Palm Springs.

We enjoyed a weekend of tennis, golf, mani/pedi's, and plenty of poolside relaxation.  I couldn't have asked for a better birthday weekend.  I LOVE my kids, but a little break with Devin was nice!

The Birthday Dinner

The big 2-6!

Devin surprised me at the stroke of midnight on the night that marked my birthday.  He informed me that his parents were babysitting the kids so we could go to Palm Springs for a weekend getaway.  I love surprises!  Especially the kind that involve spending time with this guy.  The next morning we were headed off to the JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa.  While we were hanging by the pool, Amy and Tyler surprised me and showed up to party with us.  On the evening of my birthday, we had a delicious dinner together.

June Part 2

After pool snack time.

 Girls night out to celebrate my beautiful mother-in-law's birthday.

Devin was excepted into Pepperdine's MBA program.  He starts August 27th!

 Potty training.

June seemed to be a hectic month.  Mostly because I embarked on a mission that was stressing me out for months...potty training!  I am happy to announce that Colton was potty trained a little before his 3rd birthday.  It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be.  I had tried 3 months prior and he wasn't ready.  So after 4 days of cleaning up pee and poo off the floor and making sure Brekyn didn't crawl where he had accidents, I decided it would be best to hold off for a while.  Waiting for him to be ready was clutch.  He had progressed more in 4 hours this time as opposed to the 4 days of potty training last time.  I'm crossing my fingers that Brekyn will just potty train herself from seeing Colton.  A mom can dream, right? 

June part 1

Not your average date night.

  We went to the shooting range and I was able to shoot a gun for the first time.  I had a case of beginners' luck when I hit the center of the bullseye with my first shot.

Cousin Reese came to town and we couldn't get enough of that cute tongue when she smiled.

Colton caught a sea slug at one of our beach days.

Just taking a little stroll around the church building.

Tanner will be serving for 2 years as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  He will be going to Houston, Texas.  We are so proud of him and his decision to serve the Lord.  He went through the Newport Beach temple in preparation for his mission and afterwards we got dinner to celebrate.

Back at home...

 

A big thanks to Devin for being Mr. Mom for the time I was gone on my surf trip.  He took the kids to the Science Discovery Center one of the days and I'm not too put out that I missed out on the snakes.  

For weeks before I left, Devin kept saying how worried he was that he'd miss Brekyn's first steps while he'd be at work.  That didn't happen!  Good news for him.  Unfortunately for me, she walked while I was gone and he sent a video to my phone the second day of the trip of her taking about 8 steps all by herself.

Girls Surf Trip!

Surfing at San-O

Doughnuts in San Clemente

Pedro's Tacos in San Clemente

Malibu Point

 Eating at Jack N' Jills by the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica

Pictures from an old photo booth at the Santa Monica Pier

Knott's Berry Farm pitstop

Tandem biking at the Santa Monica pier

Umami Burger

Diddy Riese

 Jay Leno Show

4 days of surfing, eating delicious food, shopping, and endless laughter.

A good time.

You can imagine how elated I was to discover that my best friends from Hawaii wanted me to join them for a girls-only surf trip.  On Friday June 1st I picked them up from LAX and we headed straight to Roscoe's house of chicken and waffles in Long Beach.  We spent the first two nights near San Onofre to surf there.  The second the days we stayed at the JW Marriott Resort & Spa in Santa Monica, and surfed Malibu each day we were there.  We moved back to the mainland from Oahu about 3 and a half years ago and I miss these girls so much.  They are such a fun group of girls and I love them dearly.  Luckily, we're going to Hawaii in a couple weeks, so I'll get to visit them.  Can't wait!

We made shirts at the end of our trip that say:  

For whatever we lose 

(like a you or a me)

It's always ourselves 

We find in the sea