Burke Visit

Stacy Hancock Burke is one of my best friends growing up. We lived down the street from each other and did everything together. Sleepovers, forts, trampoline, bike rides, annoying our siblings, cooking, projects, making our own commercials, church activities, girls camp, and running our own summer preschool are just a few of things we did together. Luckily, we still manage to keep in touch. Stacy and her husband, Dan, stayed with us for a few days as part of their trip to Disneyland!

 Tanner once again loved being with Stacy.

 Above- me, Stacy and Dan are in the background exploring tide pools at Corona del Mar. Tanner explored in the sand with Jeremy.

Newport Beach Temple

Memorial Day in Sac Town- again!

We were excited to spend our Memorial weekend in Sacramento for the second year in a row. 

We drove Friday evening and into the night. Tanner was a perfect passenger!!

 Jeremy's highschool/church friend, Bryan, and his daughter.

 Tanner's Great, Great Grandma June. She's 95 years old and still going strong!!

Five generations! Great Great Grandma June, Great Gpa Davidson, Grandma Zavoral, Daddy, and Tanner. (this pic is from Oct 2011, I realized I never posted it on our blog).

 5 generations of hands!

 Hot-tubbing in the back yard. Don't worry--we made the temp around 85/90 degrees so that it was safe for Tanner.

 Helping Grampz go through things.

 Exploring the entertainment center.

 Cousins and family!

 Great Grandma Ginny.

 Tanner was mezmorized by Gma's wheelchair.

 Great Grandpa Davidson.

Great Grandma Davidson.

 Memorial Day dinner.

 Aunt Susie.

 Auntie Lindie.

 Jeremy taking down the overgrown tree with Matt.

 Our little Tan Man showing his patriotism and guarding the flag.

 My personal favorite...

Here is the picture from one year ago.

Here we are this year! Cody, the dog, managed to get in the pic both times.

 On our way home!

 Passing the time during the drive back.

 What a great trip!

Quick Pics

These are from the middle of May.
Bath time- one of Tanner's last baths in the BABY tub. What a cutie! He has since graduated to the  normal human tub.

Tanner loves playing with the washcloth. He lifts it up and watches the water drip down. He likes to put his free hand in the path of the dripping water.

 The painted helmet! Jeremy used acrylic paint to do a patriotic design. It turned out looking like Captain America! With Flag day, Memorial day, Independence day and Pioneer day all coming up while he wears his helmet, we figured it's the best design!

 Tanner is very obedient. Right as he crawls into the kitchen, we say, "Tanner can you open that cupboard and go through all the snacks? We need to know what snacks we have." And then he does it without any complaining. He even pulls out every single snack for us!

Problems Solved

Problem: Dishes. They are the menace to every household in America, especially if you don't have a dishwasher and you have baby bottles to clean. For almost two years, we've been eating off of paper plates and plastic silverware to help keep the dish load down. I know, I know. Our carbon footprint is shameful.

Problem: Food. It can get expensive. Last week, we were eating some Thai food that I made at home. We're chomping away quietly when Jeremy suddenly blurted out, "This meal cost us over $20!" Sure enough! The pre-made curry sauce ($6), the eggplant ($2), mushrooms ($1.5), onion ($.30), spinach ($1), green pepper ($1), jasmine rice (about $2 for a cup), the labor of cooking and cleaning (I'd say my work was worth $5), and of course the paper goods (let's say $3) all added up to about $20.80 for a meal for two--and a crappy meal at that. We could have eaten like kings at a real Thai restaurant!

Solution: Eat out from now on. Well, at least a for a few nights, just to see what it's like. So we decided to eat out every night for the following week. And that, my friend, solved everything! I didn't have to stress about grocery shopping, cooking, or cleaning. We got to enjoy our meals and get waited on. I haven't had to clean a single pot or pan for over 9 days!! Well, we did end up cleaning all the dishes that were piled in the sink by doing a few each night. It was great because the pile always got smaller. What a novelty! 

The best part is that we didn't bust our budget. We used gift cards, coupons, and went on days that we knew had specials. Here was our menu: 

Monday- Z pizza, $6. 

Tuesday- Del Daco, $4. 

Wednesday- Daphnie's Greek, $12. 

Thursday-Pei Wei, $12. 

Fri- Black Angus, $13.