The day she turned 8

The sun rose and awakened my body.  It filled my heart with warmth as I looked over at an 8 year old girl standing next to my bed with a grin reaching ear to ear.  Happy Birthday, Alexis. 

When I took the dogs out I was greeted with this view, snapped a shot and shared it to Facebook and Instagram.

Happy Birthday to my beautiful daughter.  You are the sunshine in my life.  You are the rays of light that shine in my heart.  You are the gift from God that made me a mother.  You have blessed our lives with more love and joy the past 8 years than you will ever know.  Happy Birthday!

As requested, Alexis got breakfast in "bed" (sleep over in mom's room) with her American girl doll.

The above photo is a mother/daughter charm bracelet and below is a pink cross with little pearls that she wanted.

After breakfast and presents we headed out in San Diego's storm of the year and went bowling

 With cousins

Twins

Anthony's twin Dominic and his wife Julie and my twin Leslie with her husband Alex

 The sky was so amazingly beautiful on our drive home

When we got home and the skies cleared we saw so much snow on the mountain.  Proof that it snows in San Diego.

We had a wonderful day filled with so much laughter and family time!  

Happy Birthday Alexis!

8 years ago today

8 years ago today it was pouring rain and cold outside.  Anthony was at work and happened to get himself in the newspaper while doing a swift water rescue on a couple that was stuck in a flooded area.  I was pregnant and "nesting" as I dragged my mom around town to every store to make sure everything was done.  I wasn't due until January 20th but something was telling me I needed to get a pedicure, stock my fridge and grab a few things from town.  With each stop we made my mom was begging me to slow down, relax and saying ridiculous things like "this can all wait."  The weather was actually bad for SoCal.  While in the produce section of the grocery store I leaned over the cart and had a huge contraction.  Not thinking too much of it other than maybe I did need to take a break, we kept shopping.  We went back to my house and had a nice salad and I drank about a half gallon of water.  Again, still in complete denial that I would go into labor this early.  I sent my mom home even though she asked to stay the night.  I assured her I was FINE and sent her on her way.  You see, she didn't want to have to drive back in the middle of the night.  Fast forward to 2:00 a.m (December 30th) and I awoke to a pop and then my water broke.  I called Anthony and told him what happened.  I also said my contractions were 1 minute apart but they didn't hurt much at all so I'm sure I can wait until he gets home at 8:30.  He said ok and went back to sleep.  I hung up and cried.  Called my mom and heard something on the lines of "I told you so" and the reassurance that she was on her way.  Anthony called back about 2 minutes later and I was still crying because I didn't want to be alone.  An hour later he showed up with his partner and we gathered a few things and hopped in the ambulance.  (I got to ride shotgun)  We got checked in and Anthony told me he would probably have to leave.  Thankfully he didn't.  Someone came in to work for him and it all worked out great.  I quickly pushed out a healthy baby girl as the doctor was running in.  

Today Alexis celebrated her birthday with one of her friends.

First stop was the nail salon

I was inspired by this craft on Pinterest (I'm not sure where craft ideas came from before Pinterest)

 Make a wish beautiful, I'm making one for you too!

Tomorrow morning she has requested breakfast in bed with her American girl doll and bowling with the family.

I'm looking forward to celebrating 8 wonderfully blessed years with the girl that changed my life forever and made me a mom.

Merry Christmas

Christmas time

A time for feasts

A time for laughter

A time of beauty

A time for family

A time for love

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Christmas Day

This guy had to be woken up by us after his 3rd night in a row not sleeping much from his croup.

Waiting patiently for her present

The reindeer helped themselves to the carrots from our garden.

A beautiful Christmas sunset 

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

playing catch up

Thanksgiving... a beautiful day surrounded by family and food.

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We got fancy with our Christmas card photo this year.  Sitting around one evening I told everyone to comb their hair and put on something that didn't have holes in it.  I set up the tripod, grabbed the remote and just like that, a family photo! 

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I had an appointment down at UCSD with an Infectious Disease specialist.  We basically had to rule out any type of infection that would have caused the fever that lasted all summer.  The mystery was solved when the weather cooled off and now my body temp is 96*.  My body just can't regulate it's temperature so when it's hot outside, it's hot on the inside and when it's cold outside, baby it's cold in here.  Anyway, while sitting in the waiting room I started reading my Readers Digest (I brought with me since I am such a germ freak and can't touch anything in a doctors office) and this is what I read.  Not a good idea.

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Wyatt turned 6 years old!!!  

He invited a few of his friends over for some breakfast and then Anthony took them on a hike.  Wyatt's dream day.

To finish Wyatt's birthday, we went to the Fire Station for the annual Christmas party.  

I've got a lot more to share so stay tuned to more posts coming soon :)