Happy Anniversary!

Shane and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary on Saturday. Let me just start off by saying I have the best, most wonderful husband ever! Seriously! So he told me on Thursday that we were going away for the weekend. He didn't tell me where we were going just that we were leaving early Saturday morning. Honestly I was expecting to maybe go out to dinner if I was lucky! I had no clue that he had been planning this weekend for us. I felt so special! Okay so Saturday morning we get up at and were out the door by 5am. We stopped for donuts on the way and then hit the freeway. We ended up going to Charleston and it was AMAZING! Really...everything couldn't have gone better. The day was perfect. We got there around 8ish, parked the car and started walking. Shane's mom gave us some money to spend on our trip so we went on a carriage tour which was probably my favorite thing we did. There were about 12 people on our carriage and we got to tour around historic Charleston and learn about all the history. I will definitely do that again whenever we go back! 

Shane and I getting on our tour. I love the iPhone4...it's so awesome to take a picture of yourself and actually see if you're in the frame! :)

 This is Bill. Pretty, right? He was awesome...he had so much pep and had to be told to slow down every 5 minutes! 

 The slave market. They never actually sold slaves here though...just meat, seafood and vegetables. Now it's a cool place where you can buy locally made stuff as well as stuff made in China. :)

 So many beautiful churches in Charleston! We passed this one on our tour.

 The 3rd most romantic bed and breakfast in the United States. Two Meeting Street Inn. I just love that huge tree in front of it. 

When we finished our tour, we checked into our hotel. Shane picked a great hotel right in the middle of everything. The staff was amazing...they even sent us up a bottle of champagne after learning it was our anniversary! We wanted to do some site seeing before the rain hit so after checking in we went right back out. We got a great lunch at a place called Burger Babies and walked around. Good thing we brought umbrellas because it started pouring!

 Having fun in front of the millions of great photo opportunities :)

  

 Our lunch was so good! We both got regular burger babies but Shane also got a chorizo burger and a portabella burger. The portabella was actually his favorite! 

While we were eating lunch it started pouring rain. You can't see that well but inside the restaurant it was cozy and warm and outside it was cold and gloomy and raining. Needless to say, after lunch we headed back to our hotel to dry off. We talked to the front desk and they helped us decide on a restaurant for dinner. She made reservations for us and we went back to our room and actually took a nap. Oh what a treat! That night we went to dinner at this great Italian place. The lights were dim, we sat in a booth and they had live Jazz music. Everyone who worked there came by to say happy anniversary and they gave us complimentary champagne also. After dinner we walked around a bit but it was raining and cold so we didn't last very long. We ended up calling it an early night and slept for 11 hours! AMAZING! 

So after our amazing nights sleep, we got breakfast and then headed out for more sight seeing. We walked and walked and walked. Mostly through all the beautiful houses right on the water. Charleston is such a beautiful city. I loved taking pictures of everything and I really can't wait to go back!

 Rainbow Row 

 I had to take a picture of the aqua house for Heidi :)

 I made Shane let me take pictures of him. :)

 At Battery Park

 Shane's Forest Gump pose :)

  

Our last stop before heading home. A coffee/beer place that was actually really cool. We had to check it out because it was such a strange combination. I wish we had a little more time so that we could see all that there is to see in Charleston! It was such a great weekend and I'm thinking that we will be coming back here often! 

Augusta Half Marathon

Shane ran a half marathon this morning. It was really really cold too! He left early to park and get ready to run. Colie and I drove down a little later so the girls wouldn't have to wait so long. I got them all bundled up in their layers and hats and gloves. We parked and were there 15 min before the first person crossed the finish line. We had fun cheering for everyone who ran by! Rose Marie, Sabrina and Jayden came too and we were all there waiting for Shane to cross the finish line. He was thinking that he'd finish at 1 hour and 45 min but crossed at 1:41. 

 Waiting for Daddy....the girls were so cold! Heidi didn't even want to talk to anyone...she just wanted to be held.

 Colie and Heidi...the only smile we got out of her all morning. :)

 Heidi, Natalie, Me and Sabrina

 Rose Marie and Jayden moved to the other side into the sun!

 Shane coming around the bend...he's in the white shirt 

 This is when he spotted us cheering and waving

  

 After he finished running and scarfing down some food!

Sabrina, Me and Shane...such a good picture :)

Catching Up

So I think you've noticed that I have not been keeping up with my picture a day challenge this month. Ever since we found out that Shane's Aunt Eva died things have been pretty crazy! We bought tickets and flew out to California for the funeral. My mom stayed with the girls so that we didn't have to bring them along for the craziness. We flew out Thursday morning super early, got to LA, hit up In N Out and then drove down to Tustin to meet up with the family. We pretty much changed out clothes and headed to the viewing. I really feel so honored that I was able to be a part of the whole weekend. It was just really special. The whole weekend was a celebration of Aunt Eva's amazing life. I loved hearing the stories and hearing everyone speak about why they loved her so much. Friday morning was the funeral Mass. Shane and the other grandsons/nephews were the pallbearers. Shane, Jon and Josh all wore their military uniforms and Joel actually wore Uncle Rueben's old Marine uniform. Very special! The rest of the weekend was spent with family...reminiscing and laughing.  Here are a few pics from the weekend. 

 The boys...Joel, Jon, Shane and Josh

 Uncle Rich teased one too many times and the boys threw him in the pool next door...fully dressed!

 It was so funny! I didn't run fast enough to get a good shot!

All the cousins went to In N Out for dinner Friday night. We had so much fun! From left to right....Tommy, Sabrina, Justin, Mary, Jon, Jaime, Joel, Shane and Stephanie

It has been pretty crazy since we got home too. The girls had a really fun weekend while we were gone. They had no rules, no naps and no normal bedtime while we were gone. They got to have a slumber party with their cousin on the living room floor one night and on Saturday they got to spend the night at my sister's house. They had a blast and I am so thankful that my family was able to help me out! Although we have been trying to get back on schedule ever since we got home!! Natalie also had her Valentines day party at school on Tuesday so Monday afternoon we spent a couple hours making her Valentines for the kids at preschool. 

 She added all the stickers, wrote her name on the back of each and then glued on the tootsie rolls. A lot of work for a 4 year old. She kept saying..."Can't I finish these tomorrow??" That's what happens when you wait till the last minute! :)

She had such a great time at her Valentines day party at school. She came home with so much candy! It was like Halloween! Too bad Mommy is on a diet!

 I woke up Tuesday to roses and a sweet card from my hubby. 

I went on base and found his truck in the huge parking lot where he works and tied a giant balloon to his car. He said he could see it as soon as he walked out of the building when he got off. I thought it was pretty funny...he was just glad no one walked out with him! 

I'm still trying to get back in the swing of things now that we are home. It's crazy how a couple days off your normal schedule can take a week or more to get back on schedule! I'm hoping that with this long weekend coming up we can get back to normal and I won't feel so behind anymore. :)

Aunt Eva

Yesterday Shane's Great Aunt Eva went home to be with Jesus. She was more like a grandmother to him and really just an overall amazing woman. She and her husband Reuben were married for 71 years and are an inspiration to everyone they knew. I think my favorite thing about her was that she said whatever was on her mind. She was always feisty no matter the occasion! She loved her family and her home was always open. I loved hearing all her stories...she was actually at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked! She was on the other side of the island and I remember her telling me that the planes flew so low to the ground that she could see the eyes of the pilots. We are really going to miss her but I am so happy that she is not in any pain and that we will see her again someday! 

 The first time we took Natalie out to California for a visit

 The following year I think...Natalie was 2 

 Rose Marie and Aunt Eva at the family reunion a year ago

 One of my favorite pictures

Aunt Eva and Uncle Reuben

We love you Aunt Eva! 

Photo Challenge 2

Today the picture is breakfast. Kinda hard to make breakfast interesting! Especially since I eat the same breakfast pretty much every morning. Kashi Heart to Heart. :)

Photo Challange

Thanks to Pinterest I have found a million new things to try. So much fun!! This month I am doing a photo challenge where you take a certain kind of picture every day. So along with my normal posts I'll be posting a different picture every day. We will see how it goes...especially since I'm not actually a photographer. I just like taking pictures of my kids. But hopefully, this little challenge will make me better at taking every day pictures of my kids! 

So today starts with taking a picture of myself. I don't know about you but that doesn't seem like an easy start! I took my iphone into the backyard and took this. 

Day 1