Pumpkin City

We started a new tradition this year. It involves hay, tractors, animals, and. . .PUMPKINS! That's right, Pumpkin City is here in all of its glory! Not without its fair share of heat induced melt downs, Phoebs enjoyed the tractor, sitting on the pumpkins, stealing all of Miley's treats, dancing on the stage, and riding around with her friends. I came away with a white pumpkin. Curious to see how a white pumpkin pie will turn out. We shall see. . .

This one

Is the reason I want to be eternal.

Phoebe turns 1!

Heaven

Our family tree

Still getting used to the idea that I have a 1 year old. No more months, we are talking years!? Crazy. So here's the things she's doing. Walking! Yikes so far she's still catchable so not to worry yet. She likes to eat the entire item, instead of me breaking it up for her. IE whole grilled cheese sandwiches, bean and cheese burritos, oranges, bananas, crackers, Luna bars, etc, she wants to hold the item like a big girl. I watch closely to defer choking. She really likes to climb the stairs standing up holding onto the railing. And she will to this over and over and over. Up, down, up, down. All day if I let her. Starting to figure out puzzles. Enjoys reading. Loves jewelry, animals, friends, fiddling with her hands. Words are pretty limited, dada and other nonsensical words. Dave likes to speak to her in Spanish, but we are not planning on her being bilingual. Our daily ritual includes, 7:00 wake up, change, back to bed w/ milk, 20 min later pray, eat breakfast, play, park, workout, beach 12 pm nap, 3/4 pm wake up, play, visit family, dinner, play, story, pray, bed. Sometimes we run errands, sometimes I work, mostly we are together all day. Its a good time, and we love her. We love her sooo much we even threw her a b'day party with all her friends and family. It was the talk of the town. And she was the belle of the ball. And Jill took these awesome pics because she's totally awesome like that. Thanks Jill!

Red Velvet DeliciousnessFabric flower hair clip party favors! Flower garland decor courtesy of this lady.Israel- you freaking rule the school with your taco making.Serious wedding discussion going on here :)Wedding talk!Love these cutiesCandid3 generations. She's soooo popular with the boys and g'friend Taylor.

She's a Red Velvet kind of girlHappy Birthday Baby Girl, better known as Phoebs!

They just wanna. They just wanna.

Girls just want to have fun. The song holds true in every aspect. I went on a "girls trip" this week for one night and two days. It. was. so. necessary. Why don't men need this? I guess because they pretty much get hooked up in life. No period. No pregnancy. No birthing. No hormonal break downs. Get to pee standing up. "Quickies". Its so unfair. BUT. Fortunately girls get to have girls trips and this last one was pretty picture perfect. I'm just going to run down the list. The Ritz-Carlton, LA is where we stayed, upgraded to the junior suite including a tv in our bathroom mirrorEmad was our bell boy and he pretty much was on top of it.and even showed us the presidential suite. rooftop pool, Celestial Kingdom spa, facials (ie we swiped some of the "tester" masks from the spa store and put them on in the spa), dancing, late movie, shopping 3rd Street Promenade, and lots of good food. A couple of downfalls were the homeless guy who followed us around, we called him "Killer Boots" and I got a mild form of food poisoning from a Spicy Tuna Roll from Yard House. Let's just say, Eat.Pray.Love turned into Eat.Pray.Fart. All in all, I couldn't ask for a better time with better girls.

View from our window, no sighting of Kobe thoughToasted "champagne" in the pool

Serious R&R went on in here

and what's a girls night out without some booty shaking?

Adventures with the Waterproof Camera. . .

These are a few pics from my recent purchase of our new camera! (With a bonus memory card to boot!) Available at Costco.com. And no I am not a sales rep for Costco. But I used to be for Cutco. A whole nother story in and of itself. Anyways, the photos I took recently were at Doheny with Carrie, Pat, and Sarah. And with friends at Capo after blading today. Fun times!

The paddle out

The girls

Lovebirds

We captured Mrs. Miyagi out that day And party waved (I am on this wave too, but I'm photoging obviously.)
I spy three little rapscallionsEh Dane, where you goin?Greeting the passerbysPhoebs is so jealous of their walking skillz (But she did take her first step today! YAY!)"Look! Here comes the train. . .Choo Choo" (A standard phrase of moms)Big D got his first skinned knee (Of many I'm afraid)

Refu-i-oooooo

A few weeks ago we went on our very first camping trip with Phoebe. Via Santa Barbara to visit our Santa Barbaran family, sing, and sleep over with Carrie and Dad. I wish we could do this every week. . . Oh wait. We can now that its summer! Yay for summer's off! And yay for living in the state with the best state parks right on the beach! And yay for life.

For those of you who don't speak Spanish, refugio means refuge, and it is also a BEAUTIFUL campground just north of Santa Barbara. Unfortunately, that campground was full and we had to stay in the not-so-pretty campground gaviota (pictured above). But. Our refugio is the nugget so we are happy anywhere in that thing. I've decided that trees really make or break a campground, and as you can see, gaviota = no trees. Still it was entertaining to see all the tents blowing flat against the ground during the nightly wind.

Here are s'more State Parks we like:

There's this really cool bike trail at Refugio, but we didn't take any pictures of it. This is at Doheny, another beautiful place to bike. Emma Wood. San Onofre. Rincon. Our little Phoebs turned 10 months old today. Love her.

Happy Birthday Dave and Johnny!

The birthday boys and their daughters.

Having the time of their lives.