Creative?!

I feel terrible...Makena's birthday rolled around too fast and by the time it got here, I ran out of creative juices! Gone. Done. Couldn't think of anything creative to make. I wanted to make something special like the BEAUTIFUL quilts that my mom makes her every year. Nope, couldn't do anything nearly as great as that.

So, I went to our Carlsbad outlets and bought some VERY CUTE outfits from Baby Gap, etc.! Did I have time to make clips that matched? Nope. Migraine headache and a very tired week of being back to school was just not helping the cause...complain, complain, complain! Anyway, this is what I came up with to "dress" up my non creative gift...p.s. I will have to show you the cute clothes soon...love them.

Couldn't decide which was a better pic...flash or no flash?

I just used the cricut, glittered some letters and cut outs, stuck them on skewers and ta da!

I went with the beach theme since her birthday party is at the Legoland Aquarium tomorrow and is mermaid theme! =)

Happy Birthday Makena!

Today the little princess turned 4! She is a BIG girl now!

Love, Auntie Erica and Uncle Mike

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Celebrating Easter

This year, Easter was spread out over 2 days! Mike and I went to his parent's house on Saturday morning to have brunch with his grandpa and grandma and the rest of his family! Grandma and Grandpa Ese from San Clemente!

We stayed the night at my parent's house that night and had a very nice brunch with my family and Mike's family on Easter morning!

My mom loves to spoil us all! YUM!

We had delicious french toast, breakfast caserole, salads, etc. for brunch! A mix of everything!

This little one had a blast and couldn't stop running around...NON STOP!!

Well....note the love between us...haha...just wait....

I was being the nice auntie that I always am and opened up her toys from the Easter Bunny and all of a sudden tears started to come and this was the end result....ugh! My sister obviously thought it was hilarious and needless to say, caught the moment!


Makena did have fun hiding eggs with Mike's mom! =)

Ah ha! I caught him in the act many times like this through out the day! Candy Monster!

We all had a great time together!!

Fresh Strawberry Muffins!

Since Strawberry season has hit, I have been craving sweets, sweets, sweets (hence the whole Jamba Juice craze!)!!! I made these delicious strawberry muffins last year and everyone fell in love with them! I haven't made them since and thought they would be a perfect addition to Easter brunch! I used my favorite Carlsbad strawberries (when you come to visit, stop by the stand off of Canon...these berries are to die for...you can pick them yourself too!!)...I would recommend using fresh strawberries...I'm not too sure how frozen would taste. 1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup whole milk (I used reduced fat and they still turned out fine...your choice)

1 1/2 tsp. almond extract (I always add just a touch more)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour (King Arthur flour is the best and can be found at Stater Bros., Ralphs, and Henrys)

1 tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

2 cups sliced strawberries

Preheat oven to 375. Line cups with liners. In one large bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Add the eggs one at a time and blend until fluffy. Mix in the milk and almond extract. In a separate bowl, sift together both flours, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the milk mixture and blend until just combined. Fold in the strawberries. Bake for 30 minutes or check with a cake tester to see if they are done before that. Makes 12 muffins.

***One strawberry basket usually equals 2 cups of sliced strawberries.

I would love to give credit to the recipe blog where I got the recipe from, but I didn't write it down!

Enjoy....They are sooooo yummy!

6 years and many more to go...

Since time got away from us this last month, we finally were able to squeeze in a day to celebrate our 6 year anniversary! WARNING! This post is a looooong one! =)

We began the day with a delicious breakfast downtown San Diego in the Gaslamp at the Broken Yolk (one of our very favorite places to have breakfast...you must try!)! We completely stuffed ourselves full of delicious food!

Since the Padres are just about to start back up, we checked out the Padre store and stopped to take a long view of the stadium! =)

Can't wait!! Looking forward to a great season! Go Padres!

We ventured over to Seaport Village and walked over to where the Midway is. What a neat place to go!
This statue makes me smile every time I see it! Mom, memories?! Ha!

The weather was absolutely more than we could have asked for! It was gorgeous! Well we didn't stop there...we ended up traveling to Point Loma and up to Cabrillo National Monument! It was such a breath taking view from up there! This was Mike's first time up there (to Cabrillo) so I got to be the tour guide!

Don't you just love San Diego? What a beautiful place! Look at that view!

Before we left the Cabrillo Monument, we drove down to the Tide pools. Not much to see because the tide was way too high. We hiked down to the cliffs anyway. Beautiful scenery!

The rocks were very interesting...they literally looked like big pieces of wood!

We searched and searched and found nothing! =( Wish I could have seen something!

We traveled down the coast to La Jolla because I kept talking about wanting to see the sea lions! They were so fun to watch...

Don't they look comfy?! They were making Mike tired and lazy just watching them sleep! Haha!

We couldn't leave La Jolla before going back to the spot where it all started! =) On our first date we stopped at this random beach spot, which is surrounded by beautiful million dollar homes. We stopped and took a picture of course!

I looked around and kept finding names etched into the rock...I was sad because the rock was far to tough to do it with anything that we had...so funny how I turned around and found this etched into one of the rocks...ironic! I know someone was spelling "me", but how perfect...our initials! =)

We ended our "Tour de San Diego" by grabbing a bite to eat at Phil's BBQ! Such a great place...yet another recommendation! =)

Thanks for the amazing day, Mike! You are truly the best! xoxox!