beach day...

due to the recent hot weather, we thought today would be a good day to drive down to my new favorite beach... del mar. first we stopped for lunch at chipotle. since we love it so much, we try to hit chipotle's we've never been to when we go somewhere that has one. so, today we went to the one in encinitas...it was delicious (we were joking that we need to get a united states map and put little flag thumb tacks at all the ones we've been to...ha ha). anyways, back to our day...then we got to the beach with the best parking spot you could get. i love when that happens, especially when they're parking meters. across the street to the beach we walk, lay out our towels, get out the sand toys and as i lay down to soak up the sun...i feel little things walking on me. at first i thought it was in my head and then i look to see little gnat-like flies all over the beach, crawling on everyone. it would been kinda funny if it wasn't so annoying...you couldn't even lay still for 20 seconds without shooing away these things. derek said every time he looked over at me, i was contorting myself around to get them off me. a guy that was sitting by us said that he's been going to that beach for years and he's never seen this happen & that it was prob. because it was so hot inland that they flies were heading to beach where it was a little cooler. whatever the reason, they definitely didn't make the beach experience very relaxing. okay, i'm done complaining, here's some pics from the day...
check out her boogers (is that how you spell it?)
she loves collecting rocks!
at least one of my girls was in the picture mood today...
go daddy!
here's kaia and a friend she made today...collecting lady bugs (yes, more bugs!) :)
here's one of her little lady bug pals...
and...yet, another type of bug i had to dodge today. i don't like these bugs, but leia loves them!
no fear, she actually picked it up when i looked away one time...ewwww.
then...on the way home, we went to roadhouse grill. i LOVE their sweet potatoes and rolls. yum! (and the girls love the fact that they can throw the peanut shells on the floor) :)
and, last, but NOT least...we got some Pinkberry on the way home. our friend's, the pollard's told us about how much they love this place and they were right. it's the BEST yogurt!

it's almost summertime!

tonight was kaia's pre-school open house which means she only has a few more weeks of school until summer starts. she was so excited to show all of her cali. family (except for great grandma grace) her school, class, teacher...etc. papa, nema, kimmy, john and caleb came with us and she LOVED it...she proudly held the door to her classroom open for everyone to come in. we absolutely LOVE her pre-school and she can't wait to go to pre-k here next year!
here's kaia and her sweet teacher...
me and my first baby...
gotta have a family pic...
she loves her new trick!
leia loves to go "up high"...she kept screaming "ME" (like, "look at me!"), every time kaia said it...
thanks for coming auntie kimmy (she was helping leia make a fruit loop necklace, but leia got bored and just started eating them...oh well)
incase you can't tell...this is supposed to be kaia. (notice the flip flops)...i think she forgot something...her face.
one of kaia's many art projects...
my little dare devil!
another reason i love this school...they do fun and adorable fund raiser kinda things...like these hand and foot prints. as you can see, leia got to do one too! :)

summer-like night

i'm sorry...i like hot weather. not like "110* hot", but i'd rather it be in the 90's than the 60's any day. so, when i realized that it was still almost 80* at 8:00 tonight...we had to go get ice cream. i know...a lot of kids are in bed at this time of night, but sometimes you gotta "break the rules". right? the girls loved it!


i promise, leia was having a good time...i don't know why she had this face!

this works...

i went in to go check on the girls last night and this is what i saw...
leia's been getting out of her bed a lot the last few weeks and our sleep has been pretty broken up, so we've been exhausted. last night when we were tucking them in...i was giving leia hugs and kisses good night and every time i pulled away, she threw her arms around my neck and said "mo tisses" (more kisses), so i'd give her more and then she'd say "mo huds" (more hugs). it was really cute but i think it was also her way of not having to go to bed yet. oh well, it worked and i loved it. then when we told them a final good night and went out to watch t.v., we heard a little pitter patting of her feet around the corner and into the family room with us, so derek put her back in bed and again...pitter pat...there she was again. derek put her back in bed for the 2nd time and told her to stay in bed...a few minutes we hear the girls singing together. it was so cute & as long as they're in bed...sing away!!! little did i know that they were having a little slumber party in kaia's bed. they looked so cozy and comforted laying there with each other. hey...whatever keeps them sleeping...i'm all for it. we weren't about to risk waking her up to move her! :)

i'm a lucky mama

last night we went to the park right at sunset and it was so pretty...yet windy and pretty cold. you can't tell by looking at the girls, they kept saying they weren't cold (even thought they had little goose bumps). :)
anyways, i hope all you mama's had a great Mother's Day!


i love my girls!

kid-less till tomorrow morning!

tonight we went to chipotle with the cyndi and rob ...it came up a couple of weeks ago at breakfast that they have never eaten there. so, we had to put an end to that for sure...friends of ours have to eat at chipotle! :) so we dropped the girls off at papa & nema's house (where they're spending the night) and had a little double date. food just tastes better when you don't have to keep stopping to take kids to the potty, clean up spills, continuously tell kids to sit down and eat...and actually have an uninterrupted conversation. we had such a good time...we are very similar and always have good conversations...i always take notes when it comes to the way they parent. they're awesome. oh, and they really liked chipotle (how could they not:).
anyways, after we left, derek and i went to this cute little coffee shop to get something sweet and derek saw a chess board table and asks me if i want to play a chess game. i think my eyes instantly glazed over. i think my big brother tried to teach me how to play it once too, and i think my eyes glazed over then too. but, hey...i'm open-minded, so down we sat for a quick chess lesson/game. then it happened...the yawns started & i couldn't stop. i'm not saying that it wasn't fun having a quiet peaceful time together...but between the Josh Grobin songs that softly played in the background and the fact that i had to keep asking derek to repeat the rules...i got tired quick. i think my eyes were actually closed one time when he looked up for me to take my turn. but, we did finish the game...he beat me of course. i think i came to the conclusion that chess has too many rules...it seemed like every time i tried to make a move without asking him if i was doing it right, there was yet, another rule. thanks for teaching me babe & i'm glad we experienced chess together, but i don't think i'll be asking you for a re-play anytime soon. i tried to be a good sport.
can anyone relate or am i just a non-sophisticated dummy?

better than nothin'

i have no idea what derek did to get a few of the sea world pics back, but he did it...i'm not gonna complain cuz i am thankful for the few pics we saved but i can't help but wish that we had like 5 more that i really liked. oh well...nothing we can do. i told kim that i'm mad at my camera and that we're taking a break (i know, it wasn't the camera's fault...but i'm still bitter at it for some reason :) you know that the "break" won't last long, in fact i'll probably have it out snapping away by tomorrow. thanks babe for these pics!








yes...those are real flip flops leia's wearing...she love wearing them like big sis (even though they gave her a blister)

this girl...

okay...so i was all ready to upload our pics onto the computer to blog this morning. we went to sea world yesterday and got some great shots. for example...the girls crying after being soaked by shamu's tail in the splash zone (that we thought we were high up enough that so that we wouldn't get wet...boy were we wrong!), the traditional family pic, adorable pics of the girls holding star fish, pics of them walking right next to flamingos and a hilarious video of kaia saying "i hate this" after the splash zone incident (poor baby).
to make a sad story short...leia was pushing some buttons on the computer right before i tried to upload the pics and as i was dragging them into our "may 2008" folder...the computer freezed and somehow all the new pics were DELETED off of the memory chip. i couldn't believe it, this had never happened before, i didn't even know this could happen. so, if anyone has any secret insight on how (if possible) to salvage them...PLEASE help! i wanna cry (okay, i'm being a little dramatic, but you all know how much i LOVE pictures). anyways, for now, you'll just have to use your imagimations. :(

good day for a picnic

kaia has been wanting to have a picnic for a while now...every time we go to the park & someone's having a picnic she says, "mama, when are we gonna have a picnic"? with a sad little look on her face. so today we packed a lunch and headed over to the park by our house. she was so excited...she kept making sure we didn't forget the blanket and bag of food...etc.



BTW, kaia picked her clothes out today...hence the knee socks. she is still so particular about her socks, she does not like it when they slip down at all. i hope the sock issues pass soon or she'll be wearing nothing but flip flops all the time to keep my sanity. :)

me and my groom

when i moved to san luis obispo 8 years ago from
texas, i didn't know a soul.

i felt no fear, lonliness or doubt that i had done
the right thing. all i knew is that i was drawn to
that place for a reason. little did i know that i
would meet my husband the same month i moved there.

i thank God for bringing me across 3 states to be with him. i love you babe.


p.s.~i know the picture quality isn't very good...i'll try to re-scan 'em soon.

6 years tomorrow!

tonight derek and i celebrated our 6 year anniversary. our actual anniversary is tomorrow (at 1:00 p.m. to be exact). we went to the Melting Pot & if you have never been there you HAVE to go...it's a fondue restaurant and we did the 4 course meal that is absolutely wonderful. starting off with the cheese dip, then the salad, then the main course and last...my favorite, the scrumptious dessert. my goodness, were we stuffed when we left. i told derek that i felt like the blueberry girl from willy wonka & he needed to roll me out the door...but, it was totally worth it. thanks for an awesome night babe...and thank you papa & nema for watching the girls! :)





p.s.~check back tomorrow...i'm gonna try to get some of our wedding pics on here (kinda hard when our scanner's broken, but i'll figure out something) :)

can you say "she's almost 2"...

okay, so....ummm, remember when i said the girls were sleeping SOOOO well and staying in their bed's all night & sleeping in. etc., etc. .............not so much anymore. i don't know what happened, but leia gets out of her bed like 3 times every night. this is what happened last night about 1 minute after we tucked them in to bed... leia comes walking out of the room with not her usual 2 stuffed doggies, but 5 stuffed animals. we couldn't even see her face, just little legs with a bunch of animals above them.




she wasn't very happy when i told her that she needs to go back to bed...major tantrum. she's still at the age where it's cute though. :)