Berries and Politics...

Yesterday London and I went with some friends to pick berries at a u-pick ranch in Palo Alto! London was my taster and followed me along testing my bounty. We got loads of raspberries and blackberries and made a scrumdiddlyumptious cobbler last night. Yum! As I picked, I had such a good time and thought to myself, "why do people say we need immigrants to do this kind of labor?" And now I must wax political. Tim and I decided that the whole immigration issue is not discussed in the proper context. Really, the question is do the immigrants, with their labor, benefit our economy enough to outweigh the draws they make on our social programs? No! So rather than talking about building fences or the dreaded amnesty, what we really should be doing is getting rid of the social programs that eat up our tax dollars without solving any of the problems they are meant to. Not only would that address immigration, but it would address the sorry state of welfare in this country. Who doesn't like killing two birds with one stone?

Father's Day

We celebrated Father's Day yesterday. Tim told me not to get him anything, so I tried to be creative in making him feel special without spending a lot. I asked my neighbor to snap some photos of me and London and framed a couple for his desk at work.





My Dad came over for dinner, which was part of the surprise also. We had cashew chicken and orange chicken with homemade fortune cookies. (BTW, Trader Joe's orange chicken was pretty good if you can't get to Panda Express...) The fortunes were "reasons why London and I love you." Thanks to Meagan for the great idea! Dad (Grandpa) brought London a new BYU t-shirt home from Utah, so she had to sport it for our family photo. We also enjoyed the Man vs. Wild marathon on the Discovery channel. I hope I succeeded in making a great Father's Day!

Bedhead

It's a good thing my daughter isn't old enough to be either 1) web savvy enough to know her photo is on the world wide web or 2) be embarassed by it, because if she were she might get back at me by 1) forcing me to play peek-a-boo 68 times in a row at breakfast (as opposed to the usual 37 or so) or 2) dumping the bowl of cheerios on her head and ruining a perfectly good hairdo.

Movies to Quote by

Per Melissa's blog that says she doesn't understand people who quote movies as their only source of humor: I had the same concern when Tim and I first started dating and he talked in a continuous stream of movie quotes. However my views have changed. While this isn't our sole source of humor, after almost 6 years of marriage we have developed our own language of, shall we say, quotespeak. The laughs never cease at our house, and we have these movies to thank for our continuous dialogue of silver-screen gems. Melissa, maybe you haven't been watching the right movies. Should you or anyone like to learn our language, the following films are recommended, with a sampling of great quotes to get you started:

1. Waiting for Guffman: too many gems to name--please refer to the film review on the In Rare Form blog

2. Meet the Parents: "you've gotta spike those, Focker!" "...we thank thee for the smorgasbord than has been so aptly lain before us..." Jack's poem: "I selfishly tried to keep you here while the cancer ate away at your organs like an unstoppable rebel force..." and of course, the exchange between Kevin and Greg in Kevin's kitchen.

3. Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure: "You killed Ted you medieval ----weed!" and "Strange things are afoot at the Circle K" and "San Dimas High School football rules!"

4. Ferris Bueller's Day Off: "Rooney! A grandmother dies, and you insult me! What the he-- is the matter with you?" (must use Cameron voice) "I've got a test on European Socialism. I'm European, I don't plan on being European, so who gives a crap if they're socialists? They could be fascist anarchists, I don't care. It still doesn't change the fact that I don't own a car."

5. Better off Dead: "This is pure snow. Do have any idea of the street value of this stuff?" and "Is he your main Weinerman?" "Sorry your mom blew up, Ricky."

6. Back to the Future: we can thank this one for the term "flux capacitor" and "88 miles per hour" and "Run for it Marty! It's the Libians!"

7. It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World: Emmeline: "I'm just concerned about Russell's condition..." Mother-in-law: "Emmeline don't you realize that your husband has sunk $40,000 not to mention $15,000 of my money into a company that makes seaweed for people to eat? Not only do people not like it, but it costs over $4 a can!" Russell: "I've been working hard trying to keep costs down." Mother-In-law: "You were working hard trying to keep the costs down the day you ran out of your office and stood in the middle of the street screaming..." (Maret, be glad this isn't your mother.)

8. What's Up Doc: "You're different." "From now on I'll try to be the same." "The same as what?" "The same as those who aren't different." and "I just hope that my igneous rocks aren't damaged." "I know what you mean, pal, I hate it when my igneous rocks are even touched!"

9. Napolean Dynamite: Yes, it's trite, but Tim can do a great impression of every single character

10. The Sound of Music: This requires singing and choreography. Come to think of it, so does number 1

11. Shrek: "Ogres have layers." Donkey says, "Like parfaits? Parfaits is delicious. Everybody loves parfaits. You ever axe someone 'you wanna parfait' and they say 'no, I don't want no parfait'? No. Parfaits is delicious!"

12. Anything with Harrison Ford: "I'll make it my mission in life!" "You switched the samples..." "It belongs in a museum!"

For further reference material, we also recommend all seasons of "The Office" and selected Ali G segments on YouTube.

December 12, 2007

At the park

With the summer weather here, we went to a park with water sprayers yesterday with our mommies' group. London is still afraid of the water (ever since Hawaii), but she did discover the ice cream man!

Posing in her swimsuit



Wanting ice cream!


Friends Meagan and Ella

Stop and Smell the Roses