Back in the blogging world!

I guess I took a little blogging vacation while I was on vacation:) This is going to be a long post since I have so much catching up to do! Andrew had a couple of weeks off from school and some thesis research to do so we planned a trip to Oregon! He went up ahead of me on Wednesday and drove with Lucy while I worked a few more days. Which also meant I got to fly up:) He left at 4 in the morning and got to his parents house about 8pm. His parents love taking care of their garden during the summer. Isn't it beautiful!

Andrew set up a hammock for his parents while he visited. Gerry got in it with Lucy and their dog Riley got jealous so he hopped in as well! He is a new member of the family so he did not take kindly to sharing the spot light with Lucy!
Lucy loved having two other dogs to eat her dinner with!
Andrew got to run on his old running trails from high school.
Some of his friends even drove out to hang out at his parents house for a couple of days.Oregon really is just gorgeous this time of the year! I miss the summers so much! I don't miss the allergies though!



Dinner with his parents!

I flew up on Saturday and since my parents were on their way home from working down in Cali still we got to be on the same flight on our second leg from San Fran to Portland! I couldn't remember the last time I had flown with my parents it was fun! Daniel and Kelly drove up and picked us up and we all got to go out to dinner! Lucy had so much fun having so much room to run and play! We definitely need to get her a yard someday!
Kelly had fun playing with Lucy too!
Doesn't she look like the happiest puppy!
Once I got home Andrew drove over from his parents house. It was so fun to spend so much time with my family! We went bowling which is super fun but I am soooo bad at it! As in my average is usually around a 60!


We mean business!
We went to Illahe on Tuesday night for fireworks and it was such an amazing show!
Natalie, mom and I!
Our friends Nick and Chandra drove down for dinner and the show and it was so fun to see them and so sweet of them to make the drive!


On the actually 4th of July we went to some friends house for dinner and to walk down to the waterfront fireworks! They have three kids that are the same age as me and my siblings and then they adopted three sweet girls from China. Morning wanted to hold my hand while we walked to the waterfront and while we walked home and the whole way she wanted to sing "this is the day, this is the day that the Lord has made. . ." So we sang the whole way! It was so cute!
Mia, Kelly, Morning, Abby and I.
Andrew went rafting with his family for a few days. Here he is trying out his wilderness skills making fire!



He grew up rafting every summer since he was little so he knows a lot about it!
The whole rafting group!He got back late Sunday night and EARLY monday morning we made the LONG drive back to Cali! I finally got around to unpacking yesterday! We miss oregon and family so much but it is nice to be back in our own beds and to go outside and not sneeze:) The end of the longest post ever!

Other trip highlights:
Dinner with the Bolens love to snuggle that Klaire!
Lunch with Amanda and Annie and getting to see how much Colin has grown!
Lots of girl time shopping!
Seeing my grandparents!
Seeing my old friend Johanne and getting to meet her man Tom in the middle of their long drive to Seattle!
Seeing my cousin Josh!
Slumber parties with my sister!
Lots of relaxing!
Getting to spend the day with my hubby on his birthday even though it meant being in the car all day!

My parents had work down in LA last week and this next week which meant that they could come see us for the weekend! I love when my parents come to visit! We went to Coronado for dinner to this little restaurant Tartine. So cute and so yummy!
After dinner we went down to the beach by the Hotel Del and just walked along the beach and walked around the hotel.

My parents are silly:)

Saturday we woke up and walked to Starbucks and then just took our time getting ready for the day. Once we were ready we started the drive to Aliso Viejo to meet my cousin's new baby! We made a few stops along the way like breakfast at Swami's Cafe the Crate and Barrel Outlet and the Rainbows Outlet. It was a good thing we didn't make more stops since we had about ten minutes at the Rainbow Outlet before they were trying to close!
Here are Andrew and I at breakfast. It was so hot on Saturday!! It got up to 110!! I was pretty much sweating all day!
Oh and my favorite thing to get there! It is the Acai Bowl! I have been dreaming about it since the last time I had it! It is a combination of granola and yogurt and fresh berries and bee pollen!
Then we finally got to meet baby Katelyn!! She is so cute and so mellow! Poor baby has jaundice right now though so she can only go as far as the lights will reach:(
My mama and baby Katelyn.

Doesn't she look so relaxed sleeping with her arms up! See her little therapy lights:( Everyone! It was fun to get to see my Auntie Joanne too who was visiting from Boston to help Kyle and Alissa! Katelyn is ready to eat in this picture! She has got her sights on mom!

Puppy fun and Family news!

Our friends Adam and Julia were out of town last weekend so we had their doggies over for part of the weekend! Lucy was in doggy heaven! She loves other dogs!

On some family news my cousin Alissa had her baby last Sunday! Isn't that the coolest father's day present! A brand new baby girl! Isn't she so sweet!

My grandparents celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary last week! Can you believe that! 59! I can't wait to celebrate 59 years with Andrew!

10 Things!

Rules for this tag: 10 pictures, take them right away-NO cleaning up first, and tag 3 friends!

#1 Favorite destination:

Wish I was back at Kailua beach! Where there are no crowds and beautiful soft sand!

#2 Self Portrait:

Tired after work picture.

#3 What are your kids doing right now?

Or what are your pets doing if you have no kiddos!

#4 My Closet

Since our laundry room is more of a laundry closet we use the top middle shelf of our closet to hang drying clothes!

#5 My Laundry Room

Laundry closet behind double doors.

#6 The Fridge

#7 My Favorite Room in the HouseThe living room/ our main living area

#8 The 2nd Bathroom

Or our only bathroom!!

#9 Kitchen sink

Lots of clean dishes on the left!

#10 My Favorite Shoes
My slippers are pretty much my go to shoes when I don't have to go to work:)

I tag Erin, Alissa, Jamie and anyone else who wants to play!

Oh and just in case anyone thought I was studying architecture based on that last post, Andrew posted that! He is so cool and I think he needs his own blog:)

Villa Dall' Ava

I made this one for my model making class.  Its designed by renowned architect Rem Koolhaas and is located in Paris, France.  We got to pick a house to build for the final and I choose this one.  Its at 1/8" scale if you're wondering.  

Rock 'n' Roll Marathon!

Oh four am comes really quick!! Here are the runners ready to go all geared up and coffee in hand!
Kelly is going strong at mile 12!
Andrew mile 12!
We saw a few of these
Kelly at mile 15! I can't imagine running even that far!
Andrew at mile 15!
Saw some more of these
Andrew at mile 22! His mom even jumped in and ran with him for a while.
They did it!!! They ran 26.2 miles!!!! They rocked the rock 'n' roll marathon!! I can't even believe it!!
Andrew's Uncle Bill and Aunt Sherrie even drove down to support him!

We are so proud of them! Shocked and amazed! I would have been the person who blacked out at mile 2!
Sporting the medal that he so deserves!! All those months and hours of training were worth it!

Rock n Roll Marathon Preperation!

My family made Andrew this video to help inspire him for his marathon! They have been secretly planning it all week and my dad did all of the edit work! More pictures to come!