Always an Adventure

We recently took a trip to the Monterey, CA to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium. They have a new seahorse exhibit that I was especially excited about and I knew Kaitlyn would love it there.


These two little faces just melt my heart. I love early morning pictures, a new day...full of opportunity for mischief!



Here's Daddy trying to get some sleep with our two little ruffians making that a bit difficult.


She loved watching the divers feed the fish and sharks. She watched the entire time and at the end the diver waved right at her before ascending, she was thrilled.



Face to face with a seahorse.


You have to do something like this when you go somewhere fun. The quintessential corny souvenir photo is just plain fun. Try it, you'll like it!



Please note what's on her dress...otherwise all my efforts will be futile. Plus my husband didn't think it was that cool and I was thrilled, seriously. The life of a mother!



See that thing that looks like a plant? It's a seahorse. Who knew there were that many different kinds of seahorses? Plus, seahorse males carry and give birth. Now that's a world I could learn to live in!

As a child summer was always such a fun time. The sound of the ice cream truck, the smell of chlorine and freshly cut grass. Riding bikes and watching my brothers play football in the front yard and then beat each other up when they disagreed on which down it was. And if they are reading this they are probably so proud I know what a down is, well, sort of. Anyhoo...



And the exhilaration of playing chicken with the waves at the beach.

This was the biggest "wave" we saw, but she still thought it was hilarious to crawl away from them. What a goofball.




Meet Sarah. My daughter's "sister from another mister." These girls were destined to be best friends before birth... mostly because we told them so. :) They don't seem to mind.





While vacationing in San Diego with the kids we were lucky enough to be let in on a little secret. There is a place at the beach on base (a place I lived just minutes from for 5 years and never knew about!) that has two very long jetties which makes the water virtually wave less.

How wonderful! The girls got to enjoy the water, and we got to go to the beach without wondering how many times they would be swept off their feet and into the foam. Though the lack of waves makes NO difference whatsoever that you always return with the entire beach in every crevice of the kids bodies, trust me on that.




This lack of waves gave me time to dig a hole in the sand and make it look like my son could sit up by himself. Which by the way, he can now.




And it gave my son time to explore the sand.





Translation...it gave him time to eat as much sand as humanly possible before I began to worry about his future diapers and put him on a blanket, which he screamed bloody murder about.




But then he got over it.

Things have been a bit crazy in the blogging (and regular) world for me here. I have started my own food blog and so I have been working on that. Mostly it started as a way for me to look at recipes I have done in the past when I am out of ideas for dinners for the week. But part of my passion for food is sharing it with others and swapping recipes and ideas. So here it is to share with anyone who is here. :)

In addition to that Lance celebrated his first Easter. Of course he had no idea what was going on but every baby's first holiday is a milestone for every mother. :) And we took the kids to Disneyland as well. Kaitlyn had a wonderful time, despite the 100 degree weather. We went for one day and it's amazing how little we were able to do in a whole day! I am sure there will be many more in her future though, this was just a taste! So here's some pictures from Easter. We went to church and then spent the day with Ben's family...




























































And our trip...

This past weekend Ben and I celebrated our fifth anniversary. Sometimes it's hard to believe it's been that long, it seems like it was so recently that I was tearfully kissing him goodbye, wondering when he would be back to marry me. Seven months later he returned to fulfill that promise and on August 31st 2003 we were married. One year later, to the day, he left for his second deployment to Iraq. After just six weeks I received the news that he had been seriously wounded. Two days later I was on a flight to Germany to get my man. What followed was months, and ultimately, years of recovery and healing. And though he is not the same man I married, in many ways, I still get glimpses of that man through everything that he has been through and I know it has changed and shaped our marriage forever. And although I never would have prayed for something like that to happen to him, or to us, I thank God that it did.

Today, and everyday, I am so thankful he was the soul survivor of that terrible day. Having the kind of perspective that incident gave us so early in our marriage was a gift. I am able to focus on what is truly important in life and know that sometimes you just have to let the little things go. These past five years have been everything I dreamed of and nothing like I thought they would be. Even on our worst days, I know we are lucky to have each other. I have a hardworking, chivalrous, upright, handsome husband who spoils me rotten and allows me to live out my dream of being a stay at home mom to my children. It hasn't always been easy or fun, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Seeing him as the father of my children only deepens my love and respect for him. I cannot imagine raising Kaitlyn (and this next baby) without his support and guidance, both for them and myself.

We are not perfect, we disagree, squabble and make mistakes. But if someone had told me 10 years ago that this is where I would be at this moment in my life, I would have wondered how all my dreams came true.