sweet summer beginnings

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.