What is life without friends??

In our case, what is life without the Zarlengo's?!?! We absolutely LOVE this family. Steve and Nate work together, and also click really well, and Autumn and I have become super close, super fast. And I love that. They moved about 3 minutes away a few months ago, so we get together a lot, needless to say :) And Jake and Kaleb have become best buddies, and play together pretty perfectly, most of the time, which makes our get-togethers even better. This post is a little tribute to them, with a HUGE thank you for adding some "spice" to our lives :)

On Memorial Day we met at Coronado Beach, and got some bad sunburns! Well, at least Steve and I did, haha. The little boys had a blast playing in the ocean, and would giggle at each other every time a wave would come up. Cuteness. The big boys had fun too, of course ;)

HA, the sand was CAKED on Jake's little bum!

So, Autumn and I go on a lot of bide rides together, and put the boys in the trailer behind one of the bikes (which is a BEAST to pull up hills, let me tell ya!!!). This is what happens on most of the bike rides, tee hee:

AND Autumn and I usually end up looking like this: dripping sweat with beet red faces. Hey, it's HOT here!

Our famous pizza that we're trying to perfect. We stole the idea from the Village Pizzeria in Coronado, it's called the Billy Goat, and it is YUM. Picture this: an olive oil/garlic base, TONS of mozz., sun dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, goat cheese (it melts in your mouth, so good), fresh spinach a little wilted, purple onion, fresh basil and thickened balsamic vinegar drizzled on top. Oh my goodness, my mouth is watering as I type this.....

This is their dog, Boston. Jake wishes he was ours.

Yay for kiddie pools, backyards and hoses! And the fact that the Zarlengo's have all of them ;)

We Love "Pa!"

Oh my goodness, it is SOOOO CLOSE to when my WHOLE family is moving to SoCal, about an hour away from us!!!!!!!! Can you tell I'm EXCITED?!?!?! They are getting here on Tuesday, July 6th, which is only a little more than a week away. BAH!!! Anyways ;) So, my dad (Jake calls him "Pa," it's so cute) has been here for a few weeks already for work, and he has come to see us a couple times, and we have had tons of fun. Hurry the rest of you and get here already!

So, some of you may know that I am a DIE HARD St. Louis Cardinals fan. Born and raised until I was 12 in St. Louis, the highlights of my summers as a kid were always when my dad took us to baseball games, which happened often. I love LOVE going to baseball games. The green grass, perfectly mowed, being amazed at how far the players can throw the ball, the smell of hotdogs and nachos, "baseball" music played from the organ, feeling the pride of being an American when they sing the Star-Spangled Banner, AHH I just love it. Well, my dad was awesome enough to take us to see an MLB game in San Diego when the Cardinals came to town, WOOT WOOT!!! And there was actually a lot of red in the stadium, but why wouldn't there be, the Cards are theBEST ;)

(and check out that view of the Coronado bridge!)

Jake was obsessed with the cardinals on our shirts, he kept pointing to them and saying "Teet teet, teet teet!"

Another amazing game for the Cardinals, they killed the Padres, 8-3! AND Albert Pujols hit an awesome home-run, surprise surprise... hehe.

The next activity on our agenda was going to Old Town San Diego to go see the newly renovated Mormom Battalion. It was SOO COOL, and whoever is reading this that lives in SoCal, or if you are planning a vacation here, and you haven't been there, you MUST go!!! They did such a great job with the way they present everything, with all of the updated technology. Like, at the end of the presentation, they take your picture and they are able to email it to you AND they print off a hard copy. And this is what it looks like:

You can't really tell, but we're sitting in the front of a covered wagon.

They have an area outside where you can get more hands-on with the goings-on of what they did back in the pioneer days in California. Here we are panning for gold, or uh, pyrite ;)

Jake LOVED this water pump. He would try as hard as he could to pump it faster and faster. I'm surprised he didn't break it!

And brick-making. This was also a fun little area to stack the bricks and put them in the molds. I just can't even explain how awesome this place is. Everyone should go!

And we can't go to Old Town without going to Casa de Reyes! Plus, we worked up an appetite after the Battalion!

Jake and Pa are best buds, for reals. I love when my dad comes to visit us because it's pretty much a guarantee that Jake will be happy non-stop. Come again SOON Dad, we love you!!!

Happy B-day to MEEE!! And Happy Mother's Day, too!

On Mother's Day I turned 25... yep, the big 2-5. Being in the Quarter Century Club feels a little weird, actually, part of me feels like I should still stay I'm 21, but another part of me feels like I should be older than 25. Having a kid does that to a person! But anyways, I had a SPLENDID b-day, filled with everything I could ask for! Friends, San Diego, shopping, new MUCH needed capris and other awesome presents, the beach, yummy food, cake and ice-cream, a lazy Mother's Day for me (sorry Steve, you weren't allowed to be lazy) and Village Pizzeria in San Diego (my favorite pizza place EVER... if you're ever in San Diego, hop skip and jump over to Coronado and go there!!)..... what could be better?!

And, as far as the Mother's Day part of the day goes, Steve made it very special, with flowers, breakfast in bed, taking Jake through most of church (until Jake got cranky half way through Steve teaching the lesson in Teacher's Quorum), watching Pride and Prejudice with me and not complaining once!, and making me some yummy dinner. But I'm SOOO lucky, because I realize that even though he treated me so special this weekend, he treats me special EVERY day. I could NOT ask for a better husband to spend eternity with. And, I'm also so lucky to have such a fun, smart, spirited, hilarious son. Of course being a mom is challenging, and tiring, but I know it's the most important job I will ever have, and I just LOVE my little boy and he makes my heart smile. I love being his mom!!

When I got a b-day package, Jake was my mail carrier :)

We started the weekend off right when Steve met us at Chik-fil-A for lunch!
Some of Jake's best buds: Kaleb and Candice. This was at the little party we had Friday night.

Lunch break at the Horton Plaza in San Diego. Cheese-ball ;)

Our FAVE beach in Coronado!!! LOVE this place!!!

Waiting to eat some awesome Village Pizzeria pizza. YUMMO!!

Cupcakes and presents!! I got some MUCH NEEDED things, and I don't want to bore anyone with the list, so I'm just gonna say thanks everyone!!!!

Haha, this book was a present from my lovely mother, who knows Jake well ;) This made me laugh, and even from reading the back of the book and the first few pages, I KNOW that this is describing Jake, and it will help us BOTH!! Thanks Mom!!!!!

Tribute

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!

This is dedicated to my own mom, and my mother-in-law :)

The one word I could use to describe my mom is: BEAUTIFUL, inside and out. I love my mom so much, and she is not only my mother, but she is my best friend (after Steve, of course). My mom is seriously the most patient, understanding, loving, even-tempered, saintly person I know, and she would do (and does) anything for anyone. She is the kind of mom who LOVES being a mom, and her children know it. She is my ultimate example for the kind of person I could only hope to be. We have had our ups and downs (what mother/daughter relationship hasn't?) but definitely WAY more ups than downs. And if it was a down it was most likely my fault anyway ;) But I'm so SO grateful to have my mom in my life, and I'm grateful to have her as an example. I try to be like her every day, and there are a lot of times when I could very easily lose my patience with Jake when I stop and think about what my mom would do in the situation, and the answer is always, "She would be patient and stop what she is doing and just give him a hug and show him she cares." Which is then what I try to do, and then things really do get better. So each day my goal is to be more like my mom, and give Jake the same feeling that I got from my mom every day: that I am LOVED.

Steve's mom, Kris, is also an amazing example to me. She works so hard to be dedicated to her family, and that she is!! She knows how to do pretty much anything, which comes in handy to someone like me who needs to LEARN how to do a lot of things! She is an excellent mother and grandmother, and Jake is actually her 17th grandchild. She raised 7 children, Steve being the baby in the family, so there are many people who need her love and attention and guidance, and she does SUCH a great job of providing that to everyone! I'm so grateful that she raised Steve to be the person that he is, she did an amazing job because he is an amazing person! I love going to Idaho to visit them because she has provided such a fun environment for all of her children and grandchildren to come home to. Thanks, Kris, for ALL that you do, we love you!!

Lately

Here are just some random pics of what we have been up to lately! Life is great, just super busy! Hmm, can anyone else relate?? ;)

We went on a pretty hike not too far from us with our good friends Nate and Autumn Zarlengo. They have a little boy, Kaleb, just a few months older than Jake, and they play SO WELL together, it's really really cute. Steve works with Nate, and they just moved to Murrieta from Palmdale (where we used to be, too), and we are SOOO glad!! We've been having TONS of fun together.

If that's not a guilty face, I don't know what is.... hehe

HA, so Jake still has his shoe obsession, and he decided to try on Steve's work boots one night and they were so heavy for him, he could barely lift his legs!

Playdate at the park with Jake's first girlfriend, Candice!

Twinners ;)

Two of his FAVORITE things: his blanket and kitty, aka "Mow" haha.

I just wanna pinch those cheeks!!!