SURPRISE!

One of my favorite people had a birthday! Melissa's sis-in-law invited me to help with some of the party details and we had a blast! Of course it had to be a surprise...Missy would never allow this...

The Surprise:

The People:

The Food:

The cake...another post will follow on The Cake ;)

The Fun!

The Big 3 - 0!

welcome baby

I was delighted to take these photos of Hollie's new 9 day old niece, Brindi. What a sweet little family. Here you go Aunt Hollie...

Frankenkendall

Our accident-prone little beauty. A glued together forehead, a black eye and 4 staples in her scalp...hopefully, the third one is the charm and finishes things off for us in the head injury category. Today we got her "stamples" removed (as she would say). It was a surprisingly easy, pain-free process. We were both so relieved. Now, little lady...it's time to take it easy.

first day of first grade

Today was a big day...for all of us. And we did so well. Not even one tear shed. Just a lump in my throat, but I swallowed it down. Krissy was so excited to get back to school. She has a great teacher, a grandma that is willing to help her in any way, cousins to carpool with and friends that she hasn't seen all summer. I am so proud of my big girl.

the fabulous Newport Coast

We had the chance to sneak away for a last-minute vacation to the Newport Coast.

(Thank you Erik and Brittany for allowing us to invite ourselves ;)

We had such a blast. It was our first real family vacation in almost two years and it was so fun to be able to spend some time together as a family. Everything was perfect...except for a trip to the Emergency Room with little Kendall. She was climbing on a chair, slipped in her flip flops and hit her head on a table. We were minutes from heading out to the beach, so in our swimming suits we went to the hospital instead. You should have seen me holding her on the hospital bed, in my swimming suit and cover-up, while she got 4 staples in her scalp! Thankfully we have no photos of that! It was Dr.'s orders that she not get her head wet in the pool or the beach for 10 days. She was such a good little sport and minder.

A few of our favorite highlights...

delicious Sunday dinner with Brady, Nicki and their darling twins

Krissy and Christian both losing a tooth=2 visits from the Tooth Fairy!

riding 400 ft into the sky in an orange balloon

moonlit walk on the beach

early morning jog with Britt

snuggling with baby Kate

eating a Red Velvet cupcake from Sprinkles

Gelato

buying Sanuks

trying my first Pinkberry

shopping...well, mostly window shopping

flips in the pool

the huge waves at Aliso Beach

great eats

poolside snowcones and nachos

Downtown Disney

cousin time

lunch with the dolls in LA

seeing the Hollywood sign

seeing the temple

my first visit to Paper Source

driving the Pacific Coast Highway

collecting sea shells

feeling the cool ocean breeze

dreaming of our next trip back...

...huh? And I thought I didn't take very many pictures...