We had sun, rain, snow, wind, hail & lightening!!!
We spent a lot of time at the river watching Jason attempt to catch dinner for the night... didn't happen this trip... hopefully on our next one :) Tatianna loved spending so much time with her daddy as did I!
We had a lot of fun feeding the fish at the hatchery!
Tatianna & Cousin Andie
Enjoying lunch with my brother and his family on such a beautiful day :)
Celebrating Cousin Elijah's 4th Birthday!!!
Jason and I were sooo blessed to have a golf date together!! I didn't think we would, so I didn't bring my clubs, but enjoyed driving the cart and watching him play! It was a wonderful day :) My sister Ginny is the best and played with Tatianna during our date! YAY for sisters :)
Baseball games, birthdays, days on the river, playing cards with family and reading books by the fireplace sure made this a vacation to remember :) So thankful to live close to them all again!
This is the song Tatianna and I have been singing for WAY too long :( It's June for crying out loud... Tatianna found the decorations for the snowman tonight, put them on and asked it was just about Christmas time again :( I know all this rain is "good" and "wonderful" to make Oregon the BEAUTIFUL state that it is, BUT this California girl needs some serious sunshine, my vitamin D is just NOT cutting it!
We are headed out of town tomorrow to Sunriver, Oregon for some much needed R & R!!! No t.v... no computer.... just lots & lots of family time! I am hoping to teach Tati how to ride her new bike, use her fishing pole and to read a few great books I just got :)
I can't believe how blessed we are to live on the street we live on! Not only are there about 5 firefighters and 3 police officers... There is also 3.5 yr. old Wyatt who lives next door :) On the other side of his house, lives 3.5 yr. old Gemma! They all have become fast friends! In the afternoons, they run wild through the neighborhood... I love it!
This is how Wyatt and Tati play in the backyard!! They pass things through this tiny little hole in the fence or throw toys over the fence to eachother!!
Tati, Wyatt & Gemma relaxing after playing hard!
Learning how to play baseball!
Tatianna's playroom is really getting its use :)
No matter how many new friends we will make... they'll never replace all the wonderful friends we still have in San Diego! I have made a photo album for Tatianna of all our friends who we miss so much! It's great to look through it with her and reminisce about all the amazing adventures we have had :)
This is how this beautiful day started... Couldn't have been more perfect!
Yes, I sure am one lucky, lucky mama :)
Nothing beats blowing bubbles in the backyard on a beautiful day!
10 years ago, I spent Mother's Day in the hospital with my mom . I'll never forget it and it feels as though it was just yesterday. She was in a coma and we had to choose if this was the day for her to go up to heaven. I remember thinking "NO, not on Mother's Day" how could I ever celebrate that day again when I became a mom. It just didn't seem fair or right. God has his own way of doing things and my sweet mama passed away 2 short months later. I am soooo blessed to be a mom to Tatianna and know my mom is our guardian angel. My sister shared this poem today & I thought it said exactly what I was feeling:
If roses grow in heaven, Lord pick a bunch for me~Place them in my Mother's arms and tell her there're from me~ Tell her that I love and miss her, and when she turns to smile~ place a kiss upon her cheek and hold her for a while~ Because remembering her is easy, I do it every day~ There's an ache inside my heart that will never go away.
Well no, not really, but if I was a doctor I would have prescibed this for Tatianna and I right about now!!!! We've (o.k. ME) have been feeling a little down lately and when my sister Ginny asked us to join her in Lincoln City for the weekend, I was soooo excited!!!!!
An amazing view of the Pacific... a delicious glass of wine and a James Patterson book... really??!!... relaxation couldn't get much better :)
There was a Tsunami warning the day after our arrival because of the earthquake in Chile. I wished I had never told Tati that we were going to go play in the sand... Nope... No sand for us, they closed the beaches because of the possible Tsunami... The waves were HUGE and beautiful. We sure miss the beaches in San Diego :( They used to be 5 mins. away, now it's over 2 hours away!
Tatianna and her cousin Elijah (just about 2 months older than her) had such a GREAT time together!!!! They ran, ran, ran, ran, ran!!!!! Never a dull moment! It was super cute to see them play barbies together~ Their imaginations are just running rampant right now~ I love it :) Her cousin Isabelle, is just about the sweetest little girl you could ever meet! She read books, played games and just entertained Tatianna & Eli soooo much :)
We brought home a 2 lb. crab and a bunch of clams to share our weekend with Jason! He had to work and missed all the fun festivities :( Tatianna LOVED the crab dipped in butter! I'm happy that she will try new things!
The Clam lingunie was amazing too :) I really am learing how to cook after all.....
I found this recipe in Health magazine and it is AWESOME!!!! Jason asked if I could make these every week for him! I ♥ this easy, healthy recipe :) Oh and I reallllly ♥that it's a crockpot meal!!!
Prep: 15 mins Cook: 4 hrs 15 mins Makes: 6 servings
2 cups bottled salsa, plus more for serving 2 TBSP chili powder 2 TBSP dried oregano 1 TBSP unsweetened cocoa 1/4 tsp kosher salt 1 (2 1/2 lb) boneless pork butt or shoulder, trimmed 18 corn tortillas (give or take) we also tried them w/four tortillas, but really preferred the corn :) 1/2 cup fresh cilantro sprigs 3/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream 1/4 cup diced red onion 2 limes, cut into wedges
Combine the first 5 ingredients (through salt) in a 4-6 quart slow cooker. Add the pork and turn to coat.
Cook pork, covered, on high for 4-5 hours on on low for 7-8 hours, or until the meat is tender and pulls apart easily.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees 20 mins before serving. Stack the tortillas, and wrap in foil. Bake for 15 mins. or untul warm.
Shred pork with 2 forks, and str meat into the cooking liquid. Serve shredded pork with warm tortillas, cilanto, sour cream, red onion, lime and extra salsa.
I have failed many, many, many times at trying new recipes and was a bit nervous about this (pork and me... don't always get along) But this turned out to be forever in my "go to dinners"!! Next time I make these, I will double it for sure ♥
Such a wonderful, exciting, awesome week for Tatianna....
She stoppedsucking her thumb!!!!!!!
We had a little party for her (cake, ice cream, going out for dinner) I can't even begin to describe how happy both Jason and I are about this! She has sucked her thumb constantly from inside my belly (i have pictures) until just last Sunday :) It was a little hard for her to fall asleep the first night, but I went and got her some glow in the dark stars for her ceiling to help get her mind off wanting to suck her thumb :)
She helped me make her beautiful, delicous strawberry cake... YUMMY :)
We let Tatianna know how proud we were of her after the 1st day of no thumb sucking, and said if she could do it for 5 more days, she could go to the Disney store and pick out any Barbie Princess she wanted!!! A little incentive never hurt anyone :)
Here she is with Sleeping Beauty and her fairy godmothers!
Yay for not so many sicknesses, Yay for being able to play w/the other children in the play room in Ikea, Yay for her right thumb nail beginning to heal..... Yay, Yay, Yay :)
This picture makes me laugh :) this is Tati's pretend cry/laugh... she's got it down to almost perfection with all the practice!!!
Tatianna and I have been trying to get our "craft on" lately :) Here's some simple bird feeders that we made last week when the weather was BEAUTIFUL!! We need to take advantage of those days up here! Super simple: pine cone+ peanut butter+ birdseed+ a little yarn= happy birds
We had a great time doing these... even if the birds have YET to eat off of them :( ha ha
I had such HIGH hopes 9 1/2 years ago after I got married... I pictured myself this wonderful gourmet chef :) Or really, just a wonderful wife making some kick ass food for my husband!
Over the years, I have bought over 24 cookbooks!!! I mean WHO needs that many! And to find out I had TWO sushi books... what is wrong with me :)
I guess I'd be telling a different story had I actually opened them!! Oh, I take that back... I do like to open them! I love to see the beautiful pictures of all the fabulous food I would make if only I had the time.... But of course between working, being w/Tati, trying out all the most delicious restaurants San Diego had to offer and having a husband who like to cook us gourmet meals ... The whole cooking thing never took off for me! Excuses, excuses :)
Well, 4 months ago, I was just sooooo excited to take on the cooking world! Not having to work outside of the home and having no friends in this new town, gave me TONS of time on my hands!
Such high, high hopes I had... BUT, unfortunately it just hasn't worked out as I had envisioned :( I didn't know that you should NOT put chicken in the crock pot for 8 hours... or that 30 minutes in the oven for the smallest pork chops will dry them out into leather... and really, how do I ruin instant potatoes??? The list could really go on and on and on...
So my poor, poor husband has been living off the picture on the bottom instead of the one on the top...
BUT NO MORE! New Year, New Beginnings... I'm dusting off the dust of those beautiful books today!
Is the grass greener… hmmm… Had you asked me that question 4-6 months ago… YEP without a doubt!! I was one of the jealous mom’s that has always worked and would have given my left hand to be able to stay home and care every day for my little girl!!!!!
It’s funny how life works out and it’s funny about how you always think “if this happens or what about that or if only”…
Given, a lot has changed since I thought that way and now I realize, I really NEED MY LEFT HAND!!!!!
Let me take you back a bit if I may… I loved my job about 90% of the time~ I had been doing it for a little over 13 years… I mean, I should really love it, right????
I enjoyed seeing my patients, really getting to know them and was always super excited to see their beautiful smiles at the end of treatment!!!! What better job than to have someone cry and tell you that you “changed their life” I mean…WOW!!!!
I always dreamed about the day I could quit my job and stay home w/my baby! I thought about singing, dancing, cooking (all the things I really am no good at) but I thought that it would all change once I was a mom! Like a pill you take while leaving the hospital…
POOF…“You are now qualified to be the most amazing mom ever and be the envy of all that you encounter, with the most beautiful little daughter in the whole world”
Yep, felt like it for a minute or two, but reallllly, I’m not that crazy!
I remember moving to San Diego 6 years ago…
Jason had never been there but being such a wonderful husband that he was, I convinced him after I had spent an amazing weekend with my 3 sisters, celebrating by sister Ginny's Birthday that this is where we need to be and because it was going to be a new adventure for us! What an adventure it turned out to be!!!!!!
I HATED my 1st job! Seriously, it was wretched! The horrible doctor threw dental instruments when he was mad (which was ALL the time)Jason, thank god worked at a golf course just within walking distance and we would meet for lunch and cry about how crappy our jobs were… The sweetest, most awesome husband that he is, would leave me cards on my car to find… Encouraging me to make it through another day at a place he knew I hated… I love him more than I can express for those cards…
Anyways, I/we NEVER, EVER, EVER thought we would EVER move to California! Jason spent his Freshman year at Whittier College in East L.A. and just HATED IT!So, never in a million, billion years would I ever think that we would end up in California and “LOVE” it for 6 years!
Grass greener?? Well.... I mean San Diego is mostlyBROWN!!!!
But it just wasn’t the time for us to be in Oregon and I am sooooo happy we followed our hearts and jumped in completely blind to find such an amazing family of friends in San Diego and a truly wonderful adventure :)
Well... Yes... I am a HUGE fan of the Twighlight series of books and secretly fell in lust wth the most beautiful vampire... I see a resemblance... Don't you? :) Ha Ha, Perhaps I was drawn to those cute sunglasses from the Gap on vacation for a reason...
)
Enjoying lunch with my brother and his family on such a beautiful day :)
Celebrating Cousin Elijah's 4th Birthday!!!
Baseball games, birthdays, days on the river, playing cards with family and reading books by the fireplace sure made this a vacation to remember :) So thankful to live close to them all again!
