A Day in the Life: August 2011

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Cali Vacation Day Four: Getty Museum

It seems like I get to LA at least once a year to visit my sister and her family and each time I talk about getting up to see the Getty Museum. I had gone to the old, smaller one that was down on Pacific Coast Highway when I was in college and I remember loving it. The new Getty is high on a hill above the 405 freeway and it's huge! Well, the kids and I finally went this time around and I'm so happy that we did! The unfortunate thing is that we only had about 3 hours for the visit so we probably only saw about a quarter of the exhibits, but there's always next time...

Happy Birthday to Meeeeeee!

Celebrated my 46th a couple of days ago. The day itself was actually fairly uneventful.... I had to have a crown replaced and then I had to take a coaches safety course which took up the majority of the day. In the evening Wes, the kids and I went out for some delicious Thai food. It was the following day that I felt like we celebrated... Hayley and I had tickets to see Les Miserables at the 5th Ave. Theatre... it was fabulous! I still thought I'd share a few photos of my actual day though. :)

Hayley and Luke made me a yummy pink cake! Supercute little birthday banner, huh?!

Hayley and Luke got me some sweet smellin' schtuff from Bath and Body Works.

I don't know how he knew, but I've been wanting a small little printer for my scrapbooking space and I got one! Yippee for me! Now I'm just waiting for Hayley to school me on it! :)

This is something else that I count as one of my birthday gifts... I had asked Wes to build me an arbor (?)/pergola (?) thingy for my garden area and he just finished it! He's a man of many talents... I love it! Maybe this time next year I'll have something viney growing up the side of it!

I could not let this blog entry go by without mentioning this darling gift from my talented, talented friend Krista (the cake pop queen!). I had seen these cuties on her facebook page and had commented on how amazing they were... Well, the next thing I know I've got this sweet little bouquet on my front porch! What a happy little surprise to end my birthday!

Just had to show you a close up of Miss Hello Kitty. She just makes me smile! Thank you Miss Krista!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Cali Vacation Day Three: An Afternoon at the Spa

My sisters, my girlfriend Paula and I treated ourselves to an afternoon at a spa on this third day of our LA trip. MJ (my younger sister) has a girlfriend that works in the spa at the Four Seasons in Calabasas, so we all booked appointments for either massages or facials and she helped to get us set up! Okay, so I don't treat myself to things like this very often, but can I just tell you that this place was Uh-mazing and huge!! Think plush robes, steam rooms, peaceful water trickling everywhere, poolside cabanas, & delicious cocktails. We truly got to experience the lives of the rich and famous for the afternoon and into the evening. It was so incredibly relaxing that we stayed until they were ready to lock the doors that night!

Me enjoying a delicious Grey Goose Strawberry Lemonade in the poolside cabana.

Me again relaxing in the cabana.

Me & MJ

Chris and me by the pagoda.

Paula and me posing it up by the pagoda.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Cali Vacation Day Two: Malibu

We all went to Malibu Beach and had an awesome time. Truthfully, I could've just done this every day that we were in LA. Hanging out at the beach is one of my favorite things to do... so relaxing! It was even more special because Wes was able to be there with us! He had driven up from San Diego to spend the day with us (he'd been down there for his high school reunion). Luke learned how to boogie board and I got to revisit it... so fun!

Wes giving Luke some pointers.

Trying it out on a small wave.

After successfuly catching his first wave.

Two of the cutest fannies in Malibu that day.

Me and Luke catching a wave.

I was trying to catch a cute shot of the kids when they were surprised by a big wave.

Jilli stayed close to shore for the first half of the day, but twenty minutes before we were leaving she finally cut loose and got out there with everyone else.

Blake the sand lover!

Wes and Uncle Dave.

Hayley saving Miss Camille. :)

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Cali Vacation Day One: The Gentle Barn

We've been back from our vacation for a week now and I'm still trying to get caught up on blogging about all of our summer fun. The first day that we were in LA my sister wanted to take us to The Gentle Barn. It's a non-profit farm that rescues abused animals to live out their lives in peace. It's a very sweet place and we had a lovely time. I have to admit though that it was a bit difficult to read the animals bios. There were a lot of sad, sad stories.

Camille, Paula (one of my BFF's from my San Diego days) and Jilli lovin' on this gentle cow.

Lily has always had a way with chickens!

Blake was carrying on a full-blown conversation with this turkey... it was hilarious!

What can I say? We fell in love.

A face only a mother could love.

Me and Emmy with our ten year olds!

Jillian eats, sleeps, and dreams about horses 24/7. She fell in love with these twin horses.

Blake, Jill, Camille, Hayley, Luke and Lily.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

First Trip to Moses Lake

We love Moses Lake for a number of reasons: familiarity, clean campsite, the sun and heat, sand dunes, but most of all... perfect water temperature for skiing and wakeboarding! We usually try to make it over a couple of times during the summer, so here's a few photos from our end of July trip! My personal favorite thing about this weekend was the fact that I got up on the wakeboard for the first time eva! I seriously never thought I'd ever be able to do it, so I was tickled beyond words... Of course, there are no photos to document this awesome event, but you can be sure there will be next weekend when we head back over! :)

Hayley, Jilli, and Luke lounging over at the dunes.

Teddy is hilarious! He actually let the kids bury him up to his neck! He just sat there willingly and even when they were done burying him he was fine just sitting under this pile of sand posing for photo after photo!

Burying the dog.

Surprisingly Miss Poppy loves the boat. She's afraid of everything, so this came as a huge surprise to us last summer!

This was the toy of choice for Hayley for the weekend.

A gorgeous picture of Jillian, my neice, posing with Teddy.

Luke wants more responsibility with the boat now... he's informed us that he's ready to drive!

Hayley and Jill enjoying one final spin before I dumped them both! Oops...

Disgusting feet.

We (mostly me) always insist on stopping at the SnoShack on the way home. I LOVE these snow cones. I've seriously put a lot of thought into what it would be like to own one! Hmmmmmm.... :)