Sunday is one more Funday in TX

My Dad cooked us up some yummy breakfast and we all hung out a bit more before taking off. Dad was back off to another 22 hour flight so it was great to spend some more time with him before we left.


Brett and I drove out to Kingwood....the liveable forest...to visit with Corey, Joshua, Jake and Delaney! They just moved into a new fun house with a pool!! It was great to catch up with the adults for a bit before the little ones woke up. Once they were awake, we had so much fun playing in the pool!! Corey got some great pics of that....but since I was IN the water, I wasn't able. I'm sure she'll send them to me (hint hint) so I can have them for keepsakes. :)

You've already seen the fun pics from the fast family session we took around their neighborhood. I just love spending time with these friends....it's always so easy, fun loving, and filled with laughs and smiles.

I had to have at least ONE meal at Whataburger while I was in TX...and so dinner tonight it was!! I got my #1 no cheese and Brett went for the triple meat, triple cheese! Yikes!!! He finished it all but whoa, was it a greasy burger!! This is one of the places that I always get the fries....because I love me some Fancy Ketchup!!! Yumm!!!


After we finished eating....we decided to bust out the Scrabble board. We ended up playing 3 games....and each of us won one! Perfect!!

The trip to TX was a super fast one, but a wonderful, much needed visit. Now everyone that we got to see has to now come see us in Santa Barbara!!! Just let me know when!! :)

Friday = Family Fun Day

We drove back to Houston this morning after a great day in Austin. Mom had 2 Subway sandwiches waiting for us to chow down on before we headed out towards NASA. We'd talked about it with Lora earlier this week, and mentioned it to my parents...and so the plan was born!!

The Space Center was filled with a ton of things to do. A lot of it seemed to be focused on kids...too bad I was wearing a dress, I would have loved to do some of the climbing things in the play areas!!

Wouldn't I make a cute astronaut? HAHA!!

My Mom waited in the line for the trolley tour while Dad, Brett and I watched a pretty cool movie on the space explorations thus far. Really weird to think that there are people that have literally hung from a rope out of a space craft in outer space. And I thought bunjee jumping is scary!!

We took the trolley to Mission Control, walk through the place where a lot of testing happens, and a few other stops.

We got to visit the Saturn V rocket...and that thing went on forever.

After the trolley got us back to the main building, we spent some time playing around with the neat things. Brett and I both found out what we'd weigh on other planets. Mars is definitiely more favorable than Jupiter!!

Brett and I both tried our turn in some rover craft thing, and Mom, Dad and I were blown away by the wind tunnel!

A quick stop at Starbucks was needed before we got on the road towards Sugar Land. Taylor came to meet us for a yummy dinner at Thai Cottage II. Surpringly enough, most of us cleaned our plates!!

It was a nice evening in TX, so after dinner, we took a stroll over near the Town Center. The lights were so pretty near the water fountains.

We found overselves a nice little area to sit a bit, and had some fun just chatting. It was a nice evening hanging out with some of my family. Wish we could do that more often. Guess they'll just have to come to SB next too!! :)

Good, good, times!!!

Arredondo Triplet Family Story

I would be lying if I said that I didn't plan my trip to Texas mostly around being able to meet these sweet little angels. I was working, sitting right next to Laura, through the beginnings of learning about these 3 babies. I can still remember getting the text message from her after her doctor appointment. All it said was "3". :)

It was so much fun hanging out with Laura, Andrew and the girls - Emma, Mia and Zoe. Yes, I truly do know who is who, and can definitely tell them apart. I am so excited to watch them grow.....even if it's from over 1500 miles away. I can't wait until Ava figures out how to use the webcam on her Mommy's computer so she can call and tell me all about her little sisters.

I fell more in love with my friend, Laura, watching her as a mother to her new babies. I fell in love with the babies. I fell more in love with Ava as I listened to her talk about her sisters. It was a whole day filled with lots of love.

LA - I can't wait to see you again.....hope you love your love story. :)









For more of the girls, watch the slideshow.

I love my Austin Texas Friends!!!

Today was probably the busiest day in the history of friends for me.....but I loved every minute of it. Even despite the fact that it started out SO early on a vacation day. :)

8am

Meet up with Hal, JD and Keith at Taco Deli...which turned out to be more like 820am since all of us miscalculated the amount of Austin traffic on Mopac.

It was great to see and hear about all of these guys, their lives, their jobs, and their growing families. Between the 3 of them....there are 6 little boys and 2 little girls. If KB would have been able to meet up with us too, it would have been an even number of boys and girls. KB's wife just had their 4th daughter. Miss working with these guys. They definitely made a mark on my careers in Austin.

10am

We made a quick pit stop back at Renae's for a bit. We both had to get some work done....even though I was on vacation, I was very quickly reminded how difficult it is to take a vacation

when you're in sales.

Noon

Yay!!! I'd been waiting SO long (a whole two weeks) to meet Emma, Mia and Zoe!!! Laura had the very long awaited trio two weeks ago today. Laura was the most amazingly calm, cool, and collected pregnant woman....which wonderfully translated to her being the same calm, cool, and collected mother of, now, 4 girls.

She definitely makes it look easy. She and Andrew are the best parents. Brett and I sat in the kitchen and chatted with her and Dad for a good 40 minutes before we heard anything more than a peep out of the little ones sleeping upstairs.

When we finally made it upstairs, all 3 of the girls were asleep in the playpen, all facing the same direction. By looking at their profiles, they look very similar, but there are enough differences where it's almost easy to tell them apart. I think I got it down...but we'll see if I can remember who is who the next time I see them. :)

I had a great time with Laura, as I always do. I miss her, and all of my girls in Austin, so much, it was so good to just be able to hang out for a bit. Well, hang out....and change some diapers....and take some pictures. Of course I brought my camera and got some fun shots of the girls. Check back to see more of them, but here's a nice group shot for now. :)

330pm

Visit with the "nuffins" at the Wildenhaus house!! Love these little girls. Ava and Grace were waiting for us at the front glass door, noses and hands glued to the window, as usual, and with big smiles on their faces. What a fun way to be greeted!!!

The girls showed me their latest dance moves, fixed my hair, drew us some pretty pictures, and then we had some fun chilling out in the living room.

Ava is such a goofball....JUST like her Mommy. I mean....JUST like her Mom. She is such a hoot.

I learned too that Ava and Grace give the best zzzrbts....we all were laughing SO hard about this!!! Then the girls took my camera and got off a few fun shots of US instead. :)

530pm

Visit with Stacy, Lisa and Caleb. I can't believe how BIG he's getting....he's a real little boy!!! It was great catching up with the girls, and watching Caleb go from being shy to being a super sweetie. He did have an affinity for my iPhone. He was pretending it was a camera, pointing it at us and saying "CHEESE!!". So cute!!!

He really was having more fun when he was behind the camera instead of being in front of it....so this was the best shot I could get of the two of us. :)

Loved being able to see the girls before they took off for the weekend. They too, have agreed that it's now their turn to come visit us in CA now. :) I'm working on getting everyone to come visit us....heehee. I mean....who wouldn't want to, right??

630pm

JARDIN with my girls!!!! I walked in and had a GIANT smile on my face to see all my pretty girls there to hang out with me for some din din. I'm not convinced that it wasn't the margaritas that got everyone there, but hey, I was happy just the same. :)

We laughed and chatted it up as usual. I wish I could have spent more time with everyone....there's just never enough time!!! Thank you to ALL of you for coming to see me while I was in town. I miss you all SO much and it was just the best to see you for dinner!!!

Ava was at school when we were at their house earlier in the day, so I asked Laura to bring her to dinner. She was a bit shy at first, but quickly remembered how much her friend Annemarie loves her, and was happy to come join me in my lap! The cheese that I had on my plate might have helped with the persuasion, but I'll use whatever necessary to love on that little girl.

After a few attempts at trying to take a timer picture, our waiter came out to our rescue. Look at all my smiling, beautiful, happy girls!!! I miss you all already!!! Thanks again for coming to see me!!

930pm

Back to Jeff and Renae's for my haircut. Tara was the BEST to come back and fix me up after dinner. She also got a little snipping at Brett while I was drying. :) Tricia came back to join and hang out with us for a little bit too.

It was seriously the greatest day. I got to see as many of the people I love dearly, and all in one day!!! I missed a few people while I was there.....hope to see them on my next round!!!

TX in September - Day 1 - Houston with Lora

Since I'm not going to be able to make it back to TX for Thanksgiving or Christmas, I took the chance to take a little vacation from work and head back to TX to visit with my family and friends.

Brett and I headed to the airport this morning super duper early....thank you AGAIN to Emily for getting up early and taking us. We left SB at 6am and first stop was in Denver. Despite getting up early, we were still bright eyed and bushy tailed during our layover.


We made it to Houston right on time at 2pm. Smiling Lora picked us up at the airport so we could see and spend some time with her before she took off for her own travel adventure the next day.

We had a late lunch at Niko Niko and caught up. We stuffed ourselves on some yummy Greek food and then headed over towards the Galleria area.


Formerly the Transco Tower (or at least that is what it was back when I was in HS), now the Williams Tower, is still a fun touristy spot in downtown Houston. Brett got an absolute kick out of the water tower. I remember visiting this in HS with Erika and a few of her friends and we took pictures. Ah, that was SOOOO long ago.

I hadn't ever leaned back to see what it looked like upside down though....it was the first thing that Lora had us both do. So cool!!!! The view of the water, and the way it falls...super cool!!!



For those of you that haven't seen this water fountain in person....watch the super short video clip below that Brett filmed. It's quite obvious that he was the one filming too. :)


We tried to get to the top of the Williams Tower, which Lora informed us is the tallest skyscraper that isn't in a downtown, but the observation deck was closed after 9/11. So, instead, we tried to get up to the highest floor that would allow us to look down. It seems that floor 51 is the only one that isn't completely having you walk straight into offices as you get off the elevator. On those floors it was a tad awkward to even get out!! Oops!!

We walked around a bit longer with Lora before my Mom came to meet us. It was wonderful to be able to visit with Lora, even for a little bit, while in Houston. Wish we could have stayed longer....next time!!! It's now her turn to make it out to SB! :)

My Mom took us back to Katy where we sat and chilled for a bit waiting for my Dad to return from his 22 hours of traveling back to the US from Dubai. We visited for a bit before Brett and I got on the road to Austin for a busy Thursday packed with lots of loved ones!!

It's good to be in TX to see everyone. I'm even more stoked that it's not nearly as hot as I was preparing it to be!! The "cold front" has been such a delight!!!

Nemiroff Family Story

You might recognize the boys in this family from earlier this year. I got an email message a few weeks ago from Dave that he and Jenny wanted family pics with little Grady. The little guy recently turned one, and has changed so much!! They drove up to Santa Barbara to meet with me, and we had a great time walking along Cabrillo. It had been a super warm day, and I thought it was going to be too hot....but it ended up being just perfect across the street from the water.

We started out at Chase Palm Park, and made our way down to the rainbow arch. Grady was a great sport, even with all the walking that we made him do!! :)

Dave - it was great to see you and Grady again, and to finally meet Jenny too!! Hope you like your family story!










For more of this family, watch the slideshow!

Back to the norm in SB

Got in real late last night from Florida....went home and straight to bed. Intended on sleeping in, but I was wide awake around 7, closed my eyes, but up again from a text message around 745am and then the sprinklers at 830am. I finally got out of bed and had some coffee with my roomies and chilled around the living room with them for a bit.

LB was headed to the farmer's market to get goodies for tonight's Good Spoon event, so I decided to tag along with her. I just love all the colors of the fruit, veggies and flowers at the market. I LOVED the huge tomatoes there today. Each one that she bought was a pound each - whoa!!!


I went to meet Brett for lunch at The Habit in the afternoon. It was a pretty day, and while Brett wanted to work some more on what he'd started the night before, I convinced him that we needed to be outside on such a pretty day.


He had a plan for us after lunch. First stop was to wash my car - thank goodness!!! Then we went back to my place and got our bikes. We had left Brett's truck at lunch, so we rode back down to them from my place. It was a nice ride....all downhill. :)

We got a call from DJ that he needed a truck to pick up a few finds at the Carp Market. After meeting up with them, we then had game night and Chinese food that night at DJ's place with a few friends.

We played Taboo....love that game. Brett and I make a pretty good team. :) It was a fun relaxing Saturday after being away!!