My Grandma hosted a tea party for the girls the day before we left. She sent invitations in the mail, which they carried around for days. We had fun dressing up, and even more fun knowing that these will double as Halloween costumes this year.

This is even funnier if you are familiar with the Fancy Nancy books... But it's pretty funny on its own too. Especially enlarged.

Aves and her bling.

This is pretty much how you could describe the whole day.

Avery with her bucket 'o bling (she got that bucket a the zoo and carried it around for 3 whole weeks. She even slept with it and brought it to the beach. For the tea party she filled it with jewelry and carried it around.) and Rylee shivering for the chilly San Diego morning air--she couldn't get warm the whole trip.

Izzy didn't know what to think about the tea party. But she looked great in Aunt Jamie's gold sparkly tank top and some rhinestone clips in her hair.

Well, it's been a successful trip, and by that I mean I've managed to gain back all the weight I lost. Trish's wedding was gorgeous. We've hit the zoo, the beach, the pool, and a few parks. Mostly it's been fun seeing family and friends. I thought I'd post a few pictures before I fly back to Austin Thursday (I switched my flight so that I could fly with my mom this time) because Ave's has another "sur-gee" scheduled and I don't know what my life will be like after that.


I'm out of time to do more captions, you can figure them out. Here are some pictures in no particular order:

This is Avery's "I need to poop and am going to start in my underwear/swim suit" stance.

This is Adam, my brother A.J's friend, aka Rylee's "prince." She's pretty sure they're getting married.

Can I just tell you how much fun I had cleaning up all the sand after our beach trips...

The hunt for sand crabs kept Rylee and Avery busy 90% of the time we were at the beach. They kept their crab colony in a bucket, along with a live fish that Rylee managed to catch after it washed up on shore. She kept grabbing it out of her bucket and holding it up to show people. I would be very, very surprised if that fish was still alive.

Forgive me my sisters, for putting this hideous picture of us in our bathing suits on the internet for all to see. When I get Tricia's wedding pictures I'll put one up of us with clothes and makeup on.

This pit was the best way to keep track of your kids while you're at the beach.

How I know I no longer belong in California:

• I have brown hair now.
• I only brought 3 pairs of shoes for my 3 week vacation. And not because of suitcase restraints, I really only own 3 pairs of shoes.
• I'm the only one at the mall looking like I stepped out of Target instead of a fashion runway. And, truth be told, a Target from 5 years ago.
• I'm the only one at the mall not carrying a small dog.
• I'm the only one at the mall walking around with a ketchup-smeared white shirt from a lunch at Del Taco with 3 small children.
• I have never owned anything from Anthropologie.
• I have no skinny jeans, leggings, or headbands, and have no desire to.
• I've gotten used to driving 65 mph on the freeway instead of 80 mph.
• It feels really cold here.
• I've decided that "frumpy" is the only way to describe my look.
• I permanently damaged my right foot from wearing stilettos for my sister's wedding. Truthfully, 2 weeks later, my foot is still not right.
• When I walked into the temple for my sister's wedding I was immediately beseiged by my mom and aunts because I "put my bridesmaid dress on wrong."
• I own minimal amounts of jewelry and accessories and wear them even less.
• 5 lanes of traffic on the freeway now terrifies me.
• I can't get warm enough to jump in the pool.
• I can finish my whole dinner all by myself when I go out to eat.