Sand between our toes

I seriously just spent like 545 hours trying to put all the pictures up from this weekend. I also just realized how late in the week it was and that my other posts didn’t well… post :( So I’m going to hunt those down and post them too. They are good ones :) Anyways, Long Beach was the best vacation in a while! :) We got up at the crack of dawn and made coffee, got ready and headed to Super1 for ice. We were almost on the freeway when I realized we forgot the griddle and the money that I had gotten out so we could have cash and control the spending a little. We ended up being a half hour late for getting on the road! Oh well! :) It was our vacation and we were trying out best not to be stressed out.

I’m definitely singing Taylor Swift with my FAV. coffee cup!

  I was the navigator too.. and then we got lost.

They played Danger Zone on the radio. We love Top Gun!

Oregon Feet!

We got lucky and Long Beach was hosting a sand creation contest! It was so cool to see how they started and what the end product looked like. There were A LOT but I only took pictures of the ones I really liked :)

 

I thought I would show them up with my giraffe. I’m thinking about entering next year. You know, show them how it’s REALLY done..

We hung out a little downtown Long Beach. It was kind of lame, you know since the shops are ALL the same, but we made the best of it. I convinced everyone to play putt-putt :) Susan and I found this great cut out. She tried to eat me.

    There is a place called Scoopers that sells 6 dollar ice cream and since the children {Susan and Mike} had to have ice cream.. we ended up with 10 dollar ice cream. So much for cash control.

  

The next day, we went hiking around to look for the light houses. We saw 2 of them and they were gorgeous. It’s so interesting to think that people actually had to live there and light them everyday. We ended up with beautiful weather the whole trip! It was amazing to have sunny and not so windy weather at the beach!

  

 

Do you remember drift wood guns?!  We all found some pretty awesome ones!

This is my ladies Smith and Wesson and Adrian found a bazooka! :)

On the way back, we stopped by Fort Canby. It was awesome!! They let you go in and out of the fort and it was AWESOME! I’m such a history buff, so when I get to experience it first hand, it totally rocks my world!

 

Inside the eatery

 

I’m so proud of the soldiers for having such organizational shelving 

We went back to camp for lunch, and to put on our bathing suits. And we talked about going back to Dead Mans Cove and relaxing on the beach. Susan and I filled a nalgen bottle with Wine :)

 

  

We made up Beach Olympics! We did joisting, javelin and spot throwing! It was a blast!

We went home on Monday afternoon. It was WAAAY too long of a drive! But we picked up Olivia from Grandma’s and made it home safely! :)

 

Before:

After:

 

Oh wow.. look at those arms.. I mean umm..

It was such a great trip! Thanks Mom for taking care of Olivia :) We owe you big time! :) :)

How Exciting!

I’ve never win anything! I always enter different giveaways, and follow and tweet and blog their giveaways, but I never get any goodies! Until! Last night, I was at work checking my email on my phone and I got a message with the subject Congratulations!! I won a whole outfit from Down East Basics Blog.  You wanna see it?!

This top, in white

 

These Jeans! :) I loooove them 

It’s kind of ironic because I put myself on a spending freeze for the next couple of months and I’m only allowed to buy things with my spending money {ie. allowance} So this is awesome! I’m going to have to save my allowance an buy more things from them. Their clothes are modest, cute and perfect! :)

Writers Workshop

The Prompts:
1.) Ask A Dad! Write a letter asking your husband for advice regarding any issue you might have and record his answer.
2.) Describe a situation that forced you to confront a neighbor.
3.)Tell us about Grandpa.
4.) Which appliance in your home would you most miss living without if you had to live without.
5.) What are three things we would love to know about you!

Okay, I was going to start writing about my Grandpa, he was a preacher and a wonderful man. I truly believe that he was the rock of the Smith family. But the problem is, he died when I was so little that I really don’t remember him at all. I only know what I see in pictures and I only know what I read in his tattered bible that sits on my the end table of my parents’ couch. And i worry if I start writing, I wont be able to stop. And I will be a big puddle of salty tears on the computer chair. So I’m not going too. Sorry Grandpa R.V, I love you. Oh Grandpa Ted, you are wonderful too :) Thanks for taking me fishing on Smith Lake and then immediately following buying us aloe vera because we were too excited to fish together to apply sunscreen. :)

So, I decided to write my husband a letter :) HA!

Dear Babycakes :)

Thank you for putting down your x-box controller to take time and read this letter. As you can tell, I decided to put down the cell phone too. You can thank me later.. if you know what I mean :) Anyways, keeping this PG and everything, I have a few cares and concerns to share with you. I would appreciate if you didn't immediately throw down this letter and call me “Dramatic” and then go to the bathroom or whatever you do when you are mad at me.. wait! Is that why you play the x-box all the time!?

Continuing my whining, I would like to bring up the issue again about the toilet seat. I realize that you have been trying, I know that. You do a great job putting it down when it’s just you and Olivia hanging out during the afternoon. But you see, this is where the problem comes in. You don’t put it down after your morning whiz. And I stumble in, obviously I've been drinking the night before, and almost fall in EVERYTIME. One, because I don’t turn on the light and two, because my butt is not that big and it will not stop this cute, petite figure from plunging into the cold abyss.

I would also like to point out the fact that you are always wearing a shirt. Can’t a sister catch a break!?! I mean really, you know what those arms do to me, but do you know what that mole on your tummy does to me!? Think what Jell-O does to Bill Cosby… Same thing! Okay, so maybe it’s not that same thing. But I really do like that view…

My main concern however Baby, is the lack of making out. I really like making out with you. I know, we have a baby now and we are parents. It might not even be cool to make out anymore, I don’t know? I’ll Google that later. But I want you to know that I’m down. I’m always up for making out like teenagers. whether it be the kitchen or the cereal aisle at the grocery store. I'm all in. I love those juicy lips..

I believe that solving all these issues may be  hard, but they will be marriage saving. Thanks for putting up with all my whining, my excessive spending, and not batting an eye when you see the credit card statement. You really are amazing.

I love you times π

xo! <3’ Your adoring and beautiful wife :)

Ps. Thanks for the deciding that kissing me in the bakery was your best idea ever.

i agree.

I’m going to read it to him tonight and vlog his response tomorrow :) LOL!

2 days ‘til I will have my toes in the sand and 2 days ‘til I get to see my parent’s! Even if it’s for a couple of minutes. Daddy’s hugs last a lifetime! Happy Thursday!! :)

Thanks Mama Kat :)

Ketchup :)

Remember last month when I left my camera cord at my Momma’s? well I went through 4 disposable cameras in 2 weeks. I realized that I take A LOT of pictures and I don’t like to miss a thing I got the first 2 sets of prints back this week. I forget how different film camera pictures print compared to my Fuji. I was looking at these pictures and they reminded me of the old pictures that I would get out of my mom’s desk and look at. They just have a tinge to them. Anyways, here are a BUNCH of them.

Family photo at the river

shoes by the river

I love this picture.

Finding balance.

 

this picture looks better in print, but  I think I like the green tint

We stopped by McDonalds and got 50 cent cones! Olivia got to eat her first one :)

Mike and I relaxed afterwards and made each other anklets. He proudly still wears his :)

This picture makes me laugh..

   

 

My dress! I LOVE this dress! :) Thanks Down East Basics :)

       

 

We dressed down and went to the river to play. Olivia had SO much fun!

   

    I encourage you to try it! It was a lot of fun! I took pictures of everything and loved the surprise of not knowing if the pictures were going to turn out. I sent out my other cameras yesterday, so we’ll see :)