Wednesday, June 18, 2008

A humongous post about some humongous trees

Nathan once heard that RVers are nice people. Since we think we're nice people, we figured it might be a good fit. We found some friends that are also very nice people and went on an RV road trip. Nathan and his mad driving skills took us to Seqouia National Park (about 5-6 hours north of LA). Seqouia is home to the largest tree (by mass) on earth, and you can also see the tallest tree. We camped there for the weekend, did some hiking, saw a bear, froze our butts off, lost some sleep, ate some smores, and found out that yes, RVers are, in fact, very nice people.
Enjoy the massive amount of pictures.
Easton is pretty excited about leaving in the big RV.
Leaving on our first hike.
The cute Aird family .Beckett was giving his daddy big squeezes.The big trees.

We went on a very treacherous hike up Morro Rock. Nathan was very brave! I'm so proud of you sweetie :)
In front of the biggest tree on earth...General Sherman.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Family Photos






Not too much going on at the Roberts' household. Lots of picture taking, bike riding, and hanging out with the little man. He's still jabbering, but hasn't come up with too many more words. His newest trick is climbing onto the dinner table. The other night I was at the computer and Nathan was watching TV, and I turned around to find Beckett standing on the table. He hadn't even ever climbed on the chair. His favorite place to play is in the car, (drivers side) where he grabs the wheel and rocks back and forth giggling. He loves pressing the buttons, and we never know what we'll find when we turn on the car.
Last weekend it was beautiful, so we strapped our bikes to the car and headed down to the Santa Monica strand. Beckett tried out his new bike trailer, and didn't love it unless we were moving. He was a trooper though, and we had a good time.
Anyway, that's about it for an update. Included are some recent family pictures, with my newest photo finish. Enjoy!

Monday, May 12, 2008

A vistit from Babu and Shosho

A few weekends ago my parents took their spring break and came to visit us here in LA. My sister-in-law, Juliana, and daughter Addy came a few days later then followed by my brother Tyler. We had a blast hanging at the beach, going out to dinner, playing Rockband, giving the babies baths, and just hanging out. It was fun to be together, and for my parents to have had both grand-babies in one place at the same time. I'm kind of picture happy lately, so enjoy all of these!
At the beach
Grandpa giving Beckett his first carbonated beverage. How nice of you to share ;)
Grandpa feeding Beckett his 'baba'
We did a little photo session with 'Babu' and 'Shosho' (which is grandma and grandpa in swahilli)
Of course we ate at In-N-Out more than once.
And here's a picture of Beckett and I, since I haven't been in a picture in quite some time. Thanks for taking it Mom!

Monday, May 05, 2008

My hubby

So, I’ve been tagged numerous times now, and I realize it is bad blog-etiquette to not respond to being tagged. So, I’m combining Shantays and Gays tags, both about Nathan. I figured you didn’t want to read two (let alone one) husband tags. So, here’s to you sweetie.

What is your husband's name?

Nathan Allred

How did you meet your spouse?

Nathan was just back from his mission, and I was a freshman at BYU-I. We met in the bookstore, and he helped me find my books. He’d been instructed by top management to help all the cute girls find their books…or so the story goes.

Where did you go on your first date?

Since Nathan is such a high-roller he took me to the drive in theater where we watched a cheesy Mormon flick about some ballerina chick. They were supposed to play Singles Ward, which is a much higher quality movie.

How long have you been together?

We’ve known each other for almost 6 years, and have officially been together almost 5 of those years.

Who eats more?

Nathan

Who said I love you first?

Nathan. This is a funny story. He came to Canada the summer after we’d met to see me, and one night we were hanging out with a bunch of my high school friends. We went up to Waterton National Park and were walking around the docks down by the lake, but the rest of the group was above the water, just out of ear shot. He’d been acting mysterious all night, and finally I asked him about it. That’s when he dropped the L-bomb. I was not at all expecting it, and needless to say my reaction was not what he was expecting. He stepped backwards away from me, but caught his foot in the space between the two docks, and went down backwards, taking me with him. Everyone else heard the commotion and looked down just in time to see us both topple over. It was hilarious.

Who is taller?

It depends on what shoes I’m wearing.

He is.

Who sings better?

Me, but he’s not bad.

Who is smarter?

Definitely Nathan.

Who does the laundry and the dishes?

I think he’s done the laundry once. And a few months ago (after living here for a year and a half) he asked me where the drinking glasses were kept.

Who is more clean?

Me

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?

It depends. Right now he does.

Who pays the bills?

I try. But quicken really confuses me.

Who mows the lawn?

What lawn?

Who cooks dinner?

Always me, unless we’re grilling.

Who has more siblings?

He does. By two.

Who drives when you are together?

Him. I can’t stand his back seat driving.

Who is more stubborn?

We’re both pretty hard headed. But probably Nathan.

What do you like to do together?

Be at the beach, talk about the future, watch Seinfeld, eat out, play Rook, bike…

Who is the first to admit when they’re wrong?

Always me. I’m the peacemaker.

Who’s parents do you see the most?

It’s pretty equal.

Who kissed who first?

Nathan kissed me.

Who proposed?

He did an amazing job. There were fireworks. Literally.

Who’s more sensitive?

Me. Especially when I’m pregnant.

Who has more friends?

I’m better at making friends. He’s great at maintaining friendships.

Who wears the pants in the family?

We both have a variety of pants. Jeans, sweats, dress slacks… No really, it depends on the issue.

Best features?

His long eyelashes, and smile.

What is his best quality?

There are three:

1. His encouragement and support.

2. He's such a great dad.

3. His conviction to the things he knows to be true.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Vintage Spice

I just wanted to share some exciting news. . . the debut of my new photography business--
Vintage Spice Photography.
Although my website is still in the process of being published, I have a temporary blog site that you can check out.
vintagespicephotography.blogspot.com
It's pretty makeshift, but at least you can see some of my work. It's exciting and I'm having a lot of fun with it. Enjoy!

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Atlanta-(check out my 2 posts in 3 days!)

As most of you know, last weekend we took a trip to visit Nathan's eldest brother, Logan, and his wife, Paula. They just had a little girl in September, Lydia, and also recently purchased a home. We had to go and check it out.
This is Beckett wanting to go to GA to visit :)

It was so much fun to just be together, and we also took the opportunity to be touristy and see some of the sights of Atlanta. Paula and Logan gave us the perfect combination of relaxation and entertainment. Friday night we spent rocking out at some friends' house, playing Rock Band all night. Beckett was a great little 'groupie'. We ate lots of yummy food and appreciated the generosity and hospitality of Greg and Melissa. On Saturday we went to Coke World and The Aquarium in downtown Atlanta. Nathan loved tasting all the Coke products from around the world and Beckett enjoyed seeing all of the fish and whales (Beluga whales, in fact). That was one of the highlights for me too.
I am pointing at a drink called 'Stoney' that is found in Tanzania. I was thinking of you, Dillon :)
Beckett pointing the fish
We at the the yummiest place called 'The Varsity'. It went down in Nathan's book of Great's cause of their amazing Chocolate milkshakes.

Sunday was very relaxing and we spent the evening at Paula's parents house playing games. It was fun to be in their home and remember the time we've spent there. Good times.
Beckett and Lydia enjoyed each other immensely. Whenever we'd drive somewhere, they'd be giggling at one another in the back seat. It was hilarious. We can tell they're going to be the best of friends :)
Lydia is the sweetest girl and I think she approved of me as an Aunt. She was full of sweet smiles for me and she even let me take some pictures of her. Here is just one for your viewing pleasure.
We left Monday morning, and well...the rest is history, but we had such a great time and can't wait to see you guys again!
Beckett got so sick of our trip home, he stormed the cockpit and took over. If not for him, we may have never made it back to LA.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Sitting on a plane for 12 hours with a small child isn't my idea of fun...

And we weren't even on our way home from some distant destination. Let me explain.

LAX to Atlanta (direct flight)= 3 hours 47 minutes.
Atlanta to Dallas to Austin back to Dallas to LAX= 11 hours 23 minutes
All the fun we had together while sitting on the full planes entertaining Beckett who slept a total of 30 minutes the entire day=priceless.

I knew it wasn't going to be pretty when we got the airport to check in and Beckett had leaked out of his diaper so bad that he went the rest of our day pants-less. Yeah... we're classy like that.

So we got to our descent to Dallas and flew around for 45 minutes because of thunderstorms. We used up so much gas in the inturum that we ended up flying to Austin to refuel and then sat on the Tarmac there for 2 hours. We then flew back to Dallas. Our layover there had long since departed, but Nathan had called and gotten us on the last and final flight to LA which departed at 6:20. We landed at 6:35. I was seriously distraught. We were going to have to spend the night in the Dallas airport. However, we got to the departure gate to find that the next flight had been delayed and was leaving 10 minutes later. Wonderful, except that we didn't have seats together. Great.
So we get on the plane and this nice woman agrees to trade us seats, and so we sit down, the plane leaves...we're on the runway...and suddenly 'our voice from the cockpit' comes on and tells us we're returning to the gate. So we turn around. However, we were in a larger plane and since not all of the gates cater to that size we had to wait for a gate to open. Meanwhile they wouldn't tell us why we had turned around or what was happening. Finally we get to the gate and see two police officers come on board and take a very questionable looking woman off the plane. At this point we think we're in for a pretty good story. We then wait for another 30 minutes for them to gather her things, and then we are told the story. Turns out some woman changes planes at the last minute and thinks that her dog changes as well. When she finds out that it's on a different plane, she freaks out and threatens the airline stewardess. Lame. So, some lady doesn't take her meds, and we all suffer because of it. Anyway- we started at 2 pm Atlanta time and landed in LA almost 12 hours later. It was brutal and I'm never traveling again. You try and entertain a 14 month old little boy in a 2 foot radius for half of a day and let me know how you feel. Blah.

What's really incredible, though, is that even with all the trouble, the trip was still absolutely worth it. We had such a great time in Atlanta with Logan, Paula, Lydia, and their family and friends, that we would happily do it all over again.

*I promise to post pictures and info about our amazing weekend in Atlanta. I decided to give you the bad news before the good.*

Saturday, March 22, 2008

A day at the park



Yesterday Nathan had the day off and we had a very enjoyable pic-nic at the park with our friends. Beckett had fun spilling water all over the blanket, chasing Arleigh around and petting a dog for the first time. It was a gorgeous day!