Seven Years!

My hubby and I recently celebrated seven years together! I truly love him. Like any couple, we've had our ups and downs but I'm so thankful to be married to him and look forward to spending the rest of my life with him. I'm proud of the life we've made together. 

We got a babysitter and spent an evening at a local winery to celebrate. Time alone is always a treat.

Not sure why I took a selfie on the way there. Actually, I had pulled the camera out to take a picture of the setting sun and it was turned towards me instead so I took a quick photo.

 When we got home, Morgan cuddled with her daddy for awhile before it was off to bed. 

I'm already ready for another date!

Roadtrip With My Sis!

My nephew had a football game scheduled at my high school alma mater in Felton, California (near Santa Cruz). My sister invited me to tag along and I couldn't resist. It was so nice to be have some one on one time with her. With our busy lives it's hard to even get good conversations in sometimes.

We drove to Santa Cruz the night before the game, checked into our hotel and walked to the boardwalk/wharf for dinner. 

 

Dusty and I aren't sure why but the wharf and boardwalk were dead! We felt like we had the whole place to ourselves! We enjoyed dinner and drinks and even stopped into a bar on the beach on our way back to the hotel.

On the wharf, there were some stairs leading down to this platform that had sea lions on it. They were right there! They were maybe only 6 feet from us. We could have taken a ladder down to them but thankfully we're smarter than that. They just sat there looking up at us and making noise. They were so cute. It was a treat to just hang out with them and be so close!

 My sister is so cute! I truly love her. 

 We got to watch the boys play football the following day. Poor Chase has an injury and didn't get to play much but I'm going to another game to watch him play.

Man, my old high school is gorgeous! While there I really thought back to how amazing my high school experience was. I lived among the Redwood Forests in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The beach was only a short 15 minute drive away. I spent my summers on the beach and boardwalk. We'd have a group of 30 of us spending our summer evenings enjoying beach bonfires. I don't think I ever truly realized how fortunate I was until now when I'm older and don't take things for granted anymore. 

I briefly walked around and these images bring back so many great memories for me. It pretty much looked exactly the same.

 While in Santa Cruz we visited one of the beaches. It was a gorgeous day with amazing views!

I was testing the lighting on my camera. It cracked me up when I uploaded the pictures and saw this super close up of my mug.

The best part was when I saw a spout of water shoot up and then saw a whale come out of the water. After a couple of minutes we saw another one and then another. There were so many whales out there and dozens of dolphins too! Apparently this is the season for whale and dolphin sightings. I was blown away at how many were out there! I'm definitely planning a weekend trip back next October because I could have spent all day out there just watching them. 

 During my younger days, I'd drive to the beach after school to take a run along the beach. It was nice because the waves would crash against the cliffs and spray me and cool me off during my run. Some of the boys in my class would drive into school in the mornings with surf boards on their cars because they'd get up super early and surf before school. What a life, eh?

My sis and I did some splurging. I got to visit restaurants I enjoyed 15 years ago! Can't believe it's been that long! Eeek!

This trip was so much fun!

Cute Words!

Charlotte has lots of words she says incorrectly and I love them!

Instead of tomorrow, she says tom-o.

And for the longest time she's said dee-we-cious instead of delicious. We'll all be sitting at the table and she'll yell out dee-we-cious after she takes a bite. Makes me smile every time. This isn't the best video but at least she says it a couple of times.

Recently Enjoyed Things!

We actually got a little rain a few weeks ago. The girls took advantage of the puddles left behind.

 Sometimes this is what dinner for the girls looks like. I don't always have time to really "cook" something but they're happy and they get their veggies and fruit in so we make it work.  

Well we've reached the stage of decorating our door! Isn't this a rite of passage for kids? I remember doing it when I was little and every kid I've ever known has done it. Is this an instinctual thing? Where do they learn this stuff? Morgan even asked me to make a sign that basically says “keep out” but apparently she hasn't heard that term because she asked me to write like 5 sentences basically saying the same thing but in a very round about way. I have yet to do it. Matter of fact, I should make her do it since she can write now.

I love, love when Morgan brings home drawings of our family.

 Oftentimes they're of her and I. She said we were shopping in the below picture.

 Out of all the places to sit in the living room why do they choose the hard (and ugly) coffee table? I've wanted a new coffee table for years. Someday...

 The below roses are from my garden. I brought them to work for a coworkers birthday. Those rose bushes bloom the majority of the year thanks to California weather.

 We got Morgan's school pictures and I love them. 

Every day life.

Picture Day!

It was picture day recently for Morgan. I curled her hair for the very first time. I couldn't help but do our own little photo shoot in the front of our house. Oh this precious girl!

This year school is going so much better than last! Last year it was a fight to get Morgan up, dressed, and teeth brushed. It was exhausting for Daniel and I to do that battle every morning. I often left for work feeling defeated. Luckily this year, Morgan wakes up with a smile, gets dressed and brushes her teeth quickly. It has been amazing! Last year in class she often got in trouble for being too “social”. And as far as her work went, we think she was overwhelmed which caused us to have many long nights trying to finish her homework. In the end though, it paid off. Morgan grew leaps and bounds last year in Transitional Kindergarten and is now completely prepared for Kindergarten. Not making the birthday cut off and having to do Transitional Kindergarten worked out perfect for her. It gave her a trial run that she desperately needed.

 This year of school is going really well! Morgan knows exactly what’s going on. I love witnessing her childlike innocence and excitement over little events at school. Again this year, she could not wait for the carnival, she’s so excited for teddy bear picnic day and is already talking about which friends she’s going to invite to her birthday party in November. I enjoy seeing her so excited for school.

Recently Enjoyed Things!

 I love when she dresses up on her own. The shoes really make the outfit.

 I forget what we did this day but it must have been something exciting because it takes a lot for Morgan to pass out anywhere other than her bed. I love that she still wants to cuddle with her daddy even though she's getting older. 

 Out of all the places to sit in our living room, more often than not, they choose to sit right next to one another. It does me so good to see this sisterly bond!

Ever since Charlotte was born Morgan has interpreted what she says to us. Even when Charlotte used to just babble, Morgan would "interpret" her babble and tell us what Charlotte was saying. We all thought it was cute but it turns out she really can “speak baby” as she calls it! I’m pretty good at understanding what Charlotte is saying but I find myself asking Morgan what Charlotte is trying to tell me and Morgan always gets it right! Charlotte will be repeating something to me and starting to lose her patience when I’ll look at Morgan and ask what she’s saying and Morgan will tell me and then Charlotte is happy because Morgan was right! It’s so sweet! It’s like they share some sisterly bond or connection that only they are privy too. Pretty cool stuff!

Morgan is a really good big sister who loves Charlotte dearly and constantly wants to play with her. I’m glad we were able to give her a sister.

Morgan had another dentist appointment. She of course took it like a champ. She does really well at the dentist. It's time we take Charlotte in too so I brought her along as an introduction for her. It was soooooo sweet because Charlotte walked over to Morgan and starting stroking her arm and telling her it was okay in this sweet little loving voice. She was concerned for Morgan and of course I'm tearing up just thinking back to the moment. I know my sister is there for me no matter what and it looks like my girls will have the same comfort in life.

 Pictures from daycare. 

We're really enjoying our "new" city. We ventured out for a dinner a couple weekends ago and enjoyed our pretty city filled with nice people. It was nice to get out for a meal together. We really don't do that often.

 

I made a quick pit stop at Starbucks before our grocery shopping trip the other day and the barista said my kids were cute and gave them a cake pop each. Well thank you barista! It made all of our morning.

More Splash Park Fun!

While Morgan ran all over the park with her big girl self, I was kept company by this little one.

Just can't get enough of her. 

Lunch With A Toddler!

We were out running errands the other day and decided to stop for lunch. Charlotte entertained herself (and us) by hiding from other patrons.

 If we'd laugh, she point at us and tell us to be quiet. She's pretty feisty but gets away with it because she's so darn cute.