Tornado

This past month has been like a tornado. Not that it has left a path of destruction but everything has happened so fast and  changes have turned life upside down in a way.  I have absolutely loved having Knox in our family. Since the moment of his birth  I have felt so much extra love.  I love holding him and staring into his very serious eyes and wondering what he is thinking. I love kissing his soft chubby cheeks. I love watching Kirra be his little protector. If he even whimpers she is right at his aid doing whatever it takes to make him happy again. Unfortunately along with all the extra love I feel I have also had a huge amount of anxiety. Part of it is probably a little postpartum depression. Part of it has been trying to find a balance in life to make sure all of my loves including my hubby get the attention they need from me. I think the most difficult thing for me has been sharing time in my day which used to be solely for Kirra with another person. I have felt guilty that I look forward so much to her nap times. I get mad at myself that I have no patience for her. I feel like she can sense these things and is trying extra hard to do anything to get positive attention. I am sure every parent feels something similar with a new child. It has bothered me but until recently I did not realize how much. An incident that has bothered me more than I expected brought a few things to my attention. We had a guest over to our house. I won't name this person or even give them a gender because that is not important. This person came to visit and of course wanted to hold baby.  Kirra gets so excited when we have visitors that she was pulling out every trick in the book to be noticed. She is so naturally cute
That until now she has never really had to work for attention. She was in the middle of dinner but she would take breaks to run over and do a spin or a somersault just to get a reaction but our guest was pretty involved in holding baby. At one point Kirra decided to just join in on adoring the baby and she climbed up next to our guest to get a look at baby and comment on his cuteness. As I said before she had been eating dinner and our guess was worried about getting food on their clothes and very sternly said " don't touch me."  I could see that Kirra was hurt and did not understand that our guest  even though I would have appreciated a more sensitive approach to their request, was just worried about sticky hands. I'm sure no harm was meant by our guest but a few minutes later when
Later when Kirra was very nicely told to sit down and eat she was embarrassed and melted into a puddle of tears. She was embarrassed and probably had her feelings hurt a little. She hates any kind of negative attention, especially in front of guests.  She cried for a few minutes but I think I have cried a few days ( a little over dramatic). The only thing I  could think was that my sweet sweet baby girl who tries so hard to be good and to be liked by others might possibly one day forget how special she is. She might loose that spark and confidence that I admire so much. I was
Afraid she would stop being the friendly person she is and start hiding out in the crowd. Even deeper I was afraid  that she would one day forget who she was, a daughter of God. I was even afraid that she already has or one day might question how much her mom and dad love her.   I realize that these fears are a little irrational( probably partly postpartum). But it also made me realize that I need to spend time each day building my children up and helping them discover their individual worth because the world and the people in it will not   And if they forget who they are then the world has an opportunity to trick them into thinking they need to be something that they are not in order to be noticed or get attention. Anyway I think it is amazing the affects of one extra child. It has been such a blessing to grow our little family. I am thankful for the chance to have these little people to love   They both bring such special and different things to our family that makes me love being a part of it.   I hope I  not the only mom out there that  gets a little crazy wanting to protect their kids feelings and let's be real who has daily emotional breakdowns after giving birth.  Hoping that part goes away.

Tonight

Tonight was a perfect night I don't want to forget.  I had a crummy day feeling sick and tired.  Trevor, being the wise husband he is, talked me into going to the pool to get out of the house.  It was just what I needed to get my energy back up and I had fun swimming with Kirra who had been locked inside all day.  When I got back Trevor had picked up the house and had dinner on the stove.  He turned on the music which turned into a night of dancing and family fun.  I was able to sit down with my two loves and share a family meal which we haven't done in months due to my lack of appetite.  Finally while Trevor was perfecting his desert I read a few books to Kirra before bed.  I decided to lay down with her to help her fall asleep (something I usually don't like to do).  She grabbed my hand and locked her fingers with mine.  Every now and then I would open my eyes to see if she was sleeping and she would be staring at me with a huge smile across her face.  She would kiss my cheek, giggle, and close her eyes again.  When she finally fell asleep I just wanted to stare at her cute little face all night long.  If I could freeze a few life moments, this night would be one of them.

Joys of Parenthood

A few months ago we were out to dinner with my brother and sister in law and my brother in law asked me about the good and the bad of being a parent.  At the time it was one of those days where Kirra had been pushing my buttons and the only thing I could think to say is "DON'T DO IT!"  I had a list a mile long of all the hard parts of parenthood.  It did get me thinking though.  What are the joys of parenthood?  I have been asking myself that question each day and each day I find a new reason why I love being a mom to my sweet baby girl.

1.  I get to experience the world for the first time again!  I love watching Kirra's face light up when we take her to a new place or her face cringe when she tries a new food she doesn't like.  I love watching her twirl and bob her head when she hears a new song she likes.  I love her expressions when we take her to new toy store for the first time.  Each new thing makes life a little more fun and makes me want to find something else new for her to experience.

2.  Baby snuggles are the best!!  I love when my little girl curls up next to me and I can hold her in my arms.  When she was fresh it happened a lot more often but now those times are hard to come by and I cherish each moment she rests her little head on my chest.

3.  I love hearing her say a new word for the first time.  Probably the most exciting for me was "mama" although now I definitely think she over uses that word.  Recently she has been saying all kids of new words. I love when we can't really understand her and she has to repeat herself a few times.  My new favorite is when she came out of her room after a long nap with crazy bed hair and said, "Mamma, I seep good."  She is starting to communicate so well.  I love how each day we get closer to having real conversations.

4.  I love reading books with her.  First of all I really enjoy reading books with pictures again.  I love how we can never read enough books.  We can read every book in the house before bed and she will still ask for one more and pick her favorite to read again.

5.  I love her giggles.  The first time we heard her laugh was so exciting.  We would do whatever it took to hear those sounds come out of her mouth.  I love when she hears us laughing and starts laughing herself just to be part of the fun.  I love how she giggles at EVERYTHING her daddy does.  I love that sometimes she says, "mama tittle(tickle) me!"   She has the cutest most infectious laugh.

6.  People are nicer to you when you have kids.  I seriously cannot believe how many more smiles we get now for strangers.  How many people stop to talk to us or start a conversation with Kirra.  I even get lollipops from the Bank now and they always give me two.  Without Kirra I don't even get one.

7.  She brings out the best in me!  I think Kids are amazing teachers.  She says hi to EVERY single person we pass.  It reminds me to be more friendly and generous with my smiles.  She says I love you and kisses me multiple times a day.  It reminds me to show love towards my family as often as I can.  She runs to the door full of excitement when daddy gets home.  It reminds me to get excited about the little things each day.  She forgives me instantly when I make a mistake.  It reminds me how wonderful the gift of forgiveness is.

8.  Dressing a baby is extremely fun.  You can put them in the craziest silliest outfits and everyone still thinks they are cute.  You can dress vicariously through them.  I love to put Kirra in clothes that I would wear myself because she usually looks better in them.  And lets face it.  Everything is cuter when its smaller.

9.  Feeling needed.  I love how I feel a purpose every day.  A purpose to protect, to nourish, to love, to teach, to comfort.  I even secretly love that she sneaks in our room every night because she needs to feel secure.  It can be overwhelming at times being needed so much but it is also such a wonderful feeling to know that someone needs me every day.

10.  I love having a little piece of me and Trevor all bundled up into one person.  Mostly I like the Trevor part of her.  I love how sometimes she looks like me and sometimes she looks like him.  I love that we created something so perfect.  I love how every accomplishment she has somehow feels like one of our own accomplishments as well.  I love (and hate) how having a kid sometimes feels like a second chance to do things different or better.  Even though I really want to let her make her own decisions and I know she will anyway,  I like that there is a chance for her to make better choices than I did and I totally see why parents freak out so much when their kid chooses to not go to college or to marry someone that isn't right for them.

Parenthood definitely has its challenges.  I think it is important to know that you will face those challenges no matter how good your baby is.  It is important to know that once you start, you are committed for the rest of your life.  There are days when I envy newly wed couples who get to travel and their only attention is for each other.  But I wouldn't trade my Kirra for any amount of freedom in the world. The best choices I ever made were Trevor and Kirra (and soon to be baby boy).

Making changes

Most of my friends and family know that once a week I do not leave my house for an entire day.  I don't shower, or run errands, and I do not cook (lets be honest, that is more than once a week).  Once a week I have a cleaning day.  I turn into a bit of a psycho.  I usually choose a day that Trevor will be gone the longest because we usually end up fighting on cleaning day.  This pregnancy, like my last, has taken a toll on my cleaning abilities.  This pregnancy I was pretty much glued to my couch for about 2 months.  Trevor was a huge help but he was also going to school and working so the house got a little out of control.  This was a problem because what made me vomit more than anything else was smells and my house smelled like garbage for 2 months straight.  I did have lots of help.  Trevor's amazing aunt Melece came and cleaned my kitchen from top to bottom and made us dinner, my friend Carley helped me out with pick up on a regular basis.  It was wonderful but within a few days it was always back to smelling like garbage.  Also we were potty training so there were pee spots in the carpet that got left for days.  One day when I was starting to feel a little better my friend Carley came over to help me do one of my all day deep cleans.  I'm sure I scared her a little.  She kept asking if I was going to take a break to eat.  She suggested that I maybe break up my cleaning schedule and just do a little bit each day.  I told her I could not do that because then one room would stay messy and the mess would make its way into my clean room and it would just always be messy. (I understand this reasoning does not make sense)   But after a few more weeks of not feeling good and realizing that after my second kid a cleaning day might not be an option, I decided to consider doing things different.
One of the reasons I love having a cleaning day is that I don't have to do house chores for the rest of the week.  That also means that my house is only clean one day a week.  But at least it keeps things under control.  It was really really really hard for me to convert to a new system.  I decided to check out pinterest and I combined like 5 different ideas I found to create my new system.  First thing I decided was that I would do my cleaning in the mornings because that is when I have the most energy.  Next I decided that I would only give myself an hour and a half to clean each day.  Then I assigned a chore for each day and also made a list of things that HAVE to be done on a daily basis.  For example Monday I do my bathrooms, but I also make beds and pick up little messes and keep the kitchen looking decent throughout the day.  Usually I do a quick pick up before bed at night that takes 5 to 10 minutes.  I also realize that some days I just don't have time for my chores so I just push everything back a day and maybe add an extra thirty minutes the next day and that has worked out great.  Also I added this pinterest idea of rotating toys because we don't have a play room.  I put about half of Kirra's toys up in her closet and rotate them once a week.  It keeps the mess down and Kirra has something to look forward to.  I am am amazed at the difference this system has made.  My house is clean every day!  Trevor and I don't fight on cleaning days anymore because I am not tired and annoyed when I am done.  Laundry is not piled up everywhere.  I am happier and function much better on a day to day basis.  I remember things, I can actually make plans every day of the week, and Kirra gets more attention, AND she has started helping me.  I usually have a few free days because I finish everything  early in the week and I can catch up on projects.  The best part is I feel so organized and if I want to take a nap in the afternoon, I can, and I don't feel like I have to use that time to catch up on my disgusting house.  The other best part is my house smells amazing.  The garbage smell is gone.  I am hoping when the new baby comes my system will still work out.  But for now I am proud of myself for actually trying something different (I am a creature of habit and do not adjust well to change or even suggestions of change)  I am starting to wonder if I have looked over other suggestions that might make my life easier.  So if you have any suggestions for me on how to make life easier with kids I am willing to try them.

This is my living room floor in the middle of the day on a day I chose to do nothing and all my family is home!  This is huge people!

My kitchen has looked this good for almost a month straight...It's a miracle!

My kitchen table doesn't have food crusted on it.  I should have shown the before my change pictures.

Best of all I get to see these happy faces every day now!!  

Happy Birthday to my terrible two year old!

Most of the time I like to share all the good parts of our life on this blog.  Birthday's are usually a good part.  I want my kids to feel special on their Birthday and I am willing to do what it takes to make sure they do. Today I had a very special day planned for Kirra.  She was going to wake up to a room full of balloons, pancakes for breakfast, a trip to the splash pad with friends, then a fun evening with dad.  I would say where it went wrong started the night before.  Kirra usually goes to bed at 8:00pm every night. This particular night she was a little overly tired and very whiny and would not sleep!  She was up until almost 12.  Every time she would finally fall asleep I would try to sneak away and she would wake up instantly.  Because she was up so late, I had to stay up even later to blow up all the balloons that were going to fill her room. By the 8th balloon my lips were burning and had bumps all over them.  I don't think latex is my friend.  I finished blowing up about 30 balloons though and then went to bed.  The next problem started at 6:00am.  That is what time Kirra decided to wake up and come wake me up to show me all the balloons in her room.  I got up and celebrated her birthday morning but then decided if I was going to make it through the day I would need a little more sleep.  So I put her in front of the magic babysitter and went back to bed.  By the time I finally woke up I just felt worse and I was running behind on my schedule. The pancake idea went out the door and I just got started right away on her cupcakes.  After I stuck a batch in the oven I decided to clean up the kitchen a little bit.  Unfortunately one of the smells from the trash sent me running to the bathroom (I guess we have not officially announced we are pregnant but only about 5 people read my blog so I guess I am safe to say it on here)  I was in there for the next half an hour throwing up nothing but stomach acid.  It was a record for me.  When I finally finished the cupcakes Kirra wanted one so I thought, "what the heck" and I let her have one, and then she snuck another one while I was in the shower.  I got a ton of soap in my eyes while showering because I refuse to close my eyes in the shower now knowing that a cockroach could join me at any minute.  So the rest of the day I had very impaired vision.  I finally got myself ready to go and we headed out the door for the splash pad.  My first time down the stairs I realized I had forgotten the directions.  So back up three flights of stairs we went to grab them.  Then we get downstairs and I realize I forgot my wallet.  So back up three flights again.  Then we go downstairs again and I realize I left the car keys upstairs.  I was completely out of breath and Kirra was crying because she did not want to go up again.  I have decided that choosing to live on the third floor to save a few bucks was not one of the smartest decisions we have made.  Finally we get in the car and after a few errands make it to my friend Carley's house about an hour late.  Kirra had fallen asleep but I wanted her to wake up and have fun so she would nap longer later. That was a big mistake.  She was soooo whiny.  She is usually thrilled to spend the day with her friends Tate and Skyla but today if they even looked at her the wrong way she would burst into tears.  I decided the quicker we got things done the quicker I could get her down for a nap.  So Carley and I hopped on bikes and stuck all three kids in a bike trailer and headed for the splash pad.  She was in a much better mood once we were there and playing in the water.  She had fun running around with her friends and I was glad to see her happy.  We stayed for about an hour and then hopped back on our bikes and took the kids to Dairy Queen for lunch.  Kirra was happy to get some ice cream and I was happy to be in the air conditioning.  We headed home and let the kids play for a little while.  Then I went back home to meet up with Trevor.  Kirra fell asleep on the way home and then I had to carry her up the three flights of stairs.  I thought my heart might burst.  When we got inside I layed her down and saw that Trevor was taking a nap, (the heat makes you very sleepy) so I decided to take a nap too.  Kirra woke up about an hour later screaming.  She cried uncontrollably for about 15 min and then fell back asleep.  Trevor got a call around that time from work telling him he was scheduled to come in which he did not realize so he had to go into work.  He had not seen Kirra all day and would not be home until after she was asleep.  Luckily she slept for about 3 hours.  She woke up kind of grumpy and I was kind of grumpy from dealing with her all day so we skipped blowing out candles.  She did not want any pictures.  We skyped with both sets of grandparents but she did not want to talk and if I asked her too she would burst into tears.  I was all too happy to put her to bed at 8:00 that night.  I don't know if she had a good birthday but I know it was not one I would like to remember.  I am glad it was over when it was.  The next day we spent a relaxing day at the pool with no major break downs.  I decided that going ANYWHERE with a two year old is over rated.  We will probably spend the next year at home.  Much less work and drama.  I do love my little Kirra girl and despite a few bad days, she really has brightened up our life.  She loves to dance.  Any music she hears including church music she loves to shake and twirl and wave her arms around.  She likes to stand on top of her toys while she dances and I am amazed at what can be a stage for her.  She loves to read books.  She will bring me a book and repeats each word that I read.  She talks all day long about who knows what!  She is very polite and always says please and thank you. Also she says  "I sorry" about 20 times a day.  I have no clue what for.  She loves all her babies and stuffed animals and knows if any of them are missing at bed time.  She is learning to sing lots of her favorite songs and I love listening to her practice.  I wish I could hold on to the few times that she will cuddle with me and put her arms around my neck and kiss me.  She is growing way too fast.  I will never be okay with that.  I love You Kirra baby!!  Happy Birthday!

Kirra and her best bud Tate

All three kids

Her curly hair is my favorite

Loooooves bubbles

At the splash pad

Kirra was terrified of the water spouts

My friend Carley and her Kiddos-she is leaving me in a few months for Idaho :(

Cutie Sky

"AKU"  translation- Icecream

All three kids in the bike trailer

My Big Girl

Congrats to my big girl!  Kirra has gone a whole week with NO accidents.  Including nap time or bed time.  This is a huge weight off my shoulders.  I need to apologize to her because I really was beginning to think there was no hope.  I guess I just started too early.  When she was ready she did it all on her own.  Now we are working on moving from the practice potty to the real thing.  I must say potty training was a lot harder than I anticipated.  I am not a big fan of picking pee and poo off the floor.  Kirra could not easily be bribed either.  When she wanted chocolate she would do her business in the potty.  When she didn't really care for chocolate, the floor worked just fine.  She responded the best to praise.  Although i am beginning to regret all the singing and dancing I did for her because now she has to personally show me every success she has in the potty.  She also likes to pull out her potty and show everyone we skype with her new talent.  Oh the joys of parenthood.  Now onto the list of other things she needs to learn.  For now though I think I will just sit back and enjoy the fact that I don't have to touch anymore poopy diapers.  At least for now.

Nana

A few weeks ago Trevor's mom came to town.  We had pretty much been looking forward to her visit since we moved to Arizona.  I had a list of crafty projects I wanted to her help me with, Trevor was looking forward to her famous sugar cookies, and Kirra just wanted her Nana time.  It was definitely a visit that went by way to fast.  The first night when we picked her up from the airport Kirra saw her getting into her car and gave her a very funny look.  Then her first words to Nana were, "where Papa?"  haha.  She thought this was going to be a two for one deal.  After her initial disappointment about no papa, She was very excited to have Nana.  I had a Young Women's meeting that night so Trev got some quality alone time with his mom.  The next day was Valentines day.  We spent the morning making delicious V-day cookies which Kirra thought was very fun.  Kirra followed Nana everywhere and pretty much demanded that she play with her anytime she wasn't doing other things.  Then we went to a delicious Thai restaurant (our new favorite) with Trevor's uncle Doug and aunt Melece for lunch.  I was soo full after lunch and just wanted a nap but we promised Kirra we would go to the choo choo park.  It is a beautiful park that has tons of duck ponds, playgrounds, and of course a choo choo train you can ride.  Kirra had been asking to go there all week but we were waiting for Nana.  Unfortunately I forgot that the train only runs on the weekend.  Luckily we still had the ducks and the playground to entertain her. We played for a while then headed home.  Trevor had something up his sleeve for V-day.  He started cooking dinner which I thought would be for all three of us but instead it was just a special dinner for his mom so that we could go out on a date (first one since we moved).  We went to an indian food restaurant that was delicious but Indian, Thai, and sugar cookies all in one day are a very bad idea.  Needless to say I was sick for the rest of the night.  That night we watched "Here comes the Boom"(My new favorite movie).  We laughed so hard that it hurt.  Then the next day Sherrie and I did some shopping while Trevor went on a bike ride.  We picked up some stuff for the many crafts I needed help with.  Then Trevor took us up to a few different lookout spots on the mountain which were beautiful.  I love where we live.  We hurried home to get ready for a night at Dougs of delicious pizza.  Trevor took me four wheeling in the desert at night.  I am not sure if I liked it.  It was pretty scary.  Then We went home and Sherrie and I sewed until 12:30am.  We knew we had to stop when I sewed the bottom half of Kirra's dress to the top half.  In the morning we woke up and finished some sewing.  Then Sherrie helped me to put together a picture mural for my wall.  My walls have been so bare since we moved here and I really hate it.  We also sewed some pillows for my couch.   Then we went back to the train park so Kirra could ride the train with her Nana.  She was in heaven.  Then we did a little shopping before Trev had to leave for a priesthood session of conference.  Sherrie and I drove to a mall not too far from us and it was amazing.  A huge outdoor mall with lots of activities.  Then we hurried home to get Trevor and head to dinner.  We were celebrating Trevor's acceptance to Nursing School even though at the time it wasn't official.  We came home and sewed some more and then the next day we had a short conference at church and headed to Doug's house for Sunday dinner.  It was so fun but sad because from there we had to take Nana to the airport.  We all decided that the visit was not long enough.  We are anxiously awaiting her next visit.

What I love about Arizona!

I love living in Arizona.  I don't know what it is...I think maybe because we haven't had our own place in almost a year, or maybe its the fact that its always sunny, or it could be our awesome ward at church.  I don't know for sure, but I know that I LOVE it here.  Our apartment is much bigger than our last place.  We have lots of storage and bathroom space.  We have the best managers who are always so nice.  We have a huge pool we can use anytime.   There is a workout room and computer room.  I love it here.  Also I can walk to target, church, and Winco.  I love all the shopping and restaurants here, even though I can't afford either.  You seriously have everything you need.  Also the parks here are amazing.  We have a park close by that has a choo choo train and a pond with ducks and three play places.  I love the bike paths around here that follow all the beautiful rivers. I love that my favorite college roommate lives super close and will hang out with me all day.  We hang out with our kids and go shopping at ikea and work on projects.  Most of all I love sharing this new place with Trevor and Kirra and working towards our goals together.  We love exploring our new home and are excited for what the future holds here.

A fun park in Phoenix

Kirra loved the ducks and birds

And she loves long bike rides

helping me do dishes

taylor swift

My roommates little girl sky

 

And her little boy tate...these guys are so much fun together

Hiking in the desert

Snuggled in mommy's bed

biking in the desert

I totally went over that jump...on foot..not on bike

In love with ice cream

Fun playgrounds

A fun park in Phoenix

Getaway

So I need to go back in time a little.  My card reader for my camera broke and I didn't want to write any more blog posts without my pictures.  So back in December, Trevor's parents offered to keep Kirra so we could have a night away alone.  We found a great deal at a hotel in Santa Cruz, so a couple weeks before Christmas we headed down to the coast.   We had not been on a trip like that since our honey moon so we were pretty excited.  We drove down and checked into our Hotel.  It was awesome.  Everything was decorated to look like the Santa Cruz mountains.  The front desk was even a giant log. It was very different then other hotels I have been to.  After we dropped off our stuff we decided to take a nice long run along the coast.  It was beautiful and definitely one of the more interesting places I have run.  It was fun to see all the people and the surfers out in the ocean.  It was nice to just be alone with Trevor and talk and look out at the ocean and of course get some exercise.   After our run we headed to my favorite pizza spot in Santa Cruz, Pizza my heart.  We each got a piece of pizza as our appetizer.  What would a Romantic getaway be without lots of good food.  On our honeymoon we got up really early to watch the sun rise in the east so on this trip we wanted to see the sun set on the west coast.  We found a nice spot on the beach  and snuggled up to watch the sun set.  It was of course beautiful.  Then we headed back to the hotel to change and we met up with Trevor's brother Jeff, who lives in Santa Cruz for dinner.  We went to this fun little hawaiian place and got poke.  It's basically a sushi salad.  We hung out for a while and played giant jenga and listened to the  live music.  Then we all went back to our hotel to hang out in the giant hot tub.  We were hanging out just talking and a group of really loud girls came out.  They were kind of crazy and I think a little tipsy.  They were there to film an exercise video and at first we didn't really talk to them until they brought up the subject of kids.  I think it is so cool how being a mom connects you with women everywhere.  After a nice chat with them we said goodbye to Jeff and before we went to bed we went out to Pizza my heart one more time for a refreshing drink and just to hang out and talk.  In the morning we woke up early and went to the hotel restaurant for our free breakfast.  We had looked up the menu online and already knew we wanted the crab cake beni.  Unfortunately they were not serving it because it was a weekday.  We begged our waitress and told her we had our hearts set on it, then she begged the chef and eventually he caved.  It was the MOST delicious breakfast I have ever eaten.  Anyways for the rest of the day we just took our time at everything.  We did a little shopping in the morning.  Then we started our drive along the coast headed up to San Francisco.  It is one of my most favorite drives in the United States.  It was so beautiful and the day was perfect.  We stopped a few times and got out and explored.  We walked down the the coast and Trevor carried me out to some rocks in the ocean.  We felt young and free again and it reminded me of when we were dating.  I used to come out to California and Trevor would take me to all his favorite spots and we would play and explore.  Those were some of my favorite memories and I am glad I got to add this one to my list of unforgettable moments.  After a few hours we made it to San Fran and again we had so much fun.  We just walked around and did some shopping and then we went to get some cheese cake and eat it in Union Square by the giant Christmas tree.  I  think my favorite part was just being with my boy and being free to do whatever we wanted.  My other favorite part was that we practically raced home so we could get back to our baby girl.  We both missed her so much.  I feel extremely blessed to have those two in my life.

Our run along the coast

The sun starting to set

my handsome guy

So beautiful

giant jenga

Hawaiian restaurant

giant log desk

strange squirrel decorations on the wall

the beautiful coast

out on a rock in the middle of the ocean

Trevor carrying me to the rock

OH yea...we are that lame

Not sure but some type of sea whip

Union square

huge mall