When we visit Santa Cruz, we eat at Ming's with our good friend Eve and her good friend Dale. Eve is a regular there. We are too now I guess. The once-a-year-in-the-summer kind of regulars. When Dan and I visited Eve in July of 2007 with an adorable 8-month-old baby Danny, the owner lady said, "Ahhh, his cheeks look-uh like-uh egg with no shell on." (in your best non-offensive Chinese voice, of course) He was so white and soft I guess. We've been back three more summers since then. Every time the same owner lady comes over and talks to us and remember us and our cute kiddos.
I was worried Danny wouldn't like Chinese food because he's super picky. Cate loves everything so I knew she'd eat. Turns out Danny loves the noodles (not a big surprise) and also the fried dough balls with the sesame seed coating. I have no idea what you call them but he loves them. On the inside is a little blob of black bean paste. It kind of tastes sweet, like chocolate. Danny thought it was chocolate and I pretty much didn't correct him.
When we ate at Ming's this summer he mentioned that he'll miss this food when we go back home to Utah. I told him that we have Chinese restaurants in our city too. His jaw dropped and he said, "We have this food near our house? What? Why did you not tell me? I've been waiting 365 days!"
Panda Express, here he comes.
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I've been cleaning out my phone, erasing notes that I make to myself. I'm going to jot some of them down here so they're not forgotten forever. I do have a journal for each of my kids that I've been keeping since they were born. Sadly, they will find some day that their dear mother neglected to write faithfully and huge chunks of their childhood are missing. Sorry, kids. I tried.
>>We went swimming at the hotel in Carlsbad this summer. It was actually my birthday and I was hoping that my gift would be to not have to go swimming but my mommy guilt was strong and I did it anyway. It was a wee bit chilly and the sun was setting so we tried to stay in the sunlight. We had a pretty fun time having underwater tea parties like I used to have when I was a kid. You try to cross your legs and sit on the bottom and pretend like you're holding a teacup and saucer. It was hilarious because none of us are any good at sitting with crossed legs at the bottom of the pool. We had some good laughs at that one. And we got water up our noses too.
>>Before we made it to Carlsbad, we stopped in San Diego to check out the Mormon Battalion site and walk around Old Town San Diego. Oh, man. You would think we were torturing those poor kids. Go on vacation and walk around and look at stuff? Horrid. They were tired from being in the car all day so I expected a little resistance. Sheesh. We tried to check out the streets of the Old Town part and Danny declared it "the lamest thing ever." Next time we leave them home. What a teenager.
>>Our friend, Savannah, spent the night several months ago. She came to church with us on Sunday morning. Cate whispered to me, "I'm going to be so proud of myself when I go to primary today because I brought a friend to church."
>>I was telling Danny once about how he's been to Hawaii. He was a teeny tiny little thing in my belly at the time but he was there none the less. Cate overheard our conversation and said, "I wonder where I was when you went to Hawaii. Oh, I know. I was in heaven. I hope I wasn't playing knick-knacks with Jesus." I don't even know where she comes up with this stuff.
>>I saw on a friend's Instagram this week a picture of color coordinating outfits laid out with the caption something like, "Christmas card clothes are pressed and ready for the photo shoot." And I got to thinking that maybe I need to add that to the list of stuff I'm doing all wrong. Holy moly.
>>Cate loves to draw and cut and tape. It makes her happy to let her creative juices flow. One day she said to me, "I like making better than just getting because getting is just not much fun." She's obviously never gotten a new car.
>>I can't even remember when I wrote this one or where we were. I know Danny is the one who said it though. From the looks of it, I wanted him to go in somewhere. He didn't want to. He said, "I can't go in there either. I'm too much of an I-just-sit-here man." Ha!
