Today was a beautiful day

800 Degrees Neapolitan Pizza Westwood, LA

800 Degrees is my favorite pizza shoppe in West LA. I'm picky when it comes to pizza, but only cause I was spoiled on my mission and when Andy and I spent some time on the French Riviera. I have been searching for this type of pizza for some time. The thin crust and delightful flavor choices remind me of the beloved Mediterranean styles I love so dear. 

At 800 degrees the pizza is made fresh in front of your eyes, using local farm fresh ingredients, and imported meats and cheeses that rival anything on the market.  They also have some mean burrata salades infused with some creative tastes.


I give it a 10 out of 10, because if you know what toppings you like, you can pick your own perfect pizza.  It's heavenly.  Did I mention they have gelato?

15 Months Old

Here are 15 of his favorite things:

1.Favorite words: bop bop for Barbra Ann song, Nana for Banana, Dada, Mum, Mmmmhmm

2.Favorite song: Barbra Ann by the Beach Boys

3.Favorite animal: Lions Roar!

4.Favorite activities: Being outside playing in dirt, climbing, dancing, singing

5.Favorite person: dada

6.Favorite toy: books at the moment

7.Favorite food: Avocado

8.Favorite TV Shows: Elmo's World, and Baby Einstein signing DVD

9.Favorite celebrity: Elmo

10.Favorite time of day: When dada comes home from work

11.Favorite games: Hiding under sheets, playing peekaboo, running naked throughout house, and paddy cake

12.Favorite instrument: dada's guitar

13.Least-favorite activity: sitting in shopping cart with mom

14.Favorite youtube video: ABC Phonetics song 2

15: Favorite iPad app: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star interactive book by SuperSimpleLearning

Just so I don't forget:

He points to objects he wants and makes a high pitched hmm sound, and then pats his chest like a gorilla.

He knows several signs and is finally starting to use them correctly. I remember the day it finally clicked. We watched and practiced the baby Einstein video and then he put together what dada meant and went around the house all day long signing dada, the rest came quicker. He knows for the most part: dada, eat, drink, milk, baby, more, please, diaper, mine...

He can point to eyes, ears, mouth and nose, but he prefers to just stick out his tongue and go Blahh for all of them.

He knows a few sounds. A dragon goes roar, a lion goes rooooaaar, a car goes brrrr, a dog goes ffff for ruff, people go blah blah blah. 'A' is for Ah Ah Apple, 'B' is for buh buh ball, 'D' is for duh duh dog. He doesn't like the C for Cat sound for some reason, or he doesn't know how to say it because no matter how many times we practice he goes straight to D for Dog.

His way of saying I love you is blowing kisses.

He will hug random strangers if they smile and talk to him sweetly.

When he hears a dump truck he breaths in sharply, goes brrrr, and runs to the door waiting to be picked up so we can watch it together. He LOVES it, and it kinda takes up an hour of our morning sometimes cause we live in LA, and there are so many dump trucks!!!

He mimics sirens from firetrucks and ambulances. We hear them a lot here in LA!

He loves balls, trucks, music, singing, being tickled, ruff housing with dada.

He sings Ahhhh when he hears music or his dada plays the guitar. He loves strumming the guitar.

Jake's First Phone Call

I could just eat him up

Jake's first phone call was from a girl!!!

A few hours after church, we received a phone call from a family I really admire. Andy answered and the mom immediately asked if Jake was there. Andy gave the phone to Jake and the conversation went like this:

"I sowwie," says the sweetest little voice.

Jake smiles and giggles.

Her mom then sincerely says, "Thank you for letting her do that, she can now have her Easter candy."

It really touched my heart and made me smile at the same time. You see, earlier at church Jake was lightly bopped (maybe tapped ever so softley is a better word) on the head. He really didn't mind and I thought it was all play, but the parents were trying to teach their little girl not to hit people on the head and she refused to say she was sorry. I can imagine her Sunday afternoon was really long and hard because she didn't want to say sorry, but eventually she did. Way to follow through! Andy and I both loved the call, and I think Jake did too cause he really did smile and giggle.

Easter 2012

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend! We had the most beautiful weather here in Los Angeles. It was perfect, sunny, and spring is in bloom. There are roses and lilies and gorgeous flowers all over the place. My heart loves everything about springtime.

Friday, we watched Rango and had pizza cause Andy worked late and the babe was asleep by the time he made it home. It was a lot of fun and nice to just relax and Rango is a great movie. Andy continued working early into the morning on Saturday just so we could enjoy Easter as a family. He has been putting in over 80+ at work again. It has been intense, but we love our weekends.

We went to an Easter Egg hunt at church on Saturday. Jake loved being outside, and he even walked up to the fence and found an easter egg, but he mostly sat in the grassy knoll in awe of the spectacle of children and the bright pastel eggs spread across the green. Later, we went to dinner at Otis' house (from church). He always is so sweet to invite our family for the holidays over to his house. He is an amazing chef and he prepared enough food for an army! We ate with our bishop and his kids, and Jake kept giving Bishop Marsh's son hugs. It was purty darn cute! We later helped Otis, Ava, Addie, and Alex Marsh plant strawberries. Jake attempted to eat a lot of dirt as always. Oh, what a boy he is! Later, we hopped on over to the Grove to get Jake's picture with the Easter bunny, but they were on a long break, so we just walked around and enjoyed the great weather.

Sunday, Jake woke up with the dawn and I hid his Easter basket in his box of diapers. He did a pretty good job of finding it and he let out an audible 'Wow' when he found it. Soo adorable! Nothing makes us more excited then to watch him learn and discover and it is getting really fun to start celebrating the holidays.

Jake played with his new toys and off we went to church. We spend most of our time chasing our son around the hallways at church now, but it was nice to be in the Lord's house for Easter. I try and catch even a small sentence or phrase amongst the chaos and I ponder and think about it while Jake squirms about. It helps me at least feel like I retain some kind of spirituality to keep me going. What do you moms do to fill your spiritual cup when a little one is so busy?

Sunday night, we had a yummy dinner with some dear friends. We love our friends in LA. Andy and I are constantly amazed at what incredible, funny, smart, and exemplar people they (you all) are. We feel lucky to have them because they are all rockstar families. We finished our day with some left over carrot cake and watching Jake dance to his favorite song, Barbra Ann by the Beachboys. It was an awesome Easter!

I swear....

that whatever cold or flu or sickness that Jake has, not only makes him have a fever, but it also unleashes a biting, hitting, protesting, dont want to eat my food, nap, or be happy toddler monster baby. I am about ready to run the other direction ripping my hair out and screaming at the top of my lungs. Maybe I've turning into a monster? Anything is possible at this point. Can my sweet baby Jake come back now? Momma is about ready loose it. Oh, and did I mention he's cutting teeth? Maybe he's turning into a vampire!