Family Vacation To San Diego

We recently got to go on a little family vacation to Escondido/San Diego! The first day was a beach day. But do you know how much work it is to take a baby and toddler on a vacation where you will be outside most of the time? I mean, the sunscreen applications alone...whew!! Family memories though, right?

The beach was a lot of fun! Emily loved running to the waves and then running away from them as they came toward her, which gave me a heart attack each time. Fellow beach goers were watching and laughing as she squealed in delight and I was pestering Michael to stay closer to her and James was happy as can be as long as he was held and not put on the sand!

I taught Emily how to build a sand castle, which, let's face it, was just wet sand in disheveled upside down bucket form one right after the other but hey, she loved it!

After we left the beach we checked into our resort and had dinner at the restaurant on site. We ended up eating there a few times because it was delicious and convenient! The next day we ventured around the area, checked out the mall, went to lunch, and then came back to the resort for some fun in the sun. There was a splash pad and several pools to choose from so we hung out there for a while.

This is the only picture I took while we were at the resort. #fail

But trust me, it was gorgeous and we loved it. Our room had a full kitchen, living room, bedroom, and giant bathroom with a nice shower. Thank you, Expedia! Haha.

The next day (Saturday), we got all ready, slathered up on sunscreen again (I think we used almost an entire tube of sunscreen on this trip between the four of us), packed up, and checked out of the hotel. We went to breakfast, got a couple of things at Target, and then met up with Michaels brother Tyler, his wife (my SIL) Sarah, and our nephew Everett. We went to the Wild Animal Park (Safari Park)! It was awesome. We saw all sorts of animals. Emily especially loved the giraffes and elephants. I'm kind of "anti zoo establishments" unless they are rescued and there for their well being so this was a good place to go for us.

Also, we've become "those people" with the crazy hats out in public...but NONE of us got sunburned all weekend so I don't care!! It made for some good laughs the whole time. I felt self conscious wearing my hat and every time I looked at Michael I couldn't help but giggle. We're old. We do what we want, including wear these hats to avoid sunburn.

Family vacation- SUCCESS!

Fun Times With Family & Friends

This is the first time I've had time to blog or even get on my laptop since Wednesday! I was out of town spending every moment with family and friends! Since there was SO much happening this week, here's a bullet point list of what I was up to...

Wednesday

• Drove out to Orange County for the week because Michael's sisters family was visiting from Texas and I had friends here for their baby showers.
• Girls night with Michaels mom, his sister, and my two SIL's (who are both pregnant!)
• We went to The Melting Pot (which was delicious and I've wanted to go for so long)!
• Then we went to get massages!

Thursday

• Beach day

• Scentsy party

Friday

• Train ride/Park/Zoo day

Saturday

• Breakfast with friends (Alyse, Candace, Sheri, me, Kelli- Alyse and Sheri are pregnant)- I hung out with lots of preggo ladies this weekend!

I totally burned out after this and didn't take pictures the rest of the weekend. Need to update later with more!

• Nieces birthday party
• Double baby shower (Alyse and Sheri's)
• Makeshift family photos
• Watched The Lucky One with my parents

Sunday

• Drove home in the morning and then went to church
• Playing catch up with emails, blogging, laundry, cleaning!

And can I just say how grateful I am to be blessed with so many awesome people in my life?! I am also feeling so glad that I live in such a beautiful area that makes it easy to have fun in this sunny weather! I love Southern California. Speaking of Southern California...have you checked out the new blog?!

A Social Weekend

I gotta say...I was quite the social butterfly this weekend!! A lot happened so let me break it down by bullet point :).

• My friend Kambree came to spend the night again! I love her visits. We we went Target and let Emily have some fun playing in the toy aisles. 

• We watched Crazy Stupid Love. I had been wanting to watch it for a while and then when we got about 5 minutes in I realized I had already seen it but forgot. Doh! Still a good movie!!
• Had my second ever "blate" (blog date, duh haha) and this time I got to meet Linny, Simone, and Jami! We went to It's a Grind, walked down to a local boutique andthrough the Mission Inn (and were total creepers ooh'ing and ahh'ing at a bride who just got married there), then said our goodbyes. It was so much fun and we plan on meeting up more often! I love meeting new friends!

Poor Simone barely could get in the picture!

Lovin' on my girl when I got home.

• Saturday night I went to a My Favorite Things party. Also totally fun! It was my first time going to one and for those of you who don't know what it is, I'll explain it real quick. You basically bring three of one of your favorite things. So, I'm a girly girl so I brought three fun colors of nail polish. I put my name in a bowl three times and so does everyone else. Then one person at a time talks about what they brought and why, draws three random names, and those three people each get your item. Everyone does that and then everyone ends up going home with three different "favorite things". It's really fun!!

A big thank you to my husband who was such a good sport and watched Emily almost all day just so I could get out with friends twice!! Such a great husband and daddy! (And a much needed break for Mommy!)

• Sunday we went to church and then headed out to Orange County to have dinner with Michaels family. Deeelish and great company! I got a cute picture of my SIL Jocelyn (who is pregnant with her second!) sitting at the piano with Emily. :)

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  All in all, it was a great weekend filled with family and friends! Can't get any better than that!

I Look Like Jim Carrey Doing Zumba

 Alright so just a quick catch up on what we've been up to...Emily got a cold last week, then I got it over the weekend, and then Michael. So we've all been kinda sick and not much happened over the weekend other then General Conference (church on TV every 6 months) and selling a bunch of Scentsy! Woohoo! It was great but bad timing with me being sick! Thought it was allergies otherwise I would have cancelled. 

On Monday we headed out to Orange County to see some family. Emily got to hang with her cousin Ellie. They like sitting in this one chair together but it's pretty much impossible to get a non blurry picture of them together these days. They are little energizer bunnies!

We had my brothers birthday dinner and got to hang out with friends and family.

I love this picture my friend Kelli took!

Kelli and I have been friends since we were freshmen in high school. That's over ten years now. Crazy! She came to the birthday dinner and then I went out with her to get some frozen yogurt.

She's also the friend I am playing match-maker for.

In other news...I had to take a few days off of working out while I was sick (because I got winded just walking around) but I finally got back at it on Tuesday night! Then again Wednesday morning. It feels so good to get in shape!

Does anyone else have these baby hairs? They are from my hair falling out after pregnancy and now they are slowly growing back but they fall out of my pony tail while I work out!

Also, I need to get new workout shoes. I'm pretty much the only girl not sporting adorable nike shoes like this. I WANT!

I think of this picture almost every time I do Zumba. I even sometimes start to laugh randomly in class because of it.

I hope ya'll are having a good week!

Happies and Crappies

I'm linking up for the first time today to do Happies and Crappies with my new blog friends Sarah and Stephanie! What is "Happies and Crappies"? Basically a list of all the good and bad that occurred during the week! Fun, right?! Go link up!

Happies:

 - We got to spend time with family and friends on Monday. We had a game night for the second time this month! (By the way, my friend Wendy and I are setting up her brother with one of my best friends. All of which are pictured below!)

-Michael is on vacation so we've been able to spend so much more time together! We've gone out to eat a couple of times. One of which was yesterday. We went to BJ's for their two for $20 special. Yum! 

-We had our church's Easter Egg Hunt this week! We had practiced with Emily around the house earlier in the day so that by the time it came down to business, she would be awesome at it. She didn't disappoint! She knows the word "egg" now. She also knows "I dunno" and "I got it!". Haha!

- I got compliments on my necklace at the Easter Egg hunt! :)

- I've still been able to keep up with going to the gym! I kind of love it, actually. I want to go every day now! And with Michael being on vacation, I can! I love feeling myself get stronger with each workout I do. I weighed myself the other day and I actually weigh more but it must be from fat turning to muscle because I'm not getting any bigger but I am getting more toned!

- My sister is officially serving as a missionary in Berlin, Germany! Which brings me to my next "happy"...I've been reading my scriptures every night for the past two months and I'm so glad I got back into the habit. I feel like I'm getting my life in all sorts of order lately! Spiritually, physically, and mentally.

Crappies:

- Our water heater broke so we had to take cold showers on Wednesday. I'm pretty sure our neighbors were probably wondering what all the screaming was about. COLD WATER! On Thursday I just took a shower at the gym after my workout. Much better! We've bathed Emily in the sink with water we pour in after heating it on the stove. Ghetto!! Hoping to get it fixed in the next day or so!

- Talked to a personal trainer briefly (of course he tried to get me to sign up to do once a week sessions with him for $140 a month- who's got that extra money laying around?) about how my toes on my right foot go numb when I do cardio exercise. It's been like that for years but it's getting a little more annoying lately. He thinks I need to see a doctor for an MRI (scary word) to see if it's something like a messed up disc in my back or a nerve or something. He said if I don't get it "taken care of", the numbness might spread up my leg to my hip eventually. Umm...I guess I need to see a doctor. I always thought it was my shoes that were the problem.

-One of my best friends since like 5th grade called to let me know her mom has breast cancer. She is going in for surgery early next month so please keep her in your prayers! Hoping they get it all and that she will be okay. I love that family!

Ups and Downs of Our Week

Last week was such a roller coaster of emotions and so much happened that it is hard to even remember everything.

UP: The week started off good because we went to California Pizza Kitchen and then walked around the mall. I got a pair of jeans from American Eagle that I really needed and I love them! It was fun to get out of the house as a family. I took pictures because I hardly ever wear makeup these days!

DOWN: Then the week took a turn for the worse when on Wednesday Michael had a job interview that didn't go well and he didn't end up getting a promotion that we were really hoping for. That was a very hard pill to swallow and for a couple of days we were both super depressed, not knowing what to do next or what the future holds.

UP: Thank goodness my friend Kambree came to stay with me for a night and kept me company. She is one of those friends who is always there for you and gives the best hugs! Love that girl!

UP: On Friday things got better when we headed out to Orange County for one of my best friends baptisms. She had been going to our church since she was in high school and so this was a long time coming! A lot of my friends were there so it was all around a much needed night of getting spiritually fed and being around loved ones. We stayed at my parents house that night and then Saturday my dad and I took Emily on a nice walk around their neighborhood. Then later that evening, we hung out with his brothers and their wives who live in the area. We always have a good time with them! It was especially good for Michael to be with them since he had been working every night until then. We went to dinner and played games.

DOWN: That night we decided to stay an extra night so we could be around them longer but then all night long after about 3:00 am we were up and down with Emily the rest of the night. She would fall asleep on us and then wake up screaming bloody murder. It was a long night. It wasn't until the drive home the next morning (Sunday) when she was tugging on her ears that I realized it was probably an ear infection. We took her to Urgent Care and they confirmed she had a double ear infection, a small cold, and the rash she had developed all over her body was a viral rash that would clear up in a few days. No wonder she has been really fussy, has had a fever off and on, not sleeping well, low appetite, etc. I feel terrible we didn't know sooner! :(

UP: She is on antibiotics and Tylenol for pain. It seems to be working already, thank goodness!

UP: Michael and I were able to spend some time together last night and that was really nice. As fun as it is to hang out with friends and family, it's hard to not get any one on one time with Michael!

That was our week/weekend that had MANY ups and downs!!