Beach Babes

Before Christmas I was able to spend a day with 2 of my best friends at the beach on an incredibly beauitful day.

The day honestly felt magical.

And the beach was breathtaking.
It made me really miss the summer...I am already counting down the days!

Zombies & Exterminators

Halloween was pretty awesome.

We always dream up really cool ideas,

and I totally look forward to making their costumes each year.

Ayden decided he wanted to be "Billy the Exterminator."

He was the best Billy I've ever seen, minus the mullet which he refused to wear.

Brandon begged for a costume from the store...insert: Scarecrow...but at the last minute he decided that my zombie costume was a way better idea. Agreed.

And Lucas was a bat.

I found it at the thrift store for $3...and couldn't pass it up.

We walked Olive Street as we do each year with our friends & their kids...

it's always jam packed full of people, but it's just not Halloween without it.

I hope your Halloween was great!

Cocktails (Photo Overload)

After we got back from our weekend in Palm Springs, I really wanted to have all our friends over for a retro cocktail party.

We've never had a "big kid party" at our house...
and it's way over due.
Plus it gave me an excuse to pull out all my pyrex :) 
And to dress up.  
For the drinks, we decided on making just one kind of cocktail, which was the one we had in Palm Springs called the Orbitini.

Here is how you make it:

2 shots of Sake
3/4 cup of cranberry juice
1/2 cup of orange juice

Serve over ice with an orange wedge!

(It's delicious)

We all had such a fun night!

Sprinkled with Love

Over the weekend, my friend Kelly and I put on a little "baby sprinkle" for our sweet friend Amber, who is having her 2nd baby.

It was simple and so sweet.
And we were so happy to do it for her.
We love her, and she means the world to us.

Mud love

For Jess's birthday we all went to Glen Ivy.
We soaked in mud.
Ate mile high nachos.
And I'm pretty sure I never laughed so hard in my life.

Days like that always go WAY to fast!

Fake Photographer

Yesterday I played "photographer."
Pretending is so much fun.

We ran around Oak Glen and trespassed to find the perfect spot, I broke my shoe, and we were covered in stickers.
That is seriously hard work!

But I loved every minute of it and my best friend is a babe, so taking pictures of her was a complete breeze.

She is submitting these pictures to a few magazines for print ads, and if they pick her as their model, I might actually get photo cred in their magazine.

Not bad for a fake photographer.

Happy Birthday Amber!

Re-reading my last post I left this space quite sad & somber...


I know that although I try and keep my blog "happy" & I rarely ever step on topics that are too deep for my liking...life sneaks up on you. And as dark as it can be at times, it's to hard for me to ignore. 




Okay, now on to a "happy" post.

******

I have had pretty much the same group of friends since Jr. High.

They are like sisters.

We fight.

We bicker.

And we love each other with a passion that can't ever be explained in words.

******

Saturday night we got together to celebrate Amber's 31st birthday.

(She's the blond one on the right, that when told to make a goofy face...she went for "Schmegal" from the Lord of the Rings. A-A-A-A-M-A-zing.) 

We went to Romano's for dinner.

And on the way while trying to take photos of ourselves, a photographer happened to walk by and offer her skills.

Lucky right?

The night was so good.

We ate way to much.

Talked the whole time, 

about life,

being in our 30's,

kids,

and being so thankful we still have each other.

I love looking at them and seeing them as the women they are now.

I love being able to see them as wives,

and mom's.

Because then I get a flashback to when we used to hang out,

all packed in my Mazda truck driving thru the orange groves,

being absolutely and totally goofy.

We've come along way.

Happy Birthday Ambir-D!!!!

We love you.

D+

This weekend wore me out, but in a totally great way.
I think in the 3 weeks we've lived at our house we've had people over every single day. 
Funny because we weren't the best at hosting friends at our old place...
maybe because they were scared of the hood? 
perhaps....
But I can't wait to have more friends over...so watch out that means you? haha!


Speaking of friends, I am realizing what a terrible one I am.


I hurt a friends' feelings with my bad communication skills and it made me realize that I really need to step it up. If I was being graded I'd get a solid D+.  


Because besides whooping it up at home with my pack,
and galloping to the gym,
I don't get out much. 
And that means I need to keep all the friends I've got. 
So don't jump ship yet! 


Life just flows from one day to the next,
and you get so caught up in the day to day without even realizing it's been days or weeks or sadly months since you talked to a close friend. Bad. 


So I vow to be more thankful, to really love you.
To invest more time in your life,
and not be so wrapped up in my own.
(I really hate that sentence, but man it's the truth.)


How do you all juggle maintaining friendships being a wife & mommy? 
Suggestions greatly appreciated!


Love you all!
*And I mean it!

Happy Birthday Lisa!

Sunday night I had a real life dinner with no babies,
and just friends for Lisa's birthday.


It was so nice.


We ate a million small plates (have you had the Vietnamese Tacos from The Cheesecake Factory? They are so good),
and had a real life adult conversation.


Mostly about how thankful we are for each other,
and the fact that we've known each other for almost 15 years!


I love these two.
and seriously cherish our time together. 


Happy birthday Lisa!!