Girls Weekend at the Spa

So once a year (which I would like to add should definitely be bumped up to twice a year, at least!) I get together with some of my favorite people (Shauna, Jenny and Leanne) for a girls weekend. We've only done this two years now but both have involved a spa and I think it will be a reoccurring tradition. We saved a bit of money this year since we stayed at the wonderful establishment known as Suites a la Shauna. :) She just moved down to San Diego in May into a two bedroom apartment, which she has decorated amazingly of course. :) (she has quite a knack for that) After our first afternoon of shopping, eating and movies, we started our next day off with a stop at Starbucks and straight to the spa. Here we are enjoying the quiet pool. Those of us with children greatly appreciated the quite, the time to actually lay out, as well as the right to say no to getting into the pool. I had really forgotten the days of sunbathing. (If you can call it that when you're wearing SPF 45 or whatever it was that we had on)

Jenny and I enjoying the most comfortable lounge chairs we've ever experienced!

We all had treatments done while at the Rancho Bernardo Inn spa, which by the way was an amazing place. How cozy do we look in these robes?! Looking at this photo makes me want to go back immediately.

And the jacuzzi, so wonderful.

It was so wonderful, here's another photo to enjoy. :)

Instead of running after children, we were able to put on sun hats and enjoy some fruity cocktails. More please!

Look at how beautiful the grounds are. A really great spa, we all highly recommend it. And did I mention that we should do this twice a year? Make that quarterly. :)

That evening, we decided to stay in, so Leanne and Shauna prepared quite a gourmet meal of Pulled Pork Enchiladas from the Cooking with All Things Trader Joe's, an awesome cookbook that I will be buying ASAP. Thanks chefs!

Here's to a fabulous weekend with some of my most cherished people. Love you!

Ahhhhhh, Napa!

My mom will be turning 70 in less than a month, so we thought it would be fitting to celebrate such a monumental occasion (a bit early) in Napa. This was my first trip to Napa, and what a great one we had. After checking into our B&B (not one I would recommend by the way) we rushed off to our first wine tasting at Del Dotto. Wonderful red wine, and a great tour of the caves.

Before heading off for our first full day of wine tasting, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast brought to our room. The B&B wasn't anything to rave about but the food was awesome!

And the scenery was beautiful. I realized while I was up there that if I could choose a theme to decorate my backyard after, it would be Napa. The flowers were amazing...

and the art!

Of course, my backyard will never look quite like this. Breathtaking.

If only my house could look like this! :)

Or I'd even be happy with this. :)

We enjoyed 7 wineries that day. Thank goodness we were sharing tastings! I think Cakebread was one of my favorites, but we also loved Rubicon, Charles Krug and St. Suprey.

So much to look at and we actually learned quite a bit about wine and how it's made.

It was a wonderful weekend away from children and a great bonding time with my mom. Since there are over 300 wineries up there, I think we'll definitely have to go back. :)

Memorial Week

I'm so embarrassed that I'm finally getting Ty's 9 mo. photo up and he's a week away from 10 months. I'm also embarrassed that I took this well into his 9th month. But hey, at least I got the photo and look at what a butter ball he is!

And look at this goofy girl! She loves her skates and also loves teaching Daddy and I to skate as well. She actually loves teaching anything to anyone, she's a natural teacher. :)

Last Monday we met Ellie and Mandy at a park near La Jolla. Lots of fun. We always enjoy seeing those two.

And then on Wednesday, we met Erica and Jack down at a park near Mission Bay. And here's one of Jack's first swinging experiences! He looks like such a natural!

Ty doesn't love the swing but he does love the camera and will smile anytime it's pointed at him.

Here are Ty and Tatum making friends at the park. It was so cute to see Ty sit down there with the girls and play with sand toys, just like one of the big kids. He's growing up too fast!

And then Memorial Weekend arrived. Leanne came down to visit us and her and I started the weekend off with some martinis and the new Sex and the City movie. We had a blast and the movie is so hilarious! Our favorite part is the nanny. :) Anyway, Saturday we went over to Shauna's new place to enjoy her resort style pool with all the Beastons. Ty got in the Jacuzzi and the pool for the first time and didn't care for either one. But at least I got a pic of him in his cute swim trunks! :)

Tatum, on the other hand, LOVED the pool and enjoyed playing ball and splashing about with Tony.

That night we enjoyed a BBQ at our house with lots of friends and the Beastons but I didn't take one picture, typical. But the next day we had a neighborhood block party which was a blast. Here's Lee with the kids as we head off...

and here's Ty with his BFF Colin. The two are only 18 days apart and get along so well already!

High five dude!

And this was our first time eating without a seat which he did pretty well. I think the dog helped distract him from crawling off.

Here's Tatum enjoying a swing...

and there are lots of neighborhood girls that LOVE to hold the baby. I don't think I was there 5 minutes before someone asked to take him, it was great! And as you can see, Ty loves it too!

Here's Ty and Colin doing a little flirting...

and some more girl time.

Enjoying the Taco Man and all the other delicious items people brought to share. What an awesome gathering! This neighborhood just gets better and better!

Just some more friendly neighbors, we're so lucky. All in all, we had a wonderful Memorial Weekend and loved having Lee visit us. Thanks Lee, come again soon! And bring Isaac!

The kids

I can't believe we just had our 5 year wedding anniversary! It feels like we were reciting our vows in front of all our friends and family just yesterday. I can still remember the butterflies in my stomach and how handsome Garrett looked standing next to the priest, waiting for me. Wow, how time flies. And now here we are, two kids and 5 years later and I love him even more. Of course we're older yet wiser right? :) Life has definitely changed over the past 5 years but only for the better. We're just so blessed.

And on that note, back to the kids. The highlight of last weekend was Mattie's birthday party. We got to see so many friends, enjoy delicious food and snacks, and have fun at a park and in a bounce house!

Here's Tatum with Emma and Mattie bouncing away.

And then on to a very large piece of cake, yum! This is always Tatum's favorite part. We had to go look at the cake early on in the party because she was so excited.

And here are our two adorable kids. It's funny how different their personalities are, without us steering them in one direction or another. And you can see that in these two photos. Ty is so laid back, smiling and laughing all the time. He absolutely loves his sister and follows her everywhere. But he's very boyish, always throwing things, putting things in his mouth, splashing in the dog water, anything he's not suppose to be doing. When I tell him no, he stops, sits back and looks at me, smiles, and goes in for more. A little stinker. :) And Tatum, she's all girl. As you can see from this photo, she wants to spend her whole life in one frilly dress or another, playing with dolls, school, mother, taking care of everyone and "teaching" everyone how to do everything. Her bossiness is getting a tad out of hand these days but it does come in handy with Ty. If I have my back turned and he's off to do something "wrong", she's right there to yell and let me know. It's nice to have two mommies watching him. :)

And here are some pics I took of the kids in my mom's backyard. We had fun playing around and both kids were very cooperative. This rocking chair is my Grandmothers, from the early 1900's. We have a picture of her and her two siblings sitting in it out at their farm. And now I have a picture of both our children in the same chair. The photos span over a century, crazy.

Another garage sale in Irvine

We headed up to Irvine for our second garage sale of the month. I didn't get a picture of Tatum's Treats table but both Tatum and Mattie manned the booth. Very little was sold though, we had much better luck in Poway. But here's Ty showing off the merchandise. :)

The girls did their part to help out the sale as well. Doesn't anyone want to buy doll clothes? :)

And what's better after a hard day's work than a yummy Popsicle. Great job girls! We're starting a whole new generation of garage salers. :) That evening we enjoyed a BBQ at the Jazayeri's house but I was obviously pooped because I never even got the camera out. Too busy drinking wine and chatting. Mommy's need a break too! :)