Beach babes

This past week one of my friends called me up and asked if we would be up to going to the beach. It was a hard decision, I was already planning on cleaning the apartment. Who cares about the apartment! We totally decided to go to the beach!

It was a pretty nice day, but the wind made it feel cooler. Why does it always have to be windy at the beach? Here is Ava longing to go into the water. You can't tell from the picture, but her little friend that came with us is playing in the ocean...Ava's a little envious!


Ava absolutely loved the ocean. We were in a little inlet off of the ocean, so the waves were a lot calmer. So Ava had a blast walking in the waves. She kept squealing with delight and wanting to walk further and further out. The water wasn't actually that cold. Which I'm not used to coming from the Pacific Northwest, where you don't ever go into the ocean!


Here are the girls having a blast playing in the sand. Of course Ava couldn't help herself from trying to eat everything within her reach. Including sand, sticks and even using a shovel to suck up ocean water. This girl keeps me on my toes!


Ava, aka the sand baby! For those who need a quick tip of how to get sand off, use baby powder. Works like a charm and then it makes your baby smell oh so good.


Ava's new favorite trick. This child is going to need a good scrubbing once we get home!


Aren't they adorable?!!! They play so well together. We had so much fun spending the day at the beach. I would choose it over cleaning the apartment anyday! We totally need to go again...soon.

What every mother looks forward too...

Any guesses? I'll give you a clue, it only applies if you have little girls. I'd give you more clues, but I am just too excited to tell you that this past week I was finally able to put Ava's hair into pigtails!!! Since being able to style Ava's hair is a momentous milestone, I couldn't help myself from holding a mini photo shoot. Enjoy the collage!


By the way, I'm sad to announce that Ava's birthday party has officially ended. After 34 wondrous days, Ava's balloon could no longer stay afloat. If you are confused why I'm even mentioning this, check out this post.

Breaking Dawn

Only 61 more days until Breaking Dawn is released. For those of you who haven't read any of the Twilight books, you might think I'm a little obsessed. I promise, once you read them you'll totally feel the same way. I have never been one to choose reading a book over watching tv, cleaning the bathroom, pretty much I would rather do anything than read a book...you can thank required high school reading assignments for that! But I can honestly say once I started reading the Twilight books, I couldn't put them down. I read an entire 500 page book in 3 days. So lets just say I'm a little excited to read the 4th book coming out in August. Today I was able to find the 1st chapter from Breaking Dawn on the web...gotta love the internet! If you are dying to read it, then click the link. I'm dying to hear what you all think!

http://www.fanpop.com/spots/twilight-series/forum/post/13965

Many more to come

Happy birthday Dad!

Hope you have 50 more great years to come!

Palace of the Legion of Honor

Yep, you read the title right. This past weekend the whole fam decided to visit a local palace. The Legion of Honor Palace is located on the northwest corner of the San Francisco peninsula. It has gorgeous fews of the Pacific Ocean, the Golden Gate Bridge and the bay. Can you seriously imagine getting to live here? I guess the mega rich people that once called this home donated it to the city of SF once they died. Now it has been turned into an art museum.

Palace of the Legion of Honor- Morning Version
Originally uploaded by Sutanto

After 30 minutes of driving around trying to find parking, standing in line for another 20 we finally made it inside the museum. To quickly discover that I had left my camera in the car. I seriously almost cried. But my sweet husband quickly ran to the car before that could happen. Thanks to Josh, you all get to the super sweet pics I took of Dale Chihuly's glass sculptures. They are gorgeous!

I couldn't believe just how large and detailed each piece was.



Wouldn't you love to have this hanging over your dining room table?



This was my favorite piece. It is called "The Sun"...for good reason.



Ava had a blast at the museum. Especially when she realized that her voice echoed in the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit. I totally wish they allowed us to take pictures of the scrolls, but something about them being over thousands of years old and very fragile. We actually got to see Genesis verses 1-9 dealing with the creation. Amazing.


On the way out we stopped to take a pic of the Golden Gate Bridge. This is a view looking into the bay. Seriously, can you imagine living in that palace?

The party don't stop!

It's been over 3 weeks since Ava's birthday celebration, but the party don't stop till the last balloon drops. See exhibit A...

(exhibit A)

This may look like an ordinary balloon, but I swear it possesses some magical powers. This balloon has been flying high for 24 days. It hasn't even started to drop from the ceiling yet. At least it has provided 24 days to teach Ava the word "balloon" or "oooon" as she says it. Today at the grocery store Ava got a little excited by just how many balloons were around. She didn't have enough hands to point at them all. But she sure gave it her best shot! Any guesses on how much longer this balloon can hold out?

The duel of the Davids

So I must admit that I had a hard time watching American Idol last night. I got so nervous during David Cook's performances that I had to hold off eating my dinner until he finished singing. What's up with his performances last night? I liked his song choices, but it sure seemed like his nerves got the best of him. Going into Tues. nights show I had no doubt that David Cook had a chance to win the whole thing. But after watching the show, don't tell Josh this, I think Mr. Archuleta might just win. Josh and I have taken opposite sides during the whole season. Josh keeps restating that "A household divided shall not stand." Ugh! David Cook better win or I will not hear the end of it! Don't get me wrong, I think Archuleta is an amazing singer, but there really hasn't been a song of his that I have wanted to buy. I guess I am just more of a fan of David Cook's genre. I am dying to watch the show tonight, but I'll probably check online before the show airs over here in Cali. I hate how they drag the finale out for 2 excruciating hours!

Amazing Ava

Yesterday we were standing in line at the bank and a mother and her young daughter were ahead of us. I don't know why this is, but Ava is always so memorized with other kids. No matter where we were in the bank, she had to keep a watchful eye on this little girl. When it was time for the little girl to leave Ava made sure to bye. Actually she said "Hi" and then proceeded to wave (we're working on her B sounds). On the way out I could hear the little girl talking to her mom. She said, "Mom, you know what's amazing? That baby can talk!"