Working Hard...

Mike has been working so hard over the last month or so...2 full months to go...yeah!! I am so proud of him! I was so excited when he told me that someone has been taking pictures of his academy class...of course I had to post them! =)

Climbing ladders

Not too hard to pick him out of the picture...yes, the one petting the dog! Of course!


Physical testing

Keep up the great work!! I love you!! =)

Happy Birthday Mike!!

Mike turned 27 today! Hooray! I spent last night working on the cricut after he went to bed so I could surprise him with decorations when he woke up! Didn't happen...I finished everything last night, but overslept and couldn't decorate! Ahh! Anyway, I made him his favorite broccoli/chicken casserole and biscuits (nothing fancy, but sure is yummy!)! I made him dirt cake (yum!!!!) for his dessert!! Love this plate...my mom got it for me a few birthdays ago...it is surely used for those special days!


Root beer...his favorite! Had to complete the meal with it!


He is still a kid at heart...he was so excited to get this...his mom was the birthday fairy today and dropped it off while he was working hard at his academy!





Don't look too closely...ha! I messed up and did the last "y" backwards...I guess I was tired!

What a Partay!

This last weekend was such a fun weekend! Our wonderful neighbor Jengi had a party...this girl seriously is incredible...first of all, she is a captain in the Air Force and flies the BIG huge planes (yes, THE PILOT!), second of all, she can decorate like no other, and third, she should be a professional party planner as her side job when she's not flying! I helped out as much as I could...but, she honestly was the brains behind this job...

The outside of our house was turned into this...

This is the courtyard between our houses...love it!


Jengi spent a ton of weekends making these benches herself...like I said, she can do anything!

She hired a DJ and a few guys to be valets...the girl seriously went ALL OUT!
The brains behind it all! (Jengi's dad and mom)

The party was for Jengi's friend (another captain) Stephanie who is moving...this was one of her gifts...yes, this is the plane they both fly! Wow!

It was really neat to see our courtyard transformed into such a neat party! We had a blast...Mike and I were teased all night about having Jengi plan our engagement party there...can you blame them?!

Mom's Day gifts...

My sister came down a few weekends ago and we went to the Queen Bee Market here in Carlsbad. It was the perfect craft fair! We ended up both spending a pretty penny..oh well..we had fun and both needed some retail therapy! I loved all of the unique things..We found a vendor who made the cutest things out of wood and paper...check her out! I was so hooked on the fair that I ended up going back for a second look (and to pick up a few things for my Makena's preschool teacher...so I really did have an excuse!)and bought some cute magnets for my mom and sister as part of their Mommy's Day gifts...

I'm loving these! I will share my cute wood hair things from her too (soon)!

A Busy Month...

I've been neglecting "the blog" lately...But, over the last month or so, I've have been going through A LOT...
1. Trying to keep up with all of the end of the year craziness at school (not to mention CST testing and good ol' Open House)...ick
2. My dad having surgery...thank you to everyone who has kept our family in your thoughts over the last couple of weeks. We appreciate all of your support and love...we love you guys! Most importantly, I LOVE YOU DADDY!!!
3. Mike starting the Fire Academy...he makes me soooooo proud everyday! He is one tough cookie and I can't wait until he is done (pictures to come soon of his first day)!
4. I've been working on my party decor skills...(well trying!)...Picture's to come soon!
5. Projects, projects, and more projects (end of the year parent volunteer gifts, baby and birthday gifts, etc.)
6. Received my final Layoff Notice...3rd time around and everything always works out! I truly believe that things happen for a reason..It sucks being the low man on the totum pole, but luckily I am on the rehire list for the next 3 years! It's scary when you have huge responsibilities (i.e. a mortgage!), but I know that it's just a tiny bump and I will be back teaching in no time! P.S. I am more than happy to stay at home and be a stay at home "girlfriend"?! ...MIKE?!!....ha!

Thank you to everyone for all of you support through all of this! I love you all!!! Muah! xoxo

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!

Beach Break!

Horray! Spring Break is here! No vacations scheduled, just plenty of beach days ahead!

You can't beat our little beach spot...it's a secret one! ;)

I can honestly say that Mike and I are secretly obessessed with Jamba Juice smoothies and Pirates Booty as our beach snack! Better than chips, right? Please say yes! =/

You would think since he surfs he would learn to ALWAYS put sunscreen on...NOPE...uuuugggghhhh! My lobster!

It was such a beautiful day on Sunday and Monday...we spent the whole day at the beach here in Carlsbad and couldn't have asked for nicer beach days! Unfortunately they aren't going to last that much longer because of the icky weather! Oh well! Hope you all are having a nice and relaxing two weeks!

P.S. 6 years by the way (this month)...6 amazing years! =)