2nd Annual SLASBCQUADGTACE

SLASBCQUADGTACE= Definition: San Luis and Santa Barbara Counties QUADfecta Disk Golf Tournament And Culinary Experience. Pronunciation: slash-ba-quad-ka-tasie

Leave it to my man to imagine up, and organize the SLASBCQUADGTACE. Every year it covers an epic game of all four disk-golf parks in our area, Waller Park in Santa Maria, Laguna Lake and Sinshimer in San Luis Obispo, and lastly, Hielman Park in Atascadero. The tournament begins at the crack of dawn and goes until 5 or 6 in the evening. The guys compete for the Champion-Title Goblet (a sweet thrift-store find) and they throw over 70 holes throughout the day, traveling over 50 miles to complete the marathon.

The"culinary experience" begins with breakfast at a popular local venue, and then we all join up for dinner at another locally-acclaimed restaurant. The first year we ate breakfast at a delicious, steak house in Santa Maria and then had Family-Style Basque food in San Miguel. This year we had breakfast at the Seaside Cafe in Shell Beach and ended the day with pizza from Nardonnes in Atascadero. Refusing to be left out of the best parts, the girls usually join up for the food and then spend the day together in between meals.

2nd Annual SLASBCQUADGTACE: August 20, 2011

This year's competitors from the left; Trago, Danny, Joe, Tim, Dave and Ryan

The course terrain varies, there are lakes, oak forests, mini-ravines, and 'swamps.' It's not hard to lose a disc, so it didn't surprise me in the past to see the guys knee-deep in swamp-puddle mud, barefoot and shuffling around trying to find a rogue disc. They've even scored a few new ones that way!

Tim getting technical

There's a lot of skill involved in executing a good throw.

Jaime and I showing off our baby bumps. Tracy and Kerry were here, but not pictured...partly because Kerry took all the pictures! Thanks Kerry!

Tournament Champion Two Years in a Row: David W.

United States Navy

We can't wait to see you and we are so glad you're home!

Love,

Ryan, Camille, Josiah and New Baby

Farewell Sweet Sleep!

Every day Ryan and I wake up we relish the beauty of not waking up to a crying baby at night. However, it is a well-known secret that the last months in pregnancy are horrible for sleeping anyways. Both pregnancies I have written the sleepless nights off to preparing me for my three-hour wake up call from a newborn.

Unfortunately, even tossing and turning at night is no easy feat. Lugging my huge belly over to the other side takes so much effort I actually have to wake up every single time to do it! Because of this, I find myself in some pretty odd positions throughout the night. I decided to spare you the scary image of me tossing and turning in my pajamas and sleepless-prego face, by finding a much cuter model to illustrate my sleeping habits as of late.

I can pretty much only sleep on my side. So, when one side goes numb or achey from the weight of the baby, I do the belly-lug.

Passing out from exhaustion, this is a mid-crawl crash. Running and crawling around the crib until you just pass out right in the middle of all the activity! (This one's pretty cute. You can hear Josiah crawling and loudly babbling "bla-bla-ya-da-yev-ow" and then, abrupt silence. You think he's just paused in his babble, but a quick peek confirms that he's fallen asleep right in the middle of his "sentence.")

Feet, arms, blankets, they never seem to stay in place, there's always something hanging over the side of the bed!

Sometimes it's just too hot! My thermostat runs pretty warm these days so sleeping with the blanket bundled up underneath seems to help.

Other times you just want to escape the world and nestle in your own little cave of coziness.

You can always tell you've been having some fun times when you pass out in your dirty clothes and you don't even care!

The Big One!

One year ago, 10-09-10 at 9:05 Josiah Lucio Hayes came into the world with 8 pounds 12 ounces and 21 inches to his name. Now, a year later, he is 22 pounds and 31 inches, almost walking and full of personality. He has turned out to be a super easy-going baby. He says a few obvious words (mama, dada, bird, ni-ni) gives kisses, and he loves being outside. For his first birthday we had friends and family over for dinner and just hung out and had a good time. Turns out it wasn't as hard as we thought it would be to get people to hang out with us, and we had at least 25 adults and around 10 kids!

The whole event really impressed two things upon me. 1. It is so beautiful to celebrate Josiah's God-Given life starting early. Someday he will look back and know that he was loved and celebrated, even at one year. 2. "It takes a village to raise a child"...it's cheesy, but having our friends and family there enjoying time together and helping out really impressed upon me how incredibly blessed we are to be surrounded by such amazing people.

The Big Day

Sunday 10-09-11

This is a close-up of the..."unique"... cake Aunty Andrea made especially for Josiah. It was practically the highlight of the meal for me! :) See the red-gel icing/words? She kindly wrote "birth-day," split between two of the cupcakes. However, only the first half, "birth," really showed up... She rocks!

Play Time

Josiah and...Josiah (same name) fighting over a sippy cup. Levi (#28) capitalized on the moment and snatched the offending cup out of Ryan's hand when he wasn't paying attention...winner!

I was so proud of the refrigerator box playhouse I made! I got the box from Idlers in town, painted it with extra house paint, and cut windows and a door in it. The kids all played in it, drew on it with sidewalk chalk, and Josiah kept going in and out of the door...fascinating, I know. It was so much fun to have a free idea be such a big hit! (Ryan pointed out that the stick-figure in the background looks like someone standing at an ironing board. I was horrified, especially given the fact that I hate ironing. Uuuugh! It's supposed to be a person sitting happily on a bench...drawing a chair was too much of a stretch for me.)

Gift Time

Gifts came next, we even had a ready-made crowd of eager 2-5 year olds who couldn't wait to..."help." I loved it ; )!

Cake Time

Last came the cake...Josiah was pretty tired by this time and I think all the attention was a little overwhelming. As you can see, he didn't eat much (sorry Aunty Andrea) and didn't put on much of a show as he suspiciously poked at the pile of sugar in front of him. However, Levi (#28), capitalized on the moment once again by doing a clever, walk-by-and-swipe-the-frosting-off-the-front move before his parents snatched him up...winner! Once again, I loved it! : )

...and Good Night!

Kisses to all and he was out like a light- what an exciting day!

The biggest thanks goes out to my family. Mom and Dad Lucio spent half a day Saturday cleaning up and doing hard work in our yard. For the party, Andrea made two cakes, Terra and Aunty Charlene made ice cream, mom and dad made a big cabbage salad, Granny-Carolyn made beans and another cake, and Lyndal brought drinks. Our friends, Matt and Shellie, and Leslie and Trago lent us tables, chairs, and a few other things that helped us out so much. Then, afterwards, my family cleaned up from the whole party, down to every last detail while I said goodbye to our friends. I felt so, so, so lucky when they left. They gave me a huge gift by doing all that, and I don't think that I can really express how much it meant to me.

Thank you, all of you!

Resemblance

Secretly, I like it when people say he looks like me. However, I have to admit that I think Josiah looks alot like his daddy. After perusing a few photographs, I have concluded that I think that he looks like Ryan when he's serious...

...and like me when he's laughing and smiling.

It's hard to ignore the fact that I had a lot more hair and was darker, but I think we may still share a few traits. One thing I identify with is when Josiah is super excited and happy, he flails his hands and feet in the air, closes his eyes, smiles with a big open mouth and looks like he can't contain his excitement in his body. He does this everyday at 6:00 when he first sees Ryan walk in the door after work. As for me, when I get super excited and happy, I feel like doing the same thing almost every time. You can imagine it looks a little less cute when a pregnant, 29 year old is convulsing with happiness, so I've learned to tone it down, but I still see myself in the little man every time.

What Josiah was doing while I was writing this blog.

Uninspired.

First, a confession. I should be doing a million other things right now. However, I'm tired and I am going to sit here because, right now, at this moment, I can. That brings me to my second point. I need help (yes, I know what my close friends are thinking ...). Interior decorating has never been my strong suit. Design, fashion, you name it- I am rarely surprised by my own ability to produce aesthetically pleasing creations. Decorations I get compliments on are usually ideas that I have shamelessly swiped from other sources. Outfits that people notice on me are ones that I copied right off the manikan or ones that my sisters picked out for me.

So here's my dilemma. I was inspired by this Country Living "Closet-Office" picture, and I decided to convert our living room closet into a little office space.

Here's our living room closet before.

Here's our living room office, after!

...and here's where you come in. Do you see the space on the wall where I have the picture frame leaning? It needs to be decorated and I am asking for your help. I want some color, (I like reds or yellows), and I am looking for some kind of rustic, vintage, or mountainy idea. Any suggestions would be appreciated. And hey, if I choose your design...maybe I'll send you a reward! (...or at least I will think about it and feel guilty for not doing it as I sit and rest...)

Good Idea...Bad Idea

Good Idea

Playing Peek-a-Boo with a blanket.

Bad Idea

Playing Peek-a-Boo with a bib.