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A sneak peek into my simple life and wonderful family.











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Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Family Photo Shoot

Last month we took some updated family photos.  The last professional family photos we took were when Skylar was 4 months old, so it was definitely time.  I knew I wanted to do something in a vineyard, so our photographer recommended a lovely winery in Temecula.  I was very happy with how they turned out and I can't wait until we get settled into our new home so I can put them up around the house.








 

Monday, December 19, 2011

Welcome Logan Anderson

Well it has happened again, another one of my BFFs has become a Mom.  Darci and Blake welcomed Logan David into the world last Thursday night.  It was a long day of labor for Darc but she did an amazing job and now they have the sweetest, cutest, and healthiest baby boy.  It worked out great because I was able to make a quick trip to the hospital to meet Logan.  Logan was just too precious and holding him was very special.  I truly believe there is no friendship, no love, like that of a parent for their child.  A big Congratulations to Darci and Blake....Logan is one luckily kid to have such wonderful parents!




Meeting Santa

I finally got an afternoon free to where I was able to take Skylar to see Santa.  I was really happy that we found an actual real looking Santa Claus because last year poor Skylar took her picture with the Southwest Airlines Santa who looked like a 24 year old kid.  Once we walked into Santa's cottage Skylar immediately got timid and grabbed onto my leg, but luckily I was able to sit her on Santa's lap just in time for a photo before the tears came pouring down.  She was such a trooper and I was proud that she only cried at the very end when Santa went to give her a candy cane.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Ooohhh BOY!!!

As I'm sure you can tell from the title, we are expecting a little boy.  Jake, Skylar and I are all thrilled for our little man to arrive and complete our family.  This time around when finding out the sex I wanted to do something a little different and surprise Jake with what we are having.  I decided to move my appointment up a week without him knowing and then decorate the house depending on pink or blue.  Thanks to my brother and Dad setting up a round of golf for the morning it was pretty easy to get Jake out for a few hours to set up the house.

For two days Skylar and I didn't tell a soul that she was going to have a little brother.  I wanted to make sure Jake would be the first to find out, thought that would only be fair.  We ordered 30 baby blue balloons and 2 pink balloons to put out on the front porch so when Jake arrived home he would see both the pink and blue.  It was Skylar's job to put the balloons on the front porch.






Once Jake was pulling around the corner my brother sent us a text message so we could get ready for Jake's big entrance into the house.  When Jake walked through the door and saw all the balloons he was pretty confused.  He thought I was throwing him a surprise birthday party because his birthday is a week away and he just kept saying, "What, our appointment is next week?"  So my plan of him seeing the balloons on the front porch cluing him in on what he was walking into didn't work.  He only saw balloons, didn't even notice the color of them.  My brother told me when they were walking in Jake was asking him "Is she throwing me a party, tell me she isn't throwing me a party?!?!"  Needless to say, it finally all clicked to him that he was going to have a son and he was extremely happy and really appreciative of the surprise Skylar and I put together for him.




Our little man at 19 weeks.


The money shot!!

Happy Holidays

Our 2011 Holiday Card


Monday, December 5, 2011

Annual Holiday Brunch - 2011

I really do have the best friends in the world.  We have pretty much been through everything together and I can't picture my life without them in it.  Every year we do a holiday brunch together which we all look forward too because it's just us, no husbands and no kiddos.  We would sit there for hours if the waiters didn't nudge us out because we love just chatting and reminiscing about some of our favorite memories.  This years funny memory was our "No-Bound" tops (you really had to be there to get it).  It is one of my favorite traditions and I'm sure in 30 years we will be at the same place in front of the same tree taking the same picture. 

Quick Beach Trip

A few weekends ago, we made a quick visit to JB and Bobby's house in Ocean Beach.  It had been months since we had seen them so it was great being able to catch up.  Skylar got a little antsy, plus Jake can't go to the beach without actually going to see the ocean, so he took her down to the water.  Jake said she loved it down there and would just point and scream as the waves crashed on the shore.


Thanksgiving 2011

Better late then never.  I know, I'm a few weeks late on posting about Thanksgiving, but here we go. 

Ever since my Aunt Elsa moved back from Chicago it has pretty much become a tradition to have Thanksgiving at her house.  Her house is so nice, it has a massive backyard where pretty much everyone gathers.  There is a tons of sitting room and most important is the big screen TV they have out there for everyone to watch all the Thanksgiving football games on. 

This year the food I thought was the best ever.  Grandma made her traditional stuffing, Aunt Elsa made the dish of the night with her sweet potatoes, and of course the turkey was cooked to perfection.  The only one to miss out on the yummy food was of course, Skylar would refused to try anything yummy and just want to eat the dinner rolls.  What kid doesn't like mashed potatoes...mine of course. Once the pies came out, Skylar definitely didn't hold back.  She would sit on anyone's lap who would let her and take over their dessert plates.  I believe she ate my pumpkin pie slice and my Mom's ice cream pumpkin pie. 

It was a great Thanksgiving and the perfect way to start off the holiday season. 






Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Matthew & Erin's Engagement Party

A few weeks ago Erin's parents hosted a wonderful engagement party for Matthew and Erin at a Riverside favorite, Mario's Place.  If you are from Riverside, you have for sure been to Mario's Place or at least heard of it.  I think that both my parents and especially Erin's parents are locals there so it made sense to have it be the location for the engagement party.

The party was held outside on the back patio and with rain in the forecast they set up a tent to cover the whole patio.  Erin's Maid of Honor, Tonya, who is also her best friend and Matthew and Erin's roommate did a fabulous job with the decor.  Everything was so sweet and endearing, it really had a romantic feel to it.






The party was hosted with an open bar and a ton of delicious appetizers.  Sadly, I wasn't able to enjoy the open bar, but Skylar and I enjoyed the food.  There were a ton of Erin's family and friends there as well as a bunch of Matthew and Erin's friend from high school. It was nice for me to be able to catch up with Matthew's friends from high school who I hadn't seen in years. 


Skylar was having a great time running around the whole party.  She loved celebrating her Aunt and Uncle's engagement and I know she can't wait for the wedding.



Grandma even made a really sweet speech telling Erin she was so glad to have Erin become apart of our family and that she thinks of her as her own grand-daughter.


Just one big happy family! Minus Jake who had a half marathon early the next morning in San Diego and had to stay home.



Well the party went into the late late hours of the night.  I think my parents got home sometime around 1:00 am. Skylar and I ended up leaving around 8:30 pm as she was getting worn out from running all over the place, but we are glad were able to celebrate with everyone and we know this is just the beginning of happily ever after for Matthew and Erin.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Sea World's Christmas Preview

I can't believe that Christmas is right around the corner.  I have even started doing some Christmas shopping as I'm trying to get as much done as I can before we "may" (keeping fingers crossed everything with our house goes through) be moving into our new home.  With it being the holiday season Sea World put on their Annual Christmas Preview for all season pass holders so Jake and I decided to take Skylar and meet up with Rocio and Naanelii (our Sea World buddies).  Jake left work earlier and we headed off to Sea World with a grumpy Skylar who had just wakened from a nap. 

Once we arrived I was pretty surprised how crowded it already was.  Rocio and Naanelii we running a bit late so we took Skylar directly to the Sesame Street area where she completely snapped out of her bad mood.  She was pointing to Elmo and dragged Dad to the line for the flying Elmo ride.  Next up was Abby's tea cup ride.  We let Skylar cruise around for a bit but she was wanting to play in the spray ground they had going so we thought we should get her out of there and let her look at the awesome Christmas tree Sea World had.

Right then Rocio and Naanelii arrived and Naanelli, who is such a sweetheart, went to give Skylar a big hug and hold her hand, which of course Skylar was not reciprocating.  Naanelli was in ah of the massive Christmas tree while Skylar just wanted to be with Mom.





We decided to see what else the park had to offer so we put the girls in their strollers and found the sea lions that were definitely in the holiday mood.  They were so loud, begging for everyone to throw them small fish.  The girls loved watching them.  We kept telling them that the fish were taking a bath.  Jake on the other hand who is not a fan of sea lions thought they were extremely annoying.


The main attraction that Sea World puts on during the holidays is the real snow playground they have set up for all the kids.  We found the snow, but the line was just outrageously long and we figured it wouldn't be worth it for the girls.  So we headed back to where we know the girls will have fun and went to the Sesame Street play area.  There were tons of kids playing in the bounce house which was perfect for the girls to burn off some energy in.




Last but not least we watched the Holiday Shamu Show.  I hadn't seen a Shamu show in probably 20 years so I wasn't sure what to expect or even if Skylar would sit through the whole thing, but to my surprised the show wasn't half bad and Skylar sat and watch the entire thing.  It probably helped that she was munching on some popcorn, but every time she saw Shamu she would say "WOOOOHHH, WOOOOHHH" it was pretty cute. 




I thought the whole Holiday Preview that Sea World put on was pretty good.  Skylar had a good time and now that Jake is a holder of a season pass for 2012 I'm sure we will be making many trips back to Sea World in New Year.