Yay Me!

I'll be sporting this cute little bag shortly. Because I am a winner~ha ha! One of my very favorite blogs, The Meanest Mom had a Mother's Day Giveaway and she picked random winners from those leaving a comment. There were 1,439 comments and I wrote that should I win I should play the state lotto because the odds were about the same. So true to my word, I'm off to the store. And should I be on a winning streak, I'll be sure to send you our new address. I think the Spelling mansion should accommodate our needs.

Prepping for Summer

Guess I know what we'll be doing this summer when it's 90+ degrees like it was yesterday. I think we're going to take a trip to Toy R Us and see about buying one of these today.

It just seems a wee bit more sanitary, don't ya think?

Tourist Attraction

Nobody told this woman that there is a recession going on? LOL
We saw this little, and I mean little dog while walking in Monterey. It's a miniature pinscher and at first we noticed its small size. Then when we got closer, check out the accessories! And the nails. How come the dog's nails look better than mine?

And Then We...

grabbed a bite to eat near our hotel. Everybody knew I had a surprise planned that night, but nobody had a clue what it was. By the time we left, they were convinced we were going on a boat ride to look for sharks (???).








I read about this activity on Trip Advisor and since roasting marshmallows make for a good night around our fire pit, I thought we'd give it a try. We had very specific directions to get to the "secret" location on Carmel Beach. Once we arrived, we had a fire pit set up, a couple small blankets, a box with s'more supplies, a bucket with water and some extra firewood. I think Morgan was especially relieved we were not going shark hunting! It was about 6:00 at night and we couldn't have picked a nicer evening. We've never been to a Northern California beach without warm clothing, but last night was just beautiful. The fog stayed out and until the sun went down, it was a gorgeous evening. I also couldn't have picked a better location. The picture of Garrett has Pebble Beach Golf Course in the background. Sand, surf, and greens, what could be prettier?

This morning we went back to the beach and again, no fog, and warm. It's about a 1 1/2 hour drive from our house and we will definitely be going back again.

By the way, not far from our bonfire was another one set up by the same company. It was the proposal package and we really enjoyed "spying" on this couple get engaged. A romantic proposal indeed.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

 
A quick weekend getaway over to Monterey started with a trip to the aquarium. You could really spend a whole day there, but it was so crowded at most of the exhibits that we did a quick tour in a few hours. The highlights were the jelly fish tanks and the wave that goes over your head. I love the expression on Morgan's face.

April 12 (AKA Easter)

Well it just so happens that the 12th fell on Easter this year. So my normally unwilling participants also known as my family knew that they better cooperate today and I think they did.
I normally number my pictures, but it seems they are pretty self explanatory this month. The Easter baskets for Garrett and Morgan consisted of candy and a few small gift cards to Jamba Juice and iTunes. Jack had a bucket filled with some Little People vehicles and sand toys. G & M still searched for eggs, but on the lawn I had eggs filled with goldfish. Jack was eager for about the first three and then lost interest.
Prior to that we attended the 8:00 church service and went to their pancake breakfast. Chris and Garrett lounged the entire day watching the Masters. Easter is probably my favorite holiday to cook probably because I cook what I like and it's pretty easy to coordinate. This year's menu consisted of ham (from the Honey Baked Ham Shoppe), Boursin scalloped pototoes, sauteed green beans with shallots, salad, foccacia, and yellow cake with a strawberry filling and homemade vanilla frosting. Jenifer was here this year and the weather was beautiful.

Happy Easter

I'll be posting my 12 on the 12th photos soon, but wanted to share this picture of 3 smiling, in focus children. Yay!

Congratulations Jenifer and David!

Jenifer arrived on Thursday with a little extra bling on her hand! We're all so happy for them. Congratulation and welcome to the family David.

Featured Layout

I just added a slideshow of my scrapbook layouts from March. If you look carefully, you may notice the work of an up and coming scrapper....Morgan. She was very proud and wanted to share her page. Morgan will sometimes gather her little box of supplies and scrap next to me. She has become the beneficiary of some of my cast off supplies and unwanted pictures. And sometimes she'll sweet talk her way into some of my good stash. This layout was done with some SEI paper that I let her look through and some old Creative Memories stickers that I no longer use. However, when I left the room for a bit, just about everything else on the page had suddenly appeared from my good stash. What can I say, she know's the good stuff? Btw~The title of the page is accurate, the journaling itself is a bit embellished.