800 Degrees

800 Degrees, our now favorite pizza joint, was introduced to us by McKay's Uncle Dave when we went with his family to the NCAA Mens Volleyball Finals with BYU vs. UC Irvine.

Here's McKay and little Aaron in their BYU garb.  McKay LOVES to wear his silly blue velvet shirt that he found at DI almost as much as I like to stroke it when he wears it.  Grrr baby!  

800 Degree's pizzas are the closest thing you can get to a real Italian pizza in the US.  Uncle Dave served as a missionary in Italy for 2 years and he stands by his 800 Degrees pizzas - 100% authentic Italian.  All the ingredients are straight from the garden fresh, the crust is perfectly thin, and the pizzas are cooked in a 800 degree brick oven to perfection!  Now that'sa pizza! Muah! 

Aaron may look small, but his stomach most certainly is not!  McKay and I think that it must take up most of his abdomen.  Aaron holds nothing back when finishing his/everyone's food.  Human garbage disposal I tell you!

 

The whole gang at UCLA sports center.

McKay and Uncle Dave

We were all so pumped for BYU to be in the finals and they started off super strong, but, unfortunately UC Irvine found their weakness and crushed them in the end.  It was pretty sad to see, but we still love you BYU and it was fun to see McKay supporting my team.

The Apple Pan, our now favorite burger joint, was also introduced to us but Uncle Dave.  What can I say, Uncle Dave's got good taste! (Pun #1, YES!)

The Apple Pan is a super cute diner from the 50's that has been frozen in time.  Nothing has changed, except for the crazy busy flow of customers now.  It truly is a gem of a restaurant in L.A.

There are only about 25 seats around a bar and that's it for seating.  We ordered our cheeseburgers to go and ate across the street on the curb.  It was quite perfect and the children couldn't have been happier!  Look at all those cheesy smiles! (Pun #2, double YES!)

As is customary with Uncle Dave's family, here is the passing of the dessert.

 And...once again here is Aaron finishing everything to the last lick!

ScotsFest

A few weeks ago my Scot and I dusted off our kilts and set out for the Orange County annual ScotsFest, where we were not disappointed!  What may have seemed like a very easy task turned out to be a little tricky considering how many accessories accompany a kilt for it to be properly worn.  For those unfamiliar with kilt attire, here are just a few of the accessories that I have learned, which can be very easily explained:

Kilt: man skirt

Sporran: man purse

Sgian-dubh: man knife 

Kilt hose: man stockings 

Garter Flashes: man garters 

Ghillie brogues: man shoes

When worn in unison something very special happens called: man.

And I can't keep my hands off this hunky man when he is wearing his manly kilt!

While at the festival, we met up with his Uncle Dave and their family to enjoy the Scottish festivities, which included,

sheep herding,

celtic harping,

bag piping,

Scottish Dancing,

Log throwing (manliest sport I know of),

Tall Scotsman spotting,

 Scottish Rocking,

 And this guy!

 I've got some Scottish blood in me, but when I come to these kind of things with my Scot, I become enamored with the life and spirit of this vibrant culture and people.  I told McKay on numerous occasions that I wanted our girls to learn Scottish dancing and harp, and our boys to learn the bag pipes and become log throwers.  The cutest thing I saw all day were these two young boys running around in their kilts, completely shirtless.  I resolved then and there that one day that would be my children!  Thank heavens for Scottish people and for my very manly Scot!