Betsy Bailey

I love July 4! Not only is it a long weekend this year, but it’s also my 40th birthday and today, the 6th, is our third wedding anniversary (and Jake’s 11 month birthday!).

I’ve been having a wonderful weekend. I miss my girlies, but I had a nice long talk with each of them when they called to wish me happy birthday and they were just SO sweet. I’m enjoying the quiet time, but I also can’t WAIT until they are home! They are having a blast with their grandma and that part of their family (which is HUGE and close knit) and I’m glad about that, though.

Scott is totally indulging me – he helped me get a pedicure on Friday after we had dinner at my favorite little Italian restaurant. Yummy! Then we came home and relaxed, watched Nova (about how fireworks are made and displayed – we’re such GEEKS!). Then we watched the Tempe Town Lake fireworks on TV heh. Which was nice because the weather was very iffy at fireworks time – lots of wind, dust and lightening. Eventually the storm blew north of the city, but it was touch and go for a couple hours. I’m just as happy we weren’t out in that.

Yesterday, we had our anniversary luncheon (our anniversary is today, but we wanted to spend Sunday being lazy around the house). We found a little wine bistro called D’Vine that isn’t too far from our house. We went around 1 pm and it was perfect. We were the only ones there and Jake was a dream baby. we started him off with some Cheerios, but as soon as our tapas arrived, he was having NONE of that. He wanted to eat our yummy food. He basically ate one third of it, too! We even ordered him his own entree he is getting to be such a hearty self-feeder! Besides eating a substantial portion of what we ordered him, he also shared a bit of OUR entrees, plus dessert. We couldn’t believe how much that boy put away! Here was the menu:

stuffed mushroom
marinated grilled portabella stuffed with a blend of cheeses, roasted garlic, red onions and bacon

fried artichoke
beer battered artichoke hearts lightly fried and drizzled with a chipotle aioli

Jake had the

grilled cheese “samich” (with gruyere)
your choice of gruyere, cheddar or havarti with a basil butter; served with french fries)

Scott and I had the

pork tenderloin
chipotle marinated pork tenderloin, grilled and sliced then served with green chili mashed potatoes, sautéed vegetables then finished with a red chimichuri sauce

Peach cobbler a la mode for dessert
After that, we went to the jewelry store to get my wedding set cleaned up, Scott’s ring re-sized and re-engraved (it’s too big) and look at mama rings. We decided not to get a mama ring yet, but this ring instead:

The rubies represent July – my birthstone, as well as the month we were married. Three stones represent our three years of marriage. So it’s a combo 40th birthday/3 year anniversary ring. Scotty has the mama ring in reserve for some other holiday someday lol. It’s at the jewelers being re-sized right now. I’ll get it on Friday.

Today we’re hanging out at home, doing our own cookin’ and probably taking Jake for a swim.

Looking at pix on camera:

Jake LOVES Dr. Who (especially the theme song and credits)

Jake is 11 months old:

Pat-a-cake with mama:

Sillies:

Teef!

Attack of the hat is a fun game! (This is the split second before he ripped it off lol)