Christmas 2014

Merry two days after Christmas and Happy 7th Birthday Miss Mari!  I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas like we did.  I always look forward to Christmas cards and this year did not disappoint, I told the Sheriff that I thought we needed to send out Christmas cards he just laughed and said "why?", ooookay, I guess that was code for ummm, no.  Perhaps if I said you can get a puppy he would of jumped all over the Christmas card bandwagon, so to all my friends, thank you for the cards, sorry that we did not send you one, its the Sheriff's fault.

I worked a half day and then joined the parents for church and a yummy prime rib dinner, sadly this was the only picture I took, so you are just going to have to imagine what it looked like all put together.

Worst food photographer ever!

When I got home from the parents I had a ton of presents that needed to be wrapped, somehow I overlooked them when I was doing my wrapping a few days before, so lucky me, I got to stay up late and warp, not fun.  I decided that I was over the whole ribbon thing and only my mom's were going to get ribbon.

Christmas morning I headed over to the Sheriff's house bright and early so we could unwrap presents with Mr. Pie and eat breakfast together before he headed out to fight crime putt around the harbor on a boat work.  We made paleo pancakes and a egg casserole, both were very good, we modified the egg casserole a bit so that we did not have a ton left over.

So not a food photographer and half the breakfast is missing!  The Sheriff took the leftover pancakes to work with him and the guys liked them so I call that a win!

After breakfast I headed to the parents house to unwrap more presents before the rest of the gang showed up.  Here are our sweet kiddo's, its easiest to get a sort of good shot of them if they sit on the couch.  This one came out kind of blurry, but with the 30 of them that I took it is hard to tell which one is good when uploading to the blog, so this will have to do.

Mike was the lucky person who got to wear the ugly sweater vest while opening presents, my Mom is trying to start a new tradition, not sure how it is going to work but we will roll with it.

Us four got the memo to wear black and white.

Caroline got this hopscotch game from G&G and the three little kids loved it.

And because girlfriend is so cute with that red nose, I just had to include a few of my favorite pics.

XXX

What a GREAT Year - The Best of 2014!

Another year has come and gone at lightening speed as I look back at the blog some months are sparse with updates, others are full, but all in all we have had a great year and I am so glad I have this silly spot on the world wide web to look back and remember it all.

Last December we spent Christmas in Hawaii, that was awesome, I love Hawaii, I am ready to move there.

January was not nearly as relaxing, Super Dad had major surgery, it was over 6 hours long and there was a period of time were we did not receive any updates which just made your mind wander to a dark place.  Thankfully his surgery went well and we got the results we wanted but the road to recovery was tough the first 16 days.  The Sheriff and I took the kids (Mari, Cole & Mr. Pie) to Knott's Berry Farm, that was a lot of fun and we are looking forward to taking them again next month.

In February Facebook sent me a little reminder of how great my life is, I still watch the video that was created and get a little teary eyed.  Mari had seven missing or loose teeth, Caroline turned three and Grampy was on the road to recovery apparently hula hooping was part of his treatment plan.

March was pretty uneventful, the Sheriff made the local news during the one storm of the year, we went to the Fred Hall Fishing Show, paddling season started and those damn girl scouts started selling cookies again!

April came and went, we celebrated the Sheriff's birthday, I made an amazing banana cake for him.

May was busy mainly because we NEVER stop!  We went to an Angels game with some friend from Mr. Pie's school, we visited the Irvine Regional Park for a little research project for a school project for Mr. Pie and of course there was paddling involved.  May is also National Water Safety Month and we were remind how quickly things can go from from to really scary in a matter of seconds.

June the blog saw a little more action!  We celebrated National Doughnut Day, Father's Day and National Get Outdoors Day.  Mr. Pie and I made a list of all of the activities we wanted to do this summer, we swam at G&G's house, went to another Angel game and got to hang with some of the cousins for an afternoon.

July was a probably one of the best July's I have had in a long time.  I celebrated the 4th of July with my DOCC friends and participated in the annual "water wars", went wine tasting with some of the Sheriff's cousins, we went to the Mid State Fair, watched Zac Brown Band perform, visited Ostrichland, Mr. Pie tried his hand at Mutton Bustin, we stayed at a very shady no tell motel, visited several community centers and I won $50 as part of the National Parks and Recreation Month for a picture I submitted on instagram.

August saw the least amount of blog posts, but it was because we were out living life!  My friend Summir was in town, we had a beach date and a dinner date while she was here, I miss her!  We spent some more time in G&G's pool and then we surprised Mr. Pie with a trip to Hawaii!  He was shocked, he had a blast and WE will always remember it.

September, the month of doom (my birthday month)!  I paddled in Hawaii, I paddled my way to Catalina with DOCC, Kathy, Shannon and I celebrated our birthday's and the biggest and best surprise was announced on September 8th, Ryan and Shannon found out they are expecting TWINS.

October we gathered the kids together again and took them to the Haunted Trails in Laguna Niguel and celebrated Super Mom's birthday.

November we shared the news that Ryan and Shannon are having two chicks!  We went to the Wild Animal Park, the Sheriff and I celebrated two years of dating, Super Dad had a birthday and my DOCC gal pals celebrated the upcoming birth of a sweet baby boy and his mama Jackie.  And the hardest part was knowing our two chicks were struggling in utero.

December, the Sheriff has puppy fever BAD, I have ring and baby fever BAD, all three will happen eventually but the ball is in the Sheriff's court.  I actually do not want to talk about puppies, rings or babies anymore, it was fun for a minute but now it is just frustrating so I am going to take a break from it (please do me a favor and join me in this break).  The two chicks got a good report at the their last Doctor appointment, so the stress and worry has subsided a little for now, we continue to pray for two healthy baby girls and for them to stay put until at least the end of January.

It has been an amazing year, after looking back at the blog to write this recap I am reminded of how much we have to be thankful for and all of the good times, great friends and wonderful family members we have.  Here is to a great 2014 and the welcoming of what is to come in 2015.  

Christmas is Almost Here!

We are on to the final count down till Christmas!  The last few days have been full of holiday cheer and excitement for the big day.  I was off on Friday so I spent the day running errands and getting last minute gifts, I wanted to get all of my grocery shopping done so that I do not need to brave the crowds this week.  Friday night I turned on the Christmas music and wrapped all of my presents, it is so nice to be done with that part of the preparation and actually enjoy the holidays.  Saturday I helped Super Mom wrap all of her presents and get things organized under the tree before I headed to Lisa & Pete's annual Christmas Party.  Every year they have a white elephant gift exchange and this year it did not disappoint, I came home with a Big Mouth Billy Bass that will be regifted to Mr. Pie, I had to work hard for that fish so I am hoping Mr. Pie loves it just as much as I do.  

Gracie found a ball on our walk after I got home from the party, she was sad that I did not want to play at 11pm.

Speaking of Mr. Pie, that kid is the cutest, he just turned 10 and he is still a firm believer in Santa, I have no idea how the kids at school have not burst his bubble yet but they have not.  Yesterday he was asking me if I had ever seen Santa come down my chimney and he was dead serious!  He proceeded to tell me that his Mom and Dad have and he is really hoping to see Santa come this year.  I totally played along and told him that when I was growing up the closest I got to seeing Santa was when our next door neighbors the Shotwells heard Santa's reindeer on their roof.  Poor Mr. Pie is going to be crushed when he finds out the truth.  

Sunday was just as busy, the Sheriff, Mr. Pie and I were out the door bright and early, there was a paddling clinic down at Baby Beach that the Sheriff wanted to go to, I could of totally stayed home and slept in as I was not to interested in going, but I went and it was nice to see everyone and we were able to enjoy a good breakfast at Proud Mary's as well.  For weeks now I have been wanting to go to the IlluminOcean in Dana Point Harbor and I literally had to drag the Sheriff down there, he said he was done looking at Christmas lights for this year because he spent the last four days working the boat parade with all of the snooty boat parade participants and he was done, wah wah wah!  How anyone can be done looking at Christmas lights is beyond me, I just don't understand that concept, I LOVE Christmas lights and in my book so should he! 

As we were driving home I was trying to take a pic of this brochure and it was really bumpy, I turned and looked at the Sheriff and jokingly said "can you please not make it bumpy?" and he proceeded to hit the brakes continuously until I took the picture, lol!

It was so pretty!

We tried to get a selfie in front of the tree, but the darn thing kept changing colors on us and we were unable to get a good shot.

This is how I wanted our selfie to look!

And if life could not get any better, the Sound of Music was on!  I recorded it at the Sheriff's house and we watched it after the Christmas lights.  Mr. Pie acted like I was sticking needles in his eyes by making him watch it, he eventually fell asleep face down in the couch, lol.  I enjoyed half of it until I fell asleep, I think the Sheriff is the only one who watched it all.

Yes, the hills are alive with the Sound of Music!

LOL, poor kid!

And just for memories sake, this is what our Christmas looked like last year!

I hope everyone had a great weekend and if I don't see you, have a VERY Merry Christmas!

Winter 2015

I am one proud Auntie!  A few weeks ago we found out that Mari and her red headed BFF made the cover of the Recreation Brochure.  Sadly the City of South Pasadena has gone green and they no longer print out their brochure so we will never have an actual copy.  Every quarter I go to a brochure exchange with other recreation departments from other cities and I believe South Pasadena is usually in attendance, so the next time I am there I am going to introduce myself to them and brag a little about the cute girl on the cover.

Because I Don't Want to Forget!

Gracie can make me crazy but she is really a great dog!  I take pictures of her all of the time because some day she will be gone and I don't want to forget how much fun she was. We had a park date with the Sheriff, Mr. Pie and Milo yesterday.  I knew it would be wet out at the park because it was early in the morning, but what I was not thinking of when I said yes to the park date was that it would be MUDDY.  They were doing field maintenance so it was more mud than grass and it was a mess, but what could I do, there was no way I was going to be able to put Gracie back in the car with out playing ball.  Gracie and Milo played ball for awhile and then Gracie had an identity crisis and started rolling around in the mud like a pig.  Deep inside I think Gracie was laughing because she knew there was nothing I could do when she decided to roll around in the mud :/.  She was a hot mess when we left, but whatever it was only mud, nothing a bath could not fix.  Gracie does not get the opportunity to get dirty very often so I had to go with it and despite my best efforts the baby wipe bath was not cutting it so I took her to doggie daycare where they gave her a much needed bath. 

It's kind of funny because she only rolls on one side of her body.

Ya, lets now shake the mud onto everyone.

The Sheriff working on a little training.

All clean!  I had to put a new collar on her as well, she total destroyed her cupcake collar, smh.

2014 Boat Parade!

Yesterday was the start of the annual Boat Parade down at the harbor where the Sheriff works.  The Harbor Patrol hosted a dinner for all of the deputies and their families to come and enjoy during the parade.  The Sheriff was working so I picked Mr. Pie up from school around 3:30pm so that we had plenty of time to get there since it was the first night of the parade and I thought it might be crazy busy getting down there.  We arrived kind of early but that gave us a chance to get a fun tour of the facility from the Sheriff, meet a lot of his co-workers and play on the boats.  Mr. Pie and I were able to eat dinner with the Sheriff and then he had to go out and work, we were really hoping that we would get to go out with him on the water but they were not letting family members on the boats this year.  So the Sheriff left us to go work and some guy and his wife sit down across from us while we finish eating we introduce ourselves and make small talk, he asks me why we are not out on a boat with the Sheriff, I tell him that we were not allowed to go, he asks me how the Sheriff likes working Harbor Patrol, I tell him that he loves it, he says that he is happy to hear that and that he just read the Sheriff's review and that he is doing a great job (we are so proud of him) and then after a few minutes of conversation I find out he is the Captain of the department, you know, like the big boss, he tells me if we ever want to go out on a boat and they won't let us all we need to do is call him.  I laugh and think hmmm, I wonder if I can get the Sheriff a raise too?  We finish chatting with the Captain, Mr. Pie raids the dessert bar, he may of had five brownies, we head outside on the patio (I'm telling you the Harbor Patrol has a prime piece of waterfront property) and hang out by the fire pit so we don't freeze, the parade starts off with some fireworks, then the Harbor Patrol Fire Boat starts the parade, we all cheered when they passed by us, there was lots of boats, lots of lights and lots of fun the whole night.  After the parade was over Mr. Pie and I leave, we now need to hit the bookstore because Mr. Pie needs a book for the book exchange at school the next day (he tells me this as he gets in the car when I picked him up at school, for reals dude?), we buy the book, we swing by my house so we can wrap it, cause of course it needs to be wrapped, we walk Gracie real quick and then head to their house were we get to spend a good hour on homework and finally at 10pm Mr. Pie goes to bed and I fall asleep on the couch.  The Sheriff got home at 11pm, I leave and that was all she wrote, I was done done and done because what I failed to mention was that I started work yesterday at 6:45am, set-up for our holiday work party, attended the party, helped clean-up the party and did a few other things all before staying out late on a school night.

They decorated their boat with lights but it is hard to take good pics at night.

7 & 10: Some birthday fun!

This past Sunday we had a small family birthday party for Mr. Pie and Mari.  Mr. Pie's birthday is on 12/7 and Mari's is 12/27, being 20 days apart and a few holidays and holiday parties thrown into the mix I thought it would be a good idea to have one party for the both of them.  We gathered at G&G's house with bikes and scooters in tow, the kids rode around the neighborhood, Kathy channeled her inner movie producer and directed some AMAZING bike video's and we all had a lot of fun.  

HB Biker Gang, watch out they are fierce!

They ride fast!

After bike riding we came inside because it was getting cold out, the kids still had a lot of energy to burn and spent about 30 minutes wrestling, it is amazing no one got hurt or that nothing was broken in the living room.  They had so much fun, even Lucy got in on the action.

Since our family continues to grow and grow one birthday cake is not enough these days.  Super Mom made Mr. Pie and Mari their own mini cakes so they each had candles to blow out and a big cake for the rest of us to enjoy.

Mari was very excited about this.

Both Cole and Caroline were so good to let Mr. Pie and Mari open their own presents, but boy the temptation was strong, towards the end Caroline could not stand it any more and helped Mari tear open one of her gifts.  The four kids get along so well, there was no arguing and no tears the whole evening, they just played and played and played until it was time to go home.

Happy 10th birthday Mr. Pie and Happy 7th birthday Mari, I hope all of your birthday wishes come true.

And just a quick recap, we spent last Sunday celebrating Mr. Pie's birthday at the Bass Pro Shop!  Mr. Pie wanted a Coyote call for his birthday so we bought him one.  He was lucky enough to get King Crab legs for his birthday dinner and ice cream and cake at home.  It was really funny, I pulled out a package of candles not knowing they were trick candles that continuously re-light when you blow them out and poor Mr. Pie nearly passed out from smoke inhalation trying to blow them out.

We could not stop laughing, it was so funny to hear this caller. 

I made the chocolate cake!