Another memory from heaven?

Today, while driving to the lake I had forgotten my wedding ring so I turned around to go back and get it. Once I had it and we were on our way again Maddie was talking to me about being married, saying things like, "If you have a wedding ring then you're married and if you don't then you're not married." Then she said, "Mommy, remember I was at your wedding?" I then said, "Well you weren't there because you weren't born just yet." She very sternly replied back, "Yes, mommy, I was there at your wedding with your grandpa and then I went back up to Heaven!" I didn't really know what to say, other than "Really?" That's the second comment she's made about her and my grandpa being together before she came to earth. Since I was so close to my grandpa it's very interesting for her to mention him in the ways she has, not to mention the fact that they have many similarities one includes their red hair!

Our 4th of July

Yes, we were camping on the 4th this year, but I wanted to make a separate post of them in their 4th of July outfits I made for them this year.

I thought they were pretty cute for making them the day before we left!

Maddie and her pelican. She carried that around the whole trip. It was fun to show her the real pelicans while at the beach!

Cute little Riley


Some hugs.

Camping Trip

Every year Glen's family goes up to San Simeon near Cambria, Ca to camp. I've gone a few times, but it's not as fun for me when I'm caring for babies, so this year was the first time I've gone ever since we've had Riley. She's at a good age, sleeps through the night, and walks in the dirt instead of crawls. It was SO FUN!!! I'm so glad I went. I was kind of debating it because of the big belly I'm sportin'... But decided it would be worth it to have those memories with my family.

The campground is minutes from the Ocean. You can hear the waves crashing as you fall asleep at night. We'd spend our days at the beach laying and playing in the sand.

Riley ran...

...And ran!

Maddie LOVED to be chased by the waves. We have a great video, but it was taking forever to load. She also spent a lot of time making sand castles and digging.

She climbed this "mountain" and made it to the top! Isn't she cute!

Riley loved playing in the sand with the new sand toys we bought. She also LOVES hats and picked this one out at Walmart before our trip.

It was a little cooler this day. The ground was nice and warm though, so we took turns napping and relaxed while the kids played.

This is Brenden, Glen's cousin, holding Riley's hat!

This is Leigha and Jeffrey, Glen's other two little cousins. Jeffrey couldn't get enough of Jasper. He was either playing with him or busy trying to find anything that would burn in the fire! :D

We only had room for one dog ( and we barely had room), so we had to bring the smaller of the two. Don't be too sad though, Ginger got to play at her friend Max's house. Our friend's, the Birds golden retriever. They look like brother and sister and love each other! So, she had fun too!

Jasper kept all the younger kids occupied back at camp and of course he didn't mind the attention AT ALL! They walked him, pet him, played with him, over fed him, and pretty much just loved him to death.

This was a wonderful little trip!

Pre-camping S'mores

Maddie had been asking for s'mores for a while. Her and Glen made some while I was gone on my trip so we had all the ingredients. I promised Maddie that we'd have them for family night, but family night kept getting pushed to the next day because life gets a little busy sometimes. Finally we made them! It was Riley's first time having one! Maddie had cleaned up before hand so I wasn't able to get a picture of her messy face...Darn it! Riley pretty much turned into a Smore...good thing bath time was next!

"Yummy, momma!"

Oh, man....I LOVE this one! That's a framer!

Weekend Getaway to San Francisco

Amazingly enough my sister and I were able to get away for a WHOLE weekend! The original plan included my sweet mom but unfortunately she threw her back out AND got a terrible cough, which put her out for the whole week prior to our trip, so she couldn't make it. My sister and I decided to go on without her, only because if we didn't the opportunity would have probably passed us by and then it would be a couple more years before I felt comfortable leaving my kids again.

We stayed with my aunt Gail, my mom's sister, in her cute house in San Francisco. She really made the best of our time by taking us to great little outer towns and restaurants.

She met us at the airport and took us to a little town called Sausalito where we had a super yummy lunch at a restaurant right on the ocean called Scoma's. Jess and I both ordered THE BEST FISH TACOS EVER! After lunch we walked around the town looking at the great shops in search of a birthday gift for our mom. We stopped in at this children's boutique were we went all googly over all the ADORABLE stuff they had. My aunt bought each of our kids a cute (not as cheap as walmart) outfit! So very kind of her! Then we dropped off our luggage at her place and she took us to downtown San Francisco. I LOVE it there. It seemed almost like a mini New York...TONS of people! It was also Gay pride weekend...that made things a little spicier! :D

Here we are on our last day in San Francisco park, which is right across the street from my aunt's house. The park is HUGE. It was for a Dutch Queen, hence the dutch windmill in the background (not sure which queen, so if you're really that interested you can google it!)


This was one of the many lakes within the park. We only walked through a small portion of it and it was delightful! I LOVE this picture.

On our second day we made the two hour drive up to Carmel, which is one of my aunt's absolute favorite places. Since I had never been there I soon came to see why she loves it so much. It's such a cute, romantic little town! The homes there are AMAZING, the shops are adorable and there were so many wonderful restaurants to choose from. It was in Carmel where we found a birthday gift for our mom, a cute sun visor (she really needed a new one), and some acorn and pine cone soaps that smelled of fir trees (they go perfectly with the theme of her bathrooms).

We then took a "little" walk down to Carmel beach, which was beautiful, with white sands and gorgeous trees. I say "little" because it was actually a pretty big HILL to climb back up. Easy going down, NOT so easy going up, especially for a pregnant lady with a FULL bladder. It was worth it though.

On our drive home we drove through Monterey. I would love to take the kids up there sometime. There seemed to be lots of family activities! We stopped in at this little crepe shoppe for a quick "snack" before ending our day trip. Ohhhhh yummy, so, so good! Another great day!

Awww, gotta love the beach hair!

I Loved this tree!

Jess and I have to admit, the first night was the hardest, but it got easier to be away and we really enjoyed ourselves. We'd usually end our days with dinners at home and a good movie. It was kind of nice not having to wrestle to get the kids to brush their teeth and go to bed those nights. My aunt was so sweet and treated us the entire time! Thank you so much aunt Gail! We love you very much!