences.

I don't really blog anymore. Heather's just so darn good at it that I leave it in her capable hands. :)

But I decided today might be worth an exception.

A year ago today my oldest sister Sam passed away. A couple days ago I finished a book called Making Toast, a true story about another family who also lost someone suddenly (I highly recommend it by the way).

I related to a lot of it, but particularly to this passage:

"Odd that I seem to know Amy more completely in death than I did when she was alive . . . there was so much to her life that I was unaware of until now, when I speak with her friends and colleagues and learn of this sound decision or of that small gesture of thoughtfulness."

That's exactly how I feel about Sam. I'm amazed by the impact she had on others' lives and extremely honored to call her my sister. My only regret is that I didn't take the time to know more of her goodness while I still had the chance to tell her how much I look up to her.

Over the past year I've tried my best to make sure the same thing doesn't happen with any of my other siblings. There's still so much to learn, but the deeper relationships I already have with each of them make me happy.

So, in tribute to Sam, here's one (of many) reason why I look up to each of them:

Matt: he talks openly to me about his feelings and emotions and lets me talk to him about mine.
Rach: she's one of the best mothers i know. she cares deeply about her family and makes the tough sacrifices to care for their well-being in the most meaningful of ways.
Alex: he proactively provides me with regular opportunities to develop relationships with his kids.
Luke: he values my opinions and is always content to listen to them before he shares his own.
Heber: he's willing to take risks and forge his own path through life.

I hope I have many more years to learn even more reasons.

It's been a while

Since the Fab 4 hung out. A long while. I spent some time in Utah (sans the husb) for some much enjoyable family time, a baptism for my niece Marlee, some shopping, lots of laughing, too much eating, and a lot of play time with the nieces and nephews.

The "VaughnThomDragonman" family.

70 degrees...somone pinch me

Our East Coast friends are snowed in, our Utah friends are frozen until May, and the weather is wreaking havoc on the rest of you...so, we are considering ourselves pretty dang lucky. 70 degrees in February. But, don't wish us a slow, miserable death just yet; come June we will be sporting rain gear and heavy jackets.

To take advantage (along with 30,000 other people) of the sun, we took Frankie for a walk at Baker Beach.

Great views of...

the bridge
public nudity while hula hooping (he was in his briefs)
fishing
crab catching
sunning
frolicking
etc
etc
etc






Hang in there peeps. The sun'll come out tomorrow.

Sorry East Coast friends.

Found these two guys just laying around.

This is a silly city we live in.

Did I mention it's January?

I think Tyler Florence is getting a restraining order against us.

Driving out of the city yesterday made me realize why people love San Francisco. Because they don't love San Francisco...but rather the surrounding area (lovingly called The Bay Area) and if I can throw my two cents in...Mill Valley. It is SUCH an adorable little town.

If you remember, just a few shorts month ago we visited Tyler Florence's restaurant, Wayfare Tavern, for Jed's birthday. Our DVR is full of "Tyler's Ultimate", we've made his recipes. So, it only made sense to visit his kitchen supply store. And, when we get a home to call our own, I will be making a visit to this store to get one of everything. Including the cashier.

The store was AMAZING! Everything was so pretty. The ladies room was my dream bathroom. A sweet little lady even passed out due to the beauty that was before us. (Not really...apparently she had a bad reaction to her new meds...rest assured, she's fine. I helped by waiving Himalayan Pink Kosher Sea Salt to help her come to her senses. Not really.)

To top the store off, they had a cookbook library. With a fireplace. Be still my heart.

After drooling and oohing at all of the goods, we purchased a salt dish (really, just to say we bought something from TF's kitchen supply store) and walked over to Pearl's Burger. I almost don't dare to write this, but it was Tyler Florence's "Best Burger I ever Ate." I gave it a 7. But, the PB/Oreo milkshake a solid 9. Mostly because of the straw.

So, if you see Jed and I being hauled off to the pokey, there is a good chance it's because we saw TF in person and let him read this post.

O'er the hills we go

As everyone else on blogs, facebook, work, texts, and e-mails have noted, we too had a great Christmas.

We found ourselves in Utah. As always.
We spent time with family. As always.
We ate too much food. As always.

We went sledding as a family...screeeeeeech. Wait a minute. Hold up. Don't get me wrong, we have a lot of fun with my family, but it usually consists of me and Hillary begging the family to play scatergories, stuffing our face with food, and hiding from the kids as they gang up on us (there are 7 now!)

Going sledding was a bit out of the norm, but we had SUCH a good time. I would dare say it was the highlight of the trip.
That and Ole St. Nick finding us in Utah. How does he do that???



Even woofs got in on the fun...but, her type of fun was making "lemon sno-cones" she has no manners.



Beck was waiting for us in the Yert. With snacks and cupcakes for Asher's birthday. He was quite the host.



I love Asher's rosy cheeks. This kid knows how to play hard. And by hard, I meant that I wanted to borrow his helmet so I could protect my skull from his muay tai karate moves.




Picking the color of the tube was the hardest part of the day.



Taytum was brave until half-way down the kiddie slide. Then things went sour. And she cried. But, she sure looked cute in the tube.

We clearly had too much fun, because this is where the picture taking ended for the rest of the trip.

We hope all of your Christmas dreams came true.