we made it back from our 25 hour road trip at 10:30 am on friday morning.
we got home, unpacked, went for a run and got ready because we had a big and fun day ahead of us. the family that i work for invited us to go to the del mar horse races with them. i had never been so i have been so excited to go. and let me tell you, this is not your typical day at the races, they are friends with owners of horses with lots of hook ups. it just so happened that their friend wasn't able to come and gave them their owners box for us to use!
it was so much fun and nick go so into the races and betting on the horses and actually made $50! after the races we went to the brigantine for dinner.. love that place.
ed and kathie treated us to an amazing day and we feel so blessed by them!!
this summer has flown by so fast but has been amazing!! i am so blessed with a job that allows me to enjoy my summer and do fun stuff.. seriously, it's the best thing ever.
madison and i have gone ice skating, to the fair, shopping, to the beach, to the movies, legoland & the water park, and on the in between days we soak up the sun by the pool and play games.
the newly renovated theatre on coronado.. we saw cars 2 :)
NYC.. out of legos
i love spending time with madison and her friends.. her youthful spirit is so refreshing and takes me right back to high school and makes me reminisce about fun times with my old best friends. it's crazy to me how quickly life changes after high school and how friends come and go. almost on a daily basis madison and her friend haley will be in the car with me and all of a sudden then will start laughing so hard that they can't even breathe and even though i have no idea what they're laughing about, it makes me smile. i don't know how to describe it, i just love it.
last week madison went to a week long overnight horse camp so i was left with a week with no agenda. completely unplanned, nick and i jumped in the car and roadtripped to nebraska to spend time with his family & meet our new niece. NO ONE knew we were coming. i just love surprising people.
beautiful arizona sunset
utah
long open roads of nebraska
so peaceful
colorado
terrible picture.. but me and my new niece Josalea Kate!!
it took us 23 hours to get there and 25 to get home.. what an adventure.
i am so thankful for the quality time nick and i had together during the drive!!
i'm loving this summer!!
Last week while Michael was visiting us, Britt had the wonderful idea to go down to Horton Plaza and watch the 11:10 showing of Harry Potter. Being a big HP fan, I was thrilled. We went down early and ate at the Sushi Deli and when the time got close, we headed over. Britt, Michael, and I handed in our tickets, found the theatre, and found our seats. A couple minutes before the movie started, Britt stated that she was thirsty. Being the gentleman that I am I ran to the concessions stand quick and was in line to get her a bottle of water when I noticed the guy in front of me being loud and rude to the employee working the stand. He was in his thirties, muscular, with tattoos, dreads, ( I mention this merely to give an accurate and descriptive picture to the story as I too have tattoos) and apparently drugs in his system. He was demanding that for $16 he should get more soda and popcorn, a fact that I agree with but have just accepted that being robbed from the movie concessions stand is just part of life. He finally told them using words that I will not repeat that he would take the items but was not happy about it. With him done with his purchase, I moved up to the counter and ordered my water, making small talk with the employee about the gentleman's rude language and behavior. As I turned around to head back to the Theatre, I noticed an elderly gentleman and his wife standing next in line. He was tall, about 6'3", he had snow white hair and a well groomed beard of the same color. He was dressed well and reminded me of a college professor. With me being done, he moved towards the counter to make his purchases. Back in the theatre, I gave Britt her drink and settled in to watch Harry Potter. I noticed that the elderly gentleman and his wife had also come in to the theatre and sat a couple of rows in front of us and to the right. Then in marched the loud guy from the line. He walked straight up to the old man and his wife and began to yell at them using choice words and being very threatening, especially to the old man's wife. The old man didn't take this for a second, slapped the rude guys drink out of his hand, reeled back and punched him in the face. After this, I couldn't tell much. Popcorn went flying, someone hit the floor, and the rude guy began yelling and swearing. Michael and I jumped up and husled over to the fight. When we got there, the old man was on the ground. His shirt was pulled over his head so we couldn't even see it, and the rude guy had two hands full of the old guys shirt. Now there are people all around this fight but no one would move to help. They were just in a big circle around it yelling "fight!" or "let him go" but no one made a move. Michael stepped in and told the rude guy to let go and I grabbed his arms and jerked them away from the old guys clothing. I grabbed the old guy under the arm, lifted him to his feet and told him to start heading for the door and Michael helped him along as he was very shaken. The rude guy wasn't done yet, he was trying to push past me yelling all kinds of things at the old guy. I had to physically hold him back to keep him from attacking the old guy as he made his way out. Finally he gave me a shove and ran towards the old guy catching up to him just outside the theatre doors. He started to chest bump him asking him if he wanted to go. I jumped in and pushed him away, gently pushing the old guy against the wall so I knew where he was. The rude guy was relentless, throwing himself against me as I grabbed his shirt and told him to get lost. At this point the old guy dropped to the ground and I thought for sure he was going in to cardiac arrest. This was Michael's area of expertise and he was right there, checking the old guys pulse, and making sure he wasn't dying on us. This gave me a chance to turn all of my attention to the rude guy, grabbing his shirt and his arm I directed him away from the theatre and gave him a good shove and told him to get walking. There was a manager of the theatre standing just to the side and he escorted him around the corner but he didn't stop there. He proceded to grab every straw, salt packet, and napkin off of a table and throw them around, yelling profanities at everyone and threatening to hurt them. Finally security got there and escorted the rude guy away from the theatre. The old guy was shaken up and exhausted from the fight, but was fine. We walked with one of the managers to the office and were asked to fill out incident reports. For our troubles, they gave us three movie passes a peace. Michael and I missed the opening of Harry Potter and scared Britt half to death, but had a great time breaking up a fight!
this summer has been incredible and it has only just begun.
let me just baaaaaaack up to last saturday.
nick and i just love hiking together so we did our favorite.. iron mountain.
after we went hiking we went downtown to little italy to lay by the pool with the saxmans and the {soon to be} burns'. if you can't tell yet, you will by the end of this.. laying in the sun is my favorite thing to do.. and i'm starting to wear sunscreen.. on my face. :)
after a day of relaxation we went down to OB for dinner.
while we were down there nick decided.. tonight is the night.
we have talked about getting my nose pierced for a long time.. he thought it would be super cute and i really wanted it too, but i'm the biggest scaredy cat on the planet and i have ZERO pain tolerance.. but now, i feel super tough!!
sunday morning we went to starbucks then to go lay by the pool.
on monday i was back to work because the stoll's finally decided to come home from hawaiian paradise. madison and i have had such a fun first week of summer!!
on monday we went ice skating.. although i've definitely lost my moves, it was still a blast!
then we came home and... yep. layed by the pool and swam.
on tuesday we shopped all day long! we hit a ton of great sales at the north county fair mall and then headed to PB to go to buffalo exchange because she had never been.
wednesday was our lazy, lay by the pool all day kind of day.
and then we tie-dyed!!
madison is a pro tie-dyer
nick and i did this one!
yep, shes rad.
thursday was our big day!! madison, her friend haley, and i went to the san diego county fair in del mar.. those crazy girls went on just about every single ride. at the end of the day we were exhausted.. actually that is an understatement.
haley & madison
haley looks terrified
love her!
haley really wanted to go on one of those haunted house rides and this random little girl asked if she could sit with me.. it was so freaky i had my eyes closed the whole time and i was hanging onto this little girl so hard!!
madison and i did this one!
creepiest feeling ever, hated this!
they made wax hands
on friday i had lunch with my dear friend nicole at cafe 976 in PB.. i just love her.
then afterwards i went to zoe's play in la jolla.. (one of the kids i used to nanny)
she did an acting summer camp for two weeks where at the end they perform a play and it was the wizard of oz. she was just so amazing and she has such a stage presence about her that makes it so fun to watch!!
so proud of her!
my sweet little elliott
after the play we went back to their beautiful home and enjoyed some food, wine, and the kids showed off all the new instruments they are playing
and my hott hubby joined in on the jam session
aiden is tearing up the guitar! it's unreal.
i love spending time with the trudeaus. those kids have such a special place in my heart and it just brings me so much joy to be around them and involved in their lives even though i don't see them nearly as often as i used to.
saturday rolled around and the best way to describe it was.. spontaneous. just the way we like it. i love being spontaneous but not as much as nick.. i love having a plan, schedule, to do list.. and he despises them. in the morning we went out and got starbucks, of course, then headed over to lay out at the pool where i work. the stolls have a condo in palm springs that they are always mini-vacationing at, so they so generously let use enjoy their beautiful back yard while they were gone.
while we were laying by our pool some of our long lost friends, chris and james, came over! they are working hume sd again this summer and unfortunately with our busy lives we weren't able to be apart of it this summer and are missing camp and friends big time. it was so good to relax and catch up with them on a hot summer day.
from there we took off up to huntington beach for the evening to hang out with tosha & joseph who were down there for vacation. i'm obsessed with their adorable son, cohen.
he is just way too cute for his own good
we went out to dinner in downtown huntington at the super hardcore restaurant...
the people watching was at it's best but once it got later, we knew it was our cue to leave.. :)
we went back to the house and just talked and laughed for hours. we just love them and love spending time with them.. there's something incredible about being around other couples who are so like minded and just so real. i wish we lived closer to them and could relive those nights on a daily basis. maybe, hopefully, someday.. we got home at 3 am but it didn't matter because we left feeling so loved, refreshed, and blessed.
adorable zwanziger fam
tosh needed her gelato so i took cohen.. when i am a mom i'm gonna be so buff from this!!
on sunday nick and i (mainly me) had the bright idea of hiking iron mountain again.. which is a great idea, but not at one o'clock in the afternoon in the prime heat of the day. we did it, because hitches don't give up, but it was miserable!! it was so ridiculously hot and for some reason i was out of control paranoid that i was going to get bit by a rattlesnake. 7 miles later, we were done and headed straight for the pool.
sunday evening chris and shannon came into town and we are so excited to have them here.. we haven't seen them since their wedding in november!! what better way to welcome them into san diego than to go to casa de reyes in old town for some of the best mexican food!!
on the fourth of july we had the best day ever.. laying by the pool and swimming and snacking, and playing games, and drinking some yummy drinks!!
shannon claimed a good spot
they found a dead mouse in the pool trough. grossssss.
the beerys
the boys went exploring
she hates the water but loves him
after the best day in the sun we went to la jolla for dinner and fireworks..
we watched the fireworks show by the la jolla cove (where we got married) and it was incredible!! i feel so blessed to live in a free country, and so humbled by the men and women who fight for our country, because freedom isn't free. the perfect ending to this night was nick and i singing "God Bless the USA" by lee greenwood at the very top of our lungs with the windows down. we are shameless.
now that brings us to today.. finally.
the morning started off terribly, and i won't go too into it because that would take another week to write, but i was very disappointed with the verdict in the casey anthony murder trial.. i mean the casey anthony got away with murder trial. i have been glued to HLN for six weeks watching this trial go down every single day and it gives me chills to know that she will most likely walk free thursday morning back into society and there is still no justice for caylee.
i for some reason just feel super passionate about this.. and i understand that she couldn't be convicted beyond a reasonable doubt but it still just doesn't sit well with me.
the good news is that God knows what happened, He knows casey's heart and one thing i do know is that the truth will prevail, it always does. and at one point or another, casey will face consequences to her actions.
SO after that frustrating morning we decided to turn it around and so madison, haley and i went to vons to pack a lunch and headed to la jolla shores to lay on the beach all afternoon.
it was hilarious watching them try to set up the umbrella..
chris and shannon came to the beach too because chris wanted to surf and shannon wanted to learn how.. she instantly turned into a surfer girl and tore up those waves!!
it was a perfect sunny beach day!!
on my way home from work tonight it started raining and it was the most amazing, refreshing, sweet summer rain and there was a beautiful rainbow in the sky.. i didn't get a picture of it, but you could see both ends of the rainbow.
we ended the night tonight at sushiya eating our favorite sushi in san diego.
our friends are leaving in the morning.. i always hate goodbyes but i'm so happy they were able to come and stay with us and spend some sweet time together.
now that i have successfully written the longest blog ever, it's time to sleep.
i'm feeling so blessed right now with an incredible husband, wonderful friends, the most amazing job, and a loving savior.
xoxo.
