Angie and Bunny

We had a late Mother's Day get together over at Fallbrook tonight and I got a little trigger happy despite many protests. The girls will probably all hate me for posting these pictures, but they're way too modest for being the gorgeous, amazing moms they are. So there.

I bet that happened to every guy that walked by and there's a whole line of them. Must have been fun to watch. "Hmmm......I wonder what his butt looks like? Oh, theeere we go!"

A big thank you to Salt of Earth for putting out your music. I love, love, LOVE the album. I wish I could have seen you play live, but for now I'll be content to crank up the decibles and headbang to Prophet. Don't stop.

I took Kyle up to "The Rock" and made him pose for a million pictures. Finally he got tired of it and asked if he could take some. I reluctantly gave him the camera and let have a try at it. Here's Kyle's first attempt at photography, .....not bad for a 4 year old.

His very first picture. I was a little paranoid he was going to drop the camera. He was like "mom, you're grabbing me!"

He forgot to say "1, 2, 3...cheese!" But he got me in the frame, centered and all.

His favorite subject.

He dubbed this the "Half Rock". You can see his shadow.

Last night was the worst poker night I've ever had. I'm still licking my wounds. Kenji managed to pull in everyone's money and come out $9 richer. Nate and Hick lost some. I bombed. You would think with it being Mother's Day he'd cut me a little slack, but no, the guy is ruthless. And to add insult to injury, when I walked into the kids room this morning I was barred at the door by John and Abi's Richard and told I couldn't come in unless I chanted "Kenji is King". Fortunately, I'm bigger than Richard.

With alot of our people gone to Wordstock, those of us at home have been living la vida loca and doing something special every evening. Both to make ourselves feel better and because the days have been extra busy and extra long and we need the distraction. Tonight we had a luau outside in southern Cal's perfect weather, but instead of the traditional roasted pig, we had ribs. Maria cooked, Nate took the kids so Maria could cook, Sam make tiki's with the little boys, Eva decorated with the little girls, Paula made virgin pina coladas for the kids, I made mai tais for the grown-ups, Jules wore coconut boobs, and Justin just fed himself. I had fun, ate too much and shook a mai tai all over myself. I'm still sticky. And to think I wanted to go to Wordstock....

Here are some more.

Whole milk vs. 2%, 1% or skim milk is our home's current raging debate and somehow it got into devotions this morning. Some of our guys seem to think it's "girly" to drink low fat milk and that it's almost a badge of manliness to drink whole milk. First off, it's not very manly to drink milk at all, because that should have been done with when you were say, 16 months old when mom decided to wean you. So really, the most manly milk of them all would be (gasp!) soymilk because it's comes from a plant instead of the mammery gland of a lactating female mammal. I guess having it pre-milked for you makes it ok. But lots of people, both men and women, drink milk so that's beside the point.

I do have an agenda for getting people to switch to a lower fat percentage, it's cheaper and it's easier on your waistline. Some people say any lowfat milk tastes like water, but if you try it for a few days you'll get used to it and whole milk will begin to taste like half and half to you. Besides, I've been filling up the whole milk cartons with 2% milk for months now, so maybe you're already used to it. Tricks of the trade....

Per glass, here are the specs calorie wise:

* Whole Milk - 150 Calories - 8g Fat
* 2% Milk - 120 Calories - 4.5g Fat
* 1% Milk - 100 Calories - 2.5g Fat
* Skim Milk - 80 Calories - 0g Fat

So if you go from from whole milk to 1% Milk and typically drink 3 cups of milk a day, you would save 150 calories a day. Although that doesn't sound like much, since you gain about a pound for every 3500 calories you consume, those extra 150 calories might cost you an extra pound in body weight every 3 weeks or so (150 calories/day x 23 days = 3450 calories = 1 pound).

Plus studies have shown possible links between low-fat milk consumption and reduced risk of arterial hypertension, coronary heart disease, and obesity.

So, it might not be a bad idea to sacrifice a little "all-in your mind" flavor for your health. Plus, you'll get used to the taste and will discover a whole new world of low-fat milk that'll save you poundage in the future and me dollars in my food shopping budget tomorrow. A good deal all around. I love you boys! ;)

New like smoky mornin’
Cool like heaven glow
Meet me on the mountain
I got no place to go
I like my daylight to be silver
I like my night skies to be blue
Blue as you

Like my entire family (myself included), my mom is a nature freak, and so for her birthday we took her to the Wild Animal Park. Amazingly enough, the day we were there was the last day for the butterfly/orchid exhibit and my mom was flipped. The enclosure for the butterflies was kept at a very warm temperature, at least 72 degrees, and there were butterflies everywhere, ...it was amazing. All of us got some interest from the butterflies but not as much as my mom who had one land on her and stay with her the entire half hour we were in there. She's a regular St. Francis, ...for serious. All animals love her. Just look at her smile! And that butterfly is still on her in the last picture. I love you mom.

Spotted this today on the bathroom dryer of a Yoshinoya Restaurant on my bi-monthly trip to LA. Who goes out to eat and then dries their head?