Ballerina Girl

Preston goes swimming!

We took Preston swimming for the first time, and he didn't like the cold water in the big pool. He was happy playing on the side of the baby pool.





See the bruise on his cheek?

We are now a family of 5!

We are now a family of 5. At least, for a few weeks. My niece Hailey is on summer break, and she is going to be staying with us for a while. We have been extremely busy, but I hope to get some new pictures up tonight!

Stellan's Name Gallery

Maddie Grace and Preston's picture made it to baby Stellan's name gallery. I'm sure you are asking "Who is Stellan" and "What is a name gallery?"

Stellan is a precious baby boy whose parents were told he would never live once he was born. He is a miracle baby, but he has had some problems with his heart since he was born. Someone started a blog where people all over the world have taken pictures with Stellan's name in it. You can click here to check it out. We put Stellan's name on our deck while the kids were swinging. You can read more about Stellan at My Charming Kids.

4th Anniversary

My sweet husband sent me a text on Monday that said "We have a date Thursday. Be ready by 5:30." At one time I might not have thought a text would be a very romantic way to be asked on a date, but it was such a surprise! With two small kids, any date is a luxury!! Today is our 4th wedding anniversary. I walked in the door with the kids at 5:10. Not much time to get glamourous. I was greeted with a beautiful bouquet of flowers and 2 cards. I have been trying to figure out all day who he hired to babysit. At exactly 5:30, the doorbell rang, and sweet Rachel was standing there smiling. She is our smallgroup babysitter. We meet at our neighbors house for Bible study, and she keeps all the kids at our house. Preston and Maddie were excited to see her. So off we go on our date, and he surprised me my taking me to Stony River!! Yum! We ate there last year on our anniversary just before we brought our sweet boy home from the NICU. Bringing Preston home was the best anniversary gift we could ever hope for. Marty also surprised me by taking me to a movie. We always use Fandango, and as I scanned the list of movies trying to guess what he picked, I was thinking to myself "Please don't be Terminator, please don't be Terminator." He had made such a sacrifice and purchased tickets to Ghosts of Girlfriends Past!! He does love me! It was a cute movie, and it was so nice to have a night to ourselves. Here are some pics of our special day.

Once upon a time, there was a sweet birthday boy who wanted nothing more than to play with his birthday present.












He was having so much fun until a sassy fairy princess decided she wanted to play with the present. The sweet birthday boy was not happy.












The sassy fairy princess was quite proud of herself.












The queen saw what took place and stepped in to send the sassy fairy princess to time out. The sweet birthday boy was happy to play with his present again, and peace and harmony were restored to the bonus room.

A 1st Birthday Party

Preston's birthday party was so much fun!! The kids had a great time, and so did the parents! We had a fire truck theme. The local fire department gave me fire safety information, stickers, and coloring books to put in the goody buckets. It's never too early to teach kids to be safe! Here are some highlights of our day...

A smash cake
A cake for guests
Prizes
And most important ...a birthday boy!!

My sweet boy!
Bubbles!

The big parachute. Everyone's favorite!!
Preston loved the attention he got when everyone sang happy birthday
His hands were in the cake before I sat it down
I hope someone got a picture of the end result. There was nothing left! This was his first time to eat sweets, and I guess he liked them!

A fashion icon in the making

This is a Maddie Grace original
We'll call this her vintage look. This was an outfit I bought my neice Hailey when she was Maddie's age. I still think it's cute!

So what do you do after a late night dinner and dancing? You get up early and go kayaking in the ocean! Joel, Brian, Marty, and I went to downtown La Jolla and signed up for a kayak tour. We were out for 2 hours, and we saw seals, sea lions, and dolphins. It was the most fun! We are waiting on our pictures from the tour guide, so I will post the pre-kayak pics. I believe it was the first time in a wet suit for all of us.

Fresh strawberry crepes!
I could laugh at this all day.
I put the wetsuit on backwards. Oops.
The guys in tiny chairs outside the candy store.

The Banquet

The banquet was a lot of fun. We got to spend time with many friends. Here are some of the highlights.



Billy Joe Royal performed after dinner (Down in the Boondocks)
BJ Thomas also performed (Raindrops Keep Fallin On My Head)
Marty and Saralu always have the last dance!

My first time at the Pacific!!

Marty and I went to the San Diego Zoo, and we felt like terrible parents being there without our kids. The feeling passed after 10 minutes. The zoo is great, but the hills are so steep. It would be a stroller nightmare. We rode the double decker bus through part of the zoo. It was a nice way to enjoy the sunshine. The flowers were beautiful, and I wanted to share a few pictures of them with you.



A bloom on the red tree.

This bird is gorgeous!


















We spent the afternoon at Coronado Island. This was my first time to get in the Pacific Ocean, and it was cold! We walked along the beach to the famous Hotel Del Coronado.

My sweetheart