Crazy L.A.

We have lived in L. A. for almost 9 months now and it seems like every day brings a new adventure. There is always something (or someone) interesting to see here. I'm not complaining. I'm actually starting to like it here. I think it is because in the last 9 months the only time we have had to get our winter coats out was for our trip to Utah in December. Other than that, it has been jacket weather all winter. I really love that! Not only that but all of the other crazy stuff that we see here makes for great conversations and good laughs. Here are just a few of the things we've seen and experienced here in L. A.

• A serenade of sirens going by our apartment building multiple times a day. I don't even want to know where they are going!
• Police and news choppers hovering over our heads a few times a week. Again, I don't want to know!
• A protest blocking traffic on the way to dinner on a Friday night. This is a common occurrence here.
• Don't even get me started about the traffic! It's a nightmare!!
  
• A crazy homeless lady banging her cane into the side walk over and over again. She was really mad about something!
• R-rated billboards (okay, pg-13 by the world's standards but R-rated by mine.)
  
• The most rude drivers I've ever seen in my life!
• A water bottle filled with urine on the sidewalk (I'm pretty sure it was urine. I kept my distance.)
• People selling medical marijuana at the beach.
  
• Also, at the same beach, a closed bathroom because someone found a dirty syringe.
• Rats! I know that rats are in the city but I really didn't expect to see them climbing on my apartment building at night. I don't go out much at night for this reason! They better not get in my apartment or I think I will go ballistic!
• More "plastic" people than I have ever seen in my whole life.
  
• Famous people at church. Yes, apparently Rick Schroeder is a member of the church and he was at our sacrament meeting last week.
• Today I saw some idiot standing on the side of the road right in front of a car trying to turn right. I was behind the car trying to turn. He was just standing there with his arms up in the air like he was calling the guy on or something. Finally after like a minute of just standing there he moved. I didn't stick around to see what happened after that. I really wonder what planet some people live on! Oh yea, I forgot, it's called Los Angeles!
  

My little tornado!

People often ask me how I stay thin after having 3 babies. Well, I can sum up the answer in four words - LUKE, BEN, AND JIMMY! Especially Luke! I am amazed at how much a 19 month old toddler can keep me running around like a crazy woman! He always manages to be about 10 steps ahead of me. Here is an example. Today at lunch, I fixed Luke and Ben their lunch and sat them down to eat. Then I started fixing my own lunch. When it was ready I set my plate down on the table. Then I got up because I realized that I forgot my drink. While I was up Luke started throwing his plate and food - this means that he is done. So I got him out of his seat. I had only taken about 3 bites of my food at this point. Upon getting him out of his seat I realized that he had a poopy diaper, so I took him to his room to change it. Then I made my way to the kitchen with the diaper to put it in a plastic bag so I could drop it in the garbage. While I was getting the bag from under the sink, I noticed that Luke was climbing on the table about to dump my food on the ground. With bag in hand I got Luke off the table. When I turned around again, he was getting into the cleaners and plastic bags that were under the sink (I forgot to shut the cupboard door when I went to get Luke off the table). So I went to shut the cupboard door. Then I finally threw the diaper away and sat down to eat my lunch, which, after changing a poopy diaper was not very appetizing at all. I took 2 more bites and then noticed that Luke was getting in the garbage to retrieve the very same poopy diaper. Well, I had to put a stop to that, of course, so once again my lunch was put on hold. I got him away from the garbage then sat down again. This time, I was interrupted by Ben. He had opened both drawers of my filing cabinet and it was starting to tip over. I went to his rescue and turned around to discover that Luke was on the table AGAIN!! So by this time I just threw my hands up in the air and laughed a little (because if I didn't laugh I would cry). Then I took him to his room and shut the door and tried to choke down the cold, left over chicken from last night. I ate every bite because I knew that I would need the energy to get through the rest of the day.

Here are some pics of the little rascal getting in to trouble. Seriously, I don't know what to do with this kid sometimes. He is not the least bit interested in real toys. Why??? I don't get it. He only wants to play with whatever he knows he is not supposed to have. Does anyone out there have any suggestions of how I can keep this kid under control without destroying everything I own!? I will welcome any advice or ideas! Please help me!

The minute he goes into Jimmy and Ben's room he goes straight to the ladder and climbes to the top bunk. I just know that it is only a matter of time before he breaks a bone.

L. A. Zoo

Last week was Jim's spring break. However, it wasn't much of a break because he was on campus writing a paper 4 out of the 5 days. We decided that we definitely needed a family day to do something fun together at least one of those days so we went to the zoo. It was so much fun and the kids loved it. I really like the L. A. Zoo because they had so many cool and different animals that I had never heard of. When we were observing the monkeys I couldn't believe how much they resembled my kids - not in appearance, of course, only in behavior. Who needs to go to the zoo when you have your own at home, right!


The giraffes were pretty fun to watch. We got to see them really close up and there was one giraffe who was trying so hard to get the leaves from the tree. He needed to be just a few inches taller, but he managed to get a couple leaves by stretching his tongue really far. I didn't realize how long their tongues were! It was entertaining to watch him for a while, but I felt really bad for him when he couldn't reach.