Finding more Joy in the Journey

Eric and I were talking the other day and he was telling me that this year has not gone the way he pictured.  He pictured me having more time to myself and doing more things that bring me joy.  I never really thought about that which is funny because I feel like my days fill up fast doing a bunch of busy errands and work related stuff.  I have been trying to find more joy and one of my happiest places is running along Carlsbad State Beach.  Thank you Eric for encouraging me to find more joy in this journey of life!  Love you!

There has been a Monarch Butterfly migration recently and there have been butterflies everywhere and I love it.  They are a symbol of new life, beauty, and taking new flights.

My happy place doing what I love doing - running!

Christmas Beach Days

December beach days are some of my favorite.  The air is crisp but the sun is out and the kids are geared and ready to play.  Ruby (4) enjoys building sand castles and running on the beach. 

It was so much fun having mom here with us during Christmas.  She was so sweet to stay a couple of weeks after Christmas too to help me watch the kids.  Gordon had 3 1/2 weeks off of school... WAY. TO. LONG!!!  I went back to teaching 3rd grade in Temecula about a week 1/2 after Christmas (we had 2 weeks off total) which seemed to be plenty.

 The beach is the perfect place for Gordon (7), he can run, dig, and explore freely.

 Dallin is also a huge beach fan - he is just like Gordon in that way too except he is doing "Sand Angles" in the sand, eating sand... and pretty much the dirtier the better.

 Lily (2) on the other hand is the one that enjoys the beach the least in our family.  She doesn't like to get wet and does not like the sand getting in her hair.  Especially when we need to get home and take a bath the rinse all of the sand out of her hair.  Lily mostly enjoys going to the beach and sitting on the towel with me eating snacks -atta girl!

Beach Bums!

Sand. Sand. Sand. EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  An hour of fun at the beach can mean 2 weeks of finding sand in every crack of my car, all throughout the house, in the garage, and in the kids clothes.  Somehow it is worth it to see how much fun they have there.  It is sand crab season again and Gordon is loving finding oodles and oodles of crabs.  Dallin and Lily like to eat the sand, feed the sand to each other, splash in the water, and eat snacks.  San Diego really is an amazing place to raise kids!

Fun at the Oceanside Pier, Smash Bro, & Selfies

We headed to the Oceanside Pier last week with the family.  Once again the weather was brisk but perfect.  November is really my favorite month here.

 We headed to Pei Wei for dinner after and the food was very tasty.

 We came home and the kids played some "Smash Brothers" with their Uncle Mike and Uncle Johnny.

 And Gordon was showing me how he could take pictures of himself.

Beach FUN!

We headed to the beach over the weekend and the weather was just perfect.  November is by far my favorite month here in San Diego.  The weather is great, there are fewer people, the beaches are not packed, and the beautiful trees are changing colors.

 Gordon making a mighty sand sculpture and me telling Gordon that there is NO SMILING aloud at the beach (wink, wink).  This of course made Gordon go into a frenzy of different smiles and poses.

 The man next to us created this great sea turtle, very cool.

Gordon in the "swimming pool" he, Eric, and Ruby made.  This is really the best place to live.  As we were at the beach I was telling Eric, I still can't believe that after 10 years I still feel like I live in vacation land.

Week off

This week my school is closed for ski week and I'm loving the time to catch up on life. It has been a wonderful and relaxing day filled with going and doing some of my favorite things, going to the beach, walking, grocery shopping, napping, eating, crafting, organizing...etc. I can't wait for the rest of the week!

16 month Sandy Baby

We have been spending A LOT of time down at the beach.  Ruby is still scooting about but loves to go out in the water, get wet, and then scoot back to shore for safety.  By the time we leave she is covered in sand from head to toe.