guinea pig playpen

*Tonight will be my first real meal in almost a week. I'm SOO excited. Last week I was eating a pretzel and somehow cut the roof of my mouth. Long story short, it created a large sore (I won't go into the gross details) which caused most all food to be very painful. My diet as of late has consisted of pudding...room temperature pudding. I couldn't have anything too cold/hot or with any texture. Luckily today I'm on the mend. You don't realize how much food affects your day when you never have any of it to look forward to, not to mention how weak you feel with just pudding in your stomach!!!

Here I am with one of my many cartons of pudding. :)

*Last week Chris made one of the best purchases. He found a large gate at a yard sale, which has become Blossom's outdoor playpen. Yesterday Blossom was in the front yard for 3+ hours, rotating between kids' laps. :)

*Today when I picked up Cam from school:

Cam: Mom, today in class we worked on Google Docs. When I saw everyone in the class logging on, my heart beat furiously!!!
Mom: Really! Why did it do that?
Cam: It's just fun to see a whole new generation learning Google Docs!!

*This week I was assessing a high school student. I asked her to fill me in on the whole Snapchat thing. I still don't understand the difference between it and Instagram. Kids seem to use it as a form of texting. Why not just text? Hmm...

*Chris and I rented Creed for tonight. I'm SOO looking forward to relaxing, eating a real meal, and watching a movie with him. :)

blossom flower

The kids had today off from school. I had been really looking forward to taking the day off as well so the three of us could go on a hike with my dad. Enter my strep throat. :( So instead, I spent some time in Urgent Care this morning and Kendall went out to breakfast with Chris. Cam, on the other hand, still got to go on a hike with my dad (a much more strenuous one than we had planned) and had a BLAST.  They tackled part of the San Gorgonio summit.

Cameron is always very eager to talk with other fellow hikers. It's always nice when they reciprocate the friendliness. This ranger was very nice and eager to give Cam helpful tips.

He let Cam put on his heavy backpack, which was very eye opening for him as he has told me several times he eventually wants to delve into backpacking (whereas I have zero desire). :)

It could be because I caught the strep early, but I did not feel too terrible today. In fact, Kendall and I even went on a little outing to get her early birthday present, a guinea pig. Blossom Flower Petinak has now become an official member of our family and the kids are both quite taken with her. I must admit, she's pretty cute. :)

surprise

*Chris and the kids went out to lunch with my parents after church on Sunday. The kids ate GOOD while mommy was gone. :)

*Chris is on a softball team and designed their uniforms for the first time this season. They look so cool! Cameron even got his own hat. :)

*Before I left for Santa Barbara, I had told the kids I would bring them home a surprise. Hmmm...I wonder what was on Kendall's mind when she was writing my birthday card???

santa barbara

The past few days were filled with talking, talking, and more talking. On Friday, myself and four college friends went to Santa Barbara for the weekend. We had a BLAST.

We stayed at a cute little hotel right in downtown and literally didn't use our cars the entire weekend. We walked on the beach, shopped, ate, talked, and relaxed. We caught up on each others' lives from the past five years (which was the last time we got together).

Each morning my internal alarm clock woke me earlier than the other girls. I took advantage of our location and walked around town and on the beach each morning. It was so quiet and peaceful.

We also did more walking together on the beach.

We all could have stayed another night, but families and jobs called. :) While sad to leave, I was also excited to come home as it was my birthday and Chris and the kids had planned a special dinner for me. The kids made cards and decorated the table. They asked me birthday questions such as:

Cameron: What has been your favorite memory of the past year?

Kendall: Did you meet anyone in Santa Barbara that you didn't know, but that you went back and were friends with? (huh? Ha!)

It was a perfect ending to a great weekend. :)

angus burgers

*Chris made fun of me for my previous blog post. He said Adele's, "The Other Side" song I talked about is actually called, "Hello". Hmm...guess I'm not hip with the times. :)

*I stumbled across this delectable picture and it is now the desktop background on my computer. In case you are curious, that is a milkshake. :)

*We took a trip to the desert today. I'll be so sad when this outing loses it's "fun" appeal for the kids.

Every single time we go to Costco, Cameron begs for Angus Cheeseburgers (we had them as as sample once). Today was no different.

Chris and I had decided ahead of time that today would be the day. :)

*After Costco Chris spent some time here...

...while we spent some time at the mall. Kendall had been VERY excited that she had saved up $4 for a new Shopkins. Here they are looking up the names of her two new characters.

lemon bundt

*Three full days down, two half days to go! I love having half days at the end of the week to look forward to!

*I love this picture of the kids with their great grandma :)

*A while ago Kendall heard Adele's, "The Other Side". Holy cow did it stick! She sings it ALL the time. She was very excited the other night when Chris played it on his phone and it included the lyrics she could read.

*I splurged and bought myself a new skirt for work.

*Whenever we visit Chris' parents, his mom always has yummy desserts. In Monterey she brought brownies, which typically would be my choice. However each night I actually chose something non-chocolate...the most delicious lemon bundt cake I've ever had. It was soooo moist. The fact that it got top billing over chocolate says a lot! :)

*Kendall decided to make a chain to count down the days until her birthday (in May).

monterey

Today we got back from a wonderful and very relaxing week away. Chris' parents rented a house for a few nights in Monterey and it couldn't have been more enjoyable. The weather was sunny and our location was amazing. :)

The house was right across from the water. Each morning the kids ate their breakfast in front of the window.

The first day we went to the Monterey Aquarium.

I love this pic!

The beach across the street was filled with rocks, rather than sand. This actually turned out great since it was too cold to swim anyway. The kids LOVED climbing on the rocks, which we did many times. :)

We ate at a few delicious restaurants, however it was also really nice to wake up and just relax around the house, making breakfast at home each morning.

 I walked into the living room one afternoon and looked out onto the porch to this. Sooo sweet.

A big highlight for Chris was getting to visit Pebble Beach golf course. This is a, "never will be able to golf but amazing to visit" golf course (it is SUPER pricey).

Our last night after dinner:

We decided to stay an extra day once we got home to Chris' parents. Kendall did a lot of baking with grandma. She was also excited to find a spare pacifier and needed convincing to part with it later on. :)

Overall it was SUCH a great trip. I can't begin to tell you how not ready Chris and I are to get back to real life.... :)