6 Produce Seasons = CRAZY!

When Paul and I were in San Diego and talking about stuff in General. We started trying to remember events that happened each year since we were married. Paul of course can only remember that we got married, but I on the other hand could do a pretty good synopsis of our 9 married years and 11 dating years.

One of the things we realized is that as of June 1st he will have been with D'Arrigo Brothers for 6 years! It doesn't feel that long at all! But like the title says...it also means we have been thru 6 produce seasons. I know for some of you that doesn't mean anything....but it means CRAZY here at our house. I have never actually kept track of his hours that he works during produce season but it's ridiculous. Of course come summer time he has a regular 8 - 4 job. Three weeks off. But during produce season.....I never know when he'll be home. If he'll get called out at night. If there will be problems at the cooler..... If they have transplants. He has never been on a vacation with us during the months of September thru April. I have been to Disneyland about 20 times with out him. Just me and the kids. Or we just go visit my sisters....but he stays home and thinks about Produce. That part does suck!

But the best thing about it is.....Paul love his job! Even for all the days he wishes he could have a regular 8 - 5 job sitting at a desk in a suit....I know he would hate it after a day. He loves the green of a field, the smell of broccoli, the crisp of a lettuce....he loves it all!

So my friends....I now say "EAT PRODUCE!" Paul and I have a rule that we always order a Salad wherever we go. Just trying to support the cause. And if you ever eat at Cheesecake Factory or Outback Steakhouse you are most likely eating something Paul has helped grow. And if you ever see something called broccoli rabe or fennel ....paul probably also helped with that. If you buy a pink Andy Boy bag of romaine hearts at Costco....also Paul. Well it's not just Paul....you know what I mean!

So thanks AndyBoy! We love you!

www.andyboy.com

Nothing like a little quiet time!!

Paul and I went to San Diego these last few days. It was so nice! We left on Tuesday morning and didn't get there until 7:30 that night! It was so nice to just take our time getting there. I stopped and got my nails done. We had lunch at Quiznos....and then we left Yuma! We stopped at Costco in El Centro....just cause we could! Then we stopped at Viejas and did some shopping there. Paul got some shirts and a leather jacket! Something that he has always wanted, but had just never bought. And if I might say...he looks rather dapper in it! We had dinner at Red Robin....we decided to do something that isn't in Yuma...we can do Olive Garden or Chilis or Applebees there. And then we watched Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. I have never seen any of the movies so that was fun for me!


Then we SLEPT IN!!!! We had ordered room service and the woke us up at 9:00am. And we didn't leave our hotel room until about 1:00pm. It was nice to not have a schedule. We then drove down to La Jolla and onto Prospect street and realized that we didn't belong there. So we went to Fashion Valley Mall (we also don't belong there) and ate at Hot Dog on a Stick. I LOVE THAT PLACE! I don't know why....but I do! And then we went to Restoration Hardware and coveted the entire store. Ok not really...but sure did make me want to buy a lot of stuff.


Then we watched Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I liked it...but hey I LOVE HARRISON FORD! I don't care how old he is. Paul on the other hand didn't like it a whole bunch....but whatever...I won't say more in case you haven't seen it.




Then we went back and got ready for dinner at Flemings. Paul and I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to everyone! We ate a lot and it was all delicious!!!!!





Then we went to bed and slept in a little bit on Thursday as well. And then we checked out of our hotel and went down and watch the San Diego Padres play the Washington Nationals. It was kind of boring...but fun. Paul and I have sunburned knees now!!! It's really quite funny. We then went to lunch at this place called "El Indio." Something we saw on the Food Network and it was really quite good. Check out their website http://www.el-indio.com/ I would definitely go back there when I am more hungry...it was good!

This is us at the Game and These were our seats!!!

We then headed home and thought to stop in Julian. FYI ---- if someone says "oh we stopped in Julian on our way home to get some pies" they are lying to you!!!!!! It's not "on the way home!" It's completely OUT of the way home. But still I'm sure I won't be complaining when I'm eating my pie. But yes it's a little farther into the mountains than Paul and I realized. We need a Garmin or something! So an hour later than we had planned on we got home to our babies!

Thank You Kira! Thank you Nana and Tata! Thank You Edna! Thanks again for helping with our kiddos! I hope it wasn't too bad!



Paul and I had a great time and are already planning on our next trip.....next year of course!

Go! Diego Go!

Did anyone watch Go! Diego Go! today?

This is what it had online:

Episode 303: Green Iguan helps Abuelito Plant a New Strawberry Farm! (TV-Y)
Episode description unavailable

I'll tell you why "episode descritpion unavailable" is on there.

Because Green Iguana helps Abuelito plant a new strawberry farm by pooping! yes you read correctly! Pooping! So I will give you a brief description.

There is a Strawberry Festival. But if we eat all the strawberries then there won't be any for next year's Strawberry Festival. I know let's have Green Iguana eat the strawberries and then he will poopo out the seeds so that we can have more strawberries next year. Then they go on their little adventure like Diego always does. But wait. Green Iguana wants to know if we are almost to Abuelito's farm because "i can't hold it any longer! I really have to go!" (I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP!!) So they get to Abuelito's house just in time and they then proceed to show me a green iguana walking up and down rows with "poop" dropped exactly 6 inches apart! and there are even seeds in the poop that will give us more strawberries next year. Then the Bobo monkeys come and water the seeds. the sun is shining. wait we need to sing so that the strawberries will sing. Voila! MORE STRAWBERRIES!!!!

So do you realize how wrong this is! I mean....really? really? My 3 year old is watching this going. "Hey...we should feed some animal some seeds so that he can poop it out!" Uh NO! Do you know how many food safety violations that is!?!?!?! I mean if Paul grew his lettuce like that....uh he'd have no job and you for dang sure wouldn't be eating his lettuce!!!!! You can't have animals walking up and down your farmland. Let along pooping on it hoping for some seeds to grow into crop! Come on people!

SO moral of the story......I am now boycotting Go! Diego Go! Just Kidding! No moral... hey at least I got to do my hair while the girls watched

American Idol vs. Lakers

David Archuleta lost American Idol. I couldn't beleive it. By 12 million votes!!!! I think that the viewers were very mad at Simon Cowell for being so mean to David Cook on Tuesday night that they all voted for him. My mom even voted for David Archuleta!!!

But that's ok....I'm sure they will both do well in their careers. But I am a little sad for David Archuleta. Hunter even cried...I'm not sure why, but he did.

But I didn't cheer I didn't yell....I was just "ok....david cook won. ok kids time for bed" that was it.

But I didn't watch the whole show. Paul and I were fighting for TV time. Cause you know...It was Game One of the Lakers vs. Spurs Western Conference Finals. And in case you were wondering the Lakers won. It was a horrible first 3 quarters with the Lakers down by 20, but they came back and won by 3? I don't know, I can't remember. But at least now Paul is in a good mood cause his Lakers' won.

But as for me......I will peacefully watch the American Idol Finale tonight on my TiVo once Paul is asleep and now one is bothering me! Have I ever mentioned I love TiVo. That is a whole other post in itself!!!


And on another side note. Netflix is coming out with a 'box' that you hook up to your TV and high speed internet and you rent movies from it. No more mailing. They have a very limited selection to the Download now to your computer section and it's not real popular cause who wants to watch a movie on your computer. But here pretty soon you will get to watch them on your TV by downloading it to your "box" and no more mailing!!! And the "box" will be about $100 one time purchase and then it will continue to be your regular monthly Netflix fee. Anyways. Paul and I thought that was cool!

ok i'm done making commercials for TiVo and Netflix.

Hooray David Cook. I love you David Archuleta. And Go Lakers!

Nelson......out.

Riley Mackenzie & Taylor Elizabeth

Riley and Taylor both celebrated their birthdays this last week.

Taylor turned 1 on the 16th and Riley turned 4 on the 19th. We celebrated on Friday night and had cake (which only had balloons on it and not princesses because mother-of-the-year didn't order one beforehand) and had some family over. Paul's parents were out of town and so were Edna and Chris, so it was just my parents and Griscel and Erik. It was nice.

So Riley - I am grateful she is a part of our family. She is my girly-girl. Loves pink, purple, princesses and dolls. She is sort of a drama/diva type girl....likes things done her way, doesn't want to help clean, purposely gets on her brother's nerves....but that's all normal right?!?!?! She is really sweet though and loves to just sit with me and give me hugs and kisses. She is really good about being quiet and content when Taylor is sleeping, which is a HUGE help to me! And lately she talks to us in this robot voice...and it's really funny. I LOVE YOU RILEY!!!


Taylor - I can't beleive she is only 1!!! It seems like much longer, but at the same time it has gone by so fast! My baby girl only has one tooth! Which is very odd to me because both Hunter and Riley had 2 teeth by the time they were 4 months and all of their teeth by the time they were one! The ironic thing about that is Hunter and Riley HATED to eat. They were content with their milk. Taylor on the other hand loves a good peice of steak and will eat anything I put in front of her...with her one tooth! Taylor weighed 17.1 at her one year appointment. Another funny thing because I thought she was HUGE. Riley weighed 17.3 at her one year and I remember thinking she was just so petite. I think Riley was longer though...I'll have to look back on their lengths. Right now Taylor just loves to crawl and is trying to walk and is just content crawling around and looking for something else to put in her mouth. She takes a 3 or 4 hour nap and sleep 12 hours at night! I LOVE YOU TAYLOR!!!!


Just some pictures of my girls:

Riley with her balloon and not princess cake

Taylor being held by Nana....her hair is a mess

Taylor semi-enjoying her piece of cake

Riley with the dollhouse she got for her birthday. She didn't want to go to sleep!!

Hunter, Taylor and Riley with their swimsuits on ready to go 'enjoy' the hot weather we had on monday and tuesday. Edna got Riley her new Ariel swimsuit...which she is wearing right now as I type this. And Taylor go that bathing suit for her birthday as well. She looked really really cute in it!

American Idol

Yes I watch American Idol. It's on my TiVo. I don't miss it. But I didn't watch the first three seasons. I've only watched Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hick, and Jordin Sparks win. And tonight I will watch David......win.

I really hope it's Archuleta. Don't you want to just take him home and wrap him in a blanket and hold him. All in a very appropriate manner of course. He sings so nice. And I think he did an excellent job last night on all three of his songs. I cried hearing him sing "Imagine." Just wonderful! I think he is genuinely humble about the praise that he gets and just enjoys singing.

I actually really really like David Cook. I think he has an amazing range and is good looking too. Isn't it amazing what a good stylist can do for you?!?!!? Marketing-wise...I think David Cook has an edge over David Archuleta, but I don't think it matters. He did some wonderful renditions and interpretations of songs...and I like him!

So we'll see tonight what happens. I'm excited!!!

But what I do want to do now is go see them on TOUR!!! I know that sounds very 16 year old! But I would love to see the David's and Jason Castro and Michael Johns. In my opinion that was my top 4. Jason Castro merely on originality and simplicity. Michael Johns...well duh....he has an accent!!!! But he could sing really well as well. So.........anyone want to go see them on tour?!??!?!!?

One more very "Seinfeld" observation

Tell me why? Why is it that I get mad at everyone else because they don't update their blog's every day or every morning or afternoon when I go check them out as my escape to my day? HUH? Why aren't you people filling me in with every possible mundane detail of your lives?!?!?!?!? BUT.........I don't update my blog that often either..........so maybe you all are mad at me for not doing the same? I guess we're just crazy!

Ok maybe I'm the only one that feels that way!

*by the way..i use the term "mad" loosely. I'm not cursing you or anything......

Oh and I guess that makes me a Blog Stalker...... but aren't you too?


SO another good example. I don't post for two weeks and I do three posts today! FRANKIE SAYS "RELAX"

Passport to your Dreams

That was the theme of the prom. I didn't make it up. But I didn't put it up in a balloon arch so don't worry!

Well we had our prom dinner last Saturday Night and it went wonderflee (as riley says). The day was a little more hectic than I had planned. You know how it goes. The stuff that should take 10 minutes took two hours and the stuff that you thought would take two hours took 10 minutes. AHHH! But thanks to my mom and dad who came over and really really helped...we got it all done. Oh and Edna thanks for ironing the table cloths and napkins! :-)

They started arriving at 7:00ish and we had them wait in the living room until it was all set-up and everyone had arrived. Then we had them walk out all together to the backyard. And this is what they had waiting for them:

Edna and I decided to use black/white and tiffany blue as the color scheme. This was the view from our back door.

Here are some close-ups:

Of course everything looked so nice once the sun had set and it wasn't so bright. But the kids were all so excited and several have still called me and told me that dinner was their favorite part of the whole night!

For dinner we served the following (this was my mock set-up the Sunday before so the plates aren't what we used for Saurday night):

The Salad was first.....followed by tri-tip, garlic herb roasted potatoes and proscuitto wrapped asparagus (which by the way teenagers don't really appreciate asaparagus or proscuitto)
and to end it all....triple chocolate cheesecake! And they are GOOOOD!

So that was our night. I am still cleaning the kitchen but only because I have been sick. Riley was sick yesterday. and now Hunter and Taylor are sick today! AHHH!!!

Please tell me I'm not the only one!!!!

Does anyone have any suggestions about what to do and how to handle a 6 year old boy who talks back?

Hunter....my sweet sweet Hunter.....has started talking back. It all started after spring break. And it is driving me crazy. The new one is "i just can't listen to you and dad. i can listen and be obedient to everyone else but you two" He actually said that to me! Yesterday I put Taylor down for her nap and Hunter was throwing a ball up against the wall (which is normally fine but now when Taylor is sleeping). So I asked him to stop and and he says "well that's what you get" and I said "excuse me" and he says "well that's what you get for putting Taylor down while I was throwing the ball"....he got sent to his room.

The thing is he doesn't even really know HOW to talk back....it's just his tone. Sometimes it's not his tone...it's what he says. One day while we were getting ready for T-Ball he put his shoes without socks on, something I can't stand. So i asked him (nicely) "you need to put socks on" and he says "No" and I said "yes please" and he says no" and I told him "you aren't playing t-ball with no socks" and he says "well i think it's perfectly ok"

I mean really, Hunter? REALLY?

I know some of it has to do with the tone that Paul and I talk to him in. I am trying very hard to be much more nice and loving and not immediately go to yelling. I am trying to be an active listener (everybody loves raymond episode anyone?) and try to just show him that we love him no matter what. So i am trying that very hard.....not only that...it's actually a Personal Progress goal I am working on!

But not to paint Hunter as this horrible 6 year old. He is actually really really sweet. He loves me and says thank you and loves his sisters and is actually quite helplful. He of course has his moments of "I don't want to pick up my room" but hey....I do too! His BAD episodes are usually only one a day...maybe two. Of course Riley doesn't help out because I think she likes to see him get mad and she will purposely P*ss him off! It's actually quite funny....but I am working on her too.

So of course I am doing the bribe thing. I bought him Mario Kart Wii with 4 steering wheels over a week ago. We still haven't opened it because he hasn't earned it yet. So what is the correct way to "earn" it?!?!??!?!?!

At school they do a card system....green is great!, yellow is a warning....red is 10 minutes out of recess...and blue is no recess and a call home. And Hunter always stays on green. His teacher (as I said in a previous post) never has to ask him to do anything twice..and he never throws a fit! So i am going to try and implement that. I also want to do a point system (like Hogwarts!) to where if he behaves he gets more points and if he doesn't he gets them taken away. And he will have to have so many points before he gets the game..... But then is this teaching him that he only wants to be good because he'll get something in return and not because it is the right thing to do?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

I am really at a loss. Like I said Hunter really isn't that bad. Maybe I'm the one that's wrong. I am open for suggestions and let me know what you use for your children.

**pictures are by Megan...but they are on my computer screen so they don't do justice!!!!!!

I want to go to Prom!

I promised Edna I wouldn't start another blog with "ok so," which according to her was 16 times! I guess I type like I talk. Oh well! Now I begin:

Ok so....eh sike!


This weekend is Yuma High's Prom and a few of the kids asked me if they could have their dinner here at our house! So I said yes....(sorry gabby! i really am) and everything is coming along great! Edna and I went and picked everything out for our table settings and it looks great! Paul and I made the sample dinner on Sunday night and it tastes great!!!!! Paul is cleaning up the backyard and I'm cleaning up the house (well, you know) and today I'm gonna go get the rest of the stuff that we need and return a few things that we bought that we aren't gonna use. So I know I'm leaving you hanging, but I'm not gonna tell you anything else and then late on Saturday night I will post pictures! But in the meantime I want to go to prom!!!!