Sunday, June 28, 2009

Sea World!!

Friday we headed out to San Diego for a great day at Sea World! Along the way we picked up a few stragglers. Jacquie and Ellie! My niece Ellie is 3 1/2, this was her first time to Sea World so I was really excited to see how much she would love all the animals. This was Alana's 2nd time, she went last year when she was just 2 weeks old. I was so excited that this year she would be walking all around and exploring on her own!

Alana and Ellie loved exploring and walking up to glass.


We saw lots of shows all day. The girls were pretty patient to sit through them all.


There was a lot of "walking around" time for Alana.


Alana decided she wants to run instead of walk now. She loves being off on her own in a crowd of people.


Ellie loves to hug Alana, it's too cute!


Daddy and Alana watching the Sesame Water Show.


Ellie was such a good girl all day considering she didn't have a nap, she did great! I LOVE this picture of Ellie! My new favorite!


Gotta love these 2 girls smiles!!


I can never get the 2 of them to smile and look at the camera at once. Near impossible!


Alana loved to touch the cold water where the Starfish were in! Ellie was showing her how to pick them up.


A great Mommy and Ellie day! Thank you Aunt Julie and Grandma Pat for watching Lexie.


We made sure to stay until night time because Sea World has some cool night time shows. This is a picture of the Stadium at "Shamu Rocks". It was like a concert. They had some pretty cool music. (And some LAME gutairist and dancers)


But Shamu and his buds did some pretty cool tricks, it was a really great show. Then we stayed seated for the fire works show which was pretty cool, even though both girls were passed out by then.

We had a really great day! Took us FOREVR to get out of there, but it was all worth it! See you again next year Shamu!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Top 10!!!

Top 10 Reasons Aunt Ashley and Uncle David
should move back to Cali!
10. We will NEVER get hail in Cali this big!!

9. You can live in OC and still be an hour from the beach and an hour from the Snow when you think you miss it.

8. No comment needed.


7. There are no other friends like you here for us.

6. The BEST Del Taco in Barstow...

5. THE BEACH


4.
3. Whenever a baby Mason comes, I'll never get ANY pictures of him/her so you'll need to be close so I can take my own!

2.
Although it may seem like from my list that the food is the only reason to move back to California...
BUT the #1 Reason you guys should move back to California is...
Alana and I miss you guys all the time and cry about it often. Seriously.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Happy 2nd year Anniversary to us!!!

How is it that I can't believe it's been 2 years already, yet I feel like I've been married to my hubby forever! It's such a great feeling to wake up 2 years later and be just as happy as I was to wake up 2 years earlier and marry the man I love! 2 years ago today was one of the best days of our lives! Everything went so smoothly, everything looked amazing as we walked in for the first time. Victor and I meet for some amazing intimate pictures before the wedding and that was PRICELESS. It makes me smile to just think about it all! For the last 2 years I've been telling Victor that I want to get married again! I want to do our wedding day and honeymoon all over again! Most people think I'm crazy when I say that, but honestly everything was so perfect and the day just flew by so fast that I really wish we could do it again! Maybe for an anniversary some year we will! Thank you to everyone for helping make our wedding day everything it was! We honestly couldn't have had our amazing day without all of you!

Marriage isn't always easy, but it has been the most rewarding relationship ever! I married a man who is kind, loving, creative, thoughtful, giving... I could go on forever. I love you husband, thank you for putting up with me for 2 years! Thank you for my Alana Rose and many more amazing things to come!

I made this slide show for everyone to see. There are a lot of people that read my blog that weren't at my wedding, and/or new friends that didn't know us then! These pictures are the best wedding pictures EVER! We had such an amazing photographer who captured EVERY amazing moment we had! I can NEVER get tired of looking at these pictures! We honeymooned in the Bahamas and had such an incredible time. Enjoy the pictures.

Click to play this Smilebox slideshow: Our Wedding
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Sunday, June 21, 2009

Happy Father's Day!!

Every girl needs a dad to show her how to be independent.
A dad's job is to make his daughter courageous. Fearless.
To make her feel beautiful. To give her a sense of adventure.
To make her feel secure and confident.
The relationship between a dad and a daughter is very simple:
She will love her father and trust him completely, forever.
Because he's her first love. Her first hero.
The first man in her life.
-Harry Harrison, Jr.

The first picture of Victor and Alana. She is the reason we can celebrate today!

We woke up this morning and gave daddy his presents. Alana and I made him a frame with all daddy's favorite pictures of him and Alana with special words on the frame from "their" song. We also got him an Angels packet of tickets and some fun stuff. Then we took him out to breakfast! Alana wore her "I Love Daddy" shirt and bib. She had her own plate of pancakes for breakfast!


Then we headed out to Corona to take my dad out to lunch! Happy Father's Day to my daddy! Thank you for all of your love and support always!
Victor came up with the perfect gift for my dad for Father's Day. Anyone that has meet my dad knows that he LOVES to tell stories. So we got him a really nice leather bound journal for him to write his stories in so some day all the grand kids can read them. Great idea hunny, thank you!


We came back home for a day at the pool! Alana has been in the pool several days this week and will be again next week. She isn't tired of it yet!


Family shot in the pool!


We hung out at the pool and BBQ'd dinner. Alana loves the sun! As does her daddy!

Happy Father's day babe, I hope today was great for you! Alana and I are lucky girls to have you in our life!! When Alana can tell you in her own words, she will tell you that you are the best dad EVER! Thank you for helping me make my Alana Rose and thanks for being such a great husband and a father!

Friday, June 19, 2009

Ellie vs. Alana

I was going through pictures from my wedding putting together a slide show for our Anniversary next week and I came across this picture of Ellie. She was not even 2 in this picture. It's amazing how much Alana looks JUST like her! Especially since we cut bangs on Alana, she looks just like Ellie looked at that age, minus all Ellie's beautiful curls! Crazy! But I LOVE this picture of Ellie!


Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Swim Lessons!!!

We've been waiting weeks to start swim lessons! The sun finally decided to make an appearance today (or so we thought) so I got the girl dressed and ready for their first swim lessons! I grew up in a house with a pool so I plan to make sure Alana is a fish just like I was!


Kali had such a great time and did so good with Annette. She is a private swim instructor who will come to you! I highly recommend her! She was GREAT with the girls!


The wind started to pick up so I think the girls were getting a bit cold out of the water! But as always, here is Kali's smiling face!


I took Alana in the water for about 30 minutes with Annette worked with Kali and then she took Alana for a bit, but I a LOT of Mommy and me time in the water with her. (I can't take my own pictures when I'm IN the water)

The girls had such a great time and we look forward to spending LOTS of time in the pool!

Sunday Fun!

Sunday was a fun day! I had brunch with some friends at El Torito. We had a great time with great friends, great food and great conversation!


Oh, and with LOTS of great champagne!!! mmmm....


Then we headed to meet up with Victor and the boys at the game. I know, this is a very original picture.


*dork*


The boys


The girls


Hubby and I

Monday, June 15, 2009

Grocery Shopping fun!

1 gallon of whole Milk for Alana to drink = $2.39


1 loaf of bread for yummy sandwiches = $1.50


Alana Rose falling sleep in the grocery cart = PRICELESS

Friday, June 12, 2009

Want to be a Soldiers Angel??


I got a forwarded email from my friend Amy yesterday and I always take forwards with a grain of salt... (most aren't true and scams and crap like that) I'm not a big fan of stupid jokes and RARELY forward on anything because I know how much I HATE them. I stopped to read this one. I thought it was going to be a sad story about a soldier so I was preparing myself for a sad story. Well it turned out I was right and wrong.

Amy joined Soldiers Angels and writes a letter every week to a random soldier who doesn't have anyone writing to him/her. I've never heard of his before. Have I been hiding under a rock? Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE to send out cards and write letters! Ever since everyone I know has email, snail mail has become obsolete. It's sad really, but I still send out letters and cards to my friends and family!

I emailed Amy back to make sure this was legit before I busted out my cards! Sure enough she is a part of a team that does this all the time! In her email Amy said that there is a certain group of soldiers this week who are young and haven't received much or no mail at all. They are about to start a 12 month deployment. So I thought about what I might say to someone I don't know and probably doesn't have time to write me back. So I picked 2 names and wrote out 2 thank you cards and am putting them in the mail today!

Ever since I decided to be a Stay at home mom I've been talking about volunteering somewhere to do something. Between babysitting during the week and working most nights and weekends now, I haven't had a lot of time to do any of that volunteering I wanted to. So when I got this email I figure it's something I can do, sit down and write a letter once a week to a soldier who's purpose in life right now is to protect and serve our country! They also have a team of bakers who bake and send sweets over! HELLO!!! I'm getting on that FOR SURE! My LOVE for baking will never be put to better use I'm sure!

I have never had anyone close to me serve in the Military and so it was never really "real" to me until a few years ago. Victor's nephew Michael was in the Marines. He was killed in Iraq 3 years ago this weekend. Flag Day. It was such a sad time for Victor and his whole family. It hit me really hard to be a part of all of it. I only got to meet Michael a few times before he was killed but to know what he died for and to be apart of his family now was amazing! Even as I type this it brings tears to my eyes. EVERY time I see anyone in any kind of Military clothes I think of Michael and it brings tears to my eyes. Michael was supposed to be Victor's Best Man at our wedding so it was a very sad time for Victor, which always effects me. Michael is in a better place now but served with great Pride for his country and what he was doing. He is missed.


I could never be in the Military away from my family and in so much danger all the time. I give the soldiers that do it every day, and their families SO MUCH credit! They are super brave for what they do! I have a few friends who have family in the military, so if you are one of those people with someone you know in the military, send them a letter today. Just think about every time you go to get the mail if there is ANYTHING personal besides bills and junk mail you get so excited. I can imagine this is the same way that the soldiers feel when they get a piece of mail.

To make a short story loooong, this is why I've decided to sign up for this Soldiers Angels! Check out their website http://www.soldiersangels.org/ and find out what you can do to help! If you want to send out a card today or tomorrow to this certain group I was talking about, email me and I'll send you the names and address today! Really, a card/letter a week is SO easy to do and probably makes their day to hear from some people back home!

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

And the Birthday continues...

Aunt Ashley and Uncle David sent Alana a few presents from Colorado that she got to open today! She had so much fun with the cool wrapping paper Aunt Ashley picked out! Sorry to say but I think she liked it better then the presents! But that's a 1 year old for ya!



That paper made her so happy!


She already figured out how to ring the door bell on the book they got her! She loves all of the presents!


Thank you for thinking of her and sending a gift out here! She misses you guys and would much rather see you guys!!!!!! Love you dork!