Hmmm....wonder what he is thinking?

While the rest of the country has been experiencing record snowfall and lows, we have had summer in January. The last few weeks have brought sunny skies and temps in the 70's at the coast. We have been taking full advantage of the weather and heading outdoors as much as possible.

Boring post, but I love the pictures of the ocean.

Twelve years ago today, I walked down the aisle and made a promise to love and cherish this man for as long as we both shall live. I feel so blessed to hold those words true to this day. Darin, thank you for being the wonderful father and husband I always dreamed you would be. You still make me laugh and blush at the most random moments. I love and cherish you even more today than I did twelve years ago. Happy Anniversary, babe!!! XXOO

Me and my handsome hubby

Dane and cousin William(he idolizes him)

Scaredy Dane meeting his idol, Buzz

Darin and his sista's

Auntee Ne and Ellery

My awesome sis-in-law(and hubby)

The birthday couple(they make 40 look great)

Sister love

My precious newphew

The Libby cousins(and grandma and grandpa)

The Marsh cousins(and mamas)

Happy 2011, peeps! I can't believe 2010 has already passed us by. We had an AMAZING time on New Year's eve.....a party thrown by good friends in the neighborhood, which means we could walk home(thank God). We did not manage to take a single picture, which is probably a good thing considering Darin and I thought we were professional dancers and the evening included some break dancing, ballet dancing, and even a lift!!!! Anyhow, as mentioned before, we had a mixed trip to Florida. The good points included seeing family, watching the children with their beloved cousins and even DisneyWorld. The not-so-good points: terrible weather at DisneyWorld, exhaustion from travel, Dane throwing-up, and the worst travel day in the history of our family. Coming back from Florida, we spent an extra hour sitting on the runway due to mechanical issues(remember this is already a 5 hour flight). We then missed our connection from LAX to San Diego and they were going to put us on a bus in the pouring rain. LAX was a MAD house with hundreds of people and bags everywhere. It was total chaos and we imagined the bus ride down would be as well. We finally opted to rent a car and drive ourselves home(a costly option, but totally worth it). We made it home around 3:00 Pacific time, but remember we were still on east coast time. Needless to say, we were THRILLED to be home and spend Christmas and New Year's in our own home. Cliche, but there truly is no place like home!

So much to post about. We had both a great and difficult trip to Florida(more on that in another post). We hosted Christmas Eve with our dear friends, the Frith's, and my nephew Michael, and his wife Melissa. It was a lovely evening with good food, and great conversation. Christmas morning was so much fun.....Ellery was not only excited to open her gifts, but she also loved to watch everyone else. Dane was thrilled with his Buzz Lightyear toys and was actually completely occupied for at least an hour(a new record for him). We spent Christmas afternoon/evening with Darin's extended family at his aunt and uncles' house. The children had a great time playing with their 2nd cousins and we enjoyed seeing the rest of the family. All in all, a great year and we are so very blessed!

Cousin Ryan, Grandma & Darin.
Nana and Papa.

Aunt Donna, Uncle Mike, cousin Denise, cousin Ryan.

Could you just eat them up?

The dancing queens. Ellery and her best friend, Tatum, take tap and ballet together twice a week. Last week they had pictures, so I snapped a few of my own. Could these two be any cuter?

Before--awful carpet.

Sorry, bloggies for my long absense.....we have been some busy beavers around here. As I mentioned about a month or so ago, we decided to rip out our ugly, cheap carpet and replace it with hardwoods. The result--beautiful and much more functional.

Listening to instructions for the scavenger hunt.

Concentrating on decorating his fairy house.

Ladybug apples.

It has happened.....our baby is now 5--officially NOT a baby! We had a "fairy" party on Saturday, complete with pixie dust, fairy wings, Peter Pan hats, toadstools, and wands. It was a great time and I feel fortunate that Ellery has such nice friends(not to mention that I like the mommies, too). On a side note, almost all of the ideas you see here were borrowed from other blogging sites--thank you bloggers for posting such wonderful pictures of your ideas so I can steal them!!!

Our sweet girl is turning 5 in just one week. I adore this little girl--her sweet heart and her love of others. We are so proud of you, Miss Ellery, and can't wait to celebrate your birthday next weekend!

Yee-haw. Here are some pics from our trip to Texas. Ellery and Dane's cousin, Addie, was there visiting with Aunt Dawn. Ellery and Addie are six weeks apart in age and always have a ball playing together. The first day we were there, we took the kids to the Texas State Fair. It is difficult to compete with the Texas state fair......the food, the livestock, the people, the shopping, the rodeo, and of course, Big Tex. Ellery and Addie participated in the "kids rodeo" and it was precious. The children are given hats and some chaps and have their very own "pretend" rodeo.....it was adorable. Dane was disappointed he could not participate--next year(you have to be 3). Thanks to grandma and grandpa for taking us and walking all over the grounds for the little ones.