Chloe's 1st birthday

I can't believe that our little baby girl turned one today. Well actually since this year was leap year she turned one yesterday. :) We had a little party for her at a local park with just the family and some close friends. It was a good time! The kids enjoyed the playground and the adults got to chat. I kind of forgot to account for the evenings of earlier sunset so it got dark on us a little quicker than we hoped, but we made the most of it and skipped the opening of presents until we got home.

Chloe is walking like a pro now (well kind of) and is still the most smiley little thing ever. Even after she got home from her party,clearly exhausted, she was still smiling at me as she was about to drop in pure exhaustion. Even when we are out in public Chloe smiles at who ever she can and if she catches their eye watch out, she will charm them to no end. Her smiles just melt our hearts! She brings so much joy to our family and she truly is our little princess. She says a few words like- OK, Mama, Dada and no,no,no. And she is a tough little thing. She just takes a fall or push from brother and then just keeps on going. That's our girl!

We love you Chloe Jean!! Happy first birthday!

then


now
I just love how Chloe is looking at the cupcake in this oneAlthough it was Chloe's special day I think this cake took the spotlight

A BIG thank you to everyone for coming and being so generous to CJ. Thanks to mom for a yummy salad and to Shellie for an awesome cake and to the family for helping with clean up. You all made it a great time!

my first wedding

This weekend I shot my first wedding and had such a fun time doing it. My friend Jennifer was going to be shooting her niece's wedding and we jokingly laughed at how fun it would be to do it together. Well the joke was over when we really decided to go for it. So Dustin was more than supportive and we decided to go as a family and see some sites along the way as well.

So I really couldn't have asked for a cuter couple or person to shoot my first wedding with. It was totally worth the trip and probably too much fun. Who would ever know by the pics that there was a crazy rain storm thrown in the mix also. Jen, I'm so glad to be friends with you and thanks for letting me tag along! And Kari and Alden, thank you so much for letting me be part of your special day. You guys really are the cutest!!

Here are a some of MY favorites from the day (don't be too hard on me, it's my first time). :)

back from Arizona

We're back from Arizona and what a fun time we had.

Here's a hint as to what we were doing in Arizona:



Stay tuned for more pics on this fun time to come as soon as I catch my breath from the quick trip.

Arizona adventure

So we're off to Arizona and I can't believe I'm doing this...well, yes I can. All I can say is pray for me and wish me good luck. Stay tuned to see what we are up to! :)

what's today?

Do you know what today is??



It's the first day of Fall and I couldn't be more excited. I love,love,love Fall! The beautiful days and nice crisp clear nights. Yummy! Time to break out the Fall decorations. Actually I think I will have to wait until next week because I already have a lot to do this week getting ready for AZ this weekend and then Chloe's birthday. Enjoy Fall everyone!!

Chloe's shiner

Well Friday evening while Chloe was still trying out her new walking legs she took a little spill. She was heading right for the TV and tripped over something on the floor. She hit the TV stand really hard and got a good cut from it. It bled for a while and I was certain that the next morning it would be black and blue and her eye sealed shut. I was happily surprised! It was looking pretty good and so far no signs of bruising. :) All I know is that right now she shows no signs of being the dainty little lady. She is pretty rough and tough so far, but that may be thanks to a big brother that shows her the ropes. Oh these two are going to keep me on my toes for sure...bring it on, right?!

a Disney adventure

We headed to Disneyland yesterday afternoon and were happily surprised that the summer crowds were gone. We were able to get on the new Toy Story ride at Cal Adventure and I must tell you that it is now our favorite ride. Yes, it was that good! Christian got to go on all the rides at Disney that are usually too crowded like Dumbo and Peter Pan. He also decided that he wanted to ride the BIG boat (can't think of the real name of it at the moment) that goes around Tom Sawyer's island and we had fun doing that with him. SO the Disneyland part of the trip was great!

Now here is where it gets good. The park closed early at 8pm. So we headed over to our hotel because we had planned on going back today. Well our room number was 911 so that should have been our first sign. We got things settled in and then the boys went to find us some dinner. I tried to get Chloe to sleep, but no luck. She wasn't going down and the entire time I just had a bad feeling about the place. We had stayed there plenty of times before and love it, but this time was different. The room had a damp feeling to it. Dustin and I both described it as a dewy feeling like when the dew rolls in during the early morning. The whole room felt wet, even the beds.

We don't like to complain so we tried to make the best of it. Well after about 2 hours of not getting Chloe to stay asleep all heck broke loose. She wouldn't stop crying and I mean like crazy loud can't breath crying. That seemed to be the problem, she couldn't breath in that room. We decided to pack up, wake Christian up and head home. It was the best thing we could have done. As soon as we left that room she was fine. They did offer us a new room, but you know once you are at that point you just want to go home. Oh yeah, and the phone rang once out of nowhere. I swear there was something weirdly wrong with that room. You know what I mean...when you just get that feeling about something and can't shake it.

So needless to say after getting home about 2am we were nothing but lazy today. The kids slept in and got good naps also, they sure needed it.

we're outta here

We're off to a happier place on earth...hope you all have a good day!!

Yep, it's official...

our little CJ (Chloe Jean) is a walker. She has been taking quite a few steps the past few weeks, but yesterday she made it across the entire room a few times without falling. Those little legs are still quite wobbly and she still looks TOO small to be walking to me, but don't tell her that. It sure is a cute site!!



video to follow soon...

our camping adventure

This weekend we spent camping at Mission Bay in San Diego and what an adventure it was. Greg,Dustin's brother, his wife Veronica and their kids also went. I had been wanting to go camping on the beach for a few months now and Gina recommended the place that her and her family go every year...it couldn't have been any better. There was beach access, a store, a snack bar, beach toy rentals, a huge park for the kids, walking paths, pools, an arcade, crafts and the best part the showers. :) We only wish that the camp sites were a bit larger, cause we felt a bit cramped and are sure that our kids kept the neighbors up ALL night.

The first day we checked out all the things to do at the camp ground after setting up our camp. We let the kids play on the play ground which I think they could have done ALL day if we let them. We cooked some hot dogs and made some smores that night. Christian loved cooking over the fire, but wanted no part of the actual eating. Silly boy! Christian loved playing in the tent, but wanted no part of sleeping in it,Chloe either for that matter. The kids refused to go to bed and cried hysterically even my sweet non crying girl. Christian kept saying "home,home." So sad! We were so stressed and irritated at the situation that if Greg's car hadn't been blocking ours in we would have packed up the kids and left. Dustin decided to let them fall asleep in the car and then snuck them into the tent once they FINALLY fell asleep at 3 a.m. Then at 6 a.m. we woke up to an invasion of screaming crows, wish I were exaggerating. Dustin and I just looked at each other and bust into laughter, it was all we could do. He said "are you kidding me, this was not in the brochure." Classic,I will never forget that.

On the second day we went to the beach and the kids enjoyed playing in the sand and the water. The big kids enjoyed swimming and the diving platform. After the beach we headed to the pool and were pleased to find one was heated. Poor Chloe was so tired that she slept right through both water activities. That also meant that I didn't get to enjoy the water, but that's okay because that also meant no bathing suit for me. :) Then we got cleaned up a bit and headed to Old Town for some yummy Mexican food. The food was good and Dustin made it through a restaurant dinner with Christian without too many break downs. :) Then we looked around a bit and hit the candy store for some goodies. I don't have any pictures of this because I left my camera in the car. :( We all called it a night pretty early as we were pretty tired from the day and the night before. Things went a lot smoother this time and we all got a pretty good nights sleep.
Chloe's crazy camping hair
On our last day there we woke up and began to clean up. We headed out soon after and decided to drive around a bit. We checked out USD and WOW what a school it was...so beautiful. We headed home and decided to stop at the Air Field museum in Riverside so Christian could see the planes. He loved it until a BIG jet took off at the air field across the field. So funny!

We had a great time and are so glad that Greg and Veronica could come with us. The weather couldn't have been more perfect and the company was great. We are sure we will do it again and hopefully the family will want to join us again.