Huntington Beach

Chad and I went to Huntington Beach with my sister and her husband for 5 days before Chad went back to school. Chad and I are celebrating our 5 year anniversary on September 30th. We wanted to go on vacation, but it's hard to go during the semester so this was perfect! Seriously, if you don't believe that it was perfect check out this picture I took while we were relaxing one night-
Perfection! Chad and I are truly beach bums at heart so this was the most wonderful vacation! Of course we spent plenty of time at the beach playing volleyball -
Boogie boarding -
Being silly (I mean sexy of course honey) -
Reading books -
Watching street performers -
Pretending to be street performers -
And grabbing a juicy peach at the farmers market -
We drove to Manhattan Beach to watch some volleyball on Saturday. Apparently pink was the color of choice. The guy in this next picture is exceptionally sexy ;)
These two girls forgot to put swimsuit bottoms on. I'm pretty sure the pink things they are wearing are somewhere between boy shorts and thongs. How do you play volleyball wearing that?
Of course the sunsets were my favorite and most romantic part of the whole trip! Don't we just look like we should live there? One of the things I love about the beach in Cali is how active everyone seems to be. I would love my family to be that active!
If I spend a lot of time on the beach there is one thing you can always count on - I WILL BE SUNBURNED! This trip was no exception. Notice the tanline from the necklace I had on. Note to self: don't where bulky jewelry when it's sunny if you don't wear sunscreen.
We stayed at my cousin's house who lives on a golf course about a mile away from the beach. They were out of town which actually worked out perfectly for us. They had a pool table which kept us entertained for hours (that's how long it took us to finish a game we sucked so bad).
I practiced my sexy pool face. I think I got it down quite nicely!
There was this grocery store with the most delicious donuts ever. Our original plan was to just eat breakfast at the house, but after having one donut we ended up going back for more every morning we were there. That might explain why I gained 5 pounds.
One day we went to the Orange County Swapmeet. I LOVE shopping there! You can find the most unique things for such low prices. This is me modeling a little bit (or a lotta bit) of what I bought: black floppy hat, sunglasses, earrings, necklaces, rings, purse, wallet, luggage... Did I mention how much I love that place?
What did Chad buy? One pair of sunglasses.
It's not about the material things when you look as hott as he does. My husband is ridiculously good looking!
One night I wanted to play photographer so we headed down to the beach and snapped a few pictures under the pier.
One day I'm going to own a condo or something near the beach. I don't care if it's only 500 square feet. I just love California!
One of the things I love about Chad is how silly we can be together. He's never too cool for anything.
I also love how silly I can be with my sister ;)
Aren't Amy and David so cute together? I feel like you normally don't get pictures just as a couple so it was nice to get a few good ones all by ourselves.


One night Chad and I set up a picnic on the beach about a half hour before sunset. It was better than any 5-star restaurant we could've gone to. It was simple and romantic - just how I like it.
We had fancy appetizers, cheese and crackers, grapes, and a little sparkling grape juice.
While we were on our trip we bought this little wooden book. The traditional 5 year anniversary gift is wood. We bought this and decided we would fill it up with our bucket list as a couple. During our picnic we started writing down all the things we want to do together one day. We're going to have an amazing future! (On a side note - the modern 5 year anniversary gift is silverware which we also bought this trip!)
Of course no picnic at sunset is complete without a little kissing!
It was an amazing trip and was just what I needed before the fall semester started. Happy early 5 year anniverary Chad!

Bowling

Last week I decided it might be fun to take Vance bowling since he has never been. Amy had free passes to Redrock so we loaded the kids up and headed for the bowling alley.
The boys had so much fun. They were all a little excited if you couldn't tell by their faces.
None of the boys wanted help bowling which made for an incredibly long, slow game but they loved it which is all that really matters. Look at these next few pictures to see exactly how slow I'm talking about -

Vance rolling the ball with all his strength -
Excitedly watching it roll towards the pins -
It's taking so long his eyes start to wander -Took so long he actually stopped watching and went to play with the machine that magically spits out bowling balls -
Let's just say we spent quite a bit of time at the bowling alley. Vance ended up winning with a high score of 67. Way to go son!
Vance was smiles the entire time. There is a bowling alley right by our house that's only 75 cents on Friday mornings so I definitely think we will be going bowling more often.

Make-up Lesson

My best friend started working at Mac Cosmetics and I have been dying for her to share all her knowledge. She came to Vegas for a few days and I convinced her to teach the girls in my family a little bit more about make-up. We all came with lots of questions and all of our make-up -

That'a a lot of make-up! It was so fun to learn new techniques. I feel like I get in a rut and I can't wait to try a few new things.
Vance didn't want to miss the party. Luckily Briton was there and she was nice enough to let Vance do her make-up. Isn't she beautiful?!
Thanks Amanda for letting us drive you crazy with questions! Now I can't wait to go shopping.
Excuse the bad picture of me. This is the day we got home form vacation...need I say more?

4-letter word

I've been meaning to blog about this but keep forgetting. A few weeks back I was dropping Vance off to my parent's because my dad was going to babysit for me. He was working on some projects and I know how that can sometimes result in certain 4-letter words being said. I reminded me dad that Vance mimics everything he said so "darn it" and "shoot" are good replacement words.

Well the next week we were playing at home and Vance started saying "sh*t." I just ignored it and didn't make a big deal out of it. I have heard other moms say that most the time they just stop saying it if you don't worry about it. The next time I was at my parent's house I jokingly said something to my dad about it. My dad said that he didn't say that. Then my mom got this guilty look on her face and said, " That might have been me."

I couldn't believe it! My mom is so sweet and is always giving people a hard time if a curse word leaves their mouths. She said she was in the kitchen when she dropped and broke something and said "sh*t." Well I said thanks to her Vance won't stop saying it around the house. I couldn't help but tease her because she felt so bad about it ;)

She thought I was exaggerating until not even seconds later Vance picked up a smashed paper cup off the ground and said as plain as day, "This cup is sh*t." Thanks Grandma for the many lessons you teach us!

And thanks for slipping up one day and giving me a story to tell that will never get old ;)

On a side note -

Does anyone have any preschool lesson plans/curriculum that they use? I want to do some type of casual at-home preschool with Vance a couple nights a week. Chad is always gone and I figured Vance and I can only be bums for so long. I tried searching online but it's too overwhelming.

A Girl's House

Every Tuesday Vance goes and plays at my friend Amy's house with her two boys. He LOVES playing with them. This morning I asked him if he wanted to go play with Mason and Jace. His reply, "No mommy. I want to go to a girl's house."

Does it really start at 2 years old?!

Captain America

The big boys were using bandanas for flag football at Grandma's. Colton and Vance thought they made great capes. It wasn't long before they picked the flags from the garden and were waving them around. Isn't this the most adorable Captain America you have ever seen?!
The two explorers -

Here they come to save the day!

That same day Grandma taught them how to teeter-totter (sp?). They weren't sure at first.
It didn't take them long to figure it out. Colton quickly learned how to hold Vance captive in the air. It was hilarious to hear Colton's devilish laugh as Vance just kicked his feet in the air.
After a little practice, they ended up loving it!
We'll have to remember to get this toy out more often!

The Perfect Day Off

When I was at work Wednesday, I decided I really wanted/needed to take Thursday off. Luckily I have an amazing boss who let me work a long day on Wednesday so I could take off Thursday. It was so worth it! Today was just what I needed!!!

What did I do? Vance and I didn't get out of my bed until 9:15, stayed in our pajamas all day, and JUST PLAYED!
For hours we just sat on the floor and played together. It was truly perfection! (no pictures of me because I barely brushed my hair, never put on make-up, and decided bras are overrated)

These wood blocks have become Vance's most versatile toy lately. They have been used as building blocks, railroad tracks, food to cook, and jumps for his cars. Who knew this $3 find would be so cherished?

Thanks for spending such a fun day with Mommy son!