Movember

What is Movember you ask? No it isn't a typo... It is for mens health awareness month. In honor of it Jon grew a beard.

Looks pretty good, eh? I just hate kissing it...

No that isn't Wolverine... That's Jon. This was the beginning of the transformation into a mustache. He almost went to work like this...

Instead he went to work like this. I busted out laughing every time I saw him, and I think Shayla may have been a little scared. He got a lot of odd looks at work as well. Not how you would expect an investment banker to look, is it?

Last night he shaved it all off and I am happy to report that my clean cut husband has returned!

SUN!!!

I checked the weather today. Not the weather for California but the weather for Utah... I immediately started mourning the loss of warmth and sun when we go to visit. How can there be such a big discrepancy when we only live 12 hours away? I celebrated still being in California by going to the beach with Shayla and our Neighbor Carrie and her daughter, Shay's best friend, Lola. Shayla was so excited that she tried to get in her car seat before we put it in their car.

We had a good time playing in the surf. Then we headed to the blanket to play with some sand toys. Shayla loved it! We built a sandcastle and she liked grabbing sand and putting it in the toys.

Lola got sick of the toys pretty quick and decided to go and flirt with a little boy playing on the beach too. She kept throwing her toys at him and expecting him to pick them up for her.

Much to Jon's approval Shayla stayed and played in the sand. She didn't really care about the little boy. Even when he came up to see what she was doing. Carrie and I joked around about how Lola would be mad if Shayla didn't back off from her man!

I love that we are able to get out every day and go to the beach or the park and enjoy the sunshine. Jon was really confused about the weather anywhere but here and didn't understand why someone would need a climate controlled storage unit. It hasn't even been cold... I then reminded him that it has been snowing in Utah. Not everyone is used to 70 degrees and sunny every day. We sure are loving it here!

Stubborn

The one thing I can say about Shayla is that she is stubborn. She always knows better than Mom. (I thought I had a few more years before this started!) She always knows how it should be done. She is my most avid critic. She also has decided that she knows where we should be going. One thing that I have really liked about having Shayla walk is that I don't have to carry her everywhere. She just follows behind me. Until this last week...

If Shayla doesn't like where I am going she just sits right down on the sidewalk and refuses to move. She'll just smile at me like, "I dare you to come get me". So I do go to get her and...

she crawls away from me. Yes she knows how to stand up and walk but she will crawl away. Maybe she thinks it's faster...

The best part is that she is headed to her best friend Lola's house. They live just a few doors down from us and Shayla knows where it is and how to get there. If she happens to get there before I can catch her she will pound on their door so that she can come in and play. Sometimes she gets confused and knocks on some strangers door... Then I have to explain why my 15 month old is pounding on their door. Not awkward at all....

BeAcH DaY!!

One of the perks of living in California is that we can go to the beach on November 6th and play in the surf. Plus it's only about a half hour away from our house so it's really convenient too! No sooner did we arrive than we promptly removed our shoes to feel the soft sand between our toes. Shayla even drew in it with her fingers and then got upset when the sand wouldn't come off her hands so that she could eat a graham cracker.

The best part is watching Shayla play in the surf. She just laughs hysterically as the water starts to come up to her. She likes to stomp on the foam at the edge of the tide.

She also loves to play with her Daddy in the water. No joke after we started going to the beach she started really enjoying her baths. I guess she decided if water was that much fun at the beach it must be ok when Mom is trying to clean her as well.

She also enjoys finding shells and rocks and bringing them to me. She is a little smarty pants and observes everything. Last time we were there I was looking for sea shells and sand dollars and this time she would find them on her own and bring them to me!

She and I also hung out on the blanket and ate treats and watched all of the dogs playing on the beach. She really liked one Retriever that would run into the surf and retrieve a stick his owner had thrown in and then start rolling around in the sand. Shayla would laugh and giggle and start woofing at the dog. All I have to say is I'm glad that I'm not the one who had to clean up that dog after that! It was hard enough cleaning all the sand off a 15 month old!

We had a blast! Shayla was so sad when we left that she just kept waving goodbye to the beach as we walked back to the car.

Jon's favorite part of the day was that we saw what looked like a pirate ship sailing out a bit from us. There were a lot of sail boats out and it was a gorgeous day to be there! 60 degrees and very pleasant. It is by far one of our favorite things to do here! (Looking at these pictures can you believe that it isn't summer anymore?) I'm starting to have season confusion. It's still September in my mind because of this weather!

What a great day! Plus BYU won their football game to boot! We are one happy Laudie family tonight!

Piano

When we moved to California we moved our piano from Houston, where it has been residing the last few years with Jon's sister Liz. We gave it some much needed repairs since it is over 100 years old. As soon as it arrived it became Shay's favorite piece of furniture.

She usually only gets to play when Jon is home. Another reason why she is so excited to see Jon walk through the door. (Most days she wakes up just as Jon is leaving for work and goes to bed before he gets home. They spend a lot of time together on the weekend.)

I think the only down side for Jon is that if he is playing she will come over and take his hands off the keys so that she can play. This little girl always gets what she wants from her Daddy! (Another reason she is always happy to see him) When I won't let her do something she usually goes running to him. Yep she already knows how to work the parents.

I think we have a little musician on our hands. She loves music and likes to sing along too. I love this girl. She makes me smile!