Charger Game

Last Sunday we woke thinking this will be a relaxing day at home watching the game with our family....then it all changed! Our friend has amazing season tickets and texted us at 10 asking if we could come cause they had two extra tickets...normally this is a no brainer, but seeing as how we had no sitter, family coming over, and the time, we kinda stressed out and then decided we had to take the offer and so we rushed to get ready and head out the door...when we usually go to games the car is packed the night before, we are at the stadium by 10, and we've never had the baby with us!! We headed down only to get stuck in crazy traffic, so bad that people were out of their cars selling shirts on the freeway (we learned they closed the parking lot early because it was a raider/charger game and they didn't want people getting too crazy)...we ended up getting off and taking the trolley over cause we would have missed half the game if we stayed waiting on the freeway...Avery did amazing...she watched everything and even fell asleep for a bit on daddy...the game was different having a baby, but still super fun except for the loosing part!! Our seats were club level, normally costing 180 each and parking is 25, however since we parked at the trolley station our entire day cost 10 bucks instead of 385...amazing and we feel so blessed that our friend thought of us to bring...they have two more tickets for this weekend so we get to do it all over again...we are so blessed!! Alot of people thought we were crazy for bringing a baby to the Raider game, but really who's going to mess with you when you have a baby in a little jersey!!

December Nights!!

We went to December Nights last weekend at Balboa Park (along with everyone else from San Diego)...we had never heard of it and our friends invited us! It was quite the experience...so many people...I'm so glad we didn't bring the stroller...we had just ordered this new backpack (the same one we borrowed for Hawaii and fell in love with it) and it came the day before so it was perfect. The night was pretty cold and Avery looked adorable all bundled up!! It was different then what we thought...I was expecting more Christmas lights and less street fair feeling, but still it was fun...we loved the international part of it and of course spending time with our wonderful friends!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!

We got our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving...I love having a tree in the house, the smell and the lights are fantastic, I wish I could have one all year long!! It was fun to see Avery's face with all the trees and we enjoyed our first tree hunting with our little one!!

By the time we got home, it was passed her bedtime (considering she goes down at 6:30) so she was a little annoyed with the picture taking, but enjoyed the lights on the tree!! We love how early her bedtime is when we are at home cause we get time for just us, but it can be a downer when we are out and about!! So we put her to bed and enjoyed decorating the tree with a glass of wine just us!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!! We hope you all have tons to be thankful for, we feel blessed to have this little munchkin in our lives!!!

8 Months Old!!

Our little bug is 8 months old...I've always heard that time flies once you have kids and man does it ever...it's crazy!! We celebrated her 8 months of life with a trip to the zoo...she also cut her first tooth...I totally cried thinking that she's not my little baby anymore with smooth gums, but already a big girl...soon she will be asking for the keys to the car and be off on her own!! She is such a fun baby with tons of smiles for everyone...it takes us so long to go places cause people always want to talk to her, but I love every minute of it...she loves to give kisses and high fives, especially to the doggie, he loves the kisses too and yes he gives high fives as well!! The hubs said no decorating until Thanksgiving is over, but he caved and all our decorations are up except for the tree, which we will be getting this weekend!! I love having the house all warm and fuzzy with lights and stockings...we are really missing our old place lately cause it had a fireplace and our new place doesn't....we've even thought about moving just for one!!

We hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and an awesome four day weekend....only three more hours until ours starts and we get our favorite man home with us for four whole days!!

Thoughts on my mind....

Nothing much has been going on in our house lately...my mind is in bullet form today and all over the place!!

*I'm so ready for the holidays and I want to decorate my house now for Christmas.

*I feel like time is flying by and I want it to stop for a bit so I can just cuddle my little girl!!

*Wishing I could win the lottery so I can continue to be a stay at home mommy and buy a house near our family and friends and not have to move away...

*Scared and excited to find out what next year will bring for us (we might have to move with Dana's job so I can continue being at home with Avery)

*Have another baby soon or wait? I think of this so often it's crazy...

*Loving that I went shopping the other day and put on jeans in a smaller size then before I got pregnant, who knew that having a baby would be my diet!!

*Friends are amazing...I'm so thankful for the great group we have and for the new friendships I've been forming since having a baby!! (especially you jessica)

*Realizing that as much as I love teaching, I don't want to go back to work until my babies are in school, but also scared that if I take too much time off then I won't get hired back!!

*Annoyed with student loans and a masters degree that I don't get to use!!

*Window shopping is so fun and so are pet stores with a baby...she gets so excited to see all the animals!!

*I'm going shopping on Black Friday this year cause we need to save money (I'm making lists and hoping to get all my shopping done that day)

*Thinking this should be done, cause I sound a little crazy!!

HAWAII

We went to Hawaii last week and had an awesome time. I'm so ready to go back, if I could take my bed and Avery's crib, I'd live there!! We were very lucky to stay in an amazing house with great friends and my mother in law came, a sitter in Hawaii is wonderful!! We were on the big island, Kona side, which has tons of volcanic rocks all over, it's a sight to see...in front of our house we had tide pools and little ponds...the ponds were perfect for Avery. No waves come in and it's like sitting in a bath tub with sand to play with and eat of course!! Speaking of baths, how cute is this little girl in the sink? She fit perfectly and had to have many baths to get the sand and sunscreen off!! She loved all the attention she got during the week, can you tell? When we got home I realized almost all of our pictures are of her...good think grandma took pictures of Hawaii for us!! The lovely couple we stayed with are our old neighbors and they bought her this little costume. And our little happy angel loved it and I think she's starting to know what the camera is and becoming a little ham with it...I love it!!

We were able to borrow a backpack from friends and it was perfect...we used it all the time. We took hikes and went to tide pools with her tagging along. She would hang out or fall asleep and it was wonderful!!

One day we drove around the island and checked out the volcanos and black sand beaches. There were 8 turtles just hanging out on the sand and more in the water...I love turtles and they remind me of our last trip to Hawaii where Dana proposed on Turtle Beach!!

The weather was strange, one minute sunny, the next cloudy, then rainy and oh so humid!! It wasn't until our last night there that we got a sunset. We went snokeling three days and it was amazing. I feel like I'm a fish when I snokel and in a whole new world...I love when turtles swim with you and fish come up to you and check you out. We saw a few eels too!! It was awesome!! I have a huge fear of drowning in the ocean so for me snokeling is defeating a fear and I leave on an emotional high that lasts forever...like I can do anything!!

The best part of our vacation was being together with my hubs and baby for an entire week...Avery did awesome on the plane and the time change and was her wonderful self for the whole week!! I can't wait to plan another vacation soon, if only I could win the lottery!!

7 months old!!

Dear Baby Girl,
I'm having a hard time believing that you're 7 months old already...where has the time gone? It feels like yesterday that we brought you home to our little house and cuddled you and watched you sleep and fed you and watched you sleep (cause that's about all you did)...now you are a ball full of energy. I love our cuddle time in the morning when I bring you in bed with me after daddy leaves for work. We sleep together for a few more hours and then you wake me up by touching my face and laughing. Then we spend a few more minutes just snuggling and you have the best smiles in the morning, you start my day in the best possible way. You love to play with your toys as long as we are right next to you and you love to chase your doggie. Your daddy holds you and runs after the dog and you laugh so hard. Once you start crawling you will not leave that doggie alone. You truly are an amazing kid, you surprise me all the time with just how fun and good you are. We recently went to a wedding and the ceremony was over an hour long, afterward everyone kept telling me that you were the best baby they had ever seen...keep it up so I can convience your daddy to give you tons of siblings!!! We love you very much and look forward to all the things that are still to come.
Love, Mommy (and daddy)

October + tons of plans = crazy fun!!!

Wow what a month...I love October and we have had so many plans that it's been a crazy month for us. We started the month with a family trip to Bates Nut Farm...Since it was Avery's first trip to the pumpkin patch we brought that grandparents too. We really enjoyed picking out pumpkins and I was super excited to put the babes in the middle of tons of pumpkins for pictures. I think she thought I was crazy, but oh well!! I love her little outfit and she for sure has her daddy under her spell...its awesome to see how excited she gets when he gets home for work...it makes me fall more in love with my little family everyday!!

My sister, niece, and nephew came down for a visit and we had tons of fun hanging out...we spend a day at the zoo and it was lovely. I love this picture of Avery and her cousin James. He was so in love with her and wanted to hold her. Sydney my niece was wonderful to have here, she brought books with her just to read to Avery...so sweet!!

My little love bug at the zoo

This past weekend we went to Pismo Beach for our friends Mark and Dina's wedding. It was a wonderful weekend. Dana was a groomsmen and two of the other groomsmen and the groom have all known each other since kindergarten (how cool is that)...We are blessed with a baby that loves to sleep in her car seat so road trips are a nice relaxing time for the hubs and I. The wedding was at the mission in San Luis Obispo and it was beautiful!! Keeping a baby quiet for a hour was tough but she did great and was so fun at the reception. She actually fell asleep on the dance floor with us dancing..so cute!!

Next adventure for the month is Hawaii...we can't wait!!

Last Part of our Adventure

Amsterdam is an amazing city...full of house boats and canals, there is so much to look at and do. We were able to stay with our awesome Dutch friend and take in the city for five days!!

This girl is amazing...we met in England while we were going to school and have become great friends. She has come out to see us twice (once for our wedding as a bridesmaid) and we got to visit her in Holland. Don't you just love her car...when she picked us up at the train station I just laughed thinking how are we all going to fit with our bags too, but we did!! I'm so thankful for our friendship, my experience in school would not have been the same without her, she was my sidekick for six months and I felt like something was missing when I came home, I love how when we talk and see each other, it's like nothing has changed, minus the fact that there is a huge ocean in between us...I think she should move here, but so far I haven't had any luck conviencing her of that!!

Oh Preston England, how I love you...this is where I lived while going to school in England. I was excited to see the city again and show Dana, he had heard all about my adventures, yet hadn't seen any of the places. It was strange to see it all again and it had a different feel, but I'm not going to think of that, I'm going to remember all the fun I had while I was there the first time!!

The Lake District...if you ever have a chance to go to England, this is where you should go...it's beautiful!! It's like out of a movie, the towns are full of B&B's, pubs, and shops...its absolutely perfect!! After northern England we went back to Ireland for a few more days and then headed home. We had been gone for a month and were super excited to see our families and friends and to tell them our exciting news of our little one!!

Honeymoon Part 2

How amazing is this bridge...right smack in the middle of the city...I love it!! There is so much history in Europe and it always amazes me to be a part of it while I'm there...I think its absolutly breathtaking!!

This sign is right outside Kensington Palace

After London we hopped on a plane and headed to Germany...We explored Luneburg and Hamburg. We stayed with my old roommate from England and had a blast catching up with him and meeting his girlfriend and friends. Luneburg is an adorable city with cobble stone streets and the tours of the city are done with horse and buggy...we ate yummy food and enjoyed German beer.

Next stop Amsterdam....

Honeymoon Part 1

Our honeymoon was an amazing adventure!! We were able to spend a month in Europe. Dana knew how much I wanted to go back and he had never been so we set off two days after our wedding!! We began in Dublin Ireland and spent three days trying to adjust to the time change and relax after months of stressful wedding planning!! Lots of whiskey was consumed and Irish music was all around...I have a love for both of those things and so does the hubs so it worked out wonderful...we stayed in a B&B, which was heavenly considering the last time I was there I was in a hostel! Oh how I missed pubs!!

After Ireland we went to Scotland...we were both looking forward to this country alot...we stayed in a B&B in Edinburgh for a few days, that city is amazing! I love how you can be anywhere in the city and look up and see the castle that overlooks the city. The buildings are so old and were built with such beauty (Im a little bummed that they are putting a tram down the middle of the city, it's going to ruin the beauty, but oh well public transportation is the way to go in Europe, America needs to catch up)

Edinburgh Castle

Dinner in the castle that we stayed in!! The most amazing food ever!!

After Edinburgh, we traveled to a small town and stayed two nights in this castle....it was awesome!! The queen of Scots used to live here and we were told that it looks the same as it did when she lived there with the exceptions of bathrooms and electricity...we spent two quiet days here with a picnic in the country and horseback riding through the Scotish country side, absolutly perfect days...

Oh London, how I love you...the hubs didn't like London, not a fan of the million people, but this city holds a special part of me and I loved showing him around...it was my 5th time being in the city and each time I fall more in love with it, I would move there if he would let us, but that's never going to happen:)

Starting from the Beginning

I've been wanting to start a blog since the birth of our baby, but haven't gotten around to it...so I'm finally beginning. I think it will be a fun way of remembering all the things our family does and for others to stay caught up on us...I'm starting with our wedding considering Avery was our honeymoon surprise, I figure the wedding is the beginning of our new life together. We were married on June 20, 2009 at Orfila Vineyards...the day was amazing and everything turned out perfectly!! Here are a few photos of our day!!!