Happy Valentine's Day!

Where has the time gone?

January flew by! Audrey was sick for a little over a week. It's tough to stay indoors with a little ball of energy. We took a few neighborhood walks and trips to the carousel. Just tried to keep her away from other kids. I have been going back to Pilates weekly and it feels great! Such a great way for me to relax, get healthy and have fun. I have met some great Women in my class too. Audrey keeps me active, but it's not quite the same. When you are inside for a solid week, you get creative. I made a quick trip to Target to get some essentials. There was a tree tent around Christmas that Scott found. It looked cute, but didn't think we needed it. When I saw it on clearance and a week of not seeing friends or going on play dates flashed before my eyes, I decided that we did in fact need the tree tent. It's awesome and Audrey's face lighting up as I walked through the door with it, shouting " you bought this for me? Thank you, Mom!" Totally worth it :)

A Very Happy Holiday!

Christmas was so much fun this year! Audrey saw Santa and we looked forward to his arrival before Christmas morning. Audrey really enjoyed Christmas eve with family and Christmas morning with just the 3 of us. We had dinner and appetizers with Grandpa Johnny, my brother and his family. On Christmas morning we opened presents, enjoyed some pancakes and headed over to the Hotel Del Coronado for some Christmas fun. It was such a beautiful day. We walked over to the hotel and admired the beautiful decorations. Later that night we enjoyed another delicious dinner with my brother, Christi and Mila. It was great to celebrate with family! Audrey loved singing Christmas songs and spending time with everyone. Here are a few photos from our holiday celebrations. Hope everyone had a great holiday season!

Here Comes Santa Claus!

Yesterday had to have been one of Audrey's best days. We started our morning at the Hard Rock Cafe to have breakfast with Santa. We enjoyed music by Hullabaloo, one of Audrey's favorite bands, and got a chance to sit with Santa. It was awesome! She has never wanted to see Santa up close, but she did great! She also got a butterfly painted on her face. We all had a blast! Later that night we went to the hot cocoa stand on Garrison Street, enjoyed the amazing holiday lights and saw a few friends. A special guest arrived to say "hi" to all of the kids...yep, it was Santa! Two Santa sightings in one day, it was so much fun! We look forward to having breakfast with Santa again next year! Audrey loved visiting with Santa and she asked him for 3 special toys, a dollhouse, a fire truck and a puzzle. Looks like Santa has some shopping to do.

Vacation time!

We just got back from our first big vacation with Audrey; a trip to Maui for 5 days. We have heard so many dreadful stories about kids on airplanes, but our little one was a trooper. She was very excited to go to Hawaii and we told her all about the fun on the beach we could enjoy every day and the airplane ride we would take to get there. She was so thrilled and asked every day if she could go. We stayed in Napili at the Napili Kai Resort. It was very beautiful and low key, just our style. The weather was amazing and we played at the beach and enjoyed the sunshine. We met some great people and a cat too. Mama Cat was a resident at Napili Kai who slept out side our door every night. She welcomed us in the morning with an adorable meow :) Could have been the salmon food we gave her. Audrey loved having a sweet animal around and it made our trip really special. We look forward to another trip to Maui and many more fun memories.

Happy Halloween!

We celebrated Halloween a little early this year with a few close friends. The Pearson family had a party for the kids and Eric dressed up as Buzz Lightyear. The kids were all over him. It was hilarious! He was the celebrity hit of the night. We enjoyed treats, did a little Trick-or Treating and enjoyed some time with friends. Audrey dressed up as a kitty cat and loved going door to door getting candy. It was so cute to watch her. We had a fun night and Audrey was so excited that she could barely sleep. She didn't eat much, had candy and cookies for dinner and that could have kept her up too? On Halloween night, we went to Trick-or-Treating to a couple of houses in the neighborhood and then went home to pass out candy to kids at our house. I was so excited when a big group of kids actually showed up because we have not had any kids come to our house in a few years. I buy candy every year and then we end up eating it. Audrey loved seeing all of the kids in costume come too! The weird thing was someone stole the pumpkins we had out front but it was a great Halloween weekend overall!

10/3/10

Our family headed to Big Bear on October 2nd to see Audrey's Aunt Sandi and cousin Naomi. We had never been to Big Bear as a family. We had a fun visit, took long walks, laughed and played. It was a great trip! This all changed on our way home. We stopped in Murrieta for a bite to eat and a potty break. It was a hot day and we needed to let Ivory, our dog get some water too. We ate and decided to get back on the road and head home. After a few minutes on the freeway, a large SUV came into our lane swerving out of control. Scott tried hard to get us away from them, but it was impossible. They hit us and sent us over the side of the freeway. We rolled at high speed and landed upside down. When we stopped, the car was quiet and I immediately looked back at Audrey. She was just sitting quietly in her seat, albeit upside down. I got out of my seat belt and went to her. I couldn't believe she was ok. She started to cry and I did too. I was so happy she was unharmed. I called for Scott to help us out of the car and to look for Ivory. He found Ivory, but she had already passed. She was not belted in and she ended up underneath our car. It was so horrible and sad. She was always protective of us and it saddened us that we couldn't protect her.

It was a tragic event and we lost an amazing dog who truly was the sweetest one I have ever known. The rest of us were able to walk away. Scott and I had some injuries but we are so thankful that we all survived. We are doing our best to move on and stay positive for Audrey. She still asks about Ivory daily and she says she misses her. We were happy that Ivory got a chance to run around, chase squirrels and be a dog. She will be remembered as part of our family.