One of my greatest pleasures in life is hiking. While we do not have the same beautiful mountains here as we did in Washington. . . .we are fortunate to have official hiking trails with gorgeous views. There is a lovely park called Torrey Pines, which is a few minutes from Darin's office. These are a few pics from the hike we did as a family. . . .although with both children in backpacks, we did not make it terribly far!!!

On Friday evening, we were fortunate to have Casey, Blake and the whole Starnes crew over for a bbq. They have traveled from Kansas City to San Diego with 3 children in tow. . . .did I mention they drove(cue music theme song to "Vacation")?? What a great adventure for their family and we loved seeing them. Have you ever seen such precious children. . .or a cuter couple???

Check out these cuties at the beach! They are in heaven playing in the sand and making giant messes. . . .have I mentioned how much we love living here?

Our wonderful friends, Denise and Aaron, were kind enough to host a dinner at the beach club during our visit to Seattle. This is a lovely location equipped with a huge pool, exercise facility, beach access, playground, picnic tables, bbq's, and a boat launch. We had a great time catching-up(in between chasing the little ones) and were also able to see our friends, Casey and Chris. Casey and Darin have a similar sense of humor and are generally up to something. Look closely at these pictures and you will notice Darin and Casey posing and flexing their muscles. Never a dull moment with this crew! Thanks so much for hosting us, Denise-we had a great time!

Last week, we ventured back to our old stomping grounds in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Darin's firm hosted a lovely conference for all the families in a resort town east of Seattle called Suncadia. The weather was perfect and we took full advantage of the great outdoors. Ellery and Dane spent most of their days swimming, and searching for the perfect rock or stick. If you have never visited this part of the country, put it on your list. . . .there are few places this lovely(just make sure you go in the summer)!

This child LOVES beans and it is the one food that he will consistently eat. I did not say it was pretty, but it is pretty cute(as long as he is not throwing them). Bring it on, Carrie, I know you MUST have a comment for this one!

We are so fortunate to live in such a beautiful place where we can enjoy the outdoors year round. We live about 5 minutes from the "Self Realization Center" at Swamis. This is a famous yoga mecca and meditation center that happens to be right on the ocean. It also houses a lovely garden, which is fortunately open to the public. We took Darin's parents and Aunt Nancy there for a visit last weekend. Dane is such a sensory learner and had to stop to touch each and every single plant and flower(including a cactus--boy I have to be fast with him).

We had a lovely weekend, which included TWO date nights in a row(thanks to Darin's parents), a neighborhood party/BBQ, and a beautiful day at the beach. These are from our 4th of July BBQ at a friend's house. Yes, I forced the entire family to wear festive attire and I like it!

The Mesquite Rodeo. . . .anyone from Texas remember this? We took the children there with their Chicago cousins, and it was a hoot! We were not able to stay for the entire show, as it started late and the children were EXHAUSTED. The best part--our nephew, William, was chosen as one of 8 children to ride a sheep. They gear up the kids in padding and a helmet and then strap them to a sheep as they attempt to hold-on as long as possible! This was HILARIOUS to watch. . . .William held on for a few seconds to this wild sheep and we were so proud!! We weren't able to snap a shot of him on the sheep, but did get a few of him riding the mechanical bull.

A few more from our Florida trip. One morning after getting dressed, my sister looked at me surprised and stated that she had the exact same dress. Her sweet daughters insisted that she put it on so that we would match. Yes, we wore these matching "sister" dresses all day long(Muezetta, yours is in the mail). We only went to one public place that day and certainly received some interesting looks. I suppose we are more alike than we realize. . . . we live in different states, people. . . and we purchased these dresses from COMPLETELY different stores!

My baby brother, Mark, met Dane for the first time on our visit to Florida. He is such an amazing uncle and Dane took to him right away. Oh how I wish we lived closer!!