The San Fran Adventure

wow.. am I ever getting behind here... I'll spare you the excuses, or at least I'll wait and elaborate in future posts about what I have been up to instead of blogging. :) Anyway.. on to the post.

Girls Trip!

Having the most awesome Mother in Law in the world, and being totally spoiled, I got to go to San Francisco at the end of March.. just for fun. :)

(Yeah, that's me.. kickin' it in the San Fran)

I *LOVE* being in a city. There's nothing like the feel of a city beneath your feet. The people, the food, the little shops, the towering buildings, all the little eccentricities. San Francisco is Gorgeous.
I love exploring a new city. And boy, did we have a great time!

We stayed at the coolest house. It was on Nob Hill.. doesn't that just sound like it's where all the snooty people live?? lol. It was beautiful, cool old architecture and the prettiest little rooftop garden. I can totally forgive it for being up an amazing amount of stairs.

We saw the sights:
Golden Gate Bridge

Lombard Street, the Most Crooked Street in the worldGhiradelli Square
(yes, that is a chocolate dipped strawberry in my hand, man I want one of those right now)
Alcatraz (way cooler and more beautiful than I ever thought)

We checked out the local scene.

We did a little shopping...

Thought about bringing something back for Tom :)

We went to the spa! (sigh.. I feel relaxed just remembering)

and yes, I rode on a trolley car :)

(trying to take a picture of myself while riding the trolley...
which is harder than you'd think, you really have to hold on to those things!)
We had a lot of fun, our silly group of gals :) I'm very lucky to be in this family.

Our Fearless Leader.
Kathryn has got to be one of the nicest, most patient, genuinely sweet people I know. She lives life to the fullest and inspires me to chase my dreams.

The Documentarian

Anna, well known to be fabulously talented, decided to take the opportunity to catch each of us in a moment and take a portrait (which is what you see here). I love how she captures real life and showcases it beauty. A girls trip wouldn't be the same without her adventurous spirit and organizational skills. :)

I love this picture of Shana. She hates having her picture taken, and this is her grudgingly letting Anna snap another one. :) But she looks so great. Shana always looks beautiful. We've been sticking together for years as the crazies who willingly married those Christensen boys. ;)

And then there's Erika. Our newest sister in law. This was her inaugural girls trip, and I think we showed her a good time. ;) This is such a pretty picture, I love the rain on the window and the thoughtful girl in it too! Erika is both thoughtful and feisty. An awesome combination. :) We have some of the best intellectually stimulating conversations. I'm so glad she joined out group.

Thanks for all the laughs ladies. We must do it again sometime!

Sister.. Sister..

My little girls are crazy about each other.

Every day during naps Ainsley asks me when Nora is gonna get up and play with her.

Every time Nora sees Ainsley after she gets up, she breaks into a huge smile.
Nora follows Ainsley around constantly. Now that she can crawl she wants to be wherever her big sister is. I can only hope it continues. :)

Here they are 'taking a bath together' lol.
Ains wanted Nora to take her bath at the same time she did.

Despite my constant wish for spring, we keep getting snow.

Ainsley has been in heaven tho. Nothing makes her happier than building snowmen.
Here she's made our snow family. "A Mommy, a daddy, a big sister and a baby!" :)

I recently got a new pair of glasses. Ainsley came into the store with me and had fun trying on glasses while we waited. With two four-eyed parents chances are she'll need these one day.
At least she knows she can pull it off. :)

Ainsley's cousin Gavin (and his parents, lol) came to visit. She loves Gav and they played together the whole time with hardly a fight. He's such a cutie and we loved having him!

My little student asked me how to spell my name.
I was pretty impressed with what she came up with.

Crazy Crawler

My little Nora, who has always been ahead of the game, started crawling 2 months before Ainsley did. She's so excited to be able to follow after her big sister.

Check her out!

And about a week after the crawling really got going, she started pulling herself up. Everyone keeps saying that walking is not far behind!
Ainsley didn't walk until 13 months.. Nora isn't even 9 months yet! ah!!

Other than that, she's pretty much living her funny, easy going life.
Laughing at herself in the mirror.

hanging out with Daddy

chowing down

The Graduate

February 12th my hubby crossed the stage to receive his degree in Informational Technology Software from Western Governors University. Yeah, we're pretty proud. :) Though I can never hold it over his head again, that "I am the one with the degree here!" hehe.. not that I did that... a lot. ;)

I think it's fitting my smarty pants of a husband finally has the piece of paper proclaiming to the world that yeah, he knows his stuff. :) We LOVE you honey! Good Job! Congrats!!!

His proud mama. When she crossed the stage to receive her college degree, he was in her tummy. :) So we were glad she could be there.

Ainsley did NOT want her picture taken.
This is the best one we could get.

Tom's brother Andrew.. can you tell they are related, or what?

My Silly Man

Ainsley wanted to be silly too.

the filming of this is poor.. I was holding a baby and trying to show a 3 yr old where her daddy was.. but I think listening to her cheer for Tom is cute. :) You can see him at the beginning and at the end.

Daddy Daughter Dance

The Friday before Valentines day Tom and Ainsley went to what she kept calling 'The Ball' :)
She was SO excited to go. We spent an hour getting her dressed in her pretty party dress, finding a necklace with hearts on it for her to wear. I even let her put her some make up. She's always asking to play with my make up. I think her favorite part of the night was putting some blush on her cheeks. :) I know I'm totally biased, but I thought she looked like the prettiest girl ever! Tom looked like a proud papa, getting ready to go out with his girl. :)

The cute couple

my pretty princess

The dance sounded like it was going to be so much fun. There was going to be dinner, dancing and a visit from a princess. She was even going to get a corsage!
I kept wishing I was a fly on the wall. :)

Then I got a text from Tom. Ainsley was upset. All they were playing was fast songs. Things like the bunny hop and hokey pokey. She kept asking him when they were gonna play "Pretty Songs". That was the first thing she told me when she got back, that 'there were so much silly songs and NO pretty songs'. :) She cracks me up.


This is Ainsley during 'YMCA' :)

Not that she didn't have fun!
Her friend Meira was there with her dad so Ainsley laughed a ton and when Belle showed up she in heaven.

My Loves